Beef Noodle Soups

I need a second helping of this hot bowl of pho, stat.

Even though it's bright and sunny (high 60s) in the the day, the evenings have been windy and chilly. This winter I've been slurping my way through various pho places to get my noodle soup fix. In the past few weeks, I've visited Beef Noodle #1 in San Jose, Bamboo Leaf Vietnamese in Santa Clara, and Pho Garden in downtown Mountain View. That's a lot of beef noodle soups, pho sure.

Soup and (grass fed) burger night at Calafia Cafe

Our favorite spot at Calafia Cafe in Palo Alto is the bar near the kitchen, and when there is only the two of us, the seats are pretty easy to come by. 

We shared the cheddar and potato soup which was served in a mini Le Creseut enamel casserole. I love mini crockery.

The grass fed burger came with two slices of bacon (!) on a brioche bun, and I chose the shoestring fries. BJ and actually split this with a salad for a dose of healthiness.

Our 2011 Adventures

One of the neatest feature in the Picasa uploader is the fun and useful collage maker. Here's highlights from our 2011 trips to New York city, Shanghai, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Some of these trips were for work, and we were lucky enough to see family and friends from afar during the travels.

Homemade Pasta - that's amore

For our Christmas dinner, I dusted off our Imperia pasta machine to roll out the dough and slice into stringy noodles. And because I have tired hands (and a bit of carpal tunnel), I gave them a holiday rest and used a bread machine to knead the perfect ball of dough.

Making fresh pasta requires patience and elbow grease, but the final product is delicious and so much tastier than dried noodles.

A little creativity needed to set up the pasta machine in the kitchen. A baking sheet was placed on a stool to catch the falling noodles.

Fresh pasta sprinkled with some flour.

The final dish - fettuccine noodles with mushroom, carrot and arugula sauteed in garlic infused EVOO. Nom. Nom.

Being a Googleplex tourist

The new Galaxy Nexus phone takes amazing panoramic pictures with just a press of a button and a few swivels. Here's a panorama of the Android office with all the adorable OS statues at the Googleplex.

The Android robot looking quite dapper in such festive attire for the holidays. 

Now, wouldn't it be awesome if the Android totems were scented with the likes of an ice cream sandwich, eclair, frozen yogurt with berries, gingerbread, cupcake and honeycomb?

Stacycation: Doran Beach Bodega Bay, CA

BJ and I decided to go on a last minute getaway to Bodega Bay, a coastal town in Sonoma. We are staying at the Bodega Bay Lodge and it is walking distance to Doran Beach where we saw the equestrians and their horses. First time I've seen horses on a beach.

A simple mid-afternoon snack on the beach with focaccia and mozzarella hits the spot!We had the beach nearly to ourselves!

Window shopping and lunch in Willow Glen Downtown

BJ and I strolled through Willow Glen to enjoy the holiday window displays in the downtown shops.

We also took a break from window shopping to enjoy the Saturday lunch specials at Taiwan Restaurant. Crispy lemon chicken for me, and prawns in black bean sauce for him.

The chicken salad with crispy noodle appetizer was something different to try. I liked it overall, but the dressing was too sugary. Next time I'll have to remember to withhold the dressing.

After lunch, we continued strolling along Lincoln Avenue and this children's tea set caught my eye. It's a child's depression era glass tea set in jewel hues similar to vintage Pyrex - too cute!