Of marriage magic, new tires and 49ers...

Three major things this past week:

We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary!

Time flies and I cannot believe we have been married for 4 years. The good thing is, I still feel that we are dating every day. I don't know how we managed to do that, I just thank God for the magic.

So what did we do? We had a SG time zone celebration at home, where I cooked the usual steak and then tried two new recipes. First, creamy curried cauliflower soup from here. And then a dessert, adapted from what I've tasted at Wendy's for our girls' brunch - baked apple bits + dried apricots + lemon zest with crumbs.  A big thank you to Panda, who is always ready to try whatever I cook.

Oh, and I bought a balcony table and chair set so that we can eat breakfast at the balcony! Alas, it rained the night before so Wendy became my first 'balcony customer' a day later.

For US time zone celebration, we had 小肥羊 at downtown San Mateo. I love steamboat and the spicy soup base was so good, I ate till I was bursting at the seams! Honestly, the quality and quantity of food are well-worth the price. We only paid $65 for two pax!

Speaking of the budget life, Turbo also went for an 'overhaul' this week. After going through his regular servicing, the workshop advised us to change his tires and get a new battery. But it would cost us close to a grand! *horrified* After some research on Panda's part (with me feeling super heart pain over the potential cost), he managed to find a workshop at Redwood City - America's Tire Company - which brought the cost of tire change down to $585.  In the end, all the work caused us around $750. Phew!

(I forgot to take a photo of Turbo having his tires changed. Boy, I felt like an anxious mom looking through the workshop window as he was being worked on.)

And finally... we understood what American football is all about. Thanks to the Leows!

Panda and I stumbled upon St John's Bar and Grill at Sunnyvale, which supposedly served the best burgers in Silicon Valley. I don't know about the burgers (at half-price on Saturdays) but their garlic fries were good, especially with dips like curry ketchup, chipotle ketchup, honey mustard...

Anyway, Kansas City was playing against Indiana on that day, and we were hooked on that sports atmosphere in the pub. When the Leows invited us to watch 49ers vs Green Bay Packers at their place the next day, Panda jumped at the opportunity. It was such a great idea because we had Len explaining the whole mystery to us! No more just men piling on top of one another, with no sight of the ball in place!

I don't know if this sounds bimbotic, but I'm so glad I finally get what the sport is all about. I can now say with conviction, go 49ers!

Now, to do the same with baseball... *gingerly looking at the orange SF Giants visor in one corner of my wardrobe*

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!



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...

Let's go for a movie!

Panda's ecstatic about our movie marathon

We had a movie date at downtown San Mateo today! We've bought vouchers from Red Robin and with it came free tickets for... Wolverine!

Unlike back home, what's interesting about watching movies in US is that there's no pre-selected seats. It's free seating as long as you have a ticket.

That also means you can sneak into other theatres to continue watching after your movie ended. We learnt that it's what the locals do. Just make sure there are plenty of seats and you don't get caught.

So we tried it today. It was pretty funny trying to check what's the next movie on the list nonchalantly. We wanted to watch Despicable Me 2 but the timing wasn't right. In the end, we caught Wolverine and Pacific Rim.

Both were great action packed films but it's probably not a great idea to watch them back to back. By the time we came out of the theatres, our minds were boggled with too much flashy images and loud sound effects.

It also didn't help that both had similar story lines - Asian city backdrop, American heroes working with Japanese female sidekicks, America saves the world or the girl. Hollywood productions are predictable, huh?

That said, we still enjoyed our movie experience. I love the fact that people are encouraged not to call and text in the cinemas here. It's a joy to be able to finish a movie without ringtones, Hellos and bright phone screens.

Wish we had a similar movie culture back home.



Continuing the Japanese theme, my miniscule palm-sized 50ml Choya at dinner.

A picnic with fellow French lovers

I haven't been attending the French Club gatherings for a long time because of the Stanford course and the 3-week visit by SILs. So I'm quite glad to have joined them again for a picnic at the San Mateo Central Park today.

It's a surprising 23C weather today (read: hot!) Kia was waiting for us when we arrived and I noted that she has decorated the place with a nice big sign, a French flag, and a bunch of paper flowers. Nice.

For the potluck picnic, we had pasta salad, sandwiches, brownies, nachos, fried bee hoon (by me) and a home-made strawberry tart. The picnic was somewhat disrupted by a homeless man, who kept telling us about his Chinese wife and made loads of comments about the food we offered him. But it was overall enjoyable, and we had such a great time talking to the lovely folks.

After that, we were divided into pairs and introduced to the game of bocce. In order to win a point, either one of your team's balls must land closest to the smaller yellow ball. If both you and your partner's balls are closest to the yellow ball, you will win double point. The game is actually so much more difficult than it looks, because you need to roll your ball on all kinds of terrain!

In the end, Panda and my partnership worked - we emerged champions of the bocce game even though it was the first time we played. Les bleues sont les gagnants! Merci a tous!

New Year's Eve dinner at downtown San Mateo

Was feeling a little under the weather today despite having a good night's sleep. Actually, make that very under the weather because of the onslaught of once-a-month cramps. Why oh why do women have to endure that.

Halfway through working on next week's itinerary (and holding a heat pad to the stomach for dear life), Panda called from the office and asked if I have bathed.

"Huh? Yes, I have." I had to bring our smelly trash to the rubbish bins downstairs and I figured that I better not let our neighbours see me in this sad and dirty state.

"I've booked a table for us at the Italian restaurant at 6pm. Can you get ready in time?"

It was close to 5pm and I had a split second to decide if I should stay at home, crouch over in bed and rot through the last day of 2012, or brave the pain and go ahead with dinner.

Needless to say, dinner plan won because it's been a while since we've gone to a nice restaurant with good ambience!

Here are the photos of our dinner at Osteria Coppa in downtown San Mateo. The service is excellent and I didn't regret coming out of my hole to enjoy the festive atmosphere. We say thanks to a wonderful 2012, and cheers to an amazing, soon-to-come 2013!