London Fun (May 8 - 11)

Scraps' Weekend Get-away

Since we're doing some floor work in our condo this weekend, we had to stay at a hotel for a couple nights. We chose La Quinta in downtown, as there's no weight-limits for pets, and it's a new hotel that just opened a few months ago and is reasonably-priced.

This is Scraps' first downtown trip, and we hung out in Grant Park, walked around on Michigan Avenue, and took pictures like we were tourists!

April 28

It's a day to celebrate freedom though I miss you tremendously.

Mercat

Jeff's parents are in town this week, and we went to one of our favorite spots, Mercat a la planxa, in downtown for dinner. It is a Spanish tapas restaurant with catalan-inspired drinks and cuisine. A few of our typical orders include paella de mariscos, mar i muntanya, datiles con almendras, and especially their Colorado rack of lamb.

Thank you, Ma & Pop, for visiting us and treating us dinner!

"I Dreamed a Dream"

This 47-year-old contestant, Susan Boyle, on the "Britains Got Talent" Show stunned everyone, not only by her incredible voice, but also her tenacity to never give up her dream. When asked what she wants to be, she said "I'm trying to be a professional singer!". And when asked the reason why it hasn't worked out so far, she responded, "I just haven't been given the chance before." At 47, she followed her desire to realize her dream. I haven't been touched by a story so deeply for a long time. As soon as she opened her mouth to sing, it brought me to tears.

Take a look at this video (click on the link below)! Hope you're moved by it as much as I am!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-KiGva9dV4

Girls' Dinner at Branch 27

A few girlfriends and I got together for dinner Wednesday night at Branch 27, a new American Bistro in West Town. It has only opened for a few weeks and has already got a lot of buzz in Chicago. I really enjoyed its relaxing yet upbeat atmosphere, but its food is what grabbed me. I loved their Grilled Salmon, which was cooked perfectly medium rare at my request. Marie was extremely happy about her roasted chicken. Darnell and Kristen's tuna burger was delicious. Katie's flatbread looked very appetizing, too. We did not get any starters, but I do want to try their grilled baby octopus next time!

The owner is a friend of most of our husbands, so he came by a few times to say hello and gave us a couple of desserts on the house -- flowerless chocolate cake and apple tart. Both are very yummy!

Six of us also shared a bottle of red. It was great catching up with a couple of girls whom I haven't seen in a few months. They are both busy moms with two young children (one is due next month with the 3rd), so it was a fun time for them to get out and enjoy a night free!

Toast Two

My friend, Leyla, and I went to brunch today to catch up on her recent trip to Madrid. We have a few of our favorite brunch spots, but we thought we should try a new place this time. Toast Two in Bucktown is the second outpost of Toast in Lincoln Park. My first impression was the beautiful cathedral ceiling with ceiling windows which bring in natural sunlight. After walking in, I immediately felt comfortable and uplifting in this intimate hangout.

There are many options on the menu, including various pancakes and crepes. Leyla and I shared their "crabby benedict" and the breakfast burrito. Very delicious and fresh! It's always a lot of fun catching up with Leyla, who enjoys travel and great food. I had an incredible time in this sunny Saturday morning~

Couples Dinner @ Sushi Mon

Jeff and I met up with our friends, Jen and Andy, for dinner tonight. We have been planning to do a BYOB Japanese, so a few good options comes to mind in our neighborhood. However, to our surprise, pretty much all of them only had available reservations after 9:30 p.m. It might be because the weather has started to get warmer, which is always great for frolicking in Chicago. We ended up finding this lovely place, Sushi Mon, in Lincoln Park with great reviews on Yelp, so why not give it a try!

We ordered a handful of rolls, a few pieces of sashimi and nigiri, as well as their famous "press sushi", where the rice and ingredients were compressed and then topped with slices of fish and their special sauce. Everything was very delicious at this cozy joint. We had such a good time sharing the food, wine and many laughs. Just the way I like it for a Friday night!

Damages

I have never loved a show this much! This show is shear genius - extreme suspense, intelligence, intriguing plots, unbelievable acting. Honestly, I never really enjoyed a TV show because I get bored at them easily...okay, I admit I get bored at things easily in general! Very rarely are there things/people that can keep me interested for too long (now this says a lot about my husband, Jeff!). And this also says a lot about this show.

