Dinner at Din Tai Fung

Yummy is not enough to describe the delectable steam dumplings at Din Tai Fung. It is one of my favoriate "must eat" places in L.A. I was delighted to find that critics from Zagat agreed with me, from its whopping score of 25 out of 30. There is an art to enjoy these steamed juicy dumplings. They are first dipped in black vinegar with freshly cut fine ginger strips, then placed on a Chinese soup spoon. You would take a small bite to break the dumpling wrap and immediately savor up the juices within the dumpling, and then eat the rest of the dumpling with more vinegar and ginger. The moment you drink up the dumpling juice, you might just want to close your eyes and savor the moment with a satisfying grin on your face, might even let out an "ooohhh--aahhh" afterwards.

We also had the steamed chicken soup -- a wonderful comfort food, a hot and sour soup, steamed shrimp dumpling, stir fried green beans, and sesame noodles. All so delicious and well prepared with heart.



We topped off our dinner with the steamed red bean rice cake, it has the perfect balance of firmness and bounce to the bite, yes, you could almost say "al dente".

I look foward to their new location for my next visit. Oh no, they are not moving, they are just expanding. The only trouble with Din Tai Fung is the line to get in. The next time you visit L.A., check it out, http://www.dintaifungusa.com/

Trip photos

As promised, here are some photos from our trip to Sycamore Springs.





Is this packed or what?


Everytime we opened the back door, bags would fall out.







Just arrived at our guest house. It is a spacious house with 3 bed, 3 baths, 2 fireplaces, a full kitchen, garage, 2 patios, and 2 private outdoor hot tubs.

The foyer













The living room













Interesting coloring on the tree branches













The view from the top of the Sycamore trail













Beautiful flowers of the Sycamore garden













White sand dunes at Pismo Beach












The Sycamore Labryinth







We're supposed to mediate while walking the path of the labyrinth, not racing breathlessly!

Back from Sycamore

After 3 days at Sycamore Springs, I wonder if my family has learned how to relax. We had full days and nights, but at least we weren't working. We talked about work. During our first try of a Pilates class, we heard inhales and exhales from everybody else, and only bone cracking sounds from my parents joints and frequent grunts of pain from their low threshold of flexibility. They couldn't bare the additional hour of Tai chi afterwards. I complained that I couldn't pick up wireless broadband signal around the resort, and couldn't access work emails via my VPN. My parents wondered why the resort's wellness center has to be "cell-phone free" and not "free cell phones". Our day somehow were so packed that my brother and Helen had to maximize their hot spring experiences either after midnight or very early morning. My dad became obsessed with the wood burning fireplace, and constantly shifting and adding the logs. Helen was a busy bee, making dinner and hot spring reservations. Only her brother Eon seem most relaxed -- a blessing that he is not "corrupted" by our unrelaxing family culture.

The drive back was the most relaxing part for me, I was so sleepy and in between my sleepy lapses, I look out the window and see the serene white sand beaches, clear blue skies, a small plane with a thin and long white trail lingering behind it, and soft rolling waves of the pacific. I had forgotten how beautiful the coast is. We stopped in Santa Barbara for yummy ice cream treats from Cold Stone Creamary.

It's almost 3 am, a bit late for me to fiddle with photo uploading. The photos will come shortly, I promise.

The Day before Sycamore

Tonight we prepare for our 4 day retreat to Sycamore Springs, a wellness oriented hot springs resort in San Luis Obispo, CA. We can't help do what most Taiwanese families do when preparing for road trips: bring what we would cook and eat. Food has always been a central focus of our family life, it glues us to the same table and conversations, it inspires team spirits as we break up to shop for groceries in groups. We are, nevertheless, the least organized travelers, all preparations left to the last minute, and everytime, I'm amazed how we make it through the last minute rush and unexpected detours, not to mention all the miscommunications of "I thought you were going to xxx.."

We're bringing our own ingredients to prepare a shabu-shabu dinner, including our own electrical hot pot. I'm also planning to make brunch for the family -- huevos rancheros, Costa Rican style. Of course there will be plenty of other non-meal foods and typical Taiwanese savories, like rice cakes, raddish pie with mushrooms and onions, etc. (the rest is too complicated to translate sensibly)

We're due to leave at 10 am tomorrow morning. Of course, there is Simba to take care of. He needs to check-in to his doggy hotel and be properly settled before we hit the road. We would have taken him along if pets were allowed at Sycamore Springs. A bit sad at the thought that our Simba will have to spend his Christmas alone in the kennel. When he was a pup we took him to a similar resort with us to Palm Springs, his paw prints on all the windows and sliding glass doors are still fresh in our memory. We heard plenty from the house keeping staffs. Felt like a parent being called into school by the principle to discuss the problem child.

There are more food items I didn't get to prepare, so they'll have to wait till morning. So will laundry and packing. And yes, we all still want to hit a great outlet on the way there and get some Christmas shopping done. It's passed midnight, I'm blogging, my dad fell asleep in the family room, and my mom is running around the house doing everything not related to the trip preparation. But I know somehow tomorrow by noon, we'll be magically organized and be on our merry way to Sycamore Springs.

The persistent flights

As with every year, I come home to L.A. for the holidays (Christmas and New Year's). The only time that this 14-year old tradition was broken was 2 years ago, when mom, dad, David, Helen, and Chih-Wei's family came over to "christen" my first own home. Since then, they swear not to ever come visit me during the winter season. The first few of those 14 holiday seasons were especially exciting, because I'm coming home from Pittsburgh, PA. I was living in a very different world in Pittsburgh, going back to L.A. was like tossing a fish back to sea. I was home sick, missed the family, missed the food, oh, wonderfully authentic Asian food, missed old friends. I even often regarded L.A. as "the better place" to wherever else I was in. Although my fondness for L.A. as a livable city had diminished greatly over the years (since I discovered that I'm in the New York state of mind), I've missed family more.

Since Pittsburgh, there had been New Haven, Chapel Hill, and now New Jersey. Yet every Christmas season, coming home to L.A. was always an automatic default, even theough the address had changed more than once over the years. Home was wherever my family is, the address or a familiar house were inconsequential. I've not yet figured out what it will take for me to stay grounded for a white Christmas on the east coast. I do long for a white christmas, a tree in the house, candles in the windows, all in my cozy home. But the thought of having all that still fall short of the comfort from being with my family, and my parents' joy of having a family reunited.

So you may ask, why don't I just move back to L.A.? I'm afraid that's a bit too complicated to answer in a short blog entry. Did I mention that I'm in the New York state of mind? That's just the beginning.