2013 – Hungry Mike

The Minions

Choon-Chern Lim — Sat, 02 Nov 2013 05:00:00 +0000

We helped Jenny and Andy to do their yearly family photo shoot at our place. The Halloween theme for this year is Minions from the “Despicable Me” movie. We spent our late morning taking pictures in Silver Lake Park. It was blistering cold on an otherwise beautiful day. After lunch, we headed to the big playground near the Soldiers Field Veterans Memorial where the kids donned the Minion costumes. These epicly awesome home-made costumes, created by Jenny, definitely turned quite a few heads at the playground.

All… Day… Long.

Make it rain!!!

Glowing Keith.

Dancing with the Minions.

From left: Lucy, Minion #1, Minion #2 and Gru.

The post The Minions appeared first on Hungry Mike.

Fall Colors in Minnesota

Choon-Chern Lim — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 05:00:00 +0000

Amidst our hectic schedule working on a home garden expansion project, we did a 4-day trip to northeastern Minnesota to see the fall colors. The last time we visited this area was in 2011.

The fall colors in Banning State Park was much prettier this time compared to our visit in 2011. We did a 3-hour hike there before stopping by Duluth for early dinner. On the second day, we decided to venture to new places by visiting Britton Peak and Carlton Peak… both peaks are located in Tofte. We made a roadside visit to Temperance River State Park to kill some time before dinner time. On the third day, we spent 5.5 hours hiking in Tettegouche State Park on a rather cold day. This is definitely one of our favorite state parks in Minnesota. In the late afternoon, we stopped by Palisade Head, which was packed with visitors for some reason.

Day 1: Banning State Park.

Day 1: Birds eye view from Enger Tower in Duluth.

Day 2: Tree blur.

Day 3: Sunrise view from our cottage.

Day 3: Epic fall colors in Tettegouche State Park.

Day 3: Climbers at Palisade Head.

Day 4: Beautiful morning view of Lake Superior.

The post Fall Colors in Minnesota appeared first on Hungry Mike.

Alexxandrya Haeflinger

Choon-Chern Lim — Sun, 06 Oct 2013 05:00:00 +0000

We took a few hours off from our hectic weekend schedules to take some senior photos for Alexx. In return, Kurt bribed us with Rick’s super delicious fall-off-the-bone BBQ ribs for dinner. The cloudy afternoon was absolutely perfect for portrait shots. This album contains half of the overall shots taken.

Alexxandrya Haeflinger

Alexxandrya Haeflinger.

Alexxandrya Haeflinger

The post Alexxandrya Haeflinger appeared first on Hungry Mike.

An Epic Fishing Trip in Canada

Choon-Chern Lim — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 05:00:00 +0000

We had an adventurous “eat-what-you-catch” walleye fishing trip in Canada with Rick and Kurt. It was a very last minute trip for all of us. A week prior to the trip, Elson from Due North Outpost Camps inquired Rick’s interest to go fishing this year to backfill the available slot. We made our decision in one night and decided to tag along, not to mention the great discount given by Elson. This was Rick’s third fishing trip with Due North Outpost Camps. For the rest of us, it was our first trip to Canada.

We divided the things to bring and since everything must be flew in, there were quite a few things to bring along. Each of us was allowed to bring up to 125 lbs. Since Angelina and I had never fish before, we had our initial doubts on whether we would go hungry throughout the trip. We made a long 12-hour road trip to Armstrong, Canada, on Saturday. We stayed in Armstrong for a night to catch an early flight to our cabin the next morning. Our cabin was located at a very secluded area. Although the amenities were rather basic, there was also an outhouse, a fish house and four fishing boats. We used the lake water to shower and to clean dishes. A generator was provided to power the light bulbs at night.

Upon our arrival at our cabin, Rick gave us a quick Lindy Rig fishing lesson and we went fishing for our meals right away. We made a day trip to the “waterfall”, which was more like rapids, on the third day. At night, we played Euchre, a very confusing card game by the way… Kurt and I played to lose. On the fourth day, after fishing for the entire day, we laid down on the dock at night to watch the millions of stars illuminating the sky. We also witnessed a rather odd yet amazing lightning show from the distant for more than half hour. On the fifth day, we made a day trip to Savage Lake. Rick made an incredible “Jambalaya” dish for dinner by combining the leftover fried rice with the grilled fish. We spent the rest of the remaining trip days fishing nearby our cabin.

Kurt and I probably had more sinkers lost than fish caught on the first day or two, however, we caught plenty of fish after Rick pointed out our mistakes. Angelina had better luck in catching large walleyes, partly because she had an expert navigating the boat… not to mention she had a great first class fishing service from Rick. Our fishing license permits us to keep two walleyes between 13″ to 18″ per person per day for our consumption. We kept fish that were around 17″. Throughout the trip, we ate about 40+ walleyes and one northern pike. The frozen walleyes at Hy-Vee supermarket cost $15.99 per pound. The average weight for an 18″ walleye is about 2 lbs. If the walleye meat weighs about a pound, then we had eaten more than $600 worth of freshest walleyes in a week. We also saw plenty of wildlife: moose, bear (even though I was the only person who didn’t see it), beaver, squirrel, chipmunk, bald eagles, crane, turkey vultures, loons, ducks and seagulls.

We had a blast throughout the whole week. We truly enjoyed the whole lake by ourselves, the great sceneries, the great adventures, the freshest and tastiest walleyes and most importantly, the graciousness from the Haeflingers who had to put up with our antics (it was really more me than Angelina). Thank you, Rick and Kurt. It was definitely one of the most memorable trips we have done thus far.

