Category Archives: Food

True passion in local desserts in Ditmars / Astoria

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I half joke with a food-obsessed friend that if it weren’t for Kaia’s existence, most of my time outside of work would be spent thinking about what to eat, where to eat, and what I want to cook to eat next. This is not necessarily a total exaggeration: if you take a look at my Google Maps bookmarks lists, you can see that as of today, I have 672 bookmarked places I have either eaten at and enjoyed or would like to eat at (and have not been to) just in New York City across all five boroughs; some of that list is sprinkled with random independent bookstores, boutique shops, and houseware stores, but the vast majority is food. It seems like almost every day, I am adding yet another place I want to try to my list, whether it’s being recommended from someone on Instagram, Eater, The Infatuation, The New York Times, or a friend. Chris and I have a shared Melbourne, Australia, list of 299+ places. I also have created Google Maps lists for places we have visited (like Rhode Island or Guatemala) and will visit (Lima and Cusco, Peru). Each of those lists has at least 40 places bookmarked. No, we’re not planning to eat at 40-plus places in the several days we’ll be in each place. But hey, it’s good to have options depending on where exactly you are and what you are in the mood to eat.

Pastries by Anne is a dessert spot in Ditmars that I’ve had on my list for a while. It is owned by a Thai female chef who was educated at the Institute of Culinary Education and externed at Daniel. The main draw for me to come here was the Asian-flavored caneles. Anne has standard caneles available every day of the week, but on weekends, she chooses one special Asian-inspired flavor and adds it to her line-up of sweets. On the weekend we came, she had Assam (tea), and of course, I got one of these plus a standard one. She was actually at the counter, so we made some small talk. I asked if she had any other recommendations, and she steered me toward the pandan tiramisu, so I added that to my goodies and went on my merry way.

The Assam and regular caneles were insanely delicious, even when we had them about two days later. The texture and flavor were incredible; they were likely the best caneles I’ve had in New York City. the insides were custardy, almost spongy, caramel-like. The Assam tea flavor really sang! The only other caneles I’ve had that truly blew my mind were the ones we had in Bordeaux, France, the birthplace of the delicious canele, back in 2015, so it’s been a while since I really, truly was obsessed with a canele.

Unfortunately, I think I left the pandan tiramisu for too long. By the time I ate it later in the week, the mascarpone had already soured. This masked the pandan flavor completely, which was lost in the sourness. I was already messaging with Anne about how much I loved the caneles. She remembered me and checked in to see how I liked the pandan tiramisu. I was honest with her and told her it tasted sour, so I think something went wrong; maybe we didn’t keep it at the right temperature or eat it in time? Anne clearly felt bad; she apologized and said that anytime I could come out to Ditmars again, she’d remember me and give me a new cake. It was such a kind, generous offer. But given Ditmars is not too close to me, I couldn’t commit to when that next time would be.

The next thing I know, this morning, she posts on her Instagram that her storefront is CLOSING DOWN. She will be working as a consultant for premium airline catering, and so her kitchen will be open only for special orders, random drops, and pop-ups from the end of June onward. On the one hand, I was really happy for her as a small business to have a stable income stream and have her delicious flavors reach a broader audience. But on the other hand, I felt sad that I couldn’t just drop in whenever I wanted (selfish, I know. But when a girl needs her canele…). I messaged her to wish her well, and she said that her offer still stands: whenever I come out to Ditmars next, I can have the pandan tiramisu or any cake she offers on the house, and she’d definitely remember me and welcome me back. She said she was blessed to meet me and hoped we could keep in touch.

I was really floored. First, I already felt it was beyond generous for Anne to offer me a replacement cake, even if the error was on my side in not storing it properly or waiting too long to eat it. But then, she said I could have any cake, that she’d definitely remember me, and welcome me back anytime. She’s clearly a very talented and extremely humble and sweet person. She’s the small business owner you wish you could always, always support in any and all ways possible to ensure her success. How can you find fault in someone who is creative, talented, humble, and at the end of the day, just really wants you as her customer to love and savor what she is creating from the heart?

