I had a massive craving for pho today, so we took a short trip to San Jose to Pho Kim Long. Their pho was well worth the trip–the portions are huge and the prices are cheap. But best of all, they have the perfect beef to rice noodle ratio. In many other joints, usually there’s not enough meat, and you’re left with just a noodle soup at the end. But not so with this place: the ratio was pretty constant until the very end. I highly suggest a visit for a big fresh bowl of pho.

Pho Kim Long
2082 Capitol Ave.
San Jose, CA
408-946-2181
$5 average entree

I was one of those kids that ate the bread slices before eating the meat on sandwiches. Yes, I was one of those weird kids. When I was little, I was never very fond of anything except cheese and meat. My general philosophy with eating is to eat the items I don’t enjoy first, saving the best for last.

This is why I was happy to find out that In N’ Out burger offers the Flying Dutchman: two meat patties with cheese and nothing else. The child inside me perked up and ordered it. Finally, a dish that would spell the end of toughing out the veggies and bread!

Recently, they’ve done studies where kids were given a single marshmallow. Then, they were told that if they could wait for 5 minutes without eating the marshmallow, they would get another marshmallow. Some kids ate it, while other dutifully waited for an extra marshmallow. The researchers interviewed the kids decades later. It turns out that there is a correlation between waiting for the second marshmallow and successful qualities of patience, hard work, and success. The kids who quickly gobbled up their sugary confection were the ones who were more spontaneous and erradic in their lives. I suppose this puts me into the former camp. Either that, or I was just a chubby little kid.

Sorry about the lack of updates lately. I’ve been swamped worrying about my moving and also papers to write. I find that writing a long paper drains my creative writing juices.

In any case, we had some great gelato at Ciao Bella in the Embarcadero in San Francisco. Yes, it’s really a yuppy hang out, but the gelato is top notch. I have yet to find gelato as flavorful and as fresh in the Bay Area. I’m sure there’s better in Italy, but Ciao Bella is quite good.

We got 3 flavors: green apple, strawberry, and vanilla (with a little chocolate hazelnut on top). The green apple and strawberry were extremely fresh tasting–like they just picked the fruit and churned the sorbet mix kind of fresh. When I think of green apple, I usually think of the artificial green flavoring that is laced onto processed foods. Eating Ciao Bella’s green apple sorbet was like biting into a fresh Granny Smith. No joke.

Chinatown in San Francisco has always been a source of stress for me. Everytime we venture there, we get lost. It would be a simple thing to look at a map, but we’ve never really bothered–thinking we could always make our way through. We’ve been there several times, and have a murky feeling for where all the restaurants and bakeries are. This murkiness usually ends in utter disbelief at our abilities to navigate the labyrinth of hilly streets. And don’t even let me start talking about parking and the crazy Asian pedestrians.

Tippy’s favorite Chinese bakery is the Golden Gate Bakery. Their egg tarts are luscious–providing the right amount of flakiness to chewiness ratio. The bad thing is that there’s usually a long line that curves out of a cramped standing space. I usually let her take care of getting the baked items.

We also went to Uncle’s Cafe and had some fried rice and sesame chicken–the usual fare. Again, we had to wind our way through the streets to find it. “It’s just over that hill, I remember it from last time” is what we usually say. And then, it’s never over that particular hill. It’s very frustrating. We simply need a walking map of Chinatown.

Happy Donuts is one of those ambivalent cafes that draw the young and hip I’m-going-to-try-and-study-but-really-I’m-just-screwing-around crowd during the night, and the seniors reading their morning papers during the morning. Constant throughout the daily bustle is the giant glazed donut that looms over the cafe like a tasty god that oversees his sugary creations. In fact, the Buddhist owners offer a cake donut to their golden idols beneath the counter.

Happy Donuts is a local Bay Area chain serving the usual fare of cake, glazed, and chocolate donuts. There’s nothing really special about the food. The only draw are the hours–it’s open all day and night. This is quite a rarity in the Bay Area: the land of working professionals who sleep early, even on Fridays.

