What is life worth if we can't indulge in things that we enjoy (whether it's good or bad) now and then? Like having popcorn at the theater even though it isn't good for one's high cholesterol :-) Like seeing memorable movies that last with you. My most recent must-see movie is Slumdog Millionaire. It was about a guy in India who won 20 million rupees and the show producers thought he was cheating. So he had to retell the story of his life and how he learned the answer to each question. It's a very tight plot and it has a lot of buzz as a best picture contender. There are a lot of great movies this Christmas that I can't wait to see such as Frost/Nixon, Revolutionary Road, Milk, Valkerie, the Reader, Confession of a Shoppaholic (OK, I like the actor and actress in it even if it might be a slightly ditzy movie), etc.
Another indulgence that I enjoy is trying out new restaurants. It's always exciting for me to try out a new restaurant, cuisine, or dish. My absolute favorite restaurant is in my own town and it serves fusion southern food that is California cuisine crossed with Lousiana southern food. Since the chef used to be obese, he uses healthier cooking methods to make his fried chicken and cornmeal catfish. So somehow the food isn't very greasy and all the greens are super fresh. So how can you beat yummy southern food with much less guilt! Although I have only managed to find time to go to their Sunday brunch once, this restaurant's whole wheat waffles and fried chicken still swim in my head every Sunday morning.
Another indulgence is finding a good bottle of wine. I have always liked bold red wines and I am a softie for any Rhone or red blends. The best bottle of wine I have tried had somehow always been from my Yosemite picnics. I don't know if I just pick better bottles for Yosemite or it's the hiking or the scenery. My most memorable bottle of merlot was a half-bottle Clos du Val, which was small enough and light enough for a hike. Another great bottle of red was a Rhone blend that I accidentally chilled. Because it was slightly warm in Yosemite in September, the accidental chilled red was really refreshing - who would have thought that of red wine :-) This last month I have really gotten to like Riesling and the occasional Chardonay even though previously I really didn't stock much white wines at home.
Going to the bookstore to buy new books and read at their cafe is another of my favorite indulgences. For some reason, I go through phases where I stop going to the bookstores and then I pick up and start going all the time for a long stretch. I am on one of those stretches right now. The same thing with reading. I go on stretches where I read a bunch and then I can't seem to want to read. I once had to wait in line at a foreign airport for at least an hour and a half and got so into Middlemarch that I didn't realize how thick the book was. After that, George Eliot became one of my favorite authors.
Speaking of foreign airports. OK, I don't love foreign airports but I do love traveling. I love seeing new sights and visiting new places. I have always wanted to visit Italy or other parts of Europe outside of France/Belgium/the Netherlands. I had some "close" opportunities to go to the UK this year with my husband's business travel but that didn't pan out. My husband and I are plotting and planning for a possible trip to Italy next year. Let's just hope that our frequently flier mileage will all work out and that this trip will be possible next year.
Finally, surprised and complimentary services are always so nice to have because it makes the indulgence guilt-free. I had a choice of a complimentary massage or facial as part of my gym membership promotion. Since facial was the one spa treatment I had never had, I picked that to try. The facial was wonderful. The steam and the different treatments done were all very relaxing. My skin felt so light and glowy for at least a couple days - may be it was all psychological but hey at least something else worked if not my skin :-) Now I know why the Hollywood stars always get facial treatments. I don't think I am hollywood enough to spend that kind of money but it was great while it lasted.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Couldn't the break just last a bit longer?
I don't understand why a week off from work would go by so fast. I had thought that it would last and feel very long -- like a month worth...but then it came and went and I felt like I only had 3 days off. How did that happen? It was slightly depressing when Friday and Saturday rolled around because the inevitable Monday was around the corner. By Sunday, I had finally come to term with it and so it wasn't as devastating :-) Now I just can't wait for Christmas to be here.
Part of the reason why my break felt so short was because I spent Monday dealing with the plumber who tried to fix our leaking faucet. It didn't get fixed by the way because apparently we now need a brand new faucet - oh, the joy of dealing with plumbers (even though this one was actually very good). Speaking of plumbers, I now have a fear of cablemen. I didn't used to but my 2-out-of-3 California experience with cablemen left me slightly scarred. When I was recently asked whether I would like a cableman to come by and install a DVR or pick it up and install it myself, I was adamant to install it myself. It's like a crapshoot with the cableman that you get. I have had 2 really scary ones. So when a nice one came recently, I found myself telling him how much I appreciated his helpfulness and knowledge. I asked how I could request him next time. Come to find out, my cable line was really messed up that day and he was a specialist and that was why he was so good. So I am only calling cablemen for "serious" and "specialty" problems from now on.
