Driving With John Chow

As my son and I were driving back from Costco this morning, I saw John and Sally in his Mercedes Benz as we were turning into West Yale Loop. They were waiting to turn left into Alton. Irvine is not that huge. We do bump into each other occasionally. At that moment, I was guessing that John was taking Sally out for lunch, may be to BCD Tofu because it is one of John's favorite restaurants.

What I didn't know was that John was actually filming a video for an episode of his Driving with John Chow. I realized it when I was on my Facebook and watched the episode on his website. I know precisely the moment that my car would appear in the video and as you can see from this picture below, the driver of the car behind John is actually me. I had my head turned to his car with my finger pointing to them and at the same time telling my son, "Look, there's John and Sally."

Picture taken using screen shot from the video.  

How to Boil Asian Yali Pear Soup

I learned to make this soup from my Mother-in-law. She's from Macau and she knows how to many a lot of different types of soup. Yali Pear is only available during the winter time. I haven't seen them available at the Asian grocery market during the summer time. You can also called this soup the Asian Pear Soup. Yali Pear Soup is good for winter time especially in our Los Angeles dry and cold weather. This is a sweet/savoury type of soup. If someone in your family has a cough, make this soup for them. The 'chuin bui' (Bulbus fritillariae cirrhosae) (川贝母) in the soup will help to reduce cough, reduce phlegm and nourish the lungs. Now let's look at the ingredients:

• 2.5-3 quarts of water
• 1 pound of pork loin and pork ribs, blanched and rinsed
• 3-4 yali pears, cored and sliced
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2-3 honey dates
• 1 sliced of fake abalone strip
• 1-2 dried scallops
• 1-2 tablespoons 'chuin bui'
• 1-2 tablespoons of South Almond
• Salt to taste

It is easy to make. You don't have to follow the exact amount of ingredients in the recipe above. The recipe acts like a guide what you need to have. If you don't like it to be too sweet, reduce the carrots and honey dates. Soup boiling instructions:

1. Use a 6-quart pot to boil the 2.5-3 quarts of water.
2. In another pot, blanch the pork loin and rib in boiling water for a few minutes. Rinse through cold water. Set aside.
3. Sliced the Yali pears and carrots. Set aside.
4. When water is boiling, put in all the ingredients except salt.
5. Let it boil high for 15 minutes then turn to simmer for 2.5-3 hours.
6. Add salt to taste before serving. Serve hot.

Lee's Tofu in Gardena

Lee's Tofu is our favorite stop for Soon Tofu. This restaurant is not in Irvine. It is about 40 minutes drive north on 405. Located in the city of Gardena, it is tucked in the Tozai plaza with the famous Boiling Point restaurant. As you know, Boiling Point is always very crowded. Luckily, we didn't come here for Boiling Point but instead to the Korean Tofu, Lee's Tofu.


Sandwiched between Furaibo and a Ramen place, Lee's Tofu is very easy to find. They do not have an extensive long menu. Their main dishes are mostly Soon Tofu, with only a few special dishes. But we are here for the Soon Tofu. The hot boiling Soon Tofu is very delicious. We usually order the non-spicy Seafood Combination (I share the order with my son) and the spicy Bean Paste Soon Tofu.

All orders come with salad with their house dressing. Also included in the order are all the side dishes - pickled chili cucumbers, pickled seaweed/kelp, cooked and seasoned bean sprout, kimchi and dry roasted seaweed. Our rice comes in a hot stone bowl.

As our order arrived, the server helped us to crack the eggs into the hot tofu pot. The egg cooked in the hot soup easily. But make sure you gently stir in the egg into the hot soup and wait about a minute before you eat. Usually the tofu is so hot that you can't eat it immediately when the order arrives.

This is also a place where we bring our guests to whenever they are visiting from out of town. Most of my family who visited me had tried this place. They all love it!

Here is a video to share with you on my experience at Lee's Tofu.


Lee's Tofu 1743 W Redondo Beach Blvd. Gardena, CA 90247. (310) 323-0006

Picnic at Laguna Beach

On Tuesday Oct 8th, our family and Sarah's family went to Laguna Beach for a picnic in the late morning. I know, it was a weekday, but our school was off for parent conference. We thought it was a good day for the kids to enjoy the beach in our Southern California not-so-Fall weather yet. It was a fine sunny day with a temperature approximately in the mid 80s. There was a cool breeze and a seagull welcoming us. We found a good spot for our picnic. It was just right next to the cliff with beautiful ocean view.



After our lunch, we walked along the trail at Heisler Park. We even walked down the steps to the beach and it was amazing to see a group of adults having an oil painting class on the beach. Some of my friends called this beach the seaweed/kelp beach because there are a lot of seaweed/kelp laying around. We couldn't really play on this beach so after our walk, we moved down south to a friendlier beach where our kids played for 30 minutes on the sand.



How nice it would be if we can do this everyday ... relaxing by the beach .... and worry-free.

How to Change the Plastic Housing for the Water Filter System

Walking back after I dropped off my son at school this morning, I heard a hissing sound when I reached the front of my house. I went on to investigate the peculiar sound. As I was walking towards the side of my house, I noticed the lawn area was wet and then I saw water spraying out from the water filter. On a closer look, there was a tiny crack on the water filter plastic case.

So many things going through my mind at the moment.

"Oh, what should I do?" "Should I call the plumber?" "How long I have to wait for one to come over?" "Should I call my husband? But he is out of town. He can't help" "What should I do??"

