Leap Leap!!!

Another night of F&F!

After a wonderful night of F&F (Friends and Feast) last night, we are gonna have another F&F tonight!!!!

We were a little stuffed from last night, Mike declares today a day of F&F - "Fruits and Fast" :D hehehe

But before we go into this 1 day Fast, I will show you the stuff we had last night. :D

Pigs ears! :) I bought this at Ranch99 :) Pigs ears are fun to eat, it's soft outside while the cartilage of the ear makes a crunchy snack.







Ducks' tongue cooked in Chinese wine and hot pepper sauce. Very easy to make.








Stuffed egg plants









Beef Stew, tendon and daikon :)







It's a waste of my relaxing day to describe every little dish of the feast. :D So this is a picture of the foods we had last night. :D







After dinner, we had our "Weird Light Night©" fun and game! :) It's really fun! :)

Dave here is setting up the weird lights.. :D












We played some fun board games after dinner. :) It was quite interesting even though I didn't win :D

Night of Friends and Feasts!

Lunch is ready! :)
Just Wonton Soup today.

How to make?
You need, wonton wraps from the grocery shop
I made the wontons with Chives today. But you can use just any green Chinese Veggies
Ground pork



Tonight's Menu:

Baked Quail with Blueberries
Baked sea bass with black pepper
Drunken Ducks' Tongues
Beef Stew and Tendons cooked in Chinese 'Lo Sui' Marinate with Daikon
Slow cooked Pigs Ears
Stuffed mushrooms and eggplants with fish and shrimp pastes
Tickle's Special Baked Chicken
Stir Fry Greens of the day.
Random Fried Rice
Won ton soup

Trolley full of stuffs!

It was such a lovely day yesterday, the rain had finally stopped. I went out for a leisurely stroll in the morning.
Took lots of pictures of flowers and squirrels too. I caught this bee buzzing around getting nectars from flowers. Although I am quite scared of insects, I just cannot pass this opportunity to snap this shot.

Mike didn't come home for lunch, so my day wasn't very exciting. But in the evening, he came home and dropped me off at Ranch99 to buy groceries for tonight.

We invited a few of his friends to come over to suffer my cooking again... :D I bought a trolley full of stuffs.

Then we came home and I cooked a simple dinner of steamed chicken and fruits salads.

It's really simple to make, just steam it for 1/2 hour and sprinkle a little Chinese wine on it. I also prepared a green onion and ginger dip for the chicken too. It's our traditional way of eating steamed chicken in Hong Kong. :D

Dancing with the Stars

Dance!!!!



And a bonus feature!



Yet another bonus video! :D

Happy Birthday, Viv! :)

25th Feb 2008, USA time!! :D hahahaha

It's good thing I am in USA right now, because our 25th has just started. :D My best friend in Hong Kong had already had her birthday yesterday's today.... :D hahaha.. :D I am trying to confuse my readers with this time zone thing! :D

Anyways... Happy belated birthday to Vivian, my best friend since the age of 14 or so? :D hehe

p.s. Thanks to my other best friend, Sonia, who reminded me today is the 25th and Vivian just finished having her birthday yesterday's today. :D Great teamwork there girlfriend! :D

Relaxing Sunday

It's so nice to wake up at around 10am today. :D I think I caught a chill in San Francisco, so last night I took some cold relieving drinks and slept the whole night without waking up.

This morning, we had a banana and chicken kidney brunch :D It was quite good.

For lunch, originally I wanted some wonton soup at a Chinese restaurant just close by... but it seems that store is now closed for good. Oh well.. so we came home and I improvised with the ground pork we have at home and made a 'meat ball and egg drop' soup. :D It's simple but it warms me up.

Dinner is gonna be simple too.... I hope..... :D



I just fixed up the video of passing the golden gate bridge yesterday. :D Enjoy :D

San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade

.... It was so cold and rainy on Saturday (23Feb), we ended up didn't go see the Parade live. :) But it's okay, I was compensated by spending a nice afternoon with my best friend, Liza and her adorable son, Colin. :) He's so cute soooo sooooo cute! :D

Mike and I brought lots of seafood to her house so I can cook her a feast. I think being a new mother is tough and I'd like to make her some of my specialties. :)

The Menu:

My cooking: Ginger and spring onion crabs, spicy drunken clams, steamed tilapia and garlic green pea sprouts stirfry.

