Weekend Re-Cap: MLK Jr Long Weekend

January 15, 2007

FRIDAY

I pulled the plug on the initial plan to head up to Tahoe for Saturday, mainly due to the freezing temps, lack of new snow, and the need to be back in San Jose Sunday afternoon for Olivia's birthday party.

The upside is that it then freed me up to go for dinner with my manager, Brisdell, and the new senior associate that we hired into our group, Jessica, at Azie on Friday night. I hadn't been to Azie in over 5 years, so I was psyched to check it out again. Azie is located in SOMA on Folsom between 4th & 5th. It is next door to its sister restaurant, LuLu. The cuisine at Azie combines an asian slant on French cooking and doesn't disappoint.

(Sorry, no photos, I forgot my camera in the rush to get home and get to the restaurant...)

Azie was also participating in the annual Dine About Town promotion that happens every January. The deal is that you can get a 3-course lunch for $21.95 or a 3-course dinner for $31.95. Great deal, and great time to try restaurants at reasonable prices. However, despite the good-looking Dine About Town menu, we all went a la carte. We shared a nice bottle of 2005 Teresa Raiz Pinot Grigio, but this was after several attempts to get other bottles that they were out of. Maybe we caught them on a night before a wine delivery? Regardless, the service was very nice and attentive.

Appetizer:

All - Trio of Tartare (ahi, hamachi, scallop, house made taro chips).

This was delicious, nice portion of each tartare, the hamachi tartare came on a bed of seaweed salad as a nice bonus as well. The scallop tartare had an additional kick of spice and the taro chips were perfect.

Entree:

• Bea - seared sea scallops with coconut black rice, thai yellow curry, green papaya salad. Overall, a nice dish, with 4 large seared scallops. The coconut black rice was light and the green papaya salad (also with a slight kick) was light and didn't overwhelm the simplicity of the scallops
• Jessica & Brisdell - grilled japanese butterfish with spiced butternut squash puree, wild mushrooms, ginger-shallot jus. I had a chance to taste the rich butterfish that melted in your mouth. Definitely try this if you get a chance.

We also had dessert, but for the life of me, I can' t remember what we had. It was a trio of something. Something good too. Sheesh, this is why I need to remember to bring my camera...

SATURDAY

Ok, Saturday was a good day. I had a good sleep-in, did a bunch of house chores (why do I feel the need to clean when Will is not around???), and then met up with Key and Katharine in the Marina for a fun-run. We did the 3.5 mile jaunt from the Marina Green parking lot to Fort Baker and back. It was a perfect afternoon for a run in the city. The insane wind had died down and the sun was out.

After the run, we walked over to The Grove on Chestnut for a hot chocolate (they had smoothies). Then we bought some girlie stuff at Aveda and bought some sweet sweats at Lucky Jeans (big sale!).

For dinner, I met up with Abe and Katharine at Deep Sushi in Noe Valley. We were celebrating Katharine's new career move to Elan Pharmaceuticals, congrats Kat!

We started off with some great edamame chased with Asahi beer and some cold sake...yum!

One of the starters: Albacore Poki

On the left are two pieces of white salmon nigiri...white salmon? I had never had it before, but it was delicious, tasting like a mix of white albacore and hamachi...yum!

We also ordered a few great maki rolls: Shiso Sexy, "G" Roll (my fave!), Marilyn Manson.

After dinner, Kat headed out for drinks with friends and Abe and I watched a few episodes of NBC's "Heroes" that he had downloaded via iTunes. That show is addictive!

SUNDAY

I dragged my tired body outta bed and headed down to San Jose for Olivia's birthday party. Although her actual birthday was last Monday, her party with her little friends was on Sunday. Apparently, it took all week for Angie and Jack to convince Olivia that she wasn't turning 5, and that she was just a lucky little girl who gets multiple birthday parties. When I called to say that I was coming down, Olivia got on the phone and proclaimed "I'm still 4!!!".

Angie had invited her little friends to a great art place in Campbell called The Art Beat, where the little ones could make their own plates out of clay. Fun!

Olivia is 4 Years Old!

January 9, 2007

Olivia turned 4 years old on Monday (January 8), and she's quite the little girl.

Will and I headed down to San Jose on Monday night for a birthday dinner with family (uncles and aunts, close friends). It was a full house and Angie whipped up a pretty rad dinner of: beef stew, pureed yams, green onion and parmesan biscuits, and a tossed salad.

(The birthday girl was a little camera-shy with her "no paparazzi" pose).



Babies everywhere! Terrina with Dominic (Andrea and Kenny's little bundle of joy).

