Trip #7 of Summer '07

The king still wishes this is only a sick joke; but nah, it's true. We're leaving again tonight after being home for less then 48 hours lol! No, honestly, contrary to believe, I'm not trying to drive him insane nor am I trying to kill him hahaha!

We're going back to Las Vegas tonight for four days/night. Yes, on Frontier Airlines again :) Nonstop, no hassle, cheap and on time... well, almost :) Why are we going back to Sin City when we were there less then 4 weeks ago? Well... because we can... and a friend of mine is having some shoe convention thingy there and asked if we would meet her and her boyfriend there. ...and really, you don't need to give us more excuses to return to Vegas. Sure it's the third time this summer but what beats laying around in the sun by a quiet pool (yes a quiet pool does exist on the Strip lol), gambling till the wee hours in the morning and your eyes are about to pop out like a loose mattress spring, waking up to Starbucks at your lobby and just going to try restaurants we have never been before just to be able to yelp about it hee hee. Yes, this is what summer '07 has been about. Welcome to the summer of blogging :D

I'm sure I'd have time to enter new posts when I'm there. At least I'm hoping to catch up with some of the restaurant reviews from our last trip since yelp only supports restaurants within the 50 States... I suppose that's what FoodCandy is for :)

Buenos Aires Rocks!

Yes, we're back from our whirlwind trip to 'winter in Argentina' in the middle of summer. Only one word to sum up this trip. WOW!































I have never been to South America before so to hit the Paris of South America couldn't have been a nicer way to start. We stayed at the CE Design Hotel and while some of the details were lacking - like a door to the toilet, and a stairs to our upstairs loft bedroom so steep we would probably fall to our death if we'd been drunk... or... drunk - they made up more than enough in the friendliness of all the staff members (all no older then 25) and the swankiness of the hotel.

The city is vivid, beautiful and interesting. The old mixed with the modern... the man-walking-a-gazillion-dogs was a common sight in our daily walks across the city; ok, we didn't walk THAT much but we did our share of walking even though cabs were sinfully cheap! ...and the food... omfg the food... I think out of respect, I should start a new paragraph :)

Yes, the food was very good! One thing is for sure. While I might not be eating another piece of steak again in a long long time, I do miss those delicious Argentinian cows dearly. I can't say I have had better cuts of meat then I ever had in Buenos Aires. WOW! It was not only an eye opener but an eye opener with toothpicks and the works! I was in awe... but let's talk lunch first...

Our first meal at Beunos Aires at Cumana was awesome! Yummy empanada (spicy beef - that was not spicy, tuna - my personal favorite, ham & cheese, cheese and onion, regular beef)... hey they were 1.80 pesos which made them US$0.60. Yes they were practically bite size but even if they weren't, why not!?! ...and the locro - a beefy stew with corn - actually hominy... it was yumz! Really yummy! Can't say I have had anything close to the texture or taste of this stew but the flavor was good, the beef tender... mmm mmm mmmph! I could go for some now hee hee...










That night, I had my first parilla meal at Cabana Las Lilas... if the world ended that night after my meal there (and the king hadn't taken me the next evening to an even better parilla restaurant, I would have died a happy person... alas, he did. But more of that later... this post, we'll talk about how the staff at Cabana Las Lilas made me joyous to the brink of bursting into song and dance. Not just simply 'Sound of Music' song and dance... MC Hammer 'Can't Touch This' song and dance mind you! I kid not! Yes, it was that good :)

