I surprised my wife with a short getaway at Point Reyes Station to celebrate my 40th birthday this year. While my in-laws watched Westley, we headed out early Sunday morning to begin our West Marin food tour at Cowgirl Creamery. We began with lessons about the region’s history, sustainable agriculture, and MALT over baked treats from Bovine Bakery. After cooing at fuzzy Red Hawk cheese in their incubator like babies in a nursery, we consumed chai at Bovine and sourdough at Brickmaiden, taking a behind-the-scenes tour of the latter and whiff of their 16-year-old starter. Next, we shared avocado toast, salad, and grass-fed beef burgers at Due West while our crunchy tour guide proselytized on the importance of eating local and organic. At Heidrun Meadery, the only sparkling mead factory in the world, we sampled their bubblies, but left with some buckwheat and wildflower honey. We got a preview of our next day’s activity at Hog Island Oyster, where we shared raw and grilled oysters as we learned how the company grows and harvests their bivalves. We returned to Cowgirl to buy some cheese before checking into our AirBnB cabin. In the evening, we suited up for our bioluminescent night kayaking, which was only possible in January due to global warming. As we paddled across Tomales Bay, picking up sawgrass and spotting seals, we started streaming magical blue-green light in the wake of our kayak and swish of our oars. We refueled at Nick’s Cove, but unfortunately spent the night up with food poisoning. Nevertheless, we were determined to make our picnic table reservation at Hog Island on Monday. After a quick trip to Palace Market to pick up foil, butter, garlic, parsley, deli sides, cheese, sourdough, and water buffalo gelato, we got a shucking lesson at the Hog Island counter along with trays of oysters. We had to ask our neighbors how to start the grill with a chimney, but we successfully took down two dozen raw Kumamoto oysters, a dozen grilled Pacific oysters, and a pound of steamed mussels for a very satisfying lunch. We kept dinner light at Stellina to make room for more water buffalo gelato before returning for Scrabble game night. Having been told that my car tires were about to pop from wear, we investigated tire options as we stopped for lunch at Wild Goat Bistro in Petaluma. We managed to get a new set of run-flats installed before picking up Westley for my birthday dinner at Yue Huang. We stuffed ourselves on fish maw soup, abalone, conch, fish hot pot, and pea stems before returning home in time for cake, song, bath, and bed for Westley. Despite the short respite, I felt refreshed and ready to take on middle-age. 

We began the new year by kicking off our landscape remodel, as contractors began demolishing the existing foliage and pergolas, letting through sunlight that we did not know existed. It left our yard looking rather bare as we hosted our lab holiday hot pot party last week. We had initially planned for board games also, but the food preparation and logistics of running two pots on our kitchen island was more than enough to keep us occupied. Melody’s division holiday party was less hectic, although the mood was solemn due to a recent patient complication at work. My MLK weekend call was spent volunteering at Paul Hom and helping the TEAM Make-A-Thon. This year’s project was to design an eye drop assist device, and I got to serve as as client, mentor, and judge. Meanwhile, Westley appeared to have a newfound passion for jigsaw puzzles, but also seemed to have misplaced his potty skills. With him starting in the intermediates class at school, we hope that he will recover his bladder control soon.

With back-to-back 4-day weekends, we had activities all lined up for the holidays. Last Saturday, we took Westley to the Global Winter Wonderland. We had sent my parents there some years ago, but thanks to tickets from my post-doc, it was our turn to be dazzled by the gaudy lanterns, foamy faux snow, and Chinese acrobats. Westley was too little for the fairground rides and too confused by the tribal dance, so we left early for creative vegetarian fare at Mother before calling it a night. On Sunday, we stocked up on beef noodle soup ingredients from 99 Ranch and lunched at Yum Buffet, where Westley stuffed himself on sesame balls and taro buns. Having purchased season passes for Six Flags, we had planned to go after his half-school-day on Monday. But winter rain kept us indoors, and we spent the afternoon assembling his Christmas present, which helped to alleviate a grumpy wake-up from nap time. On Christmas day, my sister-in-law and niece joined us for waffles and omelettes while Westley showed off his holiday act, followed by a round of Settlers of Catan during naptime. After a short week taking down disappointing beef noodle soup from a new Instant Pot recipe, we successfully made the trip to Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo. Westley had clear preferences for certain amusement rides (like the train and safari jeeps), but the wildlife exhibits were mostly empty. Without our coats, we warmed up with overpriced smores at the theme park, followed by hearty kalbi tang, soondubu, and KFC at Hot Stone Korean Kitchen. We spent the next two days doing more grocery shopping and home vegging, with Westley binge-watching Pete the Cat and us checking out the most recent Avengers before the ball dropped on New Year’s Eve. We rang in New Year’s Day with a visit to the Sac Zoo. Thanks to a gift membership from a thoughtful colleague, we enjoyed the hyperactive meerkats and hyperacoustic gibbons, followed by HK-style lunch at Macau Cafe. In the evening, we gave Westley a nice haircut as we prepare for another exciting year ahead.