Izakaya

What do you think of first when you hear Chinese food, Italian, German, Japanese, and Vietnamese?

I think spring rolls, pasta, sausage, sushi, and pho. Maybe you're thinking along the same lines. It all seems so stereotypical. I'd be really surprised find pasta not as the recommended choice at an Italian restaurant.

Surprise is what I felt when I went to Izakaya. This is a Japanese restaurant that didn't serve sushi or sushimi.

I ordered some fish plate that seemed like it had lots of tomato . It didn't seem very Japanese to me. I had a feeling it was fish as I could see the pieces of fish still moving. The atmosphere was calm and lively. The food was alright. I'm not fond of writing restaurant reviews so you'll just have to find one on the net and taking too many pictures would have freaked out my friends.. It was definitely a change - really nice not to see bento boxes and order the usual california rolls.

This restaurant didn't seem like a place I'd go again. I'd still like to be able to order sushi rolls at a Japanese restaurant. Sometimes a culture is able to rid themselves of that stereotype like Chinese food. I wouldn't be surprised if you can't get chicken balls or spring rolls at a Chinese restaurant in Toronto. But don't take away my spicy tuna rolls from Japanese restaurants!!

First Snow of Winter

Today it snowed and caused a lot of traffic problems. After looking at my archive of blogs, the first snow of last year started on November 26, 2004

The Motorola V3 Razr

I'm sure you've heard or seen the Razr by now. I saw so many teenagers in the states have this phone. It begs me to wonder how these kids have so much disposible income at their age. I don't remember ever being able to afford a $400 USD phone.

But like everything in the cell phone industry, depreciation sets in. The Motorola Razr is now $99 on Rogers with a 3 year contract.

At that incredible price I needed to complement my brick smartphone with a fancy flip.

Now I can coordinate my phone to my wardrobe as well. Hmm.. which phone should I use today?

Improved Images

This was a while ago but I haven't mentioned it on my blog yet. I travelled to Sheridan Mall in Mississuga to pick a new phone the Nokia 6682:

I had been waiting for this phone for a couple months now. I don't think a lot of people reading this share the same enthusiasm as I do for this phone.
Well, there is at least some good for you. You get improved image quality compared to what I had before. Take a look at these following pics.

Taken with the 6230b:

Taken with the 6682:

Taken with the 6682 with flash:

Images have been resized for easier comparison.

You can read my complete review of the Nokia 6682 on HowardForums

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

This was our last place of interest on our trip to San Francisco, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. It's situated by City Hall were a lot of poor people hang around.
It had a couple questionable art pieces so let's start the gallery.

Brush Symphony, 1998 by C.C. Wang.

A big puddle of ink after a mistake. Oops i mean:
Monument, 1993 by Yan Binghui

Village by the Mountain by Zeng Mi
If you look at the writing from left to right, it looks like he realized he was running out of space so he crammed the characters in. Notice how the ink runs in many of the brush strokes, even in the writing, while some strokes do not run. We attribute that to having too much water in the brush - it's a beginner's mistake.

Time and Space, 1992 by Yuan Desing. What do you think?

Cheesecake Factory Hamburger

My family has never went to the Cheese Factory to eat but heard good things about it. So that night we went to the 7th floor of the Union Square facing Macy's to dine at the Cheesecake Factory. They really enjoyed it and I had this:

I was at the doctor today and he asked me if I ate a lot of fried things. Good thing he's not reading my blog.

Legion of Honor

One most ponder what exactly there is in San Francisco to do. Here I sit and ponder. I think many other people ponder as well.