Holidays

Jason and I went to Phoenix over the weekend to celebrate the engagement of Jeff Critchley and his fiancee, Jessie.

Congratulations!!!

We had a great time (they were excellent hosts and had just bought a new house and had really fun cats to play with). There was much more to do in Phoenix than Jason and I had expected, so much so that we didn’t have time to see everything we had planned on seeing (we’re coming back for Pizzeria Bianco, Roosevelt Row, Roosevelt Tavern, and the Desert Botanical Gardens). We also didn’t know about the cats, and it’s amazing how much time I can spend tickling cats.

We ate very well. I didn’t take a picture because it was dark outside, but our hosts took us to Farmer Joe’s Grill and we ordered a BBQ pizza and a chicken pesto sandwich. Both were delicious. This place was a house that was converted into a restaurant. They specialized in fresh quality ingredients. They also had this crazy bathroom with a TV and dolls on the walls.

The next day we ate brunch at this really popular place called Matt’s Big Breakfast. The wait was insane, but the food was worth it.

I am not a fan of potatoes, and these were the best hash browns I have ever had. Well, half of them were. I was given 2 hash brown patties, and one was really thick and mushy and moist, and the other was like a potato cracker. I got 2 eggs over easy (my favorite way) and thick-cut bacon. The bacon was good quality, but I like my bacon softer, greasier, and less-cooked. It came with a side of toast, and at most restaurants, I ignore the side toast, but this was bakery bread, pain, with a multi-grain crust, thickly sliced. It came with a slab of butter and yummy jam, maybe black currant-flavored? Jason ordered honey lemonade, which was delicious. He ordered a similar dish to mine, but had the home fries and a side of ham that I loved. I’ll let him blog about that.

That night we ate at Cowboy Ciao’s in Scottsdale, which was nice. The restaurant had a nice feel to it, and we ate at the bar, which was cozy, as the bartenders were chatty and attractive. The dishes were pretty creative, but my favorite was the scallops on a bed of beet risotto. This was the only dish that we didn’t choose on our own, but had chosen on the advice of our bartender. The other dishes included a mushroom dish that I had chosen, but it wasn’t too impressive. We also ordered their famous Cowboy salad, which was very good. We cleaned our plates. I don’t remember what type of greens were in it (Jason says arugula and lettuce), but it had smoked salmon, trail mix, cranberries, dried sweet corn, with a dressing that I want to say was buttermilk poppyseed, but I do not remember. There were some other ingredients in that salad that I cannot remember. Oh well. For dessert, we had bread pudding, and I remember an ice cream with bits of orange in it, but I can’t recall the rest. I hope Jason blogs about this place, since my memory is so terrible.

The next day, we checked out a place on Roosevelt Row called Phoenix Ranch Market.

We didn’t know what to order, even though so many things looked and smelled very good. It was a big Mexican grocery store, with a tortilleria and seafood section with fresh ceviche, as well as a bakery and juice stand. I’d like to say that we had an amazing meal, but I’ve had better in LA and SD. I should also add that the dishes that everyone else ordered looked and smelled much tastier, so I’m assuming we just made poor choices while ordering.

This is my lingua gordita:

The gordita bread was very greasy, so I just took a fork and scooped out the tongue and ate that. It was very tender and tasty.

Ranch taco with chicken:

I was disappointed with it, but Jason appeared to love it.

Jason’s torta:

I’ll let him blog about it, since I didn’t like it much. It was strange to me that they used sweet bread.

We finished our trip by stopping in Glendale to the see the Cardinals football stadium.

Well, I guess we finished our AZ trip by stopping at a Sonic in Yuma, but we didn’t take pictures of that. When I see you, I’ll tell you a funny story about the dangers of eating Cinnasnacks.

We are definitely planning on making another trip out here.

A bunch of people came into town for Val’s graduation (congratulations, Val!) and here are a few photographic gems from the weekend. If you want to see the entire album, email or IM me and I’ll send you an invitation to view it on Picasa.

On Thursday, after drinking at Shakespeare’s, we went to La Posta to soak up the alcohol with burritos.

Unfortunately, nothing will soak up gay:

The following night was the graduation party!

