Life is good~~~~!

Have you ever been at a point where you look around yourself and you realized...............LIFE IS GOOD!!! So good that you are afraid to say it out loud cause you think that if you do so, you might jinx yourself?

I have to tell you, I am there....................I am at a point in my life where I can finally say Life is pretty good. And Yes.... I don't really want to say it out loud because I don't want this to go away.....but I really want to thank all the people that helped make this happen.

Three day climbin trip~~~~

Mono Lake

It might seems like my life right now is all fun and not much work......cause BTE and I went away again this past weekend :)......but I like to think of it as we both worked really hard and we deserve every single bit of it ...................

Last week...... I worked really hard to finish all the fish processing that needed to be done so i could have Friday (Nevada day) off........so we can head out mid day off to the eastern Sierra.

We left at around 1pm and headed for our "hopefully the weather will get nicer" climbing trip. The weather prediction was not looking too great with rain and possible snow falls, but we decided to go for it anywaz and see what life has in store.........we figured we will have fun either way

Headed to Owens River Gorge.........we passed by Topaz Lake, Mono Lake, Crowley Lake and Mammoth Lake.............and a few places that we have been before.......... (I should give credit to AC because she was the one that reminded me I should make an effort of remembering all the places I have been to and so I did)

On the way to the Gorge.... We stop at Owens Valley and soaked into this hot tube that was in the middle of a wide field............just out in the open there.... ready and warm..............and then we just camped around the corner in the GT (or now newly named as the freedom mobile)



Sat morning when we drove out we saw maybe three rainbows..... They were beautiful...............Then we headed to the Middle Gorge and hike down a little bit until we hit the bottom. The view is breathtaking. It is always seeing places like this that reminded how wonderful my life is....and how privileged I should feel.....

Walking down to the middle Gorge

The weather totally worked out for us... It was a bit rainy in the morning of Sat but as we started climbing the sun came out. We did about 4 climbs and the the clouds started to come in and we hiked out............the first day was a perfect warm up day for me since i have only climbed outdoor 2 times before this and have never belayed a lead climber. Btw, BTW is a great teacher :)


We went to the town of Bishop Sat night to restock our supplies....and then drove to our camping spot. It was dark out there so I didn't know where we were. But in the morning when I woke up. This was what i saw..............it was beautiful

A view out from our door

Then on Sunday.... we went to the upper Gorge to try a few more climbs. We had to hike down this really steep trail to get down to the bottom of the Gorge. See the picture following. Basically, we hiked along that ridge line all the way to the bottom.

A view of the upper Gorge

I had so much fun climbing. I feel like i have definitely improved. I have learned to trust my body, my arms and my legs more. I have learned how to use more of my toe edge. I have also tried moves that i didn't know I had it in me. I made a couple of climbs in one go and I have also learned how to clean a route which was really fun. I was a little scared belaying a lead climber but BTE made it really easy for me and was really good with useful pointers and instructions.......

Here are some examples of my proud climbs......I am looking forward to do this again............Can't wait!!!

A much needed extended relaxing long weekend!!!

A panoramic view of Donner Lake on a lovely Friday afternoon

This all started last week Wednesday.............I had one of the most amazing weekend (or extended weekend) I have had for a while.......................Work was put aside mostly........and Fun was all in place

Wednesday: I took the morning off to clean my room and run some errands, then I was in "nice dinner" mode. BTE suggested a few days before to take me out to a nice dinner for my belated bday celebration since i was in Lake Mead back then. Anna and I spent perhaps a good two hours the night before to pick out an amazing outfit for the night. I have always wanted to try this American tapas bar BITE in Incline Village, so BTE took me there.

I am not sure what American Tapas is but they definitely followed the theme of small plates. They are famous for their slider (small burgers) so we ordered the Ahi sliders and that was pretty tasty. Although I would suggest that they should bake their own buns.



