Chloe's 5th Birthday...

today is chloe's 5th birthday. it seems only yesterday that chloe was a little puppy resting in my arms. now already, she's 5yrs old.

happy birthday girl. thank you for being here for us every day, every second of the day. thank you for keeping us safe at home and protecting us and your baby sister, haley. thank you for being such a good girl.

even though mommy and your baby sister haley can't be here with us, but at least daddy's here to make you a special dinner... just for you!

chloe's special birthday dinner...


- 1 BBQ chicken drumstick, 2 boiled egg, handcrafted carrots by her daddy, and 5 celery sticks as her candle; all from whole foods.


here's chloe waiting for food while i take her photo. i told her to wait, wait, wait...


chloe trying to take a quick sniff... still trying to resist the temptation...


can't help the urge... must eat...


look at chloe attacking the boiled egg first. that's her favorite thing to eat... or maybe she's just saving the best for last..

needless to say, chloe had a wonderful dinner and was a very happy doggie...

happy birthday girl... we love you dearly...

My First Halloween...

today is halloween, a day that i personally don't celebrate. but now as a daddy to haley, cherie encourages me to take haley out to explore. so today before daylight disappears, we took haley out for the first time in her halloween costume given by one of her uncle, uncle ted and auntie june.

haley is sooo adorable in this bumble bee costume.

here's haley doing her "Oh-Nooooo" gesture.


haley bee is trying to take off flying..... see how concentrated and focused she is?


she's such a happy baby... and a silly one too!


love this pose... look at that bumble bee... she just might sting you! hehe


click here for more photos.

Quick Shots of Haley

here are some quick photos of haley that was shot by me using our Canon Powershot SD750 point and shoot camera. who would've thought with a bit of editing, the photos would come out that great.

here are some photos of haley playing in the sunflower field next to some pumpkins...



isn't haley growing up sooo tall?


up close photos of haley picking the sunflower leaf..

Haley's First Pumpkin Patch

it's been a while since i last posted. i've been lazy.. and i can totally see my blog starting to collect cob webs, which i suppose is ok, since it's nearing halloween.

here are some photos of haley's first visit to a pumpkin patch. in case if ya'll don't know what a pumpkin patch is... well, it's basically a pumpkin farm. every year before halloween comes around, the farm will open up to the public for everyone to come and enjoy. it's kind of like thanksgiving, where the tradition is, after the thanksgiving lunch, the whole family will go out afterwards to pick up a christmas tree.

similar to that, you can bring kids to the pumpkin patch to pick out different types, colors and sizes of pumpkin to take home and carve into a jack-o-lantern. we had a lot of fun that day, because it was also the first time for cherie to visit the pumpkin patch as well. it was a very fun day with the family and my canon 30D. the only complaint was that we didn't bring enough cash to bring home a pumpkin and the weather was just too hot. at least we brought just enough money for parking, which was $3. thank God! otherwise, it would have been horrible trying to back out of the parking lot, when there's tons of cars waiting behind us.

2nd day after haley turns 14 month old.. her first photo with pumpkins. she's such a happy baby!


it got too hot, so cherie gave haley her hat to wear. see how haley is trying to steal that pumpkin?
doesn't haley look like a pirate!! AUGRRRR~~


ah... more pumpkins to pick and choose from. see that small pumpkin on the right side in the middle of the hay field? well, that's the pumpkin she took from another isle and now leaving it there to take others. haha..


here's the two beautiful ladies in my life... haley and her mommy, cherie.


there's more photos listed here if you want to see more. please click here.
all was taken by me... the master photographer.. LOL...

