The End of my Blog for a While

Hi All my two readers (maybe three, since I know my mom occasionally reads it) who have stuck with this blog and its lack of posts. I just cannot find enough hours in the day to post on this blog.
I am in the classroom  or lab for over 20 hours a week, I am slated to work my part-time job for 20+ hours a week, and this is not including the crazy commute time of Oahu traffic.  Teaching two college courses also means grading and creating curriculum. I think that it takes up a bunch of my time because I care too much and I want my students to learn as much as possible.  Then I choose to spend my free time playing with my daughter and getting her ready for the day and night.

Maybe I'll post once every couple of months (if you use a Reader, it will be easier to see if a sporadic post pops up). Maybe I'll switch to Tumblr and post random notes and pictures of food. Maybe I'll just post pictures of the food that my students cook in class because I certainly have not been cooking or baking very much. Mike has been stepping it up and our daughter probably will be a bit confused on stereotypical gender roles.  She'll tell her classmates, "No, daddy has a full time job, yet he cooks and cleans too." So can you see why I do not have free time? If I did, I would try to help Mike out a bit more.

Although this past January has been super duper busy, I think it may get worse or at least a bit more er...challenging.  A new opportunity has fortuitously been thrust my way and I really think that I could help Hawaii out... and it's related to food and people.

On a personal front, there are new adventures in store for us...2014 might be the year that we make a big purchase....here's a hint, it rhymes with "mouse."(yeah, cheesy I know).  I am very fortunate to be given these opportunities and am super stoked at what is in store for the rest of the year.  Lots of new changes and things to look forward to.

Happy Anniversary Hubby!

Today marks Mike and my five year anniversary! Yay us! We have made it through five years of dating, five years of marriage, and are still going strong! Wow, that's 10 years! Our little family keeps growing...in 2011 we introduced little Butters our dog and then in 2012 our little baby girl. She already turned 1 year old, so now she's just our "little baby girl."

This is not a picture of Mike and me. It's the dogs helping us celebrate. :)

I often tell Mike that marrying him was the best decision in my life. It's true. I some how lucked out and found the guy that I was meant to spend the rest of my life with at such a young age (we met in high school but did not start dating until college).  We had a rough few years of doing the long distance thing, but I think that made our relationship that much stronger.

He's my best friend and a wonderful daddy to our little girl! He is also a great husband who cooks, cleans, and tickles my back to help me fall asleep.  Thank you Michael for loving me for all these years! I love you! Here's to many more years!

Apple Bananas

I did not think that these were overripe, but I guess they were.  We had a bunch of bananas hanging from a stand and I think that these three wanted to be eaten.

We made it!

Baby, Mike, and I made it to Hawaii!  Our little girl was a trooper and survived the 8 hour and 35 minute direct flight from Dallas, TX. We were equipped with a  lot of formula, pacifiers, and toys to entertain her. 

Mike started working this past week and I've been at home taking care of the baby, unpacking, and trying to set up the baby's room.  Lucky for us, Mike's parents set up her room and crib so our girl would have a place to sleep when we arrived. My sister will be thrilled that the baby's room is decorated with Hello Kitty.
I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year! The posts will probably continue in early January when we have had a chance to unpack and settle in. 

A Proclamation! A Proclamation! A Proclamation!

"A proclamation, a proclamation, a proclamation!" say the naked mole rats from Mo Willems' book, "Naked Mole Rat gets Dressed" (Yes, we have memorized some of the stories that we read to our baby girl).

This is a big announcement to you all!

Mike and I are heading back home to Hawaii! It has always been a thought in the back of our minds to eventually move back home.  Mike was uber nice to me after I received my doctorate degree in Food Science-he quit his job back home in Hawaii and we moved to Texas so that I would not "waste' my degree and all those years of schooling.  Mike gave up his engineering job and became a teacher in Texas, while I worked for corporate America.

 We said we would give it 3-5 years and make a decision from there.  Everything was status quo here, I enjoyed my job, we made a lot of great friends...and then came our baby girl.

We know that we are financially better off in Texas, but we want to raise our daughter in Hawaii near our family.  We had a nice time in Texas, made some life-long friends, and are sad to say goodbye to them.

I'm not sure what kind of work I will be doing in Hawaii yet. I'm looking into food companies, culinary jobs, and teaching opportunities back home.  Hopefully the job market is better than I remember it to be. I also may decide to take care of our baby for a few months before sending her off to daycare.

So a few days ago, I put in my two weeks notice.  We will be back home just in time to celebrate the winter holidays with family and friends.  Wish us luck!