Then we ordered couple others small plates. Kaffir lime leaf crab cake with a tarragon and cucumber emulsion, Tequila garlic prawns with cilantro creme fraiche and Sweet potatoes fries with creole maple mustard.


We had a couple of drinks, two desserts and a lot of wonderful conversations that night.......but of course I forgot to take a foto at the restaurant so we had to do it at home



Thursday: I had to work in the morning at the Keys. The water was so cold but the lake was calm and nice. I was checking my temperature loggers and my hydroacuostic receivers all morning. With the water level so low, it was really hard for us to go around without getting caught with milfoil and other objects, but we managed to get everything we wanted to do by around 3pm. Afterwards, BTE took me to this amazing cabin in the woods. It is called the Lost Trail Lodge. (sorry forgot to take picture again, but they have a pretty good website). The lodge is amazingly beautiful. It was Twin Peaks, a catering company based out of King Beach, annual party. There was lots of good food and great music. Thanks BTE for inviting me and Mike and Liz for having me there :).


Friday: After a much needed sleep in and some wonderful breakfast provided by Mike and Liz, BTE and I said our goodbye and headed for Donner Summit. Yes, Climbing!!! I am not sure if anyone read a post I had a while back about my accident on the slope, but we decided to try again and this time we headed for Donner Summit. The weather was perfect for climbing. There wasn't a lot of people there which was great for slow climber like me cause usually there would be. I tried two route but did not make any of them. Well next time I tell myself, I will only get better :)

BTE repelling down after setting up the top rope

Saturday: We woke up real early this morning to get ready to head to the ski swap!!! Everyone that i have talked to has told me that if i don't ski or snowboard in the winter, I will be bored to death. So Anna, BTE, Brad and I headed to the ski swap in hopes of finding some affordable equipments for the winter to come. I was so glad that BTE was there cause I have no clue in terms of what to get and he was the master. So i basically just walked around in circles while BTE picked out all the stuff I need for me and all i had to do was pay....and Pay i did..... I dropped $600.... Can you believe that??? Anywaz, 3 hours and 600 bucks later, I am now the proud owner of 2 pairs of ski, semi-new ski boat, poles, gloves and some warm socks. I guess all I have to do now is to get a ski pass and learn how to ski

Sunday: The Do stuff crew which that day consist of MW, JS, JM, K?, AS and Me went hiking from Spooner Lake to Marllete Lake. The weather was so nice. I couldn't believe that it was already late Oct. The hike was about 4.5 miles one way with some slight uphills. It was full of fall Aspens along the trail. The only thing I would complain about was that we had to share the trail with horse riders which means that there was alot of horse deposit on the ground :(.





It was so hard for me to get back into work mode on Monday.... but work must go on!!! And i guess it is those busy days that make the not so busy days so much fun and enjoyable :) Looking forward to another long weekend like this :)

Lake Mead-- An invasive species party

I know I have disappeared for about a month.... Sorry, that also implied that I had an extremely busy and eventful month :) which was awesome!!!

Well first of all, in the beginning of Oct.... It was our lab's long awaited Lake Mead trip.... which means we headed to Les Vegas!!! Well yeah for work not for fun.... It was fun too but work was hard.

A little background on Lake Mead.....It is the largest man-made reservoir in the U.S.. It spans across two state, Nevada and Arizona. The water is impounded by the famous Hoover Dam......

Why were we there??? We wanted to collect some quagga mussels to run some survival experiments.... Our question was "Can quagga mussels survive in Lake Tahoe water?".

How did we collect those quagga mussels??? We rented a house boat, yes a HOUSE BOAT (with a water slide at the back) there for 10 days and just pull ponars like there is no tomorrow.

