use real butter

No matter how good a trip was, it is always a great feeling to come home. I have red welt marks on my right shoulder from the weight of my duffle bags which were packed to the hilt with goodies. One bag was full of Trader Joe’s goodies (having lived within 6 miles of 6 TJ stores in Pasadena, we can’t seem to do without very easily) and the other had my clothes and lots of Asian food stuffs. Despite all of the food items I carried home, the most precious things I brought back were good memories from the visit.

cupertino is apple country… apple, how i love thee

On Grandma’s birthday, we drove her to one of her favorite senior centers to sign up (it is re-opening soon). Elena and I walked around while the employees chattered away with Grandma, her friend, and my mom. It’s quite a nice set up for seniors, but what caught my eye the most was the Group Therapy Room.

yeah right, it’s the majong room!

Afterward we went to Milpitas’ E-Noodle for some terrific fare. I really do appreciate all of the suggestions from folks for great places to eat. Just that my Grandma is pretty independent and had ideas of her own. It seems that there is some intersection between her restaurant space and the restaurant space of my blog readers, so it’s all cool. I’ve made sure to maintain the recommendations for future reference. Their beef noodle soup was the shit (I mean in a good way) as were their pot stickers, dried tofu noodles, congee, and beef tendon.

sautéed beef tendon

I know what some of you are thinking… beef tendon? Yeah, it’s delicious here, so don’t be scared of it. In the evening, we took Grandma to Chef Chu’s in Palo Alto. We have had a lot a special meals there partly because my Grandma’s niece is the head of catering and partly because their food is incredible. I don’t think I have ever ordered off the menu though - we always get special ordered dishes. Chef Chu’s has a surprisingly high percentage of white clientele because they do serve a lot of the Americanized favorites. However, their Chinese specialties are really amazing. It’s not a typical authentic Chinese dive since their restaurant is clean, their waitstaff polite and professional, and their style is somewhat westernized.

happy bday, popo!

When we lived in New York, Grandma would cry every time we parted ways. It was unclear to me if she was sad to see me go, or worried that we wouldn’t see each other again or …? But these days she doesn’t cry and I don’t sense she is as sad. When I tell her I’ll see her again, I think she really believes me. I also get the impression that she’s not afraid of dying. I used to be terrified of death, but these days I’m not. It affects the way you live your life, or at least your perspective on life. Perhaps I see this in Grandma? She is so practical. While I was messing around taking photos one afternoon, she said matter-of-factly in Chinese, “I want you to take a nice picture of just me, to put up at my funeral. I don’t want some junky photo, okay?” Or if we suggest getting her a new piece of furniture she’ll say, “Why? I’m only going to use it for a few years, tops!” Of course, I want her to live to 100 and beyond, but I’ll gladly take any time I can get with her. I’d like to think that perhaps the realist in me may have come in part from her.

The best part of the trip was seeing my mom and my grandma so happy. That means a lot to me.

above the marine layer flying out of san jose

Only minutes after takeoff, I realized that I never retrieved my Patagucci jacket from the trunk of Elena’s rental car from the night before. Panic. I always panic when it comes to relying on the honesty of strangers. [Jeremy and I found $120 in cash in the parking lot of a grocery store once and turned it into the grocery store manager who looked at us like we were insane.] Two hours later in Denver, I texted Jeremy to contact Enterprise while I grabbed my bags and caught the bus to Boulder.

It was lovely to see Jeremy waiting for me at Boulder Station. He picked up my bags (a little surprised at how heavy they were) and walked me to the car. I hadn’t eaten anything, so we decided to head to Sushi Tora for a little reunion lunch. While there, we ran into a very nice woman at the sushi bar who remembered us from Community Night at The Kitchen back in July. It was the camera… I mean the fact that I take pictures of everything I eat - that is what made her think I might be the same crazy Chinese chick from Comm Night. Yes, crazy Chinese chick and I are one and the same. We exchanged emails.

a simple spicy tuna roll

tora no maki roll, smoooooooooth

Kaweah, who was reportedly mopey all weekend without me, came bounding down the stairs when I got home. She gave wiggles, waggles, and some butt scoots of joy. We took a happy nap together - her chin resting on my chest, snoring into my face. I also got a call… Good news! Enterprise found my jacket and shipped it to me today. When the world is so full of people who suck at their jobs, I have to sing the praises for this company because they have done right by me several times now. Thanks Amanda and Jenny.

Yay for being home.

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!

Now it comes down to it… we are on the final segment of our trip. But wait, I haven’t told you about the rest of the middle section of our adventures! Again, this will be quick because I am running on fumes here. You might have guessed by now that vacation is the equivalent of being sleep-deprived for me (big surprise!), but I prefer it that way :)

Wednesday activities: Shot sunrise on Mono Lake. Drove to Mammoth Lakes and caught shuttle to Agnew Meadows. Backpacked in to Thousand Island Lake. Explored Thousand Island Lake.

sunrise over tufa

morning wildlife at mono lake

Wednesday observations: Mono Lake is bigger than you might think. Mammoth is full of yahoos even in summertime. Not a fan of boyscouts in the backcountry. The sun was brutal.

Thursday activities: Packed camp at 4 am. Shot sunrise over Thousand Island Lake. Hiked out to Agnew Meadows. Drove to Mecca Patagucci Patagonia Outlet in Reno and scored mad loot! Dinner in Truckee. Drove to South Lake Tahoe. Camped.

banner peak over thousand island lake

the kind of retail i can get behind

cooling off with a little caffeine in my sugar

pad thai special - not so special

thai beef salad with your yearly supply of sodium

Thursday observations: The wilderness is far more pleasant when boyscouts are asleep. Avoid the River trail in the future when it is going to be ass hot. Nevada is not my kind of place. Thai food in Truckee was overly sweet, salty, and everything else. Campgrounds are a perfect venue for observing how stupid people behave when they perceive they are “out in nature”.

Friday activities: Packed camp at 5 am and got the hell out of Dodge (Tahoe). Drove to Berkeley. Visited The North Face outlet. Met Cindy for lunch. Drove on to San Jose. Began weekend with Grandma.

cindy’s lunch

and salad

mi torta with amazing delicious fabulous pork

why are we standing here? why aren’t we skiing?

Friday observations: Bay area drivers suck at driving. The North Face Outlet is so ghetto compared to Patagonia’s outlet. One hour to meet Cindy for lunch is too little time. Love Berkeley. Before we rushed off in our separate directions, Cindy presented each of us with a box of… cookies! It was maybe 5 minutes in the car before I busted into a box and fed Jeremy (and myself) a wonderful homemade iced ginger cookie from Cindy’s kitchen. Such a sweetheart.

Well, I’m not really coherent anymore, but it was delightful to meet Cindy in person and I loved our lunch at Tacubaya. She makes me laugh just as much in person as she does on her blog! And now she knows one of my debilitating weaknesses… pretty lunch menus written in green chalk.

This is my last post of the trip. Plenty of pics coming up when I get home (and yes, more recipes). Until then, have a great weekend! End Communication.