Carmel Trip - Part 1 "Katy's Place"

today, we went to carmel. it's been a while since we went there and decided to make a quick day trip. during the last time we were there, we found a place call Katy's Place. it was super packed and had lots of people going there to eat.

thus this time, we decided to go there for brunch. what you will see next will make you drool, crave and wish you had smell-a-vision.

here's a photo of inside decor that you will see. it's a very homey like diner with super friendly service. most of all, they are a baby friendly restaurant as well!! they sat us at a table for 6 people just so we can place our stroller inside.

generally when i go to a new place where it's crowded, i tend to look for the special menus. things that are posted on the wall, or handwritten in chalk. BAM! there it was... special of the day, seafood omelet.

it had was stuffed with fresh crab and maine lobster meat and it was not those imitation type either. they were not kidding when they said it's stuffed with crab and lobster meat! it was really really there!

it also has avacado, mushroom and some cocktail shrimp all mixed with monterey jack cheese. super yummo!! whether you taste the crab or lobster individually or together with the omelet, the flavor is to die for. i've tasted a lot of different types of omelet when i travel, but this takes the cake!

your mouth will start to drool the second you put that fork into the omelet and let the aroma flow into your nose. your brain will signal an image of hitting the jackpot on a slot machine in vegas with all the blinking lights! then as the portion enters your mouth, your palates will be in nirvana and your stomach will be in a moment of pure bliss.

seafood omelet stuffed with fresh crab and maine lobster meat - $15.95

i give this dish: 5 lickity fingers out of 5 - it is the BOMB!!!

in the meantime, cherie ordered their crab and shrimp eggs benedict; which is to die for!! we usually get this dish at the little swiss cafe around the corner, but their's is so rich and thick that generally if you finish all you will feel kinda sick.

but Katy's version of eggs benedict is awesome. the flavor is all there and you can still taste the flavor of poached eggs, shrimp and crab meat. heck, you can even taste the flavor of the english muffin on the bottom. all these flavor rolled into one with the hollandaise sauce is a symphony in your mouth!

katy's shrimp & crab eggs benedit - $12.95
i give this dish: 5 lickity fingers out of 5 - it is the BOMB!!!



we can't wait till next time we visit carmel again, as we will definitely go to Katy's Place again to try out other selections!! Katy ajima... you ROCK!

Haley Obachan wa Kawaii~

the term obachan means grandma in japanese; which in this case, haley is 1/8th japanese since her daddy is only 1/4 japanese. nevertheless, i'm proud of my 1/4th japanese heritage and likewise so is my daughter.

so as most japanese grandma shown in japanese anime that you see, they will often time be drawn with a towel or something over their head to block the sun. well, today i needed some new materials.. so decide to play dressup haley like a obachan~

this is the deer caught in headlight moment as she sees her daddy with a camera



here she is wondering what i'm about to do...



ah~ photo time.. isn't haley super photogenic even when posed as obachan?



later that afternoon, she feel asleep in the car. and as usual her mommy will alway find new things about haley. look how peaceful haley is sleeping... i'm sure she'll be angry at her mommy later on for taking such a photo. haha... even worse mad at her daddy for posting it.. lol~ ;)

Peek A Boo.. I see you~

while preparing for haley's bath, i had placed her in her crib. after a while later, i heard her vent her frustration grunt. so i quickly ran to see what had happened.

what i saw.. i had to grab my camera to document what happened...

haley got lost after a couple of toss and turns; which got her stuck under her clothes.

see how haley is peeking out from under her clothes?

see a sigh of relief after she escaped?

woohoo... freedom~~~

My Mona Lisa

when i was younger, actually back when i was 17, my parents took me to europe for vacation. during my freshman year, i had selected learning french as an alternative language. needless to say, i had forgot most of it when we got to france.

one of the places i wanted to see the most was the luve museum. in there was the mona lisa painting. i really love the color and the reflection of beauty in that painting, especially since after so many years, it had that vintage look and feel to it even more.

so, whom better to be my model than haley? i wanted to capture that same type of vintage feel and beauty like the mona lisa painting. but i think this photo of haley with the catchlight in her eyes is just priceless...

