Weekend morning indulgence

Fion and Eric's wedding present to us is a fancy espresso maker. Though we just started using it this year, we've been making yummy espresso drinks every weekend! Jeff loves strong coffee, so he usually makes 2-3 shots of espressos. Lattes, especially soy lattes, are my favorite drinks to make.

We got freshly ground espresso from a local cafe around the corner. Making our own espresso drinks has been our weekend indulgence. It's the simple kind of joy that makes me look forward to getting up earlier on the weekends!

Thanks, Fion and Eric! Every time we make a drink, we think of you!

Holiday Party

Jeff and I are blessed to have several groups of friends. For one of the groups of friends that we don't get to see very often, we take turns to host a holiday party every year. This group of friends are pretty much all Jeff's fraternity brothers and their wives who live in the Chicago suburbs (there are only 2 couples in addition to us that also live in the city).

This year, we were so excited to host the holiday party last Saturday! Since there were a total of 16 of us, we added another table in our dinning area, so everyone can enjoy a nice sit-down dinner. This Friday night was our first snow this winter, and it continued snowing throughout Saturday. I was worried it'd be such a hassle for everyone to come into the city Saturday evening, but we were so glad that everyone made it to our house!

I cooked a number of our favorite Chinese dishes, including beef chow mein with bok choy and shitaka mushroom, lettuce wraps, butterfly shrimp with garlic and peppers, sliced beef sirloin with home-made black pepper sauce, as well as string beans sauteed in diced garlic. We also prepared a couple of appetizers, including a cheese plate with crackers and salami, and also chicken and pork pot-stickers.

Before our dinner, Jeff asked me to elaborate on the menu. As I was describing the dishes, our friends commented that they sound like top chef dishes! As hosts, Jeff and I also toasted to a great holiday season and new year, as well as to the importance of our families and our friendship.

I was so flattered that everyone loved my cooking, and all of the dishes were wiped clean! It was such a prefect evening with great friends, and there really is nothing like catching up with friends over dinner and wine.

Busy Saturday Afternoon

After a delicious lunch at Lao Sze-Chuan in Chinatown, we did a couple seasonal projects, if you will, around our house.

Since we have several large trees in our backyard, at the end of autumn, there are always millions of leaves covering the entire yard. They are beautiful to look at, and I love the sound of stepping on them, but we've got to clean them before the snow comes. We had already filled 6 large bags of leaves a few weeks ago, and now it seems all of the leaves had fallen from all of the trees, we filled another 6!!!

The holiday season is coming up, so we put up our wreath and little Christmas lights around the railings of our stairs leading to our front door. Scraps was being a good boy sitting at the porch watching daddy put up the lights.

Jenny and Brian's Wedding

Jeff's cousin Jenny's wedding in mid October was a beautiful event!

The location for both their ceremony and reception was very unique - the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk, VA. Since Jeff's dad has many siblings, cousin weddings always feel like a family reunion!

We had so much fun spending time with many aunts, uncles and cousins during the weekend that we are looking forward to the next reunion!

Jeff's Birthday Party

We celebrated Jeff's 35th birthday by having an end-of-summer BBQ at our house and backyard. It was a really large party - we had 33 friends join us!

We prepared burgers, hot dogs, chicken, brats, as well as a few side dishes and desserts.

Everyone also brought an appetizer or drinks. I made lettuce wraps (生菜鸡松) for the first time based on a recipe from Jeff's mom. At first, I was quite nervous that it won't turn out as good, but it was surprisingly a success and was actually a huge hit at the party!

It was a rather chilly September day, so there were not a lot of people hanging out in our backyard.

Though the party was mostly to celebrate Jeff's birthday, he was helping me preparing for the party all day. He cleaned the house and tidied up the backyard, but also was in charge of grilling!

A Little Jazz and a Trip to the Forest

After a few trips this summer, Jeff and I decided to stay in town for Labor Day weekend for a little rest and relaxation.

On our date night on Friday night, we tried a new restaurant in our neighborhood, Rios D'Sudamerica, where we tasted authentic Peruvian cuisine. I've always wanted to find some unique ingredients to try, and for appetizer, we tried their grilled beef heart! It was pretty delicious, but there definitely is a certain gamy after-taste. For entrees, Jeff ordered the parrillada of marinated chicken, Argentinian sausage, lamb chops, fillet mignon and blood sausage. You can probably guess that Jeff gladly gave the blood sausage to me. I really enjoyed my Arroz con Mariscos, which we think is the better version of paella.

