J&J (Jin Jiang) Restaurant

When I moved back home after college, I went to JJ Restaurant a lot.  I used to think their XLB was the best.  I guess my taste buds have evolved over the last 5 years or their quality went down...b/c they're no longer a must-order item in my book.  :(

Not as soupy, the filling not as tender, and the wrapper not as fun to chew on.

On the other hand, my other 2 must-order items are still fantastic after all these years!  Jerry especially loves the hot and sour soup (suan la tang).  It has filling ingredients and great flavor.  Don't you hate wimpy soups that are all broth and no substance?

This is my favorite item- Shanghai noodle cakes, or shang hai nian gao.  The noodles are perfectly fried and chewy, the bits of pork are fun, and there's just enough veges to balance the dish.

J&J (Jin Jiang) Restaurant
301 W Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 308-9238

Any menu items disappoint you after all these years?  Any items that stay true to your taste buds?

Not-So-Grand Buffet

We came to Grand Buffet in Whittier for Mother's Day.  I had in mind dozens of other places to go to, but my parents chose this place.  And they were paying.  And they don't care what yelp says.

Guess which plate is Jerry's?

Fun Finds

Things I have bought recently:

From J. Crew

I was looking for a new swimsuit after my relatively new perfect-shade-of-green suit got bleached beyond recognition due to the jacuzzi being over-chlorinated.   I hate you, Homewood Suites: Carlsbad.  Your hot breakfast was awesome though.  Anyhoo, I'm going to try to dye my suit before our honeymoon, but I don't know if I can bring it back to all its glory.  This adorable polka dot ruffly one piece is lessening the blow in the meantime. 

Also from J. Crew

I wanted something I could wear outside to cover up my arms.  This cardigan is a perfect weight, and on a sunny day I get some sun protection without feeling overheated.  The violet color is really subtle and I'm a sucker for pockets.

From Amazon

I've been itching for some type of medium for video recording for a long time, esp after we got the D300 and I gave my parents my old Olympus.  I had won 2 Flip Cameras in some contests but ultimately we decided to not keep either b/c they weren't HD and they weren't automatically waterproof (you have to buy an accessory case).  Jerry sold both and did some research on other products.  We ended up not getting the HD version of the Flip because the regular HD version, though waterproof, felt a little clunky.  The sleeker version (Mino HD) was not waterproof.  Since we had been also thinking about getting a P&S for the times when we can't lug the Nikon around we decided to hold out for a decent P&S that had HD quality video AND was waterproof.  Enter the Panasonic Lumix!  It took many weeks for it to arrive but it was worth the wait (tip: when you pre-order on Amazon you will not only lock in your order price, but if the $ drops you'll get the lowest price prior to the release date)!  The still picture quality is decent and does the job.  Of course it's not up to par with the D300 but sometimes I just need a picture of something where I don't need accurate ISO or perfect exposure.  I've eaten at 2 buffets this month and this is the perfect camera to capture my meals.  I find it really unwieldy to haul our other camera around places like buffets.  I'll blog about the video quality in another post!  But in the meantime, I'm really happy with this camera overall.

From Ikea

We really don't need straws at our wedding but I couldn't resist.  These colors are fun and festive!  And they were on sale for $1.  Excuse me while I go find 200 glasses now...because our caterer won't supply drinking vessels.  Never a dull moment in planning this shindig!

We both picked up some new Oakley sunglasses from Endless.  Here's Jerry's, and here's mine.  Yes, you read right- that's Asian fit!  Jerry's been a loyal Oakley customer for many years (currently has 3 pairs- brown tinted ones for driving, one for walking around, and a clear pair for playing vball/working in the garage) but this is my first pair.  I have a hard time finding good fitting sunglasses that frame my face well.  Mine aren't Asian fit, but they fit well and are comfortable.  

