It has been a very busy week, and I have not been too focused to do work since my mind is everywhere right now, preparing for the move to Singapore and taking care of things at work. Luckily, I am getting a lot of help from people around me, and things are going pretty OK, and I cannot complain.
Monday was Labor Day holiday, and Mo-Mo & I went dim sum at a nearby Chinese place we have not visited for a while. The place was packed but we got a table pretty fast.
Monday night, we had dinner at the Guan Dong House in Cupertino with our friends, and it was a pretty good meal: fish fillet, spicy eggplants, pork hot pot, steamed dumpling, friend pork bun and fried yam (as dessert).
After dinner, we had desert at the same little dessert place with our friends whom we met for the first time two years ago, as our 2-year anniversary celebration. Perhaps it is the slow economy, the quality of the dessert did not seem to be as good as before! We should find a new place next time to try!
Our friend also gave us some very nice yummy bread which she made over the holiday. Thanks!
Time went by quickly this past week, and we did not have much time to cook at night. One night, we had Thai dinner at Thaibodia, a place Mo-Mo likes. We had Thai curry pork and some flat noodles, plus brown rice. The portions were good and we had left over.
At work, people were already ready to see me off and they were so kind to hold a Good Luck Party for me. Our admin did a great job in getting a lounge room for us to have the lunch party and I was very grateful that many people took the time to come by to send me their best wishes.
To prepare for the relocation to Singapore for work, we bought a Vita-Mix to ship there, since electrical appliances are very expensive there (of course, we had to get a transformer for this). A Vita-Mix in US typically costs around $350 plus, and costs over $1600 Singapore dollars there! ($1 US = $1.4 SGD).
Since my destination relocation agent told me that it may be hard to get some of the facial and hair products from US in Singapore, I am stocking up on my favorite personal stuff to be shipped over there. I hope I will have everything ready when the movers come to pack my stuff in less than 2 weeks!
Food This Week (first week of September 09)
Labor Day Weekend 2009
I love weekends! Either going out of town to do something, or just hang out at home and relax. So far this Labor day weekend, we are just trying to relax and take it easy.
Saturday, we went to the nearby Korean food court for late lunch. For Mo-Mo, he had the BBQ pork with kim chi side dishes and salad & rice.
Meow had the salmon sushi, California rolls and udon noodle soup combo.
Today Sunday, we enjoyed our morning coffee and reading news at home, then went to Mountain View's Hong Kong Bistro for late lunch. I have to say, HK Bistro is our favorite HK style bistro in the area.
We had Indian pancake (w/ curry sauce), curry chicken w/ spagehetti, and baked pork chop w/ spagehetti. Of course, I had my HK style mike tea, as always. After the meal, we took a long walk around the blocks and walked to the Eagle Park to enjoy the nice weather, and then went to the nearby stores to do some shopping. Time went by fast. By the time we went home, it was already past 8 pm. 
Relocating to Singapore~Friends~Soup & Noodles
Yeah, I guess it is not a surprise that I am taking on this 1-year assignment to work in Singapore. The relocation process has started, and I am hoping everything will go smoothly :)
Thanks to my wonderful colleague Nancy who is such a kind and caring person, that she sent me some very wonderful flowers by surprise! I am so touched. Thank you Nancy! 
Friday was a busy day, but of course I always make time for my buddy Ron from work to have lunch together and yesterday was no exception. He took me to this Burlingame noodle place called "Tea Plus Noodle" and it was just a cute little Asian noodle place.
For lunch, we had Thai iced tea, mango beef with rice (Ron) and vegetable noodle soup (Meow). Thanks Ron for the lunch!
Ron was so nice that since I am going to Singapore soon, he got me a book as a gift - "Culture Shock! A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette". I am sure this book is going to be very useful.
For Friday dinner, Mo-Mo and I encored Sweet Tomatoes (with buy 1 get 1 free coupon, buying 2 drinks). As usual, we ate a full plate of salad, and then had big bowls of our favorite soups and bakery goodies: Meow - lemon chicken orzo soup & Indian grain bread; Mo-Mo - chillies & pizza.
Well, I am sure they used MSG in their soup. I certainly overate (MSG sent signal to your brain to trick you to eat more), and had more dreams last night!
Lemon Chicken Orzo @ Sweet Tomatoes 082909
It has been a busy weekend - but of course we always find time to eat!
