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Too. Much. Fun...
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
I gotta say, this group at Advent Hope is *active!* (and i love it!)
That’s 2, count ‘em TWO, T-W-O, Dos events for people at church this week! Woot! I’m always happy to hang out. :D There was a house,...er apartment warming brunch at Jammie and JenRo’s place and then a birthday celebration for Jannine (J9) today. I’m trying to be uber good and post as soon as something happens - something i’ve not been so good about recently. Woops!
So here are some pics of the apartment warming.
Part of Jammie and the whole of JenRo cooking up a storm for brunch! Yum!
We asked people, “How do you feel about being here this morning?” These are the responses.
The rest of the group was pretty normal 
...but there was still that fringe that wasn’t quite so normal...
And now onto J9’s birthday at Penang Restaurant. Let me first start off by saying that it really helps to read the invitations before you go somewhere. I got to the restuarant at 7pm, the time i thought dinner would start. But as always, i got the feeling that i was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But the waiter was there asking me how many people were coming, etc. So i called J9, told them the number and hunkered down to wait for people. 30 minutes passed before i began to find it a little strange. So finally i called Jeremy and asked him. “It starts at 8 o’clock.” doh. I have arrived a whole HOUR early! The good this is that I had to get some reading done anyway...
Oh, i almost forgot the best part! Aaaah, the cakes. Jen got a wonderful chocolate/pear cake from Bruno Bakery and Erica and Jeremy got a great ice cream cake from Ciao Bella. Mmmmm...that was really good. Just ask Jammie. ;)
Here are some pics from the evening.
The birthday girl with her “Big Pimpin’” style hat and Grace with a very dignified ducky head.
Jammie and Jenn brought their silly hats to compliment their Malaysian dining experience - a must have for culinary novices!
Woah! Gettin’ a little too WILD there with that crazy hat Jeremy!
Jannine basks in the glow of the blazing cakes, the number of years formed in Roman numerals atop the ice cream cake because of some NERD’s suggestion.
Now that is what i call GOOD CAKE!
Thanks for the fun everyone!
With Rita, Rockin’ NYC
Friday, September 24, 2004
My first visitor came last weekend! Rita was here!
It was so nice to have Rita come out here to visit. It was like we were roommates still! (I still consider myself one of the roommates at the Bachelorette Pad) Weather-wise, it was the first cold spell of the fall. It felt like the dead of winter in L.A.! Phew! And all we had were little light jackets to keep out the bitter cold wind! Well, by bitter cold I mean, around 60 degrees or so…
Anyway, we wander a street fair on Broadway in the upper west side near my place, ate at the Restaurant that’s in Seinfeld and visited Columbia campus. We tried to go south, but the 1 and 9 tracks were flooded from the rain. Somehow or other we ended up in Time Square. We passed the theater that was showing RENT and noticed their $20 ticket lottery. We waited for the appropriate time and signed up for that (first in line! Woot!). Half an hour later, they began calling names….and they called Rita! Yay! So we got to see RENT for $20 and in the second row, right smack in the middle!
We were so close, in fact, that when they lit the stage, we were also illuminated. It was great. Mark Cohen was played by Drew Lachey, brother of the now famous Nick Lachey, aka Jessica Simpson’s husband. I’ve seen this play 4 times but this was the best performance I’d ever seen of it. Everyone’s voices were on, the choreography was great, and all the people fit their roles well. I sang along the *entire* time. At the end, Rita and I were taking pictures in front of the stage when the guitarist in the band called down to me congenially, “Hey, you should have been up on stage!” Even from the back of the stage where he sat, he could see me, lit by the stage lights and so close, so into it and singing every word. Wow! I got noticed!
