January 30th 2007 - 8:00PM - Naan N Curry, Macworld, Homemade Food

Biggest Naan N Curry feast I've ever been too...we had a lot more people join us for lunch that day. Nothing better than plates and plates of food.

Costco frozen steaks aren't that bad. They come pre-marinated...all you do is thaw them out and zap 'em.

Fountains are pretty relaxing...I need to get a mini one for my office.

I went to Macworld

Surprisingly, both Nikon and Canon were at Macworld. The connection between camera manufacturers and Apple isn't obvious however there is one major thing in common...a burning hole in their customer's pockets. Which hobby is more expensive? I'm thinking the whole Nikon or Canon lineup would be more expensive than the Apple lineup.

Hmm...careful, don't get drool over the lenses please!

This booth takes your computer and replaces/upgrades parts on the spot. Pretty neat.

Crumpler was there too...also a company who makes products for people who have money to burn. Emily got me a 4 Million Dollar Bag that I've been using to hold my camera in. Very nice!

Showing off the benefits of a multiple monitor setup for Aperture. Aperture's my favorite image manager for a lot of very neat features.

iTV looks very cool...of course the integration with iTunes is great but I'm more biased towards solutions like Slingbox instead.

There were 2 iPhones displayed. Only 1 of them was on. With security guards all over, I believe they thought that someone could run off with it.

Ipods should use this interface and screen...I can practically hear Emily screaming off in the distance for it.

I like the idea of a dashboard for cellphones. Since the phone itself isn't open source though I wonder if that means that the only things third party people can do for the iPhone is through the dashboard.

Belkin had this interesting case...the woman showing it off got to play chess and sit on a bed during the show.

Cool DJ setup...actually you can see the keyboard overlay (for Garageband?)...I was tempted to get one to protect the keyboard since it feels so much nicer but it'd block the LED lights and also they don't have one for Aperture...I liked the ones by KB Covers the best.

Very impressed with this drawing product ArtRage...obviously the demo person made it seem so incredibly easy to use but I downloaded the trial and was pretty impressed.

This is a MacBook Pro converted into a tablet! DROOOOOL...

Garlic Shrimp...this is the last time I cook shrimp with the shell on...the flavor just doesn't penetrate as much as when the shell is off.

Broccoli florets are great steamed...I usually just put them in my stews and noodle soups but now I cook it now with oyster sauce/garlic which creates an aromatic flavor.



January 30th 2007 - 8:00AM - Beware!

Formal Complaints Filed With:
Better Business Bureau,
California Department of Consumer Affairs Bureau of Automotive Repair

Filed by :
Emily Hsueh

Filed against :
Jing-Gong Auto Clinic
40957 Albrae Street
Fremont CA 94538
BAR License No. AF-178920

Complaint Description:
I went to Jing-Gong Auto Clinic for repairs on my Camry last year. My receipt is dated April 28, 2006, although I ended up having to re-visit his shop three times. The shop is known for its cheap $20 oil change deals and uses that gimmick to draw in customers and to establish clientele. The owner informed me that the timing belt and belt tensioner needed replacement and assured me he uses only OEM and not generic no-name parts. The first time I got my car back, I noticed how difficult it was to turn my steering wheel. The most disconcerting part was that turning the steering wheel in either direction resulted in the emission of extremely loud scraping noises. I asked the owner to re-do his work. He turned me away, saying that it was already late in the afternoon and I will need to come back another day. I took my car back in the following week for the second time. The owner admitted the screeching sound was caused by his using a timing belt that was the WRONG SIZE for my car. He said I'll need to come back another day so that he can get another part ordered. In my mind, I'd wondered why he went ahead and "fixed" my car when he knew he didn't have the right parts, and why he didn't go ahead and order a new size after I complained that first time. I went in a couple weeks after that. When I got my car back that third time, the steering wheel was easier to turn, but there was still a screeching sound. The sound isn't as loud as before but is still quite loud (loud enough to echo throughout my cul-de-sac neighborhood quite clearly every day for the past 9 months) when the wheel is turned almost to the limit. When I asked the owner to re-do his work again, he said, no, and actually told me that the screeching sound is "normal" because the part is new and will decrease with time. Nine months later, on January 29, 2007, I took my Camry into a reputable shop (AKW Auto Corporation) that was recommended to me by friends. The only problem I told the mechanic was in regards to an oil leak. When I took my car back, the mechanic informed me that he was appalled when he looked under the hood. The timing belt installed on my car by the JING-GONG AUTO CLINIC was the WRONG SIZE, was creating premature WEAR and TEAR, was of POOR QUALITY, and was definitely NOT an OEM part. This reputable shop went ahead and changed my timing belt to a new one and showed me that it was a real OEM part. Needless to say, I am extremely DISGUSTED with the DISHONEST, UNETHICAL work practices at JING-GONG AUTO CLINIC. I don't know how many other people that opportunist has CHEATED, but I want to make sure that a man who is able to LIE with a straight face is EXPOSED to the public. Timing belts are supposed to last for quite a number of years. I ended up having to pay for two OEM timing belts in a 9-month time span. The most UNBELIEVABLE fact to swallow is how little JING-GONG AUTO CLINIC cares about CONSUMER SAFETY. This shop not only charges you for parts not delivered, but also delivers empty promises and has no concern for vehicular safety.

