1st Nov 2009 weekend....

I didn't realize the last time I wrote my blog was back in Oct. I guess I just get lazy and there wasn't really much to say for the past 2 weeks...

Mr. Liu came up with this idea that we should do something new whenever we can. We should at least find a new place to go (around LA) each month, and then try a new restaurant like every two weeks, and then learn something new once a while.....and all other plans I can't remember....etc...

So we decided to go to Descanso gardens past Sat, and that had nothing to do with our "NEW" project (cuz we have been there few times already)....lol....We only went cuz we have annual pass and there seemed be an interesting "Japanese theme" kinda thing going on for Sat. As you can see some people werereally into it and actually wanted to look Japanese with the umbrella...hahaha....I can't tell if she noticed I was taking a photo and stared at me with those blind people sunglasses....:p oh and I think it was like the most packed Descanso I have ever experienced so far....

We happen to run into this Chrysanthemums festival when we visited the garden. I don't know where they found all those diff. types of chrysanthemums, but they are not particularly my type of flowers really....so here are some diff. ones which I found interesting......Most of them just look complicated I think....lol...and other types didn't turn out too well in the photos....so anyway....


Got this weird photo of weird lady bugs right at the entrance....

I didn't know people can actually eat and reserve meals at the Japanese garden. I am sure the food must not be too great, but at least the atmosphere is kinda cool....

There were flower displays in the Japanese garden, but I didn't really like the indoor ones even though some of them were creative. I think the outdoor ones just look more natural and has better color combination with the sun....




To go along with the Japanese theme they had those Japanese drums for a performance. Most of the players were not Japanese though....which I find interesting....and they really didn't perform that well, but again most of the garden performances are not that good anyway...:p

No idea why I took a photo of this....but they have this kinda flower everywhere in the garden.

The little cart turned out to look poetic I think....and that grandpa driving the small train passed by us several times while we were walking around the place for like 15 min.

Isn't it strange they have GREEN pumpkins? oh well Halloween was over so I guess nobody cares about the color any more....and Billy wanted to look strong with that little cart which I "supposedly" sat on....

Since everyone was watching the drum performance, we had a chance to take photos at the rose garden without people bothering us. It's the 1st time we don't see whole bunch of people at the rose garden :)

The tree was golden....which reminds me of Michigan a lot....It would be even nicer if they have red maple trees...and Billy wanted to take a photo with the willow tree...I don't know why I used to like those trees a lot when I was a kid....cuz I have no special feelings toward willows now....:p

We went to Art Center to check out their exhibits, but I didn't see anything I liked except this little monster who looked tired and drunk with the beer....lol....

We went to Malbec for dinner, which is an Argentinean restaurant which specialize in steaks. Billy found this place from Yelp (I think...) and we decided this place would be the "new" restaurant we try out for these two weeks :)

The olive oil dip with parsley was nice....and the appetizer Billy ordered was pretty cool too. The appetizer basically had every type of seafood you can think of except fish...yeah I like that part...

Atmosphere at the place was pretty nice...but then there were mostly old people eating at the place. I guess we just happen to go to a lot of places with old people around....

Billy ordered the ribeye steak and I got the short ribs. I think my short ribs was better cuz it had more fat in it and the meat was more tender that way...oh and it was more tasty too with the wood grill... :)

I really liked the cactus that was on our table...must took like 2 dozen photos of it to have a good take because of the dim lighting....

Took a photo when we got our dessert. It was this Argentinean bread pudding which tasted more like cake....Well...I would say the restaurant try out turned out to be good....:)

Theo's wedding day....

Well....back to the summer photos...I think this patch is the last one since we took the photos the day before Clement went back to TW. We attended a weird wedding....which was Theo's. Well...let's just say it was very short, thus not too bad....and I actually had fun seeing some old friends out of the blue...

We also bumped into Eunice and Ben at the wedding and I think they just got back from Hawaii after their honeymoon...We also saw third grand aunt and her husband since they go to the same church as Theo's parents, but didn't take any photo with them.....

After wedding we went to San Gabriel mission for Clement to take photos. It's already the last day of Clement's stay and we haven't take him there yet. It's funny cuz I think we enjoyed taking the photos more than going to the wedding....




