San Diego

One of the fantastic perks of our jobs is R&R. During our four years in the Philippines we are eligible for two paid trips basically anywhere, as long as it is not more expensive than a ticket to Sydney. In 2012 we went to San Diego and had such an amazing trip that we decided to go back. This time for 26 days in a rental house in Encinitas. It was a perfect home base, with Moonlight Beach and a playground just two blocks away.

After living in Manila for three years, the best part of San Diego was just being outside in the fresh cool air. In the words of this little one, "There's so much space!"

The entire family was able to spend a week together, and although it was crazy, it was really fun.

Towards the end of the trip we spent three days in Joshua Tree.

Other Highlights

Holiday Wonderland at Petco Park
Nutcracker at the Civic Theater
Garden of Lights at the San Diego Botanic Gardens
San Diego Zoo
Best fish tacos at Haggo's Organic Tacos
Siblings Brewery Tour
Sunsets at Moonlight Beach
The baby really learning how to walk
Playgrounds at Balboa Park

R&R in numbers

Mountains hiked: 5; 26 miles total
Breweries visited: 8
Miles ran: 27
Yoga classes: 3

Until next time San Diego!

Daddy Daughter Christmas Fun

I find it difficult to find out what is going on in this city, which is too bad because there is a lot happening. We learn about most events through word of mouth or through MADS (not a member and have kids under 5? Highly recommend you join). I also frequently check TicketWorld to see what's playing at the theaters throughout Manila. 

The Shark recently attended a work event at the Fairmont Hotel and found out they had some kid's Christmas activities. Two weeks ago he took Toto to a gingerbread house event. She had a blast.  Not only did they decorate the house (and eat some candy), there was a choir, Christmas movies, and Santa.  

For P925, each kid got a beautiful house, 2 tubes of frosting, and a cup of decorative candy.  I have enjoyed picking at it all week.

Last week the Shark geared up again and took Toto to a Teddy Bear Tea while I stayed home to get ready for our Christmas party. On her way out, Toto waved goodbye to me and said, "Bye Mama, I'm going to have coffee with teddy bears." She came home on a sugar high and added to it with some cookies at our party. By the end, she was bouncing off the walls and shrieking with her friends. All in all, some great daddy daughter memories!

Japan: Kyoto

We spent 10 days in Japan. Lovely, crazy, cold, and oh so foreign Japan. It was tough to decide where to go, but we narrowed it down to Kyoto, Yudanaka, and Osaka. First stop, Kyoto.

After a quick 3 hour flight from Manila, we landed in Osaka. Getting our JR (train) passes was a major pain. It took over an hour. And this was after we pre-paid for them online. We missed our train, so grabbed some soba and beer. Which Toto loved--the soba, not the beer. And Yaya got to try chop sticks for the first time. I have to say that surprised me as she lives in the ASIA. And has travelled all over the world. But she got the hang of it pretty quick. Once we started riding trains, we fell in love. They were clean, on time, and spacious. And had vending machines. The best part was that Toto didn't have to sit if she didn't want to, which she never does.

Where we slept

Kyoto Royal Park Hotel, nice ambience in the lobby, expensive breakfast, friendly staff, cramped quarters, convenient location. But the best discovery? Heated toilet seat. 

What we did

The Shark booked us two private tours and a group tour through Tours by Locals, and we were impressed. My favorite activity was the private cooking class. We started out by shopping in the Nishiki Market, which was about a ten minute walk from our hotel. Thank god for our guide, or we seriously wouldn't have known what 90% of the food was. Most stalls had samples and I was in heaven when we hit a huge shop of dried fruit. We ended up with some cranberries, strawberries and kiwi. And an awkward encounter when I tried to buy the display items. 

Persimmons 

Then we walked over to our guide's apartment. We tried to act like we weren't staring at everything, but we were. And the toilet seat was heated there too! We had a blast learning how to make sushi rolls, spinach salad, and miso soup. And by the time we finished cooking, we were STARVING and wolfed it down.

Pretty and delicious.

Just like all the Asian tour groups we saw in Washington, DC, we had to reciprocate and joined a huge bus tour to see some palaces and temples.

Stay with your buddy and be back to your bus in 1 hour!

We spent a whole day on a private guided tour of Fushimo-Inari, a Shinto Shrine built up a mountain to honor a huge rock at the top. We walked several flights of stairs and saw smaller shrines along the way. When we came a map, our guide showed us that it is possible to go all the way to the top, and laughed as though we would even consider doing that. Then her eyes bugged out of her head when I said of course I wanted to go to the top and see that rock. So we did. And it was beautiful.

