With masking mandates relaxed, attending our in-person resident-fellow graduation felt rather uneasy, although I was honored to receive the clinical teaching award this year. Unfortunately, we had to miss Westley’s PreK graduation thanks to a last-minute change from his school. With the statewide reopening and school out, we drove to SF on Thursday for a family getaway. We arrived at Japan Center in time for hakata-style ramen and matcha soft-serve, then headed for our timed entry to the California Academy of Sciences. Here we watched shark videos, ascended the Rainforest exhibit past butterflies and golden silk spiders, then wandered Steinhart Aquarium as Westley documented his observations in his field notebook. We had a good joggle at the Shake House before settling into our sunny rental apartment in Hayes Valley.  Dinner at Aziza was kefta, lamb shanks, and couscous that titillated both eyes and taste buds. On Friday, we squeezed past homeless folks for bun mam and bun bo hue at Mong Thu for breakfast, then brought leftover banh uot and nearby banh mi to our day at the SF Zoo.  Between the peeping peacocks, rummaging bears, pooping hippos, and scratchy rhinos, Westley still managed to have energy to roam the playground and line up for the Little Puffer. We finished the day with scrumptious biang-biang cumin lamb noodles and Shaanxi rolling cold noodles at Terra Cotta Warrior, followed by mango-coconut-black sticky rice and egglette at Sweet Mango. On Saturday, we strolled to the Painted Ladies and hung out with locals at the nearby playground before check out. Lunch was spent crammed in the back seat munching dumplings and soy milk from Dumpling Specialist before we picked up pineapple buns and CB2 tumblers on the way home. Father’s Day gave us a chance to recover as Westley restarted swim class, watched Totoro, played Yoshi, and tried instant noodles for the first time. I also caught up on the newest seasons of the Walking Dead and Shadow & Bone while planning our new outdoor kitchen, just in time for the next heat wave.

We planned a family trip to Monterey while Westley’s grandparents were in town, and were relieved to have secured aquarium tickets despite being 6789th in line when the reservation website opened. We headed out early Saturday for classy dim sum at the Mayflower in Dublin and pineapple buns and cakes at Kee Wah in Cupertino. Our 5-year old burned off some energy at the Dennis the Menace playground, which was packed with half-masked weekenders and their children, followed by a paddleboat ride in El Estero Park. We took a breezy stroll through crowded Fisherman’s Wharf and waited in vain for a table at Sandbar & Grill before giving it up for fried seafood, sandwiches, and disappointing chowder at Carmel’s Sea Harvest. Our last-minute AirBnb cabin was pricey but spacious, and worth the panoramic view overlooking Monterey Bay. On Sunday, we enjoyed a harbor-side lunch at the Fish Hopper and frozen hot chocolate from Ghirardelli before exploring the rest of Cannery Row on the way to the aquarium. My parents enjoyed watching Westley more than the aquatic life, as he pet bat rays, ignored active octopodes, and recruited other kids for a scream-and-hide game he created. We dined at Vivolo’s Chowder House over seafood pasta and more disappointing chowder, then stopped by a sea lion lookout on the way to our free parking spot in Pacific Grove (Ocean View Blvd near 3rd St). Back at the cabin, I stayed up late talking with my parents, which made for a lazy start on Monday morning watching deer graze in our backyard and playing Sorry! on the patio. After check-out, we headed out to wood-fired pizzas at La Bicyclette, hot chocolate from Carmel Belle, a kite from Thinker Toys, and the public bathroom line at Picadilly Park. The Bird Island Trail hike at Point Lobos was short and windy, but at least gave my superzoom lens a chance to capture pelicans in flight and cormorants nesting. The return trip traffic made the drive back painfully slow, but was at least broken up with a stop at Milpitas Square for sesame bread and pulled noodles at Darda Seafood and creamy boba milk tea at Ume Tea. With just a week left before my parents head to Vegas, we’ll need to take advantage of the extra childcare. 

