When in LA....... (Thanksgiving Report) [Archive]

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WA6MHZ

11-28-2010, 06:33 PM

One of the prime destinations when visiting LA should be Chinatown. There are incredible DEALS there (but didn't see any deals on RADIOS! Guess they don't sell WOUXON or whatever there....)

My chaste wife needed a new dress for our upcoming Company Christmas party. Of course, she couldn't wear the same dress she had on Last YEAR, as some lady might remember it and that would be too EMBARRASSING!!! Ladies can only wear a dress ONCE in their lives. They need a new dress for every day! (it seems!)

So we headed for Chinatown, where we have an advantage over the Tourists. We have a Pedigree Chinese Interpreter amongst our party to bargain for deals.
Prices are given on articles for sale there, but, with my wife doing the negotiations, that is NEVER the price we pay. She always gets a Chinese DISCOUNT!

But first, the family had to get fueled up, so we headed to a restaurant for DIM SUM

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5047/5215177442_9629db0520_b.jpg

Notice the sign on the wall. Only $1.58 for each item, whether it is a basket of CHICKEN FEET (YIKES!!!) or Shrimp Thingies or CHAW SHOE BAA (BBQ Pork inside a Roll). They kept bringing basket after basket and everyone ate a little of everything (I didn't eat any CHICKEN FOOTS!!!) until we were all stuffed. Total bill for the whole table of the big family:$27!

Next we headed to the Merchant areas, where it is like a warehouse full of little shops. Each seller gets a stall, sort of like an indoor Swapmeet.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5243/5215177560_2734bdebab_b.jpg

It is easy to get lost in there, so I used the AP on my Droid that acts like a COMPASS. Now I could find my way back to the car. Stall after stall were searched, and finally we found JUST the dress we wanted. A brilliant blue dress with a big DRAGON on the front of it. Plenty of Gold trim and a Chinese collar. Just perfect! And, we got out of there for only $18 for the dress. My wife said she could have weasled them down to $15, but I thought $18 was a bargain!!!

Scored presents I needed for some of the radio club Christmas parties, and a couple nice Bamboo plants for decoration. Only $3 for the same plant you pay almost $30 for in the Asian markets!!! It was time for some refreshment, so a special iced coffee drink was purchased, called COFFEE SUE DAH. It had these marble sized thingies inside my wife said were Tapiocas. Tasted great! I bought some more Chinese fancy red things with tassels on them to hang around the house. Who knows what they say, its all in Chinese. One I bought says "You will have good luck when a HORSE comes in your house!" Not likely that will happen anytime soon.

From there, we were shopped out, and headed back to Alhambra, but the Town Car was low on gas. I decided to go to COSTCO to refuel. My wife said she wanted to buy a Roast Chicken inside while I gassed up.

I already related the BIG SCREEN TV experience in another thread, but I came out of the store with a 24inch computer monitor for $150 and a 47 inch HDTV for $650. Here they are installed at home.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4092/5214585211_51c8e38ea4_b.jpg

Notice the new BLUE RAY Player on top of the Cox Cable HD & DVR Box! I went crazy.

Here is the TV installed on my Dresser at the foot of the bed.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/5215177948_26f06bded8_b.jpg

The dozens of wires from the Stereo speakers and TV go over the doorway lashed to the ceiling. Looks terrible, works great.

Now I can watch the CHARGERS on my Big Screen in HIgh Def!!

Finally, it was time to take the new TV and stuff home, but we had to refuel ourselves after a long day of Shopping. Everytime I go to LA, my foremost destination is a restaurant called THE HAT, where you get Pastrami Sandwiches to DIE FOR!!!!

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5286/5214584951_5115f5880a_b.jpg

Those were enjoyed by all. I IMPLORED the manager to get a store in the San Diego area, but he said the closest one was Lake Forest, still 100 miles away! So, hafta go to LA to get those! LA is LUCKY! I did buy a THE HAT 2XL Tshirt to wear to work tomorrow. My wife changed it to a 3XL since she said I wasn't getting any smaller.

I enjoyed much of Saturday watching movies in AMAZING HD,
Now, I just hafta PAY for it all!!! OH, that will hurt!!! But It is money WELL SPENT!

So, what did YOU do on this Thanksgiving LONG weekend?

N9GSU

11-28-2010, 06:39 PM

it's too bad you'll watch your Chargers get beat by my COLTS. ;)

WF7A

11-28-2010, 06:39 PM

WA6MHZ

11-28-2010, 06:52 PM

it's too bad you'll watch your Chargers get beat by my COLTS. ;)

Maybe so, but it won't be EASY for Peyton! This will be a real CHORE to beat the BOLTS!

WA6MHZ

11-28-2010, 06:54 PM

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5286/5214584951_5115f5880a_b.jpg

Is that a before or after picture of it being eaten? ;>

I take it you ate at Ocean Seafood in L.A.? (It's in Chinatown: http://www.oceansf.com/rest.html) GREAT place for dim sum!

