Hawaii

After I went to Canada, I went to Oahu for another vacation! That was a pretty nice time.

This is the inside of a cave in Waianae, where my friend lives! We went in there. It was dark, and rocky. Hard to walk. But, I didn't fall or anything.

Cool mural I passed by walking around in Honolulu. People are so creative!

This is a picture of the ancestral lands of Waianae. I think this place is called something, I forgot. But, my friend's ancestors lived here. It's like one of those hidden local places that no one really knows about.

A beach in Waianae at sunset. This is my friends' parents' view outside their cabana. So pretty!

Another view out the window in Waianae. I was staying next to Waikiki Beach but it was just a lot prettier and non touristy over in Waianae, on the other side of the island.

While I was in Hawaii, my friend and I went to the Honolulu Art Museum, some little shops, a mall, a barbecue, Waikiki Beach, some other beaches, that cave, and that's pretty much it. So, it was a pretty nice time.

I'm Back

At long last.. I am updating my blog. I'm fairly settled in to what I suppose is my routine for the time being, so it's about time to say goodbye to summer.. although I expect the weather to remain somewhat warm for at least another month or so.

I really enjoyed Vancouver. I stayed with some friends and met a bunch of their friends, so there was always something to do... go to the beach or a park, check out one of their favorite restaurants, walk around downtown, go to a party, or just hang out.

Charlson Park is my friends' favorite dog park. My friend I enjoyed this view while we played "bocce badminton" since I am not good at badminton and we could not successfully hit the birdie back and forth... so we just made up a contest of who could hit their birdie with the racket the farthest.

English Bay is another great spot I enjoyed. There were these logs set up throughout the beach where people could sit or lean up against them while sitting in the sand.

My Vancouver friends have the cutest apartment. It is so cozy with these flowers in little bottle vases on all the tables, posters on the wall, and books everywhere.

We passed by these beautiful flowers while walking around downtown on my birthday and my friend's girlfriend bought me some carnations :)

We enjoyed these little cakes for my birthday.. the three of us each chose the one we liked best, and each of them was delicious!

This is one of the libraries in Vancouver. It was modeled after the Colosseum.They've got books in several languages, and even a big touch screen patrons can use to browse the collection or learn about the history of various cultures.

Vancouver is certainly a vibrant and unique place that I hope to visit again one day.

Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival

Today was one day of the two-weekend Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco! A friend and I met up to go and check it out.

There were sponsor booths, art/jewelry/things for sale, food booths, and a stage in the main plaza where they had a beauty pageant and some Taiko drum performers.

The American and Japanese flags flying side by side.. I thought this made a pretty picture :)

In Japantown (where the festival was held) they have street signs in English and Japanese!

The Taiko drum performers were amazing-- they had all these different drums that made different sounds, and they were literally dancing while drumming.. and they just looked so happy and into what they were doing, you could tell they really loved it.

We also went and had lunch at a Japanese restaurant in the little mall nearby. I have not had sushi in quite a while, so that was a real treat.

There was also this neat mural at the entrance to the mall.

So, fun weekend :). Can't wait to go back to San Francisco next weekend to see the Giants!

P.S. I changed my blog settings so you don't have to have an account to comment. Didn't realize I could do that but that should make things easier for my commenters :).

Video!

Hi friends!

I thought this would be a good opportunity to share a video I made for my web design/programming class. It features fun stuff I've done in the bay area so you've probably seen all these pictures before but it's still a nice video and I chose pretty music for it from this jazz soloists cd I like :).



So, enjoy, until next time when I have time to write a review of the book I just finished! :)

DC Trip, Abridged

So, I got a new phone today... and attempted to email myself all the rest of my DC photos but some of them did not go through in time. But, here are the ones that did.

Flamingoes at the National Zoo! I love flamingoes, they are so pretty in pink.

Neat mural near the U Street Metro station! This district is often associated with the Harlem renaissance, a very artistic and creative time, hence the gentleman playing a violin.

A glimpse of the Potomac River while whizzing by on the metro.

The white house, and a stunning view of DC sky. Look at those billowing clouds!

A closer look. It was kind of awe-inspiring to be that close to the white house. I could have gotten even closer, too. There were some ladies protesting on the white house lawn about women's rights. They had songs, too.

A deep fried oreo from the Arlington County Fair. I just couldn't resist. They had deep fried twinkies, too. We also watched a piglet race and just browsed the game offerings-- everything you'd expect from a classic fair/carnival.

So, fun times... guess that's all for now... not pictured are some jaunts to Georgetown and Dupont Circle; a visit to Friend's favorite specialty grocery store, Wegmans; a day at the National Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum; and more National Zoo highlights (lions and pandas and monkeys, oh my).

Hope everyone's having a good weekend! I am off to a neighborhood potluck tonight, maybe... and a much needed trip to the Campbell farmer's market tomorrow.

East Coast- Restaurants

Hi! I am back from the East Coast where I had the opportunity to visit some great and interesting  restaurants in Washington, D.C. and Virginia. Among them:

American City Diner in D.C. for burgers and an outdoor movie,
Crumbs for birthday cupcakes in L'Enfant Plaza (D.C.) (chocolate dulce de leche for me--- and it was so big, I had to finish it the next day),
Graffiato in Chinatown (D.C.) for my birthday (hip Italian-style tapas-- we got the lemon risotto with rock shrimp, the flatbread with pepperoni sauce, lamb, and panna cotta for dessert-- and it was so neat sitting at the bar because you could watch them plating everything and cooking pizzas in this big wood oven),
Busboys and Poets on U Street (D.C.) for a mellow brunch-- I got the Oaxaca omelet (black beans, avocado, pico de gallo, and cheddar-- very tasty),
My Brother's Place for lunch after a visit to the Conservatory and Botanic Gardens (I got a nice chicken pesto panini),
Elephant & Castle after visiting some Smithsonians (where I also got a chicken pesto style panini... what can I say, it's one of my favorites),
Chutzpah (Fairfax, VA) while Friend was getting his hair cut (an authentic New York style restaurant and deli with a Jewish attitude where I had a very tasty pastrami sandwich and potato salad), and...
El Rancho Migueleno (Arlington, VA) for tacos one night (because we couldn't think of anywhere else and didn't want to travel far-- odd ambiance, to say the least-- the lighting was super dark and they were playing this loud South American music while a telanovela played on TV.. and no one else was there.. yeah, a little spooky, haha).

