Birthday Run Down

Birthday was fabulous. Started with the arrival of my cousin Vivian and her boyfriend Alvin, along with a a few dozen t-shirts to promote their new line t-shirt line Crack Code Droopy (thought I'd help them advertise as well). Friday, we went to Berkeley to see the Shins at the Greek Theater. It got a little cold towards the end, but all in all, it was the perfect way to start my bday festivities. The next day, we headed out bright and early to the Ferry Building to eat at the Farmer's Market and take the ferry to Angel Island (where tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants were held before they were let on to San Francisco). On our way back to the mainland, we were greatly entertained by the Blue Angels for Fleet Week.



Afterwards, we got dressed up and dined at Nihon - a sushi and whiskey lounge. And after that, Justin surprised me with a private booth and bottle service at the Ambassador. Events into the night are a little fuzzy...



Sunday - we went to the Hardly Strictly BlueGrass festival at GG Park. Overall the music and food were pretty good, but it was WAYYYYYY too crowded. Oh and there was a band called Marley's Ghost that seemed intriguing as they were supposed to be a mix between English folk, bluegrass, and reggae. Sadly, they were highly unsuccessful.

My actual bday was on the 11th, a Thursday. I stayed at work late to catch up on projects, and went home to be greeted by a homemade chocolate cake a la Justin, and our usual crowd of bandits (shane, daniela, karl, and mike).

Thanks all for an unforgettable 30th bday, esp Justin who went above and beyond. More pics ici.

Bayarea

Do you live in the Bay Area? Are you constantly amazed with the food, the concerts, the street fairs, and the food? Do you lust after Thomas Keller and Elizabeth Faulkner? Do you love the fog horns that wake you up in the morning, and coo you to bed at night? Do have a constant tan if you live in the East Bay, or the Peninsula? Do you talk about how you want to go hiking in the Redwoods because they're so close? Do you talk about your view of Alcatraz from the roof?

If so.. you've been hit with the disease knows as Bayarea.

We were talking over the brunch the other day, and Sarah couldn't stop talking about how fresh her salad was.. and I was in complete agreement (I had ordered the same thing - a tuna nicoise salad at Le Petit Robert). Scott looked over and told us that we both had really bad Bayarea - people that live in the bay area, and get together to just talk about the bay area.

Apparently we have really bad Elliotbayarea as well because S and I get together and talk about Seattle as well.

Back to Seattle

(photo by eugene wei)

Another whirlwind trip to Seattle for Matt and Audrey's beautiful wedding.. Both bride and groom were stunning and so happy. You'll be amazed to hear that no tears were shed at the wedding - I'm getting better at these things. I was just incredibly happy for these two.

Highlights:
- The black and white photo booth.
- Seattle weather - 80 degrees, slight breeze. Gotta love Seattle summers.
- Seeing old Amazonians and Seattle-ites. There are a number of people that I've sadly lost touch with since my move to the bay area. The only updates I get are through blogs and online social networks. Welcome to the internet era. Good to see you guys.
- Running around red faced and giddy. My mom kept on saying "oh no, too red, too red." I felt like I was one of one those little kids running around a chinese restaurant during dim sum hours. Weeeeee!
- The dragon that iced drinks. Check out Eugene's photos to see the ice sculpture in action.
- Owen, Amy and Hubby J rushing into the wedding tent right before the wedding party. Owen got pulled over by evil greedy Factoria cops and got two tickets (one for expired tags and the other for an expired insurance card) for a grand total of 800 bucks. The pricey one is for the expired insurance card - we believe he can contest that one, so hopefully all works out.
- Uncle Adrian's speech in which he told Matt that it was a Chinese Tradition for him to take care of Uncle Adrian when he's older.
- Catching up with my parents, aaron(audrey's bro), euge, Team Red, and Team Med.
- Seeing Audrey and Matt Married! Congratulations!

UPDATE - My photos from the weekend.

Congratulations to Shane and Daniela

Welcome to my summer of weddings.. Heh. Actually there have only been 2 (mine and Daniela's) and Audrey's coming up on the infamous wedding day 7/7/07.

Last weekend, J and I flew down to Mexico City for a whirlwind weekend getaway for Shane and Daniela's Mexican wedding. Words can't even begin to describe how quickly the weekend went. Sadly, we had about an afternoon to walk around Mexico City. We stayed in the Zocalo area (which is the oldest part of the city - aka Plaza de la Constitución). It was beautiful.

Zocalo from our hotel room.

The view from our window was remarkable. We stayed at the Gran Hotel Cuidad Mexico. The church that sits on the left is the Metropolitan Cathedral, that's built on top of Aztec temple ruins.

The stunning bride and groom, right before their introduction to the reception.

The wedding took place in an old church a few blocks from the zocalo. It was a traditional Catholic ceremony, all in Spanish. (Kudos to Shane for his solid Spanish skills.) The ceremony was about an hour, but we caught the last 20 minutes. Let's just say that the transportation situation in Mexico City is not as reliable as you would like it to be. There was an incident where a cab got pulled over for going the wrong way, and the guests had to pay the cop off.. but that's another story for another time.

The reception was held in a convent right next to the church. The whole place (including a gigantic fountain in the middle of the convent) was lit by candles (here, that would be called a fire hazard).

The convent - wedding style.

