It’s Super Bowl Sunday in the US, and hence Kirin’s unofficial birthday. We first met her on our way to our friends’ annual Super Bowl party, and 2 days later, she came to us as her forever parents. We don’t know her real birthday, why she was abandoned not just once, but twice, or why she’s so scared of fireworks. But she’s our favourite dog and it’s her birthday today, so Happy Birthday KiKi!

It is, in fact, their Gingerbread coffee.

Gingerbread Coffee

P and I love the stuff! It has just enough of a hint of spice to make it festive, and amuse la bouche. The coffee itself is probably not their best, and the fact that it’s pre-ground means that the clock is ticking as soon as we crack open the foil top.

But it is tasty! Just a spot of milk makes it the perfect start to even dull mornings¹ The only problem with the Gingerbread coffee is that it’s only available around the Christmas season. I’m sure that’s a good thing, marketing-wise. After all, if we had it all year round, then there wouldn’t be a rush to grab as many cans off the shelf come the season.

But sometimes, on crappy days, you just want some spiced coffee to make the morning go by faster. And sprinkling on a variety of spices into the coffee doesn’t seem to do the trick, or at least we haven’t found the right mix yet.

Not to worry! I serendipitously found the solution to my Gingerbread coffee craving when I cooled my morning coffee with last night’s leftover ruby chai tea. Ratio: 2/3 coffee to 1/3 chai. Splash of milk, and good to go!

Spiced coffee and tea

¹ Yes, even sunny LA gets the occasional dull gray day in winter. And every single day in May, June and July.

Penguins by framboise, on Flickr

Fin, P and a bunch of penguins watched each other for a good 10 min one Sunday afternoon. Apart from playing with water, cloud dough and watching Pocoyo, I’ve never seen Fin so enthralled by something for so long.

Then he went a blew that record by watching a bunch of sharks for 15 min!

Incidentally, he’s in that ridiculous* one-piece suit because that’s his emergency change of clothes. Fin christened his car seat with his first ever double chunder shortly after arriving in Long Beach, just after getting off the windy, bumpy 710 freeway.

* Ridiculous because it was like 30C (90+F) in the shade that weekend due to the regular “freak” Santa Ana winds that turn LA into Death Valley.

Via Flickr:
Media: tempera and canvas.
Commissioned by: LNMG for the grand unveiling of their demolished kitchen wall.

Not being organised enough to send out a family photo for Christmas, we decided that the New Year was an equally good reason to send out greetings. So we choreographed a mini video and photo shoot largely in the following fashion:

[Estimated transcript, circa Boxing Day 2012]
D: Let’s take a photo to send out in an New Year greeting email since we didn’t send out a photo of Fin for Christmas.
P: [nothing]

[Morning of intended photo shoot, with 1 day to go before the end of 2012]
D: Let’s go to the airport park and make a jumping video.
P: [nothing]
D: Wake up! Let’s go to the park!
P: [rolled over in bed]

[Several hours into the day, nearly noon]
D: We can get a bento from Marukai if you wake up now and drive us to the airport park. And Fin can take his new dump truck.
P: [nothing]
F: Arrrrgh! [manic screams, cooped up for too long in the apartment]
P: [stirs from bed, grumbles his way to bathroom]
D+F: [playing to stave off meltdown]

And some time after, with many more distractions and false starts, we end up at the park and make various stabs at taking videos and photos without the aid of a tripod. Fortunately, that dump truck came in handy.

Happy New Year!

Jump into 2013 a video by framboise on Flickr.

smile!, a photo by framboise on Flickr.

Fin is happy when he has a piece of gingerbread in hand.

Aren’t we all?

Via Flickr:

Our cardboard tree for christmas / winter festival 2012. Cut in one night, assembled on another.

Cardboard boxes salvaged from the hospital’s IT dept, who were obviously upgrading the entire department, judging by the boxes they were throwing out.

Festive coloured binder clips from Staples. Holds 2 pieces of cardboard together to make up for the fold in each piece.

2 circular cardboard struts provide further stability.

Snowflake lights from IKEA (2011).

Yet to be done: cover the free advertising for HP using paper snowflakes, and attempt to hang ornaments from binder clips.

Via Flickr:
Our advent calendar this year comes courtesy of Mr Printables.

The boxes are pretty small, and just the right size for a few chocolate coins. The tall ones are perfect for mini kitkats and other leftover sweets (aka candy) from Halloween.

Singapore-shaped pancake by framboise, on Flickr

In honour of Singapore’s National Day², I present to you… a pancake in the shape of the Island of Singapore³!

¹ Not really. I’m not cut out to be patriotic, nationalist or any such proud-to-be-a-member-of-anything type of person. WAY too cynical for that…

² 9th of August. Get ready to sing and cringe simultaneously.

³ You thought I was kidding? No, really, look⁴:

⁴ Even the dimple in the middle of the pancake looks like MacRichie and Seletar reservoirs combined.

Hoopala by framboise, on Flickr

Hoops are fun!