After a long hiatus, my vaccinated parents finally braved the cross-country flight to visit us and help watch Westley for several weeks. Out of an abundance of caution, we had them mask up during their first weekend here until they tested negative for COVID. Even Westley got to try out the free COVID test thanks to a possible exposure at school, and was much better at spitting into the test vial than I was. We laid low and ordered in from Well Season, Burma Eat, and Stand Up Kabob, while I was busy partaking in ARVO festivities. This year’s virtual format made it much easier to browse posters and talks, but the availability of so much content at once was also overwhelming. Being co-chair of the programming committee also meant more obligations and face time. Fortunately, my parents quickly adapted to childcare duties again, giving Melody and me the chance to focus on work and alone time, including a last-minute dinner reservation at Allora followed by slices from Ettore’s for our anniversary. It had been a while since our last fine dining experience, and we left stuffed and a bit bedazzled. We celebrated Mother’s Day with soup dumplings and taiyaki, after returning a DOA Vitamix blender to Costco and building an instant ramen shelf for my pantry. Last weekend, we took Westley and my parents back to Sac Zoo to check out the new cheetah exhibit, then made the rest of the week Korean-themed with YD sul lung tang, AYCE Blue House BBQ, and home-made jajangmyeon. We also renacted our backyard camping experience, and planted a new ukigumo maple from Medocino and silver magic pittosporum from Green Acres. Despite our allergies intensifying to levels that even my Zyrtec–Zaditor–Flonase cocktail could hardly contain, they have not stopped us from enjoying the outdoors.

When Cyberpunk 2077 came out last holiday season, our months of anticipation was shattered by reports of bugs and glitches at launch that ultimately led us to wait until after emancipating Tsushima from Mongol invaders before finally diving into V’s adventure. It has been some time since I played a first-person shooter, and the mind-boggling array of cyberware, quickhacks, and braindances felt foreign and confusing. The garish and gritty world felt unnecessarily brutal at times, but Night City was like a living, breathing organism that beckoned exploration, with a well-built GPS system that made navigation a breeze. Despite the engaging characters and storylines, it took us some time to acclimate as my game time was limited by the multiple NEI grant reviews and ARVO presentations I had to prepare. Engrossing Blackpink music videos and Netflix’s new Shadow & Bone fantasy series helped ease my anxiety about Westley’s cardiology consult and dwindling applicant pool for lab personnel. With COVID restrictions easing and my in-laws vaccinated and able to help with childcare, we also took the opportunity to try pho and bun rieu at Pho Tasty, gyro and lamb tajine from Casablanca, banh mi at Fusion Boba, citrusy crab ramen at Kodaiko Ramen, spicy hot pot from Spicy Dragon, and biryani thalis at Kaveri Madras. For Melody’s birthday, we celebrated with Korean fare at YD Tofu House, followed by cake slices from KP International Market, and a massive chocolate cream pie from Ikeda’s. With my parents visiting soon, we are accruing a list of restaurants for us to enjoy some family outings together.

