Dream Machine

When we went to Wonder Con earlier this year, we received a grab bag full of t-shirts. When we both pulled out this shirt (look to your right), we had no idea what this was. Dan washed his shirt because he thought it looked cool and the shirt felt cool, and I told him he can eventually eBay mine for a few bucks.

Now, fast forward to now... after watching Inception (good movie, you should go and watch it if you haven't done so already), we realized that the shirt we had was actually a limited edition Inception shirt. AHHH!!! Also, after watching the movie, we realized that the little top we both threw away was the one and only totem! Looking at eBay now, the shirt is going for at least $20 (we're selling our XL shirt as we speak)! Maybe we should hold on to the shirt even longer for a greater profit...

Lesson learned - hold on to shirts you get at these places because you never know what movie may pop up at a theater near you in the summer.

Taking It Back Old School

Technology is all around us, and as each day goes by, it gets even more and more advanced. Example: a decade ago, who would've thought you could carry your own computer around in the palm of your hand (iPhone).

While people are using technology to Photoshop (which I am not against) amongst other things, I have decided to bring back something old school - scrapbooking. Sure, I can easily make a virtual scrapbook online (that would definitely save time), there's something nostalgic and personally satisfying with spending hours working on different events, collecting pictures and designing a page.

This scrapbooking business started up again once I put together our wedding table scrapbook which consisted of our table number sign, a picture of the people at that table and the various congratulatory cards people gave us (yes, I did rip your cards up). Like Pringles, "once you pop you just can't stop", I decided to make use of all the random pictures I've taken after we got married and decided I will document every single year via scrapbooking. Each year will have it's own scrapbook, so 20 years down the line, I will have to find a place to place 20 of those scrapbooks.

Twenty years from now, when I no longer get mistakened for a high school kid, how awesome would it be to showcase how much weight I've gained since I got married and everything to our kids? Plus I can also live my side life as an "All-American" wife... scrapbooking.. even when technology is at it's finest and still growing.

(Now, how does this hobby benefit Dan? While I'm scrapbooking at night, he gets to play video games and watch movies. Talk about not losing your independence, huh?)

San Diego

No, we did not go down because of Comic Con (I guess after you get married, you have to give up some things). This was a nice short weekend trip to support my brother during his Bodybuilding Competition and eat lots of good food!

a part of Balboa Park (this is SD's version of Golden Gate Park... except I think it's a little better because of the ample parking throughout the entire park). While walking around, we must've stumbled upon 5 different groups of people taking wedding shots that day. Crazy!

Every So-Cal trip results in Chik Fil-A... I love you spicy chicken sandwich!

Family breakfast @ Hash House

Other recommendations to eat in San Diego: Phil's BBQ (be prepared for the long wait, but it's well worth it!), Extraordinary Desserts (good place for an after dinner date, or in our case, just-got-off-the-airplane date) and Cotixan (California burritos).

6

Has it already been 6 months of marriage? Time sure flies...

The only real drastic change is that D is now wearing pink clothes and E got chubbier. Other than that, nothing real interesting to talk about.

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...