Matsutake, Worldgate, Hernden, VA October 31, 2015
Posted by hslu in China.Tags: Hernden VA, Matsutake, Worldgate Shopping Center
add a comment
This Japanese restaurant has been here in the Worldgate Shopping Center for years. This SC is a few miles from the Dulles Airport and is surrounded by many businesses doing contracting works for the federal government. Restaurant business here in Northern Virginia have been great as economies around Washington DC expanded with all the spending on Homeland Security and national defense.
Matsutake started to offer lunch buffet from a few years back probably because time has been tough since the financial crisis. We came for a late dinner after working with a real estate agent for several hours.
The restaurant is divided into two sections: a regular dining section and a slightly larger teppanyaki 鐵板燒section.
We went for the regular menu because teppanyaki is boring, expensive and an over-priced show.
We had calamari, sushi, teriyaki beef and roasted eel over rice.
The quality of the food was ordinary at best. The teriyaki beef was actually sub-par because it tasted bland with end-of-the-day, low quality and cheap vegetables. Calamari was okay without the dipping sauce. I have had much better sushi at other Japanese restaurants. Roasted eel over rice was over priced, tasteless and loaded with rice but not eel.
This would be the last time I came to this restaurant.
Revenge of the Third Kind October 27, 2015
Posted by hslu in Travel.Tags: Maryland Live!, Penny slots
add a comment
While on our way back to home from Annapolis, we decided to make a detour to Maryland Live! to get some relief from many days of hard work and worries.
Nothing fancy but a couple of hours of penny slots and a quick bite at the adjacent food court of a big outlet mall.
It has been said and personally verified that if you want to creat wealth to casino owners, you play slots. The odd has been around 96% for all slots here at Marland Live! in favor of the casino. Casinos prefer people playing slots because they can make money faster than from table games.
Well, sun sometimes shines on unluckiest people and a broken clock gets the time right twice everyday.
Table turned against the casino this time and my wife won $765 from penny slots.
Sorry that you have to turn it around and blow it up to see the dollar amount.
There is a Chinese saying which goes like this: 君子報仇三年不晚。
Even though she lost about $100 later, it’s been a beautiful day indeed.
Jimmy’s Old Town Tavern, Hernden, VA October 27, 2015
Posted by hslu in Food, Restaurants.Tags: Jimmy's Old Town Tavern, Old town Herndon VA
add a comment
Heard of this place for a long time and Yelp gave it pretty high marks too. Unfortunately we just didn’t find a good execuse to try it.
Until a few weeks ago when my 4Runner failed VA inspection at Hernden Sunoco on Elden Street.
My 16-year-old, 255,000-mile 4Runner needed a pair of rear shocks, new fog lights, adjustment to rear brakes and work on hand brake. It needed $700 and an over-night stay at the garage.
Jimmy’s was only two blocks away which gave us a perfect execuse to have a quick lunch there.
Good service with friendly smiles. Fairly decent bar food which was perfect with a cold beer. Greasy hamburger to share, crispy fries, BBQ wings and thick, hot and meaty chili with jalepino made our lunch so much more enjoyable.
Too bad my car was still waiting for parts and I needed to squeeze out $750 from somewhere to pay for it. In the mean time, I needed to get up early tomorrow to take my wife to work. The other car, a 15-year old CRV, passed the inspection after $150 damage to my pocket. It needed a new engine mount for the transmission.
QTea Cafe, Fairfax City, VA October 27, 2015
Posted by hslu in Chinese Food, Restaurants.Tags: Fairfax City, Qtea Cafe, Virginia
add a comment
Saw this relatively new Chinese restaurant near the H Mart Korean Supermarket inFairfax City the other day.
The type of food it services is not too dissimilar to that from Bubble Tea in Rockville in Maryland. Of particular interest to me is the deep fried chicken nuggets with Chinese basil. We decided to compare
the two.
We also ordered braised pork belly meat on rice too. For appetizer, we had deep fried tofu.
We were somewhat disappointed because:
1. The deep fried chicken nuggets, although tender and tasty, weren’t spicy at all and they could use more basil too.
2. The restaurant was too cold to enjoy the meal and the food got cold fast.
3. The ground pork sauce over rice was too light compared to what’s commonly served in Taiwan.
4. Tofu needed to stay in the deep frier a bit longer.
5. We didn’t enjoy the pork belly meat because it wans’t properly seasoned.
Prices were reasonable and the staff was nice too.
Biden may be in October 19, 2015
Posted by hslu in Election, Middle East, Obama.Tags: Biden, Hillary, Obama
1 comment so far
It has been widely reported that Biden will jump in to give Hillary a run of her bid to the WH.
The perpetual one foot in his mouth VP will run for the third Obama term and I am sure Biden received backing from Obama to run against Hillary. Everyone knows that Obama hates Hillary. She, along with Obama, is responsible for the Big mess in the Mid East and thousands of migrants flooding into Europe. It cascaded from the downfall of Libya and the removal and killing of Gaddafi.
Let the fun begin for the next 13 months.
Anyone but Clinton, male and female and I will take a Republican any day.
Let Democrat runs the U.S. into the toilet with more taxes on the middle class and more handouts to people who do nothing but collect welfare and benefits. Let’s run up the national debt and print more money until there is no way to pay It back. Let’s spend money on defense and waste taxes paid by the next generation.
Let the down fall of America started by Obama accelerates.