I always love the lemon chicken orzo at Sweet Tomatoes, which is part of the Greek theme for the September 1-15 period with the restaurant. During the weekend, although it was not exactly September 1 yet, Sweet Tomatoes gave a head start and served my favorite lemon chicken orzo soup (Mo-Mo called to confirm for me). Because the soup is so yummy, I suspect there must be MSG in the soup which lured me into having at least 4 bowls everytime we go there!
Aside from the yummy soup, we love the salads, Indian grain bread, chili and pizza bread there.
On Sunday, we were doing stuff in town, and had late lunch in Milpitas at the Royal Bistro. We had the afternoon tea special: pot stickers, beef chow fun and chicken rice. The quality was so-so,, and I was disappointed at the bony chicken (the chicken was not tender at all, and too bony!)
We skipped pictures last night (Monday) as we were too tired in the evening (we had late dinner at Shan, Indian & Pakastian).
Tonight, although it is only Tuesday night, but I am already hoping for Friday night to come sooner! We ate at the Southland Flavor Cafe: steamed dumpling, basil chicken on rice and shredded pork with vegetables noodle soup. The food was average. 
Detoxed @ Yosemite Summer 2009
We meant to go up to Yosemite for a long time, but each year, the place has always been so busy and most of the accommodations were fully booked and would require one year advanced reservation. This summer, we decided that we should just do it. It is likely because of the recession, we were so lucky to be able to book a wooden cabin with private bath at the Curry Village inside the Yosemite Valley.
It was a very nice 4 hours drive from the Bay Area via Hightway 120, and time just went by fast that before we knew it, we were there already. 
Curry Village is a historic place and we just love it there for the peaceful environment we felt, being so close to the mother nature.
The cabin was a very simple one, with minimum (shower, toilet, two beds, a heater, a lamp, etc) and well situated inside the woods.
I even brought my security blanket (Hello Kitty) along.
There were so many squirrels everywhere, and they were all so friendly.
There is always so much to do in Yosemite, biking, swimming, hiking, leisure walk, museum etc etc.
We took a few hikes and we just enjoyed the great weather and everything. We hiked up to Vernal Fall (5000 feet elevation) and saw the beautiful rainbow. 
During this trip, we saw plenty of wildlife, including a black bear inside the woods, deers (walking here and there), blue Stellar Jay birds, and of course lovely squirrels everywhere.
We visited the Happy Isles, Yosemite Falls, Bridalveil Falls, and many places. Our legs were jello by the third day of hiking. Here in this picture, Hoops & Yoyo were in front of the Half Dome.
We also took a hike up to the Mirror Lake and enjoyed the scenery very much. The lake was dry during the summer, and we were able to take this picture standing right in the middle of the lake!
We felt kind of sad when we left Campy Curry. Hopefully, we will be back soon!
On our way back home, we stopped by at the Tuolumne Grove to take another hike and checked out the giant tunnel tree.
I thought the tunnel tree would be much bigger, but I guess it was big already.
We stopped by Fremont to have Shanghai dinner. Mo-Mo's new favorite is friend pork bun (shan gin boa) now!. I just enjoyed my usual xiu lon bao (XLB, the small steamed dumplings). Aside from the dumplings and buns, we had beef noodle soup and plain noodle soup, along with mushroom on green veggies.
It was a wonderful trip. I felt completely detoxed!
Work from Home Day 082809
Because there was an ammonia leak at a nearby meat factory this morning, the office buildings including my workplace were forced to close, and I got to work from home today. However staying home cannot be always productive but I was glad I got to stay at home today so I could focus and get a few things done.
Because I had less than 35 minutes for lunch in between my telecon meetings, Mo-Mo and I were only able to drive to the nearby Korean Food Court for quick lunch. The lunch was satisfying nonetheless.
Meow: Salmon sushi with udon noodle soup, and California roll on the side. Pretty fresh.
Mo-Mo had grilled herb chicken with rice and kim chi & soup on the side. He loved the tasty chicken.
By the end of the evening, we were both tired and did not feel like cooking at home and went out for quick dinner at the Royal Teppan Steak House 皇廷鐵板燒 in Cupertino Village for ramen noodles. We normally come here for the mimi hot pots, but because it has been such a hot day, we rather had something light - ramen.
Mo-Mo: Fried chicken ramen - chicken was crispy, noodle was alright, but soup was not very tasty accordingly to Mo-Mo (I think this was a good thing because it meant there was probably very little or no MSG).
Meow: Vegetable ramen - pretty OK.
10935 N Wolfe Road
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 257-3688
