RA update 09/26/16

My pain has been manageable but my fatigue has only improved slightly since being diagnosed.  If working on my feet in the morning, I'm exhausted by 12 noon and will need about 1 hour to rest before I can really start working again.  It's good that we have our own businesses that allow me the flexibility but it also accumulates added expense for me since I need to have employees work longer hours so I can be flexible.  

I wonder if this condition will allow me to get some kind for benefit from the government.  =(

Liholiho Yacht Club

Paul and I went out to Liholiho Yacht Club tonight.  I've heard about this place for a couple of years and I have been extremely eager to try them out.  So when the reservation was about to open up for today's date, I booked right away and snagged a 5:30 pm reservation.

We arrived a little early for our reservation but we were seated right away.  The restaurant has an open kitchen right in the middle and a contemporary vibe to it.  Our server was pleasant but a little distant, which was fine for me.  Servers that are too perky make me uncomfortable (I know, I'm weird!).  

Our server suggested we order 3 items from their small plates/appetizer section and 1 from their entree section as their dishes were designed for sharing.  We started with tuna poke, then moved on to beef tongue steam buns (my favorite), grilled short ribs with boned marrow and escargot, and a fried rice with bay shrimp, abalone mushroom, and... spam!  They make their own spam in house, not the kind that we buy from the supermarket.

grilled shortrib, escargo,
bone marrow, mushrooms

Surprisingly, the weakest dish for me was the short ribs.  It was tasty but I would have done the plate differently.  Maybe I was just not too happy with the bone marrow stuffed with escargot and covered with breadcrumbs.  When I order bone marrow, I like to taste the marrow, that delicate fattiness that coats your mouth.  But the bone marrow ended up tasting like escargot and bread crumbs; they are not bad flavors, but the marrow's flavor was just to weak to stand up against the other flavors present.  The short ribs was cooked perfectly but I felt like it was missing something that I just couldn't put my finger on.  

Don't get me wrong.  The short rib dish was still good.  Just not as good as the other dishes we ordered.  The tuna poke was perfectly fresh, served on a crispy seaweed.  My favorite dish was the beef tongue served with kimchi, pickled cucumber, in a poppyseed steam bun.  So delicious!  I'm going to try to replicate this dish at home and add it to my repertoire! =)  The fried rice was good and went really well with the short ribs that we ordered.  

beef tongue with kimchi, cucumber and poppyseed steam bun

fried rice with bay shrimp, spam, and abalone mushroom

It might seem like a lot of food but we had room for dessert!  We ordered the Baked Hawaii and it came with a little sparkler for the evening's celebration.  I saw this dessert on yelp and knew it looked really pretty but I had my reservations because I'm not a big fan of meringue (I don't like that eggy taste).  I'm glad I took the plunge with this dessert!  The meringue was perfect!  Not eggy at all! It was light and creamy and not overly sweet. 

baked hawaii - caramelized pineapple ice cream
vanilla chiffon
doesn't it look so pretty????

I would love to go back and try some more of their dishes.  But to be honest, I could just order those beef tongue buns and a glass of beer and be perfectly happy.  =)

Go Set A Watchman

Having gone to elementary and high school in the Philippines, we were required to read only 2 novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, both by the National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. When we moved to the United States when I was 17 and went to high school in California, I read some American Literature books but it wasn't until I was in my late 20s, that I picked up and read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and it became one of my favorites and one of the best books I've ever read.  It was an easy read, but hard to put down.  I would chuckle to myself whenever I would realize I missed my BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) stop two stations before because I was so engrossed in reading. 


I love to read, but I don't read too many books.  When I do, I don't like putting them down.  My husband would shake his head when he notices I'm still up and reading at 3 am.  I pay the price for lack of sleep the next day.  I sometimes wish good books were like good movies- you know it will end in about 2 1/2 hours and you'll know the story from beginning to end in that short amount of time.  But good books are rarely worth only 2 1/2 hours of reading time, but I'm not really complaining.  =)

I don't remember how long it took me to read Mockingbird.  It took me a few days to reread it (I finished just a few hours ago) because I want to be refreshed when I read Harper Lee's 'Go Set a Watchman', the sequel to 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.  I flashed the mailman my biggest smile when he handed me the package earlier today. 

For the last couple of days, these books were all I talked about.  I kept telling Michelle that by next summer, I think she'll be ready to read it.  I hope she learns to love it just as much as I do.  I was devastated to hear the news last night that Atticus Finch, the perfect gentleman and most upright of all literary figures, was not as perfect as we all thought.  I am still hoping this is just a teaser and that he's still the same old Atticus Finch from the first book. 

I am writing and delaying my reading because I am still at work and I'm afraid I will ignore phone calls and emails once I get into reading. 

*** 

Update after reading the book....

I liked it, although I did not love it like I loved Mockingbird.  Maybe I'm disappointed that Atticus isn't the perfect gentleman I hoped he was.  It was like reading the last Bridget Jones book and knowing that Mark Darcy *spoiler alert* passed away.  I read the rest of both books with a heavy heart.  Maybe those events ruined it for me.  I still plan on re-reading Go Set A Watchman again because maybe I missed a lot of the details because I couldn't wait to see how it ended.  

well, hello there!

It's time to revive this blog.  

It's been months since I posted last and I have been sucked in by the different social media sites and haven't posted anything here while I post pretty much everyday on social media.  

