Food Favorites

There are few things in life that make me as happy as the following three items:

Boba/Pearl Milk Tea from:

Tea Station

39115 Cedar Blvd.

Newark, CA 94560

Yes, this is an international chain and I've been to many of the ones in LA as well, but nothing tops the milk tea from this unassuming Newark location!  These are better than all the ones I've ever had in SF, and even Asia! I'm convinced they're the best in the world.  The pearls are flavorful and chewy (not bland, soggy, or hard), and the flavor is distinctly Taiwanese.  Love! 

(P.S. You get 10% off for ordering to-go)

Double-Double Burger from In-N-Out.

I rarely eat fast food, but when I have to, this is what I get.  Double-Double is as much as I can fit in my mouth at one time, or else I'd pile on even more scrumptious layers!

#8 House Special Spicy Noodle Soup (with hand-pulled wide flat noodles)

This has got to be one of my all-time favorite foods of my entire life! (And thats a special spot because my top 100 things in life is probably all food.  And football.)

QQ Noodle

3625 Thornton Avenue

Fremont, CA 94536

In Chinese, "QQ" is a kind of slang that refers to something that is perfectly chewy - not hard, and not soggy/mushy.  These noodles are all hand-pulled for the perfect degree of QQ-ness!  I've never ordered anything besides the house special, #8 extra spicy, and I've never needed to.  I've tasted just about everything else on the menu when others have ordered - and nothing beats this in my humble opinion!  I can take QQ any day, any time of day.  

I guess you could say these are a few of my go-to comfort foods, I will never say no to any one!

Lettuce

Attended a work seminar yesterday morning with my business partner/partner in crime, X, and afterwards we hopped into this little place I've been eager to try!

LETTUCE

1632 Locust Street

Walnut Creek

I ordered a half salad (C.E.O.) half pasta lunch:

I chose the C.E.O. because I have a serious soft spot for capers...and salmon...and capers and salmon together makes for a pairing I simply cannot resist.  In fact, I've decided I love it so much I'm going to start using it as my own personal analogy when someone is truly amazing to me.  "You're the capers to my smoked salmon." Ding!! Do I hear a winner???

X ordered the same thing, except with a chicken caesar salad, which looked amazing:

And even though we got the same pasta, hers looks better because she said "yes" to cheese.  I had a strange moment of "oh no must watch calories and keep off the weight I lost in china" and said "no" to cheese, but really?! Who am I kidding?! Who in their right mind is crazy enough to reject fresh grated parmesan cheese with their pasta?! Me, apparently, but take note that I never make the same mistakes twice.

Anyway I was really impressed with Lettuce.  Their menu is extensive, though the concept is simple.  Their portions are enough to really make you full, and the produce is so obviously fresh and delicious with each and every bite.  My favorite part was, they had two glass jars of free iced water, one was with mint and the other with citrus fruits, and boy...I could sit there and just drink their water all day!

Verdict: lives up to the hype, definitely will return.  Go check it out!

Home Again!

Wow! It's been a month exactly since I last updated.  Might have seemed like I died, but I was actually on vacation.  This summer has been a good one, and I am winding down from all the excitement; tomorrow marks my first week of back-to-work, back-to-regular-practice, and back-to-school as well. Going to be one more little get together next weekend which should be fun, before everything completely gets back into grind mode.  For the rest of the year, the only trips I have planned are one short one to LA to visit my family, and possibly one to NYC at the end of the year.

This summer has been great.  I've had the joys of going to not one...not two...but THREE conventions!  That's definitely the most I've been to any year, but it was truly, truly amazing and I am grateful for all the experiences and memories that came along with it.

I was glad to have been able to make some amazing new friends...and of course, also spend time with the special ones that have been in my life for much longer :)

My adventures allowed me to spend some amazing time with my family in Shanghai, eating my favorite foods...

and doing all things Asian, such as...going to get groceries and carrying them home in my tote, and forgetting to put real shoes on when I left the house...

I'm also so happy that thanks to dad's great sleuthing, I was able to practice piano in his adorable little studio I took the subway to, nearly every day.  I had the best intentions of taking pictures to make memories of the cute location, but unfortunately quickly became too ill to return, and then we left, so the pictures never got taken :( Next time!

Then the family got to go to Hong Kong together for our second time...

and I was thrilled to be able to have another visit with this beautiful and friendly city! 

Well that's about it folks! I missed California SO much and was having some serious withdrawals, and actually felt tears well up in my eyes when the plane descended into my beautiful, perpetually-foggy, city by the bay.  I realized that though this is my 4th home, and in the past 5 years I've been to China 8 times, I've never once lived permanently anywhere outside of the Golden State.  And never will I want to, so long as I can help it! California girl for life :)

Seafood + Jazz

My camera is still barely hanging onto its last breath, so these are actually pics courtesy of my beloved blackberry.  I managed to snap only one full outfit pic before my camera passed out for the day, but alas it was out--of-focus.  Go figure.  Praying praying PRAYING it will last through upcoming China/HK trip...  I have absolutely no money right now to buy a new one!

