Hello Blog

Hello Blog,

Can you believe that the first quarter of 2010 has come to a close??

Let's see....work is not as stressful....for now. Yahoo!! I've been cooking dinner since Sunday! That may be a record. I have come to a realization that I cannot prepare and cook on the same day. By the time I arrive home from work, I am absolutely famish and the last thing I want to do is chop, cut and mince. All I want to do is EAT! So what I have been doing is preparing the night before. I'll wash, cut and chop what I plan to cook the next day and it's worked wonderfully. I can't wait to see how long I can keep this up.

What else? We are getting ready to go to Europe soon! Can't wait! My energy is back. I am not lethargic like I was in January and February. I actually feel alive whereas before I was sick, stress and miserable.

Gardening - I am attempting to clean up our backyard one weekend at a time. We were able to clear an area about 5 feet by 12 feet about two weeks ago. Since then I have planted some seeds, put down compost and hope that my seeds will grow! Let's see....I planted lettuce, watermelon and cantalope. I am thinking I want to plant some herbs but I am debating whether I want to plant them on the ground or in pots. I also want to plant some tomatoes, green beans and squash. Oh and we have the yard space so I am not worried about the space BUT I am still trying to figure out if I have a green thumb.

Oh...I forgot...in March, the husband and I went to Fresno. You might be thinking, what the heck is there to do in Fresno?! Well...we went for the blossom trail. About a year ago, I came upon this site for blossoms in Fresno and I thought it would be fun to go. Unfortunately when I found out about the blossoms, all the blossoms had bloomed. Luckily I remembered this year and kept an eye for when it was blossom season. Fresno....it's farm county. It's different from Orange County and Los Angeles. It's picturesque and very serene. The husband and I met up with PM's mom and her family while we were up there. That was nice as we were able to hang out.

Here are a few pictures from our Fresno trip. We stopped by Kingsburg which is one of the first cities you pass through on your way to Fresno. Kinsburg is Swedish influence community. There is about one or two blocks that make up Kinsburg. There was a TINY jail cell there that is no longer in service.
I thought this sign was funny. It was right outside the jailhouse.

The town of Sanger host the annual Blossom Festival. There was a local band made up singing a few classic songs such as the Beach Boys.
A Valentine gift from the husband.

A beautiful blossom branch.

Fields of blossoms! 62 miles!

Farm country right here in California!

Day 86 - Pismo Beach Camping 2009 - Day 3

Aww....as the saying goes...all good things must come to an end and camping was no exception. The day started out early with breakfast being made by our camping chefs. We gathered around the campfire in the early morning for the final moments of Camping 2009. Then we started to pack and off we went...back to civilization.


Pismo Beach - Thank you for the fun times and I will miss you for your famous sand dunes even though I had a hell of time with my ATV and your racoon families.

Day 85 - Pismo Beach Camping 2009 - Day 2

Day 2 started with breakfast. Breakfast took forever just because of the number of people in our group and the menu selection. We had so much variety. Note to self - maybe decrease the choice selection down the road?

Because breakfast took longer than we anticipated, we left for the ATV tour later than we wanted to but it was o.k. We were camping and had all the time in the world. I mean, we could be at the campgrounds...eating....

There was a minor problem with getting parental approval for a 17 year old in our party but that was fixed. And then we were on our way to the Sand Dunes. I must back up a bit, there were ten of us who went ATV-ing while the other eight went hiking. So the ten of us paid, sat through 8 minutes of safety training. OH YES! There is safety training for the operation of an ATV. What we learn from that training? Don't break anything or we will pay. There was a charge for everything and anything.

After completion of the training, we loaded up to a truck driven by a 20 or 30 something man with a Southern accent entertaining us with his wild stories. Somewhere along the way - I was a bit fearful of life. All I remembered was him telling us that his wife bought a horse for $ 5K. (Um...I wanted to ask him how he was able to afford a horse but I was concerned that he would take it the wrong way so I kept my mouth shut.)

Then he dropped us off here.
And here is me! ATV-ing on the sand dunes is a bitch!!! We paid for two hours and I was ready to go back after 30 minutes. I've been ATV-ing when we were in Bora Bora but geez...I was not ready for the sand. I. KEPT. ON. GETTING. STUCK! And then I had to deal with the stinkeye from the husband. REAL. FUN. It was not until more than an hour into the tour that I got the hang of riding the ATV.

