Thanksgiving Week

Freaking awesome that I had a two day work week, but so sad the long break is over.  I slept in EVERY SINGLE DAY, which made waking up really hard this morning.

Today, I paid the doc a visit for an annual check up. Definitely not the funnest thing to do on  Monday morning after a long long weekend.  Needles, blood...not my thing. Anyway, glad to know that I am in great health!

Some highlights from my Thanksgiving week!

Sunday 11/20/11: Got to spend the day with my big sis, minilover and JTPizzle! So glad that I could spend a Sunday not watching football.  It was as if I was in college all over again, except a lot toned down from how we used to hang out. <3  Annie and I met up at my big sis' place in Milbrae and headed to Napa to meet up miss Jenny Thao Pham. Our day started with brunch at Ad Hoc then proceeded to Robert Mondavi and Francescan for some wine tasting.  5 tastings later, I was feeling pretty woozy! It must have been that fireplace at Mondavi! I almost thought I'd survive the day without stumbling out the door, but I was wrong.  My stomach had intaken so much food and booze that by dinnertime, I was not too hungry.  We ended the day with dinner at BRIX, which by the way was pretty good especially for the price.  We paid exactly the same amount for brunch and dinner, but brunch was so much tastier!

Autumn leaves. Fall colors. I like!

Girl talk + wine tasting= :)

Very cozy fireplace that did not help with the warmth from the alchy.

Robert Mondavi Winery

Francesca Winery

Dinner at Brix with their adorable little pumpkins

Monday 11/21/11: We finally got around to celebrating Hana's going away party that turned into a WE MISS HANA party.  Dinner was held at Chez Papa Resto! Read more about our foodie adventure here.

I was so excited to find out that they make dark and stormy's here. Ginger and rum. Yum!

Group shot!

Picture courtesy of Paloma! I like the foggy room affect of the pic!

Tuesday: 11/22/11 Dinner with the fam (no pics taken). 

Wednesday: Baking Pumpkin Whoopie Pies for Henry's family Thanksgiving dinner. (Yay, it was a hit)

Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving! Dinner with the fam and football Thursday!  Too bad they lost though!

Friday: Decided to do some late night baking and to my surprise my snickerdoodle cookies turned out pretty good.  Not bad for our first time.

Saturday: Planned our Asia trip and a late dinner at Kingdom of Dumpling.  It was a small place that we could have easily missed.  From the outside, the windows were fogged up and as we stepped in, I seriously felt as though I was in someone's kitchen.  A hole in the wall place that could fit about 30 people! Delicious and authentic northern chinese food that consisted of scallion pancakes, dumplings and XLBs!

Sunday: Slept until 130pm. WOW!!! I don't remember the last time I've done that! Anyhow, lazy football sundays then off to Palace BBQ to celebrate Henry's sister's birthday!

Happy Quarter Century to the Bestest!

November 12, 2011

This time last week, I was celebrating the bff's birthday.  We've been friends for over a decade, since 1997. That means over a decade worth of birthdays celebrated!  It feels like just yesterday we were in middle school and in a blink of an eye my bestest is now 25!  I've seriously watched her grow into the smart and beautiful woman she is today.  Cheers and I hope there's many many many more to come!

We celebrated her birthday with dinner at Butterfly lounge (read more about our dining experience here) and then dancing at 5a5! Diana, me and Jenny at Butterfly Complimentary shots from the restaurant because we had to wait over an hour before we were seated.  Cheers to the birthday girl!!
 
Happy Birthday to the bestest!
Decided to get her a practical gift: Kitchenaid Standmixer. I love her gift! 
Ak got her a bday cake from Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous: Read more about it here.



Last year, I dedicated a photo album on facebook filled with pictures from when we were in our teens. Here's a few for laughs. Enjoy!

November 2002
Holding a box with a strawberry shortcake birthday cake from Ambrosia Bakery.  It was a surprise birthday I had planned for her held at Herman's house (that's if I remembered correctly)

November 2003
After dinner at Pasquales, we made our way to Serra Bowl for some birthday fun!

November 2004
We were both pledging for the aKDPHI and just had a sleep over slumber party at her place.

I don't remember what happened for her 2005 birthday, but I do remember her 2006 birthday that I missed.  She had invited me over to celebrate her birthday with her family and I had a horrible migraine the whole 3 day Veteran's weekend.  I had no idea it was a migraine until after the fact, in which I had learned all of it's symptoms.  It was my first and only migraine.  I have no idea what had caused it, but I hope to NEVER EVER get it again.  It was so bad to the point where I could not do ANYTHING!  Fish head soup and a lot of rest cured me!

