lately...

because i have nothing to write about, here is my past week in photos.

Muri, Natty and i needed something to spruce up our shared locker at work, so we got Muri's brother to turn us into caricatures so that we may plaster them all over our locker as if it were wallpaper. unsurprisingly (Jarett's a great artist) they turned out pretty well. guess which one i am. 

Fern moved out and into a more lively house (Natty and i are practically never home) so we had our last Roomies Dinner at Scoma's. a last hurrah, if you will. y'know, people swear by Scoma's but i've never had the desire to go. it always seemed sort of outdated. i'm sure the appeal to people is the authenticity and novelty of it's time but for me, it just doesn't cut it food-wise. the food, much like the ambiance is of a different period and remains sort of mediocre. if anything, we had a blast there just soaking up all of the vintage qualities of the place. 

our old time experience

1. the place is covered in wood paneling and old framed images of random old people that we would never be able to guess their claim to fame. this includes a very creepy painting of a man golfing who's eyes were painted in such a way in which it seemed he was always staring straight at  us

2. when they called names over the PA system (you hear that? PA system!!!) all we heard were old timey names. i shit you not, these names were uttered over the overhead system: Pierson, Dot, Gore and Mr. Hagney. Mr. Hagney? are you kidding me? hilarious! 

3. Waiman was our senior citizen chinese server. he was hilarious in that he took our order without writing it down and then a few minutes before we were supposed to get our main meals he came back to make sure he got the right order but had completely forgotten what Natasha ordered. then when we reminded him that it was pesto, he recalled in his heavy chinese accent "oh yes, right. basil and pine nut and olive oil." cute, guy, cute! Waiman provided many more funny stories through the night but i won't bore you with them. you probably had to be there for them to be funny. 

a photo we took and sent to our boss, who was jealous that we were going to Scoma's. he then texted back that we were to be fired unless we brought leftovers for him the following day. he got no leftovers and we are still working. sucka!

went to the grand opening party for the Terracotta Warrior exhibit at the Asian Art Museum. i've always wanted to see the Terracotta Warriors. this was a tiny taste of what's to see in China. they had maybe four of the warriors and two of the horses. i can't wait to physically see the rows upon rows of warriors lining the pits one day. 

took a run down the Embarcadero (my favorite). i had to stop and take this pic when i saw a good photo op. too bad the camera on my phone lacks sharpness qualities. 

went to the Castro Theatre to watch Skyfall. such a lovely theater. beautiful and timeless. this is the ceiling. 

oh! and they've got an organ player that plays before each show. he even played some Bonds songs! 

hmm...this isn't even slightly a good representation of how large and awesome the moon looked this morning. it was so defined and bright. 

ridiculousness...an epic weekend

this past weekend was spent in Tahoe with this mystery man and a bunch of his friends. hmmm...though it's not so much a mystery considering Spiderman (below) forgot that in order to remain incognito he shan't reveal his face. fail, Spidey, major fail. the weekend was dubbed "The Best Ski Trip of Your Life"  or "Epic Ski Weekend" and i can't argue with that. the house was massive and held just about 20 of us comfortably. along with your standard hot tub, there was an indoor pool, wet sauna, dry sauna, movie room (sixteen recliners [16!!!] and a projector), as well as a pool table. pretty kick ass, i think! but a large house doesn't cut it solo. i'd imagine that in order for a trip to be epic it should probably include loads of fun too. i didn't ski or snowboard but i assure you that fun was had. backyard sledding. snowman making. drunken "drink every awkward moment occurrence in American Reunion" movie watching. lots of napping. water basket/volley-ballish gaming. dinner cooking. awesome people meeting. dance partying. and costuming. costuming? what?....yes! costuming..well sorta. each night there was a theme for the drunken portion of the trip. and here is how it went down...

pajama night!

an excuse to finally wear my frog jammies! 

pirate luau

what the what? i stuck with the pirate thing because i felt it was important for a man to wear the coconut bra/grass skirt getup. you can't tell, but i even have a little birdie on my shoulder. true, it was a finch and not a parrot, but c'mon...i put in the effort to have a bird on my shoulder. bonus points for me (which don't count when you give them to yourself..soo...)! 

white party

it's easy enough to wear white clothing but white mustachios really kick up the outfits just enough to make them awesome! 

if by chance any of you folks i met this weekend are reading this, hello! it was nice to meet you and i hope to see you again! epic weekend it was indeed!!