We told Johann not to eat so much sushi:

BUZY SUZY! One of our favorite camping companions:

Justin looks so grateful for Jason’s helping hand:

It’s amazing how much fun adults can have with stickers:

This picture is simultaneously endearing and infuriating:

Dr. Val:

RRRRRAAAAUUUUGHHHHHH:

Dale can’t decide whose ass to grab:

During the celebration of Val getting her Ph.d, Justin, Johann, Val, and even Justin’s mom, Marie took the time to explain:

So my friend Val (whom we know because she also happens to be Johann’s cousin) is now Dr. Val. She successfully defended her dissertation on Friday afternoon, and now she has a Ph.d. We celebrated all weekend, and here is a video commemorating this momentous occasion.

The weather this weekend was hot and dry. I loved it. First, Mamta arrived Friday night and we took her to Tajima for some ramen noodles, cucumbers with bean dip, and rice balls wrapped in seaweed. On Saturday, we took her to Beach Grass Cafe in Solana Beach for breakfast before dropping her off at La Costa Spa and Resort for a wedding.

Here is my vegetable ratatouille omelet:

Jason took me to Ocean Beach to walk around and explore Dog Beach and the shops. We tried to eat at Hodad’s, but the line was massive, unmoving, and in the blazing sun. Instead, we ate at a bar called South Beach. The food wasn’t cheap, but it was very good. Cold light beers on a hot day will work wonders as well.

We started off with fried baby octopus:

Then we followed it with fresh ceviche:

Jason ordered a fried fish taco:

I may have forgotten to take a picture of the lobster taco I ordered:

On Easter Sunday, I was craving dim sum, so Jason took me to Pearl Restaurant where we gorged. I love Chinese.

I am feeling really lazy right now, so I’ll just post pictures for now.

Celebrating our awesome prizes from the white elephant at Rosie and Cliff’s Christmas party with Ching and Rachel:

This is Felisa’s cat, Carlo. He was not nearly as amused as we were:

These are my cousins, Young and Juno. I find this photograph hilarious:

My beautiful older sister, Patti:

December Nights is back!!

http://www.balboapark.org/decembernights/

You all know why I love this event so much. This time we’re hoping to catch both nights; that way, we can eat our way through everything and take back twice as much baklava.

Museums are offering free admission from 5 - 9 PM both nights. I would highly recommend getting paella, empanadas, and baklava. I would also discourage the mead, mulled wine, and Lion’s Milk. Unless you like sour wine or alcoholic Good N’ Plenty’s.

Zetho blogged about most of it, so I won’t really repeat what he already said. Here is a picture that pretty much summed up Friday night:

You can see how tired I am from the drive up to SF:

Saturday is where our weekends differed. I had brunch with Ju Yon, Stella, Doris, Felisa, Suyun, and Suyun’s boyfriend, Eric at Just For You Cafe. We started with beignets, which I love, and coffee. Then I ordered Greg’s Scramble, which sounded delicious, but after a couple of bites, I felt really nauseous. I’m not sure what caused the nausea, but I couldn’t eat any more after that, except for buttered grits.

After brunch, Doris and I walked around Inner Sunset, and then explored the Botanical Gardens at Golden Gate Park.

Doris tried to sample some flowers that looked just like corn cobs:

Doris paid dearly for this award-winning photo:

We were so pumped about the idea of Doris using a cactus leaf to act as a giant green foot that she climbed into the pit and got covered in tiny spiky needles. She spent the remainder of the afternoon picking them out of her socks and pants.

Then, of course, we had to play with Ginger.

She did not seem too pleased, but she didn’t hiss or meow, so we kept it up until she ran away.

That night, I took a cab to North Beach to eat at Enrico’s with my former college roommate, Laura (she graduated and that’s when Reina and I became roommates). Enrico’s was good; I had pork belly rillette for an appetizer with crunchy toast to spread it on. For my entree, I had an entire wood-oven roasted hen. It was very good, but I get full quickly and so I only ate about half of it. It came with some field greens, which had some salt and pepper sprinkled on them with a very light oil vinaigrette, which I’d never had before, but surprisingly, the salt and pepper were tasty additions. I don’t know if I would go back, though, because I didn’t like the dessert menu. There was nothing that I wanted to order from it.

Here is a picture from Dragon Bar, where we went next.

