Big News

Where did the time go? Summer is almost over! If you haven't heard, we're pregnant! We're 20 weeks today. We went for our anatomy survey/ultrasound today. I was holding my breath, as the ultrasonographer scan over his nuchal fold, heart, lips, looking for abnormalities along with him. Everything is normal and great, thank God. I'm just paranoid for nothing. Ah.. the trouble of knowing too much. And oh yes, it's a boy! We're uber excited. I'm feeling kicks and movements- it does feel like there is an alien inside me... odd and wonderful at the same time.
Things we did this summer so far: picked berries- a PNW tradition, entertained families of both sides, went to Maui for a conference/vacation and of course lots of hiking. Here are some pictures.

I guess we didn't take that many pictures when the Les were here. Above were just some of the better ones from Sunriver, OR. It was a beautiful house and we had great weather while staying there. Aren't the babies cute?
Snorkeling in Maui with Mom. Well, I snorkeled. Mom waddled in the water.
Here's all of us at the Old Lahaina Luau. More pictures on Facebook. Do you even see my bump?

We hope to do more fun things before summer ends. It's so beautiful here this time of year. We also did several hikes but we didn't bring the camera most of the time. Here's a picture of the latest addition- our little guy...

Profile picture with the umbilical cord right at his mouth- looks like he's blowing a big bubble.

Empanadas

Hispanic food is one that I have hard time mastering. I've always loved empanadas when offered at restaurants, so I decided to ask my friend Anita to teach me one of her mom's recipes. Here's us making Chilean beef empanadas one Saturday afternoon in my fabulous kitchen :)
The dough is made up of all purpose flour (6 cups), butter (3/4 cup), salt (1 tsp), approx 1 cup of boiling water (adjusted to dough consistency similar to pizza dough). Using a wooden spoon, roughly mix altogether.

Knead and rolled out thinly- as much as you can.

Filling consists of 1 lb lean ground beef, 1 medium chopped onion, seasoned with 1 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp of paprika, 1 tsp. cayenne pepper (for extra kick), and salt, pepper to taste. Cook this on stove top with a few tbsp of olive oil. We also had raisins and pieces of hard boiled eggs before folding the dough.
Cut with a pizza cutter in half moons, making sure the edges stick (apply water around the edges and press down). Deep fry.

Anita among the yummy goodness. Thanks for sharing, lady! Your mom must be so proud. Maybe next time, I'll venture to make arepas... or just stick to tacos and burritos...

House updates & more

It started with a sink I saw on overstock.com on sale. Then before we know it, we're chiseling out the old, dirty and ruined marble tiles, brass hardware, stained sink and replacing practically the whole thing. Props to Quoc for doing most of hard work. I picked the replacement pieces and painted though. It was a team effort. We're really happy with the result. Below are some before and after pictures.

Before

After

I haven't put up a lot of food pictures lately, but I have been cooking- promise. But I want to share a picture of a meal that Quoc made for Valentine's day. Grilled lobster with lemon and chives glaze, broiled fresh asparagus, orzo and garden salad drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. He doesn't cook often, but usually goes all out when he does. We paired it with Chilean Santa Rita Camenere. Yum! That was a good meal. Coffee ice cream- my favorite- was the dessert.


And here's one of mine- pan-seared salmon with capers, grape tomatoes vinaigrette.


I also recently went to visit my friend Kim in Phoenix, and had so much fun taking care of her 6 week-old baby girl. Here's Isabella Faith Mah. Isn't she precious?


And here are some random hiking pictures @ Angel's Rest and Hoyt Arboretum

Haiti

Devastating news about Haiti yesterday onto today...

10 miles outside of Port au Prince, the capital of Haiti, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude hit, crumpling much of the city's buildings and structures, leaving thousands dead, wounded, and without shelter, food or medical care.

I watched the pictures in horror, fighting back tears the whole time, wishing I can be there among the volunteers, instead of here. My clinic day just became futile; patients' complaints felt irrelevant. Good news (small but made a huge difference) came about mid day. Pastor Delamy, who is our Haitian compassionate leader and gentle minister and his family are safe. Communication are still erratic. I can imagine- it wasn't great before the disaster hit. I can't imagine what it must be for the volunteers, for my dear friends, Joe and Linda, who will be flying there tomorrow night.

Haiti is a country of trials. Its people has been through slavery, wars, conflicts, internal and external, robbed of a normal way of life, surviving on foreign aid as its government seems to be helpless and/or dysfunctional. When I was there in March, I saw need- so much need. How much more can a nation of people handle?

However, I must believe that God is still in control. That He alone holds the future, ours, and my friends, the people of Haiti, as He has always been a faithful, good, and loving God. I can only hope that there is good in all of this.. chaos, destruction and turmoil. All I can do now is pray, since I can't be down there, for peace, safety and for my own sanity.