** a little side note. Sorry about the lack of pictures. I did get a new camera but I lost all my Lake Mead picture while I was trying to download them onto my laptop... I am really sad :(, so all photos in this post are generous donation from Dr.MW **




Here is our main crew- minus MW and JU trying to figure out where we should park our Deluxe house boat



I have to say, Lake Mead is an invasive species party! We found Quagga mussels growing on live Asian clams... with New Zealand mudsnail motoring around them..... The foto above is a perfect example of little quagge mussels growing on big quagga mussels




During the trip, it was also my bday...... ( I wonder why I looked so mad in this foto??? ) MW and AC made me a cake!!! I was so happy. We went out to the strip one night (sorry lost all my foto) and I have to say what they did to Vegas is incredible none the least, but how wasteful......all the lights, water and resources................I just can't quite understand.


Anywaz................at the end of this.......................I have to say I love my job...........I am grateful for the opportunity to see the world....................

Some random field fotos

Field Pride (the LeConte is on the left)



Invasion..............................





A perfect picture of the Keys



A baby Sculpin




Some Corbicula for breakfast?

Best of the West Rib Cook off.....

I am a loyal reader of Yum Sugar..... that is pretty much the first and last website i check everyday and night.... and one of my favourite part is the listing of all the food related event happening around the States......However, living in Toronto before I never actually had the chance to attend any of the listed events... until this past week!

Well I guess is also because I now live in the States :)......

anywaz, I went to the Best of the West Rib Cook off this past week..... well the reason i wrote this past week is because i actually went twice :P..........Well partly because i love ribs... but it is also because I went with two different group of friends and they all wanted to go and I just can't say no to that :)

I have never seen so much meat, BBQ sauces and bones piling around like that...............it was totally a carnivore's heaven or as BTE would say..... "It is the burning man of ribs!!!"..............In combination of the two days of my attendance, I think I managed to taste about 8 different store..... I think my personal favourite for BBQ sauce was Famous Dave's devil's spit and my favourite rib was Rasta Joe I like their Island Fire BBQ sauce too....but the celery seed addition in the Famous Dave's sauce ultimately won my heart.......

I have this say I was a little overwhelmed by the experience.... the big crowd at a hot summer reno/sparks night......but if you like some messy, sticky finger experience and lots of meat.... I definitely recommend it. However, if you can try to go on a weekday..... way more enjoyable, I have to say

Sorry about the pictureless posting lately..... still on the hunt of a camera...... hopefully I will find one soon :)

TBC...............a preview

As Marion (the person who took this picture) named it...........Food angels being born........



To be continued with the recipe...........I can't put it up because my computer is still in the shop...it has been two weeks ~~~~>.<~~~~

First outdoor climbing trip

Before I realized, the end of summer is moving near...........and one thing I told myself that I need to try when I knew I was moving to Tahoe was some REAL outdoor rock climbing.......

I have been waiting for this for a long time and finally this past Sunday I was able to go out............

Being a city climber (i.e. indoor gym climbing), I have never climbed outdoor before...........OK be that one time in high school...........but that was it, so I was really excited and nervous at the same time!

After some practice at the little gym in Sparks last Monday.... I thought I would be ready for some real climbing, but.....................


Sunday Morning:

Bright and early, BTE and I left KB and headed for Truckee River Canyon (see link).........There are so many places you can go in Tahoe, but BTE wanted to check out my skills and stuff so we picked this place where there are less people so I can get some practice......

It took us a little while before we found the place...........and when we looked up..........we knew this trip would take us longer then we intended :P

Imagine hiking up some pretty steep terrain mainly composed of big and small Basalt....and some major bushwhacking in FLIP FLOPS.......... Yeah, that was how we did it.............I have to tell you, I will never ever forget to bring shoes when climbing ever again!!!

And on our way up to the cliff..............a little accident happened..........I was holding on to some rock to balance myself and of course, stupid me...............I grab one big rock that was just barely sitting there..................and what happened when I pull on it?..................It fell..............on my chest and then continue its way down the mountain.............Good thing was, I didn't fall with the rock but it sure was scary ~~~>.<~~~

So before we actually started climbing..........I already have one bleeding chest......and two scratched-up legs........

