dolceartist

Catching some morning light before leaving for in person work. The days are getting longer.

Chung tried this new recipe which I still need to ask him for the link to - it was AMAZING. Soy sauce chicken rice with a fried egg. A classic Asian cuisine meal.

Chung made his staple ginger chicken meal with roasted brussel sprouts for dinner.

We had to eat fairly quickly because of this but we still had good chats with the Chois about what it’s like to be new parents for the first time, how they’ve learned to navigate prioritizing their own needs and not being fearful of disrupting baby J’s schedule now and then.

Finally checked off this task from my to-do list! It’s been a year of me wanting to move this stretched canvas from my parents house to ours. We tried last January with Jason’s car, but it wouldn’t fit diagonally - a few inches too small. It’s not super fun to have to rent these vans from Home Depot because they are usually filled with sawdust, but you can’t beat the price. I purposely picked a day when the weather would be good and thankfully my parents don’t live too far. Chung was a trooper!

A new recipe that I decided to try! It was pretty good but the sauce was a bit thick and heavy for me. I find the natural earthy flavour of plain soba to be really good already. Would still make this again though!

The cute face of a husband who had to shovel snow in cold, cold Canada!

Tiring in person work day. Headache and just feeling bummy overall.

In the evening we celebrated Lunar New Year as well as my father-in-law’s birthday! We also had a video call with Chung’s family in Hong Kong. It was my first time meeting 1 Yee Ma since she arrived in Canada. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that so much of C’s extended family now live here. We didn’t get to chat with C’s brother about life things that we were planning to discuss...

I’m really thankful for the efforts my parents made to do their best to prevent the generational trauma from affecting me too much.

Even though we are nearing our 30s, our stage of life is exciting and there are still so many things to look forward to. It’s hard imagining a time in our life where we will be a bit of an afterthought for our family and seemingly only a priority during special occasions. I want to make my Popo feel cared for and loved. As my Yee Ma said over Christmas, we wouldn’t be here without my grandparents - as dysfunctional as they were.

Chung’s new recipe for a salad. Personally not my fav because everything was chunky and the onions were too strong haha. At least it was healthy and the bread was good!

This is a new recipe that Chung made this week and it was DELICIOUS. He doesn’t usually make pasta but I always love it when he does. So simple and satisfying. I was sad that I didn’t get to eat it for lunch the next day (since I was working in person). Thankfully there was enough leftover that I actually got to eat it today instead!

The story was that the head of the triad had been murdered and there were 3 suspects. As we solved different riddles, new spaces would open up and new evidence would appear. We had to agree as a group at the end to vote one as the new triad leader, to exile one and execute the other. It was a creative storyline that definitely matched the themes of HK dramas we have watched. The room itself was so detailed and well designed - they recreated a HK street with authentic style shops. In the end, we didn’t “win” but the last moment was actually hilarious because Chung, Bryan and Isaac were all pushing each other to change the final vote.

SG at the Lings. Holding baby Jonas for the first time - his perplexed expression is so funny!

I haven’t been to this restaurant since before the pandemic! I think we’ve only been here maybe twice. I remember the first time was to with Jeff, Tiff and Matt to prepare for their wedding day (this was summer of 2019). Since it’s been awhile, I ordered my go to fav: smoked salmon benny! The tri-colour potatoes is a nice touch, but not too special. I would definitely try something new next time. We finally got to chat with S for the first time and turns out he’s the more extroverted one. They weren’t engaged yet when we had our vow renewal in May. Lots of exciting things coming up for them in their next chapter. Can’t wait for their wedding this September!

I feel like I end up taking more photos of Chung’s meals than mine haha! This is a nostalgic meal that hubby ate growing up. He says it’s not exactly the same as the way his mom would make it, but I still find it to be such a yummy comfort meal. I don’t even normally like tomatoes too much but the mix with the eggs is a perfect combo of textures. This is another meal we don’t usually repeat too much either but I guess the beginning of the new year is a time to refresh the recipes we usually follow.