Later that day...

later that day after cherie became a US citizen, we took haley to whole foods. along the way, she got hungry so cherie fed her while i was driving. shortly after we got there, haley fell asleep.

but this is when things got to be very funny. while haley was sleeping, she was being very fussy because she was both hungry and sleepy. so haley ate and slept, ate and slept, etc. not only that, she was also crying as well.

so i had to bust out my camera and started snapping away... click on the photo to see it larger and you will see my baby's precious tears... such a precious moment~

US Citizen Day~

congrats honey... today you are an official U.S. Citizen. woohoo~
most importantly you are now "mrs. chang" hehe... ;) i love you babe~

i had taken a day off today so i can take care of haley while cherie is being sworn in at the Campbell Heritage Theatre.

it was a beautiful hot sunny day. i had to push haley around in her stroller to get away from the sunshine. so, during that time... i took haley around and started taking some photos.

hope you enjoy them as much as i did...

here's our beautiful haley enjoying the sunshine in her stroller.

here's front of the Campbell Heritage Theatre:

here's another view of the pond... i just love how the natural light bring out the colors. this is definitely one of my favorite photo of the day.

around the back of the building, i noticed this tree. although i can't tell what it is, but the intensity of the color displayed by the petals on the flowers are just beautiful. this is a selective color shoot because i wanted to capture the color of the flowers to represent life; while giving this overall photo a cold feel.

here is a closeup shoot of the flowers on the tree from above.

Chloe's New Trick...

lately, we've been trying to encourage haley to learn how to crawl. by tomorrow, haley will be 7 months old. so, haley has been trying very hard to crawl. actually it's more like wiggling like a silk worm to move forward. haha.

but the main star isn't haley this time. we haven't had too much time to spend with chloe, so at times, she feels left out. so every chance i get, i try to bond with chloe to give her some 1 on 1 daddy's girl time.

it's been a while since chloe learned tricks and really, we didn't have time to teach her much either. then something happend last night...

while haley was sleeping in her crib, i was playing with chloe. she had just woke up from her little nap and was doing her yoga stretches, "upward dog, downward dog..." then when chloe started her upward dog position.. she started to slide forward.

that's when cherie and i was surprised to see chloe do that, because she has never done that before. then, cherie quickly grabs some treats for chloe and i started to teach chloe to replicate that again and again.

now.. chloe knows a new trick... she knows how to crawl before haley does... wahaha

I'm a Super Model for Baby Gap~

today, after getting for work, i was soooooo tired; to say the least~ it's been a long week and hopefully i'll get some R&R but doubt it. right after i got home, we headed out to valley fair mall. baby gap had a 30% off coupon which cherie wanted to buy some stuff for haley.

she's been growing up soo fast that at 6 months, she's wearing 9 month's clothes. so, we needed to get some clothes and socks. well, that day we got there late, so most of the clothes were gone or not in her size. what to do.....?

hey... haley needs hats, since it's been windy these days, it'll be perfect to keep her head warm. plus, she's already outgrown the hats we got from our friends and relatives. so while her mommy and my mom in law goes around the Baby Gap looking for discounted items, it's time for daddy and haley time~

with my 2MP sony ericson w810i camera phone, i was determined to let haley put on a fashion show. so with a couple of baby food stains on her face; which by the way was very hard to wipe off!

without further ado... let's the show began.

i know haley doesn't have a whole lot of hair just yet.. but.. i think she's still looks very cute in a floral headband~


how 'bout trying some baseball cap....

"err.. maybe not~"

this look like a beach hat.. but the size a bit too big for her. doesn't she look like sea captain? click on the photo.. doesn't she look like a pirate with her baby food stain mustache?


here's another one with strips.. which looked pretty good on her.. but kinda made her look too old fashioned... so does haley like it?

"nah.. I PASS!"

hey.. now there's a cute hate.. orange with dual flp function. one side is orange, while another is jungle theme. too bad it's too big for haley~

"daddy.. are we done yet?"

.... fin~

Cute moments of Haley

sometimes when we are not looking, that's when the brief simple moments passes us by. fortunately for haley.. her daddy is an aspiring photographer. ;)

today, we went to mitsuwa for a quick dinner at their food court (miyabi-te). after we ate, it was time for haley to eat. haley is such a good eater with baby foods that she rarely gets messy. however, there's always first time for everything.

so many ppl walked by and kept on saying "ooohhh she's sooo cute~" and haley got distracted. she ended up getting some Earth's Best Organic Prune's & Oatmeal baby food all over her face. the prunes & oatmeal is pretty yummy and not too sour.

afterwards, haley decided to push whatever was on her face into her mouth. a very cute moment as she smiles and shows her daddy that she can count at the same time... haha

look daddy... 1 finger...yummy...

now look again daddy... 2 fingers... even more yummier~

Into Santa Cruz...Surfer's Museum

last time when we were suppose to go to carmel and ended up taking the wrong turn, we ended up going to santa cruz. besides going to the boardwalk for a late lunch, we decided to drive around toward surfer's museum.

we never been there before, so we thought it might be fun to go check it out. plus many ppl said there's a portion of the beach that allows dogs to run free.

