Rabbid

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I got two Rabbid figures at home. Ian got them from Ebay.

For those who don’t know about Rabbids, they are fictional characters in the video games Rayman Raving Rabbids, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 and Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party by Ubisoft.

My first encounter with them was at friend’s place on the Wii console, and I pretty much in love with them. When we got the Wii, I was like a kid crying for the Rayman Raving Rabbids game. Later, my sister brought us Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 and Raving Rabbids TV Party game as my Christmas gift. We played the games several times during Christmas.

Ian admires the expressive 3D animation work on Rabbids; as for me, they are just very cute looking.


The picture you see above is the two figures out of a set of ten that were given to Ubisoft employees. They are not for sale. Ian only found two on Ebay, which I am satisfied with because I am not much of a collector. Two are enough.

We Found It.....

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Last Saturday, we decided to explore the South Burlington area. And we found..... a Chinese Grocery Store. Yay.... we found a Chinese Grocery Store!!!!

Store Name: Kui's Asian Foods Market
Address: 360 Dorset Street, S. Burlington, VT

We talked to the owner and the store has only been opened for a year. The store doesn't have as much variety as a normal Chinese Grocery in a large city, but we can now have Chinese Vegetable such as Cai Xin (菜心) and Shanhai Bak Cai (上海白菜). Although they don't have Snow Pea Spouts (豆苗), we can special ordered Snow Pea Spouts (豆苗) as the owner is kind enough to order one pack from her supplier, just for us. They have very fresh Tofu but only in large containers, if you change the water in the container daily, the owner said you can keep it fresh for two weeks.

We feel so special that we can order what we like and the owner will get it for us.

Snoop Dogg In Las Vegas

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One highlight of the Vegas trip was a chance to see His Snoopness at a Skullcandy sponsored industry party. Somehow we got hooked up with tickets from SkullCandy. More challenging was how we were to get in, as they had printed 5000 tickets for a 2000 capacity venue at the Palms Hotel. When we got there, the line up already wrapped around the casino floor. Fortunately, Ian knew an associate who happened to be dressed in a bunny suit at the front of the line (that story will have to be saved for another time).

The show started at 11:00pm with the up and coming freestyle MC Supernatural. His lyrical talents were such that he could borrow 5 objects from the audience and weave a connected tale together at 100 words per minute! He definitely pumped the audience up.

Next up was Rock Steady Crew DJ Mix Master Mike, who famously worked with such acts as the Beastie Boys. Easily the most versatile DJ I've ever seen, he was able to extend his set to 2.5 hours while the crowd waited for Snoop Dogg to appear.

One of Ian's idols, Mr Wigglez also made an unscheduled appearance on stage. We'll let the video speak for itself.

During this entire time, we were standing/dancing two rows from the stage and didn't want to move for fear of having taller people come in front of us (not entirely unimaginable, if you know us). After many false signs of Snoop's appearance (U ready for Snoop DoGgggGGgg!?) the crowd was getting tired and the energy waning in the club.

Suddenly, Snoop came out in a flash of light. The industrial chandelier blew fire on it's four sides and the crowd roared. Snoop delivered all his classic hits (Ain't Nothing but a G'thang, Gin and Juice, Ain't No Fun, What's My Name) and then some. It was surreal to see this classic pioneer of West Coast Hip Hop about ten feet from us. His entourage was on stage doubling as backup singers and pouring Courvoisier to anyone in the front with a glass.



As fun as it was to be in the moment, the crowd was getting mad rowdy. People were pushing from behind so we decided to leave at about the ninth song and proceeded to head back to the hotel. Turned out Snoop's set was about 10 songs anyway. The night was one of those once in a lifetime things which we can now safely check off our Todo list.

Japanese Restaurant in Las Vegas: Ichiza

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A couple of years ago I went to Vegas with my dad and sister. Since we all liked Japanese food and were fed up with the buffets, we searched for a Japanese restaurant in the phone book. We ended up going to a Chinese-owned all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant nearby the Strip. Disappointingly, the price of the meal was what we would have paid for at a hotel restaurant anyway. Nowadays, with the internet, one could find restaurant reviews at their fingertips and that's exactly what we did. We plugged into the hotel LAN and found this following gem:

Restaurant: Ichiza
Address: 4355 Spring Mountain Rd Ste 205, Las Vegas, NV 89102
Phone: (702) 367-3151

Ichiza is Japanese run, and the environment is very friendly. Modeled after the kind of casual dining one would imagine existing next to a Tokyo subway station, the atmosphere was warm and hectic. You can see the young Japanese kitchen staff preparing meals in the open kitchen, and waitresses rushing about serving up meals and Japanese courtesy. There were no pretensions nor pageantry. What you see is what you get. Perhaps because of this, the menu was not "raw-fish-centric" and focused instead on common Japanese faire. There were many cooked dishes and the variety was good. Space is limited so you better call ahead for a reservation. We headed to the restaurant without making a reservation. Since we were hungry, we took the bar seats when they offered.

We were talking to two local customers - a mother and son and they said Ichiza is the best Japanese restaurant in town. Another reason you should dine at Ichiza is that the prices are much more reasonable compare to the Japanese restaurants on the Strip.

Here are the dishes we ordered on the night we visited, we also ordered the calamari, but we didn't take pictures.

Chinese New Year in Las Vegas

This is the most Chinese New Year decoration we have seen in a long time, a lot of hotels in Vegas have the Chinese New Year theme:

Decoration at Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

The Venetian (Left) & The Lobby of Caesar's Palace (Right)

The Lobby of The Venetian

Las Vegas - SIA trade show

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"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" - Although this motto is what comes to mind as Las Vegas has been trying to appeal to the party-goer in each of us, the truth is that there are many things that are better shared with friends and family alike.

We visited Las Vegas because Ian had to be there for a trade show. This is my first time to participate in the SIA trade show - run by SnowSports Industries America which is for snowboard and ski companies.

At this trade show, you will not find the usual business attire. Streetwear is the standard protocol here, and calamity a daily occurrence.

Check out some of our pics to see what I mean.

(Ian's co-workers)

25 Things About Us

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We received this chain mail note on facebook that encourages you to write 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about yourself.

Normally, we don't respond to chain mails, but I guess it would be fun to do it on our blog.

1. We believe chain mail is the best way for random spammers and identity thieves to collect your information and send you more spam or worse.

2. Ian born in Hong Kong and Gwen born in Canada; but Ian speaks fluent English while Gwen speaks fluent Cantonese. Friends wonder how we communicate, Gwen made Ian speak Cantonese.

3. Ian listened to Queen when he was a kid, Gwen listened to Leslie Cheung when she was a kid.

4. We love having beef and veggies as our main course.

5. We both are allergic to seafood (shell seafood such as crab, shrimp, lobster); but Ian eats them anyway because he doesn't want to miss out. Gwen stopped eating seafood, because she is concerned about the appearance.

6. We hot-pot at home every two weeks or less.

7. We are not video gamers but we play the Wii (especially the Rabbid games)

8. We have low tolerance for cold but we live in one of the coldest states.

9. We love Toro (sushi); but we will stop eating it as the Blue Fin Tuna is becoming extinct.

10. Ian thinks Gwen is funny and Gwen thinks Ian is funny; but for others, neither are funny at all.

11. We like to watch CSI Las Vegas.

12. We are looking forward to traveling together a lot more in the future.

13. We want to stay healthy and live happily forever.

We can't think of any, so that's it.