use real butter

I was pretty tired last night when we got into our hotel and then I spent quite some time fighting with the wireless connection. I had to email my photos to Jeremy in Colorado so he could load them to my server for me. Good thing that he 1) stays up late working and 2) is awesome in general. Reports are that we are due for snow in the mountains and Miss Kaweah is a little forlorn without me there.

Typically when I visit Grandma, it is with Jeremy. I spend a lot of time translating from Chinese to English and it gets tiring for my brain to work in two languages like that - especially when Jeremy drives and Grandma gives directions and I am the middle step. It’s even crazier because Grandma takes public transportation - she doesn’t drive anymore (hasn’t for many years, and it’s probably good for everyone’s safety!) - so we’ll be at a stoplight in the rightmost of 6 lanes when she suddenly pipes up in Chinese, “Oh, turn left here.” And I’m like, “Ummmm… Jeremy, I have news for you…” He’s used to it by now and he never complains.

There have only been a handful of times that I have visited Grandma without Jeremy. I’ve coordinated visits with my sister, mom, aunt. Several years ago after Grandma had her pacemaker put in, my mom and her sisters took turns to come out and stay with her. When Mom’s turn came, my sister and I flew out too - but it was a surprise for Grandma and there was much laughter and joking. Kris always made me laugh. She made everyone laugh. The last time I saw her before she died was over Chinese New Year - we were visiting Grandma together. Good memories.

testing a flash solution on elena

If you can’t tell already, Grandma is special to me. She is like my second mother. She helped raise me and Kris when we were little. This trip is happy and relaxing - just the girls: me, Mom, Elena (my aunt and my dear friend), and Grandma. I was sitting in Grandma’s apartment this evening when I realized that the three beautiful women around me didn’t look anything close to their ages. My mom’s family is blessed with the genetics of looking 20 years younger than they really are. Wow.

in milpitas, there are plenty of choices for chinese dining

This morning we opted for dim sum in Milpitas at Mayflower Seafood. Not too bad. The overall consensus was that Pan Tao’s chicken feet are better (hey, that’s the word, I don’t touch the stuff myself). We wandered around the markets and bakeries, took Grandma to shops so she could get various errands done, and I scored some goodies of my own to take home for future cooking projects.

mmmm, chili garlic sauce makes dim sum so very yum

Elena and I are always trying to coax recipes out of Grandma. All of that precious information is in her noggin! This morning we attempted to decifer her instructions for a Chinese pastry. So many women of her generation go by feel, not by measurement, when making food. Looks like I will have some experimentation to look forward to at home. But it not only feels like I’ve opened up a small treasure chest each time I learn about a new recipe from her - I also get to cherish one more part of my grandma in this way.

Tonight we went to Umi Sushi for dinner. Ermmm, it used to be pretty good, but tonight I think the quality and quantity of fish was rather disappointing. I expect good sushi in California. It’s frustrating that I would get anything less. Not sure that I will be returning here. If you south bay peeps have a favorite sushi joint, lay it on me!

spider roll and spicy tuna roll - meh

Well, Mom is sudoku-ing in bed, Elena is reading the NY Times, and I have managed not to screw up my commitment to NaBloWriMo for a fourth day. Yiha!

it’s my blog, and i will cuss if i want to
Not too long ago, my dear Tartelette posted about a friend who is ill with terminal cancer. A commenter had complained that her posts were too depressing. And yesterday I posted about what *I* look for in blogs and got a commenter telling me that my posts were negative and angry, that my criticism is harsh and arrogant, that I shouldn’t hold people up to the same high standards I have for myself. Anyone who has been paying attention to this blog for more than ONE HOUR knows that I am not writing to make others feel good. I write for me. The folks who join the ride have a good inkling of what to expect. If you can’t handle the reality, this is not a blog for you. I don’t pull punches and I am not about to sugar-coat my life and my observations so as not to disturb the sensitive feelings of blokes in their imaginary world of Happy-Go-Lucky. Yes, please stay the hell fuck* away from my blog. As Tartelette said, “You will not be missed.”

