Caring Is Not Only Sharing...

OUR SHOPPING IN ROSEVILLE ended around 3pm after spending around four hours at Macy, yes, just macy even though there are countless shops at the mall.  We rushed home to get our dinner ready for our hungry tummies... Our meal consist a mixed fusion of Chinese, Filipines and western.... Taro leaves with mackeral in santan sauce.... Grilled mackerel seasoned with different types of spices.... This of course needs no introduction.... A Chinese delicacy with everything mixed in... Dried chillies and tamarind is a must... And our dinner began..... For desserts, the Chef's Junior baked some chocolate chips cookies.... Sorry...they are called Oatmeal chocolate cookies... Well, they might not look as good as they seem to be in this picture here... When I took A bite, the chocolate chips melt in my mouth.... Hmmmm.....

SO FAR I HAD TRIED TWO RESTAURANTS selling Dim Sum...one of them is Hong Kong Islander.. The Dim Su restaurants here open at 10am, unlike the ones in Malaysia whixh open as early as 5am?   I love the way they organize the crowd over here in Sacramento... We were given a number and then when the table is ready, we would be called in... We do not have to "search" high and low for a table or share table with anyone... Well, I guess this way is better, register purselves at the counter and then wait to be seated... Ambience is not bad.... And the dim sum are bigger than those in my town.... Beef balls are very common over here.... Another type of dim sum.... Glutinous rice wrapped with lotus leaf... Part of the food we ordered.... They kept coming.... And here we are...so blessed with good food on a Saturday  After our tummies were filled, we went on our way to Vacaville ......

FROM 9am till 8pm, we were out shopping in Vacaville!!  So nice of Elizabeth to drive us around from morning till evening, really appreciate that especially the traffic jam was there... It took us more than forty minutes to reach and .... Oh dear, My credit card is going to burst... Ok, I better mot dwell on that.... On a happier note and scene, upon reaching home, I was so delighted to see the Chef in the kitchen laying out all the ingredients and baking trays on the table... The batter alraedy done up.... And some were lying on the tray waiting to be baked.... I quickly took out my iPad... It is a rare sight after all... And The Chef in action... And after some minutes.... Look, they are ready!! "My oatmeal raisin cookies!" Giant ones!! Cannot resist... The aroma was so tempting.... Ready........ Get set......... GO!!  Hmmmmmmmmm........... Best! Good Job, Abu!!

MOST DAYS WE DID OUR COOKING AT HOME.... As my BIL used to say, "we are in the land of aplenty"...everything is easily accesible over here in the grocery stalls.  A good thing for me too cos I am all for Chinese food, I would miss my homecooked dishes very badly, they called me a "rice pot" (farn toong) cos I like to eat rice every other day at least! My day starts off normally with a light breakfast, a long banana or a piece of toadted bread with Skippy peanut butter.  That is it...see, I am a very simple eater.... Hahahaaaa... After my breakie, I will take out whatever needs to be cooked for lunch and dinner "a 2-in-1" meal....whatever we cook for lunch, they will be for dinner too...    Most of the time, there are at least two dishes and a soup but today, just two enormous dishes.... I made some potatoes with mini sized burgers made from scratch... Notice that the US potatoes here are softer and more "absorbant" if you know what I mean... And

THE HEAT WAS REALLY TERRIBLE as we drove south....   If I am not careful, the hot sun could barbeque my skin in no time....On the way,  we passed through several towns, Elk Grove, Amador city, Sutter Creek, Angels Camp and finally we stopped at Jackson to have our first meal of the day.... The streets are almost desserted... The heat might be the cause of it.... The dam looks dry too...  Maybe it is a working day... I guess no one would want to walk in the hot sun.... Soon we reached Jackson Rancheria... Welcome!! To my surprise, the hotel cum casino resort attracts lots of people here.... At the casino walking around... Seriously... Only loitering around... Wouldn't want to spend my precious $$ on these machines...too easy for them... Better keep close to Lone Wolf... And soon the buffet was about to start.... See.. The prices were very reasonable... Only $8.95 per person... Yes, I belong to the senior group now!   Do I really look like one?  Well, I guess I do... I was charged se