Tennis runs in the family...

recently, my doctor told me that my cholesterol is too high. more like 235 to be exact. so besides trying to eat more healthy and walking 30mins daily during lunch, i am also trying to do some exercise.

i come from a family that plays tennis, dad is a great tennis player, mom use to play before her knee injury. i use to play tennis a lot like crazy back when i was in high school. but then again, there wasn't much to do in Houston, besides tennis, fishing or watching TV. so i a tennis freak. since then, i rarely picked up a racket or a game or two, just seldom.

starting from last week, i started to play tennis with one of our friends, whom is very much into tennis. this week, we met up for our weekly tennis on sunday and today, cherie and haley came with us to the courts.

while i was playing tennis, haley was having so much fun running into the courts with a tennis ball. she was our offical ball girl.

later on, she went into my bag and start to pick up a racket and swing around. don't forget, this girl is only 13 months and 10 days old.

Ever met a famous person?

recently, i just came back from a business trip in boston, ma.

on my flight back from boston to new york, i took the airline JetBlue. there was this very neatly dressed business man sitting by the window seat next to me. he seemed very anxious and was constantly looking at his iphone and checking his emails, browsing the web, etc. probably because the flight got delayed by 40 mins or so.

i couldn't help but to noticed there's something special about him but in a good way.

during the 55 min flight, i was so bombed from the boston esc show, i decided take a quick nap. just when the flight was about the land, i woke up and turned on my android phone, G2 phone the MyTouch 3G.

that's when our conversation started. he asked how i liked using the android phone and i told him the pros and cons as well as how it compares to the iphone. so our conversation started to take off and i started talking a bit technical. as a sales person, i can always tell when someone was starting to lose interest in the subject, so i quickly change the topic. he then got curious and asked what i do for a living, so i replied "semiconductor related or more specifically SSD for industrial and embedded application".

he then said "no wonder you seem technical when you talk, kinda have to for your line of work." i admit, i'm a total nerd when it comes to techie stuff.

so then i asked what kind of industry he's in, and he simply replied "software" or more specifically something to do with downloading music from the web.

right then and there my gut feeling shot out of my mouth and said "NAPSTER"? needless to say, John was very shocked and surprised to hear that. Immediately, he asked for my business card and gave me his.

the famous person that sat next to me on the plane whom i had the pleasure of speaking to about technologies in cell phones is John Fanning, the original Founder and CEO of NAPSTER! HOLY COW!!

what's awesome was right afterward we exited the plane, John took off running to get to his next meeting as I wished him good luck on a great meeting, he turned around and said thanks.

after that, a couple ppl walked up to me and asked me did that guy just said he's the founder/ CEO of Napster? i proudly said yup and showed them his business card. after which, the only words coming out of their mouths was "HOLY SHIT"!

never thought what it would be like to meet a famous person and yet all this time, i thought he was just a regular joe like me. even as a millionaire, John is a very down to earth guy and very humble. i wish him the very best of luck...

It's been 2 wks... Chloe with IVDD

it's been exactly 2 wks since chloe had IVDD. although we are very optimistic about her speedy recovery, but still in the shadowed corner in the back of our heads, we still need to face the reality that maybe, just maybe, chloe may never fully walk again.

till today, chloe's able to wag her tail when she's happy, bark when she's anxious, cry when she wants her daddy's attention, and still can eat like a horse.

she's been able to move her legs a bit these days, which seems to mean that there's more sensitivity going on in her hind legs. but still not much reflex from her paws. normal dogs when you bend their paws back when they are standing up, they will automatically flip it back. but chloe can not fully do that. only from time to time.

but still, we are hopeful. so, please continue to pray for chloe's speedy recovery.

here's a video of chloe taking her first walk outside of her crib. we needed to make a video for a wheelchair company in taiwan to see, so they can assess chloe's condition for which type of wheelchair.

be warned, this is a very heartbreaking video. i hope no doggie parent would and should ever have to go through this. therefore, if you have a big doggie or even a doggie with longer body, please watch their weight and prevent them from jumping up and down or climbing the stairs.

CHLOE 加油! 加油! 加油!

