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Ice cream is one of my all-time favorite sweet treats. I absolutely love ice cream, not all ice cream, but yes, ice cream. Ice cream to me is not the same as gelato, sherbe(r)t, or frozen yogurt (ugh, yuck). It’s just a delicious sweet treat that can be eaten at any time of the year, even in the wintertime. Yes, technically gelato is the same as ice cream, just more dense in flavor & texture (with less eggs & cream), but I much prefer ice cream itself over its Italian controparte. If you check my Instagram page, you’ll find numerous photo posts regarding my delicious passion for devouring ice cream.
Ice cream is such a delectable treat. It’s so easy to consume. That’s one of the main reasons why I love it so much. You can pretty much eat it however you want whenever you want. I often tell my friends that eating ice cream can somewhat save the planet, or at least reduce everyone’s carbon footprint. How, you ask? Well, think about it this way. The next time you go to an ice cream parlor, or stand, or shop, whichever…ask for a cone (waffle, sugar, plain, etc.) instead of a cup or bowl.
The cone itself acts as a conveniently portable & most importantly EDIBLE vessel, & voilà! No extra trash, except maybe a napkin or two, but no cup, spoon, or bowl in any form (paper, styrofoam, plastic). Your cone is the container for your ice cream, & once you’ve consumed it all, there’s nothing left to throw in the trash bin. Also, as a bonus, it’s much easier to walk around with an ice cream cone in one hand than having to spoon feed yourself with both hands while on the move.
There’s just something so delectable about ice cream. I just can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s so rich, creamy, flavorful, comforting to one’s soul. I could eat ice cream any time, any where. You could send me to the Arctic Circle, & I’d still enjoy my ice cream. I know most moms would tell you not to consume cold foods &/or beverages when you are sick or have a cold, but I’ve gladly enjoyed a scoop or two of ice cream while nursing a very bad cold. Now, I’m not saying ice cream is my favorite dessert or sweet treat (that’s a whole other topic by itself), but I very much enjoy the delights of ice cream.
Now that I’ve gotten that little rant out of the way, let me get to the topic at hand (no pun intended). No, I am not going to talk about which brand or flavor is best. I don’t want to get into any arguments with anyone over those subjective topics. However, since I am documenting pretty much every little detail about my life on this blog, I might as well tell you which is my favorite. It’s the coffee flavor from the Häagen Dazs brand. Yes, that is my all-time, ride-or-die favorite ice cream.
There are other craft brands & flavors that I also love dearly, but no other brand or flavor has ever ensnared my heart the way this one has. I want to say that this flavor brings back memories of my childhood, but my childhood favorite was the plain chocolate flavor from either Baskin Robins, Double Rainbow, or Dreyer’s. Yeah, I had very bland taste as a child. Luckily I’ve nearly grown out of that phase after way more than 30+ years, which is a good thing because I’ve discovered a few craft ice cream shops in my state that scoop some of my other favorite flavors.
Lately, I’ve taken to eating ice cream almost every single night after dinner. No, I am not serving myself full scoops of ice cream. That would completely devastate my never-bounced-back-after-baby-was-born waistline. I only allow myself no more than 4 or 5 spoonfuls; mostly because I want to make that pint in my freezer last longer, but also because I want to savor the ice cream. It is a special treat after all, & I don’t want to just scarf it down without any care.
Those few precious minutes after dinner, after all the leftovers have been put away & all the dishes have been washed, & I’ve got some peace & quiet alone in the kitchen, is one of my life’s many small enjoyments. I guess you could say that it’s one form of self-care, but I just call it a delightful indulgence. I’ll take my wins wherever I can get them, no matter how small.
Since we’re on the topic of ice cream, shall we also talk about other desserts featuring ice cream? Yes, I do like to eat an ice cream bar every now and again, but it’s not always my go-to choice in terms of ice cream filled treats. Sometimes I will crave an ice cream sandwich, more so the traditional rectangular shaped ice cream sandwiched between two thin-ish layers of chocolate cake-like cookies, rather than ice cream mushed betwixt two actual cookies (i.e. chocolate chip cookies). However, my most favorite of all-time ice cream treats besides a regular ol’ scoop of ice cream on a cone is the Häagen Dazs Crispy Sandwich, which apparently you can only get in Asia.
