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!