It Really Adds Something!

Senbazuru - Thousand origami crane

2008-12-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

I haven't been giving my blog much love lately, partially due to laziness, but for the most part it was because I've been making not one, but TWO Senbazuru for two different customers. If you never heard of a Senbazuru, it is according to Wikipedia: "a group of one thousand origami paper cranes held together by strings. An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury."

"The Thousand Origami Cranes has become a symbol of world peace through the story of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who contracted leukemia as a result of radiation from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II."

So the past two months I've pretty much been folding paper cranes like crazy, I ate, drank, breathe, and dreamt paper cranes. Whenever I had a spare moment of time I was folding cranes. It was A LOT of work, but the end result is simply amazing! It looked so pretty that I wished I could've kept it for myself.

It's amazing what beautiful things can be made from paper, isn't it? Well, that's pretty much it, just wanted to share some pictures with you all. And if you'll excuse me, I got to stop typing and give my two hands a nice warm relaxing soak before they decide to fall off. :P

Oklahoma City - Leo's Bar-BQ

2008-11-19T23:34:00.000-08:00

I got back from Oklahoma City last weekend and I think this was the last trip for the year. Our impression of Oklahoma City was really good, and the people are so nice there.

Since we're foodies, I had to look up some good places to eat while we were there, and my Google searches brought me to Leo's Bar-BQ. Apparently, this place has the best BBQ in town and it was even featured on Food Network's Diner's Drive-ins and Dives. You know, the show that's hosted by the guy whose name is Guy, bleached blond hair, and winner of the Food Network Star season two. With that kind of credentials, of course we had to check it out!

According to Google maps, the original store is located at 3631 N Kelley Ave, Oklahoma City, OK, but please do not go there cause when we pulled into the tiny empty parking lot, we saw an empty building and these paper posted on the side of the window:

We quickly made our way over to the other location, and fortunately for us, we got there before they ran out of food. There were a few people that came in after us got turned away cause it was near closing time and they don't have enough food left to feed new customers. We sat down at a table and we must have stared at the menu for 15 minutes before the lady came and took our order. This normally is not acceptable, however, she was the only person handling the dining room and she was quite busy running around everywhere. We decided that I will have the beef brisket dinner and my bf got the ribs dinner.

Less than 10 minutes after we put in our order, our dinners were in front of us! How fast was that!!! I guess the waiting earlier wasn't so bad after all.

My beef brisket was moist and tender; not too flavorful, but with some bbq sauce, it tasted just right! The ribs had a nice peppery rub on the skin with robust flavor! The skin was a little bit dry but the meat was quite juicy and a delight to eat. All of the side dishes were superb, and I even like the coleslaw here. I have to confess, my taste in coleslaw is probably not the best since I like the ones at KFC, and that's pretty much the only one I like. I had other coleslaw that's supposed to be really good, but they were always too bland, too dry, or not flavored to my taste. The ones at Leo's tasted kind of like the ones you get at KFC except it's really fresh and chunkier, we finished it so fast that I wish I would have ordered one just for myself.

After dinner, the lady served us each a slice of their world famous strawberry banana cake. She bakes all the cakes herself in the morning and they are REALLY good! My bf finished up his before I was halfway through my cake, and when the lady came back to check on us, he jokingly told her that the cake was really good and if he can have another one since his seem to have disappeared. Most of the time when we say things like that, the people at the restaurant understand that it's a joke, but she replied "oh yeah, honey! I'll get you another slice!" We told her that we were just joking, but she insisted on sending us home with two slices of cake. We've never been to a place that will just give us more cake without additional charges just because we asked for it, and were amazed at how friendly and sweet she was to us.

The decor of the restaurant is not the greatest and it feels like you're eating in a garage, but the show is not called Pricey, Pretty and Pretentious afterall. You get great tasting BBQ at a very affordable place with great company and a wonderful host. When we were paying our bill, she didn't even charge us the extra side dish that we got. If we ever go back to OKC, Leo's Bar-BQ will sure receive a visit from us.

If you are in the OKC area and would like to try out Leo's Bar-BQ for great ribs and have a slice of their strawberry banana cake, forget about the original store and head down to the one at Harrison Ave. (unless it was just a one night thing, if any of you know more, please feel free to comment)

7 Harrison Ave.

Oklahoma City, OK

405.236.5367

http://leosbarbque.com/

Milbrae - Zen Pinensula Dim Sum Restaurant

2008-11-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Ohmigosh! The search for our new dim sum place is officially over!!!!! Many thanks go out to my bf's co-worker who is all hooked up with the great Chinese places to eat around the area and gave him a few recommendations for us to try out. We went to the first one on the list and BAM! It just blew us away!

There are so many people dining at this restaurant that there were barely any spots left when we got there at around noon, we were lucky that we didn't have to wait for a spot or park on the street. And apparently the food is so good here that people are willing to park illegally, partially blocking the driveway and risking getting their car towed away just to eat at this establishment.

I will be consistent and use the three criterias that I judged the other dim sum places: service, taste, and value.

Service/Speed:

They definitely mean business here at Zen Pinensula, it almost feel like each of these ladies that are circuling around the restaurant have a radar to spot new customers. Before we even got our tea and warmed up our seat, three ladies with push carts filled with hot and yummy food came right to our table! I don't think they can be any faster than that, and with that said, they past my service/speed criteria with flying colors!

Taste: As our usual practice when visiting a new restaurant, we ordered a wide array of dishes so we can get a good sense of what is good and what is bad here; and I am happy to report that there was not a single dish that we did not like. Every dish was excellent, and it tasted even better than Lychee Garden.

There was a good variety of dishes. They have the standard ha gau (shrimp dumpling), siu mai (pork dumpling), and BBQ pork bun. The dumplings were light, juicy, and full of flavor!

My personal favorite is the scallop and mellon dish that you can see in the lower picture. I didn't think my bf would like this dish, cause he's a big meat eater, but after I took a bite and savored the dish, I knew my bf would love it, too.

To me this is one of those dishes that reminds me why I love food so much! The dish is so simple, but the flavors are so intricate, and the chef blended the savory scallop with the sweet taste of the mellon perfectly. It has been over a month since we visited the restaurant, and I am still thinking about that dish!

The sticky rice on the bottom is very tasty and although I did not have the sticky rice in lotus leaf on the right, my bf's dad said that it was better than the one that he used to have at Lychee Garden in San Francisco, and he enjoyed it a lot.

These last two photos I have are the fried tofu and fried pork dumpling which is the sticky mochi like thingy with groud pork in the middle. Although these dishes are deep fried, they do not taste oily at all.

Lastly, I'll talk a little about the value. We got more food than I photographed here, we were full, happy, and had leftovers to take home and for the 3 of us, I think it was a little bit over $40. All the dishes that we ordered were between $2.60 - $4.00, and in my opinion it is worth every penny.

If you would like to see their complete menu and some more photos of what the food look like, they got it on their website: http://www.zenpeninsula.com/

I am so happy to have found this dim sum restaurant, I just wish that I knew about it sooner, and one other plus is it's about 15 miles closer to home, so we'll be able to save on gas and order more food!

Zen Peninsula 采蝶軒
1180 El Camino Real, Millbrae, CA 94030
650-616-9388

Things that you may or may not know about me.

2008-10-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

I got tagged by Kelly from Per Se and what I'm supposed to do for this meme is to list seven random things about myself and pass it on to seven other bloggers. I'll do the listing part, but I think I'm going to pass it on later.

1. I am an atheist, but if I had to choose a religion to relate to, it'll be Buddhism and Taoism. Who doesn't like having a bunny on the moon making yummy mochi?

2. My brother called me crazy when I was going around and petting bees in the garden when I was a kid; and if you never petted a bee before.... they have one of the softest fur I have ever touched! As long as you don't try to harm the bee, they don't seem to mind when you gently pet them.

3. I'm somewhat ambidextrous. I write and eat with my left hand (except calligraphy), I play sports, use the mouse with my right, and can use both hands for other various activities.

4. I don't get brain freeze, but I do have nose freeze and sometimes chest freeze when I have a slurpee.

5. I am still driving my first car which I bought during my first year in college. It's pushing 20 years old and I kept saying that I'm going to keep driving it till it dies, but since it's a Toyota that might take another 20 years or more.

6. I like doing dishes so I can hear the clean ones squeak.

7. I am allergic to peeling or removing the shells on shellfishes. I am not allergic to the meat, I love eating shellfish, just the shell. My hand would sometimes start itching when I peel shrimp or crack the crab, that's why my whole family are experts in how to eat crab, and what I mean is they really know how to remove the shells, and I'm the only one that doesn't know how to cause my mom always just feed me the meat. I guess it's not a real medical condition... but it's nice to have mommy do it for you. :P

It's an end of an era!

2008-10-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

It has been four hours since I have came back from dinner at the original Vivoli Cafe on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles; I have already experienced 2 of the 5 stages of grief, skipped the third stage and went right to stage number four: depression. As you can tell, the experience was less than satisfactory, in fact, it was extremely disappointing.

The meal started pretty well, our server seem to have recognized us from all the previous visits that we made, which was pretty impressive cause we live 400 miles away, but it also shows how often we come to this restaurant. However, everything seems to have gone downhill when the food hit the table. The bread was warm, but tasted different. The calamari was good, but the portion was cut in half. The gnocchi tasted exactly like the ones in the Thousand Oaks, CA branch, which is not good and you can read about it on my previous post. The lobster ravioli resembles 90% of the one that I had in the past, but the sauce tasted less refine than before.

So here were my thoughts during each of the stages:

Stage 1: Denial
OMG! I can't believe this is happening! Maybe it's just this one time, maybe if I come tomorrow at lunch everything will be fine again. Or better yet, maybe this is just a dream. Yeah, that's it, hey you! Wake up! If I just wake up, everything will be back to normal....