Upon arriving, we were immediately served with many many dishes and plates of food. There was the little mini cup of thick mushroom soup which was yum (actually it was very close to the amuse bouche served in Canlis in Seattle)... then there was the big platter of antipasto which was not only beautiful in color but wow, you think antipasto is simply antipasto? Hah! Not this... no pics were taken of the breadsticks nor what seemed like a puff cracker shaped like a mini pillow also placed immediately on the table for us... two pairs of some form of (corn?) bread (absolutely delicious and warm!)... AND REFILLED lol when we finished them (I was mortified since this was done when our steaks were served and I was too full to even take the first bite of my entree (never mind corn bread) - not that it stopped me from continuing with my entree and one more piece of that corn bread thingy... there was chimichurri and salsa to do what with we had no idea, but we later saw people dipping their breads into them... DUH! ...and oh, the bread girl, don't forget the bread girl who walked around the big restaurant with a huge basket of breads of all kinds... maybe it's the Argentinian version of pass-arounds like at Lamberts lol!
Need I even go into how awesome our steaks were!? I went with my usual favorite cut; the rib eye (salivating as I fantasize of that first bite again) and the husband had his usual fillet. My oh my, I thought my crazy 14oz rib eye steak was insane when we were at the Metropolitan Grill in Seattle last month. My steak here at Cabanas Las Lilas was at least 18!!! I kid you not! It doesn't look as insane in the picture (L) but trust me, I burst into laughter when they served it. Why!? It just seemed so ridiculously crazy humongous! ...that and of course after too much wine drunk like water on our entire trip in Buenos Aires, you can't help but laugh at what a great time you're having :) ...and the potatoes I got... omg the potatoes... they're called souffle fries. It's a cross between a chip and a crisp. A french fry and a potato chip. They are crispy like a crisp and fat like a french fry... BUT... they're hollow!!! Can someone say ORGASMIC!??! LOL! Yes the steaks were superb (they were served with a little red cow on it telling you how they're cooked lol) . Yes, it's safe to say that was a piece of meat that was the best cut of rib eye I have ever had - yes even compared to the meat I had the next day! It just seemed perfectly well marbled and every mouthful tasted better by then the last... with wine... and not forgetting, an already full stomach!

You'd think we didn't have desserts... but you can't complete an experience at Cabanas Las Lilas without dessert - much like a meal without wine in Argentina lol. I had the Brazillian Coconut tart and the king had grilled fruits... his was alright but my coconut tart was oh-so-good, oh-so-rich, and oh-my-gawd-I'm-having-a-heart-attack-fattening lol. But you know, you only live once and if I wasn't complaining about the amount of food I'd had pre-dinner, pre-dessert, or simply pre-Cabana Las Lilas-experience, why should I start then?! :D










I will post only my first day of food or this post will go on forever. I will write more Argentinian restaurant reviews later.

Cousin Lani Visits

Bruce's cousin Lani and her boyfriend, Richard (fresh graduate from U Conn), are on their way to Albuquerque to Lani's parent's home and arrived in Memphis yesterday. Aren't they cute?! :)

Trip #6 Of Summer '07

Well, it's been quite a shocker for everyone who track our travels that it's already mid July and the king and I have yet to leave this country. This is a first for us... so with the inflated prices to Asia, we've decided to head for a different direction. To a continent I've never been before! The husband's been, of course, so he'll be the guide - but that's nothing new :)

Tomorrow, we're off to Buenos Aires, Argentina!!! It's winter there right now so I get to pull out all my sweaters and coats. NICE! I'm so over this heat already... good wine, good food here we come! No, I'm not going to be doing any tango! LOL

News Travels Fast Here

I just got a call from a girlfriend of mine whom I have not hung out with in a long time; she had a baby and then another... and she had to become a mother and couldn't hang out with us losers anymore lol :)

Anywayz, this German friend of mine was out on her daily walk and bumped into a mutual Italian friend of ours (whom, by the way, I have not seen also in almost two years) and was told by Ms Italy that the king and I were leaving Memphis. Like leaving tomorrow!!! It was quite comical to me since Ms Germany was practically in shock, huffing and puffing (still on her walk) wanting to know the whole story of this sudden plan for departure. Yes I calmed her down... I told her I wasn't leaving tomorrow or the day after - sorry Memphis, lots more blogs to write here for you to read; and since I have only told two good friends of mine here and a couple of restaurant owners, this piece of news sure traveled fast and furious. Apparently, we even have a 'for sale' sign in our front yard already! No, contrary to believe, we are not that much in a hurry to leave. Actually, that's not entirely true either lol! But decisions have to be made as to where we'd like to move to (three or four US cities and a couple of Asian countries are the choices right now that have not been narrowed down) and what the husband would like to do when we move. Will he return to the technology world? Continue being a teacher - 'coz we all know he's a darn good teacher and one of the most dedicated(!).

Right now, we're simply enjoying time off like a regular summer out of school. Traveling is vital and everything else secondary.

Pain

After almost six weeks of constant travel zipping from one city to another and absolutely not hitting the gym when I should have, I finally returned to Germantown Center yesterday. What can I say!? Yes, "ouch!" would be a good start lol. ... and the moans and groans that followed a 45 minute 'switch' class was plain ugly. I seem to have shrunk! My 'normal' setting on one of those Schwinn bikes seem a wee bit high. Kind of odd... unless I really got shorter. Gawd help me if that's possible at 37. Not a good thing especially for someone barely 5ft.

