Loving our earth

Tomorrow is EARTH DAY! As many of us are becoming more environmentally conscious in our everyday lives, I would like to share a great brand of cleaning products I saw yesterday.

This brand is called Shaklee. All their products are non-toxic, all natural and biodegradable. Thus, they are not only earth friendly, they are also great for those with allergies, or have little kids at home. They won't cause irritation and can be use on all baby related things. I know many of us may be hesitant to switch as most eco-friendly products are general more expensive. But for Skaklee products, most of their cleaning agents only require mixing a few drops to a spoonful with a gallon of water. Since they are in concentrated forms, an equal size bottle in comparison would last you much longer. The most important thing is, they are safe for your family and our earth.

Note: There are discounts on almost everything for a month. (33% off their Get Clean Deluxe Kit or Get Clean Healthy Home Pack - great way to get start!)

drive no more

Ok, let's cut to the chase. I went out to get gas today, and guess how much it is here at the pump?! It's $120/L!!!! My jaw dropped when I saw it. Vangroovy better improve their transit system or build some real highways.

Taste of my own home cooking

I have been experimenting with my own home cooking lately. I have to say it's going fairly well (with a little remote help from my parents). The only thing I'm still trying to fine tune is the portion size. I don't want to cook too much as I don't want to eat the same thing for a week. Yet I want to make enough to fill my tummy. It's tough to cook for one!

On the high note, this really encourages me to try making different dishes. Mainly because I am now my own guinea pig. So if it doesn't work out, I'll just bite the bullet. So far, I've made french toast, Avocado shrimp salad, fresh tomato sauce on spaghetti, etc etc. They are simple, delicious and healthy dishes. mmmmmmm...

*the picture may not look THAT appetizing, but it really taste good :)

living alone..

I can say i have never lived alone until now. It's definately an interesting experience. It does feel a little weird that there isn't anyone at home. But yet it feels kind of nice to be able to do everything at my own schedule, and I can make whatever I want to eat. I guess i have to admit that i am not enjoying it as much as i thought i would have. Guess it's due to my current situation and the stage i'm at in my life. I'm sure i would enjoy living alone much more if it was 5 years earlier. But then i'm still in the transitional period, i have a feeling i would have a hard time going back.

Gosh..i want a dog!

Minimalist

The last couple of days, mike and i have been doing some intense cleaning. Moving, selling, shredding, donating, sorting, packing and trashing! It's insane how much work (both physically and mentally) is require to clear out an 1000 sqft space. After this week, mike swore to begin his life as a minimalist. Own only essentials that would allow him to sustain his daily lives. In another word, think before he buys. Also, i think people try to hold on to too many things, or they just have too much junk!

But in the end, it's always bitter sweet to depart from somewhere you've grown so familar with. Bu-bye office!

Power of water

I can't even remember when was the last time i was sick until yesterday. It sux! I don't recall being sick could feel so bad. Head pounding, muscles aching, chills in my body, and extra dry throat. As some you may know, i'm an anti-drug person. I was raised to believe all minor flu, cold and fever can be heal by tons of water and sleep. Any unnecessary drugs would only weaken the body's natural immune system.

Thus this entire day, i have consumed a gallon plus water. The toilet became my new best friend. I don't know what it is, maybe viruses have the ability to alter my taste buds when i'm sick. But i tend to grow a fondness for the taste of water during these times.

After many cups of water, and numerous visits to the johns. I feel much better. No more dry throat (but now i've started to cough), no muscles pain and no chills in the body. Hopefully with sufficent rest tonight, i'll be back to normal tomorrow!

The new swing of things

Now that our travel marathon has come to an end, we are slowly adjusting back into the pace of the city. But to make life a little more exciting, we have added a few extra activites to our routine. More Bikram and new Swing dance classes.

The first class of getting back into Bikram was pretty tough. Our bodies have to be familiarize with the stretching, twisting, bending and above all..the HEAT again! But the relaxation you get afterward is indescribable. As for Swing dancing, it is super fun. We get to learn a short routine every class, and also get to mingle with a diverse group of people with the same interest.

Even though we may not be 100% with our dancing skills, but it's wonderful to let loose and just enjoy each others company.

We vs. Me

As always, my flight has been delayed again. So I thought it would be a good idea to buy a magazine to kill time while I wait, thus I got myself a copy of the O magazine. I initially picked it because of the article The Authentic. But as i read on, one other article really hits me. We vs. Me. It's about how one should maintain a sense of self in a relationship.

