We started Saturday with a visit to our friends, Mike and Gaby. Sven was still feeling sick, so we hurried to Triumphal Palace in Alhambra for some dim sum. The food is still great. But the service has gotten lousy. Under the previous ownership the service was top-notch. The waiters stopped by constantly to replace dishes and refill water and tea. But this time they didn’t even take our order until we stopped one of them to do so. This is not unusual in a Chinese restaurant. It is just unfortunate that they couldn’t make the experience better than the others. Food is still fantastic, dim sum or dinner. Definitely give it a try if you are in the area. Just be aggressive in ordering and asking for stuff. Well, not aggressive to the point of being mean, of course. 
The Huntington Gardens
It is absolutely beautiful in the gardens. We’ve only visited the Desert Garden, the Japanese Garden and the not yet finished Chinese Garden. I especially loved the Japanese Garden. Do take a look at the photo album to see more pictures. Especially the bonsai collection.
Yamato Westwood
http://www.yamatorestaurants.com/
Sven’s second visit to this Japanese Restaurant in Westood. Great food. Desert was nicely done, too.
I love bonsai… tried my hand at it about 15 years ago, one of my trident maples ended up in the yard and is now Quite.The.Tree, heh, it’s in Havala’s backyard.
Sven is a very lucky dude, that’s all I have to say, but hope he’s feeling better!
I love Japanese maple trees. Especially the ones that turn golden and red in Fall. Maybe I’ll try bonsai again when I am in China. Gotta have lots of interesting tree there, no?
Check out Sven’s pictures on Sunday. He was feeling much better.
I didn’t realize that the old Eurochow is now Yamato. I’d recognize the inside of that place from a mile away. I used to love their glazed prawns. Oh, well… guess I’ll have to go over and check it out sometime. BTW, beautiful pics of the Huntington! Jill P.
The change happened last December. They have miso flavored eggplants, you know.
Miso eggplant! Now I know I have to go!