Your Desired Resolution:
I want other consumers to be properly informed regarding this disreputable auto shop and want to file a formal complaint so that others may research and read. Of course, I think it's hopeless to hope for a refund of the bad service I received. But, I will get satisfaction from knowing that this business will be informed that someone has filed a complaint on them with BBB and Consumer Affairs and that this record will be available for others to see.



January 29th 2007 - 7:00AM - Fish Market, Emily's Fried Rice

This car at the Bart station got a lot of love from the birds. A regular Don Juan.

Emily's dad took us out to Fish Market in Sunnyvale. I got the Farm Raised Rainbow Trout...in the interest of avoiding as much mercury as I can, I've taken to avoiding large fish as much as possible. A recent study showed that pretty much all of the fish found on the West Coast had some level of mercury. Fish that eat fish had larger levels than the fish further down the food chain (as previous studies had shown) however this was a large scale study down throughout the region. The only fish that were mercury-free were bug-eating fish like this trout here.

Local Sablefish/Butterfish was very tasty...I think Roy's does a great job too.

Ready to dig in! That guy in the back is looking at the camera...I didn't even notice him when I took it.

Sauteed New Zealand Orange Roughy Picatta...tasty as well. It was very interesting eating all of these different fish in a single meal. Usually it only happens at a sushi restaurant.

Dijon Crusted Fresh South American Talapia...I think Emily got this primarily because it was Dijon crusted. I'll have to try that sometime with the Tilapia you get from the store. I usually use a sesame seed sauce.

Fish at a French restaurant

These lobster tails are gorgeous!

I got a can of crab meat at Costco. Yesterday, I made fried rice with it...very good. Will post pics as they come off the queue.

Emily's fried rice is great! Although I'm partial to my dad's fried rice, Emily's was tasty...my dad uses Chinese BBQ sauce while Emily tends to use Sesame Oil. Emily's use of green peppers was unorthodox but it worked out.



January 21st 2007 - 12:00PM - Jack Shrimp, Tijuana, Chiki Jai, O'Shine

This Korean restaurant is near the Jamboree 99 Ranch. It has fish! This marks the second Korean restaurant I've been to that has served it as one of the free appetizer dishes. This place is probably the best since they have great dishes and free eggs. AND they refill appetizers with a smile. I know of about 5 different tofu places in Irvine. Kaju and Kaya are the best. There's a new one with a very modern interior that I haven't tried yet though. What I want to try is that Agora Churrascaria in Irvine...realistically though, I'll have to wait till San Diego for Brazilian.

Kaju Soft Tofu Restaurant
5408 Walnut Avenue #E&F
Irvine, CA 92604
(949) 653-2849

Right after I got home, I joined Cathy's Quest for Wii. I was +2 Emotional Support and +5 Patience in this endeavour. In the end though, Cathy got her Wii by waking up really early and going to WalMart. By the end, we had figured out all the stores shipment schedules. You don't see blood underneath her fingernails but you can't imagine how many little kids she stepped on to get it. haha

Cathy has always thrown like this even when she was very little. However, she would kick up back leg a few times before throwing. Now she just kicks once. I wonder if she realizes that you traditionally kick up your front leg instead.

Dad's a Yankee's fan so he had to put on a Yankee hat...however I think the hat is made in Taiwan. I don't think the Yankee's would license a red hat or anything red for that matter...Boston Red Sox right?

