Mommy Daughter Trip

I’ve always said I wanted to have a special bond with my first born (lucky me, she’s a girl too!) and we do although she literally drives me bonkers day in and out. I can’t even imagine how it will be as she gets older. 😭

Abigail and I took our first mommy daughter trip to San Francisco a couple weeks back. I also had my closest high school friends and their daughters join us. How time flies, I can’t believe I’ve known them for at least half my life. We like to call ourselves “joy luck club” and I sure hope that happens with us growing old and sharing many more moments together.

My high school friends and I have been to SF many times, but this was the first sans boys and with one of our kids. Some highlights/tips of the short trip (Friday mid afternoon arrival – Sunday 3pm departure).

We stayed at the Holiday Inn & Suites Fisherman’s Wharf for the location and it was a great choice to catch the tourist action by the pier. Holiday Inn has also upped their game and reputation in my opinion. It was clean, free breakfast, good WiFi, and spacious rooms. Good choice and cost! Give it a try – you’ll be pleased.

We too the BART in from SFO and was traveling in with 5 people. It may be more cost efficient and quicker to take Uber into the city. Each ticket cost $8.95 to get to Embarcedero. It also said it was going to Fisherman’s Wharf but nope, much further away. We ended up taking an Uber to the hotel from the Embarcedero stop which costs $28 (the Uber estimate from SFO – hotel said $60 approx). Lesson learned but we got some nice views of the city and architecture and layout of the streets of SF. 😉

 Before dinner, we stopped at Boudin’s bakery and get their famous and delicious bread.

Some more treats for the first night 😋😋😋

📷: Cornology – Get the truffle parmesan popcorn! So tasty.

📷: Sotto Mare – definitely get the scallops! The sauce is so so yummy!!

📷: Sweet and friendly service at Naia but nothing to rave about.

Saturday was filled with exploring, seeing old friends, and of course eating some good grub. We got to see the sunbathing sea lions, Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, cable cars, and Farmer’s market in the Ferry Building is a must!

📷: Twinning in Old Navy flannel tops. It’s crazy how their personalities shine in this photo.

📷: Porchetta sandwiches right outside the ferry building is delish! You can’t miss it with the line. My friend from the JET programme.  That is definitely one program to remember with all the traveling adventures we had.

📷: Look, my 3rd is already here. #iwish

📷: Yummy dessert shop – Miette Patisserie

📷: A with her godfather who has this cool scooter for his hurt foot. They love their Uppababy too!

Dinner was definitely not something to even note along with their service but we had some fun company that Abigail remembers very well that Aunt Jennifer is so much fun!

Dessert at the Baked Bear topped the charts with a warm brownie topped with ice cream and heath bar bits. #amazing

We ended the night with the oldest (8 years old) doing story time with her buddies. P.S. my children’s board books are all 50% off on www.ajangsley.com 📚 They come with some surprises in there as a well so it’s a perfect gift! Also, I’ll be donating twice as much this holiday season to the charity listed in each respective book. Collect all 8 of my alphabet books! xx

📷: twinning pajamas from Hanna Anderson

Quick Sunday brunch at the pier and sandwiches from Boudin’s (yes, again – I LOVE THAT PLACE!) before heading to our last stop – Lombard Street.

They’re in #dotdotsmile dresses. Super soft and perfect for twirling in.

Last funny of the trip I want to remember was our little threat they would be sent to “timeout island” if they didn’t listen to us. Guess where that is!

#goodtimes and the perfect mommy daughter trip. I lost BUT #jetblue found my sunnies and that literally made my day getting it in the mail a couple weeks later. Surprised and so incredibly thankful for Jetblue! #shoutout

Cheers for now and thanks for reading. Hope you’re all enjoying the holidays. This will be the last flying trip until baby #3 makes its debut.

Visiting the Homeland and Family.

Although I wasn’t born in Taiwan, I still consider it like a home since my parents had grown up there. They had a lot of good memories there and some of our family is over there.

I decided to take a last minute trip to Taiwan with my younger daughter to visit my dear aunt. She’s always held a special place in my heart so I knew I just had to take the trip during this time.