Olivia's birthday party with her little friends will take place this Sunday, so she has the luxury of celebrating her birthday multiple times, lucky kid.

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!

Weekend Re-Cap: Best Cabin Ever is Open!

January 8, 2006

I'm finally not feeling like a piece of useless trash anymore, thank god, the end is near! I can breathe, taste, am using minimal tissue and have only a slight hack. Hooray!

I spent the weekend in Tahoe, in the wonderful mountains, ahhh yes, the season has begun! We got our cabin back this weekend and headed up late Friday night (me, Will, Ashley, JonZ). We got there a little after 1 AM...ick.

SATURDAY

The lack of pow-pow on the mountains meant that there was no need for an early wake-up on Saturday morning. We definitely took our sweet time getting out of the house. We headed over to Heidi's Pancake House, a typical breakkie joint with a huge menu, for a late morning brunch. To be honest, we didn't get to the hill until 1 pm. Perfect!

We cruised the runs that were open for a couple hours. I called it after two hours because I ran out of Kleenex and Ricola drops and headed to the California side bar to save a table and watch some NFL playoff games. I had a great coffee with Bailey's to tide me over until Will, Ashley and JonZ showed up.

After chilling at the bar, we headed back to the cabin and made dinner, hot-tubbed, watched the insanity of the Dallas Cowboys vs. Seattle Seahawks football game, and played euchre. I am the official euchre loser! I couldn't win no matter what team I was on!

Around 10 pm, we coerced Chookie to drive me, Will, Ashley, Wendy, and JonZ to the casinos. We headed over to good ol' Bill's Casino, where it's a little bit more divy and has cheaper tables. Chookie and I hit the $5 craps table for over an hour and had some good luck. One lady rolled for a long time and it was so much fun. I was betting pretty conservatively which probably saved my wallet from seizing. I wisely pulled my chips at the craps table when I was back to being up $25 (max $100 at one point). I watched Will and Chookie continue with craps, watching all my numbers show up (oy! why does that always happen as soon as you leave!?!), but showed enough restraint and didn't pull my chips back out...

From the craps table, we couldn't resist the $5 2-deck blackjack table. Will, Chookie, JonZ, Ashley and Wendy ended up eventually at the same table. It was a battle for a couple hours between us and the house. Overall, I think the house prevailed. I once again pulled my chips off the table when I was close to my buy-in and stayed $26 up on the night overall. Hooray! I guess all my losses in euchre helped my gambling karma!

Home time was around 2:30 am. I can't imagine that this helped me recover any quicker...

SUNDAY

I'm not going to lie to you. I had no intention of boarding on Sunday in the first place, so I had no problem sleeping in again. My intention was to use Sunday to recover from the inevitable Saturday gambling craziness. Turns out, Will, Ashley and JonZ had the same intentions. We slept in, watched some more football, and then packed up all our gear.

We went to Ernie's Coffee Shop for another super-late brunch. Ashley and Will discovered a new gem of a brekkie called the "Huevos Ernesto", a luscious pile of nacho chips, eggs, avocado, cheese, refried beans and spicy beef. Apparently a winner.

From Ernie's, we hit the road for a record-breaking 3 hour drive back to SF. It was awesome!

As you've already noticed, I didn't have any pics of the weekend. I was a little too sick to remember my little Canon digi, and let's be honest, I had too much gambling to do. Winning is so much fun!

Ken & Alana Get Hitched

January 2, 2007

Hello 2007! Happy New Year! Hope it's a good one!

I had to drag my tired, still a little sickly, body to work today and realized that I was an idiot not to take the day off. The rest of the country gets today off in mourning of past president Gerald Ford, but not me. Can't complain though, I got 10 days straight for Christmas, so no need to be an ingrate.

I arrived home late last night from my cold, cold home country, after 6 whirlwind days. I was in Saskatoon (by way of Calgary) at the wedding of my high school buddy, Ken, who was married in an Ukrainian orthodox ceremony to his bride Alana, complete with all the traditions and conventions. To add to all the fun, I was a groomswoman in a bridal party of 12 (6 on each side).