This morning, I woke up to two unmovable arms. No, it was not a good idea to return straight to those eight pound weights I was getting used to... ouch again.

I doubt I will return to the crazy regimen I was doing before summer started. I don't want to and I sure don't miss it. I'm doing the minimum just to say I'm not sitting in front of this machine 12 hours of the day and over-stuffing myself :) Can't say I'm not enjoying it however.

Let's see how it goes this first week. I'm sure we'll be hopping onto another plane pretty soon. After all, we've been back for more than a week! Imagine that! One week and no plans to go anywhere. At this point, I'll settle for Destin - ummm... nah... I'll wait.

A Little Piece Of Heaven

If you like popcorn, you're gonna' love the popcorn from Garrett's. I usually order via their website but I got tired of paying the damn Fedex charges which are exorbitant! So I was in Chicago a few weeks ago, I made it a point, (I dragged the king along, of course lol) went to their store, joined the crazy line of people and got three of these two gallon tins of mix - cheese and caramel popcorn... YUM!!! The other two tins went to friends and my family back in Singapore. My family can't wait to get the box (which is on it's way arriving today) - they absolutely love the popcorn from Garrett's.

Of course, I didn't take a picture of the popcorn while I still had some inside this tin lol. Yes, they're all gone... I gave the last bit to the local nieces here before I let myself stuff my face with more popcorn lol. I'm so pathetic :D

Did I Eat A Bao While In China?!

After I heard from my girlfriend who lives in China that the Chinese make 'fake' soya sauce, Johnson's Baby Powder, fruits, eggs... you name it, I was beginning to wonder about all the delicious (and not so delicious) food I had while I was there... no, fortunately, I'm quite sure I did not have a bao-zi while I was in China. Phew!

The AP reports that Chinese State TV has uncovered a "steamed bun" making operation in one Beijing neighborhood that uses pieces of cardboard collected from the street and softened with caustic soda as the main ingredient. From the AP:

The hidden camera follows the man, whose face is not shown, into a ramshackle building where steamers are filled with the fluffy white buns, traditionally stuffed with minced pork.

The surroundings are filthy, with water puddles and piles of old furniture and cardboard on the ground.

"What's in the recipe?" the reporter asks. "Six to four," the man says.

"You mean 60 percent cardboard? What is the other 40 percent?" asks the reporter. "Fatty meat," the man replies.

The bun maker and his assistants then give a demonstration on how the product is made.

Squares of cardboard picked from the ground are first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda -- a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap -- then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver. Fatty pork and powdered seasoning are stirred in.

Soon, steaming servings of the buns appear on the screen. The reporter takes a bite.

"This baozi filling is kind of tough. Not much taste," he says. "Can other people taste the difference?"

"Most people can't. It fools the average person," the maker says. "I don't eat them myself."

Wonder why.

Beijing steamed buns include cardboard [Yahoo!] (Thanks, Acambras!)
(Photo:AP)

10:42am ON THU JUL 12 2007
BY MEG MARCO consumerist

My Love-Hate Relationship With Summer...And Memphis

It's summer again and I have my husband all to myself. Of course, now that he's quit that job of his, I have him all to myself anyway. I kind of wish it wasn't summer after all... with this darn heat, it's hard to enjoy anything around here. It's too hot to sit out in our deck even with two fans running max outside; it's too hot to go anywhere - though the airport is a nice refuge to head out to somewhere else - and it's too hot at home no matter how low the temperature of the air-conditioning is. No, of course it has nothing to with the the a/c or the fans inside or out... it's the place and sun! I don't like the sun, the sight of it, the thought of it. Arrgh! Ditto for the city. Actually, it's not quite the city. It's the people here who make this place a dump. But that's just MY opinion - remember? That's what blogs are for, for the few idiots out there who insist on taking my word as bible!

Growing up in a city-state-island-country where it's hot and humid all year round, cloudy days made me fill with joy! Though I lived in the country till I was barely 17, I always thought cloudy days to be romantic, sweet smelling and just plain gorgeous! Rain drops on the aluminum roof next to my bedroom that covered the downstairs outdoor kitchen kept me sleeping in peace many afternoons during school holidays. (no, our parents didn't have to send us off to summer camps 'coz they liked having us around lol) Who can beat an afternoon of clouds followed by a crazy five hour thunderstorm to make it nice and cool?!

