We’ve been to this annual Berkeley chalk event last year. This year, Anders was more into the art.
This last Christmas, we made a trip out to Texas to visit Harrison’s parents in Laredo, TX, and Christine’s sister in Houston, TX. Christine’s youngest sister flew in from UK to join us as well as Christine’s mom came in from Taiwan to join in on the festivities.
Our trip was split into two parts, the first half in Laredo, and the second half in Houston. Some of my memories of the Laredo:
Other memories from the Houston leg of the trip:
Any other memories that you all remember from back in December? As many of you now, my memory is spotty at best!
My recollection is that we have boxes and boxes of old piano and cello practices and performances between my sister and I sitting in some box somewhere. My father was able to find a new toy to convert some old cassettes into MP3 files.
He sent me a handful through email the other day, and I pulled out some samples of my cello playing. I think I started playing cello in the 3rd or 4th grade all the way until college. Below are some songs from when I was pretty bad…
when I got better…
and when I sounded awesome.
I still have my doubts that the last recording was really me, as all the notes were pitch perfect. I do remember the song, all the notes, and most of the fingering still after all these years. My vague recollection was that this was when I was in middle school in Maryland.
I called up my father about this recording, and he swears it was me. He tells me that it was a major performance at some American Banker’s Association meeting that I performed with some university orchestra.
He said I sounded great during the performance, but to a father’s ears, all music played by me sounds great. 
It has been quite some time since I last blogged. Not sure why I took such an extended break, but the backlog of things to report and pictures to share is getting to be quite substantial!
During the winter of 2009, the entire family headed out to Portland Oregon for week-long stay. Christine found an deal where we were renting a 2,000 square foot home in the Portland suburbs for around a hundred a night. Christine guessed that we all would enjoy a vacation home fully equipped with fireplace, children’s play area, toys, crib, everything you can think of. Boy was she right.
The location of the rental home was in one of the well-to-do suburbs of Portland, around 15-20 minutes from the city center. We visited various suburban neighborhoods as well as some public schools, and we found the facilities to be better than what we have seen in the bay area. The high school felt more like a college than a high school couches, computer labs, and open architecture.
The ethnic food scene in Portland was impressive. The Japanese population in the Portland area is quite substantial, so nothing more needs to be said on this front. We also found some of the best Vietnamese spring rolls we have ever had, pretty good dim-sum, and average pearl milk tea. The Chinese supermarket was as big as a small Ranch 99, and we haven’t even started exploring the seafood scene.
Christine and I both think Portland is a top choice of ours when we move out of the Bay Area.
These past two Saturdays, we found a little gastropub named the Chop Bar in the Jack London Square area. I’m a sucker for Eggs Benedict, and unfortunately have become a snob of sorts for this brunch staple. When I read that the Chop Bar was having a seasonal special of Crabs Benedict last weekend, I took Christine and the two kids to try it out, and hoped the best.
Christine and I were both very impressed. The crab meat came in large tender chunks and fused perfectly with the avocados. The egg was perfectly cooked, and we wound up regretting that we both didn’t get the same dish. A photographer from the San Francisco Chronicle approached us in the middle of the meal, and asked whether we were willing to be photographed for their upcoming review article. We gave our consent and quickly forgot about it.
This last Sunday, we were craving Eggs Benedict, and we found ourselves at Chop Bar again. The waiter recognized Anders and asked us if we saw our picture in the paper. This prompted me to pull up the review article in my iPhone and here we all are… in the San Francisco Chronicle article “Chop Bar is a Treat in Jack London Square.”
