I went to visit our sister apartment building two blocks away to view some potential 2-bedroom, 2 bathroom units. It’s a little funny when you are in your first trimester of pregnancy and don’t want to tell others outside of your closest circle that you’re pregnant because you’re not sure if it’s going to last. But you also want to indicate that you need more space.

“Are you sure you need a 2 bed?” the leasing consultant asks me. “Because I have a HUGE 1-bedroom, 1.5 bath that would be PERFECT for your budget, and wait until you see the kitchen!”

I did view it for shits and giggles and could not believe how much storage space the kitchen had, not to mention how big the kitchen island was. But yes, I told her. A 2-bedroom was non-negotiable. “It would be my office,” I said. “I’m going to be working from home full-time even after this pandemic is over, and I need dedicated space.”

Well…. I thought about that, too. Let’s say this pregnancy does work out. That second bedroom, realistically, is NOT going to be my home office. It will be the bedroom with the babies. So does this mean I’m left with the same result… WORKING AT THE DINING ROOM TABLE AGAIN???

I don’t really want to leave New York City, but the cost for space here is just outrageous.

I was chatting with my therapist the other day about my mom’s concerns for me given I am pregnant. I told her that while my mom is extremely excited, she’s also worried about what could potentially go wrong. She’s given me all kinds of advice, some of which is just outdated, too superstitious, and/or just plain wrong.

“No wine, no coffee, no hot food!” —> Alcohol, yes, limited coffee, not that I am a big coffee drinker, and who the heck ever said spicy food can negatively impact babies’ development??

“Don’t lift anything that’s over two pounds!” —> Pretty certain I’d be a total delicate damsel in distress and a bit of a loser if I didn’t lift anything over two pounds. I’m positive my laptop is over two pounds in weight.

“No more gym!” —-> Ummmm, no. No, no, and no. Exercise is not only good for my health, but it’s good for the baby’s. Healthy mom = healthy baby. I need the blood circulation and the sanity that comes from exercise. While I’m no longer doing HIIT routines or doing crazy high speed interval runs, I just started jogging again today and will continue doing it while I am comfortable, plus elliptical exercises, strength training, and yoga.

“Ginger is good for nausea, but don’t eat too much ginger, otherwise it’s too spicy for the baby!” —> No, mom. No. First of all, I don’t think I could drink more than two cups of ginger tea, and second of all, nothing is too spicy for the baby. 😀

She says it all out of love and worry. I get it. In some ways, I appreciate her warnings and her nags because that’s what caring moms are supposed to do. It still feels good and comforting, in some strange way, to have someone who cares in a way that is different than your friends or your spouse.

I was having a Zoom chat with two of my friends yesterday night, and one of the topics that came up was fruit cutting, funnily enough. We were talking about our lack of social lives given the pandemic, that Zoom chats were the real “out” of conversing with our partners. And I told them that I’ve prepared lunch every single work weekday for Chris and me, not to mention daily fruit bowls.

“I have probably prepared about 370 fruit bowls for both of us since this pandemic began!” I exclaimed.

One of my friends responded that her boyfriend is obsessed with having fruit cut for him, too. When they were in Bali years ago where they had a helper who would prepare meals, he explicitly requested a fresh fruit smoothie and a plate of a variety of cut fruit every day. She thought it would be nice for her to cut him some fruit one day after the trip, so he asked for papaya. She went to buy a papaya and realized how annoying it was to peel and cut the fruit, so she gave up, and he ended up having to cut it!

“If he wants fruit, we can go on vacation again, or my grandma can cut it for him!” she said, laughing. She said moving forward, she would cut him a fruit bowl once a year… on his birthday.

Chris has no idea how good he has it….

While Chris does admit that he can be controlling when it comes to deciding on trips, even where we are going on our Saturdays exploring New York City, he is also quick to point out that he rarely decides what we are eating since I do 99 percent of the cooking, and thus I usually decide what we eat and let him know after I’ve started prepping. I mean, to be fair, if he says he feels like a certain type of food, I am happy to accommodate it, but he rarely does.

