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It was Mr. BAW's birthday
on Saturday so we dropped Baby off at my parents' house and took off for
a fancy dinner in Beverly Hills. Since it was his birthday, I let him
pick the restaurant so he decided on Wolfgang Puck's Cut at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel directly
across from Rodeo Drive. It was definitely fancy and there were too
many Bentleys to count on one hand at the hotel valet. The experience
was certainly unique and we had a wonderful time. There were plenty
of rich, pretentious, and botox-filled people but there was also a good number
of foreign visitors staying at the hotel dining at Cut. Obviously,
this restaurant is focused on steaks. They have an Australian
Wagyu beef at over $100 a person. We decided on the American Wagyu
38oz T-bone for two, yes, you read it correct...38oz. The meat is definitely
high quality and the marbeling made it very sweet. However, I think
we made a mistake in ordering such a large cut of meat because it is very
hard to cook such a thick cut of meat to the specified doneness. We
wanted medium rare but only parts of the meat was actually medium rare, the
rest of the portions were well done. I think the hightlight of the
dinner was the bone marrow flan and the pork belly, both shown in pictures
above. My favorite was the bone marrow flan. It came with toast
slices and mushroom puree. It was yummy. Overall, it was a good
experience but a bit overpriced. But we thoroughly enjoyed our date
night out dining amongst the wealthy LA people. :-)
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Posted
August 29, 2011
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We went to Costco this evening
and I was appalled to find Christmas stuff being sold already!!! It's
AUGUST people, school hasn't even started yet! This is especially disturbing
since we're experiencing a small heat wave this week. I was actually
going to Costco in hopes of finding some Summer backyard play toys for Baby.
But instead, the aisle was loaded with Christmas lights, ornaments,
and wrapping paper! Very, very disturbing.
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Posted
August 25, 2011
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Last Friday, Baby had his
very first Hollywood Bowl experience!! Call us brave, call us crazy,
but a few months ago I felt comfortable enough to purchase Hollywood Bowl
tickets for Mr. BAW and I. I really wanted to see Fantasia at the
Bowl and what a perfect show for Baby! I thought that he would love
to see Mickey on the giant screen. We've been to concerts at the Bowl
in the past, never with Baby of course. But we know the routine well.
We would get cheap tickets all the way in the back ($5/ticket.) There
is a service road behind the last section of seats so we can sneak Baby
out if he throws a tantrum. Our plan was also to pack a picnic and
hang out at the service road and let Baby run around before the show starts
to tire him out. We didn't think that there woul be enough room to
store the strollerby our seats but they do have stroller check-in service.
So we brought our little lightweight stroller and amazingly, after
folding it up, we were able to tuck it under the bench seating and out of
the way.
So how did things turn out? Everything went as planned!! We
had a wonderful evening. There were tons of other people with their
picnics set up around us. Baby ran all over the place exploring before
the show started. When the concert started Mr. BAW took him back to
the service road a few rows of seats behind our seats and rocked him to sleep.
By the third score, he was able to bring a passed out Baby back to
our seats and Baby slept on my lap the rest of the concert! He didn't
even wake up when the fireworks started! He finally woke up when we
were packing up our things and headed back to the Park n' Ride bus we took
to get to the Hollywood Bowl. He was just an angel on both the ride
to and from the Bowl. He just sat on my lap on the bus and looked out
the window.
There are a couple of things we did learn about bringing a baby to the
Hollywood Bowl that I want to share. First, the hike up the hillside
to get to our seats is not very stroller friendly. Most of the way
you can push the stroller up the hill but there is one section that you
have to either take the stairs or the escalator. There are no elevators
so you have to take your baby out of the stroller and collapse the stroller
to take it up the escalator. Thankfully, we brought our baby carrier
so I carried Baby while Mr. BAW took the stroller and our picnic gear up
the escalator. The other tip is to bring a chair cushion or a blanket
with you to sit on because the benches are not comforable with a 20lb kid
sitting on you for 2.5 hours. Lastly, we started packing up before
the encore started to beat the crowd. We got back to our Park n' Ride
bus ahead of most of the crowd and got home on the first bus. Plus,
rolling the stroller down hill is a lot easier without a mob surrounding
you.
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Waiting in line to get onto our Park n'
Ride bus to get to the Hollywood Bowl.
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Our picnic spread, Vietnamese cold noodle,
yummy!!
