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Return to Singapore

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I spent a long night packing and feel like I’m returning to Singapore with more stuff than I left with. I even brought stuff to leave at my parents’ house but my luggage is fuller than when I came. I even had to split my stuff into 2 pieces of luggage so I wouldn’t go overweight.

I did a load of laundry before leaving so now some of my clothes have that dryer fresh smell. Man, I miss having a dryer…

My parents took me to the airport and since I had 2 pieces of luggage plus my carry-on, I rented one of those trolleys… I was shocked that it cost $3!! The machine even has a credit card slot in case you don’t have enough cash. You don’t get the money back, it’s not like a deposit, it’s an actual rental fee.

My flight was around noon and I was flew to Narita first.

I had a window seat next to this older Japanese couple.

I didn’t sleep at all but instead watched all the movies plus shows on the flight. Watched things like “Hero”, “Bucket List”, some Japanese movies, “Frasier”, “Gags for Laughs”, etc etc.

Also had some interesting Japanese airline food.

This is unagi (eel) rice with soba noodles and smoked salmon salad.

The 2nd meal was more Western, a cream mushroom chicken served with a side of bean salad and fresh fruits.

When I arrived in Narita, I was exhausted because I had already been in-flight about 10 hours but had to stay away to catch my next flight. My layover was about 2 hours so I walked up and down the terminal buying little things at each store. They had a Starbucks there so I tried the coffee jelly frappuccino. Nothing that exciting, the jelly was like grass jelly.

My last meal on the flight to Singapore was a roasted chicken served with a coldcut salad and a chocolate cake. Most of it wasn’t very nice but that may have been because I was already really full.

We landed in Singapore around midnight but were stuck in the plane waiting for our terminal to be free. I guess there as a plane that arrived before us and waiting for everyone to get off and the luggage to be cleared.

I finally arrived back home after 1am and showered and went to sleep because I had to work today. I started feeling really tired this afternoon from the jet lag but not so bad for the first day back.

Oakland Chinatown, Out the Door, Mochi & Misu

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I went to visit my dad’s new pharmacy that is planning on opening in mid May. It’s below Oakland Chinatown’s Asian Health Services and it’s going to be pretty high tech with a robot to do the counting and labeling.

This sign will eventually also be in Chinese:

We had dim sum at Peony Restaurant with my parents’ friends. The best thing were the egg tarts, very flaky crust and very eggy center.

Afterwards I headed to San Francisco to wait for my friends Shirley and Patrick to get done with work, and pharmacy school graduation ceremonies, respectively. I entertained myself at San Francisco Shopping Center and met up with them for dinner Out the Door in the basement of the mall. I’ve always wanted to eat there but hadn’t had the chance when I was working in SF. Read some reviews about it here.

We had a fabulous filling dinner. There were only the three of us for dinner so we had leftovers that Patrick took home. Here’s what we ate..

Fried squid salad with a dill dressing and pickled onions.

Fried vegetarian spring rolls Vietnamse style, you use the lettuce to wrap the noodles and pieces of spring roll together.

Some sort of pork sparerib with a sweet sauce. It was good but I can’t remember what type of sauce it was.

Fish tomato “soup”, a bit spicy and a bit fishy.

Half a crispy duck! yum yum! The skin was delcious.

Ah, stuffed.

Tonight will be lots of packing… and leaving some stuff here. I’m gonna be sad to leave my family. And I’m gonna miss my kitties but at least I know they’re in good hands with my dad. Misu really loves to be held and scratched.

Spending time with family

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Today I spent some quality time with my family.

Woke up late, went to lunch with my mom at Just Koi and had fabulous won ton noodles with roast duck and some veggies. The roast duck was really delicious, but unfortunately had lots of fat, but we still managed to eat all the crispy skin and succulent meat. I believe the vegetables we had was kai lan and it was cooked in some sort of fish broth.

Afterwards, we visited the 99 Ranch in Dublin so my mom could buy some groceries for the following week. 99 Ranch is an Asian supermarket brand, mostly selling Chinese goods. It’s basically a cleaner version of Chinatown.

Then we went to one of my favorite stores, Costco Wholesale. I was on the hunt for blueberries and bagel chips. The blueberries for me and the bagel chips for Siew Woon, my boss in Singapore (she says she loves those things). I found the blueberries but unfortunately not the bagel chips, instead I picked up the next best thing, Stacy’s Pita Chips. The pita chips are great by themselves or eaten with dip.

We went home afterwards and I played with my parents’ dog Happy. I was trying out some settings on my dad’s Nikon D80 DSLR with speed shots. Happy loves to run around and around plus also fetch things. One of my favorite commercials is this Petco one where they feature one of their toys called the Loofa dog. It’s basically a “sausage” dog with a squeaker inside. I bought one for Happy and she seems to like it.

Some photos of her:

We went out to dinner at Koi Garden as a family. My dad ordered some special things for dinner.

They have this yummy snack to tide you over until dinner. I believe they’re candied peanuts and fish. May sound a bit gross but once you start eating them, it’s hard to stop.

I tried a Chinese restaurant Melon Ball which was actually quite good.

