Camping Date with Our Granddaughter

Aloha Everyone,

Today we returned to KOA San Diego, but this time we took our granddaughter with us!  It was a lots of fun. We did drawing and painting, went on a walk around the entire campground, and we made up stories of the things and people we met. 

The highlights of her stay was the hayride and pillow jumping.

Here is Michael who drove the truck full of hay. Unfortunately, J.J. did not take photo of me pillow jumping with our granddaughter.

Monica and Chris were vacationing at KOA with their two small children. When I mentioned that J.J. and I are full-time RVers and pointed out Honu, Monica said, "That's what we would love to do after we retire."

I hope that they would be able to realize their dreams one day.

Aloha -- Cathi

Tofu House

Aloha Everyone,

San Diego is a cosmopolitan city and offers a large selection of international cuisine. Today we went to Tofu House for lunch. The restaurant was established in 1998 and its location is in a strip mall in Kearny Mesa in San Diego. The food is fusion but strongly influenced by Korean.

Their specialties are BBQ, sizzling tofu stews served in stoneware. Portions are large and each dish is beautifully presented.

Here Kim-Chee appetizers are served immediately after you are seated.

Our granddaughter's pork potsticker

I had vegetable stirred fried tofu.

Here is Jay bringing J.J.'s Tofu House Soup.

J.J. and I enjoyed our food.

Aloha -- Cathi

Our Granddaughter's Library

Aloha Everyone,

Our granddaughter has a voracious appetite for reading. Just perusing her book shelves, I see a wide array of subjects including sports, history, geography, travel, science, animals, insects, fish, shells  art and music.

Her current bedtime story which our daughter-in-law is reading is The "Baby-Sitter's Club," a series of novels written by Ann M. Martin.

Interestingly, our daughter-in-law told me that she discovered this book series when she was in the 6th grade. It's heartwarming to listen to her read to our granddaughter the very same books she has read.

It's also nice to see that children are still reading books. Here are some books our granddaughter is reading.

Aloha -- Cathi

Emmanuelle Moureaux

Aloha Everyone,

Emmanuelle Moureaux is a French architect and interior designer, who lives and works in Japan. On her first trip to Japan, she fell in love with its art and culture. After graduating, Emmanuelle moved to Japan. She quickly found out that in order for her to work as an architect & interior designer, she first had to learn Japanese. That was 1996.

Her first major assignment was to do architectural and interior design for a bank. Emmanuel brought whimsical design and bright colors inspired by traditional Japanese art to normally conservative bank building. Her use of colors and design was fun and happy and it was a big success. Emmanuelle's latest project is the subway system in Taipei,Taiwan.

J.J. and I are looking forward to seeing Emmanuelle's work of the bank building when we visit Japan.

This blog is based on the program we watched on NHK World Report:

 Aloha -- Cathi

American Salon, Musubi Making, and Driving Back to La Jolla

Aloha Everyone,

Kazu is a hair designer at American Salon on Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach, CA. This morning  my Mother had an appointment with him while J,J. and I finished our shopping.

Natsumi was demonstrating her skill in making "musubi," hand-made triangular shaped white rice ball sometime filled with salmon, plum, salty seaweed or other ingredients.

This is our 3rd time we return to La Jolla since May. Today the traffic was light. We left my Mother's house shortly after 1:00 pm and it took us only 90 minutes to arrive at our son's house.

My daughter-in law told me about May gray and June gloom. Today the sky was mostly overcast and gloomy.

Aloha -- Cathi