This crispy sandwich blows all other ice cream sandwiches out of the water…or should I say, freezer. From the beautiful crispy, flaky, buttery wafer cookie all the way to the ice cream itself, my mouth is utterly salivating just thinking about it. It’s a perfect bite of thin, airy, flaky cookie with just the right amount of cold ice cream. The flavors of the ice cream in this crispy sandwich are also such a heavenly delight. I’ve only ever been able to find these treats in Asia, like when I’ve gone back to China, Taiwan, & Japan. My dream is that one day these perfect crispy ice cream sandwiches will be available worldwide. For everyone to experience this delicious dessert would be amazing, but especially if this were available in the U.S, that would be a miracle. One can dream though, right?
Well, anyway, this is the end of my post. I am a little sad that I’ve run out of my favorite ice cream at home. I know I could just pop off to my nearby grocery store & get more, but I don’t want to always have it available in my freezer. That would be too great of a temptation. I would much prefer to occasionally treat myself to my favorite ice cream in order to preserve its specialness, like I am treating myself to an extra special gift. Plus, if I had my favorite ice cream all the time, my waistline would be especially angry with me. Until the next scoop, cheers all!
Today’s song of the day:
I have a love-hate relationship with bubble baths, with taking baths in general. Yes, I love to take long, hot baths; watching an entire movie while sous vide-ing myself in the murky bathwater. However, every time I draw a bath, I feel a sense of guilt for using so much precious water, especially since I live in a state that year-after-year continues to exacerbate our already extreme water shortage. That’s one of the reasons why I stopped taking baths…to conserve water, but also because once I became pregnant, my fertility doctor advised me not to soak in the bath tub as it could potentially cause issues during my pregnancy.
Nowadays, I no longer take baths not only to conserve water, but to also conserve time. I used to love taking long leisurely soaking baths, but now I don’t have the time (or the energy) to take baths. I have also lost any motivation for my once favorite self-care pastime. On top of all that, do you really think my ‘nearly a toddler’ child would even let me have five minutes to myself, let alone take a private bath? The only time I’d ever get any alone time to take a bath would be in the dead of night while everyone else in the house is sleeping, but by then, I’m also passed out asleep myself.
Okay, so I did mention bubble baths at the very start of this post. I have always envied people who were able to take bubble baths. I cannot bear to take them myself, but to those who do, I applaud you & moderately envy you. Bubble baths are good, in theory, but I myself cannot find any reason to partake & indulge in them whatsoever. It’s just not for me & I’ll explain why.
First of all, I can never seem to get it right. I follow the instructions on the bottle exactly how it says. However, I always end up with a lackluster smattering of flat bubbles floating aimlessly around my tub. I would pour nearly the entire bottle of bubble solution into the bath, & the bubbles just fizzle & foam away.
As the photo above accurately depicts my poor attempts to create a bubbly bath; this is the end result every time I try to make up a bubble bath. I follow the instructions on the bottle down to the last letter, but it never quite comes out right. Sure, I get a big mound of bubbles at the start, right as the drawing of the bath begins, but towards the finish of drawing said bath…the bubbles flatten, & all I get is a murky frothy tub of water that smells mildly soapy.
Why can’t I get thick foamy bubbles like this? What am I doing wrong? Am I destined to live out my bathing career with unfulfilled dreams of thick foamy whipped bubbles? Probably, but it’s not a big deal.
For a long time I have had this romanticized fantastical image in my head that bubble baths were sexy, or more importantly, for sexy times. I’ve built up this idea in my mind that I’d draw a hot bath filled with the most foamy frothy bubbles. Then I’d dim the lights (I have dimmable lights in my bathroom), adjust my iPad just so, & put on one of my favorite movies with my favorite steamy scenes in it. Well, then you know what happens next, right? Yep, I wake from my rosy-colored stupor only to find myself sitting in a tepid bath with filmy flat suds floating all around me, the movie only halfway through it’s main plot. My sexy bath time fantasy will never be fulfilled.
