July 26 was Shirley’s birthday.
Postrio Restaurant:
Postrio was the restaurant where I originally planned to propose marriage to Shirley in March 2000. It was a top 10 fine dining restaurant in San Francisco. It had 3 floors, with the middle floor overlooking the largest lowest floor. I had brought the diamond ring with me.
Shirley and I sat at the lowest floor next to the big window. Photo XI, XII, and V in the fifth row shows the table we sat in that dinner.
At the end I didn’t propose there as the restaurant was noisy. I did think about doing that a couple times during the dinner but didn’t have the courage with the crowded people.
Golden Gate Bridge:
After the dinner, we drove back home to North Bay. I told myself that I had to do it, so I pulled over at the Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point on the north (Marin) side. The environment was romantic with the bridge, night, lights, and breeze. It was the perfect place to propose. I had a memorable time with her there.
Japan Town:
The Japanese food in Japan Town is OK. Shirley and I went there quite often as we both liked Japanese food.
These are some landmark buildings in Japan Town.
Restaurant Miyako
This was the last restaurant that Shirley and I went together in Japan Town in October 2006. At that time she was 8-month pregnant. She couldn’t eat any of her favorite sushi or sashimi because of her pregnancy. They had good deals with their set dinner menu.
Kushi Tsuru
This was the second last restaurant that Shirley and I went together in Japan Town in September 2006. We went there after a pre-natal class at night. Although she couldn’t eat raw fish, she still enjoyed the cooked Japanese food.
Takara
This was another restaurant we went together in 2006.
Tanpopo
It was a popular Japanese noodle soup restaurant. We went there a few times, once with Shirley’s mom. I had also been there with Garry. I do not remember whether he or Raymond introduced this restaurant to me. In addition, I had brought Shirley’s dad, Janice, and Johnson (Janice’s husband) there when they visited San Francisco in April 2007.
Juban
It is a pretty good Japanese BBQ restaurant. Shirley and I had been there a few times. I remember that we had our Christmas dinner here in 2005. We had also brought some of our visitors here as well, e.g. Saif and Khuzemah, Dick and his friend.
Izumiya
Shirley and I went to Izumiya a few times. It had great variety of food and good set dinner menu. We brought our friends here as well, e.g. Sam Kuo and Sandy, Ivy.
Sophie’s Crepes
Shirley and I tried their crepes when we brought Ivy there. The crepes were tasty.
Umeko
This was a Japanese buffet restaurant. Besides sushi and sashimi, they had seafood such as crabs and raw oysters. Shirley and I thought the food was so-so. I also remember going there with Kenn, Xiaoming, and Rick in a New Year’s Eve. Rick ended up having a diarrhea after eating. We still went to Embarcadero to do the countdown.
Ichiban Ken and Nijiya Market were two Japanese grocery stores that Shirley and I liked to shop at.
This street area was closed during the Japanese festival. There were merchants selling all different kinds of food at the street. Although it was a rainy day, the street was crowded and there were line ups. Shirley and I bought noodle soup, Japanese snack, and drinks.
Shirley’s graveyard:
I spent the whole afternoon at Shirley’s graveyard from 1:30pm – 6pm. Since Shirley hadn’t had any of her favorite raw fish when she got pregnant, I had bought her some sushimi.
Koi Palace:
This was one of the best dim sum and seafood restaurant in San Francisco bay area. We had been there many times, including:
– dinner with Raymond and Henry before we were married (to celebrate NLC’s IPO)
– dim sum with David and Alesia (before they moved to bay area)
– dim sum with Phuong, Ai, Diane, Yuchih, Sam Kuo
– dim sum with Diane, Mark, and her parents
– dim sum with Anna, Beili, Van, Lan, Will, Kai, Yuchih, etc.
– dim sum with Caroline, Diane, Per (to celebrate my birthday in 2002). Shirley was on a business trip.
– dim sum with mom (she had diarrhea afterwards)
– dim sum with mother-in-law
– dim sum with Alice
– dim sum by ourselves
– dim sum with Uncle & Auntie 4, Monica, Alice, Connie, Rene, Laraine after they attended Shirley’s funeral
– dinner with David, Connie, Rene, and Laraine on July 29, 2007 in this trip
Milpitas Square:
Hot Pot City
This was a Taiwanese style hot pot restaurant. I believe Alex brought us to this restaurant. When we first went there, we were impressed as we hadn’t been to this style of restaurant before. After going there a few times, we weren’t interested anymore as the quality of food and service went downhill.
Ranch 99 Supermarket
We were impressed when we first saw this Chinese supermarket in south bay many years ago. The scale was comparable to the big Chinese supermarkets in Toronto.
Mayflower Seafood Restaurant
We went there once. We were not impressed by the dim sum there.
Cafe Won Kee
Shirley and I went there a few times for dinner. There was once when we went together with a group, but I can’t remember exactly who the group of people were.
Penang Garden
Shirley and I liked this Malaysian restaurant. We had been there a few times, and once with her dad.
Thai Town Restaurant
Shirley and I had been there a couple times. The crabs that they served were delicious.
Darda Seafood
This was a Muslim restaurant. The food was delicious and spicy. It was like Chinese style, except that they don’t serve pork. Shirley and I went there with Edward and Isabella.
Johnson without Shirley 
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