We continued exploring the Northern California coast with a family retreat in Manchester this week. Since our last stay was in a redwood grove, we chose this time a house on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We prepared for our trip with library books, activity kits, and a Lego 3-in-1 pirate ship set from last Christmas, then packed eggs, milk, snacks, and quick meals like frozen dumplings, jajangmyeon, and hot dogs into our cooler. We also ordered Tasty Kitchen take-out the day before, and stopped by Costco for a mac ‘n cheese tray on the drive up. On Sunday, our leisurely lunch of fried chicken, ribs, and shrimp-and-grits at Sweet T’s was all Southern comfort, but worsened my motion sickness on the windy 2-hour drive to the coast. The panoramic views of our AirBnb was refreshing, however, as we settled into the house, observed sea birds hovering outside, and prepared dinner and s’mores while watching the Pacific sunset. Our next few days followed a similar routine – watching Waffles & Mochi in the mornings, outdoor hikes in the afternoon, and Midnight Diner in the evenings. On Monday, we stopped by Pirate’s Cove in Point Arena for fish tacos, salad, and a vanilla milkshake on the way to Bowling Ball Beach, where Glenn snapped photos of a gopher and Melody discovered crabs and starfish while Westley was more excited about smashing shale rocks. A visit to the community private beach on Tuesday gave him a chance to chase ocean waves, explore driftwood huts, and drown his mom’s sand castle. We spent Wednesday afternoon at Point Arena-Stornetta, where we spied a seagull and buzzard sharing a fish carcass before we ventured down the cliffs to explore the tidepools. Back at the house, we made gummy insects and clay pinch pots and continued building the Lego ship while listening to BTS, BlackPink, and Chipmunks radio to drown out the roaring winds. On our last day, we stopped by the Sea Ranch Chapel, lunched at Spud Point Crab Co., and shopped at the Vacaville Costco before returning to Davis. Westley was excited to spend the long weekend at home completing his Lego pirate ship. We took breaks in between for some mini-golfing at Golfland Sunsplash and shopping for mattresses and outdoor kitchen stuff. Despite the relaxed schedule, our week-long break felt way too short. It was unclear if this was due to Westley’s constant energy or the sparse activities, but we may need to change things up a bit for our next vacation.

Our tax return was really jarring this year as we had to shell out an extra $60k in taxes owed and late payment penalties, which we attributed to more consulting gigs, new capital gains, and lower tax withholdings from our paychecks. Despite setting up a Solo 401k account and tax loss harvest, the unanticipated dent in our bank accounts added to the stress of my back-to-back NEI review meetings and Melody’s pre-clerkship course this month. To relax in the evenings, we started watching the meditative Midnight Diner drama series while trying out their simple recipes like yakisoba, pork miso soup, butter rice, ochazuke, and octopus wieners. I also found good tonkotsu ramen at Fukumi Ramen while helping to cover clinic in Roseville before the new retina faculty begins. Last weekend, we organized our first socially-distanced, in-person lab gathering for my post-doc Sook’s last week at work. We kept it simple with grilled wings and burgers from Costco, which also gave us an excuse to revisit Elk Grove for soup dumplings from Journey to the Dumpling and Ah-Boong from SomiSomi. At home, I installed new LED lights for the crown molding in our dining room to help brighten our days. With such taxing times, we are all looking forward to our next family retreat in Manchester.  

My birthday flew by with the blink of an eye after a busy week at work and inclement weather that knocked out our electricity and internet for several days. We recovered with all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ accompanied by a giant scoop of ice-cream that was too much for our bellies to handle. The following week, we celebrated Westley’s birthday over Zoom with my parents, in-laws, and a home-baked chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and sprinkles. We upgraded him to a 16″ bike from Craigslist for his birthday present, but he was too anxious to ride it. Instead, he was more preoccupied with the games on his new camera from my parents, and an extra Lego race car set from last Christmas which we broke out when he asked for his gift from his other grandparents.  For school, we got him party favors from Daiso, but forgot to bring his Dollar Tree valentine favors.  We made up for it by celebrating our lunar calendar birthday with a dinner outing that ended with a Macaron Madness Honey Toast sundae that was nearly the size of his head. We tried to burn off the calories with the Ring Fit Adventure, but found ourselves more sore from yard work, as we spent our past weekends planting gardenias and hydrangeas, potting ferns, spraying weed killers, removing kurapia stems, and fertilizing the trees and shrubs. We took a break from cooking by trying out several Davis restaurants including Burma Eat, Hotdogger, and Hunan Bar & Restaurant. Our local digs did not compare to the exotic fare from Netflix’s Street Foods Asia, but the show did get us excited about future vacations abroad and inspired to start planning our next family trip. 

