Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving Day
This Thanksgiving, we were joined by my sister’s family for a turkey meal chez nous. Lesson learned: it takes almost as much time to heat up a store-bought meal as having it cooked ourselves. And, the most scrumptious items on the night’s menu were actually those brought over […]

I heard on the radio today that you should roast turkey with the breast side down so that the juices can flow downwards and “auto-baste” the breast meat keeping it tender and moist.
Last year, we actually roasted our turkey upside-down by accident and didn’t even discover it until we tried slicing off the […]

This afternoon, Alex and I snuck away from work to catch a showing of the new Harry Potter 4 movie. Alex did not have lunch yet, so he wolfed down 2 jalapeno-stuffed hot dogs along with an ice cold mochachino while waiting for the movie to start, and I had myself a cold-stone mix of […]

We just added about 100 more pictures of Nicholas at school (per his buddy Matthew’s request), check it out here.
Note: It may take a few minutes if you have a slow server.

The New White Flight
I’ve heard similar remarks with respect to the Irvine School District in recent years as well.

The New White Flight
In Silicon Valley, two high schools with outstanding academic reputations are losing white students as Asian students move in. Why?
By SUEIN HWANG
November 19, 2005; Page A1
(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)
CUPERTINO, Calif. — By […]

Jungle Drums by Graeme Base
“Little Ngiri is the Smallest Warthog in Africa. Tired of being teased about his size, he wishes things could be different. When Old Nyumbu the Wildebeest gives Ngiri a set of magic drums, he is sure his wish is about to come true. But all the […]

Alex’s mom just returned from the hospital after having kidney stones removed, so we spent the day visiting her in San Francisco this past Sunday. When Nicholas heard that we were going to see grandma because she was “sick”, he told us right away that he’s going to make a special card for her. He […]

It’s fun sometimes just sitting back to watch what the kids do on their own. Our kids, as with all toddlers/preschoolers. like to pretend play. It’s funny watching what they use as props. The red oval-shaped storage lid for their reading bench often goes missing and is later found sprinkled with magnetic puzzle pieces and […]

See what Nicholas has been up to at school this past year in Nicholas’ photo gallery.

I finally got myself a crockpot (the same day Alex decided to upgrade his dingy old coffee maker to an Il Duomo coffee/espresso machine plus coffee grinder). Needless to say, I was excited to make our first meal of stewed beef w/onions, potatoes, and carrots using the crock. But I must’ve put in too much […]

I know, cheesey disney reference.
Anyways, my parents and younger sister just returned from a 2-week tour of China, and on the trip, they were accompanied by those from Canada, South America, LA, the east cost and a nice Mother/Daughter pair from San Francisco traveling together. Little did they know (until they got to talking later) […]

Ted by Tony DiTerlizzi
TED BLEW INTO my house one Saturday morning. He didn’t even knock. I was eating cereal, and as usual, my father was busy in his study.
“Hello, birthday boy!” Ted bellowed. “Where are the raspberries?”
Who is Ted, and […]

I guess it’s never too early to give thanks to those who deserve it most. This dedication goes out to the people who inspired the creation of ‘the-truongs.com’.
TheJarvinens - whose awe-inspiring site has wow’d us for years. We’re not worthy… we’re not worthy. Your advice on moving my blog to a web hosting service ultimately […]

We were invited to a Chuck E. Cheese party today for Nicholas’ friend Tristan. It was definitely exciting and action packed for the kids, and they just couldn’t get enough of all the fun and games. I recall the first time Nicholas saw Chuck E. Cheese, he was just 10 months old or so…. and […]

Our daycare center is hosting a Scholastic Book Fair in the lobby this whole week, and I’ve already gone there 3 times to spend a small fortune on those selections (I think I enjoy kids’ books even more than I do the adults’ books sometimes). I like the fact that they offer a lot of […]