February « 2010 « The New Domestic

February 2010

02/28/10

Night Out at Munch

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Night Out at Munch

Dinner last night was at Munch in North Vancouver. What a fantastic place! I had a nice creamy seafood risotto with a glass of Malbec and Peter had a bison burger. I could have seriously had another plate of that risotto but was too embarrassed to order another one. Well, I’m going back with my friend Sisi for lunch next week so I could have my second serving then. It’s nice to have a place like this in the city where Peter and I can enjoy a really good meal and not have to worry if Luna cries. How many places have a play area for kids and a full bar for adults? Yippee! We’d definitely recommend this place to other young families too.

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Night Out at Munch

Food / Kids / Places — No comments — Posted by: Nerissa

02/27/10

Early Spring

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Early Spring

Winter was mild this year which means an early spring. In our backyard, we’ve already seen crocuses, daffodils and irises sprouting up. The tulips are on their way too. We’re looking forward to warming the house up with weekly fresh cut flowers. Pictured above are clippings from last spring (dahlias, rosemary buds and baby’s breath) which should make their return sooner rather than later this year.

Garden — No comments — Posted by: Peter

02/23/10

4 Months!

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : 4 Months!

Four months, already! Lots of developments to report this month. Luna still loves to smile and has added cute silent giggles to her repertoire. Very recently, she’s added a tiny baby laugh to her giggles but that’s only happened twice so far. Luna likes to babble with anyone who talks to her. We call it “conversating”. I know that’s not a real word but she doesn’t speak real words so it fits. Luna has outgrown her bassinette and moved into a crib. Luna can’t do a full belly-to-back roll, yet. She can manage a 3/4 roll but if we put her flat on her stomach she gets frustrated that her body can’t accomplish what her mind wills it to do. Maybe next month, Luna. Even though Luna can’t roll yet, she can travel quite some distance by wiggling and kicking around. When we leave her on a mat for a few minutes it’s quite surprising where she ends up. In month four we’re using a Baby Bjorn baby carrier for the first time. Luna enjoyed being carried snuggly through Vancouver while we checked out the Winter Olympic sights. Lastly, Luna really enjoys being sung to. Her favorite songs in month four are James Brown’s “I Feel Good” and Lionel Ritchie’s “Say You, Say Me”.

Kids / Luna's Monthly Photos — No comments — Posted by: Peter

02/21/10

Lemon Meringue at the Schoolhouse

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Lemon Meringue at the Schoolhouse

First treat of the day for us was a visit to Mark & Shannon’s new place for coffee and a slice of lemon meringue pie. Mark converted a 70 year old schoolhouse in Strathcona into an innovative mixed-use multi-family dwelling. The conversion maintains 40% of the original structure with modern updates getting the schoolhouse to Built Green Platinum standards. Each of the five units have a flex-space that could be used for an income-suite, additional living space or a home studio. The main floor of the schoolhouse is Shannon’s studio/workshop with future plans for public community programming. It’s a beautiful and thoughtful conversion which I’m sure must be the talk of the neighbourhood. Now, about the pie…it was baked by Shannon’s mom and it was spectacular!

Domestic 2.0 / Food / Places — 1 comment — Posted by: Peter

02/18/10

Omelette + Anthropologie

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Omelette + Anthropologie

Breakfast today: Homemade whole wheat bread (freshly baked yesterday), coffee, Casa Giulia blueberry preserve & cheese tarragon omelette. I was also happy to receive my Anthropologie catalogue in the mail this morning. Like a magazine subscription, Anthropologie mails out a new catalogue each month with great photography, locations and styling. It’s incredible to think they’re essentially producing 12 different lookbooks with 12 different themes each year. That’s a lot of imagery/creative to produce. And it’s all top quality. Having produced a few photoshoots and lookbooks in our day, we really respect the effort and imagination put into these monthly catalogues. We’ve kept every issue we’ve received neatly stored in our library. It’s a nice monthly visual treat and it’s free to subscribe.

Domestic 2.0 / Food — No comments — Posted by: Nerissa

02/17/10

Simple, Quick & Delicious

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Simple, Quick & Delicious

These days, I’m all about simple and quick breakfasts but…it has to be delicious, too. Today’s breakfast consisted of: homemade whole wheat bread with flax & sunflower seeds, hard boiled eggs, coffee and Casa Giulia blueberry preserve from Italy. Peter’s Note: If you can’t get enough of breakfast photos visit Jennifer Causey’s Simply Breakfast blog. If anyone is keeping track, Simply Breakfast is, hands-down, the number one breakfast blog. Jennifer has documented 507 breakfasts (and counting) over the last 3 years. Simply awesome!

