You are now a week over 9 months old and you are so independently mobile. You crawl so fast that all I see is a blur. I can often find you trapped under a chair or table but only because you gravitate towards those and then try to stand up while under them. You love pulling up on your changing table and reaching for that light on the wipe warmer. I’m sure its amber glow is hard to resist. Sometimes you play quietly in your play area but mostly you try to move the fence with you. You love to pull the books off my shelves especially those with red dust covers. The rustling of papers brings you to where I want you but nothing beats the jingle of my keys! You have all sorts of fun toys but all you want are shoes, an old toothbrush holder, a suction cup from a sign I hang on the window (of course it now lays flat in some drawer) and my shiny keyboard (I don’t blame you, it always beckons me too).

You don’t drink from a bottle anymore. We only had to go through 4 sippy cups to find you the right one. You actually know how to sip through a straw! You love your oatmeal, bananas, pears, coconut milk, meat and cheese. You never refuse cheese and you are always game to try new foods we put in your mouth.You do all this eating with one tooth in your mouth. You hate bibs, you either try to pull them off (velcro) or you just try to eat it in between spoonfuls. You also like to grab the spoon that feeds you. It is not helpful, my dear boy.

You still don’t sleep through the night and are always raring to go by 6am. Dr S says you are a night-feeder but I like to think that you love our special time at night. Some day you’ll sleep better and when you grow up, I’ll be sure to wake you early in the morning. For fun.

I love your little smiles, the way you scrunch up face and snigger and even the “it’s not me” look you give when I find you getting into trouble. Oh and when you giggle if you see a pic of yourself on my phone.

I just want you to know that I love you. I worry that I will forget all the moments that you make so special in my life because there are too many of them. Here’s my weak attempt at recording some of them. Some day you might read this since nothing that gets on the Internet is ever lost.

Thank you, my beautiful boy.

Love you, mummy

The sun is out, Seattle is, once again, scintillating. My camellia begged to be photographed.

We made these delicious stuffed strawberries. There is a little powdered sugar whipped in the mascarpone cheese but the lemon and strawberries were perfect.

I tried a new recipe today. Basically, I will cook 3-4 lbs of chuck roast or pork shoulder in the pressure cooker so we have protein stashed in the fridge for those nights when we want a quick meal or when I want to boost my breakfast with protein. Last week we made pressure-cooker carnitas, this week, it’s barbacoa. Slow-cooked beef. Of course we are not going to eat it as a taco but probably in a salad with shredded cheese, sour cream and fresh avocado. I recommend this recipe. I added more chipotle chillies (5-6) because I like more heat. Mike thinks this is the best shredded beef he’s ever tasted, but he’s biased and you already know that. Still, it is a simple recipe and takes a short prep time. It even cooks quickly in a pressure cooker. These days, I often find myself using my pressure cooker several times a week. I love tender, falling-off-bone meat.

As I type this, my pressure cooker is hissing again. Twice in a day! I’m making this lamb stew for dinner and serving it with roasted parsnip puree. I know that it sounds like a fall meal but the fragrant spices of this Spanish dish remind me of warmer days. I made two changes: (1) switch out Italian Parsley for cilantro. There is something about fresh cilantro that balances that richness of the lamb; (2) use lamb shank instead of stew meat.

Have to run for now. Going to put the boy to bed before I indulge in my Easter supper.

What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail? – Robert Schuller

Last Sunday, when I had tweeted my first time on a rock climbing wall, my good friend D replied that I had been attempting a lot of new and scary things lately.  The truth is, I have. I have had a lot of epiphanies in the last year. Small discoveries that have led me to rethink my view on life. Maybe it’s the milestone birthday that is quickly approaching but all I know is that I am making it a point to try more things, to get out there and challenge my comfort threshold.

I have to admit it, being up on that vertical surface and reaching up to 65 feet in the air, my fear did not lessen with the knowledge of the harness around my hips. I felt my heart race and my palms moisten but I kept going. The fear was mine to face. But at the end, I felt such satisfaction from pushing myself past my comfort zone.

