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Recipe: arugula salad with figs and prosciutto

Do you remember the Go-Go’s song Vacation? It’s so 80s, I know. Hey – I wore the hot pink and turquoise. I watched Duran Duran on MTV. If I have any regrets in my life, it’s being a teen in the 80s. Whenever I’m about to leave on vacay, Belinda Carlisle’s voice enters my head and she is singing that damn song…

Yes, we’re shoving off. Cindy had asked me recently if I ever feel like I’m living someone else’s vacation. I laughed. She always makes me laugh. Believe me, I realize that we live in a fantastic place. I realize this because we spent over a decade’s worth of vacations in places just like our current surrounds! That’s why we chose to settle down here. But that doesn’t keep us from heading out to explore other awesome places.

I’ll still blog from the road when I can and perhaps you will see some familiar faces here… That’s all I’m saying for now.

My question for you: What is your ideal vacation? Is it spent with family, friends, strangers, no one? Is it a particular place? Is it travel, exploration, relaxation, eating, learning? On the water, at the beach, in the mountains, in the desert, in a posh hotel, riding a train, flying, exploring cities, art museums, listening to or watching performances?

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Recipe: lychee panna cotta

OMG, I woke up at 9 this morning. That is incredibly late for me, especially as I had the intention of waking up at 5:30. I’m trying to be patient and accept that I need to let the side-effects of radiation play out, which means sleeping way more than I ever wanted to (Manggy is gasping with indignation at that, I’m sure!) The other reason I slept in this morning was because I was up late shooting something special. Can you guess what it was? Not something in the sky…

For as long as I can remember, we had these funky, fleshy, gangly plants growing in our house. And whenever I visited a member of my mom’s family, they had one or two or three or more of these plants in their house too! It all started when Grandma came to the States from Taiwan and carried a leaf wrapped in wet paper towels and plastic bag. She gave it to my mom who started a plant in her house. Every time one of us bought our first house, we were given this plant (leaf). They grow into the most unwieldy things that must be trimmed back (give the leaves to your friends to start their own) periodically, and from time to time will grace your house with a bloom.

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Recipe: cranberry oatmeal cookies

Four times a year, the first of the month is a special day for me. Of those four times, only one of those days is one that I had chosen and the rest were out of my control. March 1 is our wedding anniversary because MIL had wised up to the fact that although we had announced our engagement (as evidenced by my engagement mountain bike) mostly to appease the moms, we neglected to plan for the actual wedding. It was at 5 am in the ILs’ living room right before we were headed for the airport that we pulled out a calendar and I selected the earliest first of the month that fell on a Saturday for our wedding date. The first, so that we wouldn’t forget our anniversary as it would always coincide with when rent was due.

November 1 is our smoochiversary or “Happy I’m Glad I Met You Day” or the day that I “robbed the cradle”. Jeremy is my junior and when I was “pursuing” him in the dorms, my friend Ernie leaned over and said, “Jen, if you hit on Jeremy any harder, you’re going to knock him clear out of the cradle.” This date means more to us than our wedding anniversary.

May 1 is the anniversary of my sister’s death and August 1, today, is her birthday. Kris would have turned 42 on this day.