I read about American City Diner on the internet somewhere, and it looked like they were pretty much the only place in D.C. that was still showing outdoor movies at that point in the summer. Plus-- buy dinner and watch a free movie-- can it get any better? We ordered burgers, fries and a milkshake, and enjoyed watching The Hustler (1961). Every night is a different movie, many of them classics. They had really fun decor, too.

In the parking lot, they had a neat mural showcasing a bunch of different Hollywood stars. Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor...

Elvis Presley...

and Marilyn Monroe, Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra.

More homage to movie stars inside.. James Dean and Marilyn Monroe on the restroom doors.

They played the movie on a screen in the outdoor deck area so people could watch the movie as they had dinner.

It was fun to see the neon sign all lit up once it got darker by the end of the night, too.

So, needless to say, the East Coast has an awesome food scene! Next time I will share more about the other places I went. :)

San Francisco Again

So last weekend I had a little day trip to San Francisco.. and it was really nice. I got to hang out with a couple of my friends and a couple more of their friends, and the five of us got dim sum at Imperial Palace Restaurant in Chinatown. We sat down and they brought the dim sum out to us in little bamboo baskets, and we must have had at least ten different kinds. Pork buns, shrimp dumplings, veggie dumplings, little taro squares, sesame balls, something with egg custard inside... it was everything I hoped it would be. I was so hungry I just wanted to try everything, and I didn't take any pictures, but just google "dim sum" images and you'll see what the beautiful world of dim sum is all about.

After lunch, we looked around at some little shops. I got two very pretty, soft scarves at a little shop I spotted before we went to lunch. They're made out of pashmina and silk, and I've been wearing one or the other to work every day. One is blue and gold, and the other is pink and magenta. They come in every color you could imagine, so I might get a couple more next time I go. They're so soft and light, yet keep me quite warm. Perhaps I'll wear one in a picture in one of my future entries.

Anyway, we also paid a visit to the Fortune Cookie Factory, which is inconspicuously hidden down this little alley. There, you can buy bags of fortune cookies, and even watch this lady make the fortune cookies. The cookies are cooked on this sort of rotating belt, and the lady peels them off their little irons and slips a fortune inside, and bends the cookie together before it hardens. There are even chocolate fortune cookies.

Before leaving Chinatown, we got some bubble tea, and hung out at a little park to rest. At the park, there were a whole bunch of people-- old and young, just enjoying the sunny day. Some people were even doing group Tai Chi, and there was this pretty oriental music playing. This is why I love San Francisco, it just breathes with such life and energy.

 Chinatown is so colorful, too. There are always pretty red paper lanterns hanging along the street.

We met up with my sister and her boyfriend at Blue Bottle Coffee Company, and my friends enjoyed some coffee before they left. I got the brew of the day, Giant Steps. They have more than enough to say about it on the website, and I'll just say it wasn't anything less than what I was expecting. Blue Bottle is huge in San Francisco, there is often a line out the door. My sister got a New Orleans style iced coffee, which was also quite good.

The Mint Plaza location, where we went, is unique to some of the others in the city, because it has a bunch of fancy coffee machinery. One thing they're very proud of is their siphon bar. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it's very pretty.

 After coffee, we headed over to the Westin Hotel, which boasts 32 stories and is said to be one of the tallest buildings in San Francisco. Passers-by can go up an elevator and view the city from the very top floor.

Everything just looked so peaceful from up there. It was so quiet, too. My ears were popping a bit because of the elevation. Just imagine what it would be like to stay in that hotel!

Walking around throughout the day, I saw several pretty murals. I guess that's a thing in the bay area, cool murals everywhere. Here are some of them.

After walking around a bit, we went and got some pizza for dinner, went to a record & CD store, and went to H&M, my new favorite clothing store, where I found some cardigans for work. Then we parted ways and I looked back happily upon a great day.

Interesting Times in San Jose

Well, I've been in San Jose approximately six days now, counting the two halves of Wednesday and today. I've gotten comfortable, done a little exploring, and managed to keep myself fed and occupied.

The downtown area is vibrant with big buildings, unique murals and all kinds of restaurants and stores. Pretty parks, too. Yesterday I went and got a burrito in Japantown, which is kind of an ironic food choice given the location, but there was one right there, and I had originally planned to go to Chipotle, which turned out to be too out of the way.

I took a picture of this interesting mural, which seems to be making a statement of some sort...

Can anyone tell me what you think this mural is saying?

Here's an example of the fantastic architecture downtown, too.

When I'm not out exploring or surfing the net, I'm cooking. The shared kitchen is right next to my room, so it's perfect. My roommates say I should be majoring in cooking, since I seem to be cooking all the time. I've made pancakes with bananas, macaroni and cheese, quinoa and stir fried vegegtables, ramen, and recently, this great vegan chili. It made a huge batch so I'm freezing some to have later. It's great with rice.

Well, hope everyone's having a great week!