Another reason why my week off was so short was because Tuesday was spent on going to the dentist for a deep teeth cleaning and some fillings. The dentist had to give me numbing shots to do the cleaning because I was too sensitive to pain. I couldn't speak or eat for 4-5 hours afterwards. I made the mistake of dropping by the grocery store to pick up some food. Not a great idea when your mouth is all numbed because you wouldn't be able to feel the drooling or your face to wipe it off. It was kind of funny actually. I also wasn't smart enough to have a big meal before going to the dentist and couldn't have dinner until 9:30pm when the numbing wore off. Then my jaw ached, my tongue was still numb, and my teeth were too sensitive to enjoy dinner. I remembered that the dentist paperwork actually asked if one was afraid of being at the dentist. I think I will mark yes next time.
The rest of the week was much more relaxing. I am a huge believer in keeping Thanksgiving and cooking in general simple and easy. So of course I ordered a pre-cooked turkey meal. Trust me, it's still very good but with none of the stress and mess.
I also got to see tons of movies last week. Australia for starters and then 2 black-and-white Humphrey Bogart movies (the Maltese Falcon and To Have or Have Not). Australia was not great and not bad either...but definitely cheesy...and it was 3-hour long. The black-and-white movies were great and they were at this beautiful old theater that was very well ornated. There is always a man that plays the organ before the show starts. Feels very old timey and posh.
My husband and I also managed to sneak in a hike at Mount Diablo on Saturday. It was only supposed to be a 5-mile hike but more than half of it was uphill and on the side of the mountain. It really wasn't fun trying to not slip and hurt oneself. At one point we thought we were lost and couldn't find the loop that was described in our printed internet info. We kept going because turning around seemed worse. It was one of the harder hikes that I have had recently.
I also managed to try out a new class at the gym last week and I don't plan to take it again. I don't get why people like spinning classes so much. It's hellish! The seat is extremely uncomfortable and who can ride a bike for an hour with resistance being increased throughout the hour. I started to check the clock after the first 5 minutes and was out of gas by the 30-minute mark. I hanged in for the remaining 30 but barely and couldn't really increase the resistance the way the instructor wanted. It's a great workout but I don't have the endurance. I also need to practice getting used to a bike seat first because I could still feel the seat days later.
I also spent time re-reading some of my old novels. I made the mistake of tivo'ing Bridget Jones's Diary and so I have been re-reading the book and the sequel (the Edge of Reason). I kind of like the sequel better because the first novel barely talked about Bridget and Darcy's relationship and hence their romance was not very believable. Anyhow, I kind of enjoy how Bridget is very expressive and slighly neurotic --- kind of relatable somehow.
I just wish that there was more time in the day or week, especially while one is on vacation. I had had high hopes of being able to make Christmas cards this year. Well, let's hope the Christmas break will feel longer somehow.
Part of the reason why my break felt so short was because I spent Monday dealing with the plumber who tried to fix our leaking faucet. It didn't get fixed by the way because apparently we now need a brand new faucet - oh, the joy of dealing with plumbers (even though this one was actually very good). Speaking of plumbers, I now have a fear of cablemen. I didn't used to but my 2-out-of-3 California experience with cablemen left me slightly scarred. When I was recently asked whether I would like a cableman to come by and install a DVR or pick it up and install it myself, I was adamant to install it myself. It's like a crapshoot with the cableman that you get. I have had 2 really scary ones. So when a nice one came recently, I found myself telling him how much I appreciated his helpfulness and knowledge. I asked how I could request him next time. Come to find out, my cable line was really messed up that day and he was a specialist and that was why he was so good. So I am only calling cablemen for "serious" and "specialty" problems from now on.
Another reason why my week off was so short was because Tuesday was spent on going to the dentist for a deep teeth cleaning and some fillings. The dentist had to give me numbing shots to do the cleaning because I was too sensitive to pain. I couldn't speak or eat for 4-5 hours afterwards. I made the mistake of dropping by the grocery store to pick up some food. Not a great idea when your mouth is all numbed because you wouldn't be able to feel the drooling or your face to wipe it off. It was kind of funny actually. I also wasn't smart enough to have a big meal before going to the dentist and couldn't have dinner until 9:30pm when the numbing wore off. Then my jaw ached, my tongue was still numb, and my teeth were too sensitive to enjoy dinner. I remembered that the dentist paperwork actually asked if one was afraid of being at the dentist. I think I will mark yes next time.
