Short break

Things are getting more hectic than I imagined. I find myself having to catch my breath. It looks like I might have to take a short break after all. I'll try to pop in if I can, and I'll see you guys soon.

Tis the season

Hi guys, I was going through some of my old files, trying to declutter my hard disk, when I found some of my favorite holiday photos to share with you.

The golden Christmas tree at the Hong Kong airport

What is, to me, the fairytalest of fairytale castle - Disneyland, Anaheim

Great memories of New Year's Eve at Universal Studios, Hollywood

Where on earth is Skitch?

Hey guys, remember me? Yes, I know, I haven't blogged in a while. A week, to be exact. Reason number 1, I've been extremely saddened by the passing of Paul Walker. We're huge fans, we love all his movies, me and the kids. It's totally unlike us to be affected by the passing of a celebrity. But strangely, we've not been able to stop talking about Paul. We would've loved to have met him. He seems like a genuinely amazing person, kind and selfless, characteristics which are oh so rare among celebrities. I admire that he's so down-to-earth and humble and isn't all about the money and the fame. It breaks our hearts that he's gone too soon. We will miss him. A lot.

Reason number 2. I've been ultra busy. Aren't we all? And between everything that's going on, I'm just so tired out by the end of the day, my blogging's taken a back seat. But you know I can't stay away for long. Stay tuned.

Food adventure - Mayo takoyaki

Okay guys, I'll be honest, there's a newly-opened Japanese square at our local mall and we could not just walk by without checking it out. No way, not us! And somewhere in that crazy square of brimming heads and tiny tables, this little fast food joint was calling out to us.

Behind the glass display, they were creating these little tako balls by hand. I gotta admit, I love open kitchens. I could stand there all day and watch them pour in the flour mixture and layer on baby octopus, fish flakes, tempura scraps, finely chopped pickled ginger and green onion. They use 2 metal skewers to keep turning and rolling till everything comes together into a ball. Fascinating.

We'd just had lunch but after that round of grocery shopping, we were ready for a little snack of Mayo Takoyaki. Behind the kiosk are these teeny tiny tables where we could park ourselves to savor our newfound snack.

Seriously guys, the space between the tables are so-oo superduper narrow I literally had to hold my breath as me and my J.Lo butt squeezed, actually scraped the table on my way in. Embarrassing! If I'm going to be eating here more often, Imma have to lose some weight, haha!

Okay, so here we go. I made it, whew! I'm finally balancing myself on that tiny little chair possibly with my butt cheeks overflowing on both sides, I don't know. Not a pretty sight. I couldn't bear to look and I sure hope no one noticed! Man, who knew eating a takoyaki could be such a barrel of laughs!

The Macha Honey Lemon is quite a tasty variation to plain green tea (macha). If the taste had been stronger, I would've liked it better though. But I appreciated that it was cold.

The tako comes heavily drizzled with Japanese mayo and topped with chopped green onions. You also get 2 severely malnourished wooden skewers to eat with. Man, look at those skewers, they're the skinniest I've ever seen.

But who cares, they do the job. You use one skewer to cut the tako ball in half, then use both to lift it to your mouth and pray you don't splatter it on your shirt. My first thought was to use the skewers as chopsticks but I didn't think they could take the weight.

Okay, here you see the pink bit of baby octopus in the one I've cut in half on the lower right. I think they also have the shrimp, and unagi (eel) versions. The tako ball itself is light and fluffy with all these chewy bits inside and the mayo gives it a bit of a sweetish tang. Quite the yums.

So tell me, dear friends. would you try this? What have you tried recently that you've not tasted before? Or what food have you've heard about and would love to try?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey friends, just dropping in with a quick note to say how thankful I am of each and every one of your visits and comments. Although this blog is still fairly new, I've been thrilled to have you all come around and visit with me. I make it a point to visit you all back though I admit sometimes I do get swept away by the whirlwind of motherhood.

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I know I'm just a little late here but it's been a very busy day. I hope you all are having/had a great Thanksgiving over good food and family. Love you all.

Basil Chicken Fettucine

Hey everyone, here comes another easy-peasy weekday meal that you can whip up in a jiffy. I know we're all getting busier by the day. Thanksgiving is next week, can you believe that? Between now and Thanksgiving, I won't have much time to do any fancy cooking so the less prep time, the better.

