boston mtgs

... mean that i get to hang out with my sis, jess !!! :) here we are sharing a slice of paul's delicious rhubarb custard tart, a hot chocolate, and a cafe creme!

back in nyc

after a two week hiatus (i will be back with updates once we've had a chance to sort through our collections of +2000 photos :p), we're back! we landed in JFK late last night and managed to keep ourselves quite busy today to fight the jetlag.


in the am, a quick 13.1 mile race at central park (just over two loops) and then a short jog home.

in the afternoon, coffee and snacks at dominique ansel bakery with yvonne and her sister, natasha, in town from taipei. best croque monsieur i've ever had and cute step seating inside!

in the evening, we had dinner with relatives in town from australia at pastai. fei liu, sitting next to kevin, is my grandfather's oldest brother's grandson. our grandparents fought on different sides during the chinese civil war; while the party my grandpa was part of retreated to taiwan after the war, his grandpa remained in hunan, china. it was insightful and quite amazing to be able to meet these relatives and learn a little bit about my grandpa's life in hunan.

a weekend in boston!

exactly one year from our last visit together, kevin and i are visiting boston again this weekend and staying with jess & ben in their new pad in south end. i've never spent much time in boston outside of client meetings, and have never been able to keep the different neighborhoods straight (south end, south boston, south side?), but looking forward to checking out their new home and neighborhood, and meeting our newest family member, princess.

we started the night off with thin-crust pizza pies and homemade ice cream at picco in south end, a nice 5-10 minute stroll from their place. jess and ben swear by their pizza and ice cream, so we had the alsatian, which has sauteed onions, shallots, garlic, creme fraiche, bacon, and gruyere (also the most popular item on the menu), and the corn and bacon pie with pickled chilies, ricotta salata, and cilantro. the first had a french flair and the latter had latin-inspired flavors. both delicious! we rounded out the meal with a roasted cauliflower gordita and summer salad, and two scoops of ice cream: dark chocolate and mint chip. 

both the ice creams were nicely churned and the flavors were very intense! i was asked to choose a favorite, but couldn't ... i like to double dip :p

after dinner, we took a nice stroll through some more parts of south end and back bay. it was a gorgeous night for a stroll ... except i stuffed myself with a little too much pizza and threw up slightly into a plant on tremont ave. LOL.

 

boeing tour

this morning, although we aimed to arrive 45 minutes early to our reserved boeing: future of flight tour (per the website's instructions), jen and i ended up arriving just in time. it can be a little confusing when you enter the boeing campus and my SIL and i were so caught up in conversation that we missed two exits on the way over :p kevin and his parents, in a separate car, arrived right on time.

after arrival, you need to put all your personal belongings into a locker since there are no purses, bags, backpacks, phones, or cameras allowed on the tour. then the fun begins! after a short video introduction on the history of boeing (had no idea boeing was dismantled by FDR's anti-trust regulators), we were led onto a AC'd coach bus to begin our tour of the boeing campus, and visited two hangars to see where the boeing 737, 777, and 787 jets were built. 

it was quite extraordinary, to learn about the process and see the planes being built in parts. it would have been even cooler if we could have walked down into the plant and check out the planes close-up as they were being built, however, i can see why they have to keep tourists away from the jets which cost upwards of $200 million each.

one of the most interesting things we learned was how the planes are "picked up". pilots from customer airlines arrive to the boeing campus, test out their new planes in the airspace above the campus, and fly off with the product just like we walk out of the supermarket with groceries! haha makes sense i guess.

below is a little seahawks pride!

  

we checked out a new route near weowna park heading west on the lake-to-lake trail! it was largely shaded, which was nice, and the surface was mostly trail, which is easier on the knees. passed by a nice blueberry farm!

lululemon seawheeze

the 2015 lululemon seawheeze half marathon finally arrived today!

our pre-race nutrition consisted of a half of a banana and a cup of coffee, and we were off to the race start! arriving later than we should have to the 7am start, we were stuck in a slower corral, and spent the first 4-5 miles of the race getting around runners. we were going at a slower pace, but expending unnecessary energy to get to a comfortable place within the other 7,639 runners. 