Stage 2: Anger
What is going on? I demand some answers!!! Did you guys change management? Change owner? What is the deal here!!!! The food is clearly not the same as before, do you think people won't notice?!?! Give me my GNOCCHI!!!!

Stage 3: Bargaining
(skipped)

Stage 4: Depression
Dinner sucks, this night sucks, it's an end of an era!!!! (sigh) I just want to climb into bed and do nothing.

After watching half an hour of The Office, I seem to feel a little better but I still can't seem to move onto the acceptance stage.

I really don't know what happened to my beloved restaurant. My best guess is change of owner/management or chef. I don't even recognize most of the servers there and the service has gone down. It almost feel like one of those cases when a new management team took over a successful restaurant and decided that they can cut cost by using inferior ingredients and give out smaller portion while charging the same price. What they don't realize is that although they might be able to save some money in the short run, they will start to lose their customer base, and world of mouth will eventually kill their business.

I don't know if I will return after tonight, maybe I'll give them another chance, but based on tonight's dining experience, I can no longer say that I will recommend anyone to Vivoli Cafe until I know for sure that tonight is just a fluke. I'm crossing my fingers that tonight was just a bad night for them, and unfortunately for me as well, and hoping that the next time I come back, I will be welcomed by the same fluffy gnocchi that I so fondly remembered.

Thousand Oaks, CA - Vivoli Cafe

2008-10-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

Today I had a chance to visit one of the franchise branch of my beloved Vivoli Cafe that is located in Thousand Oaks, CA. We head to the restaurant early so we'll be able to return in time to catch the VP debate and Must Watch TV Thursday; since we got there before dinner time, the restaurant was pretty empty and we got seated right away.

(I did take pictures of the food that we ordered, but I did not realize that the SD card was not in the camera and I left the camera cable at home, so I won't be able to post those pictures till I get home next week, but they are coming.)

There are major differences between the original store on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles and this franchise store in Thousand Oaks, CA; and although this restaurant is not bad, I was extremely disappointed in how different the food is from the original Vivoli Cafe. Since this is the first time we're dining here, we decided to order a few of our favorites: the calamari fritti and the gnocchi. We also ordered the Pizza margherita with mushroom and MilleFoglie di Maiale, which is pork tenderloin sliced and pounded with mozzarella, leaks, tomato in a black olive sauce.

The menu and the recipe is the same as the Sunset store, however, it is obvious that the chef makes all the difference. First of all, the free focaccia bread was cold, and that pretty much set the tone for the whole meal. I made the comment to my boyfriend saying that I have a feeling that we still need to make a trip to the Sunset restaurant, and I think at the end of the meal, my boyfriend was in agreement with me.

The calamari that I rave about did not make an appearance here tonight. The portion was smaller and the calamari was overcooked and a bit rubbery. The calamari itself was not seasoned and pretty much relied on the sauce to deliver the flavor. The pork tenderloin was cooked well, however, there were no seasoning and the entire dish was bland and boring.

My biggest disappointment was the gnocchi. If you have read my July post about Vivoli Cafe on Sunset Blvd, the gnocchi at Vivoli Cafe is my all time favorite dish; it is THE dish that I would drive 400 miles for, they are "little pillows of heaven" that melts in your mouth, or at least that was what they were suppose to be. The gnocchi at Vivoli Cafe in Thousand Oaks, CA bear no resemblance to the original dish, and I didn't have to taste it to tell that it was not the same gnocchi dish that I love. Just from looking at it, the gnocchi looked dense. I then proceeded to stick my fork into it, and it did not feel light and fluffy. I put one into my mouth and it tasted just like all the average gnocchi out there, it was the same gnocchi that my boyfriend had avoided for many many years; it was dense, chewy, and uninspiring.

The only dish that was good was the pizza. The crust was thin and crispy. The topping and sauce were flavorful and complimentary. I would prefer to have more basil on the pizza, but overall, the pizza was a delight to eat.

The upside of this place was the size of this restaurant was significantly bigger than the Sunset store, and parking was free. The service is about the same compared to an average restaurant, but it did not meet the high standard of the Sunset branch. And it definitely did not have the warm, fuzzy, friendly family restaurant feel to it.

After the meal, I have this urge to just drive down to the Vivoli Cafe on Sunset Blvd to get the bad taste out of my mouth. However, I am glad to have this experience, because now I can really appreciate how wonderful the original restaurant on Sunset is, and I can truly tell you that if you want to try Vivoli Cafe, do yourself a favor and visit the one on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles. Sure, the restaurant is small and you have to pay for valet parking, but the food is fabulous there and the service is superb. I would not recommend anyone to the one in Thousand Oaks, but if you would like to try it out for yourself, be my guest, but don't say that I didn't warn ya! :P

Where did I go?

2008-09-19T09:27:00.001-07:00

I didn't think that I would ever be writing a post about why my blog post has gone from a consistent 3 posts a week to coming out at a snail pace. Am I lacking materials to write about? Nope. Have I gone hungry since? Gosh no! In fact I think I gained a few pounds. :(

Then what is causing this to happen? Well, I got the highly anticipated game "Spore" a few weeks back. This was a game that I, among many others, have been waiting for for a few years. After I broke the seal on the box and installed it into my computer, my life has since come to a screeching halt. If you don't know what Spore is but you know what The Sims are, well, they were both created by the same person, Will Wright. He is a game developing genius! Although he did not design most of The Sims 2, and is not designing The Sims 3, he certainly gave birth to this extremely addicting game franchise.

Spore is a very simple game, but it sure produces a lot of entertainment for me. If you read my profile, it did say that I LOVE games!!! Unfortunately, there are too many things to do, and since Spore is a new toy, it is getting most of my attention. I will write again, just after I finish Spore. Got to go conquer the world, and be the alpha dog on my planet now!

San Francisco - Golden Gate Bakery and a little good deed

2008-09-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

Near the corner of Grant and Jackson Street in San Francisco's Chinatown lies this marvelous little shop called the Golden Gate Bakery. Even before I was born, my family would always visit this bakery every time they were in the city, and twenty somewhat years later, I still can't keep myself away from their yummy goodies.

The Golden Gate Bakery is arguably one of the best Chinese bakery in the U.S. and although they are also famous for their lotus moon cake, I primarily go here for their other famous baked good: the Chinese egg custard tart! I can't say much about the moon cake, but they definitely have the best egg custard tart around, it's even better than the ones I had when I lived in Taiwan. So believe me, they're GOOD!

Majority of the time you'll see a bunch of people outside the bakery, shifting their feet, waiting in line for a chance to get into the bakery before the custard tarts run out. If you don't see a line then most likely they are on vacation or it's near closing time. We were lucky enough to get there before a huge line formed up so I can get my hands on some of those amazing tarts.

While we were waiting, I overheard this guy standing in front of us tell his friends that the egg custard tart here is good (which I agree), but he also said that egg custard tarts are good anywhere because they are all made from a similar recipe (He is so wrong!). I couldn't believe what I just heard! But I took a deep breath and suppressed my urge of tapping on his shoulder to ask him what is wrong with his taste buds, and why is he standing in line at this bakery instead of buying his custard tart from a bakery down the street where there is no wait

If you also share his opinion or if you had an egg custard tart at a dim sum place and didn't think much of it, then you must try the egg custard tart from Golden Gate bakery. The outside crust resembles a pastry shell and is light, flaky, not at all oily, and the filling is so soft and delicate. They come fresh from the oven and you just can't stop smiling after you bite into it. I could probably eat 6 of them in one sitting, and I would have if I didn't have to share them with my family.

The egg custard tart is $1.35/tart (if I remember correctly) which is sort of on the expensive side, but it's worth every penny! If you actually are able to make your way there, be sure you know what you want to get by the time you reach the counter, cause these ladies don't mess around; there are minimal customer service here and they want to get the line moving. They'll indulge a few questions here and there, but if you don't make up your mind soon, they might just pass you up to help the next customer till you're ready.

When we were walking back to our car, we passed by this old Chinese lady and she was going through the trash can and drinking the milk tea that someone had just threw away. The sight of that just breaks my heart and although my dad would never agree with what I did, I stopped and took out one of the tart and gave it to her. My dad would say that when you give to the needy, they will never think it is enough or they just want to get drugs and alcohol, so we're actually not helping them. I really disagree with his view, sure there are people who are into drugs and alcohol, but there are also a lot of people who are just down on their luck and need a helping hand. I wish I could've done more for the old lady, but hopefully the egg custard tart will at least fill her tummy a little bit.

Hunger Awareness

2008-09-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

I took a photo of this hunger awareness ad when we were driving down one of the streets in San Francisco. I guess judging from my blog I can't really claim I am the 5th person huh?

I am fortunate enough that I never had to go hungry in my life so far, no matter how much of a tough time my family been through, or how little I have to live on when I was in college, I never had to go to bed hungry. I always feel really bad for those that are down on their luck, do not have a home, and just long for a warm meal every so often, so even though I don't have much, I try to do what I can: buy a meal for the homeless sometimes, donate food to food banks, and another really fun one is to go on FreeRice.com

A lot of you probably already been on FreeRice.com and if you're like me, you get addicted to it once you start playing. If you have not heard of this site, you can play vocabulary, math, chemistry, art and language games, and for each answer you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice to the UN World food program to help end world hunger.

The amount of time it took me to finish this blog post, I have donated 500 grains of rice by playing the French vocab game, and I don't even know French! I know we will probably never be able to end world hunger, but each and every one of us can do a little something to help another less fortunate person. You don't need to have a lot, just need a heart and a will, so go have fun and you can also help put some food on someone else's dinner plate!

San Francisco - Imperial Palace Restaurant

2008-09-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

Lychee Garden on Powell Street in San Francisco's Chinatown used to be THE place that we go for our semi-weekly weekend dim sum meal, however, when they decided to stop serving dim sum a few months back and left us high and dry without our dim sum fix, our searched had once again continued for the perfect dim sum place.

