curlsjang

Flowers make my day!

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 01:18:12 GMT

Isn't it amazing how a bunch of flowers can easily brighten up an otherwise boring day? Got these at Pike Place Market when we were there on Sunday.

Got

Rats!

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 05:54:28 GMT

Just had a yummy dinner at Spazzo and watched Ratatoullie. Came home and read this. Yucks!

Mice from floods make way to China's eateries

Guangzhou vendors take advantage of mice population boom in flood-hit Hunan

A DELICACY?: Mice are seen as a delicacy by some and believed to be nutritious.

Beijing - MICE are back on the menu in southern China for the first time since the Sars outbreak as unscrupulous merchants cash in on an explosion in their population in the flood-hit province of Hunan.

Truckloads of field mice from Hunan were seen arriving in Guangzhou by night and the mice were being sold to an underground wild animal market in Baiyun district, reported the Guangzhou-based Information Times.

The newspaper said Guangzhou has become an underground distribution centre for the trade.

During the Sars epidemic, which began in southern China in 2003, the authorities banned the sale of many wild animals including mice amid fear that the deadly disease could be contracted from contaminated meat.

Although the scientific community is not in agreement over whether certain animals can spread the disease, vendors in China are no longer allowed to sell wild animals.

But Hunan province has been overrun by two billion field mice driven from their nests by floodwaters and many merchants spotted a business opportunity.

Mice dealers from Hunan reportedly told a reporter from Information Times that the mice were sold for between 40 and 50 yuan (S$8 to S$10) each.

The report said that before the floods in Hunan, mice were sold at most three times a week.

'Now, in one animal market alone, about 300kg of mice was sold every day,' the Post reported.

The meat could be found on restaurant menus in other cities in Guangdong, such as Shaoqing, Panyu, Nanhai and Dongguan.

Mice were traditionally regarded by many in Guangdong as a delicacy, according to the South China Morning Post. The meat is believed to be more nutritious than pork and chicken, and many locals believe it could boost one's sex drive.

Hong Kong-based Lo Wing Lok, a specialist in infectious diseases, told the Post: 'It is a superstition to believe it is good for your health.

'We should learn the lesson from the outbreak of Sars. The virus was confirmed as coming from civet cats and other wild animals, including mice.'

Sing Tao Daily reported that it could even be deadly to consume the animals as officials and residents in Hunan had used large amounts of pesticides to kill the mice.

Officials in Hunan, however, have denied the reports.

The rodents, whose natural habitats were submerged by the rising tide from heavy summer rains, had migrated in huge numbers to dry land.

Mr Zuo Shigeng, a local agricultural official, said a dry first half of the year before the recent summer deluge had given the rats space and time to multiply in epic proportions.

'It is the largest rat disaster the lakeside region has experienced in the last 10 years,' he told China Daily.

The annual flooding season killed more than 400 people and left at least 100 missing.

State media said some 10 million people have been affected by the rainstorms and that more rains are forecast in the coming days.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

Shopping bags

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 22:31:45 GMT

I have been going grocery shopping with my own cloth bags nowadays, these are regular-sized cheese cloth bags I used when I was traveling in Europe. They worked well then.

I realized how impractical these are for use here in the US. Coz everything here is over-sized. All you have to do is put a few items in them and they are full. I will need to get new ones. That Anya Hindemarch - This is not a plastic bag looks interesting but I will probably get some from Wholefoods since they donate the money to some environmental funds.

It is great to be able to recycle, reuse and repurpose stuff to help the environment. Yellowstone Park has recycling bins for our thrash but on our last day, we weren't able to find them so I took all our plastic and glass bottles home. Even though it compromised my legroom for the trip, knowing that I did a good deed puts a big smile on my face.

Are you doing your part for the environment?

I love Fridays.......

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 00:03:54 GMT

.............when everyone signs off their email with, "Have a great/good/wonderful weekend!"

My favorite day of the week is Thursday because it is almost Friday! What's your favorite day of the week and why?

Have a great weekend indeed!