These are a few new things I discovered last week:

SCOMA'S Seafood Restaurant at Pier 37

Overall Grade:  A-

Came here for lunch one day - if you're going to hit it up, take my suggestion and look at a map closely!!  Scoma's is tucked away behind the main strip of shops and restaurants, which actually makes the location kind of nice.  More locals and less tourists, because most tourists don't bother venturing into the deserted beyond.  And it appears that if you're smart enough to figure out how to actually get your car there also, there's a few spaces available in a small private lot.  

Another area in which we did not do our research well was pricing.  This place is steep, even for lunch.  Oops.  We ended up going with the prix fix menu which for 24.95 gives you an appetizer (chowder or salad), a choice of 5 different entrees at a slightly smaller portion, and dessert of the day.  Best deal on the menu for sure and therefore an easy choice. The clam chowder was good, although I still like the one at Sam's better.  (Actually to be honest, I like almost everything about Sam's better.) 

Service was okay, not bad, not stellar.  Seafood was fresh, but I'm not die hard enough about seafood to want to come back and shell out another 30bucks for any entree.  (The "fisherman's pasta" sounded really good, but at a whopping $34, I decided it wasn't worth my grad school student budget to find out exactly how good.)

Verdict:  If you're in the area and have some serious moolah to shell out, no harm in checking it out.  If not, you'll definitely live.  For me, it's just simply not in my budget at this particular moment in life.

Le Colonial - Upstairs bar and lounge/Live music venue

Overall Grade: A+

Let me make this very clear, I did NOT eat here!!  This review applies only to the lounge area of the restaurant (upstairs).  We only came after dinner to check out the live music/dancing - which I thought was AMAZING.  (Then again, being a classical musician and a seriously old soul, I'm probably very biased, so take this with a grain of salt.  In fact, amongst my party, I think I am the one who by far enjoyed it the most.)

The live band and singer sounded like Frank Sinatra's old buddies (although for the record the singer was probably only in his 40's).  The atmosphere and ambiance was amazing - you are instantly transported to a swanky war-time bar in probably a nicer area of town, a place that the soldiers and local girls would perhaps mingle in the evenings.  (Although the bf did say that it brought terrible war-time atrocities to his mind and he did not enjoy those thoughts.)  I ordered a drink the Gigi, which was pricey, but delightful strong yet smooth and delicious.

The best part of this place is actually the customers that come.  Couples in their 40's-70's dress to the nines (literally, think dress code for The Royal Wedding) then bust out their dance chops that have been continually brewing for the last few decades.  I could have sat there and watched them dance all night!  Made me wish my grandfather was still alive.  He was a competitive ballroom dancer and for my whole life I've wished that he could have been around long enough to teach me something.

I was so sad to leave!  

Verdict:  Everything about this place is cute, the building, the decor, the music, the little flowers in the drinks, service is friendly...if you're done with eating and want some classy entertainment for a few hours, and you're someone like me who loves Hemingway, old movies, and "Shall We Dance", be sure to check it out!

P.S.  If you're going to swing by, DRESS UP.  I was unfortunately told there was no dress code so I showed up in ripped jeans and converses and was too mortified to leave my seat at all.  So, dress up...unless you won't care at all that the rest of the crowd looks like they just had dinner at the white house and you look like you just came from an Offspring concert.

The Fourth at The Fair

Yesterday I went with my mom, lil bro and favorite auntie to our local fair and had a blast!! I practically grew up at the fairs - when I was a kid my parents would take me to the State fair (huge!) every single summer and I always enjoyed the face painting, hand print wall, farm animals, and carousel very much.  Also a part of even my earliest memory, is standing next to my mom in the exhibition booth waiting patiently (sometimes) while she watched demo after demo of home accessories/tools.  (To be fair, some of our best and most useful products were purchased at the fair at prices way below retail!) 

Though this local county fair was MUCH smaller than the state ones I went to as a child, it was still a lot of fun.  In fact, it may have even been a better, more manageable size, as we had time to get through *almost* the entire fair grounds, including all exhibition halls, and yes, most all of the home accessory demos :)

Going with a just-turned-14 year old boy is quite an intense experience though...I went on more rides in one day than I have in my whole lifetime combined probably, and my body is paying for it badly now.  I'm getting too old for this stuff!

I won this little guy by punching 4 out of 7 balloons at the dart throw booth.  Impressive right?  I was impressed too...that is until I found out I was actually playing at the children's dart throw booth.

I wore a tank from H&M, shorts and bracelet from American Eagle Outfitters, sunglasses from Armani Exchange, double tongue Chucks in hot pink and purple, and the only thing worth noting is of course my World Champion San Francisco Giants military cap!!

Nice view from the ferris wheel at sunset.  I actually don't know why I'm throwing up Asian gang signs...it's just this force that wells up inside of me that I'm no match against...