Joe’s Burger, McLean, VA October 19, 2015
Posted by hslu in Food, Restaurants.Tags: Joe's Burger, McLean VA
add a comment
Don’t go. It’s not worth it.
Very expensive and way over priced for the amount of food we were getting. The restaurant was small and the ambiance gave us the impression of a roadside cafe with very few customers. The prices on the menu tell a different story.
We ordered a pastrami sandwich and a cup of chili for lunch. There were only a few slices of pastrami and they were tough and chewy as if it’s been sitting in the fridge for a while. The sandwich came with cole slaws but it was served on the sandwich instead of on the side. Fries were good though. Service was good. We asked to split the sandwich and we each got half with some fries.
Chilli was 2nd class: too watery and too many beans. Adding salt to the wound, beer was way over-priced too as if being located in McLean Virginia gave Joe’s Burger a license to rip people off.
I won’t go there again.
Bet that you don’t know October 19, 2015
Posted by hslu in Do you know?, Economics, Food.Tags: Immigrants, mortgage loans, Vegan
add a comment
1. 63 million people in the U.S. don’t speak English at home. I call this a hidden risk for a divided America in the future.
Allow me to offer this tidbit to illustrate my point: I heard that some DC ATMs give you 20+ language options to retrieve your money.
In 2, 3 or 4 generations, the bottom 1/2 of the America and California may want to join Mexico or form their own country.
2. NASA Federal Credit Union offers a fantastic mortgage loan to anyone who qualifies:
If you want a mortgage loan, they’ll make one for you with $0 down and no PMI. Of course, you need to make enough money to qualify for the loan.
But, $0 down and no PMI? Can this be viewed as a prelude of another housing bubble in the U.S.? What will prevent other lending companies offer the same or even a better deal?
3. According to a survey of 1,789 British vegeterians, 37% admit that they eat meat when they have too much to drink. As many as 1 in 3, 34%, say they eat meat every time they drink and 26% say they break the rule fairly often.
I guess vegan may be a fashionable statement but for same people
a juicy hamberger or a few pieces of bacon beats rabbit food any day of the week.
Just food for thoughts.
朱立倫；馬英九的翻版嗎？ October 19, 2015
Posted by hslu in Election, Taiwan.Tags: 朱立倫
add a comment
我先前說過，朱立倫跟馬英九一樣，也是一個鞠躬的料子。
言猶在耳，果真如此：
Sources：http://buzzorange.com/2015/10/15/kmt-fate/
Sources：Google image search result
帶職參選乃如意算盤也 October 19, 2015
Posted by hslu in Election, Taiwan.Tags: 812事件, 烤紅, 西廂記, 國民黨, 帶職參選, 朱立倫, 朱立倫清炒空心菜
add a comment
國民黨812事件端出了一盤新菜：朱立倫清炒空心菜；要不辣的。
可是，朱立倫願意嗎？朱立倫知道他2014差一點選不上，2016怎麼可能呢？他要是出來，自己選不上，國民黨大敗，他身爲黨主席，一定要下臺鞠躬，2020更沒有希望。倒不如把話說在前面擋大家的嘴：「未來四年，做好做滿」做完他四年新北市長的位子。好不容易搞個馬英九喜歡的洪秀柱出來，搖旗吶喊，凍祘一番，也算是湊個數兒。誰知道，天不從願，國民黨立委翻台一定要柱姐下臺。可憐洪秀柱嘴大又硬，孤掌難鳴，跑了一場龍套，打了幾個哈哈，翻了幾個跟斗，就這麼走了。
這下子好了，上架的鴨子飛了，該朱立倫上場唱獨角戲了。
前些時日，朱立倫改口放了幾個氣球：「洪秀柱若下來，我願意承擔！」好一副”我不下地獄誰下地獄“的模樣。”
這還不夠，812事變以後他委屈的說：「縱使千夫所指、萬箭穿心也要承擔。」
這真叫人揪心啊！短短的幾個月，怎麼就如此的多變啊。看來這國民黨主席的位置在2016後怕是不保了。好在朱立倫有先見之明說好了“帶職參選”。總統選不上，主席做不了，還留個市長做做。
看官請聽：國民黨自撰，自編，自導，還自演的《戲降記(靠鬨)》
一不該言而無信把做滿賴，
再不該柱姐不下把黨命埋，
三不該呀不曾發落那金瓶蓋，
如今是鴨子上架 難更改， 不如帶職參選 以後好下臺。
國民黨812事件 October 18, 2015
Posted by hslu in Election, Taiwan.Tags: 812, 國民黨, 朱立倫, 朱上, 柱下, 洪秀柱
add a comment
國民黨2015年10月17日下午召開臨時黨代表大會，決定洪秀柱的命運。出席中有812人贊成換掉洪秀柱，改由朱立倫炒空心菜。
朱立倫。
Sources：Internet。
有詩 云：
八一二有模有樣
十六扒可憐兮兮
馬英九明槍易躲
王金平暗箭難防
洪秀柱明媒正娶
朱立倫扭扭捏捏
朱哥陰險發暗器
柱姐捱打連血吞
有道是：
雖非無名小卒，柱姐終究是半路出家。誰知她口無遮攔，自命清高，壞了前程，最終卻落得如此下場。
擺明藍黨宗主，倫哥卻偏偏裝模作樣。只看他略施小計，半推半就，一石二鳥，到頭還掙得大位提名。
xiaohua 