So when we moved to Memphis in mid August six years ago, I was filled with anything but joy lol! Yes, I was moving in with my husband, then boyfriend... but Memphis?! That, my friends is looooove! Now that we're planning on moving away (hip hip hooray! ...or in local lingo, hallelujah!), I suppose it's not too hard to stomach another summer here. Yes, some people are screaming, 'good riddance!' but guess what? We get to leave while they're stuck here. Who's laughing now?! Muahahaha!

We don't know where we're going yet. San Francisco? Seattle? Tokyo? Singapore? Hawaii? Yes, anywhere outside the south or anywhere not ulu! But who knows... we have nothing but choices. Again, don't get me wrong, I don't hate Memphis... it's just the people here who think the world revolves around their asses and their... ah-hem... non-existent world view. Oh well... life goes on for people like us and people who live here and can't wait to get away from these bloody bird brains :) We're off to greener pastures where people have at least traveled across their own country, know that Singaporeans don't speak Japanese, and yes, my first language is English.

Okay, that was the hate part of it all. Now, the love part for summer and Memphis... hmmm... ummm... the sun is nice (sometimes) during bitterly cold winter days... Memphis has many churches - ok, that's not it... thank goodness for Fedex and International Paper or there would be no Memphis... ok that's not it for me either... we leave this place with a few friends who will remain good friends for a long long time - there you go! ...and yes, that's it lol! ...oh ok, my big cheap house (apparently culture doesn't come cheap lol) and I'll give you good bbq :D

Trip #5 Of Summer '07

We're off to Las Vegas again tomorrow. I know, most of you who know us well are probably surprised we're still in the country for the summer and not takin our third trip to Asia already lol! Good thing is, we have tons of time for Asia after August when the prices of air-tickets go down dramatically... so we're just flying 'close to home' and enjoy the cheaper tickets for now.

Seeing that I didn't get enough on our last trip in Vegas a month ago and the MGM is inviting us back and comping us a suite, all our meals and transportation to and from the airport, we figured, what have we got to lose!? Sure, we'll gamble... but hey, we always have fun! I might just hit the jackpot this time lol! Plus, we also got tickets to see Lewis Black perform on Saturday evening. Can't beat that!

We're flying Frontier Airlines for the first time tomorrow. Yup, they now have non-stop flights out of Memphis to Las Vegas and they're dirt cheap! So we're gonna' see how they treat us. We don't want to fly American for awhile - we might be cashing out on all our millions of miles since our last few disgusting and disastrous encounters (all in one trip) with their services as well as that gawd awful excuse for a man tending to the guests in the Admirals Club lounge in Terminal 'C' at DFW - I almot forgot about calling his boss to find out what his deal is... and I'm tired of giving any more money to Northwest Airlines whose pilots have been cutting down on their overtime schedule to get back at their company/bosses though it's actually the customers who are actually suffering first hand... so Fronteir Air it is.

This will be our first time staying with the MGM. We stayed at the Signature the last time and loved it! But I guess they don't comp rooms at the Signature - bummer! I'll remember to take pics :)

Update On Iphone (For The Not Yet Convinced Morons)

If you've already bought the phone... well... return it! ...'coz what you're about to read, is going to hurt - as if my last entry wasn't enough to convince you about this bad bad product.

Remember how I mentioned that when the battery of your Iphone dies, you'd have to send it back to the manufacturer to get it 'serviced'(?) unless you want to own a doorstop while continuing to pay the evil trolls at AT&T until your 2-year contract expires!?! Well, check out this article here from Gizmodo. It says that the Iphone lasts about 300-400 charges and once that's done, you have to pay a total of $85.95 (shipping included) to get it 'replaced'. If that's not bad enough, all the information on your phone will not be restored! ...still want an Iphone?!
And since you won't have a phone while the battery is being replaced, that would be the perfect time for that Antarctica vacation you've always been planning.

...then I also found out that the Bluetooth on the Iphone does not have full Bluetooth capabilities. Surprise surprise! Other than being able to use that silly looking Bluetooth earphones with the Iphone, that's as much as you can do with the Bluetooth feature it provides! Basically, you're buying a fridge that comes with a freezer but doesn't freeze LOL! Dumbass! So no sharing of files via Bluetooth from phone to phone, phone to computer. Hmmm...

