Weekend in Michigan

Our friends, Bret and Katie, invited us to their lake house in Michigan this weekend. This is our third time to their vacation home, and we are excited to get out of the city for a few days. We drove up Friday evening. Our other friends, Jenn and John, also got there around the same time. Since the boys were playing golf early Saturday morning, we hit the hay a little early on Friday after a few drinks.

While the guys were out golfing, Jenn, Katie and I had some girls time. We hung out with Katie's son, Bo, had light breakfast, lounged on the couch and chatted. We then met up with our husbands in South Haven, a nearby town, for lunch. After lunch, we girls walked around town and shopped while the guys went back to the house and Bo. We stopped in a few cute shops and antique stores, but it was nice to just stroll under the sun. Before dinner, we relaxed on the deck for a few hours then went to a pizza joint at another nearby town, St. Joe's.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning, so we went to the beach then grilled out afterwards. Scraps and Re-Run were following each other around pretty much the whole time, and they had a especially wonderful time at the beach. Scraps got a number of rounds of swimming and were exhausted on our way back to Chicago!

Headsucker's Ball

It's that time of the year again -- crawfish boil at McGee's! It's one of our favorite events, since we never really get to enjoy crawfish in Chicago. Every year, McGee's ships about 2000 pounds of fresh crawfish from Louisiana and cooks them with good seasoning, sausages, potatoes, onions and corn. There are also side dishes like jambalaya, gumbo, red beans and rice. Jeff spent part of his childhood in Louisiana, so he loves any kind of southern cuisine.

We usually go with my friend Leyla, who grew up in New Orleans, to this event. This year's crawfish boil is last Saturday, May 16th. Without exception, we always have a good time!

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!