I am now a big fan of Mexican weddings.

The wedding went from 7pm to 5am, with a nachos buffet at 3:30am (to help soak up the tequilla shots). The band played non stop from 8am to 4am.. singing everything from jazz to disco, to the Beatles, to Mexican pop. There were a ton of props - a guy on stilts handing out wigs, sunglasses, and who knows what else. A slide was brought out in the middle of the dance floor at one point, and all the guests lined up to go down it. Oh, there was a whole Grease montage that lasted about 30 minutes.. Shane and Daniela, all dressed in grease lightening garb, were propped up on a fake orange convertable with a lighting bolt on the side, mouthing all the words to the songs (atleast Daniela was). After 4am, a mariachi band showed up to accompany some karaoke. You'll just have to take my word on this, as my camera ran out of juice right after the Grease montage (I'll post one up later). I also have pics of the groom and his groomsmen dressed up as luchadores dancing on the dance floor.

Last but not least.. a pic of J and I before heading into the convent for the reception, completely clueless of the craziness that we were about to come upon :)

J & B

The magic number is...

116

At the end of the day, we have 116 guests coming to the wedding.. with a few left to RSVP. We couldn't be more thrilled. Now that the wait is over, time to begin the seating charts, DIY favors and the centerpiece arrangements. Less than 37 days left boys and girls.

2am.

It's been awhile since I've been this busy..but it's 2am right now and I just finished up my last bit of code. My lower back is painfully reminding me that I have to correct my posture at my desk. This is what happens when you are a year before 30 I suppose.

Watching VH1's Celebrity Ghost Hunt. Probably not the best thing to be watching at night. Mary Poppins was on earlier. What a great movie! I'm surprised that I still remember lines from it. Wasted brain space..

Okay brushing my teeth now.. and signing off...

Happy 29th to my love. Oh and I just found out that my friend PA is pregnant with her second child. Congrats!

Justin, Chris, and I

More Seattle photos. This time, it's from Audrey's batch of photos on the night before O & A's wedding.

NOTE: I love photos where I'm disgustingly red, but the photo just makes me look really tan :). I guess it also depends on your screen, so adjust accordingly.

it happened one night

Tomorrow we are headed up to one of my fave towns, Seattle, to attend the wedding of Team Red (otherwise known as Amy & Owen). Not only are they one of my favorite couples, but we all shared something pretty special. All of us met and exchanged numbers on the same fateful night, and our relationships grew pretty much on the same timeline.

Anyways congrats to Team Red. I can't wait for this weekend.

On a different note, I just realized that pushing out software goes well with packing for a long weekend, and catching up with blogging. Huh!

Everyone loves wedding photos

J & R who recently married in Chicago over labor day weekend, just sent out their stunning pro photos.. they look amazing, n'est-ce pas? And can i say the reverand is HOT?

Launch of Mojiti

The one stop shop for online videos.. my friend Eric decided to jump off the Microsoft ship and start a new online video portal. I haven't had a chance to play around with it too much but it's got a ranking mechanism much like YouTube. They have an interesting feature called the Spot Ticker which allows the person that loaded up the video to put 'notes' about the video while it is playing. Anyways, see for yourself and let him what you think.

Lamb Tacos!!! WHOOP WHOOP!!

Can't decide whether Bobby Flay is an a$$ or not.. most of the time he seems pretty into himself. I have to admit that the guy does know his grill and has somehow inspired a bunch of my male friends (including j) to cook and I'm so delighted. This morning I woke up at 9:30 after a 9 hour long lamb coma. This is what we had:

Rotisserie Lamb Tacos with Apricot-Chipotle Baste

1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 boneless leg of lamb, about 7 pounds
Apricot-Chipotle Baste, recipe follows
1 pound goat cheese, crumbled
1/2 pound shredded romaine lettuce
Salsa Cruda, recipe follows
16 (6-inch) flour tortillas

Preheat grill to medium-high. Brush the leg of lamb with oil, season with salt and pepper and place directly on the grill to brown on all sides, about 5 minutes each side. Remove leg and attach to rotisserie rod. Let the lamb cook on the rotisserie for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours or until just cooked to medium-rare doneness. During the last 20 minutes of grilling, begin basting with the glaze. Remove the lamb from the grill and baste again with the glaze and let rest for 20 minutes.
Slice the lamb across the grain into 1/4-inch thick slices. Serve folded in warm tortillas with shredded romaine, goat's cheese, charred corn guacamole and tomato salsa.


Apricot-Chipotle Baste:
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 large red onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
4 cups red wine vinegar
3 cups sugar
1/2 pound dried apricots, soaked for 1/2 hour in warm water and chopped
2 tablespoons chipotle pepper puree

Preheat grill or use side-burners of grill. In a saucepan combine oil, onion, garlic, vinegar and sugar. Cook until the sugar is dissolved and the vinegar is reduced by half. Add chopped apricots and cook for 10 minutes.
Transfer mixture to a food processor and add chipotles. Puree until smooth. Return to pot. Use to baste rotisserie leg of lamb.


Salsa Cruda:
6 large tomatoes, diced
1/2 large red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 jalapeno, diced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, chopped (recommended: Mexican oregano)
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1 lime, juiced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

This, mind you, makes 10-12 servings. We stuffed ourselves and still had leftovers. I'm still drooling now.