Category Archives: Cantonese

Happy 10 Months

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Day 306 = January 2, 2011

Simon is 10 months old today… WOW, how time flies!

Letting Simon explore his snack cup. He’s not sure what to make of it. He doesn’t seem to like the parts that keep the snacks inside the cup. He kind of pulls his hands away once it closes onto his hand. Maybe he just doesn’t like the particular snacks inside… we’ll have to put something more enticing inside.

Simon seems to like dim sum or any meat wrapped in noodle. Last week he had wontons and yesterday he had some siu mai. Today for breakfast I heated up some chicken cilantro wontons (from TJ’s) and he seemed to like them. When he really likes something, he will pick it up with his own hands rather than waiting for you to feed him.

Simon got a bit distracted by our cat Mochi. He’s been more interested in them now as they walk by the dining table and is curious about the sounds they make.

Misu enjoying being groomed by Mochi.

We went out to lunch to Koi Garden with my family in San Ramon. Our special dish of the afternoon, fresh lobster dumplings!

Simon Claus came out for one more encore.

ET phone home!

After lunch, we went to hang out at my parents’ house and check out their new 3D TV. We watched Despicable Me and it was pretty cool albeit a bit disorienting for the first few minutes. The glasses aren’t very comfortable though so I guess that’s why 3D movies aren’t generally very long plus the glasses use batteries which I wonder how long do they last. But a neat experience nonetheless.

Simon with grandma and grandpa Tam.

Simon needed a nap before going out to dinner and he fussed for quite a bit before finally falling asleep. Since we forgot to bring his Pooh or Zebra, he borrowed my mom’s pillow pet to keep him company during naptime.

We went to dinner at Izzy’s Steaks & Chops nearby. The restaurant lighting was dim and there was a low drone so Simon did not enjoy it inside at all. We probably woke him prematurely from his nap too so he probably was still tired. We basically had to take turns carrying Simon around the front of the restaurant since he wouldn’t let us sit down at the table and he didn’t want to sit down himself. He can be pretty fussy sometimes. But we tried to enjoy our dinner.

Wine selection for the evening.

Calamari appetizer. Nice and crisp and good dipping sauces, something was spicy (and good) and I couldn’t figure out if it was the calamari itself or the sauces.

Their entrees are served with 2 sides of your choice. This is my mom’s prime rib with sweet potato and their creamed spinach.

My entree of the special cut of the day: Cowboy cut with sweet potato and creamed spinach. It has a nice grill, very juicy, still tender, and seasoned well.

The place had the best rolls, served warm and super soft. They are baked in muffin tins so are soft inside and have that more toasty outside. It also comes apart in three pieces so perfect for buttering. Except for Simon not enjoying the atmosphere, the steaks were excellent and so was the bread. It was overall a pretty quite night as there weren’t many other diners but maybe it’s busier when they have live music.

Little Simon, Happy 10 Months!

Visit to CAL

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Day 172

Dressed up with shades on, ready to head out for the day.

It was move-in day at UC Berkeley so it was tough finding parking. But once we did find a spot, our first stop was Caffe Strada for a bianca mocha. A fresh dollop of whipped cream makes the drink, otherwise, it would be way too sweet to drink.

Next, The Campanile for a photo opportunity. We were last here in December 2009 when Simon was still in my belly. Now he’s all decked out in his CAL gear with a big smile.

Simon sitting up by himself near the plaque declaring the campus a historic landmark. He’s concentrated on reading (which is even harder because it is upside down).

Then to Sather Gate with a view of Sproul Plaza.

This Daily Cal newspaper stand in Sproul Plaza is where Ron and I met for the first time face-to-face. If that coincidence had not happened, Simon may not be here today.

It may look like we’re grooming Simon to go to CAL but he really is free to go wherever he wants. We will go to Stanford at some time too to take photos.

After our visit to Berkeley, we met up with my parents in Oakland Chinatown for lunch. First stop at the pharmacy to say hi. Check out his protruding stomach!

