Click here for my full review as all ratings have remained the same.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Ihawan
We thought Ihawan would be a good place to go for dinner. Uncle Andy & Auntie Kitty had never tasted Filipino food before and it would also be a good opportunity for Auntie Remy & Ifore to compare one of the best restaurants against the original.
Click here for my full review as all ratings have remained the same.
Click here for my full review as all ratings have remained the same.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
YouTube Stats
Besides at work, I only started uploading videos to YouTube after I shot some short clips with my regular camera on the Enchantment cruise. So I looked at the stats today and was surprised by the numbers. All videos are public so they're searchable in YouTube. I had to make it that way otherwise the connections would be limited and some people wouldn't be able to access them off my blog. I thought for sure the rock climbing clip would be the most popular, but it was the guillotine magic trick by far! It has a whopping 79 views whereas the others have 5-7 each... probably just the people I forwarded the URLs to.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Happy Buddha
Location: 135-37 37th Avenue, Flushing, NY
Cuisine: Chinese, Vegetarian
Hours: DAILY (11am-10pm)
Phone: (718) 358-0079
Website: www.happybuddha.com
Prices: $20/person
Credit Cards: Cash only
Food: 7
Service: 8
Value: 7
Environment: 9
Frequency: All the Time
After skipping a month a few of us were able to get together for a June dinner. I actually tried to pull everyone together the week before, but most of us weren't available. This week was a little better with Irene, Ben, Charlotte and Reinhard. I also had Ifore join us. Since this crew was mostly Flushing based, we moved from the usual Woodside/Forest Hills area to downtown Flushing.
I chose Happy Buddha because most of the group hasn't eaten there recently if not at all. It's always fun for new customers because of the way they prepare the foods and make all of the dishes look just like the traditional Chinese ones... but without use of meat or dairy products. I also enjoyed the relaxed environment. I was also thinking of Tung Yi Fung, but the problem is they will try to rush you on bringing out the dishes.
Cuisine: Chinese, Vegetarian
Hours: DAILY (11am-10pm)
Phone: (718) 358-0079
Website: www.happybuddha.com
Prices: $20/person
Credit Cards: Cash only
Food: 7
Service: 8
Value: 7
Environment: 9
Frequency: All the Time
After skipping a month a few of us were able to get together for a June dinner. I actually tried to pull everyone together the week before, but most of us weren't available. This week was a little better with Irene, Ben, Charlotte and Reinhard. I also had Ifore join us. Since this crew was mostly Flushing based, we moved from the usual Woodside/Forest Hills area to downtown Flushing.
I chose Happy Buddha because most of the group hasn't eaten there recently if not at all. It's always fun for new customers because of the way they prepare the foods and make all of the dishes look just like the traditional Chinese ones... but without use of meat or dairy products. I also enjoyed the relaxed environment. I was also thinking of Tung Yi Fung, but the problem is they will try to rush you on bringing out the dishes.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
QM vs EN
Queen Mary 2 and Enchantment of the Seas are 2 very different ships, but since they're the only 2 cruises I've been on, I'm going to compare them.
Dining
EN - Enchantment had much better food in both the buffet and the restaurant. QM2 still had good food as far as quality, but their dishes weren't as exotic. Enchantment incorporated a lot of Caribbean and South American flavor.
Entertainment
QM - QM2 wins this category by a long shot. Naturally the sheer size of the ship allows it to offer a lot of venues at once. Enchantment wasn't really that much smaller, but it lacked on variety of entertainment. They basically had 2 shows per day and very little conflicting activities. On QM2 I had a hard time deciding my daily itinerary because there was so much to do. The theater always had something going on as did the planetarium. There were also a variety of classes ranging from oceanography to hands-on art. QM2 is a bit larger, but they had a lot more to do.
Design
TIE - This category is purely taste. QM2 has more of a classic cruise ship look, but in a gigantic scale. Enchantment has a modern style, resembling space ship. Personally, I liked the exterior design of Enchantment better. The pool area looked amazing. QM2 had the better interior though. It looked like the spent a lot of time designing every little alcove. On Enchantment, all of the design seemed to go into the Centrum area.
Fitness
QM - The only thing Enchantment had that QM2 was missing was the rock climbing wall that's on every Royal Caribbean ship. QM2 had the larger gym with more equipment, more special classes (more than a complete day's worth) and a better track. Enchantment's track because unusable at times because it was too narrow. During the day, people would sunbathe on the track... too much traffic.
Service
QM - Service is generally good on every cruise ship, but I would have to give the slight edge to QM2. There was a more personal feel from the staff that served us.