Kao fu (seitan) and shi zi tou (Lion’s Head meatballs)

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I look back on my childhood dining-out experiences, and almost all the meals out with family were Cantonese Chinese family-style meals. We always went to a no-frills Cantonese spot in the neighborhood that my grandma or aunt liked, and given we were with my grandma, aunt, uncle, and three sons, we always had a large table with a big lazy Susan in the middle. The few times when we were taking out someone “special” (some random relative or family friend who “had money”) as a guest of honor, my aunt or uncle would choose a fancier Chinese place that was a bit more upscale. At these rare fancy meals, the dinner would always start with an assortment of small plates, cold dishes that consisted of a variety of flavors, textures, and heat levels. The one that consistently showed up that I remember with fondness was hong shao kao fu (braised Shanghainese style seitan). I never knew what the heck it was. All I knew was that it was sweet, salty, umami, and had a variety of fun textures. I remember the meaty shiitake mushrooms, the crunchy cloud ear mushrooms, and some strange, squishy, meaty sponge-like thing that was almost like tofu, but not quite. As an adult, I later learned that this was called “seitan,” also known as wheat gluten, and was a popular meat substitute and source of protein for vegetarians/Buddhists. I also liked the slight crunch from the peanuts that were braised in the same liquid/sauce.

I finally made this seitan dish for the first time last year and was surprised how straightforward and easy it was. From my memory, it’s likely the very first Shanghainese dish I was ever exposed to. The second Shanghainese dish I had that I liked, which I wasn’t exposed to until I was in college with my Chinese teacher and our classmates, was shi zi tou, or Lion’s Head Meatballs. These are not made with lion meat (um, endangered and exotic), but rather with fatty pork, lean pork, and water chestnuts for crunchy texture. I made both of these dishes today for a mini ode to my Shanghainese Chinese teacher for my first two years of college. She not only taught me Mandarin Chinese language and more Chinese culture, but she was also responsible for giving me exposure to Shanghainese/Jiangnan style Chinese food, which was severely lacking in San Francisco (and even if it was plentiful, it would have been highly unlikely my very biased Cantonese family would have wanted to patronize those places).

You could spend your entire life learning about and making different Chinese dishes and likely never stop your learning. I’m happy to keep making “new” dishes for our home to ensure that Kaia is exposed to an endless variety of foods.

Eating and embracing the food of her cultures

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Since before Kaia was even conceived, I knew I would be hell bent on making sure she embraced the foods of her culture, so Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, and well, inevitably Australian/American (whatever that means). It really wasn’t difficult at all, as she was exposed to flavors like sesame and soy almost immediately; within a week or two of eating solids, she was tasting and licking every Indian spice under the sun, including chilies! And since six months of age when she started eating solids, she’s never really stopped embracing these flavors. Her favorite vegetables, by far, are all the Asian ones like gai lan and yu choy. Kaia enjoys dal and richly flavored curries. As of late, she’s been obsessed with this miso that has Japanese butterbur flower buds that peak in the spring (!!) that a friend brought back from a recent trip to Japan. I’ve used it as a glaze on roasted eggplant, as well as in a braise with mushrooms and eggplant.

One area that Kaia has not quite embraced has been around Asian desserts (we intentionally have not given her any Indian sweets because they are like sugar bombs). In general, we’re strict with her sugar consumption, so when she gets sweets, it’s usually only a few tastes at most. I’ve tried to give her dou hua (tofu pudding) just to taste a few times. She will have one taste and then say she doesn’t want anymore. I tried to give her a black sesame tang yuan after cooling it, but she seemed put off by the black color. She had the same reaction to grass jelly and refused to even try it on multiple occasions (grass jelly is my THING). She did, however, very much enjoy taro coconut sago.

So when I went to Banh Mi Co Ut in Chinatown and picked up a fat slice of banh da lon (layered pandan and mung bean tapioca/rice cake), I figured she probably wouldn’t want any. These types of desserts are my ideal “sweets” to introduce to her, as 1) they aren’t too sweet, 2) they actually have nutritional value due to the protein in the mung beans and carbs from the rice/tapioca, and 3) they are the flavors of her culture. As she happily peeled lychees after dinner tonight, I briefly warmed a slice of the banh da lon for myself and placed it on the table between us. She immediately looked down at it and asked what it was. I told her it was pandan mung bean cake.