If you don't know what dim sum is, the way I like to explain it is to think of it as a Chinese buffet where they bring the food to your table, or Brazilian BBQ except you can't eat till you explode for one low price. Or if you eat sushi, it's very much like a floating sushi bar but larger; the whole restaurant is the bar, the food is on a cart and people push it around the restaurant and pass by your table.

My bf saw Imperial Palace on the Travel Channel the other day and was itching to go try it; after a little research it turns out that the predecessor of this location was the Golden Dragon Restuarant where the Chinese gang shooting took place back in 1977, but since I am here to talk about food and not to give a history lesson, you can find some more info on wiki if you would like to read more about what happened to the Golden Dragon.

So in order to become our regular dim sum spot, there are only three criteria that needs to be met: service, taste, and value. Hmm... come to think of it, this is the same criteria how I judge most restaurant, I should probably elaborate a little.

At dim sum places, especially those with the push carts, the way I judge service is essentially how fast the food find our table. I don't need a five star restaurant service at a dim sum place, I don't need someone to check in on us every 5 minutes to see how we're doing, but I would like to see a food cart pass by us every 5 minutes (more or less).

In this case, Imperial Palace failed it miserably. This was truly an odd sight to see! A push cart dim sum place with no one pushing the carts full of food! There were two carts full of food at the back of the dining room just sitting there for 15 minutes! (upper picture, and that lady was not serving food yet)

I was not quite sure of the reasoning behind this; maybe they were being very considerate of their patrons and were waiting for the food to cool down so we won't burn the roof of our mouth? Or maybe this place is self-service and we just didn't know it cause we're new here. Wait, wait, I have another idea... or maybe... just maybe they are not quite organized and there was some poor management going on, cause we saw the restaurant manager go to the back and broke up a conversation between two ladies, pointing fingers, kind of upset, and then the carts started to roll out. Hmm.... well, I'll let you be the judge of that.

Ha gar and shu mai

The taste for the food is debatable. For me the shrimp dumpling (ha gaw) and the Cantonese style radish cake taste decent, it's not the best, but it's pretty good, however the rest of the dishes were a little bland to me. If you ask my bf's dad though, he thought the food was pretty good and tasty. He especially liked the spare ribs at this place, and to us that says a lot, cause most of the spare ribs at the dim sum places we go to doesn't meet his standard, not even our once upon a time favorite, Lychee Garden.

Spare ribs and radish cake

BBQ pork bun and long rice noodle stuffed with shrimp

As for the value, it was not too bad. There were a bit of variety for the dishes. Each small dish was $2.20, medium $2.80, and large dishes were $3.20. For the three of us, the bill came to be a little under $40.00 and we had some food to take back home.

The dining experience at the Imperial Palace was a bit of a hit and miss. I have to say that there were quite a bit of local Chinese patrons in the restaurant, so to a person other than myself and my bf, this place might be a pretty good place to go, but for me the quest must go on.

If you're a person who never had dim sum before and might want to try it, I would strongly recommend the shrimp dumpling (ha gaw), pork dumpling (shu mai), and "steamed" BBQ pork bun to start as those are the staples, and order anything else that interests you. Dim sum might not be for everyone, but it can definitely be a fun and unique dining experience.

I won! I won!

2008-08-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

Just when I was a little worried that I don't have anything to blog about before the weekend, I found out I won an award! And before you get too excited, I didn't get an acadamy award or anything; I recieved an Kind Blogger Award from my blog friend JelO , which is still really cool and made my day.

There are a few rules before posting this award and here they are:

1. Only 5 people are allowed to receive this award.

2. Four (4) of them are followers of your blog.

3. One has to be new to your blog and live in another part of the world.

4. You must link back to who ever gave you the award.

Here are my lucky winners, go check them out!

1. Syarlilady

2. Jewelry Rockstar

3. Turtleann

4. Per se

5. Soyun

San Francisco - Miller's East Coast West Delicatessen

2008-08-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

Miller's East Coast West Delicatessen in San Francisco is probably one of the closest thing you can get to a New York deli on this side of the coast. Having just been to NYC, I thought it would be fun to do a deli showdown! Are you ready to rumble?!?!?!?! East vs. West! Who makes the best bagels? The best pastrami sandwich? Matzo soup? Who will prevail? Read on and you will find out.

If you ask me, I will always root for the West coast cause I'm a California girl, but in this case East Coast wins hands down all the way because Miller's deli IS an east coast deli! The peppery, herby pastrami they have was flown in from the Bronx, and the bagels were partially boiled and baked in New York City before there were shipped to California to be finished off in Miller's oven. You can't get any more authentic than this short of flying across the country and eat it at the source like we did.

We have been to Miller's deli 3 times now and enjoyed the food each and every time. I know some of you guys who are the real deal New Yorkers might go there and think that it sucks, but to my west coast taste buds, this place is a great substitute. Beggars can't be choosers, right?

Left: Millers Right: Ess-a-Bagel

"Tender and fluffy on the inside and has a nice crispy texture on the outside" was what I read and expected from a NYC bagel but sadly did not receive during my New York trip, (read about it here) however, that line describes the bagels at Miller's exactly to the tee.

I took the photo after I took a bite out of the bagel so you can see the texture of it. It is so soft, so airy, and had a nice crunch to it. If this was the kind of bagel I got when I was in New York, I, too, would've became a believer right there and then. Miller's bagels surely redeemed NYC bagels in my eyes; now I just need to find out where they got them!

Bagel round goes to......... Miller's!

Left: Miller's Right: Katz's

Both of the hot pastrami sandwiches were great! I think it just depends on what kind of pastrami mood you're in that particular day. Miller's pastrami were thinly sliced and has a more robust pepper and herb flavor. Katz's meat are a little milder on taste, but they are thick, juicy and a little fattier.

What my boyfriend liked about Miller's is that you can choose what kind of bread you want for your sandwich, as opposed to Katz's where they only serve it on rye, which is probably the more authentic route.

Hot Pastrami round is a tie!

Left: Miller's Right: Katz's

Miller's popped both of our cherry for matzo ball soup. I didn't really know what to expect when I ordered the Chicken noodle soup with matzo ball, and when the soup came I kind of had doubts that it would taste good. Well, if you don't know what I mean, just look at it! The soup looks so clear and kind of bland. How was I suppose to know that it was full of flavor and a joy to eat? Even my boyfriend who is a super soup snob liked it, he liked it so much that I had to spoon fight him so I can get another taste.

As for the matzo ball soup at Katz's, it was decent, but not as flavorful, plus I like it that Miller's had a lot of chicken and noodles in their soup.

Matzo ball soup round goes to.......Miller's!

Miller's has a very extensive menu and serves up soup, sandwiches, salads, burgers, hot plate meals, and more. I especially like their beer battered onion rings; they are sweet and seasoned with a little bit of salt, and as you can see from the picture on the right, there is actually an onion ring inside the batter! (unlike the fast food ones)

And lastly, I just have to mention the new favorite sandwich of all time: The day after. It is roast turkey, stuffing, melted Swiss cheese, cranberry sauce and turkey gravy on toasted rye bread. This sandwich is so good! You can't be afraid to get your hands dirty if you want to eat this sandwich cause the bottom of the bread is a little wet with the sauce and gravy. Plus, you have to try and eat everything in one bite, or two if you have to, because it's the contrast of the savory and sweet, crunchy and soft that makes this sandwich so brilliant and wonderful.

As for the service, it is a little inconsistent; we always seem to arrive at the deli after their rush and it kind of puzzles me how service can be very slow when there are only 5 tables to take care of. The empty cup was sitting at our table for 20 minutes before it got refilled. However, when the deli started to fill up a little at our last trip, we actually got very decent service, hmm... shouldn't it be the other way around? Oh, our server also remembered us from our first visit and what we ordered, which was very nice.

It seems like Miller's came out on top of my comparison test, but I'm sort of partial to it, too, since I only need to drive 60 miles north to get to it, and not have to fly across the country. If and when you can, eat at the source, but if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area and you feel homesick, go try out Miller's east coast west deli and it just might make you feel a little better.

Final Big Apple post - a few more destinations

2008-08-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

The time has finally came! This is my final post about NYC for this trip, why oh why did the trip have to end? As promised from my last post, here are some more photos from my massive photo folder.

The Fuller building, which is also known as the Flatiron building, is one of the most recognizable buildings in New York City. I took this picture when I was in the taxi so the angle is a bit off, but this building is a triangle shape and resembles a flat iron, which is where it got its name, and subsequently the area around it was named the Flatiron district.

What surprised me about the financial district in NYC is that there were still a lot of people (mostly tourists) walking around on a weekend. We barely have anyone in the San Francisco financial district at night or the weekends, but there probably isn't as many tourist destinations in the SF financial district than in NYC.

You can't tell from this picture, but there were A LOT of people around the Wall Street Charging Bull. Like most people, I also went and rubbed its horn and balls for good luck, hopefully now my stocks will go through the roof! My boyfriend did a little more than I did and caused a old Chinese woman to gasp and cover her mouth. What is it that he did you ask? Well, I'll leave it up to your imagination. The first person who guesses it wins a prize!

New York Stock Exchange

Apparently, the Charging Bull was a guerrilla art and was originally placed in front of the NYSE by the artist, Arturo Di Modica, as a Christmas gift to the people of NYC back in 1989. The police seized the sculpture which led to a public outcry and they eventually put the sculpture at Bowling Greens, which is where it stands now.

Right across the street from the NYSE is the Federal Hall with a bronze statute of George Washington. I didn't know this but this is where George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of the United States. Sweet~~~

A waterfall under the Brooklyn Bridge? Yes you saw it right, this is an art project by artist Olafur Eliasson, and there are four waterfall sculptures installed in New York City which you'll be able to visit till October 13th. If you happen to get a chance to go to NYC in the next couple of months, be sure to check it out! http://www.nycwaterfalls.org/

Bethesda Fountain

So I learned that our Golden Gate Park was modeled after Central park and it is about 174 acres larger, however, after a trip to Central Park I got to admit that I liked it much more than Golden Gate Park. (Man, I feel so dirty for saying that, I'm sorry San Francisco!)

