Houseguests 2011: Lily from HKG
(Backdated post from Feb 28)
For CNY, Lily decided to come visit us. She flew in on Feb2 and left on the morning of Feb10. It was a descent amount of time for her to adjust to the jetlag and give me time to hang out with her.
When I picked her up at the airport on Feb 1 evening, Stella was in the car with me. She was NOT amused with having Lily in our car. For the entire drive home, Stella layed down on the passenger side seat, with her head resting on the arm rest looking back at Lily. She stared her down the entire time.
Upon arrival, I showed Lily her room and got her settled in while I cooked us up a quick dinner of Korean spicy instant noodles/vegetables/steak strips. While eating, Lily's energy level began to wain. I could almost visualize her falling asleep into her bowl! Apparently she didn't get much sleep on the plane. So I hussled her off to bed.
I shouldn't have worried about Lily not getting enough sleep. Because she slept from midnight until 8pm the next day. yep, that's 20 straight hours of sleeping.
"I couldn't help it," she exclaimed when I finally woke her up for dinner, "the bed is just so comfy and the room was so cozy!!"
That night, I grilled us some salmon steaks and made a chinese stir-fry with bakchoy and portobello mushrooms.
"oh this is so good," she said as she gobbled down the salmon, "you only get steaks like these in high end restaurants in HK! and you know me, I don't go out much!"
The next day, Lily slept in until 10am and sms'd me so that I wouldn't worry about her. Then she went about to spend the day catching up on Asian soap operas on her laptop. (I think it was a period Korean one) She discovered the snacks that I had brought her and had some lunch meats straight out of the box for lunch. Napped in the afternoon and woke up just in time for the dinner I prepared her.
On Friday, I worked from home in the morning and took the afternoon off to show Lily around town. We drove into the city and had some noodles in Japantown. We did some shopping, then drove on the GoldenGate bridge. ("Oh!! THIS is the famous bridge, I thought the other one was") it was a beautiful day, so we did some minor hiking to an awesome vantage point for pictures. "wow! I can see the Pacific Ocean!!!" Then drove to Richmond to shop at Ranch99 to pick up more snacks for Lily.
Jon came home from the East Coast that evening. Lily hadn't seen Jon since the wedding. After Jon went upstairs, Lily giggled and said, "I forgot how handsome he is!! hehehehe". (yes, I swear, she giggled)
The next morning, I made us brunch but Lily was too tired to get up (she had stayed up to watch more soaps). Then we went for a hike up in the State park with Stella. We took the easy flat route. But poor Lily, it's been a while since she had done much walking. 20mins in, she was huffing and puffing. By the end of the 1 hr hike, she was pretty pooped, but excited that she had actually exercised.
After the hike, we went to Picante to give Lily a taste of Mexican food since she never had any. She had their Chile Verde dish. "this taste sort of like Chinese food.... but not really" I don't think she enjoyed it much.
Then we got home and I took a nap since I had been going into the office at 6am so that I can come home by 7pm to hang out with Lily.
That night, I took Lily to Piedmont for her first CrabFeed. This one was held by the Piedmont police. There were a LOT of good looking men there. Lily was all giddy and silly. I joked that to make our ticket cost worth our while, we'll need to demolish 6 crabs each. Lily thought I was for real and gave it the royal effort. In the end, we came in at 6 crabs in total. Not bad, considering she only eats the claws :P
Sunday, I took Lily to Napa Valley. Since it has been forever since she last drank alcohol, poor Lily got drunk after all the tastings. I kept telling her she didn't had to drink it all and that she could pour it out. "but it's so good!! why waste it!!" poor thing. But she had a great time. The weather was gorgeous and the drive was awesome as it was a quiet weekend in Napa.
Monday, I had to work hard as we were trying to finish closing the year. Lily distracted herself by going into the city on her own. I dropped her off at the BART and she went into the city to find her own adventure. I have to say, she did pretty good. She took the cable car to Fisherman's wharf, had some chowder, took in Girahdehli square (found their chocolate too sweet), and went shopping in Westfield Mall. For some strange reasons, Lily loves grocery stores, so she spent some time at the one in the mall's basement.
Tuesday, Lily stayed home to rest up and watched some more soaps.
Wednesday, Lily stayed home to rest and pack her bags. That night, I managed to come home by 7pm so that we could go out for dinner. Lily wanted to take us out for Japanese food. She marveled at how good the sushi was. "wow! this is really good! I don't think Toronto is as good!"
Thursday morning, I dropped Lily off at the airport and then headed into work. Overall, I think she had a good time. Although it was a bit exhaustive to go into work so early each day just so I can go home at a decent hour to hang out with her, it was fun for me. It's been a while since the two of us had really hung out.
