Desperate for some time away, we had planned for a weekend of hiking and biking in Santa Cruz when sweeping wildfires closed down I-80, necessitating a last minute change to an Airbnb further north in Fairfax to escape the smoke. We delayed our departure Saturday to clear out some rejuvenated bermuda grass, but arrived in time to enjoy Creole fare at the Hummingbird including beignets, gumbo, chicken n’ waffles, and shrimp n’ grits, followed by a scoop from Fairfax Scoop. Unfortunately, the smoke had penetrated into our area by afternoon, which kept us indoors and baking in our moutainside rental. We delighted in the eclectic interior which sported old family photos and equine decor to reflect the hosts’ farrier service, but Westley’s favorite were the toy chest, bunk bed, and loft bed in the master bedroom. Feeling too lazy to venture out, we shared leftovers and instant noodles for dinner before calling it a night. On Sunday, we awoke early to hike Cascade Falls by Canyon Road before enjoying curry, thali, and biryani at Cafe Lotus. We spent another afternoon lounging in the cabin to work on Westley’s new Lego race truck while watching a squirrel steal from the bird feeder. A brief reprieve in air quality gave us a chance to enjoy izakaya dinner take-out from Village Sake on the balcony, but was cut short when Melody got stung by a yellow jacket. We left Monday morning, stopping briefly in San Rafael to hike the Turtleback Point Loop, then hurried home through the smoke to get our 4-year-old home to use the bathroom.  I agreed with Westley that our trip was too short, but we were thankful for the chance to get away for a weekend.

August has been a grueling month. My colleague finally followed through on his long threat to retire, which landed me 3 weeks of retina call. My cell phone also died suddenly at the start of my call week, necessitating a frantic visit to the Verizon store to revive my old Galaxy S5 while I waited for a replacement.  I had suspected bad mojo when our house cleaner had to cancel twice this month due to car and childcare issues. To eradicate our front yard bermuda grass infestation, we’ve also had to wake up early each weekend to shovel lava rocks and tear up weed fabric to exterminate each metastatic tentacle. The manual labor left our arms and quads wobbly, with little energy to spend with Westley to promote his new biking skills or enjoy the newly renovated playground across the street. Our couch rest did give us a chance to finish watching the visually-stunning first season of His Dark Materials and a strangely-entertaining second season of the Umbrella Academy. Unfortunately, the bizarre dry lightening storms and ensuing wildfires this week led to suffocating smoke and ashen dust to befall upon us. We were glad that we had at least completed the weeding and even enjoyed some outdoor Korean BBQ before the air quality downturn.  Today, I scrambled to finish clinic early to pick up my new Google Pixel 4a from Best Buy ahead of our weekend trip. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get away for some fresh air (literally) amidst the heatwave, wildfires, and pandemic.

What better time to tinker with instant noodles than during quarantine? Since watching Parasite, I’ve longed for ramdon. Paired with a well-marbled ribeye from KP, the Neoguri-Chapagetti fusion definitely did not disappoint. I also drew inspiration from a Korean Youtuber for Shin Ramyun hacks with milk or as fried noodles, and from Serious Eats for cup noodle fried rice.  Nissin’s curry-flavored cup noodles was a particularly good option, but the unexpected peanut powder might have contributed to our toddler’s mild wheezing at bedtime. My post-doc Sook brought us authentic Shin ramyun from Korea, although my comparison taste test with the American version found the difference to be more subtle than previously reported. On weekends, we continue our quest to entertain Westley at home. He was very excited with the Labo VR blaster, but the gadget didn’t quite fit his proportions. He also liked swallowing shy guys and shooting piranha plants in Yoshi’s Crafted World, although he’s still working on his eye-hand coordination. Fortunately for us, he liked Todo Math enough for us to pay the subscription fee, so at least we could sneak in some education between his alphabet work books from Dollar Tree. The tablet also keeps him entertained during times when my wife and I were both occupied with Zoom meetings. Last weekend, I attended the virtual ASRS meeting, and the experience was less than satisfactory without the usual fanfare and networking of in-person meetings, as I alluded to in my op-ed piece. I hope to find better ways to adapt to this new normal.