And finally:

Image via istockphoto

My most exciting purchase of all- I hopped on this Twitter promo and bought us tix to Toronto!  It is quite expensive to fly to Canada so I was happy to find this deal.  This will mark my 7th time to our northern neighbors, and Jer's first time.  My cousin has been eager for me to visit and since she just had her second baby, I'm excited to see my new family members (I still haven't met her first kid either!).  The deal was only good for June-November so August seemed like a good month to go.  I wasn't planning on traveling so close to the wedding and our honeymoon but you really can't beat 50% off flights.  Since my family is graciously hosting us, we really only have to worry about meals and the copious amounts of maple syrup that I will be hauling back.  I'm also taking orders for ketchup chips now. 

Any fun finds on your end?  I know of a certain someone who got a backpack from REI for a STEAL! :P

Moratorium of Sorts

It's nearly the start of the weekend.  For the next 2.5 days I've banned all work related talk from the house.  We spend 5 days a week venting about people in the workplace.  Time to leave that baggage in the office, where it belongs!

 Image via istockphoto

Words not to be uttered in conjunction with each other from 4pm today until 8am on Monday:
"Intern"
"Insert name"
"Dumb"
"Can't even spell my name right!"
"Stupid"
"Lacking insight"
"Idiot"
"Careless"
"Has no clue"
"Incompetent"
"Doesn't know anything"
"Lacking sense"
"Doesn't make sense"

You get the picture.

Have a nice vent-free (hopefully) weekend!

Thursday Brain Dump

Finally made an appt to see PCP for general check-up.  Tried making an appt last June and they told me the wait was 3 months.  Then life got in the way.  Tried again 11 months later...and they have an opening w/in 2 weeks.  Score! Hoping to find a regular PCP after Jerry and I join plans.

Tried on a 700G ring at Tiffanys in LV.  It was crazy and neat all at the same time.  This tops the 300G ring we saw at SCP, also at Tiffanys.  I don't know if we can top that...maybe in Dubai?  I would love to go to Dubai someday, but not for that reason :)

Saw a lady (car #1) run a stop sign half way today.  I was planning on turning left so the order should have been: car (#2) to my left goes straight.  Then me (#3) turn left.  Then that car (#1) could go straight.  Instead, she (#1) ran the stop sign halfway then braked like crazy and so did the other car (#2).  Then car #2 backed up for some reason (maybe they were shaken up).  Car #1 had the audacity to throw her hands up in the air as if she had been inconvenienced.  What an idiot.  This is a stop sign across the street from an elementary school too, albiet it was 4pm, but still.

Cousin in Canada had baby #2 today.  They emailed the family asking for name suggestions.  We already have picked ours out...so I hope no one steals it haha.  Like when Rachel stole Monica's choice.

Really don't want to leave the house this weekend since it's my first wknd since January with absolutely no plans or commitments but I'm craving a sandwich from Bay Cities Deli.  The Godmother specifically.  Yum.

Finally transferred all the phone numbers from my Blackberry to my new phone, over 2.5 weeks later.  The Verizon store attempted to do it handful of times but failed.  So I said I'd do it myself.  I didn't want all my contacts transferred over anyway.  I don't talk to anyone from my cohort anymore so no need for their phone numbers.  Same with my old contacts from community organizing.  The nice thing was that I could do it on the computer using my Gmail account, and it would automatically show up on my phone.  At the same time, I decided to purge my gmail contact list from over 1500 contacts to 223.  There must have been some crazy mass-mailing going on because I can't believe that I would personally have emailed anywhere in that ballpark of people.  200 folks is more believable.  Purging feels good.  Now I won't accidentally face-dial or pocket-dial people from past in the case I get clumsy with touch screen.  :)