I waited till now to share this on my blog because I wanted to make sure the finale is as good, if not better, as all of the previous episodes. Let me just say, I just finished this season, and I'm too eager to wait for the next season to start! I once told Jeff, if there's only one TV show I'm allowed to watch, Damages would no doubt be the one.

Damages on FX Networks
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/damages/index.php

Upcoming Girls' Trip ~ London!!

I've been pretty psyched about the upcoming trip to London with my friend, Fion, in May! We will be spending a long weekend in the city and visiting our friend, Ya-Wen, who is getting her Ph.D. in Art History.

My friendship with Fion started in high school. During our 18-year friendship, we were far apart for about 15 of them. However, I always have a strong desire to stay connected with her. She's been there for me through thick and thin, and is always emotionally available. I can easily say she is one of the few people in the world that I completely trust.

We were roommates when we were freshmen (our high school is a boarding school in Taipei), and we stayed at the same host family during our short one-month studying abroad that following summer. Fion has always been one of the top students in our class while I was more of a day-dreamer with English as my only favorite subject. After high school, she got into law school and is now a successful lawyer in Taiwan. For the past year, she has been staying in Boston with her husband and their 4-year-old boy getting her LLM degree. Before she goes back to Taiwan in September, we thought we should fit in a little trip together to catch up and spend some time girl time!

I can't describe how excited I am, and I literally can't wait for our little vacation!

Jeff's Whistler Ski Trip

August

To celebrate the "March Birthday Madness" for three of our friends, Katie, Melissa and Jessica, we had a private group dinner at a local deli and grocery store, August. Owned by George and Angie (brother and sister) who were both chefs in their previous lives, August actually much more than just a grocery store. You can find not only the most fresh vegetables, meats and seafood, but also ingredients and seasoning from many parts of the world. But what makes August unique is the owner's generosity to share their culinary experience and special recipes with their customers while making food on the premises for customers to taste. At times, if George sees that you bought a piece of their fresh trout, for example, he would want to know how you want to prepare it and sometimes offer suggestions or alternative recipes for you to try next time.

Another offering at August is meals prepared by the two chefs. For busy professionals in the neighborhood who do not have time to cook dinner, their food is definitely an easy yet delicious alternative. The price for these meals, however, is a little high (around $10 - 15 per entree).

For our Birthday party, we had the whole place to ourselves for a cooking demo and three-course dinner and BYOB. Our appetizer was seared tuna; second course was grilled skate with brown butter; main course was tender loin with mashed potatoes and spinach. We finished up with a cup of coffee and home-made cupcakes by Marie.

Since August is about 1.5 blocks from our house, it was conveniently located for me as well :)

思鄉病

I've been missing Taiwan - everything about Taiwan - very much for at least a number of months now. And I've found this desire to be especially severe lately. I crave the authentic local Taiwanese food; I miss my father, brother, aging grandma and my favorite uncle; I miss the TV shows; I miss the language, the accent; I miss taking the Taipei Rapid Transit; I miss the atmosphere and the air; I simply miss the familiarity, my home town, my native country.

Jeff was in Whistler this weekend for a ski trip, so I thought I use this low-key weekend to create a little "Taiwan" in our condo. So I went to the Chinese supermarket to get some 大腸 and instant 麵線 to make 大腸麵線! On this rainy Saturday afternoon, I enjoyed my 大腸麵線 while watching 光陰的故事 to heal my 思鄉病. I have to say, it did a little magic!

Can't Get Enough of It

After finished "The Middle Place" and "Outliers" (I highly recommend "Outliers"!) a couple weeks ago, I started my journey with "轉山". This is actually the first Chinese book I have read in a while. The candid and authentic writing of a young adventurist from Taiwan grabbed my attention from the first page and kept my interest high throughout the entire book. More accurately speaking, the more I read this book, the more attached I was to this book. I couldn't get enough of it, and I found myself not wanting to finish it!

