Week of Bliss

It is our annual treat to visit Jeff's parents in Florida during Christmas. We usually stay at least a week to enjoy the warmer weather and fun family activities. As usual, we gorged on my mother-in-law's amazing cooking, played golf with my father-in-law, went shopping, played poker while drinking Johnny Walker Blue and watched Scraps fetching along our swimming pool. Since Jeff's sister is in Chinese Medicine School in San Francisco, I also indulged in an acupuncture treatment from her!

This year, I learned how to make 粽子 and 韭菜盒子 from my mother-in-law!!! To my surprise, they are not that difficult to make. I'll try to practice more this year! Another new thing for me is playing Mahjong, which I have been missing since we got back in Chicago ;)

Our annual Florida trip of course is also Scraps' favorite time of the year! He gets plenty of walks from grandpa, lots of exercise running around on the golf course and many many treats. This year we took him to the nearby "Dog Wood Park" where there are acres of fields, trails and a lake for dogs to play in. He had the best time!

I'm already looking forward to the next trip!

Taco Night

It's America's Football night, and also the "Taco Night" in the Chou house. While I was being a couch potato, my sweet hubby went to the store to get the ingredients and made us delicious tacos. We put a lot of garlic and onions in the ground beef topped with fresh cheese and veggies. It's such an easy and tasty dinner choice! Give it a try!

Merry Little Christmas

Decoration still in progress....

After the Parties

It's a busy time of the year with many holiday parties. This weekend is especially packed for us. My company holiday party was at Bar Louie in the West Loop on Thursday night, while Jeff had a "guys holiday night-out" at Ditka's.
Friday night, we went to Itasca, IL to Nicole and Danny Franks' for the annual Christmas party with our "conservative" group of friends. This group of friends have been living in the suburbs pretty much immediately after college, and some are already celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary.
Saturday night was Amanda's birthday party at Raj's in downtown. With three consecutive nights of partying, I'm running out of gas and decided to go home early after Raj's. Jeff put me in a cab, and I got home to enjoy some "me time". One of my favorite things to do after the parties is cuddling with Scraps on our couch.

麻油雞!

Yay! I made my first 麻油雞 today, and it's delicious :)
It's snowing out, so I was thinking about "winter 進補"~ It's Jeff's first time trying it. Though he doesn't like ginger, he really enjoys this authentic Taiwanese cuisine.

Deceiving Beauty

It's extremely cold today in Chicago. It can be very deceiving when it's a sunny and seemingly beautiful day. With low in the teens, it might be appropriate to use the word "bitter".

Here is a shot from my office window this afternoon.

Visiting Julia Rose

Matt and Kristen's second child, Julia Rose, was conceived in Maui while they were attending our wedding. I like to call her the Maui baby! Jeff and I finally got a chance to visit her this evening. Unlike her big brother, Nick, Julia has a full head of dark hair. I love seeing Nick and Charlie (their 4-year old dog) hanging out and being best buds, though I feel bad seeing Charlie feeling a little jealous with now 2 children in the house. Before going to bed, Nick, performed a little table dance for us. Humm...his dance moves reminds me of Matt's dancing. Ha~

'Tis the Season to Give

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Jeff and I donated 2 huge bags and 15 racks of clothes to the Salvation Army. These clothes are in great condition, but we haven't worn them in years. They will definitely be useful for the needy in this cold season.

Every year, Jeff and I also join a charity program to be a "City Santa" and buy Christmas presents to children in the Chicago Public Schools. Since there are thousands of children in Chicago watch the holiday season come and go, never opening a gift, this program helps children experience the simple joy in the holiday season.

"No one has ever become poor by giving."

Jen's House Party

Let's just say, this is a long-expected party, and we are all very happy that Jen is living a new life now! It was a fun night with home-made O'dourves, lots of wine, catching-up, karaoke, dancing, and of course my second favorite yellow lab, Fletch.

Ruth Chris 大口吃肉

A group of us good friends had a little pre-holiday get-together on Friday at our favorite steakhouse, Ruth Chris. Andy and Jess picked us up in a cab, and there were 12 of us at dinner. While waiting for our table, pretty much everyone had a glass of martini, pear twist or dirty. Their signature pear twist martini is my all time fav. After we got to our table, we shared 4 bottles of wine and many yummy appetizers, such as oysters, seared ahi, salads, etc. Jeff and I also shared a iceberg salad and sauteed spinach. I had my typical petite fillet cooked perfectly medium-rare :)
The after-party was at Raj's condo where there were lots of music and dancing. To me, it was a perfect Friday night!

2006 Gallo Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon

Another new discovery. Smooth and has a very refreshing pure taste. Nice tang. Beautiful color. Though a little fruity, it's very easy to drink with minimum alcohol taste.

陳水扁自作孼不可活! 貪汙總統入獄!

Bowling night & Lao Sze-Chuan

Bowling is one of Jeff's favorite "winter sports" in Chicago, in addition to flag football. Since Chicago is so flat, going skiing would require a few hours of driving.
Friday night was windy, cold and rainy, so we decided to go to Seven Ten for a few throws. Jeff usually averages around 160-180, and his highest score was 250. I, on the other hand, would be happy if scoring over 100. After a couple of games and a few beers, we started betting! Ha! When money is involved, I started putting my game face on, as Jeff said. But I still lost $15 to Jeff ><"
We had so much fun as usual. Since I'm not an athletic person, this is one of the few sports we love to do together!

After a couple hours of bowling, we drove to Chinatown for some spicy Sze-Chuan cuisine. We ordered a few of our favorite dishes at Lao Sze Chuan :)

Vote for Change! Obama 2008

油飯 recipe

I have always loved 油飯, so when I found this recipe, I couldn't wait to give it a try. To my surprise, it's so easy to make and turned out to be a success! We finished it too quickly and forgot to take pictures this time...
I highly recommend this recipe from La vie de charline --
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/charline_flutiste/article?mid=593&prev=605&next=524&l=f&fid=24