February 26nd, 2006 - Sky, Charlotte, China Palace, Joseph Schmidt, Maggiano's, Osha

Got the Garlic Chicken at Wolfgang Puck on Macy's Underground Food Court...it's been a favorite of mine ever since I arrived in the Bay Area.

I love sunsets...

...and cool clouds.

William and his daughter Charlotte...Isn't Charlotte adorable?!!! Heheheh...

Aileen gets a yawn out of Charlotte...awww!!!

It's funny how much attention a baby can generate...

Megan got to hold her as well...

Charlotte got passed around so often, but she never complained!

China Palace's Bamboo with Pork dish...VERY GOOD. Just the right amount of flavor.

The Szechuan Fish Filet was overly spicy in my opinion but a great rice mixer.

Hand painted box from Joseph Schmidt Chocolates

Yummmm...I actually had one and it was pretty good. I heartedly recommend these over See's.

At Maggiano's...pretty good asparagus sauteed with garlic and olive oil. Also a Seafood Stew that was only ok.

Nonna's Pound Cake, Caramelized Bananas Pound cake toasted and served with caramelized bananas and our own hot fudge sauce. Vanilla bean ice cream on the side.

Osha's Shrimp Fried Rice is most tasty! I wonder how they flavor the rice to get it to taste that way. I'm not even sure how to describe it. The rice is moist as opposed to other fried rice which is usually dry. Moist with flavor!



February 22nd, 2006 - 4:42PM - Plum Blossoms, Naan n' Curry, Corteo

These are pics of plum blossoms that are found near the east side of the Emeryville Amtrak Station. For a VERY funny perspective on what Communist China's national flower should be (they don't have one...although unofficially its the peony), click here. It's funny how since Taiwan has claimed the plum blossom, China can't decide if they want to use it as theirs.

I like plum blossoms better than cherry blossoms because they aren't so cluttered.

Lamb Shank with Spinach from the Afghani place at Emeryville Public Market. GGGGGGRRREAT stuff. I once ordered a whole bowl of that spinach stuff because it was so tasty.

My new setup at work...I think I need another monitor on my right...probably get a dual-monitor card.

The problem with Pakistani/Indian food is that without tasting it, you sometimes can't tell which dish is which. This is probably because I'm not Indian. I'll do my best but I think that this is a Ghobi Chicken - Cauliflower cooked with Chicken and a Chicken Biryani - Fried Rice cooked with Chicken. Priscilla, Meg, William, and I had this huge feast at Naan n' Curry.

Chicken Vindaloo - Chicken cooked with potatoes in a special Vindaloo sauce

Chicken Daal - Lentil cooked with Chicken

Chicken Tikka Masala - Boneless Chicken with Sauce...that's how the menu described it.

Hot and Sour Soup at China Palace. Still the king since they put the most stuff in it. After it gets cold though, it's not so good.

Three Cups Chicken, Oyster Noodles, Salty Fish with Chicken Pot. I LOVED the Three Cups Chicken and the Eggplant and Salty Fish with Chicken Pot. The latter was AMAZING since it made me love eating eggplant. It had just the right flavoring. The Hot and Sour soup had so many ingredients it even had an armpit hair (at least we hope it was armpit hair...eww). I have pics but this is a family-oriented site. haha

Long Shadows

I love the tree's reflection in the pool.

Emily treated Angela and I to a performance of Corteo. I snuck in my Canon S60 (no way I'd be able to sneak the Rebel XT in there) and snapped a few long exposures. This is from the juggling act.

The set was very nicely decorated. The candles were fake though. Overall, the show was pretty cool. Dealing with the death of a clown, the entire show is filled with angels.

Outside, they had free samples of Dreyer's Ice Cream...something caramel and supposedly 1/2 the fat. I have no idea why they are feeding each other. I guess sisters are like that.

The tents were very cool. Reminded me of large banana with blueberry swirl ice cream cones. Either that or demonic clown hats.

I see 2 elderly dwarfs doing acrobatics below suspended angels ALL THE TIME. This was no big deal. Yawn.

Corteo custom hand made masks are expensive! Pretty cool though...

Shades of "Eyes Wide Shut"...please direct me to the orgy.

Emily's favorite one. Doesn't match well with this pink coat. Her blue blazer would be PERFECT though.

Those horns are neat. It'd be cool to have something like that for Halloween. Maybe for Mardi Gras next year. Much cooler to make your own though. Wonder if Michael's has standard basic masks to build off of.



