Where's the rice?

Yesterday we were in C-town and I did some shopping in preparation for Chinese New Year. I bought a bunch of items, including gifts for my parents and my other parents (aka my in-laws.) By the time we got home it was around 3pm. I decided to start prepping for dinner around 4pm since I knew it'd take me awhile. We had guests last night and I wanted to prep as much stuff as I could before they arrived.

My menu was very ambitious last night:
- salt and pepper fish fillet
- fish soup with 5-spice tofu
- a Macau dish of fried potatoes and minced pork
- sauteed large pee sprouts with button mushrooms
- roasted duck (from the supermarket)

I bought a whole dover sole that I decided would be best prepared two ways: salt and pepper fish fillet and soup. I set about filleting the fish and separating all the edible parts out to make soup. The task took much longer than I anticipated and it wasn't until nearly 5pm when I had the soup stock boiling away.

I also decided to mince my own pork. Yup, I had a chunk of pork that I hacked away at with a cleaver (not a food processor) so that it'd be homemade ground pork. I like homemade ground pork best since it has the best texture.

It took me much longer to do all the prep than I thought it would and my real cooking didn't even get started until 6:30pm. I aim to have dinner ready by 7pm but I was definitely going to miss that time. After I finally managed to get everything on the table (and everything had the right flavor profiles I was looking for) I realized I had forgotten to make rice! argh! I was so intent on creating all of these new dishes (none of which I'd ever made before) that I forgot to wash rice and make it. grr!

Luckily I know how to cook rice in a pot on the stove. I quickly started it and knew it'd be ready in 25 minutes. Our rice cooker takes 1 hour to make rice (it's one of those fancy schmancy fuzzy logic ones) so stove top method is the only way to go. By the time we finished our soup course the rice was nearly done so it wasn't that bad overall. Who else has forgotten to make rice? The thought didn't even cross my mind :(

If I didn't know how to make rice on the stove top then the entire dinner would have been delayed an additional hour. Ouch. I actually don't know anyone else (of my peers) who knows how to make rice on the stove top. Everyone has become so reliant on the rice cooker that they've forgotten the simple task of using a pot to cook rice in. What do they do? Just suck it up and wait an additional hour for the rice to cook before dinner can be served?

Another bummer of the evening was that during clean up I accidentally touched the blades of my food processor the wrong way and sliced my finger open. :( I've got a band-aid on it right now and it is very hard to do anything when you can't type the "i" key very well.

Charging for Substitutions

I was looking for a good place to have Sunday brunch in the city since we're going to be there this weekend. I came across this restaurant named Baker Street Bistro and it's got a lot of good reviews on Yelp (the de-facto local review site to use.) It sounded very good so I went to their website to look at the menu. Overall the brunch menu seemed fair and had a good variety to offer. I was all set to suggest we eat here for brunch until I saw the following line on their menu:

Each substitution will be charged $2.50

I have never seen a restaurant charge you for making a substition. Yes, it is reasonable if you want to substitute a house salad for a side of cheese fries for them to charge you slightly more since it could be viewed as the fries having a more substantial cost to the restaurant than the salad. However, to make a blanket statement to say it is an extra $2.50 to do any substitutions is a big turn off for me. What if I wanted to ask for no maple syrup and to have extra butter instead? Would that be subject to this ridiculous surcharge? I'm not going to find out since I've decided to never eat brunch at this establishment. It seems very petty to charge for a substitution and there are plenty of other wonderful restaurants that I can patronize instead.

Studies have shown that women are more likely to make a substitution to their restaurant order than men. I completely agree with this case study since I am a prime example. I generally don't like to add sour cream to my burrito, ask for salad dressing on the side, etc. It's just a way of life. And yes, I will sometimes substitute my salad for a baked potato and vice versa. To penalize me for my freedom of choice is unfair and they've lost a customer for life.

Wine and Costco

I have a love/hate relationship with Costco. I love going there and seeing what new products they have. I love buying meat from there since they have a superb meat department. I hate going there since I buy more than I can ever use of a product. I hate waiting in the long lines.

