Trip to Seattle July12 -14

Space Needle. It was worth going up because...Steven found something interesting.

"Oh, my gosh, Look at that, honey!"
"Ohhh nooooooo!!!...is it, is it......"

" It is.........ICHIROOOOOOO!!!!!"

Note:we saw a lot of other things from tower...of course.

Seattle has a lot of good coffee shops and restaurants. I like a small coffee shop called "Caffe Ladro". Their coffee was rich and flavorful.

Here is the food we had in Seattle. (part of it) Our favorite restaurant was Brooklyn Seafood&Steak house
their signature dish, salmon was ohh sooo good....it melted in the mouth.

We of course went to the famous Pike Market, too. We wanted to get some fresh seafood there but the flight time made us stopped. Instead I got 2 strips of smoked salmon jerky to eat on the way home. But the guy at the counter started singing "2 strips salmon jerky!!" and other guys sing a long with him " 2 strips!!" oh I was so embarrassed. I knew they sing for the order and throw a fish to wrap it up but I didn't think they would sing for my tiny order....I should have bought more....the jerky was incredibly good.

Jean's Birthday Party

My host mother, Jean's birthday BBQ party at Santa Cruz. It was fun!! Go to this album to see more pics.

Restaurant hopping weekend in San Francisco

Friday Dinner: Chez Panisse
Makiko's, Steven's and my birthdays are close together so we celebrated all at once at Chez Panisse. I have wanted to eat here for a long time and all the dishes are fabulous!! My salad with green goddess dressing was PERFECT! Steven and I stayed in the City for more restaurant hopping next day.

Saturday Brunch: Canteen

We met up Sumiko and Bruce at Canteen for brunch. Oh my
egg Benedict was out of the world!! So rich and tasty...The chef here used to work at a famous french restaurant... no wonder it was so good.

Saturday dinner: Zuni cafe

This one also one of the restaurants I have wanted to go. We had Steven's BD dinner here. He is waiting at the bar with his drink. I had Cosmopolitan.

We had Cesar salad, raw clams and the famous Zuni chicken with bread salad. Oh my gosh....the chicken was so soft and juicy and crispy outside. I have their cooking book so will make this someday!! Nectarine tart + ice cream for dessert.

We had a really great weekend with incredible food. We love San Francisco!!

At Chez Panisse.

His birthday + her birthday


Steven's and my birthday are apart only a week so we are always busy celebrating each other's birthday. We went to Kiss Seafood for my birthday and it was very delightful as always. Love this place.




Since his birthday is July 4th, we decided to have Independence Day BBQ/birthday party at poolside at our place. I made yummy potato salad+green peas, salsa, sea urchin+crab+avocado layered appetizer and sangria!! Steven grilled hamburger, hot dog and veggies. Look at this gourmet burger with bacon! Oh, I forgot to take out watermelon from the freezer (I just wanted a quick chill ) so we ended up having frozen watermelon at night. It was great in the hot summer night.

Trip to Hawaii++Oahu++6/15/07 to 6/20/07
Flew to Honolulu from Big Island. We stayed at a beautiful hotel, Halekulani. The tasty tropical fruits welcomed us and we checked in IN the room not at the lobby. How different! We chose this hotel because our friends wedding was held in this hotel. The wedding was very nice. It started in the evening looking down the beach and sunset...


Chris and Craig look soooo happy with their friends and families...We dressed up nice, too.



We enjoyed beach....and poolside with the drinks. Mine was frozen vodka+lemon juice..very tasty but I got drunk very fast.

Next day we went Hanauma bay for snorkeling which we got bad sunburn :(
Before we flew out, we drove north shore and I picked some shells.

And Seven didn't forget get the last Lava drink at the airport.

Trip to Hawaii
++Big Island++6/12/07 to 6/15/07

After the Loooong flight (Oita-Osaka-Oahu-Big Island), we finally arrived Big Island! Need to have a tropical drink!!


We stayed condominium type resort so we relaxed in the living room, had breakfast at the balcony, cooked dinner....


We also went out for local foods. This is LocoMoco. Probably it was not the healthiest food, it was sooo good. The gravy was wonderful.

Main event at Big Island...Volcano National Park.

After walking thorough the rain forest....

We saw the crater! Are we going to walk down there on the crater? I saw some steam coming out and it looks hot...


YES, we are....
Steven explaining how the hold were made...Tell me more Mr.Scientist!




Next day we took a snorkeling cruise. It was the first time for Steven to snorkel.

Well, he liked the snack bar on the boat.

Dolphins came to say hi to us :)
Snorkeling was SO much fun. Steven loved it and he was the last one to come back to the boat. We got off from the boat with a HUGE appetite.

Oh, Steven, your drinks is so CUTE :)

The Kona coffee at Coffee Shack was wonderful!!
Goofing off to kill time for the flight to Honolulu...

I had henna tattoo at the Local Farmer's market. Cool!! The last meal at Big Island was at Lulu's.

Oh..As Steven found a new job in Beppu, I also found one here in Big Island :)

OK. Enough goofing off, let's go to Honolulu already.