My daughter made this Basil Chicken Fettucine recently and it was a big hit. I thought I'd share this quick and easy recipe which is perfect for a weeknight dinner or weekday lunch.

Here's what we used but feel free to vary the amounts to your liking:

• Spinach fettucine for 3
• 1 large chicken breast, sliced
• Cherry tomatoes
• Fresh basil
• Olive oil
• A blob of butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil the fettucine till al dente/according to the instructions on the packaging.
2.  Meantime, in a skillet on medium, heat up a couple tablespoons of olive oil.
3. Add in the chicken and butter. Saute till the chicken is cooked through.
4. Add tomatoes and basil, and saute till tomatoes are slightly softened.
5. Finally add cooked fettucine into the skillet and toss to mix.
6. Season to taste and you are ready to serve.

So easy, right? It literally takes like 20 minutes to put together. I like to add broccoli, carrots or spinach too. So yummy and healthy.

How to get stuff done like a pro

Not that I'm a pro or anything. I'm a pro-crastinator, that I am. But I couldn't very well put that in the title, could I? But now you know. I've got a list longer than Santa's, believe you me, and I'm chugging along in starts and stops hoping I'll wake up one morning and the elves would've done their jobs and there'd be precious nothing left for me to do.

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Hey, wake up! This is real life. If it's one thing I do well, it's procrastinate. For realz. So now as I look at all the stuff I still need to get done, I'm getting a little overwhelmed here. And I don't overwhelm easy, as a rule. So I console myself that I'm not the only one. Am I? Please tell me I'm not.

And so I thought I'd talk about how I juggle the crazy number of balls I have up in the air.

1. Make lists like crazy

You already know this. I've made lists on my smartphone. They didn't really work out. I'm more of a scribbler. I prefer to scribble on pathetic scraps of paper. It doesn't matter as long as you have an actual physical list you can see, you will have a mental picture and won't lose track of what you need to do as easily. That really helps.

2. Bite size, please

I tend to take it a step further and break down the complex tasks into chewable sizes so when it comes to crossing items off my list, it'll look like I got a lot done. Okay, so I need to trick myself into thinking I accomplished more than I really did. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Truth is it gives me great satisfaction to cross items off and watch that list shrink before my very eyes (provided I'm not adding on more items than I'm crossing off, that is!)

3. Grit your teeth and prioritize

Since my list includes many things I'm doing for a bunch of other people aka my kids, it makes prioritizing stuff a whole lot harder. I don't try to do everything at once. That would be foolish. I number everything according to priority. Obviously those numbers change, quite a bit. So renumber them and juggle as best you can.

4. Kick some butt

Some of us think we're superwomen. I'm guilty of that. I always think I can get things done quicker and better than anyone else. My tag line: Don't worry, I'll handle everything. Then one day, I looked around and noticed 3 not so little me's sitting around that I can recruit and train to work for me.

Excellent! Time to delegate, peeps. See, I never thought to delegate. But you know what, those kids we have sitting around on the computer all day, those kids can be put to work. The tasks may take a little longer or may not be done to your high standards, but that's okay, they are inexperienced now but they will learn.

5. Give yourself a pat on the back

My teens are pretty good at helping out. I wish I'd recruited them earlier. They're fast learners and more capable than I dared to imagine at first, and they work for free. Score! That said, I believe in praising and rewarding my crew for a job well done. Not that I mind a little reward myself after all that running around. So I treat everyone to their favorite eats, hang out and just chill afterwards.

So tell me, are you one of those lucky ones that the elves love to visit, or are you (like me) busy as a bee now that the holiday frenzy is gaining on us? Feel free to share whatever tips you have or that have worked for you.

Rainy days and Mondays

Hey guys, how did your weekend go? Mine was pretty quiet. We stayed home. I wouldn't have had it any other way after last week which was, as weeks go around here, pretty fast and furious.

Also it's been raining some, well, a lot. I appreciated getting to sleep in a little over the weekend after running around like a crazy woman all week. The idea of lying in bed and listening to the rain is a welcome one. Well, these days, we're getting thunder and lightning for dramatic effect.

