Moonlight BBQ

So delicious. Look at those grill marks. Thanks C and L for inviting us over...

Education in China

This is a terrific documentary about education in China. It profiles students in three schools in Xiuning, Anhui Province. The students and teachers are truly inspirational. The full series can be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/AppleSouffle. Check it out.

Stars

Time lapse videos have been making the rounds on the internet lately, but these two are particularly spectacular. Make sure you watch them full screen. The shots of all the stars make me teary eyed -- at how much light pollution is depriving us, and how majestical this world is. Enjoy :)

"My Soul" by Peter Mayer from Mark Ellis on Vimeo.

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

Happy New Year!

It's Chinese New Year weekend! The day started off with dumplings at C and D's. Yum!

Followed by some xbox games at my kitty pad... sorry J for the panda eyes... It's to protect your privacy :) And C and C, stop mooning everybody!

Then we went to Comme Ca for dinner... very posh restaurant.

Drinks... Penicillin and American Trilogy.

Delicious appetizer -- bone marrow with side of mini beef stew.

The famous Comme Ca burder. Kinda overpriced at $18. But all in all, a really fun day and night!

Providence

One word: overrated! Or is that two words? Anyhoo, this was the highlight of the evening... love love this drink. After I finished one, I emphatically said to the waitstaff -- I want another Millionaire! Yes, that's the drink's name. And no, I am not a golddigger :)

A few selected dishes for your viewing pleasure :)

My second Millionaire... :P

Ms. Cat

See how loyal I am to my family and friends... I'd go to the end of the earth for you :) Meooow.

Hsi Lai Temple

I went to the world famous Hsi Lai Temple today... what a fantastic view.

Cute baby monk sculptures in the garden... they are doing stretching exercises. It seems they try to encourage people to take care of their physical well being as well as spiritual well being.

After visiting the Temple, we went to Newport Seafood Restaurant for lunch, yummy clams! But C hoarded almost all of them! Hmph. See pic for evidence. Ok not that many on his plate yet, but he ate like 80%.

L mentioned that C had numerous fruit bearing trees in his backyard... so after lunch, we decided to be peasants for an afternoon and picked a ton of fruits!

Look at the beautiful dark orange coloring... lovely. Sometimes it's nice to get one's hands a little dirty with soil from mother earth.

To round out the day, we went to Sin Ba La for some Taiwanese sausages... Sin Ba La is uber cool. The service is typical Taiwanese, warm and caring. F had a cough, so when we were ordering drinks, they made sure she got a warm one that was good for curing coughs. Super nice.

Happy New Year

Cristal bubblies to welcome 2012.

Here are a few traditional Shanghainese dishes I had at Chang's Garden in Arcadia. It's one of the more authentic Shanghainese restaurants in the LA area. This is kaufu, which is a sponge like tofu. Typically when we cook it, we put lots of wet seasonings so the kaufu would soak up all the delicious flavors.

Drunk chicken. When my Ningbo-nese grandmother made drunk chicken, she would use a freshly slaughtered organic chicken, and use the best Shaoxing wine. Just not the same as grandma's. But it's not the restaurant's fault, it's just times are different now.

This was so good though. Dian Tiao Yellow Croaker. Diao Tiao is a kind of seaweed Ningbo-nese often use in their cuisine. Many Shanghainese are from Ningbo, so Dian Tiao is prevalent in Shanghainese cuisine too. The batter is terrific, not greasy at all, and the fish inside was so fresh and tender and flakey. Perfectly cooked. Def going back for this dish.