
so i brought home a baby.


(she’s not impressed)
Little miss Lan was born on May 4th. A little earlier than expected, and we’ve had a grueling and panicky week so far, what with her hospitalized for jaundice and weight loss. But now she’s safe and home, and that’s all that really matters. Malo Cat is completely uninterested in her, and Shiro Dog has appointed himself Royal Guardian of Baby (whenever she cries he’s the first to run to her bassinet and make sure that she’s okay, and then he will give Hiroki and I a disapproving DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!! stare). Mitsu wants to kill her because Mitsu hates all small creatures that is not Mitsu herself, and the old little birds can care less.
Our house sounds like a zoo right now, but until things settle down a bit it’ll be quiet on the blog. But I promise to be back soon!
xoxo ila

pho bo (beef pho)
it’s been a week since I’ve moved back in with my parents. one thing I’ve noticed is that they only watch three channels: NHK (the Japanese national television channel), Food Network, and Travel Channel (but only if No Reservations, Bizzare Foods, or Pawn Stars is on).
and everyday on Food Network, there is at least one celebrity or non-celebrity chef making a bastardized version of pho bo under an hour or maybe even half hour (Top Chef and Chopped are the main culprits), and this pisses my dad off to no end. it’s actually pretty entertaining to watch him fume at Emeril Lagasse and yell at the tv screen.
so after a week or so of being constantly miffed…
dad: “you know how to make pho the right way?”
me: (mildly offended) “I know how to make pho.”
dad: “okay, I teach you how to make pho the right way.”
then the next day he returned with bags and bags of beef bones and other necessities for pho bo.
there are many recipes out there that you can follow, and my dad is horrible at writing recipes down. everything is eyeballed and thrown in haphazardly.
so… I’m going to leave you with some basic pointers. [nom nom nom...]



i’m moving out of the OC and back to the bay area!
10 years since i moved down here to sunshine land…
i’m going to miss all of my friends, the food, and the nice, nice weather…
but i’m excited for the new adventures to come.
so long orange county… i will miss you much!