I couldn't break the 100mph barrier...all of mine were in the 90s.

It's all about the glove.

Bowling is probably the best game in Wii Sports. Wii Sports comes with the Wii so you can start playing right out of the box as a party game with 1 controller. Probably a good thing too since there really aren't that many games out for the Wii right now.

Look at that form! I assume that by now everyone's watched or has read about people damaging their TVs while playing their Wiis.

Down the lane! We couldn't use the projection tv (it rolls down from the ceiling) since our shadows would interfere with the display.

Cool! My website pulls up!

It's a nice pretty little machine. Someone should make a mobile Wii.

Boxing is kinda iffy as far as control. Probably better PvP. Cathy didn't have an extra controller though so we couldn't test that.

Mom bowled a frame...don't get so close to the TV!!!

Peter "The Gutterball King" kept trying to get his curve right...in the end he was successful but only after posting quite a few gutterballs.

Emily did quite well! Cathy of course busted everyone's chops but all of us got some strikes in. In fact, I'd probably get a Wii for this alone. You just need a group that will actually play it. Also your arm doesn't hurt after 5 games.

Cathy got an amazing 199 thanks in large part to the 4-bagger. An interesting mathematical analysis of bowling scores can be found here.

Hehehe, look at the 2 camcorders. This is the my dad's first Sony camcorder for the failed movie format Beta. In all, he's owned 5 camcorders total. He had a Hi8 following the Beta, and then 2 different miniDVs. This newest camcorder stores directly to a hard drive in HD quality resolution (HDR-SR1). I'm pretty impressed with the quality although my dad gripes that for whatever reason, the new camcorder isn't allowing him to use batteries that he got with previous camcorders although they are all Sony-brand and M-series. It just stinks of Sony chicanery.



January 17th 2007 - 6:10PM - Jack Shrimp, Tijuana, Chiki Jai, O'Shine

Wow...my parents actually go to non-asian restaurants. This one is in Aliso Viejo near the movie theatre. Apparently, this is the special pasta there... JACKpasta - gulf shrimp, boneless breast of chicken, and Jack's spicy savory sauce over vermicelli pasta. There was a ton of chicken and good sized chrimp. I was pretty impressed for $12. I would have done more with the seasoning.

Jack Shrimp
26705 Aliso Creek Road
949-448-0085

Emily came down for the weekend and we all went to Tijuana for booze, girls, and cigars. lol not really...I'm kidding about the cigars. Did you know that 95% of the Cuban cigars sold in TJ aren't real? There are only 2 licensed dealers on Avenida Revolucion.

Trademark infringement apparently doesn't apply here...

Out for a stroll...Dad is sporting his new HD camcorder. He's going to have awesome footage from their cruise to Antarctica.

I took my family to the restaurant that we went to last time in Tijuana called Chiki Jai...last time the owner recommended the silver fish appetizer but we didnt' take him up on it. This time I did. So good! On the menu, it's called Angulas - Baby Eel Silver Fish. The oil and peppers make it perfect for...

...dipping! The fish was good too!

My parents liked it in the end but from their look, this was somewhat outside of their comfort zone.

Mom's dish looked the best...she got a traditional tapas dish...Camarones al Ajillo. She even got a margarita. I got a sangria which my family tried for the first time.

This was the first time I'd been to TJ in the day that I can remember. Funny how I didn't see this archway before.

These are Tijuana "zebras"...in reality they're just donkeys with black stripes painted on.

Back to the good ol' USA

Yo quiero taco bell!

Emily was taking this picture when one of the restaurant customer wranglers ran over to be part of the picture. Emily wasn't amused but we were. It was too weird so we all laughed. It actually was a better picture for it.

This should have told us that coming back to the US would be difficult...we actually parked on the San Diego side and walked over.

We're Americans...honest! See...no peace sign!

It took 2.5 hrs to get back due to the LOOOOOOONG line. It was really crazy. If you go at night, there really isn't a line.

Haha

In the meantime, we amused ourselves as much as we could...

O'Shine in Irvine is closing! Well, it's called something else now but it had a similar menu and everything. Supposedly it's now going to be a Korean bbq type place. This is really good chicken wine soup. Mom makes some really good chicken wine soup too...her's is much sweeter than alcoholic. Sweeter tastes better.

