glazed over

glazed over, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

went by chinatown for some duck and ribs and picked up this strawberry napoleon. I swear that asians love fruit but not butter or heavy cream. The Napoleon was just fluff and bland. So i ate the strawberries and discarded the sponge cake.

slick back

slick back, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

Max after he takes a bath. We take him into the shower stall and then he baths again in his plastic bowl. When he baths again, he'll just sit in the bowl and spread his wing so they hang over the bowl.

I like how his head feathers is all slicked back!

mama returns

mama returned today. We were told that her flight was at 12:30 but she got in at 11:30. Tonight the traffic was horrendous and we were going to have pho but ended up at O'Char. The service was horrible as we had to flag down each time we wanted to order or request something. It's not like they were busy, just aloof. The food was salty, and Neil's mongolian beef looked scary with thick goopy orange sauce. The noodle soup was ok but lacking in spicy flavor.

tapatio

I was craving skirt steak and tapatio does it well. skirt steak charred and served with roasted jalepeno pepper. Order a few extra peppers, squeeze some lime juice over the pepper and meat and it's so delicious!

http://www.tapatio-factoria.com/

oh sh-t

oh sh-t, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

we all need this on our keyboard :)

i feel all prickly

i feel all prickly, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

we found this in FireWorks. How fun huh? We're sending it to Neil's sister since she's an acupuncturist.

Daniel's Broiler for Lily's Bday

seasonal apple fruit tart for lily. Birthday candle, song, and best wishes!

happy birthday!

Glitter!

Mommy to be Ivy!

Oi!

The food was great as usual but the very dimly lit lighting was too much of a challenge for me.

iris grill

iris grill, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

over the weekend, i saw that a number of restaurants had a 3 for $30 price fixed menu. I never heard of Iris grill in Issaquah's Gilman Village and decided to go.

Neil had the bacon potato soup. I decided to have a taste and was surprised that it was very watery and bland. Neil didn't like it. We both expected a heavy cream thick soup.

My mussels looked good until i realized it was slightly undercooked. The sauce itself was so salty, I had 2 and left the rest.

The veal in pastry puff was recommended as a substitute for their osso bucco which is no longer on the menu. Really, it was the only reason i wanted to go. So when it came, I was disappointed that the meat wasn't as tender or "braised" as I had hope. The pastry puff was cool in some places and searing hot in others. Remember the episode of "Top Chef" where CJ overcooked his broccolini, that's how i felt about the 2 asparagus topping the veal.

The chocolate cake looked and tasted like a hard ding dong.

I really really wanted to enjoy everything and it seems everyone around us was enjoying their meal. Then again, none of them ordered the 3 for $30. I saw huge dishes of duck confit, scallops, entree salads.

Oh well.....

Olive Garden

I don't remember the last time I ate at The Olive Garden. We we got there, we were told that it would be around 45 minutes wait for a party of 7. Come 45", I checked back in and the guy, who was an idiot, says to me, it'll be another 35" at least. I asked him if he was kidding. He said it just depends when the tables would be finished eating. I said we were told 35 to 45 and now you're telling me it will take longer???

So then he asked if it would be ok if we split the party up and I said to him that it would defeat the purpose of putting in for a table of 7 wouldn't it?! He said that it would be a lot quicker! I just turned away from him. Lily took over and kinda reamed him out and threw in that we had a pregnant lady waiting and it was unacceptable!

A few minutes later, we were seated.

The food portions were generous. The server was actually very nice but not overly friendly. Overall, the food was rather rich and I didn't eat it all. Not sure if I could come back as it was ok but not exceptional and if I would have to wait over an hour, I would wait at Claim Jumper or some other finer establishment.

Trellis in Kirkland

skirt steak and eggs, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

I went to www.nwsource.com and ran across an article that a variety of restaurants were doing a fix priced menu for the month of Jan. 3 for $30. Well, it doesn't apply to lunch but I thought we would give Trellis located in the new Heathman Hotel in Kirkland a try. Opened in Oct 07, this hotel is very nice and with 97 rooms, caters to the MS out of towners.

