California Life

A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet

2010-08-10T16:04:00.001-07:00

Beer, champagne, and wine in preparation for a party are neatly stacked inside our small, outdoor fridge.

Chairs are set up around the round, thrifted dining table as well, which was then covered with a gorgeous Indonesian Batik printed tablecloth. The chairs are thrifted as well, brought home to be sanded, primed, and painted this pretty, classic ivory.
A handmade hanging basket made by a friend, who does beautiful work.

Along with flowers, we also grow vegetables in our garden. It's like having an organic miniature farm in your own backyard. Not pesticides, and much tastier than the fruits and vegetables you find in the stores or markets. It's almost like you can taste the sweet success...

Moving on to the homegrown tomatoes. It's almost like a home gardener thing that requires you to grow tomatoes. And sometimes if you're not careful, they'll take over the garden.

Around the House

2010-04-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

Maple Tree Table and Chairs from thrift shop.

Collection of Cups

Vanilla cupcakes

Apple Cake by toaster

Homemade Creme Brulee

Persimmon Cake

Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T15:10:00.000-08:00

Mashed sweet potatoes, gravy, and vegetables make up some of our Thanksgiving feast.
Our full feast, complete with wine for the adults.

Our Wille-bird turkey was baked on the barbeque grill outside (for lack of an oven) for 1 hour and 45 minutes, under the watchful eye of our one and only family chef-Mom.

The feast was delicious, and we carved up most of the turkey to package away into tupperware boxes. The bones were used to make a delicious turkey soup. We are thankful for this yummy feast, as well as our family members, who were here to share it with us.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Flowers in Our Backyard

2009-11-06T06:24:00.000-08:00

Succulent Plants

Eat in Malaysia

2009-09-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of local food during our summer trip to Ipoh , Malaysia .

Mutton Curry Rice with hard-boiled egg, fried anchovies , fried groundnuts and cucumber slices. RM3.50.

Local pancake大块面 -with groud peanut and spread with butter inside the pancake.

These also the same pancake but their out layers are crispy .

Kaya puff （咖央角）- a local pastry which is with "kaya " (egg paste , coconut cream and sugar mixture).

Roast duck- 烧鸭

Roast Pork 烧肉

apple custard 番荔枝

Jackfruits

Fried Chempedak

Kuih as morning breakfast

Chinese Egg tarts （蛋挞）and char siew sou - （叉烧酥）- a type of pork pastry.

Crystal Fruit Punch Set - 什果宾治水晶杯

2009-08-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

This crystal fruit punch set is a gift from my ex-neighbor , Naomi.

It comes with a 22-crystal glasses and a fruit punch bowl.

Nursery at Cupertino - 花圃

2009-08-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

These are the photos taken at Yamagami Nursery , Cupertino . They have varieties of plants and flowers in their nursery.

Handicrafts from Indonesia - 印尼手工艺

2009-08-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

We brought back this cockle-liked handicraft from Indonesia. It is made of coconut husk.

Penscils .

Thai Food

2009-08-17T03:10:00.000-07:00

We were having a Thai cuisine for dinner before we left Malaysia . The Thai food here is not the authentic Thai food but it was something had been modified to suit the Malaysian taste buds.

Fried chicken top with apple salad and mayonaise sauce.

Tofu with sweet and sour Thai sause .

Tom Yam soup.

Kelabu - a Thai mango salad.

What to eat for Dinner ?

2009-08-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

Dinner with family members in restaurant Tuck Kee ( 德记 ) in Ipoh , Malaysia (马来西亚）.

Chinese cabbage ( pickles) and nuts as appetizers .

Mixed vegetable - fried chap cha i炒杂菜.

Steamed Chicken -白斩鸡

Dong Po Rou -东坡肉- Casserole meat in spice sauce.

Fried fish with bean paste and chilli- 辣酱鱼

Fried pork rib - 炸排骨

Peanut paste ( 花生糊 ) as dessert .

Fruit platters - 水果拼盘

Fish Soup Steamboat - 鱼汤火锅

2009-08-11T22:37:00.000-07:00

We went Penang for holiday during this summer. This shop decorates with something related to sea .

The meal comes with ,fish fillet , squid , jellyfish , fried beancurd, vegetables , prawns , mushrooms .

Shanghai noodle

This claypot is put on the gas stove .

This fish soup steamboat is not oily and the soup has a bit rice wine to enhance the taste of the soup base.

School Garden Project - 校园园艺计划

2009-08-10T02:47:00.000-07:00

Street View of Santana Row -街景

2009-08-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.santanarow.com/

Baby Hummingbird- 蜂鸟宝宝

2009-08-06T21:51:00.000-07:00

I found this baby hummmingbird at my neighbor's house.

Oops , there are 2 of them !

Coffee ,Plants and Food

2009-04-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

At the Full Circle Farm, there was a booth about Ethiopia Coffee. Mhmmm it sure sounds good!

Ethiopia is the primary centre of origin of the Arabica coffee plant. 90 % of the coffee produced is organic. The coffer farmers use organic fertilizers to supplement the natural fertility of the soil.