Outside, Rita and I were taking memorabilia pics when I noticed the guy who played angel come out of the theater and duck into the next door bar which had all glass windows. Rita said, “let’s get an autograph!” But I didn’t want to – it felt too tourist, too cheesy, so I held back. But Rita waved at him through the window, and glory be, he looked, *recognized* us, and came back OUT of the bar to talk to us! We ended up chit-chatting with him (Justin Johnston) when the guy who played Tom Collins (Destan Owens) came out, so we started talking with him! Also, the guy that played Benny (D’Monroe) followed. I found out that he was the same guy who played Benny in RENT the first time I saw it in L.A. back in ’98. Crazy.
Justin Johnston (Angel) and Destan Ownes (Tom Collins)
D’Monroe (Benny) - the same guy i saw in L.A. 6 years ago...
The entire time, people were coming up asking for autographs, but they would always come back to us to keep talking “real” talk; you know, not just “Thank you. I hope you enjoyed the show,” kind of stuff. It was great!
The next day we spent at the statue of liberty and checked out Ground Zero. We also happened to catch a political music concert going on in Battery Park. It was awesome! All these people just spontaneously started dancing! It was so...New York.
Can you see the Statue of Liberty way out there?
Enjoying the “Freedom Grass” (no, not marijuana) at the foot of Lady Liberty!
Oh, did i mention we went to Cafe Lalo, too? It’s sooooo good! Their cakes and stuff is just superb! The cafe was actually seen in “You’ve Got Mail.” Seriously, i was happy just to sink my teeth into a mouse/cake combo that melted in your mouth. yum....i’m drooling right now just thinking about it…
The best cake i’ve ever had - half mousse + half cake = purely melt-in-your-mouth heavenly goodness
Anyway, we basically had a really full weekend. I don’t think we slept that much. I’m still trying to catch up on sleep! But it was so much fun! Thanks Rita!
Jammie's Birthday + Good eatin' = good times
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Jammie turned a year older this past weekend. That means it’s time to eat good food!
We went to John’s Pizzeria which is noted as one of the best pizzerias in NYC. Who knew. How do people find these places? Anyway, we invaded and overtook almost the entire restaurant. The group photo at the bottom of this post doesn’t even show half of the people that showed up. Yeah, when we go out we roll deep. Anyway, after polishing off 4 large pizzas easily, we headed off to our next form of delectable cuisine: Magnolia Bakery. This too is apparently very famous. It’s mentioned in Sex & the City, which I’m coming to realize, is the definitive series when it comes to New York authenticity. Who knew? Maybe i’d better watch it… Anyway, Magnolia is famous for its cupcakes. Oh. my. gosh. They were really good and had about an inch of frosting on top of it. Sure, i’ll need a quadruple bypass by morning, but it was worth it! Yum!
You can download a zip file of a bunch of the pics from that night here
"Mawwiage...is what bwings us hew twoday..."
Friday, September 10, 2004
This last weekend was an adventure! My first wedding where i actually got to fly to another state! Woot!
Vince and Ellen got married in Cleveland, Ohio this past weekend. I’ve never been there before! Max, Kimi, Stephan and I shared a room and got to galavant all over Ohio’s green earth. It’s lucky that i went with them because i forgot my invitation in CA, so i didn’t realize that the wedding was on Saturday! I would have completely missed it, thinking it was on Sunday! I will now proceed to point out the thing that i found fun/weird/entertaining.
1) At the reception, we were definitely the minority table. We were all clumped together all cute and stuff, ready for fight or flight! Just kidding. I’m just not used to such monolithic demographics. Two asians and a black man, plus one Russian Canadian. And we played crockette. It’s so not our sport.
2) The night life demographic is kind of scary. I don’t know how to explain it. I’ll just leave it at that. Scary.