Central park is beautiful, very people friendly, and you can probably spend a couple of days there easily. There's even a zoo there! I also saw a carousel somewhere, too bad we were only there for a weekend, otherwise I think I would really enjoy exploring the park more.

Horse carriages in the park. I love horsies!

Fountain at City Hall Park

GTA4 fans, you should recognize this fountain right? And if you don't, shame on you for saying you're an avid GTA4 fan! Shame on you, I say! (j/k) We actually made a point to track down this fountain because my boyfriend keeps seeing it in GTA4 and a few times when we were in a cab, he would point at the fountain and say "Hey! I know that fountain, it's in my game!"

I really enjoyed the short time that I spent in NYC. My boyfriend and I always talked about living in New York City for a few years, and after this trip we could really envision ourselves living there. It's a great city with diverse cultures, amazing food, beautiful scenery, and suprisingly very clean and tasty water. We shall return to you NYC, we shall return...

The Big Apple - Times Square and the Empire State Building

2008-08-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

I finally went through all of the photos we've taken during our short trip to NYC and sorted them out. You know... the usual weeding out the ones that are overexposed, strange pictures of the ceiling/floor, *accidental* shot of someone's crotch. yeah... yeah... ladies, you know what I mean... *wink wink* Ok, fine! I guess I'm alone here. I think I heard someone say "eww", but really I'm kidding, I prefer upskirt shots! Still kidding! (not really, I'm just saying that, shhh..) Please don't leave..... I promise you there will be some pretty pictures. :)

It took me this long because apparently we took close to 400 pictures in one and a half day, well, what can you say, we're Asians! So after the weeding, resizing, and brightening up the ones that are way too dark, I kept about 300 pictures that we took and will now share some that I cherry picked out for this blog.

Time Square was so crazy! We got there somewhere between 9:30 and 10pm and there were just loads of people there. In Chinese it would be described as 人山人海 (ren san ren hai) which literally means "people mountain, people sea" There were bright lights coming from every corner of the buildings, electronic billboards everywhere, and flashy signs; they pretty much lit up the sky and the short couple blocks of the city felt like it was daytime.

We passed by this Toys"R"Us store and I pretty much just ditched my companions and ran inside cause I saw this:

The store is so huge that they could fit a 60ft ferris wheel inside it! It costs $4.00 to go on the ride. Too bad we didn't have time, otherwise I would so take a ride on it! Doesn't it look so fun?

After Times Square we made our way to the Empire State Building. It was around 10:30pm when we arrived, and I was not expecting the big long line that was there. We read that there's a Express pass ticket you can buy but didn't know where to purchase it, so like everyone else, we stood in line. After half an hour we finally made it through the security check and got in another line for the ticket, and my boyfriend decided it's time to ask someone about the Express Pass ticket.

Apparently we didn't have to be in line for the past 30 minutes! Err! They waved us pass and escorted us to the ticket booth window, and after we got the ticket there were no more waiting for us. Want to take the elevator? Sure! Go through your own special entrance, flash the Express Pass ticket and we're in!

Both of us are big fans of not having to stand in line so it was pretty cool. I think we probably saved ourselves 2-3 hours because of the ticket, but of course we did pay for it, it cost about $45.00/person vs. $18.00 for a normal ticket. However, if you don't have too much time to spare, or you feel that your time can be spent doing better things elsewhere and you don't mind paying the price, I would highly recommend getting the Express Pass ticket. Just don't do what we did in the beginning and grab someone right off the bat and tell them you're going to get the Express ticket.

The view of the city at night was amazing! No wonder our friend told us to come at night.

Since there were way too many pictures, I will post the other ones on the next post.

The Big Apple - a few short reviews

2008-08-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

So here is where my advanced apology is going to be useful. Other than the french fries place, I pretty much gobbled down all or most of the food before I could take pictures, so there won't be that many pretty pictures to look at this time, sorry!

First up is Doughnut Plant:

This cozy donut place at the edge of China town had just edged my favorite warm glazed donut from Krispy Kreme down to second place. I've seen this place featured on Food Network and The Travel Channel so I knew it was good, but I was just not prepared for how good these donuts are. Actually these donuts are not good, they are GREAT!

Hazelnut glazed

The donuts are big and fluffy, not to mention delicious! It was so good that I ate about 3 of these babies and I'm a pretty small girl who eats like a bird. They use fresh fruit for the glaze and filling, and believe me, it makes a really big difference! The peach glazed that I ordered had a very subtle peachy flavor that just lingers in your mouth begging you to take one more bite. The Blackout, which is a chocolate cake doughnut with chocolate pudding in the middle, is unlike any cake donuts I have ever had. It tastes just like a chocolate cake and I had to fend off my boyfriend, who doesn't like cake donuts, from taking it from me.

This is a must visit for anyone who travels to New York. The donuts are a little pricier than what you're used to, but it's worth every penny!

Next, Pommes Frites:

This is another place I saw on the Food Network, Pommes Frites is a small little, mostly takeout shop that sells only one thing: pommes frites aka french fries. What makes this place unique is the 25 sauces that you can get with your fries; sauces such as Pomegranate Teriyaki Mayo, Peanut Satay, Sweet Mango Chutney Mayo, and Irish Curry are just a few that caught my attention.

We ordered the regular size with roasted garlic mayo. They filled the fries into a paper cone and if you are able to sit down at one of the few tables they have in the back, you can sit your cone down in one of the holes on the table, which I thought was pretty neat. We also ordered the poutine, which we were really excited about and always wanted to get ever since we saw Jay and Silent Bob mentioned it on an episode of Degrassi.

Poutine

The fries were very thick and crispy, but I don't know if it's because they're double fried or maybe ours were fried a little too long, the inside was a little bit dry. In my opinion, I think the fries that I made at home tasted better, but that can very much just be a personal taste issue. The garlic mayo was different but good, my boyfriend enjoyed it more than I did because he's more of a mayo person than me.

The poutine was quite tasty though. For anyone who doesn't know what poutine is, it is a Canadian comfort food that has french fries topped with fresh cheese curd and brown gravy. The gravy helped with the slightly dried fries, and the cheese curds was somewhat rubbery and squeak against the teeth when bitten into, which was pretty fun for me to eat. I know it's sort of strange that cheese would squeak, but I learned from my Wisconsin trip earlier this year that the squeaking of the curd is a sign that it is fresh and good.

Even though Pommes Frites did not make my definite go back list, I would still recommend my friends to check it out since they are quite unique and is worth a try as my taste could be very different from yours.

And lastly, Gray's Papaya:

We went to the Midtown branch at the corner of Eighth Ave. and 37th St. and ordered the "Recession Special" which consists of two hot dogs and a drink that costs $3.50. For me, Pink's hot dog in L.A. is still my favorite, but you can't beat the price at Gray's Papaya, unless you go to Costco. The hot dogs are smaller and thinner than what I'm used to, but it's full of flavor and snaps when you bite into it. And don't get me started with the papaya drink. I really didn't think I would like the papaya drink, I would eat fresh papaya, but it really wouldn't be my first choice for fruit, however, the papaya drink was so goooood. It was light, refreshing, a little frothy on top, it's no wonder they're famous for it.

If you ever decide to check it out, be advised that this is not a restaurant and you won't be able to sit down to eat your dogs. It is open 24/7 so it's a great place to go for your midnight munchies or after a fun time from partying at the clubs.

Sneak Peek - Two heads are better than one

2008-08-16T15:16:00.001-07:00

I feel like taking a break from writing about New York today and will let you guys in on a sneak peek of what I'm working on craft wise which will soon to be in my store.

I think many of us have seen or heard of the Japanese origami crane (if we have not already folded them ourselves). For those that are not familiar with the origami crane, an ancient Japanese legend says each paper crane can live a thousand years, and promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by the gods.

I really like folding paper cranes, they are fun to fold and the end product is very elegant, but I want to do something different, hence, two heads are better than one: twin sister cranes. Siamese style! :P

These two cranes are connected by the wing and no.... they are not glued together. They were folded from one single sheet of paper using the technique: Renzuru, which is an origami technique whereby one folds multiple cranes from a single sheet of paper.

I folded the purple one using a double sided origami paper, it seems to turned out pretty well.

Ok, break time is over for me, got to get folding if I want to get some cranes in my store next week. Hope you all are having a great relaxing weekend!

The Big Apple - 30 Rock

2008-08-15T00:15:00.000-07:00

As a 30 Rock fan, I couldn't pass up the chance to visit the Rockefeller Center. Heck, even if I wasn't a fan of the show, the Rockefeller Center is still a must do when you visit New York City. Here are a few photos from my trip.

The Prometheus Fountain. During winter time this area is turned into the famous Rockefeller ice skating rink.

Even though it was a little out of the way, I had to walk around the corner to get a shot of this sign.

30 Rock fans, recognize this?

Heading up to the top of the Rock inside the elevator

The observation deck was closed from 1986 and wasn't reopened till November 1st 2005. You take a very quick and fun ride in the talking elevator to the top of the GE building to get a spectacular view of NYC.

Central park. Look at the size of that thing!

Breathtaking view, isn't it?

If you squint your eyes and look very intently, you might be able to see the Statute of Liberty far far away. Can you spot it?

We're going to the top of that one next!

The Big Apple - Smith & Wollensky

2008-08-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

Dinner time!

For our Saturday dinner, our friend suggested Smith & Wollensky, stating that they have the best steaks in town. Since we trust his judgement and we are not ones to pass up a good hunk of meat, he went ahead and made a phone call, worked his magic in German, got a call back a few minutes later, and we got a table at 8pm.