The rest of the week was much more relaxing. I am a huge believer in keeping Thanksgiving and cooking in general simple and easy. So of course I ordered a pre-cooked turkey meal. Trust me, it's still very good but with none of the stress and mess.
I also got to see tons of movies last week. Australia for starters and then 2 black-and-white Humphrey Bogart movies (the Maltese Falcon and To Have or Have Not). Australia was not great and not bad either...but definitely cheesy...and it was 3-hour long. The black-and-white movies were great and they were at this beautiful old theater that was very well ornated. There is always a man that plays the organ before the show starts. Feels very old timey and posh.
My husband and I also managed to sneak in a hike at Mount Diablo on Saturday. It was only supposed to be a 5-mile hike but more than half of it was uphill and on the side of the mountain. It really wasn't fun trying to not slip and hurt oneself. At one point we thought we were lost and couldn't find the loop that was described in our printed internet info. We kept going because turning around seemed worse. It was one of the harder hikes that I have had recently.
I also managed to try out a new class at the gym last week and I don't plan to take it again. I don't get why people like spinning classes so much. It's hellish! The seat is extremely uncomfortable and who can ride a bike for an hour with resistance being increased throughout the hour. I started to check the clock after the first 5 minutes and was out of gas by the 30-minute mark. I hanged in for the remaining 30 but barely and couldn't really increase the resistance the way the instructor wanted. It's a great workout but I don't have the endurance. I also need to practice getting used to a bike seat first because I could still feel the seat days later.
I also spent time re-reading some of my old novels. I made the mistake of tivo'ing Bridget Jones's Diary and so I have been re-reading the book and the sequel (the Edge of Reason). I kind of like the sequel better because the first novel barely talked about Bridget and Darcy's relationship and hence their romance was not very believable. Anyhow, I kind of enjoy how Bridget is very expressive and slighly neurotic --- kind of relatable somehow.
I just wish that there was more time in the day or week, especially while one is on vacation. I had had high hopes of being able to make Christmas cards this year. Well, let's hope the Christmas break will feel longer somehow.
Monday, November 3, 2008
A Fun Week and V-Day
So I had a pretty fun week last week because I took Monday off. I got to do some shopping in San Francisco and had some good finds with jeans and exercising pants. Since I am wearing more jeans and going to the gym more these days, these 2 clothing items seem to be all that I need. My husband and I also got to try out a popular Chinese restaurant in the city and visited the Ferry building for some shopping.
For Halloween, we stayed in to watch rented scary movies and gave out candies. I missed Halloween last year and also the earthquake that came with it because I was traveling for work. So it was great hanging out at home watching TV. The kids who stopped by really love seeing our dog and getting to pet him. We had a decent turn-out with about 10 groups of trick-or-treaters, but I wished there were more because I am still left with too much candies.
This weekend, we went to see a new play in the city called Quality of Life. The cast of 4 included actors that have been in many movies, sitcoms, and TV series. One of the cast members was that the lady who played Rosanne's sister on Rosanne. It was a pretty good play about 2 different couples from the the midwest and California and their different perspectives on life, death, and religion. It was kind of depressing though since it dealt with death.
So I am looking forward to Voting Day (V-Day) tomorrow. California has about 15 Propositions to vote on this time. It seems that anyone who can collect enough signatures want to burden the rest of us with their proposition. For example, I don't need to vote on a proposition that would allow the gov't to give Californians incentive money to buy a fuel-efficient car. How about No on that proposition since California already has a huge budget deficit and this is just not a priority! People can buy their own fuel-efficient cars or just carpool! These propositions are super confusing because both sides of the issues try to be all biased and often lie about their points. I have finally managed to read up on all propositions this past Sunday and now I am all informed and ready to vote.
Prop 8, the ban on gay marriage, is a hot button issue in the Bay area. A couple weekends ago, both of our main streets were covered with people with the Yes (a ban on gay marriage) and No (in support of gay marriage) signs. The cars that drove by carried and waved their No signs at the Yes people. It was kind of funny to see how heated people are in the Bay area about this issue. The polls have been flip-flopping several times this year. Part of it is because it is very even split. Earlier in the year, it was 50-something percent in favor of Yes (i.e. a ban on gay marriage). The September poll was 44%-49% in favor of No. Today's poll has shifted in the opposite direction again in favor of Yes. So this could go either way and it's a bit scarry. With the margin of error being around 5%, I guess we won't know how this will turn out until after Tuesday.
