Time has finally come, hello Hood Canal!

After a quick breakfast finishing off the left over we took from Gold Garden Restaurant last
night, the Chows and Changs packed the two cars after going over the check list numerous times.
Kelly realized that he forgot to bring any large serving dishes. An SOS email sent out asking
those in Vancouver to bring some large serving dishes.

The Changs first stop by the Cash & Carry store in Clarkamas, picked up the cream but the store
ran out of unsalted butter. The couple then stopped by PDX to pick up Salina's ticket to Hong Kong
which could not be issued the previous day. This time, issuing the ticket only took less than 2 min
to complete. At the same time, the Chows had bought a fishing license in Vancouver, WA, north of the Columbia River.

Driving north on this pleasant early Saturday afternoon was effortless, light traffic and no accident along I-5 North in south and central Washington. The Chows were about 20min ahead. After Olympia, the
Chows turned onto US-101 and started to look for KFC along the way. At the junction of US-101 and SR-3 near a small town of Shelton, WA, there is a billboard with a big KFC advertisement. Kelly was pleased to learn that he would have chicken for lunch, and applied a little bit more pressure to his gas pedal. A fact in life, the harder one tries, the more mistake one makes. That was what happened to Kelly
when he missed the US-101 turn off sign (Exit 104) and caused him about 7 min to turn back at the next exit.
By the time the Changs arrived the KFC place in Shelton, the Chows had already finished enjoying their
delicious chicken lunch. The Changs and Chows then enjoyed a relaxed conversation while the Changs were munching
their KFC chicken thighs and wings.

Thomas reminded the gang that the conversation had to be cut short in order not to miss any chance
of catching sea creature before 4pm to take advantage of the low tide, according to the tide report
he obtained:

09/03/2004 Fri 02:41AM LDT 1.8  L  08:51AM LDT 10.0 H  02:39PM LDT 4.0  L  08:34PM LDT 11.1 H
09/04/2004 Sat 03:25AM LDT 1.5  L  09:58AM LDT 9.7  H  03:25PM LDT 5.4  L  09:05PM LDT 10.5 H
09/05/2004 Sun 04:13AM LDT 1.3  L  11:15AM LDT 9.5  H  04:20PM LDT 6.7  L  09:40PM LDT 10.0 H
09/06/2004 Mon 05:08AM LDT 1.3  L  12:45PM LDT 9.6  H  05:32PM LDT 7.6  L  10:22PM LDT 9.4  H

After going through the town center of Belfair, WA, driving along the Northshore Road was an unforgetable
experience. The Hood Canal water was literally within a few feet of the road. After about 10 min drive along the
narrow but picturesque road, the gang arrived the front gate of their vacation property.  All cheered joyfully
that the long wait was over. Lana and Salina ran and danced in the open space behind the property
despite the wind. Then when Thomas showed the gang the huge oyster field -- if all started to eat oyster
every hour and would not be able to consume all for the rest of our life, no exaggeration!

Thomas wasted no time in putting on a pair of water-proof boots and headed to the oyster field while the rest
helped unloading all the "valuables" that the Changs brought from San Francisco. Kelly got busy in dough preparation while helping Salina in unpacking the boxes. After the dough was ready and put in the oven for
its initial rise, Kelly started to prepare dinner. Teddy called that he was about 30min away, so Kelly had to work
harder as he promised dinner would be ready by the time the Tams and the Chengs arrived.  It was suggested
that each should put personal name on their cup so as to conserve and not wasting paper cups. The artistic
Lana sketched beautiful art work for each cup with a different  theme crafted for that
personality. All were impressed with her craftmanship who is an engineering major at UCSD.
Another hour or so passed by, there was no sign of Teddy's van. So Kelly reassessed the dinner menu that
the Beef Chinese Style should be taken off the list as there would be only 5 for dinner, after concluding
Teddy must have stopped for snack/food. Anthony also called that he was approaching Tacoma, which
was about 1.5 hr away that he might not be in time for dinner.  It was getting dark and Thomas was a bit
concerned that the place might be difficult
to find. He walked over to the front gate and then all of a sudden, he yelled out loud "Teddy
is here!". All peeked out of the window to bid Teddy a visual welcome, and saw a silver Honda Odyssey van
slowly pulled into the park lot. Kelly exclaimed with surprise "Wow, Teddy bought a new Honda minivan!".
Out came Vincent from the drivers door, it was the Ho family, who were not expected to arrive until late in
the evening!  Right after Vincent's arrival, Teddy's van pulled into the parking lot. Now more pressure on
Kelly that not just he had to keep all the original menu, but he'd better add dishes to feed all the 16 mouths.

All seemed enjoyed the dinner made up of a few simple dishes. The expansion in volume of each dish certainly
suffered some quality loss, but a compromise that everyone gladly accepted. Or else, the dinner would not
be served in another two hours.