For the remainder of the day, we probably watched 5-10 Smith & Wollensky's commercial in the cab, and a few times our friend would be giddy as a school girl when he watch the commercial, it was actually quite amusing to watch him. At the end of the commercial their tag line is "If steak were a religion, this would be its cathedral," and hearing that all day long has set my expectation quite high, I hope they will live up to their claim.

We got to the restaurant at about 7:30pm, the host checked us in and we had a few drinks at the bar; about 15 minutes later we were told to go upstairs and ask for John, who seated us at the corner table deep inside the dining room. Since our friend, Alex, wanted us to experience the lively atmosphere and be in the center of the action, he asked if it's possible to move to a table that's closer to the middle of the room. At first it didn't seem like a big deal and they moved us right away, but immediately after we sat down, another person came and told us that the table has already been spoken for; they then got us another table, we sat down, and the same thing again. The table was reserved and we were ask to get up and wait at the bar till a table opens up.

I can't fault the restaurant for not having a table, since they did seat us at a perfectly fine one and it was us who requested to have another one; however, I do believe that I would have had a better experience if they didn't keep sitting us down and telling us to get up.

We started our meal with the fried calamari and hashbrown. The calamari was well seasoned, but the breading was a little heavy and the calamari was just a tad overcooked. The hashbrown... oh the hashbrown... mmm... this hashbrown (bottom) might not look like much, but it was quite tasty! It has a nice and crispy exterior and a meaty soft interior with some onion flavor to it. I normally don't order hashbrowns in a steak house, but I'm so glad we got them here. I think it might actually be one of the best hashbrowns I've ever had.

For the main course, I order the bone-in Ribeye, my boyfriend got the Cajun seasoned Filet Mignon, and our friend got the Au Poivre Filet Mignon.

Alex, if you ever read this, I'm sorry! To me the steaks were good, but was not great. It was not the best steak that I have ever had, but I suppose no steak can be since the best steak I had was the Kobe steak that I had in Kobe, Japan, and no one can beat a Japanese Kobe steak that just melts in your mouth... mmmm... Kobe steak...(drooling) Ok, let me wipe my mouth and get back to Smith and Wollensky before I make this a Kobe steak post. The steaks here were well cooked, I won't argue about that, but it just didn't have that "umph" to push it over the top and live up to the hype.

Bone-in Ribeye

My Ribeye had a wonderful exterior, it was seared nicely and produced great flavor; but maybe because it was a thick cut of steak there was only flavor on the surface and I wanted to sprinkle some salt on it every time I took a bite, plus I ordered medium well and my steak was pretty well done. The Au Poivre filet was tender and juicy, the sauce was a little bitter, but maybe that is what it's suppose to taste like. My favorite is the Cajun Filet, and despite the name, it is actually not spicy hot but it definitly is full of flavor. If you ever been to Morton's, it is very similar to their Cajun Ribeye. In fact, all the three steaks that I tasted are comparable to Morton's, except it has a higher price tag.

Au Poivre Filet Mignon

For the three of us, I believe we spent about $250.00 just on the food, which is a bit on the pricey side. If it was about $60 to $70 cheaper, then it would be a better value, but it was the good company and conversation that is important to me, and you can't put a price tag on that!

Overall, Smith & Wollensky is a good steakhouse, but for me, I think I'm going to keep searching for my cathedral.

The Big Apple - Katz's Delicatessen

2008-08-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

I've always wondered what the big deal is about New York Delis. People in New York are always boasting about how they have the best delis in the country. I mean, a deli is a deli, there's meat, bread, cheese and you make a sandwich, how much better can it possibly be?

My boyfriend and I are particularly into hot pastrami sandwiches and we've been to a few in Southern California that we really like: The Hat and Johnny's Pastrami are both very tasty, and next time we will check out Langer's Delicatessen when we're down there, which hopefully will be later this year. We have also recently went to Miller's East Coast Delicatessen in San Francisco, which has gotten more than a few actual New Yorkers' stamp of approval. From what I read, it's a notch down compared to delis in NYC, but by far it was the best deli that I've ever been to at that time. Maybe there are some truth to what New Yorkers are saying, maybe they are not just a bunch of deli snobs after all, and a trip to Katz's Delicatessen confirmed that.

I thought it was kind of funny that just a month ago I mentioned the deli scene in "When Harry met Sally" in a previous post and now I actually gone to the exact same deli where the movie scene was filmed. Once we stepped out of the taxi, we bolted into the deli, partially cause of excitement, but mainly because there was a thunderstorm outside. The place was full of people and we were all given a ticket that looks like a raffle ticket with a bunch of numbers on the back. No one told us what the ticket was for, but at the corner of my eye I saw something that says if we loose the ticket, it's a minimum $50.00 fine, and fortunately I saw that cause my boyfriend and his friend were about to throw their tickets away, and we would've owed them $100.00.

The meal came with complimentary pickles and tomatoes. I especially enjoyed the barely cured pickles which were not too sour and was still very crisp and refreshing. My boyfriend ordered the pastrami sandwich, his friend got the corn beef, and I ordered the Matzo ball soup with a half pastrami sandwich. The sandwiches were a bit on the expensive side, it was approx. $15.00 for the pastrami and corn beef, and $14.00 for my half sandwich and Matzo ball soup.

The menu stated that theirs are the "largest and best sandwich" we'll ever have, so the two guys were expecting a monster sandwich, and was puzzled when this landed in front of them.

This hardly looked like the biggest sandwich they'll ever had, in fact, it looks like they'll be able to finish the whole thing and have room to spare for dessert, but Katz's has proved them wrong! The sandwich was filled with mountain high of thick, juicy, tender, well seasoned meat, which was quite impossible to eat as the pastrami just kept on falling out, but once you get a good grip and get in the rhythm of it, you just can't put it down till your tummy was about to explode.

Here is my half sandwich and Matzo ball soup.

The Matzo ball was the size of a baseball and was really light and fluffy, better than the one in San Francisco, however the broth was a little on the bland side.

In the end, my boyfriend and I were defeated; he was only able to eat 3/4 of his sandwich and I was only able to finish up half of my soup, but I did manage to eat up all of the meat in my sandwich since it was so good. The only person who actually managed to (barely) finish his sandwich at our table was our friend, Alex. How he is able to stay so skinny is beyond me.

I have never had a sandwich like this and Katz's is definitely on our go back list. I will have what Sally's having over and over again, even if she is faking it. ^_^

The Big Apple - Ess-a-Bagel

2008-08-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

To be perfectly honest, I have been dreading to post this review ever since I got back from New York because it is not the raving review that I want to write. Some of you might curse me or want to give me a beating for writing what I am about to write, which is why I am very glad that I did not post a photo of myself on here, despite the fact that some people mentioned that it would be nice to see a photo of the author.

My experience was not all bad, but I will mentioned the disappointing part first, so I can use the good part later to cushion the blow; and maybe if I end it on a good note, people will forget the first part of the post. (wishful thinking)

I know New Yorkers take their bagels very seriously, so for our first meal in New York we went on the web and sought out the best bagel place in New York. There were a few places that received rave reviews but my boyfriend decided that Ess-a-Bagel is the winner!

We arrived at the 3rd ave. location at around 9am and were able to get our bagels and sit down before a mini rush of people came flocking in, lucky us! I took a bite of the bagel and believe me when I say that I really want to love this bagel, I really really do want to, and I still do actually; but it was somewhat of a disappointment. I've read countless reviews stating that the bagels are "tender and fluffy on the inside and has a nice crispy texture on the outside," and with that in mind, compounded with the fact that this is the real deal New York bagel, I was prepared to be sent to heaven with my first bite.

I took the first bite, chewed, swallowed, and looked around myself, baffled by the fact that I'm still on earth. Where's the white fluffy clouds? Where's the white light and singing angels? And why am I still sitting in front of my boyfriend and his friend?!?! Although the outside did have a nice crust, the inside was really dense and almost tastes a little..... stale. It was kind of a challenge to finish it all up, and I'm sad to say that my boyfriend said he will not come back here again and the place is overrated. As for me, I am willing to give it another shot, but I would probably want to come here at 6:30am to get the ones that are fresh fresh fresh out of the oven.

What I did like about Ess-a-Bagel is that the service was pretty fast; the people behind the counter was not that friendly, but they get you your food in lightening speed, which is great! I was also amazed at how many different types of cream cheese spread you can choose from, and the best part was they are not shy on the spread. Look at how much cream cheese is sandwiched between the bagels! I have never seen a place in California that is so generous with their cream cheese!

One other thing I liked about the bagels is the size. They are almost double the size of what I'm used to here in California. In fact, I just had a bagel a few hours ago, and you just can't beat the portion of the bagel and cream cheese in New York, it's fantastic!

All and all, I think they deserve another shot, and next time I'll be there early hoping I'll have a chance to enter into heaven!

The Big Apple - Dial 7 Car Service

2008-08-06T12:53:00.001-07:00

This post really should've came before the last one about the apartment, but better late than never, right? As you have noticed from my previous restaurant posts or for any future posts, I don't just like to talk about my experience, but I also post pictures of each dish. (I do apologize in advance that there will be a few posts regarding my dining experience that does not have the actual food that I ate, it is because I was too hungry and gobbled down the food before I took the camera out, and most likely cried out "OH NO!" when I realized what I have done.)

The reason why I like to do this is because I realize that a lot of times I would read reviews or do research on the web, and I find myself wanting to see photos of the actual item in question, and I'm often not satisfied with the photos that are provided by the company's website, cause you know how realistic those pictures can be, right? So now I try to take photos of most items I talk about here, which can benefit others and serve as a reminder for myself.

With that said, let's take a look at Dial 7 Car Service, shall we?

