Category Archives: Chinese

Little Kaylee

Day 223

Today is our last day in Southern California. Simon was itching to go, “let me out!”

We went to find ourselves some Taiwanese breakfast so ended up at Ye-May Restaurant which was recommended by a local. Ron loves his Taiwanese breakfast foods so was excited to try it. We ordered the egg crepe served with an actual sauce that was sort of like sweet soy with garlic. Very unlike our last trip when we went to Yung Ho and they gave us soy paste.

Ba-wan, my favorite. The minced stuff inside was yummy and much easier to eat than some places that use large chunks of bamboo and meats.

I always forget what this is called since I don’t like to eat it… it’s one of Ron’s favorites though.

He also liked it because it was “stuffed”, usually the ingredients are on top or a bit is distributed but this actually had a large amount of filling.

This was an interesting “sandwich” with preserved vegetables, peanuts, and meat. It seemed like they microwaved it though so wasn’t as fresh as the other stuff.

We ordered some rice rolls to go, one savory and one sweet. They are made fresh so are hot when you get them. Ron couldn’t resist and had to take a bite right away just to see if the fried dough stick inside was crunchy. The sweet one is a fried dough stick covered in sugar then wrapped with the rice.

This restaurant is much better than Yung Ho so visit Ye-May if you’re ever in San Gabriel and craving some Taiwanese breakfast.

After our breakfast, we drove over to Manhattan Beach to meet up with our friend Lynne and her daughter Kaylee. Simon look a little nap in the car with his Winnie the Pooh seatbelted in, safe and sound.

Little Kaylee is 2.5 months old. I’ve already forgotten how small and seemingly fragile babies are at this age. She was really well behaved during our lunch and super cute in her sleep. She would make the mouthing motions of sucking to show mommy she is hungry. “Baby smell” at this age is softer and sweeter than at Simon’s age. It was fun to meet her and chat with mommy Lynne. Don’t you just want to pinch those chubby cheeks?

We had lunch at a place called Islands at the mall which is sort of like Hawaiian Mexican (?). Tacos with Hawaiian seasoned insides.

We had a quick dessert of seasonal pumpkin cupcakes filled with cream cheese frosting.

Then had to rush to return our rental car and catch our flight home. We were almost going to be late but it ended up our flight was delayed so we made it on time. We sat next to the wing and engine again and Simon slept through most of the flight. He woke up during landing when we hit a bump but that was all. I hope flying is always this easy with him.

Simon is not eating much solid food these last few days. He only likes to eat puffs he can pick up with his own hands and avocado that I feed him. So tonight we finally decided to try some peas and corn. He didn’t enjoy pureed peas but we thought he might like picking up and eating an actual pea. He seemed okay with it but still wasn’t quite sure how to eat it. This is only a video of the peas (and sorry it is sideways, I forgot to flip the camera) and we added corn kernels later.

After our weekend away from home, Simon fell right to sleep in his own bed, hugging is pal Pooh.

First Pool Experience

Day 193

So this afternoon we went to Fairfield for our friends’ housewarming party. Along the way, we stopped for Taiwanese brunch at 168 Restaurant in Richmond. Simon waiting patiently for our food.

It’s been years since we’ve come this way and were pleasantly surprised by the food. They had some new brunch menu items but we were totally sad when we realized we forgot to order the stinky tofu! Oh well, next time, since I think we’ll be back again.

They have sweet soy bean milk. This is the hot version. They also have the savory type on their menu..

Ba wan. The bamboo shoots in this were cut a little too big for my taste but Ron says this is the traditional way. I just don’t like how it can get stuck in your teeth with the large pieces.

Rice roll with pork sung, fried dough stick, and preserved vegetables.

Dried noodles with ground pork and a boiled egg.

Green onion crepe with egg. This was made well. The egg was perfect and the green onion crepe thin and a bit crispy.

After brunch, we headed out to Fairfield to see our friends’ house and enjoy their BBQ and outdoor space. They have a pool and jacuzzi and also had this inflatable pool for Simon! Ron had to blow it up and they filled it with water from the big pool. We borrowed a waterproof diaper and let Simon sit in the pool and splash the water and play with some of the pool toys.

He didn’t know quite what to make of the whole situation at first so was a little cranky.

But then he started to really enjoy it. I took him out when his feet started to get prune-y and when the weather started to cool down.

Thanks to Linda, Daniel, and Ariana for having us over! Now Simon will be more prepared when we go to Hawaii next month. I need to find him some swimming trunks!