Just a few more steps...

Top o' the mountain

What we ate

As soon as we arrived we found the closest organic store and headed out to stock up on milk for Toto. It was called "Help" for reasons unknown to me and I couldn't read anything, but just felt better knowing it was a natural grocer. We got some fruit, milk, and tons of snacks. Toto ended up loving these rice crackers with seaweed. If I would have known, I would have bought 20 bags.

We had dinner twice on Pontocho, a narrow road near our hotel. Once for the best sushi ever (Kappa Zushi), and the other for an awesome Italian meal to celebrate The Shark's birthday. Yes, Italian. You can only eat so much soba and fish. On the other hand you can never get enough sake.

You'll love the food here. If you can find your restaurant.

What we saw

Kyoto did not disappoint in the blossom department. We were fortunate enough to be there for the end of the plum blossoms and the beginning of the cherry blossoms. 

The we hopped on a train to head for the mountains and meet up with Sister and her Hubby.

Running February

I'm sorry, it's almost mid-March?! Where the hell did February go? Last I remember I was guiltily feeding my daughter a store bought heart cookie while admiring the hand-made Valentine our housekeeper had labored over. Mom of the year. Sorry other moms, better luck next year.

Husband's running stats fell this month. Mainly due to travel, playing in a work basketball league, and getting SCUBA certified. Dear The Shark, sorry to whoop your a$$ this month. Love, Moi. (Not that's it's a competition, because it's not.)

Week 1 (2/1-2/3)
Moi: 11 miles + Yoga
The Shark: 9.4 miles + Basketball

Week 2 (2/4-2/10)
Moi: 25.5 miles
The Shark: 22.4 miles + Basketball

Week 3 (2/11-2/17)
Moi: 25 miles + Yoga
The Shark: 13.9 miles + Surfing + Swimming + Basketball

Week 4 (2/18-2/24)
Moi: 16.2 miles + Hike 6 miles + Yoga
The Shark: 10.9 miles + Hike 6 Miles + SCUBA swims + Basketball

Week 5 (2/25-2/28)
Moi: 12.1 miles
The Shark: 10 miles

Total Running Mileage:
Moi: 89.8 miles
The Shark: 66.6 miles

Ringing in Chinese New Year

Salcedo Village is a happening place. Well, for the senior and family crowd at least. Last year Toto was only 5 months for Chinese New Year and had no clue what was going on during the parade. This year she was just old enough to be terrified. That's an exaggeration. She LOVED the drumming and does the drumming motion every time we go to the park now. Why they chose to have the parade in the market is beyond me, but again, most things here are. Nice to celebrate Asian holidays while we are in The Asia.

Excuse me, Chinese dragon coning through.

Manila's Best Crepe

OK, so Cafe Breton's crepe was only my third crepe in Manila. My first was at the Salcedo market and was too greasy. The second at the Sofitel was filled with sweet mango and was tasty. But this crepe folks, this crepe was fantastic. As it was MLK Day in the US, we had the day off and after running 5 miles through Forbes Park while Toto and Yaya played on the playground, we needed some nourishment. We almost went to Apartment 1B...again...but I remembered a friend had recommended Cafe Breton. We had excellent service, delicious coffee, and no one was smoking--a MLK Day miracle. 

I had the "Dracula" on a gallette (cheese, tomato, and garlic in a wheat wrap) and The Shark had something with lots of meat and runny eggs, but he seemed to enjoy it. 

When at a crepe restaurant, dessert is the norm, even with breakfast, right? I can't even remember what was in this, but it was so, so good.

 And The Shark insisted on bringing The Girlfriend along. She's so annoying.

Holiday Baking

The main reason I run is so that I can eat what I want. Not preservative-filled, chemical-laden, dyed and processed crap, but good, wholesome, and often a little too fatty foods. Like most people, my memories of holidays revolve around food (or maybe that's just me?). While I am the first one to dig into some mashed potatoes and stuffing, I prefer to do the baking. Peanut butter kiss cookies and snowball cookies are two of my favorites, and pumpkin pie is a must. 

I used this recipe for the kiss cookies, however, I recommend using an all-natural flour like Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur because your average flour is bleached with potassium bromate (according to the interwebs, potassium bromate has been linked to thyroid dysfunction.) I couldn't find an all-natural Hershey Kiss, so we ate some soya lecithin, vanilin, and artificial flavoring - note to self to order some real chocolate next year. For the snowball or Russian teacake cookies, I followed this recipe. Next time, I would add a little more flour to make the cookies more dense. For the pumpkin pies, I followed the recipe I have been using for years and used my brother-in-law's famous pie crust recipe. Sorry, can't reveal the family secret here. 