the weather was great - cool and cloudy (SERIOUSLY somebody up there loves me), with an unfortunate dose of humidity. the clouds proved to be somewhat of a nuisance in the beginning, however, making it difficult for my garmin 10 to get gps until the start of kilometer 7.

the race course was really nice, and we were able to explore different parts of downtown vancouver and cross over a couple bridges, before entering my favorite part of vancouver: stanley park. kevin and i have run along the seawall several times during our first trip out here together in 2012, but always in the counterclockwise direction. it was pretty darn amazing to run with thousands of other happy, motivated runners in the clockwise direction this time, and a great way to finish the race.

most notably for us during this race was the positive energy and enthusiasm of the runners and the enormous crowds! lululemon organized costumed cheering squads basically every mile or so, so our mental energies were boosted by the sight of heavily made-up and scantily dressed transvestites on one of the early hills, the entire cast of the wizard of oz and someone in a full-shark costume at the end of a bridge turnaround, goofy scientists in lab coats, cartoon raccoons jumping around, poseidon-like mermen on stand-up paddle boards, a live-jazz band on a barge in the pacific ocean, mermaids perched on rocks, and more!

here is the seawheeze 2015 recap video! i don't think we made it into their video, but it gives you an idea of the fun events they planned for the weekend. i really hope we can do it again!

post-race, we rewarded ourselves with fresh oysters, manhattan clam chowder, and dungeness crab at rodney's oyster house in yaletown. sadly the weather has been unusually warm in bc so the government of CA has banned the sale of west coast oysters (raw), so we feasted on their cousins from nova scotia, pei, and other parts of eastern canada.

in the afternoon, we got a VIP insiders tour of the capilano suspension bridge park with the family. the capilano suspension bridge is a 460 ft long suspension bridge 230 ft high in north vancouver which was originally built in the late 1800s and rebuilt several times in the 1900s. in the park, you can walk across the main suspension bridge, and also across many more suspension bridges connected by treetops. in addition, there are forests of cedars and evergreens, guided nature tours, and an aviary where you can get up close and personal with a few of the birds native to bc. basically it's a toddler-child's heaven.

in the photo below, i have a smile on my face, but if you panned in on my body, you'd see that i was holding tightly onto the suspension bridge and cringing in fear of slipping off the bridge!

one of the must-do's on our trip was revisit the richmond night market! it's located in the suburbs of richmond, which is where you can get the best asian, especially chinese/hk food, basically the flushing of vancouver. there are hundreds of stands with all types of asian snacks - savory and sweet. my favorite snacks sold at the market are the 鹽酥雞 (taiwanese popcorn chicken), a mango-coconut milk-almond tofu dessert, and of course, ROTATO.

large taiwanese deep-fried breaded chicken = happy husband!

vancouver

the weekend is finally here and we are back in the pacific northwest for a long weekend with family and a little run. 

because i had to work late on thursday, we had to catch the latest flight out of nyc which was the 9:00pm jetblue flight arriving into seatac around 12:30am. it was one of THE MOST MISERABLE FLIGHTS of our lives i think. seated a couple rows in front of a set of babies and a quite indifferent mother who clearly had already lost her mind and hearing, we were an audience for the two wailing babies for almost the entire six hours of the flight. not a great start to the trip at this point.

thankfully it was a quick 20 min drive to the in-law's place and we were in bed around 1am pacific time (or 4am ny time). honestly, i think we were both starting to feel like it was time to get up on the east coast. in the morning, we woke up and surprised liam, who had just celebrated his fourth birthday earlier in the week, with his massive museum break-in lego set and spy gear walkie-talkies!

by the time everyone was up and we loaded up the van (five adults + 1 child), it was about 10-11am, and we were off! the drive up from bellevue to canada was quite nice! jen drove the entire way, making just a couple stops for coffee and breaks, and it took us 15-20 minutes to get through the US border. 

liam was in high spirits as he was learning how to use his walk-talkies with uncle kevin. there was a whole lot of "10-4", "over", and "roger that". and an exponential amount of  "uncle kevin uncle kevin uncle kevin" - we all had a lot of good laughs.

