The Silent "I"

Greetings from Maui: Surf's Up

We're in Maui this week, staying at the Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas, on a long-overdue family vacation. We were supposed to come here in June, but Frank was not fully recovered after having open heart surgery in March.  Frank and I visited Maui about twelve years ago, before Alex came along, so this was Alex's first visit to Maui.  He's been to Kauai four times, and Oahu a few times, but never to magical, mystical Maui.

On arrival, Alex picked up just about every brochure the concierge had to offer. He promptly decided that he wanted to try surfing, parasailing, ziplining, and extreme hula. He was disappointed to learn that: a) his parents are not made of money; and b) are old fogies who like to just lounge around on the beach with rum drinks in hand.  He was also disappointed to learn that he had to have a parent with him if he wanted to plunge to his death on the jungle floor on a zipline or into the depths of the Pacific from a parasail. It's hard out there for a kid.

After much pressure of the sulking variety, we opted for surfing lessons.  The concierge cheerfully arranged for the lessons with a local shop called Outrageous Surf on Front Street in Lahaina at a discounted price. Alex agreed not to mention the words "parasailing" or "zipling" again for at least fifteen minutes after the lesson. We had a deal.

We arrived as instructed at 10:30 am for an 11:00 lesson, forgetting that nobody is ever on time for anything in the entire state of Hawaii.  Slowly, other intrepid surf-bum wannabes trickled in, including an Italian family who informed the shop manager that their combined surfing skills were "less than level 0." 

The shop manager assured them that they could teach anyone, which got a big eyeroll from Alex, who said, "I think I'm going to be the only person who ever surfed before in this class," and yawned.  By "surfed before" he meant the one time in Kauai when he managed to stand up once and declared himself ready for the Mavericks competition.

The shopped filled up quickly around 11:00, and Frank and I were shooed out and given beach chairs to hang out on the beach to wait for the surfers to arrive.  The shop had a small truck that they loaded surf boards onto while the students watched a safety video.  Frank and I decided to have a snack at Maui Swiss Cafe, a small ice cream and pastry shop next door with pink umbrellas.  Who knew that you could get homemade crepes in Maui? Not us, that's for sure. We ate some freshly baked mango and banana bread, then strolled down to the beach to watch the surfers.

Sony Cybershot Photo Fun Mom Event: Turning Moms into Rock Stars

 

Jeannette Kaplun of Todobebe taken with Sony Cybershot DSC-WX9

 Ever wondered what it would like to live like a rock star for a day? I had the chance to experience a little of the star-treatment just before the BlogHer Conference this year, courtesy of Sony Electronics.  I was one of about fifteen lucky bloggers invited to attend a special event hosted by vlogger Kimberly Clayton-Blaine of The Go-To Mom fame.  When she invited me, I had not idea what to expect, and was surprised to find what they had in store for us. 

When I was first invited, all that I knew was that we would be given a Sony Cybershot camera to test out and we would have our pictures taken by world-renowned celebrity photographer Brian Smith.  What I didn't know was that we would be wined, dined, pampered, primped and photographed like we were rock stars. They had me at "camera".

I arrived at the San Diego Airport and was greeted by a rep from Sony who escorted me to a car to take me to the Hard Rock Hotel.  Arriving at the Hard Rock, I was greeted by another Sony representative, who helped me get checked in. Even though it was early in the morning, my room was ready and I was able to unpack and get settled in prior to the evenings festivities. All I needed was an entourage to carry my purse and drive me around in a Hummer, and I would have fit right in there.

Love, Loss and Peanut Butter Pie

On Friday, bloggers from around the world gathered at our virtual kitchen table to pay tribute to food blogger Jennifer Perillo's husband, Mikey, who passed away suddenly a week ago.  I didn't get to make a pie on Friday or Saturday, due to a myriad of work and life commitments that kept me out of the kitchen.  I made two pies on Sunday, around the time that Mikey passed.  The pie pictured above was made with love and a few tears.