Chloe's Road to Recovery - Day 1

last night on 7/28/09, chloe started to feel funny after our dinner walk. we thought chloe must've accidently ate a hot pepper from our subway sandwich or something. chloe kept on pacing around and around, resting very uneasy.

by 11pm that night, haley was crying as usual, since she has been teething. but chloe was still very restless, as if something is wrong, but don't know what it is. then at 3am in the morning, haley cried again and chloe wanted to come down from the bed. i picked her up and put her down and she just walked into haley's room to check on her.

after that, i was afraid that chloe might bark and woke up haley, so i took her downstairs to sleep with me on the futon. when we got downstairs, chloe still didn't want to sleep with me on the futon, which was very unusual. so i decided to let chloe walk around downstairs as she please while i get some sleep.

by 7am, my alarm rang and i was getting ready to go to work. when i saw chloe laying down, i went to check on her. chloe was happy to see me, but when she stood up and tried to walk, that's when my heart was shattered into billions of pieces.

chloe was dragging her hind legs on the floor. chloe has lost control of her hind legs and tail movements.

i knew one of these days it will happen to dachshunds because most of them will have IVDD (Intervertebral disc disease). however, never in a million year would i think it would happen to chloe that early on in her life.

that day, i decided to take the whole week off and took chloe into the vet to have a check up. the vet gave us three choices:

1) take her to specialist for evaluation if surgery would help or not. if yes, it would cost around US$5000 - $6000 and the chance of recovery is 50%-60% max.

2) take the non-surgurcal method, which is pain medication with steroids. then crate resting for 6-8 wks to see if she can heal herself.

3) let her go and put her to sleep.

for us, the choice was very simple. we decided to go for #2. we love chloe dearly but if the surgery could guarantee at least 80% chance, i would go in debt for her. but after reading some reviews of doxie owners, it seems that most went through surgury, eventually have other disc move out of place.

as for #3, we would not choose that. it would be like seeing your loved ones get injured and paralyzed from the waist down and must rely on a wheelchair, but you decided to put them to sleep instead.

chloe is still a very healthy and happy dachshund. just today after the visit from the vet, she kept crying and licking her hind legs while looking at me with her round eyes asking:

"daddy, what's wrong with me? how come i can't move my legs anymore?"

don't worry baby.. mommy and daddy and haley will not give up on you. so you need to fight, fight, fight and get better soon. when you are all much better, daddy will get you a wheelchair and we can go to carmel again.

to all my readers: a simple request... please pray for chloe's speedy recovery and keep her in your daily prayers. God Bless..

America's Next Top Model

recently, i've been feeling very proud to be haley's daddy. especially during the weekends when we take her out for grocery shopping or going to the mall, there's always people stopping to say "she such a cute baby". it is at that very moment, i feel proud and very thankful to God and cherie for giving me this beautiful and healthy angel.

haley's been growing up really fast and i try to capture every moment possible of our little angel growing. like the show America's Next Top Model, i really think she might be the next top model.

she's such a big girl now. here are some recent photos of haley that i really love.

mommy and haley



isn't she precious...?


i'm posing for my daddy... Tyra Banks eat your heart out girl~ now THAT'S FIERCE!


haley in her deep thoughts...

kisses for my daddy...

recently, i've discovered that haley loves to kiss her daddy. one day after work, i was sitting there watching tv while eating a popsicle and all of a sudden, haley made a "AH!" sound and started crawling towards me.

after she stood up she slapped my legs with her little palms and said... mum mum. she wanted to eat my popsicle. good thing the popsicle wasn't very sweet, because it was one of those chinese taro flavored popsicle.

at first, she didn't like it because it was too cold. but shortly thereafter, she started to want more and more. here is where i've found out she loves to kiss her daddy.

i noticed that when i don't pay attention to her and just enjoying the popsicle myself, she tries to get my attention by kissing me. then whenever she wanted to eat more, she would just kiss her daddy to let me know that she's finished and wants more.