My parents say they make a great fish maw (stomach) dish with mustard greens. If you’ve not had fish maw, it has a sort of squishy texture but also a bit elastic. I’m not sure if I know how to appreciate it quite yet.

We also had some Alaskan king crab cooked two ways, stir fried and a bit breaded plus also garlic with noodles. My parents love to eat the fats inside the main shell… and so do I!

For dessert, my dad ordered ahead the coconut filled with bird’s nest. Supposed to be very healthy for you and tastes quite good as well. The coconut meat can also be scooped out which was yummy.

This is my family with my brother Tim on the right with his girlfriend.

This is also my family, my two kitties. Yes I know they’re big but it’s mostly fur I swear!

Target and Thyme to Eat

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Today was a bit of a lazy day for me. I still can’t quite get over the jet lag but I guess it’s okay because I’ll be going back to Singapore in a few days so can readjust more quickly. I slept in until 9:30, showered, then went back to sleep from 11 until 2. After I woke up, I played with the cats and dogs before heading out to my favorite store of all-time: TARGET. I can’t really tell you why I love Target but it’s probably because it has so many things and the store is very organized so it’s easy to shop for things you need and want plus things you don’t necessarily need. You could spend hours just wandering up and down the aisles seeing that they are selling.

I had a good 2 hours there stocking up on things to bring back to Singapore with me.

Then I went out to dinner with my high school friend Jerry. Actually, in high school we weren’t really friends, I think we terrorized each other along with our best friends. It’s funny to think how childish we were back then and how terrible we all were to each other… yet as adults, we forgive all those things and just laugh and remember high school as being such a great and fun time in ourlives. Whereas, during high school, we were probably under a lot of stress and were upset a lot about why there are people who bully you. It’s very interesting.

Anyways, we went to eat at this place called Thyme to Eat. The food was pretty good and so was the sangria. Unfortunately they are closing their dinner service at the end of the week and will only continue serving lunch in their restaurant. I think their primary business is catering so if you need catering, check out their website for a mneu.

As an appetizer, we had the proscuitto fruit platter which was light but very yummy. I haven’t had cantaloupe for a while so that was delicious. I think I still like cantaloupe better than the rock melon in Singapore (both orange colored melons).

I had the layered beef enchiladas. It’s layered to look like a lasagna and is served with vegetables and rice. It was really delicious but I couldn’t finish it all because I also tried a bit of Jerry’s Hawaiian skewers. It’s a teriyaki like sauce and the skewers have chicken, shrimp, pineapples, and red bell peppers. I really like the grilled pineapple and bell peppers. In the picture below, you’ll see the skewer deconstructed on the right hand side of the plate.

Boy am I atuffed. We had Baskin Robbins afterwards too.

Only 2 more days!!

But gotta sleep.. actually tired for once… must be the food and sangria…

Santa Clara and Pacific Catch

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Today I got to meet Natalie for the first time. She was born in December so since we were on the other side of the world, I hadn’t had the chance to meet her yet. She’s the daughter of my ex-boss when I was a chemistry intern. She cried the first time I held her but got better after some time.

This is the year of babies and engagements. These things seriously come in waves, I know at least 3 engagements and 6 pregnancies in the past year. The year we got married, I think we attended at least 7 weddings! But it’s good, I enjoy celebrating these happy occasions with friends.

After meeting Natalie, we went out to lunch at BJ’s in Cupertino. It’s right near one of the Apple campuses so it was a bit busy so we decided to sit outside since there was no wait.

We had the chicken potstickers, on a nicely decorated plate.. it looks a bit nicer than it tastes. I’m not sure what the carrots are there for besides garnish, they didn’t go well with the dish.

I had this huge chili angus burger. It’s basically an open face hamburger with tons of chil and cheese. It’s served with potato wedge fries and onion rings. It was way too much for me to eat so I only had about 2/3 and left most of the bread and sides. It’s what you call comfort food.

Afterwards we went to the huge mall in Santa Clara called Valley Fair. I lived in Santa Clara for a year doing my internship but I didn’t frequent this mall as much as I thought I would. I guess I was too busy studying or working or something. The mall is huge though, it’s a bit of a maze but it’s good because it has all the essential stores that I like.

I headed up to San Francisco for dinner with my friends Vicki and Joyce. This time I was craving for something a little healthier… House of Prime Rib, Zachary’s Pizza, Fried Chicken, Chili Burger.. now it’s time for raw fish and salad, so we met up at Pacific Catch on 9th Avenue near Irving. They have a location in the Marina that I’d been to a few times and I really love their poke salad or wasabi bowl (almost the same as salad except it comes with rice). Poke is a marinated raw ahi tuna and is delicious here! Oh, it’s marinated with things like soy sauce, sesame seeds, green onions, and other things that I don’t know.

Vicki and Joyce are big on sharing so that they can sample more things, so they had the appetizer sampler, the sweet potato fries are very yummy.

Plus a side order of poke.

I had the poke salad and loved it! It was very refreshing and I love the half avocado on the top.

I kept both ladies from their significant others so we called it night after chatting a bit after dinner. They have a mochi ice cream fondue which sounded really appetizing but were a bit too full to eat more. Next time…