Usually, we like to go their to concentrate on our school work. The cafe also boasts free wireless internet, which is quite a commodity here. Of course, the giant donut that hangs from the ceiling is also cool. Does anyone know if all the Happy Donuts have it?

It’s the one year anniversary of A California Beginning! On May 14th, 2004, I typed my first post:

This will be about the fourth blog Tippy and I have started. Let’s hope this one goes on. I am moving to California to join her soon, and we shall start our new lives together. Hoping for the best!

I guess this means my blog finally “made it.” Here’s to a fruitful next year.

During my trip to NYC, Tippy and I took a casual stroll around the MoMA. Usually, these strolls involve gawking at each piece and trying to make sense of all the modern art movements. Some pieces we casually stroll by, while others we scrutinize.

Then, we entered the design area of the museum. I always liked design, and find a lot of beauty in a well-designed object–even in something as simple as a lamp. As I gazed my eyes across the objects behind the glass panes, something familiar jumped out at me. There it was–my Canon S110 Digital Elph camera staring at me in the face.

I was actually a little startled. The pieces we view at a museum tend to be objects foreign to our daily lives. Suddenly, here was a familiar object behind a veil of glass in a museum. It was a bit surreal, to say the least–almost as if they had bottled up a piece of my life and put it on display.

I even felt a little proud of my camera. Compared to some of the newer models, it’s pretty ancient. Somehow, seeing it on display for its design worthiness made me appreciate it more.

So, I did the only natural thing: I took a picture of the camera on display with my very own.

A few days ago I was blown away by a tortilla chip. This was an event that took me by surprise. Usually, I’m not that big of a tortilla chip fan–I like them, and if I’m around them I’ll eat them. But, I never truly crave them in the same fashion as I crave, oh, a decadent chocolate torte.

All of this nonchalant tortilla chip tasting has now ceased. I took some advice from Jatbar and went to Tres Potrillos Taqueria. The food was great, and was even on par with Taqueria La Bamba in Mountain View. The main event was definitely the tortilla chips–something that wouldn’t even be worth noting at other establishments.

The chips were perfectly flaky and crunchy at the same time. I’ve never experienced a flaky texture on tortilla chips, and immediately recognized its superiority over any other chip I have ever eaten. The salsa was also very fresh, and one of the best I’ve tasted. In short, even Tippy liked the chips–and she’s not a chip fan. We ended up eating three more plates of chips after we ate our meal.

Behold, for we have seen the tortilla chip light! Never shall we return to those despicable Doritos.

I’ve come to the conclusion that girls hate to carry their wallets. This is further excerbated by the fact that a large portion of women’s clothing do not have adequate pockets. This leaves only a few solutions: keep the wallet at home, keep the wallet in a purse, keep only money and an ID in a pocket, or let the guy carry it. For Tippy, it comes to down to the last choice.

This has many consequences. I am caught off guard when suddenly becoming the wallet-bearer. It usually happens in an instant, and then, I’m standing there with the wallet. I put it in my pocket (as I do with my own gigantic wallet), and time passes. That is, until I need to pay for something, and what I pull out is:

This, is quite an embarrasment. Sure, the wallet may be quite fashionable for a chic woman. But, I am hardly that, and am now stuck with a flowery wallet that will linger in the memories of all who surround me.

During my layover in Reno, NV, I got a glimpse into the life of old retired people. I swear that I was the only young Asian guy on the plane.

In true Reno spirit, the airport had many slot machines spread out across the gates. I didn’t actually think people would think about gambling in an airport, but there they were, happily feeding quarters in hopes of the big win.

As I sat waiting for my plane, I couldn’t help but watch as a short bald man frantically stood up from his slot machine waving his arms frantically. Apparently, he didn’t know how to cash out from the machine, and his plane was leaving in a few minutes.

Finally, he got the attention of an attendent, and his quarters rattled out of the machine to his greedy hands. At this point, all the passengers had already boarded, and the pilot was getting impatient waiting for this maniac. In desperation, the bald guy yelled to the gate attendent that he would be right there. But, the quarters weren’t so quick to come out, and he eventually ran with what he had in his bucket and told the slot attendent to keep the change.

All in all, it was quite a hilarious scene.