My wife's family decided to go to Monterey Park, just East of CHinatown, to get the DIM SUM. They were having a PRICE WAR on the items. It would have been much more expensive at the Ocean Seafood.

N9GSU

11-28-2010, 06:59 PM

Indeed, it will, with all of our injuries this year...but I think they can do it. :)

AF6LJ

11-28-2010, 07:01 PM

Looks like you had a good time Pat. :)

Good deal on the TV ans stuff. :)

WA6MHZ

11-28-2010, 07:07 PM

KA9VQF

11-28-2010, 07:08 PM

My daughter came with her two weeks worth of laundry and did a pretty good job of totaling the house.

There are bits of newspaper and sale ads all over and some poodle hair managed to make it to the floor from the coffee table where the wife has been cutting Jimmy’s hair for the last few days. There are dirty dishes on every available flat surface and a few not so flat surfaces.

I refuse to clean it all up again. I did it all before the kid got here so her boyfriend wouldn’t think we are just plain old regular trailer trash but that we are some kind of special trailer trash. Then the ingrate didn’t come with her, just sent his laundry to be done too.

We went to the Moose for our Thanksgiving dinner Thursday because the kids had things to do in Waterloo before they could even think of coming to visit. This did not stop me from preparing a fairly fine feast with a Jenny O turkey loaf for when they did come even though only the daughter made it. There were all the usual goodies sweet taters, dressing {stove top} cranberry jelly, green jello with cabbage, cottage cheese, and fruit cocktail in it, those cute little half cob corn on the cob, gravy {from the Jenny O loaf but with more flour, salt, pepper, and water added then cooked down to where it is almost like real gravy}

Saturday night I made peanut butter cookies {the kind that come in a plastic tube} and put chocolate stars on them just as they would come out of the oven. The girls fell on them like ravenous carnivores on the weak calf in the herd, then the wife and kid went up to the Christmas cookie walk up town. It’s a big event in town every year.

I’m not real sure how they managed to eat all those cookies being as how they had already consumed most of the feast I had prepared, including two pumpkin pies a blueberry one and an apple one too, but they managed somehow.

I ended up watching ‘Father Goose’ all by myself. It had been a Thanksgiving tradition for the family to watch it after the feast.

I also managed to consume 750ml of peppermint schnapps this weekend. Soon it will be time for me to go to sleep so I can go to work tonight.

AF6LJ

11-28-2010, 07:23 PM

After spending like a Drunken Sailor on shore leave, it is time to THROTTLE BACK the wallet and go back to POVERTY DINING once more.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5088/5215398294_38d325acb6_b.jpg

Notice the LUXURY CHOPSTICKS!!! Those were imported from Taiwan!
I was going to comment on those, they look really nice. We have enough leftovers in the ice-box for the next month.....
I'll save part of the ham and make a pot of pinto beans to stretch it even farther.
I'll be eating ham into the new year. :)

By the way;
Is the flux for flavor?

WB2WIK

11-28-2010, 08:51 PM

By the way;
Is the flux for flavor?

Maybe it's soy sauce in a flux bottle?

If not, it's time to get the flux out of there.:p

WB2WIK

11-28-2010, 08:54 PM

BTW Pat we go to Chinatown pretty often. Of course, there's also Koreatown, Little Saigon etc. closeby.

My XYL isn't Chinese but she negotiates with them as if she were (must be same in Philippines, where she's from).

I saw her actually talk down a dealer who was asking FIVE DOLLARS for a "boom box" stereo. She wanted it for FOUR dollars, and she wanted the guy to put in brand new batteries also. He actually did that, and she got it fo $4.

I was hiding behind stuff, I was too embarrassed to witness this.:p

W5WPL

11-28-2010, 09:36 PM

WF7A

11-28-2010, 09:37 PM

Dawg Gone!!!! I thought I lived in a mess

You haven't seen anything 'til you've seen his garage.

G0GQK

11-28-2010, 10:43 PM

And the Word was that the Chinese Shall Inherit the Earth. I have never seen so much meat stuffed into pastry or whatever it was and I nearly collapsed after reading the comment "was this photo taken before or after the meal"

G0GQK

AF6LJ

11-29-2010, 01:44 AM

Maybe it's soy sauce in a flux bottle?

If not, it's time to get the flux out of there.:p
That's cute Steve. :D

W4KTL

11-29-2010, 02:25 AM

Pat that pastrami looks great! I love pastrami; that's the main thing I miss about working in NYC, great pastrami at Katz Deli. Only place in my little Southern town I can get a pastrami sandwich is Jack In The Box....not as good as Boars Head but it's not bad.

N7RJD

11-29-2010, 02:45 AM

Notice the LUXURY CHOPSTICKS!!! Those were imported from Taiwan!

I thought they were knitting needles. Oh well, so much for that Ramen sweater I was looking forward to you showing off. :p

KG6JTB

11-29-2010, 04:32 AM

I love "The Hat". One large order of fries or onion rings can feed 8 people. Great sandwiches, and the burgers aren't bad either. Got one near my QTH in Glendora.