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The Hollywood Bowl on a warm L.A. evening!
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The show was about to start!
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Baby posing by our seats, right before he
fell asleep.
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| Fireworks show accompanied by Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker! |
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Posted
August 23, 2011
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Yes,
these are peacocks roaming freely in Palos Verdes Estates! We took
a stroll in the neighborhood after work one evening and saw these guys
just walking around like pigeons. We saw females with about four
baby peacocks roaming about. Then we saw a couple of males with their
beautiful blue feathers and glamourous long tails following the females
around. The story goes that some wealthy people bought some peacocks
for pets in the sixties and a couple of them escaped. Then they reproduced
and over time, they are as common as pigeons in PVE. It is quite strange
to see these giant birds hanging around people's homes and sitting on their
porches. They do get loud at times, their calls resemble a crying
baby. I was hoping to get a picture of a peacock xing sign but couldn't
find one. As you can see, Toby was not bothered by them at all. Baby
was also not too impressed by the giant birds.
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Posted
August 21, 2011
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There has been a war going
on at our house. The war is sometimes heated, sometimes cold, and often
times silent. It's been going on for about a 19 months now. It
is a food war between me and Baby. Ever since his birth, we've been
chasing a number, the average weight. This ideal number changes as
Baby gets older. But we're always way below what the standard curves
are. Baby was born lactose intolerant. Some people don't believe
in newborns being lactose intolerant for fear that mothers will use that
as an excuse to not breastfeed their babies. But if a woman doesn't
want to breastfeed her baby, do you think that they need an excuse? I
breastfed baby for a month and it was a nightmare. Not that he didn't
feed well or that I was having any problems with it. It was that after
every feeding, Baby would cry in constant pain followed by explosive diarrhea.
The crying was horrific, to hold him in my arms knowing that he was
in constant pain was the worst thing I've ever experienced. The final
prove was in his one-month weigh-in. He was not gaining weight. That
was when the doctors (including gastronal specialists) knew that he was
lactose intolerant. Looking back, it is any wonder?? I was
lactose intolerant as a child, so is 95% of all Chinese
people! My MIL is lactose intolerant so Baby got the gene from both
sides of the family. So we stopped breastfeeding him but I was still
diligently pumping and freezing the precious milk. Having overcame
my own lactose intolerance by slowly and consistently giving milk to my
body, I knew that I can train Baby's body into producing lactase. After
6 months of formula feeding and "spiking" his formula with breast milk,
starting with half an ounce per bottle, Baby was able to drink breast milk
entirely! Now, I can still barely look at Baby's one month old pictures.
Seeing how thin and small he was still pains me. But the second
we switched over to formula, Baby gained weight literally in front of my
eyes! His fingers puffed up and he looked like a cubby baby!
Fast forward to Baby's 1st birthday. He is completely lactose
tolerant and drinking whole milk. As a Chinese mother, I couldn't
be happier!! Baby loves milk and I want him to love and drink milk
his entire life! However, another "problem" started. We started
Baby on solids when he was 6 months old. He was such a good eater,
he ate chicken, pork, beef, carrots, peas, spinach, potato, avocados, and
all kinds of puree fruits. But he was always small, below the 5th
percentile. However, his weight curve was tracking everyone elses'.
After his 1st birthday, things started to change. Baby became
a picky eater!! He would shake his head and say "No!" to most of
the foods he used to love. He would only eat fruits, he loves banana,
pears, and watermelon. It's been a war ever since!! Every meal
is a battle. I get very nervous before each meal, will Baby eat this,
will he like it? What if he doesn't want it?? He's already learned
that he can throw his food down and get Toby to eat it. I tried ignoring
him, tried giving him finger foods so that he can feed himself, tried spoon
feeding him, tried eating out of the same bowl as Baby, tried letting him
sit in a booster chair with us as oppesed to a high chair, tried letting
him run around and play while he eats, tried yelling, being stern, coaxing,
being nice, everything! The doctor is not happy with his weight, and
we performed all the tests modern medicine can offer, blood, urine, poop,
everything. All the tests came out negative. Baby's perfectly
healthy and happy, except when he was poked by needles of course!
