Share Tea and Berkeley

/ Cali, Food, Me, Photo

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Annie standing at the gates of Berkeley.

After dinner at Homeroom, we drove over to Berkeley to grab some boba at Share Tea. Julia was on a mission to try out everything during her time in California.

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The entrance of Share Tea.

You’ll notice that this place was flooded with asian students. How come we didn’t have this kind of stuff when I was in college. 😩

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Winter Mellon tea.

If you go to Share Tea, I recommend getting, “Winter mellon, with crema, 0% sugar”. This is what I got.

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Julia and Annie enjoying their boba run.

I’m digging the vibe of this area. People seem to be positive and laid back.

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Berkeley was literally across the street.

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Annie and Julia posing in front of a statue.

A New Chapter

/ Me, Photo

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Proposal on top of Glacier Point at Yosemite on September 29th at 7:30pm.

Our universe has existed for nearly 14 billion years. The earth has existed for 4.5 billion years. Our specie has evolved for 200 thousand years, and civilization as we know it has been here for about 6,000 years.

I’m happy to be part of this cosmic timeline and explore this universe with Annie. To all my followers, thank you for being a part of this moment.

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Annie and I star gazing on a clear night.

It really was a magical evening — we got to watch the sun set over half dome and then we witnessed one of the clearest night skies I’ve ever seen. If you look closely in the photo above, you’ll see the Andromeda Galaxy. It was a perfect night for an engagement… and astrophotography!

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The milky way, completely visible with the naked eye.

The photo above is a portion of our Milky Way galaxy. I honestly didn’t do much retouching to this image. I simply took 9 photos, aligned them, and then did a median stack to reduce the noise. Then I bumped up the exposure two stops.

It was romantic, and I think Annie really enjoyed the scenery.

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The ring inside the box, with a small LED light.

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A close up of the engagement ring, lit with christmas lights on top of my Macbook Pro.

I know Annie likes her diamonds — and hopefully, she loves this one. ^_^

Homeroom Mac + Cheese, in Oakland

/ Food, Me, Photo

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A giant bowl of Jalapeño Mac and Cheese.😏

Julia wanted to try out a new restaurant, so we drove over to Oakland to eat at Homeroom. They’re known for their Mac and Cheese, and one of my friends (Rebekah) recommended it to me a few months ago.

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Annie puts our name down to get a table.

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Homeroom entrance, with plenty of seating.

While we both had experience in the industry. Erin had worked in restaurant kitchens before becoming a lawyer, and Allison was a server before she entered corporate marketing. Nothing had prepared us for the year it took to launch Homeroom. –Homeroom Story

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Julia taking a photo of her Garlic Mac and Cheese dish.

If you decide to go here, you should definitely order the Garlic Mac and Cheese… and be prepared for a huge portions. We had left-overs for days. One dish was certainly enough for two people.

I would say that this place is for hard core mac and cheese lovers. If you only like mac and cheese exclusively as a side dish, Homeroom may not be for you.

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Julia and Annie enjoying their experience trying new restaurants in SF.

For the record, Julia really liked this place. Annie felt like it was way too much Mac and Cheese. For me personally, I think the Mac and Cheese was good, but needed more salt. The dish with bacon was actually pretty tasty… but I agree with Annie, it was a little heavy.

Nonetheless, delicious!

Sunset at Treasure Island

/ Cali, Me, Photo

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Photo of San Francisco from Treasure Island with Annie (left) and Julia (right).

On our way to Oakland, we stopped by Treasure Island to snag some photos during the sunset.

Treasure Island is an artificial island in San Francisco Bay. –Wikipedia

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Heart shape created by Annie and me.

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Julia and Annie taking a selfie.

It was fun spending time with Annie’s sister on this trip. I got to know her much better, and vice versa. The biggest thing I’ve learned this trip is that she likes her landmarks and selfies. Hah! All jokes aside, Annie has a great family and they’re a joy to be around.

Dragon’s Breath Dessert in Japan Town

/ Cali, Food, Me, Photo

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Julia demonstrating her dragon breath skills.

On our tour of SF, we stopped by Japan Town and tried out the dragon breath dessert from Chocolate Chair. It’s definitely a gimmick, but everyone should try it out at least once.

The colourful dessert is made up of liquid nitrogen coated ice cream cereal balls.

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Annie anticipating her first taste of dragon’s breath.

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Annie’s dragon’s breath game needs work.

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Dragon’s breath dessert, freezing everything it touches.

It just tastes like cereal. The best way to create the smoke is to take 2 or 3 balls and chew them quickly while breathing out.

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Liquid nitrogen being poured into the mixer.

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Japan Town Peace Pagoda.

A Peace Pagoda is a Buddhist stupa; a monument to inspire peace, designed to provide a focus for people of all races and creeds, and to help unite them in their search for world peace. –Wikipedia

After walking around in Japan Town, we headed back to the apartment. For some reason SF was hot as balls, and everyone was drained.

Dragon Beaux, The Finest Dim Sum in SF

/ Cali, Food, Me

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Crispy roasted pork with two sauces. This is the bar.

It’s been a couple days since I’ve blogged, so there’s a ton to catch up on. I have plenty of content to post—stay tuned this week… there’s some good stuff to share.

On our last episode…

The last time I went to Dragon Beaux, it was with Sol and some of his friends. I posted pictures on instagram, and I think it sparked Annie’s interest. I can certainly say that this is probably one of the best places for dim sum, if you’re willing to pay. We ended up spending about $30 per person.

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Annie and Julia excited to try Dragon Beaux for the first time.

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Fried taro.

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Taro bun.

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Assorted Shanghai soup dumplings.

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Siu mai.

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Spare ribs in black bean sauce.

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Shrimp crepes.

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Fried meat dumpling.

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Zha leung.

This was probably one of the best dishes that we didn’t expect. It’s called zha leung with shrimp.

Zhaliang (炸兩) is a kind of food in Cantonese cuisine of China. It is made by tightly wrapping rice noodle roll around youtiao (fried dough). It is most popular in the Guangdong province of southern China, as well as in Hong Kong. –Wikipedia

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Fried rice.

This was actually mediochre. Avoid the main entrées and save your stomach exclusively for the dim sum.

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Finishing up dim sum. Jake pictured on the left.

Again, this place isn’t the cheapest, but it represents a pretty high bar for dim sum. I highly recommend it, and make sure to go with more people so you can order a larger variety of things to try.