Aloha Scramble / Snailmail

End of an era?
Aloha Airlines just announced it was stopping passenger service after tomorrow. Yikes! Did I say I was using my Aloha miles to travel to Honolulu for Crazy Karaoke next month?

I was able to get a flight out on Go! Airlines. Phew.
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So, my mom is a snailmail person.
I had to buy a new printer after the old one died.

Printed out a bunch of pictures of her new great=granddaughter and will mail them tomorrow.
It sure is easy to take email and blogging communications for granted!

Birthday Dinner at Aaron's

Nothing like a huge dark chocolate cake to set things right with the world.
But wait!
I'm getting ahead of myself.



Had to get up early to attend the Rotary District Assembly with a short interlude for Man of La Mancha rehearsal. That is going to be a fun production!

Then headed to Costco to pick up a new printer. Gotta have a way to send my mom some pix of all the recent goings on. She's still into snailmail.

Stopped to see son Stevo at work at Jamba and he made me a carrot juice for my b-day (which was yesterday-but I had to work late).



Then it was over to my eldest son's house for a special dinner.
Wow. Better than eating out!









Garlic butter is poured over tiger prawns while a whole filet mignon roasts with garlic potatoes.

Aaron does his best Jack Nicholson impersonation and the prawns come out of the broiler.



Aaron carved the filet and this is what my plate looked like -mmmm.

This is my grandson Jamison and his mom Alison (sorry for the blink shot!). Jamie is 2.5 years younger than my youngest son "Ukuleleboi".




Then there is the "who's tallest" picture that we take at every get-together. No cheating allowed, no tippy toe. Stevo is still ahead at 6'1". I am the shortest. Even blog pal xs-homey is taller than me!



Birthday cake at last. We dispensed with the candles this year- didn't want to create a fire hazard or unnecessary light pollution. Jamie and Ukuboi retired into the office to play World of Warcraft.

Mahalo Aaron and family, for a fantastic birthday dinner!!!

March 28 by any other name...

March 28 is a date I have had in my head since ... well, since I was born. My dad, for some reason, thought it would be good for me to be born in New York City. So he sent my mother to New York from Wisconsin in the wintertime to await the inevitable.
On March 28, 1950, I was born somewhere in Manhattan. 7lbs. 8oz., and so reluctant to emerge that they had to pull me out by my head.
I was born in the year of the Tiger and in the time of Aries - in New York City.
That explains my personality. Or at least- my excuse ;-)

Here I am today - at work.
Still kicking, after all these years!

Where there's a Will, there's Karaoke!

So my UH Warrior Tsai-ko friends are having a Karaoke party on April 19. Wow, what a temptation. Especially when there will be some old friends and some great singers coming! Ahh, but the budget (hem haw, hem haw).
So my first Tsai-ko friend Stretch says- use your Aloha miles before they disappear (Aloha Airlines is filing bankruptcy).
Hmmm.

I had enough miles on Aloha and Go! to get a round trip. So Karaoke it is! I'm taking a cooler with me this time to stock up on some much-needed Korean food from Palama Supermarket. Of course, I'll share with son Aaron and his family.

Warrior Blog Fever

Well, as the humidity begins to seep back into my skin, and I find myself turning the A/C on in my car and in my office, I know I'm not in Portland any more.

Can't stay away too long tho, Lilu will be walking around pretty soon!

So this afternoon I get a call from my sister to apologize for my late birthday present. Huh? I don't turn 39 (again) until Friday. Seems they wanted to buy my ticket to the UH Warrior opening game in Florida on August 30 but the ticket office won't have any to sell til May.
Woo hoo! Whatta sister!!!

Speaking of the Warriors, Stephen Tsai is keeping the spirit alive on his Warrior Beat blog. Today head coach Greg McMackin was a chat guest on the blog and fielded questions from the readers. How cool is that!!!

http://blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com/warriorbeat.php

Weeping Tree

Oh, by the way, I did get home in time to sing in the Easter Cantata yesterday at the Waimea UCC Church.
So I am sitting next to the other soprano soloist and she is sharing about her new little granddaughter, whom she just visited in New Mexico. Would you believe it? Her granddaughter's name is Liliana too!