of course, being her daddy, i'm very happy that she's finally learning to kiss her daddy. especially since she will always kiss her mommy and not always her daddy. but now i have the popsicle trick and she'll always kiss me as long as i have ice cream.. hahaha...

cherie got jealous and couldn't take it how haley keeps kissing her daddy to get more ice cream. plus she said i sounded like a piggy eating ice cream, but i think cherie's just jealous.. haha

so she captured haley in action kissing her daddy...

i love my daddy... NOW GIVE ME ICE CREAM!! mum mum!!

happy father's day to me...

today is actually my first real father's day. well, of course i had a father's day celebration last year when haley was still in her mommy's belly. we had went to Black Angus Steakhouse to celebrate, but mainly was because i wanted to make sure haley was getting enough protein to grow big in her mommy's belly.

but this year is different. we didn't go to a fancy steakhouse, instead we went to Ringer Hut; a local japanese ramen restaurant, to celebrate. we ordered tonkatsu (deep fried pork chop) curry rice and miso champon (mixture of various items) ramen with gyoza (japanese potstickers).

to end the lunch.. cherie took a couple photos for haley and i. usually, i'm the photographer, so i'm not in the photos as often. but since today it's daddy's day, i wanted a photo of haley and i to remember for life.

pink - please don't leave me

recently a lady in the US got fined for illegally sharing video and songs from youtube. so since then, we could not longer embedded the video anymore; which really sucks.

anyway, this is a new song from PINK. i think she's HOT! most of all this video ROCKs! it's dark and humorous, but most will probably just say poor guy or psycho girl.

click on the link and you can watch the video. it's really good...

Please don't leave me...

10 months old...

today, haley is officially 10 months old. can't believe how fast time flies by.

as usual, she's been eating a lot these days and growing taller and taller each and every day. i still remember when she was only 3 months old, she would say "nee-nee" whenever she sees the bottle. at 5 months, she knew how to say "mum-mum" for food.

when she was still in her mommy's belly, cherie had cravings for momo; which means peach in japanese.

haley loves all sorts of fruits, her favorites are banana, peach, bing cherie, watermelon... humm... pretty much everything we give her.

she is definitely our baby and has our traits... because we all love to eat! it's our passion, our hobby, it's what we love to do the most~!

we have a silly monkey...

not sure if cherie gave birth to a baby or to a monkey. but haley has been very very curious these days and are learning and experimenting with various things.

she's been teaching herself to stand without holding things, walk around while holding the table or chairs, and now... acting like a monkey climbing the stairs.

who would have thought she's such an explorer? more like a silly monkey to me.. haha

raving and clubbing haley???

wednesday night, we went out to the mall to grab a quick bite to eat for dinner. afterwards, we went to BabyGap to see if we can find some great deals on clothing for haley.

inside, there was some club music playing in the background. haley was feeling sleepy at the time, so i was trying to keep her awake. suddenly, the song from Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head started playing and haley started to wave her hand in the air.

best of all, she was waving to the music like she was clubbing. the quality is not that great from a cell phone.. but it's still funny nonetheless.

dance dance revolution...

remember at the arcades in amusement parks, there's an arcade where people would jump on the dancing pad and step to the music?

well, ever since we noticed haley loves music and knows how to wiggles her body to the music, it was a matter of time before she can dance her head off.

you'll hear some background music, which would be from her daddy singing. oh and if you are wondering what's up with the slapping sound... well, that's her daddy slapping his belly to make the clapping sound while trying to hold the camera steady. haha.

ready.. get set.. dance baby, dance!

watch me wiggle...

after dinner, we usually find some time to go out for a walk. so when we're pushing haley around in her stroller, we try to keep her entertained.

so today, we yanked on her toy that plays a very cute melody. shortly after that.. haley started to wiggle like a silk worm in a cocoon. the way she wiggles around is hilarious, especially when she's strapped down on her stroller. haha.

