5 posts tagged “food”

I finally got to see my lovely panda chan last Friday! XD So here's my advanture with him the past 4 days.

Day One (06.08.07)
Chinatown. Japanese Street. Grand Central. Japanese Bookstore. Panda's Home

Carrying panda chan's birthday gift (which is a silk shinai bag that he wants), I took the Eastern Travel bus from Richmond to NY. The bus experience was nice. Only took 7 hours to get there. Chan chan had an interview that morning, so he was already at the bus stop waiting for me an hour ago. He's so cute as usual, but his puffy hair was gone. (awww~ >_<)

Since I hadn't eaten anything, we tried to find a place to eat right away. After walking blocks and blocks, we decided to eat at a restaurant called Dim Sum. It was 3pm, so there were not much "dim sum" left. The waitress kept speaking Chinese to us, so I had to order some dim sum without asking what panda really wanted... We got shrimp rice noodles roll, shaomai, fish rice congee, and pork fried noodle. We tried our best and still couldn't finish everything. It was a lot of food!

After a content meal, we walked around Chinatown yet again. My problematic started to bothering me. I don't know why, 9 out of 10 times I will have lots of pressure and discomfort in my stomach if I eat something during shopping in a hot day. It got worse after having a cup of jasmine bubble tea. We went to a pharmacy to get some Mylanta. I've never had it before, but it says "fast acting: pressure, bloating, discomfort". I felt a little better after chewing it, but not enough for our next stop: Japanese Street.

Well, I don't think it's officially called the Japanese Street. We named it because there are lots of Japanese stores like restaurants, a "sketchy" but big grocery store, a clothes store, and even a barbershop. I wanted to get a hair cut at that barbershop, but we both think it would be really expensive. The poster says "$40 and up". We guessed that's only for the simplest hair cut for guys... So I didn't get to have a hair cut, but went to eat takoyaki at Otafuku instead. I've been wanting to eat here for a long long time. My research about this place was well worthy. Their takoyaki is so big and delicious. Too bad... My stomach was full with air that I couldn't enjoy it as much. I wanted shaved ice too, but gave up after all. Panda chan said it was good, but there are better places near his church at Japan. (Well, duh :p). But I am happy with Otafuku either way. After some takoyaki "snacks", we were thinking about have a cup of tea at a tea house, but it had a note on the door said that it was booked for the night. I guess it's a popular place? lol~ So we took the elevator to the grocery store. It was a really neat place. I brought two drinks, hoping they would help my stoopid stomach. Right after we got on elevator, we saw a peek-a-pooh machine! It was too late to go back, and we said we would play with it next time (which we forgot anyways...).

Next stop was a Japanese used bookstore near Grand Central. Panda said that they usually go to the Japanese restaurant, bakery, and bookstore when they are bored. The bookstore has lots and lots of used books, and they are... $1 to $3 each! They have used CD's too. Can you believe that? The second floor is full with manga in Japanese. I kept saying: "useless, useless!" since I can't read any of these. I wish I could go to Taiwan one day to buy lots and lots of manga in Chinese! muhahahaha~

I was really tired after all these walk. We decided to go back to panda's home at CT. We took the train at Grand Central. I learned that there are two kinds of train to CT. Express and Local. Express is much faster since there's less stops. Luckily we only had to take Local train once during our 4 days adventure. Panda's brother picked us up at the station. I was scared at first due to panda's description about him (gosh panda gosh), but he's really nice instead. Ooo, he speaks English with panda at home. Isn't it amazing? lol~