After my Yoga class on Saturday morning, we decided to check out the Jazz Festival in Grand Park. It's an annual event sponsored by the City. We relaxed with a glass of wine and beer and enjoyed the Chuchito Valdés Afro-Cuban Ensemble and Rene Marie Quarte. For dinner, Jeff took me to a dive, Miller's Pub, a couple of blocks away from the Grand Park. Though the decor may seem a little touristy, their food was very good, and I had a Sprecher root beer float that was extremely yummy!

We've been planning to take Scraps to trails outside of the city, so we went to the Wright Woods Forest Preserve on Sunday morning. It's about 30 miles north of the City. We "hiked" a few of the trails for a total of 2.5 miles. The air was fresher in the forest, and Scraps was so excited to be in the woods. Since there are quite a few runners and bikers, we had to leash him. There's also a little creek and a pond where you can fish. It was just a beautiful day that we spent in nature!

One Sari, Two Weddings and a Full Party Bus

Raj and Amanda's wedding festivity was a three-day event in Michigan! We attended the traditional Indian wedding on Friday, as well as the "American wedding" on Saturday. It was our first Indian wedding experience, so we wanted to really be part of it. A few days before the wedding, a group of us went to Devon street to shop for saris and accessories before dinner at an Indian restaurant. Jenn, Jessica and I all got a sari, bangles and some head jewelries. Jeff and the guys borrowed kurtas from the groom's family as well.

The Indian wedding was beautifully set by a lake house. The groom arrived by the boat, and the entire ceremony was about 2 hours long with a lot of different rituals and prayers, which as very interesting to see.

The American wedding was at a farm house, which was very quaint and intimate. Taking us back and forth from the hotel to the weddings was a British double-decker! Most people brought drinks on the bus for the ride. After the American ceremony, cheering, singing and dancing filled the party bus!

Work and Pleasure in the Bay Area

After Banff, Jeff and I flew directly to San Francisco for a few days. I was there to attend our team conference for work, and Jeff was there for a few more days of vacation before he starts his new job.

During the short 3 day stay, we visited family and friends while making sure we tried a few local hot spots! Jeff stopped by his sister, Kien's acupuncture clinic that she recently took over in Mission area. While I was on a fishing trip with my co-workers, Jeff took the ferry across the bay and spent the afternoon in Salsalito. We also met up with my friend, Mimi and her boyfriend, Eric, in Chinatown for some yummy Sze-Chuan food. Jeff's good friend from junior high, Carm and his girlfriend, Andrea, now live in Russian Hill. We checked out their beautiful and spacious two-bedroom apartment before going to dinner at Farmer Brown, a characteristic restaurant that serves delicious southern cuisine. Kien also joined us for dinner that night!

To indulge Jeff and my love for fresh oysters, we went to the well-known Hog Island Oyster Co. by the bay for 3-dozen oysters and local beers and wine! It's always a treat to visit San Francisco. For some reason, it feels more like home to me than Chicago...

Oh Canada!

Baff might just have to be my new favorite place in Canada! Set in the heart of the Canadian Rockies in the province of Alberta, Banff is not only a perfect place for outdoor adventures, it also has an irresistible historic small town charm.

We were lucky to be able to spend a long weekend in Banff celebrating the wedding of our good friends, Andy and Jessica. We stayed at the famous Fairmont Banff Springs, and it was one of a kind experience. The majestic hotel was styled after a Scottish Baronial Castle and was first built in 1887. Actually, some of the interior actually reminds us of the hotel in the movie, "The Shinning"!

We arrived on Thursday with a group of friends. Thursday night was a fun get-together at the St. James Gate Irish Pub hosted by the bride and groom's families. Friday was the white water rafting trip! It was my first time white water rafting, and I was mortified at the beginning! I'm so glad that I did it though. We did a 2-hour upper canyon rafting through up to class 4+ rapids, finishing 20km downstream. Jeff was in heaven, as he really enjoyed rafting! He actually did class 5 in California several years ago.

The outdoor wedding ceremony on Saturday was beautiful. Andy got everyone teary-eyed when he choked up seeing his bride, Jessica, walking down the isle! It was an intimate wedding with about 60 family and close friends. The reception was at a smaller ball room in the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. The dance floor got crowded from the very beginning till the very last song! We had an unbelievable time, and it was one of the best trips we've taken this year so far.

