New Stroller & Weekend Fun

We finally got our stroller last week! It's been a roller coaster ride. (The recap: bought our stroller back when G was a few weeks old, had issues w/ one of the wheels, returned it for another one, then found out that the company was updated several features and so we decided to return the second one to wait for the upgraded one, which was delayed several times and just finally became available). Here she is for her first fitting.
What's the first thing we did with her once it was assembled (I'm a pro at assembling them now, it was the third one!)? We took her for a walk around the neighborhood and to dinner (one mile there and one mile back). She loved it, and even took a nap during dinner. The sun/bug cover should be coming soon, already ordered. We like this stroller because of its versatility, it is the only one on the market that converts from a single stroller to a double, and it fully reclines for newborns too (not that G needs that feature anymore, but we had originally intended to get it when G was first born - she can still use the recline for naps). It is also rugged enough we can use it for light jogging and hiking. The second seat is currently being used by G at home as a bouncer. We are hoping this is the only stroller we will ever have to buy.
This past weekend was the SJ Jazz Festival. We've gone in the past for fun outdoor lindyhop, and had hoped to go again this year but none of our dancing friends were free. We did end up going with some of our church friends, because of the kids, we ended up just hanging out by a restaurant (in the shade with bottomless drinks and a courtyard for the kids to run around) listening to jazz by a Christian jazz band (the drummer of the band was our friend's drum teacher). E & G took a little trip to one of the official stages to listen to some blues, but we didn't all make it down there.

Sunday we went over to visit G's Tai Po and Tai Gong to celebrate Tai Gong's birthday. It was interesting because it was the first time that it was mostly the grandkids (and one great-grandkid) because one uncle/aunt is in Sacramento and the other uncle/aunt is in Taiwan with the two younger kids. I think that because G looks so small, Tai Po thinks she's more frail than she actually is because she didn't want us to let her stand or jump (which is what G loves doing all the time).

Bistro Yoffi: Jazz adds to a cozy atmosphere

Dear readers,

Apologies for the long gap, we have visited tons of good places in the meantime, but just not had time to blog about them. We had visitors for the first time tonight, and were excited to show them around. We spent the last week looking for places that they might like, and since they were staying over for the night to prepare for a long bike ride the next morning in the Marin county, they suggested starchy foods, such as Italian. We checked out E'Angelo last week, and even though Mr. Calamari enjoyed his eggplant parmigiani, very cheesy and it just melts in your mouth, everything was very greasy, leaving a thin layer of orangy oil at the bottom of every plate, and Mrs. Calamari decided we would not be back. Right across this place on Chestnut, however, was Bistro Yoffi, with a list of jazz bands playing several times a week. Both of us, especially Mr. Calamari, was very excited as he loved live Jazz and swing music, and we soon agreed on this place. Not until later in the week would we realize that it's not an Italian place, but it wouldn't matter.

After our friends arrived and Mr. Calamari showed off the 360 degree views on our apartment roof, while Mrs. Calamari displayed her scrapbooking stuff, we headed out to Bistro Yoffi. We got there before the band started setting up and immediately noticed the cozy atmosphere. A couple small tables intimately set up before the band, right next to a bar area, with another dining area slightly further back, and a very nice garden with heated lamps in the very back. At first the four of us sat in the dining area further back, next to an unused old piano, but got lucky and sneaked into one of the cozy tables right in front of the band. The menu is very New Orleans and we loaded up on appetizers -- the cheesy garlic bread is very flavorful, and the crab cakes delicate and wonderful. We also ordered blackened catfish strips, fried calamari and something else -- and that calamari was some of the most tender and best battered I've eaten.

As we enjoyed our morsels and waited for main courses, the place filled up and the band started playing. They were from New Orleans, and it was lead by a DJ artist who mixed in recordings with keyboard, along with drums, acoustic bass, strings, trombone, sax, clarinet. With the trombone pushing in and out, maybe just 20 feet in front, the dim white christmas lights illuminating the LP covers of Billy Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and other legends on the walls, the coziness of the room itself, and the wonderful seafood gumbo right in front of me, the atmosphere couldn't be any more perfect. Our friends, who are both musicians, loved it. It helped that the band was very talented, both with faster and slower tempos. Mr. Calamari wanted to dance several of the songs with Mrs. Calamari, but there was not enough space. The next day, one of the tunes kept going round and round in Mr. Calamari's head. It was such a good experience that dessert became secondary.