The restaurant was quaint and decorated very posh and inviting! The doughnuts were compliments of the chef and our breakfast was ok. My eggs and steaks were cooked as ordered but lacked flavor. Neil's waffle was ok but the maple syrup was what made it spectacular.

The links in both of our opinions were the best thing on the menu. Not greasy and full of interesting flavor. Lavender infused? Sage? Not sure but it was very good.

stil sick

bird's eye view, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

been sick and now i'm developing a nasty cough and sore throat. I couldn't stay indoors anymore so i took a little ride to the neighborhood park and took a few pics. The fresh air was good and the sun peeked out just a bit before it started raining again.

Have a good weekend!

sick

you're so vein, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

what a way to start of the new year. been stuck at home all groggy and congested and stuffy and coughing. Not to mention that it will probably rain nonstop for the entire week. Disgusting!

There's only so much tv to watch before you want to blow it up!

New Year's eve dinner

Tyler actually stays still enough for a photo!

Jenny and Neil.

tanner and tyler honking and making noises that only makes sense to them. kids!

I played with the X-Box drum set. I SUCK.

we had a nice dinner at Jenny and Edmond tonight. Good food (lots of pasta) and good company.

Happy New Year

ikebana haiku, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

Have fun everyone!
Be Safe!
Don't drink and drive!

Here's to an awesome 08 and to being an uncle again!

xoxo

oh there's a hummingbird singing

oh there's a hummingbird singing, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

this morning, i went out to clip some branches and this cute little hummer buzzed around me the whole time clicking away. I've never heard them make any noises but they click their beaks. I walked back inside after a few minutes and decided to come back out w/ the camera to see if it was still around. He was! So I took a few pics and I think he got the clue that I wasn't going to give him any nectar and he probably thought, "What?! I waited around for this!? A photo-op!" See ya and he flew away!

WTF

i went to review my blog and i thought i went to the wrong site. In my retarded state of mind, I posted the store's merchandise to my blog. Oh well, I'm too lazy to change it. So we have bench just in. A cool line from the U.K.

:)

bench

MENS

Lifeboat zip jacket in green. Size: S - XL.

Lifeboat zip jacket in white. Size: S - XL.

Lazy quilted zip jacket in black. Size: S - XL.

Liquid fleeced jacket in black-olive. Size: S -XL.

WOMEN

Yogi long jacket in black. Size: XS - L.

Yogi long zip jacket in cream. Size: XS - L.

ho ho ho

ho ho ho, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

merry xmas everyone! :)

fun with photos

i received an email from a guy in france and i've no clue what he's written. it had something to do with my flickr photos. so how ingenious is it that i found a french-english translator on the net? His letter said that he found my photos to be a wonder and proposed an exchange of work. How cool is that?! So I wrote back to him and used the english to french translator.

Have a happy christmas eve!

spazzos

funghi, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

finally had the chance to dine here tonight.
made reservations online, how cool is that?

The hostess was an idiot but the staff and food was good.
my frutti de mare was a nice surprise with the addition of creamy polenta at the base.

dessert was good but nothing i haven't had before.

Love Actually

This has to be one of my top 10 movies of all times. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a service and netflix it, buy it, download it, just watch it. I want to buy this DVD! I went to Blockbuster to rent it but they didn't even have it. So I went to On Demand and they had it ! So I'm now lounging back and gonna watch it a few times :)




and thanks to youtube....this is my favorite scene.

pecan tartlet

pecan tartlet, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

i've never been to belle pastry on main in bellevue. everything looked so yummy. i had a napoleon and i don't remember them tasting so good. I got this and 2 other tarts for later tonight. They sure look good!

red mango

red mango, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

www.redmangousa.com
w
of course, I was in the mall taking pictures and the girl behind the counter says to me..sorry we don't allow photographers or something of that sort. It's not like I haven't seen photos of their store and inside on Flickr and everywhere else. Like helloooo...there's 2 yogurt machines and a counter with toppings....

The yougurt was actually good and the toppings very fresh. The mango sucks because it's NOT ripe and you just can't beat fresh tree ripen mango from Hawaii.