Q: How do you stay true to you when you're also half a couple?

A: SPACE. The more you can leave the relationship to explore your own interests, the more likely you'll be to bring your authentic self back to it.

I can't say this is something new to me, as my mom encourages me to always maintain my indiviualism in life. The reason I love it because of the analogy she used. It's not intimidating but rather reassuring. I have seen friends get "trapped by the we-ness" that they'd created. They become unhappy or dependent in the relationship, which i think is pretty scary.

So who said Oprah doesn't have answer to everything :D

i love it..i love it not..i love it..i love it not..

Since I landed saturday night in Toronto, i had one day of warm/dry weather. Then it has been nothing but snow and freezing rain starting today. Given I will be leaving on saturday, that means i can't do much during my stay this time. BUT in a way, i am hoping the weather will persist to be unstable. If my flight gets cancel, then i can go play hockey this sunday!!!!

*crossing my fingers*

American Pie

If you are in NYC and is craving to have some good old American Apple Pie, then you got to go to The Little Pie Company. They have some REALLY amazing pies. During all our visits to the Big Apple, we have tried out pretty much most of their pies. And they were all finger licking gooood.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Star sighting in NYC

Despite my many visits to all the star studded cities (i.e. LA, SF, NYC), I have yet to run into someone famous...until last Sunday!

Mike and I were in NYC over the weekend. As we were leisurely strolling along the streets of Lower East side/Nolita area, I noticed a couple approached toward us. They were like any other NYC couples, nothing really stood out about them. But for some reason, i thought i would take a glance their way. By the time it dawned on me who i was looking at, the lady gave me the "oh, you know who i am" look. I quickly turned my gaze back onto the street ahead. Once they walked further passed us, i quickly told mike who i just saw. The lady just walked by us is GRACE!! Grace from Will & Grace. Deborah Messing!!

So yeah, that was my highlight of the day.

MSL (Mandarin as a Second Language)

Mike's sister and her family are in town for a week on vacation. Since they are staying with us, we have the chance to spend a lot of time together. Especially with Evan, my little nephew (or is it nephew in-law?). He is 2.5 years old and starting to speak in sentences, but mainly in Mandarin. He adores both mike (his Jiu-Jiu 舅舅) and I (his Jiu-Ma 舅媽), and we both love playing with him. But due to my limited Mandarin vocabularies, everyday is like Lost in Translation. He would speak Mandarin to me. I understand most of the time, but sometimes it can be difficult with the toddler accent. In turn, i would either reply in Cantonese or English, OR sometimes in small phrases of Mandarin which i picked up from Evan himself. When i have no clue what he's saying, i would just nod Yes or acknowledge it with OK. When he has no idea what i'm saying, he would either repeat what he said to me, or repeat my reply in a question form (as in "what the hell are you talking about" in the toddler way).

The family finds it fascinating how we communicate with each other. There are a few phrases I have mastered since Evan's visit. Example: Sleep. Does it taste good? Do you want to eat? Do you want?

Maybe by the time he leaves, I will be fluent at Mandarin.....in the toddler level.

Kung Hay Fat Choy!

After spending several holidays as a married couple, mike and i do noticed there are certain pros and cons for being married at these festivities. And with Chinese New Year fast approaching, that definitely goes under the list of cons.

For those who are not familiar with Chinese tradition, here's a short explanation. Chinese New Year is similar to X'mas, but instead of gift giving, we give money. Thus you would see Chinese people everywhere exchanging red pockets stuffed with lucky money. It symbolizes passing of good luck to others in the new year.

This is a big banking opportunity for kids and anyone who are single. But not so much for elders and married couples, as they are the giver of these lovely red pockets. Thus, mike and I will refrain from visiting any kids and single friends this Chinese new year. We will be celebrating our first at home as a happy married couple.

Do you lock the door?

When Mike and I were staying at my friend's place in LA, they both brought something to my attention. And since then, i can't seem to figure out am i the abnormal one, or there are other people out there who is also like me.

They both thought i was weird that whenever i go to the bathroom at home, i would lock the door. Home meaning the place where you reside either by yourself, or with roommate, or with family, etc. We are not talking about CLOSING the door (that's a given in my opinion), but we are talking about LOCKING the door. Their explanation is that if the door is closed, then someone is occupying the space. I can understand that if you live in a small space with only one bathroom. But what about those people who live in homes with more than one bathroom. Could that assumption still stand?