I try to not go to Costco that often since two people don't go through Costco-sized products that quickly. We bought several gallons of juice ... now how long does it take to go through that much? A very long time.

Another reason I "dislike" going to Costco is their wine selection. They have a very good liquor selection and that's a huge downfall for me. Inevitably I get seduced by their wine and buy it in bulk, as all good wine connoisseurs do. This time around I got seduced by the Rieslings, Sauternes, and chardonnays. A lighter pocket later, I left with many bottles of wine in my cart.





Now my challenge will be to drink all this lovely wine ... not a hard challenge at all ^_~

In case you haven't noticed, Ming is so enjoying his new camera lens.

Ming's New Toy In Action

In the previous post I mentioned that Ming got a new toy. The toy is a 50 mm lens for the dSLR. He's been having a lot of fun with it lately. Some shots he's taken are shown here:














Sorry that all of the shots seem to be of dogs but they're the most interesting subject matter we've got around the house.

Whirlpool Duets

I received a new washer and dryer for Christmas. No, this wasn't a hint for me to do laundry. We always knew that we needed to replace the current ones because they were older. I got a new washer and dryer as one of my Christmas gifts and it's one of the best gifts I received. It may sound a bit too practical for some people but I couldn't be more excited.

We got the new Whirlpool Duet high efficiency washer and dryer. It is also energy efficient, something which will really help with our electricity bill. I love using the new washer and dryer. There are a ton of cool features and I think that it really does treat my clothes more gently. Its a front loading washer and when the clothes are done washing they are dryer coming out of the washer and I think they benefit from not being spun so hard in the front loader (top loaders tend to mangle your clothes more. The laundry machines are really quiet and they make this little "ding" sound when they're done (kind of like when you put the timer on for the oven.)

I'm excited to do laundry now -- lord I sound so domestic! It's really fun to use these new appliances since there are so many more options to choose from (water temp, extra rinse cycle, pre soak, etc. I could probably sit in front of the washer and dryer for a few hours just watching the gentle agitation of the clothes ... yes, things easily amuse me. ^_^

Ming's New Toy (Preview)

I'll write more indepth about this later but I bought Ming a new toy for his birthday. It's an accessory to the dSLR and he's been having a lot of fun with it since he took it out of its packaging. I had no idea that this was such a popular item; it is already out of stock at Amazon (including resellers)! O.o

Dog Exercising on Treadmill

I wonder if the maltese is burning more energy on the treadmill than he is consuming in treats

Freedom, Sort Of

We've just wrapped up a week with the in-laws and they're now on an airplane back home. I love my mom and dad via Ming but a week with them is about as much as I can take at a time. It's hard to share a house with others when you're used to being able to do whatever you want, however you want. When others share your house you need to be a bit more courteous and clean (i.e. no eating at the coffee table for meals, always make the bed, wash your dishes immediately.) It was great having them around but I think it'll be awhile before we start to miss seeing them.

With the in-laws gone I've got another house guest: our friend's dog. She, sadly, isn't as courteous as my in-laws as a house guest. She is very stubborn and willful. Trying to get her to eat, behave, etc is going to make it a very long stay with us. After all the guests are gone I think Ming and I need to treat ourself to a get away.

Calf Fries

On the way to work this morning I heard them mention calf fries. Calf fries? That sounds a bit odd. I wonder how it is related to normal french fries. Once they described exactly what calf fries were, however, I was horrified and a bit sickened. Here's the Wikipedia article about it. According to the article and the radio it's something served in normal restaurants.

I guess if it's deep fried, anyone will eat it. I, however, have my limits and don't believe this delicacy will be passing through my mouth anytime soon ... or ever.

Rain Rain, go away

It is pouring rain outside right now and a bit scary. Winds are really high and the rain is coming down in bucketfuls. I'm at home by myself today and am constantly hearing things moving around outside from the strong rains. We have a tall cypress tree outside that is pretty sturdy but the wind is tossing it back and forth like crazy. I'm almost afraid that the tree will be knocked down. *yikes*

Today is definitely a day to stay in and cuddle up with someone warm :)

Happy New Year!