Biking from Yun-Nan province to Lhasa Tibet, the author recorded his first-hand experience in the 60-day journey. It is much more than a book about travel. It is about the courage to not choose the easier paths in life and to never compromise even in the most difficult times. To me, it is 311 pages of history, literature, exploit, culture, learning, human weaknesses and strengths, curiosity, determination, faith, and realization. I recommend this book to you!

"藏民虔誠祈福的“轉山”儀式, 被青藏高原靈性大山擁抱的西藏人相信，只要環繞神山一圈，就能洗淨過去罪惡，讓身心得到淨化。"

Surprise Weekend Trip -- New York City!

To celebrate our first wedding anniversary, my sweet Jeff surprised me with a weekend trip to New York City! He planned the whole trip - bought plane tickets, booked hotel and made the dinner reservation. He had to break the surprise a week prior so I could take Friday off from work; however until we got there, I never found out where we were staying or where we were having dinner on Saturday night. Sneaky!

We arrived around 1 pm and checked into The Alex Hotel in Midtown East. It was a trendy boutique hotel within walking distance to Grand Central Station. Our room was spacious and modern with a king-size bed and a flat screen. After we got settled, we couldn't wait to go straight to one of our favorites, Joe's Shanghai (鹿鸣春) in Chinatown! We enjoyed their famous soup dumplings, beef noodle soup and scallion pancakes...Yum..

After lunch, we walked around SoHo and shopped a little before stumbling into a local dive, Nancy's Whiskey Pub. Nancy's is definitely Jeff's kind of place -- jukebox, shuffleboard table, and beer is the main alcohol served. Two Guinness and a Blue Moon later, we were heading to the Meat Packing District. "Fig and Olive" is my kind of place -- long wine list, martinis, cocktails, fresh olives and delicate cheeses. While sipping on my perfect pear martini, we got some recommendations from our bartender about a few places where the locals enjoy. "Employees Only" in The Village is full of character and was extremely packed when we got there. We were actually lucky to get a table by the bar within half an hour (thanks to my charm, as Jeff put it..Ha!). Their arugula salad with oyster mushrooms was nothing like I've tasted before. My entree, duck breast, was midiocre, but Jeff really enjoyed his orecchiette with house-made Italian sausage.

On Saturday morning, we walked around Central Park sipping coffee. Lunch was at our favorite Umbertos Clam House in Little Italy. Their linguini with white clam sauce was one of the best we've had (second to Daily Catch in Boston though!), and their New England clam chowder was authentic but a little pricey I must say.

After stuffing our faces at Umbertos, we decided to walk off our lunch in the sunny afternoon in The Village. I always felt very much at home in this area, and it reminds me of our neighborhood here in Chicago. We stopped in a few shoe stores, clothing shops and old record stores. One of my co-workers in the NYC office recommended a live Jazz place in the area, "Garage," so we stopped in since we're just around the corner. We sat by the window people-watching, enjoying the sunshine and listening to live Jazz. While we were thinking to ourselves, what could be a better way to enjoy an afternoon? when all of a sudden, "Spotted: K-Fed in a cool-guy hat walked by with a stunning blondy~ xoxo, gossip girl" Jeff was really quick to spot him, but we didn't have time to take a picture for proof...shoot.













We got back to our hotel in the early evening and got ready for our Saturday dinner reservation at The River Cafe. Honestly, I was a little puzzled when we were going over the Brooklyn Bridge. But I was pleasantly surprised when we got there! It has a famously unique location with exquisite dining, seamless service, unbelievable views (NY skyline) and live piano. We shared a bottle of 2004 Napa Valley R-Collection Cabernet Sauvignon with the standard 3-course meal. I loved my sauteed foie gras as appetizer, rack of lamb for entree and assorted sorbet for dessert. Jeff was really fond of his seafood trio (lobster ravioli, shrimp, grilled baby scallop), Canadian venison and chocolate toffee cake. It was an incredible dining experience! And I really enjoyed watching all of the
beautiful people there :)

Sunday was my chow-down day (not that I haven't been the entire trip!) of the Taiwanese cuisine in Flushing. We met with Aunt Sha-li and Uncle Darren at the Flushing Mall where I gorged on Ah-chung noodle, stinky tofu and 鹹酥雞!

What a fun weekend we had! Thank you bud! Happy 1st Anniversary and many many more to come!