So I finally got to visit panda's family. His mom was watching tv when we came in. I've already seen her twice. Both at school when panda was moving out. Therefore, I was not that scared when I saw her. I am so glad that they let me stay at their house! We went upstairs to put my stuff down, and saw the orange cat, Watson (Wato is his nickname), sticking his head out under the comforter. He is soooooo cute! I felt in love with him right away! Panda tried to pick him up, and I kinda screamed because wato is so cute. I guess I scared him, and he scratched panda chan and ran away... Since I never had a pet before, I didn't know if I would be afraid of panda's cats or not. But surprisingly, I was not scared at wato at all! It took a long time for him to let me pet him tho... (>o<) He always stared at me, walked towards me, then ran away. lol~ The first kitty let me pat him was Tom. He is the brown black "grandpa". They said he is the most gentle one. He does look "wise". I think his favorite spot is the windowsill behind couch. Then there's our lady Holmes. She has the softest and longest hair. It feels so good to scratch her!!! I got to hug both tom and holmes, except wato. (= 3=) They say wato is gentle until you hug him. Apparently he doesn't like to be hugged. meh... But I really wanna be friend with him. There was no luck on my first night :p

The most important event for Friday was panda's birthday! Panda's mom brought a yummy strawberry cake from a Japanese bakery. His dad brought a deliciously rich cheesecake. Panda was "struggling" about how to cut 5 even pieces (isn't it really easy for an architect? lol~). Then he decided to cut 8 pieces since there are 8 strawberries. It was really soft, and the sweetness was just right. Too bad I didn't take a picture before he cut the cake cuz I couldn't find a right time. 20 years old is a really big birthday in Japan, and you can have alcohol legally. Too bad we are in America, so I guess he has to wait another year! (which I won't) :D
 

Day Two (06.09.07)
Confusing Subway. Statue of Liberty. Ellis Island. 5th Avenue. Japanese Street. Panda's Home

We decided to take subway to statue of liberty, but we didn't know that it's under construction near ferry. We changed two or three trains without a map, and took the shuttle bus. The time-pass was long gone before we brought the tickets. Although the line seemed pretty long, the waiting was not that bad. We got on a ship in less than an hour. It was packed on the top of the ship, so we decided staying on the second floor. When we finally reached statue of liberty, I saw there's a long long waiting line to get on this ship. Since I am lazy as usual, and there's not much to see without the time pass, I decided not getting off the ship. We just took some pictures on the ship, and headed off to the next stop: Ellis Island.

We did get off at that island. In fact, we spent a pretty good amount of time walking inside the museum. Too bad neither of our family came to America that early, so we couldn't find our family records there. We looked around to see the immigration process. I think the most interesting thing is that they had to pass some puzzle quizzes in order to get pass to the next step. Those quizzes don't seem that hard tho. I think I played several of them when I was in kindergarten! lol~ Then we ate food at the cafeteria. Tips of traveling: don't eat food at attractions. They are usually expensive plus not yummy :p

I was really sleepy after getting of the ship, so we took a short nap on a bench at the park. Then it was time for me to go shopping at 5th Avenue! My main focus was not about appeal cuz that would take too much time. Our first stop was Build-a-Bear store. We only managed to find a "ugly" panda at Richmond's store, so we went in to see if there's cute ducky and panda there. But it's worse... cuz there's neither ducky nor panda in the store! I can't believe this! booo~ Walking sadly out from build-a-bear, we went into Disney store. I didn't notice it was the Disney store from the shop window. There were pirates clothes of course, but the style was more adult than cute Disney style... (>.<'') We were trying to find Donald Duck stuffed animals, but we couldn't find any... boooo! Panda said we will find some when we go to Disney Land. I wonder when we will really go there... lol~ The ducky butt cup is pure cuteness, and the pooh bear stuffed animals are sooooo adorable! I still had fun at that store even though I didn't get to hug Donald Duck.

Panda pointed to me the Rockefeller Center when we walked by. He said we should go there during winter break. Ice skating sounds good! XD Then we went to FAO Shwarz. Little kim said it's a store that I must visit if I go to NY. The first thing attracted my attention was the music from upstairs. Looked like two people were "dancing" on a giant piano. It was really amazing. Kids got to play this piano too. They are so adorable! Then I looked at the price tag. I thought it was "$250" at first, and thought it was really cheap for a piano like this. Then panda said: "wow, it's a quarter of a million!" and I realized that I missed those three zeros!!! I thought it wrote like "$250.00". Stoopid me... (@_@) Finished watching the show, we kept walk around. We saw a lot of statues made by Lego. They are really amazing! I wanted to play Lego a lot when I was a kid, but my parents didn't buy me some... Oh well, I don't think I can build a big thing anyways :p Then we saw a huge magnet tower. That's pure genius I must say!