what's funny is that haley knows she's being recorded and is very reluctant to wiggle. but once she's finish wiggle, she props up her foot like she's a boss lady .

slurping noodle trick~

haley has been eating solid foods for a while now. but her favorite is still noodles. one night, we went to a korean restaurant for dinner and they gave us free chap-chae; which is made of clear rice noodles mixed with veggies and other good stuff.

so after rinsing the noodles off in hot tea, because we didn't want to give her greasy foods, haley started to slurp the noodles in. i guess she was really hungry and didn't want to wait for her mama to put the noodles in her mouth. haha.

presenting haley's new trick...

see if you can slurp a noodle faster than me~

itchy ear... kimochi~

during haley's bath time, i would use a towel and gently wipe haley's ear. but every so often, she would put her wet fingers in her ear while playing in the tub.

so, when that happens, cherie and i would use a baby ear swap to remove any excess water from the inside of her ear. like us, when we use the ear swap, it provides a very tingling sensation as it's cleaning our ear.

but when cherie was cleaning haley's ear, we weren't expecting this type of reaction. the tingling sensation makes haley wants to go to sleep. look at her eyes and her expression.

an expression of kimochi~ (means feels very good in japanese)

e-na~ mecha kimochi e~ (pronouce it in kansai ben 関西弁)

messy, but very yummy noodle...

tonight, haley was eating her usual dinner with noodles. but for some reason, she was very fussy, hungry, and sleepy.

now when you mix all those combinations together, you get a very short tempered baby.

we teach her not to play with her food and she's usually very good at that. however, for some reason, tonight she just felt like playing with the noodles.

some of the noodles got stuck on her face and when we try to remove it for her, she just ends up getting very fussy.

at 9 months old, she has a lot of opinions on how SHE wants things to be done. so she tries to remove the noodles from her face and mouth. it just ends up getting all over the place even into her hair.

these are very cute and funny moments...

haley is 9 months old already?

yup, that's right folks.. haley turned 9 months old on 5/19/09. it's amazing how fast time flies and how big haley has grown.

yesterday, haley went in for her 9 month baby check up and had to get shots and some blood work done. cherie and my mom in law took her there and haley cried like there's no tomorrow.

when i heard about it after i went home late last night from work, i was heart broken. how dare they do that to my baby girl~ :(

besides that, recently we wanted to get cherie and haley a passport before the price increase. so, being the photographer that i am, i wasn't about to go and pay $15 for 2 passport photos that are horrible in the color, exposure and end up making the subject look like a corpse.

thus, i busted out my 30D and took their photos. taking haley's photos is much harder than i thought. when she was 6 months old, she was moving around a lot.. but at 9 months old, she's worse than the energizer bunny on 12 packs of redbull. (redbull gives you WINGS~)

after a while, i got the photo that i think would be the best for haley's passpost. it really does bring out her playful charactor.

voila~ here's our baby haley at 9 months old~

I need a job - China Style.. roflmao!

happy friday ya'll... TGIF!
this week has been hectic at work with our CEO visiting, business trip and all. finally able to catch a few seconds to breathe.

today, i got an email from my sister in taiwan. *thanks pheobe, i really needed a good laugh!*

if you can understand chinese, then you will be roflmao (rolling on floor, laughing my ass off) as well.

unemployment is tough on everyone that victims of it. since there are so many tips on what to do well in an interview, this however, is the opposite.

this is WHAT NOT TO DO in an interview... haha ;)

Definition of LOVE

recently our CEO came to visit our US branch office. everyone, including me, were scrambling around trying to get our presentations together.

well, after a long day of presentation and meeting, we had a company dinner. it was very tasty and expensive, like around $800+ for 10 dishes. lucky me...

anyway, so after a few drinks, our CEO started to share many things about business, life, etc. one of which that really caught my attention was when he is definition of LOVE. now, if you ever see our CEO and his wife walking in the streets of Taipei, you'll see them holding hands like a pair of old lovers.

he's been married for about 33 yrs and still going strong, i guess. this is what he had learned from his many years of marriage of what LOVE really means.

i really like how he defined his many years of marriage and know that cherie and i will be the same; if not more passionate~ ;)

* honey.. did i tell you how much i love you today? *


L = Listen (God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth.. meaning to listen more and to speak less)

O = Open Mind (marriage is an union of 2 families, so need to be open minded to accept other's differences.)