We went to Restaurant Peony for lunch. They have very delicious Portuguese egg tarts. Flaky crust (lots of lard…) and egg-y creamy custard.

It was fun to walk around campus again. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since my graduation. I hope it won’t be too long before we go back for a visit. I have a craving for chili cheese fries from IB Hoagies.

Simon Day 29 – Grandma’s Birthday in San Ramon

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After such a busy day yesterday, we were hoping Simon would have a good night’s sleep… it started out well when he slept from 10pm-2am but after waking up to eat and change diapers, he didn’t fall asleep again until 5am but slept until 8am. Ron took care of him for most of the time between 2 and 5am so *I* got a good night’s sleep. But I woke up at 7am worrying that Ron hadn’t slept at all and found him napping with Simon on the sofa so I sent Ron to bed and waited for Simon to wake up.


Simon started out the day with some exercise, we are starting to let him have some tummy time to strengthen his neck and arms. He basically does this exercise whenever he is laying on our chest but that’s at an easier angle then flat on his stomach. He didn’t really enjoy it that much and got kind of cranky after a while, maybe he just wasn’t in the mood… but we’ll keep on trying.

In the evening, we took a trip to San Ramon to celebrate my mom’s birthday at Koi Garden, my mom’s favorite restaurant. Simon slept on the way there and continued to sleep halfway through the meal.

He needed to release some energy so Ron helped him to practice standing. He’s very wobbly but his legs are pretty strong, he’s able to push off his feet to straighten his knees without much lifting assistance from us.

Simon’s first experience with a birthday cake… of course he’s not able to eat it yet but for sure next year!

We always have a good dinner at Koi Garden and great service. If you have a chance to visit, ask to try their lobster prepared two ways. The first way is served as an appetizer where the lobster tail is raw and sliced to be eaten as sashimi or to be poached in a light broth. The second way is the remaining of the lobster which is cooked into a Portuguese style rice which has a curry-like sauce. A very filling meal.

City View Restaurant

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http://www.yelp.com/biz/c…t-san-francisco

Finally a Saturday where we could enjoy the morning together (no work!) so we went for dim sum at City View Restaurant.

A selection of what we ate: ha gow, siu mai, and cha siu bao. We also had chive dumplings, fried rice, zha liang, and a few other things. Dim sum for two people usually isn’t much variety and can be expensive (a little over $30 for both of us) but it’s a good treat once in a while.

After dim sum, we walked to Grant Ave to Golden Gate Bakery for the best egg tarts around! Their sponge cake roll isn’t half bad either, I had their chocolate = yummy!


City View Restaurant
662 Commercial Street

Golden Gate Bakery
1029 Grant Ave

Hong Kong Clay Pot Restaurant

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http://www.yelp.com/biz/h…t-san-francisco

We met up with friends for dinner in Chinatown. There were 8 of us so we decided to try one of their set menus plus add a dish. This set menu was only $88 and included lobster and crab plus we added the tofu clay pot. Ron and I had eaten here before and enjoyed it so I think that was one of the reasons why he chose it for our dinner tonight.

The soup was a mostly tofu with shrimp and the free appetizer was fried chicken wings.

This is the tofu clay pot with plenty of mustard greens and mushrooms. Very yummy.

The lobster, garlic, was a bit small but tasted really fresh.

Sauteed catfish with black bean sauce. I bit hard to eat with all the bones.

The crab, ginger, also a bit small but prepared well.

A whole chicken served with a ginger sauce. Parts of it were tough the breast meat was good and although the sauce a bit oily, it was very ginger-y.

Free dessert of black sesame soup, so fresh that we had to wait for it because they were making a whole new batch.

Our meal also included a dish of mustard greens, salt & pepper pork, and honey walnut prawns. For 8 people, the entire meal $130 (that includes tax & tip).

After dinner, we gathered at our apartment to share some moon cakes brought back from our friends on their recent trip to Taiwan. These were literally bite size but still so dense that it’s hard to eat a whole one. Delicious with freshly brewed oolong and jasmine teas.

Hong Kong Clay Pot Restaurant
960 Grant Ave