Happy Lunar New Year

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Happy Lunar New Year everyone!  Many people refer today as Chinese New Year, but in a world where everything needs to be politically correct, let’s all try to stick with “Lunar New Year” since not all of us are Chinese… =)

Today is officially the first day in the year of the Dragon.  A little trivia for you:  this cycle is the Water Dragon!  There are 5 different elements: metal, water, wood, fire, and earth.  These elements cycle every time that specific animal shows up again.  For instance, in the year 2000, it was the it was the Metal Dragon, also known as the Golden Dragon because gold is of course a metal.

There is so much more behind Chinese Zodiacs than just the 12 animals and the 5 elements.  Many people do not know that there are also the Yin and Yangs which on a very basic explanation can be viewed as Yin being odd years and Yang being even years.  You can go even further than that and also assign the animals to the months, just like how the modern Astrology Zodiac are set up.  And, you guessed it, the animals are again assigned even to the hours in which you were born!  Therefore, you can be 3 animals: born in the Year of the Dragon, Month of the Horse, and Hour of the Rabbit!

I am the Yang Earth Dragon, Ox, and Tiger!  Is anyone a complete Dragon?

Lo Duc Lunar New Year Celebration

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16 people.  3 lions.  1 dragon.  Amazing.

Lo Duc had their annual celebration for Tết Nguyên Đán, better known as Lunar New Year.  I have to say, the “kids” have grown up and really did surprise me today at the performance.  They definitely have improved since the last time I saw them.

The lion dance team, Tiên Rồng / Celestial Dragon, was created back in 2005 by Jonathan Tran and myself.  We’ve ran the team all the way up until a few years back when we decided to focus more on our own careers.  I kept the team running but with little help, had barely any time to teach and train the kids.  There are a couple of members who are in college and towards the end of their high school education that could take over, but they never seemed to be able to keep the group going.

After these two performances though, I really do think they have something going for them.  I really have to give it to them. I am quite impressed with the way they ran things and performed tonight.  Good job guys and girls!

The Burger Guys

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One of my close friend told me about this great burger place in Houston. And being myself, whenever I hear about some type of food trying to take that prestigious title, I just have to try it out myself. So today, I took my Vovinam students out with me to test out this burger place. It’s called The Burger Guys located on Westheimer between Kirkwood and Dairy Ashford. Luckily she had told me it was next to Raising Canes or else I would have completely missed it — it’s located in the shopping strip right next to Raising Canes but the sign was so small!

Oh but don’t let the small sign fool you!  There were 9 of us and we ordered almost half the menu.  The fries were pretty good.  The sauces that they came with were even better. I think we got 4 different types of sauces, one of which is their homemade ketchup.  It had a tangy zing to it which went really well with the fries.

The burger, I had the Texan, was DELICIOUS!  Everything from the bun to the very insides of the meat was cooked to perfection.  The bun was toasted just right, the cheese melted perfectly, the bacon extra crispy, mushrooms sauteed with just enough spices (or maybe there weren’t any spices, anyhow it was good), and the meat, oh the meat, was fully cooked but oh so juicy on the inside.

Just describing it makes me want to go back right now!  Too bad they’re probably closed because they don’t freeze the meat!  All of that Kobe Beef is cooked until they’re gone.  Once it’s gone, they’re done for the day!

The rest of my group had other burgers on the menu, but from what I can tell, they were all fully satisfied.  Just one heads up:  their burgers are GINORMOUS!  Not that that’s a bad thing, but if you’re like me and don’t like to take things to-go but also don’t like to waste food, I would suggest asking them to make you an “Annie-size”.  Yes, Annie like the name. That’s the awesome friend who told me about this great burger joint and apparently it’s their unofficial small size burger.  You might have to explain to them what you mean though since I’m not sure they know that that is the unofficial small size now…

Oh and by the way, their soda fountain has 100% real sugar drinks!  Dublin Dr. Pepper anyone?!

Check out their website www.theburgerguys.com and definitely check out their joint, The Burger Guys: The BEST Burgers in Town!

Christmas 2011

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Had our annual family and extended family Christmas gathering yesterday night.  I made a delicious lasagna with skim milk, reduced fat cheese, 97% lean meat, and wheat pasta.  Yes, that does sound pretty nasty, but it came out LEGEND — wait for it, and I hope you’re not lactose intolerant because the second half of the word is — DAIRY!

For all you “How I Met Your Mother” fans…

A great gathering as usual with anh Hung being our last minute Santa due to the original Santa being stuck on an airplane. Yes, one family wasn’t able to make it on time.

I got the best gift ever this year: a slate gray water bottle!  No, I’m not being sarcastic. I love it!

King Tut

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Went to see the Tutankhamun: The Golden King & the Great Pharaohs exhibit today with Angela at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.  What a great exhibit!  What made it even better was the fact that Harrison Ford was narrating it!  =)

I would highly suggest checking out the exhibit.  I remember reading and learning about ancient Egypt back in 11th grade when I was taking Art History at Langham Creek H.S. but since that was quite some time back, not much knowledge was retained.  However, almost every thing on display clicked when I saw it!  Though most were just a “Oh HEY…it’s…that thing…yea…”  Haha!  Angela on the other hand was busting out, “you should know that Tony! That was blah blah blah from blah blah blah…”

Oh Angela… hahaha

Tutty Bear

Karmin – Party Rock Anthem Cover

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While searching on YouTube for covers (there are so many talented people out there) a while back, I came across these couple who went by Karmin.  It’s this guy named Nick and girl named Amy from the northeast.  Nick alright — he’s pretty good, but then again there’s nothing that really stands out either.  Well, maybe because he’s right next to Amy.  She is AMAZING.  Beautiful, strong voice, gorgeous smile, and can rap!

They just released another cover.  This one is of LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem.  I can listen to her all day…