But the really funny thing that always happens whenever we go grocery shopping together is comparing what I put into our cart vs. what he puts into our cart. For the most part whenever I go grocery shopping, regardless of what store/market I am in, the bulk of my purchase is always fresh, perishable foods, which translates as primarily fruit and vegetables (if we’re at Costco, I’ll purchase meat to stock our freezer quarterly. Costco is the primary place I buy meat at, and occasionally at Whole Foods. I buy almost all my seafood at Whole Foods). Occasionally, I’ll pick up a whole grain or whole wheat bread, some tortillas, and of course oat and/or cow milk and juice when we are running low, but fruit and vegetables are my primary purchase. So when we are loading items into the cart, I’m mostly adding fruit and vegetables, or some pantry staple like dried beans or rice. But when Chris thinks about grocery shopping… he’s mainly thinking about a few categories:

1. Juice (no orange, ever)
2. Milk (cow or oat; he gets upset if he sees that I’ve purchased almond and/or soy)
3. Chocolate (he prefers Aussie or British chocolate, but occasionally likes to try chocolates imported from Belgium or some other chocolate renowned country)
4. Mixture or banana chips (if shopping at a South Asian grocery store, or some kind of ‘to tide you over’ snack pre-dinner time)

This is why I jokingly have told him many times that not only he is my baby, he’s a baby when it comes to grocery shopping: he likes to pick out the “non-essential” items that are more like snacks and treats rather than the “real food” for our diet. 😀 He’s like the kid who accompanies his mom during grocery runs, adding in the “extras” like random snacks and sweets covertly while mom is busy checking items like vegetables or fruit or grains on her shopping list.

My mom called today to let me know that she was surprised to receive a $600 check in the mail from the government. Apparently, she qualifies for a stimulus check because of her disability status. She was obviously super excited because… well, who would NOT be excited to receive $600 when they were not expecting it at all?

I haven’t read much about the way the stimulus checks work, especially since I know I don’t qualify for any money, but that is rightly so. I was reflecting over the last year of my mom telling me that she’s had nearly daily food deliveries, plus free produce and canned foods from some local provider for senior citizens, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt that something seemed off. My parents have no money problems. They live a comfortable life and it’s their choice to live frugally. Why do they somehow qualify for all this free food when I found out my former high school teacher, actually living on a tight, fixed income, qualified for nothing?

When I first started my YouTube channel, my dad was encouraging of it because he saw that it could potentially be a future profession if I worked hard at it, and he embraces the entrepreneurial spirit. “You will never be fulfilled working for someone else,” he’s repeatedly said to me in many ways over the years. My mom thought it was cute but silly. “You already are at a computer all day long for work, and now you want to spend MORE time at a computer!” she exclaimed. She was worried for my health, that I might develop carpal tunnel and get further eye strain from more time in front of a screen. She said that I don’t know how to rest (takes one to know one, Mom). They watched some of my videos in the beginning, but I could tell my dad wasn’t too excited about the content, and my mom seemed to think I’d eventually give it up.

Then came the pandemic and the fact that they could no longer have me visiting as often as I used to. This means that they had no idea when they would see me next. So when my mom would see her friend, they’d watch my YouTube videos on the big TV screen and comment on my cooking or what I was saying. My mom was finally regularly watching ALL my videos. This was her way to “see” me.

Chris sent them Yvonne meets Food shirts, and they actually arrived today. My mom got super excited and called immediately when they arrived. “How did you DO this?” she asked, super curious and thrilled. “It has your NAME on it!”

“That’s my YouTube channel logo,” I explained to her. “Doesn’t it look familiar? And it has a mango in the middle of it!”

“WOW!” she exclaimed, looking over the logo. “I like this red color, too! Your Daddy says that I have to wear it now. We will both wear them! It feels soft, too.”

My parents will be wearing my Yvonne meets Food shirts. I smiled to myself, imagining them walking around San Francisco with matching shirts, advertising their daughter’s YouTube channel.

I wonder how many new subscribers they will get me.

Stir-fried tomatoes and eggs: a classic Chinese dish no matter where in China you are, or no matter what Chinese household you are in. It’s a simple dish that requires just tomatoes, eggs, salt, pepper, oil, and maybe some scallions or fresh garlic if you’re feeling fancy, but at its core, it’s a simple, humble, easy dish that sings with the right amount of salt and pepper to season it. When I was growing up, my grandma did a lot of cooking, both simple and complex, and tomatoes and eggs or tomatoes with beef stir fried were always one of our simplest but favorite dishes. A lot of people would never guess this was a classic Chinese dish, but ask anyone who grew up in a Chinese household with Chinese home cooking, and this is considered simple comfort food.

When I moved out and started living on my own after college, many nights I’d come home from work with few things ready to eat, so I’d quickly stir fry some tomatoes and eggs, toss them over rice, and call it my dinner. Fast food wasn’t much of a thing unless it was a treat at my house growing up, and so we always valued home cooking above all else — not just because it’s relatively inexpensive, but it’s frankly just healthier.

It’s not a sexy dish. It’s also not a dish who someone who is not Chinese would normally get excited about. But for me, it’s comfort food in all its simplicity, and it reminds me of all the fond memories I have of my grandma cooking and preparing nutritious food for me and my brother.