A note to our blog followers:
It’s been a busy summer so I apologize for the inconsistency of the updates on our blog. Thank you for being patient and always coming to visit! Ron has been doing a great job of taking photos and videos everyday (thanks honey!) but it just takes me some time to upload them and write about Simon’s day. Summer is winding down so I hope we’ll be less busy. Thank you all again for reading!

Visit to CAL

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.

Learning to drive

Day 152

I caught Simon this morning grabbing onto his foot and also grabbing onto Biggie Pooh’s foot… so cute!

So we had a busy day today. First we went to visit Vicki and also check out her new car. She let Simon test drive it.

He can barely see over the steering wheel while standing up.

Then we went to lunch at Kingdom of Dumpling near her house. We had a delicious and filling lunch.

Green onion pancakes which Ron says are very similar to the Taiwanese way, they were chewy but crisp.

We tried their tofu threads which were seasoned with a bit of soy sauce and cilantro. I wonder if these tofu “noodles” will work in soup or as a spaghetti?

The string beans were good, cooked al dente and dry fried.

Hot sweet soy milk. They also have salty soy milk.

We tried their steamed dumplings, this is 2 orders, each order is 6 pieces. They were pretty yummy, steaming hot and full of delicious juices.

Chive cakes.

Wide rice noodles with pork dumplings, mushrooms, and mustard greens. We were already too full when this finally arrived so I only had a little bit but the noodles and dumplings were delicious.

After lunch, we went to visit Ron’s mom in Millbrae. Simon had been fussy in the restaurant because he wanted to sleep but it was a bit too loud so once we got into the car, Simon tried to sleep. He ended up sucking on his fingers… and flipping me off.

Today is my dad’s birthday so we were going to have dinner at Hokkaido Seafood Buffet in Foster City/San Mateo so right before dinner, we dropped by our friends’ Sabrina and Min so that I could meet their boys Connor and Toby. The boys decided to hold a board meeting.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Last week, Simon had been mostly screeching but recently he’s been babbling again. Check it out:

Simon’s 1st vacation: Southern California – Day 4

Day 69

It is our last day in Southern California, our last day to enjoy some good Chinese/Taiwanese food.  It seemed like Simon had a good night’s rest so was active this morning.  He’s all smiles!

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This onesie is from Auntie Betty.  “I still live at home”… obviously!  But hilarious!

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For lunch we went to Arcadia to SinBala for some Taiwanese food.

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Their menu includes many variations of Chinese sausage.  We ordered one with basil (and some sweet sauce) and one with wasabi.  Basil was delicious.  Wasabi was interesting… but pretty good.

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This is spicy dry wonton.  I didn’t like this because I didn’t think it had much flavor, just kind of bitter with red chili flakes.

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My favorite ba-wan.  Not enough filling in my opinion but decent.

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Green onion pancake.  Very crispy, yet oily.  Not much green onion flavor but the crispiness made up for it.

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I forget what this is called, a steamed dish with meat, mushrooms, boiled egg, and a salty sauce.  Ron’s favorite but not something I like that much.

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After lunch we went to visit  the California Institute of Technology since we had never been on the campus before.  I had seen it earlier off the freeway so just wanted to check it out.  When I was in high school, I really wanted to go there since I was getting really into computers and they had an excellent student to professor ratio.  Sadly I was rejected but it was all for the better.  Berkeley was great and it is where I met to love of my life and now we have Simon!

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An interesting feature at the school is this pond made up of stones from one of their old buildings.  It has turtles and koi plus a few ducks.  The turtles were coming out of the water to sunbathe as the weather was getting warmer.

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Our last stop before heading home was Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Fountain in Pasadena.  The nerdy pharmacist in me just wanted to check out a traditional pharmacy and soda fountain.  It actually wasn’t what I expected.  The pharmacy is in one part of the store with a small OTC retail section.  The soda fountain is in the front, right at the street corner with a retail section of things like Curious George, Betty Boop, cards, books, candies, etc.  We decided to sit down anyways and have a malt shake: pistachio nut.  One shake was enough to split into two glasses so Ron and I shared.  It was nice and creamy, delicious fresh whipped cream, but not super spectacular and a bit expensive ($5.95).  Maybe I had my hopes too high.  But now I can saw I’ve been to a traditional pharmacy and soda fountain.

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We decided to leave in the afternoon since I think all of us were tired and ready to be home and rest.  Simon seems to do great in the car, I wonder how he will be on a plane?  That will be his next vacation when we go to Hawaii in October.