The "Three Bowl Chicken" is ok. The chicken they used though wasn't the greatest.

Cathy always gets something pasta when she goes...

Oh man...I can't believe Emily ordered this...but then again, it wasn't what we expected either.



January 16th 2007 - 7:10AM - Yummy, Guinea Pig, Mahjong, Yiwon

HMM MMM GOOD! Spicy Bamboo Shoots with Mackerel and Eel. Mdom had this garnish thing that was great over rice.

Cathy's pet guinea pig has pretty eyes.

...but he's a big fat.

Just look at that hair!

I don't know if he likes being sniffed like that.

It's been a long time since I've played Mahjong with my family. I started off pretty good (got a "Self Grabbed" Win plus had winning as dealer) but after Emily called me, it all went downhill from there. Horrible. The loser was supposed to pay for dinner.

I do love the feel of tiles though...I used to build buildings with them.

Since I lost the most, I ended up taking my family to this newly opened teppanyaki place in Laguna Hills Mall called Yiwon Steak and Seafood.

Yiwon Steak and Seafood
24155 Laguna Hills Mall
Laguna Hills, CA
(949) 707-5500M

Standard Japanese Salad with the special ponzu dressing.

The trick to making excellent teppanyaki fried rice is lots of butter. 1 part rice...1 part butter. :-D

The results are great...this guy didn't do any acrobatics though...no flipping the rice bowl around.

Everyone got different things so we ended up sharing with each other. There were scallops, fish, and shrimp...

...yummy shrimp...

...filet mignon...

...fish...Cathy got Kalbi (Korean beef) which was quite tasty.

People in our community put up this neat decoration by hanging it across the street from roof to roof. Wonder if they got a permit for that though.

This house went all out with the decorations...I hope they rented them...

Do you see the Merry Go Round?!!! Do you see it?



January 13th 2007 - 9:10AM - Fun with a scammer on Craigslist

So I told Emily about how I had dealt with a scammer in the past...she wanted to read it so here I'm posting it. This was back when I was looking to buy the Rebel XT and looking for deals.



January 5th 2007 - 10:54PM - Hot Pot, Dana Point, Taiko, Leica

All my favorite ingrediants were attendance at family hot pot. Clams, cabbage, enoki mushrooms...

...fish, shrimp, japanese chewy things, and lamb. Taro was also present but he's like the black sheep.

I have a divided hot pot too (which I got the day I met Emily) but I still haven't used it!

This is at one of the Sam Woo's in Irvine...mmmm, a nice steaming pot of blood and entrails.

My dad and his Nikon D200 at Dana Point. We used to go to this restaurant called Reubens (long since closed) in Dana Point for prime rib.

I've gone sailing here too...many good memories of the area.

See my mom has the asian face mask too! But at least she doesn't pull it down.

Sushi at Taiko in Irvine...this restaurant has been around forever...we used to come here for special occasions when we lived in Irvine back in the day.

Taiko
14775 Jeffrey Rd # K
Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 559-7190

Easy with the lemons Cathy! The Lobster Boat is a great value and is a must in any group situation. Comes with sashimi and kabobs.

Here can you see the crispy fan...scallops...2 kinds of fish (cod and salmon)...snow crab legs...and green beans over mayonnaise. I think it's all included with the Lobster Boat.

This Pomeranian has shown up in my blog already...but it's too darn cute.

A family friend got the 4MP mini-Leica camera as a gift. Not sure what the quality is like but it's cool anyways.

It's like a spy camera! I wonder what kind of zoom you can get with that...



January 5th 2007 - 7:05AM - Bonfante Gardens' Holiday Lights

Since Emily and I had VIP passes to Great America, we thought that we should take advantage of the discount we got for Bonfante Gardens' Holiday Lights festival. The rides are really meant for young children. I can't imagine wanting to come here during the day. Although I guess Emily can ride more of the rides...hahaha

Honestly, who wears green jackets anymore?

Look at all those lights! Santa must not be energy-conscious.

OMG...uh, I have no idea who those two people are. The mutant trees were cool though.

Emily and Angela got a little hungry...

Ahhhh...so that's what a stroller is also good for. Say cheese! That gingerbread house in the back is kinda scary though...I can see a menacing face there.

Not only do people like skating in a rink...they'll pay to skate at a rink in a park that they paid to get in. Amazing. This rink must be very special.