My only photo with my car so far....funny how we took this out of the blue and the car is already 2 years old now...

At the banquet I bumped into some people who I haven't seen for ages.....It's funny cuz Theo's mom apparently know lots of people, but I doubt how many of the people Theo really knows...Eddie....got bigger....Ann still looks the same and I didn't know the last time I saw her was last year??? Theo's wife does look like Korean cuz of the face size....and Levi looked about the same, but with white hairs.....lol....


Ok.....that was that.....the end....

Airshow 2009

We went to airshow at Edwards airbase, which was North of Lancaster, on Sat. We started heading there around 9 in the morning, and got stuck in the traffic for a LONG time....Got to the base way later than we expected. I think we took around 4 hours to get there for a distance which we could of arrive within 2 hours....1st stop after we arrived the airport was of course....restroom....

When we were there, they were acting the whole "Pearl Harbor" thing. There are the Japanese planes, and the fake bombing....

At the entrance....there is the schedule, and we were only able to make the last 2 cuz we got there around 2....and there is Irene :)

Billy looking lost in the picture....It felt like we were in some sort of war and everyone was running for life....a disaster with all the messy lines....

At the hanger, where they had the newest planes displayed....

There were people EVERYWHERE.....and this guy with the Japanese umbrella really amused me....

This F22 was doing all sorts of cool tricks when we got there...for a long time....but because it was to fast I really didn't take that good of photos since I was still getting a hang of the skill of shooting planes...

They had all the planes for a formation fly at the end....and here are some more clear photos of the planes I got....I tell you.....shooting airplanes with my camera while they were flying really fast was some kinda task....


B2 landing....

Still whole bunch of people after all planes were landed....

Billy tried to get some food while I was trying to take photos of the flying planes....and all food was sold out except pretzels and churros...and they both tasted HORRIBLE.....

Some planes on static display. Jacob said the 1st one here is Lillian's favorite....I had no idea 2nd sis is into planes....hahahaha


They were selling popcorn....funny hat that woman was wearing....

The line for buses heading back to the parking lot was crazy long. We took FOREVER to get out of the base from the parking lot too....

A photo of us walking in the desert....lol....the ground was really cracked...

On the way home, I got bunch of nice photos of the sunset and the cool shaped clouds...

Here is a photo of the dry lake bed which is good for plane landing....It looked like a lake when we 1st saw it....I guess the reflection of sand when it's super hot in a desert is kinda cool....

Nascar game.....

On Sun afternoon we went to a Nascar game together with Jack and Irene. I have to say it's kinda interesting to actually watch/hear a car race game live....even though I am not all that into watching same repetitive movements...oh well....It's always fun to do something once in a life time I think...Here are the photos....

I was totally surprised when I saw how many people were watching the game..I guess there are plenty of people who can afford to spend the money and time watching cars go loop after loops...

Some photos Jack took for us....too bad the cars look very small...but at least you can see the whole audience section....



Billy took these two photos. Everyone was at the pit stop for gas and changing of tires....

I totally didn't know why every once a while the security car would show up and make everyone line up before they start racing again...well....supposedly there must be an accident of some sort or violations of rules for this to happen....but we couldn't figure out what happened at the time :p

#48 ended up as the winner of the game. I didn't know at the time I took this photo, so I guess I was lucky....

I took some photos of the people....some looked like they really enjoyed the game, and some looked really bored....


At this time #11 and 42 were doing pretty well....

and then....this was the only accident we saw.... #11 got bumped on the butt, and he was actually 1st place at the time....oh well....too bad...accidents happen....

The Target car was 2nd place before we left....

The last lining up while we were there...

That is the ranking right before we left....and I guess leaving early was a good idea since we didn't get stuck in the traffic :)

The last place we took Clement to for the summer...Santa Barbara....

The last weekend of Clement's stay we took him to Santa Barbara. It's not particularly my favorite place, but he has never been there....so there we went....

The 1st stop we made for Santa Barbara is the old mission. I am not so sure how I like this place cuz I think the San Gabriel mission probably does not look worse than this....




There was this small rose garden next to the mission....and Billy took this cool shot of the church being blurry in the back with focus on the roses...

We went to SB court house afterwards, which has the roof open for the tourists. You can see the whole town if you get up there....