As a result, we couldn't find any ducky or panda stuffed animals in three big toy stores. That's pretty sad... The only thing that I brought that day were some bras at Ripplu. (Poor panda chan was sleeping on store's table when I was in the fitting room. pat pat~)  I love the bras! Too bad the only store in America is this one at NY. So far away! =(

We went back to Japanese street after walking on 5th Avenue for some delicious yakiniku (japanese bbq) at Yakiniku West. It seems like a popular place. There are baseball players' pictures and signatures hanging on the wall. I love the atmosphere in this restaurant. We had to put our shoes into a big shelf before entering. The lighting was dim. Perfect for dating! lol~ We got to sit tatami-style and cook our own meat. The only thing that's missing was... a bottle of warm sake! haha~ That would be perfect! :p The food was yummy. It made up the lunch that we had on Ellis Island. And we had free ice cream for dessert. I couldn't choose between mango and green tea flavor, but finally decided to get the mango one. Panda chan got the green tea one, and he said that he knew I was either getting the mango or green tea one. We could share after all. Damn he could read my mind! XD 

I was really full yet again. We went back to his home pretty late. Ate some cheesecake (gosh I am such a fatty), and went to bed.

Prayer Service. Maritime Aquarium. Stew Leonard's. Panda's Home

The morning started with panda family's prayer service at home for their religion: Tenrikyo. It happens every second Sunday of the month. I also know that they go to church every first Sunday to pray too. They wear a uniform like the one in the picture. Panda chan gave me an English version of the songs that they are going to sing during the service. During the service, panda explained a lot about his religion. He showed me lots of books and pictures, so time passed pretty fast. I am not going to explain it here cuz I still don't know a lot. So if you are interested about this religion, ask panda chan. He's an expert, ne? XD He told me that he would show me Tenrikyo's Headquarter at Japan some day. And delicious food around it of course. Can't wait can't wait! \(^_^)/

Maybe since I was a good girl during the prayer service, something miracle happened! :p I tried to walked closer to wato once again, but he didn't run away this time. He let me pat him!!! yayy~ He's so fat yet so cute! lol~ Panda chan said wato likes to stick his butt out when you pat him. It's so funny cuz every time when I pat his butt, it raised higher in the air. Why? That I really don't know! I kept patting him for a while. When panda came inside of the room again, wato ran away! Panda lay on the ground with his stomach and said: "hmph. Guess wato likes girls better!" haha~ He's sooooo cute! Don't worry, I like you much better! :)

Then we ate lunch. Here's another miracle according to panda, since his dad cooked for us! It was really yummy! His mom and dad said that NYC would be really pretty during Christmas, and I should come over again at that time. awww~ I can't wait till winter break!

After that panda's mom drove me to Maritime Aquarium. This is my first time visit an aquarium. You know in the girl's manga, a popular place to have a date is the aquarium (Saint Tail is one of them, and I remember I loved this anime a lot). But too bad there's no glass tunnel under the water like the one in the anime, and I still wanna see dolphin and killer whale show. Other than that, I had a great time! I took so many pictures in there. We discussed if we could eat those creatures while we were walking... lol~ In the end, I brought a little stone dolphin. It's really cute! :)