*used for emphasis, to indicate that I have strong feelings about this directive

anniversary dinner
Our eleventh wedding anniversary was in March and my ILs sent us a gift certificate to The Flagstaff House as a gift. It was incredibly generous and sweet of them. We decided to postpone dining there since I felt like crap, couldn’t taste food, and probably wouldn’t enjoy the meal as I was in the middle of (frakking) chemo. But at last, we made excellent use of the gift card and enjoyed the 9 course chef’s tasting menu Friday evening.

The Flagstaff House is the premier restaurant in Boulder, boasting a wine tome rather than the usual wine list, that consistently garners the distinction of making Wine Spectator’s Top Ten Wine Lists in the World. We have had the very very good fortune to dine there four times. The first time was after Jeremy was offered his faculty position, the second time was for our tenth anniversary, the third time was for the same anniversary but with Jeremy’s parents (they wanted to celebrate with us), and now!

complimentary: blue cheese and fig on top, house salmon on the bottom

the view to my left

complimentary: spring roll with yuzu sauce

first: wianno oyster with lime and tanqueray gin
fukucho “moon on water” junmaiginjo sake, hiroshima, japan

second: hamachi, hawaiian hearts of palm, mizuna, avocado, pomegranate
2007 naia, verdejo, rueda, spain

third: alaskan halibut potato crusted, arugula, tear drop tomato, niçoise olive, roasted peppers, white truffle balsamic vinaigrette
2005 terredora dipaolo “loggia della serra” greco, greco di tufo, campania, italy

fourth: day boat scallop, fingerling potatoes, bentons ham, cipollini onions, spinach, hon shimeji mushrooms
2007 alban viognier, central coast, california

fifth: quail, pancetta wrapped & grilled, white truffle infused italian heirloom polenta, sauce of garlic
2004 marquesde grinon, caliza, syrah/graciano

sixth: duck breast, crispy seared, duck confit, potato gnocchi, grilled raddichio, pearl onion, rappini, sherry gastrique
2006 vinosia “essenza di primitivo” primitivo, italy

seventh: snake river “kobe gold” ribeye cap, twice baked potato, asparagus, black truffle sauce
2004 dumol, syrah, russian river valley, california

ninth: vahlrohna chocolate tart, chocolate mousse, colorado plums, raspberry coulis
1977 porto barros, colheita, portugal

We are missing a picture of the trio of sorbets (white peach, mango, and black raspberry) for course #8. The pictures got more and more difficult to shoot as the 3.5 hour meal wore on toward 9:30 pm. The dessert was a 2 second hand-held exposure and my head was swimming after sipping 8 different wines/boozes that were paired with Jeremy’s courses. Woooooooooooo!

The Flagstaff House never disappoints. The service was impeccable and the food - heavenly. We really had to think hard about the 9-course degustation or ordering off their enormous and tantalizing regular menu. Too many temptations! It leaves you feeling a little sad that you can’t try it all… until the first plate arrives. If it weren’t for the present from my ILs, I think we would have waited to return when there was a big reason to celebrate. There may be a reason to celebrate in the near-future, but I don’t like to jinx things, so mum is the word right now.

to pass
This morning we were up bright and early to go hiking with Kaweah and our pal from Boulder. It is much cooler in the Rockies than in the Eastern Sierra and there is a very different feel to the mountains. While the flowers were past peak, the harebells, fireweed, paintbrush, cow parsnip, elephant’s head, larkspur, monkshood, buttercup, gentian, sunflowers, and asters (to name a few) were still in bloom! Simply breathtaking.

ahhh, there is still snow in august

star gentian

Our prior attempt to get to Caribou Pass was thwarted by a steep snowfield that Miss Kaweah couldn’t safely cross. Summer sun and heat has nearly obliterated that snowfield and the trail was clear to cross to the other side - at last! Kaweah was quite pleased to catch the scent of marmots and pikas on the wind.

gettin’ warmer

We let Kaweah cool her heels at Lake Dorothy on the way back. The problem is that there are no sticks above treeline, so we had to trick her into the water by tossing small rocks so they’d make a small kerploosh for her to swim toward. It’s a good thing she isn’t of large brain.