Working from Home

I returned back to work after 11 weeks of maternity leave and vacation days.  Mike took off four days of work, and I ended up back in the house working from home on Friday. One of the perks at my work place is that if you work longer hours during the week, you can take half-day Fridays. A lot of the time I was traveling or had extra work at the end of the week, so I ended up taking "3/4-day Fridays." Still, Fridays are great because the time off allows me to schedule doctor's appointments and run errands. 

So...working half-day Fridays with a baby and dog can be challenging! If the baby is crying, she has to be fed, changed, and then put back to sleep.You lose your train of thought, and then waste time getting back in "work mode."   I ended up working for the whole day, but probably only finishing a half-day of work.  I doubt I'll be working from home again in the future, unless it's really necessary. I figure that if I'm more efficient at the office, then I will spend less time working there than if I were to bring my work home with me. 

I also had to take of baby #2 (a.k.a. Butters the dog).  He may look cute and cuddly, but he can sometimes be a needy dog!

Biscoff/Speculoos Spread

Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter-it tastes just like Biscoff's Creamy Speculoos Spread.  Did you know that there is also a CRUNCHY Biscoff Spread?

Imagine the original creamy Biscoff Spread with pieces of crunchy Biscoff cookies.  I'm a texture person and when it comes to foods, I like crunchy foods better than soft items.   CRUNCHY over creamy peanut butter, TACOS over burritos, and CRUNCHY Biscoff Spread over creamy. 

I'm not sure if you can see the cookie bits in the spread. But it's so good.  I wonder if you could make this by grinding up Biscoff cookies and mixing it into creamy Biscoff spread.

Hospital Food

Here's a recap of the hospital food that I have been fed. Yeah, I know it's kind of weird to take pictures of the food that we ate, but I had my camera there to take baby pictures, so I decided to take pictures of the food too. 
This is the first time in my life that I have actually been served hospital food. I have been fortunate enough and never had an extended stay at a hospital.  Back in High School and college, I volunteered in the Nutrition Department and served people food, but never ate it.

"Celebratory Lunch"-During all the childbirth classes that we were taking at the hospital, one of the nurses kept talking up the "Celebratory Lunch" served on a white tablecloth and made special by the chef.  I ordered the chicken and shrimp. 

The nice thing about Centennial Medical Center in Frisco,TX is that I could order two plates (one for Mike) for each meal.  Mike ordered the steak for his "Celebratory Lunch."  (I thought that the chicken was better)

Chocolate Cheesecake

Berries and Cream

Breakfast-eggs, sausage, tater tots, and a biscuit.  I could not eat this meal because I had an epidural and was only allowed ice and popsicles.  I went 27 hours only eating ice and popsicles! Each time another meal was brought in for Mike and my sister, I ate a popsicle.

Chicken, peas, and pasta. 

Cobb (?) Salad.  The chicken noodle soup was pretty good.

Pork, mashed potatoes, and green beans.  This was another meal that Mike ate and I could not. 

We could also order from a late night menu between 6:30pm and 6:30 am.  I thought that the food from that menu was pretty good (soups, sandwiches, fries, etc). In general the hospital food was pretty mediocre, but it was nice to have hot meals coming at you three to four times a day! 

My Secret Brownie Bars

Two weekends ago, Mike and I were social butterflies and had about six different events to attend from Friday to Sunday. We were supposed to have a low-key Saturday night of just lounging around the apartment prepping for the baby, but then found out that an event was actually on Saturday night instead of the following Saturday.  

Yes, I know. Pregnant ladies do not have to stand on their feet and bake in the kitchen, but for some strange reason, I feel pretty good and am still in the kitchen baking.  We could have easily stopped by Sam's Cluba and picked up an apple pie or picked up some beers on the way to the party, but I would have none of it.  So, Mike and I had a little under three hours to whip up a dessert.  These brownie bars are slowly making it into my "For Keeps" Recipe book (these are my tried and true recipes that I can fall back on. Most of the recipes in it are from my mom's recipe book back home).

I basically start off following the directions on a box of chewy brownie mix. Duncan Hines works well, although I'm a Ghirardelli fan.  Ghirardelli brownie box mixes only make a 9"x9" pan, while other brands make a 9"x13" pan, so I stick with box mixes that make a larger pan size.
I slightly underbake the brownies (fudgy brownies are so good), then top it with mini marshmallows and Rice Krispies.

There is no measuring what-so-ever and then I melt some Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Chips (in the residual heat in my oven) and then spread it over the marshmallows and Rice Krispies. For the sake of time, I let the brownies cool on a rack, and then threw it in the freezer for 30 minutes.

We cut those brownies, put them in muffin cups and jetted out of our house with time to spare!