February 21st, 2006 - 11:26PM - Proposal!

I proposed to Emily last weekend when we were in Napa!!! This is a posed pic at the Chandon winery afterwards. I proposed while we were on a hot air balloon ride which eventually slammed into a hill! :-P Here's a pic from the 500+ pics I took that weekend. I'm now in San Diego missing her terribly while trying to catch up with all the pics from before. I'll do my best! Stay tuned for an album for that weekend...there were that many good pics!

This is from the restaurant next to Lion Market in Milpitas. They have a 3 dishes/1 soup/1 rice special for $18.

Ginger Chicken...good stuff although the chicken is always a little overcooked.

The Shrimp with Vegetables is probably the best shrimp dish on the specials menu.

Fish Filet with Vegetables is a perennial favorite.

Emily made this awesome chicken soup...very tasty...used free range chicken.

Those Shiitake mushrooms were HUGE. Tasty though! I love all kinds of mushrooms. Emily's mom introduced me to oyster mushrooms which amazingly taste like abalone.



February 14th, 2006 - 10:11PM - Stuffed Buns and the Japanese

Making stuffed buns...this "eye through the hole" pic is a running joke between Angela and I...must be the 5th one I think.

Cafeully hand-made buns...I kneaded the dough a bit but my hands were a bit too large for the kneading bowl.

"Mamma's little baby loves shortnin', shortnin', mamma's little baby loves shortnin' bread. Mamma's little baby loves shortnin', shortnin', mamma's little baby loves shortnin' bread."

Emily's Creations...Hello Kitty and Snoopy Buns stuffed with Red Bean Paste...Order now at 1-800-BIG-BUNS

Chef Hsueh seems quite pleased with her work...

The Snoopy ended up bleeding paste from the head but the Hello Kitty came out perfect!

By holding up a Classics book, Angela attempts to work off a few calorie before eating mass quantities. She should try holding up a heavier book next time.

Chap-Chae...best dish to get at any Korean place that has it. I might even like it better than Soon Doo Boo. And the chap chae at Koryo Korean on Telegraph is EXTRA GOOD. The noodles are simply fantastic.

They have Fingers!!! Or Duk Bok Gi as the Koreans call it. My term comes from KoKo House, the old Korean place on Telegraph that closed down. This is a special item that isn't found on the menu.

The Soon Doo Boo was especially red that night. In Soon Doo Boo, red is good.

The Pokemon gather around items recently brought over from their homeland.

Angela forces young Pikachu to drink...I guess it just turned 21.

Leroy's mom made a bunch of these pastries with meat inside. Others had red bean paste. These were sooooo tasty.

So I finally got around to throwing away some of my malfunctioning computer hardware (tons left to go). Pretty much in the end, I had to get rid of all the CD Burners but the old cd reader and dvd reader from back in '98 still worked. This is to be expected as burners usually have lower lifespans than regular readers.



February 13th, 2006 - 6:40PM - Elephant Bar

Went to Elephant Bar in Burlingame...the Bar Area is pretty cool. I like the cool inset ceiling.

Aaargh...the drink was good, the picture came out poorly. I had a Jungle Colada which was pretty damn tasty.

The artichoke dip was alright although there really should have been more of it. The one we had at the Bonaventure was much better. But probably more expensive too.

I loved the pork shank but Emily didn't like it as much as the one from Marie Callender's. Crazy huh? Well it was tasty in all the right places.

Emily was nonplussed about the shrimp. I didn't have any so I can't say anything about it besdies that it looked good.

The Jambalaya wasn't as spicy or as good as CPK's. California Pizza Kitchen still reigns high on my Jambalaya list for some odd reason. Good nonetheless but don't expect to be blown away.

I thought the salad was good though! Anything where they put big chunks of avocado scores points with me! :-) Turns out that Emily and I both loved the extra spinach that we got which was just a side dish. That stuff was the bomb cause it had grated parmesan over it. Genius.

The Elephant Bar group with Emily's friend Andrew, his new wife, and his brother. It was kinda too loud and cramped but I thought the place was nice. Parking was incredibly difficult though. As usual Emily is the best dressed. :-P



February 9th, 2006 - 8:35PM - Cute Dog and Overfelt Garden

Emily gave me this cute dog which I've hung up on my rearview mirror. I think it's meant for cellphones but there's no way I'd be caught with it on my cell. It's a deleterious effect of being too cute.

Went to Overfelt Park last week with Emily...omg, that lake is soooo dead. Keep in mind that this is after the seasonal rains. You can totally see the water table. Or what used to be the water table.