If you want to donate money, please go to medical team international's website.

From Chau's 2009 Haiti Trip

New beginnings

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

We've officially moved in for approximately 1 week now. I unpacked the last box today!! It has been quite a flurry of activities- mostly just boring unpacking and organizing. It has been tremendously helpful to have my sister here, visiting. She's proven surprisingly, to be quite useful! :) She's always been "lil sis" to me (as she is 5 years younger), and it's a joy to finally see her grown into her own self. And more than ever, we can share more of ourselves equally. We painted Quoc's entertainment room from peach to warm nutmeg.

Furniture are still lacking, but it's finally starting to feel like home. My favorite part of the house is the kitchen. The previous owner was a part time caterer, so I'm in cooking heaven! We eventually will put in a hood over the gas stove, as most Asian recipes require high heat. As things are organized, I will put more pictures up. Here's just a preview of my beloved kitchen.

Sorry the lighting is poor.

During my sister's stay, we had the first snow fall. She of course, was ecstatic! We had to run outside to do a photoshoot in front of the new house. It was loads of fun, and the neighborhood looks beautiful in the snow.


And here's another few of us trying cross country skiing in Sun River during Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun as the snow/conditions were perfect, and I think we found our new snow sport!


We did not have much of a Christmas this year. Mainly, it's because of the move, and lack of decorations. Our official move in date was the 20th, and with boxes laying around for the duration, we did not have the energy to find garlands, tinsels and ornaments, let alone go chop down our tree. We did squeeze time in to get some Christmas cards, but did not have time to send all of them out. So we're sorry if you're getting yours after New Year.

Until next time. Have a safe and fun New Year celebration! Think of us as we probably will be cleaning and organizing...

Obsessions

Last week, I picked up the Twilight Saga from a friend, and devoured all 4 books in 5 short days. I surprised myself- shocked(!) that the hysteria that swept all readers of Stephenie Meyer's series applied to me too. So several thoughts, as I pondered why....

1. Romance: the books centered around this passionate, deep, intense, impossible love story that rings true and relates to a profound desire that most women have- to be wanted and loved completely (shown between Edward and Bella). Apparently, I am one of those women. It's fantasy, true, but is it a crime to wish, and long to be known in that way?

2. Hobby: reading used to be one of my favorite pastimes. Ever since I was little, I'd go through volumes of books, magazines, journals in my free time, escaping and dreaming, sneaking books to bed, reading late into the night by the hallway's light so my mom would not know that I'm still awake. I remember, in college, people who visited my bookshelf would ask if I'm a lit/English major. Medical school and residency interrupted that and other hobbies, replacing it with medical journal reading and studying. I'd feel guilty if I pick up a nonfiction instead of JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association). So there was a hiatus of 7 or so years- how did I do that? Hmph! Therefore, I assume when I picked up this series, I was making up for lost time.

3. Obsessions: I never thought of myself as the obsessive type; however, I must have some OCD trait to be (and survive) in my profession. Because I read continually with such..er.. ferocity last week, the characters were very real to me. I thought about them as real persons (props to Meyer for excellent character development), and continued to analyze about their reactions if such and such was to happen. Was it just this series? No...it happened before, in a subtler way. I remember reading all of John Irving books starting with A Prayer for Owen Meany to The Fourth Hand in a span of a few months. And there was my first favorites- The Bronte sisters, and Shakespeare plays and Hemingway's complete work. Hm... there is a pattern! Are all obsessions bad? Should I allow myself this one OCD trait? Until the next book... I'm taking suggestions :)

On another note, we are moving forward with buying a house in Washington. If every goes smoothly, we will be in the new house before Christmas! Will post pictures when we move in.

New endeavours

Today, I went to New Heights Clinic for orientation. It's been 3 years since I worked here last. Then, as a resident, and now, as the nurses say, a real doctor! The clinic is sponsored by New Heights church and staffed with Christian volunteers. And I'm proud to say that I'm their newest member. It serves the uninsured of Clark County and even Portlanders as well. I'll be spending Tuesday mornings there- excited to see how God will work through me.

A pot of Bun Bo Hue (Hue-Style Spicy Beef Noodles) is simmering downstairs, but I don't think we'll be eating it tonight, since I started it too late. Instead we'll be eating leftovers from my Ca Ri Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Curry) and Tom Rang Muoi (Shrimp fried with salt) that I made earlier today, which was excellent, btw. See picture below.


On another note, I met the instructor of my Spin class today. She called me "kiddo". Really? Hmph... don't really want to start wearing makeup to the gym! Guess I should enjoy it while it lasts.