Birthday Weekend

One summer, my mother and I went to visit my father in Beijing. It was the year of my fifth birthday. To celebrate my birthday, my parents took me to a sit down restaurant for the first time in my life. I was so excited. I remember sitting at the table, with full anticipation, waiting to be served. But after two hours, we were never served, yes, that was how bad service was in China at the time. We eventually left and for the first time, I knew what disappointment felt like.

Now, we fast forward many many years... to 2011. And it's your dear kitty cat's birthday again! This time, it was not mama and dada, but C and D who took me to dinner at Capital Grille. And this time, there was no disappointment at all, I felt like a princess and had a terrific time :)

Crab and lobster cake... big lumps of crab and lobster meat, with corn salsa... so good, loved that slightly charred taste.

And today, it was lunch with the full family... at Newport Seafood Restaurant on Las Tunas... here is its house special lobster. It was huge!

And the rest of the dishes!

After family lunch, we went to a BBQ at P's house... look at the view. It was hot though. Oh yeah, I was assigned to sit at the toy bench for being naughty. heheheh.

This grill is da bomb! I'd never tasted such delicious BBQ. The smokey flavor was so good.

Look at the chicken breast and chicken wings... I was so stuffed from lunch, and yet I had like three huge chicken wings... it was that good.

Enjoying a hot summer afternoon.

Japanese Bento Lunch

Konnichiwa! Welcome to our humble little restaurant...

Pretty saucers and tea pot

Eel bento lunch and sashimi bento lunch.

Hope you enjoyed your feast -- for the eyes -- sayonara!

Reunion

Spoke with an old friend tonight. Shockingly we realized it's been eight years since we were summer associates! Seemed like yesterday when we were all squeezed into that little flat in Hong Kong. Sigh how time flies. J and J are married now, not to each other, thank goodness:) S is a mom, Y had her second kid, T is getting married... So I came up with this great idea that we'll have a summer associates reunion and I am gonna be the organizer! Maybe we can rent a house in Russian River Valley!

Gardena, our Little Koreatown

When I moved down to Manhattan Beach, I had to say good bye to my beloved Koreatown... since I'll be much farther away. But alas, I had no idea there was a little Koreatown in Gardena, and I had no idea Gardena was a mere 10 minute drive from my house in Manhattan Beach... yipeee! Galbi, Bulgogi, Bibimbap... yes!

Last Friday, Yelp helped me find a really good soon tofu place there called Tofu Village... truly exceptional. Here are the panchangs. Mouth getting watery as I write. Anyhoo, alot of times, panchangs tend to taste alike, like they use the same chili sauce for every dish, but not here. Each panchang is seasoned with different chili sauces, they actually taste delicious and different! So good. And the little yellow croakers are a bonus.

My blue crab soon tofu... very savory.

C's bibimbap... mmmmmm.

Shanghai on Steroids

I have driven around it before, but have never been inside. So when I was in Shanghai this time, I decided to go check out the highest building in China.

Look at this view... gulp, looks like my hometown has gained a lot of weight in the past twenty years, barely recognizable. What are all these tall thingies sticking out from the ground?

Ahhhh! The viewing deck on the 97th floor, glassy transparent floor, scary!

Cars so small.

Cute twin girls and their brother. Sigh, when I was little, I had to wear my sister's hand-me-downs. Sniff sniff.

My BFFs, Japanese tourists, doing the typical Japanese touristy stuff... kawaiiiiii :)

Sleepy in Seoul

Korean BBQ so good. Eyes getting droopy. Good night peeps. Yawwwnnn puuurhhhhh.

Hello from Seoul

Liberation! I was in China for a week and my poor little blog was blocked by the Great Firewall of China so couldn't update. But anyhoo, I am now in Seoul and have free access to blogger. Yippeeee. K, here is what happens when a hotel overbooks and makes other booboos, and I end up with a suite fit for a Princess.

Tada: I've got my own living area and dining area, and kitchen and a spare bathroom for guests. Hehehe, guess it never hurts to have two litter boxes. Oh yeah, btw, before they told me which room I got, I was like, could you pls make sure my room isn't next to the elevator and has a bed, and they were like, eh, you got the second largest room in the hotel. And my eyes went big, and I was like, oh, okie, thanks mucho, pretend I didn't say anything, actually I AM very important :)

Self Portrait of a Kitty Princess

One night, Princess Cat felt unusually inspired -- by herself -- so she whipped out her paint brush... and produced a masterpiece of historical proportions... Rawwwr, hear me roar!

Thanks Pei for the hilarious find.