I took some pictures of the group, but they didn’t come out too well. Anyway, the bouncer at Dragon Bar let us in for free, because we were an all-female group and because it was Laura’s special day. The bartender got us a round of Special Bachelorette Party shots (very yummy!) and then we went to the dance floor. The DJ came out, asked Laura to pick any song she wanted, and no sooner had he stepped back to his podium when the lights went out. There was a power outage for a 2 block radius. We tried to wait it out, but we finally left for Cigar Bar. At Cigar Bar, we got a discount on the cover, since it was Laura’s special day, but the place was really crowded, and Laura wanted a place to sit because she was already feeling the effects of 2 drinks. Now, this was 2 drinks spread out over a 3 hour period, mind you. Laura was sleepy from the alcohol and begged us to let her sleep in her hotel room. We compromised by hanging out at the bar in her hotel lobby, where Laura promptly fell asleep. We made her sleep in the bar booth until the bar closed, which was midnight, then we called it a night.

Here are the pics from my camera. I didn’t take too many, what with running around and trying to talk to everyone. All of our friends were there! Of course I had no time for pictures!

My beautiful girls:

This is the next bride-to-be that I will be assisting! My best friend at Cal that I had the joy of rooming with my senior year:

King of Singapore:

My hot date:

Do you have ze microfiche?

I am digging this lovestruck-look on Tina’s face as she gazes at Bill:

Sam explaining the odds and terms of several bets for the night:

Want to know how good the food was? Check out Jason’s plate:

I am submitting this photo in order to prove my innocence after I was wrongfully convicted of smearing a foundation-caked cheek onto Ken’s jacket. I didn’t lean on him until AFTER he removed his jacket, so HA!!

I noticed that very often, unless they are crouching, Jason and Brian tend to have their heads cut off when they take pictures with me:

This is Ken warning us that last call for drinks is upon us.

And now, here is something amazing. You’ve heard of usnaps.com, right? Probably not. Anyway, some lucky people have, and have been using these booths at special events. It would take creative cats like Tina and Bill to add this little twist: furry mustaches! Genius! I don’t think anyone can top that.

My demented friends:

I don’t even know what to say. Last weekend was an exhausting blur of memories and moments, never a dull or unhappy one. I don’t know what to put, either, bc I think Tina should be the one talking about the weekend, and I shouldn’t reveal anything that she might want to tell herself. I will put down the basic things, that aren’t too personal, and that don’t ruin the great stories we have now.

The rehearsal dinner was at Blue Water Grill, in Redondo Beach. The food was delicious, and it killed me to not clean my plate, but I had to keep in mind that I had to fit into a bridesmaid dress the following day, and I had already gained a little weight over the past week. I had a filet mignon, and it was tender, red, juicy… There was also a good salad preceding that, and the raspberry vinaigrette wasn’t overwhelming and didn’t burn my tongue off, the way a lot of places’ do. I have no idea what the dessert was, but it was spongy cake with a soft, almost mousse-like layer on top, and then a dollop of cream and a cherry, I believe. It was lemony, whatever it was, and good, but again, I had to restrain myself, knowing what the following day had in store for me.

We woke up uber-early and went to Jessica’s Make-Up and Hair Day in Koreatown. Those ladies did a great job, bc everyone looked gorgeous! It took several hours, though, because that place was packed with 4 large bridal parties and was also running their usual daily business, which you can imagine was even busier bc it was a Saturday.

I’m going to skip the rest, bc that’s for Tina to tell however she wants, and for us to tell people over drinks and whatnot when we see our friends in person. I will say that this may have been the best wedding I have ever attended, and this is bc it was the wedding of a very close friend that I’ve known for so long. Not only that, but to have the bridal party consist entirely of our special group of girlfriends that have been together through thick and thin, some since elementary school, and all of us through middle school, high school, college, and beyond, was more than I can put into words. It’s just a very fun, and very meaningful experience. Knowing that we’ve stuck together so easily through quite possibly the most tumultuous years of our lives makes it very easy to believe that we’ll be together for life. It’s very nice to know that the support group we’ve relied on since puberty is the same group we can still rely on. I love my girls, and this was the best weekend ever!!

I should have taken more pictures that weekend, but I’ve got a few good ones. One of Jason’s best friends since college, Brandon, got married to his girlfriend of 8 years!

Bryant admiring everyone’s handiwork:

We were in Vegas last weekend to throw a bachelorette party for Tina! Here are the pictures that I don’t mind Jason seeing (thank you Ju Yon and Astra for the pictures!):

I make Tina look like an Amazon, or she makes me look like a dwarf.

Bride and Maid of Honor (it’s her little sister!):

Duck foie gras, duck terrine, and duck confit (mmmmm):

Aileen: “Doris, you’re this red!”