i thought the museum would be a big place, but was surprised it's more like a little gift shop that resides in a lighthouse. here's a photo of the surfer museum from the outside. photo was shot with our canon powershot sd750. i wanted to bring my 30D, but opted not to; since baby gears comes first.



that day was super windy and very chilly. here's a photo of cherie wrapped up like a chinese eggroll of clothes. she's almost as tall as the lighthouse... plus, look what's in between her fingers... she's holding the flag between her fingers... haha



after that, we decided to walk further down to discover the beach. it was such a beautiful view. click on the photo to view it in a larger size. i really like this view... hope you enjoy it too.



here's a photo of cherie and my mom in law with haley sleeping in her stroller. her'es a view of everyone heading back toward the car, because it was just way too cold!! arn't californian's spoiled? that's why we have high taxes.. it's called sunshine tax, weather tax, plus being spoiled tax. haha

chloe was the only one that was running towards me. i think it's because she wanted me to hold her and keep her warm.

all in all, that was a beautiful day. kinda cold and chilly.. but a great day of family fun nonetheless. we should go back again next time when it's not that cold... hehe

Carmel here we come... errr, took wrong turn

after several weeks of weekends ruined by rain, finally we got a sunny and beautiful weekend. on friday night, we were thinking about where to go on saturday. it was a no brainer actually.. of course to my favorite city of all time known as the "timeless city by the sea", carmel.

i really love that city, just way too expensive for living though, since all prices are jacked up by the numerous tourist that visits there everyday, every weekend. yet, surprisingly the city still kept their originality. but others may argue that the city has lost it's touch.

nevertheless, while driving toward carmel, our gps gave us the longer route which lead me onto hwy17 towards santa cruz. after several minutes of driving twisters, we decided to go to santa cruz instead. silly me... guess i should have listened to cherie. but who can blame me.. it was near lunch time and i was starving. *if you are reading this honey.. i love you dear and yes, i'd admit.. you are right~*

by the time we got into santa cruz, we drove directly to the pier. last time while we were there with my parents, we ate at Gilda's Family Restaurant; which was yummo!~

so this time, we decided to be the pioneer for once and be brave to try out new restaurant. most ppl that know us will tell you that we're pretty much like a hermit, anti-social. haha~ but we're trying to change...

this time, we decided to eat at Gilbert's Seafood Grill; which we should have checked on yelp before dining there. in terms of the quality, quantity andprice, the food was ok, but much more pricey compared to Gilda's. would i recommend ppl to go there, well.. it all depends.

Gilbert has a section in the restaurant that is perfect for families with baby. in our case, this had really surprised me when they seated us in the (as i would like to call it) "special" section. it was much more roomy compared to Gilda's and more family friendly for strollers and such. this is a BIG Plus in my book.

as for the food, we liked it. but it's one of those type that it will satisfy your immediate hunger, but won't make you crave to drive 30 mins plus to go and eat again.

here are the 3 dishes we had ordered that day...

1. Grilled red snapper w/ rice pilaf & steamed veggie - $14.95 or so
the red snapper is really yummo.. but i can grill fish much better than they can do and yet they own a restaurant. this was abit of disappointment for me. the rice pilaf is very yummy and full of flavor but doesn't overpower the fish. the steamed veggie really compliments the snapper with the tartar sauce. for the price, i woudl have expected more volume than what you see on te plate. you are not going to be full unless if you as for extra french rolls to go with your meal.

i give this dish... 3 lickity fingers out of 5.



2. Special of the day: Half Crab Bake w/ Clam Chowder - $9.95
as many ppl know.. i'm a sucker when it comes to crustacean, like crabs & lobsters. so i had to give it a try; plus the price is reasonably fair for the amount. the crab is real crab.. not those imitation type, mixed with some mushrooms, chives or green onion, and others. it's then covered by gooey cheese; most likely mozzarella, over a piece of bread and baked.

i was too hungry then to try and figure what's inside... i'm still amazed that i had taken the time to take the photos before all goes down into my belly. as fat bastard would say.. "GET INTO MY BELLY" haha... (you probably won't get it if you are not an Austin Powers movie fan)

as for the clam chowder, i can do without. it was powdery like it was mixed and the taste was far from being alright. i was really disappointed in that. next time, probably safer to pick the garden salad.

this is one dish i would recommend if anyone goes there to dine. their regular dish is a full crab bake; which i assume the portion is much bigger than the one pictured, for $12.95.

i give this dish... 3.5 lickity fingers out of 5 (for the crab bake, not for the chowder)



