Down the Rabbit Hole

Donan's interest in animals started when he suddenly decided that he wanted to see beluga whales (but we found seals, narwhals, and blue whales instead). I thought he might be interested in seeing other animals but I decided that zoos might be too crowded on weekends. So instead, Anna and I brought Donan to the Lindsay Wildlife Experience in Walnut Creek's Larkey Park. The Lindsay Wildlife Experience hosts a wildlife hospital, where injured and orphaned wild animals can be taken care of. It also has a museum that features California's wild animals. On our visit, we met the first bald eagle I have seen in real life. Her name is Atsa ("eagle" in Navajo). She injured her right wing during a windstorm that toppled her nest off a tree; she couldn't fly anymore. The museum's website said that her enclosure was currently behind the scenes but we were able to see her because the door to her enclosure was open. She made such an impact on Donan that he decided that...

About 10 years ago, I drove to Pampanga (with Anna or my friends) for the hot-air balloon festival to see aeroplanes parked in the hangar , fly kites , and watch airshows. I had thought that these experiences wouldn't be replaced by something better... until Anna and I ended up watching Fleet Week SF (with Donan). It was unplanned; we were parking at the Bay Area Discovery Museum when Anna saw a United Airlines Boeing 777 flying low (which worried us because it's reminiscent of 9/11 ).  After visiting the museum, we decided to hike to Battery Yates (Fort Baker) to watch the US Navy Blue Angels' performance. It's an exhibition team of fighter pilots intended to raise public interest in naval aviation. The exhibition was awesome! For some maneuvers, the planes flew in close formation (one formation has an 18-inch gap between planes). In other maneuvers, the planes released smoke to create shapes. This airshow was more thrilling than the shows we've seen in Pampanga. A...

It's Filipino-American History Month in the USA. This piece is my small way of contributing to this celebration. --- While working in rice quality research , I encountered several discussions on why Filipino cuisine has not been "elevated" to fine dining and why it is not as popular as Chinese or Thai cuisine in the USA. I did not follow the discussions, unfortunately. However, I have been discovering Filipino restaurants in the Bay Area. Many of them, like Lutong Bahay  and Island Pacific's PhilHouse, are of the turo-turo style (think cafeteria). Others, however, have ventured away from this restaurant style and sought to feature Filipino food in their own way.  The fare has, so far, been satisfying.  Aldas Kitchen and Bakery My go-to pick-up counter for brunch. I found the owner's business model to be very smart because he/she can concentrate on preparing delicious food instead of dividing his/her attention between food preparation and service. The food comes b...

I didn't write blog posts for a while because I was neck-deep in studying for my Public Health Microbiology (PHM) certification. I underwent a six-month program administered by the California Association of Public Health Laboratory Directors (CAPHLD). The program was a combination of remote and onsite learning activities, including lectures and laboratory work. When my cohort began the program, the instructors warned us that we were undertaking what could very well be one of the most hectic and challenging courses we had ever taken. It was like an M.Sc. in Microbiology but squished into six months of intense training... a boot camp, if you will. We wouldn't survive by being lone wolves; we should study in groups to increase our chances of passing.  I felt like I just entered Survivor or The Hunger Games. The course started with the easy topics: basic knowledge, quality assurance and quality control, statistics, and laboratory safety... then we had our first taste of Microbiolo...