Can hardly believe it

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 06:50:43 GMT

We are in Napa at the moment. I was thinking yesterday that the concierge here must be quite powerful and might be able to get us a reservation at The French Laundry. So I called them and told them we arrive today and if they could try to help us. They said they'll try and get back to us.

While checking in today, the general manager actually came out to greet us. Of course I brought up The French Laundry reservations. If there is anyone more powerful than the concierge, it would have to be the French GM. Suddenly, a 7.30pm slot opened up on Monday night, are we interested? Oh but that would mean that we will have to stay an extra night and get home one day later. Although I am reluctant to be on the road longer than expected, I know how impossible it is to get reservations at The French Laundry at the last minute. Reservations are taken exactly two months in advanced, on the dot when the phone lines open at 10am.

It's almost hard to believe that we are going there for dinner tomorrow night. And we are going shopping tomorrow coz jackets are required for men and dresses for women coz we definitely didn't think we could have been so lucky!

Overheard

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 16:13:12 GMT

We were still in bed this morning when I heard Francesca outside the door. She was trying to convince her dad that we were up and can play with her now.

Francesca: But they woke up really early the last time they were here.

We crawled out of bed and went to have breakfast with the girls before they headed to school. Last day of school and then spring break!

Unveiling Joe's new toy

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 06:26:30 GMT

So we flew into Oakland, CA this morning. Joe has been planning this for a really long time now. He bought himself a brand new toy, a Corvette coupe! I contributed a little but he has worked really hard and totally deserves this.

The Sales Manager carefully manoevering the car out of the showroom

I didn't know it would take so long to take delivery of a pre-ordered, customized car. We got into Oakland at 9.30am, the dealership screwed up a bit and only picked us up at 11am. We finally left the lot at 2pm after signing a bunch of paperwork and the sales manager going through the details of the car with Joe.

Since we were in Redwood City, decided to swing over to Milpitas (near San Jose) to meet j0s1e267 Thanks for the Taiwanese porridge and I am really sorry for breaking your sharpener. We'll call about our schedule on Saturday and see if we can meet up again. Joe's trying to get things installed in the car over the next few days before we embark on our drive home so we'll keep you posted.

Had a long night playing with the nieces, they were thrilled to see us. It's so nice to see the big smiles on their faces and have them run up to us to give us big hugs. We'll be able to spend more time with them when they get back from school tomorrow. On Saturday, they leave for Honolulu to visit my mother in law and family, it's spring break.

Antique stores

Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:08:13 GMT

While leaving Kirkland, we passed the Antique stores and thought we'll stop to check them out. It's always fun to walk around and look at all the different things people are trying to sell.

Well one person's junk can truly be another person's treasure.

Fashionista Saturday

Sat, 31 Mar 2007 20:43:56 GMT

It's been a long time since I woke up real early on weekends. Weekends are so precious! Today had to be an exception because it's the day of the Eastside Upside Down Sale! A group of boutiques in Kirkland banded together and decided to have a huge designer sale featuring Diane von Furstenberg, Juicy Couture, Nanette Lepore, Theory, True Religion, 7 for all Mankind, Paige Premium Denim Jeans, Trina Turk, Tory Burch and more. And shoes from Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, and other designers.

It's so rare to have these fashionista moments here in Seattle considering how comfort reigns supreme over looking good. With the constant rain, it's hard to take out suede shoes and purses or even think about ruining leather shoes in the wet weather.

Well I booked a haircut appointment for Joe (he gets his monthly haircut at a salon in Kirkland) and he dropped me off at the sale place 20 mins before it started and already a long line was snaking around the building. When we finally were allowed in, people just started going in all directions to the racks. Woah, it's been a long time since I have been to one of these. Wish my sista was here.

Clothes from Manhattan

70% area - all shoes. I didn't look too closely there, already got a bunch of cute shoes last weekend.

Loved this Saja silk dress, hand embroidery, beads and gorgeous rhinestones.
I bought the knee-length version.

