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November 30, 2008

San Fancisco - 11/29/08

Saturday was our anniversary so we went for a trip to San Francisco. Our intention was to visit the newly re-opened California Academy of Sciences but we soon found out that was everyone else's intention as well. We circled around Golden Gate Park looking for a parking space for about an hour only to find out that museum was not letting in any more people because it was too full.

We then decided to visit the SF Museum of Modern Art which is always a good alternative. We first had lunch in the Metreon and then ran around the park for a bit. Maya loves water and fountains so she always enjoys Yerba Buena Gardens.

San Fancisco 11/29/08

San Fancisco 11/29/08

San Fancisco 11/29/08

Maya slept through the whole museum (which really didn't have any new interesting exhibits), and most of the way home.

We later went out for dinner at Zibibbo where Maya was a perfect lady and got lots of complements on how well behaved she was.

San Fancisco 11/29/08

November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We stuffed ourselves silly.

Thanksgiving 2008

This year, I tried to make everything from scratch. I made Mark Bittman's 45 minute turkey which came out great (except that it took over an hour),

Thanksgiving 2008

We had Cornbread and chorizo stuffing (though I bough Mexican chorizo instead of Spanish chorizo by mistake).

Thanksgiving 2008

Instead of potatoes I made mashed plantains in a nod to Uganda. We also had steamed cassava.

Thanksgiving 2008

I made the dinner rolls from "How to Cook Everything"

Thanksgiving 2008

The rolls came out great, but I guess everyone is a critic

Thanksgiving 2008

We of course had Cranberry Sauce out of the can (The only way to eat it, anything else is an abomination) and Sparkly Cider. We had to have some kind of green so I cooked some swiss chard, but because it looked too healthy I sauteed it in bacon fat.

Overall we had a pretty good spread and we'll have leftovers for the foreseeable future.

Thanksgiving 2008

For Dessert we have a Pumpkin Chiffon pie which I will begin eating as soon as I press the button to send this message.

November 23, 2008

Maya at the mall

Susan takes Maya to the mall pretty frequently because its only a few stops away on the light rail and easy to get to when I have the car for the day.

One of Maya's favorite things at the mall are the toy vehicles that you can climb on (and make move if you want to pay a few quarters)

Here's a few pics of her playing...

Maya - 11-22-08

Maya - 11-22-08

Maya - 11-22-08

November 7, 2008

Birthday boy

Thursday was my birthday so I took the day off of work and he headed north to Napa Valley.

We went mainly to eat and see the fall scenery since its not much fun to do wine tasting with a 17 month old (at least not much fun for the kid).

We started the day at the new Oxbow Public Market in downtown Napa. We arrived about 1:00, just in time for lunch. We got a lamb sandwich from The Fatted Calf that was really tasty. Since it was my birthday, I went with a selection of cheeses from The Oxbow Cheese Merchant, including some Roomano which I've had trouble finding around San Jose.

We then walked around Copia which is next door but inexplicably closed during the week.

Napa Valley - 11/06/08

Notice anything different about me?

We then drove north stopping at Mondavi Winery, we stopped there thinking they'd have the nicest grounds to walk around, but we were a little disappointed because most of it was closed off except for guided tours.

Napa Valley - 11/06/08

We then went up and walked around downtown St Helena before returning to Yountville for dinner.

We first had to stop for pastries at Bouchon Bakery (though we resisted temptation and didn't eat them until the next day.

We then had dinner at Bistro Jeanty, one of my favorite restaurants in the world.

11-06-08 Bistro Jeanty [edited]

The serve very rustic country french dishes, lots of stews and braised meat. Susan had the coq au vin and I had slow roasted pork shoulder. Of course I had to start with french onion soup.

11-06-08 Bistro Jeanty

I used to go here every birthday and was glad to continue the tradition. Maya did great, it's not a real fancy place but because its pretty highly regarded a lot people go there for special occasions and we didn't want Maya to spoil that if she got unruly. In the end she did great, and sat nicely most of the meal and only started getting restless after we had finished and were waiting for the check so it was easy for Susan to take her outside while I paid.

She loved the onion soup and ate some of the lamb and chicken, but didn't gobble it down as I though she would, She must have been tired as she slept the whole way home and then through the night.