Weekend in Fresno

I was up in Fresno the pass weekend with my parents visiting old friends. Our family had known the family in Fresno date back to when my parents were in high school. They live away from the city in front of a serene lake, semi man made. Hubby and I took the kids out on the paddle boat and explored the other homes. At first, we didn't really know how to steer so the boat would go straight so I let hubby be the Captain. After a while, he figured out the steering mechanism. Hubby didn't have much fun so he got off the boat with Secondo crying for me while Danielle and I took off. The boat was so much lighter with just the 2 of us. I didn't have to paddle as hard and we took turn being the Captain. When we got tired, we floated and let the boat drift where ever it wanted to go. That Friday was also the opening of Big bluff's 3rd restaurant name Sakura Chaya. If you are ever in Fresno, you must visit Sakura Chaya. They have the best Sushi and soft shell crabs. Big bluff was so busy that night that we didn't get to spend much time with him. Hen dog and his wife stopped by and said hello and went to the bar to watch a game. We also saw Big bluff's new baby boy who was 2 months old. He was a quiet baby and slept through our whole teppan dinner experience. Secondo enjoyed watching the teppan chef until he started a large flame. From that point on, Secondo watched chef from behind the chair and told me her face felt hot.
On Saturday, we went to California Wok that belongs to Mr Bond, Big bluff's 2nd brother.for lunch. I had the teriyaki BLT with yam fries and it was delicious. Hubby had chow mein and Danielle had spaghetti with meat ball. His restaurant was also busy and Mr Bond was able to sit down and spent several minutes with us. If you are ever in Fresno, please try out California Wok.
After lunch, we went back to the home by the lake and spent time with his kids. The baby girl is very cute and his boy is kind and gentle. Before dinner, we watched their Taiwan wedding reception video and saw how elaborate it was.

I finished listening/reading Snow flower and the secret fan and I would give it a 3/5 rating. It could be the reader who I'm not so fond of or the story was too predictable half way through the book. I'm glad that she went in to details about foot binding and I can't stand Lily's character in the story. Her character was not believable, felt artificial and may be I don't want to hear again and again that women are "useless branches on a tree" or women's worth is measured by how many sons she's able to produce and how small her feet are.

Now I'm reading the Kite Runner and I'm really enjoying the book. Their writing style is more to my taste and I fell more entwined with the characters than previous book. The kite runner brought back memory of when I was a 7-8 year old kid in Indonesia, my dad used go on the roof top of our house and kite fight. I was his assistant, holding the string spool for him while he cut the other kites or handed him new kite when ours was cut.