Dining With Power

May 16, 2006

I definitely had the case of the Moundays today, as I was pretty sluggish after a full weekend of activity. We went to watch Will and Wendy (Panteras) play hockey last night at Yerba Buena, and they successfully defeated the Dragons with a score of 6-2. The team cap, Paul Trapani, even got a nice hat-trick.

Anyway, I went to bowling league last night, and bowled pretty average (147-138-122?), and the busted back to the city for a late dinner with Adam, Arissa, and some of their friends that were also in town at Lime in the Castro. I always enjoy the food (and the white peach bellinis!) at Lime. Adam does too.

And because I know that you're curious, we ate:
- Beet salad with candied walnuts and goat cheese
- Ricotta Gnocchi, shitake mushrooms, thyme, parmesan cheese
- 3 Mini Burgers*, on housemade buns, white cheddar & special sauce
- Fish Tacos*, cornmeal dusted Halibut, avocado & sour cream, tomato salsa
- Beef Tartare, spicy Thai red curry, kaffir lime oil, sesame crackers
- Two Way Filet Mignon, salsa verde, red wine butter sauce
- Beef Short Ribs, rich red wine sauce, spicy slaw
- Morrocan Lamb Chops, cous cous





A friend of Adam and Arissa's from Montreal, Jonathan Power, was also in town and he showed up with a few of his friends. For anyone that follows the world of squash, you may know that Jonathan is the current world champion and is widely held as the most successful North American squash player in history. He's infamous for his "John McEnroe"esque behaviour on the court and has recently retired from the professional tour. Seeing as I don't really follow the world of squash, I had no idea. But then again, who follows ultimate frisbee??

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Update from Robert (formerly known as Frodo) in his travels: (05/16/2006)

- Good times in Melbourne
- Heading to Bangkok tomorrow
- Tentative travel plans: In Bangkok for 6 days before flying to Hanoi --> a month in Vietnam --> Cambodia for a couple of weeks --> Laos for 2-4 weeks --> back into Thailand via Northern Thailand for another month or so.

"'Frodo' is now officially dead as I got a haircut in Melbourne yesterday and the woman decided to cut and cut and cut despite me saying how much I wanted cut and even showing her how much. This is the shortest my hair has been in 4-5 yrs, but at least it grows quickly and I will probably be grateful for short hair in the brutal se asian heat."

Mama's Day

May 14, 2006

Ahh...there's nothing like about 4.5 hours of sleep to make you feel refreshed for Sunday brunch. I had early brunch plans with my sister, Jack & Olivia for Mother's Day, so I dragged my butt outta bed and drove down to San Jose for a 10:30 am reservation at Il Fornaio in Hotel Saint Claire.

I couldn't bring myself to enjoy a mimosa, but I did partake in the delightful buffet spread, particularly the crab legs and cocktail shrimp.








Angie is magnificent in her pregnant glory, measuring as big as a typical expecting mother at 35 weeks, even though she is only 28 weeks along. Yikes!

Abe's Pre-3-OH

May 13, 2006

As is expected in life, time goes by and we all get older, and this is a big year for the 1976 Year of the Dragon babies in our circle. Abe's big 30th birthday is rapidly approaching (May 17), and we planned a night of activities to celebrate the weekend before (because you really can't do justice to a 30th birthday on a weeknight...right?).

But first, Saturday started off with some great touristing activities with Adam and Arissa. The Montreal guests were jonesing for some dim sum, so Will, Adam, Arissa and I headed downtown to check out the infamous dim sum at Yank Sing, a top pick in the bay area for this delectable asian brunch. There are two locations downtown, and we chose to go to the one in Rincon Center. Our experience was on par with what I've read about dining at Yank Sing, the service was efficient, polite and very professional. The Sui Mai and Ha Gao was terribly tasty, and we got to try new and inventive items that were impressive, including a tenderly wrapped dumpling with sizeable chunks of lobster. One suggestion though, is to take the Muni down, as we parked at 30 minute limit meter and one poor soul had to leave the eat-fest and go feed the meter every half hour.

We were blessed with a sun-kissed weekend in SF, and we headed off in Lavonda the Honda on a driving tour of the sights, which included: Embarcadero, North Beach, Lombard Street, Fort Mason, and we parked and walked around Crissy Field in the Marina. From Crissy Field, we walked through the Palace of Fine Arts, and to the Marina district for a coffee break at the Grove Cafe.











After so much sun and fresh air, we headed back to the house to chill-ax and prep for the evening's festivities.

The itinerary for Abe's pre-3-OH celebration:
7 pm - Sushi party at our house
9 pm - Watch the Kaboom! Fireworks from the dog park hill by our house
11 pm - Go to Chinatown and drink at the dive bar, Li Po
2 am - Karaoke at Do-Re-Mi in Japantown

(Anyone notice the all-Asian theme?)

So, after some major sticky-rice-making, fish cutting, veggie chopping, miso-soup-creating, edamame-blanching, and living-room-set-up, folks started rolling in and the sushi rolling began. In rolling your sushi rolls, it's important to know that you must have wet hands before touching the sticky rice, or you're in for some tough times.












After some major sushi rolling and eating, and a few sake bombs later, we had to jet outta the house and up to the dog park hill to catch the fireworks. Thankfully, it was a clear night and some of the neighbors had brought a boombox to broadcast the KFOG fireworks musical accompaniment. In addition to the sweet fireworks, we were entertained by Ashley's ongoing commentary ("Look, they look like cherry trees...get it? Cherry tree!" during KT Tunstall's "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree") and Abe's insistence that the rising moon was actually the Mormon temple in east bay. (Get him another sake bomb!)




Around 11 pm, folks started motivating to the next stop, the well-known dive bar, Li Po in Chinatown. It took about 45 minutes and three calls to Yellow Cab to get three cabs. I was in the last cab down there, and when we arrived, it became very clear that Li Po was definitely a dive bar, but not in the same stride that we were on that night.





We needed more stimulation, so there's no better place than North Beach for any kind of stimulation. We ended up at the Bubble Lounge, a classic North Beach crowd (gaggles of girls fixing their cleavage in the bathroom) with a really nice look to the main room. Although they are known for their bubbly drinks, thank goodness they actually had some hard liquor. And by "thank goodness", I really mean "oh dear".










By 1:45 am, there was some definite swaying in the walking and anxiousness to go karaoke. We headed over to Do-Re-Mi in Japantown and squeezed into a small room. We sang, and sang, for almost two hours. Some highlights include:
"Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey
"Fake Plastic Trees" - Radiohead
"Dancing Queen" - ABBA
"Thank God I'm A Country Boy" - John Denver
"I Want It That Way" - Backstreet Boys
"Be With You" - Mr. Big
"Hard To Say I'm Sorry" - Chicago











Around 3:40 am, the lagging fools who just couldn't give up the microphone finally called it quits. That, and the fact that they were closing shop and kicked us out, but that's just a minor detail. Shaun was kind enough to drive us home and, unfortunately, I that freakin' Mr. Big song in my head and it carried on into my dreams.