Not wanting to risk waiting in a long line for a cab ride, we decided to make reservation with a car service company to pick us up at the airport when we arrived. After doing some extensive research on the web, I narrowed it down to Carmel and Dial 7, which both received good reviews on tripadvisor.com, plus their rate are more reasonable. The prices for both companies are about the same, although I think Carmel is a few bucks cheaper, I decided on Dial 7 because someone mentioned that they look more professional.

I booked the least expensive vehicle, which was a 4 door sedan, and of course they do not have a photo on their website to show what kind of vehicle it is. It costs $45.00 to go from Newark International airport to Midtown Manhattan, which takes about 25 minutes with no traffic. Oh and the toll is an additional $9.00.

Here is a photo of the vehicle that came to pick us up. A black Toyota Camry Hybrid. I took this one hastily so I won't hold up traffic and cause an angry mob to beat me up, but there is a better picture further down the post.

We dialed the number that was provided to us to reach the dispatcher when we got off the plane, and was instructed to wait at the pick up 3 area. The vehicle came in less than 10 minutes and the driver was very friendly, polite, and professional. The vehicle was very clean and we learned that each of the driver actually owns the vehicle they drive.

I also reserved a vehicle to take us back to the airport, but unfortunately I do not have a photo of the car. I also booked a 4 door sedan, but we got an SUV, which was a nice surprise, and the driver was actually 5 minutes early. It costs $52.00 plus toll on the way back, which is a little bit more expensive; however, they do provide you with coupons after your first reservation and on your first receipt. So be smart and don't book both vehicles at once like I did and you'll be able to save a few bucks on your trip back to the airport.

The drivers for Dial 7 are very professional, puntual (which is a big deal), and provides good customer service. For my next trip back to the New York area, I would definitely dial 7 again!

The Big Apple - Million Dollar pad

2008-08-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our friend's apartment in Midtown Manhattan!

Situated at a safe and ideal location close to the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, 5th Avenue shopping street. This 2 bed/2.5 bath apartment comes fully furnished and also features a media room, balcony, high ceiling, open floor plan, and the most important part of all: a washer and dryer combo set! No more changing dollar bills for quarters and being bored while you wait for your clothes to be dried. How cool is that!?!? Am I starting to sound like a real estate agent yet? heehee!

I know compared to a lot of apartments in Manhattan, this apartment probably isn't that big of a deal, but to us, this 2 bed/2.5 bath pad is just gorgeous and we can never dream to afford a place like this; it's twice as big as our 2 bedroom condo but 10 times the price, ouch! So we were lucky enough that instead of spending $300+ for a decent small little hotel room, we got to stay here!

Here's the view from the living room, you can see the Empire State Building from here.

This is the room we were staying in, there's actually another door that leads to another room/office space/closet.

Each bedroom has its own private full bath and a wonderful view.

This is what it looks like out the window from the bathroom. Seriously!

So everything in this apartment is great, but there's one thing that we didn't quite get and that is there's no curtains on the window in the bathroom; and as you can see, we're not talking about a small little window near the ceiling just to let some air in/out. This is a BIG window! Which means you're putting on a show for your neighbors to see every time you shower. Since we're kind of shy that way, we made our own curtain out of a bed sheet, it's a bit ghetto, but it worked!

That's so ghetto!

As for how a single, young, bachelor can live in a place like this alone? Well, you'll just have to keep on guessing. Oh and a side note: Any single bachelorette in NYC available? He's looking! :P

Weekend trip to the Big Apple

2008-08-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

This year has officially been the most amount of travel we have done in a year. We have already been to L.A. (3 times), Wisconsin, Chicago, Beijing, and now we went to New York City for this past weekend.

I know I mentioned before how impromptu we like to travel; Friday rolls along: hey do you want to go to L.A.? Ok! and off we go hitting the road. For people we like to plan things in advance, or to most of my family and friends that is just outrageous, but to us, it's becoming kind of normal, however, I think we just went over the top this weekend, and this is officially the most impromptu trip we have ever taken!

How did this trip happen? Well, my boyfriend's friend from Germany just got to New York and will be starting his new job on Monday; they talked on the phone on Wed, and his friend mentioned that he was bored as he is new in town and doesn't know anyone so he invited us to visit him, and offered to put us up at his pad in Midtown Manhattan (sweet!!!). Of course, all of this had a half joking tone to it, I mean, fly from San Francisco to New York just for a weekend?!?! Who does that? Well, apparently we do!

On Thursday night, we found out that we could use our mileage for the trip and the cost for the flight would be relatively inexpensive, which was the number 1 reason holding us back. There were some other factors that we discussed and in the end we decided that we're going to NYC! Called his friend, booked our flight, packed our bags, and by early Saturday morning we were in Manhattan knocking on his door ready to hit the town.

It was such a surreal feeling, and even though this is after the fact, I am still amazed that we have actually went to New York. And of course I have taken my trusty camera with me and will be posting some pictures here shortly.

Gummy Bacon

2008-07-31T09:03:00.000-07:00

Bacon just makes everything better! Come back home from a bad day of work, eat a slice of well cooked bacon, instant gratification! Well, at least till I swallow, then I might need another slice to keep my mood up. When you put bacon in anything, wether it is fried rice, salads, pasta, steaks, scallops...etc. it makes it a notch better. People are even putting bacon in their vodka now! The only thing that I probably don't want any bacon in is my dessert; but who knows, maybe I would actually enjoy bacon ice cream, I never thought I would eat garlic ice cream, either.

So when I went to Wacko in Los Angeles last time and saw these gummy bacon, I just had to buy them, and for some reason I was hoping that it would be bacon flavor even though I totally acknowledge that the package has "strawberry flavor" all over it, not to mention the fact that an actual bacon flavor gummy might be kind of gross.

They even package these the same way real bacon are packaged. I can already imagine that in some school yard out there, a little 8 year old might try to trick his buddy saying that he's going to eat raw bacon and bust these out.

Dispite the fact that it looks like raw meat, they are actually quite tasty and fun to eat.

I also found these not bacon related gums that I thought was pretty amusing in the store as well. I think my boyfriend's dad will get a real kick out of it.

Bouquet of Lilies origami ornament

2008-07-26T16:12:00.000-07:00

It took a few days longer than I like, but I finally finished my lilies kusudama ornament! Yay!

Lilies are one of my favorite flowers, they are so beautiful and elegant. Here are a few lilies items on Etsy that caught my eye. I especially like the Tiger Lily lamp work ring, and yes yes... I know there's a doll in the mix and she's not a flower, but her name is Lily and she's just so adorable that I had to include her here.

Chinese BBQ Pork - First attempt

2008-07-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

On my most recent trip to my Safeway, I noticed that they started to carry already cooked Chinese BBQ pork near the meat section, and my first reaction was " >_< " (that's the face I made, in case you're wondering.) It looked very artificial, however, I have not tasted it so I cannot comment on how it taste. It is very possible that it tastes decent or maybe it'll be the best Chinese BBQ pork I'll ever have, but for some reason, I doubt that. If someone has already tried it, feel free to set the record straight. I'm going to try to get a photo when I go there next time.

This prompted me to ponder how hard/easy it is to make Chinese BBQ pork at home, and having my boyfriend bugging me every so often to re-create the best Chinese BBQ pork he had when we were in Beijing earlier this year helped, too. So after a little research, I've prepared myself to go into the kitchen for my first attempt at Chinese BBQ pork (aka Cha Xiu).

I got a bottle of Lee Kum Kee Chinese BBQ Sauce, which you can get at any Asian supermarket. You might be able to get it in the normal supermarkets, but I will need to confirm that since I never look for Asian ingredients in Safeway. Below is a picture of what the bottle looks like.

Here is the recipe that I used:

2 pounds Pork loin
8 tablespoon Lee Kum Kee Chinese BBQ sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon sugar ( I used brown sugar)
1 tablespoon water

Mix all the ingredients together and marinade the pork loin for 3 days.

Now the marinade has penetrated deep into the pork loin, the wait is finally over! We can start the roasting process! Preheat oven to 350F.

What I did was I took a couple big paper clips and bent them so they will have double hooks, one on each end. I hooked one end through the meat and hanged the other side on the heating coil and I put a roasting pan with water on the bottom to catch the drippings like the picture below. Please be extremely careful if you attempt to do this, as the oven is hot, and if you're accident prone, I would suggest you just roast the meat on a oven roasting pan.

I roast it for 20 minutes, took them out and brushed the pork loin with some Chinese BBQ sauce that I mixed with a little water and a drop of red food coloring I found in the pantry. Turned the heat to broil, put the pork loin back into the oven for another 10 minutes. And below is what I got.

The meat was definitely very flavorful, and the final glaze gave it a shiny and sticky look, which also added to the flavor. It was a little tougher than what I would like, but I found out it was because of my own stupidity; apparently during the last 10 minutes of broiling the meat, I was suppose to leave the oven slightly open, plus I roasted it a tad bit longer. I don't think the flavor is spot on, but it's decent. And for the first try, I think I'll cut myself some slack.

I have bought some pork shoulder loin from Costco already that has a bit more marbling and I think it will be more tender and juicier. I'm also thinking about testing out a few other recipes to see which one produces the most authentic flavor. So look out for Chinese BBQ Pork - part II later!

The Dark Knight

2008-07-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

As the last scene of the movie faded into darkness, the audiences breaks into a mixture of clapping and cheering. I took a brief moment to bring myself back to reality and wishing that we didn’t have to wait a few years till the next one comes out. We quickly walked up the stairs to exit the IMAX theater hoping to beat the restroom rush and my heart was still pounding with excitement when we were riding the escalator down. I couldn’t help but say “Wow! That was a darn great movie!”

The Dark Knight is bigger and better than the previous Batman movies that I’ve seen before, and I am glad to see that someone has finally revived the Batman movie series. (starting with Batman Begins, of course.) It is an action packed movie that gets your heart pumping within 5 minutes into the film, and takes you on a rollercoaster ride till the very end. This movie quite simply put, is amazing!

