Home Life
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Home Life

By Anita

Unlike some of the other bloggers who are off gaining world experience traveling, I simply went home to Northern California for spring break. It was a calm Saturday morning at Burbank Bob Hope Airport as I waited for my flight to Oakland:

Before boarding the plane, the guy standing in front of me in line and I were wonderingif the mobile boarding passes would still work if we took a screen shot of it. We asked the flight attendant as we were about to board. “Just in case, you know, Wifi shuts down and our email doesn’t work anymore,” I added. Laughing, she told us to try. Confirmed, it works! Back home, my parents showed me all the souvenirs they brought back from my dad’s most recent business trip to Chengdu, China. These included a “face-changer” figurine:

And an adorable stuffed panda:

Also, a fuzzy panda vest complete with paws for pockets!

We went hiking at Mission Peak in Fremont, California. The San Francisco hills were quite freshly green thanks to all of the winter rains:

The Mission Peak trail is a winding uphill path with gorgeous views of the city at a different angle at every overhang:

There were a lot of cows roaming free as well:

We went to Tomi Sushi Buffet in San Jose for a big brunch after the hike. It holds the spot of honor in my foodie’s heart as the best Asian buffet I’ve ever been to. Not only does it have a huge selection of fresh sushi including nigiri…

But also good-quality dim sum and Japanese tempura (I have never seen another buffet so generously provide separate trays for fried shrimp and fried vegetables; usually they try to hide the shrimp as well as possible to save costs):

And also excellent quality Chinese-Taiwanese-Cantonese roasted meats, including char siu pork, Peking duck, soy sauce chicken, lemongrass chicken, roasted pork skin. Seriously, I would buy this stuff if they catered and bring it home for dinner:

And of course, they also happen to have deliciously creamy and not-too-sweet ice creams, fresh fruit, soft mochi, and tasty cakes for dessert:

Fully intending to be as relaxed as possible to recharge my brain for my last term at Caltech, my body overshot its mark and fell quite sick. I ended up not doing much for an entire week of spring break, which, if I had to be very honest, I did not really mind.

Till next time! Anita

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