I’ve learned to pack smarter and know that international flights are usually more lenient on things (like an overweight bag) if you’re traveling alone with a child. Your bag shouldn’t be over 30 kg at most usually so bring an extra bag to take items out or be prepared with a nice sob story. My bag was clearly overweight from the booster seat, formula and fruit pouches I packed for this 2 week adventure with my super picky 14 month old eater, but I survived.

💟 P.S. If you’re looking for a booster seat with tray that’s compact, I highly recommend the summer infant pop n’ sit portable booster. It collapses and you can sit it on the floor, chair and table top without worries of tipping over.

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aveling couldn't be easier with this amazing passport holder that can now store 5 passport inside. The company is called up and away and a must have with all the colors and inside pattern designs to store your important travel documents together.

If your child is under 2, request to get a bassinet. You’ll get way more leg room as well if she doesn’t sit in it. For international flights, 2 and under kiddos even though they’re not getting a seat they have to pay for 10% of your airfare just for using the air on the flight! 🙄

Since I’ve been to Taiwan so many times, I wasn’t planning to do much tourist stuff besides things that little A would perhaps be interested in. So, it was the gondola (which she opted to sleep instead) and the zoo. The zoo is nice and super cheap. In case you’re wondering, it was clean and very green!

We stayed near Da’An Park which is great to seeing some green space, go to the playground, and eat at some of the yummy places around. Our air bnb hosts were amazing and it was so easy to settle in. They even got the car service set up for us to take us to our apartment. If you want their contact, let me know! To note, there is also the MRT (subway) you can take into the Taipei for really cheap but I was just being lazy.

Anyhow, if you’re wondering if some place is good and you see a line – it definitely means it’s worth the wait. 😋

My favorite street of grub has the infamous beef noodle soup, green onion pancakes, mango shaved ice, rice rolls in an illegal street cart, and now best crispy suncakes. Google Yong Kang Street when you’re in Taipei.

A must to do in Taipei is getting a hair wash/massage. You can get for as cheap as 250 NT which is about $8! Omg. I found an amazing place called Famous. They didn’t cut Addison’s hair like I wanted but oh well just had to get her a bowl cut just once. Lol

This trip we also took a ride on the high speed train to Ping Tung to see my grandpa’s place of rest and his factory.

We also saw my grandma who’s 95 now and looking great. Her view is amazing and so serene.

If you haven’t noticed it was a US girl cousins trip (Abigail was sad to be missing out but we got to FaceTime everyday and it was some of the cutest moments I’ve had with her). What was that saying – distance makes the heart grow fonder? Haha

Part 2 of our Asia family trip was seeing my brother and his family out in HK for the weekend. It’s only a quick 2 hour flight over but Addison sure made it feel like a century. Good times.

Hong Kong highlights included Hello Kitty dim sum, ice cream, burgers, and a typical HK breakfast before catching my flight back to Taiwan to go back to California. It sounds hectic and it sure was when you’re flying two different airlines so you have to pick up your luggage and check back in so definitely have a suitcase that has four wheels so you’re pushing it and not leaning it over to pull. Samsonite has some fabulous ones.

Good times and Addison got to play at the Hello Kitty playground in the Taoyuan airport (next to gate C4).

Cheers for now and definitely drop me a note if you’re looking for more info! xx

Hamming in Hamptons.

Part 2 of our New York holiday ended perfectly with a gorgeous weekend in the Hamptons with our cousins. The iconic tall hedges and enormous homes was mesmerizing (so mesmerizing I forgot to take pictures!). 

We left the city earlier than everyone else so stopped at the famous Lobster Roll in Montauk from the showtime series, The Affair. Food was nothing to rave about but had a cute local ambiance to dining there. 

Did you know they have a Levain Bakery there too? Next to it is a good local seafood shop and the famous Goldberg’s bagels which I didnt get to try but heard it was delish! 

📷: Tried and true, you can freeze a cookie and when you’re ready to eat defrost and put in the oven for a bit and it’s just almost as good. 

We also went to the cutest and cleanest pumpkin patch ever – Hank’s Pumpkintown. Amazing fresh apple juice! 