Her eyes twinkled. “Can I have some, please?” Pookster asked with a cheeky smile, expecting me to say no.

“Okay, you can have one bite,” I said to her, breaking off a piece of the squishy cake for her.

She tentatively took it, said thank you, and took a teeny, tiny bite and chewed. Deciding she liked it, she placed the entire piece in her mouth and chewed while smiling.

“Yum!” Pookster said. “Do you have more?” She started giggling with excitement.

WOW. I cannot even describe how happy this made me. My baby was finally embracing a Vietnamese dessert that I loved, that I grew up enjoying, that I always saw as a treat when my mom would surprise me by bringing some home. She was embracing the sweets of my culture, her culture, and there is little else that warms my heart than knowing she is embracing foods I either make for her or get for her.

I explained to her that we didn’t have anymore, but next time, I could either buy some more, or if I was feeling up to it, I might even make this at home with her (the negative response elicited a loud and long “Awwwwwwww” from her). This cake is laborious, as it’s layered and steamed multiple times with mung bean and pandan layers, but hey, maybe now was the time to embrace this cooking adventure! And it would make me so happy to make the foods of our shared culture together with my sweet Kaia Pookie.

Hidden gems of New York City: Forma Pasta Factory in Brooklyn

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Over ten years ago, some friends and I discovered a house-made, fresh pasta restaurant in the East Village called San Marzano which was famous for having all pasta dishes $10 and under. At the time (and now!), it seemed completely ridiculous — we wondered how the place made any money considering how cheap all the food was. I suppose that given the wine by the glass prices were higher than the pasta dishes that that’s probably where they made their money. But still, it just seemed like too good of a deal to be true. I also think about this when I think of pretty overrated and stuffy fresh pasta experiences I’ve had in New York City, at places that people often call “institutions” (I am looking straight at you, Marea). San Marzano eventually shut down and reopened, slightly increasing their prices, but it’s still been very cheap for fresh pasta. Overall, it’s pretty hard to find affordable or inexpensive fresh pasta served at restaurants in the city, so if you find a place, you want to hold onto it forever and keep going back to ensure they stay in business.

Today, we went to Forma Pasta Factory in Fort Greene for lunch. It’s a fast-casual pasta restaurant that has two locations, one in Fort Greene and one in Williamsburg. All the pasta dishes were $14. As part of the lunch special, if you wanted to add a glass of wine, it would just be $5 additional. We got two dishes, a mushroom linguine and a malfaldine scampi. Chris also got us a glass of pinot noir and a sauvignon blanc (from New Zealand!). The portions are just right. The pastas were really al dente and toothy. The sauces were light, very well flavored and seasoned, and borderline addictive! They even give you a big piece of freshly baked fluffy focaccia with your pasta (mmm, carbs on carbs), which they could easily charge for given how good it was. As I was eating fork after fork of these delicious pastas, I was just in shock over what a good deal all this was. It’s not like the rent in Fort Greene would be cheap. And to really add a couple cherries on top, they have this beautiful, enclosed outdoor seating area outside where we sat, AND both wines that Chris selected were delicious! It’s hard to go wrong with a New Zealand sauvignon blanc, but the pinor noir was very refreshing and in a strange way, almost creamy. Kaia enjoyed both pastas and also liked the chewiness of the mushrooms, too.

We ended our meal here with some freshly piped pistachio cannoli with really nutty pistachio ricotta. The service all around was really friendly. It didn’t seem to matter if it was the person who rang you up (it’s an order at the counter and pay type of place, then you get a number and they bring your food out), the people who were making pasta out in the open (all the kitchen is open to see!), the people clearing plates and tables, or the servers themselves, but everyone was really warm, friendly, and always asked if we needed anything or if they could help us in an additional way. They also gave Kaia some crayons to draw with, which was a cute touch.

In a time of high food prices, inflation, and when it seems like just breathing is expensive in the city, places like Forma Pasta Factory are very happy finds.