Happy new year everyone! My holidays were full of activity and whirlwind activity. I'm kind of glad that it is all over since now we can get back to normality and not need to make unexpected runs to the mall to buy last minute gifts.

I ushered in the new year at the Clift hotel and it was quite the experience. We had a fabulous time, met some great people, and continued to introduce Lotus vodka to a very receptive crowd.

Hope that everyone has recovered from their new year's eve debauchery and is now at the work desk, like yours trully, trying to make enough to pay for all those Christmas gifts!

Rant: Gingerbread "People"

It's the holidays so I'm getting ready to do my annual Christmas baking. I generally do a lot of baking during the holidays and it involves pies, cookies, cakes, etc. It helps me get into the festive spirit and I like to share my baked goods with friends, family, and my neighbors.

I always make gingerbread men cookies but I never remember where I get the recipe from. I think that each year's recipe is always a little different since I invariably get it from a different source. This year I searched for "gingerbread men" and returned a few recipes. I searched again for "gingerbread people" and returned results also. So here's the part where I have to rant: this PC thing has gotten out of hand. It is hard enough trying to find a good recipe for anything and now I've got to look at two different sets of search results to try to figure out which recipe sounds like the best one. Granted, these are cookies and aren't that hard to mess up but do we really have to get make an effort to call these guys "people" instead of men?

I think the woman's lib thing has gotten out of control. It makes life so much harder since you never know what you'll find something filed under. If you take a group of people, you grammatically always call the collective group by the male plural. It's like this in all languages (Roman-based languages, etc.) If we can call human beings by the male plural form, why can't we do the same thing for something as simple as a cookie? Damn liberals. Tar and feather them I say ... then you can call them tar-and-feathered-people. :)

So what have I decided to do? To spite all the women's lib fanatics out there I'm going to make all gingerbread men. ^_^

The Golden Compass

The previews for the Golden Compass looked pretty intriguing so I wanted to see it in the theater. The movie did not disappoint me. It was much better than anything I could have imagined. The CGI was really amazing and the sets were detailed intricate. The genre is fantasy and is a bit like Harry Potter although the storyline is vastly different.

All the actors looked good but the movie is really about the plot. I found out that this is actually a book (a trilogy!) and I set out immediately to buy the whole set from Amazon. I can't wait until the sequel comes out, which is hopefully next year. If you thought about seeing this movie, you should!

Major League Gaming

Major League Gaming. You've heard of major league baseball and other sports ... but gaming? Really? I was flipping through channels on the TV and I suddenly found myself on a channel about major league gaming. Apparently this is a very serious thing. It is exactly what you think it is: people playing games against one another. I imagine they must be playing for money and/or bragging rights.

The major league gaming logo looks like the one used for baseball except it has an xbox controller in it instead of a batter. Stupid? Yes. Very.

The show that I saw showed a Halo contest between two teams ... complete with play-by-play commentators! There were two teams trying to win and the guys on each of the teams had the most serious concentration on their faces. They wore huge headphones and had lots of collaboration among the team members. The teams even had matching t-shirts. Apparently I must have gotten lucky because I got to watch "the best sniper on the circuit" playing. Woo.

I really cannot believe that people actually play this seriously and that it's a big enough thing that it makes it on TV. I really wish I could have taken a video of this because it really was hilarious. The teams even have coaches and regular practice sessions. It's a pizza-faced nerd's wet dream come true.

Not surprisingly, all the players were guys and they all looked ... a bit lacking in social skills.

Major League Gaming

Gucci for Coco

I found out that Gucci sells a backpack for dogs.



I think that its pretty funny; I've never seen a backpack for dogs. I wonder how much a small dog can carry on it's back. Nevertheless it's an interesting idea, particularly now that Christmas is around the corner.

From Gucci's website the description reads:
dog backpack with side-zip pockets and signature web detail.
beige/ebony GG nylon fabric with brown leather trim and green/red/green web.