I know it has already been said numerous times, but I just have to say it again; Heath Ledger did a tremendous job at portraying the Joker. In my opinion, this was his finest work in his lifetime, and through this role, he has proven that he is a different class of actor. You will not find a trace of Heath Ledger in this film as his mannerism, his speech, the accent has completely transformed, and he has became one with his character. I don’t think that anyone else would have done a better job than him.

This version of the Joker is more twisted and darker than before, and quite frankly, he scares me! He is a criminal genius, and as he said so himself “a better class of criminal;” watching this movie was like watching a novice chess player (Batman, Gotham police) go against the grand master (the Joker). The novice reacts and ponders each step to take against the grand master’s action, not knowing that in reality each decision they made was already predetermined by the grand master already. The Joker certainly played the game brilliantly, and although he was apprehended at the end, Batman lost…

I also very much enjoyed their interpretation of how Harvey Dent became Two Face; it was a romantic tragedy that made my heart ache. Ache for his loss and ache for the Joker’s success.

I am not sure how they snatched up a PG-13 rating. To be fair, there were no nudity or swearing in the movie, however, I do not think this movie would be appropriate for your 13 year old, unless you want to scare them and say “ok honey, this is what will happen if you make mommy and daddy mad, so be a good boy/girl now.” If you have any inkling of seeing this movie, or maybe you chose to see Mamma Mia! this past weekend instead, you got to go see it; and the only way to see this movie is at an IMAX theater, especially since they shot the movie with IMAX cameras. Wait if you have to, but see it in IMAX, you won’t regret it!

Oh and just in case you were reading all of this to find out if I made it to the bathroom before the rush... sadly, I didn't. :P

Preview - Kusudama ornament

2008-07-20T23:57:00.001-07:00

Before I start making my origami items, I always make a test model using some scrap paper I find in the house; and this week I am going to make my new kusudama ball with lily flowers. Here's a preview of what it will look like, and hopefully it will be even better when I use color papers. Stay tuned to see my final product, or it should be in my shop in a few days time after I work out the kinks.

4th of July L.A. trip - Gordon Ramsey at The London

2008-07-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

After much anticipation, Gordon Ramsey's restaurant has finally opened its doors in West Hollywood. Yay!!! I will no longer need to fly across the globe or the U.S. to be able to eat in his restaurant and that is wonderful news.

We got slightly lost on our way to restaurant, which is situated inside The London hotel. The hotel is located right next to the Sunset strip, but the entrance is on a side street, San Vicente Blvd, which we missed cause we did not see the hotel, so we went down the next street and made 3 right turns, even then the entrance was still a little hard to see. Parking was valet only and there were different prices depending on if you're staying in the hotel or visiting the restaurant; I think we paid $10.00 for restaurant valet parking.

We were a little worried before we walked into the restaurant because we read that more than a few people had trouble or confusion with their reservation. We never received a confirmation call from the restaurant, either, but the host had all of our information correctly and seated the two of us right away. Maybe they worked out the kinks, or maybe because it was 4th of July so there were not as busy to confuse themselves. Whatever it is, it was good for us!

The service was what I would expect from a fine dining restaurant: wonderful and courteous. Our server was very helpful and knowledgeable of the menu. Our passion fruit ice tea were never empty and tasty I might add. After each dish were served, there was always someone to come check up on us after a few minutes.

You can order from two menus, there's the a la carte menu and a 6 course chef tasting menu; I read from other people's review (after we dined there) that the whole table should all have the chef tasting menu or all should order from the a la carte menu, and they needed the chef's approval to deviate from that rule, but that was not our experience. We were interested in having the chef's menu, but there were so many other dishes that I had my mind set on, so when our server came to take our order, we told him that my boyfriend was going to have the chef's menu and I will order a few plates a la carte. He told us that is not a problem and advised us that he would recommend us to order 4 dishes as the plates are quite small.

So here is what we had that day, I took pictures of all the dishes we had. The pictures on the top is from the tasting menu, and the bottom side is what I ordered from the a la carte menu. The kitchen paced out our dishes and arranged my a la carte plates to come out from light to heavy.

Our first unofficial course, the amuse buse is a cold chawanmushi with edamame and crispy duck tongue. For those of you we are not familiar with chawanmushi, it is a Japanese egg custard dish steamed in a tea cup. It was very flavorful and the crispy texture and flavor of the duck tongue is very reminiscence of bacon, which makes everything taste good, everything maybe except dessert.

Here's comes our first course. On the top is the Tuna with pickled daikon with sesame soy dressing. I believe the little dot on the third slice of tuna from the left is the crab beignet which is barely noticeable. The tuna was very fresh and with the daikon and soy on the bottom make it taste almost sashimi like.

On the bottom is my chilled almond soup. I am an almond nut (heehee.. get it? almond nut, cause you know, almond is a nut and I'm nuts for almonds. yes.. yes.. I'm a big dork, I know.) So you see why I have to order this soup when I saw it on the menu. The texture of the soup is a little grainy, probably from the ground almonds. The almond flavor was there but light, it was savory and a little tangy. The prawns were sweet and tender. Very interesting flavors and was definitely something new to me.

Top: fresh mozzarella with heirloom tomatoes, cape gooseberries, basil pesto.

A very refreshing second course and a palate cleanser. I love how sweet the cape gooseberries was and it goes so well with the cheese and tomatoes. It was a perfect pair with my duck breast, which is a much heavier dish in comparison. I am very big into balance, for instance, when my boyfriend orders a decadent chocolate cake, I would order a fruit tart to balance it out so we won't get tired of a richness of the cake. So after I had a few bites of my dish, it was nice to to sample this dish, in fact, I think I enjoyed it more than mine.

Bottom: Apple-cured duck breast and crispy tongue and foie gras.

As I said before, it is a much heavier dish and was beautifully presented. It looked like a work of art! The square with striped pattern on the bottom is the duck breasts. It was sliced paper thin and if it was not sliced by a machine, the chef certainly is extremely skillful with the knife. The foie gras is rich, smooth and creamy And of course when you eat each components together the crispy duck tongue gives it a nice crunch and adds another dimension to the dish.

Top: Hand-dived sea scallops

We were looking very forward to the scallops, especially because it is my favorite shell fish and we always watch people say how great the scallops are on Hell's Kitchen. The scallops are perfectly cooked; lightly seasoned, seared, very delicate and sweet. I just wish there were more of them.

Bottom: Smoked pork belly with roasted Scottish langoustine

Aww... the star of the evening! I ordered this dish because of the langoustine, but fell in love with the pork belly, and obviously so did my boyfriend, because I gave him a little taste and he pretty much jacked my dish and devoured it. We almost ordered a second one and he has demanded that I re-create this dish at home or go buy Gordon Ramsey's cook books for the recipe.

The pork belly was smoky, sweet, tender, and has a crispy skin. You can pull it apart with just your fork! This was one of those dish that when you take your first bite, it is so good that you will roll your eyes to the back of your head, and let out a tiny moan, much like another feeling that people experience sometimes, well except the moan part might not be tiny. :P

Top: Beef fillet and Kobe short rib

A very juicy piece of steak and the short rib was extremely tender as you would expect from a Kobe class beef. The only part that I was disappointed was that the short rib was so small. Somehow I expected it to be larger and to be more of the main part of the dish, rather than an accompaniment to the fillet, but then.... the beef fillet is listed first on the menu, isn't it?

Bottom: Honey and soy roasted quail, sautéed foie gras with pear chutney

Not to say that this dish was not good, but I wish I had the pork belly as my last dish. It was very tasty and well cooked, but I guess I was expecting something more refined from a fine dining restaurant. The quail was a little bit on the dry side and the sauce was quite heavy. I did enjoy the sauteed foie gras very much though, it was one of the best that I ever had. (My favorite is from La Foret in San Jose, CA)

My favorite part of the meal has come: DESSERT! This is part one of the two desserts that comes with the tasting menu. It is a olive oil gelato with confit Meyer lemon and basil gelée and sable breton on the bottom. I have never had olive oil gelato before so this was an experience; the gelato was light with a little nutty and grassy taste, and the gelee really adds something to the overall taste.

The last two course of desserts.

Top: Pineapple soufflé with Thai curry ice cream.

So the server brings the souffle and right afterwards they plop this little ball of Thai curry ice cream in the middle of the souffle. I've had plenty of souffles before, but never had one with this flavor before. The souffle was cooked very well, no complaints with the texture, however, the flavor just was not to our taste, and to be honest, I could not taste the pineapple flavor because it was either too subtle or it was being overpowered by the curry flavor.

Bottom: Rose water sabayon, mandarin orange four ways and cinnamon ice cream

I knew I wanted this dessert before I made reservation, and it did not disappoint. The rose water sabayon was a delightful treat, and I especially loved the mandarin orange sorbet on the bottom, it was sweet, sour and refreshing. If you have read my previous post on Vivoli Cafe then you would understand what I mean when I say after I finished this dessert, my dish looked like my gnocchi dish.

Overall, I am very pleased with my experience at Gordon Ramsey at the London. I know some people commented on how small the portions are and they are like tapas style, but in my opinion, I think the portion is comparable with other fine dining restaurants; I have been to other restaurants that serves even smaller portions. One in particular comes to mind is Chez TJ in Mountain View, CA, which has a two star Michilin star rating, and after twelve courses of food, we were still hungry and we paid more money. At least in Gordon's restaurant, we left with our tummy full and content. This restaurant is definitely on our return list, and we might stay at the hotel next time, too.

4th of July L.A. trip - a few destinations

2008-07-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

Anyone who is a Heroes fan would recognize this orange/red sculpture that's located at "Kirby Plaza" which is actually Arco Plaza in downtown Los Angeles. It was also shown in Rush Hour 3 and Fun with Dick and Jane. I was surprised to find that it is actually quite smaller than I thought it was; I guess cameras do add quite a few pounds, huh?