November 2007
Clubbing at Tabu Lounge!! <3

November 2008
Clubbing at Roe!

November 2009
At Sushi Bistro happy about her gift from me: a new camera!

November 2009
Celebration part two. 1 week later, we celebrated at Butterfly Lounge!

November 2010
Opening presents at 5a5! We look so happy!!

Keeping up...

It's been a pretty busy couple of weeks. Dinners, birthdays, errands and any excuse to not hit the gym! Sigh, I haven't been to the gym for the past two months already.  I really need to get back on track! "Soon" I tell myself.  "Soon."  It's hard with the cold winter weather too. I just want to stay cuddled in bed and do nothing.

Anyway, some highlights from the past couple of weeks:

Catch up dinner with my big bro at Umami Burger: Read about my food adventure here.  I got to enjoy a bottle of delicious ginger beer and for my second round of drinks, I got to try Racer 5 Pale Ale for the first time.  I'm trying to learn to find what kind of beer I like and familiarize my taste buds with the "hoppy" taste.  Interestingly enough, the beer had a sweet fruity initial flavor that turned into a bitter aftertaste.  My big bro was surprised that I actually liked it.  There's more experimenting to do!!

*Picture courtesy of the big bro*

I also spent a weekend baking! Check out some of my creations: whoopie pies (1st batch), pumpkin whoopie pies (2nd batch), birthday cupcakes .

I've also had the honor to try some of Mama Chen's home cooked Taiwanese food: see pictures here.  I think this was my second time having Taiwanese food.  It's very similar to Chinese food.  I've only heard about Taiwanese beef noodle soup.  I guess it's a staple food that all my Taiwanese friends LOVE!

I also stopped by at Pandora to celebrate my lil sis' karaoke sing a long birthday bash!  I made her some cupcakes to share with the rest of the party! Check out the birthday cupcakes I created.

**Picture courtesy of my lil sis**

Also got to catchup and have an early bday celebration with Michelle over dinner at Delarosa!

Aside from all the birthdays and eating, I also had to take care of getting a Visa for my upcoming Asia trip! I can't wait!! After two trips to the Chinese consulate, I finally got to submit my application for a visa this morning.  I've seriously gone to the consulate so many times, I swear the security guard recognizes me.  Anyhow, visa pictures (done), visa applications (submitted), hotel for LA (booked), plane tickets to LA (booked)...I am so ready for this trip!

Celebrated the BFF's birthday this past weekend.  That deserves another entry on it's own!

There's just so much going on lately....

Happy Birthday to Daddy Dearest

October 31, 2011

My dad usually celebrates his birthday according to the lunar calendar.  My parents are pretty OG and celebrate birthdays based on the lunar calendar, also called the "old calendar" in Chinese.  Although we celebrated as a family a week prior, my brother and I took him out to Gary Danko's.  My brother had made the reservations, how he did it or when he did it, who knows?  We started him off with a glass of Syrah and each chose the 3 course meal.  I'm glad that after a week of being sick, my dad recovered and was able to enjoy this meal.  Cheers to daddy dearest's birthday and first fine dining experience in San Francisco! Read more about my dining adventure at Gary Danko here.

puppies and kiddos

October 30, 2011

After two jello shots, 1 dark and stormy, 1 shot of tequila and a half bottle of beer between 11pm- 2am it marked the end of my Halloween celebration 2011.

Yes, that's all the alcohol I consumed.  And yes, I know I'm a cheap date.

I don't drink often because when I do, I wake up the next day feeling a little miserable.  When I woke up, I downed a bottle of water, ate some bun rieu and still did not feel that much better.

A football game later, Henry's sister brought her new teacup doggies over.  Because of these "adorable little monsters" everyone else wanted to come over play, admire and check out these new pups.  As everyone raced towards the pups when they arrived, I stayed seated and watched from afar.  It was quite obvious that I showed no interest, as I am afraid of these little monsters.  Great not only was I not feeling my best, but I had to try and stay calm around the dogs.  Oh did I mention that there were his cutie pie cousins running around?

Hangover + overly hyper kids + doggies= exhausted me.

By the end of the night, I got used to those adorable teacups.  I kept my eye on the time as I made sure to drop everything I was doing at 6pm to watch the Next Iron Chef, which I've been waiting all month to watch.  As I comfortably laid in bed to watch it, exhaustion took over and I got some shut eye for about 15 minutes. Not enough, but it was good enough.

I guess all the adorable little creatures (puppies and kiddos) cured my post halloween celebration misery.