The Shark's brother made the famous kolachi. This Czech dessert has been a staple in The Shark's family for as long as he can remember, and it is so delicious with coffee. I also love sugar cookies, but since we had already made them in Manila I couldn't muster the energy for all that work.

A New Perspective

Oh, hi. We are in California. And it is awesome. Because you can do things like yoga on a paddleboard. And go to Target. Surprisingly, it is not as hard as it sounds to keep your balance on a paddleboard. Most poses kept you pretty steady, but I could not manage to do the headstand on open water - more fear than capability. The coolest part was staring at the sky during shavasana and the shore during down dog. 

BTW - Toto was amazing on the plane. We were nervous based on her previous flight from CA to Manila when she was 7 weeks old and literally cried for 10 hours straight. This time from MNL to NRT, she kept herself busy playing in the bulk head area with a series of new, small toys purchased to keep her quiet. Fortunately there was a children's play area in the Narita airport to keep her occupied for the 2-hour layover. Then came the big one - 10 hours from Narita to LAX. She kept her cool during the dinner service, and once they dimmed the lights we changed her into pj's and put her to sleep on a million airline pillows on the floor. Knowing that the friendly Delta stewardesses might have a problem with that, we made a blanket tent to hide her. That little girl slept for 6 hours. And when they came around in the morning with her breakfast, Yaya pretended the toddler meal was for her so they wouldn't get suspicious - which after 10 hours on the plane managed to slip by the stewardess. Oh, I didn't mention Yaya was with us? Well, we wanted a real vacation. And we are having one. 

Counting Down

Toto will be 15 months this Christmas, and appears to have a bit more of a clue what's going on than she did at 3 months last year. Everyday she advances the Christmas calendar, gets super excited at every Christmas decoration she sees, and has no problem wolfing down an entire cookie.

Now is probably a good time to mention Filipinos start celebrating Christmas in September, as Christmas is celebrated in all the "ber" months - September, October, November, and December. At work I attended 3 parties, where we played games like pass the lifesaver ("Polo") to each other on sticks in our mouth and dressed each other in recycled paper for a "trashion show." You know, for the birth of Christ. As an American, I refuse to acknowledge Christmas until after Thanksgiving, then it's on.

A homage to our "homes."

Manila Thanksgiving

Good friends hosted us for Thanksgiving. Although we have had fantastic Thanksgiving dinners in Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda, this one came the closest to being authentic. S&R carried big ol' turkeys, Healthy Options had whole cranberries, and camote was subbed for a delicious sweet potato casserole. The Filipinos at the dinner liked everything, which was surprising after being in other countries where people thought the Americanized food we served - sandwiches, stir fry, pasta - was disgusting. Everyone left happy and full, even Toto who ate an entire bread roll by herself.

Dig in,

Holidays Overseas: Halloween

Sometimes celebrating holidays overseas is hard, for example, Christmas in 90 degree weather with no family around.  Wait a minute...

But seriously, we've spent many a holiday abroad, and have always tried to make the most of it even though we missed family, friends, snow, cheesy potatoes, hot chocolate, fires in the fire place, turkey, Peeps, you know Americany holiday-ish stuff.

Thanksgiving 2003 in Mole National Park Ghana

 Valentine's Day 2005 in the middle of the Sahara Desert, Mali

 Thanksgiving 2009 in Rubondo National Park, Tanzania

 Christmas 2009 in Kigali, Rwanda

And now, of course, Toto is spending her holidays in foreign countries too.  We try our best (even though she won't remember it, but who cares because we will force her to look at pictures to show her that we tried to give her a "normal" life) to make our own holiday traditions no matter where we are. This "fall" we went to a pumpkin patch held by the Manila Girl Scouts. Yes, pumpkins cost $30, and no I did not care because we were going to have Halloween come hell or high water.  

Pumpkin patch was more like little pumpkin nests.

One dollar plastic decorations?  We'll take seven.

Our building is awesome and got totally decked out with witches, scarecrows, ghosts, and cob webs. Every time we passed this display, Toto would point to the pumpkin and say "dada."  There was even trick-or-treating in the building.  With over 100 kids jammed in an over-heated stairwell going to apartments on 30 floors, well, let's just say it was not your normal trick-or-treating, but she had fun. And we had Halloween.

That hanging thing terrified me everyday for weeks.