Onesies Cupcakes

I saw this cute craft idea to make onesies cupcakes as gifts. I bought these cute cupcake boxes at a craft store a few months ago, and somehow lost them in our apartment. I spent about 3 hours searching for them (and cleaning the apartment in the process) and somehow, they disappeared. Mike thinks that I was "nesting" as I cleaned up the closet and guest room searching for the boxes, I think it was my just my Type A personality trying to desperately find what I was looking for.

First you start off with cute little onesies. 

Neatly fold each onesie into a rectangle.

Roll up the onesie and place in a muffin cup. 

Here are the three onesies.

Tie matching ribbons around the rolled up onesies to hold them in place.

I placed the three "cupcakes" in a tissue-lined bag. I think it looks cuter in a little cupcake pastry box, but I thought that these looked cute too. 

My Baby Shower

Mike and I are so fortunate to have such wonderful friends here in Texas! We've been here for a little under three years and have made some great friends at work and outside of work. Here's some pictures from my baby shower. 

Cake Pops! Look how pretty they are! One of my co-workers and her daughter made this cute tasty treats! Thanks Pat!

A couple of my friends planned and hosted a baby shower for me a couple of weekends ago. I am so overwhelmed by all their generosity and our baby girl is lucky that she now has more than everything she needs.  We also cannot forget to mention all the friends and family that we have back home who have been checking up on us and letting us know that we are in their thoughts.

Our baby girl is so spoiled and she has not even been born yet! She has tons of clothes, toys, and safety items from all her aunties and uncles. We now have her crib, mattress, infant seat, stroller, swing, boppy, bumbo, bath tub, teether, nasal aspirator, first aid kit, creams, bottles, towels, receiving blankets, diapers (disposable and cloth), activity mat educational toys, food maker, hats, socks, and the list goes on and on!  I hope she likes pink, lambs, bunnies, and carrots because that's sort of the theme her mommy has been planning for her.

My shower had a Candyland theme to it. Look at this cake that my friends slaved over.   So cute!

Vegetable Platter

Fruit Platter

Toasted Ravioli

We also decorated onesies, bibs and burp cloths. Yes, I have some math and science-y friends who are starting our baby out with science-y onesies.  I guess that's what happens when most of your friends are scientists or engineers.  Hopefully our baby will enjoy math and science!

See the other math onesie on the left side of this cute sunny onesie?

Look at this cute idea. My friend cut the bottoms off of an egg carton container to use as a fabric paint storage container.

Here's a simple sunflower onesie.  So artistic!

Aunty Kendell made these. Can you tell?  I told her that the baby's mommy cannot afford Villanova unless she's on scholarship.  

Another cute and simple onesie!

Baby can come any day now!  She's made it to the full-term stage and it's only a matter of time! My sister asked me if we're all prepared and ready...and actually I think Mike and I are.  I'm sure that there are a bunch of things that we are missing and have not thought off, but for the most part we are at a comfortable place.  Plus, it does help that we have wonderful and supportive friends and family!

Butters and Lemons

I wanted to take a picture of the beautiful lemons in natural lighting.  I bought them to make lemonade and lemon bars, but then I forgot to take the pictures of the finished products.  Oh well I guess the pictures were not totally wasted because Butters wanted in on the action and got his photo op.

Easy Baby Shower Food

Last weekend was a pretty jam packed weekend for Mike and me.  We played poker at a friend's house, I attended a baby shower, we met up with some friends for brunch, and then met up with a couple and their cute little son to play some strategy games.  I guess we're taking advantage of our weekends before they are taken up changing diapers and trying to squeeze in naps.

Here's some food pictures from my friend's baby shower.

Blue Punch-Isn't this cute? It's punch that looks likes a bubble bath, and you can decorate it with rubber duckies. I think this is a great idea for a child's birthday party.

Spanakopita-pre-made, but so yummy.

Baked brie-puff pastry filled with brie cheese, raspberry jam, cranberries, dried cherries, and sliced almonds.

Prepared vegetable platter-Yeah, I cheated and picked one up from Sam's Club. 

Cheese platter-Mike made this. Cheddar cheese, Dubliner Cheese, garnished with green and red grapes. 

Fruit Salad-My other pregnant friend made this. Look, she even cut the watermelon into a bowl. 

This isn't really food, but it's a diaper cake. Cute huh?  

Our Top Baby Name

Mike and I have been debating the name of our baby girl. We had agreed on a boy name and nickname, but were not set on a girl's name. We then found out we were having a girl.  The pictures provide hints about our top girl name.

Yeah, that's not a big hint. No, we are not planning on naming her bunny or rabbit.  The vegetable is the hint.

We'll keep you posted. Only a few more weeks until we have to make the final decision.