Grandma is doing GREAT. She has no pain, her spirits are up, she has a clean bill of health, and she happily put away three servings of flan during our visit! We watched Easter Parade, the only movie Fred Astaire and Judy Garland made together. Kevin and I took advantage of our trip with the car to pick up ten of Grandma's paintings, including this one:
Then Kevin and I drove to the East Bay. That evening, we went with Meagan (Kevin's step-sister) to Caitlin (Kevin's other step-sister) and Neil's house to see their new arrival (not visible in this photo!), Colton Robert Hasser. Can you tell the new parents are a little sleep-deprived?
Awww, there's the little muffin with his Uncle Kevin! Cole makes a pretty darn' handsome newborn. We never got to see his eyes, but it didn't in any way decrease his adorability quotient.
The next day, we started with a trip to the park with Meagan's son, Charlie. SO CUTE. Isn't the day better when you kick it off with a really good swing?
After breakfast, we headed down to Santa Cruz to the Beach Boardwalk. Stunningly, this NorCal native had never been! Charlie was sooooo excited to "wide the wides." They all go in a circle and feature a steering wheel, but for the 2 1/2-year-old set, it's truly the bee's knees. Charlie found a boat that was made for him:
We headed down to the beach for lunch, and Meagan and I got in a little adult conversation time.
Meanwhile, Uncle Kevin kept the little one busy with mud pies ... or was it the other way around?
Little Charlie of Arabia with Mama. If you look carefully, you can see the cherry-juice goatee forming!
Saturday we had brunch with my friend, Sharon, who lived with me for a few months and sustained me for nearly a year in Dakar. We had brunch at an Armenian restaurant where I had my first Armenian breakfast: fava beans, eggs, spinach or spicy sausage wrapped in phylo dough, mushroom quiche, and some kind of hot cream-of-wheat-like cereal flavored with cinnamon and cardamom. Tasty ... and far too much for me to finish. (Do my people really eat like this every morning? Makes me feel like a sub-par Hye.) Sadly, we forgot to bring the camera.
In the afternoon, we headed over to see our friend, Kaushal, the first real Indo-Fijian we ever met. Kaushal's family took very good care of us on both of our trips, and gossiping with him about Fiji politics kept us sane last year. In keeping with the family tradition, Kaushal really went above and beyond in hosting us. He planned — I kid you not — a five-course meal.
Here is Kaushal as chef with his sous-chefs. (Yes, we did see the Ratatouille movie.) The blonde head is our mutual friend, Bridget, who was freshly-arrived from Texas and freshly-diploma'd in Montessori education. Kaushal, I know you love this photo!
The salad course ... Kaushal, Bridget, Bridget's colleague, Auralie, and a familiar face.
The lamb and chana (chickpea) course, with basil-scented quinoa. Yes, those are hand-made corn tortillas on the table. Alas, no pics of the gajar (carrot) ka halwa, of which Kaushal was rightly very proud!
Kaushal actually apologized for not cooking brunch for us. I know what you're thinking, but he was serious. Instead, we went to Café Cacao, the restaurant attached to ... wait for it ... the Scharffen Berger chocolate factory. (Fun fact from Kaushal: the name means Spicy Mountain or something.)
Yes, we took a tour of the factory. Yes, we got to eat free chocolate. No, we did not see any Oompa-Loompas. (It only takes eight people to run the factory.) We did find out that Scharffen Berger has been acquired by Hershey, so if you like their chocolate, I recommend you start hoarding before Hershey ruins it.
We headed back to L.A. that afternoon and reached home six hours, two servings of Kaushal-feast leftovers, one horrifying rest stop, and several cookies later ...
Friday: Off to see another branch of Kevin's family in Portland. As Sharon observed, "You guys have a lot of relatives. Can I have some?"
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