Jon thought she was one of the best houseguests he had ever had. Mostly because she was quiet as a churchmouse and rarely came out of her room!! :P
For CNY, Lily decided to come visit us. She flew in on Feb2 and left on the morning of Feb10. It was a descent amount of time for her to adjust to the jetlag and give me time to hang out with her.
When I picked her up at the airport on Feb 1 evening, Stella was in the car with me. She was NOT amused with having Lily in our car. For the entire drive home, Stella layed down on the passenger side seat, with her head resting on the arm rest looking back at Lily. She stared her down the entire time.
Upon arrival, I showed Lily her room and got her settled in while I cooked us up a quick dinner of Korean spicy instant noodles/vegetables/steak strips. While eating, Lily's energy level began to wain. I could almost visualize her falling asleep into her bowl! Apparently she didn't get much sleep on the plane. So I hussled her off to bed.
I shouldn't have worried about Lily not getting enough sleep. Because she slept from midnight until 8pm the next day. yep, that's 20 straight hours of sleeping.
"I couldn't help it," she exclaimed when I finally woke her up for dinner, "the bed is just so comfy and the room was so cozy!!"
That night, I grilled us some salmon steaks and made a chinese stir-fry with bakchoy and portobello mushrooms.
"oh this is so good," she said as she gobbled down the salmon, "you only get steaks like these in high end restaurants in HK! and you know me, I don't go out much!"
The next day, Lily slept in until 10am and sms'd me so that I wouldn't worry about her. Then she went about to spend the day catching up on Asian soap operas on her laptop. (I think it was a period Korean one) She discovered the snacks that I had brought her and had some lunch meats straight out of the box for lunch. Napped in the afternoon and woke up just in time for the dinner I prepared her.
On Friday, I worked from home in the morning and took the afternoon off to show Lily around town. We drove into the city and had some noodles in Japantown. We did some shopping, then drove on the GoldenGate bridge. ("Oh!! THIS is the famous bridge, I thought the other one was") it was a beautiful day, so we did some minor hiking to an awesome vantage point for pictures. "wow! I can see the Pacific Ocean!!!" Then drove to Richmond to shop at Ranch99 to pick up more snacks for Lily.
Jon came home from the East Coast that evening. Lily hadn't seen Jon since the wedding. After Jon went upstairs, Lily giggled and said, "I forgot how handsome he is!! hehehehe". (yes, I swear, she giggled)
The next morning, I made us brunch but Lily was too tired to get up (she had stayed up to watch more soaps). Then we went for a hike up in the State park with Stella. We took the easy flat route. But poor Lily, it's been a while since she had done much walking. 20mins in, she was huffing and puffing. By the end of the 1 hr hike, she was pretty pooped, but excited that she had actually exercised.
After the hike, we went to Picante to give Lily a taste of Mexican food since she never had any. She had their Chile Verde dish. "this taste sort of like Chinese food.... but not really" I don't think she enjoyed it much.
Then we got home and I took a nap since I had been going into the office at 6am so that I can come home by 7pm to hang out with Lily.
That night, I took Lily to Piedmont for her first CrabFeed. This one was held by the Piedmont police. There were a LOT of good looking men there. Lily was all giddy and silly. I joked that to make our ticket cost worth our while, we'll need to demolish 6 crabs each. Lily thought I was for real and gave it the royal effort. In the end, we came in at 6 crabs in total. Not bad, considering she only eats the claws :P
Sunday, I took Lily to Napa Valley. Since it has been forever since she last drank alcohol, poor Lily got drunk after all the tastings. I kept telling her she didn't had to drink it all and that she could pour it out. "but it's so good!! why waste it!!" poor thing. But she had a great time. The weather was gorgeous and the drive was awesome as it was a quiet weekend in Napa.
Monday, I had to work hard as we were trying to finish closing the year. Lily distracted herself by going into the city on her own. I dropped her off at the BART and she went into the city to find her own adventure. I have to say, she did pretty good. She took the cable car to Fisherman's wharf, had some chowder, took in Girahdehli square (found their chocolate too sweet), and went shopping in Westfield Mall. For some strange reasons, Lily loves grocery stores, so she spent some time at the one in the mall's basement.
Tuesday, Lily stayed home to rest up and watched some more soaps.
Wednesday, Lily stayed home to rest and pack her bags. That night, I managed to come home by 7pm so that we could go out for dinner. Lily wanted to take us out for Japanese food. She marveled at how good the sushi was. "wow! this is really good! I don't think Toronto is as good!"
Thursday morning, I dropped Lily off at the airport and then headed into work. Overall, I think she had a good time. Although it was a bit exhaustive to go into work so early each day just so I can go home at a decent hour to hang out with her, it was fun for me. It's been a while since the two of us had really hung out.
Jon thought she was one of the best houseguests he had ever had. Mostly because she was quiet as a churchmouse and rarely came out of her room!! :P