California....    what to start with...  of course, more FOOD!  haha

the special green sauce at Wahoo's Fish Taco's is very, very good; they do serve meat too... 

when Boo went to interview one day, I hung out in Koreatown - I don't think Annandale has malls like the Galleria and Plaza in LA!

another day we travelled the world and went to Chinatown, Little Tokyo, and Olvera Street...

Food here is from a fusion Japanese - Italian place!  note carrot-ginger dressing on salad served with rolls and olive oil/balsamic for dipping!  Then alot of the dishes are versions of spaghetti, like the meatloaf/ball you see in the distance; then salmon and roe in the forefront!  it was yummy!

also, got to try the famed cream puffs...  it is crunchy on the outside, light and airy on the inside with a creamy light custard filling...  you do see the vanilla specks in it!  Yum-O!  

Back Bay at Newport Beach Balboa Island

More food...

everything GARLIC!

breakfast at Wilma's Patio

  frozen yogurt

 stopped by UCLA of course, where the squirrels are fat and feed in the trash cans!  B thought all squirrels were this fat until he moved out of CA!

Universal Studios! we didn't have much time, so paid extra for the front-of-line passes and raced to the front seats everywhere!!!

Vacation is going by too quickly!!  (sigh)

the rest of our Easter Sunday was mostly travelling down South via train and plane...

we ate at Tom for dinner - papaya salad and Vietnamese grilled beef/pork/flounder/shrimp - the best combo rice entrees i've tried anywhere...

we went hiking up Stone Mountain yesterday, the polka-dotted tree is made up of ABC gum!  They have a 'gum rock' too...  eeeew.

and the top of the 'mountain' was plenty colder than at the base!  We saw snow and the wind chill was like 29 degrees!!!!   we barely took that picture together than started running back down......

Lunch at Chinatown - bamboo shoot tips, fried pork, warm fresh soy milk with big fried dough puffs, and sticky rice log with sweet sesame and crunchy fried dough pieces inside - might sound funny, but it's very good

Then for dinner, met up with my cousin, aunt and Grandma - it's always good to see them for a bit, and was B's first time hanging out more personally with my Grandma.  We tried to pay for lunch, actually we did - but Grandma would not have it and reimbursed us immediately.  Well, we tried!!   

spending the weekend with Chuck (B's bro) in New Haven...

(sepia a la picasa)

had some asian noodles and dumplings... (bowl had a little hole to stick your chopsticks into for resting)

(at the Indian restaurant... didn't take pics of the food tho)

got to visit Mystic Seaport

then had to wait in line for 45 min for PePe's pizza

  it ended up being a little anticlimactic.

there are some pictures...  and of course, food is a vital part of our travels...    

finished off our stay in New Haven at the Pantry for Sunday breakfast:

quaint place filled with jazz paraphernalia...  i tried the 'california benedict' with avocado underneath the egg and hollandaise sauce...  B tried the oatmeal raisin pancakes and look at the size of it!! the mound in the middle is a serving of home fries and bacon as well.  yikes!  Way too much food, but it was yummy! 

was trying to be better about blogging, but what happened?!  
My left shoulder is not moving well, so M's going to physical therapy a couple times a week...
M and B are being vegetarian for a couple weeks before Easter, so food prep has been slightly more complicated... but overall don't feel as heavy!  Poor B though, caught something and is coughing and not feeling well.

M's planning her conference to Florida this June, and looking forward to vacationing with bro/SIL/niece!