I decided to revive this blog because my cousin asked me a question about something that happened a couple of years ago and I remember blogging about it but do not recall the details, so I went back here to get my memories together and it worked!  

So here I am, posting again, hopefully weekly, as a recap of significant things that happened.

My last post was about my husband and daughter being sick with the flu.  Michelle, my dear sweet daughter missed 2 days of school again due to fever with no other symptoms.  Normally, parents are not encouraged to call the doctor for fever that has been less than 72 hours, but I was concerned because it seems to be an ongoing problem for my daughter.  She had fever just six weeks ago and here we are again with the same symptoms.  I've noticed it the past couple of years.  The previous school year alone, she missed 7 days of school due to fever.  Now the doctor wants me to log all of her fevers: date, time, etc.  She said it might be PFASA Syndrome although she isn't sure.  I read that it usually goes away during the second decade of a child's life and there isn't a test to diagnose it so diagnosis will be based on observation and elimination of other possible illnesses. Medicines like Motrin help with the fever, as do steroids (I am NOT going to have her start steroids if she does in fact have PFASA), tonsillectomy might also help.  The doctor said she will refer us to a specialist although she needs to think about which specialist to send us to that might deal with something like this.  Michelle's actually doing well now.  Fever's gone (today is day 2 of the fever) and her appetite is back.  I don't like to worry about things.  God is always in control and He's in charge of my family.

On to other stuff...

My best friend, Chel, and her restaurant will be feature in Savor Filipino in Oakland next month!  So exciting!  I'm so proud of her success and we can't wait to be at the event next month to enjoy Filipino food and celebrate with her. Tickets are still available so get them now and see you there!

We went on an epic trip last summer.  It was amazing!  We are so thankful that the Lord gave us the opportunity to see so many beautiful places and spend time with family and friends.  I'll post about it every now and then.  Most of the travel stories are now told by TravelKid Michelle so visit her website.  More updates are on it's way.    

sick with who knows what

my husband and daughter have been sick for about week now.  my husband has been faring better but michelle's fever just wont go down so i took her to after hours care yesterday to see what's been causing her temperature averaging about 103 in the last 4 days.  i went there hoping to get a clear answer and a better way to help her fight through it.  all the doctor said was, 'she has a nasty virus.  continue with the motrin and drink lots of fluids.  honey and lemon will help with the cough.' that's it.  i said, 'well, does she have the flu?  the doctor replied, 'we can test if it's the flu.  it takes about 15 minutes.  but if she has the flu, the flu medicine is not going to work anymore because it's only effective within 48 hours of the first symptoms.'  i said to the doctor, 'well, doctors don't see kids until they've had 72 hours of fever, so if the kid has the flu, it's too late for the medicine then!'  the doctor just shrugged.  the more i thought about it, the more pissed i became.  

it has always puzzled me why pediatricians do not encourage seeing kids until after 3 days of fever.  i'm sure there's a perfectly logical reason BUT deep inside i can't help but wonder if this is a situation controlled by insurance companies.  i know that if i insist to have my daughter checked on the first day of her fever she would have been seen and all the tests i ask for would probably be done (if i throw a tantrum!).  I did take my daughter to the doctor on the very first day of fever but went there for a different reason.  her temperature was already at 102 but the doctor did not even entertain the idea of testing for the flu.  as a mom, it just irritates me so much.  maybe i'm cranky because i haven't had enough sleep for a week, working and then taking care of my husband and daughter while they are sick.  i'm blessed i haven't caught this whatever virus they have.  

last night, i freaked out because michelle's temperature was at 104.9F.  i checked.  twice. it was very high.  after coaxing her for a quick shower to lower her temperature, a dose of motrin, her fever went down to 103.  waaaah!  i was scared!  her face was flushed and she didn't want to get out of bed...but ask her how she felt and she would answer, 'i think i'm getting better, mom!'  despite the almost 105 degree fever!  if i had been that sick, i would have complained about every little thing. 

today, she woke up and her temperature is 101.4.  she's going to miss school again tomorrow which is does not like at all.  oh well!  she just needs to take it easy, rest and battle through it.  

all flights are BOOKED!!!

I cannot contain my excitement for our upcoming trip!  Each night, before bed, I look up the amenities of the flights we're going to be on.  For the first time, I am looking forward to some of the flights we're taking this summer.


We were blessed to have accumulated A LOT of points/miles over the last couple of years leading up to this trip which we have been planning for about 2 years.  We saved up every point we can and are using them for business class tickets for our long haul flights!  SFO to SYD on Delta First from SFO to LAX, and Business Class from LAX to SYD on Virgin Australia.  From SYD to SIN to MNL on Business Class (we are doing a 24 hour stop over in Singapore) and from Narita to San Jose, CA on Air Canada Business Class on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner! 


We wouldn't have been able to afford this trip if it were not for the miles!  What a blessing!  I have been reading blog after blog after blog to see how this miles thing works and have learned a lot from them.  My favorite is The Points Guy and read many other blogs on using points for travel.  We accumulated the points through our business and using credit cards for business expenses.


The cities we will be visiting are:  Sydney, Cairns (The Great Barrier Reef), Auckland, Queenstown, Singapore, Manila (for 3 weeks, yey!), Tokyo and a few hours in Vancouver to meet with a friend I have not seen in about 20 years!  We wanted to explore several cities in Japan but our budget wouldn't allow it any more.  =D 7 cities in 5 countries should be sufficient. 


I'll blog more about how we did it in future posts!