Besides being told that I couldn't take photos (HELLO get a clue, I take pics in restaurants all the time!) and this location is flanked by glass on 2 sides so you can see in! Whatever!

Where was I? Oh the yougurt. The small size was actually pretty big and i think they charge per topping.

eat sushi smile more

eat sushi smile more, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

we met up with our friends Minh and Nghuy (i can't remember her name) NEW eeeee....anyway. We met them at Blue C Sushi after we already ate and they gave us 2 iPod Shuffles. I already have an iPod and Neil really wanted the iPod Nano in Blue so we exchanged the 2 for 1.

This is Neil's first apple product. I hope he loves it. I gotta admit that the nano is coool for it's size. You just want to get it in every color! :)

12 days of christmas

12 days of christmas, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

www.trophycupcakes.com

it's a hit or miss. if it's fresh, it's really good. I really like the bite size ones. Barney's had them at their counter a week ago when we went there to check things out. On a side note, I was surprised to see almost the entire store on sale. Crazy. I've never been impressed with the staff at Barney's (seattle). NYC yes, Seattle, no.

bitter melon with pork in black bean chili sauce

bitter melon with pork in black bean chili sauce, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

for tonight's meal. Black bean bitter melon with pork. Neil marinated the pork in some sesame seed something so the flavor was a bit off but still good. Neil picked up the bamboo shoots and I haven't had those in years! They're sooo good on rice!

happy pansies

UW colors, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

I never get tired of pansies. They bloom in the spring, summer, fall, and winter. little johnny jump ups are the smaller versions or viola. The bigger ones are pansies.

sunday dinner

sunday dinner, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

well...partial cooking isn't bad. and we are eating at home. costco food. too much leftover so it will be lunch for tomorrow. broccoli w/ pepper flakes. meat penna past and meatballs. ate all the veggies and little bit of the other stuff...

stand still

stand still, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

i've yet to take a good pic of this kid or tyler w/o them moving around.

wii bowling

wii bowling, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

these kids are better at it than me. They get such a thrill playing! Look at them jumping up and down and flaying their arms like mad!

4 plates

4 plates, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

Old country buffet w/ teri and tanner. The fried chicken was good and crunchy. Everything else was not so good. The coconut cupcake was extremely moist and chocolately. yum yum.

thread leaf

thread leaf, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

i didn't like this at all until i darkened the background and made drastic changes. now it looks cool. :)

maple leaf

maple leaf, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

just playing around w/ software program. It's kinda ironic that you can take a photo that you don't really like and make it kinda cool.

ps i love you

ps i love you, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

I'm reading Atonement and PS I love You. Both are made into movies and I'm hoping that they are both as good as the book.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a big diptych fan. Diptychs are 2 photos spliced together and Flickr has some really cool ones. I really like the ones that depict sayings like "head over heels" "time after time" etc...you get the idea.

This past winter storm is doing some damage to retailers. No one is going out and a lot of people can't get to their destination and people are staying in. A lot has to do with the stupid media which hypes everything up and uses scare tactics to increase their viewership. They don't care what it does to the rest of us.

Do your part and go out and support the economy!
SHOP AWAY!

wholesome goodness

wholesome goodness, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

i've been having quaker oats oatmeal for breakfast but i switched over to costco's house label kirkland organic oatmeal. it's less sugary and taste very organic and clean, not artificial like quaker oats.

taj palace

taj palace, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

For a buffet, I have to say that I was impressed at the quality of the food. fresh, delicious, creamy, spicy, and the naan is made fresh and brought to the table. The vegetarian aloo gobi was soooo good.

winterwonderland

winterwonderland, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

It's Dec 1st, and it started to snow. It was snowing pretty hard this morning and then it stopped. We had lunch w/ Teri & Tanner @ Taj Palace. Really good for a buffet.

Stopped by Circuit City and then it started to snow again. It's been a few hours and it's still snowing...

Happy December everyone!
:)

holiday lights

holiday lights, originally uploaded by awungfoo.

i have an affinity to these bokeh out of focus xmas lights. I can stare at it all day long. I think it would be awesome blown up huge on a wall. These are xmas lights on TNT tree.