Stay In LV

Sunday, April 30, 2006

22 April 06

Today is slack day again. I have decided one day slack and 1 day choing for the subsequent weekends. My colleague went off for shopping today so we will chiong out tomorrow.

So I went alone to have my late lunch after sleeping till 12pm. Went to surf the net and learned of this popular pancake house called walker bros. And so i went, about 10-15min drive.

Here is the pic as attached:


Looks grand eh. Actually, most restaurants in US is stand alone, they just build 1 house for the restaurant.

The interior looks great too!


And i called raspberry pancake. According to the reviewer, they are famous for it. And here it comes!


And it really taste good! Perhaps even better than the Elly's Pancake near my hotel.

20 April 06

Tonight marks my first Chinese meal in Libertyville. We went a restaurant called golden Chef for our meal. And here it is !



Called too much... didnt expect the quantity to be so much per plate. The place actually looks quite authentic, which the waitresses talking cantonese. But unfortunately, the food didnt meet the mark. So so only... the Thai restaurant I ate near my company is better than this.

The Ang Mos were looking at us when the waitress served us the plates. They told us they are seeing if 2 of us can finish it all. No way we told them... cant eat finish.

In the end my colleague packet back... oh well.

17 April 06

I have re-categorize the folders containing my pictures that i upload into the blog. Initially is "14 April 06" but i changed to "April 14 06". You might feel its nothing much.... but it reflects the time i have to stay here. Have to categorize by months to get the sequence correct... haiz.

Today have conference call at night so we rushed to a nearby restaurant called Dover straits to eat seafood. Its the same stuff as usual, beef or alsakan crab. But this time, my coleague orderd something different for appitizer, Snails. Heres is it as attached :


It doesnt taste anything actually. Too much garlic i guess

16 April 06

Today I declare slack day. Actually its kind of wasteful cause the train ticket is good to use for today too... but i needed a rest, play too much liao.

This Brunch, my friend too us to another pancake house called the Egg Harbour cafe. I thought of eating something different here since they have it anyway.


Its a wrong choice man. So much for being different and adventurous. Its too cheesy for me... argh. Should have went to the safe choice for pancake.

April 15 06

Ahh... Its the wekend again. I have called a stop to shopping after being informed of a S$1500 bill that came from my credit card. Its time to do something else... cheap. I bought a $49.90 city pass that will bring me to see 5 attractions: Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planatorium, Science Museum, Field Museum and the John Hancock Observatory which I went before liao.

Today I follow my colleague with his wife who has been going to Chicago for the previous weekends. They have been taking the train to avoid the expensive parking cost in Chicago. Luckily, I had another colleague for company, who just reached 2 days before from the Software department.

We met at 6.45am and proceeded to buy Macdonalds Breakfast. We packet out as the train journey will be approx. 1hr, So we will have plenty of time to eat. Really well thought out... pros. We then reached the train station to catch the 7.21 train.
At this point I was thinking of uploading some train photos that I took.... But i cant find it. Weird.... I thought i took some pics... oh well.

We bought the weekend train pass for USD$5 from the train conductor. It was a big burly guy. And yes, I couldnt find the pictures. I guess today im "Camera off".
And so... we rest in the train til we reached Chicago.

We bought the 1 day visitor pass at the train station which entitles us to 1 day unlimited bus rides on CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) bus operator. Heres the pic of the card:




Then I followed my colleague couple to the bus stop which we took the bus to the destination, Shedd Aquarium. And here is it!



The picture on top is actually a picture taken on 29 April. That day really took quite little picture. So went back to take a picture of it again.

Took the picture of the Iguana below while its resting. If you look carefully, the iguana is resting his head on a separate piece of rock. So funny.



The spider crab looks awesome right? Got 1 of them is the alaskan king crab which I ate in Bob chin... but i cant remember which is which.



And they have my favourite penguins too! HOHO



We went to watch the dolphin show. The scenery from there is very nice. Attached is the pic with the dolphin doing the synchronised jumping out of the pool. At the background can you see the round round thing? Its the planetorium. And the sea outside is actually Lake Michigan.



Then we went to eat. The view from there also not too bad. Heres the view!



We rushed through the place till around 2pm and then went off to the next destination, Science and Industry Museum. We have to change 1 bus to get there cause its kind of far away. So while waiting at he bus stop, I took a pic at the opp one:



At the science museum, there is this:



Awesome rite? Its actually a Submarine. It has a long history behind this. During the world war 2, this is the only submarine or called U-boat at that time that the Allies captured from Germany. It is from this U-boat, that they can learn from Germany about their technology and thus help on the war. After the war, they wanted to throw this somewhere so Chicago Museum too it. And they transported it all the way to Inland of chicago beside the Museum and build a extension to house it. Powerful man.... A preserved U-boat from World war 2.