July 4th Weekend

The weather was amazing! We had a lot of fun during the long weekend! We started the weekend by enjoying a nice dinner at Half Shell on Friday. As the night progressed, I met up with Katie and Jessica for some wine on Katie's new deck. Saturday was a full and incredible day -- We watched Germany defeated Argentina at a local bar, Tavern, at 9 am and had breakfast there as well. After the game, we walked around Bucktown and Wicker Park area with Scraps. We dropped off Scraps then stopped at a fun joint a few blocks from us, Northside, to watch the Spain/Paraguay game while having some lunch and a couple of frosty beverages. It was really a treat to be enjoying the soccer games, since we haven't been able to watch them during the day at work.

We then met up with Leyla and Charlie at Motel Bar near downtown to celebrate their engagement! In the evening, we went to a surprise birthday party for our friend, Raj. After I got home, the night continued on for Jeff, whose good high school friend, Darren, came to town from D.C. They went to Piece and Bar Louie by our house for a couple drinks.

On Sunday, we invited a few friends over to celebrate the 4th! Every couple brought a side dish, and we grilled marinated chicken breast, corn and assorted vegetables. Jen brought Fletch, who loved our kiddie pool. Marie and John also brought their son's kiddie pool, but Scraps and Fletch ended up taking that over as well...

New Kitchen Additions

Our new bar cabinetry was completed in mid May which gives us more storage space especially for glass wares. We selected the granite countertop that are very identical to the rest of our kitchen countertops. Since we couldn't bring our wine fridge from our old condo, we decided to install one here as well.

The beautiful antique mirror backsplash around our kitchen counter was finished a few weeks ago. It has unique "sunset" antique patterns. We love it because it's very rare (as oppose to granite/tile backsplashes), and I attribute this incredible idea to my designer!

BBQ in our back yard

This Saturday, we invited some friends over to our house for a casual BBQ. Chrissy, Mike, Ben and Nathen, as well as Scott and Jack came in from one of Chicago suburbs, Naperville. Since we live in the city, we don't see them as often as we'd like to. So we try to make time to get together with them as much as we can.

Megan and Kevin just had their son, Jax, also joined us before they headed to the Cubs-Sox game last night. They are in the process of selling their condo in the city and moving to the suburbs. Tony and Michele are also our good friends whom we'd like to see more often. They have a beautiful 3.5-year-old daughter, Shea, and the cutest 16-month-old twin boys, Blake and Britton. Britton was hanging out with me. Since he just started walking, he wanted to go upstairs and downstairs, in and out of the house, so I was following him around to make sure he was okay. For a moment, I felt like he was my own! But it really is hard to be a parent. I'm amazed at how Tony and Michele are such great parents to their 3 young children while joggling work and school!

Fun Girls' Trip

For Jessica's Bachelorette party, we spent a weekend at our friend's lake house in Michigan. We arrived on Friday and visited 3 wineries for wine tasting before dinner at a local Italian restaurant, Tosi. During the day on Saturday, we hung out at the beach in St. Joe's and shopped around town. Saturday night was Bachelorette fun and fajitas/margaritas night. I love girls trips, and we had such a fun time. I'm blessed to have a fun group of friends here in Chicago!

Arlington 2010

It is our second Arlington Race Track event. Since we had so much fun last year, we extended the invitation to more friends this year. It was a Saturday in early June, and the day started out raining like cats and dogs. As the day went on, the sun came out and it turned out to be a beautiful day!

Just like last year, we reserved a room with food and drinks. We girls also ordered champagne. Many betting and goofing around!

Jeff's first Yoga class

Jeff went to his first yoga class with me on Saturday morning! I know yoga is good for the spine and great for different muscles in the body, and I believe it will be great for Jeff, since he's had spine injuries before. I was, however, a little worried that Jeff might not like it.

But I was so impressed! He was so flexible and was even able to do positions that I was not able to do during my first yoga class! It was a beginner's yoga class and a small class, so the instructor was able give much attention to all of the the students. After the class, Jeff said he felt relaxed and his body felt great. I know we will be going to more yoga classes together!

Blue Fin

On our date night, Jeff and I tried a new Japanese restaurant near our house, Blue Fin. We are especially picky when it comes to Japanese cuisine and sushi, so we always go to either Marai or Matsuya, where we can get the freshest fish and most unique and delicious dishes you can ever have.