V = Virtue (marriage is very sacred, likewise, be moral and righteous to each other)

E = Ever Lasting (live and love each other like there's no tomorrow, love as if it's the first time you fell in love with each other.)

Haley Stands-up

today, i'm a proud daddy. haley has been trying to stand up since she was at 7 months. but we tried not to let her stand to early in fears of her not being able to grow up tall.

today at 8 months and 11 days old, lookie what haley can do. she's holding herself up against our futon pillow.

she's able to stand for about 10-15 seconds, but at least it's a start.

man, when they say baby grows up fast.. they weren't kidding at all. everyday as i see my daughter grows, i also noticed more and more wrinkles around my eyes.

Brandon Heath - Wait and See

happy friday ya'll.

lately, when i'm feeling lost for words or mentally preoccupied with work related crap, i would always find comfort when i hear this on klove radio.

whether if you are a religious person or not, perhaps after hearing this song you may also find some comfort within your hearts.

i really love this song. the melody and the words fits so well. most of all, i can relate to this song, especially the part about not being good in school. i was never a brainiac or a book worm like my older brother. heck, even when i was going in college, my parents' worst fear was that i would never be able to graduate. but like the song says, "I don't know how but I made it through, it's one of those things you gotta do..."

FYI - you can always listen to live streaming song on www.klove.com or CLICK HERE to find your local klove radio station.

i hope you will enjoy and fall in love with this song; as much as i have.

cheers~



Brandon Heath - "Wait And See" lyrics

I was born in Tennessee, late July humidity doctors said I was lucky to be alive
I've Been troubled since the day that I got here, troubled to the day I disappear
That'll be the day that I finally get it right

There is hope, for me yet, because God won't forget, all the plans he's made for me
I have to wait and see, he's not finished with me yet, he's not finished with me yet

I never really was that good in school. Talked to much, broke the rules
My teachers thought I was a hopeless fool all right.
I don't know how but I made it through, it's one of those things you gotta do
I always had a knack for telling the truth.

There is hope, for me yet, because God won't forget, all the plans he's made for me
I have to wait and see, he's not finished with me yet, he's not finished with me yet

Still wonerin' why I'm here. Still wrestling with my fear
But oh... He's up to something,
And the farther out I go, I've seen enough to know that I'm not here for nothin'
He's up to somethin'

So here's my time to be a man, follow my heart as far as I can
No tellin' where I'm ending up tonight
I never slow down or so it seems, but singing my heart is one of my dreams
All I gotta do is hold on tight.

There is hope, for me yet, because God won't forget, all the plans he's made for me
I have to wait and see, he's not finished with me yet, he's not finished with me yet
He's not finished with me yet, He's not finished with me yet"

God teach me to trust you
Teach me to follow you
Teach me about you
God bless us
God lead us

Who's Daddy's crawling baby?

when ppl said time flies by fast, they weren't kidding. it seems like only yesterday that haley was born and already she's growing so fast.

- at 4 months, her bottom 2 teeth came out and learned to turn her body to the left side.

- at 5 months, her front two teeth came out and learned how to turn in circles while laying on her tummy; while being able to sit up straight with a slight wabble.

- at 6 months, her tooth next to the left front tooth came out and started to sit up while doing a split and learning to crawl.

- at 7 months, her tooth next to the left bottom tooth came out and started to try and stand up doing an upside down pyramid (for those of you that does yoga, you'll know what that means.)