Here comes my compulsive anxiety, rearing its ugly head yet again. While I do think bubble baths are fun, if you’re anyone under the age of 10, or a magical wizard able to get the bubbles to stay afloat, I also think that bubble baths are just a whole mess of trouble…& just a plain old mess by itself. I have tried many different brands of bubble bath solution, & they always end up leaving a ring of film around my bath tub basin at the end of my bathing session. Also, the bath tub feels simultaneously sticky & slippery if you can believe it.
On top of all that, I myself, feel like my skin has a layer of film from the bubble solution. So I end up having to rinse myself off with a simple shower afterwards, which I feel is totally redundant. I mean wasn’t the whole point of the bubble bath being to bathe myself & then luxuriate in a basin full of thick rich bubbles? No! I’m all sticky & filmy from the bubble solution, & then having to think about rinsing my bath tub basin afterward… Ugh! Why am I putting more stress on myself? I thought bubble baths were supposed to be relaxing, but just thinking about cleaning up afterwards tires me out, & discourages me from wanting to take these types of baths. I’ll just stick to my regular hot baths & be happy with that.
Well, Halloween is almost upon us. I would love for my little bean to dress up in a costume, preferably a cute, non-baby-ish looking one, but I know my little bean & she will hate anything I put her in. She hates wearing hats, or headbands, or anything covering her head &/or face (i.e. sunglasses, masks). I will have to get creative & choose something relatively simple. I know Jia would much rather prefer that I not spend any money at all, but I feel like now would be a good stage in our little bean’s childhood to start making these special memories. She’s already starting to remember things & making lasting memories. This Halloween season would be a good start to having her dress up in costumes. For now, I’m going to continue prepping the final details to my little bean’s 2nd birthday party. Cheers everyone!
Today’s song of the day:
I feel as though it wasn’t that long ago that I was talking about my family’s quick weekend jaunt to Monterey Bay. At that time, Jian (& probably my little bean too) was itching to travel. It was his idea to go away for an impromptu weekend getaway to temporarily satisfy our wanderlust after a prolonged vacation drought due to that nasty virus going ’round. I know we’ve already been to Los Angeles & Las Vegas multiple times since the pandemic restrictions in our state have eased, but we’ve only gone to visit specific family members & only went out to pre-selected places that were not typically prone to major outbreaks. Since the pandemic crashed down on us, & more importantly since we’ve created our own tiny human, we haven’t really taken a family vacation that was solely for ourselves & not for some family event or celebration holiday.
Shortly after coming back from Monterey, Jian started seriously looking for a new job & very quickly plunged himself into the interviewing pool. He had been thinking about changing jobs for quite some time, but decided that now would be the best opportunity for him to transition to a new environment. Before we knew it, Jian had landed himself a big corporate tech job. It was a very important milestone in his career & a major cause to celebrate. Luckily for us, through a delay in the process of some paperwork Jian’s official start date got pushed back which granted us a few extra days to spend some quality time together, just the 3 of us. It also gave Jian some much needed rest & relaxation time in-between jobs. This gave him the brilliant idea to go on another family road trip again. We had just a little more than one week before he would start his new job. So we decided to take a proper vacation. We waffled back & forth over where we would go, but ended up settling on our trusty go-to vacation spot: Los Angeles. (Again. *Sigh*)
This time on our travels, we ended up booking our stay at a super swanky, elite hotel. I mean, when Jian says he wants to splurge & indulge the family, who are we to turn him down? I haven’t done a hotel room tour in a long time, somewhat because it’s so tedious to edit all my photos; mostly because my little bean won’t let me use the computer for more than 2 minutes before she tries to grab the wireless mouse & keyboard to play with. On this trip, we chose to stay at the West Hollywood EDITION Hotel. The EDITION hotel series is an elite boutique set of hotels owned by the Marriott Hotels parent company & designed by Ian Schrager, the man behind the infamous Studio 54 in New York City.
Back in 2017, we stayed at the London EDITION Hotel in the Soho neighborhood of London for my early birthday celebration. When I first found out about this series of elite boutique hotels, I had figured that it would be an impossible feat to be able to afford staying at any of these hotels, ever. Then, by a sheer stroke of extremely good luck, we were able to grab one of the most incredible deals of a lifetime when we booked our stay in London. I mean, it was nothing short of a miracle we were able to book our stay for a mere fraction of the standard rate (which was triple what we paid). I never thought we’d ever get that lucky again, but this time it was by no means of luck that we were able to book a stay at another EDITION Hotel.