Sons & Daughters

Sons & Daughters has been on my list for a while now but i couldn't find a justification for spending $114 on a single meal without it being a special occasion of some sort. Kim and i decided that we'd splurge for our birthdays (mine in dec and hers early feb) and treat ourselves to a pretentious meal. Sons & Daughters holds one Michelin star and for good reason. the food is presented nicely and is quite thought out in taste and texture. service is on point and the setting is nice with a healthy touch of rustic. but while i enjoyed my meal here, nothing was really outstanding. maybe it's because i've become sort of a food snob and have explored a wide spectrum of taste combinations so my bar has been raised. still, a very good meal. i would absolutely recommend taking someone special for an occasion of some sort.

please excuse the blurry pictures, as my camera is a piece of dung.

amuse bouche: buttermilk crisp with sea grapes (i think that's what he called them) and citrus.

inventive, fun, served on a wooden plank. all good things. 

buckwheat bread

this was stellar. buttery and nutty. 

there were two more bread services with a rye sourdough and a pretzel roll. both very good.

garden egg, buttermilk and spring vegetables

the egg yolk was wrapped in a thin layer of some sort and fried lightly. the yolk was still runny and velvety good.

roasted baby beets with spices a fresh tarragon

while everything seemed very fresh, the spiced were very Indian in flavor and i'm not sure i loved the combination with the beets. texturally this dish worked well though. 

dungeness crab with smoked caviar and apple

light, refreshing, salty, slightly sweet. a good combination of flavors

squab with marcona almond and blood orange

probably the best dish of the night! the breast was cooked perfectly (likely sous vide). the marcona almonds added a nuttiness and saltiness and the citrus balanced it all out. 

New York steak with hedgehog mushrooms and potato mille feuille

a good dish overall.

layers on layers on layers of potato

nicely done, guys!

goat cheese, green onion and caraway ash

with all of the components together, it worked quite well. though the dish could have used a crunch factor

Bergamot curd, grapefruit and meringue

light and refreshing. a nice palate cleanser

white chocolate mousse (mousse-ish thing), geranium ice cream and huckleberry

the geranium ice cream was interesting and quite floral. the sour notes from the huckleberry as well as the addition of salt cut through the sweet of the white chocolate in a complimentary way. 

don't ever princess handshake me

when someone approaches your personal zone and motions to shake your hand, you naturally anticipate that handshake to match the strength of what you see before you, right? say, if The Hulk wanted a handshake, i might run in response to fear of shattered fingers. and if after having purchased a load of Thin Mints, a Girl Scout leaned in for a shake, i would imagine it to be soft, friendly, and include exactly three literal up-down motions (because as a child i thought handshakes were done in this specific manner). so when what seems to be a masculine guy approaches to shake my hand i expect a firm, solid, hello-i-want-you-to-know-that-i'm-a-man's-man type handshake.

so what happens when said handshake is making it's way towards me? i do as always and prepare for my own usual handshake which is a fairly solid i-ain't-no-dummy-nor-princess-type-chick handshake. this, of course, is based on my own silly musings about how strong i think i am. though in reality i am well aware of my lack of ability to open cans or even Gatorade bottles, so i'm not confident the imagery of my solid handshake is perceived from any other person in the same way (meh!). so we've now established that i'm not really strong, yet i do try to put in enough effort to hand off a solid enough message. whew, i just went off on a bit of a tangent there.

anyhow, in recent time there was an incident in which a guy who knowingly has taken a liking for me reached his hand out for what i thought was going to be a handshake. now i'm not sure what his intentions actually were. all i can say is that my hand went in for your traditional type handshake but was met with some obscure version of a hand collision. his hand turned palm side down and was limp as could be. think princess handshake, 'cause that's pretty much what it felt like. because i had treated it like your typical handshake, in the span of one quick second i basically demolished his hand and smashed four of his fingers together. what. in. the. fuck??? needless to say, it was really awkward and i can't understand why anybody who would want to make a good impression would shake a hand in that manner. you're better off just hollering because at least i can't smash your fingers when you "holla". fellas just FYI, a "holla" or just as equally, a princess handshake pretty much make you automatically undesirable. keep that in mind the next time you meet a pretty lady, mmmkay??

light tomorrow with today

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

what is said or done today paves the way for what's to come tomorrow. your actions and words have much more an impact than you may think. significant decisions such as a career change or whether or not you pay your bills on time certainly impact tomorrow and it's following days. but even something as subtle as smiling at a stranger or simply not being an asshole can make a great difference in your mood and the moods of the people surrounding you. and just think if it made you feel good today then if the same or comparable actions/words are repeated tomorrow and ever after, you're probably setting yourself up for some goodness in your life. 