I slowly calmed down and thought about it. I called up the place where I ordered the water filter system. Fortunately, their office is located in Santa Ana, not too far away. I spoke to Tai from Isopure Water. He was very helpful. He told me I can drive over to pick up the water filter housing. He gave me the address. I turned off the main water valve and then disassembled the water filter.

Took me about 30 minutes to get to Tai's office. He showed me the different casings he has and because my water filter was specially put together by my water filter professional with some phosphate beads to reduce the hardness of the water, Tai suggested another setup for that water filter.

I was in his office for 20 minutes and then I was on my way home. And in another 15 minutes I replaced the water filter housing. Turned on the main water valve. No more water leaking! We can continue to use the water in the house. I couldn't believe that I did it without help from anyone else.


Isopure Water 515 N. Fairview St., Santa Ana, CA 92703 714-541-6600

Poaching for Wild Ginseng

I just read an article in the Los Angeles Times this past Sunday titled, 'Wild Ginseng Walking Out Of The Park'. Surely enough, the title sounded very interesting to me. How can ginseng walk? Well, it can't actually walk of course, but instead some poachers have been stealing them out of the National Parks. They were found by the Park Rangers and were arrested.

Firstly, I didn't know there are wild ginseng can be found in the National Parks in United States and secondly, the poachers are Americans (I would think they are illegal Asians hired to do the job).

Wild ginseng has been a precious commodity in Asia as it is believed to be a folk medicine that give energy, improve health and prolong your life. The prices of wild ginseng can fetch up to over $1000 a pound. Asians prefer this wild ginseng compared to the cultivated alternative. I've heard that the cultivate ginseng are mostly farmed in Wisconsin.

Here are the few states in the Eastern of US that you may find wild ginseng growing in the shaded hilly area: North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky and West Virginia. Many years ago, mountain people around Smoky Mountain was believe to harvest and grow ginseng in their home gardens and use it for tea and tonic. Today, some still can legally harvest the wild ginseng but with a permit. The permit allows the person to harvest up to 3 wet pounds of ginseng during the first two weeks in September.

The wild ginseng plants are depleting from the National Parks due to poaching. According to the article, many years ago, 25 roots would make a pound. But now, you will have to find 100 roots to make a pound. Only smaller and younger ginseng plants are left.

Poachers who were arrested are fined $10 a root restitution fee and jailed (14-120 days). After they were released from the jail, most of the hard core poachers will return to the parks again to look for more wild ginseng. The money is just too good.

Tired Hands

After a long 6 weeks vacation whereby I do not need to pick up my hand to wash any dishes, now I am back to the chores again at my very own sweet home.

First time doing a huge load of dishes since I got home was not fun. My hands got really tired as I was washing the dishes and I was thinking of quitting and have my husband finishes the rest of them when he comes home. But then again, I didn't stop, I continued on and finished washing all of them. If I don't do it more often, I will not get use to it.

But most importantly, I can't stand the sight of dirty dishes in the sink/counter top waiting to be washed. I have this so call OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and if you are one, you will know what I mean.

Here are my clean dishes drying on the dish rack above my sink.

Lunch at The Crab Cooker Tustin

It is Father's Day and we weren't sure where to go for lunch because we knew that most places would be packed! In the end, we decided to pop by The Crab Cooker in Tustin. The restaurant has two large seating areas and hopefully they were not too crowded.

When we arrived, there were many cars parked outside, but there was no line. We got seated immediately. When our waitress came to greet us, we quickly ordered our favorite 'red' clam chowder, 2 bowls! Then we took our time to look through their menu. They usually have a special item in the menu. Today, it was the Halibut ($15.95). I ordered the lunch plate for that. And Alan ordered the combination plate (shrimp/scallop/fish on a skewer). Lunch and dinner plate comes with a choice of rice pilaf or Romano potatoes, and coleslaw or sliced tomatoes. We also placed an order of fried squid for appetizer.

Our soup arrived in their paper bowls as we placed our lunch order. Brandon was busy dipping his bread sticks into his soup and sipping along. Let me tell you, the concept of this restaurant is simple. They don't even want to bother with the dishes so they use environmental friendly paper plates and biodegradable plastic cups. It is not a posh high end seafood restaurant. But we like their seafood dishes. Their prices are reasonable, between $12-$42 (Alaskan King Crab) for a lunch combo. Lunch is served until 4:30pm except Sunday.

 

This is my first time doing a self recorded video. I am still trying to get use to it. Let me know what you think of this video and what improvement I need to make it better. Thanks!

WiiTalk: Brunch at Bruxie

WiiTalk is a mommy group which I attend almost every other Friday. We gather, we talk, we eat, we discuss ... we enjoy lives.

Today, we went to Bruxie at Old Town Orange for brunch. This is the first time for many of us (but not me) to try this. This place serves waffles in all their menu. We got there around 9:30am and it was just opened. There were a few people in the line already. We ordered 3 savory and 1 sweet waffles.

We divided each waffle into 6 so each of us get to try at least one of each different item. I personally really like the Hot Pastrami Waffle and the Creme Brulee. They are really good.

Here is a group picture of us ... without me, because I am behind the camera.  Sorry, the food were all gone by the time this picture was taken.

After brunch, we had a stroll down the Old Town Orange streets enjoying the antique shops. Another friend and I left early while the rest of us continued on with more shops.