Snoopy is a perv lol

El Banditos

I can see living people...

Get those red things off of me! Get them off of me!!!

Guess they couldn't afford an over-the-ear microphone.

The Holiday Train goes around the park...the archway of LED lights made for some interesting patterns with a long exposure.

As we're leaving and I start lining up this shot, this 8-9 year old kid asks me why I was taking a picture. I said,"Because it's pretty." To which he shrugged, shook his head, and walked away. I should have said,"Because your fat ass is blocking everything else." Little booger.

Oh look! A cute reindeer!



January 4th 2007 - 11:15PM - Blue Mango, Risk, Cheeseboard, Top Dog, Sushi House

Emily and I went to a Thai place called Blue Mango with Alex and Yu-Chi. Alex got a Phuket and I got a Singha (which were unbelievably overpriced). Looking at the two, wouldn't you agree that the Phuket isn't as manly as the Singha? Even Emily liked the Phuket better. lol

Blue Mango
4996 Stevens Creek Blvd.
San Jose, CA 95129
Tel. 408-248-7191
Fax. 408-248-7192

The Thai version of the Pu Pu Platter, the Grand Appetizer...standard tastiness. There was Chicken Sate, Thai Toast, Fried Wontons and Veggie Rolls. The Thai Toast and Fried Wontons were pretty good.

I believe this is the Panang Ped-Ped..."Ped means spicy, and that's what this dish is." Green peas and orange carrots stand out in a sea of red panang curry.

I think this was the Aspragus & Shitake Mushrooms Stir-Fry

Gorgeous Green (Kang Keaw Wan) - Eggplants, bamboo and bell peppers are soaked in coconut milk, with a hint of basil. I liked this green curry. Very spicy...very good!

White Chocolate Banana Wontons - White chocolate nestled beside slices of bananas inside wonton shells. Comes iwht a scoop of pineapple coconut ice cream. The dessert was ok...I dunno...after Osha, I have high expectations for Thai food. For the money, Osha's presentation is MUCH BETTER.

Afterwards, we went to Yu-Chi's place to play Risk. We all thought Emily would pick the red army (closest to Pink) but instead she chose the green army. I wonder why? :-P Color-coordination takes precedence I guess.

Alex thinks,"Please don't let my goal be to destroy Yu-Chi...Please Please Please"

The idea behind Risk is that you are assigned certain territories and then are given a card which tells you what you need to accomplish to win. Sometimes, it's to capture certain continents or a certain amount of countries or to eliminate a certain player. Unfortunately, my card said that I had to control Asia and Africa. Controlling Asia is pretty hard to do. It doesn't help either when you start off with just 2 Asian countries and the rest of your army is scattered in Europe and North America.

You really want to keep your goal secret by being very subtle till the very last minute. Unfortunately, Yu-Chi revealed her hand a bit too soon (she needed to destroy me) and Emily/Alex were able to help defend me and fight her off. Once someone accomplishes their goal, the game is over. In the end, I only had 1 guy left in Japan (a great place to make a last stand). Yu-Chi kept rolling 6s and 5s, while I kept rolling low numbers...it was quite discouraging. This little grey soldier was all that was left...he's the Last Samurai!

In the end, Emily was able to win. Her goal was to have at least 2 soldiers on 18 countries. She had an early control of North America (very advantageous) which she used to cross over to Asia en masse.

The happy but tired first-time player and winner.

Mushrooms in the yard...are they edible?

Emily and I went to pick up Angela from Berkeley after her finals. We then proceeded to go on a food run. Our first stop was Cheeseboard...

Cheeseboard Collective
1512 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley
Ph# 510-549-3055

I forget the exact ingrediants but they had parsley, mushrooms, and pine nuts.

Next was Top Dog, a hot dog chain in Berkeley...we had a Lemon Chicken...

Top Dog - Center Branch
2160 Center Street
Berkeley, CA 94704
Voice: (510) 849-0176

...a Smoked Chicken Apple...

...and a Bockwurst. I liked the Bockwurst the best.

Last stop was Sushi House (again...but it's such a great place)...we're a shoo-in as Boston gangsters...all I need is to perfect my Boston Italian accent.

Hmmmmm...a Sashimi Sushi Boat and a Lion King (not pictured) is my idea of a sushi feast.

