Pre-Trip Little Love

November 9, 2006

I headed down to SJ last night after work to get some quality kiddlin time before Will and I take off for vacation (2 weeks...woowee!).

Olivia cracks me up and is a totally fantastic big sister, super helpful when she's not too busy eating pudding or playing her computer game. The twins are 15-pounds of delight each and are super smiley and giggly. The are both ticklish under their chin, if you can dig under the folds of wonderful baby fat to get to them.

See below for 15 of the 77 pictures I took last night with my new camera

Sunday: Zazie & Peony

November 6, 2006

A wonderful Sunday rolled around and good gosh, it was sunny and nice in SF! Our friends, Geneve and Kareem were in town for the Vloggies, held at the Swedish American Hall on Saturday night. Will and I met up with Geneve, Kareem, and their buddy, Ray, in Cole Valley for brunch at Ray's regular joint, Zazie. It was key to go with Ray, as we had a sweet table in the back tiered patio with no wait, as he's a regular.

I had the Nicoise salad with prosciutto, hold the anchovies. Just the right light meal following some gluttonous indulgence at Trent's wedding and Coco's birthday dinner.

Will had the Croque Monsieur, very yummy apparently.

Kareem had a classic brekkie that looked pretty great. Geneve had fruit, yogurt and granola (her daily staple) while Ray had the Poached eggs (some version of a benedict), no pics, sorry!

Glorious Sunday indeed. Of which I spent the rest of it inside my house catching up on a stockpile of things-to-do, as Will and I are taking off on holiday soon and there's not enough time!

Later that evening, I headed over to Oakland for dinner with my aunt and uncle, another belated birthday dinner as my uncle's birthday was in October. We headed over to their favorite Chinese restaurant called Restaurant Peony in downtown Oakland. We had a really nice meal, which included my favorite, Peking duck, and it was great to catch up with them.

Anyway, one week until Cabo!

Trent & Shelly Get Hitched!

November 5, 2006

Will had surgery on his right hand in the wee early hours of Friday morning to have the hamate bone removed (it keeps breaking and does not heal well, specifically due to poor blood flow to that area). For some reason, they wouldn't let him keep it. Bummer.

So, the poor guy is either in pain or super-groggy due to the pain killers. I experienced some sympathetic grogginess this weekend, as I was very sleepy all weekend too...strange...

Anyway, our dear friend, Trent, got hitched on Saturday night to his sweetheart, Shelly. Conveniently, they chose to get hitched in SF, so the 4th of 5 weddings this year was wonderfully local. The locale was a hip and schwank art gallery in SOMA called Terra Art Gallery at Harrison and First.



What a trooper Will was. He was supposed to keep his hand elevated above his heart for 72 hours, so you can imagine how comforatable that was...

The wedding ceremony was a jewish ceremony and the rabbi was highly entertaining. It was great to see folks that have either moved out of town or I haven't caught up with in sometime, particularly the Jamnasium and Rumpshaker crew. When did everyone grow up?

The food was delicious and there were three different food stations that you could indulge in. We sat at the Guerrero Street table.

Mazel Tov!

Congratulations to Trent & Shelly! It was a lovely wedding and now they're off to SE Asia, travel safe and have fun!

Oola For Coco

November 3, 2006

Coco's 30th birthday occurred while we were all in Sarasota, FL chasing after a plastic disc, so we celebrated his belated milestone on Thursday night at one of his favorite restaurants, Oola.

Oola is located on Folsom in the SOMA district, and is also one of my favorites, although on this night, the service was a little lackluster. Thankfully, the food did not disappoint.

Leechee sake martini...yum!

The appetizers:

Liz had the mussels (a feature of the day) to start.

Will and I were so hungry that we demolished two of the three infamous ALL NATURAL BABY BACK RIBS (with cilantro, ginger and soy glazed with a red cabbage-apple slaw) before I even remembered to take a picture. Delicious!

Coco and Aaron ordered the POTATO WRAPPED DAY BOAT SCALLOPS (with dijon-truffle jus vinaigrette, asparagus and oven dried tomatoes) to start. These were very good, and although I usually prefer my scallops wrapped in bacon, the potato was very good.

The fries were a hit. We just had to keep re-ordering. Fried potatoes with parmesan and truffle oil. I usually don't go ga-ga over fries, but I was definitely ga-gaing.

The entrees:

I've been craving duck lately, so I went for the CONFIT OF DUCK (with fennel confit, cherry compote, huckleberry sauce and shaved fennel salad), which hit the spot. Although I could barely fit it in my belly with all those ribs and fries...

Both Aaron and Coco had the entree-sized portion of the same baby-back rib appetizer that Will and I started with.

Will had the PAN ROASTED MAHIMAHI (with tomato coulis, ratatouille, olives, cherry tomatoes).
Liz had the FIG AND GOAT CHEESE TART (with onion jam, aged balsamic, olive oil and mixed greens).
Will couldn't resist ordering the goat cheddar mac & cheese as well. Yowza, very rich but good. I could only have one bite.

HAPPY 30TH COCO!