However, since Matsuya is currently closed under remodeling, and Marai typically needs reservation after 6:30 pm on a Friday night, we decided to give Blue Fin a try. Almost a decade ago when I first moved to Chicago, I actually went to Blue Fin a couple times with friends. I thought it was pretty good at that time, but I did think it was a little pricey for the quality of food.

We ordered a lobster roll for appetizer, a golden dragon maki (softshell crab, salmon, tobico), the grilled scallops with rice, as well as a few pieces of sushi and sashimi. My Uni sushi was great, and the hamachi sashimi was very fresh. However, the lobster roll was definitely not worth the price. I like the maki, but Jeff was not crazy about the sauce on the maki that was not mentioned in the menu. We also thought the scrallops was too well done.

All and all, we thought the meal was a little over-priced for what we had. But I'm glad we gave it a try, so now we know!

Clarity and Relaxation

I went to a yoga class for the first time after a few years this Saturday, and I've felt like a changed person since.

I've never been a person who loves to work out. In fact, I really dislike working out. I used to do a lot of pilates, which is great for stretching, muscle elongation and is definitely a great form of work-out. But, maybe I didn't have the best instructor, and I felt I always had to spend extra time driving to the gym and find parking everytime I wanted to go to a class. Before my wedding, I also used to work with a personal trainer to tone my body, and actually I continued the training a few more months after the wedding. However, I finally decide to stop when I realized I lost my motivation to squat 30 times while carrying a 60 pound bar on my shoulder, and the worst came when I drag everytime I was getting ready to go.

For the past couple of years, my excuse of not working out has been that I walk a lot on my way to the office and back. I'm a fast walker, and the long walks do feel like light cardio work-out. Recently however, I've been feeling extremely stressed out at work. It might be due to the nature of any sales jobs, but for a few weeks I was feeling very burnt out, and I would wake up in the middle of the night contemplating my strategy to close certain contracts. I've had a great first quarter and a successful April, but I'm always thinking about my next contract.

The mental stress has put a toll on my body as well, so I thought I need some form of exercise besides walking that will help me relax. It might be a message from God that made me discover a yoga studio in the alternative health organization 2 blocks from our house! And they are currently running a promotion. How perfect! I've always wanted to be able to walk (rather than driving) to a gym or exercise class!

The class I went to on Saturday morning was a beginner's yoga class. It focused on breathing and a lot of the basic postures and flow. After the 1.5 hour class, I felt unbelievably relaxed physically and got so much clarity mentally. I got home and couldn't stop smiling! It's hard to explain, but I was really in a nirvana state. I felt all of the knots in my body have been opened, and all of my thoughts have been crystallized.

In the late afternoon and evening, however, I started to have really bad headache. For some reason, I felt the headache was happening in a good way. I felt like my body was releasing all of the bad stuff out! After a good night sleep, I was like a brand new person. I have great energy all day on Sunday and no aches and pains at all. After a day of running errands, being at a birthday party, and an hour long walk with Scraps, I still feel like I can run for miles.

What the Dog Saw

After reading Outliers, I was eager to read the next book by Malcolm Gladwell. I was really looking forward to being surprised again.

What the Dog Saw did not disappoint me, and Malcolm once again opened my eyes and captured my attention throughout the book. What's so great about Malcolm's writings is that they have the ability to engage you and make you think.

If you're in a mood for an insightful non-fiction, I highly recommend this book. It will worth your time!

My Bro

My brother, Kuo-Hsun, works for a well-known ad agency in Taipei. Because of his fun personality and good looks, sometimes he is asked to be in their clients' ads!

Take a look, and click on his character!
http://www.pureyogurt.com.tw/

Spoiled Rotten

Saturday morning, Jeff, in his "Scraps' voice" (yes, we have a common voice for Scraps, so we can pretend to be like him in conversations....Don't judge!) said, "Ma, we are going to get you a Mother's Day present today!"

So with that, Jeff took me to Scoop NYC and Barney's to shop for jeans and drove me to Nordstrom and bought me a pair of Tory Burch flats!

While we were on our way to Nordstrom...
Me: Oh babe, you don't need to buy me anything! I have everything!
Jeff: I haven't got you any presents in a while, and you're such a great mom to Scraps! You deserve it.

On Sunday, Jeff's parents and sister visited us from Florida and San Francisco and stayed with us for a couple days. As usual, they brought a lot of food and treats for us, and we all went to a new Taiwanese restaurant in Chinatown for lunch. For dinner, we went to our favorite seafood restaurant, Half Shell, for oysters and crab legs.