for lunch, we had a really delicious dimsum meal at hereon chinese restaurant in surrey with kevin's auntie, where we had the MOST DELICIOUS & FRESH 流沙包 (liu sha bao), which directly translates to "quick sand buns". it's actually a bun filled with a molten hot custard and it's a bit sweet and savory - i'm not sure if i want to learn to make this because i would like to continue eating it :)

after lunch, kevin and i took the bus to the rapid transit rail finally to arrive at our hotel in vancouver. the transit time from white rock was about 65 minutes total, not bad, and way quicker than driving through the friday summer traffic. and we were upgraded to a deluxe executive suite - woohoo! we bundled up, as it was quite cool that day, and went to the convention center to check out the lululemon seawheeze events and pick up our race numbers. 

there was all sorts of goodness going on at the convention center, including lululemon tattoo-ing, haircuts and a nail salon, a juice bar, a giant orange rubber duckie, and more! i oggled at all the discounted lululemon clothing, further discounted by the strong usd, but held back from making any impromptu purchases. that would come later.

for dinner, we walked along the shops on robson street and feasted on ramen at kintaro ramen. my friend, christine, had been raving about their cheese ramen, which is apparently "loved by the ladies" haha. there was a slab of butter on it which you can no longer see in the photo below because i pushed it into the broth, and there is a pile of shredded cheese on top. LOL. it was quite tasty! i wasn't able to eat very much of it though since we had lunch just 3 hours earlier.

liu-party time!

saturday was a fun productive day, mostly spent mostly within the confines of our kitchen and living room. after a short run along the west side highway and a quick lunch in chinatown, i decided to give my new heat embossing tool a whirl and make a personalized card for my friend, sharon's, baby shower!

the card reads, "good things come in threes!" and there is a cartoon picture of a hatching chic above it. the quickie glue pen was easy to use, similar in flow like the gelly roll pen, and created a textured glue surface for the gold embossing glitter powder to adhere to. unfortunately the stamp was not as successful due to the lack of texture in the stamp ink, and my poor choice in using brown kraft stationary with the gold glitter. it's there, but it's not as clear as the quickie glue pen. nevertheless, fun! and this means i'll need to get some more embossing glitter powders :)

i spent the rest of the afternoon prepping in the kitchen for a small liu-party! my parents arrived around 5pm, and my aunt and cousins a little later around 6:30pm. for dinner, we prepared the following:

dinner menu

pork larb with butter lettuce wraps

pea shoots with garlic

wild-caught shrimp with garlic

braised beef with carrots, daikon, and tofu skin

sweet & spicy sichuan style cucumbers

homemade kimchee (aged 2.5 weeks)

the pork larb and kevin's cucumbers were the stars of the show! two pounds of ground pork with cups full of fresh herbs and three taiwanese cucumbers marinated in sweet and spicy chili oil, ground peppercorns, sugar, and soy sauce were demolished.

conversation was plentiful and everyone was in great spirits. i can't remember the last time we all got together like this in an intimate setting, probably long before jess and my weddings. we even dialed in my 96 year old grandmother in taiwan on skype and she chatted us up for a solid 30 minutes, mostly heckling kevin and me for a great grandchild *slap on forehead*. that woman is not so subtle even when she's trying her best.

after dinner, we walked over to fifth avenue to enjoy the illumination of the empire state building, "racing extinction". the collaborators of this incredible event, travis threlkel and louie psihoyos, projected digital light images of endangered species onto the building to draw attention to the a "noah's ark" of endangered animals. it was my first time to see the empire state building lit up with images - it was quite extravagant and moving, and people were stopped in their steps, cars pulled to the side of the streets, and tour buses pulled over, all to catch a glimpse of the giant ape climbing up the empire state building, the blue whale, snow leopard, and more.

there wasn't any music that could be heard from the streets, in the racing extinction video below, it's pretty awesome.
 