With food inside each's stomach, the gang had to decide who sleeps where. It was agreed that parties
with family members should get priority. So the Hos would take the master bedroom, and the Chows take
the loft. The Changs volunteered to sleep on coaches/floor in the family room. It's down to Teddy, Simon,
and Anthony who would occupy the remaining two bedrooms. Once again, it was decided the drawing
would be the fair way to decide and Teddy's "Ghost Leg Game" was summoned.  At the end, the Tams
won the bedroom with king size bed, the Laus got the bedroom with queen size bed, and the Chengs
had to settle for sleeping on coaches in the living room.

The fun party had just begun. The singers led by Teddy and Simon sang along in the family room. The curious
few ventured into the natural oyster fieldfollowing Thomas with flash light in their hands, watched their steps
one by one  as walking over  sharp edged oysters in pitch darkness is not trivial,let alone quite challenging.
The oyster pickers had a difficult time what to pick, small and tender, or large and mouthful. Afterall, with
literally millions of oysters,one gets overwhelmed when it comes to pick and choose.

Back inside the kitchen, Kelly prepared the bbq pork to make the filling for BBQ Pork Buns. That attracted a
few curious hearts. Anthony made himselfcomfortable by pulling a swivaling tool  by the kitchen counter
and created his own version of "front row seat", so as not to miss any action of the dubbed live "Food Channel"demo.
The 4-lb loaf was ready and was fresh out of the oven. Anthony wanted to taste the "fresh out of the oven" bread
but his request was denied by Kelly, citing the bread was for the next morning breakfast and the sandwich bread
for golfers lunch.

It was past 1am in the morning and everyone's party spirit was still high. Time to eat again. The SiuYah (宵夜) menu was
NgauLamFun (牛 腩粉) beef over rice noodle.

Breakfast: leftover from previous dinner's leftover

Both cards packed and ready to go

On the way to HC along I-5 in south Washington

Shelton, WA's KFC, the lunch pits stop

On SR-3 towards Belfair, WA

At the gate of the property

First thing, get the key so we can enter

Thomas puts the key lock back in place while Bernadette admires the beautiful water front property

Quite windy on 3Sep afternoon

What a beautiful view of the Hood Canal from the back yard

First oyster catch!

Another oyster.

Oyster here, oyster there, oysters everywhere!!! Thomas "if you start eating oyster now and you can't finish all the oysters on this beach on the day you die"

Now, time to check out the inside.  First, the lfamily room, which will be the sleeping quarter for the Changs

A quite spacious kitchen with an island featuring twin sinks

Thomas checks out the boat and the crab cage

The boat which can take 3 for fishing/crabbing. Gas (orange fuel tank in foreground) included in the rental.

Time to unload, let's back in the  Viba

Bernadette helps the unloading...

... so many boxes

Wheeeew, finally all boxes unloaded

Tom already started harvesting oysters and clams

Spacious living room

Dining room in the background

Salina unpacks all the boxes that were carried up all the way from San Francisco

Two bags of veggies: brocolli and Gai Lan

First opened oyster

Kelly's baking counter. The first dough being kneaded in the mixer

Lana and Bernadette taking a rest ...

while Thomas fixes the boat motor

First dough is almost ready for rising

After the dough preparation, Kelly gets busy preparing dinner

Green snow peas and straw mushrooms in the foreground

Husband and wife team hard at work

A pretty rose sketched by the very artistic Lana

First van to arrive from Vancouver, it's Vincent!

Teddy/Cat and Simon/Jamie's van pulls into the parking lot

Re-acquainting old friends

Meeting and welcome the newest  "gang" Vincent and family

Teddy "What's for dinner and what's for 'SiuYah'?"

An improvised pressure cooker

Thomas at work: busy cleaning and opening his obvious catch.

Kelly at work: setting up the wok/stove station

Everywhere helps in dinner preparation

Dinner served!

After dinner speech by Tom: guidelines and game rules for using the property, reminding all the Septic Tank Conservation details from the property owner

After dinner, Simon summons Teddy's "Ghost Leg Game" to determine the sleeping quarters for the Chengs, Tams, and Laus.

The Hos help washing and cleaning dishes.

OK, al "Ghost Legs" drawn, time to pick the right leg.

Anthony and Pat grabbed the "front row seat" for the after dinner cooking "show"

The ladies help cleaning the strawberry

Most relax in the family room enjoying Teddy's great singing

Salina sets inflats the air mattress with help from Anthony

Kelly gets busy preparing bbq pork filling for the buns ...

... in front of live audience

Teddy's singing is better than many professionals, regarded by those who have heard his singing

Teddy can act just as well.

Most spectators watching the live food show, dubbed "The Food Channel"

Now is Simon's turn to sing

Many are facinated with harvesting oyster in the dark

Back inside, all help in preparing the SiuYah (Late night snack)

The first bake is fresh out of the oven

A 4-lb loaf for breakfast and also sandwich for the golfers

Anthony helps serve the SiuYah: NgauLam Fun (beef over flat rice noodle soup)

Yummy Yummy ... wish there are more NgauLam

Bread preparation for next morning's breakfast and sandwiches