Midwest: July 2026: Day 8: Cleveland

Midwest

July 2026: Day 8: Cleveland

Elayne and Ty.

Caravaning to dim sum.

Pai gut at Li Wah is quite decent.

Har cheung fun skins are too thick, also not enough shrimp.

Lo mai gai are okay.

Shu mai are okay, har gow skins too thick - and where's the folds?

Feng zhao could use more black beans, but not bad.

Fried eggplant and shrimp paste.

Bean curd and shrimp paste, beef ball, both very plain. Also no sauce on the beef ball?

Ngau paak yip (steamed ginger beef tripe) was just passable.

The spread.

Lo bac guo quite thick and kind of plain.

Still great to catch up with friends.

Shrimp ball. Carts.

Carts.

Jian dui are okay.

Trying out the jian dui (sesame ball).

Dan tat were served piping hot. Nom.

Getting restless. Inside.

Inside.

Erik's shiny new ride.

Toyota Crown Signia.

Checking out prices and inventory levels at Microcenter.

Crucial is still in stock despite being discontinued months ago.

WD Black SN8100 pricing is ouch.

Hard drive pricing also ouch.

CPU coolers are still normal priced.

CPU coolers are still normal priced (Noctua is premium...).

CPU coolers are still normal priced.

GPUs are overpriced but that's not new.

RTX 6000 Pro Blackwell for only $11k?

On the way to the airport.

A spot of rain.

JetBlue special livery.

Erik's better half and their friends always seem to enjoy using me as an excuse to go to dim sum, and honestly, I am happy to oblige. Li Wah in Cleveland is appropriately cliche, but they still manage to have staples such as ngau paak yip (steamed ginger beef tripe), even if the quality of most dishes is short of what I am used to in 626. At least the dan tat were very much on-point today, and piping hot as they were fresh from the oven.

Got to cruise more in Erik's new car afterwards-- as comfortable as yesterday's roadtrip to Columbus was, getting a bit more detailed of a breakdown was definitely welcome. The requested stop at Microcenter was happily fulfilled, and being able to check out inventory levels in-person across the country is always nice in this day of crazy, AI-driven product shortages and price increases. Then, all too soon, it was time to say farewell to old friends and head home. Until next time!