Also ended up buying a pair of Paige Premium Denim Jeans. When mirrors are all blocked by fashionistas, here's when opinions of the other shoppers come in handy. We help by checking each other out and giving our comments.

Joe came by after his haircut and helped me hold on to my stuff while I continue looking. After we were done, went to the bead store and picked out more beads for my jewelry making attempts.

I got him Greek lamb gyros and Greek fried for lunch, they are the best - so yummy!

What a fun morning!

A walk around the neighborhood

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 01:36:14 GMT

My neighbor Jennifer and I decided to take a walk around our neighborhood with her dog, Missy since it's a slow Friday afternoon and we have not had a chance to catch up since I got back. I walked for about 10 mins before realizing that I didn't bring my camera. Bummer! I promise to remember it next time. This is a really nice area, I love the greenery, big old trees, a horse trail and yet we are super close to the town center and malls. Amazing.

New friends on LJ

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 01:26:02 GMT

I am so happy to have a bunch of expert bloggers in the office, I'm learning to post pics today. Well today is also my last day in the office, I have enjoyed the last five weeks tremendously. It's back home to Seattle next week. More to come............

Oh my gosh, what a week

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 23:38:48 GMT

I can't write too much right now except to let everyone know, we finally got our power back. We lost power after that huge windstorm on Thursday night and only got electricity this afternoon. It has been a most horrible experience, we have been hoping everyday to get our power back, hanging out with neighbors and at the mall and only come home at night to sleep on our couch in front of our fireplace. Last night we really couldn't bear the cold anymore (below 0 degrees celsius) and went over to sleep at Jerry's place. We called Puget Sound Energy and their estimate to restoring the power in our area was earliest Wed or Thursday or could go into the weekend. We thought about driving down to California earlier than our planned trip on Friday. You cannot imagine my joy when I called home again today (like I do countless times everyday) and heard the answering machine come on. Can't really describe the feeling. I will never take light and heat for granted again.

Now we have to clean out the fridge, do dishes, laundry and clean the house. Wow, what an nightmare, at least we are lucky no trees came down on us while many others are not so lucky, some people will definitely not get their power back before Christmas, which will put a damper on the holiday.......

To Hawaii tomorrow

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 06:48:20 GMT

Not feeling great today, might be the Indian food we had last night. Felt yucky all day long and had to finish up all my work and handed them over before the day was up. Joe, too worked really late to finish up some work and only got home at 11pm. Now we have to pack, the car service is coming at 6.45am to pick us up to go to the airport. I still haven't decided which dress to wear to the wedding so might have to bring three and decide when I get there. Hope I'll feel better soon and enjoy my vacation. We already planned, as usual upon landing, pick up the rental convertible and head straight to Leonard's Bakery for malasadas!!!! And then to lunch with MIL at Obak, my favorite Korean restaurant.

yummy dinner

Sun, 15 Oct 2006 03:51:42 GMT

My honey is home, I woke up so early to wait for the Lincoln to show up at our front door. Had really cool presents, mostly earrings coz I love earrings. Finally can stop eating healthy bland food and indulge in yummy food. I am so sick of my own cooking. Joe made me wasabi mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus and steak for dinner. It's getting really cold now, good thing we going to Hawaii in 6 days..........

Chocolate and tea party

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 06:12:35 GMT

Hosted my first party in our home. I had cleaned up our house in anticipation of Joe's return tomorrow. So I thought it would be a good opportunity to invite our neighbors, Jennifer and Jenna over for some tea and chocolates. We sit outside and watch their dogs run around most of the time while we chat. Had the idea when I was over at Jenna's the other day and she shared some of her newly-baked banana cake with me. Yummy! It's so fun to see how other people decorate their homes as we all have the exact same townhouse layout.

Anyway, we didn't have tea, I made a pot of Peets' Coffee instead and they loved it. I nuked some latte cookies and served it with chocolates and jelly beans. We sat around, talked about Jennifer's upcoming wedding, and they looked at our wedding photos. Oh did I mention that all three of our birthdays are in the last week of January, pretty amazing huh.