I like the cooler days. It brings a fresh, new outlook to things, as if everything's been washed nice and clean and ready for a new start. Colors are more vivid, nature sounds clearer and today being a Monday, the sunrise was brilliant and I'm hoping it'll chase away those dreaded Monday blues.

I'm going to keep it short as I jump straight into another crazy week. I can't wait for things to get less hectic. If you have a minute, tell me what, if anything, do you like/not like about rainy days and Mondays.

My workout story and philosophy

Hey friends, things have been non-stop around here as you can tell from my somewhat sparse postings of late. I missed my workout today but in my mind, I'm picturing myself working out. Does that count? Oh, well, whatever but since we're on the topic, I thought I'd share my story of how I got started working out.

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Up till about 8, maybe 9 years ago, exercise wasn't in my genes. Six teams of horses couldn't get me to lift a finger, let alone drag myself to the gym which is a 15-minute drive away on a good day. But I'd just left my job at the time and I had some time to kill and I thought, heck, let's see if there's anything fun to do at the gym, and basically, I just never looked back.

It still brings a smile to my face when I think of my noob days when I didn't even know how to work the treadmill and had to ask for help. So embarrassing! Well, walking was fun for a while. I progressed from km to km and I was feeling like a hero by the time I could do 3 km at a stretch. I started brisk walking but never got into running. That's so not my thing.

And that's been my philosophy, pretty much. If I don't like an exercise, I won't do it. There's lots of workouts to choose from, so I figure why push myself to do something I loathe or that isn't fun? Personal trainers may not agree but that's how I roll.

Speaking of which, a gym buddy of mine signed up with a personal trainer which made me contemplate the idea. Should I? Could I? tolerate the bashing her trainer was giving her? Umm, nah, I'm not much for a strict, structured routine or for paying someone to kick my butt. I'd rather kick my own butt, thanks, it's cheaper LOL.

These days, I do a bit of everything. A bit of yoga, a bit of pilates, a bit of strength training, whatever. I get bored easily so I'm always changing up my workouts and if something looks interesting, I might just try it. I kinda like to surprise myself and keep my muscles guessing. So on any given day, I'm just doing whatever springs to mind.

I love working out, it's fun and the endorphin rush is well worth every drop of sweat. It makes me feel like a champ every. single. time. So tomorrow, I'm getting back to the grind. Fo'shizzle. It's go, go, go!! No more excuses. End of mental workout.

Okay, your turn. Do you work out or want to? What got you started? What's your workout philosophy? Would you hire a personal trainer? Can't wait to hear what you have to say.

Homemade salmon sashimi salad

Hey there guys, let's talk about me and my sashimi for a minute. My love for sashimi goes back quite a ways. It took a while though for me to get to liking it. As you can imagine, chewing on a piece of raw fish wasn't the most natural thing in the world for me LOL. Anyhoo I got past that and now I love it! but I will only eat salmon sashimi, not tuna, not white fish. Don't ask me why :)

My teens are big fans too which means we could rack up the bill pretty fast for the amount of sashimi we would need to order for a meal. So it's not like we can have this every day. The cheaper alternative is simply to make my own copycat version.

So let's get on with my take on the salmon sashimi salad that we enjoy so much.

• A heap of iceberg lettuce (as much as you like)
• A heap of cherry tomatoes, halved
• Half a carrot, finely shredded (not in the picture because I ran out)
• A box of salmon sashimi, about 8-10 slices
• One lemon
• Roasted sesame dressing

I get the salmon sashimi from my local Japanese grocery store. They come in a box, sliced and ready to eat. You should refrigerate it until you're ready to eat. I usually eat mine on the same day. I mean, it's raw and I just want to play it safe.

My local Japanese grocery store also sells roasted sesame dressing in bottles. They must go pretty fast because I can't always find them when I need them. So I tend to buy an extra bottle to keep as a spare when I see it.

Anyhoo all that's left to do is to toss the lettuce, tomatoes, shredded carrot in a big salad bowl. Top with salmon and a big old squeeze of lemon juice. Shake a generous amount of roasted sesame dressing over top. Toss everything together and you're ready to eat.

