As I am writing this, we are already half-way through April. As always, how time flies -- more so now that the world seems to be waking up from its slumber. I broke tradition by not writing my intentions for the the new year. In January, I still felt lost. Even now when more and more people are getting vaccinated in California, I am still being cautiously optimistic.
THE NEW YEAR WEEKEND
We usually do not wait up for the changing of the year anymore but not this year. We wanted to say "goodbye" to the pandemic year that was 2020 with all its challenges and memories both good and bad. Mr Sweetie and I stayed up watching movies all day. We watched these movies until 5 minutes until midnight then we went to sleep. We woke feeling cautiously optimistic.
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January 2nd, Saturday -- We went to BevMo in Orinda because Mr Sweetie needed to buy post-holiday presents for his co-workers. We also stopped at a Mexican restaurant where we picked up food. This has been our first Saturday dinner pick up since the beginning of the pandemic. We continued watching more TV shows and lit the fireplace while eating our dinner.
SATURDAYS AT HOME
This has been our Saturday dinners at home which were all delivered except for two:
- Mexican food dinner on January 2nd after going on a post-holiday shopping at BevMo. He bought me a pack of mini-Bailey's of different flavors. I also bought a bottle of Apple Brandy because it sounded so yummy at the time. I tasted it when we got home and it was strong! (Hello, future baked pastries with apple brandy!) He also got an apple flavored Crown Royale. We had a couple of shots but we are really not drinkers but we enjoyed those two shots (we slept well that night!) LOL!
- Pizza delivery
- Chili cheese fries
- Poke from R&R (Oakland) which was our favorite poke place pre-pandemic. Sadly, we noticed that the quality of restaurant foods has been suffering during the pandemic. We were not happy with the poke.
- Roasted Duck Over Rice -- Another food pick up. We had to go to Mr Sweetie's business to drop off an appliance that I wanted out of the house. On our way back home, we picked up roasted duck over rice and all kinds of Chinese dishes. They were delicious and I had food for days!
FAMILY AND BFF
I got to see BFF during a short and sweet meet-up at work since we are still on lock down. She gave me a bowl of chicken sopas (Filipino chicken noodle soup) which was so perfect because I got sick on January 28 after I got my first shot of Moderna vaccine. It was so perfect to have this bowl to comfort me after my arm hurted so badly, where I got so fatigued and developed chills and fever. The symptoms were short-lived. By the time I woke up the next day, i was totally fine.
I also got to do a Sunday visit my sister, nephews and brother-in-law. My nephew, Gabriel and I made Sushi Bake for the first time and i got to play with my 4 year old nephew.
MY FIRST VACCINE SHOT
I got my first vaccine shot in San Francisco because of my work. It is really a blessing that I was one of the first ones to get the shot in the US. It was also a treat as the site was right next to a lovely park, Yerba Buena, which was located at SF's South of Market neighborhood. I got to sit for a spell and look at Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have A Dream" fountain below me.
PANDEMIC COOKING AND BAKING
I am continuing to cook (which is one of good things about being on lockdown). There were hits and misses:
- PANDESAL -- I got to bake pandesal which is a Filipino sweet rolls. It was very good. Mr Sweetie would not stop eating the rolls as soon as they got out of the oven.
- SUSHI BAKE -- Success! It was so good that I made another tray with my sister and nephews when I visited them. I have yet to post the recipe on my blog which is Bay Gal blog.
- 'THE REBEL WITHIN" - Inspired by my taste of one of SF's famous pastry from Craftsman and Wolves, "the rebel within," I tried to recreate this pastry with baked egg inside. Both the original pastry and my baked pastry were really just okay.
- "FRIED AVOCADO" -- This was inspired by the show "Cooking Hawaii" that Mr Sweetie and I watched until we watched all the episodes. I like the concept of baked avocado. Will make it again from time to time.
- CORN FRITTERS -- Easy to make and so good. Here is the recipe on my blog.
- ROASTED CORNISH HENS -- Since I did not get to roast the hens as I planned to do for NYE, I made them as a post-holiday meal. As always I forget how it is to roast cornish hens. Check out the recipe on the blog.
MOMENTS IN HISTORY
There are so many new moments in history that are being created since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, both the pandemic itself and politics. The current times have both so much heartache with the losses, hatred, racism and political unrest.
CAPITOL INSURRECTION -- A sad and shameful moment in US history. I was at work in San Francisco when we got the news. It was so disheartening as the new year has just started. It felt like 2020 all over again.
PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION --The presidential election was the fresh hope that my family and I prayed for. We consider it a blessing that Americans might finally have a chance to heal and work together despite our differences, whether Republicans or Democrats.
SIMPLE JOYS
I would rather focus on simple joys and blessings because despite the harsh realities of this world, there are so much beauty around us.
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