- now at 8 months, she's able to crawl consistantly but at times, it seems like she just wanted to stand up instead.

time flies with a blink of an eye. or in my case, wrinkles around the eyes, white hair, and wrinkly skin. next thing you know, they'll probably be boys coming to my front door asking to take haley out on a date. yikes!

here's our princess...

3, 2, 1, ACTION

Paris Baguette

today, we went to a neat little place called: paris baguette. it's located in a korean shopping plaza around the corner of lawrence expressway and el camino real.

it's a bread shop where they have all sorts of different kinds of pastries and bread to choose from. if you are not planning on counting your carbs (carbohydrates) then this is the place to be! this place is so different from all the other pastry or bread shops i've been in. this place is popping all the time. i really mean that!

this is the second time we came here because the first time here, we fell in love with the pastries and bread that we ate them all before we thought of taking photos for the review. haha. ;)

trust me.. you can't blame me on that, because when you try it.. you will know why we forgot to take the photos! so this time, i remembered to take some photos.

enjoy~

a shot of interior decor... very scenic~



here's a little statue of the Eiffel Tower.. surprise that no one has tried to walk off with it. i think it's cute decor to add to the shop.



now for the reviews on the pastries. prepare to open you mind because as you sink you mouth into these pastries, you mind will be blown away by the symphony that's being conducted on your palate. the rich creamy, moist yet crunchy textures on the pastries will get you hooked like you're on crack! time to GET INTO MY BELLY~

here is my favorite - blueberry pastry. i'm a sucker for blueberry in general, but this is the bomb! it may look simple, but the texture is crunchy and when mixed with the blueberry and the powdered sugar on top within your mouth, it produces such a creamy sweet taste that will have your taste bud hitting the climax.

blueberry pastry - $1.30
i give this 5 lickity fingers out of 5



i didn't get a chance to try this, my mom in law picked it and she said it was good and not too sweet, but just perfect harmony.

raspberry pastry - $1.80



now comes my most favorite one. usually i get them with blueberry fruit filling; yes i know.. i'm a blueberry addict! but this time, they only had raspberry fruit filling, which was still very good. this is called the "berlin choux donut". it's not your ordinary donut, but instead it's a sandwich type filled with fresh whip cream and fruit filling. man... this donut blows all the dunkin donuts or Krispy Kreme out of the water! most of all, the price is very reasonable for the overall taste, texture and the yummy, yummy comfort feeling you get from it. whether if you are feeling blue or super stoked and happy, this will send you overboard to that cream of the top ecstasy.

berlin choux donut (w/ raspberry fruit filling + fresh whip cream) - $2.00

here's a clean look of what's sandwiched inside... whip cream with raspberry fruit filling inside.. i'm getting hungry again just writing this!!!

finally, here's what you would be staring at once you take a bite into it. at that moment, you will catch yourself wondering, "how is this even possible to have all this word can't describe feeling from a donut!" that's right.. it's not an ordinary donut.. it's a MAGICAL donut.........

so, just remember, whether if you are feeling down that day or just need a pick me upper place for comfort food, look no further. a cup of their latte with a couple of these pastries, it will melt away all that's bothering you.

cheers~

DISCLAIMER: i am not and will not be liable for any additional weight you put on after reading my reviews and actually going there and stuff yourself full with these tasty little treats. eating too many of these pastries will make you sick, both physically and mentally; but at the same time, will get you hooked to come back for more. if you find yourself sitting there not being able to eat any more, give me a call and i'll help you kill off those berlin choux donut one at a time... hehe ;)

Chloe ate my lunch...

ya'll heard that correctly... chloe ate my lunch. this was the first time either. but being the weiner dog that she is, with such a long body and bubbley personality, she couldn't help herself to reach for my bento box prepared by my honey bunny.

in the previous attempts, she's been successful; whereas i was not in catching her red handed. but this time.. haha.. i got proof!

