NBC Seafood, Molly Tea, and board games

NBC Seafood

plus Molly Tea and board games

Carts at NBC Seafood.

Har gow not pretty, but skins translucent enough and had right amount of folds.

Ham sui gok and deep fried shrimp ball. The latter were a tad over-fried.

Shu mai. Pretty standard.

Pai gut was pretty good.

Har cheung fun just okay. So close, but not quite.

Gai lan didn't look the best, but wasn't bad.

Char siu bao pretty straightforward.

Lo bac guo. A bit plain but quite popular.

Pineapple buns. Very yellow.

Time for pork blood.

Pork blood was excellent.

Pei dan sau yuk jook. Quite good.

Gow choy gow, decent enough.

Lo mai gai were nice and fat, as were the feng zhao (chicken feet).

Beef ball a little small, and no sauce?

Bean curd wraps also nicely plump.

Roast pork was incredibly fatty, even for roast pork. o_0

Hungry friends.

Ngau paak yip took forever, looked plain, but taste was on point.

Mai lai go (steamed cake made with brown sugar).

The Chen-Yi family.

Someone loves rice.

Happy Birthday Kristina!

Fresh fruit cake from Jim's Bakery.

Not full at 10:20am, but packed at 12:00pm.

Outside.

Classic Asian parking job. Sigh.

Molly Tea has seating and tables.

They have clearly taken over the entire plaza.

You know you're at Molly Tea.

Nice bit of outdoor seating.

Tons of staff, hard at work.

Actual cup vs. the prop on the patio. Sealed.

Sealed.

Idiot in Camry finally leaving, only... blocked in. Double sign.

Peach tieguanyin oolong milk tea (seasonal).

Racing pirate ships in Jamacia.

Building a long highway in Big Sur.

Ophelia won both times.

Did about the exact same both games, even though I had a longer highway this time.

Ophelia's even longer highway.

Sue's played hand.

Usual solid meal at NBC Seafood, with some very good dim sum, some misses, and a surprisingly fatty roast pork. Don't knock some of the more average things too much either-- gow chow gow, shu mai, and gai lan all hit the spot despite being pretty average. Ngau paak yip (steamed ginger beef tripe) didn't look like much, nor did the har gow or a few other items, but they tasted good too.

Being seated on the stage area was a little different, actually worked out well because the dim sum cart ladies apparently know to make sure the crowd on the stage is well fed, and they took extra care with the cake we brought in from Jim's Bakery for Kristina's birthday-- happy birthday!!

Milk tea afterwards at Molly Tea, which is very crowded, with a more milky color tea (be it peach or regular jasmine or oolong or whatnot-- got the seasonal peach this time). Their parking lot is tiny, but there's street parking, and unlike some of their competitors, they actually have tables and seating in their relatively good-sized space, which is much appreciated, given you might have a 30+ minute wait for your drink. The outdoor seating area is not large, but is well-done, both in terms of comfort as well as for social media posting.

Wrapped up the day with board games. Jamacia is a competitive-yet-casual game of racing pirate ships around an island, fun enough but clearly some more strategy nuance than my poor dice rolling allowed for. Big Sur, by comparison, was a somewhat longer longest-road building card game. Also pretty good, and a different way to a deck building engine as much of the available cards changes every turn, at least with a group of three playing.