A Packed Weekend

We had the busiest weekend ever...lots of food involved so it was a good kind of "busy".

Friday night we had dinner at Pizza A Metro (my posting about the visit). Great stuff, highly recommended.

Saturday afternoon, I had my monthly volunteering event (for Washington Street Foundation). We went to see Valley Youth Theatre's production of Cinderella at the Herberger Theater. It was a pretty good show (much better than sitting/suffering through A Winnie the Pooh Christmas Tail a few months ago =)

After the volunteer event, I met up with Patty at a going away party for one of her co-workers. We only stayed for a little while before rushing off to meet my some of my co-workers for dinner.

This past weekend was the grand opening of The Dhaba. The owners of the restaurant are Thunderbird alumni, so we were there to show our support. The food was great (we all shared the food so I'm not really sure what we ordered). They had a few belly dancers on hand for the festivities. Here are a few pictures:

Sunday morning, we met up with some more T-Bird friends for dim sum at Great Wall. Great Wall has pretty reliable dim sum and it's the only decent place in the West Valley. We enjoyed a ton of food...

After lunch, we headed to Tempe to see My Fair Lady at ASU's Gammage Auditorium.

The show was good, though it a bit too long (a total running time of around 3 hours). I was kind of disappointed that the understudy (Dana Delisa) was performing the role of Eliza Doolittle. I had read a few great reviews of Lisa O'Hare's performance of Eliza. Doh! Delisa's performance seemed pretty average for me. That's what we get for seeing a Sunday matinee...oh well. I thought Tim Jerome (Arthur Doolittle) and Justin Bohon (Freddy Eynsford-Hill) gave fantastic performances. I do have to admit that both Patty and I did end up falling asleep during parts of the show...we must have been tired from eating too much for lunch! Overall, it was good, although it was a bit of a let down (on par w/ Rent). I thought it was going to be a fantastic show (like Phantom, Les Mis, Miss Saigon, and Oliver).

Time for some rest!!!


Places mentioned:

Pizza A Metro
2336 W. Thomas Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85015

The Dhaba
1872 E Apache Blvd.
Tempe, AZ 85281

Great Wall
3446 W. Camelback Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85017

Dim Sum at China Chan

We met up w/ some friends today for dim sum at China Chan. This was the first visit there for all of us. We arrived at 11:30 and the place was nearly empty. Not a promising initial sign...most decent dim sum places are packed by this time. Instead of the typical push cart service, you order from a list. We ordered about three-quarters of the available items.

Here's the menu:

Here's a fuzzy pic of some of the food:

Overall, I thought it was pretty mediocre. The spareribs tasted sour. The daikon cakes were mushy. The fried taro was very oily. The rest was very average.

We haven't been back to China King for a long time (posting here) but next time we go for dim sum, it will probably be either there or Great Wall.

Recap of the last few days

Random bits from the last few days...

Saturday (8/25/07):

While we were in the LA area, I wanted to try some frozen yogurt. The last time I had frozen yogurt was probably back in the 80's, around the time when TCBY was popular. Now, there are all these new frozen yogurt shops sprouting up everywhere - i.e. Pinkberry, Kiwiberry, Yogurtland, Cantaloop, Red Mango, etc. On our way to Rowland Heights for lunch, we stopped by Pinkberry (@ Victoria Gardens). We had a small green tea frozen yogurt w/ strawberries. It was a nice and refreshing "pre-lunch" snack.

Here's a pic:



Patty and I went to lunch w/ Patty's cousin, Yoru (who was visiting from Australia). We went to Sim Ba La (Rowland Heights), a place specializing in Taiwanese food. We had:

- Luo Buo Gao (turnip cake)


- Xiang Chang (Taiwanese sausage)


- Beef Noodle Soup


- Stewed Pork w/ bamboo shoots


- "8 Treasure" Shaved Ice (shaved ice w/ pudding, red beans, green beans, taro balls, grass jelly, boba, coconut jelly, love jelly, and condensed milk)

(this picture is deceptive - it was a HUGE plate!)

My favorites were the Luo Buo Gao, Xiang Chang, and shaved ice, although everything was very, very tasty (and inexpensive - $29 for 3 people)!!!

After lunch, we went to Phoenix for drinks. My hot milk tea was pretty good. Patty's Tangerine Honey tea was really bad, as was Yoru's coffee. We've been there a few times before for desserts, but never for drinks. Next time, we'll stick w/ their desserts.

Speaking of dessert, it was time for more frozen yogurt! We went to Kiwiberri (Rowland Heights) and had original frozen yogurt w/ mango, strawberries, and blueberries. I thought it was pretty similar to Pinkberry - light and fresh tasting.


Although both Pinkberry and Kiwiberri were good, I'm still not quite sure what why these frozen yogurt shops are so popular...

