Believe it or not, I was up by 7am after only a couple hours of sleep...ready to head down to Milpitas to meet Julz (MzJulz85) and Lee (Askmrlee) for Dim Sum.  I logged online to check messages and get directions and OMG..Trino (JTrinoG) had messaged me back on Myspace and was going to join us for breakfast in addition to sightseeing adventures in San Francisco! *YEAH*.  I was excited to meet Trino as we've messaged and talked about getting together but never made it yet. 

I texted Mel to see if she was awake....no response.  I called...no answer.  Ok, I am going in! LOL. I went over to her room, knocked, and no response.  I went in and was sooooo tempted to take a pic but I was good and refrained.  There she was asleep, cell phone in hand! HA HA HA.  Ok, finally got her up, went back to finish getting ready so we could get on the road.

We actually arrived first for once...OMG! I am usually the late one but for once, we were on time! Trino had called and he was on his way but about 20 minutes behind. No biggie since we were the first ones to arrive.  Next, Julz came in and wow....she looked great! I hadn't seen her since she went back to dark hair and although she knows I love the blonde in front, she looked GREAT! We caught up for a bit until Mel's cousin arrived and we went ahead and got our table, thinking Trino would be there any minute. 

The Dim Sum carts started rolling around and we were STARVING...we went ahead and ordered a few things while I texted Trino to find out where he was.  Come to find out, he left his wallet at home and had to turn around.  Sorry Trino but how does a man leave the house without their wallet?!?! LOL.  He said to go ahead and eat and he'd be there as soon as he could.  Ok, we had already ordered some food so no problem there! :-)  Mel and Lee were kinda in charge of picking and when the more odd items came around like chicken feet and pork belly, Lee and Mel were in heaven.  Not sure what Julz and I were thinking but ok....let's try these chicken feet! LOL.  It was a first....and a last for both of us.  But hey, we got a picture for prosperity sake! There were a few things Julz tried that she didn't like and well, Melanie was basically her garbage disposal and ate the rest of everything she didn't like.  Julz would barely set it down before Mel had her chopsticks on the plate grabbing it! HA HA. 

OMG..I was looking around laughing and I catch a glimpse of Trino walking in!  *YEAH*  Poor Trino, I didn't know he had never been to Dim Sum before and he asked the waiter for a menu and we told him there was plenty of food there already.  I felt bad that I didn't ask him if he'd been so we kinda walked him through and ordered a few more things to eat.  Julz doesn't eat seafood and Mel and Lee both have shrimp allergies so why does it figure most every cart that came around was shrimp related! Shrimp balls, shrimp rolls, shrimp salad!  I felt like Forest Gump!

As we were sitting there talking, somehow the subject of Boba tea came up.  Julz, Trino (I think) and I never had Boba before!  Lee said there is a great place in the same center we had to try.  We settled up our bill while I ran to the bathroom wherein you know something had to happen. I can't seem to venture off to the restroom without some craziness.  Pretty tame...only a little older gentleman staring at my chest and ultimately walking right into it.  Nice.  LOL.

Ok, Boba time!  We go to walk outside the restaurant and wow is it packed! Lee had said earlier he couldn't believe he was eating dim sum at 10am but it's a darn good thing we did otherwise we'd be there for hours waiting judging by how packed it was!  We wander over to the Boba place and wow....it was like a 10 minute decision on what to order.  I felt like a Starbucks virgin...I had no clue what was what and what tasted good.  We kept letting people go ahead of us while we looked at the menu when I finally jumped in line and ordered - Passion Green Tea Boba. OMG....how yummy!  I still cannot get used to the little tapioca balls in the drink as they fly through the straw! Not surprising, this lead to an interesting array of comments and conversations.  Julz as we posed for Boba pics, "Hurry up, I can only hold my balls for so long" was my favorite! Melanie going after a wayward tapioca ball down her shirt! LOL.

Originally, Julz was only meeting us for breakfast as she was taking her nephew and his friend to lunch and the movies.  I think she was going to miss us too much but she talked to her nephew and he was down to go into San Francisco as well and hang out.  She went ahead and left to go pick him and his buddy up so we could all meet in the City.  Mel had to wait at the Boba place as her "brother" was going to join us for a bit to hang out.  We kept in touch with Julz and decided to get on the road so we could meet at the same time up at the Pier 39 area. 

Said our goodbyes and hopped on the freeway, Trino following Mel and I.  Caravan time! Whoo Hoo......Part II of the day to follow in the San Francisco blog! 