 

happy 33rd birthday to my brother, jon gunjak! :)

princess wang

my sister, jess, and her husband, ben, adopted a kitty this weekend from the animal rescue league! her name is princess and she is a tuxedo cat - white face, chest, and paws.

haha in the pic below, my sis is "torturing" princess as she's trying to rest by putting random objects on her head. and she wonders why princess wakes them up at 4am in the morning :p

month-, quarter-, half-end

being month-, quarter-, and half-end (june 30th), today was a ridiculously busy day at work. i couldn't catch a break anywhere, and 7 large cap companies were issuing spin-off distributions while another handful of deals were all closing simultaneously. 

kevin took the train down to DC this afternoon for dinner with friends and to work out of the VA office tomorrow, so i heated up leftovers which have been marinating since sunday night (!!!) and feasted in the company of prison women in my living room.

here is a photo of our second niece, who is almost three months old now! hello, mini-eric :p

love wins

this weekend, specifically friday, june 26, 2015, will go down in history as the supreme court ruled 5-4 that same sex marriage is a right guaranteed by the US constitution.

even though i am personally little affected by this ruling, just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. as great as the US is, in some ways, we are a large slow dinosaur. in my opinion, no one should be able to or has the right to tell you who to love. 

don't even get me started on the mental and physical unfairness of not being able to marry the person of your choice. prior to this ruling, same sex couples could not enjoy the same federal advantages that we heterosexual couple have enjoyed, including benefits, rights, and privileges regarding property rights, benefits, and taxation. it's taken a long time to get here, but what an amazing feat it is to see the US effect change, even if it is super freaking slow.

a review of some significant dates in US history:

jan  1, 1863    emancipiation proclamation frees slaves

jun  4, 1919    19th amendment grants women the right to vote

jul   2, 1964    civil rights act bans discrim. based on race, color, religion, or nat'l origin

jun 16, 2015   supreme court rules same-sex marriage is a right

anyways, today we celebrated with a huge box of donuts from the doughnut plant, including a limited edition raspberry yeast triangle donut :)

i spent the afternoon preparing a nice dinner, something i really haven't done in a while, since we had kris and jessica over! i was running a bit late, so i didn't get a photo (sad!), but with the wine and desserts they brought over, i think it was a pretty fun and tasty night. there's something really easy and non-stressful about having neighbors over. or maybe it's the actual neighbors themselves that leave you feeling relaxed. 

the menu included: 

kinpira gobo

swamp morning glory (aka convovulus aka water spinach)

bittermelon with ground pork

shrimp with edamama

stewed beef with tofu skin

chawanmushi

haiga + white rice

i was a little worried that they wouldn't like the bittermelon, one of our favorite dishes due to its flavor and ease to prepare, but i think our non-asian guest was actually a fan! 

a fun way to finish off the weekend and thank goodness for our handy bosch dishwasher.

baby calvin!

today was russell recon day. it was pretty exciting to watch different parts of the trade throughout the day, but thank goodness it's over.

jaime, david, and baby calvin met us after work at the apartment! we had a nice dinner in the garden at trestle on tenth, a nice way to end the busy work week. one more week of madness (month/quarter-end), and hopefully in july things will get slower :)

sister-sister time

jess and ben were in nyc this past weekend! bummer that we didn't get to see them, but as things worked out, jess was back in the city today for meetings and a client dinner. she stayed the night so that we could catch up a little (YAY!!), but since her dinner ran late and i was suffering from the previous night's red-eye flight, we only had about an hour to ourselves before the sandman came.

still, it was really nice to have a little sister-sister time :) and she left a nearly entire filet mignon in our fridge. lol. fried rice time?

a loft transformed

another morning, another run! my MIL suggested for us to check out weowna park, a wooded forest with soft trails for walking, running, and hiking, just west of lake sammamish. after passing the kelsey creek blueberry farm driving on 148th ave and a really nice paved (and shaded!! :D) path along the north side of southeast 16th street, we parked the car at a trailhead around 168th ave southeast and southeast 19th street.

the "run" was really fun and almost entirely (99.999%) shaded! it was hot and humid out, but at least we were shaded and protected by cooler temperatures of the forest. the hills were humbling in the first half of the run, and miserably cruel in the second half, but to get a peek of lake sammamish was totally worth it! when we reached the northmost point of the run, we realized that the car key was missing, and retraced our steps (ahhhhh) in search of the key.  to no luck.

luckily, a quick call to the family 911 line and my MIL and nephew were at the park in no time, with an extra set of keys for us. i think this is the third time we've had some sort of car issue in the seattle area in the last four years, and second time we needed to call kevin's parents for help. yes, for some reason i keep track of random stats like that :p

in the afternoon, we piled into doughzone for a seriously delicious taiwanese breakfast, and stopped by the loft to see how the work was going. mike and his guys had prepped, primed, and started painting the south side of the loft, and the north side was being prepped. just a fresh coat of white primer resulted in such a transformation in the loft! i hope one day we can do a full renovation of the place!

