Gung Hay Fat Choy!

January 30, 2006

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY!
SUN LEEN FI LOK!
SUN TY GEEN HONG!
BO BO GO SING!

Happy Chinese New Year! Welcome to beginning of the Year of the Dog. Yesterday (January 29) was the first of the Chinese new year and the initiation of 15 days of celebration. The Chinese New Year's eve and day are celebrated family affairs. So, with that in mind, I dragged my hungover self down to San Jose to spend the day with my sister, niece and brother-in-law.

Olivia's new sweater, courtesy of Auntie Annie and Uncle Darren


A bear on her bum!




We headed over to Oakridge Mall, where they have an exhaustive list of surburban dining options. We chose BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse, which is known for their pizza.

Jack's flight of beers...at least that's one type of alcohol that I didn't consume the night before...
Olivia enjoying her Cold Stone Creamery ice cream

After lunch, Angie and I ran a bunch of errands while a very exhausted Olivia took a nap. After her much-needed rest, she was little Miss Sunshine again. It's pretty amazing how much she talks and how smart she is.

BTW, the big family news is that Angie is expecting again, and the more surprising news, which we found out over the holidays, is that she's having...TWINS!

I'm going to have triple the amount of little ones to spoil in the summer!

Cha Cha Ciao

January 29, 2006

Last night was a big night, as evident by the throbbing head and overall feeling of ill that I was greeted with this morning. Will was out of town for a board meeting in Vancouver, so it was up to myself to entertain myself...which is usually not a good idea. (Seeing as how Will is usually the responsible individual who tells me that I should start drinking water at the appropriate time, though I don't always heed his advice). The general itinerary was to go for dinner with Coco and then head over to a Cole Valley for the "See You Later Sili" party at the infamous 855 frisbee house.

Coco and I headed down to Upper Haight, in search of some tasty sustenance. We checked out Citrus Club, and then quickly decided to risk the wait at Cha Cha Cha, as they have a bigger bar area and sangria! While waiting for two seats at the bar to eat, Coco and I enjoyed a large pitcher of sangria. And when we finally did get our seats, we enjoyed another pitcher, in addition to:

- Ceviche Del Dia (assorted seafood in a spicy lime vinaigrette over a bed of mixed greens)
- Chicken Paillard (grilled strips of chicken in dijon cream sauce)
- Fried New Potatoes (with chile pasilla aioli)
- Grilled Pork Loin (with Spanish Rice)
The Cha Cha Cha spread

Coco's buddy, Aaron, joined us at the bar at Cha Cha Cha and helped us with the second pitcher of sangria (thank goodness!). After we wrapped up dinner, we headed over to Hobson's Choice for some post-dinner pre-party frivolity. Hobson's Choice is a Victorian Punch House, and has fantastic rum drinks. My favorite is the mango rum-infused punch. Hobson's is also known for it's series of t-shirts that they sell that advertise their famous rum menu including:

- Mojito?
- Dark and stormy?
- Between the sheets?

The deadly mango rum punch
Dark and Stormy?

As we enjoyed our cocktails, the entertaining bar staff at Hobson's looped us into an impromptu game of "Name That Band" with a playlist on an iPod that dated back to the eighties...
The bartenders at Hobson's Choice trying to stump us at "name that band"

So, around 11:30 pm, I finally make my way to the party. Aaron came along for the ride but quickly realized that he was "out of his element" and returned to Hobson's Choice. Apparently my camera was in full-force throughout the evening, because I had 170 pictures on my flash card that documented the debauchery.

Here are just a small fraction of those snapshots:























Ahh...good times.

Safe travels to Sili, we'll miss you!

A hurtin' thanks to the 855 house for hosting a good ol' time, and to Frodo for being so nice to two beligerent drunks (Coco and I) and taking us home at 4 am...

The 'Stache

January 28, 2006

Last night after work, I went to Burlingame to meet up with my old research lab at Straits Cafe to wish good luck to my former boss/mentor, Kerstin, who was starting a new position at Genentech. We had some drinks and small plates as we caught up and it was really nice to get the whole lab together again: Kerstin, Mandy, Kristen, Jacs and me.