Indoor rock climbing was just one of the many new things I will attempt this year. I’m not going to become an extreme sportswoman anytime but let’s just say that there are a few other adventures penciled in for the year.

I encourage you to try something new, out of your routine, just for the fun of it. It doesn’t have to be anything big, maybe a different walking or bus or car route, a different place for lunch or perhaps skydiving. You will be surprised what it might bring you.

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not the absence of it.” – Mark Twain

Our little S turned 8 months today. 8 months. I can wrap my brain around 8 weeks, but 8 months? I can’t imagine 8 years. I am pretty sure that it will come around soon enough. And I will be lamenting about how it all flew by. Did I say in the last post that he is not crawling fast? I stand corrected. He is fast now and I can only imagine how much faster he will move in the next week or so. He seems disinterested in actual toys and would much rather navigate my un-baby-proofed workspace. He pulls the drawers out from the apothecary chest, tries to pull out my cookbooks from my Sapien bookcase and constantly crawls to fiddle at the wheels of his grandpa’s office chair. Unstoppable.

In other news, Scarlett has a new neighbor. My folks’ house is right next door and is so close to being completed. Only the fence left! Will share a pic of the front yard between both houses when it is done. I got a free gate out of their new fence installation but they have to share one not-so-new fence that belongs to Scarlett. (oops!) Maybe in a few years, we’ll get a new fence.

Today marks my one month at Crossfit. I am still loving it and have not missed a single class. That is an achievement for me. I did the same WOD (Workout of the Day) yesterday that I did on my first session. I made so much better time. It surprised me. Although I am nowhere near doing an actual pushup or an actual pull-up, I am definitely pushing my limits and getting stronger. Carrying S around also helps with that but I have to say that it is getting easier to carry him around.

Primally, I made some Thai meat balls, inspired by this recipe. Here is mine:

Ingredients

• 2 lbs grass-fed ground meat
• 1 stalk lemongrass, lower white parts grated
• 1/4″ galangal, grated (about 1-2 tbsp after grating)
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp kosher salt (I like to make sure the meat is well-seasoned. An under-seasoned meatball is just not right.)
• 3 tbsp almond meal
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 4 Thai bird chillies, chopped finely (optional)

Mix all ingredients together in a big bowl. Form meat balls and pan fry.

We served it with organic salad greens tossed in olive oil, fish sauce and some lime juice. My new favorite salad dressing.

Tomorrow, I try my hand at some art journaling. On a small scale. But I feel that I might be hooked.

Oh and have you heard about PostalPix for getting prints of your iPhone/Instagram pictures? I ordered some and will see how the quality is.

Pork chops – these were thick-cut, bone in.  M brined them for 2 hours, then grilled them and topped them with pads of herbed butter. So delicious that I forgot the picture! We ate it with some curried stir-fried okra.

Short ribs/kalbi - I’ve just put them in a primal-modified marinade recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs beef short ribs, kalbi style
• 1/2 Bosc pear if you don’t have a Korean pear, grated
• 4 tbsp tamari (wheat-free soy)
• 1″ ginger root, grated (I like to use more ginger)
• 3 cloves garlic, grated or use 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp raw honey
• 1 tsp cayenne or you can use some chilli flakes, less spicy

Marinate the ribs overnight, preferably. When ready to cook, toss them on a grill to cook.

Beef Chuck Roast – think we are planning to make a pot roast with this but we have not determined what flavors. May make a stifado (Greek beef stew) or maybe birria (Mexican stew).

Pork Shoulder – we love this pressure cooker carnitas recipe, so easy, quick and flavorful!

A combination of some of these foods – bacon, eggs (boiled or fried), sausage, smoked turkey, cheese, sauerkraut, kim chee, carrot sticks, avocado and coffee with huge splash of cream.

Lunches:

Deviled eggs, salmon cakes, leftover roast chicken and buffalo sliders, as lettuce wraps or a mixed green salad, with extra avocado and bacon on the side.

Dinners:

Porterhouse steak with blue cheese and brussel sprouts, ham and cheese frittata and grilled bratwurst with mustard.

