Japan trip (in Tokyo)

Visiting my sis, Ryoko here in Tokyo. Below is the breakfast that she cooked for me.

Grilled dried sole fish, special soft&rich Tofu, sesame tofu, boiled green, pan fried eggplant, stewed snapper, egg and rice. They were all very delicious. Thanks, Ryoko!

Philadelphia Trip (Sep 12 to 18)

Philadelphia Trip (Sep 12 to 18)

We went to Philadelphia to see Steven's family. Oh, it was fun!

Steven's dad is very funny. He make us laugh all the time with his funny jokes/stories....

We went to Food festival in West Chester.

Steven is eating Kobe beef burger (Kobe slider) He liked it a lot and he ate three burgers!!! Truth is...the burgers were so tiny. He could finish with a couple of bites.

I had a huge Turkey leg.

Food pictures

Thai food:

Chicken+green beans Green curry and Green coconut salad. It was the first time that I made Green papaya salad and it was great. Recipe is here.

Japanese food:

Buta no kakuni (Pork belly stew), Eggpland miso soup, and Green papaya Sunomono.

Yes, I just arranged the salad I made one day before. Added some soy sauce, katsuo bushi (dry bonita) and made it Japanese!

Seafood:

Steven made dry mushroom crusted seared scallops. Side is Mixed mushrooms+asparagus saute. Ohhhh it was VERY delicious. We drank Cabernet Sauvignon from Chilie with it.

Desserts : Peach tart and Fig tart

I made with Zuni Cafe's recipe. Mmmmm it was wonderful....

Labor Day BBQ
Since we are traveling a lot, we would love to be at home when we can so didn't have any big plans for this 4 day weekend but thought it was good to do something outside! We went to the park closed to our place and did BBQ.
Steven is trying to make fire but he is still sleepy. (hee, hee, hee...)

We had corn, steak, vegies and yaki-onigiri (grilled rice balls)

Are they ready yet?

We read on the grass after the BBQ and had a great last day of the summer.

Our friends in SF got a Labradoodle and we went to see him.


"I am Ziggy and am only 3 months (or so) old."


We played with him and he is soooooo cute.


Oh, we didn't forget you guys, Lucy. When we came home, we played with what we have :) I tried to put my latest work on Lucy's head but she didn't like the hat.
So I will use it as bowl for small things. These three are my recent projects.

Picinc in Angel Island

On the one BEAUTIFUL Sunday, we had a BBQ picnic with our friends. Ohhh it was fun. Click this to see more food and fun we had.

My summer projects and cooking pictures are here. Look what I did this summer :) I added Japanese comments, too. Mouse over the each pictures in the web album.

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.