Pit stop at a Phil-Am Market to the Staten Island Ferry serves as inspiration for bread making

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After my friend’s baby shower yesterday, I helped with some relatives and another friend to load and off-load gifts and baby items back at their house. Since her friend had a car and was driving back to Brooklyn, she offered to take me to the ferry terminal so that my friend’s boyfriend didn’t have to drive me. The caveat, she said, was that she hoped it would be okay to first stop at a Filipino market on the island before dropping me off at the ferry terminal.

My friend looked directly at me and smiled since she knew what my reaction would be. “Ummm, YES; I would love that pit stop first! I’m coming in with you!” I exclaimed.

My friend’s friend went in to pick up Filipino groceries as well as takeout (they have a prepared foods section) to bring home to her family. I picked up the pancit, which she also got and recommended, a tray of kare kare (this delicious Filipino oxtail / beef peanut stew), and a bowl of ube halo halo. And while I was perusing the packaged goods aisle, I was beyond ecstatic to find dehydrated ube powder; this was the ingredient I wanted to use to make ube pandesal, but I hadn’t been able to source it at an Asian market until now! This was likely the one item I got from this place that made this trip to the market a thousand percent worth it.

As soon as I got home, I started looking up recipes for ube pandesal. A year and a half ago, I made classic Filipino pandesal bread buns and really enjoyed how simple they were to make, as well as how comforting the flavor was. My next step in my mind was to make the ube version. There are ube pandesal recipes that call for frozen mashed ube, but it seemed like based on the recipes I found that dehydrated ube powder was the most common and preferred way. I also love this packet of dehydrated ube powder I got because there are zero additives in it: it’s 100 percent ube powder with nothing else – no stabilizers, no artificial coloring, no weird thickeners, nada! I had a strong urge when I boarded the ferry back to Manhattan to make bread this weekend.

I decided I’d do the bread recipe that was on the top of my to-make list ahead of my ube pandesal urge, though, which was King Arthur’s big, bubbly focaccia. I started the dough this afternoon, did some pulls and dough turns to develop gluten, and then will let it bubble, grow, and ferment overnight for additional flavor before baking it tomorrow.

This visit to the Phil-Am Market really got me excited to want to make bread again – this was an unintended, unexpected effect of visiting a Filipino grocery store on Staten Island. And now, I have both dry active yeast and instant yeast, so I don’t have to do any conversions for yeast types or worry about whether something will fail based on the yeast type I’ve chosen!

Today’s Trader Joe’s haul – May 2025

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There are two seasons of the year when I get really excited to shop at Trader Joe’s. Granted, I always enjoy shopping at Trader Joe’s regardless of the time of year, but I think that their very best seasonal or limited time items come out during summer or winter. Winter is fairly self explanatory: this is when they get all their Christmas/holiday items that everyone loves, whether it’s the peppermint Joe-Joe’s, the fancy Belgian chocolate and biscuit variety boxes, the Belgian chocolate “gold coins” of various countries around the world, or the Almond-Roca with a private label (this one is my all-time guilty pleasure/favorite!). Summer, of course, will have a much different assortment. At this time of year, they have their best selection of skincare items (expecting that you will be spending more time in the Northern Hemisphere summer sun), as well as fun warm weather treats. These are some things I’m excited about that I picked up:

Organic guava fruit spread: This seems to be all over my social media feeds now. It’s guava fruit spread with just enough sugar for sweetness. I was excited about any type of guava fruit spread since guava is not a common fruit or flavor you find in the U.S. I actually don’t eat much jam (Chris is the jam person in our household), but when I do, I want it to be the extreme version of the fruit it claims to be of, and I want it to be just sweet enough. So if this is good, I may go back and stock up on three more before they run out for the season.

Ube mochi pancake and waffle mix: I never buy pre-made mixes for cakes, pancakes, waffles, or anything. I prefer to make almost everything we consume from scratch because I’m obsessive about how I like what I like. But this ube mochi mix is the only exception. I buy this every year to either make pancakes or to make ube mochi muffins, which I personally think have a springier, more fun texture than the pancakes do. Instead of water or milk, I like to add coconut milk because ube plus coconut are a match made in the purest love. Apparently, Chris’s mom is a huge fan, too: she likes to buy a box or two when they come in May/June and bring it back to Australia!