For Halloween, we stayed in to watch rented scary movies and gave out candies. I missed Halloween last year and also the earthquake that came with it because I was traveling for work. So it was great hanging out at home watching TV. The kids who stopped by really love seeing our dog and getting to pet him. We had a decent turn-out with about 10 groups of trick-or-treaters, but I wished there were more because I am still left with too much candies.
This weekend, we went to see a new play in the city called Quality of Life. The cast of 4 included actors that have been in many movies, sitcoms, and TV series. One of the cast members was that the lady who played Rosanne's sister on Rosanne. It was a pretty good play about 2 different couples from the the midwest and California and their different perspectives on life, death, and religion. It was kind of depressing though since it dealt with death.
So I am looking forward to Voting Day (V-Day) tomorrow. California has about 15 Propositions to vote on this time. It seems that anyone who can collect enough signatures want to burden the rest of us with their proposition. For example, I don't need to vote on a proposition that would allow the gov't to give Californians incentive money to buy a fuel-efficient car. How about No on that proposition since California already has a huge budget deficit and this is just not a priority! People can buy their own fuel-efficient cars or just carpool! These propositions are super confusing because both sides of the issues try to be all biased and often lie about their points. I have finally managed to read up on all propositions this past Sunday and now I am all informed and ready to vote.
Prop 8, the ban on gay marriage, is a hot button issue in the Bay area. A couple weekends ago, both of our main streets were covered with people with the Yes (a ban on gay marriage) and No (in support of gay marriage) signs. The cars that drove by carried and waved their No signs at the Yes people. It was kind of funny to see how heated people are in the Bay area about this issue. The polls have been flip-flopping several times this year. Part of it is because it is very even split. Earlier in the year, it was 50-something percent in favor of Yes (i.e. a ban on gay marriage). The September poll was 44%-49% in favor of No. Today's poll has shifted in the opposite direction again in favor of Yes. So this could go either way and it's a bit scarry. With the margin of error being around 5%, I guess we won't know how this will turn out until after Tuesday.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Point Reyes Hiking and Pumpkin Festival
Last weekend was a fun weekend for me because I took off from work on Friday and as a result had an extended weekend. I really should take off more often. I certainly still have lots of vacation days left.
So on Friday, my husband and I decided to go hiking in Marin County at Point Reyes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Reyes). We were on this Coastal Trail that was along the cost for the first mile and the coastline was very pretty.
Saturday we decided to go and visit a pumkin farm in Half Moon Bay. Normally, that would have been a very pleasant experience but last Saturday was also the Pumpkin Festival. So the traffic was horrible on the way there. We had to see the festival, which was kind of lame but then again may be we are just not festival people. It was just a very typical festival with kiosks selling trinkets and some artsy stuff - none of which were exciting enough to buy. The food was as usual a lot of deep fried stuff. We managed to limit ourselves to some pumpkin beer (which was good), pumpkin mac-n-cheese (which has no pumpkin taste in it), and pumpkin pie. I was sorely tempted by the corn dogs but thanks goodness I prevail and didn't have any.
We also managed to see a couple movies this week: W and Religulous. With all the hype about W, I would have expected it to be better since there is so much good material with George Bush to work with :-) It is not a bad movie by any means but it wasn't a great movie. It might have been the storytelling or filming style that bugged me. Josh Brolin did a very good job with W's mannerism though.
Religulous was kind of interesting - still not best movie or my most recommended movie. Although Bill Maher can be funny sometimes, most of the time I tend to be a bit skeptical of his view since I know that he is so skewed on one side. Anyhow, my neighbors who are normally Bill Maher fans didn't think the movie was very good. So perhaps because I went in with such low expectation that I came out of the movie thinking that it was actually an OK movie and was worth seeing. Bill Maher raised some interesting points and I definitely learned a few new things from the movie. There were other points that I wished he had raised to balance out his one-sided view, but then that would not been the Bill Maher that we know :-) I think it's the science/math side of me that would like to see the pros and cons or both sides of an issue and I have to remember that most documentaries are not made that way...Most people have a definite opinion about something and that's the point-of-view that they attempt to prove in a documentary.
So on Friday, my husband and I decided to go hiking in Marin County at Point Reyes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Reyes). We were on this Coastal Trail that was along the cost for the first mile and the coastline was very pretty.