A nice view of the library tower in the back ground.

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Inside of the concert hall, this is as far as I could go.
After climbing three flight of stairs (felt like 6) and walked over a wedding party on the third floor, we found this really unique fountain.

Someone made a neat sculpture on the beach next to Santa Monica Pier. I don't know what Burn Notice is, but I think I will check it out.

View from the Santa Monica Farris wheel

4th of July L.A. trip - Vivoli Cafe

2008-07-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

For me, a trip to Los Angeles would not be complete without a visit (or two, maybe three) to Vivoli Cafe. This hidden gem located just off the Sunset strip, right across the street from the Crunch gym has the best Italian food I have ever had, and has propelled almost to the top of my favorite restaurants list after my initial visit 2 years ago. I would drive 400 miles to L.A. just for that restaurant, that's how much I love dining there.

I have this free bread test, and my theory is if the restaurant puts in a lot of effort to make a tasty bread that they give out for free, then most likely their food will be pretty good. It doesn't always work, but in this case, my theory was dead on. Vivoli cafe actually serves fresh baked focaccia bread with a minced olive and parsley dip. It is so tasty that most of the time I would fill myself up with the free bread before my main course comes.

Since my boyfriend and I have been here a few times now, we decided to order a few staple dishes and try out a few new items. We started out with their calamari fritti and Prosciutto di Parma e Mozzarella.

The calamari was perfectly cooked! Unlike some restaurant that has a heavy breading, the calamari here has an air light crisp exterior, and the calamari itself is still tender and is perfectly seasoned. It comes with their homemade marinara sauce that is actually warm.

Our next appetizer was the prosciutto with fresh mozzarella with fresh basil on top, sitting on top of a bed of mixed green. I took a slice of prosciutto, wrapped it around the cheese and took a bite. Oh wow.... What a great way to start our lunch! The saltiness from the thin sliced prosciutto, the light, creamy fresh mozzarella cheese, and the freshness from the basil balanced each other out so well. It was so tasty, and I'm ready for my next dish now....

The pastas at this cute little establishment is definitely their strong suit. I have sampled quite a few different pasta dishes here and each and every one of them were terrific!

My absolute favorite is the gnocchi and is a must have when I come here. Vivoli Cafe really spoiled me; I always stayed away from gnocchi because my boyfriend told me they are not that great, he has had it in several restaurants and non of them was to his liking, and this is coming from a guy whose favorite vegetable is potatoes. Against "his" better judgement, I still ordered the gnocchi upon our first visit. I couldn't help it cause the table next to us ordered it and they look so so SO happy! I wanted to know why I'm seeing the deli scene in "When Harry met Sally" again, well... maybe it wasn't that good, but you get my point.

My gnocchi came, I took a bite, and my oh my, if you can taste happiness this is what it must taste like. They are like little pillows of heaven; so soft, so fluffy, so light that they almost melt in your mouth! All my worries in the world have gone away with every bite I take. Ever since that first time, I have been on the search for a restaurant that makes gnocchi like Vivoli Cafe, and so far all the ones that I had were disappointments. The only other gnocchi that I liked was from Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bistro, but it was not a potato gnocchi so I can't really compare the two together.

And to show you how much I love their gnocchi, here is my dish after I was done eating. I wiped it clean! If I was not in public, I would probably pick up the bowl and lick it, that's how good it was!

In my opinion, a successful restaurant not only needs to whip out good food, but they should also provide excellent service; and there were a few occasions where we enjoyed the food but have not returned to the restaurant because of the lack of service they provided. At Vivoli Cafe, the service definitely matched the food. All of the servers I had seems like they are Italian and are either part of the family or is friends with the owner. They are so friendly and every time they come to check up on us, it feels like they are genuinely concern if we like our food and want to make our dining experience the best they can.

I love this restaurant, but I am not so high on their food to say they do not have their down side. First of all, they are hidden away in this little plaza on Sunset, and if you don't look for it, you can easily miss it two or three times, like us. Second, you need to valet park your car. The restaurant did not set up this valet, though, somehow if you're visiting any of the stores in this tiny plaza, someone will valet park your vehicle. It doesn't really make any sense to me, but oh well..... Lastly, the restaurant itself is really small. So far we have not had a problem getting a table, but during busy nights it is possible that you are so close to your neighbors that you can grab food off their plates.

Vivoli Cafe is a friendly place that cooks up authentic Italian food that will make your taste buds jump for joy. It might not be a place for everyone, but for me, I would drive 400 miles just for another taste of their food any day, especially for the gnocchi!

4th of July L.A. trip - Portofino Inn

2008-07-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend and I are spontaneous travelers. We tend to make our decision to take a trip, whether it is big or small, on the last minute; the most amount of planning we, er... I mean, I have done for us was when we went vacationing in Beijing earlier this year. So last weekend was no different; we have already decided that since we did a fair amount of traveling this year, we were going to do a staycation. However, on Thursday afternoon when I was able to get us a reservation at Gordon Ramsey at the London in Los Angeles, the decision was made for us, we're going to L.A.!

A quick packing during lunch break, a snap decision on a place to stay, and when the clock hit 4:30pm, Beep! Beep! We were on the road. Traffic was expected, but it was not too bad and we arrived in Burbank, CA in 6 hours.

Let's talk lodging first. I booked the Portofino Inn because of all the great reviews that I read on hotels.com. The price was right for $129.00/night and it is centrally located in Burbank. When we arrived at the place I got worried for a moment cause it looks like a regular motel.

However, the saying of "You can't judge a book by its cover" definitely describes this place. It has a Motel 6 outside and a Marriot inside. The room was spacious with a firm but comfy King size bed. A granite sink top and bathroom, or at least it looks like granite. Instead of a regular TV that you would expect in a motel/inn, you get an LCD flat screen TV that is mounted onto the wall with premium channels; and of course the microwave and mini fridge makes it easy for us to bring back leftovers to satisfy our midnight munchie craving.

As much as I enjoyed my stay there, there were a few drawbacks though. The toilet seems to be leaking a little bit in our room, or my boyfriend just had really bad aim, but he also stepped in some mystery fluids and I don't have the aim issue. :)

The remote for the TV stopped working on the second day, so we had to call the front desk and get someone to switch it out for us. And by the third day I had to bring our room keys to the front desk cause we couldn't get into our rooms and somehow the battery for the smoke detector was missing.

Overall, the pros still outweigh the cons and I would definitely recommend Portofino Inn to anyone who would like a place to stay that is centrally located, clean and comfy, with a good price.

Next up...... my favorite Italian restaurant, Vivoli Cafe, one of L.A.'s best hidden secret, and I mean hidden!

Luck or Karma?

2008-07-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of you believe in either luck or karma, or maybe you're like me, who grew up in a culture where your parents and teachers keep telling you "if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you; if you do good things, good fortune will find you," which makes it hard not to believe in karma. I know logically it does not make any sense, but I do believe in both.

So here's the deal: before the 4th of July weekend I offered a few people a sample of my new item as a thank you for helping me out in the forums. My boyfriend and I then took an impromptu 4th of July trip down to L.A. (more on that later) and I took a break from Etsy and did not come online till Monday.

Next thing you know, I made a sale! I then message another etsy member back and forth a few times and she purchased 4 of my items!!! I also got 12 people hearted my shop the same day... hmmm... what is going on? I did a little investigation and it turns out my Kusudama origami ornament ball was featured on the front page. How cool is that!!! I didn't even get to see it. :(

Luck or Karma? Earl will definitely say it's karma; I made a nice gesture and in return these nice things happened. I could just be lucky though, either way, I'm pretty happy!

To all the etsy sellers that are feeling down right now, keep your chin up, be persistent, keep creating what you love and that day will come for you when you'll feel that it is all worth it! ^_^

Etsy

2008-06-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

If you're someone that likes to buy unique, one of a kind, handmade items; or you're just tired of buying mass produced products from companies like Wal-Mart, then Etsy.com is a site that you must check out.

I found out about Etsy late last year when I searched "handmade" on google, and the first site that popped up was exactly what I was looking for. It was love at first click! I was just amazed at how many talented people are on Etsy, offering their quality handmade product, and from time to time I would just find some items that are simply amazing! I don't know how I did it, but I'm very proud of myself that I haven't blew our rent money on all the things that I want to buy.

So after months of browsing through this amazing site, I decided that I will open shop and introduce the silk wrapped flowers I make to the world of etsy.

My boyfriend was the one that came up with the name "It Really Adds Something!" after he jokingly said that the gold tinsel that I use in my flowers "really adds something". Ever since then, if we see or eat something that compliments the other thing, like when we have calamari and the sauce makes it better, we would go "it really adds something!" and burst into laughter like two stupid, silly teenagers, only we're grown ups now, so sometimes we get some strange looks from people around us (you might have been one of them ^_^ ).

Other than the silk thread wrapped flowers, I am also slowly adding on other items in my shop as I go through creative phases or as I call it, creator's block from time to time; when I'm a little burned out on making one type of item, I'll switch to one of the other things that I like to make and give myself a little brake while still crafting. As of right now, I'm in my origami phase, and the origami ball ornament to the left is a current favorite in my store.

So if any of this sounds interesting to you, come check out Etsy.com and my shop . I'm sure you'll find a lot great things on Etsy that you'll like, and you might just join in on the handmade craze.

Up and Running!

2008-06-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

After months of contemplating, discussing, and putting off creating my own blog (mainly due to laziness), I finally pulled the trigger and made myself sign up for an account. Yay!

I named my blog after my online etsy store: www.itreallyaddsomething.etsy.com , however, it will be more than just a venue for me to display my creations. In fact, I will probably write more about my traveling experience, the weekly restaurant visits we do, things that intrigues me...etc; and that is one of the reason why I love the shop name that I picked so much, it can be used and applied to so many different things and situations.

So that's the plan for now, we shall await and see how well this blog turns out.