just when i was repling to my work email, chloe pretended to sleep on the futon with her head turn away from my bento box. the minute i started to type on the keyboard, she moved in quietly and swiftly towards my bento box.

what you will see next is the actual image of chloe stealing my food! bad doggie~



so did i punish her? of course not. she's just doing what any doxie would do, EAT! besides, who can punish a puppy face like this. notice how she already have that "sorry daddy, i'm wrong" type of look?



the next day during lunch.. i still at the same bento box. but i microwaved it much longer than the usual time. i let it ran for 4.5 mins just to nuke and kill all the germs. needless to say, i had a great lunch that day. besides the fact that my wife made me a wonderful bento box, what cheered me up the most was thinking and laughing about how chloe tried to eat my bento box. haha.

what a day~

Bun Bo Hue An Nam Restaurant

during saturday, we decided to try a vietnamese restaurant called: Bun Bo Hue An Nam in san jose, located on story road. it is a place where you can get vietnamese style spicy beef noodle soup that is very different than you regular pho. a lot of ppl recommend it as being one of the best, but i'll be the final judge on that.

generally i would go to Pho Nguyen located off of calaveras in milpitas nearby my work place to get my bun bo hue craving fixed. anyway, the place was jam packed even though we got there at 1:30pm; yet there was still a line.

gesh... this place must be the delish, otherwise why would these ppl be waiting in line for no reason. the good thing is, the turnover rate is fairly quick, so the wait was no more than 10 mins. it isn't the most baby friendly restaurant, but they did put us in the back private room where there was plenty of space.

if you have a baby, leave your strollers in the car and just bring in the car seat. the isles between the tables is fairly tight, so if you us one of those fancy Quinny, Bugaboo, Stokke or even those big ass Graco stroller, you'll be lucky if you can even make it through the first isle.

take my advise.. leave the strollers in the car, you'll thank me later.

one of the reason why this place is so hot is besides the fact that many ppl come here, mostly young people, is because the bun bo hue has a special ingredient called: OX PENIS!

yup! that's correct ya'll.. OX PENIS! hey guys... it suppose to help you man up on you know where. but it's over-rated though. most of ppl that came here and wrote a review on this place either was too chicken to try it or couldn't even find it in the soup. so, i tried it, it tasted like tendon. it was a bit gamey and chewy, but other than that, it was ok. just make sure when you are chowing down not to think where of how many puntang that has been in and you'll be fine. as for who gave me that idea... you can take a guess. haha

here's the front of the restaurant.. nothing fancy here..

the bun bo hue much pricer than most of other places. the broth is tasty, but not a whole lot of noodle; even for a large bowl. plus the meat, which has both pork and beef, along with pig blood jello, was ok, but the flavor didn't penetrate in all the way. after you finish eating, you will feel like you are ready for another bowl. maybe that's their trick to get you hooked.

but ppl beware, if you are not capable of spicy, order something else. i've seen ppl sweat like pigs while they are eating this. for me, the normal broth is ok, so i had to add more satay to make it pop more. their spicy flavor is not the type that BAM! hits you right in the mouth, rather it's one of those that grow and crawl on your palates after several bites later.

here's the large bowl of bun bo hue with all the veggies on the side for $8.95.

i give this dish: 3 lickity fingers out of 5

ah... here's the mysterious OX PENIS. in case if you are wondering what to look for when you order it. look no further, because i've pointed it out just for your chewing pleasure.. haha

finally to wash the spicy meal down, we've ordered a sugar cane w/ orange juice drink. for $2.99, it's the bomb!

i give this drink: 5 lickity fingers out of 5

so all in all, it was a good meal, but an expensive one. two large bowls plus 1 drink with tax and tip came out to $23. then two hours later... we were hungry again.

would we go back again? perhaps. but with the economy the way it is, i think we can get more bang for our buck elsewhere.