Then panda's mom drove us to Stew Leonard's the worlds largest dairy store. It's an amazing store! I love it! The milk making line made me drooling. Panda's mom brought the strawberry milk. It's really yummy and smooth in my opinion! <3 There's a cow beside the milk display. I pulled its rope, and the cow said "mooooo". So funny! XD And there are singing milk boxes on the top of the shelf. Panda's mom said he used to dance and sing with the boxes when he was little. ahahahaha~ That's just too cute! I wish I was there when he did that! Then I found a really soft cheese and poked it. Looks like it's really fresh. I wanna squish it badly... After that we saw lots of shining red cherry on a table. It looked and tasted delicious! (^Q^) As a result, panda's mom brought a lot of grocery. Before we left, we went to the ice cream line to get some freshly made ice cream! It's the best vanilla ice cream I've ever had! It's so smooth and milky! But it made us fully quickly too. haha~

We were content yet again. We went back to panda's home and tried to digest food a little before dinner. Then his brother brought us to American Steak House. I think the steak that I ordered was better than panda's! haha~ I ordered #11 just for the record. nod nod.

Then we were back at home again. Maybe the kitties knew that I was going to leave the next morning, they seemed to be around the living room a lot that night. Tom sat on the window still again. Wato followed Tom. He stared at Tom for quite a while. Panda said that's because he's selfish. He wanted "his spot" back. Awww~ mean wato! But I still love him! lol~ And I got to hug Holmes again. She's such a sweetheart. Once she walked towards us because she wanted to be patted and scratched. So cute! And did I tell you? Every time we scratched her neck, she would stretch one of her arm (I think it's her right arm). I guess she's trying to tell me that feels good. XD My favorite picture is panda hugging wato, and wato was staring at him. I caught the moment perfectly (status: boasting). Gosh I miss them so much!

I passed out when panda was translating some article from Japanese to English. He took pictures of me sleeping in the couch... meh...

"Chilled" till time to go back

W got up pretty "late", and played around at his house. I finally got to see his room, or his mom's room rather? Surprisingly, here are a lot of stuffed animals! His family only has his brother and himself. Two boys... Why do they have so many stuffed animals? That I really don't know! And there's a huge bear with a weird facial expression (bear: I am staring at you, staring at you...). I wanted a picture of him with that bear for a long time. He finally agreed to hug the bear for me to take a picture. yayy~ First time he looked awkward, so I asked him to do it again. This time he was pouting and said: "Sisi's so mean" while hugging the bear. Awwww~ soooo cute! XD

Panda: link. Japanese traditional snacks, candies, etc.

Ducky: I see lots of "butts"! :p
Panda: LOL. How did I kno u were going to say that?

Today I got my first pay check, and I got one dollar raise from last summer! Hurray~ But I only received 80% of my salary due to taxes, insurance, and social security. That sucks! ><

Today during lunch time, my mom and I was talking about our childhoods. Strangely enough, she remembers her childhood much clearly than I do... Gosh I'm bad at remembering stuff!

My mom said she was a naughty kid when she was in kindergarten. Back at that time, teachers asked kids to sit as straight and still as they could. One who did the best job got to play with toys first. My mom was always the first one got to play those toys. When other kids finally got to play, she's done playing. The only thing left to do was destroying other kids' toy bricks! (><'') As a result, teacher asked her to stand still in the back of the room. She would cry and cry, until her fingers were numb, then she would stop and kept standing still... There are many other stories like this. I wonder how she could remember them after 40 years or so?

As for me, I don't remember any story when I was in kindergarten. The only things that I remember are some Chinese folk arts and candy...

麦芽糖 (Maltose)
I remember there's an uncle sitting in front of my kindergarten's entrance with his wood bin and maltose. Everyday after school, I watched him making figures with maltose. He melted the maltose in a little pan. He scooped the melted maltose, and started "drawing" on this cool marble surface. He had a little swivel plate beside the marble surface. People paid him and spun the plate to decide which figure he was going to make for them. So you need a lot of luck to get a big figure like dragon. According to my mom, I always got dragon. Guess I had some luck. But the biggest price is a 3D basket! It's really hard to use maltose to make a simple 2D figure, but this master could make a huge basket for you to carry around, and even eat it if you want (who would tho?).

<--Here's a little maltose art.