Isn’t Ju Yon’s dress purdy?

Drunk, and loving it:

Moneymoneymoneymoney!

Uh oh, too much alcohol!

Crazy naked girl!!

Post-Party:

One of my best friends, Reina, threw a party on the R-Side. Here are some pictures that I took when I remembered that I had a camera.

Most of them are of my 2 favorite guys from Escondido.

That wonder of the world, Guitar Hero:

One of my favorite party attendees, and with whom I spent a large portion of the night.

Congratulations to those who graduated recently, like my brother in law Howard, Laura, and Johann.

Christmas Card Lane is a beautiful suburban neighborhood in Rancho Bernardo(?) where residents take Christmas decorations to a new level. “Yes, but why isn’t it just called the North Pole or Christmas-Land? Why Christmas Card?” Well, each house has a huge canvas with a clever picture or saying on it, so that it looks like they’re displaying a huge Christmas card on their lawn. HOLYSHITITISAMAZING.

My favorite.

So Reina invited Jason and me to come out to Thanksmas, hosted by Doug’s college buddies. I don’t have any pictures, unfortunately, so hopefully Cheryl and Athena posted a bunch somewhere. I got pictures of me and Jay and Bella. That’s it. Sorry, Mango. You’re adorable, but we need subjects that stay still enough for me to press a button. Anyway, the house was beautiful, the people were funny, the food was good (I’m still dreaming about the yams and cheesecake), the time was fun, and I got good gifts from the white elephant. Yes, I had to obtain them by stealing, but I’m sure the victims liked what they ended up stealing as well. I do have to add that Jason already broke both snowman Christmas mugs.

Happy Thanksmas!

Jason just told me that this weekend is Balboa Park’s annual December Nights. It takes place tonight and tomorrow, and it’s a great place to eat amazing food from all over the world (and various restaurants of San Diego), drink, and visit museums. It holds a special place in my heart, too, because I think it had a lot to do with ending up with Jason.

Last year, Reina asked me and Jason to go to December Nights with her friends. We agreed to go on Saturday, but at the last minute, Reina called me to let me know her friends could no longer make it on Saturday. Jason and I ended up going together alone when we had only hung out together once before. There was a lot of potential for an awkward, uncomfortable, disastrous day. It actually turned out to be one of the most enjoyable days I have ever spent in my life. We had so much fun that I didn’t end up going home until after 2 AM. It’s a rare thing, to meet someone new and not have any awkward moments within a 15 hour period of time. I was amazed that I could have such a good time with someone that I barely knew and had just met.

Anyway, going to tomorrow’s December Nights will be like an anniversary of sorts. I hope to see a lot of you there! Also because I really want my Cerritos and San Diego friends to meet each other.

It seems only fitting to write about what I’m thankful for. This is worrisome for me, because I know minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months from now, I will think: “Goddammit! I left another thing out!” But if I can get at least 2 items down, I’ll be happy. Well, I’ve made some new friends since last Thanksgiving, and that’s definitely a reason to give thanks. I have still got great relationships with my family and friends; I’m in pretty good health; I worry a lot about what I’m going to do with my life, but at least I’m in a position to do something about it; I have been blessed with a more positive outlook on life and a stronger belief in the inherent good in people and their enduring love. I am blessed with constant reminders of the exciting world that’s out there and the fact that we have the option of exploring it.

I’m thankful for all of you: you’re part of the reason why I have so many reasons to be thankful.

I have friends who love finding opportunities to help others. I found some volunteer opportunities for those of you who haven’t been delegated too many cooking duties on Thursday.

The Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition: http://www.volunteermatch.org/orgs/org24093.html

Thanks to the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition — a local charity geared toward helping the city’s growing homeless community — WeHo’s homeless are fed and clothed. (Each Wednesday, a team from UCLA gives out medications and referrals while volunteers distribute clothes and beds.) Lend a hand this Thursday as this nightly ritual expands, shuttling hundreds of homeless people to the Hard Rock Cafe for a holiday celebration that caters to their needs and encourages them to strive for bigger and better things. (JH)

Note: For information on volunteering, contact Doris Presley at 310.672.9961.

The Los Angeles Mission: http://www.losangelesmission.org/index.html

If you click around the site, you can find ways to donate your time and/or money.

These events (and their text descriptions) were delivered to my mailbox courtesy of Flavorpill.