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

Jonathan and I are leaving today for our New York adventure.

http://www.usopen.org/en_US/index.html

We’ll be catching the US Open on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and going to a taping of the Letterman show on Wednesday (check us out on TV!).  Dinner with our old friend Tina on Sunday and a fancy dinner at DB Bistro and a Broadway show, Avenue Q, on Thursday.

http://www.danielnyc.com/dbbistro.html

Here’s a picture of the DB burger that Jonathan want’s to try.  Looks delicious!

THE ORIGINAL db BURGER
Sirloin Filled with Braised Short Ribs & Foie Gras
Served on a Parmesan Bun
Pommes Frites or Pommes Soufflées

Crystal got home safe and sound last weekend from her trip to the Bay Area.  She had a good time hanging out with her friends, but best of all, she came home with PRESENTS!

Our home is strictly bear territory– We all graduated from Cal– so it is only fitting that we dress up our kids as Golden Bears.  Here’s a couple pictures of Rafa modeling with my new and shiny Cal mug and his very cute bandana.  Elton’s sulking in the back because he has to share his present with Rafa.

I couldn’t get a good picture of the bandana because Rafa kept on moving, but you can see the bear paw print and “Berkeley” on the back of his bandana.  Go Bears!

Check out the kids almost completed clubhouse.   Dad, Jalvin and Jarrin put on the roof and sides, framed the doors and added screen windows this weekend.  It just needs a coat of paint! 

Last weekend we celebrated Kenny and Stacy’s wedding.  The ceremony and reception were held at the Hyatt.  Kenny is my friend from high school and Stacy is our new Gray’s Anatomy buddy.  It was a beautiful wedding and Jonathan and I enjoyed reconnecting with old friends.

Kenny and Stacy at the ceremony overlooking the ocean.

Me, Connie Wong (Andrew Ho’s wife) and Evonne Kaminaga (Bryant’s wife).

Pictures of the Lion Dance, a staple at all local Chinese events.

We had dinner at Julie’s house this weekend to celebrate Dad’s CT scan.  He had a CT scan last Friday that looked better than his previous scans:  His lung nodules have responded to the Gemzar and Cisplatin, and hopefully, he’ll  only need a few more months of daily therapy.   Dad is also mostly fully recovered  from the side effects of his chemo; his white blood cell count (the cells that help fight infection) and platelet count (the cells that help blood clot) are back up to normal levels, his energy level has returned and his nausea is under control.   With all this good news, we had a dinner at Julie and Grants.

Pre-dinner, celebrating with the puppies.

Julie made pulled pork and coleslaw sandwiches (delicious), dad made chili pepper chicken (also very delicious) and Mr. China made ribs (also delicious).   As always, I ate way too much food.  I’m sure with all of the begging, our pups also ate their weight in cornbread and meat.  Mmmm….

Even though Dad is getting pretty intensive treatment, he hasn’t really slowed down (maybe a little, but overall, he still has more energy than Jonathan and I put together!).  Over the past few weekends, Dad, Jalvin and Jarrin have been constructing  a clubhouse in Mom and Dad’s back yard.

Jalvin always wanted to build a clubhouse, and actually got  2X4’s and plyboard from Santa Clause this Christmas!   It’s great for the boys-  They are learning a ton about carpentry and power tools and are spending the summer doing something totally fun with their Grandpa.

The made a foundation with the 2X4’s, plywood, and brick, and framed the house yesterday.  Here’s a few pictures of them framing the house.

So far, the base and frame are up, and it’s really impressive!  A little Sato clubhouse!   Dad’s planning on putting up a corregated roof and bringing in electrical from the main house.  I’ll put up more pictures when they’re done!

So many Farmer’s Markets!  I love fresh vegetables… Even though I don’t cook as much as I should, I think fresh vegis taste so much better than the Safeway variety.  Since we had a dinner at Julie’s tonight, I wanted to stock up on some vegis for my dishes.  My first stop this morning was Otusji Farm, my most favorite farm in Hawaii Kai.  I picked up radishes and choy sum for dads  yummy radish pickles…

A quick stop at mom and dad’s to drop off the vegetables, and I was off to Aunty Helen’s to pick her up for the Kapiolani Community College (KCC) farmer’s market.     Jonathan and I used to love the Portland State Farmer’s market, so I’m really surprised that I have never been to the KCC market before.   Julie highly recommended it, and all of my work friends regularly visit the market.  Needless to say, I’m very bummed out that I haven’t discovered this market until today.

It’s the largest farmer’s market in Honolulu, and there are a ton of really neat vendors.  The flower stands were beautiful.

Aunty and I got a kick out of all of the produce.   In all, I got tomatos, sweet potatos (for my sweet potato-haupia pie tonight!), ginger, shiso, and a variety of other yummy vegis.   I wish I brough a bigger bag! Here’s a picture of Aunty modeling my mini-sugar pineapple.

… riding in the car.  Jonathan said that I take a disproportionate amount of pictures of of Rafa, so Elton is left out of too many pictures and posts.  So, in an effort to make Elton feel more included, I dedicate an entire post to Elton.   He’s a lot bigger and older than Rafa, but still very, very cute.

Yesterday, we met mom, dad, Jalvin and Janell at the Oahu Club for a day at the pool.   Oahu club is the fitness club in Hawaii Kai– Jonathan likes it because of the  tennis courts and tennis leagues  and I really like the yoga classes and swimming laps in the pool (OK, so I’m out of shape and haven’t swam in a loooong time, but at one time, I really did enjoy swimming, and it’s a great way to get in shape).  I didn’t take any pictures from yesterday, but I’m posting some pictures for our last pool outing last month.

Jonathan and I have “guest passes” that we can use at the club, and the kids really like swimming in the pool.

The kids spend the morning racing in the pool and hanging out in the hot tub.  For lunch, mom and dad normally pack a huge meal.  Last time we got Costco pizza (yummy) and yesterday, mom made spam musubi (mmmm…)