Well, maybe I am.*
Here’s my suggested schedule for when my brother and sister visit next week. But truly, these are suggestions and totally up for revision and spontaneity. It’s just that I find it reassuring to work with even an imagined schedule when dealing with nearly a dozen people. Especially food-wise. In my house.
In preparation, I am stocking my freezer. So far I’ve made chicken enchiladas and chocolate chip cookie dough (frozen in little balls). Flax muffins, Caesar dressing, and spaghetti sauce to come. I’ll have a Korean ox-tail soup in the crock pot for the night they arrive.
Possible restaurants: True Foods, Bistro K, Korean House BBQ or Shik Do Rak, Golondrinos
Shortlist restaurants: Kogi Truck, Baja Fish Tacos, Upper Crust Pizza, Five Guys’ Burgers,
Excursion options:
LA for the day – Korean bath house! Chachangmyun (black bean sauce on noodles). Museum of Jurassic Technology. Papa Cristo’s for grilled baby octopus! (Papa Cristo’s is one of my favorite places of all time to eat – wonderful Greek food.)
Strawberry picking at South Coast Farms, if the dates are right.
Grunion Run (you know, watching grunion fish mate and lay eggs in the wet sand at high tide on a full moon)
Lego store at downtown Disney (mini-figure series 5 is expected to come out any moment now)
June 25 – Sue, Joss, Noi naa, Leela, and Songbae arrive at LAX at 7 pm. [oxtail soup]
June 26 – Chill day – good day for the farmer’s market (tamales and ripe organic stone fruit) and the pool. [buttermilk pancakes for breakfast; chicken enchiladas for dinner]
June 27 – Crystal Cove State Park Beach [dinner at True Foods? cupcakes at Sprinkles?]
June 28 – Paddle Boarding lesson from Fisherman’s Cove [grass-fed beef hamburgers with caesar salad]
June 29 – Sue’s family goes to San Diego for a conference. Possibly a good day for Scripps Aquarium or wild seal-watching at Children’s Beach in La Jolla. [eat at Brockton Inn?]
June 30 – either give Sue’s family a break from us, or go to the Children’s Museum which has been highly recommended.
July 1 – ditto
July 2 -USS Midway. Chad bikes down to meet us. Lunch either on boat at cafe or at the fish place by the India Star.
July 3 – Sue and family return to Laguna Niguel [Korean BBQ at Sierra’s pool?]
July 4 – Picnic and fireworks at Laguna Niguel Regional Park [oven baked chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, peach cobbler]
July 5 – Chill day or creek play at O’Neill Regional Park (if water is still running…)[Denny’s-style breakfast with eggs, biscuits, sausage]
July 6 – Leave for the east coast all together from LAX.
Things to cook while at mom and dad’s house: crockpot ribs, chili, maple-glazed pork tenderloin, lemon meringue pie.
Things to make while on cruise: felted knitted mobius basket with Mom. Finish Leela’s crown. Teach Mom how to make artisan bread.
Video below from last summer’s visit, almost exactly one year ago – clay play at Sierra’s house. They were so little back then. This visit, Leela, who was a 3-month not-even-crawling baby, will be walking!
*I’ve even gone so far as to suggest cruise reading material for very member of my family – and am providing the books themselves. For a list of my suggestions check this post.