WA4OTD

11-29-2010, 04:35 AM

No problem at all. We can't beat San Diego.

Maybe so, but it won't be EASY for Peyton! This will be a real CHORE to beat the BOLTS!

AD2U

11-29-2010, 05:12 AM

I saw her actually talk down a dealer who was asking FIVE DOLLARS for a "boom box" stereo. She wanted it for FOUR dollars, and she wanted the guy to put in brand new batteries also. He actually did that, and she got it fo $4.

I was hiding behind stuff, I was too embarrassed to witness this.:p

Must be Panasonic Super Heavy Duty batteries, haha.

W5WPL

11-29-2010, 06:09 AM

No problem at all. We can't beat San Diego.
N9GSU it's too bad you'll watch your Chargers get beat by my COLTS

http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy29/chamomile_photos/AnimatedLaughingFrog.gif

WA6MHZ

11-29-2010, 01:26 PM

it's too bad you'll watch your Chargers get beat by my COLTS. ;)

Sorry, but it was a lousy game for Peyton. 4 interceptions and 2 run back for TDs cooked his goose. Everyone has a bad day now and then. Philly Rivers has those too. We were just fortunate last night was the time for Peyton to flake out. That's OK, we will take the win. We are still one game behind KC and they are coming to town in 2 weeks. Next week it will be time to BURY the Raiders. Indy was the toughest game left on the schedule. Look for the BOLTS to run the table the rest of the season, but then, in the playoffs, expect them to FLAKE OUT as usual......

WB2WIK

11-29-2010, 04:14 PM

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5088/5215398294_38d325acb6_b.jpg

I always wondered about this.

Here we feed babies using tiny little spoons, then tiny little forks.

What do they use in China? Toothpicks?:):p

My XYL must be the only Asian who can't use chopsticks. In the Philippines, they don't use them. We go have sushi and she asks for a fork. It's embarrassing.

N0SYA

11-29-2010, 04:28 PM

pstrami is ossum!

AB8MA

11-29-2010, 04:48 PM

Here is the TV installed on my Dresser at the foot of the bed.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/5215177948_26f06bded8_b.jpg

The dozens of wires from the Stereo speakers and TV go over the doorway lashed to the ceiling. Looks terrible, works great.

Do you have a voltage problem on that circuit? I could never understand spending so much on a wide screen that only displays 70% of the surface area. :)

I still use my trusted 27 inch 82Lb. Sony.

AD2U

11-29-2010, 09:17 PM

I always wondered about this.

Here we feed babies using tiny little spoons, then tiny little forks.

What do they use in China? Toothpicks?:):p

.

spoon as well, till after babies are arond 5 year old then they learn to use chopsticks.

WB2WIK

11-29-2010, 09:24 PM

spoon as well, till after babies are arond 5 year old then they learn to use chopsticks.

Then they have a big head start.

I learned to use chopsticks when I was about 25.:p

WB2WIK

11-29-2010, 09:25 PM

I still use my trusted 27 inch 82Lb. Sony.

Carrying the Sony around is far better exercise also.

And the Trinitron/CRT could do something the latest, greatest $3,000 high-def flat panel cannot do: Go to full "black."

AB8MA

11-29-2010, 09:29 PM

WB2WIK

11-29-2010, 09:37 PM

Nice thing also is that the cats cannot topple the screen off the stand. :)

No kidding, we had a 27" Trinitron (and I agree the damned thing must be in the 80-lb range) on about a 24" high (or so) pedestal in our bedroom when the 1994 Northridge Quake hit. We lived almost at the epicenter of that, and it felt like an enormous jackhammer.

Anyway, of course we got out of the house very quickly amid breaking glass and all sorts of stuff occurring. A few hours later we still had big aftershocks but I felt pretty safe going back inside because it was now daylight and we could see where we were walking.

I went upstairs to the master bedroom, mostly to get some clothes and shoes, and happened to notice the 27" Trinitron was upside down on the opposite side of the room from where it started, and the cables (AC power and type F coax) has yanked themselves from the back of the set violently, damaging the case in the back of the set by the coax connector. I figured it was history anyway, but just happened to notice that.

Days later when the quake was "all over," we returned to the house to clean up broken glass and spoiled food from the refrigerators and such. I went upstairs and just HAD to upright that TV set. I plugged the cord back in and turned it on. The damned thing still worked! It had flown across the room and landed upside down, and still worked.

I repaired the coax connector later and we continued to use this set -- couldn't even file an insurance claim for it, as really nothing happened to it.

Amazing.

WA6MHZ

11-29-2010, 09:57 PM

Nice thing also is that the cats cannot topple the screen off the stand. :)

If the CATS knock this TV Over, they are FOR DINNER tomorrow night!!!!!

WB2WIK

11-29-2010, 10:04 PM

If the CATS knock this TV Over, they are FOR DINNER tomorrow night!!!!!

You mean ME0W and PU55Y? Two good ham licensed cats?