They may be pretending but actually they don't eat shrimp heads...more for me!!!

I also got all of the Uni...lol They do like amaebi and hamachi though. Can't have everything I guess. :-P



January 4th 2007 - 7:15AM - Apple Case, Food, Plouf, Osha

I've had a case of "Apple Case Envy" for a very long time now. Unfortunately, I bought mine online and thus was unable to induce the same in others. I guess I could roam the malls with the box. Hahahaha...I saw a few people in the malls this holiday and they had Macbook cases. I mentioned this mental condition to my parents and they just laughed. I've mentioned before that women in SF like to bring their lunches in shopping bags. Maybe I'll bring my lunch in this one. Hehehe.

Even though my dad is a diehard PC guy...I've showed him a bunch of Mac things like Aperture and OSX's built-in Chinese language support to see if I can sway him to the dark side. Too bad Sony Vegas doesn't work on Macs and iMovie/Final Cut Pro don't have support for AVCHD yet. I think that would be the clincher for him. He just got a Sony HDV camcorder to stores to an internal hard drive which is pretty neat. AVCHD is Sony's custom (of course) implementation of the h.264 MPEG4 compression algorithm which differs with Apple's implementation. Why can't we all just get along? I'm also much more inclined to get a Slingbox than a LocationFree. I may have a bunch of Sony products but that doesn't make me a Sony-phile, contrary to what others might think.

One of our new coworkers Brendan is Irish. He's never had many different kinds of cuisine so we've taken him to Korean and Indian restuarants. He says that the flavoring is a sharp contrast to Irish food. I believe him. If Irish pub food is any indication, the only spice they know of is salt and pepper. Maybe a few of the herbs.

Emily made this Orange Bell Pepper Chicken. It was a bit strange but I got used to the flavoring. Pretty good. Sometimes it's hard to time the chicken breasts just right so that it's still juicy without being an e.coli problem.

Wai-Lin came to visit the Bay Area for the Big Game so right before she left, a bunch of us ate at Sui Sui K. Eric was also visiting so he came as well. Fred, Eric, and I love getting our pictures taken.

Right when this picture was taken, something really incredible happened to the side.

For Don's retirement party (Dave and Steve gave him a cruise around South America as a gift...my parents and sis are doing something similar...wonder if they're on the same cruise), a bunch of us went to Plouf. I'd heard about it all the time but never had a reason to go. It's one of those Belden Alley Places. The only other one I've been to is Cafe Bastille.

Plouf
40 Belden Place
San Francisco, CA 94104
P 415-986-6491
F 415-986-6492

Always nice to start off with a nice iced tea...

Calamari anyone? I liked the garnishes...

Fries were light and crispy...

Mussels were the order of the day and Plouf is famous for them...these were great! They have 7 different ways of doing them. We tried 3 of them. Here is the gratinée, escargot Style, with garlic and parsley butter. I liked these a lot since the parsley butter was great on the bread.

Mariniere : garlic, white wine, parsley...

Provencale : tomato concassee, basil, garlic and bell peppers...ok so you can't really tell the difference between the two from the pics...basically the Mariniere is your typical French mussel dish (something that Emily and I made) but the Provencale is a red sauce/liquor which is just incredible for dipping. I really recommend it over the Mariniere since you can get the Mariniere anywhere.

Emily made this to benefit the elementary school where she volunteers. Pretty nifty huh? Emily is quite crafty. :-D I helped with the font and finding good resolution images.

For Christmas, we had people take pictures in front of the tree downstairs. Good excuse for a break.

I might not like the pumpkin curry at Osha but I do love the bowl that it comes in. This is a Kabocha pumpkin in red curry sauce topped with crispy yam. I've only been to the 2nd St Osha since it's near work. I've peeked inside the Embarcadero location but that one doesn't have the nice decorations and interior design.

Osha
149 2nd St.
San Francisco, CA 94105
415.278.9991

My current favorite is the Shrimp Paste Fried Rice...it has egg, tomato, chicken and shrimp. Hmm mmm good! The shrimp paste gives it this flavor that I love a lot. It's not for everyone but if you like Cabbage with Dried Shrimp, you'll like this dish too.

All of us love having lunches there since the prices are really good and the food is great. The problem usually is with the wait. Our group didn't have reservations so we had to wait for almost 40 minutes for this table.