Saturday we decided to go and visit a pumkin farm in Half Moon Bay. Normally, that would have been a very pleasant experience but last Saturday was also the Pumpkin Festival. So the traffic was horrible on the way there. We had to see the festival, which was kind of lame but then again may be we are just not festival people. It was just a very typical festival with kiosks selling trinkets and some artsy stuff - none of which were exciting enough to buy. The food was as usual a lot of deep fried stuff. We managed to limit ourselves to some pumpkin beer (which was good), pumpkin mac-n-cheese (which has no pumpkin taste in it), and pumpkin pie. I was sorely tempted by the corn dogs but thanks goodness I prevail and didn't have any.
We also managed to see a couple movies this week: W and Religulous. With all the hype about W, I would have expected it to be better since there is so much good material with George Bush to work with :-) It is not a bad movie by any means but it wasn't a great movie. It might have been the storytelling or filming style that bugged me. Josh Brolin did a very good job with W's mannerism though.
Religulous was kind of interesting - still not best movie or my most recommended movie. Although Bill Maher can be funny sometimes, most of the time I tend to be a bit skeptical of his view since I know that he is so skewed on one side. Anyhow, my neighbors who are normally Bill Maher fans didn't think the movie was very good. So perhaps because I went in with such low expectation that I came out of the movie thinking that it was actually an OK movie and was worth seeing. Bill Maher raised some interesting points and I definitely learned a few new things from the movie. There were other points that I wished he had raised to balance out his one-sided view, but then that would not been the Bill Maher that we know :-) I think it's the science/math side of me that would like to see the pros and cons or both sides of an issue and I have to remember that most documentaries are not made that way...Most people have a definite opinion about something and that's the point-of-view that they attempt to prove in a documentary.
Monday, October 13, 2008
My Vegan Food Adventure Continues...
So my vegan food adventure continued this weekend and I am feeling that this deserves another post. This weekend, my husband and I decided to try out a new vegan place in the city. So we googled and found Cafe Gratitude: http://www.cafegratitude.com/
Cafe Gratitude is a cool vegan restaurant with a bunch of locations all over the bay area. One of the cool features about the restaurant is the communal tables that sit about 6 people per table. So it's a great place to strike up a conversation with friendly strangers, which was exactly what we did. The folks that we met were all regulars at the cafe and so they had great tips to share about what to order. It was also very cool to hear their experiences with vegan food. We even found out that one of the girls we talked to lived a couple miles from us.
We had some split pea soup, a warm Thai quinoa bowl and a sampler plater with a little bit of everything. While everything in the sampler plater was good, I realized that I am less of a crunchy crackers and dip kind of person and more of a soft grain and warm food person. So naturally I like the "warm" Thai quinoa bowl the most and I was very impressed with how authentically Thai (not that I really know what this is) the taste was. This cafe also has so many dessert items in their glass case that it was hard to decide from the Rasberry creme pie, German chocolate cake, tiramisu, chocolate mouse and creme pie, etc. We settled on a chocolate creme pie, which was probably the best part of the meal. Ever since we discovered vegan desserts, my husband and I are convinced that vegan desserts are the best. They are even better than the best desserts that I have had at my favorite pastry shops. The frequenters at the cafe all raved that vegan desserts are the best. I think we are now sufficiently sworn off non-vegan desserts.
While eating at Cafe Gratitude, it occurred to me that the food from the vegan cafe in my gym is also very phenominal and yet slightly cheaper than Cafe Gratitude. It's also more accessible since it's inside my gym. Located at the entrance of our gym, our local vegan cafe is actually a cafe that is open to the public and not just to our gym members and so it does stock itself with a variety of vegan dishes. While I do enjoy the food and the experience at Cafe Gratitude, I am not sure that I would be back simply because I am going to go to the vegan cafe in my gym more often instead.
One great thing about a vegan meal is that we both felt lighter and brighter after the meals, which isn't always the case with non-vegan food. So because of our positive experience with Cafe Gratitude and with vegan food so far, today my husband and I decided to "join the program" and created a prepaid tab at our gym vegan cafe. The prepaid tab there is a reasonable small amount, and we can now take out food from there without having to bring a wallet with us. Also, a minor benefit to the tab is that the cafe gave us more spending dollars than what we prepaid as incentives. I am really excited about being able to take out vegan food from time to time to complement or substitute for my non-vegan cooking.
So guess what our first purchase on the prepaid tab was? I swear this was why my husband was so enthusiastic about the prepaid tab. A whole chocolate creme pie of course! I know that it is not the best thing to get given that there are other healthier options but I am just going to have to rely on my "great" self-control and not eat too much. I think this chocolate creme pie is even better than the one from Cafe Gratitude. I am not the only one who find their pies delicious -- apparently so does Whole Foods. I found out today that Whole Foods will start carrying their pies. I don't know if this means only the Whole Foods in my area or everywhere but I am guessing that it's probably just the ones in my area.