I called Michele and Jason this afternoon and they were just getting back from Lilu's first wellbaby checkup and other appointments. She is 9 lbs now and in tip top condition. She also timed her nursing and naptimes perfectly during the long day on the road.
Great to see another "team player" has been created!

Michele has also started working on the finishing touches on the quilt. Woo hoo!

OK. This is for gigi-hawaii who wanted to see what I looked like with long hair: 30+ years ago and -50 lbs ;-)

Portland Redux

My last day in Portland, Jason made breakfast -my fave bacon and eggs. I worked on the quilt all day and all night, literally. (I would have actually stayed a few days longer to celebrate Naw-Ruz there but a phone call from an anxious choir director reminded me that Easter was THIS Sunday, not next Sunday and I was needed to sing in their annual Cantata.)

I had planned to go out with Jason to pick up their Mazda (which was getting serviced in Vancouver) but Grandma Lali volunteered to go instead. So Michele, Lilu and I enjoyed a quiet day of movie-watching, baby feeding, burping, diaper changing, and quilting.

The evening was highlighted by the first "baby home visit". Tonya and daughters came up to see baby Liliana and were able to stay for dinner.
What an education for young ladies! They have already witnessed the before, during and after stages of childbirth.




Of course, Lilu's newly revealed piko was noted by all. The cord had just fallen off a little while before they arrived. Check out Lotus birth formore info on this interesting approach to pikos.

Jason made 2 kinds of ravioli in a yummy butter garlic sauce and salad.


After dinner, Grandma Lali, Tonya and the girls went home and I continued quilting.
I got up for a stretch and noticed that it felt colder than usual. I happened to look out the door and WOW! There was a layer of snow all over everything!

Jiggety Jig

I am finally home again.

Yesterday started with a late night before- madly trying to finish the quilt. There were not enough hours in the night, however, so I had to leave it at 90% and pack hopefully for the plane ride back to Hawaii.

I hugged and kissed the sleepy Michele and Lilu in their bed and Jason and I headed out in the dark- crunching on almost an inch of snow that had fallen through the night.

Never thought I would hear the sound of an ice scraper on Naw-Ruz - but it was an amusing start for the trip home!

More later- with pictures.

Night on the Town

Just pending her first week since birth, LiLu and entourage met dear friends Simone and Guy at Queen of Sheba for Ethiopian food!
We passed the St. John's bridge on the way. What a great work of art!

First social event. Queen of Sheba restaurant is family-friendly and delicious!

The ginger martini's were enjoyed by Tutu Lali and Simone (out of frame) and the coffee is an elegant, savory event!
After dinner we visited Guy and Simone and their beautiful menagerie! Shasta, the Akita says hi to the new baby!










Simone (who officiated at Michele and Jason's wedding) and Belladandy go online while Guy and Shasta compete for room on the loveseat.

AnimalHouse

It's all about animals today!

Starting with chicken from last night's dinner. Jason made honey orange chicken with wild rice blend and sweetcorn on the cob.




The captured critters are headed for a new home.
After the squirrels are captured, they are taken to a new location and released into the wild.






Jason observes, "We never used to have squirrels- the previous owners had a rottweiler. Wonder if the critter people BROUGHT them here originally???"







The next animal we have is monkey bread. I know we had some a few days ago... but today I decided to follow Jason through the whole process.
We are talking butter, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and buttermilk roll dough.
You also need a cool pan to bake it in. Theirs comes from Williams-Sonoma and looks like a ceramic angelfood cake pan.


(Pardon the delay - the Internet feed was sporadic today.)

You butter the pan first.






Then open the buttermilk dinner roll dough.








Quarter the sections.








Roll the sections in the cinnamon sugar mix.








Place the sugared sections into
the buttered pan and repeat until all sections are added.

Melt a stick of butter in a saucepan and add brown sugar
and cinnamon and stir til butter is melted.


Pour the sauce over the top of the dough pieces.









Place in preheated oven and bake for approximately 1/2 hour at 375 degrees F.








Remove from oven when finished baking.








Flip the pan upside down on a plate and serve piping hot!