Saturday with Mingus

2.23pm - Milk fortified with cream and Midnight Moo chocolate syrup - Mingie's favorite, and one tasty concoction! He'd emptied his sippy cup, so I mixed him a refill and decided to make some for myself as well. Heated it up, too, on account of it being a chilly day, so it was perfect for dipping that toasted whole wheat croissant that was leftover from breakfast - and Mingie agreed! I was worried he might not want to eat or not eat enough, so I was super happy to see him gobbling up one piece of chocolate-milk soaked croissant after another... This was in between two outings to the park, on a sunny but fabulously windy day. And just for the record, Mingie was a perfect little angel the entire day. What a great kid!

I tried to take a picture of Mingus running along the wall, but he was just too darn fast! At the park near his house.4.36pm - a cutesy monkey cupcake that I didn't really think Mingie would eat all on his own....

4.37pm - but once he got ahold of it, there was no letting go! All I got back was the empty wrapper.... Good thing I got a box of six of them :)

5.05pm - and then Mingie wanted some of these, so I had some, too, just to try - and they're nice! Not too sugary.
This is while watching Finding Nemo - we didn't know it yet, but by this time, Mingus was already a big brother! We were totally unsuspecting, though, as we'd gotten a call from the hospital earlier saying that the baby was in no rush and that we might have to put Mingie to bed if it got too late...

but then, low and behold, at 5.40pm Nady called to say that Mingie had a baby brother born at three minutes to five, and that we could come over and see him!

Mingus didn't quite grasp the big news, but he was very willing to interrupt Finding Nemo and go see Mommy and Daddy and some baby that Petra kept going on about and got all teary-eyed over.

So off we went to the hospital, and Mingie fell asleep in the car.

Ritesh came to the hospital, too, and brought flowers and champagne, which was appreciated and enjoyed although I for one was too in the moment to take any pictures. I'm hoping the happy camera-wielding uncle might have captured something. There was so much happiness and excitement it's all a bit of a blur. Suffice it to say that the baby is adorable and has a very catchy name (that I hesitate to disclose as Nady is very concerned about privacy and the name is quite distinctive. So we'll see if I get permission :) and to top it off, we were asked to be the godparents, and very happily accepted. Happy days indeed!

Once everyone went home, Ritesh and I still felt all festive and wanted to celebrate some more, so we decided to go to Robata-ya, a Japanese restaurant that I'd heard about from Nady. In fact, the last email I got from her before she gave birth was a link to a review of this place, so we decided to give it a try in her honor. Plus, you know, our new godson is a quarter Japanese, so toasting his arrival with sake felt like the right thing to do.

9.10pm - sake and Kirin, at Robata-Ya, with Ritesh

9.17pm - an appetizer on the house. Fried chicken skin. Hmmm.

9.20pm - Ritesh's miso soup

9.36pm - rice cake in fish broth

9.40pm - grilled rice cake filled w/ umeboshi plum, plus some grilled asparagus skewers

9.41pm - grilled gingko nuts!

9.42pm - Kobe beef, plain on the right, filled with foie gras on the left. Nady's grandmother is from Kobe, so this was a must.

9.42pm - grilled okra

10.07pm - and some grilled tuna w/ mountain potatoes and okra

Welcome to the world, little Spike!

Wed, Nov 12

8.18am - cereal, some flax and hemp seeds with rice milk, and the Bond T-shirt we all got at work yesterday in honor of the US opening of Quantum of SolaceThis must have been around 11am or so. I thought I'd forgotten my camera at home, so I made poor Cecy grab her iPhone and trek down the hall with me to take a picture of my key lime fruit & nut bar taped to one of the cubicle walls. Ahem. It seemed like a great idea at the time :) Thankfully, Cecy is a good sport and was very gracious about it - actually, I think she may even have offered to jump in and save the day, so thanks, Cecy!

1.13pm - a quick drive-by lunch at the Hare Krishna Temple. We are so insanely swamped at work, what with the economic crisis and clients not paying and all, that I'd anticipated another lousy lunch at my desk. But when lunch time came around, I just couldn't do it. I'd promised myself to take better care of myself and my sanity during this time, so I did. Got myself a healthy, fresh meal, and was just thrilled to get out of the building and get some fresh air and sit in the sun, even if only for a short while. It was too late to call Nadya, but Nady I hope next time we can meet here again!
Oh, and I found the camera on the passenger seat in the car - must have fallen out of my purse.