And then we headed back and of course...started eating.

Day 84 - Pismo Beach Camping 2009 - Day 1

The trip started at 6:30 a.m. The husband and I woke up to get ready and pack. My friend also came over as we were carpooling over to ECA's place. We arrived at ECA's place at 8:00 a.m.

Oh boy...we were not ready. The party was loading the camping gear and there were A LOT of stuff plus bodies! Somewhere along the way - we realized there was no way we were going to be able to fit 16 people and 2 furkids in three vehicles. Luckily, Metea and Cowman were able to take their car.

At about 1 p.m., we arrived at Pismo Beach. We missed the holiday traffic and we also got pretty decent campgrounds! YAH!! Let the camping party begin!

Part of the fun of camping is the pitching of the tents and, boy, there were a lot of tents in our group! Nine to be exact! :)
And here is our lovely tent! Welcome to our home for this weekend! What's in the tent? An air mattress, two sleeping bags, a comforter, two pillows, clothes to change and our shoes.

Most of the activities for day 1 included pitching the tent, eating, walking around the campground, eating, heading out to the beach, eating, hanging out and of course, EATING! There was a ton of eating involved!!

Day 59 - Unlikely Souvenir

Do you know anyone who collects hotel keys from his or her travel? No? Well now you do. Me. Oh wait...I'm kidding!

On our recent trip to Costa Rica, we found ourselves with an unlikely souvenir from that country when the husband forgot to return our room key and the front desk never asked for it. I wondered if they realize they are missing the key to room 204. Let's hope they have a spare.

Day 36 - My New Book

I picked up this book while visiting Portland's Powell bookstore. By the way - the main bookstore is HUGE!!!!!!!! I can probably spend a whole week in there visiting all the levels and tracing my fingers through the rows of books. It's sooooo cool!!!

Day 35 - Just Chillin' at the Farmer's Market

The farmer's markets at any given city of state are usually made up of a collection of street vendors selling food from all over the world as well as those who sell the most useless household items but farmer's markets are super neat to attend just to see the various attendees.

While at Portland's farmer's market, I saw a lot of amusing people and scenes. I also saw those who were there to make a few quick bucks by exploiting what is considered man's "best friend" but I guess whatever works. Although...this little guy below doesn't really look like he's being exploited.... The sign reads, "Out of Work Supermodel, Anything Helps." His owner has a sense of humor. ;P

Day 34 - Self Portrait in Portland, Oregon

There were sooo many images of Portland that I loved and could have chosen from but I decided to choose a semi self-portrait for Project 365.

Day 33 - All Packed & Ready to Go

Destination: Portland, Oregon

Why? Just because…Should there be a reason to travel? I hope not because I’ve never really had a reason to travel. Wait…I take that back. I have had to travel a few times for weddings as well as work but other than that, my traveling has been mostly leisure.

Til then…Bon Voyage to me. ;P

Day 30 - Trinkets from Costa Rica

The husband and I went to Costa Rica in May 2009. I never really got a chance to blog about our trip. I probably should. Maybe one of these days I will try to blog about Costa Rica....or maybe not.

Anyhoo....I like to collect trinkets from my travels but I usually limit myself to just a few selected items. During our recent trip to Costa Rica, I managed to pick up these two vases and added them to our travel collection. The vase to the right is of a howler monkey - something that is of abundance in Costa Rica. The vase to the left is of a toucan. Although it is not Costa Rica's national bird, this bird does like to hang out in that country.

Tanaka Farms - Organic Strawberries - Yum!

Tanaka Farms

5380 3/4 University Dr.
Irvine, Ca 92612
949-653-2100 office
949-653-2256 Produce Stand
714-968-6588 reservation and information

In previous years, the family would go to brunch and call it a day. For Mother's Day 2009, I decided to do things a little differently for my mom. After corresponding with ECA to see if he was free and up for the plan, it was planning time!

