happy baby, happy birthday

today is not only the last day of 2009,
but also the very special first birthday for tyler!!



wishing the happy baby a wonderful birthday!

quality seafood

i first heard about quality seafood from my sister. it is basically a seafood market in redondo beach (near los angeles) which can also prepare your seafood right on the spot. quality seafood is famous for having fresh uni... yes, fresh from the tank and served in its prickly shell. i was in southern cal a few weekends ago so i asked my friends to take me there.

the oyster and clam bar
more than a dozen types of fresh oysters to choose from and shucked open on the spot




once you've decided how many oysters to get, you can also mix and match the oyster types, so if you really want, you can pick one of each!




we had a mix of smaller oysters and the big, fat ones too. big, fat ones were awesome!




steamed prawns in garlic butter sauce - gotta say the boiling crab had a tastier sauce




it's uni's turn... the pricks were still moving when we got it




i'm normally not a uni person at sushi restaurants, but fresh uni is a different story. although i can still only eat one sea urchin (about 5 huge pieces of uni) at one sitting.
btw, i've always thought uni is the brain part, but it's actually the roe of the sea urchin...




thanks to D and A for taking me there and finally feeling satisfied

Quality Seafood
130 South International Boardwalk
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 372-6408

midnight shopping @black friday

i am never a person who would get up early to go shopping on 'black friday', no matter how cheap the things get discounted.

this year, i decided to give it a try. not to get up early, but to stay up and go shop starting at midnight. the gilroy premium outlets have been organizing their midnight shopping event for the past few thanksgiving black fridays. all participating stores open doors at midnight through 10pm the next day.

don't assume that no one will shop through the night.
there were lots of people.


the line outside of the coach store at 12:00am... the end of the line is already on the other end of the plaza!




overall, the stores were only slightly more crowded compared to a regular weekend. i was disappointed the discounts were not that great of a deal though. the sales were what you'd normally expect from the outlets.


2:39am - our first victim of the night... fighting to stay awake




mcdonalds was the ONLY food place open and it was crazy inside!

3:20am - the most crowded mcdonalds i've ever been




3:39am - our mcmuffins, hash browns, coffee and juice - finally after the longest fast food wait




5:13am - mission accomplished and homeward bound



surprisingly, staying up all night wasn't so bad and the experience was not negative either. but maybe having this experience once was enough...

cosplay

halloween for little kids is all about the trick or treating.
halloween for adults is mainly about the partying, drinking, and cosplay.

we had a costume contest at our office's halloween party. let's look at some amazing finalists.

the battle of the ninjas: kakashi from naruto vs. miss martial arts

umm... i really don't know where these characters are from, but they sure were in character

and our winner - the vampire

a corner of the haunted mansion

happy 1st birthday

i was invited to a friend's housewarming party / his daughter's 1st birthday party a few weeks ago. it was also my first time celebrating korean style.

they had yummy korean kalbi bbq, japchae, and korean rice cake. when it was time for the birthday cake, little na-yeh changed into a super cute korean dress (i think it's called hanbok).

an nyoung ha seh yo~

na-yeh confused...
"who are all those paparazzi and why is everyone singing to me?"

also saw johann - last time i saw him, he was only a few months old, but now he's singing and running around!

na-yeh and johann are both big sister- and big brother- to be! congrats!

mid-autumn feast

a few weekends ago, we had some family over for a mid-autumn festival feast. it was a good meal and we all had a good time catching up. as we were close to serving dinner, we almost panicked because mom forgot to cook rice!! she was busy with preparing her dishes that she slipped her mind... but luckily she has a super quick rice cooker! :P

of course we had the traditional moon cake for dessert...
and also auntie's homemade "ice moon cake" 冰皮月餅!