Finally got around to do what I have been wanting to do - moving furniture around. We used to have a semi-sizy piece of furniture (my mon's old chest of drawers) at the entrance hallway, but I moved it to the TV room, and replaced it with a smaller one with mirror. I also reallocated all the little items which were clutered around the living room floor, which made the living room much more organized. Now all I need there is chairs!

Harvard Heights: 2008 Wine Tour

Our neighborhood has this event called "Wine Tour" every year. I missed the last year's, as I was in Japan at that time. So, I was very excited to be able to join for the first time! This is a neigborhood-only tour to visit 6 or 7 houses and enjoy the wine&food and conversation. Each is paired with a house and prepare food and drinks for the tour. This year, we were paired with a Pinot Noir house. We got three bottles of Pinot Noir, some smoked salmon, smoked sausages, two kinds of cheese, and crackers.

The tour started out from Jennifer's house, which has been recently remodeled completely. Gorgerously done. The color scheme reminded me of Tiffany. Very elegant and not in your face. The kicken had comtenporarly aspects to it functionality wise but kept the old look and feel to it.

Other houses were just so gorgeous as well. Every one of them had good square footage, but they maintained the historic aspects which we liked. As lovers of old era and houses, we exchanged information as to where you get the light fixures, rugs, etc.

BBQ - Buffalo Burger!

Yum! Baison/Buffalo meat is supposedly healthier than beef.

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON: Per 100 GRAM SERVING – COOKED MEAT

SPECIES	FAT GRAMS	CALORIES KCAL	CHOLESTEROL MG	IRON MG	VITAMIN B-12 MCG
Bison	2.42	143	82	3.42	2.86
Beef(choice)	10.15	219	86	2.99	2.65
Beef(select)	8.09	201	86	2.99	2.64
Pork	9.66	212	86	1.1	0.75
Chicken(skinless)	7.41	190	89	1.21	0.33
Salmon	10.97	216	87	0.55	5.80

Little alien in my backyard

He looked like he was resting his head on his crossed arms behind it, just being relaxed, as if he was on a beach or something. He was certainly enjoying the early morning calmness.

LA Zoo

I've been living in LA for almost 8 years, and I realized I never visited LA Zoo.

We had a late start but got around to see lots of animals. The highlight was the gorilla family! We first saw one gorilla sitting lonely facing backwards. Beautiful gorilla, but we were wondering what he was doing. Then, we saw mommy-looking gorilla and the baby coming from the left hand side. Yep, the gorilla we saw was a dad, and he was patiently waiting for his kid finishing up his play. Mommy and baby gorilla walked towards Daddy, and all three of them cudlingly head home.

We also saw an animal called Gerenuk that is typically from Ethiopia, Kenia, an Somalia area. Beautiful creature indeed.

Look what I found in front of the Shabu-Shabu slash Sushi restaurant near my house. Sato-chan!! Hmmm...Sato-chan usually goes with drug store, right?

Spicy HOT Wasabi Ice Cream!

Guess what I found in Japan. All kinds of different flavors of ice cream (soft cream) like Wasabi flavor, green tea flavor, and even combinations of them! We tried Wasabi. Wow, it still is ice cream but will give you a tingling sensation on your tongue and it was HOT!

Fish Market in Yaizu, Japan

I made a very quick trip back to Japan during the week of 9/1. Had a good talk with my dad, visited my mother's grave, saw some of my highschool classmates, and went to a nearby spa. Very hectic but had lots of fun!

On the way to the spa, we stopped at "Yaizu Sakana Center" (Yaizu Fish Center). It was something. All kinds of fish at very reasonable prices (at least for Japan). Yea, it is like COSTCO for fish :) They had a 10 pack of salmon for only $15 and 40 Amaebi for $10!