Usually come on weekdays for lunch to get their Beef Noodle Soup ($5.25) I recommend: -fish in the lettuce cup ($11.95), its like fried fish in a lettuce wrap -pork w/ sweet rice in bamboo ($12.95), this is like sticky rice that is usually wrapped in lotus leaf Friend recommended: -pork rump ($13.95) All the dishes that I have had there are really good and tastes like authentic chinese food that my parents would make at home. Also they have special dishes that require ordering in advance. Here are some dishes that need to be ordered in advance (I have not had any of these, but were recommended by friends): -Buddha jump over the wall, not sure exactly what this is, but the title basically says its so good that even buddha is willing to jump over a wall to eat it -Winter melon soup, just heard this tasted good -honey ham, I know it sounds kind of normal, but its supposedly pretty good

A few friends and I went to eat here after a long day of shopping. Right from the start I was not sure what kind of experience I was going to have. First of all, it was crowded and I'm sure way past max capacity. All the tables were so close together everywhere you turn someone can literally be right in your face. I don't even want to mention how many times my chair got bumped. By fellow restaurant customers, or by the waiter or waitress. We decided what we wanted to order. We ordered, which was also a challenge. My friend listed the order one by one to the waiter. Everything seemed fine till we mentioned Chicken with Walnuts. It took awhile to get our point across. He first did not understand, which we figured the reason was because of the large amount of background noise. Then we said "do you have Chicken with Walnuts?" he said "No." then we showed him on the menu and he said "Chicken with walnuts, okay." So our order was in, we all took our turn to use the wash room. When I got back my friend switched and made her way to the restroom. Probably a minute and a half after she walked away a waitress came to our table picked up my friends purse and said "No one sitting here?" and we told "yes someone is sitting there." I think before touching anyone else's belongings a customer friendly greeting should be expressed first. Unfortunately, this time it did not. Very slowly but surely our food was brought to our table. Our soup was one of the last dishes to be brought out, which we found weird because most of the time at a Chinese restaurant the soup is usually out first. We were anticipating the arrival of the Chicken with Walnut dish that took a bit of time to order. We ate and ate since we were absolutely famished from all the walking around and shopping. We even came to a point in our meal where we needed to order another plate of rice. When we emptied that first plate of rice, we still had not received our Chicken with walnuts. Not having that to eat made us want it even more. So, I'm sad to say we never received it. As a group we discussed briefly how we thought our meal could have been improved. One, have all our food prepared, delivered, and consumed. It would be a big help to hire more staff (granted there may have been a waiter or waitress out sick or whatnot, but there should always be a back up). They should also have a decent amount of tables, it shouldn't be ridiculously overcrowded. No matter what the food is, I believe everyone deserves to enjoy their meal in peace, without having to worry about our chairs getting bumped into, have all of the ordered food brought to the table, and have our waters refilled as needed (or at least be readily available to ask for a refill). It was okay food, I think I can get better food and better service at a different restaurant.

Get the roti!!! very delicious I also got their penang chicken!! sooooo goooood, very delicious creamy sauce and the potatoes were off the hook

Hello,

I just finished packing and feel a remarkable sense of accomplishment considering I haven't actually gone anywhere yet. Since both my main bag and little backpack are full I think I have about 89 liters worth of stuff to tote around for the next half year -- which means I should return a better, buffer Jane (clearly to the benefit of all)

For reference, here's a summary of my upcoming travels:

03/01 - 03/08 London
03/08 - 03/12 Dublin
03/12 - 03/18 Wales and Scotland
03/18 - 04/02 Spain
04/02 - 04/20 France
04/20 - 04/28 Vienna, Prague, Budapest
04/28 - 05/15 Amsterdam, Belgium
05/15 - 06/02 Italy, Greece
06/02 - 06/08 South Korea
06/08 - 07/15 China
07/15 - 08/11 Singapore, Malaysia, etc
08/11 - 09/15 Hawaii

I'm guessing (half hoping) that these plans will change as I work my way down the list. So excited, but getting a little nervous, too. Everything's way last minute but at least I finally got my plane tickets, visa, and train tickets in hand - YAY =D Also, I should finally have my teeth fixed by tomorrow morning, just in time to leave

Past days have been super busy moving and seeing folks for the last time. I've never been away this long but know it'll go by in no time at all -- wonder how much if anything will change by the time I get back. I also wonder what book I should bring. It has to be compact but riveting hehe . . . I'll try to get suggestions tomorrow.

K anyway I better go to sleep now. I shall write more after I leave these thousand pitas. Have a good night.

-- jane h chen --

Its about $5 for a normal burrito, $6 for a jumbo, and like $7 for a super :) Must better than the average mexican food place. Oh and if you know chipotle, this is better because the ingredients are mixed much better, but I feel its a lot greasier than chipotle

This is probably one of the best mexican restaurants I've had in the bay area. Still can't top La Burrita in Berkeley in terms of food for the money and GREASE! Also not sure if it is in Milpitas, I will have to check, but it is at least on the border of milpitas right off 237 East.