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!

Eating Good In Our Home

Okay, so maybe it's not as catchy as Applebee's "eating good in the neighborhood", but whatever. In an attempt to save time and money, we decided to go grocery shopping on the weekend and plan out everything we're cooking for the week that we're eating in. We also believe in an equal opportunity household, so this week, Dan got a chance to cook a man's meal!

MONDAY ("Hong Kong" style baked pork chops)

WEDNESDAY (rib eye with baked potato and broccoli)

THURSDAY (healthy Chinese style bibimbap with light saber chopsticks)

Mexican Night!

Dinner & lunch with carnitas! Ole!

I've been posting a few pictures here and there about what a "regular" dinner is at the S residence. Dan has little or no exposure with his cooking, so here goes! This is by far my favorite meal made by my husband. I would like to thank the pressure cooker we got from our wedding and you, pig... for your delicious pork shoulder which later turned into Dan's first attempt at carnitas. We had carnitas nachos (still a work in process with the nachos) and carnitas tacos last night (test trial #1) and it turned out great!

Cinco de Mayo, we're ready for you!