Melodies of Life

Tonight I went eat with my dad and discover a new Hong Kong style restaurant.  The restaurant name is Tasty Garden. They have few locations in Los Angeles and I think the one in Orange County is a new location for them.  I think their original location is in Alhambra, you can view the reviews on yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/tasty-garden-alhambra
Right when I look at the menu I knew this restaurant is going to be a least authentic.  So I order all my favorite Hong Kong dishes to see how they make it.  Well good news for me...everything is prepare like what it suppose to..no fusion stuff lol.  So glad I found this restaurant in Orange County since there is not much Cantonese style restaurant around here.  

First order is Fish Maw with crab meat; though I did not drink the soup due to my pregnancy, my husband approved!   I want to try the soup but since I'm not too sure if I'm allowed to eat the fish maw so just to be safe I skip the soup.














Steam chicken with ginger and onion sauce,  this is not my favorite dish.  It's my husband's favorites..the chicken is just ok.














Green bean with pork - they made this dish good..very tasty














Last dish is my favorite ..eggplant with ground pork in hot pot.   Not a lot of place make this dish good.  The only place I like this is in Hong Kong.  I tried this dish in Monterey Park a while back and they screwed it up pretty bad by cooking it with ketchup.  You're not suppose to cook this with ketchup.   Another place I tried is in NYC..and they screw it up even worse lol.   They make it Mainland style..no meat at all..and again they use ketchup.  
This restaurant made this dish how it suppose to be...so much flavor and very tasty with no ketchup in its ingredient lol.  I will definitely go back here again to this dish.   Finally!!!! I found a restaurant that can make this dish.  I'm so happy lol!!

Last Sunday we had dim sum at China Garden Restaurant in Irvine.  This is my favorite dim sum in Orange County.  We order beef tripe, ha gao, ribs, tofu, and other stuff.  Everything is good.

The beef tripe has enough flavor, I didn't eat much since this is not my favorite dish














Ha gao - shrimp dumpling; lots of shrimp inside













Deep fried tofu - crunchy outside and soft inside














Shrimp with bell pepper - I didn't try this dish since it has shrimp and I'm not allow to eat too much seafood














Shrimp rice cake - they make this dish good here..better than lots of dim sum place













My favorite dim sum dish lol..tofu with syrup;  I have tried so many dim sum places here in CA, NYC, and also Hong Kong.  This so far made the tofu the best.  The texture is perfect..very light and soft













My other favorites is egg custard bun..same for this order...no places make it better than here even in Hong Kong.  The egg custard is made to perfection..not oily like lots of places and the bun texture is perfect with the perfect amount of egg custard inside.  I always have to order another order of this togo since I love it so much.

Dunno what to eat so we decide to stop by Shinsengumi for some yakitori happy hour.
We ordered so many stuff and were not able to finish them lol.  Everything was delicious!

Grill Shrimp..we ordered 10 of them lol














And then some beef heart and beef meat, since I ordered wagyu for myself I was not able to eat any of these as I am way too full XD



















Chicken wings and chicken cartilage..both are yummy!














One of my must order item...chicken skin..so much flavor!















More chicken cartilage...since its my husband favs



















And a must have with yakitori..cabbage with vinegar..the cabbage is so sweet and fresh..I think we ask for refill like three times !

Today I went in for my first second trimester visit with my new OB in CA.  At first the doctor was not able to detect the heartbeat using the doppler so she then transfer me to ultrasound room.  I was very nervous when she was not able to detect it, but everything was ok.  We were able to see the baby do the jumping and flipping lol.  It was so funny and I cannot stop laughing.  After that the doctor did the measurement for the baby and it turn out the baby is only 13 weeks and 3 days instead of 15 weeks like the the previous OB said.
The doctor got a little confuse and ask the ultrasound specialist and did all the check up and so they all confirmed my new due date.  It's going to be July 12 instead of July 2.
On top of that the doctor did the blood test just to make sure everything else is fine with the baby.
My husband and I were too busy laughing at all these funny moves our the little cute one we both forgot to record the video on our phone.  Oh well I guess I will do that on my next visit which will be my official 2nd trimester visit in three weeks.  Hopefully we will be able to find the gender as well.  I had a great time today at the doctor office.  Our little angel cracks us up so much with the kicks and the punches..and the flip lol.

So this is how the baby looks like in 13 weeks..