Eating Our Way Through Oxbow Market

D's friend invited us to his wedding in Sacramento, so we decided to make it a 4 day vacation. On Thursday we left for Napa to visit D's parents. k and n did OK during the 7.5 hour car trip. I would give k an "A" and n a "B". (Of course, n receives special consideration since he isn't even 6 months, plus he is teething!) For our late lunch we ate steaks prepared by D's parents. For dinner, we went to the Oxbow Public Market. We've been wanting to eat at Taylor's Automatic Refresher ever since D's parents moved to Napa, and now there is a location at Oxbow!

The place is casual and you order at the counter. We all ordered hamburgers and split sweet potato fries and garlic fries. k really enjoyed the sweet potato fries, along with the ranch dipping sauce (no surprise there!) The garlic fries were a bit much, however, since they are tossed in butter. This gave them a weird too-hard texture, although I liked how they were not shy with the garlic.



The one thing that really hits you in the face at Oxbow is how eco-friendly everyone tries to be and how much they want you to know it. At Taylor's their plastic cups are made entirely of plants!

Their meat is from Niman Ranch. D did some internet research and found out that their cows "don't consume human fecal matter". Makes you wonder what all the other cows we eat consume.

Of course, we had to partake in some dessert. Since we couldn't choose between cupcakes and ice cream, we had both! First we stopped Kara's Cupcakes, which we had boxed up for later at home. D's dad chose vanilla coconut, D's mom chose passion fruit, and I chose Chocolate Velvet, so k could have a bite. D originally wanted vanilla chocolate, but I convinced him to go with the more adventurous Fleur De Sel (w/caramel filling!)

Such a cute place, and the cupcakes were $3.25; expensive, but still cheaper than Sprinkles.

Next we went to Three Twins Ice Cream.

D, k and I shared a single in a waffle cup. You get to choose two flavors. D wanted to "go healthy" after all of our overindulgence so we had lemon sorbet (the healthy choice) along with lemon cookie ice cream (the not so healthy choice). The two lemon flavors contrasted nicely, tart and creamy. D's dad had mocha and cardamom. I had a taste of the cardamom, and liked it a lot. If I didn't have to share with D and k, I would probably get that one since its different. (When D and I were dating I used to balk at him choosing vanilla ice cream if we went to an ice cream parlor. I guess I still do that--see above re: vanilla chocolate cupcake).

It should be interesting to see how Oxbow does in the future. There were a lot more stores open than during our previous visit. It's sad to see that Copia, which is next door, is shut down for now. Hopefully all of the Bay Area foodies (and tourists) can keep it going.

The Lims' Labor Day

This morning we went to Corona Del Mar. The weather was beautiful; a nice day to walk around.

We got there around 9:30 and there was plenty of free parking on Ocean Blvd. (Otherwise you have to pay $10 at the lot). We spread out some towels and enjoyed the view.






Then we walked down to the beach. D thought it was just as nice as Laguna. I love looking at all of the different houses.




Windows wide open!




Look closely...Go Bears!

For lunch we went to a real estate agent-sponsored pool party. Free First Class Pizza! Apparently, we have a "resident DJ" in the neighborhood.

Tonight we went to Chick-Fil-A with our Cal gear to get more free food. (Note that this was not difficult for D, as his weekend uniform is a Cal or IU t-shirt). Surprisingly, it was not busy at all! We met my sister and BIL who were wearing their UCLA t-shirts. D wanted to take a picture of them since this is a rare occurrence, but they declined.

Gilmore Girls Overload

I just finished watching approx. 6 hours of Gilmore Girls with my sisters. D and my BIL are at the SD Chargers pre-season game, so I thought it would be fun to have some sister bonding time. I love that k really enjoys hanging out with her aunties.

I wish there was another "dramedy" to replace Gilmore Girls. Right now I'm just on a reality show kick--Project Runway/Top Chef. I'm also watching a lot of Anthony Bourdain, since we never had the Travel Channel at our old place.

Hello September

This picture is for D's co-worker who moved back to Japan. She left behind this Hello Kitty pillow for k and wanted to know how it's doing. Here it is!


People often ask how k is adjusting to having a little brother. There are definitely ups and downs. Take, for instance, this lovely picture of the two of them. Sometimes, k says she loves n. She comforts him when he cries, saying "It's ok...mommy will come back." She loves to help give him a bath and feeding him.


But on the other hand, there are the times when she says "I don't love him anymore." She's quick to take away any toy he is playing with, declaring "That's mine!" Fortunately, n is at the age where he usually doesn't mind too much. Not looking forward to when he starts fighting back! He is growing up too fast...I can feel the beginnings of a tooth poking through his bottom gum!

Infant Dedication

On Sat. we went to a birthday party for a boy who turned 4. The theme was "tortillas", since that's his favorite food. Too funny. k enjoyed her cupcake:


Today, we had n dedicated at church. Everyone commented afterward about how focused n seemed to be on the pastor. From this photo, I guess it's true!


We are going to attempt to take care of our own yard first to see if we really need a gardener. The prior owner had planted roses, and one just bloomed the other day, so pretty:


It's too hot to be comfortable...so n hangs out in his diaper.

The End of an Era

Today my parents moved out of their home of 28 years into a new house that is less than 5 miles away (about 7 minutes) from us. The timing is not a coincidence, as they had been wanting to move, but were waiting for us to move first. I'm not one to get too sentimental about things, but it feels like I'm saying goodbye to a longtime friend. I lived in that house from ages 4-17, and then on and off again until I got married. Long after I moved out, I still referred to it as "my house". There are so many memories attached to that place, and now it belongs to another family. I can't imagine living in one place for so long, but I admire my parents for being willing to go for the change. In a way, their move is more of an adjustment to me than our own move, since D and I have never lived in one place together for more than 4 years so far. Anyway, I'm looking forward to when we're all settled in, and to creating more memories for k & n!

Catch-Up

I've fallen behind in updating this blog again! Here is what has been happening in the past week or so.


I tasted my first Sprinkles cupcakes. D brought some leftovers home from work (Love when he thinks of me!) We tried strawberry, pumpkin (w/cream cheese frosting) and ginger (w/lemon frosting). Not surprisingly, I liked the ginger the best! The sweet-tart lemon was a nice contrast to the warm ginger flavor. Not sure I would pay almost $4 for one, though.

We went to a birthday party for a one year old with the same name as k (spelled a different way). The theme? Cupcakes!

Cupcake Tower




Went to Disneyland w/k, n, my mom, and sister. It was my first time going with either n or k.






Enjoying Countdown Chicken Fusilli at Red Rockett's in Tomorrowland. Also shared a corndog from the Red Cart and a Dole pineapple float. (We'll be going again for D's birthday).


Our new Moen faucet installed by our real estate agent! (If anyone needs a rec for a real estate agent in Long Beach/OC, we would be happy to refer you).


Tonight I made ham/spinach/cheese crepes. I am in more of a cooking mood these days...maybe it's watching all of those Top Chef Masters episodes. (Congratulations, Rick!)