In Ethiopia, coffee grows at various altitudes, ranging from 550-2,750m above sea level. They exports 80-85 per cent natural or sun-dried coffee and 15-20 per cent wet-processed coffee.

Santana Row is a high-end shopping center. The outdoors walkway has many gorgeous flowers and plants.

A snack from Indonesia: sweet rice wrapped in corn husks. Yummy!

Japanese maple trees take many years of care and nuturing to grow. The red leaves of this tree gave it its name- Bloody Red.

It was given to me years ago from Ben ,my husband.

Our backyard is huge and has many, many flowers. The sunflower is a very pretty yellow flower. With its bright yellow petals, it's called a 'sunflower' for a reason!

2009-04-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

An Organic Farm

2009-04-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

Full Circle Farm is located at the back of Ashley's school. They gave the land so this organization could start an organic farm in the field. It grows many different fruits and vegetables, which are sometimes sold as well.

One of my favorite fruits is the blueberry! Lucky for me, I was able to acquire a blueberry tree for my garden at my son's school. You can see the little blueberries already. I can't wait till they are ripe!

My son, Marcus, invited his friends over to our house for an afternoon of fun and games. I cooked up a feast, with spaghetti and other yummy foods. Bon appetit!

I was at one of my favorite nurseries, Yamagami Nursery. I spotted these herbs and couldn't resist taking a picture of them.

My beautiful almost brand-new magazine rack that I repainted a bright bright apple red! It's one of my favorite colors and the rack was a steal at only $4. It's also a great addition to my backyard and useful to store my many books.

Full Circle Farm

2009-04-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

Another booth at Full Circle Farm. This man put baby mushrooms into a special type of hay in order to grow them. Isn't that cool?

At Full Circle Farm, not only do they grow fruits and vegetables, they also keep a beehive full of bees. Beehives require a special structure in order for the bees to make their honey.

One of my favorite flowers are pansies. I spotted these beauties at, of course, Yamagami Nursery.

Who knew this little house could be a chicken coop? It doesn't look like much, but it actually is used to raise chickens!

One of the new technological inventions that will greatly benefit our future- the electric car. It runs on a battery and doesn't pollute the enviroment. Way to go green!

Go Green !

2009-04-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

This weird green bug costumed man is representing Kaiser Hospital.

He was handing out free frisbees to the kids.

However, the adults (like me) had to go catch them!

Good thing I caught both of them.

You think you've seen antiques? Well this is a farmer's truck from the 1960s.

San lun che, pao de kuai... ..( 三轮车，跑得快.........）A Chinese song about a three-wheeled vehicle.

But who knew they'd actually invent one? With one wheel in the front, and two in the back, this is one unique vehicle!

Driving down a road one day, I spotted this unique "windmill" near a company building. There are also unique blown-glass objects, in vibrant rainbow colors.

A Nursery at Cupertino ,CA

2009-04-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

I go to Yamagami Nursery whenever I need to buy new plants and flowers. This nursery is located at 1361, S De Anza Beaulavard , Cupertino .

This is a family business which has been here for 55 years. They provide gardening information , gardening tips （园艺贴士） and they sell organic fertilizers （有机肥料） and soils.

They have just won an award for being "IPM Innovator " to promote IPM ( Intergrated Pest Management) solutions to their customers.

They also set up the displays featuring Zen Garden（禅式花园） and Mediterranean garden style（地中海型花园） showcase.

For rose lovers , they have " Silicon Valley Diamond Rose" as a Yamagami exclusive. Sometimes discounts will be given when buying roses from them.

The nursery operates 7 days a week from 9am- 6pm.

Website address : http://www.yamagamisnursery.com

Coach Handbag

2009-02-08T21:14:00.000-08:00

I got this handbag at USD130.00 ! It's a steal !

It was selling USD380.00 before discount .

The Yard

2009-01-25T00:47:00.000-08:00

The cat is waiting for the squirrel . It is going to catch the squirrel. 那只猫在等松鼠。

My Garden

2009-01-25T00:40:00.000-08:00

The rose propagation in flower pots . 玫瑰花插枝。

A shell-shaped china flower pot.

The rose is supposed not blooming in winter ,

but this winter comes a bit early and warm ,

it starts to bloom before the spring comes.

Winter in Yosemite

2009-01-25T00:29:00.000-08:00

Our Home

2009-01-25T00:13:00.000-08:00

The Interior of Our House

2009-01-24T23:41:00.000-08:00

The lamp stand is 50 years old.

Living Room 客厅

Kitchen 厨房

The cupboard keeps :

left : Ralph Lauren china set,

right : Spode Blue Italian dinnerware

The foyer

The Plants

2009-01-24T23:00:00.000-08:00

The plant of Kimquat

Blueberries - 蓝莓

Red Malaysian Guava tree.

The fruit is extremely sweet.

马来西亚红番石榴树。它的果实非常的甜。

Plant propagation- 树苗

Black guava tree .