Liza's cooking: Pan seared salmon with sweet and spicy sauce, and Oyster Tempura.

Dessert: steamed milk and steamed eggs. :D

Entertainment: Wii

Seafood feast was so good :D I love the seafood here, very fresh! :) After this meal though, we have to clam down on the food. :D

Non Chocolate Sushi :D

When you heard of the name "chocolate sushi", what would you think of? :D Some delicious sheets of chocolate on cute little bundle of rice? or is it some tasty chunk of raw fish on a block of chocolate?

You will find yourself disappointed if you were looking for the above delicacies because none of such items were served at the restaurant. However, one can compare their foods as good as a bite of rich dark chocolate. The atmosphere of the restaurant is hip and modern with most of the servers young and energetic.

We were first served with our choice of drinks. Mike ordered this "mo mojito" while I ordered my "sex on the beach". :D

Both drinks are delicious, but I think i like my sex on the beach better. :)


When we were presented with the menu, we were wow'ed by the prettiness of some of the dishes. :D Although we ordered mostly normal sushis, we couldn't resist ordering some special rolls such as this 'sakura roll'.
The sakura roll was made with salmon, tuna, crab meat and wrapped with sheets of cucumber instead of rice. It was truly a low-carber's favorite!

The general sushi here are very good too. The fish on the rice is bigger than usual. We had unagi, saba, hamachi, ikura roe and salmon. It was so mouth wateringly good!









The portion was just right and we were satisfied. Now I know why this restaurant would deem itself 'chocolate sushi' because their sushi are so good, it can even satisfy people with a chocolate craving.

After dinner, we head out to see the Spiderwick Chronicles afterwards.
The movie was a fun fantasy adventure. I enjoy the story very much. How can a girl not enjoy a movie with cute little faeries in it? :) To top it off, this movie's CGIs are powered by Linux, which means it also got my boyfriend's seal of approval. :)

TGIF! :D

Wow.. time flies. Friday comes just like a blink of an eye. It's been raining every morning since i came here, but fortunately, it will stop in the afternoon.
The temperature is so nice here i usually just leave the patio door open throughout the day. The air is so fresh compare to Hong Kong's.

I love Mike's poached egg pot! :D it's most convenient! poached eggs are like soft boiled eggs, except it's moister and softer! :D I just love it.

I made a cute little presentation with the poached egg breakfast for Mike today. :) Isn't it cute? :D


Lunch is Sesame shredded chicken with cucumber and carrot salad. <<香麻手絲雞>> :)








I just rotated a video which shows the plane i rode on dived into the clouds before landing. :)

Happy Chinese Lovers' Day. :) 元宵節

This morning when I was cooking lunch, I found this 'connected strawberry' (連心strawberry :D). It fits the occasion because today is the Chinese Valentine's Day. :)

The Chinese Valentine's day happens on the 15th of Luna January. There are many legends associated with this festival. One of my favorites is about the unwed girls in ancient time were allowed to come to the fair on that day and watch the lantern shows. (In ancient Chinese culture, unmarried girls are not suppose to come out on the street unless they are not decent in morality). Most often, these legends involves girls meet boys, boys meet girls on that day. Very romantic in a Chinese kinda way.

Today's Menu:

Lunch

Baked Tilapia with onion and Tomatoes
Avocado, mango and strawberry salad

Dinner

Roasted baby beef ribs in black pepper sauce
Avocado Mango and Strawberry salad (Mike likes it so much we have to have a repeat :D)
Chinese Starfish and mushroom soup

Shopping Spree!

Turns out 4 hours is more than enough time for shopping if one did some planning first. :D Such as study the map of the mall to map out your most efficient route to your favorite merchants! :D

I had Mike dropped me off at the Caltrain at around 9am. From Sunnyvale to Hillsdale only takes about 30 minutes, so I intensionally skipped a train there.

First I went to barns and nobles to check out some books. Nothing interests me today. :D Then, just a few step away is the Old Navy Store. One of my favorites. Bought a pair of pink shoes there and a white browse. I think it's too early when i got there, most of the store clerks are too busy to help me. :D But I think I like it better that way anyhow. :) Surprising find at old navy: $2.99 Pajamas :D warm and fussy.


Next stop, J Jill. nothing too surprising. I end up buying a puffy trench coat and 2 'compassion T-shirts'. I think I am gonna return the trench coat though, coz i find a better one at Torrid later.

