use real butter

Yesterday we made the requisite stop for dim sum in which all three of us declared we weren’t that hungry after the previous day’s gorging on sushi and then proceeded to gorge some more once the hot and juicy morsels were paraded past our table. Thank goodness I had sense to run and bike in the gym that morning. We did more Asian market shopping (Ranch 99) and then had some boba (bubble) tea. Grandma wanted to order it at the small eatery attached to the store in Cupertino, but Elena knew of a specific tea shop that sold boba tea around the corner. Grandma’s instinct is to save money – to order the $1.99 tea. Elena’s instinct is to go for the treat, the good stuff. I have stated before that Elena has impeccable taste, and that extends to pretty much everything – especially food! The difference in price is less than a buck per tea, but it represents the constant battle between Elena wanting to treat her mother to something good, and Grandma’s frugality that got her through her 85 years of life. I sided with Elena, of course, because as a granddaughter I can only push so much before it becomes disrespectful. Elena is the hard-headed youngest daughter whose mind, once made up, cannot be changed without much effort and grumbling.

**Jump for more butter**

I’m in, you guessed it, Silicon Valley. I’m visiting with Elena and my grandma, which is kind of fun since I get to chill out with two people I really love and care about. Elena picked me up from the airport last night and we had 45 minutes to spend her birthday together. We talked until 2 am, in the dark, just sharing lots of thoughts and stories. That was pretty special.

This morning we picked up some coffee for grandma and went over to her place. For lunch, we had sushi at Umi Sushi – they remembered me and Grandma from the last time Jeremy and I took her there in December! The wife of the owner said she remembered us and that her husband (the head chef) was coming to work any minute to prepare our order (instead of letting the other chef do it). We felt so special. He loaded our order with such generous portions and special kinds of fish that we couldn’t finish all of the food (unheard of for me and Elena when it comes to sushi!). At the end of the meal, he asked if he could see the iphone – hee hee.

**Jump for more butter**

Don’t ever count on purchasing a new electronic gadget and getting to bed by a reasonable hour that same night. Won’t happen in our house anyway. Jeremy was noodling with the iphone while I gathered information for our trip to Seattle and before we knew it, midnight was fast approaching by the time we were done packing. Not a big deal, getting to bed at midnight, except we had to get on the road in three and a half hours. Oy!

The drive to the airport and subsequent zombie walk through security went off without a hitch, hurrah! I was planning to get about 2 more hours of sleep on the flight, but I was seated next to a talker – a very friendly talker at that – but a talker nonetheless. Jeremy admonished me in the car on the way to Tacoma that I should have shut down the conversation to get a nap, “You’re very good at that, I’m surprised you didn’t.” Yeah, I couldn’t find it to shut this woman off though, she was so nice and knew so much about both Boulder and Seattle. Besides, she wanted to know why there were volcanoes in the Pacific NW, and I can’t pass up an opportunity to turn someone on to science!

We drove to Tacoma because I had been wanting to see Chihuly’s work for a few years now. Remember that I, the parrot, am dazzled by bright, colorful objects – particularly glass. That would be Chihuly. I dragged Jeremy to Tacoma to see the Bridge of Glass and then the Museum of Glass. We got there a little before the museum opened.