New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve was actually a work day for me, but luckily we had a half day. I quickly got everything I needed to get done for the 2010 cutover. I had to head over to my apartment quickly to pick up everything I needed for the long weekend and then quickly head to Queens before the crowds started filling up Broadway. I ended up getting in at 3:30, which gave me plenty of time to relax and help setup for dinner.

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We really didn't have anything big planned and since Cindy & Wil had no plans either, we just had dinner at my parents' house and watched the ball drop on TV. I was also good to have Cindy stationed in Queens in case the baby felt like coming out a couple of weeks early for that New Year's Eve scholarship! The night ended up being a normal New Year's though... no drama of rushing to the hospital in the snowy/rainy weather!

Kum Gang San

Location: 138-28 Northern Blvd., Flushing, NY 11354
Cuisine: Korean
Hours: SUN-SAT (24 hrs)
Phone: (718) 461-0909
Website: www.kumgangsan.net
Prices: about $14/person (lunch)
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 9
Service: 7
Value: 7
Environment: 9

Frequency: Unique

It was my last vacation day of the year and originally, I was going to go with my parents to East Buffet as they invited some out of town friends out. Luckily they decided to to to the outlets. I don't think I could've handled a buffet after the Christmas party. So we went and tried out a Korean restaurant that none of us had been to before... Kum Gang San.

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We had a good experience there overall. The staff (at least our waiter) didn't know English that well, but the menu was in both languages which is always a good sign. When they took our order, we each mentioned the number of the item, pointed to it and gave the waiter the English name. Somehow he got my Dad's order wrong even though it was the same item as mine. Anyway, they corrected it quickly and politely apologized. So the effort was there and I didn't take of any points for it. The food was great. For more details, check out the comments in the Picasa album.

Christmas Party

We originally planned to do something on Christmas Day, but moved it to the 26th because of Warren & Susan's party. Theirs was for lunch, but we didn't want to have 2 big meals in the same day. Also we needed the full day to prepare for ours. Everyone was still available on the 26th too.

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Christmas Day

Christmas Day this year was pretty much a repeat of 2008. We went for lunch at Warren and Susan's place. Once again, they were able to get use of the basement in their condo.

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Merry Christmas

Imperial Palace

Location: 136-13 37th Ave., Flushing, NY 11354
Cuisine: Chinese, Seafood
Hours: SUN-SAT (11:30am-12am)
Phone: (718) 939-3501, (718) 939-3502
Prices: About $13 per person
Credit Cards: Cash only

Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 7
Environment: 5

Frequency: Frequent

Emily & I took my parents out to dinner since they didn't want Christmas presents from us. They also brought alone Uncle George & Auntie Rose for the small Christmas Eve dinner. The restaurants were packed. We got to Imperial Palace around 6pm and got one of the last tables left. During our whole meal, there was a huge line at the entrance.

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Generally, the food is pretty good here. They really cook the food. Many other Chinese restaurants bring out their dishes ridiculously fast... so fast that they either cook in large bulks or microwave already cooked food. I boosted the rating up to 8 from my original post from last year. For more details, please visit the Picasa album.

I reduced the environment rating because of the way they laid out the tables. While Imperial Palace has nice decor and is pretty clean, the comfort factor is ruined by the stuffy arrangement of tables. If you're sitting down at a table, there will be someone sitting next to you at an adjacent table because the seating is too closely packed. The acoustics are terrible when the place is full. You won't be able to hear each other speak.

DVDeals 12/20 - 12/26

If you enjoyed Family Guy: Blue Harvest, the Star Wars: A New Hope spoof, then you'll want to pick up Family Guy: Something Something Something Dark Side this Tuesday. It's the sequel and a spoof of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Amazon has the best prices for both the DVD ($12.99) and Blu-ray ($18.99). Best Buy has the exclusive collector's edition for $29.99, which includes a t-shirt and lunchbox.

Best Buy Deals
- Terminator Salvation for $19.99
- Terminator Salvation (Blu-ray) for $19.99
- Earth for $14.99
- Earth (Blu-ray) for $19.99
- Up for $14.99
- Up (Blu-ray) for $24.99
- Transformers 1 & 2 (Blu-ray) for $40

December Dinner

Only the Queens people were available for our December dinner and Ben & Clovy were having visitors over from Ohio. So they hosted a pot luck gathering. Ben, Clovy & Irene brought Chinese food. Charlotte picked up stuff from SriPraPhai and I got the usual cupcakes from Buttercup.