We then went on to look at other stuff in the Museum. When viewing, suddenly this Ang Mo approached us and say that he has 4 tickets to the Da Vinci Exhibition which he has no use for, and he gave them to us. The exhibition is also in the Museum but need to buy tickets to enter at USD$10 each. Really lucky! We rushed down to catch the exhibit. But we had to wait a while... then i thought of giving to another person too. Got 2 extra anyway. So i approached 2 ang mo to ask them but they brushed me aside quickly and walked away as if i am begging them to buy the ticket from me. Damn... so much for being a nice guy. I threw the tickets away, fed up. But the exhibit is nice! they but many artifacts that da Vinci once build or sketched. Very interesting... its just a pity the museum is closing and we have to rushed through the exhibit. Darn.

Then we went out to wait for a bus which didnt come eventually. We waited for like 30min in the freezing bus stop and it didnt come. It is actually not suppose to operate till so late but the bus sto got paste a poster saying that the bus has extended timing, as if man. We then walked to another side of the block to catch a bus for dinner.

We went to a bistro to eat, just random go in. So heres the food:



I cant remember what i ate actually. But i did order a side dish of vegetables.



Couldnt tell whats the picture above rite. Its mixed vegetables american style. So much for healthy living.

After the meal, we then went to catch the 10.21pm train back to Libertyville. At at the toliet there I saw something special!





Its a rotating plastic bag on the toliet seat. Just press the red button and the plastic bag will rotate so you can always have a clean seat. Happening man....

This is really a long entry.... took like 2 hrs to finish it in between talking on skype and MSN. zzz time

13th April 06

Today got something different to blog about. As I was driving back to the hotel, I was stopped by the railway train. The lever came down, and there is this beeping noise and red light to inform the people that the train is coming.

And it is so long. The train was a cargo one, and you can slowly see the states go by : Libertyville, Wisconsin etc. All the states names was pasted on different portion of the carrages. One man even came out of the car to rearrange his boot. Man....

12th April 06

This morning I woke up early to eat breakfast at yet another pancake house called bluberries. Today was a farewell breakfast to 2 of my colleagues who are going back to singapore. And the food is pretty good. I ate Apple crepe and heres the pic :



Looks good eh. But my colleagues one look even better from presentation :



Oh well..... I got a feeling I am going to throw a lot of farewell in the coming Months. Hehe

Saturday, April 22, 2006

9th April 06

This Sunday we are going to hit CHICAGO again! This time, we are aiming for sightseeing. My colleague recommended a spot somewhere parallel to Navy Pier but its a distcance away nearer to the planetorium. It was supposed to be a cheap carpark but good view sort of stuff. "Cheap and good", in true singaorean spirit.

But before we go, Lets hit the Elly's pancake first before setting down on the road.

Today we are in or the kill man, we called the "apple Pie" to share and eat on top of our main dish. And here is the magnificent apple pie:



And my main dish: True blu Belgium Waffle wih 2 sausage and hash brown as a side dish. You can see the "finished" apple pie. Good job folks! Now lets attack our main dish.... OMG.



After a filling lunch, we set off to Chicago. This time, I took the chance to take more pictures of the chicago landscape and buildings. Luckily got sin-roof car, can take pictures without borders.


A artistic shot below. hoho.



A faraway shot, you can see the ferris wheel in the pic although it is kind of small. The dtretch of stuff on the left of the buildings is called Navy Pier, A attraction here.



A up close shot of the ferris wheel. Actually we were not supposed to drive here, but Holland and came to this part of the road. Lucky we were able to U-turn instead of entering the carpark here and pay a huge sum of money.



And we at last reach the spot we wanted to come. And took a nice photo of the landscape of chicago city with a small portion of lake Michigan as the foreground.



In the picture below, you can see low rising land on the right that stretches out into the sea? Thats Navy Pier.


We actually was "quite Lucky" to get a parking slot around this stretch of road. In the end, we found that we were parking just beside the water hose. Thats why no body park there, its not suppose to be for parking. Oh well... lucky nobody come and fine us. Anyways, I took a picture of their carpark meter:



After this, my friends went to Levis for the Kill. As i dont wear jeans, I went out of the shop to walk around. Stumbled into this shopping mall and found quite a nice view too. And happily too a picture:


Also took a picture of a artistic feature :


Blue trees... interesting eh.

After this, we wento off to eat at Bob Chin crab and steak restaurant. The alaskan crab is huge and the beef good. but unfortunately, I go tconference call and hastily ate up the food in 10 min and went off. Forgeting to take a picture of it too.

