Some days are ridiculously busy and today was an extreme version of that type of day. I had to make several trips out to Home Depot and Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) to replace some fluorescent U-tubes in the kitchen (several because I thought I only needed to replace one, then after replacing the broken one, the other one went out. So, I went back to get another. Then I looked up how to discard them and found out that, in my county, I should bring the dead ones to Home Depot or OSH. Later when I got there, I found out that the county no longer picks up fluorescent tubes from OSH, but they took them anyway.) By 3:00pm, I decided to grab whatever I could for lunch, so I swung by the Taco Bell that was near Home Depot. I had a Crunchy Taco Supreme and two Soft Taco Supremes with hot sauce. It seemed like they put a little too much sour cream on today (I thought everything was supposed to be portion controlled at Taco Bell!).

For dinner, I marinated some pork ribs (boneless) in a soy sauce, honey, shaoxing wine, and cinnamon for two hours. I then baked it in a covered pan for 1.5 hours. Then I finished them on the grill while glazing with some of the sauce.

Click here to read the rest of
What I Ate: February 4, 2009 (Taco Bell)

The peacock's iridescent plumage really shines when the sun hits it just right. In the zoo, it's sometimes difficult to get a good shot because often there will be a chain link fence between you and the birds or some man made structure behind the bird once you've got the right angle on it. To get a good picture of unpredictable animals (this includes children!), there are a few ways to go: (a) plan ahead and set things up so you can get the shot, (b) figure out where you want to be for a shot and wait patiently until it happens, or (c) shoot away and hope to get lucky. All three work but it depends on the circumstances which one you want to employ.

Handheld, 1/4000 sec at f/2.8 on ISO 200, 70-200mm f/2.8 lens

I had lunch with Jay Moon at Crossroads Cafe (699 Delancey St, San Francisco, CA‎ - (415) 836-5624‎). I usually get a sandwich to go, but since we were eating there, I tried one of their salads. I had their chicken salad.

For dinner we ate some of our left overs. Tina had the remaining tandoori wrap from the day before while I finished up the leftovers from Alexanders - some Porterhouse steak (which I reheated in the toaster oven), beets and chard, and their decadent white truffle oil mac 'n cheese.

For lunch, Dave Lu and I walked up to Snack Depot (303 2nd St # 126, San Francisco, CA‎ - (415) 546-6201‎) for sandwiches. I got a Super Combo on a soft roll. They make some great tasting sandwiches.

Since I was getting home around 8:30pm, I knew I wouldn't have time to cook. So, I swung by New Tandoori Cafe (5134 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose, CA‎ - (408) 247-9010‎) and picked up two Tandoori chicken wraps. Tina and I split one of the wraps and ate another 1/3 of the other wrap. We also split a Hass avocado and comice pear.

So, tomorrow night's Chuck is broadcast in INTRU3D - an updated version of the red-blue 3D that they used to do on television. Two weeks ago, when I first heard about it and saw a clip of the new 3D episode, I started getting worried - Tina and I both watch and enjoy Chuck, but if it was to be broadcast in 3D then it would be unwatchable without glasses. The people in the show all had green and yellow halos around them and even the short clip gave me a headache (I'm sure even with the glasses a full hour episode will give me a headache, but at least that's the intended experience!). They said the glasses would be available at Sobe LifeWater stands, so I kept my eyes open for them. After a week of not seeing these stands, I started getting a little worried. I went to several stores asking about them ("Do you guys have any Sobe LifeWater 3D Glasses for Chuck?") and the employees I asked at Safeway, Lucky, or SaveMart knew what I was talking about. Now with less than a week to go, I got even more anxious when I found out that Monsters vs. Aliens was doing a big 3D commercial during the Super Bowl and used the same glasses. I went to 1 Target, 2 Walgreens, 1 SaveMarts, 2 Luckys, 3 Safeways, 2 Longs Drugs, 1 RiteAid, 4 7-Elevens, and a few other smaller stores to see if anyone had any. It wasn't until today, Sunday, that I found any stores that actually had some - Target, Safeway, Lucky, and SaveMart had received some doing the last few days and were all out. So, my problem was that I went too early looking for the glasses and didn't ask the right people (they never set up a display like they were saying on TV - only a visit to Customer Service got me any employees that knew about the glasses).

Once I figured out where stores had received any glasses at all, I went back to revisit the stores that I had gone to in the last couple weeks. None of the Safeways or SaveMarts had them, but the Lucky at Lawrence Expressway and El Camino did have them hidden away at the Customer Service desk. They had received their first delivery on Saturday, ran out in a matter of hours, and received another delivery on Sunday morning. What a pain.

Woke up real late today and had to run errands at Costco, so I grabbed a Polish Sausage.

For dinner, we met up with Dave and Rachel and ate at what they call "the buns place" which is Shanghai Flavor Shop (888 Old San Francisco Rd, Sunnyvale, CA‎ - (408) 738-3003). They specialize in Shanghai Shengjian Bao which is a pork bun that is pan fried and steamed at the same time. The pork filling is made with extra gelatin creating a soup inside the bun. We ordered several dishes to share.

Click here to read the rest of
What I Ate: February 1, 2009 (Costco, Shanghai Flavor Shop)

Handheld, 1/250 sec at f/3.5 on ISO 1600, 105mm f/2.8 macro lens

I had a bowl of the left over fried rice for a quick lunch before heading over to Pete's house for a Game Night (we play board games, card games, video games, and computer games).

At Pete's, my friend David Woon led a bunch of people in a Malaysian themed dinner preparation. We had chicken and beef satay to start.

Click here to read the rest of
What I Ate: January 31, 2009