As I was jetting up the 101 back to the city after that, I caught up with Abe over the cellie, who was getting ready to go to Tahoe. As of late, Abe has been growing out his facial hair and was sporting a not-too-patchy beard, and he informed me that he had drastically re-styled his facial hair into a sleazy moustache...a 'STACHE?!?!

Of course, I had to do a drive-by and check this out in person...

Oh my...

The 'stache and trucker hat combo

The sleaziness up close


Watch out ladies...the 'stache has been unleashed!

Bix

January 25, 2006

Last night we had plans with Will's co-worker, Vitaly, and Vitaly's girlfriend, Isabelle, for dinner. This was the last in the long list of non-stop social events that had been planned over the last 3 weeks and I am exhausted.

It was also the last Dine About Town picks that I had planned on trying this month. We went to Bix, located on tiny Gold street in the heart of the Barbary Coast area of the Financial District. There are lots of law firms, swanky designer furniture stores and art galleries in this neighborhood. Bix is known for its supper-club fare, the beautiful high-ceilings, long mahogany bar, 30's style jazzy Rat-packer feel (complete with grand piano and lounge singer), and the steak tartare that is prepared tableside.


The dinner choices:
Appetizer
Bea - Hearts of Romane salad with Blue Cheese Vinagrette
Will - Tuscan lentil and eggplant soup with New Harvest olive oil
All - Steak Tartare...yummy!

Entree
Bea - Chicken Hash a la Biz
Will - Seared local Albacore Tuna with Chanterlles

Dessert
Bea - Vanilla Creme Brulee
Will - Chocolate Brioch Bread Pudding

Dinner was lovely and so was the company. Our server was very nice, but we had a pretty long wait in between the appetizer and entree courses...or maybe it was just because I was ready for some zzz's.

Bix seemed like a great place to dine if you're on the company bill, or if you happen to be very wealthy. I think that I would be hard-pressed to come here and have the regular menu because there are so many other great restaurants in the city that serve similar fare but for far more reasonable prices. Regardless, one more check off my list of places to try.

And now, I think I'll spend some quality weekday nights at home on the sofa eating my typical menu of 30-minute meals.

Captain's Dinner

January 24, 2006

As most of you know, I am a co-captain of a San Francisco Ultimate Club (SFUC) winter league team, with Dave Brokaw. One of biggest incentives for captaining a team each season is the raucous captain's dinner that takes place every January. Last season, we went to Buca di Beppo, where we had the "Cardinal Room", and redefined the concept of the captain's dinner. Let's just say that there was mistaken raisin wine consumption and mistaken birthday girl celebrations leading to an impromptu Italian lap-dance. Yes, oh my.

This year, we returned to Buca di Beppo, and to the Cardinal Room. I have no idea what everyone was eating, but at our table, we definitely enjoyed:

- BUCA TRIO PLATTER (large only) crispy shrimp, fried calamari and pan fried fresh mozzarella
- CRISPY SHRIMP
- MIXED GREEN SALAD WITH PROSCIUTTO & GORGONZOLA
- MACARONI ROSA with chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, peas and fresh bruschetta in a rosa sauce
- PENNE ARRABBIATA with spicy fennel sausage and crushed red pepper in a zesty marinara
- CHICKEN MARSALA with fresh mushrooms
- TIRAMISU rum and espresso soaked ladyfingers layered with custard, topped with cocoa and biscotti with almonds

And for the record, I think that our group (approximately 30 people) consumed at least (8) 3-liter bottles of Chianti...that's about 24 liters of vino...and did it ever show.

There were lots of photos on my camera when I looked this morning (104 photos), but I've only posted a fraction of those...I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...






















So, you know that it's been a good night when the manager of Buca di Beppo comes into the Cardinal Room and says "You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here"...

I think the night is best summed up by Dave Brokaw, who sent out an e-mail this morning:

Curse you Henrik for exposing me to the awful truth that I am NOT, as previously stated, "impervious to alcohol". Alcohol has many varied effects on me. All of which are decidedly unpleasant.

I know that I definitely had to reach for the Tylenol this morning...