July 4th weekend and 7 Eleven

July 4th Weekend

July 4th falls on a saturday this year, I got a day off on Friday and this happend to be my first day off after I started working. Initially, I wanted to take this opportunity to visit some places. My first plan was to go to Boston but unfortunately, I had to cancel it because someone (ahem...) bailed out. After that, I found out that I couldn't proceed with my second plan to visit YC in Champagne, IL either since he decided to come over to AA during the weekend. So, I ended up in AA...which did not turn out to be such a bad idea after all.

Wei Ping invited us to his church group barbeque. Since I was in a good mood (after SOA released MFE result on 7/2) and I feel bad to go empty-handed, I decided to make some egg tarts (recipe).

The most important things: ingredients plus good mood :)

Fluffy mixture of eggs, butter and sugar

The dough

flattening the dough

using a muffin pan as a substitute of the pastry tin

egg tart filling

ready to bake

done!

ready to go!

Later, I realized that Wei Ping made the same dessert to bring over to the barbeque, what a coincident! It seems like he used triple the amount of eggs than I did for the filling, which gives a nicer color and taste to his tart....I guess I'll try out his recipe the next time I bake :P

The barbeque was good, I didn't expect to see so many people that I know. As for the rest of the weekend, I had a good time chilling out with friends. The only painful part of the week was packing!!!


7 Eleven

After a good break during the July 4th weekend, I pretty much had no life the week after because I was either working or packing at home. I realized how much of stuff I had accumulated over the year... Mas's comments about my online shopping was justified...haha...luckily, I managed to pack most of the stuff that I wanted to move to my new apartment at Dearborn.

And finally, on 7/11, I moved to Dearborn.

Boxes

Coffee table and some furniture that I disassemble...and you can see the tv at the back (which Wei Chieh tries every year to pusuade me to throw away)

More furniture

The move to Dearborn went on smoothly. It took us about 3.5 hours to get PY and my stuff to our new apartment. I would like to thank Jason, Wei Chieh and Billy for helping us to move...thank you very much!!!

Next thing on the list is to decorate the house and give it a more cozy feeling...hopefully I am not too lazy later to organize a little house warming party...also, need to catch up with my study as I am behind of the schedule.

My first July 4th in the States...

Initially, I wanted to go to NYC during this weekend but ticket price was too high and so I decided to put off the plan (sorry, Mel and Min, I'll visit you guys later :P). Also, I turned down the offer to go to Mackinac Island and stayed in Ann Arbor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackinac_Island

I made the right choice to stay in AA :) The weather was great-sunny but not too hot. Keng Yang came back from Indiana and we decided to go for FOOD!!

July 4th

Keng Yang, Wei Chieh and I took a half an hour drive to Ajishin in Novi (the best sushi place in Michigan, according to some online reviews). We were all too excited to get good food that we forgot to check if it's open on Independence Day and guess what? It's CLOSED.

At the end, we headed back to AA for dim sum in Great Lakes but we still manage to catch 2 movies: Hancock and Wanted. I think Hancock was not too bad. The special effects in Wanted was nice but the plot was rather predictable. However, I do look forward to watching the Dark Knight after watching the trailer...but I try not to have too high expectation.


July 5th

Ajishin again!!! And we finally have the chance to try it out!!! I don't know what defines good japanese food, but I think this is DEFINITELY GOOD FOOD!!! Although the choices was limited, I still had a hard time deciding between udon and sushi. I usually go for sushi but since this place is famous for their udon, I opted for their curry udon (can't recall the japanese name).

One word for the udon: Yummy!!!

The noodle was well done...not too soggy...and the broth was really tasty! Too bad that I did not take a picture of it, but the picture would not say much about how nice it is...you will only know when you taste it.

After a round of udon, we ordered a sushi lunch to share. I had 3 pieces of california roll, 1 tuna sushi and 1 yellowtail sushi...all fresh and good. I'll definitely come here again (maybe when masz is back).

Full and satisfied, we headed home and gave some time for the food to digest before going to Gallup Park for kayaking(I wanted to do this for ages, especially when I see people kayaking when I jog in the Arb)!!! I like kayaking, ever since the first time I tried it in NS. The park was crowded and thank god there are still kayaks available.

This was the first time I try a one person kayak and I think it is easier to control. My past experience with two-person kayak wasn't that great. It is harder to coordinate with two person. Other than a few hits on the river bank when I just started, everything went on smoothly. Keng Yang and Wei Chieh who shared a kayak had some bad times coordinating and keeping up with each other's speed. After a few attempts, they finally got the chance to "hijack" my kayak and splash water on me when I headed back. Before going home, Keng Yang "forced" us to walk around and let the sun dry our clothes before getting into his car.


Holidays are always too short. Time go resume work. Not that I don't like my job, but I like my holidays too :)

Happy Independence Day!