Cravings:

Bubble milk tea. Good hearty ramen.

I started working on my blog again. I’ve added those buttons for social media to the right menu bar. I realize that I don’t blog as much but I still spend a good amount of time on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. My blog is due for a redesign but I need to be able to commit my time to posting more often. Some days, it feels like this blog has no future. I know readership has definitely declined but I am happy that I do keep in touch with some of you on the other sites. I’m still thinking about where this blog will go.

In the meantime…

I’ve been planning my spring seeds and yesterday, I started pre-sprouting my peas for the garden. I think I’ll plant them in a big pot since the ones I have are dwarf plants – up to 18″ only. Most of my planting will be in the stock tanks this year. Trying not to overdo it. But now that we are eating lots more vegetables, we are definitely excited about our own crops. Weather predictions are not good though.

In addition to staying on the primal wagon, I’ve started Crossfit. I don’t think I’ll be super Crossfitter anytime soon but after almost 2 weeks, I think that this is something I will continue to enjoy doing. It’s something that I can share with M too. It helps when you have company. Since he has been at it for almost 3 years, he’s way ahead of me but the fact that I’m out there and trying to do something physically is way more than I could have ever hoped for. My goal is to be stronger. Eating primal has also helped – I am not as sore as I thought I would be and I seem to find the energy to get out there even though my sleep is still fragmented.

S is doing good. He started crawling last week. Not fast gecko crawling yet but soon enough I’m sure. Also, he has two little teeth trying so hard to pop up through his gums. I feel them when he nurses so it’s not long now. He’s eating brown rice, sweet potatoes, bananas, yogurt and whatever scraps I throw his way (read: little pieces from my plate – so far, noodles (from my Din Tai Fung primal cheat meal), kale, beef, carnitas. I think he will be a good eater. Hopefully. He loves to say “bababababa wawawawawa mamamaama dadadadada” but to him, I think it’s not people-specific. I’m taking so many pictures of him but sometimes I still feel like I might miss some important moment. I just hope I remember some of these when he grows older. I don’t want to document the heck out of his life though. He still doesn’t sleep very well. We have had no luck in sleep training so now he shares our bed. I love having him close by and sometimes I think I’ll never remember what it’s like to sleep through the night. Soon enough, I know.

We’re looking forward to a nice St Paddy’s Day dinner with some good friends. We don’t see each other as much these days – work, life and kids do that to you but that means we cherish our time together all the more. So, corned beef, braised cabbage (never boiled!) and beer. Not primal but necessary for the occasion.

If you are still out there and reading da*xiang, say hi, will ya?

Heroics are often about putting our life on the line. Courage is about putting our vulnerability on the line. If we want to live and love with our whole hearts and engage in the world from a place of worthiness, our first step is practicing the courage it takes to own our stories and tell the truth about who we are. It doesn’t get braver than that.

- Brené Brown

I love this face. Every day, a little more than the day before. And “a little” is definitely relative. I will never get tired of this face. Even with all of the other expressions that it makes.

We are still on this primal wagon. I shouldn’t call it a wagon since it doesn’t feel like I will be getting off it in the near future. It’s done nothing but good for me. I’ve dropped down to a weight that I have not been at since 2002! Pre-wedding! In addition, I have also decided to face my worst fears – exercise. I went for my first Crossfit sample workout last week. I didn’t die while doing a modified half “Cindy”. I am excited about starting my blast off class next Friday. Check back in 2 weeks to see if I’m still so enthused.

In other news, it’s almost March. The soil in the stock tanks will be turned soon and seed will be sown. For inspiration, I’ve been reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Vegetable Miracle.

Are you looking forward to spring?

Tonight I made a braised beef short rib recipe in my pressure cooker. I have had it for a while but only recently been using it to cook pot roast, carnitas, beef stifado and now these ribs. I have also been using it for my braised kale or greens. I love how quickly it turns out such delicious meats and veggies. I cannot wait to try more recipes.

I used the recipe from Dad Cooks Dinner. I love braised meat, so tender and unctuous.