This exotic twist to a regular salad makes a really nice change for an exotic potluck when you have guests over. The slightly sweet, nutty tang of the dressing goes so well with the veggies and salmon. Best of all, we get to enjoy this at a fraction of the price we would pay at the restaurant.

Share your sashimi story. What do you think - love it, hate it, would like to try it?

Two quick stops, Carmel and Monterey

As we were leaving Gilroy the day after our visit to San Francisco, I couldn't resist making a lunch stop at Carmel. To me, it's one of the finest places for seafood, and by seafood, I mean clam chowder. The drive into town on that day in late spring was picturesque, as always...

... with quaint little shops like this lining both sides of the street. The shops are cute but I think it's the sunny tree-lined sidewalks that I'm more drawn to.

After lunch, we were hoping to take a leisurely drive down The 17-mile Drive to see the ocean. But first, we passed by lots of beautiful houses like this one and wondered if we might spot any of our favorite celebs out there. Driving through Carmel, you see flowers everywhere in all colors, it's like driving through a garden.

As it turned out, you now have to pay to enter The 17-mile Drive. I didn't know that. The last time I was there, it was still free. So we decided to skip it this time, and continued our drive to Monterey. This is the place where we always come to buy souvenirs. Seriously, how many souvenirs do we need from just Monterey alone?

And of course, no trip to Monterey would be complete without a walk down the pier to gaze out at the Pacific Ocean. I could spend hours sitting on a bench listening to the waves crash onto the rocks below and watching the gentle movement of the sea.

I wish we could've stayed longer but we had a long drive back to Fresno. Trust me to be still thinking about that clam chowder we had at that little Italian restaurant in Carmel (it's a shame I can't remember the name).

Baking soda toothpaste experiment

When you look at a bottle of baking soda, would you ever have thought of it as a toothpaste? Um, not me! I've never thought of it as anything more than a baking ingredient, the one you can't add a lot of, only a teeny tiny teaspoon or it would make your cake taste weird. Yea, that!

When I read about folks who have been using for shampooing hair, washing dishes and clothes, cleaning floors and counter tops, brushing teeth for years and a gazillion other things, I was like wow, I had no idea. So what is this magical thing that's natural, doesn't contain tons of chemicals and saves money?

In my mind, it's entirely too good to be true. A baking ingredient does all that? Only one way to find out. But I wasn't going to jump in and get all crazy, know what I mean?

I whipped out my bottle of baking soda, poured out a little and mixed it with a little water to make a paste... and voila! my own toothpaste. Well, some say to add peroxide paste but I didn't have any, so I just added water. Came time to brush my teeth before bed, I honestly didn't know what to expect. I've never tasted baking soda on its own.

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Let's just say, I was in for a shock. The taste almost mad me gag! It's salty, eww! Did you know baking soda is salty? I didn't, silly me! Why then would it even be called sodium bicarbonate if it wasn't salty? So there you go.

And the verdict? I've only used my baking soda toothpaste (which I shall affectionately call BS Toothpaste) twice so far but I'll say this, it leaves the teeth feeling squeaky clean. I shouldn't be too surprised. But I am. I read the flouride in regular toothpaste is not good for you.

That said, I'm not going to go BS right away. I still have a few tubes of regular toothpaste in stock to get through. After that, I'm not sure. I might just go BS. My kids are eager to try it, not sure they'll like it though.

I'm also eager to try using baking soda as a shampoo. Anyone else use BS for anything else other than baking?

To go or not to go?

Hey guys, I'm feeling a little down today. There are things I know I need to do but I can't, for various reasons, and I'm feeling guilty that maybe I really should try a little harder to overcome those hurdles and do what is expected of me. Now that I've written it out, it's really looking a lot easier said than done.

Bit of a dilemma here.

You know, like I really should visit someone who isn't feeling well lately but because he lives with people I'm not on talking terms with, I just don't want to go over there because I don't relish the idea of running into them in THEIR house!

I've never set foot in their house and it would be totally awkward when they open the door and I'm standing there. And I totally won't feel comfortable talking to him when I know they're in the building.