Coach!! My friend Vivian asked me to go in there to help her buy a handbag!! :D If it weren't for this mission, I wouldn't go in that shop!! I end up buying a little 'wristlet' (I believe that's what the Coach sales calls it).









Vivian's requested bag & My wristlet :D

Next stop, "Torrid" :D Lots of great shiny things!! :D

Waking up too early!

I had a good sleep last night! :D Somehow, I woke up at 5am-ish :D Since I am quite squirmy when I am awake in bed, I just got up so not to wake by boyfriend. :D

I think I am gonna go out after lunch to do a little bit of shopping. My best friend Vivian sent me on a mission to find her this coach bag :D

I wonder if 4 hours are enough for shopping? :D

Relaxing is so Relaxing :D

Breakfast was pouched eggs! Mike's mom got him a little pouched egg pot. Very convenient! :D it's like a moist soft boiled egg. :D

I think I still suffer a little of Jet lag.. :D Stayed home all day due to the rain. :) But it's a relaxing day. Didn't have to cook lunch and dinner is just gonna be reheating the unagi. :D

I brought some DVD with me to watch, I watched Elizabeth: The Golden Age, today. I also enjoyed the special features too. :) I love biographical movies. I think I like the first Elizabeth movie better though. I guess Cate in the first one was fresher.

Hopefully, tomorrow's weather is better and I would go out and have a nice walk :D

Safely Landed :D

I must say Northwest airline is the best airline I had taken going to USA so far. Lots of leg rooms and seats are wider for my big butt. :D Although the food is mediocre, the good sleep I got during the flight is worth it.

SFO has an overcast today, I even get to take a video of the plane diving into the clouds! :D Pretty awesome.

I have to find a way to rotate my videos so I can embed it here. :)

Anyways.. After I landed, the first thing My boyfriend and I did was to meet up with my best friend to have dim sum. My little god son is so adorable. When you hold him in your arms, he would twist around and award trying to find out what's happening at his back. :D I bet he would make an awesome acrobat if he choose to. :D

Then we went to a Korean groceries store and bought some ox tails to make 'ox tail soup' for dinner as dim sum was quite hearty and kept us fullfilled the whole day. :D The soup was very good. Still plenty of left overs for tomorrow also. :D

Well.. It's getting towards bed time. :D zzzz

Come Fly With Me.. Let's fly let's fly away....

1st day of the journey! :)
I am at the Hong Kong Airport now enjoying its free Wi-fi! How wonderful! :D

My journey starts today at 5am. I called a taxi driver to pick me up this morning. He is quite good! I think i will recommend him to my friends. He is Mr. Kwong, 94520940. He asked me where I found him, I said, "hey you are a very popular guy on the internet. :D hehe"

My flight won't fly out until 8:45am which is still another 1.5 hours away. All the shoppes are just opening now. Maybe I will walk around some. :)

It's so nice to be able to update this blog as a travel :D hehe I kinda want to be a travel journalist... but well, the flying is boring.. :D It's the destination that matters. :D

Stay tuned...

無賴!!

2 days before flying out! :D

我今晚take佐个complaint call! 个賤人not even 係个卡主! 傍觀鶴係道呀gee呀george! 如果我嫁著个咁嘅老公真係前世吾收啦!!!!!

我雖然係个小女人, 但係如果个老公語無倫次, 9 吾搭 8, 我一定'門小' 佢上到天花板嘅!!! 呢D男人冇八十歲都吾好比飽飯佢食呀! 做老婆既, 點可以比个老公'降'住嫁!!! 要好似 Hilary 咁 治 呀 Bill!!! 做女人要有做女人嘅尊嚴丫嘛!!!!!

由於我男友應該吾明我在上面寫咩....

"Ron Paul for President 2008!"

:D

LaBean's Delight Delivery

I delivered the delicately steamed milk / eggs to my work for my colleagues. It was a great success! :D I think i am confident enough to make these for my boyfriend now. :D hahaha Using work people as 'guinea pigs' are great! :D

Counting Down..

Work last night was quite bad! :D I just kept hearing my name from my team members all night. Tickle this, Tickle that! :D How annoying!! I have never found my name so annoying before! :D I kept myself cool though by telling myself: "In 5 more days, I will be flying away from all these madness!"

