10 days of chilling at FC

Time flies and before we know it, Sheena has come and gone! This trip was rather unplanned, in a nice way too because we didn't have to rush from attractions to attractions, place to place. No long road trips, just short excursions to nearby places for food and coffee.

Since it's her second time here (ahem, in half a year) and knew exactly how she wants to spend her time, we just jotted down a list of to-eat and to-do. The highlights are:

1. New eating places!

Silver Lake is along El Camino Real and we went there on Panda's recommendation (his colleagues brought him there for lunch). At $18.90 for a set of three main dishes and $1 per pax for rice, we couldn't ask for a more value for money lunch. We especially loved the salt and pepper ribs, and tofu rod cod pot!

We stopped by Soho Café on our way to Livermore Premium Outlet - it's just one exit away. Even though the reviews on Yelp are average, we liked the food there and I think it helps if you place your order in Cantonese! I tried their satay mee and it was yums.

Sheena is a ramen lover, like me! We had a girls lunch at Ramen Parlour because it's one of the best around, together with Ramen Dojo and Santa Ramen. I chose the garlic lobster pork soup base - thick and fragrant. The ramen also came with half a soft shell crab! Verdict for us: I think it's as good as Ramen Dojo (I love thick soup bases) but Sheena still ranks Hotaru's curry ramen as her favourite.

Spicy Empire, omg... I've been craving for Sze Chuan food for ages and Sheena gave me the perfect excuse to go because Panda doesn't take spicy food! We asked Vic to bring us there for lunch since he loves spicy food. I'm so in love with the 水煮鱼 and 蒜泥白肉. Will. Be. Back. Burp.

We sort of decided on King of Thai Noodle House at the last minute because we didn't know what to eat while we were in the city. It's a convenient choice since it's located near Union Square. The portions are just right. Their pad thai is better than their fried rice. And oh, Hoi Jor is good too.

Panda and I got a bit worried when Sheena disappeared for the longest time at the Great Mall food court. Turns out, she was queuing up for Great Khan's Mongolian BBQ. So you pile your bowl with as much food and condiments as you can, then someone will dump a pile of noodles on your bowl, and the chef will then cook them all up for you. How it taste is all up to you! But I must say it looks fun... trust Sheena to find this!

2. New gallivanting places!

We have no long road trips this time around, so we mainly hang around nearby places. I took Sheena to Philz Coffee at Palo Alto, and she liked it so much that we went back for a second time with Panda. (Actually, we went to the Facebook HQ branch without knowing that it's only for employees. Oops!)

Anyway, back at Palo Alto, we took a stroll along University Avenue. Love the Rocket Fizz Soda Pop & Candy Shop, which sells all sorts of quirky soda and candies, and Paris Baguette because their café mocha roll is so good! Cream, which sells ice-cream sandwiched between two cookies at only $2.50, smells lovely and there was no queue! A pity that our tummies were too full!

For our city tour, we skipped the pier because we've been there, done that. Took a walk along Chinatown instead, partly because we haven't really check out Chinatown before, partly because I wanted to look for good lup cheong! We didn't know all the good bakeries are along Stockton Street, since we went by Grant Avenue. We will save our tummies for next time!

3. New recipes!

Well, not exactly new new. Sheena tried Jo's guacamole dip in her last trip, so this time round she tried her hand at making it, under the supervision of Chef Jo. We also made many bags of potstickers, and baked shepherd's pie at home for the first time. I love it when we have simple home-cooked dinners!

For breakfast, Sheena also made us frittatas with bacon. It's quite yummy and the recipe sounds simple! I will try to make some in future too.

4. New shopping places!

Other than the usual outlets and malls, I brought Sheena to the Nike Clearance at San Leandro. We also shopped in the city for the first time. Among her goodies are two new pairs of TOMS from Sports Basement, and one new pair of boots at Skechers (I think she looks awesome in them!)



This sort of summarises Sheena's 10-day long break at FC. With an extremely relaxed and flexible itinerary, I hope she feels refreshed, satisfied (tummy-wise) and happy with her loot. Because I do, with my own shopping and eating craves fulfilled! Heehee!



Goodbyes and hellos

The Real Housewives of FC

Goodbyes are always hard, aren't they? Even if you know you will see each other again.

This week, we bid farewell to Winifred and bb O as the family made their move back to Asia. We had an official farewell at Alana's café at Redwood City - a nice little cottage serving hearty brunch like pancakes, quiches, scrambles and toasts. 

There, we presented Winifred with our very own 'Winifred's Guide to Singapore'. We hope it will help her get acquainted with all the new eateries and to-go places back home. Relocation is scary, and little tips here and there go a long way!



Housewives hard at work

Ta-da!