I really feel like I should go though. But I don't want to. Know what I mean? It would be so awkward and unpleasant. But if I don't go, I know he'll be very disappointed and the guilt is going to gnaw at me and make me miserable.

I keep going back and forth with my decision. But I can't make up my mind. What do you think?

Day trip to San Francisco

Hey friends, today I'm going to share with you my trip to "the city by the bay, the city that rocks, the city that never stops". Remember that 80's song by Starship, "We built this city"? Yup, that one...

For starters, have I mentioned how much I love San Francisco? Well, I do! Somehow when I'm on vacation, I find myself going back there again, and again. I was there again this past spring with my two older kids. The trip was to celebrate my Big Guy's college graduation.

We were staying in Gilroy for a couple of days to do a bit of shopping at the outlets. When I say "a bit of shopping", don't you believe me for a minute. I shop like a maniac but that's a story for another day. Anyhoo, San Francisco being what I think of as my adopted hometown, I just had to get into the city, even if it was only for a day.

Spring in San Francisco is some seriously gorgeous weather, sunny but crispy cool, which I adore. We drove past these beautiful town homes on our way in. I'm thinking it must be nice living in a town home, tall and narrow with that quaint gate and sliver of a front yard.

First stop, the Golden Gate Bridge. The first time I ever set eyes on this sight was soon after I started college way back then. Nothing has changed, it's still as stately and beautiful as ever. That's me looking for a parking spot.

Lots of photos and a walk down the bridge later, we hopped over to the Palace of Fine Arts which is a skip and a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge and it's another place I never miss visiting whenever I'm in SF. Just strolling through the gardens with its fountains and geese and gazing at the magnificent architecture takes me to a different place and time. Maybe I was a Roman princess in a previous life, you never know LOL.

Big Guy, my trusty navigator, took us through the roller-coaster streets of SF and we ended up parking on this slope of a street. See that arrow, that's my car, precariously clinging on for dear life at 45 degrees. When we opened the car doors, we had to pull ourselves up from an incline. It was some crazy stunt. We had to swing our legs out without the car door slamming shut while hanging on to keep ourselves from falling backwards.

A short climb up the hill and here we are at Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. I'd love to be living in one of those houses lining this crazy crooked street. Look out way over there! I think that view alone is worth the hordes of noisy tourists milling around your front door taking pictures all day lone.

We'd planned to have a good lunch along Fisherman's Wharf where I remember tasting the best clam chowder ever years ago. But it was so crowded everywhere with tourists spilling out of every corner, it was impossible to find a good place to sit down and have a nice, unhurried lunch. So we ended up at McDonald's across the street from the wharf.

As we were leaving, we took a turn to Chinatown. My kids have never been there. They've only seen it on TV, those little old Chinese men huddled over stone tables playing checkers on the street. So they were excited they actually spotted this same scene playing out right before their very eyes as we cruised through Chinatown.

It was hard saying goodbye to San Francisco. It always is. It's like my heart belongs there somehow. We arrived back in Gilroy just in time for dinner and a bit of shopping. We were up early the next morning for our day trip to Carmel and Monterey, another of my favorite pieces of California. Stay tuned for that.

My version of loaded potato skins

Have you ever bought a grocery item that you completely forgot you have a ton of at home and then gone ahead and bought a ton more? Well, that happens to me... quite a lot. This week, I have an abundance of Russets sitting around, the result of buying more when I still have lots at home.

Said Russets were starting to look a little sad and wrinkly so I thought hey, let's make some loaded potato skins. They're a big hit with my kids and they really do go fast.

They're really easy to make too. Here's how I made my version.

• 6 Russet potatoes, halved
• 6 slices back bacon, roughly chopped
• 1 onion, diced (optional, we just happen to love onions)
• cheddar and mozzarella cheese (feel free to use your favorites)
• green/spring onions, finely chopped
• salt, pepper, cayenne to taste

1. Scrub the potatoes really well and rub some oil on them, skin side.
2. Microwave on high for10-12 minutes, or till softened but not too soft since you're going to be baking them later.
3. Scoop out the center of each potato leaving a ring around the skin to form a bowl.
4. Mash up the potato centers in another bowl. Add bacon and onions. Season to taste. Mix well.
5. Scoop a portion of the mixture into each potato skin.
6. Top with spring onions, and cheese however generously you like.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes or till cheeses are melted to a beautiful light brown.
8. Dig in!!