Cooked dinner this whole week and worked out everyday.  Feels good to purge after eating so much in Vegas.
Monday: home made then frozen wontons, store bought then frozen beef balls, bok choy (was on the verge of going bad) and pho noodles in a previously made and then frozen broth.  Then went to gym.
Tuesday: okay, I ate out at a Korean place b/c it was my usually monthly standing dinner with BM J but I made Jerry seafood (also frozen) fried rice with the rest of the bok choy and frozen corn.  Then we went to the gym after I got home.
Wednesday: found really random crap in the kitchen and threw it together- pasta, boiled egg, defrosted then pan fried hot links, marinated artichokes from TJs, boiled broccoli that was shocked in ice water, and a package of some crunchy stuff leftover from a chinese chicken salad mix at costco.  Tasted just fine though it sounds like a weird combo!  Then ran 1.25 miles around our complex.
Today: I knew we had chicken stock that I should probably use so I threw that in a pot (about 2.25 cups left) with some carrots that were losing its crunch and sweet potatoes.  I soaked some dried mushrooms to rehydrate them.  Then I mixed a can of coconut milk with a tbsp of curry powder and dumped that in.  Cut up the mushrooms and threw that in, along with a carton of cubed firm tofu that expired 2 wks ago (still smelled fine!).  Since the broth was a bit thin, I found some half n half that expired a few days ago.  Did the sniff test, then dumped the rest in with some cornstarch.  Added some fish sauce for taste and then let it simmer.  Defrosted some frozen mussels in the meantime and washed off some of the bits of shell and grime.  Tossed a couple of pita rounds in the toaster oven (yes, they expired too but surprisingly didn't mold yet!) to let them crisp.  Threw in the mussels for about 10 mins and then served the whole thing.  Now we're gonna go run and then swim. 

I have no shame in using frozen food.  Or expired food.  The sniff test works!  Don't worry, I don't make a habit of waiting until my groceries are bad in order to cook them.  I just haven't had the chance to use up all the previous groceries with all the eating out we've been doing (we came home with so much food from my friend's wedding reception that I had no need to cook for almost the whole week!).  Now I'm trying to purge my fridge of stuff for the next round of grocery shopping! 

Got Smart, Went Droid

For years I've been behind on technology (except for cameras!).  I had a Toshiba laptop for over 6 years and after multiple blue screens of death and many reformatting sessions, it finally died.  I then used my friend's mom's discarded laptop (which was on its last legs as well- but thanks C!) until I finally bit the bullet and bought a Macbook when the UCLA student discount promo ran.  Over 2.5 years later it's still running just fine and I have no plans to upgrade to anything sleeker or sexier in the near future.

I've never owned an ipod or itouch, or any fancy music player with a screen.  A friend of mine gifted me a basic mp3 player that had text only for my college graduation.  It only held about 30 songs, but it lasted me through many workouts and airplane rides.  After I got my Blackberry I gave it to my elementary school aged cousins (after I loaded it with Disney tunes and Animaniacs soundtracks :P )

For phones, I would always opt for the cheap or free phone when it came time to renew my plan.  When I would do stupid things to my phones such as drop them in water multiple times or lose them I'd get by with loaner phones from friends who had upgraded to newer and better ones.  I was grateful and didn't even notice or care that if phones didn't have color, cameras, or other bells and whistles.  In fact, merely 2 years ago, I was using the Motorola v60 -that didn't have a working antenna. (My cousin's husband broke it and tried to glue it back together).  I didn't really care as I found myself making very few calls anyway.  (Between my mom and I we had thousands of rollover minutes that we never used).

My first foray into a "smart" phone started when Jerry bought me a used Blackberry from a guy off Craigslist.  However, it became a glorified texting tool and mp3 player.  I opted against a data plan so I basically had a really nice QWERTY keyboard in which to...text.  At that time, I actually didn't have a texting plan either, but soon after I added it to my account.  Which brings us to now.

For the longest time I was opposed to switching to Verizon to be on Jer's plan. I had been a loyal ATT customer for like 8 years.  But after a few bad experiences in which I could barely get reception the few times that I really needed to talk on the phone I decided that there was no way I was going to keep ATT.  It was all perfect timing- my mom and I had a 2 year contract that was expiring, Jerry was up for a new-every-2, and my mom's phone was on it's last legs (she dropped it in a sink full of water earlier in the year- like daughter like mother!).  Also, this new phone came out.  All within a week!  So as soon as we came back from camping Jerry and I headed to the Verizon store and I walked out with the Droid Incredible!  (the last one in the store- Jer was gracious enough to let me have it, hehe).  And we didn't pay full price either- Jerry found a promo for $30 which we applied to my phone.  For his phone, he also applied his $50 new-every-2 credit and only paid $120.  (We got my mom a big basic phone with large buttons haha.)  We also get generous discounts through our work, so we get over 20% off our bill each month and our activation fees waived.  Score!