it was a beautiful day and we wanted to get to know our area a little bit better, so we walked around occidental ave and first ave to scope out some of the restaurants, bars, and shops we've been reading about online. here are the must try's in pioneer square: 

• bar sajor
• salumi
• the london plane
• dry goods designs
• damn the weather
• kraken congee
• intrigue chocolate
• pizza gabbiano
• good bar
• elm coffee roasters

finally, liam bid us farewell with this adorable line-up. these are all the legos "he built all by himself with uncle kevin, auntie jen, mom, and ah-gong" this weekend :)

smith tower

with the time difference on our side, we woke before the rest of the family and went for a quick run around green lake, which is just a 15 minute drive from my in-laws'. the lakeside parking lot was full when we arrived at 7am and there were lots of people walking their dogs, pushing their baby strollers, and jogging along the lakefront path. seems like folks in the PNW get up earlier, or maybe they just wanted to take full advantage of the beautiful sunny weekend ahead!

this is smith tower in downtown seattle. completed in 1914, it was once the tallest building west of the mississippi until the space needle overtook it in 1962. it's still one of the most iconic structures in downtown seattle, and i love its neoclassical design and detailed terracotta finishes.

for lunch, jen and i met with my childhood friend, julia, and her mother, for soup dumplings and other goodies at the bellevue square DTF. i am so glad julia and jen now have another friend in each other in the pnw! my world's are colliding, in a great way <3 

ohayou, seattle!

today was the first day of our three day trip to seattle! and it was also the second time for us to visit the new loft in the historical pioneer square. 

first things first in the city where american coffee culture was born: we stopped by elm coffee roasters, the recently opened roastery and coffee shop in the neighborhood, and visited the loft! all the furniture was cleared out, including the grand piano (doh), but the walls were still warm shades of wine, mustard, and evergreen. what were these people thinking??

we spent a little time taking inventory of the apartment's condition and fixtures, figured out how to access the parking garage (secret batmobile like entrance along the railroad tracks, check!), and made a little to do list. later in the afternoon, mike, the handyman, visited the loft with us and estimated it would take 3-4 days to prime and paint the place. exciting! below are a couple photos of the current walls (yuck), and us choosing between a couple different shades of white. we went with the one behind kevin, which is a creamier white, which will hopefully complement the original brick walls. 

love love love the brick walls and open views and neighborhood, even if it is shady. i already want to live here !!!!!!

and on this fine day, we found the yummiest taiwanese cafe in the international district of downtown seattle: hard wok cafe. even though we were at least double the age of all the other patrons, we had an unforgettable dining experience! i don't think i've ever seen 蚵仔煎 (oyster omelette), 擔仔麵 (danzai noodles), 大腸包小腸 ("big sausage wrapped around small sausage"), or 台南米糕 (tainan bucket rice) on a menu in the US and this place had them all, and more! my favorites were the 肉燥 (braised diced pork belly over rice) and 割包 (gua bao)! definitely one of our best finds (thanks to my MIL) in the PNW yet.

more food to come: jen, kevin, and i managed to get away for a nice evening out in capitol hill, with dinner at the korean bbq-inspired restaurant, trove, and mudpie parfaits from the food truck out front. the weather was really nice,  in the high 60s with the sun setting over the city, and the conversation was intimate.

when we got home, uncle kevin made more legos with liam :)

suburbs

we got up early this morning and made our way up to the upper east side so that kevin could run in the nyrr UAE 10k. it was sunny, 70F, and muggy out. conditions were definitely not optimal for any PR'ing today, elites or amateurs!

temperatures had reached the mid-80s by noon and it was taking a toll on me. i felt sluggish as we arrived to our friend's home in short hills, nj, but the kids - thomas, jack, and erika, kept me entertained :) carsten and meaghan prepared a delicious bbq for us and we ate together out on their backyard patio.