3) I got my VERY FIRST SPEEDING TICKET EVER! - That’s right! For all of you guys who have ridden with me, you’re probably wondering what took them so long to catch me! hehehe I keep forgetting that in other states, the cops are bored for lack of *real* crime. So they sit with radar guns in hidden places on the highway and wait for you. Booooo. I got caught going 20 miles over the speed limit. 85 in a 65 zone. Tell me that’s not normal for Cali! Oh well. So my first ticket was out of state, not in my own car, and after i have not been driving for almost a month. Ironic. x__x
4) I got to see my cousins in Columbus (which is a lot farther from Cleveland than I had suspected). They have such a cute house and cute dogs and cats, and their kids are growed up and happy! It was great! Yusuke barbecued kalbi and vegetables for us (yum) while Mika took care of everything else. Props to Kimi and Max who came with to a potentially awkward situation. Thanks guys! Mayu and Yumi are all growed up and busy getting ready to be little adults running around. Yumi has bleached streaks into her hair. woooo.
5) There needs to be a place for people to make U-turns on coutnry highways. You literally have to go about 12 to 15 miles before you get to the next exit. That’s just ridiculous.
6) We found the source of all veggie meat! Where they keep the soy pigs and the soy cows! We found Worthington Foods! It’s now taken over by Kellogs (gotta keep it in the Adventist family you know...) and apparently it smells weird during the day. It’s their Research & Development lab. I wonder what they have in store for us? Fake...eel?
So that sort of sums up my weekend in Ohio! Congratulations Vince and Ellen, who are somewhere toasting in the Mediterranean on a cruise somewhere. Cheers!
You can download some of the pics from the weekend in a zip file by clicking here.
CALLING ALL RECIPES!
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Please, you don’t want me to die out here in NYC, do you? Fer cryin’ out loud! Teach me how to cook!
I’ve been pretty much cooking what i can make up with about 3 types of seasonings and 1 meat plus a bunch of vegetables. I’m running out of ideas. I just bought a pack of Japanese style curry. Yay! I found a *really* small japanese store near NYU. It’ll do until i can find a bigger Japanese market.
But back to the task at hand, i STARVE folks! Losing weight is great and all until you realize it’s because you’re MALNOURISHED! just kidding everyone, it’s not that bad. I’m painting a picture of a dark existence. heheh i’m just trying to inspire you to clicky on the “comment” button and tell me your favorite/do-able recipe.
THANK YOU!
I would be selected against
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
If Darwin could have it his way, I think I would have exited the human race already.
Let’s imagine a world where there were no restaurants or fast food joints. What if there were no frozen foods or microwavable meals? What if we were forced to cook for ourselves at every meal?!? I think I would die. I mean, literally. So it’s been a little over a week of me trying to fend for myself now. Let me say, the culinary experience has been found severely lacking when I cook for myself. It was so much easier when Kimi was around. Even if we didn’t know how to make stuff, we’d just make it up! Now, I can’t exactly do that. It seems I lack a second opinion or the stress of a bunch of people coming over in about 20 minutest to force me to make a decision about whether oregano *really* goes into that or not.
I just don’t have the budget to experiment. I miss Cardenas market so much! For less than a dollar, I could get at least a goodly amount of 3 different types of produce. Here? I can’t even buy one produce item for less than $4! Cardenas! I miiissssss yoouuuuu!
BUT today was a little different. I actually cooked something that was healthy AND good. Well, actually, “cook” is a strong word for what transpired in my kitchen. How about “assembled?” Maybe that’s more accurate. Anyway, I had a good square meal! Vegetables, fruit and meat! Yay! If I could only do this every day…
I also went out and bought some kind of ground beef. I really hope I didn’t get the sucky parts of the cow (wherever that may be…). Anyway, I remember the tales that Max and Vince used to tell me of their days at UNC, cooking for themselves every night. They would get their lump of ground beef and make ultra thin patties divided by wax paper and then stick the whole lot into the freezer. This enabled them to grab individual, easily thaw-able portions of ground beef on the fly. Genius! It’s very similar to the rice freezing trick I learned from Yasuyo.
So to all those people who ever taught me anything about cooking, the one’s for you! Because of you, I will NOT be selected against! …Or at least it’ll take longer for it to get to me.