The experience has been great.  Call me a newb, but I really did not know a phone could do that much!  For me to go from a phone w/o color or a camera 2 years ago to the Droid Incredible was quite a change.  A culture shock almost.  We're always discovering new things that we can do with our phones.  In another post I'll go though all the fun as well as useless stuff I've discovered.  :)

Wedding Wall

Last month I hit a wall when it came to all things wedding related.  I just didn't care about any details or decisions.  I would glaze over wedding blog posts in my reader. I just stopped being excited and wanted to fast forward through the next handful of months (raise your hand if it ever crossed your mind that there are times when the honeymoon seems more tempting than the wedding).  It was like I had no creative bone in my body.  I felt a bit silly and guilty being in this funk, but it was a much needed break.  But...wall no more! 

Recently I've started inching back into the thick of things and now I'm more excited than ever.  In the last wk or so I've found the cutest cocktail napkins, the perfect water dispenser, and the most affordable letterpress company to name a few.  We also decided on our "videographer."  (More on that later!)  It feels good to be back and excited again to say the least.  I hope to knock off the majority of my purchases and DIY projects in the next couple months so I don't stress out too much come September.  

In other news we're headed to Big Bear Lake pretty soon to go camping with our friends.  Should be a great weekend of Jerry fishing and me stuffing my face with Funyuns, nutella, and bacon.  In no particular order.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

From JPN to JPJ

There are a lot of decisions to be made about the big W (wedding) but sometimes one forgets that there are matters regarding the big M (marriage) to be dealt with too.  Because W decisions are made for that one day while M decisions should last a lifetime...

Such as: "Toilet seat up or down?"

Just kidding.  A more serious decision I'm talking about is the name change.  Questions come to mind:

Should only one person change their name?
Should both people hyphenate?
Should only one person hyphenate?
Should both people take on a whole new name?
Why should anyone change their name?
Etc, etc.

This is not an easy decision by many brides.  Or grooms if you want to be PC.  There are those who are really proud of their last name and the heritage that stems from it.  Some brides/grooms keep their surname b/c of professional reasons.  And some just don't like the sound of their first name combined with their proposed new last name.  The reasons run the gamut and are all very real and valid!

But for every reason there is to not take on a new last name, there's another reason to do it.  Here's mine:

1.  I'm tired of people mispronouncing my last name or asking me for the nth time how do I pronounce it.  Been going on all on my life, and I don't see the trend changing either.  Jer's last name is so easy to pronounce!
2.  I'm not particularly attached to my last name.  In fact, my last name was supposed to be Ly/Lee/Le or something like that, except my dad took his mom's last name so if you were to get all technical with lineage I've been carrying around the "incorrect" last name all my life.
3. I want us and our future kids to have the same last name as a family.
4. I don't like how it looks hyphenated.
5. This is vain, but my first name sounds good with Jer's last name! :P

So, it was a relatively easy decision on my part.  No real moral or personal struggles.  It's what you make of it- it made sense for me on my end.  Good thing, b/c I already have enough on my plate! 

PS.  Thank goodness his last name isn't a jumble of letters like that volcano in Iceland.

PPS.  If it was...I think I would still change it.  Reason #3 outweighs all the other reasons for me personally!

Westwood Eats

Every so often, I get together with some gal pals and we sound off about wedding stuff.  We're all getting married within a couple months of each other so there are definitely moments when we are all going through the same thing together and it just feels cathartic to use each other as sounding boards.  This time though I brought BM J with me so we all tried to keep the wedding whining down a notch or two.