I've always lock the bathroom door at home since i was young. I can't really recall if everyone in my family does the same, since i never really barged in when the door was closed (thus, i can see their reasoning).

So my question is,

"Do you lock the door when you go to the bathroom at home?"

To make the question less complicated, let's not include house guest into the equation.

Food venture

The last four days we were back in California again. Didn't really get to visit many friends b/c of the tight schedule we had. We were on the road most of the time. First day we landed at LAX, drove to San Diego (2 hrs), then back to LA (2 hours) where we stayed for the night. Second day we drove from LA to San Fran (5 hrs). Third day we commute between SF and San Jose (only 45 mins-ish each way). Fourth day we drove from SF back to LA (another 5 hours). Last day we flew out from LAX.

Despite all the driving, we still manage to do what we love most...ah-hem...it's EAT!! And we ate A LOT! Below is a summary of all the places we visted.

Day 1:
Ramanyani Indo Restaurant in Westwood LA - Their fried chicken, fried rice, tofu dish and desserts are really good. Supposidly one of the best Indonesian restaurant in LA. Apparently they take order from anywhere in US, and can be deliever the next day. We are much tempted to try that out.

Day 2:
Yung Ho Restaurant in St. Gabriel LA - They have some authentic Taiwanese dished. Great Chinese breakfast place. They make all their own soya product (soya milk, tofu, etc). They even have stinky tofu! mmmm...

Farmer's market at The Grove - We got ourselves some English toffee from Little John. They have THE BEST English Toffee we go ga-ga for. Then we ate at one of the Thai food stand in the market. Had a fish curry and laksa noodle. We were too full to try out the funnel cake stand...next time.

Day 3:
Best of Thai Noodle on Haight Street in SF - They have really yummy Thai dishes. This time we got the Tom Yum chicken soup noodle, Thai ice-tea and a Pad Kee Mao (Stir fried flat rice noodle with ground pork).

The Stinking Rose in SF (www.thestinkingrose.com) - We go there everytime we are in SF. Let's just say everything on their menu are made with TONS of garlic, thus the name Stinking Rose. We alway get the Bagna Calda (garlic olive oil spread) as starter. This time we got the Toy Box Tomatos salad and the Garlic Encrusted Baby Back Ribs. And we can NEVER leave without having their Garlic Ice-cream for dessert. It's one of the best ice-cream we ever had!!
*Warning: The next day or two, you will smell, breath and burp garlic.

Day 4:
Tofu House in San Jose - Their specialty is tofu soup, and that's what we always order. Either with Pork or seafood in their bubbling pot with the raw egg. The cool thing is the rice for each table is served in a stone pot, and barley tea is poured into the bowl once finished to loosen the crusty bits and provide a post-meal digestive.

Andersen's Pea Soup in Buellton Cali - They have the best pea soup (all you can drink for $7 with bread) and really good pastries. We had a cherry jelly filled cream puff, and a almond cookie with chocolate mousse on top coated with chocolate dip.

Day 5:
Big Tommy Burger in LA - They have really great burger. I haven't try much in their menu but i know they have awesome turkey avocado burger. They are HUGH. Fully packed. Their fries are really good too.

So yeah, we ate tons. And now we need to detox.

Bud out!

After being a smoker for 36 years, my father has official quit smoking. Cold turkey. Just like that.

I didn't really believe it at first when my mom told me. I thought it's another one of those temporary quit sessions after much of her nagging. He would always say he quit. Then after a few days of grumpiness, then it'll be back to normal. A cig at a time. I've always told my mom there's no point of making him quit when he's not ready and willing to. Getting out of a habit is mainly psychological. If he truly doesn't want to quit himself, there's a very slim chance he will succeed.

But this time is different. My dad quit a month prior to announcing the news to us. I guess one day he decided to just stop smoking. From a pack a day to zero. Considering he was a LONG term smoker, i thought it was pretty amazing how he can just go cold turkey. He must be quite determine this time. That's not all, he shows no sign of grumpiness or agitation. In fact, his temper actually got better. He seems more relax and happier.

You ask what triggered him to stop smoking? We don't know exactly, but we suspect that it has something to do with the cold he got a month ago. He was coughing quite a bit and he was also showing some asthmatic symptoms. I guess it got him worried feeling all these tensions in his lung. But regardless, i'm so proud that he quit. You know that feeling when you wake up to a warm sunny morning and there's something good you are anticipating to happen that day. That's the feeling i have. I feel so happy for him that he now has a new beginning to life.