The garden corner - 花园一角

Backyard - 后院

Unique House Decorations

2009-01-24T22:47:00.000-08:00

A red lantern , a wood carving from Indonesia and plate painting.

红灯笼，从印尼买回来的木雕和碟子绘画。

Lovely Decorations

2009-01-24T21:38:00.000-08:00

Tortoise- Stone Painting (Acrylic) by my daughter , Ashley.

乌龟 - 我女儿彩绘石头。

Wooden Board near our door bell.

我们家门铃旁的木板装饰品。

A lizard - Stone painting by Ashley.

壁虎 - Ashley 画的石头绘画。

Cow shaped flower pot. 牛形花盆

Bronze cranes in my garden.

我家花园的黄铜鹤。

Mail box 邮箱

Antique irons were given by a friend from Oklahoma city.
一位奥克拉荷马朋友赠的古董熨斗。

Stone painting by Ashley - Acrylic

Painted Chairs

2008-12-28T00:31:00.000-08:00

I (Ashley) painted these 2 chairs over summer break. Though break was 3 months, it really only took me a few weeks to paint them.

The chairs were part of a 4 chair set...so I really should paint the rest. I will do them very soon! I found a pretty picture of roses that I liked, and modified it to suit the chair as well as the color of the paints we had at home. The whole chair was sanded down, painted white, and then the roses and leaves were painted on with acrylic paints.

The two chairs and table we got really cheap from a garage sale near our old house. Mom sanded them down and we stained them a nice deep mahoghany color.

Marcus's 11th Birthday

2008-12-28T00:17:00.000-08:00

Marcus is the best little brother in the world.

He recently turned 11 years old on December 11th. My dad claims he turned 12 (don't believe him!) By my excellent math skills, he turned 11!

We went to the Samkee Bakery near 99 Ranch. He wanted a tiramisu cake this year. We bought the cake and brought the cake home in the box, and hid it in the fridge outside in the garage.

When Dad came home later that night, we all gathered around the dinning table with the camera and took pictures! Then, finally, the birthday boy blew out his candles! He had gotten his birthday present the day before- a new game for his Nintendo DS.

.
.
.

Garden Work

2008-12-27T23:00:00.000-08:00

Mom has decided (again) to take on another huge project for Marcus's school. She wanted to makeover their garden, so like any other makeover, here are some before and after shots, as well as work in progress ones.

Mom has been working hard at Marcus's school's garden. She volunteered to help fix it up to grow flowers and vegetables for the children to enjoy. Every weekend she recruited parents and their kids to help out in the garden. For quite a few days they worked hard preparing the garden for the plants. They removed all the yucky weeks and old plants, and made sure the soil wasn't too hard.

This was the garden before Mom came through to help it. What a mess! There were plants allll over the place-messy and unorganized. The weeds were a nightmare.

At first, it was a mess of random plants and weeds. Days of hard work pulling them out produced a nice, empty cleaned up garden!

This is the end result! Mom did allll of the pipe lines and replaced the old ones that were terrible. Isn't the garden so pretty now? It's a wonderful green color- the plants are looking fabulous!

This is a picture of the blueberry plants that were planted in the garden. Hopefully we'll have a lot of blueblerries this year. Yummmy!

Before and After of the pipes (the result of Mom's hard work!)
Isn't it such a huge difference?

Before After

Finally, the most important picture!

This is Mom working DILLIGENTLY in her garden. Look at her go!
She put a lot of hard work into this garden-it's like her baby. (Poor me :( )

.
.
.

Our house, our lives, us!

2008-12-27T18:56:00.000-08:00

Mom wanted to take pictures of us in our "natural habitat" for you to observe.

Here is Marcus watching tv, while eating his snack. The messy coffee table signifies that Mom hasn't had time to clean it up.

Marcus's tilted head shows that the show is very interesting! The fingers poised above the little (doesn't make sense, does it?) bowl filled with snacks means that he's ready at any second to attack.

Ahh. This is Dad's favorite spot in the whole house.

Well technically it isn't part of the "house"... But still, it's his prized possession.

This is his doghouse in the backyard, his own little retreat.

This is a very good view of our backyard. It's like our own park in our backyard.

A Day in San Francisco

2008-12-27T18:53:00.000-08:00

Today we went to San Francisco (mainly to buy the delicious eggtarts and cocktail buns they have at the famous bakery there- Golden Gate Bakery). Brrrr, it was cold! We walked the streets of Chinatown and then went to the the pier.

After eating dim sum (of course!), we stood in the loooong line at the bakery. Immediately after buying them, we dug in. Yummm....they were delicious! Doesn't that look good? :)

This is a view from Coit Tower overlooking San Francisco with Mom, Ashley, Marcus, and Doris.

This is the view from inside Coit Tower with the fresco murals that were painted on the walls inside the tower.

This is a view from the pier- a boat called the San Francisco Belle.
Marcus had a lot of fun walking on the pier scaring off the seagulls and pigeons. Poor things- they flew away so quickly!