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Curry Leaves

Location:135-31 40th Rd., Flushing, NY 11355
Cuisine: Malaysian
Hours: Daily (11am-11pm)
Phone: (718) 762-9313
Prices: about $15/person
Credit Cards: Cash only

Food: 9
Service: 7
Value: 8
Environment: 5

Frequency: Unique

Emily's family birthday celebration is usually in Sentosa, but we thought we'd give a different local Malaysian restaurant a try for comparison. We noticed it while eating at Corner 28 one day. It turned out to be a bad day to eat out since it was raining the whole time and we had 3 cars total going there. The rain didn't stop the Flushing crowd either... and it didn't stop us!

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The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the small tables. I was wondering how they were going to fit 10 of us at their 8-person table. Instead of putting a couple tables together, they squeezed us in. We had a reservation and the place wasn't crowded, so they had all the time in the world to do a custom arrangement. They brought out all of the dishes at once and had trouble fitting everything. It was difficult to eat until we got rid of a few dishes. There was no elbow room and we had to pass around everything. The restaurant had nice decor and was very clean, so I counted the experience with the large group we had against the environment rating. I don't recommend this place for parties of 8 or more. You're better off paying a little more for Sentosa. For parties under 8, this place is great though.

The service was OK. Our teapot was never empty, but they never changed our plates in the middle of the meal. Many of the items were saucy and some dishes had bones. So there was limited space to eat unless they changed our plates like they do in many Chinese restaurants.

For more information on the food, please visit the Picasa album.

DVDeals 12/13 - 12/19

There's nothing good coming out this Tuesday, but there are a bunch of good titles on sale at Best Buy and Target. As expected, Blu-ray prices dropped quite a bit after Black Friday. The players, which were around $300 last year became as low as $120. And the price drop of PS3 probably helped a lot.

Best Buy Deals
- Transformers (Blu-ray) for $14.99
- Batman: Dark Knight (Blu-ray) for $14.99
- Enter the Dragon (Blu-ray) for $14.99
- Max Payne (Blu-ray) for $14.99
- Princess Bride for $4.99
- Harold & Kumar go to White Castle for $4.99
- T2 for $4.99

Target Deals
- Terminator Salvation (Blu-ray) for $19.99
- Wolverine (Blu-ray) for $19.99
- Casino Royale (Blu-ray) for $19.99
- Quantum of Solace (Blu-ray) for $19.99
- Wall-E (Blu-ray) for $19.99
- Independence Day (Blu-ray) for $14.99
- Terminator (Blu-ray) for $14.99
- Speed (Blu-ray) for $14.99
- Predator (Blu-ray) for $14.99
- Swordfish (Blu-ray) for $14.99
- Ice Age for $10

Sunday Hot Pot

Sunday was a quiet with nothing much going on. We headed over to Cindy & Wil's house for a hot pot dinner and there was virtually no traffic. We got there in less than 30 minutes. I don't that has ever happened before. The weather started getting cold this week after a relatively warm November. So hot pot was perfect.

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This was my 3rd hot pot meal in 8 days. Last Sunday, we had it at Uncle Bock & Auntie Kim's. And on Tuesday I had dinner at a Thai Shabu Shabu place with Charlotte & Jeff.

Christine & Nino in NY

It's been a very busy year as far as family occasions. We've never had as many visitors in one year as in 2009. I also don't think I've ever had as many plane trips in one year myself. I thought Auntie Clarita & Uncle Mariano would be the last group, but the festivities continued as Christine & Nino came by for a short visit. Because of conflicting schedules and little vacation days left, we were only able to meet up for dinner tonight.

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The last time I saw Christine was almost when I started this blog... during my trip to her wedding. This was Nino's first visit to the US and the first time I met their daughter, Nadine.

Holiday Gift Ideas

Here are some original gift ideas from my friends:

Bedtime Ballyhoo
This is a wonderfully illustrated, rhyming bedtime story by Nicki Granata Bosch. Your kids will enjoy the story and pictures and you'll have a blast reading it to them. Click here to shop.

Books by Chris Grabenstein
Chris recently released The Hanging Hill, a sequel to Crossroads. Both are great books for young adults. I got myself a copy at his release party and enjoyed it a lot a well. He also has a collection of mystery/thrillers for the older audience. Click here to shop

A Ma$tamind Christmas 4
This is Shawn Noel's 4th X-mas album. Not only does this make an original gift, but be sure to get one for yourself for background music if you're hosting a party. Click here to shop.

Tinkerbot Jewelry
New hobbies produce new products for Jene Wallace. The link I had for her last year was for crocheted food items. This year, it's handmade jewelry. Click here to shop.