Bay Area | January, 2021 - Anna Wu Photography

Just like that, we slipped into a new year. We were down in Cupertino for the first couple of days, where Alex got to try out his new barbecue smoker.

A visit to Larkspur, where the trees roam the streets. And a walk around Mission Bay.

Weekly Whitney chat.

Weekly Talya chat.

More scenes from Mission Bay.

Happy Hour with the Office of Accountability.

A visit to Japantown, where we did some grocery shopping and visited this very cute home goods shop, Sanko Kitchen Essentials, where I got to pick out my birthday present from Alex– a donabe!

Also, mochi from Benkyodo.

My new donabe! A Japanese clay pot. So pretty.

We got some yuzus from Alex’s parents, so we made an array of yuzu products: yuzu preserve, a yuzu vinegar, ponzu sauce, facial toner, and yuzu kosho.

Lunch from Cafe Okawari. And a visit to Umami Mart in Oakland to pick up part two of my birthday gift, the Donabe cookbook by Naoko Takei Moore and Kyle Connaughton (of the three-starred Michelin restaurant Singlethread).

Hike Club! We joined Stephanie and John on a socially distanced hike through the Oakland hills.

Found a huge pile of ladybugs!

And also a very majestic red-tailed hawk.

First, you have to season your donabe by making rice porridge. But then here was my very first donabe dish, a simple but very tasty tofu enoki soup with kombu dashi.

The Office of Accountability January/ 2021 kickoff meeting. With all the pets, plants, and babies!

Thank you to Cassie, Courtney, & Do-Hee for sending me these delightful Mochill mochi donuts for my birthday! And we had a wonderful 2020 reflections and 2021 intentions-setting Lean In meeting as well.

Birthday dinner– Michelin-starred takeout! From Ju-ni. I’m a big fan of eyedroppering my soy sauce onto my sushi now. Thank you Alex!

Then it was time to host my zoom birthday party! This will get its own dedicated post, but I sent indigo dye kits to my friends all over the world, and we met virtually to shibori dye things together. In particular, they each got a white cotton square to dye and send back to me, and I am going to assemble them all into a quilt, which will be my warm, comforting hug, so we can be together from afar. This was so wonderful! Thank you to everyone who joined us!

The next day, a visit to the Cupertino farmer’s market, where we purchased this flowering cauliflower! We also went on a hike with Dan and Jeri in Alviso, but I’ll share all our walking tours in another post.

Home projects. reattaching the garage door. replacing door locks.

Smoked duck breast!

Back in San Francisco, I finally got to enjoy the birthday cake that I saw in my zoom party, haha. Thank you to Joyce from Bake Sum for this delicious matchamisu cake. And to Courtney, Cassie, and Do-Hee for getting it for me. This continues the tradition since Joyce usually makes my birthday cakes for my parties!

Another gift from the girls, Hella Tea, a Black women-owned business from Oakland with their punny tea names, haha. I enjoyed the Chamo-la Harris on Inauguration Day!

A walk around Rockridge with new mama Chelsea!

A bunch of crab fisherman, and the sea lions who were in it for the leftovers!

A shime, finishing dish, from the donabe. You keep some of the broth from the main dish and make a rice and egg finishing dish with it!

Oakland feast: Horn Barbecue, Homeroom elote mac, and Temescal Brewing Pils.

It’s dungeness season! We got a crab to make a donabe feast. Crab rice and crab soup.

Resetting my display shelves after the holidays! And I framed this two-page historic map of San Francisco from 1903.

The Anchor Brewing rebrand! I don’t mind it, but I can see why people are sad about it. I got Alex the six-pack for $1.25 sale. Plus, Midnight the fish! We are pet-sitting him for Do-Hee and Josh while they are away visiting family.

And finally, one more donabe meal: purple daikon “steaks” and chicken rice. Yum.

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