The happy mama and baby

We drove them to the airport and helped with the luggage since we stay so close by. All the while, Bb O looked as if she knew something big was about to happen. As we waved goodbye to her at the gate, she looked as if she was going to cry. Argh... we are gonna miss this sweetie pie!

Last attempt to make bb O laugh at the airport

In the same week, we said hello to a new friend who has just arrived in the Bay Area. It's Jo's friend's friend, who also turned out to be Yiru's friend's friend. That we found out. Indeed, it's a small world!

Anyway, Yiru suggested Tootsies At the Stanford Barn - an Italian café serving breakfast/lunch, for our inaugural rendez-vous with Flora. I absolutely adore the ambience of the place - very cosy with its barn structure, red brick walls and pretty outdoor seating. Well, it's close to Stanford Shopping Centre so I guess it has the same European feel. The rest ordered sandwiches and burgers, while I opted for risotto balls which came with fresh arugula salad. Yums! But the thing I'll come back for is the hot chocolate - just the right amount of creaminess and richness for me!



Our big plates on the mini tables



Saying 'welcome' to Flora

After lunch, Yiru invited us over for a short session of tea and coffee before we zipped back to FC to fetch Z. It's really great knowing that the housewives' group is growing. It's so easy to talk to these girls since we are all around the same age and come from similar backgrounds. The husbands are gonna be real envious as we have more and more girls' outings!

Ice-cream temptation at Palo Alto



I love, love ice-cream. Correction. Chocolate ice-cream.

Which was why when Jo and Vic tempted me with an invitation to Tin Pot Creamery, I barely had a 1-sec hesitation before saying yes! I haven't even had dinner yet! But for good chocolate ice-cream, I would gladly reverse the meal order.

So tonight, I decided to be a little more adventurous. Other than a safe chocolate flavour, I ordered Earl Grey and Pumpkin Spice - October is the month for pumpkins, right? 

Verdict: I still like chocolate the most. Earl Grey was a little disappointing, Pumpkin Spice was interesting in a nice way, but Rich Chocolate with TCHO Shards was unbeatable!

And the good thing about Tin Pot is that its ice-cream doesn't melt fast (yay, cos I don't eat melty ice-cream!) The bad thing is that the shop closes at 9pm. Too early!

 

 

There were also no seats in the shop so we stood outside to eat our ice-creams. It was freezing but the feeling of eating ice-cream on a chilly night was awesome. Halfway through, we snuck into CVS to get some warmth while Vic checked out his stuff.

It was such an impromptu ice-cream night - you can tell by our bare/make-up free faces. Heh! But it was fun. And when I got home, I still have hot watercress soup packed by Jo as my proper dinner. My sweet housewife friends have been taking turns to pack soup/dinner for me the lone lady. So niceeeeee!

P is for pumpkins!

This is definitely a weekend of pumpkins!

Was initially a little disappointed that we didn't manage to visit the Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival as planned, because of horrible traffic. I later learned from friends that going by Highway 92 is a big NO; it will almost guarantee that you get stuck for hours. You have to go via CA-1 from either the north or south.

In any case we found comfort in a small pumpkin patch in San Mateo. It's located somewhere along South Delaware Street. I think it's called Steve's Pumpkin Patch, and I bought two small pumpkins there for only 59c each. They are soooo cute!



After that we headed over to The Annex at St Michel's Alley at Palo Alto for brunch. I had the eggs benedict (no pumpkins in this one) and it's pretty good! One of the best I've eaten, actually.

The portion was so right that I had just enough room for Philz Coffee, which was within walking distance of the restaurant. I must say all good reviews are valid! I ordered Sumatra Decaf while Jo and Vic ordered Mint Mojito Ice Coffee, complete with that little mint leaf.

Check out their décor - they pasted little eyes on all the pumpkins!  

And then it was a quick stop at Stanford Shopping Centre and Town and Country Village - where you'd find blocks of cute little shops and restaurants. Panda and I drove past a few times when we were taking that evening course at Stanford. Maybe we can head over for dinner one of the evenings... hmm any special occasions coming up?

Bullying the pumpkin husband at home

Then today at Sunday School, we had gigantic pumpkins that were dug out and filled with rocks with words such as 'grumpy', 'rude', 'jealousy' and 'hatred'. Kids were supposed to take them out and then fill the pumpkin back with seeds of 'love', 'kindness', 'gentleness', 'patience', 'self-control' etc.

It symbolises how God cleanses us. And how he could turn something bad into something good, just like in the story of Joseph, where he was time and again redeemed from seemingly bad situations.  

It's my first time smelling the insides of a pumpkin, actually. It has a pretty strong smell (a little girl backed away cos she found it to be too pungent)! But I was so excited seeing the giant pumpkins on the tables, I kept gushing about it... so much so that I think my teaching partner thinks I'm a country bumpkin! ^ ^

Oh well...