The House Poet

Hey all! I am back in Stockton, having taken the train on Friday. Andrew picked me up and we have been having fun! :) I am starting to feel better, which inspires me! It was raining all day on Friday, which made the day seem rather cozy. I spent the morning getting my stuff together and trying to make my boxes seem less heavy for my dad's move this weekend. Yep, my family moved, but luckily they are still on the trail I love so much! Around 10:30ish, one of my best friends, Andi, came to pick me up with all my stuff and we went out to lunch. She offered to drive me to the Amtrak station, which saved me a lot of stress. Thanks Andi-girl! :) So, where did we go? Pho Saigon of course! ;D It is a tradition between us to always go out to Vietnamese food when I am in town. This new place is so good that we knew we had to go! She ordered the spring rolls with shrimp as a starter and scarfed them down! :)They looked very fresh! I, of course, ordered the egg rolls, which are my favorite, a...

When I was in elementary school, I had a special group of friends. We stayed friends all through middle school, all through high school, and now we are separated and navigating the choppy seas of adulthood and college. Two of those friends are still very important to me, and on Tuesday I was able to see both, albeit for a short while. Over the summer, we were all dealing with separate things and I was worried about them. Luckily, seeing them on Tuesday and hearing about their experiences this past semester has assuaged my worries. We are all growing and learning. :) I was having serious Vietnamese food cravings because my sister refuses to go out and eat it with me. Thus, my friend Andi and I went for Vietnamese food at Le Cheval. This restaurant is the third of three, owned and run by friends of my grandmother! The food is a bit pricey, but it's good Vietnamese food. I went over the summer with my grandmother, so I was excited to follow up on it. We got there a little before noon,...

My friend Jen has been having intense pho cravings this past week, so my friend Mary took Jen and me to try Mama Pho yesterday, since I was raving about it all week to them. Yay! Also, I am glad I was with with them because Andrew left for the Philippines yesterday and I miss him so much. It's good that I am spending time with my friends so I have fun and so I won't get too lonely. :) The place was still spotless and warm on this rainy and freezing cold Friday. Andrew and his family were at Mama Pho earlier, and I can't wait to hear about what they ordered! I ordered a small beef steak pho and a grilled pork sandwich. Oh my goodness, the sandwich was melting in my mouth, it was so utterly rich in distinct flavors....and the bread was warm and tasty! Just perfection! My little pho, which was tasty, filling, and warm! :) Mary ordered the Korean beef short rib plate, and she let me try a piece. It was very simple yet tasty and filling! A bit greasy, but delicious nonetheless. ...

I can't believe I haven't put up this post yet! In the beginning of this semester, my college offered a trip to San Francisco by bus for only $5! Such an awesome deal! So, my friends and I were lucky enough to hear about it so we paid and were excited to go! Above is us putting our shoes together. My shoe is the awesome orange one!!! :D The bus dropped us off in Union Square, and since we were hungry we walked over to Katana-ya after shopping a bit in Macy's. Katana-ya is a super tiny and very popular Japanese restaurant in Union Square. The place itself is very narrow and the walls are adorned with colorful and funky pieces of art! There was a nice mix of jazz and Japanese pop music playing while we ate. :) I ordered a combination lunch of Miso Ramen and katsu don. Above is the katsu don, which is pork katsu with sauce on top of rice with a salad. The dressing on the salad was a delicious creamy sesame one. I wish Japanese restaurants sold the dressing they use, it's...

Last Saturday, I was indeed a pho hoe. It was my friend Jen's 20th birthday, so we went all out and had a great girls' night out! :) We first went to Pho Saigon Bay, and it was good! Some of my friends had never had Vietnamese food before so I helped them out and suggested some good dishes. I, of course, went for the beef pho and cha gio (Imperial rolls). I got a medium bowl and requested extra noodles for a dollar. It was funny because they didn't put the noodles in the bowl with the pho, but in a separate bowl with a tasty broth......hmmm. It was still good though! Just oddly presented I guess. This entire order was for me....I love these so much! I wrapped the rolls up in the lettuce and pickled veggies, which brought them up to a whole new level! :) Very fresh and tasty! Yep.....there is my pho and extra noodles. I loved it! The broth is so rich and beefy, but not overpoweringly so. The beef wasn't too tender, but that's okay. Great soup! After dinner, since we ...