The restaurant of choice for our outing was Soleil Restaurant back by my old stomping grounds of Westwood.  I can't believe I lived down the street from this place for 2 years and I never went.  Hmm, maybe b/c when I was in college French food wasn't really my thing...

But I'm developing a taste for it now!

Every Wednesday, there's an AYCE special of mussels and fries for $14.95.  Just remember to make a reservation 24 hours in advance and you're good to go!

For AYCE, these mussels were not as puny as I thought they might be.  Some were quite plump!  Between the 4 of us, we probably got around 8 bowls?  Jerry and I prepare mussels at home quite often so I wasn't really looking to create any eating record of the sort.  I just wanted to eat enough to feel satisfied.  We also got  bread to dip in the broth.  My only complaint was that the bread was a bit hard and cold.  Dipping it helped but otherwise they were lackluster when eaten plain.

We polished off 4 or 5 baskets of these.  Shoestring fries make it so much easier to eat more of!  I liked how these were barely salted.  The aoili was creamy and good, so it was most likely bad for us and our arteries. :P

I don't know why the waiter couldn't hold the camera straight...

As we left the restaurant we saw a sign across the street for Persian ice cream.  Though we were full, it's never too hard to make more room for ice cream!  I've have Persian ice cream before but I had never frequented that particular store despite my previous proximity. 

There were so many flavors!  The lady was generous and let us try a bunch.  Except after a while they all started tasting the same...

We got 4 scoops total- it was a bit hard to narrow it down!  I think J and C up above shared the ginger and watermelon?

While BM J and i shared pistachio saffron and passion fruit.

Persian ice cream is nice b/c it's not overly sweet nor saccharine.  The flavors aren't typical American flavors so it was nice to try something new.  But like BM J said...it's not exactly something you would crave either.  Just a nice light dessert after a semi heavy meal.  I'll be back whenever I happen to be walking down Westwood!

Ngu Binh Restaurant

Every since we started dating, Jerry jokes about how he's "never eaten so many spring rolls in my [his] whole life!"  I'd say that's true.  It's one of the easier meals to put together if you have basic ingredients in your pantry, and it's very versatile b/c there's no limits to what you can roll up (though I prefer my childhood standby of pork belly, shrimp & chinese sausage).  Though easily made at home, we like to order it as an appetizer at restaurants as well.   And I can't count how many times I've been to Phong Dinh.  That place is really delish!

But it was time for him to try something new.

Enter, Ngu Binh.  Though our usual standby restaurant in OC is Brodard for their yummy rolls (love the crunchy center and the mystery dipping sauce!) I have really been wanting to introduce Jerry to other types of Vietnamese cuisine that went beyond pho, banh mi, and rolls. 

These places are always in strip malls.  Next door was a foot massage place and above looks like a photo place.  There were a few parties ahead of us, so about a 15 min wait.  This is at 2pm on a Saturday so I wonder how busy it was at noon!  Take-out seems to also be popular here.

The menu is limited and mostly consists of combos and various sizes.  It's nice b/c you're able to try a variety of things!

First up we had #8 banh bot loc. Translucent and shrimpy. Jerry did not like it all that much though, maybe b/c of the texture.  Oh well, more for me!

Next was some banh beo.  This was #11 on the menu.  Topped with shrimp bits, scallions, fried shallots and what seemed to me to be a pork rind.  I think he liked this better.  It was a bit hard to eat though but I like it served in its own little bowl.  On the menu you can order it w/o the dish.  I think it's #12 on the menu.

It was a bit greasy too...but that's how you get it to not stick to the dish.  I've made these before (sans the pork rind) and wouldn't mind attempting it again!

Finally, something Jerry was more familiar with.  It was either a choice between the bun bo hue or the mi quang, but I though Jerry might want something a bit similar to what he's used to.  The #1 (#2 is the smaller bowl) bun bo hue was good but didn't blow me away. I would like to come back and try mi quang next time! 

All this Vietnamese food talk is making me crave some canh chua.  I really should get my mom to teach me.  That and banh xeo are the few things that I never order in a restaurant simply b/c my mom's version is so tasty!