Anyhow, I sure hope my kids are as close to my cousins as I am. #familyfirst 

 

Oh yes, wanted to add that at 14 weeks pregnant I went to Soul Cycle for the first time. Oh my gosh so tiring but survived with the good vibes and catching Brooke Shields when we were leaving from our class. I can now say I “spun” with Brooke. 😁

Cheers for now! Thanks for reading and yes this is a place you must visit – It must be even more lovely in the summer when it’s really pool and beach weather.  xx

Take a Bite Out Of The Big Apple With Two Munchkins.

Following your husband on his business trip to New York may seem like a good idea but it’s definitely a little tough. It wasn’t all smiles like the pictures show. 😜 

But, yes – I’m that mom that always says to bring and travel with your kids to show them the big world and everything out there. Experiences are so much better live. So, these two monsters definitely got to take in New York – the toddler way – it wasn’t at all like when I used to live here with all the HH, late hours out and about, and nice restaurants we ate at! #timeflies

We stayed at the Westin Grand Central – pretty nice and central spot to get around the city. They gave the girls little kid’s bags with goodies inside in hopes of keeping them quiet during their stay. The only problem we ran into was getting a fridge. Literally painful how many times we had to call front desk. 

P.S. we took a morning direct flight from CA (6 hour flight). It was easy for our 4.5 year old toddler but our energetic 13 month was a bag of tricks. No amount of milk and goodies could put her to sleep. She was just too excited. 

First stop was Cafe Zaiya for black sesame soft serve. Omg so good. Dinner followed shortly after at Vezza. You have to get the shroomtown pizza if you’re a mushroom fan – the best. Pizza is the classic New York style pizza with a thin crust. 

P.S. all my food links are usually to #yelp being my favorite app to use and I’m not just a taker, I’m also Yelp Elite! More reviews (usually short and sweet), go here. 

Amazing New York weather so we walked to seriously the best bagel shop called Ess-a-bagel. It was right by my old apartment when I lived in NY so had to take the girls there and we ate on the remodeled entrance. 



We walked on Park Ave to Central Park after a quick stop at the Plaza Hotel. There is a crazy big food court inside with lots of yummy eats. Definitely worth checking out. 

Central Park was packed as it was a gorgeous day. Too bad the fall leaves hadn’t happened yet (beginning of October) but beautiful nonetheless. 

Since we were already in the 70s and heading to the Children’s museum of Manhattan, we just had to stop at the BEST cookie bakery ever. Levain Bakery – you’ve fulfilled my preggo cravings. Thank you! 

📷: The museum was fun and not crowded (whew). It was surprisingly pretty clean and of course very interactive. Super good idea for the cold & rainy day. The girls are twinning in gap – It always seems I can find their sizes at Gap (they’re about 3.5 years apart). Any brands you recommend?

Weekend is now over and this is when it turns to just me and the kids (of course meeting up with friends and cousins!). 

Here’s a quick read along with pictures and recommendations (things to note) of the 4 days out and about in the Big Apple. They’re in order of how it played out since we know transporting 2 kids (plus gummy bear in the making) and one stroller isn’t exactly smooth sailing so you have plan so you’re not backtracking and uber-ing too much. 

• Monday – We took the 34th Street ferry to DUMBO and it’s great!! Clean, good views, fast, and only $2.75 (kids free). If you’re looking for some trendy, hipster pictures – definitely come here. Family pictures would have been fun here but we will make do with kids twinning. 
• We ate at Shake Shack for lunch, playground after, walked Brooklyn Bridge (the entrance is stairs – no ramp) to catch the amazing skyline, another playground before dinner at the absolute best pizza joint – Juliana’s. If you’ve heard/eaten of Grimaldi’s, this is actually the real original Grimaldi’s 🍕 pizza joint (Patsy Grimaldi sold the Grimaldi’s name awhile back to a customer). I was super excited to meet Patsy! Before heading back on the ferry, we had to have Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. So good! 