Hello all! Yes, I know it has been quite some time since I last posted something and I feel bad about it. I just got really busy for a while, you know how tough the life of a college student can be! ;) I have TONS of pictures to post up for various entries, so those will be coming up in the future! Also, for a while I was scared my camera was broken but then my friend helped me figure out what was wrong this morning, thus I was able to get the pictures from it! Yay! :D So, last Wednesday, I was invited to go to a Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwich) place near campus by a new friend, who is Vietnamese. I was so excited and happy that she invited me! She is really nice and we get along very well. I love making new friends! :D I ordered the #6 with the egg roll combo. The #6 sandwich had grilled pork in it, along with pickled carrots and a white veggie thing, cilantro, a thick slice or two of crunchy cucumber, and I think of mayonnaise. I enjoyed it, but wished there was more pork in it. Howeve...

I have consumed so much pizza these past few weeks! First I had some pizza with Andrew's family one Saturday night, then I went to Pacific Pizza twice last week! Pacific Pizza is such an awesome place because it about 3 minutes away by walking and they give UOP students a 15% off discount! :D My friends and I love it! Their pizza is pretty good too, and they offer quite a few different toppings. My favorite is mushroom and canadian bacon! Yum! Last night the cafeteria was closed, and since my friends and I had just come back from San Francisco we didn't want to eat school food anyway. So, we went over to Pacific Pizza! I ordered the above pizza with mushrooms and Canadian bacon, and took two slices back to my room! I ate them today and they were good! I also went last Thursday night for fun and ordered a mushroom and red onion pizza. It was still good, but I like it with Canadian bacpn better. :) Here is the upskirt shot! So clean....I wish they had let it cook longer. This w...

Last Tuesday night, I was so hungry. Perhaps it was the fact that the day was pretty hot and stuffy, or perhaps I just wasn't feeling like school food. My friend Jen had been telling me we had to get pho together soon, and since I wanted to go out, we decided to go that night! Problem was, neither of us had a car and no one was free to drive us. So.....we ended up walking up the street to go to Pho Saigon Bay, which is the pho place Jen likes. It didn't take too long, maybe 20-25 minutes, and luckily it was cooling down. The road, which is a main road in Stockton, was so busy and full of cars! It made me realize how many people live here and have to commute. It would be so cool if Stockton revamped it's public transportation system, but we'll see.... When she and I got to the restaurant, it was cool and full of shade! We sat down and looked over the menus handed to us, salivating over the pictures of the various dishes. By that time she and I were so hungry!!!!!! First...

Today turned out a little different than I expected, but in an awesome way! I didn't go to work this morning, but stayed home and packed some more. I am practically all packed up, except for a few necessities and my stuffed animals! :D Before dinner, My sister and I put most of my boxes and random things into the trunk of the car! Anyway, one of my closest friends and her little sister who is my sister's closest friend came over today for lunch and ended up spending the entire afternoon with us!!! :) We had so much fun and said our good-byes. We are all leaving except for my sister. For lunch, we went to a pretty new Walnut Creek joint called The Counter. It's a burger place where you can build your burger and they have tons of options! I was dying to try it, as I've been in a burger mood lately!! :D To start with, they brought us our order of fries. I think it's a little odd to bring the fries way before the burgers.... I enjoy eating my fries with my burger. The...

My room is becoming more and more bare as I pack things up for school on Wednesday. Now that I am just about to go back, I can hardly believe it! I don't know what to expect, but I want to have fun and become closer to the special people surrounding me there! I am also super excited about being on my own again! Being in the same city as Andrew also makes me so happy and excited!!! :) This afternoon I went and hung out with my two closest old friends for the last time. I probably won't be able to see them until Winter Break, but it's okay. We plan to keep in touch, so the goodbyes weren't dramatic or sad. They never are between us. :) So, we decided, since it was a hot day, to go chill and talk at a really cool cafe called Caffe La Scala. It's an old cafe that's been in Walnut Creek forever and it's walls are decorated with vintage French and Italian posters. I ordered a small hazelnut gelato and water. The gelato was good, but almost tasted powdery. Perhaps ...

Uwah~~~ I have been so busy and I'm loving it!!! :) I went to Los Angeles with my family last week on Sunday until Tuesday, and I have lots to post about! When we came back, I went to work on Wednesday, then to Stockton for a special visit to my love, and then Friday and Saturday Andrew stayed over at my place! It was a really fun and special week, and it was also my last full week of summer! I go back to school on Wednesday! Yay! Andrew starts school tomorrow, so let's wish him good luck! :) We arrived on Sunday around lunchtime and it was pretty hot, with the sun shining brightly onto everything and you were lucky to find shade. I had made plans with my friend Jen to have lunch at the famous Ramen place Daikokuya in Little Tokyo. Our hotel is right across the street from Daikokuya, so it was very convenient! Since it was Sunday, it was set to open at noon, and when we got in line at 11:50ish, there was already a super long line of people waiting in the hot sun!!! Thus, my dad...