[rain] all day, play all night

...this is the life of a, the life of a go-getta, go-gettaaaa. Yeah, anyways, it's been raining all weekend...and today was icky. Despite only having slept 4 hours last night, waking up with a nasty headache, and knowing that there would be a 100% chance of thunderstorm later today, I still went with my plans to enjoy xiaolongbao (at Kao Chi again) with friends. If it hadn't poured, we were going to walk to there, but instead we rode the bus. Ah, one of my most favorite, memorable meals. Good conversation with friends and best of all, amaaaazing food. We ordered crab egg xiaolongbao 蟹黃小籠包，ordinary pork xlb元籠小籠包，shrimp shao mai (dumplings) 蝦仁燒賣, Cantonese-style shrimp dumplings蝦餃, a chicken soup with 凍粉 fried tofu and wonton, flaky honey pastry stuffed with BBQ pork (pork siu, but this was Shanghai-style), and a "mash taro with sweet longan sauce." Yes, a carb-filled feast. 

 umm guts, anyone??

chicken soup for the soul (thankfully it had no traces of chicken meat)

Cantonese-style shrimp dumplings

 the yummiest, juiciest xlb ever ~ crab egg

I love the intricate folds of the xlb

Shanghai-style shrimp dumplings

flaky goodness ~ flaky honey pastry w/BBQ pork

ordinary pork xlb

 the "mash taro with sweet longan sauce" - all I gotta say about it is...it was interesting.

Afterward, we walked aimlessly, in the pouring rain, around Yong Kang St. There are unique antique shops and Chinese gift boutiques. We stumbled across a store that sells exotic gifts from Tibet and Yunnan (south province of China). I bought three gorgeous, unique pashmina scarves. Too bad it's too hot to wear them now, but I'm sure they'll be worn this summer in Cali chilly summer nights. It started to pour really hard, so hard that the rain leaked through all our umbrellas!! Thus, we went into many stores to stay dry. A French furniture boutique, aromatherapy/fragrance (with yucky smelly fragrances) store, a cutesy happy Japanese eclectic store selling the cutest Jinglish objects [one that cracked us up was a bag that had little red riding hood on it and it said "I like my hood"], and a few other stores I don't quite remember. There are many tea houses and cafes in that area. Ahh, Yong Kang has gotta be my current favorite place to explore. After getting fed up with rain leaking through our umbrella, we stopped by Dante Coffee and sat there for an hour or two, sipping lattes and telling stories. Then, we walked all the way home because I didn't know where the bus stop was. 

 one of the lanes of Yong Kang

the neighborhood

Mmmm, very good day even though it I came home with dirty feet since I wore sandals and jeans soaked with rain. Now it's time to catch up on a very much needed sleep. This week will be busy--I plan to hike around Yangmingshan 陽明山National Park early Tuesday morning, then I will be traveling next weekend to down to Kenting again and Xiao Liuqiu 小琉球!