Domestic 2.0 / Food — No comments — Posted by: Nerissa

02/16/10

Jungle Boogie

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Jungle Boogie

Toys don’t really interest Luna in this stage of her life. She prefers human interaction and we’re happy to give her lots. However, we can’t be with her every second of the day so we got her a baby gym so she can entertain herself. Friends also tell us it’s good for hand/eye development. Luna seems to really enjoy it. She took to it right away. It’s definitely the best $25 we spent this week.

Domestic 2.0 / Kids — No comments — Posted by: Peter

02/12/10

Morning Sweetness

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Morning Sweetness

I love our mornings! As soon as Luna wakes up, she calls out to us with her cute baby sounds. And when I hear her, I lazily get out of bed with my eyes half open to grab her and lay her beside me. But I’m usually woken up to find myself giggling as I see my little Luna somehow wiggled herself out of her blanket and out of her pants laying sideways at the top of the crib with no pants on. Amazing, how did she do this! Then I grab her to lay her beside me as I watch her slowly look around still half dazed observing what’s around her. Then it’s followed with a few stretches with the sounds of her limbs cracking away. Then she stops, looks at me, and gives me the sweetest morning smiles and giggles. These are the little special moments we share together. A start of another great day!

Kids — 3 comments — Posted by: Nerissa

02/11/10

Safehouses

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Safehouses

You know the safehouses in Grand Theft Auto? No? Don’t play video games; not criminal minded? Well, neither is Nerissa. It took some explaining but we’ve come to incorporate the word “safehouse” into our parenting lexicon. In Grand Theft Auto, a safehouse is place where you can escape from the cops, get your stolen car fixed or covertly meet up with your associates. For us, a safehouse is far less nefarious. It’s a place where we can comfortably nurse, that has a properly maintained changing area or where we can get a decent meal and not feel guilty about Luna crying. We keep a mental catalogue of places around the city so that we can make a pitstop when out and about rather than rushing home. One day, I’d like to create a Grand Theft Auto style map with all the baby-friendly safehouses around the city. I think it’d be funny.

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Safehouses

So far our safehouse list includes:

IKEA, Richmond – the best family/changing area we’ve seen. It’s bigger than most downtown dens and looks like a mini-showroom.
Whole Foods, Cambie Street – the eating area has lots of space for a stroller and other gear. Hippies love crying babies. Hippies love everyone.
Little Nest, Commerical Drive – delicious food, good coffee and designed with young families in mind.
Lilli’Q Cafe, Yaletown – During a long walk, we needed to find a place to change Luna and found Lilli’Q. We were a long ways away from the nearest safehouse so Lilli’Q was a welcome new discovery. There’s a comfortable changing area, a play area for bigger kids, friendly staff and nice drinks.
Munch, North Vancouver – You won’t find a lot of kid friendly places with a full bar! Amazing food & drinks and would definitely recommend this place to other young families.

Domestic 2.0 / Places — No comments — Posted by: Peter

02/06/10

Still Life Self Portrait

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Still Life Self Portrait

Last year at work, as part of the new website design, we created a team section where we individually created compositions that represent who we are. For my self portrait, I decided to gather some of my favourite things and put them together to create a still life. Here’s a list of what you see:

- The framed pattern was a gift wrapper found at the Vancouver Art Gallery

– Framed illustration purchased from Yumi Yumi via Etsy

– My handmade Bricolage journals

– Baby Eames chair reproduction from Nood (50% off sale! btw)

– White Eames Eiffel chair from Herman Miller

– Skirt from Anthropology

– Matryoshka doll was a souvenir from my trip to Alaska

– Twigs & rocks from the beach where I live

– Brown oxfords brought back from Paris

– Smena 8M toy camera

– Catalogues: Habitat, Muji, Anthropolgy

Last note for the weekend: hello to Hooray Design. Thanks for including us in your awesome blog.

Arts / Interior — 5 comments — Posted by: Nerissa

02/03/10

Inspiration Board

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Inspiration Board

We keep an inspiration board up in our studio. It’s a easy way to casually pin-up artwork, clippings and other tidbits that inspire us. Items currently include:

paint chips and fabric swatches for on-going projects;
few old photos that don’t have a home in our albums;
spare art prints that we haven’t framed yet;
reference material and souvenirs;

But most special are the hand-made cards & mini-crafts given to us by our friends. Those gifts always get a special spot on the board or in our library. Alice Cho holds the current record for most things pinned up.

Arts / Interior — 2 comments — Posted by: Peter