Congrats to John for receiving the Best Plant Award! 
He’s been open for less than a year and already he and his store are getting recognized nationally.
I’m so happy for you and Lien – maDd props. All those hours and hard work you’re putting in are gonna pay off 
And then it’ll be time for a nice vacation….
Congrats again, dude. Very happy for ya <3
Skipped out on free pizza to eat with John and Patrick @ Shanghai Dumpling Shop for lunch – a very wise decision
I was surprised to see the wide variety they offered on their menu. John and Patrick have been there before, so I ate whatever they wanted to pick out.
What we got:
Verdict?
Food is good and I’ll definitely come back.
I really liked all 3 dishes. Dumplings were flavorful and actually had broth inside (I’ve had a bad experience @ dim sum where we ordered shanghai dumplings and they were dry as hell). Noodles were a bit on the greasy side, but that’s nothing unusual. It was flavorful as well and so were the spareribs.
Red bean dessert is something really I like, but I’m not sure how many others would agree. I’ll order this dish the next time I go. I’d only recommend it if you like red bean or asian puff-like pastries that have red bean.
Cost of food was fair. For all 3 of us, total came out to about $11 per person. I think it’s safe to say we all left with satisfied stomachs for the price.
Thanks to the guys for introducing me to Shanghai Dumpling Shop!!!
Today’s lunch was @ In-N-Out with dingbo and sven. Out of all the times I’ve been there, I’ve never taken a picture of the food (at least I can’t remember if I did). I thought In-N-Out was so overrated when I first had their burger 6 years ago. Wow, 6 years ago.
in-N-out cheeseburger + fries
Anyways, it’s really good. Even better, it’s cheap AND good! The only downside is how crowded the place can get and you may have no where to sit.
and a little insider joke for myself that I won’t describe in detail here… car ride back talking about smokin’ and hand. oh man… good times!
Twice today I had sushi. Twice today I met up with people who I haven’t seen in a while. And twice today I had a great time. Reminder for myself, bring cupcakes next time!
It was nice to have 2 breaks from my current thoughts.
I was able to spend time with an old colleague and catch up with what he’s been up to and how he and his family are doing. Stopped by his place to see his wife and kids. Wow, the kids have grown so much! The older one talks now and the younger one now walks. My-oh-my, how time flies. The kids are adorable…
Met up with another friend for dinner at Hiro Sushi in San Bruno since BJ’s had an hour + wait. Good food and good company always make good times. I particularly remember an example we talked about regarding executives and grammer. Ohboy, the exception was hilarious. Oh Amos, how we still make fun of thee and ye stupidity.
Enjoyed a couple of slices of black forest cake and then called it a night. I’m sure another we’ll meet up again soon. Now it’s time for bed…
My pictures show a timeline of what happened the rest of the day after Terrace Cafe.
Got home around 8 and called it a night. Tomorrow the girls fly back to Texas. I’m gonna miss them 
I love having brunch at Terrace Cafe in Venice Beach. At Terrace Cafe, you can order mimosas and eat breakfast entrees until 2:30pm. Sitting outside is a great way to people watch while you eat, but the downside is that only groups of 4 or less are allowed. Dining inside is cool too. It’s a bit more private since pedestrians can’t stare at your food as they pass, and the cafe has skylights that naturally brightens up the interior.
Food is good – how can any restaurant mess up scrambled eggs and toast?! I’m just happy they’re willing to serve breakfast after 10:30
After brunch we all walked along the boardwalk to soak up the sun’s rays and get some vitamin D. Next stop, Sprinkles.
good times.
movie night at my place. rather than popping in a DVD or purchasing a movie from On-Demand, I had a movie on my laptop, hooked up the monitor cable to my TV and used my TV as a second monitor – and it turned out almost great. Can you guess what we watched tonight by the picture below?!
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I totally forgot that I needed external speakers since factory speakers aren’t that loud, so we watched on my big screen and had to listen to the movie from my laptop…dOh!
thanks to the guys for bringing over dinner, drinks and dessert for the evening. because of them, my fridge is the fullest it’s ever been since I moved in in April.
good times and good night yall.
homemade hot pot dinner
Didn’t get much sleep last night and today was quite hectic. Had an appointment that was a bit of a drive away this morning and the meeting ran longer than expected. Fortunately, my girlfriend invited me over to hang out and have hotpot dinner – a great way to spend quality time with a friend, have good food, fun and relax for the rest of the day.
Hotpot was very good. We all ate until our tummies were about to burst and then we moved on to the watermelon. thanks for having me over, babes
After dinner, we chilled out on the couches watching the olympics, criticizing how some members of the Chinese women’s gymnastics team look way too young to be 16 and watching Phelps win his 10th gold medal in the men’s relay – “‘cmon, you can do it! finish in under 7 mins!!! almost there…woohooo! we won, we won!”
All was great up until Sacramone fell off the balance beam – dOh! that was painful to see…not because of the medal, but just thinking of how she’s feeling right now. i feel so bad for her! her eyes were filling with tears after her routine was done… aww that hurts… really really hurts.
midnight came and I left to go home…here I am and it’s time for bed.
Goodnight yall…
Decided to have dim sum at ABC in Foster City for lunch since John’s never been. It’s a decent place… somewhat satisfying. We got there @ 12:30 and boy, was it crowded! Good thing for us is that we were only a couple, so we only had to wait about 10 minutes before getting seated. As we were eating, I saw people who came before us get seated about 15 minutes after us – geez! Our table wasn’t the most pleasant seat in the house b/c we were in a walking aisle by ourselves near the bathroom. but it was probably the best in regards to food selection. Every single cart had to pass by us to get to both sides of the restaurant
Not much else for the rest of the day. John knocked out for a few hours due to MSG overdose, while I hung out on the couch watching the olympics and organizing digital pictures. Also, John left back to L.A. tonight – bummer.
G$ is coming over soon to loan me some books on python and SQL server – Man, I’m so lucky to have such nice friends Gonna go make some Ramen + egg + broccoli now…goodnight!
just got home from another good evening with friends.
dinner was at Sajj in San Bruno. the place is pretty good! it opened up a few weeks ago and there is already a decent stream of customers coming in for the evening.
one of the guys brought out a sample of their spinach pie – that was soOo good! it wasn’t an item on their menu, but i definitely loved it. hummus and baba ganooj were ordered for appetizers and each of us ordered our own entree – chicken kebab, 2 burgers, fallafel wrap and a lamb wrap.
verdict:
dishes were tasty!
the guys liked their lamb and fallafel, and i really liked the spinach pie and baba ganooj. shoot, i’m happy with dipping my chicken kebab (or any type of meat) in the baba ganooj as meal in itself. i also tried Lebanese salad for the first time and that was good as well – it’s a light and refreshing side dish. service is good and attentive while the atmosphere is open with high ceilings… if you’re in the area, check it out!
now for The Dark Knight…
not a lot of expectations. i figured it would be another mediocre, overpriced movie that i probably could have waited to see at home and enjoy just as much – totally wrong. The Dark Knight is one of the best movies i’ve seen in a long time…a movie that I can be OK with spending $10+ a ticket for.
the cast, story line and directing of the movie all fit in together very well, IMO, and heath ledger played an amazing joker. very good movie to watch!
oOo… and i tried the penguins for the first time while watching the Dark Knight as well…
verdict? VERY YUMMY… hMmm hMmm good. it’ll be even better with soy milk…next time!
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