Best Camera EVER!

Everyone's talking about the new iPhone (including the husband), but not me... I've been talking about the Canon S90 since April. Yeah, I'm different, mainly because I'm still not completely bought into this whole Apple gimmick, at least not yet.

My devious husband (after living with me for half a year, he's learned from the best) decided to leave me a pleasant surprise while he's enjoying his weekend in Sin City. After five clues which left me scrambling around the house trying to figure out where the next clue is, I finally figured everything out and was led to a box of molten chocolate cake. And inside... was THE camera I've been talking about forever!

We have been using a Canon SD300 for a while, so you have no idea how great this new camera is for me! Thank you hubby, you're the best!

Weekly Menu

On Saturday night, before the weekly (at least first half of the week) menu is "printed" on my cute pig stationary, I like to peruse through cook books around the house and menus I've grabbed from random restaurants to think about what our upcoming week's dinner is going to be. It's fun to have a strictly Asian meal, a strictly American meal and a random fusion (what exactly is fusion?) mix for other days of the week. Fancy restaurants like Parcel 104 has a different menu every day, so I figured... why not? It'll be fun to experiment as well.

Since summer has arrived, and Bible study, as well as other random things are on a break, it means that I have more time to experiment with a more lengthy assortment of recipes which I never had time to do before summer was here. So for this week...



MONDAY - the "All American" meal! Clam linguine + baked chicken thighs with potatoes and carrots (Monday's the start of a brand new week and I usually like to start with an American meal since it's easier to prepare and doesn't make as much of a mess.)



TUESDAY - the Chinese meal! Steamed fish (which the husband has perfected) + duck (this is a cheating dish since we bought it from Won Kee) + tomatoes and egg



WEDNESDAY - two types of salmon (Yoshinoya marinated + "special" baked salmon) + bok choy (This was taken out of William Sonoma's Weeknight Meals but tweeted a little to my own liking.)

THURSDAY - we took a break on Thursday and went out to eat.



FRIDAY - By the end of the week, whatever's left is usually thrown together... what started out as a Pad Sieu fusion turned out to be more of a Mongolian BBQ dish, oh well.

The husband and I like to rate our dishes so we can repeat the good ones and serve it to our guests. Since there's more free time over the summer, perhaps you'll get served next!

There's No Point in Leaving

We have decided that there's really no point in leaving Mountain View. Within a ten mile radius is Palo Alto and Sunnyvale (in opposite directions), it's 11 miles away from SJC and 23 miles away from SFO. Besides not having a Korean market and patbingsoo (even though those two kind of go hand-in-hand), Mountain View has everything (and more!) that we could ever ask for!

FOOD: hello Castro Street!

Our favorites:

- Maruichi (ramen... Santouka would've been our favorite, but it's outside our 10 mile radius).

- HK Bistro (HK style food.... favorite = pork chop over rice, Top Cafe is a bit better, but we're going for closeness here).

- Verde (hands down, best pudding milk tea ever!)

- Maldonaldo's (pizza with a plentiful of toppings, and if you get lucky, you can even find coupons in the weekly ValuPak!) *not on Castro

- Rincon Sabroso (hands down, best tacos EVER! Even better than Mexico... if you walk inside this hole-in-the-wall, can't even see it when you drive by Rengstorff, it'll look like you were inside a Mexican kitchen anyway) *not on Castro

- Donut Field (best pupusas in Mountain View... oh! They also sell donuts... random...) *not on Castro

- Pho Garden (home of the Pho Challenge, originally in SF... not only do they have pho, but their garlic noodle dishes are quite superb as well)

- Clarke's (charbroiled burgers... grease = mmmMmmm good in the neighborhood!) *not on Castro

NATURE: Rancho San Antonio, Shoreline Park (and also Shoreline dog park for little Dot to go)

MARKETS: Target, Walmart (even though I'm against it), Daiso, Trader Joe's, Safeway, Luckys, Nijiwa, Walgreens, Milk Pail (my favorite!) and yeah... the list goes on!

FITNESS CENTERS: 24 Sport and 24 Supersport... and yes, they are in the same plaza...

There's really no reason to leave Mountain View...

All-Chinese vs All-American meal

What constitutes as being a Chinese-American? Simple... dinner with a very traditional Cantonese dish of steamed fish with ginger, green onions and soy sauce (you will be surprised who made this)...

... and a hearty American breakfast of toasted wheat bread, hash browns, hot links and eggs.

If this ain't multi-cultural, I don't know what is. We're still eating good at home.

Dinner on a Budget

can of creamed corn = $0.49

5 pack of pork chops = $5.00

pack of zucchinis(3) = $1.15

rice = let's just say it's free

TOTAL = $7.00 (for 2... with leftovers)

dinner per person = $3.50

btw, Dan's specialty = pork tonkatsu

Double Trouble

We had always entertained the idea of getting another small dog, for the sake of Dot, so that she will have some companionship while we're at work. This weekend, we decided to take my brother's dog for a while and see how things go. It's only been one day... but we have already decided that one dog is enough for us. In one day, we experienced double the trouble, double the whining, double the poo... double the trouble! No thank you...

At first glance, these two (small) dogs seem quite innocent, right? (Note: this picture was taken when I got home, after cleaning up a piece of poo, pee stains around a certain area and a chewed up candy wrapper... I'm sure they were both beat)

We had thought about getting another dog so Dot can be more social and have a playmate... but after capturing this on camera (and other roughhousing on video), I don't know if we can handle two dogs anymore.

In the end, we both decided that our home and our sanity can only tolerate one little creature. You win, Dot! You don't have to share your parents and your bed and your toys with anyone anymore, just please be more social and act more like a dog instead of a scaredy cat!

Sick Days

It looks like another bug is coming around and a lot of people are catching it. One of them being someone in this household. Well, no worries... just because you're sick doesn't mean everything's going to be yucky and bland. And that, my friends, is another reason why everyone should get married. When you're not feeling so good, someone will be there to cook you some comfort get-well-soon food.

udon soup with bok choy and duck (duck courtesy of Won Kee)

thousand year old egg and lean pork congee with duck sandwich

Well, thank goodness the sickness bug is coming to an end. It's tiring running a one-man household!