Funny isn't it - to people like me who never did and still don't want an Iphone!? All I can say is, if you're still looking for a cellphone to get, buy a Nokia N-95! You won't regret it. No, Nokia is NOT paying me to say this lol. Plus you'd be the envy of smart people in the know lol.

Love The Iphone?!

SUCKER!!!

I'm still puzzled at this Iphone rave. Of course this craziness is happening only in America. No one in Asia (with a brain) would get one. Well, the Taiwanese are supposedly excited, but they're Tainwanese.

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with buying an expensive phone... I can't believe these people are willing to sign a two year contract to deal with those losers at AT&T! What happened to just being able to buy a phone and then choosing the phone company you want use? $600 over isn't much of a subsidy to be stuck with AT&T.

A couple of fair comparisons between the Iphone and the N95 (Nokia's newest of her N-series).

After using your phone as a verbal communication device, the next most important thing to most users is the camera-phone! Guess which phone doesn't fulfill this need? Iphone's camera SUCKS! N95 has a 5, yes, read FIVE megapixel camera, has flash and auto focus - just like a real camera. iPhone has a two megapixel camera, no flash, no autofocus and imagine this, no video capability!!! OMFG!

Did you know that when your battery life on the Iphone dies, your phone is dead!? So in 12 to 18 months, your phone is just a useless piece of crap. But ohhh, you have signed a two year contract! What do you have to do? Send your phone to the manufacturers (in China) and get the battery replaced - just like your Ipod - except most people usually just buy a new Ipod 'coz it's relatively cheaper and there is no AT&T asshole customer service agent on the other end of the phone trying to suck the living life out of you. With the N95, you removed your dead battery and replace it yourself by simply buying another battery!

If these two reasons are still not enough for you not to reconsider buying the Iphone or have your tongue stop wagging after this stupid piece of metal, you're an idiot!! Not like the Memphis idiots who are still searching for idiots (unless you're a Memphian who is dying to have an Iphone) but an idiot nonetheless!

You gotta' give it to the marketing team of Apple. They certainly know how to do their job lol while Nokia... hmmm... they need to wake up!

Here are a line of videos that'll explain clearly what I really mean. Thanx Ricky for teaching the general public of idiots who has no idea what a good phone should do! He's done at least six of these hilarious videos. If you're interested in finding out which phone to get, check his youtube site here:

'C' Is for Cancel, 'D' Is For Delay

After too many trips on Northwest Airlines and not getting the service we're used to on American, we decided to fly loyal and get to San Francisco on a one-stop flight via Dallas. For once, I wish we'd taken the non-stop on NWA.

It really is a long story... and lots of angry people involved. Oddly enough, we are still calm and collected :) After a flight cancelation, sitting in the plane on the turmac for umpteen hours, we eventually ended up flying into SFO six hours later then our original time of arrival. Missed our reservations at Bar Crudo :(

Then three short days later, it was time to go home... this time, we were flying via St Louis on AA. With all the crazy weather in Dallas and Chicago, we were quite relieved we weren't flying into either of these cities. We even checked online before we left and true enough... flight d-e-l-a-y. We hung out for a couple more hours in the hotel room then took the limo to the airport. Guess what!? LOL! Yes, of course it was further delayed and it meant we had only 35 minutes to make our connection. We tried making all sorts of alternative flights just to get home on the same day. No luck. An hour went by and yup, the flight was then canceled due to mechanical problems!!! WOW! I thought there was gonna' be a riot lol! Talk about angry people... it was chaotic and all the gate agents could advise was 'please call the airlines on the toll free number'. Of course, the king was already on the phone trying to fly somewhere, anywhere. Las Vegas, Seattle... but no... every damn flight out of SFO was fully booked for another two full days! I kid you not! We were literally stuck in San Francisco! Too bad neither of us had our passports with us. We would have flown internationally in a heartbeat lol!

So here we are... yes we have people to see, more restaurants to try...but the husband is ready to go home to our own bed. Me, I don't have much of a problem... the weather here is perfect and I have extra time to shop hee hee.

We can only hope that when Sunday morning comes around, our flight home will not be as eventful... you can follow myself or the king on twitter for 'live' updates :)

Trip #4 Of Summer '07

Tomorrow, we head out to the San Francisco. It feels like it's been forever since we went together. Maybe more than a year. Yes, that is letting a lot of time past considering it used to be our top favorite American city to visit. My last trip there alone was for the girl's night out in San Jose. Pretty fancy shmancy huh!? Live in Tennessee and have a girl's night out in California then take the first flight back lol.