Talking about flying away, turns out that 18th Feb is some kind of holiday in the USA (Presidents Day). So the original worry about my boyfriend not able to pick me up is vanished. :D We can even join my best friend and her husband for dim sum too! :P

Tomorrow is the V day! :) I saw a web page with funny valentine's day cards. :) Enjoy! :)

Farewell to a Familiar Face

Our security guard, Mr. Fook, down at the entrance just retired. He's 1 year older than my dad and he always emit a father figure type aura around him. Tonight is the first night when i have to punch in the security PIN to get into the building. Mr Fook had been with us for more than 3 years. Every night when I get off work, I would linger a few minutes and chat with him. He has become a good friend and a warm welcome after a day of hard work.

I remembered he told me he loved to eat ice cream during winter because the ice cream won't melt so easily. So, on the last night of Mr Fook's duty, I bought him a little cup of ice cream. I bid him farewell and wished him well in his retirement. We both got a little teary eyes that night :D

We now have a new security guard, a young lady, but she doesn't smile, doesn't greet, doesn't open door for me. It makes this cold winter night even colder.

Family Invasion!

08 Feb, 2008. 2nd day of the year of the rats.

Traditionally, it's a day of union of the family. So we had invited a few of our closest clan members for dinner.

I must give a big hand to my mom, she truly is an 'Iron Chef'. She has been in the kitchen cooking all day.

Suddenly, I feel like singing that " 世上只有媽媽好" song. (In this world, mother is the best).

The kitchen was quite messy :D But this is what a real kitchen is like. I bet if i tidy it up for mom, she won't be able to find her things to cook for us a hearty celebration meal! :)

Here are the some of the foods my mom made.

Steamed chicken, big pot of fortune and luck (橫財就手), curry chicken and oyster and sea weed congee which in chinese sounds like fortune and fulfillment (發財富足). :)


After dinner, it's even good time for the firework show on TV. Every year, we get to have a big firework show on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year. Boom Boom Boom! :) Very exciting.

This year's new year gathering was only a small one. Most of the Elders in the Clan went to China so we didn't get to spend new year together. But smaller means less dishes to do, which is not at all a bad thing! :)

Oh! At the end of the dinner, I went and took a daily picture of the peach blossom's tree and surprisingly noticed that it has a twin trunk! (連理枝) which is a symbol of love and romance. :)


There's a Chinese poem by －白居易, 《長恨歌》 :

在天願作比翼鳥
在地願為連理枝
天長地久有時盡
此恨綿綿無絕期

It means the lovers wish to fly as birds together in the sky with their wings touching each others. On land, they wish to be the twin trunk which grows attached. Although the world of the living is bounded by the hands of time, their love survives eternity.

How romantic and touching.

Heh! Made me feel warm and fussy inside. :D



Disclaimer: In the process of this invasion, no family member of the LaBean Clan has been hurt in any way. No clan member's pictures are published to protect the identity of the innocence.
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Steamed Milk & Egg

Ohhh so smooth! Don't you want to make this?

Since steamed milk takes the egg whites while steamed eggs takes the yoke, I figured i will just make them both in 1 cooking session.

So here's how to make it:

Ingredients for 6 small bowls or 3 big bowls! :P
- 4 whole eggs
- sugar (depends on your taste. I don't like it too sweet, so i used 5 little packet of sugar you can get at coffee shops :P)
- Oh Milk! Almost forgot the milk. You need 660gram of milk.

Now let's prepare for the steamed milk first.
you need 440g. of milk
3 egg whites + 1 yoke
3-4 pack of sugar

First, whip the egg white and yoke with the sugar until they mixed up. No need to make it like a buffy cream.
Then add the mixture to the milk and stir lightly.
Pour the mixture into bowls (4 small bowls or 2 big bowls) with a strainer to filter out the weird solidy stuff of the egg or any large grained sugar that didn't melt in the milk.

Cover the bowls with a tin foil.
First steam for 5 minutes in high heat.
Turn off the heat and let it rest for about 1 to 2 minutes
Reheat the mixtures for another 3 minutes.

DONE! :P

For the steamed eggs, using the same procedure, with the remaining ingredients (namely the 1 egg white and 3 egg yokes, 1-2 packets of sugar and 220g of milk)

This way, you don't waste any of the eggs and you get 2 desserts in 1 session! :)

Well that's a wrap. We have family and guest over for new year dinner tonight. Stay tuned for the edition of "Family Invasion".