By maybe around 11:30, we finally managed to set our rope down and get ready for some toproping (well when i say we, i really meant BTE cause I have no idea how to do all that........but i was there to learn!!!)...............It was running late as both of us need to be back home in the afternoon. However, we still managed to squeeze in a few climbs before we had to go..................

I have to say real rock climbing is hard.................and it is really different from the gym.................I didn't do very well at all but it was sure really fun............Plus BTE is a great instructor.......informative, patient and really encourging........so I guess that made the experience really enjoyable

Too bad I don't have a camera anymore, or else i would have taken some pictures.... Oh well, next time.... I am sure or I hope we will go again sometime soon :)


To all the city climber out there, (e.g. Natasha and Pete)................you guys should really try to get yourself out there.............even better, you two should come to Tahoe and join me :)


Anywaz, for the time being............i will have to tend my chest so I won't be scar for life.......and await for my next climbing trip

One only? Shakespeare on the Lake

I went to Shakespeare on the Lake with the TERC crew this past Tuesday...........well this rendition of Mid Summer Night's Dream was interesting...............or may I say "INTERESTING"......... What was more interesting was how Anna and I were greeted at the Will Call desk.......

We had our tickets on hold for pick up at Will Call and when we went up to the lady.....she asked for our last names and looked for our tickets. When she found it, guess what she said?..........."For ONE only"................yes, that was what she said!!! Well I guess people only usually go to these events as doubles or families, instead of singles........but it was just so funny that she said it out loud to both of us. So the two of us were like......."Oh we are together.".............Then a lady behind us was like " Oh, you girls are such a cute couple".................

Well here it is...........a post to my "lover" Anna................I heart you!

Went sailing...................

A view of the sky, the mainsail, the boom and................a black object :P

I just had an epic field week this past week............I was out on the lake in the boat for a whole week..... every single day!!! Hahaha.... don't worry, I am not complaining.... I just want to make you all envious of me hehe (evil eh!?!).

Anywaz, was gonna have my first outdoor climbing experience in Tahoe last weekend, but that fail through instead I went sailing (not a bad alternative eh!). So last Sunday, I went sailing on BTE and DT's sail boat.........It was actually the first time this summer that I was on a boat but not WORKING!!! Amazing..............

Boat owners........DT and BTE

It was kind of a short notice so I didn't have enough time to make a spread of food...........I used up some of the peaches i bought for making a Brown butter Peach Tart for another event and some leftover puff pastry from 4th of July and made some Mini Peach and Goat Cheese Tart.


It was raining in the beginning so we had to hang out in the Van for a bit, which was kind of fun...almost like a car picnic :) Then, the sky started to clear up a little bit........and off we go............There wasn't much wind on our way out to Commons Beach...........so we basically powered out there, anchored, listened to some pretty so so music, drank some wine and relaxed!!!


On our way back, wind started blowing so we managed to sail a tiny bit...............but not for long , and the wind was gone (oh it rhymes!!!)

Melanie steering us home during our 5 mins of actual sailing!!! (and yes we made it home :P)

Heading home (if you look close enough, you will notice that we were motoring home hehe)

Non work related boating was really fun...........Hopefully will get to again soon..........well if you guys can give an earlier notice.........I promise I will make more food :)

17 miles~~~ Barker Pass to Tahoe City TRT

Well I have told myself before I move to Tahoe that I need to explore the outdoors as much as possible. So i joined this hiking club from MEETUP, so that I can not only make some new friends but also do some great hikes..........

And I have to say this one was great...........It was probably the best time to hike if you like wild flowers. They were everywhere.........everywhere you look there are some beautiful flowers........I wish i know more about them. I think i am going to try to find a guide book somewhere (the problem is there is not good used book store in North lake). The hike is about 17 miles long. It is a section of the Tahoe Rim Trail. This particular section is pretty mellow, not alot of uphills and are mostly shaded.