the last time we visited them, which was probably 8 months ago, erika was just a newborn and immobile in her carrier. this weekend, she was on her feet and walking all over the place (better barefoot than in shoes)! she had a completely different demeanor from the boys, who were boisterous and always rough housing each other; erika was angelic! and so shy at first too. she would look at you in the eyes, blush, and turn away, pushing her face into meaghan or carsten's shoulder. by the time we were leaving, however, she had been happily passing time in my arms and kevin's, and kevin even spent a little time with her inside her gated play area :)

after the bbq, we spent the evening with my parents having taiwanese food at the bowling alley restaurant, shopping at costco, and watching HGTV together. in addition, my mom taught us how to make 酒釀！ here is a pic when we first steamed the sticky rice! now it is in our guest room, the yeast starting to do its work and we will check up on it in a couple days. fingers crossed for the sweet aroma of rice wine and nothing green or fury!

bk half marathon PRs

we did it !!! 

we completed the brooklyn half marathon and both pr'd for the course! the bk half has got to be my least favorite race ever, and i think the dislike is heightened by the commercialization of the event as well. these days when the word "brooklyn" is attached, suddenly there is a hipster or low-key edgy-cool vibe associated with it, and suddenly the world wants in. over 26,000 people ran the 13.1 miles today.

but back to it being my least favorite race - it's partly because (i) it's one of the earlier races in the season so by the time it's here, i haven't gotten in more than a 5-8 mile runs in, making the back half of the race that much more painful (ii) the back half of the race is already painful, as it's a 6 mile straight-away down ocean parkway all the way to the finish at coney island.

a relatively flat straight-away should be easier technically than the rolling hills of prospect park during the first half of the race, but it is difficult for the mentally weak, which is why i am always suckered into stopping to walk or use the bathroom multiple times. this time, kev and i ran the first 7-8 miles together, probably me pushing it a little too much in the park, but hey that's my favorite part.

when we got to the straight-away, he left me in the dust and i was out to fend for myself on the vast, open ocean parkway. i tried to use my friend's advice and look at peoples' outfits or count lampposts, but it wasn't helping me. over the years, i had mentally created a six mile monster out of ocean parkway and the best way for me to countdown was counting the streets as they went up from ave h through ave z. during mile 12, i made a quick pitstop at the local honeybucket, and then it started to drizzle! slowly the drizzle turned into a downpour, which i think most people felt refreshed by and used to propel themselves into the finish on the coney island boardwalk.

1:42:11 and 1:43:52 were our official race times! my second sub 1:45 half marathon now! :) next goal: 1:40 !!!

trying out my new neighborhood favorite, trestle on tenth! we pass this place every time we run to the west side highway, but tried it for the first time this afternoon with jess and ben. the menu has a lot of typical american brunch offerings using familiar ingredients such as eggs, bacon, etc, but the chef is originally from switzerland so there is are many notable swiss dishes as well. ben had the green market omelet, jess had the swiss bacon-onion potato hash ("bure rosti"), kev had the three herring plate, and i had the special, baked eggs with ramps, warm yukon gold potatoes, and herbs. we also shared their chicken liver pate which was plentiful and deliiicious. so glad we got to try it with my sis and ben for the first time, and can't wait to come back to this spot again! (and try rocket pig next door - i have a plan for this :D!!!!)

we rested our tired legs for the rest of the day :)

happy mother's day

happy mother's day to the best mom in the world, and all mother's out there!

it was warm (70F) and extremely muggy out this morning, and although kevin and i were planning to take it easy on the japan day 4 mile race at central park, we both ended up feeling the adrenaline of the race and "raced" it. i finished with the fastest splits in the last few years of running - 7:08!

here are the liu ladies all in shades of blues. kevin and i hand-selected flowers for my mother's bouquet from branches & blooms in the floral district ~ peachy pinnk peonies, burgundy ranunculus, green hydrangea, and greenball dianthus. it's one of the nicest florists in the floral district, and when i say that, i mean they take really good care of their plants and florals. they are the healthiest plants i've seen compared to the other shops on 28th street and it's so much fun to go in and see what's in season, and pick out flowers for your own bouquet or centerpiece.

jess and ben picked up six DELICIOUS fresh sugar donuts from federal donuts in philly. we had all three flavors ~ vanilla spice, cinnamon brown sugar, and strawberry lavender.