’twas no stick - i was deceived!

now how about a treat?

After we dropped Kaweah off to sack out in the house, the three of us got some awesome burgers and sweet potato fries at Bear Brothers Bistro in town. No pics because we were busy watching the Olympics. I must admit I have serious problems with rhythmic gymnastics. Thankfully, they aired the women’s indoor volleyball gold medal match between the US and Brazil so we could enjoy our meal and the serious badassedness of the ladies on the court.

We are now two for two on lodging that has boasted high-speed wireless internet to find that it is neither high-speed nor (in some cases) wireless. It makes for some painfully slow uploading of photos from the trip, so forgive me if my posts are getting brief on text after waiting far too long to get the pics up. We just don’t have the time.

I promise to answer comments when time permits - probably after we return home. But to answer some of the inquiries about my photos… yes, I do sell them. If you are interested in purchasing, contact me via email (see the About page for addy) and I’ll give you pricing info, etc. I haven’t had the time or energy to get a proper commercial site set up just yet, but it is in the works.

Now… where are we? We are currently in Lee Vining on the eastern side of Yosemite National Park. The Eastern Sierra is where it’s at for us. I first fell in love with backcountry wilderness in the Sierra Nevada. It’s a large mountain range with hundreds of miles of trails, days from the nearest road. Jeremy and I have spent several years exploring these mountains and we are still discovering new trails, new destinations, new wonders here. This morning we hiked out over Piute Pass after an overnight to Desolation Lake where I spent the wee hours of the morning shooting the Perseids meteor shower. I can’t process those images on my laptop, so you’ll have to wait for the results just like me when I get home. It’s hot here. We knew that. But it is worth it to get back into familiar terrain and smell the forests, the willows, the sage brush, the streams.

Monday morning, we left Pasadena at 4 am and drove to the ranger station in Lone Pine to secure a permit. Because flying with backpacking stoves has become a complete hassle (nearly impossible, really), we tend to make our short summer backpacks cold - as in stoveless or non-cook. We popped by a favorite bakery along the 395 corridor and scored some lovely ham and cheese croissants, then headed for the trail where we packed our gear and set off at noon - far later than we ever like to start.

wildflowers still in bloom

jeremy at piute pass

a dinner of croissants, apples, fresh lychees, and cucumbers

setting up camp at the lake

I managed a few hours of sleep before I had to get out of the tent and set up to shoot the meteor shower after the moon set at 1:48 am. I went back into the tent at 3:00 am after seeing about 40 shooting stars and perhaps capturing 10 that I was aware of (the camera can get more than your eye can see - so who knows what I will end up with). Sunrise was lackluster and not worth getting up at 5:30 for, but by then we were itching to clear out to beat the heat.

We didn’t beat the heat, but we hiked out in good time and secured our permit for tomorrow’s backpack trip. On the excellent advice of some of my field engineer friends as well as Todd and Diane, we stopped by the Whoa Nellie Deli in Lee Vining for lunch. It’s a Mobil gas station that serves up surprisingly amazing food. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it gourmet as many claim - but if you consider the setting, it’s as good as it gets for such a small town with so much thru traffic. And besides, food tastes infinitely better when you’ve been backpacking.

such modesty

jeremy’s lobster tacquitos

my fish tacos

After a lot of logistical tasks were taken care of, we returned for dinner (the Tioga Lodge Restaurant menu wasn’t tempting enough) and gorged on some baby back ribs and a burger. The ribs were good, but… my ribs are better ;)

Time to hit the hay, kids. I have a date with more meteors in a few hours and then we return to the backcountry. See you on the other side!