I have entered him in www.DrivenToQuit.com. It is a challenge presented by Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Health Department to promote smoke free Ontario. The website provides many tips and help to people who are trying to quit smoking. It may sound cliche, but i truly believe that regardless if my dad wins or not in this challenge, he already won the best prize there is...his health.

hot dog heaven!!

I was going to mention this along with the Chicago post, but because it's such an amazing find, it deserves it's very own space.

Mike and I were parked on a side street in Chi-town while leeching off someones wireless bubble, we found this awesome sounding hot dog mecca at one of the online posting for Chicago cheap eats. This place is call Hot Doug's. Just reading the types of hot dog they have on their special menu makes my mouth water. I wouldn't mind ordering one of each.

"White Wine and Dijon Rabbit Sausage with White Truffle Butter and Romao Sheep's Milk Cheese"

The extremely down point to this is we got there too late. They only open from 10am-4pm. We even drove by it to see how the place look like. It's a small little eatery in the middle of some commercial/office area. AHHHHHH, that makes it even more authentic.

*sigh* next time...definitely next time...

the Windy city...

Mike and I took a day trip to Chi-town the other day. We mainly ventured to see shops in the city, can't say we really did any sight-seeing. But we did drove through down town and some special districts. We noticed there are so many things on sale in Chicago. It seems like there are abundances of merchandise on sale and no one is buying them. And trust me, they are REALLY cheap! Where are all the shoppers? Isn't Chicago one of the biggest cities in the States? I know it's not fair for us to comment about the city given we only spend 6 hours in town, but from what we did get to see. The city didn't give us an urban/big city feel. It almost feels like being in Calgary (no offence to all the Calgarian out there). But one thing i got to say is Chi-town do have some REALLY unique architecture. Actually, I would say it's the best architectural city in US. Regardless if it's a 3-story residential building, or down town skyscraper, many of them are very well designed. I just wish people in Canada would put as much thought into designing buildings. It would add so much more character to each city.

Sleepless in Washington..

So we finally arrived to Toronto. Our flight was delayed for 29 hours. We were first scheduled to depart on Saturday 7:30pm. But we got a call from the airline at around 2pm saying our flight was cancelled due to weather condition in Toronto. As weather is not one of the things they have control over, we have to scramble to arrange the extra night accomadation. But at least they re-scheduled us for a flight the next day free of charge. Since mike never been to the capital of U.S of A, i thought the extra night would be a great chance to show him around. We drove around the government district for a crash tour. But we did parked and walked over to see the White House up close. On our way back to our car, we and other pedestrians were stopped by police to proceed toward the pathway to the estate. We weren't sure what could possibly be happening at 11pm. Five minutes later, we saw the chain of police bike, security SUV and limo THE president is in drove by in front of us. It was kind of like what you see in the movie. Now we can tell people that we saw the president..in his limo!!

So the next day, we drove around town to checked out some stores. Mike found a wallet he's been hunting for and got it at dirt cheap price. So he was a happy camper. We also went to an Etheopian resto for a late lunch. It was delicious and very interesting. After all the fun, we returned the rental car and checked into our gate for our again delay flight. It was suppose to be 7:30pm, now it's at 9:30pm. Through out the time we are at the gate, the departure had been delay again and again due to mechanical problems. As this is obviously an error on their part, free accomadation was offered. A number of passangers took the offer, re-schedule the flight and left. The rest of us await for the future of our intended flight. At least we each got food vouchure for some sandwiches and water. Finally at 12:30am, our plane has arrived and we got back to Toronto at 2:30am.

ahhhhh... home sweet home!!

New York! New York!

New York was quite hectic. There's just too many places to see in too little time. And it doesn't have that NYC was FREEZING COLD those couple of days. We didn't exactly packed for the negative 10+ weather. We had to defrost ourselves by going into one store in every other block. blurrr...

I noticed my perspective have slightly changed toward the city. It doesn't seem to be as intimidating as i last remembered. People are quite friendly, everywhere is easily accessible via transit (much easier/efficient than driving), and every district is in rather close proximately to each other. Despite approaching to a number of passerby for directions, I grew quite comfortable to venturing around town on my own. Did i mention that there are soooo many restaurants in NYC, it'll take us a VERY LONG time to try them all out!!