That is the huge fig tree next to the freeway....supposed to be famous but nobody was around to look at it except us....and there was one person talking on the phone in all those roots....that can show you how big the tree was....



We were walking around downtown SB for a while...and tried to look stupid next to the fountain too....

We were waiting for seats for dinner like FOREVER....and took whole bunch of photos of birds...so far Clement's bird flying photo was my favorite....



This place where we had dinner at was right on the pier....

Soups we ordered....

I was looking like a freak cuz it was windy and I was really cold....yeah...while everyone else wears short sleeves and all that.....

Calamari, onion rings, and the stone crab we had....

Cool reflection on the water....& last photo we took before we took off from the pier...

Laguna and Jazz night....

Ok....back to the photos I have left from the summer....I think I have about two more sets of photos left or something....anyway...here it is....

One of the weekends while Clement was still with us we decided to go to Laguna beach....but then we went to Rowland Heights to have lunch since we haven't had those nice chicken wings from Furaibo for a long time....I got the wings, Clement got the sings and thigh, and Billy got the steak....:)


We went to Laguna beach after lunch and the weather wasn't all that good....here are the photos...


Two cool flower photos I got....

Sea shells and the rocks....I think the best part of Laguna beach was the rocky beach....and the seagulls were all pretty busy walking around and all....

We walked all the way to where the big rock was to watch some stuff in the small rocks. The water almost got us after 10 min :)

Saw a lot of sea creatures live at the beach just when the tide was about to raise again....They look like flowers :)

Took some photos with the rocks at the beach....


Two cool photos I took before we left the beach....

Took a photo with the weird statue before we left :)

We went to Steamers for dinner. I guess I did bring the boys here before years ago. Both of them remember this place I guess :)


Food we got. I don't think Clement took a photo of Billy's food....or it turned out ugly I didn't include it....again....can't remember much from that long ago...lol....oh and the wine was from the next table....hahahaha


The musicians....It was one loud band and the band leader was from Cuba. Apparnetly the musicians didn't pay much attention to the leader and he was pissed most of the time....lol..oh and the trumpet, sax players were nuts....orz....


One day Jack bought a lot of seafood for dinner...and we all ate too much....Billy is the happy representative here.....I have no idea why the photo is left in this batch...but anyway....not related to our Laguna trip at all....lol....

A lot of eating for the past weekend....

Billy all of a sudden wanted to make chicken noodle soup so we went shopping for all the ingredients after he checked out the steps on line. I have to say the whole process took too long for me, but he had the patience anyway. The 1st photo is what he used to create the soup base. There were several spices that I didn't even know the names....and he used real chicken instead of using the chicken broth cans....yeah...a lot of work....

This is how the soup turned out to be. It was quite sweet and tasty even without salt added. My opinion is the Billy soup was better than souplanation chicken noodle soup....

The big cook in the picture....and the steak with mushrooms....yeah that was supposed to go with the soup too....and dinner turned out to be too much for the two of us....:p

We went to Lobster festival after church on Sun. The entrance ticket per person was 7 dollars and each lobster is 17 dollars....much cheaper than prices from restaurants. The cool thing was that lobsters actually turned out to taste quite good. The bad thing was that there were too many people and we had to walk for a long way from where we parked...and the sun....ok...I am just lazy....Here are the photos...

The assembly line.....

Billy's TWO lobsters meal...

They had people who helped the buyers to crack and open the lobsters.....

My ONE lobster meal....

It was hard to find seats while the boys went to get drinks.....so many people....

Our 5 lobsters for 3 people....

Looking happy and getting ready to eat :)

My lobster raising her hand and saying hi before the hands get eaten.....

Calamari that Jack got....Very intereting thick cuts....

I was the lucky person who got a lobster filled with eggs....and it just looked like a huge shrimp if you just look at the body part....

They also sold those huge corns, but then we were too stuffed to get any anyway....

They actually had many little booths selling other things other than lobsters.....but except the food, nothing was really worth looking at...

Took a photo of the entrance After we went through the whole thing....:)

Whole bunch of people came in while we were leaving...I wonder how many lobsters we killed for the whole festival....

Saw this boy on the bus when we were heading back. I don't think he looked all that happy holding the fake lobster....lol....anyway....this concludes our weekend with too much food....orz...