use real butter

No matter how good a trip was, it is always a great feeling to come home. I have red welt marks on my right shoulder from the weight of my duffle bags which were packed to the hilt with goodies. One bag was full of Trader Joe’s goodies (having lived within 6 miles of 6 TJ stores in Pasadena, we can’t seem to do without very easily) and the other had my clothes and lots of Asian food stuffs. Despite all of the food items I carried home, the most precious things I brought back were good memories from the visit.

cupertino is apple country… apple, how i love thee

On Grandma’s birthday, we drove her to one of her favorite senior centers to sign up (it is re-opening soon). Elena and I walked around while the employees chattered away with Grandma, her friend, and my mom. It’s quite a nice set up for seniors, but what caught my eye the most was the Group Therapy Room.

yeah right, it’s the majong room!

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: lime meltaways

It’s a good thing we didn’t end up settling in the Bay Area, because I would have died a long time ago from eating way too much of the incredible food here – and I’m only talking about the Chinese food. If I lived here, I’d get to sample all of the OTHER food too, just that when we’re visiting Grandma, we eat what she likes, and that would be Chinese food.

passion fruit bubble milk tea, green tea slushy, passion fruit slushy

**Jump for more butter**

[from Grandma’s place]
I can’t think. Some *crazy* Chinese television show is on at ear-splitting volume (the elderly are a little hard of hearing) which seems to interfere with my brain waves, rendering me incapable of writing anything that remotely makes sense.

[at the hotel]
Well, despite taking pictures, there are none today as dear Jeremy has gone to bed early tonight. He told me to wake him up with a call when I’m ready to transfer files, but… I can’t do it because I want him to sleep uninterrupted considering how much sleep Jeremy lost over me in the past year. So we can go without for one day while affording him some much needed rest.

I’m tired now, so to recap the day in short: we drove all over town trying to get to Grandma’s place with major road closures for a half marathon, we ate, we drove, we shopped, we drank bubble tea, we ate, we gossiped, we shopped some more, we gossiped, we saw some bad Chinese television programming, I got a headache… But more importantly we laughed and shared and enjoyed our time together. Tomorrow is Grandma’s birthday (according to the lunar calendar). We are gonna have a Good Day! Even better than the days leading up to it. Wish her a happy 87th (88th in Chinese years) birthday!

[Special thanks to Lisa Is Bossy for her awesome dining recs in the Bay Area!]

I’ll answer comments when I get home in a few days. Huzzah!