No Shoes No Service

After breakfast and a little of the Muppet Show, the girls happily played in their baby gyms, smacking the hanging animals around for a while. Afterwards we bundled them up and went out to get more pet food. The animals have been rejecting their current fare, bored with the current choices.

After loading up on pet favorites, we went by Whole Foods, and broke some sanitary rules no doubt. For lunch on the way home we had some soup at Boudin, which was pretty good.

Spice Cabinet now Organized

So we got a new shipment from our spice merchant -- Penzeys -- who we enthusiastically recommend and organized our spice cabinet. Everything is now pseudo alphabetized, albeit within categories of usage. So baking items are in one area, Indian centric things in another. The cabinet is probably the best thing about the house. One pleasure in cooking is using all the cookbooks that get given to us by loved ones. The other night we made a salmon recipe from a 25 year old cookbook from some Belgian friends. Fantastic fish, and it reminded us of good times and faraway friends.

Neefers hopped up on Jenn's lap while she was feeding Ilsa. He has gotten increasingly unafraid of the girls, and won't budge off J's lap even if the girls start kicking him. This photo was taken with both optical and digital zoom, which is a feature I don't use that much. Panasonic now has some new pocket point & shoots outfitted with Leica 12x zoom lens, which is pretty astonishing for something that small. At some level, physics and optics start to becoming the bounds of what we can do with photography, but the Japanese manufacturers continue to push those bounds.

We went out for a bite at Bistro 33 -- #2 among East Sacramento restaurants according to Sacramento magazine -- and it was pretty good, as well as accommodating. Ilsa decided to start yelling while we were there, and we didn't realize the issue til we got home (she needed a diaper change). But we had an outside table far from other patrons so I don't think we disturbed anyone. This picture was shot a couple of different ways, but in the end I went with the night mode, which picked up more of the scenery outside the focus area. The software on my S90 makes anyone, or any lighting situation, look like a better photographer.

Visiting a new church

Neefers the cat has never heard of the expression: "more nervous than a cat in room full of rocking chairs". He has taken to snoozing curled up between the legs.

Last night we dropped off the girls at my mom's for a few hours and went out to celebrate my first year at my current employer. We tried a local haute cuisine place called Ambience. It was good, but despite the empty tables, the staff seemed to be in a hurry to hustle out the patrons. Our entire tasting menu was completed in 1hr 15min. We'll try it again at some point, as it was good, just not great, as 130 reviews on a web site seemed to suggest. Meribel is sitting in my mom's lap above, trying to decide if she wants to yell about some indignity, or demand food. My dad would have been 76 this weekend, and I wish he could have seen the girls.

We tried a new church this weekend - St. Johns in downtown Sacramento. After almost a year of 'church shopping' we think we have found a home we are comfortable with. We liked the people and pastoral staff we met. It's a historic building with beautiful stained glass, plentiful parking, and the congregation supports many service times, along with child care. Shallow as it may sound, those other aspects matter now too. The girls want to congratulate grandparents Charlie and Joyce on their 45th wedding anniversary, at least according to my interpretation of their babbling...

A weekend in Sonoma

Some pictures from our weekend trip up to Sonoma, where we attended a friend's party at the Nicholson Winery. Click on the pic above for a few more photos. (note the difference in quality vs pic below - above with Canon S90 below with Bbery phone camera)

Party dresses on!

The girls have put on their fancy party dresses that grandma gave them. They are ready to rock and roll at my colleagues surprise party here. We are in Sonoma, which is a cool 70F unlike Sacramento which was 95F when we left. We will have better pix with the real camera rather than this.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Back home now

The twins handled their first airplane trip pretty well. Part of that was having enough baby gear, which was solved by using a company that rented baby equipment in LA. On the piano above, there are two bouncy chairs that they sent over, which were helpful in getting the girls to adjust to new surroundings. Prices as well as condition/quality of their offerings were good. It's not easy traveling with the girls -- and their Leono Helmsley like baggage train -- but services like that help.

After we landed in Sacramento, we put the girls in an airplane seat and snapped this picture. (They traveled on our laps for the flight) Meribel is on the left, and Ilsa on the right. They are wondering what they will do with their frequent flyer miles.

It was hot upon returning home, quite a change from 60F down south where the seabreezes cool LA off, to 98F hot inland Sacramento, baked by the central valley's heat.

Independance Day Pool Party

This was the fate of that big fish from the earlier post -- stuffed with dill and lemons and then roasted for 45min on the grill, where it took most of the space. With some beets and roast asparagus on the side, it made a fine dinner. Plus the scant leftovers provided the base for salmon scrambled eggs the next morning. Superb quality from Santa Monica Seafoods, well worth their premium pricing.

Before the pool party, Meribel had her own bath, in the pool of the kitchen sink. The girls like getting bathed and squawk when removed from the warm water.

The table of food, before the hordes descended and gobbled it all up. There were about 15 kids running and screaming in and around the pool, which was filled with strange inflatable pool toys. The toys all had cartoon names unrecognizable to me, although I suppose in two years I'll know Nemo and his ilk are. Whatever happened to playing Marco Polo?

Ilsa in the lovely outfit that Mauricio and Laetitia sent her. The twins got to wear their party dresses yesterday, showing off their new clothes to everyone. In the end, we decided not to let them dip their toes in the pool, so they could only look from afar at the festivities. Some friends also brought over a bushel of previously loved clothes that will fit the girls well. Thank you for that.

First flight

The girls had their first airplane ride yesterday, and thanks to mom's planning, things went smoothly. Southwest Airlines made things about as painless as they could be, and even gave the girls little certificates, signed by the whole crew, marking their first flight.

Yesterday we had lunch at an El Salvadorean place, with excellent papusas and salsa. For dinner we got takeout from Quong Hop in Little Saigon (the largest Vietnamese community outside their home country) which was pretty good.

Also during the afternoon we stopped at the awesome Santa Monica Seafood, where we picked up this giant whole Salmon. I've stuffed it with dill, lemon, olive oil, cracked pepper and sea salt -- it's waiting an appointment with the barbecue in a couple of hours, along with a couple bottles of pinot noir. It's a big fish, as you can see when compared to the other 'keepers' around the house!