We flew back to NYC last weekend to attend a wedding and catch up with friends. Despite the convenience of a direct flight via JetBlue, red eye flights are never as restful as we’d like. So after dim sum for breakfast with my parents, we returned home and fell quickly asleep. Our afternoon drive to Flushing was delayed by traffic, costing us a visit to the New World Mall food court, although we had a good time reminiscing with a med school friend and college professor. The Chinese banquet-style dinner at the Sheraton was so-so, and the dance floor was flooded with kids, prompting us to leave early. We awoke on Sunday for breakfast with my college buddies on the Upper East Side, followed by lunch with John Tam at the 2nd Ave Deli. Here, the “traditional mixed platter” of kishke, cholent, and stuffed cabbage was pricey and less of a deal than the tongue sandwich and matzo ball soup combo, which we washed down with some chocolate soda. The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed a pleasant stroll through Central Park before returning to my hood to meet my elementary school friend Wei who had just bought a house and opened a French pre-school. It’s been a long time since my last visit home, and I wished I had more time to spend with family before our flight back Monday. With cabinet painting in progress, we resorted to mostly eating out this weekend. In preparation for our trip, we went to Cafe Morocco for some lamb tagine and moussaka on Friday. Since it was Farm-to-Fork week, we used our Paragary gift card for the prix fixe menu at Hock Farm on Saturday. On Sunday, we awoke to greasy garlic fries and wings at Broderick, then walked over to the Sac Convention Center for the Sacramento Reptile Show. Though we were admittedly clueless about herpetology, we enjoyed the variety of colorful chameleons, overweight frogs, albino snakes, fuzzy tarantulas, and creepy millipedes. Melody even had her first experience petting an alligator and monitor lizard. We stopped by Home Depot on the way home for some paint samples, as the reality of our ongoing renovations hit us again.

We had little planned for Labor Day this year, as our cabinet maker was eager to spend most of the long weekend installing the new cabinets in our kitchen. With the house in disarray from all the construction, we escaped to Rancho Cordova for grocery shopping and Korean food at KP supermarket, stopping by the Sears Outlet for a refurbished dishwasher. On Sunday, we ventured to Old Sac to partake in Gold Rush Days. There were hoards of visitors on horse-drawn carriages, costumed actors and street performers, and streets covered with dirt to recreate the Old West. Apparently, the event had been canceled last year due to the drought, but was brought back on a smaller scale this year to help local small businesses. We perused the eclectic shops in this touristy part of town, and ended with dinner at the FireHouse followed by dessert at the new Rick’s Dessert Diner. This weekend, our division gathering at my colleague’s house in Arden Arcade reminded us how fertile our 4 fellows have been, and the chaos that could beseige us in coming years. Back home, delays in the new window and countertops have slowed the progress in our home renovations. We did continue our selling spree on Craigslist, but ended up dropping the proceeds on nightstands from Overstock and a shiny toaster oven from Breville. So despite a string of late-night surgeries and countless hours assembling the nightstands, we were at least rewarded with roasted broccoli and soft-baked cookies from the fancy new toaster.