Anyways, by late afternoon we had already had three desserts...yum!

For dinner, we met up with my Uncle Liming, Aunt Joan, and Cousin Supin at Eki Eki Japanese Restaurant (Torrance). I forgot to take pictures but we had a bunch of things - 5 rolls, assorted sashimi, "monkey brains", tempura, etc. I can't remember all of it. I just remember that it was really good and I was very stuffed afterwards. So stuffed that I even declined gelato afterwards. (is that possible???)

Sunday (8/26/07):

For lunch on Sunday, my aunt and uncle took us to Szechwan Chinese Restaurant (Lomita).
To start things off, we had a few dim sum items. Everything was really good - very fresh and flavorful. Better than anything I've had in Phoenix. My favorite was the green tea "mochi" w/ peanuts. I've never seen it before. We had also ordered a fresh, live 4 lb. lobster fried w/ garlic. I think it was the best lobster I've ever had.


After lunch we headed to Long Beach airport for our flight back to Phoenix.

Back in (extremely hot) Phoenix, we went to Wildflower for dinner. We got our "usual" - the Harvest Apple Pork Sandwich and Emerald Spinach Salad. We also had a Georgia Peach frozen drink. The food items were both good (as usual) and the drink was one of the best smoothies I've ever had. Wildflower is a great place for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The food is consistently good and the prices are reasonable.



Monday (8/27/07):

Patty's Birthday!

Patty loves seafood...especially shellfish. Even though we just had lobster the day before, we had previously decided that I would cook Dungeness Crab for dinner.

On my way to Super L market to buy the crab, I stopped by Honey Bear's for lunch. I had a pulled pork sandwich and small side of the cowbro' beans. Both were good. (no pics)

On to dinner, here's the crab I steamed:


After helping Patty eat the crab, I made a frozen pizza for myself. It was a brand that I've never tried before, but have heard very good things about: American Flatbread - Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Corn and Cheese.


Sorry, no picture of the pizza itself (I was too busy eating it). WOW - it was the best frozen pizza I've ever had. Extremely good flavor and texture - rivaling what you get in restaurants.

For a birthday cake, I got an "Ultimate Chocolate Cake" from Wildflower.


It was really good - nice and moist, and not too sweet.

That's all for now! Thanks for reading...

Weekend recap

Saturday we met up with some friends for dim sum @ China King (in Chandler). It had been a long time since we'd gone for dim so we were both excited. This was also our first time going to China King. As we were being seated I saw Trung and Rose...wow - another couple to add to the "on-deck" list (October '08). Congratulations guys!

The dim sum was good - probably the best in Phoenix right now. Good, solid food but not the best dim sum I've had. The service was good and the prices were very reasonable - about $10 per person. I'll give it a 7 (out of 10).




After dim sum we went to Boba Tea House for some boba. Same drinks as last week - jasmine green tea w/ boba and red bean slush (this time w/ boba). Linda and Al were also there and had ordered popcorn chicken. Tasty stuff...very similar to the salty fried chicken you can get on the streets in Taiwan (though it had a bit of a sweet taste and needed a bit more pepper).



After snacking, we went to visit Khoa and Mai and their new baby, Mina Saomai...what a cutie!

For dinner we went to Pita Jungle (Tempe location), one of my favorites. I've been going to the Tempe and Chandler locations for years, ever since I moved to Chandler in 1997. We ordered a small order of hummus ($3.60) and the Putanesca Chicken ($9.95). I've ordered both before and knew this would be more than enough for the two of us to share. The hummus (served w/ pita bread) was great - not too oily and it had the perfect texture. Next came the Putanesca Chicken. I'm not sure how Pita Jungle prepares their chicken but it is the best chicken EVER. It's always very flavorful and moist. The dish was great - marinated grilled chicken on top of linguini pasta, garlic, capers, tomatoes, and plenty of herbs. The service at Pita Jungle can be a bit erratic but there were no problems on this night. Pita Jungle gets an 8 (out of 10).




Sunday morning we tried making pancakes for the first time (I've made with pancake mix before but never from scratch). I found a recipe online (for basic pancakes) and decided to try it out. The pancakes turned out a bit dense...here they are (when you see the shape, please don't laugh!):



In the background, you can also see the ham omelette that I made (I guess it's actually more of a frittata). Anybody have any great pancake recipes to share???

After lunch, we went to see The Bourne Ultimatum. What a great movie - probably the best of the series. It's non-stop action. Jason Bourne (aka David Webb) is indestructible - he survives an explosion from close range, a few car accidents, multiple fights, etc. Maybe just a tiny bit unrealistic but I loved it. I'll give it 8 (out of 10).

That's all for now...thanks for reading!