Chicago on the 4th

On 4th of July, I flew to Chicago with a couple of friends to visit a friend of mine. We arrived in the afternoon and went to Ming Hin Restaurant in Chinatown for dinner. Supposedly, the restaurant is pretty famous according to my local friend and the food was really good. Afterwards, we stopped by Joy Yee for some bubble tea since it's in the same area. Their bubble tea is really good. 

We were originally planning to go watch the fireworks after dinner, but we were a little too late since people already filled up the pier and the police closed the streets. So we were in the area, heard the fireworks sound, but fail to see any in any directions. I blame the tall Chicago buildings. They practically made it impossible for your to see far without any obstruction. Since we were also already tired from the trip, we went to our hotel and checked-in instead and call it a night. 

Batting Cage

After our visit to the Museum of Flight, we decided to go to try the batting cage. None of us has been to one so it was another new experience for us. It was hard trying to hit the ball at first because we're not used to the speed and angle of the ball. Plus, we went right before sunset and the sun was right in front of us. So we were a little bit blinded by the sunlight. But after a couple of rounds, we got the hang of it.

With baseball, if you hit the wrong part of the bat, it hurt. Bad. The whole bat vibrates and you can feel a sting traveling through your arms. But when you hit it right, the feeling is really nice, especially when you hear the sound of the bat hitting the ball. With softball, I think it's a little easier and more forgiving when you don't hit it at the right spot since the ball is softer. At the end of our session, our arms were sore, but it was super fun. Definitely want to do it again sometimes.

Museum of Flight

The next day, we started our day at Pike Place Market. We went to Café Campagne for brunch with a friend of ours, Cindy. That was my first time visiting the place and the food was great. We ordered a bunch of thing to share and did it family style.

Two scrambled eggs with herbs, with potatoes, chicken & pork sausage, and baguette

French French Toast (Fried in Bourbon Egg Batter, served with Maple Syrup and topped with fresh fruit.)

Oeufs en Meurette (Poached eggs with a sauce of pearl onions, bacon, champignons in red wine – foie gras sauce on garlic croutons, pommes frites.)

Pommes Frites

After we finished with brunch, we went to Museum of Flight because (one of) my sister wanted to go. Thought it'd be fun since I've never been there too. We looked at a bunch of different planes from different eras. It was pretty cool. There was some kind of competition going on too that day (although I wasn't completely sure what it's all about), but we got to see some people building miniature planes and stuff. 

Bowling Night

One weekend in August, my sisters came to visit from San Francisco. Like any other time that we got to spend together, we do what we usually did, just hang out and enjoy each other's company. We went to grabbed sushi for dinner after I picked them up from the airport. After that, we went bowling. We pretty much spent 80% of our time trying NOT to get the ball into the gutter. We played pretty badly that night, but towards the end, we finally got the hang of it. My youngest sister took the first place and treated us bubble tea afterwards. 

Fall Weekend in Portland

I went to Portland with a couple of friends two weekends ago. We drove there midday on Saturday and stay overnight. We went shopping at Woodburn Outlets, tried a couple new restaurants we've never been before and got to enjoy a gorgeous fall afternoon in the park. Here are some snapshots from my iphone.