8th April 06

YEAH!! Its the Weekend again. And its designated shopping day once more. My objective is to get a Bag for my Girlfriend. Hoho.
We decided to have breakfast at Elly's Pancake before setting off. Our favourite pancake place. And here the food I ordered :



Its omlette with harshbrown, with 2 pancake as side dish. And i eat it all up!

Afer the sumptous meal, Its time to set off.
And... the place to go is called Johnson Creek Premium Outlet. Its pretty far away, like 2.5 hours North west of Libertyville. So... here we go!

Heres my 2 professional colleagues. The driver with sunglasses and the other, equipped with Laptop attached to an enabled GPRS system. On the laptop screen will show the road we are on, vehicle travelling speed and direction, road name etc. Cool man, no way we can get lost like this. I can go to sleep liao....zzz.



Clear clear skies..... the road and beyond.



And at last, after a long ride, we reached the place. Johnson Creek.





Seriously, all the outlets look the same. The architecture is as usual, boring. Oh well. And i managed to get a Polo Ralf bag for my girlfriend, looks really solid man. Sporty look with an elegant feel. HOHOHO.

After the shopping, we drove the long way back for dinner. My colleagues need to pack some stuff as they are leaving soon in the coming days.

07 April 06




Really a bad picture taken man. I guess you couldnt reconise anything except the Corn man. Anyways, the restaurent we went today is called Dave's Famous Bar-be-Que. We were wondering where to eat today and i suggested this place as i keep seeing it during my daily trip to the company. Irritating, famous you sure meh?

So back to the food. It is actually a 4 man dish, with ribs, beef, corn, fries etc. So so, not very good.... and the ribs are sticking to the bone. The most funny thing is that the dish is actually served on top of a tin can cover. They just put a layer of cloth between the tin can cover and the food. Oh well. But today I also had my most memorable drink. Called the "Spitfire Bloody Mary". Basically, i took 2 sips and called for a ice tea. The whole drink is covered with pepper!! And it taste so terrible, I think it qualifies for Fear factor man. All my colleagues took a sip also cannot take it liao. And it smells bad too. Sheezz..... what a lousy drink. 10 dollars for anyone can drink this down!! I dont think there will be any takers man.

So since on, anythime when we talk about drink, i will be kana suan about the bloody mary stuff again. Oh well....

04 April 06

I discovered all the pictures I took is food! Im going get fat man.... soon.
But in the meanwhile... EAT! Today we went to a Jap restaurent called Kamehachi. Its one that I have been before on 30th March (Went to see the blog to get the date for this... too long ago to remember). But today with a 4 man strength section, we managed to call the 150 USD Sushi Boat! fierce man. The chef requires 45 min to prepare the stuff before presenting to us. You can imagine at the faces of all the people around us, Staring at the sushi boat as it floats towards us. POWER!

There is 2 versions of the sushi boat, traditional and the standard one. The only difference is that the traditional one got more sashimi and the standard one got more sushi and rolls. We called the traditional ones to reduce the rice content.

And.... heres the pics !



powerful rite? Alls nice, we ate up all of it except for the ones at the boat end. There is 2 sets of sushi situated at the boats end... and its REAL BAD! Some weird taste.... we left it behind anyways.

03 April 06

OMG.... im looking at my backlog of Blog. today is 22 april and Im here "piahing" my blog, or else kana complain again. hehe.

OK, so back to 03 April, a monday. So its work as usual, before the highly anticipating food comes again during dinner.

Tonight we went to Jimmy's Charhouse. Quite nearby and the ambiance is pretty good. I actually got take a pictur of the place but it so dark that the pcture didnt turn out very well. Here's my dish as shown below!



The dish taste ok only. Must be too dissappointed that all my colleagues one is hot plate except for mine :( Must come back to here again for revenge. Anyways, here how the hotplate dish look like:


It tasted pretty good, the hotplate dish. I stun abit of my colleagues food. hehe.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

02 April 06

After not much shopping the previous day, We went back to the same outlet for the kill! This time, I took a picture from the car to show how big the area is



After the pocket damaging shopping, we went back to eat with another colleague who didnt join us today. And he suggested to eat Giordano! Yes, its exactly the same name as the one in singapore selling clothes. But is a franchise here selling Pizza!
Heres how the restaurnt looks like from the outside:


And heres the FOOD!



We called 2 medium sized pizza. See the pizza on the right? Its supposed to be their speciality. But i cant remember the name of it liao.... heres a sneak into how thick the pizza was:


Well... so much for pizza. It taste so so, but not too bad. Better than "edible"

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

05 April 06



I would like to Dedicate today to my beloved girfriend for 8 yrs.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! MAY ALL YOUR WISH COME TRUE