Jennifer said she'll have us over for latte with the new coffee machine she got at her wedding shower. Yay! Will have to do that when we get back from Hawaii. Good thing we'll be back in time for Halloween, the girls are going to go trick or treating!

The best thing of all, Joe will be home tomorrow morning, probably even before I wake up....... it's been a long fourteen days..............

2nd anniversary

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 06:58:38 GMT

Today marks our second wedding anniversary and Joe's not here with me. He did send me roses, so sweet of him. I'm not sure what the deal is with the florists here. Their so-called floral arrangements are hideous. It looks like someone took a bunch of roses and greens, put them together and trim the stems so they are of varying lengths, pop them into a vase, and it is ready for delivery.

I will never forget the first bouquet of roses Joe had sent me when we first started dating. It was probably ordered via www.ftd.com and the florist in Singapore, some shop at Far East Shopping Center (coz nearest my former office I guess) delivered the biggest, most extravagent bouquet of roses plus other gorgeous accompaniments (ribbons, huge leaves, wrapping paper, names of flowers I cannot even pronounce) that I have ever seen. It definitely generated lots of envious stares, on my way home. Actually I had to stop at Hu Cui that day to recee a venue for an event, hosting foreign journalists. I'm not sure if Hu Cui, the Shanghainese restaurant at Ngee Ann City is still there. I am reminded about this all the time like it was yesterday.The entrance to the restaurant is like a narrow, raised platform, with lit walls on both sides. I remember vividly that when I was walking into the restaurant, it felt like I had just been crowned Miss Universe and handed a bouquet of flowers. And even more amazing, the diners actually looked in my direction, all at once. I bet you can imagine how huge that bouquet must be, to get that kind of attention especially since it can't be me. An unforgettable moment.......

Mooncakes

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 21:07:27 GMT

Yesterday, we made a trip to Ranch 99, the Chinese supermarket here, with locations all over the west coast. Bought all kinds of stuff I have been craving for and especially love the vegetable section. I am always tempted to buy all the different kinds of vegetables there, this time, they had sweet potato leaves and tang or (my favorite vegetables for steamboat). Well, we have limited capacity in our fridge so I have to pick carefully. And they are still out of Ribena, apparently the strike is still on in the UK so will have to wait and see when they will export Ribena again. The Ribena in Singapore is from Malaysia so no problem with supplies there.

I got really excited when I saw lots of mooncakes there. Must have been more than 50 different boxes of mooncakes. Well I thought that they would be locally made ones and probably won't taste good. To my surprise, many of them are imported from HK and some of them have really fancy packaging. Joe wanted to get me some as I miss the mooncakes from that store in Chinatown (Singapore). Hmmmm, how do you pick out good mooncakes from among so many different, especially since we have not heard of these brands before. Okay, at least I know what I wanted; the traditional red bean paste with single or double egg yolks. We must have opened and examined all the different boxes and analyzed each one before he declared that the ones from Kee Wah Bakery (HK) looked the best. Ya, there were some that looked really dry, others looked too oily and some looked really unappetizing. The Kee Wah ones looked yummy, and well-baked, the imprint of the Chinese characters on the mooncakes appear very distinct and well defined, trademark of a company who takes pride in what they do and produces quality products, according to Joe. Very smart and perceptive. True enough, they are really good. Who would have thought that I can find such good mooncakes here...................

Hey j0s1e267, Kee Wah has two branches in Milpitas, CA. You might want to check them out if you have a craving.

Survivor

Fri, 15 Sep 2006 04:52:09 GMT

You probably heard by now that the teams on Survivor this season will be divided by race. We usually don't watch this but we watched the season premiere tonight and I am so glad to see that the Asian-Americans on the show are either older and wise or smart, have great bods and good looking. And they won, too!!!! Cool!!

My first entry

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 23:09:09 GMT

Okay, so I have been working all day and decided to take a short break to try out my first entry in my blog. I'm still not quite sure how it works and what do I need to do to make it pretty? But I'm sure I will learn..... this is only a test.