Wild mushrooms abound on the hills of Overfelt...I resisted my urge to eat one (ie I resisted my urge to get sick and die).

The park has a memorial dedicated to Sun Yat Sen and another to Chiang Kai Shek. This is the one dedicated to CKS. He only got a small open air building and bust.

Whereas Sun Yat Sen got a huge building...

...and a full seated statue. Well Sun Yat Sen is a person revered on both sides of the Strait, mainland and Taiwan, as the Father of China. Which China is up to interpretation but compared to Chiang Kai Shek, Sun Yat Sun is a FAR LESS controversial figure. And therefore more likeable.

Lots of cherry blossoms around. No plum blossoms though...plum blossoms are the national flower of Taiwan. They have 5 petals only (representing the 5 branches of government). These cherry blossoms have a TON of petals.

I think someone thought they were a plane and decided to fly around...

Friendship Gate...I can read all 4 chinese characters! Basic meaning is that under Heaven, we are all in one house.

They are pretty but I do like plum blossoms more...not just cause I'm from Taiwan! :-P "Mei wha....meiiii wha..."

We were getting hungry...from what Andrew G was telling me though, ducks/geese can live for a while even with major injuries such as the loss of a head. This is a Toulouse Goose without the dewlap (a bunch of skin underneath the head which supposely are good for show geese...that's right...competition geese). That means this one is meant for eating. :-P

Cattails...haven't seen these in a while.

These were the cherry blossoms in front of where I live...



February 4th, 2006 - 4:12PM - Stacks of Quarters and Chinese New Year Feast

June of last year I had $60 in quarters...now it's up to $80!!! Hehehe...wonder how my other stack, consisting of pennies/nickels/dimes, is doing. Gah...I'm still missing the Minnesota state quarter.

Waiting for food at ABC Seafood which I chose for Chinese New Year dinner...had reservations but the restaurant wasn't staffed enough to deal with all the customers. Everyone was so hungry. Poor Emily, she's actually staring at a fat baby at this point.

Meditating for food! Hahahah jk...it was like 8:30PM at this point and still no food. I think it took about 1 hour after we walked in the door to get our food.

Cold plate!!! Emily's mom sure has a lot of resolve to not eat meat. When this arrived on the table, everyone was starving and I had to wave everyone off to take this picture. In a way, I thought of it kinda like a "Buddha Jumps Wall" dish due to the timing and the hungriness factor. Still, she was not moved. Oh...and Emily LOVES jellyfish!

Luckily, the next dish was the vegetarian dish for Emily's mom. This was really tasty. Good sauce and the tofu was excellent.

I've never had this kind of dish. Spinach with egg. They cooked it with 3 different kinds of egg actually. Regular egg, salted egg, AND preserved egg. REALLY GOOD.

Catfish in lemon sauce...the lemon sauce was a little strong but the fish was quite tasty. Haven't had catfish in a while.

I've decided that I like LARGE green ties. Doesn't it look good?!!! :-P Thanks Emily for the recommendation. She's great like that! :-)

Lobster with Mi Fun noodles...good there but when we tried to reuse the sauce at home later, it wasn't as good.

Yummy shark fin soup!!! It's been a long time...I had so many bowls.

Angela loves lobster (probably even more than I do). I commend her lobster-eating skillz. There was actually supposed to be a whole Peking Duck but they ran out so we got a voucher for one the next time we eat there.



February 2nd, 2006 - 8:00PM - Astrophotography and Homemade Soon Doo Bu

First try with the Bulb Setting (allows for unlimited time exposures...well...limited by battery I guess...probably why people go and buy those battery grips). This exposure was about 30 seconds. Supposedly if you do it for hours, you can get star trails. It'd be neat to do this during the Perseids (August 12th this year). Wish I had this camera at Lake Titicaca..."My God, it's full of stars". Anyway, here we have Orion. The bottom glows are from some streetlights. Maybe some time I'll head on up to Mount Diablo for these kind of shots.

View of the bay from Merritt College. That place has some of the most awesome views. You can see SF in the upper right. See the Bay Bridge?

Another shot over to the other side. I think I'm going to have to go further east in order to get away from the light pollution. I've been reading up on good techniques to use for astrophotography.

Look! Homemade Soon Doo Bu soup! I've discovered that broccoli is great in it! So the veggies that I put in it at this point are enoki mushrooms, broccoli and carrots. Along with the tofu of course!