Right before this trip Jian had said to me, “We always drive by that hotel when we are in L.A & keep saying we would love to stay there one day but never actually do it. Why don’t we do it now? Why don’t we once & for all book a stay at that hotel?” So, after some consideration about saving money, we let ourselves splurge & indulge a little bit. We don’t splurge like this very often, & this was definitely a special occasion, so why not?
Also, I should note that on top of being a high-level rewards members through the Marriott BonVoy program, we also got a special employee discount, which grants selected family members of Marriott branded hotel employees special benefits. On top of the very generous BonVoy rewards upgrades, we also got a slightly discounted rate for our stay. We had originally booked a Loft Room with a king-size bed, which is already a very spacious size, but then we got upgraded to a Premier Suite. That 2-room suite was larger than our first apartment! Here is a look inside our posh hotel suite. (Side note, I’ve never stayed in a suite-sized room at a hotel ever in my life.)
As you can see from the photos above how fabulous this room was, you can pretty much guess that we tried to take advantage of this room during our short-but-sweet stay. Our little bean is just learning how to walk right now, so we let her explore around as much as possible. Crawling is our bean’s specialty, but she can side-step (we call it crab walking) around a room as long as she’s holding on to a table ledge, a straight wall, or a chair.
On this trip, we really let ourselves be truly lazy. Aside from our usual early morning wake-ups (because our little bean wakes up at the same time everyday like clockwork), we’d spend our mornings lounging in bed letting our bean crawl around the bed while watching the morning news on TV. Then we’d slowly get ready for the day & head out by mid-morning. At home, we’re usually up & ready for breakfast before starting work, but whenever we’re in Los Angeles we tend to forgo breakfast time so we can take more time to get ready & pack our things for the day’s outing. We will grab a mid-morning coffee at one of our go-to coffee spots (i.e. Alfred, Intelligentsia, Verve, or some other hipster spot nearby). By that time, we’re ready for lunch.
When we go out with our little bean, we try to limit our activities & only explore one or two districts/neighborhoods not too far from our hotel. We will grab an early lunch & try to get our little bean to take a nap. Our little bean is barely over one-year old, & we haven’t yet fully tested her endurance for an entire day’s outing. Therefore, we limit our activities so we can minimize any chance for a fussy freak-out in a public place. On this trip, we decided not to let our relatives know we’d be in town & just keep to ourselves, the three of us. We had considered telling everyone, but since our vacation was planned very on-the-fly, we thought it’d be inconsiderate to call upon our very busy relatives at the last-minute. That helped in making our trip even more relaxing. We didn’t have to rush anywhere to meet people & such.
Overall, we had a truly relaxing vacation. We didn’t have to rush from place to place. We didn’t pack our days with too much driving, & you know how pain-in-the-arse it is to drive anywhere in Los Angeles. We really just took the time to enjoy being with each other & eating good food. Our little bean got to spend quality one-on-one time with her mama & papa. She also got to take a much needed break from her maternal grandmother, who was spoiling her too much to the point of enabling her new bratty behavior.
Since writing this post Jian has already settled in nicely at his new job, & we are already planning our next vacation to Los Angeles again in May. My nephew (a.k.a. my cousin’s son) is graduating high school & heading to military school on a scholarship, lots of May birthdays in our family, & my aunt will have fully recovered from having major surgery done. There’s just so much to celebrate! We haven’t quite worked out all the logistics yet, or whether or not we are actually going back to L.A, but we can definitely say that we are feeling that wanderlust bug again, but this time we are itching to travel out of the country. Maybe we’ll start small & travel outside of our state first, like, Jian wants to go back to New York where he grew up after immigrating to the States. Either way, you know I will write about it when the time comes. Until then, cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
![[INSERT PEE-WEE HERMAN DANCE]](https://scontent-iad3-2.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/337114765_539454548239260_3651725161502713257_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8ae9d6&_nc_ohc=syirGF-DpXYAX-RlKEE&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-2.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfASz0MOlhyvjtl6b3Qp7q7ShnEMyKLvlITSQMZChwBFdg&oe=642B3DBC)
Rabbits & Foxes 
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