It'll be one of our infamous short trips - but not as short as our first trip right after we got married; we flew to San Francisco for two good Chinese meals. One good dim sum lunch at Yank Sing and then dinner at the king's favorite Hunan restaurant. Yes, we flew there, ate lunch, shopped, ate dinner and took the red eye back to home. All done within 24 hours :)

Timing couldn't be better for me. A couple of trips ago, again, a solo one out to Sacremento, I visited a friend who's mother was in town from Singapore - boy did she cook up a feast! Well, I couldn't have asked for more but Nora's mom is back in town and this morning, my girlfriend called and asked what I wanted to have her mom cook. You know who is happy camper lol! So exciting. I wish my mom would come to America as often as hers... but oh well, I have no kids to bribe her with :D ...no, that is NOT a good enough reason to have kids lol.

We're gonna' try some new restaurants while we're there, of course. I'll fill you guys in soon enough.

Another Entertaining Movie

It's funny, witty and it confirms (for me, again) not to have kids lol. Watch "Waitress"!

Kerri Russel plays the sweet sympathetic waitess. Never saw her on tv but she's great in this movie. Cheryl Hines and Adrienne Shelly - writer and director of the movie - are funny and real... and Nathan Fillion who plays the doctor is absolutely adorable - you can't help but like him! It's a drama, a comedy and a chick flick all in one. Don't run away men, the husband liked it too!

Artisinal Cured Meats At Salumi

We finally made it to Salumi!! Having lived in Memphis for too long, I never thought I would ever hear the words 'pork overdose'! Well... looks like Seattle has something even better then pork bbq that will make you scream for m-o-r-e!

We've heard of this very popular small eat-in deli owned by the father of celebrity chef, Mario Batali, for the longest time... we heard of their artisinal cured meats, their sandwiches and the long lines that come with the experiance for getting a mere sandwich from Salumi. Alas, a mere sandwich they do not make!

Our favorite foodie friend, Julie, was the only one who'd been to Salumi before, so she packed us in her suv and got us promptly, as planned, outside the store fifteen minutes before it opened at 11am. As expected, a line was slowly forming already. Nice! We get the full experianced lol. ...this is a working Wednesday morning... and not everyone in line was unemployed and/or a slacker like the king and I lol. Well, Julie isn't of course. Only a few looked like they were tourists and most others were certainly locals! That's a mighty good sign to other customers if a restaurant has people waiting outside before they're even opened - without having to offer free food or money lol!

At the end of the line, I could see the not very decorated area where you can grab your food and have a quick sit and eat area. Two two-person table and a family style table that might fit ten - if you're in Europe. Not in America! ...the line moved fast. Well, fast enough since I hadn't even thought of complaining lol! We looked at the chalked written menu on the wall, the specials on another board and basically ordered almost everything that looked good to us. I think it scared the person behind the counter. She asked, "just three of you?! You're going to have lots of leftovers!". Obviously there haven't been some serious greedy and/or hungry people who've walked through those doors till us three...










Three large sandwiches (cut in thirds); a cotto salami sandwich with onions and peppers, a magarita sandwich with prosciutto and a meatball sandwich... an order of the white bean tuna salad, a simple tomato based penne (which the husband frowned towards me as I ordered it - c'mon I had a taste for pasta when I saw it!) and a last minute cold cured meat plate (with no cheese) by the husband. No wonder the lady was surprised it was only for three people. These sandwiches weren't exactly bite-sized :)

My favorite was the cotto salami sandwich with onions and peppers. Sooooo good! Almost like a mufeletta from Central Grocery in New Orleans... but not quite. The meatball sandwich was awesome also! There is no way I can eat another meatball sandwich anywhere else... I didn't get to try the magarita with prosciutto simply because I was stuffed to the brink. The delicious white bean tuna salad with chopped red onion and fresh parseley was practically addictive(!) ...and I had to have my fair share of the penne dish I'd insisted on having lol! For the record, the husband did not even try the penne which was al dente and tasty :) He did however enjoy the spicy sopressata on the cold cured meat plate. He says the next time we go, he's gonna' have that in a sandwich.

Yes, we were stuffed. Yes, we were satisfied. Another successful adventure with the mountain tortoise foodies lol!

Summer '07, Trip #03

We're in Seattle this morning - woo hoo! Note: not woo hoo like in the 'Sims' game lol.

Emily, the king's god-daughter is graduating from high school and we're here to celebrate this occasion with the rest of the Shultz family.