• Tuesday – Because of the time change (3 hours), the kids got up st 10am. Yay for me! We did dessert before lunch with getting some shaved ice from Sweet Moment and then pork chop rice at a local hole in the wall joint (just ok, so won’t blog about it) since we were already in Chinatown. 
• Super nice day so we walked through Soho, downtown, and union square before getting to my cousin’s place. Abigail couldn’t have been more thrilled to be reunited with them. 

• Wednesday – we went to the ever so popular Totto Ramen (it is basically this one or Ippudo). Both yummy! After that, we went to the coolest park ever – Riverside Hippo playground up in the Westside (they have super charming brownstones).  Thank you @minicitybabes for the rec! 
• We topped off the afternoon with treats from Doughnut Planet. P.S. we decided to take the bus up and probably not the best idea with a stroller as it looks like you generally have to fold it up. They are definitely not like the London buses I’m used to! 

📷: she could feel how tired this bus ride was making me. 😂

• Thursday – I wanted to take the girls to see the famous #NASA Enterprise space shuttle and tell her this is what her grandpa did for work. Not sure if she got it, but she did think it was really cool to see all the airplanes, submarine, drones, and space shuttle. We headed to a very late lunch at Gotham West Market which is perfect for an indecisive group to meet with all the different food choices. 
• Of course, an afternoon isn’t complete without dessert – cookies specifically so went to both Schmackery and Amy’s Bread (close to each other). We also got Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles to go to meet up with my cousin that picked up Momofuku Milk Bar for me. Yes – it’s the great cookie test for my favorite cookie bakery. Winner goes to Levain Bakery!!! 

💟 P.S. we used the Uppababy lightweight stroller on this trip and loved it. It sits higher up so babe can just sit in there at a table instead of a  high chair. It’s also nice and narrow to fit through tight spaces. Stands up when folded but I still have to master closing it quickly with the button and pushing the sides together. Overall, definitely worth it as you can recline for your little and yes she slept in it several times. #win

Anyone want to follow this schedule? It’s doable and amazing when you can have sweets to consume. It would have been a lot nicer with a glass of wine to top each day off. 😂🍷

Cheers for now and part 2 of New York coming soon. xx

Cooking Must Have.

I’m the type of person that follows the phrase – “sharing is caring.” So, when I finally got to try from a dear friend of mine in London this magic kitchen appliance I fell in love. I just knew I had to purchase one. 

Can you guess it? Nope, not the instant pot (which I LOVE as well). It’s an air fryer – not to be confused with a deep fryer. 

📷: chicken wings. Recipe – Use frozen wings and add a little bit of olive oil along with seasoning. My new favorite is with creole seasoning. 

This is amazing. I have set it out on my counter since I use it daily if not twice a day. Quick and easy to use/clean. 

📷: sweet potato wedges. Recipe – cut sweet potatoes into desired sizes. Add olive oil and seasoning into ziplock bag with the sweet potatoes. Mix and stick in freezer for more moist fries inside. No need if you like it more crispy. 

Seriously, you can cook anything with it. From raw meats (e.g. Wings, spare ribs) to cauliflower, this appliance is a must have. Or it can be just reheating foods! 

Tip – raw meats coming from the freezer taste even better since it retains the moisture. I haven’t tried with fish yet – soon enough! 

📷: corn tortilla chips almost cooked. Recipe – cut small corn tortillas into quarters. Spray some olive oil and lightly season. 

Anyhow, quick post – take a break and do a little online shopping. Cheers for now. xx

London Love.

I can’t believe in 15 days we will be moving out of London. It’s been a whirlwind of fun here. I call it my 2 year holiday (hubs doesn’t as he was working both U.K. and U.S. hours) with all the memories we created here. 

We’re soaking in (and getting soaked) some of our favorite spots and checking out the plethora of things to do with kids that make London so special – this weekend was ice skating. 

Since our little toddler has been sick, we decided to let her sit in the Uppababy stroller for the day (Age – 3 years and 7 months old). 

📷: There are lifts for your buggy at a lot of the stations but if there isn’t, there is always someone nice that will stop and help you out – I swear!

📷: Am I going to continue to look right when I move back? 🇬🇧 ➡️ 🇺🇸

📷: Shoreditch is probably one of my favorite areas with the street art, street food, Indian food, cool coffee shops, and shopping. It’s a very up and coming area with lots of hipsters. Definitely worth going to. 