Dubai style pistachio dark chocolate: I picked up three of these. The Dubai chocolate craze doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Since I had it at a verified place that sold it in Lower East Side with my friend when she visited back in October last year, I have seen endless variations of “Dubai chocolate” since. It’s come up in coffee drinks, milkshakes, random desserts in various shops, etc. We’ve already tried it, and this is good. At $3.99 for 100 grams of pistachio dark chocolate, this is excellent value if you like both dark chocolate and pistachio. The pistachio inside is very nutty and unmistakable. It’s also a little bit gooey with a hint of crunch. This stuff is worth it! It’s made in Turkey and not private labeled (The box says it is Patislove brand). The Upper West Side Trader Joe’s said that they are getting a “very limited supply” weekly, so if we want it, we should get as much of it as we want when we go.

Organic tart cherry fruit spread: I am not sure why no one is talking about this. Actually, yes I am: this come-back from last year has been completely and utterly overshadowed by the guava fruit spread. This was the one thing I got last year that got discontinued, likely for seasonal reasons, that I was devastated went away. Last year, I got only one jar. After I tasted it months after I bought it, I regretted not opening it earlier to buy more. But it’s BACK! This time, I got two jars. On the shelf when I saw it, there were only four jars total. When I got rang up by my cashier, he asked me what I thought of it. When I raved about it to him, he had this determined look on his face and said that as soon as he was done with me, he was immediately going on break and making a beeline for the jam aisle downstairs. If you like jam and you like sour cherry, BUY THIS.

Cheddar and parmesan cheese snackers – puff pastry cheese crackers: Okay, I’m going to be honest. I did not actually buy these. I was given them for free by my cashier! He asked me if I liked cheese and crackers, and he threw a brand-new box into my canvas bag. The cashier said they received an “over shipment” of these this week, so they were handing them out to anyone who wanted them for nada. I do love cheese crackers (Goldfish was the OG obviously, but now, Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies is my fave, though I have significantly reduced my snacking habits in the last year), and these are like a fancier version of cheese crackers to test out.

A five-stem bunch of peonies: This is my one flower purchase every year for myself. I never buy fresh flowers because I find them quite self indulgent (they die after such a short period!), though I do love them and think they make any room they are in feel brighter and livelier. But peonies truly take the cake for me. They are big, bold, beautiful, and capture everyone’s attention. And as an added bonus for someone (uh, me) with no floral arrangement skills, they are pretty darn easy to arrange given their blossoms are absolutely huge at their peak. It’s no wonder the Chinese were obsessed with them back in the day and obsessively painted them. I usually get a variation of pink, but this year, I decided to get the white ones. I really enjoy watching them progressively open up each day from really tight, small, ball-like buds. A five-stem bunch is only 10 bucks, so it’s hardly breaking the bank – it’s crazy good value! Technically, these start becoming available in the spring, but we’ve had a really cold winter this past year. So, I picked these up today.

I also wanted to pick up the seasonal passion fruit sorbet (mostly for Chris because he’s the sorbet person), but unfortunately none were in the freezer. That just means I’ll be on the lookout for them in two weeks when I go to TJs again!

Little delicious gems all around us in Manhattan

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On our Saturday adventures out as a family, Chris always seems a bit biased against Manhattan at or below Central Park and tends to prefer to visit the Bronx, Brooklyn, or Queens. I’m happy to go to all three of those boroughs, especially Queens since it was my first New York City borough, but we live in Manhattan, and it’s damn amazing for endless reasons. Even in Manhattan, on streets that you may go up and down every single day, amazing gems can show up right under your nose that you may overlook in your speed walking and desire to catch a train in time.

When I went down to the Koreatown area for a routine doctor’s appointment yesterday, I was walking along a street and suddenly got a strong whiff of ground matcha. Curious, I backed up a few feet, noticing a tiny little cafe that required a few steps up. I popped my head in, and as soon as I opened the door, an extremely strong scent of matcha almost blasted my face. It smelled as though they ground the matcha leaves fresh in this little cafe! The place was barely marked; I later found out that it was called Mika’s Direction. I quickly bookmarked it in my Google Maps saved list, went to my appointment, and came back to sit there and read before heading downtown to pick up Pookster from school. I ordered the favorite drink, the iced strawberry matcha. The same person who rang me up made my drink from scratch in front of me at the open counter, meticulously whisked my matcha, and poured the frothy goodness into my cup. The house-made strawberry syrup was mashed and just sweet enough. The matcha was earthy with a tiny hint of bitter. This was a really well made and delicious treat after my doctor’s visit. I savored my drink as I read my book for a bit.