3. Seafood Jambalaya w/ their homemade spice - $16.95
i love jambalaya. it's one of my most favorite creole dishes. to learn more about jamabalaya click here. there was a total of 3 grill shrimp in there and the rest was cocktail mini shrimps with sausages. the grill shrimp was tasty and fresh, but the sausage was just dry and tasted old. as for the mini cocktail shrimp.. while, the tomato based red sauce totally overpowered the dish as a whole that i wouldn't have know it was cocktail shrimp if i ate it.

for the price, i was truly disappointed by this. the portion was acceptable, but the overall taste and the materials used to make this does not justify the price. the pilaf that came with it, when mixed and spooned with the grill shrimp was very tasty. but then again, there was that powdery after taste.

i've had many different jambalayas and this is the first one that i had where i didn't have to go searching for tums afterwards. the spice was there, but not the kick. if you like spicy... then you'll be disappointed at this dish. heck, even the jambalaya dish from elephant bar is much better than this (in terms of price, volume, and tasty satisfaction). if they had given more grill shrimp, then this overall taste of this dish might have been saved.

i give this dish... 2 lickity fingers out of 5



finally, my beautiful daughter whom was sooo quiet sitting there for the very first time while we ate. usually, either cherie or me would have scarf down our food quick before haley starts to cry for attention. haley would always want to participate and grab our food to eat, but she was quiet this time.

so how come she was soo quiet all this time? do you really want to know?

lets put it this way... some how santa cruz brings out the best in her every time we are there. hot fresh organic brownie right out of the oven... haha

Proud to be Parents~

when we were young, people around us would always say "just wait till you become a parent, then you will know, etc. etc. etc."

well, now that i'm a daddy, i must say... i do know now. the minute haley was born at 7lbs 2oz., the nurse placed her into my arms. all the while holding her fragile God given body, her pink little hand and fingers was wrapped around my finger and squeezed tightly. right then and there, that's what being a parent is all about. being there for your child, doing whatever it takes to protect her from anything and everything.

i'm sure when i was born, my parent felt the same thing.

here are some photos of what proud parents and grandparents looks like:

proud parents



proud grandparents

this photo below was taken at SFO on 1/18/09, when my parents were leaving back to Taiwan.

Lookie what I got... High Chair~

lately, haley's been moving around a lot while her mama is holding her so her daddy can feed her baby food. like my recent post, we went to babies r us to find haley a high chair.

rather than debating which ones to get, finally, we gave into haley's naughty yet aloof personality and got the combi hero 3 in 1 fucntion high chair to strap her down like a nut in a looney bin.

she didn't like it very much at first, cuz she felt detached from her mama. so, i had to act fast and take snap shots before she starts to scream and yell "MURDER!!!" haha...





in conclusion, i must say, i really like this chair. it's multifunctioned and even though some have complained about getting their fingers pinched by the straps or how the chair wobbles, it's actually quite the opposite. i think it's more of user error than a design flaw.

the high chairs is very comfy and once haley is on, the chair stand nice and firm. plus the combi hero had 3 in 1 functions, so even as haley grows up, she can still use this chair; as compared to other high chairs that has only 1 function.

as for cost wise, i think it was very decent and fair. babies r us has them on sale for $138, thus stacking the 15% off coupon + opening up a new credit card to get the 10% off, that's a total of 25% savings. so with tax and discount, this combi cost us a pretty penny of $115; which isn't bad considering it's a 3 in 1 function.

Let's go shopping...

over the weekend, my stomach was bothering me so much that it was even hard for me to sleep sideways. it could be because of the spicy jalapeno that was added to the subway meatball club i ate for dinner.

sunday night, haley didn't sleep well during the night. she kept on waking up from bad dreams and all; thus she had also kept her daddy up all night as well. on top of that, my stomach hasn't fully recovered yet plus sleep deprivation, i was pretty much toast and exhausted.

then my clock went off at 6:50AM and i had barely 4hrs of sleep and now my stomach is churning like a paper shredder on redbull. when i tried to get up from the bed, *ouch* can not describe what my stomach was feeling. thus, i took the day off from work, took some medicine and went back to sleep.

after a couple more hours of sleep, i was feeling much better. then cherie suggested we go to valley fair for a walk around & window shopping. but mainly, we were going there to see if we can find haley some more clothes. she's been growing up so fast and so tall, that at 6 months, the 6 months clothing could not fit her.

haley was happy to go shopping. as she was being strolled around in her stroller.. her mommy took her into Janie & Jack store. the clothes there are so pretty and sooooo expensive, at least for this daddy's wallet.

there it was.. some sunglasses on clearance. time for a fitment test... the test of all test... to see if haley will like it...

as for the results... see for yourself...

what's this on my face... this is totally not me~



take me seriously... or as Russel Peters would put it "somebody's gonna get a hurt real bad"



yo baby yo... i look really cute like this~