This news sent me reeling back to a few months ago, when my own husband, Frank, faced open heart surgery.  He is nearly fully recovered now, all the better for having been to hell and back to repair a genetic heart defect.  Right before his surgery, we talked about what I would need to do if he didn't make it through.  We went over his last wishes, where all the important paperwork was located, even though we didn't want to think about the possibilities.

The night before his surgery, Frank laid out his will and Advanced Medical Directive on the dining table. I wanted to stab the pile of papers with a kitchen knife every time I passed the table. It was the last thing I wanted to think about, but the possibility of death loomed around us like a bone-chilling fog.  I could only hope for the best, but be as prepared as I could for the worst.

I now realize what a luxury it was to be braced for the idea that Frank might not make it. Jennifer didn't have the opportunity to steel herself against the possibility that Mikey might not be there for Sunday dinner, or to enjoy his favorite pie with them one more time. Both Frank and Mikey are a reminder of how fragile our hearts are, and though they can mend, sometimes they break beyond repair.

I hope that everyone who makes this pie, or some variation of it, does so to honor the lives of Mikey and Jennifer and the beautiful family they built together. Life is is all too fleeting and its sweetness should be savored every day, like the very last bite of peanut butter pie.

For the recipe, see Jennifer's blog post, For Mikey.

San Francisco Chinatown: Fun Things to Do on a Budget

One of my favorite movie musicals as a child was Rogers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song, mainly because it was the first movie I ever saw that had Asian and Asian-American actors in leading roles. It didn't matter to me that the plot was ridiculous or that some of the actors weren't even Chinese (or even Asian in some cases).  I just remember being proud of the fact that people who somewhat resembled people in my family had made it to the big screen. 

One of the most memorable songs was the song called "Grant Avenue".

A western street with eastern manners,
Tall pagodas and golden banners
Throw their shadows through the lantern glow.

You can shop for precious jade
or teakwood tables or silk brocade
Or see a bold and brassy night club show,
On the most exciting thoroughfare I know.

We call it
Grant Avenue, San Francisco,
California, U.S.A.
Looks down from Chinatown
Over a foggy bay.

I had this romantic notion of San Francisco's Chinatown as a child.  I thought of it as an exotic, bustling thoroughfare of commerce and cable cars in the town where they invented Rice-a-Roni, quite possibly on Grant Avenue itself.  I think I made up that last part, but it made sense to me, since that was all I knew of San Francisco as a kid in Ohio in the 1960's was what I saw on television.  When I was about five, I used to stomp around the house singing "Grant Avenue! San Francisco! Cal-i-forn-i-a! U! S! A!" until my mother informed me that we were not Chinese and I needed to knock it off.

Anyway, San Francisco's Chinatown holds a special place in my heart.  Last weekend, we did a little mini-vacation and spent the weekend in San Francisco.  We stayed at the Orchard Garden Hotel, courtesy of the We Blog Travels Travel Writing Contest that I won last year with this post about San Francisco for kids.  We decided to see what we could do in San Francisco on a tight budget, and we started off with a walk through Chinatown.

The Orchard Garden is located next to the the Chinatown Gate, on Bush and Grant Avenue.  We were able to walk down the famed Grant Avenue, checking out a thousand and one souvenir shops, selling everything from silk purses to shoes to sculptures to tourist trinkets.  I have to admit, I had the "Grant Avenue" song stuck in my head as we walked along, stopping at nearly every souvenir shop along the way.

Althought it's called "Chinatown", the wares sold on Grant Avenue are sort of Pan-Asian, so you can find imports from Korea, Japan, India, and Thailand as well as China. Some of the best buys are comfy shoes and slippers, porceline dishes, and souvenirs of San Francisco. Alex salivated over racks of reproduction Samurai swords in one shop, and we beat a hasty retreat out of another that featured posters of nude Chinese women from the 1940's.  Every time my mom comes to town, we go jewelry shopping in Chinatown. The jewelers are usually open to bargaining on prices if you chat with them, and will usually throw in a jade bracelet or earrings if you press them. 

Some of the shops feature upscale artwork, Buddha sculptures, pottery, and fake designer bags.  I like the more Zen-inspired ones, with incense, stone garden Buddhas, and inspirational paper weights.