The Plan:

Dim Sum at the new Capital Seafood in Irvine. I was sadly disappointed with Capital Seafood. We showed up at about 9:10 a.m. and were immediately seated. The service was slow and they were still preparing the dim sum!! We spent about $ 50 for 6 people on dim sum. That's not a lot in dim sum dollars and for that number of party. We left hungry! Well, I did anyway.

After dim sum - we headed over to 85 degrees for some baked goods and green milk tea with boba.

Then we headed to Tanaka Farm - The Treat! Tanaka Farms is located in the heart of Irvine next to Strawberry Farms Golf Course. It is an organic farm run by who else? The Tanaka family. This farm has been around since, at least, 1998. Here you will be able to tour their farm and try various fresh vegetables. After the vegetable tour, you will head on over to the strawberry patches to pick fresh strawberries AND you can eat as many as you want while you are there. They do not use pesticides. The redder the strawberry the better. Don't worry about a little dirt, just wipe it on your jeans. Unless you are a germaphobe, then I am truly sorry for you as you are missing out on some of the sweetest strawberries around. :P So courtesy of PJ, (ECA's girlfriend. I've been trying to figure out what to call her and I wanted to use something clever but I fail. I think PJ will be fine. :D), photos were taken by her as I forgot my camera. :(

You will not get lost with this huge sign as you drive up to the farm. If you do get lost - SHAME ON YOU!
Your tour begins on these very trailers! You don't see these around much in Orange County, CA.
The admission cost is $ 13 for an adult and cheaper for kids. (We did not have kids with us so I do not know the price for the little ones.) AND you get your very own sticker!! How cool is that! ;P
Look at the lustrous farmland. Probably the few last ones reminding in Orange County, CA. I guess scarecrows really work!
The husband picking away.


Here is me, looking for a desolute area to pick my strawberries.
Please do not pick the green ones. I can assure you they are not very tasty. See the two red ones to the right? Those are the ones you want! Tasty as can be!
What have we here? A big fat onion growing in the middle of these strawberry patches. Here's a little secret - the onions deter insects and bugs from treating themselves to the wonderful strawberries. (Now I know why the strawberries I grew many moons ago had holes in them. :O) Last but not least, your very own box of organic strawberries to take home! Yum! Yum!

I had a great time at Tanaka Farms and I like to think that my parents also enjoyed the experience. It is something I definitely recommend to families to do with their little ones. The kids will love the experience and you will be able to see it all over their faces! Literally!

I hope all the mothers out there had a wonderful Mother's day!

It's Time...

For a vacation!! I am so ready to go on vacation!

I finally asked my boss about taking some time off and hopefully we will go on vacation soon. Now it is a matter of planning, booking and packing.

I am excited!

Erick Schat's Bakkery

Erick Schat's Bakkery

763 N Main Street

Bishop, CA 93514

760-873-7156

We actually stopped by this bakery on our way to Mammoth rather than our way back. We attempted to stop by on our way home but it was super busy! Apparently this is a very popular bakery with the visitors. Anyway, this blueberry walnut loaf was purchased at the start of our trip. The loaf is yummy with sugar drizzled on top. The bread is moist and there are generous portions of walnut and blueberry. A full loaf is about $ 7 to $ 10. They have A LOT of different loafs. We really wanted to get the banana walnut loaf but they sold out. :(

Good Life Cafe

Good Life Cafe

Old Mammoth Road

760-934-1734

We left Mammoth Monday afternoon and decided to stop by Good Life Cafe for breakfast. This restaurant is tucked in the corner of Mammoth Mall. To be honest, I do not consider Mammoth Mall a mall (well, the mall that I am used to seeing). It is more like a two story strip mall with some stores here and there. We actually drove by this area on Saturday and I remember vaguely seeing Good Life Cafe but the area looked so deserted that we left. Anyway, believe it or not, this restaurant is quite busy! The minute you walk in the restaurant, the place is bustling as waiters are going back and forth, taking orders, bringing food and cleaning tables.

My order: Eggs benedict (half) with turkey and hash browns. This was pretty tasty. The egg was over a slice of turkey meat, on top of a what I think is an English muffin. I just wished the English muffin was thicker. The hash browns were crispy and perfect with ketchup. I also order whole grain wheat toast. If you like whole wheat grain, then the toast is perfect for you.