Cabins
QM - Cabins shouldn't really weigh in that much when choosing a cruise, because if a voyage is good enough, you won't be spending much time there, but it's still a category to compare. QM2 was more modern and slightly more spacious. The beds were also more comfortable. On Enchantment, we weren't among the lucky ones to get one of the renovated cabins in the middle 70ft portion of the ship. The cabins were basic and sorely dated.
So overall, I thought Queen Mary 2 was the better experience. I was constantly busy and had way too much to do. There were times on Enchantment of the Seas when I felt like I had too much down time.
Dining
EN - Enchantment had much better food in both the buffet and the restaurant. QM2 still had good food as far as quality, but their dishes weren't as exotic. Enchantment incorporated a lot of Caribbean and South American flavor.
Entertainment
QM - QM2 wins this category by a long shot. Naturally the sheer size of the ship allows it to offer a lot of venues at once. Enchantment wasn't really that much smaller, but it lacked on variety of entertainment. They basically had 2 shows per day and very little conflicting activities. On QM2 I had a hard time deciding my daily itinerary because there was so much to do. The theater always had something going on as did the planetarium. There were also a variety of classes ranging from oceanography to hands-on art. QM2 is a bit larger, but they had a lot more to do.
Design
TIE - This category is purely taste. QM2 has more of a classic cruise ship look, but in a gigantic scale. Enchantment has a modern style, resembling space ship. Personally, I liked the exterior design of Enchantment better. The pool area looked amazing. QM2 had the better interior though. It looked like the spent a lot of time designing every little alcove. On Enchantment, all of the design seemed to go into the Centrum area.
Fitness
QM - The only thing Enchantment had that QM2 was missing was the rock climbing wall that's on every Royal Caribbean ship. QM2 had the larger gym with more equipment, more special classes (more than a complete day's worth) and a better track. Enchantment's track because unusable at times because it was too narrow. During the day, people would sunbathe on the track... too much traffic.
Service
QM - Service is generally good on every cruise ship, but I would have to give the slight edge to QM2. There was a more personal feel from the staff that served us.
Cabins
QM - Cabins shouldn't really weigh in that much when choosing a cruise, because if a voyage is good enough, you won't be spending much time there, but it's still a category to compare. QM2 was more modern and slightly more spacious. The beds were also more comfortable. On Enchantment, we weren't among the lucky ones to get one of the renovated cabins in the middle 70ft portion of the ship. The cabins were basic and sorely dated.
So overall, I thought Queen Mary 2 was the better experience. I was constantly busy and had way too much to do. There were times on Enchantment of the Seas when I felt like I had too much down time.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Cathy & Lu's Road Trip
I got a call from Cathy yesterday saying that she and her family were on a cross-country road trip and they would be in NYC today (for 3 days). Coincidentally, I had the day off as I always take the day after Father's Day. Lewis was also not working, so we were able to do a little SCAD reunion. Ning was missing though as she was heading out to Singapore.
We just spent the day catching up since it's been about 2 years since we last saw Cathy and over 10 since we last saw Lu.
We just spent the day catching up since it's been about 2 years since we last saw Cathy and over 10 since we last saw Lu.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Enchantment & Florida
There's more! After we got from the cruise, my Dad & I went back to New York, but the rest of the group stayed in Florida for the rest of the week to see Miami & Orlando. Here are the pictures from my parents' camera:
Monday, June 15, 2009
Edwin's Last Day
Today was Edwin and Auntie Aida's last, so we went all over the place to complete the rest of Edwin's goals. He still had to get See's Candy, which is only available at Lord & Taylor outside of it's hometown of San Francisco. And then we had Joe's Shanghai on the list as well. From a time perspective, it made more sense to hit Manhattan on Sunday and then Queens on Monday, but there was a Puerto Rican Day Parade over the weekend that would've made shopping on 5th Avenue very slow. So instead, I planned the visit to Arthur Ashe yesterday and Lord & Taylor today.
We went out early in the morning to hit Lord & Taylor and got there pretty early. We made good time because I immediately knew to location of the See's Candy stand. I bought it there often because it's a favorite of my Dad's. That was the only thing we were interested in, so we were out of there as soon as we got our candy. With a lot of time left before we had to meet up with Emily for lunch, we walked down 5th Avenue.
For the rest of the story, check out the Picasa album.
We went out early in the morning to hit Lord & Taylor and got there pretty early. We made good time because I immediately knew to location of the See's Candy stand. I bought it there often because it's a favorite of my Dad's. That was the only thing we were interested in, so we were out of there as soon as we got our candy. With a lot of time left before we had to meet up with Emily for lunch, we walked down 5th Avenue.
For the rest of the story, check out the Picasa album.
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