After months of scouring the internet for solutions, food ideas, and
reading about hundreds of other toddler eating stories, I have finally realized
that Baby is right on track when it comes to milestones! Turns out
that being a picky eater is actually a milestone! I got one piece of
adivce from the internet that I really take to heart. The advice is
not to focus on what Baby eats in one day but rather what he eats in one
week. Some days Baby will only eat bananas but within a week, he actually
eats quite a bit of other foods. After the third doctor visit, even
the pediatrician is slowly accepting that Baby is the size he is. He
told me at the last visit that in the end the weight is just a number and
we shouldn't worry about it too much. As long as we have done the due
diligence of performing all the tests we can rest assured that there's nothing
wrong with Baby. Bottom line is I will try very hard to not obsess
about Baby's eating. He's happy and healthy and developing right on
track. Besides, with a family of amazing cooks and bakers, how can Baby
grow up not loving food?
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Posted
August 16, 2011
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I lived
in West Los Angeles and Brentwood for about 6 years when I was going to
graduate school at UCLA. I hung out with friends and frequented many
local coffee shops and restaurants (oh yeah, and a couple of clubs) throughout
the years. But somehow, I missed the Brentwood Country Mart!
It was only a few months ago, through reading a blog, that I discovered
this charming little shopping/dining area. How to describe the Brentwood
Country Mart...it is a small collection of quaint and charming shops and
eateries. There is a fantastic brunch/bakery restaurant, a
high-end children's clothing store, a cute book store, a chocolate store,
a fancy little coffee shop, and a yummy ice cream parlor, just to name
a few. The Sweet Rose Creamary has an amazing strawberry ice cream
that I love. They also have a petting zoo and pony rides for the
kids on the weekends. We like to go there for lunch and coffee
with ice cream after. We also like to stroll the quaint shops.
Everything is very expensive so we usually don't buy anything. Oh
yeah, and you may just occasionally run into a few celebreties, it is
Brentwood afterall. If you happen to be on the Westside, it's worth
a visit to the Brentwood Country Mart.
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Strolling through the dinning area.
There are several casual food places in the courtyard.
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The Farm Shop, a fantastic restaurant
for brunch and lunch.
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Cute little walkways through the Country
Mart.
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A very cute toy store.
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Ice cream!!
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We enjoyed our ice cream on the patio.
It was a beautiful weekend.
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Posted
August 9, 2011
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There are days when I wish
we live somewhere else in the US where we can afford to live off of one
income so I can be a stay at home mom. But then there are perfect
evenings like tonight that reminds me of why we love LA so much and can
never leave. This evening the weather was simply divine. It
was in the mid 70's with no wind. The Sun was setting over the glittering
ocean. We took Baby and Toby out to Malaga Cove for dinner at the Yellow Vase.
Baby got to run around their outdoor courtyard with a ball. Toby
rested under the table waiting for food to drop. We enjoyed great
pizza and amazing hot chocolates. All the while folks were walking
by on their way to the Palos Verdes Summer Concert just behind the restaurant carrying
coolers, blankets, and chairs. As we finished up our meal, we can hear
the music from the concert. After dinner, we took Baby in his stroller
and Toby over to see the concert. We didn't stay for the conert because
of Baby, but we took a nice walk through the neighborhood with the concert
music in the background. These free concerts occur every Wednesday
for the next few weeks right next door to the library. You can enjoy
the music, bring food and drink, and even get an amazing ocean view. You
can't tell from my picture but the view of the Pacific is just beyond the
trees. I love the long days of Summer.
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Posted
August 3, 2011
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I can't believe that it's
August already! I have no excuse for not blogging more often except
that these days I look as tired as Toby does in this picture. Living
with a toddler can take a lot out of everyone!! As much as Toby loves
Baby, his expression says it all. These days Baby has taken a special
liking to his "DWAAAG!" Baby just loves Toby. He loves to give
Toby hugs. If Toby is sleeping on the floor, Baby will throw himself
onto Toby. Toby tries hard to just be, but sometimes it gets to be
too much. Then Toby will simply give me a look as if to say, "Mom,
I've given it all I've got. But I need some quiet dog time!" After
the "look" Toby will just get up and walk to a quiet place of the house.
I hope Baby realizes what a special guy Toby is. I hope he
will learn that not every little boy gets to have his very own dog. Happy
August everyone! I'm off to catch some zzzz's before Baby wakes up
screaming for me in the middle of the night! I do apologize for the
blurry picture. Trying to catch Baby and Toby together in the same picture
is as hard as catching Big Foot in action.
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Posted
August 2, 2011
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