I love stumbling upon these cute little cafes, bakeries, and restaurants by chance in my own borough. I never had this spot on a list or knew about it before I left home. Even if I didn’t originally set out to find a matcha spot on this outing, I found a delicious and obscure one in an unlikely place. I can still smell the intensity of freshly ground matcha wafting all around me. There are many things out there for us to find and taste as long as we are open minded enough to see and try them.

An underwhelming dinner out on the town tonight, with a babysitting bill on top of it

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One of our friends has been hounding Chris and me for a double date night. He and his wife have his wife’s parents caring for the kids after they finish school, and the grandparents even take them two nights a week to stay at their home just blocks away. So Sunday and Monday are their nights to themselves, when date night out for them is on Monday. Monday is when they splurge and try something fun and pricey. They will make the reservations for dinner up to a month in advance. So while they have free babysitting very, very regularly, Chris and I don’t have that luxury. When I told Chris that I scheduled this meal out, he got a little sour with me and asked why we were accommodating their free babysitting schedule when we don’t get free babysitting. He also said that (even though he doesn’t work) he doesn’t typically want to go out on a Monday night and would prefer a night later in the week. Either way, it’s our first time doing “date night” with these friends after having a kid of our own, so I thought once wouldn’t be any harm.

My friend suggested this new “2D” Japanese omakase restaurant in the East Village, which I will admit did look gimmicky; it’s the kind of place that I probably would have been really excited to try in my 20s, but now that I’m in my late 30s, I just think it’s another restaurant. But the idea of “omakase” did excite me, as I do love sushi and raw fish, but we don’t really eat much of it when Kaia is around. And $90 for 15 courses did sound like a good deal…

…Until the “courses” came to our table. The first three “courses” came to our table on a single tray for each of us, and two out of three of them were borderline terrible. The first “ball” of raw fish looked and tasted like an after-thought, like leftover fish that they didn’t know what to do with, so they rolled it into a ball. The second in a little bowl was trying to be fancy, but it didn’t taste like anything. The third piece was just fine. It was the start to a miserable dining experience.

The rest of the 11 “courses” came on a single plate, all lined up, little nigiri along with one hand roll, which though they said they recommended we eat right away to prevent the seaweed from getting soggy, was already soggy and had zero crisp at all. The fifteenth and final course was a miso soup, which just felt like an after thought.

Our server was also pretty terrible. I couldn’t tell if he was either sleepy, high, or both. Multiple times, he forgot to bring Chris’s drink, give us more napkins, or more ginger as we requested. He also had to be nudged a few times to simply refill our water. Although I tipped 20 percent, in retrospect, I am not totally sure he deserved that.

We spent over $100 per person for what is likely the most subpar omakase experience we’ve ever had. Plus, once you tack on the inevitable babysitting bill of about $80-100, that is a really, really expensive night out. Granted, omakase dining experiences in New York have only gotten more and more expensive. Many of them are over $300+ per person now. While the company was good tonight, and we had a reasonably fun time out with our friends, I promised Chris that if we go out with them again that I’d do a more careful vetting of the chosen restaurant to ensure that it’s something that’s really worth paying for, as well as paying for babysitting on top of that. He was venting about how “not worth it” this meal was. I agreed with him. But alas, we can’t dwell on the past anymore. It’s literally a sunk cost now!