The husband's order: Southwest Scramble with a bowl of fruits. The order came with flour tortillas and salsa (two types, green (tomatillo) and red (tomato) salsa. The portions are generous and the fruits were fresh and yummy. I believe the husband enjoyed it as he finished off his plate.

Each plate is about $ 7 to $ 10.

Continuation of Mammoth

A few more pictures of our Mammoth trip. Here is me again, all covered up and ready for our skiing lesson.

I hate these ski shoes that we rented. They hurt my shins like hell. I really hated these shoes. I think these shoes bruised my shins.

Snow angels! Which one do you think is better? The left is mine and the right is the husband's. I think mine is better but then again, I am biased. :P Shhhh, don't tell him that though.

Tamarack Lodge - Mammoth, CA

Gorgeous view of Tamarack Lodge!

The husband and I just got back from Mammoth. It was crazy cold! Especially for Southern Californians who are used to 60 degree weather being cold. Well, imagine 15 degree weather! It was bizarre! The trip was amazing as I do not ever remember seeing this much snow!

Tamarack Lodge, The Review - I really wanted to like this lodge the minute I stepped into the lobby area. This lodge is tugged away from town and nestled in the woods. With its quaintness and old-world charm, one can tell that this lodge has weathered the times. It is definitely not the Marriott hotel but I wasn't looking to stay at the likes of the Marriott. I wanted something rustic and charming so I booked Tamarack Lodge. We decided to book a room at the lodge instead of one of their cabins. Perhaps that was where things went wrong.

Pros - WIth the woods as your backyard, hiking as well as winter activities such as cross-country skiing are at your disposal. People are friendly at the lodge. The lobby area is a great area to gather together for a leisure evening reading, a game of Scrabbles or Chess or just a casual chat. As you step out of your room (if you are staying at the lodge) or as you open the front door and step into the lobby area, the cinnamon from the hot apple cider will tickle your nose. An attendant at the bar area will be able to take your drink order. For such a cold evening, most people will order the hot apple cider or the hot chocolate. People will gather at the tables or couches to enjoy their evening. There is no TV. There is internet but it's not worth the trouble (my Blackberry was quicker than the lodge's internet). The room was clean and small. The bathroom was extremely small with a corner sink, a toilet and a standing shower. The view from the room was wonderfully pleasant as you can see the woods. On this occasion, the snow was the view. There is no TV in the room.

Cons - So why then do I sound like I did not like the lodge? Well, for starters, at $ 200 a night, I expected better amenities such as a hairdryer already in the room. Perhaps I am picky but we had to request for a hairdryer and we had to pick up the hairdryer from the lobby area. There was no bottom sheet on the double mattress that they had. BUT my biggest grip with the lodge is the fact that between 7 to 8 a.m., we can hear people walking, actually if you ask me, stomping above our floor as well as outside the hallway on our floor. I understand that it is an old lodge but come on now....there should be signs to tell the guests to walk quietly especially if the floors creeked like mad. I was perturbed as I was awoken two of the three days we were there due to people stomping around. Unfortunately, a cranky me will result in a cranky review. The nights were fine as it seemed people were more considerate at night then they were in the morning. Perhaps they were thinking everybody woke up early or something. Sighed. If we decide to stay at this lodge the next time round, we will stay at a cabin as it is away from the lodge and we would not have to share walls, eh, in this case, floors.

Now here are a few more pictures:

Front view of Tamarack LodgeHere is me, cross-country skiing
Lake Mary - Before

Lake Mary - After. We crossed Lake Mary. In hindsight, it was a very stupid and dangerous idea but it was a lot of fun. We would not recommend doing what we did. I don't think the husband was too fond of the idea but I wanted to cross the lake.

Oops! Happy New Year!

A little late but better than nothing.

It's 2009! The new year came and went just like Christmas. Of course - a new year comes with new endeavors! :) To be honest, I have not really had a chance to consider what I want to accomplish for 2009.

Well...we will be hitting the slopes in February. I am excited! I've never been skiing so it should be an, um, interesting experience. I hope I will not, eh, fall too many times...

