Two Steps

August 26, 2007

On Sunday, I headed down to San Jose to see the kiddies, it had been almosto 3 weeks! They must be gigantic now!

Last time I'd seen the kids, Olivia was getting ready for pre-school (with Catholic uniforms and all!) and the babies were crawling everywhere. And even though it took a while for Charlotte to figure out the whole crawling thing, she seems to be more stable on her two feet than Simon.


Charlotte likes to push the chair around the room as she practices her (assisted) walking.






Simon's faux-hawk:

During the afternoon, I witnessed Charlotte taking her first unassisted steps. Two in fact. She did a side-shuffle between the cupboard and the bouncy chair. It was awesome. She did it a couple times. She's almost there!

After a couple hours of chasing babies around, I went back to the city. Will's in North Carolina right now for a week of surfing goodness with Triple A (Adam, Arissa, Aisha) and a bunch of the Montreal folks. So, I had a dinner party, of course. Wendy, Key, Abe and Katharine came over for some dinner at our house.

Key brought over all the fixin's to make yummy martinis (he had a great recipe that used Grey Goose Le Poire, lychee syrup, simple syrup, unfiltered sake, lemon, lime).




I made extra meaty lasagna, Wendy whipped up an awesome cucumber-asparagus-pecorino salad, and Abe made himself some miso-glazed Chilean sea bass.

Actuaries Rock!

August 24, 2007

The theme of this week was definitely "Happy Hour". I went to Bruno's on Tuesday with work folks to celebrate my new position in Regulatory Affairs, and then to Levende Lounge on Thursday with different work folks. Awesome.

So, why not end the week with another happy hour? This time, it was Pier 23 on the Embarcadero, where we joined Chuck and his colleagues at Watson Wyatt for one of their quarterly work parties. Chuck plays a pretty mean fiddle and plays in a band with his co-workers, called Wyatt Riot. We had joined in on Wyatt Riot good times last time in Norrth Beach, where the open bar tab made it quite the night to remember. Good times, indeed.

It was a gorgeous afternoon on the Embarcadero. It looked to be another night of insanity as it was even easier this time to get some libations, in fact, they put out buckets of libations.

















A few of us rolled out of Pier 23 Cafe around 9:30 pm and headed to Solstice to meet up with a few other folks. Thankfully, the kitchen was still open, so we ordered some small plates to share.
Ahi tuna tartare with apples, jalapenos and wonton chips.
Frites Two Ways: Idaho potatoe fries with ketchup, and Sweet potato with a watercress/jalapeno aioli.
Carnitas tacos with avocado and cilantro. Very tasty!
Kobe Beef sliders with gruyere cheese and carmelized onions. Yum! This is one menu item that seems to show up on everyone's menu these days. Suits me fine!

We also had the Gorgonzola Mac n'Cheese, but apparently, we were too hungry and ate it up before I could snap a picture.

By the time we finished with these small plates, I was ready for bed. The nice thing about starting the night early is that you end early too.

Thanks again, Watson Wyatt, for serving up another Friday happy hour to remember (or not remember) for all times.

I'm a Scientist!

August 22, 2007

Good news! I've accepted a new position within my same group and department and am now officially a Regulatory Scientist!

I've been working on some great projects for a fantastic manager, and recently, an new position came open under my group, so I applied, interviewed and got the job! I've been working towards this position anyway, but the opportunity came up that I could try to fast-track my career, and hooray, it worked. And the best part is that I still get to work on the same projects and report to the same manager.

This also means that they get to give me more projects and responsibility, but at least I'll get paid for it. That'll do, pig.

Barracuda!

August 10, 2007

Somehow this blogspot got lost...so it's a little late.

Will and I went for dinner with Kerry Soo to the sushi place on Market in the Castro called Barracuda. I got a deck of CozmoCards a while ago (at the GenArt thing I volunteered for) which are a pack of discount cards for San Francisco restaurants ($15 off your $40+ meal). One of the restaurants listed was Barracuda, and I drive by it all the time, so we finally decided to try it with the discount incentive.

It's a cozy place with trendy interior and as expected, a gay-friendly crowd.

We started with the Hamachi Tiradito with aji panca and plumwine sauce. It was delicious!

We also had the Warm Japanese Mushroom Salad with enoki, shitake, oyster mushrooms, and yuzu soy vinaigrette. A little salty but very flavorful.

The sushi rolls and nigiri were wonderful and frehs, with very good portion sizing.
For dessert, we shared the warm chocolate souffle. Of course.

I was pretty psyched with how great Barracuda was, I'd definitely recommend it for your eating pleasure.

Kerry Soo Turns 29...Again!

August 16, 2007

It was Kerry Soo's birthday on Thursday, so Will and I made the big trek over the Bay Bridge to have dinner with her and some other peeps. We must really like her to go over a bridge on a weekday.

Dinner was at Mitama in the Claremont district of Berkeley. (I'm not sure if you've noticed, but Will and I have been eating a lot of sushi lately...delish!)

Happy Birthday Kerry Soo!