And in only a couple of weeks, M and B get to CT, GA, and CA!!  yay!

so M's transition back to the Silver Spring site is really happening!  May's schedule is 4 days open in SS, 1 TP and when June's schedule opens, it'll be 5 days in SS!  i can't believe it's actually going to happen... 

so after not being able to spend evenings together for the past week and a half, M and B went out for dinner at Laurel's very own Pasta Plus.   the name sounds like it should be like a 3 Brothers fast-foody italian place, but it's a very quaint Italian restaurant hiding behind a grungy brown strip mall front where everything else is closed.  Getting to know Laurel has been adventurous, with a large mix of Latinos, blacks, Indians, some Asians and Caucasians...  but let me say that inside Pasta Plus, albeit a pretty small restaurant,  everyone was  ......  VANILLA!   

so it was definitely noticeable since nowhere else in Laurel is there a 100% white population.  interesting...

another story - B sometimes sleeptalks...
early this morning, he said, "there's the  PO"
I said, "PO?"
he said, "No, the Pro!"
I said, "PRO?"
he said "No,  the Tro Apparatus!"
I said, "for what?"
he said, "for the new guy in bed 26!"

a moment of silence, then awakening with giggling,
realizing he was half dreaming, yet trying to explain something to me....
hahahahahahahahaha
we were cracking up at that point, and i almost thought i wouldn't be able to fall asleep again.

so at my (moo's) work, the finance director is relatively new, the medical director left in December, the executive director is retiring in March, and the HIV nurse case manager's last day is Friday. 

There should be a new family nurse practitioner starting by April, a new medical director should be offered a position by next week, and I think they have someone picked out for the executive director position.

Changes. 

To bring back some old memories, a few of us went out to a Korean restaurant to wish the nurse a nice farewell...  we used to go out during the Christmas holiday season, but hadn't gone in a couple years, because we were all working in different offices.  It's always fun to introduce jab chae, haemool pajun, and galbi to my coworkers.  They love it!  All of them!  Caucasian Jewish, Muslim African-Arab, and several Salvadoreans...  I even blessed the meal for all of us        

went to a Medimmune-sponsored dinner tonight and listened to a talk on the FLU and FLUMIST of course...  La Miche in Bethesda, there were only two drug rep dinners being held there tonight; couldn't tell if the restaurant actually closed to the public or not, because there weren't any other patrons there...

i tried the baked brie with apple compote, roasted duck in orange sauce, and profiterolles for dessert...  YUM!   too bad no pictures...  even if I had my camera, I guess I would've felt a bit conspicuous taking pictures ---    my coworker tried the escargots for the appetizer, so I tried one - was pretty good! 

the talk was pretty good too, sometimes you have to be careful going to these sponsored dinners, because they'll usually steer the info and try to affect your thinking in a certain direction...  but the data does look pretty good for FLUMIST!  what kid (and sometimes adults) wouldn't prefer a nose spray to a shot?! 

the only thing was most of us valet-parked...  I waited after a few women to have my car pulled up, and I somehow gave the guy a tip along with the ticket before he went to go get it.  Unfortunately, a few other people came out right after me and gave him their tickets along with me, and guess what order he brought the cars back...  The OTHER people first, and ME LAST!!!!!!!    I pretty much waited through two groups of people...  did he just forget which order he collected the tickets?  Did I look too young?  Did I give too small of a tip?  but then other people hadn't tipped him yet, so how would he know what he would get???   man it was cold tonight!  argh!  just make me leave the dinner with a bad taste in my mouth.  blaaaagh.  

went to try out Tyson's Chinese buffet in Rockville Sunday afternoon...  why did they name it Tyson's?  it was pretty good over all - the dining area gets kinda loud, though because it's all one big open space.  I can't help but compare everything to Super Grand buffet in Atlanta where my brother and sister-in-law had their wedding rehearsal dinner years ago...  It really was Super and Grand...  and then my grandparents would always want to go back and eat there everytime we visited...  even though buffets have so many options, you really can't keep going back.  It's not like going back to a favorite restaurant and eating the same well-made dish over and over. 

B is working evenings again for a few days, so I occupied myself today by going to Arundel Mills and did a bit of shopping - which I haven't done in awhile - but funny how we've been listening to messages of stewardship and money for the past few Sundays...  well, I did use coupons and a couple old gift cards!!