4.27pm - Annie Cheung's Udon noodle soup, in the lunchroom, at work.

8.37pm - I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but Ritesh made dinner AGAIN! In my defense, I have to say that he does get off work earlier than I do. But still - he's a sweetheart for taking care of me this way... thanks, love! This is Indian-style red kidney beans (rajma) w/ brown rice and kachumber salad.

Fri, Nov 7

8.35am - It's Nov 7 - time to put up the Christmas tree! Retailers in despair at the mall across the street, on a hot November morning.12.19pm - It's been so insanely busy at work, I didn't even have breakfast. So when I was running errands during lunch I was so hungry, my autopilot led me around the corner to you-know-where...
12.22pm - the signature black sesame rice crisps with spicy tomato chutney, at Rock Sugar

12.38pm - the Japanese eggplant w/ a sweet glaze, and spicy sambal on top. Loved it. But by this time, I was feeling terrible about not asking my fellow Rock Sugar fan Cecy to come along. Should have planned this better - more fun to have company!

12.48pm - the mildly underwhelming Singapore omelette, with shitake mushrooms, bean sprouts and a sweet soy dipping sauce. Not bad, but I like things a little more flavorful, i.e. spicy.

1.09pm - pomegranate lemonade and my favorite bamboo (beats a fake christmas tree any day), outside work

7.26pm - a CBS billboard over a Winchell's donut store, on the walk home after work. Boy it gets dark early now that daylight saving time is over...

8.08pm - Ritesh made his own chapatis tonight! (Granted, his mom had made the dough, but he's a stud at rolling it out and cooking it to perfection!)

8.36pm - Ritesh's fabulous Indian-style orange cauliflower and yams, with kachumber and chapatis. I am so totally getting used to him cooking dinner all the time - this is great! Thanks, love!

Thurs, Oct 2 - Vice Pres. Debate

8.09am - who says you can't have tortellini for breakfast? At home.10.12am - coconut milk yogurt w/ hemp, flax and sunflower seeds, at work

2.26pm - salad from Mrs. Winston's, outside work

4.07pm - rosemary apricot chocolate from La Grande Epicerie in Paris, at work

6.27pm - some tortilla chips during the vice-presidential debate, at home, with Ritesh

8.18pm - spicy eggflower pork noodle soup which gave us a stomach ache, at RamenYa, with Ritesh

8.21pm - veggie stir fry at RamenYa, with Ritesh

Tue, Sept 30 - Trupti came to town!

8.14am - Ezekiel cereal w/ coconut rice milk and fresh raspberries, at home10.09am - strawberry sheep milk yogurt w/ a bunch of seeds, before the PTV meeting, at work

1.25pm - Ritesh's cousin Trupti from Toronto had a layover in LA on her way back from Australia, so we had a chance to have lunch together. I was late because of the PTV meeting, but Ritesh left me some of his oyster and fennel salad, at the Napa Valley Grille.

1.30pm - I nibbled away at some of Trupti's sweet potato ravioli w/ duck...

1.30pm - and at some of Ritesh's steak...

1.52pm - until I got my own dish: a lovely honeydew melon and blue crab salad w/ watercress. Nice and light and refreshing on one of the hottest days of the year. Not sure what's going on with the weather, but it's insanely hot, like midsummer all over again. The locals are mumbling that it's earthquake weather, but so far it seems that's urban lore...

2.26pm - a Matcha green tea iced blended drink w/ soy milk from Peet's Coffee & Tea, with Ritesh, after putting Trupti in a cab back to the airport

6.43pm - but lo and behold, Trupti missed her flight and was back before we knew it: a caipirinha at Ummba Brazilian Churrascaria, with Trupti and Ritesh.

6.50pm - Ummba's delicious sweet potato fries, with a blue cheese ranch dressing and lots of sea salt - Ritesh and Trupti had already shared one before I got out of work, so this one was pretty much mine alone...

6.54pm - got a whole pitcher of margarita!

8.18pm - and then ended up at RockSugar for dessert.

8.19pm - more appetizers first - the tomato chutney w/ black sesame rice crackers. This is seriously good stuff, even Ritesh was impressed.

8.33pm - ahi tuna roll w/two excellent dipping sauces

8.37pm - the fabulous Japanese eggplant

8.48pm - the banana dessert w/ creme anglaise and malted milk ice cream

8.49pm - and everyone's favorite, the trio of cremes brulees (mango, sweet corn, and spicy chocolate), before rushing off to take Trupti back to the airport... this time she made it!