The Pings: Jon, Jenny, Elton, Rafa and Charlotte

On Saturday, we went up to Mt. Hood. Sarah rented a very cute cabin called Gretel. It was right at Government Camp, so it was in a great location; very close to the ski lifts and winter parks.

We went snow shoeing on Saturday at White River. It was a long hike, and Jonathan and I got pretty pooped.

Luckily there were beautiful views. Here is a picture of Jonathan, Sky and me at the river bank.

We also took frequent breaks to admire the view and to watch Sky play in the snow. She is so cute– She has snow on her nose!

Pat and Sarah went off on a longer hike with Sky, so Yogin, Deepti, Jonathan and I passed our time by sledding down the hills.

We all had a very, very fun day. We went back to the cabin and Deepti made us a very yummy spaghetti. We made a roaring fire and ate smores.

And in true Yogin-OHSU fashion, Yogin fell asleep on the couch while the rest of us chatted away.

The next day, we went skiing at Mt. Hood Meadows. The snow was great and we got in a ton of good runs! There was a lot of good powder and it wasn’t horribly crowded. It was great to hang out with everyone. Overall, it was a fabulous trip! We can’t wait to go back!

Jonathan and I just got back from our trip to Portland. We met up with Pat, Sarah, Yogin, Deepti, and a bunch of other friends from residency. We had such great time in our old romping grounds. I took a ton of pictures, so I’m splitting them up into two posts. Not surprisingly, a ton of our pictures revolved around our favorite foods and people in Portland.

We stayed with Pat and Sarah, and got to meet Sky West, Pat and Sarah’s new puppy. She’s a 3 month old Golden Retriever, and she is so cute! She went snowshoeing with us and did great!

We had a long list of food places that we wanted to hit while in Portland. On Thursday, we decided to rent a car and went to our favorite Indian cart, Taste of India. It’s located on a long row of portable lunch wagons; It looks a little suspect from the outside, but they serve the best chicken korma, and they give lots of it. Jonathan and I like this place so much, we went back twice!

Jonathan getting ready to dig into his chicken korma!

The row of food carts is pretty impressive. They have a bunch of Mexican joints, but also Thai, American, Polish, and Chinese food carts, and of course, a couple of Indian carts.

On Friday night, we got together with some friends for dinner at The Italian Joint, our favorite Italian eatery in Portland. We met up with Amy and her son, Andrew. He’s two months old, and he is growing so quickly! Here’s a picture of Amy and Andrew.

One of our favorite dishes at the Italian Joint is the calms in a white wine sauce. It’s incredible. We love to soak our bread into the sauce until the bread is saturated with white wine clammy goodness.  Here I am digging into the clams. Mmmm…

For breakfast the following morning, we went to Zell’s on SE Stark. It’s one of our favorite breakfast joints in Portland. They not only have an exceptional omelet menu- I had the Greek omelet with feta cheese, olives, and roasted red peppers- but they give you little tasty scones to munch on while you wait for your breakfast. It was all very delicious. Here’s all of us- Becca, Zac, Patty, Yogin, Deepti, Pat, and Sarah- at Zell’s.

Last, but not least, we had to get Tachos from Oaks Bottom Public House. “Tachos” are tater tot nachos and are absolutely delicious. Hot, crispy, and smothered with cheese, chili, sour cream and other goodies, it’s like heaven on a plate. Mmmm… Here’s Pat and Sarah digging in!

I’m totally sick. We got back from Oregon yesterday, and although our trip was a blast, I unfortunately caught a nasty bug. I think it started out as a mild viral infection on Sunday– runny nose, cough, sore throat, and myalgias– but I think I tipped it over to a very bad bronchitis by skiing on Monday. Now I’m coughing up a lot of yellow and green stuff and lost my voice. I feel awful, and that’s after taking Dayquil, a lot of Ibuprofen, a cough medication, and one dose of Azithromycin. Jonathan has been taking very good care of me and made me soup for dinner last night and bought me a very yummy honey tea today.

Here’s a picture of my nightstand; It’s covered with tissues I coughed into or blew my nose into last night. It’s totally gross.

We’re in Portland now (and it’s fabulous!), but I wanted to post pictures of Crystal’s office for Mom and Dad Ping.

This weekend, we took a tour of Crystal’s office in downtown Honolulu; Crystal has her own office cube and we got to meet a couple of her co-workers.

Crystal in her “cube”!

Every laundry day, Elton ends up on the bed, and helps us fold our laundry. He occasionally gets dressed up in our extra socks, scrubs or T-shirts, and is overall a good sport, but we’re pretty sure that he hates dressing up in people clothes.

This weekend, Crystal, Jonathan and I went whale watching. Julie and Grant gave us a gift certificate for the Star of Honolulu. It was a pretty big boat, with four levels and a large wrap around deck. We boarded at Aloha Tower marketplace, and cruised along the south shore of Oahu. The cruise included a tasty buffet lunch and live entertainment.

There were beautiful views! Here is Crystal with the Pacific Ocean and Diamond Head behind her.

The boat also provided “Hawaiian cultural activities”, including hula and ukulele lessons and lei making. Here’s Jonathan and I goofing around on the boat.

Crystal’s finished product! A orchid haku lei!

And, there were whales! Crystal got a great video of the whales, but I was too awestruck to actually get my camera out in time to catch a picture. We actually saw two different pods; the first had a mommy and baby whale swimming side by side. Here’s a picture of the mommy and baby whale underwater. 

I had to work last night, but we were able to celebrate Valentines Day at work!  We had a potluck and as usual, we had tons of food, 4 cakes, and heart themed good times.

We also had a red and pink theme, so we all wore pink and all of our food had to be some shade of red and pink.  Here’s a picture of Mary Lou and I in pink, taking a bite out of the Red Velvet cake.

We also celebrated Jane’s birthday with a cake.  Happy Birthday Jane!

Crystal bought us a waffle iron for our housewarming present. It’s really fancy and makes excellent waffles. We tested it our by making gingerbread waffles with fresh whipped cream!

Jonathan and I with our new waffle iron

Crystal manning the waffle iron!

We got Crystal a “Magic Bullet” for her birthday present. She used it to make fresh whipped cream!

Our finished product! They were so good! Crunchy and moist, and very good with our leftover Costco chicken!

This weekend, Reverend Amano from our shrine, Ishizuchi Jinja came over to bless our house.

Crystal sat with Elton; he was very well behaved through the blessing.

Reverend Amano, Jonathan, Elton and I.

After the blessing, we ate a lot of food and the kids went swimming in the pool and went crabbing in the backyard.  They caught 7 crabs!

A blessing next to our property stake. Reverend Amano blessed all four corners of our property, and each room in the house.

Crystal, Jonathan, Kenny and Stacey and I went back to the Carnival tonight. It was tons of fun, with lots of good food and company.

Jonathan and Crystal had a good laugh at the “Cow Tippin’ Tallahassee Tire Tossin’”.

Actually, they were a little offended that the tire toss had a “cow tipping” theme….

Of course, we ate a ton of food… Jonathan and I ate a chicken plate, gyro, nachos, bean soup, a few malasadas and a candy apple…

Crystal ate her food under an umbrella during one of the many Manoa downpours.

Mmmm….. malasadas!  We ate them piping hot, fresh out of the fryer.  They’re crispy on the outside, soft and doughy on the inside, not too greasy, and covered with sugar.   Yummy!

We also went shopping at the white elephant flea market.

And played games. I won the Clifford, the big red dog, for Stacey, at the dime toss!

No rides, but we got to enjoy the view.

And we got totally, totally muddy (looking down at Crystal, Jonathan, and my feet). It was a muddy mess!