Blue Dog Cafe

Blue Dog Cafe

1211 West Pinhook Road

Lafayette, Louisiana 70503

We are pure lucky to chance on this very quaint and delicious restaurant, just a 2 mins walk from our Lafayette inn. I have to admit I am unfamiliar with the Blue Dog artist haha but they serve very yummy cajun cuisine. Be sure to try their seafood wantons, it has pepperjack, parmesan cheese together with seafood as filling. Cheessssy. Yum. I didnt get any pictures of the food, oops, must be too greedy and had eaten it all before I take a shoot. Aw well, but I did take a picture of Kenny's blue dog, his hidden artistic talent haa~~

Panama City Beach

For the Columbus long weekend, we drove 3 hrs to Panama City Beach for a night stayover. We stayed at Long Beach Resort which is around 70 per night excluding taxes for 1 bedroom apt which is pretty decent except goondu me, didnt read the fine prints! There is a one time cleaning fee of $60 and $25 non-refundable damage waiver fee which covers up to $1500 of property damages. So beware~~ maybe this is to protect themselves from the crazy going-on during springbreak. According to travel channel, Panama is in the top 10 destinations for crazy springbreak non-stop partying. All in all, it is pretty much like Pensacola, with a more pristine beach. A picture of the moon that 1 night we were in Panama.

Brrr...the weather is turning cold

The weather is turning cold, have to start thinking of more soupy recipes to warm-up our bellies.

Wanton noodles soup, from Steamy Kitchen

Salmon miso udon

Happy Belly~~

2009 National Shrimp Festival

Absolutely shrimp-ing day for us~~ the 2009 National Shrimp Festival on the Gulf Shores of Alabama. We personally prefer blackened seafood as we felt that frying is doing an injustice to the fresh seafood. Having to say that, I still gobbled down 1 big plate of fried calamari. Oops. Other than food, there are plenty of other activities, I was very enticed with the hand-painted ornaments. Time after time, I have seen so many stuff I would love to get to decorate our flat back home but I know my hubby will make a fuss because it is not in line with our chinese contemporary theme hah~maybe I should propose changing the theme?

Home from our mini road trip

Roadtrip Itinerary:

Pensacola-Lafayette (Louisiana)-Houston (Texas)-Avery Island (Louisiana)-New Orleans (Louisiana)- Pensacola

Top favourites:

1) KL Malaysia restaurant, Houston

2) Dim Sum @ Fung's Kitchen, Houston

3) Blue Dog Cafe, Lafayette

4) NASA Space Center, Houston

5) French Quarters, New Orleans especially the beignets

(Not in order for preferance)

Alot of driving... 1000 miles to be exact

We had a date with Michael Buble

The concert was well worth every penny, we bought the cheapest tickets actually haha. We got "upgraded" to nearer the stage, cant believe our luck! A lucky lady got to hug and groop his butt, he didnt forget to thank her for that. He had the audience laughing their heads off, first he apologised for writing these mushy lovey songs and promised a real macho song for the lads and he just started singing and dancing to "YMCA". That was wicked! I am falling in love with MB~~

Four Winds International Market

We found Ribena~~but it is USD 7.99 for 600ml. We love this little shop!

Four Winds International Market
6895 F. North 9th AvenuePensacola,
Florida 32504(Inside the Belvedere Park Plaza)
850-477-2808
Monday - Saturday 9:30 am to 8:30 pmSunday 12:30 to 6:00 pm

They sell all kinds of knick knacks, although it is a pretty small shop but we always spent at least half a hour inside and coming out spending not less than 30 bucks. They prepared fresh dips everyday, my favourite is the smoked turkey topped with asiago cheese, sun-dried tomato cream cheese, garlic feta cheese, pesto and so much more. The owner is an Italian and he also prepared "cook-it-yourself" bentos, you just have to pop it into the oven and its ready to be served. We tried the Chicken Cordon Bleu which is just delicious beyond words. They also walked around the shop asking you to try their cheese, their wine, their daily made dessert etc. Now you know why we cant leave the shop without buying more things than we expected. This is going into "my favourite shops in Pensacola" list.

Minyi's first Piroshkis

It look like "tau sao pian" isnt it? I am really craving for some especially those Wendy had bought for us everytime she went back to Penang. I shared Su's recipe with MY and we made curry chicken piroshkis when I was at her place. The ones in the picture are shaped by MY, I cannot never make nice, round ones like hers. Hah.

On this note, I wish everything goes smoothly for Wendy's wedding which is taking place this weekend in Malaysia. Enjoy babe~~

I also want veggies at my doorsteps

As I was thinking about what veggies to cook for dinner tonight, I wish I have veggies at my doorstep like MY. I am so envious, she has super fresh veggies just minutes from her apartment. I also want! A pity when I was there, it was nearing the end of the harvest and I didnt get to see many species, just saw some of the usual stuff.