Eugene & Theresa's wedding

on saturday my cousin Eugene made Theresa an official member of our family. i can't say that i've spent a ton of time with her, but i can tell that she's really awesome and super down to earth. and she's cute, so hopefully they make some cute babies for us to play with (which for me means toddlers. if you know me, you know why.) i could not be happier for Eugene and his new wife! he picked a keeper for sure!

my family minus my brother, who i sent out to get me a sandwich. haha!

oh, and you can't tell from this picture, but my grandma's gold chain looks like mardi gras beads with a giant gold coin attached. along with her missing front tooth (which she is so cleverly hiding), the rest of her bling, and that Heineken she was swigging, she was lookin like a pimp! no disrespect, Poh-Poh...it's all in fun! 

instead of a guestbook they had people sign wooden hearts to hang on a tree

the fam.

damn, i was trying to get a good picture of her missing tooth but she wasn't havin' it!! 

my dad with his brothers and sisters! this is a rare type picture and is going into the archives for future generations to see. clearly my dad is the eldest boy evidenced by his Steve Martin-esque white hair. 

Theresa, looking all gorgeous on her big day

they had Frank, the monk, do his thing during the ceremony. yes, his name is actually Frank and he's from Tibet.

tea ceremony. these half bodies you see are my aunt and uncle, the parents of the groom.

mugs inspired by Philz coffee. finally a useful favor!

i'm still baffled about asian men not smiling. c'mon Pops, just crack one!

girl cousins! we owned that dance floor, huh?

myself, Eva, Adrienne, Frances, Jessica and Michelle. 

one of my favorite people in life!

oh, and i pretty much refuse to wear heels for more than a couple hours. it's called i-can't-torture-myself-the-way-you-other-chicks-can.

me and Jerome (Jeremy, but i love calling him Jerome). 

myself and his gf both agree that he should not be wearing a stupid graphic tee underneath his dress shirt. way not cool, Jerome. like...way. 

we. love. you. cheers!

corny! i love corny/cheesy anything!

yay! we snagged the wife for a moment!

lion dance. 

whoa, bro! this is a family affair, y'know...

CONGRATS to Eugene and Theresa!! welcome to the family...we are ecstatic to have you!

"we wished upon parallel lines"

"i remember the first time we wished upon parallel lines"- FUN!,  All Alright

i love this! but not in the context of the rest of the song's lyrics. i love this isolated. the idea of two people on the same path or wishing for something in synchronization just emotes a feeling of connection or at least a similar thought process. or maybe they are just in the same place or same situation together and have a mutual understanding of what's going on. it doesn't even have to be about something dramatic. you know how when you think something is uproarious and just at that same moment another person thinks it's just as hysterical? you are drawn to that person as you "hahaha" together and it's almost like a hilarity jinx. and when two people's thought's are exactly the same at that precise moment, you're on parallel lines. and i love it.

recent happenings

last week we celebrated my roommate coworker friend Natty's (best terrible nickname ever) birthday. the Super Crew went to Social Kitchen for what seemed like was going to be a pretty tame night. but after rounds of shots magically appeared (i'm blaming you, Edgar) we got to know each other maybe too much (who's your favorite tech? oh, and also what's your number? how the eff did that happen? p.s. we all think you're lying, Tan! good times, friends!

i'm pretty sure it's okay that Ruby photobomb's any of Natgar's pictures considering she's Edgar's favorite.

wtf Tan, your head looks like a shrunken head next to these guys.

Uyen is the reason we ever get kicked out of places due to the high frequency of her voice whilst intoxicated. good thing Ron has the hookup and we'll never get kicked out of there.

Adrian made it! 

coffee crunch cake from Yasukochis. the best! i think she wished for the Niners to win, but that turned out to be a no go. 

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saw Muse for the fourth time and they still kick as much ass as the first time. their concerts are like a cracked out, thoughtfully orchestrated light show that blows minds. when i told Kris that she said "clearly you've never been to a rave," which i am happy to say i have indeed not been. and i'm gonna go on a whim and say that the movement and coordination between light, stage and music is much more thought out than that of a rave. aside from that, Matt Bellamy's voice is always on point and oh so very unique. while i'm not loving newer Muse music (although Madness is a pretty great song), the old stuff still ranks among my favorite music. 

hope you all had a good weekend! we didn't win the Super Bowl but that was a hell of a game, right??