thai kitchen

two weeks ago, a friend invited me to lunch somewhere in redwood city. it wasn't just an ordinary restaurant. at atherton appliance & kitchens, you are actually in a kitchen showroom and you sit around a kitchen counter. then, a culinary instructor will have a cooking demonstration in front of you, and you get to taste the food right away.

our theme that day was "quick and easy thai" - recipes from this cookbook.



our culinary experts - barbara and barbara



braised chicken in yellow curry



preparing our dessert...



thai fried bananas with vanilla ice cream and almond crisps



there was actually a first course to the menu - a roasted eggplant salad with cilantro and lime. but it looked so good that i was too excited to taste and forgot about the picture!



Atherton Appliances & Kitchen
695 Veterans Blvd.
Redwood City, CA 94063
(most lunch demonstrations $20/person)

what's "financially"?

first, there were the controversial octuplets...

then today...

DAD AT 13

i don't know if i should find it funny or upsetting when the boy replied "what's financially?" to the reporter's question...

for the full story, go to this article from The Sun.


what has happened to our world?

lemonade

this is an example of where our tax dollars go...

Man calls 911 after eatery runs out of lemonade
Feb. 9, 7:52 PM EST

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities said a man, 66, was arrested after calling 911 on Saturday to complain that a fast food restaurant ran out of lemonade. After a drive-through employee failed to respond to the man's threat of contacting the police, the irate diner called 911, a police report alleges.

He spent about 5 minutes talking to the 911 operator about his complaint.

Boynton Beach said the man was charged with abuse of 911 communication.

xanh

xanh - pronounced "sun", means "green" or "blue" in vietnamese

xanh is a vietnamese fusion restaurant located in downtown mountain view, and probably the hippest place to eat on that strip. i've dined there twice at its old location and have always wanted to go back and visit their new, bigger spot. given the chance that my cousins were in town, we decided to go there for dinner.

the new spot, only a couple of shop spaces down the street from its old one, takes up a much bigger floor space. it now includes a bar area and lounge seating, which to me seems a bit too pretentious, especially for mountain view. however, the main dining area is really cool. the decor is clean and tastefully executed, and the mood lighting is just right. (i don't really like restaurants that have dim lighting which puts you to sleep...) i LOVE their paintings on the walls!






their menu consists of a lot of small plates for sharing. they are quite creative with the dish names and even trademarked a couple of dishes on their menu (scroll down a bit to see an example). we probably made the right choice to order more appetizers and small plates than entrees.

from top to bottom: crispy calamari, chicken satay, xanh shrimp cakes, grapefruit salad, beef satay

the grapefruit salad is so good that i could eat the whole thing myself...


from top to bottom: glass noodles with dungeness crab, miso salmon, string beans in peanut sauce


ankle biters - one of the trademarked dishes


split-personality sorbet (dual sorbet of passion fruit and raspberry) and "punkin" pie gelato






Xanh
110 Castro Street
Mountain View, CA 94041

real surprises come in small packages

i got a tiny piece of mail yesterday...

the envelope felt a little plump...

turned it around and saw that it was from my favorite store - anthropologie!

opened it and found this cute cloth pouch...




it's a birthday discount card for a single purchase at the store this month!



although 15% is not a huge discount (especially at anthro...), but receiving it in a handmade pouch and without expecting it means more than anything!



thank you anthro!

牛年大吉

恭喜發財!

祝大家牛年開開心心

步步高陞 萬事如意
一帆風順 身體健康
家肥屋潤 笑口常開