Gucci Dog Backpack

Post Gluttony Weekend

I had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Let's face it: who wouldn't have an awesome weekend eating wonderful food and spending quality time with the family? The turkey was beyond awesome. We had 30lbs of turkey (2 turkeys) and it's all gone. We finished the last bit of it and I'm already looking forward to Christmas when we get to make more turkey with my mom and dad (aka my in-laws.) We had a host of wonderful sides to go with the turkey and all turned out really well.

Unfortunatley, with the indulgences of the long Thanksigivng weekend now I've got to pay my penance. I had a ton of food, way more than I'd normally eat, and now I'm paying for it. The pants are a bit tighter, shirts are a bit harder to button up .. *sigh*

This week we'll try to eat more limitedly to pay the piper for our raving food rampage last week. Yesterday we had a surprisingly satisfying salad. It was comprised of all very healthy stuff: lettuce, red bell pepper, tomato, carrot, celery, bits of turkey breast. Maneesh brought a really healthy and addictive dessert: Fraiche frozen yogurt. I've never had Fraiche for anything other than a mid-day snack. Having it for dessert hit the spot and made me not feel guilty. We had toppings of raspberries and strawberries -- also really wonderful. Eating healthy doesn't have to be unsatisfying and unrewarding; last night was a prime example of happy and non-pudgy eating. ^_^

Gaming Weekend

I had a very lazy weekend. I spent it getting to know my Wii. :) I spent the better part of the weekend playing Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 and Super Mario Galaxy. I don't know which one I liked better but I do know that I logged in more time with the Wii this weekend than I have in a long time. Both games are super addictive and multiplayer. In fact, I'd be willing to bet my turkey weekend be spent continuing my gaming with my best friend: the wii.

Live.com Maps

Sometimes I get incredibly irritated with Google maps. Because it is a beta, just like all of Google's products seem to be, there are lots of bugs that exist, then get fixed, then come back. Irritating to say the least. One such feature that always is buggy is the print feature. When I try to print something sometimes it works and other times print doesn't show the map the way I've placed it on my screen. The satellite view for Google Maps is also bad. It shows very out of date footage. Some areas in the South of Market look like construction zones on Google Maps but in real life it is a completed building complete with commercial residents.

I finally found a solution to my problems: Live.com maps, or maps.live.com. They fix all of the aforementioned bugs that Google Maps has and also has a few neat features. I asked for driving directions from Palo Alto to Redwood City. The last direction listed was as follows:

Arrive at 1185 Broadway St on the right
The last intersection is Bay Rd If you reach Broadway St, you've gone too far

Not only do they tell me which side of the street I should expect to find my destination, but they also give me indications of when the destination is coming up and when I've likely passed it.

I give this two thumbs up and Live Maps is going to be my go-to mapping product.

Din Tai Fung

Din Tai Fung is this really yummy restaurant chain from Asia. They are really well known and have a branch in SoCal which has lines out the door. Previously it had been mentioned that Din Tai Fung was going to open at Vallco mall. I just found out, however, that the rumor was a lie. The owner of Vallco mall made the rumor up in a bid to attract new tenants to Vallco. Grr ... got my hopes up for nothing.

Gardening

This weekend I decided to play gardener. In the backyard we have a plant bed which used to house flowers until we decided to rip the flowers out. The previous owner had planted some flowers in it that neither Ming nor I really liked. I decide that this weekend I'd plant some fall vegetables in the plant bed.

I labored for what seemed like forever, but was likely more like around an hour and a half, preparing the soil and planting my precious seeds. I know nothing about gardening and have no idea if what I did was right or not. I ended up planting chinese celery, napa cabbage, and spinach. All are reputed to be fall vegetables so in theory they should all be ok to plant at this time of year.

I didn't take any pictures of my garden-to-be since it's really just dirt right now. I've been diligently having Ming water my garden so we'll see in a few weeks if anything sprouts up. If not, I can always try again since I've still got a ton of seeds leftover :)