A mountain daisy?

I think this is Lupins

I can't remember what these guys are called

I went with two wonderful ladies on this hike, Karinn and Wendy. We had some great conversion and I found out that both ladies are learning ASL. Can you believe that? I have been looking and looking for people to practice ASL with and there they are!!! Wendy is a great signer. She knows so much.

The wonderful Ladies!

We managed to finish the hike pretty quickly. I think we started at about 8 am and finished at about 2 or 3 o'clock! At the end of the hike, I didn't even feel very tired at all. But of course, the next day is always the most painful day...........my butt was really really really sore! I guess I don't use that part of my body very much :P Despite the aftermath, I would still do it again if you ask me :)

Thanks Ladies and looking forward to the next hike with you girls!

17 miles later.................my dirty feet

4th of July Blue House BBQ

We always say the best food in Tahoe City is in the blue house. And If you came to our 4th of July BBQ, you definitely will agree..............................

I think we started cooking at about 10 in the morning....... Anna was baking chocolate pecan pie (to die for)............Marion was making her "life altering" pasta salad with lots of goodies in it............and House "dad" Collin was chopping up wood for the BBQ..............I choose to make some authentic Korean BBQ and a strawberry goat cheese tart for appetizer.

We then took a break and went to the Beach. Marcy came up with Amber and a bunch of friends from Reno. We were all sitting at the beach and then all of a sudden it just became really windy so we had to hide back in the blue house

A foto of my super easy strawberry goat cheese tart (recipe will be posted soon)

All the Banchan for Korean BBQ

Collin assembling the Korean BBQ

I love Korean BBQ.....................because it is a balance of protein and greens..............I skipped the rice that day because we had too much food, but you can never skip the banchan (Korean side dishes) that go with it.

And that is what is so special about Korean BBQ...............You wrap your meat (marinated with Korean BBQ sauce) in a piece of lettuce and then you add this Korean soybean paste and any of the side dishes that you like.............roll it up like a spring roll and there you have it....................your meat and your salad all in one hand :)

The BBQ was super fun........................We ate and ate and drank and drank till we couldn't do it anymore............and then we all headed out to the beach to see some firework. Because of where we were siting, we actually managed to see the firework from both north and south shore, pretty cool eh?

I had to graduate early that night because of (you know what).................... but I was told that everyone really enjoyed Anna's pecan pie outside my bedroom :P


Great job team....... and thanks for the company........we should do this again sometime soon

That is SOME field work!!!

Bibimbap........a wonderful summer dish

Well in my previous post....... I am sure I have already expressed my excitement of finding a Korean market in Sparks.

So to continue that theme of making Korean food, I made one of my favourite Korean dish--- Bibimbap!

Bibimbap is a dish with loads of fun because you can basically put whatever you want on there and it is also a great fridge "cleaner". Whatever you found in your fridge that will go well with rice and spicy pepper sauce is good to go!!! It is also really healthy cause you put loads of vegetables on it.

For this time, I put in the following ingredients on top of steamy fluffy short grain rice:

Zucchini, Carrots, Spinach, Kimchi, the bean sprouts i made earlier that week, and tuna

For the sauce, it is also really easy to make:

Gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste), rice vinegar, sugar and water


To assemble:

- Top a wide bowl with hot rice

- Pour a splash of sesame oil over rice

- Arrange vegetable and meat on top of rice

- Place a fried egg in the centre (optional)

- Sprinkle sesame seed over top

To eat:

- Mix Bibimbap sauce with rice and all ingredients until well mixed

- Enjoy!!!





4th of July is coming.......and I think I am going to make some Korean BBQ to serve my friends!!! It will be fun.................Hopefully everyone will show up (fingers crossed :P)

Banchan-Sesame infused soy bean sprout

So I found Yim's Asian Market yesterday in Reno.............got like 40 dollars worth of groceries............