2021 is looking up to be a better year as I finally received official notice for my first R01 research grant from the NEI! I spent the new year zenning out by pruning my bonsai, composing Ghosts of Tsushima haikus, and making my own tonkotsu ramen. The Serious Eats’ version seemed too serious, so I opted instead for recipes from Glebe Kitchen & Ramen-Lord. We liked the 11-hour sous vide char siu, but the 12-hour pork bone broth was not as satisfying as the Ippudo kit delivered from Sun Noodles. At home, we updated our decor with new floating shelves for the loft, and a flamingo lamp and hex pedestal for the guest room. We also took advantage of our Netflix premium upgrade with Queen’s Gambit and the Haunting of Bly Manor. With both of us getting our Pfizer COVID vaccines and our local stay-at-home orders lifted, we ventured out again for crepes, donuts, and curry. We’re not sure if Indian buffets will be back anytime soon, but we did enjoy exploring the nearby playground at the Ironworks. We hope that the new year will be a mark of new beginnings 

Between the holiday season and pandemic lockdown, our work productivity ground to a halt as we limped our way to the end of 2020. We took turns between clinic to spend time with Westley over his two-week winter break, with visits to the allergist, playgrounds, and grocery stores. But mostly, Westley preferred to stay at home to indulge in tablet playing, paper crafting, and Lego building. We continued to feed his Lego crave on Christmas with a new Ninjago Firestone Mech and Creator 3-in-1 Pirate Ship, Fire Dragon, and Underwater Robot sets. Our friends and family also contributed educational STEM kits and origami paper, while I added 10 rolls of Scotch tape to keep him stocked. We spent our break mostly hunkering down at home over Taiwanese beef noodles and Mongolian hot pot, and even made time to prepare the “best-damn-meyer-lemon cake” for our neighbors. We finished up second seasons of the Mandalorian and His Dark Materials, as well as Modern Warfare and the Spider-Man expansion packs, in time to embark on the Ghost of Tsushima. Set in feudal Japan, the open-world samurai adventure combines the immersive storytelling of the Witcher, the stealthiness of Assassin’s Creed, the acrobatics of Tomb Raider, and the sword play of Dark Souls. Between bamboo strikes, composing haikus, and Mongol standoffs, I did manage to repair Westley’s bicycle kick stand and mud guard, as well as my Nikon 35mm prime lens, which required some intricate soldering action. On New Year’s Eve, I watched the ball drop alone while Melody and Westley slept, and reflected on this very tough year. In 2020, Melody battled insomnia while I discovered back pain. But this year also marked new beginnings for Westley, from learning to bicycle to basic math and reading. With the two of us finally receiving our first doses of the COVID vaccine, we look forward to a better year ahead.

Our house has been long overdue for a window cleaning. And with ashes from recent wildfires hindering our solar production, we hired professionals to clean our windows and solar panels ahead of the holidays. The month-long Black Friday sales gave us a chance to replace our defunct dishwasher with a newer model that featured a nifty third rack, and upgrade our TV for 70% more surface area, double the refresh rate, and quadruple the resolution. At work, I took advantage of my allocation accrual to upgrade to the new SQ2 model of the Surface Pro X, which sports an ARM-based processor that prioritizes speed and energy efficiency over software compatibility. I was very pleased with the lack of fan noise and ease of being always on, although I needed a dbrand skin to hide the fingerprint magnet coating. We spent November revisiting our sci-fi craves, uncovering the fate of the Federation in Star Trek Discovery, the name of baby Yoda in the Mandalorian, and the identity of the explorer in His Dark Materials. We also tried out new cuisines nearby, including Hainanese chicken at Chicken Hawkers, lamb kabobs at Stand Up Kabob, crawfish boil at Cajun Feast, and chicken kabuli at House of Shah. We spent our Thanksgiving warming up with slipper socks and hot pot while staying mostly indoors to set up our Christmas tree, holiday lights, and the new TV. With Westley still tentative about watching movies, we introduced him instead to MasterChef Junior, with the hope of instilling a shared interest in the culinary arts … or at least a shared love of food.