Cloud Gate aka Bean

Cloud gate, a centerpiece of the Chicago's Millennium Park, is a sculpture by Anish Kapoor, it is inspired by liquid mercury. I love the reflections bouncing off the bean, be it at night or in the daytime, I cannot help but be fascinated at the bean. It is one valid reason to bring me back to Chicago.

What I wanted to do in Millennium Park is make something that would engage the Chicago skyline…so that one will see the clouds kind of floating in, with those very tall buildings reflected in the work. And then, since it is in the form of a gate, the participant, the viewer, will be able to enter into this very deep chamber that does, in a way, the same thing to one's reflection as the exterior of the piece is doing to the reflection of the city around.-Anish Kapoor
http://www.millenniumpark.org/artandarchitecture/cloud_gate.html

Maisy and Kopi

The remaining members of the Huang Family- Maisy and Kopi

Maisy is a gorgeous long-haired guinea pig and she looked regal and poshy most of the times. Occasionally she looked like a nice furry rug. Kopi is really shy and timid and ran off to hide in its "house" at the slightest sound. They are very greedy! hah they will bite the fence with their front teeth and sort of shake it, almost like knocking on the door " we want food!".

Chicago Architecture Foundation

Gee, before I went for the Chicago Architecture tour, I did not even know the first skyscraper (Home Insurance Building) was built in Chicago. We attended the Historic Skyscrapers walking tour, our docent, Joan did an excellant job in explaining the history of the buildings and the building materials of the historic skyscrapers. In our of my picture above in the third row is the interior of the Rookery building. It was designed by Daniel Burnham & John Wellborn Root in 1886 - 1888 and were later restored by Frank Lloyd Wright interior. From the moorish exteriors, one will surely be awed by the grand and bright interior court.

There are many options available- walking, by bus and by cruise. For more information, please visit http://www.architecture.org/ After the tour, as you are walking past each skyscrapers, you cannot help but wonder who is the architect of that skyscraper and which building style is that, much better than just hurrying past every building on Michigan Ave.

Anderson Orchard

Anderson Orchard

369 East Greencastle Road

Mooresville, IN 46518

http://www.andersonorchards.com/

It was my first apple farm experience in USA, previously we visited an orange farm in San Diego, which was my first also. Sad to say, there are no fruit orchard in my vicinity.

It was a visual galore, apples of many varieties, red raspberries, pumpkins of all sizes, chestnut, and lots more. The gals had decided the most effective way to choose is to pluck and eat before deciding which to bring home. The winner species is "Melrose". Not surprising, there was no apple on Granny Smith. My favourite is the Raspberry patch, we did not buy any but we ate lots. Oops. Could not help it.

Of course one cannot leave an applefarm with a bottled applebutter sauce...Yumo~~ as the southerns would say.

Domestication vs Shopping

A Skype conversation between Wendy and moi.

Me: Uhoos babe, I just got back from Chicago and it is awesome.
Wendy: Did you shop alot?
Me: Yeah, I bought dried scallops, mushrooms, shrimps etc... not the shopping kind of shopping.
Wendy: Not fun shopping?
Me: Exactly.
Wendy: YOU HAVE CHANGED!
I laughed out aloud and read it to Kenny.
Kenny: You seem to have forgetten you have bought another Tiffany item darling?
Me: Oops!
Me: I am still moi!! I bought a Tiffany ring wahahahaha
Wendy: Sigh

Feast of the Hunters' Moon 2008

I am indeed very lucky to visit the Huang family on the 27th-28th weekend as it is the annual Feast of the Hunters' Moon at the Fort Ouiatenon Historic Park .

The Feast of the Hunters' Moon is a re-creation of the annual fall gathering of the French and Native Americans which took place Fort Ouiatenon, a fur-trading outpost in the mid - 1700s. It is held annually in early autumn on the banks of the Wabash River, four miles southwest of West Lafayette, Indiana. Thousands of participants re-enact this event creating a feast for your senses. Smell the wood smoke, hear the report of the rifles, savor authentic food and more.

http://www.tcha.mus.in.us/feast.htm

The food was the highlight of the Feast, we had rabbit stew, very very sweet BBQ corn, freshly baked apple dumplings, fresh lemonade, herbal pork chops, all these were cooked the traditional methods. The participants started the fire with wood, use cast iron pots, big outdoor BBQ pits to renact the old days. Together with their dressings, you really feel like you are back in time to the mid 1700s.

Back to sunshine state

Uhoooos I am home! Most importantly I would like to thank MY and SH for their wonderful hospitality! I enjoyed myself very much, made many new friends, happy indeed I am.

Top 7 things I love about IND/Chicago:
in order of preferance, low to high
1) Yummy chinese cuisine in Chinatown
2) Cute hairstylist at Chinatown
3) Chicago Architecture Foundation
4) Anderson Orchard
5) Feast of Hunter's Moon
6) Jersey Boys Broadway
7) Cloud Gate

* Not forgetting the heartwarming birthday party for Scott! So many Singaporeans coming together for their "towkay", shows how important he is in the community hah its my honour to attend!

Pictures to come.
Have a wonderful weekend!