💟: Uppababy Gluxe gets a parents approved from us. Folds up nicely and so easy to navigate. It has a light narrow build for help going through an urban lifestyle. Perfect for day to day with your baby as there is plenty of storage space and you can hang stuff quickly on the handles. They recommend baby being at least 3 months in age to use. To note, this pram isn’t car seat adaptable. 

📷: Can’t leave London without a proper Sunday Roast. We love it at the Pig and Butcher (btw – It’s been in tons of articles as a delicious place to eat in London) 

💟: Addison with her @twistshakebaby (how cool that the little container next to it fits inside the bottle to put a snack or another round of formula – so travel friendly. Plus, there is a mixer for baby colic!). AND guess what, use CODE: FANNY30 for 30% off! 

📷: Ice skating at Tower of London. Doesn’t get any better with the view. If you’re planning on going, make reservations and pay online. Sessions to skate are 45 minutes. 

📷: Twinning poses. 😂 View of the Shard – currently the tallest building in the U.K.  

📷: London skyline (it’s actually barely 4:30pm). 

Cheers for now and thanks for reading. xx

Oh Dear, Gestational Diabetes.

What a bummer it has been to be diagnosed with gestational diabetes at week 33. I used to eat whatever I wanted and whenever I wanted, but that has all changed drastically to not fail the test (4 times daily).

It’s a little different from UK to USA so I’ve heard. For UK, the target glucose level (1) hour after a meal is 7.5 mmol/L and before breakfast (fasting) is 5.3 mmol/L. For USA, they calculate over 130 mg/dL as being too high. Also, I got tested at week 31 and looks like USA tests before 28 weeks.

Back to the diet changes – wow! It’s like a tough battle of trial and error on what I can/cannot eat especially for breakfast.  I’ve figured it out so I can have peanut butter on wheat bread. Cut out the fruit and milk. Lovely.

Meals have turned into nuts, eggs, minimal wheat bread/pita, japchae (Korean noodles), chicken, and sadly more veggies.

📷: broccolini & bell peppers stir fried with the best soy sauce in the world #wanjashan – vegetarian mushroom sauce. This sauce is thicker and not salty so extra easy to cook without bringing out some sugar and starch from your cabinet to mix with your soy sauce.

To add more salt to the wound, Abigail is now on summer break until September 6. This is definitely making the last trimester a little harder. I can easily say the 2nd pregnancy is harder than the 1st now since it is less relaxing and more outings with the little.

📷: playdate with her mates

📷: Day 1 at the park. She took a tumble shortly after this. Ouch.

📷: Twirls on this dress from @peytonslane is a yes. Love this shop – check it out for some adorable patterns on her handmade products! And of course, rocking her Freshly Picked moccasins.

Wrapping it up – I now understand what it feels like to have dietary restrictions not by choice. Dreadful, but thinking optimistically – it will hopefully be easier to lose the baby weight after baby is born.

Cheers for now.

Jumping On.

After hearing many tell me I should start a blog specifically on WordPress as I currently already write a bit for other online sites (e.g. yelp, tripadvisor or whoa, remember xanga?), I decided to finally jump on.

This blog can include but not limited to more details from our adventures, life in London (we’re in year 2), food (eating out/cooking at AJ flat), products I love/could do without, tidbits of things I read and want to share, or just the roller coaster journey I’m on as a SAHM following my dreams. And, I can’t forget being pregnant with baby #2 due on my birthday – August 21.

I’ll try to keep these as short/concise as possible as we all know there is only so many seconds in a day to just “surf” the web. Please also do tell me what you’re interested in reading more/less of as I will post at least once a week (hopefully more).  I already can’t thank you all enough for even reading up to here and would love for it to continue.

A picture of our little family (minus our dog, Mochi, in California) last year when the rapeseeds were in full bloom (they’re currently in bloom now!) .  Yes, they’re called rapeseeds – 3rd most important crop in the UK after wheat and barley.

Now (our most recent airplane trip to Croatia). Top of the mountain overlooking Dubrovnik. AH-mazing.

Cheers for now!