What's for dinner?

Last night we wanted to go out for dinner, but couldn't decide where to go, so we kept asking each other: "What's for dinner?"

At Smart & Final when we talked about it, Jack said, "well, I don't want to have Cantonese food or Italian food. The choices can be Indian food or Sichuan."

I said "OK. Or Sushi."

Then we kept thinking while going for other errands.

At Petsmart, I said, "well, I don't really want to have Indian food nor Sichuan."

"Oh, now you are making it difficult." Jack said. I smiled.

When we were done with all the errands, we were both hungry. I told Jack we should go for dinner before I start eating snacks, and I suggested that we could go to Korean tofu house. Jack agreed. It was a good compromise to the expensive Sushi, and the cool weather was suitable for hot soup.

When we got to the restaurant it was only around 5 PM, though it was already dark and chilly. We saw a lot of people waiting at the door, so we were a little worried. Luckily the people who were waiting had big parties, and there were still empty tables in the restaurant. I put our name done for 2, and we waited. The staff were doing their best to prepare the tables for dinner rush. We didn't need to wait for long to be seated.

I really enjoyed my tofu soup with pork dumplings, as well as all the small dishes that accompanied the meal: kim chi, various marinated vegetables and seaweed. I also watched the waitresses dashing around from table to table. The patrons were mostly Asian families.

While enjoying dinner, I was marveling how lucky we were living in an area where there were so many choices of ethnic foods for our picky taste buds. "Is it not like this everywhere else?" Jack asked. Actually no. I recalled, the very first time I had Korean food, I was in Austin, so as Indian food to think of it. I guess Austin was an interesting diverse town. But elsewhere is not so much. For instance, one of my coworkers said there was no decent Indian food in Portland where he lived.

When we left the restaurant, it was a full house, and there were people waiting.

Caffe Mezza Luna

After a lazy start this morning, I managed to convince Jack to go to Caffe Mezza Luna for brunch.

There was some sun in the morning, and it was especially comfortable. The cafe is located in the Harbor village, around the harbor, of course.  We stopped by the bakery stand at the farmer's market at the parking lot just to wet our appetite.

When we got to the cafe, there was a long line, and I was a little worried that Jack would become impatient and wanted to go. But there wasn't any time sensitive activities we had in plan, so we stayed.

Jack told me what he wanted, then went to take a seat and I waited in line to make order. The pastries at the display looked so yummy. It was good that it was a bit of a wait before I got to order, so that I had enough time to make up my mind about what I want.

At the cashier, I ordered the two egg over easy with bacon, quiche, tiramisu and a pumkin spice latte. I got a number and my tiramisu, then went to our table. It was a nice day, and a lot of people chose to sit at the patio, so there were plenty of tables for everyone. I enjoyed looking out the window, at the people waiting outside of the other restaurant, Flavor California Comfort Food, and Jack enjoyed watching the Niners game on TV.

We waited a little, and our food came. I really enjoyed my quiche, as it was SO fluffy and light. The salad was OK. Jack was OK about his breakfast. He said the eggs were just the way he liked it, bacon was delicious and the toast was good. The latte was delicious and it was not too sweet. We ate the tiramisu last, and it was a little too sweet for me, but I think it would be better with some coffee.

I'm glad we went there for brunch in this nice morning. I can still feel quite relaxed. I would call this cafe a local charm.

Digital evolution

Aaa, Sunday morning, people used to read newspaper over breakfast, or like Jack and I, bouncing interesting ideas off of each other over coffee. And now what do we do? Each of us having an iPad and separately dwelling deep into the cyber space. I really miss the good old days.

Jack spent an hour looking for a heavy duty tool to move big logs from one place to another for a land preservation project. It makes me think. With the rate the eCommerce grows, what's going to happen to the retail stores. Sadly, some of them will go out of business. And what's going to happen to the vacant spaces? Perhaps more new restaurants, or yoga studios.

European wax

We drove by a shopping area with different kinds of shops.
J: What is European wax?
Y: It's a way to remove body hair.
J: Oh, I thought it was a kind of car wax.
Y: Haha, I don't think so.

Run for fun or run to win

Amy and Jake are very different dogs, even though they live together all Jake's life. From these two, I learned that every dog is different.

While Amy eats everything,  all the food in her bowl and what he splashes around, Jake is selective, and  he spits things out if he doesn't like them, such as pretzels or banana. He eats slower, and stops when he is full. He leaves the food in the bowl for later. 

Even though Amy is nine and a half years old, and 4 years older than Jake, Amy still out runs Jake, and when Amy runs after the ball, whether it is in the water or on land, Jake would give up running after it, and roll around in the mud instead. Half of the time, we hold Amy back, and let Jake have a head start on fetching, then let Amy go after Jake is 100 feet away. When he runs or swims, he is more relaxed and well paced, while Amy is more rush and aim to reach the ball first.

We concluded that Jake runs for fun, and Amy runs to win.

I figured, if you are born to be one type, you cannot live any other way.

Happy or sad

Once a while I listen to CDs while driving. I have Train, Lady Gaga, Music and Lyrics sound track, and a few Chinese CDs.

I have a CD that is a concert of this Taiwan singer, and he sings the sweetest love songs. With a beautiful clear voice, he was crowned prince of love songs in Taiwan. I really liked to play his songs, because they made me haopy... well, until I couldn't stop singing these songs in my head.

I have two other CDs from two female singers, one from Hong Kong, and the other from Singapore, and they both sang sad, sad breakup songs. The depressing songs weren't great, and I only played their songs for sentimental reasons.

Comedies or love songs can bring people happiness, and sad breakup songs can really put people in a sad frame of mind.

The good thing is, we have choices of what to listen to and what to watch based on our taste and the moment. Just remember, when it doesn't work for you anymore, you can always turn it off or change the station.

Follow the leader

Has it ever happened to you when you drove in a strange neighborhood, slightly lost, and wished the car in front of you were going to the same place, so you could just followed him? Being a poor navigator, I hate to get lost, so GPS is my best friend, because it helps me get un-lost.

My mom used to tease me that GPS is my blind man's stick. I once drove my mom around Kauai with the help of GPS, and impressively found our way back to the hotel every night.

One Election Day a few years ago, Jack and I left home early and drove separately to the polling place because we were going to drive to work afterwards. As per usual, I followed Jack's car and turned right into the street past the gas station, then turned left, following the grey SUV.  Still following the grey SUV, I turned right into the auto shop, and that's when I realized the car I had been following was someone else. I had no idea when I lost Jack. Exiting the auto shop parking lot, I was on my own.

Fortunately, I could remember to turn right on the next street to find the community center where the polling place was. Jack laughed when he found out what happened to me.

Following the wrong person could have been much worse than what happened to me that day.