A quick shout out to Elson and his family from Due North Outpost Camps: You guys gave an incredible top-notch service throughout our trip and we couldn’t ask for any better. Thank you for your generosity.

Day 2: Our flight to our secluded cabin.

Day 2: Spectacular view during our 45-minute flight to our cabin.

Day 2: Sunset view from our cabin.

Day 3: Grilled fish, filleted by Rick, for lunch at the waterfall.

Day 3: Sunset view from our cabin.

Day 4: Northern lights.

Day 4: We sat at the dock before bedtime to watch one of the most amazing lightning show from the distant.

Day 5: The thick fog blankets everything in less than half hour in the morning.

Day 5: Day trip to Savage Lake.

Day 5: Rick’s 23.5″ walleye, the largest fish caught throughout the trip. He was 0.5″ shy of getting the coveted “Master Angler” badge.

Day 6: Bald eagles fight for the fish guts.

Day 6: Fishing in the rain.

Day 7: The epic “Jambalaya” dish… one of the best dishes we had during the trip.

Day 7: Sunset view from the cabin.

Day 8: Leaving the place we called “home” for a week.

The road trip to Canada.

This picture, taken from Due North Outpost Camps, illustrates the size of the lake. Our cabin is Centre Channel Camp.

Our boat routes for the entire trip.

This map indicates the number of fish caught on camera and their locations. We had 88 fish caught on camera. This indicators are not exhaustive because Kurt and I only came up with this idea a few days into the trip. Rick must had caught more than 100 fish all by himself.

The post An Epic Fishing Trip in Canada appeared first on Hungry Mike.

Great River Bluffs State Park

Choon-Chern Lim — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 05:00:00 +0000

We went for a hike in Great River Bluffs State Park on a perfect day. There were plenty of wildflowers in the park. We spent about two hours in the park before heading to Winona for lunch. After lunch, we strolled along the Winona Lake before heading home.

That’s how we roll.

The post Great River Bluffs State Park appeared first on Hungry Mike.

Kenneth Tea Ee Jie

Choon-Chern Lim — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 05:00:00 +0000

Sis and Hui welcomed the newest addition to their family on June 20 while we were in Sarikei. The baby boy’s name is Kenneth Tea Ee Jie, born at 2:56 PM, weighing 7 pounds and 9.7 ounces. In fact, Shamaine and her little brother share the same birthday. We paid sis and Kenneth a short visit after coming back from Angelina’s hometown. It was definitely exciting to meet my one-week old nephew rather than waiting another few years to see him.

Congrats to Sis and Hui, and get some sleep!

What’s the frequency, Kenneth? — R.E.M.

Barney and friends welcome Kenneth to the brave new world.

The post Kenneth Tea Ee Jie appeared first on Hungry Mike.

Julau

Choon-Chern Lim — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 05:00:00 +0000

We visited Aunt Kwong and her family in Julau, which is located about an hour away from Sarikei. Upon our arrival, Aunt Kwong prepared an enormous amount of food for us to feast. We had a very early dinner at 4:30 PM. After dinner, we walked along the nearby suspension bridge dubbed as “The San Francisco Bridge of Julau” by Uncle Anthony. We spent about two hours in Julau before heading back to Sarikei.

The Kanowit River.

The texture and the taste of a breadfruit really resembles bread.

The post Julau appeared first on Hungry Mike.

A Small Party

Choon-Chern Lim — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 05:00:00 +0000

Instead of heading to Sibu for sightseeing, we cancelled that trip and made a last-minute decision to hold a small party at Aunt Hung’s place. Due to our limited time at home, we figured a party would be much meaningful to get everyone together, to have fun and to enjoy great food. Every family prepared a few dishes to share in the evening. Grandma made a surprise appearance at the party. While waiting for relatives from Julau to arrive, the guests sang karaoke to entertain themselves. There were plenty of food and they were all very delicious. It was an evening of fun and we made a wise decision to hold the last-minute party.

Plenty of dishes for the evening.

Unleashing the hungry crowd.

Milk in the bottle… checked. Pillow… checked. Alright, time to ride the dog home.

The post A Small Party appeared first on Hungry Mike.

Uncle Ping’s Garden

Choon-Chern Lim — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 05:00:00 +0000

We spent our afternoon at Uncle Ping’s garden, which is located about 15 minutes away from Sarikei. Upon our arrival, Uncle Ping graciously served us fresh coconut drinks. We also had a few tasty pamelos. We wandered around the pepper farm under the hot sun. At some point of time, Angelina and her cousins helped Uncle Ping to sweep the black peppers, which were left to dry on some large platforms, into the bags. Harvesting black peppers is truly a backbreaking job. After bagging the black peppers, we spent the rest of our afternoon fishing at the nearby pond. It was truly a priceless experience to hear the laughter and to see that everyone had such a great time, trying to catch as many fish as possible… and all we needed was some wooden poles and worms dug from the ground.

Uncle Ping at work.

Fishing by novices can be dangerous.

Fishing fun.

The post Uncle Ping’s Garden appeared first on Hungry Mike.

Dad In Law’s Garden

Choon-Chern Lim — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:00:00 +0000

Angelina’s dad drove us to witness his new garden project in the late afternoon. His ambitious vision is to build a small house that will be surrounded by various types of vegetables and fruit trees. He has already planted several plants and trees, and it has been looking good. There were also quite a few highly profitable Agarwood trees in the garden. The base of the future house was in place. As we walked around the garden, Angelina helped her dad to harvest some vegetables. We spent about an hour in the garden before heading back home for dinner.

The visionary.

The post Dad In Law’s Garden appeared first on Hungry Mike.