Scraps was spending every minute he could with grandpa and grandma, too! He snuggled with them on the couch like a lap dog, and sneaked into their room and onto their bed at night.

It was a very nice weekend, and yes, I'm spoiled rotten by my sweet husband and his wonderful family.

Anxiety High

Our friend, Jason (aka Knife Jones), plays in a punk rock band, Anxiety High. Jeff and I have been wanting to see his concert, and we finally did last Saturday!

Anxiety High was playing at a local dive bar, Munity, along with 2 other bands to raise money for breast cancer. We met up with Jason's wife, Katie, as well as our friends, Melissa, Kris and Tony at around 10:30 pm. Jason's band didn't come on till 11:30 pm, but I had a such a great time! All of the proceeds of drinks, raffle tickets, etc. went to the charity.

Bar scene at this late at night is now pretty rare for me, considering I usually pass out at around 10 pm at night, yes, even on the weekends!

A Day in Naperville

Some of our friends live in the suburbs of Chicago, and since pretty much all of them have young children now, it can be really challenging trying to schedule time to get together.

A couple of our good friends live in Naperville, so Jeff and I spent a Saturday a week ago in Naperville visiting them. Mike and Chrissy now have 2 boys, Ben 3 1/2, Nathen 7 months. We stopped by their house and grilled out on their deck. Ben is such a big boy now who loves toys and going to the zoo. Little Nathen is a cutie. Chrissy said he's been having digestion issues and has been suffering from gas pain. The poor little guy also had H1N1 flu when he was just several months old. Jeff and Mike catch up on the phone periodically, but it definitely is wonderful seeing them and spending some time together.

We left Mike and Chrissy's after lunch and met up with Scott and his little boy Jack at Blackfinn in downtown Naperville. Though we see Scott a few times a year, the last time we saw Jack was when he was just a couple months old. He is almost 3 now and is such a handsom boy! He is also a very special little guy I thought. It was past his nap time, and we can tell he was really tired, but he was still smiley pretty much the entire time.

We are planning a bbq next month, so we can have everyone over at our house.

NCAA Final 4 Get-together

We invited a dozen friends over to our house to watch the NCAA Final 4 last weekend. I made a few appetizers, such as stuffed mushrooms, chili cheese dip, pretzel dogs. Marie brought guacamole/chips, and Jenn brought Sweet Mandy B's cupcakes! We then ordered pizza at dinner time.

For a few hours, our house was filled with a different kind of energy. In additional to beers and adults, there were toddlers stumbling around chased by their parents; babies crying for food and giggling after getting a lick by Scraps; their strollers, toys, diapers are on our couch and in our bed. It was a fun and interesting few hours with a dash of chaos. At times, Jeff and I looked at each other and smiled.

All of the "not-yet-parent" friends stayed later and played 80s. I was already looking forward to our next event after sending off our friends!

Great News!

Our condo is sold! The closing of the sale was earlier today.

Thank you, God, for answering my prayers!

Guest Bathroom Remodel

Our remodeling of our guest bathroom includes:
- Wall covering on the white walls
- Glass shower door
- Marble floor (white carrera marble with gray veins)

The Southern

A newly opened bar/restaurant in Bucktown, The Southern is about 2 blocks away from our house. Its menu has everything to do with its name -- bourbons, micro-brews, whiskeys, hush puppies, shrimp and grits, gumbo, fried green tomatoes, etc.

Since Southern comfort food has been one of our favorites, Jeff and I stopped in last Friday to give it a try as our date night! Friday's drink special is $3 shot of Maker's Mark, so we each had a shot before dinner. It also took the edge off after a long week of work. We then ordered their hush puppies for appetizer, which were made of smoked trout. It was really yummy! The dipping sauce was unbelievable. We had the gumbo and the Duck Orleans as entrees, and we were especially impressed with the gumbo. The portions were not too big, which was perfect.

During our meal, the executive chef, Cary Taylor, stopped by and asked how we liked the food. We told him about our love for the gumbo, but the duck was little too salty. He was very appreciative of our feedback and told us they will make the improvement. At the end of our meal, he sent us a complimentary dessert on the house. We choose the carrot cake, and honestly it might be the best carrot cake I've ever had -- not too sweet, very nice texture, with toasted pistachio and rum raisin.