We arrived yesterday morning and our friend Julie was so sweet to pick us up at the airport. Her aunt, Hisako, is also in town from Tokyo visiting, so we all, together with Yoshi, had our usual first-meal-after-we-arrive-in-Seattle at Shultzy's. As usual, the meal was excellent and I ate WAY too much. Those fries... it's just a sin to leave any left in the basket. Hmmm... fries from Shultzy's.

After lunch we dropped the husband at the hotel and us three ladies went off on a shopping spree at one of Chealsea premium outlets in Marysville, Washington - about 45 minutes outside downtown Seattle. We had a ball there! ...or at least I did. At one store, Hisako bought tweleve, yes, 12(!) bags. I know a professional when I see one at work. Pretty impressive :)

Dinner last night was at a little family-owned izakaya in the International District called Tsukushinbo. Good food, good drinks - I had my first ooling tea with shochu :) - and great company. Both the king and I love the cozy ambience. We will certainly be back. We apparently had been here before on one of our crazy drinking sprees to sing karaoke one late night last year; but the memory is hazy on that encounter :) We enjoyed every thing we got and I'm salivating now just thinking of the two pieces of saba (mackeral) I had. At one point, the entire restaurant, with the exception of the king, Julie and I, ran out of the restaurant for a UFO experiance lol! No kiddin'! They few men, Hisako and the owner/sushi chef were still discussing the topic when we were leaving more than 30 mins later lol. His daughter convinced us it was merely a few parachutes from a distance lol. It was quite funny to see a bunch of older people just gushing at their unidentified foreign object sighting hahahha!

For a change, we called it an early night. It was close to midnight our time back home and we were a little beat from the flight and the day's excitement :)

It's a little past 5am right now and I've been up for more than an hour. No laundry to do, no kitchen to clean - guess who's a happy camper?! It's yet another day with full of excitement. We already have lunch set up with Julie at Salumi - it's owned by celebrity chef's father, Mario Batali, Armandino Batali. Watch out of the review later.

Cooking @ Home

Fired For Blog Entry!?!

I like the king's entry on this - go check it out!

Basic Blog Tips For My Memphis Readers

First of all, welcome Memphians!

When I started this blog, it was to communicate with my friends from around the world. As a Singaporean who went to school in Canada, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Arizona and traveled to all points of the globe, I have a lot of friends in faraway places; I wish they lived nearby, but unfortunately they don't. The majority of my readers have been, continue to be, and always will be non-Memphians. But lately a few Memphians have decided to waste their time here...

Thanks to my web reporting software, I have been watching my few new Memphis visitors and they do some weird things. I thought I would write a post to give these "newbies" a few tips.

1. Get some self esteem! For some reason, Memphians like to search on their own names to see if they're in my blog. The next thing they do is click on the label "idiots". If you think you'll find yourself under "idiots", you need something other than this blog to help you. If you think you'd find your friends under 'idiots', you need to think better about your friends... MUAHAHAHAHA!
   
   
2. You don't need to search the archives again and again. Nothing new is happening in the past. DUH! New posts appear on the front page of the blog - like this one! Just come to the front page, and you'll see anything new I have to say. That goes double for searching my blog again and again via Google. One poor soul searched for my blog using the exact same Google search phrase three times in the span of four hours today! Again, new stuff shows up at the front of the blog, and if it wasn't there two hours ago it probably won't be there now. Also, if you weren't aware you typed the same phrase into Google three times, you need to check out this site now.
   
   
3. Sorry to disappoint you but there's not much here about Memphis. There are lots of good blogs on Memphis. If you're interested in Memphis restaurants, here's a good one (though I liked it better when Leslie Kelly was writing it). I don't write too much about Memphis because the overwhelming majority of my friends/readers have never been and never will come to Memphis and they're just not interested. In six years, I've had three friends come here from out of town and my husband has had five (but he had to pay for the airfare to get most of these people to come see us).
   
   
4. If you're looking for new stuff in the school category, you're too late! My husband left his teaching position earlier this week - so thankfully school is in the past. I am looking forward to leaving Memphis and going to a new and bigger city. WOO HOO! Don't get me wrong, I'll miss my house (real estate is CHEAP(!) here in Memphis) and I'll miss bbq and a few close friends I've made while I've been in town. But, I'd be lying to say that I'm not THRILLED with the idea of seeing Memphis in the rear-view mirror.