Ending our road trip with a Costco visit in East Lyme, CT

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Our last visit to Costco was in October, when we did a road trip up to Albany, New York, so with this car trip, it was once again time to stock up. We got our usual items, like stocking up on meat, vegetables, and frozen peas and fruit. I also got a really good deal on an Australian boneless lamb leg, as it was six dollars off! But these are a few interesting items I hadn’t seen before that we also picked up for the first time:

  1. Terra Delyssa organic extra virgin olive oil from Tunisia: A crazy deal at $14.99 for two 1-liter dark glass bottles. There is a QR code on each bottle you can scan, and once you enter your lot number on the bottle, it takes you through the entire process from the time it was analyzed and bottled and taken to you! If all the information was true, then these would, by far, be the freshest bottles of olive oil we’ve ever owned – they were bottled in February of THIS YEAR. That’s crazy fresh!
  2. Kirkland Signature brand organic dried tart montmorency cherries: I LOVE dried sour cherries. It’s one of the main ingredients in the original Eleven Madison Park granola, which they present to you in a mason jar as a gift after your meal. But they are so expensive, so I rarely buy them. This bag was quite a steal at 20 ounces (567 grams) for only $10.99. I am definitely using these for granola and future baking, but I would even be happy to snack on them and give to Kaia as a treat.
  3. Tropical Fields brand soft dried durian – Seven 1.76 oz. packages for (net 12.35 oz / 350g) for $11.39. Dried durian is a thing now?! UPDATE: This was delicious! It’s lightly sweetened and has the expected delicious pungent flavor and fragrance that is characteristic of durian. It’s pretty much like durian in fruit roll-up form, except that here, it’s actually almost 100 percent fruit. It has this addictive chewy texture. There are only five small squares of durian per pack, so you can’t get too addicted to this and over eat it even if you wanted to.
  4. Sencha Naturals Organic Everyday Matcha – 12 oz / 340g for $19.99. I wasn’t originally going to buy this since I already have eight different loose leaf teas at home that are nowhere near finished, but Chris talked me into buying it given there may be tariffs in the future that might impact my tea spending. It didn’t take too much convincing, as this was an extremely good value.
  5. Artikaas brand black garlic gouda cheese – this huge block was $10.59. I love trying a new cheese at Costco. My go-to buy is usually the 24-months aged parmigiano reggiano – it’s only $12.49/lb.

Newport visit, rabbits, and dandelions at the Cliff Walk

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The last time we came to Newport, it was just weeks after Ed had died. I was walking around like a zombie, seeing him and signs of him almost everywhere I went. I remember when we struggled to find parking somewhere, we eventually found it on a street called Edward Street. I also felt like I was hallucinating and thought I was hearing his voice or seeing his face in places where he obviously was not.

It’s a very different visit this time with Chris’s parents and Kaia. After having coffee at a cute France-summer-house-style coffee shop and eating lunch at a popular brunch spot, we dropped Chris’s parents off at The Breakers (the Vanderbilt summer mansion) and we explored the town. We walked through and around the exterior of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. I learned about court tennis and how only bougie people seem to know and play it now, and rarely given the rarity of the court tennis court’s existence (this is most definitely the definition of “if you know, you KNOW”). And Kaia saw wild rabbits running around the grounds and stooped and sat to watch them, waiting for them to come back out (spoiler alert: they did not come back out). Kaia was carrying her pink bunny, Irene, as a comfort stuffed animal on this trip. She was running around with Irene, and when I suggested to Kaia that she show the other bunnies her own bunny Irene, she actually smiled and did just that: she sat down on the ground by the grass where the rabbits were and stuck Irene out to show the bunnies. And then she waved to the rabbits to come out. I couldn’t help but laugh and admire how adorable this whole sight was.

After Chris’s parents were done with their mansion visit, we walked along the famous Cliff Walk. Kaia enjoyed running around and picking dandelions, occasionally plucking off their petals and letting them fly away. This was her very first time picking flowers, even if they were weeds, and she really seemed to enjoy it. I picked them with her and we shared our dandelion bouquets. She tried to add grass to them, and well, I had to veto those additions.

Parenting littles goes so quickly. We always grumble at all the annoying parts of parenting, like dealing with the tantrums, the messy eating, the potty training, the bedtime routine and how long it takes. But what I hope to remember most about this period of raising Kaia and watching her grow are these little moments: Kaia proudly showing her pink Irene to the two wild rabbits and grinning ear to ear; Kaia discovering dandelions and that you can pick flowers, and then happily looking all over the grassy paths to search for and pluck them; Kaia greedily grabbing all the clams and so daintily pulling them out from the shells and shoving them in her mouth. These are the moments I would bottle up and want to save forever and never forget.