This is Yellow Sea...prawns, salmon, scallops, calamari and crab claws stir-fried with yellow curry powder sauce, egg, green onion, red bell pepper and celery.



January 2nd 2007 - 1:46PM - Shanghai Classic, Halloween, Thai, Ahi Poke

There's this Shanghai restaurant in San Jose that's got some pretty incredible food. They even have a steamed dumpling rolling station ala Ding Tai Fong.

Shanghai Classic 1231 Kentwood Ave
San Jose, CA 95129
(408) 996-0818

Look! Sticky Rice and Bamboo in a Bamboo Log! Drool...this was sooooo good!

Milky Soup with Cabbage/Dried Shrimp...basically one of Emily's signature dishes turned into a soup. Tasty as well.

I didn't care much for this fish...it was good but the other dishes were far better.

For Halloween, we went to Pasta Pomodoro. I dressed up like a Fisherman and Emily went in her Singaporean dress which she got when she visited there.. Very pretty. She still agonizes about the fact that she didn't get matching shoes though.

The clams were cheaper than Left Bank but there was less liquour and they were so small. Bread was also hard as a rock.

The Seafood Stew was GREAT! Little on the salty side but it worked wonders on the bread. Would recommend it.

I like candle cubes.

Left Bank had a Halloween display. Santana Row has a children's thing where they can go around and ask the stores for candy.

This enormous spider was hanging outside a window in the apartment complex...I actually crawled through it to get a better shot. Sony's image compression doesn't do it justice though...

Went to Banh Thai for lunch with Lori, Chris, and Adam. The food was actually pretty good this time...end verdict: Don't get the curries.

Bristol Farms is in the basement of Bloomingdale's. That market is huge...it has so many different stations. Anyways, here's the pork chop from the grill.

But this has to be the best part...Spicy Ahi Poke by the pound. They have a non-spicy version but this is better.

It's just so juicy! Great as an appetizer!



January 2nd 2007 - 10:27AM - Happy New Year!

Almost caught up to posting to the Holidays...still in Orange County but I'll be heading back up to the Bay area tomorrow. This vacation has been the most relaxing I've had in a long time. It's good to be home. My parents and sister will be traveling to Antarctica this month. My dad's Nikon will be getting a workout for sure. Anyways, on with the post!

I'd never been to a Cuban restaurant...so I chose a place in San Jose and it happened that Emily had been already. It's located in a somewhat shady part of town too.

Habana Cuba
238 Race St
San Jose, CA 95126
(408) 998-2822

Let's just say the Camarones Al Ajillo tasted like it had been steamed by someone who had no idea what spices were and how to use them. If you're in a place that has pepper/salt and you end up using it, you know that it's a bad place.

Today's Special: Sweetie Pie!

So Cuban corn is like Peruvian corn which also have very big kernels. Very starchy...the only difference is that Peruvian corn is white. The chicken soup was probably the best part of the meal and that's not saying much.

Zarzuela de Mariscos - A seafood creation of prawns, lobster, Chilean sea bass, crab and clams cooked in a light tomato sauce with onions, green bell peppers, green olives and Cuban spices and herbs. Unfortunately, the fish was bland which was surprising because the sauce had a kick to it. That must mean that they don't steam it in the sauce. Also the size of the dish was appalling for the price...almost half a Benjamin. All in all, it was really expensive bland food and I don't think we'll ever eat here again. Bottom line, I don't think it's a suitable dating place (Citysearch thought it was) based on the location. The atmosphere inside is lively enough but once you step outside, you feel like you're in South Central.

This is Emily's Homemade Vegetable Medley, healthy food that actually tastes good.

I specialize in fish.

Mayflower is the place we usually go to for weekend Dim Sum. Somehow I got away with ordering a dish like this. It's got all sorts of internal organs...stuff that would make the average American Caucasian's guts churn. Little do they know that in colonial America...stuff like this wasn't that uncommon.

Mayflower Seafood Restaurant
428 Barber Ln.
Milpitas, 95035
(408) 922-2708

Won Ton Soup was $10...Emily's jaw actually unhooks a few seconds after this...

Angela was a dropout from Hogwarts else the check would have burst into flames by now...

The new Bloomingdale's in SF is only a few streets over from work. They have this really neat atrium which I believe is a carryover from its earlier incarnation as a San Francisco mall called the Emporium.