Vegas

The husband and I went to Vegas to celebrate the husband's birthday over the weekend. I don't have any pictures of Vegas because I was simply too lazy to take pictures but I did take pictures of some of my purchases.

We went to see Ka and David Copperfield. I think I've seen too many Cirque Du Soleil shows because the shows are starting to blend together for me. Well, I do like that Ka had a storyline but there was less acrobatic performance. The husband and I both enjoyed David Copperfield. Actually, the husband was mesmerized by David. The good thing about David's show was that he really interacted with the audience. The "magic" was cool but I won't say anything because I don't want to give it away. If interested, you will just have to see for yourself.

Here is a picture of an overpriced cranberry muffin that the husband ordered at Treasure Island's The Coffee Shop.

There was a fantastic sale at White House Black Market. Here are pictures of a few items I added to my collection for work. You can never go wrong with a simple black blouse with a skirt or trousers.

A sleeveless top with a skirt or black trousers.

This is such a cute top. It works well for work as well as play.

This top will go well over a dress.

I love that this dress has pockets!

I needed to buy a bag that will fit my laptop as well as a binder and papers so I got this bag from Coach. Why this color? I guess I wanted to add some more color to my daily life. ;) There was a ton of traffic coming back from Vegas! Apparently one of the problems was a big rig fire!
Look at that lone fireman working trying to put the fire out of that vehicle! Props to the firemen and women who serve our country!
The biggest thermometer in the world can be found in Baker, CA. It read 93 degrees Fahrenheit. Not too bad....Then this beautiful scene that I just had to capture.

Vancouver

Being that we were in Seattle, we decided to stop in Vancouver. Believe it or not, we were able to tour most of Vancouver within a day's time. Well, the day started with us finding out that we had to pay $ 70 for 2.5 days at our hotel!! That really hurt! Note to self - the next time we travel, figure out if a car is really necessary. The whole reason why I rented the car in the first place was so that we can drive to Vancouver. Well, we didn't need the car for the entire trip! I should have just rented for the day! So we wasted parking fee as well as rental fee!

OK..back to our Vancouver day. The husband drove and I accompanied him. The drive itself took about 2.5 to 3 hours which included a stop at the Canadian border with the Canadian patrol man asking us where we were from and what we were doing in Canada.

So what was our first destination? LUNCH! It was close to noon and we hadn't had breakfast so we were definitely hungry. I was about to do research on where to dine in Canada for breakfast/lunch. The first destination:

Paul's Place

2211 Granville Street

Vancouver, BC V6H 3G1, Canada

604-737-2857

There was a line but it wasn't too bad. The restaurant itself is on a quaint corner on Granville Street. There are shops on Granville Street like Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware. Back to our order, the husband ordered a Spanish omelette with toast and berry jam.

I ordered a mushroom eggs benedict on one slice of bread and pototaes.
I also ordered a Spinach salad with sliced egg, bacon, mushrooms in vinaigrette dressing that the husband and I shared.
The food was yummy! I throughly enjoyed our lunch and would definitely recommend this place for those who plan to stop by Vancouver. After lunch, we toured Granville Street before heading out. Then we headed to Capilano Park to walk on a suspension bridge. For $ 30 a person to walk on this bridge and tour their park, I would say it's not really worth it but, hey, we were on vacation.

After Capilano, we toured Stanley Park in our car. Did I mention it was raining in Vancouver? No? Well, it rained. (See that couple in the above picture with the umbrella.) Anyway, we made several stops here and there throughout Stanley Park.

After that, we headed to Chinatown, bought rambutans for the husband to munch on. OK, I munched on some of the rambutans as well. We also saw the people getting ready for the night market but we did not stay for it. I do think that the Chinatown in Vancouver is much better than the one in Los Angeles. There are a lot more stores and Chinatown spreads to several blocks. However, Chinatown still feels Chinatown. I guess it wouldn't be call Chinatown then. To elaborate, Chinatown is still dirty, grimmy and there are hobos walking the streets.

After Chinatown, we headed to downtown for dinner. (Sorry no pictures of our dinner.) I did not research on dinner places so we just stopped by an Italian restaurant (more like a pizza joint). The husband and I split a pizza, a salad and dessert.