Now I am bored on a Sat..........is time to make something!!!

But I feel lazy so i don't want to make anything too complicated............so I think i am going to try to make some Banchan (Korean side dishes), which whoever had Korean food before knows that it is the best part of Korean cuisine.........the variety..........the choices................

Here is one of them:

Sesame oil infused soy bean sprout

Soy bean sprout is slightly different from the typical bean sprouts you see in general supermarket. The one that most people know is grown from green beans or mung beans. The one used in this recipe is grown from yellow soy bean.

I got the recipe from My Korean Kitchen which is an awesome blog for all Korean cooking. Too bad though cause it seems like the blogger had stopped posting new post. I hope she will come back :)

Hmm........What should I make tomorrow?

Yim's............changed my life!!!

I have always wondered how I am going to survive in the "food diversity desert" of North Lake Tahoe. The lake is pretty (the other day i drove by east shore and looked out...........the lake was so blue and beautiful..........i had to yell to myself "I love you Lake Tahoe!!!"..........It is that pretty :), but really there are not that many choice when it comes to food. I guess unless you are willing to pay top dollars which i don't have................

Well I love food........and I have to say one of my favorite food is Korean food, although i think i might have to say I just love all good food. OK, let just say I love to make Korean food a lot at home. It is easy, tasty and mostly healthy.

Two weeks ago, I went to the only Asian grocer that i know of in Reno. It is at Keystone and 5th.
I think is called Reno Asian Market to stock up my pantry. They have a good selection of Thai and Chinese product, but when it comes to Japanese and Korean products there wasn't much. I was really disappointed cause i could find Gochujang (hot pepper paste) which is used in pretty much every dish Korean. And as i was told by a local Korean, there is no Korean restaurant in Reno. OH no..................I guess I will have to give up Korean food unless I go to Sacramento (according to my reliable sources), until I found Yim's.....................

Yim's is everything Korean, own by Korean and sell mostly Korean product..............I was in Heaven!!! ..................I was so excited which then made me really chatty, so i basically told the owner my life story and how much i love Korean food and how I have come all the way from Lake Tahoe to Reno to visit them.........and on and on and on HAHA (that is me when it comes to food!!!)

Anywaz, I stock myself up the best I can.... i couldn't get everything cause it will just go bad..........so i guess next time :)

So......my next step is to show my "very few" friends what Korean food is all about.......as I think most of them has never had Korean food...................I am excited!!!

Oh forgot.......here is the address of Yim's, in case a curious Tahoeian wants to know where it is

Markleeville Creek camping trip

It has been about three weeks since i have moved to Tahoe....................i know it was not a long time but a lot of things had happened.....................a combination of work and life, i guess..................

My camping buddies: Jen and Marcy

so when Marcy suggested that we should go for a short camping trip, i was super excited cause I really needed to get out...... let me rephrase, I really need to do some "not for work" outing!!!

Since all of us were busy, we decided to do a spontanous camping trip............no planning, just picked a direction and drive away.........................and it turned out to be extremely fun :)

It was perfect camping weather so there was a lot of people in the area. We found this cute little campsite with only a total of 10 camp spot called Markleeville Creek campground. It was right by the creek so you can hear water flowing at your camp. The camp host John is extremely nice and very helpful!!!

We also did a really pretty hike which started at Grovers hot spring up to Burnside Lake. The hike was about 12 miles round trip. There was a fair bit of uphill hiking with a total elevation difference of about 2200 feet from start to finish. Therefore you can imagine there was quite a bit of change in scenery during the hike. The day we went on the hike was pretty cool, some sun but not too too hot (although i still did get a slight sunburn on my back). It took us about 5 hours to finish the hike including lunch and water break :)

View from the midway lookout

Burnside Lake @ ~8000 feet

Anywaz, I can wait to go out again!!!

I just wish i can order a climbing or camping buddy online HAHA.......................I need more friends!!!