This is what the last week looked like (little more detail below with pics):

• December 27 - Fly to Calgary, have dinner and catch-up with Sonia
• December 28 - Spend the day in Calgary, had dim sum with Wendy and her parents, napped, coughed up a lung, had dinner with my parents
• December 29 - Fly to Saskatoon; caught up with my high school buddy Kenny and another groomswoman, Corey, had a "stag" dinner, drank at two cheesy bars til the wee hours
• December 30 - Picked up Will at the SK airport, went to the wedding rehearsal, enjoyed the Ukrainian tradition of Vincoplatinnya (blessing of the couple), had drinks with tons of high school peeps
• December 31 - Early start with hair and makeup, lunch with the groomsmen, orthodox ceremony in the afternoon, wedding pictures galore, reception at night, dancing the night away until after the new year countdown
• January 1 - Fly back to Calgary, hang out with my parents in the afternoon, fly from Calgary to SFO late in the night

I was amazed at all the little nuances and traditions that were involved with an orthodox wedding, some of which you can read here. And I'm not going to lie to you, it was damn cold. I am definitely soft when it comes to cold climates due to 6 years of San Francisco living. But Saskatoon is an entirely different animal than even old-hardened Canuck Bea is used to. At least Calgary had the Rockies to shield some of the cold and we were occasionally graced with Chinooks. Brrr!

I was staying at the Delta Bessborough, a lovely hotel right on the South Saskatchewan River. And to make it even better, I got a corner room on the 4th floor, with a fantastic panoramic view of the river, and the cute little skating pond next door. The wedding reception was to take place at the hotel too, so very convenient!

Friday, December 27

At lunch with Corey & Ken.

After lunch, I had a great catch-up with an old high school buddy (Wyatt) that I hadn't seen since...well, high school. I also managed to spill bright red nail polish all over the cream carpet in my hotel room, so that was a pain.

Our "stag" dinner was at the Keg Steakhouse, a solid Canadian chain restaurant that pumps out delicious steaks and the like. Of course, I had the prime rib. From there, we headed for drinks at the Whiskey Jacks, but didn't stay for long due to the insanity of the karaoke and no seating. Luckily, next door was JT's Bar and Grill, where they had seating and drink specials...sweet! What wasn't so sweet for the crew was the young wanna-be-gangsta crowd and the accompanying hip hop.

By 1:30 am, we had our fill and headed to Al's house (another groomsman). Ken had bought all the "groomsmen" Romeo y Juliet Cuban cigars for enjoyment...

Saturday, December 28

I had a sweet sleep in on Saturday morning and woke up in time to join Ken and Alana for lunch at Otawa Japanese Restaurant. Believe it or not, this place had fantastic sushi. They had a fun creative mango roll that was delish!

I picked up Will at the airport around 2:30 and had enough time to drop off his gear before heading to the wedding rehearsal and dinner (vincoplatinnya).

The rehearsal was might brief considering it was to be at least an 1 hour long. The minister was mighty shocked to discover that Ken had two women in his groomsparty and needed some time to recover. Now that's orthodox.

Tradition of making the crowns out of fresh myrtle (called the "vinco") while Ukrainian songs were sung in the background.

Ken and Alana also presented some pretty amazing and thoughtful thank-you gifts to the wedding party. They got me a sweet bag from Lululemon and a pair of fun socks. They had also made a 2-CD Wedding Party Song set that had one song for every member/helper of the wedding. My song was REM's "It's the End of the World as We Know It", a song that Ken and I used to listen to a lot in high school.

After the vincoplattnya ended, we headed back to the Delta, where I met up with a smattering of folks from my hometown of Vulcan and caught up with everyone. It was like a high school reunion!

Sunday, December 31

Wedding Day!

Corey and I had an early wake-up so that we could join the ladies at Angles to get our hair and make-up done. My adorable little dude stylist proceeded to curl the every single hair on my head after coating each strand with voluminous amounts of hair spray. It was entertaining.

From there, Corey and I joined some of the grooms party for lunch at Calories Bakery & Restaurant, which is located in an adorable neighborhood stretch on Broadway between 10th & 11th streets. I had the wonderful "Oeufs du Sirop", which consisted of two maple syrup fried eggs on a croissant with crispy bacon and hashbrowns. This was really good and a true diet-spoiler.

The wedding was about 1.5 hours long. Hello heels! If I had known that the ceremony was to be that long, I may have reconsidered packing my 3-inch heels. Alas, I rallied through the pain and my shoes were hot.

Between the wedding and reception, we had some time to kill as there was a pretty big list of picutres that needed to be taken. So the wedding party hung out in a hotel room supplied with booze and munchies and listened to the Ken & Alana Wedding party cds. We also took cheesy photos while we waited for our turn.











Reception:



The reception was three courses. The first was a mixed salad with raspberry vinaigrette, followed by a pretty amazing and tender focaccia-breaded chicken breast with vegetables. The dessert was a mango cheesecake with saskatoon berry sauce. Yum!

The kids from my graduating class: Marsha, Victor, Christie, Wyatt, me and Ken. Go CCHS!

It was great catching up with old friends, meeting new folks, and being a part of Ken and Alana's wedding. FUN!

Congratulations to Ken & Alana!