I would've sprinkled some finely chopped spring onions on top except I didn't have any on hand. But this is already so so good as it is. So kid-friendly too if you have little ones, and makes a very nice appetizer or snack when you have friends over.

Do you like potato skins? Where do you usually have them? Have you ever made your own? If not, you really have to try making these.

Yummy in my tummy

Hey everyone, how's your weekend going?

Mine isn't really going anywhere. I'm just glad it's the weekend. I'm tired and I need to kick off my shoes badly after a hectic week. Don't ask me what I did, it's all a blur now and quite frankly, I'd like to leave it that way!

Crazy days, crazy weeks make me hungry and I usually end up rewarding myself with food. Something yummy, of course. Thankfully there's a great Vietnamese restaurant just around the corner from my place. This noodle stirfry that's more veggies, shrimp, fish and mushrooms than noodles is just the way I like it.

What's even more incredible is this avocado smoothie over red beans. It's so so good I can't even find the words to describe it. Smooth, silky, creamy, not too sweet, pure genius. If you doing Viet, remember you have to look for this smoothie on their menu.

Anyone else reward themselves with food after a trying day or week? I do and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I don't care if the healthy eating/weight loss gurus come after me. So anyone else? Come on, let's see a show of hands ;)

Working out: How to get back to the grind

I'm back in the thick of working out again. No more excuses. I let it slide, I have to get back on track, that's all. Sometimes easier said than done, I know. But it can be done. I've done it before.

For starters, I need to find that motivation. Some folks relate exercise to eating. They look at exercise as their ticket to guilt-free eating. I don't. I don't believe that's how it works. I simply enjoy working out. I like the endorphin rush and the feel-good-after. And tank tops being my regular garb, I have to get my definition back.

Getting back to the grind isn't always a smooth path though. At best, there will be false starts. This is real life, not Keeping Up With the Fardashians. I may get all enthusiastic one morning and beat myself up for a half hour, then nothing for 3 days. It's sometimes slow-going at first but once I get my rhythm back, it's all going to work out, literally.

I don't try to do too much at first. You fire up a disused engine, it's bound to splutter for a bit. I just listen to my body and if it says, I'm tired, I say, okay, fine, let's stop here today. I was sore at first, that's normal, but it's important to give your muscles time to recover and get readjusted. So I usually start out light, go easy and ease back into things.

I'm back on track now. It's been 3, 4 weeks. I'm so crazy I even work out on Sundays. Heck, I never work out on Sundays. What's wrong with me (lol)? But that's just how good it feels to be back.

Anyone else starting to work out after a break? Care to share your tips? I'm sure we could all use some fresh ideas. If you're finding it hard to reestablish your workout routine, you might want to give my tips a try and let me know how they work for you :)

Slacker mode off

So I slacked off working out for 8 months. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'm a workout junkie but life gets busy and lazy sometimes - kids, travel, circumstances. It's not such a big deal. Happened to you before, I'm sure. No? Then you must be, let me guess, a robot?!

I've just over the past couple of weeks gotten back to some sort of workout routine. Which is like anywhere between 4-6 times a week. My schedule isn't cast in stone. And there's good reason for that, I'm a mom and my family comes first. I keep things flexi around here.

I've missed working out. So pumped about getting back to some sort of routine even if I'm not on it 100% of the time all the time. It's good to be back!

That obligatory first post

Oh hey, look who's here!

Yup, I decided I would finally start a blog where I can be, y'know, oh so Skitch! aka be myself. This is where I unleash my passion for writing, food, working out, language, travel and who knows what else might strike my fancy along the way.

As you can see, I've just "moved in" so I'm still in the midst of unpacking, please excuse the mess. I'm sorting stuff out, "decorating" up my little corner of cyberspace and making it a little more "inhabitable" and a lot more "me". I know, way too many quotation marks :)

Well, I'll keep it short in this first post. Just know I'm real excited to start blogging away and I love to have you along for the ride. I won't start off with details about me. I'll let you read along and find out more for yourself. So follow me any which way you can so we can hang out!