Cafe Gratitude is a cool vegan restaurant with a bunch of locations all over the bay area. One of the cool features about the restaurant is the communal tables that sit about 6 people per table. So it's a great place to strike up a conversation with friendly strangers, which was exactly what we did. The folks that we met were all regulars at the cafe and so they had great tips to share about what to order. It was also very cool to hear their experiences with vegan food. We even found out that one of the girls we talked to lived a couple miles from us.
We had some split pea soup, a warm Thai quinoa bowl and a sampler plater with a little bit of everything. While everything in the sampler plater was good, I realized that I am less of a crunchy crackers and dip kind of person and more of a soft grain and warm food person. So naturally I like the "warm" Thai quinoa bowl the most and I was very impressed with how authentically Thai (not that I really know what this is) the taste was. This cafe also has so many dessert items in their glass case that it was hard to decide from the Rasberry creme pie, German chocolate cake, tiramisu, chocolate mouse and creme pie, etc. We settled on a chocolate creme pie, which was probably the best part of the meal. Ever since we discovered vegan desserts, my husband and I are convinced that vegan desserts are the best. They are even better than the best desserts that I have had at my favorite pastry shops. The frequenters at the cafe all raved that vegan desserts are the best. I think we are now sufficiently sworn off non-vegan desserts.
While eating at Cafe Gratitude, it occurred to me that the food from the vegan cafe in my gym is also very phenominal and yet slightly cheaper than Cafe Gratitude. It's also more accessible since it's inside my gym. Located at the entrance of our gym, our local vegan cafe is actually a cafe that is open to the public and not just to our gym members and so it does stock itself with a variety of vegan dishes. While I do enjoy the food and the experience at Cafe Gratitude, I am not sure that I would be back simply because I am going to go to the vegan cafe in my gym more often instead.
One great thing about a vegan meal is that we both felt lighter and brighter after the meals, which isn't always the case with non-vegan food. So because of our positive experience with Cafe Gratitude and with vegan food so far, today my husband and I decided to "join the program" and created a prepaid tab at our gym vegan cafe. The prepaid tab there is a reasonable small amount, and we can now take out food from there without having to bring a wallet with us. Also, a minor benefit to the tab is that the cafe gave us more spending dollars than what we prepaid as incentives. I am really excited about being able to take out vegan food from time to time to complement or substitute for my non-vegan cooking.
So guess what our first purchase on the prepaid tab was? I swear this was why my husband was so enthusiastic about the prepaid tab. A whole chocolate creme pie of course! I know that it is not the best thing to get given that there are other healthier options but I am just going to have to rely on my "great" self-control and not eat too much. I think this chocolate creme pie is even better than the one from Cafe Gratitude. I am not the only one who find their pies delicious -- apparently so does Whole Foods. I found out today that Whole Foods will start carrying their pies. I don't know if this means only the Whole Foods in my area or everywhere but I am guessing that it's probably just the ones in my area.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Vegan Food
I have always been very willing to try any new cuisine or dishes because I don't want to stick with the same old cuisine when there is so much diversity. So although I am not a vegan, I have always liked vegan food because the ones that I have had are so yummy.
One of my favorite vegan food is this Indian dish (I can't remember the name) at Whole Foods with tofu as a substitute for meat. Adding a little hot sauce to it and I could eat this dish all day. My only issue with this dish now is that I would like brown rice instead of white rice.
My gym has this fantastic vegan cafe. Everything there is super healthy and vegan. They give huge portion for the meals and the prices are reasonable and so their meals make for great take-out. Their desserts, like the chocolate mouse pie and chocolate clusters, are also very good but they are pricey and so as a result I am not as tempted to eat their desserts that often.
Last night was our gym night and since my husband and I both had early gym appointments with our trainers, I decided to not cook. So we had some take-out meals from this cafe. My husband ordered the Kale Quinoa Toss and I had the Fiesta Quinoa Toss. While they were both extremely yummy, I liked mine much better because you can't go wrong with anything fiesta related. I have never had quinoa before. So I had to ask the chef about it and googled it afterwards. Apparently, quinoa is a very healthy grain that is high in protein. The good thing is we still had quite a bit of left-over quinoa for another meal later tonight.
If I can have a full-time chef like Oprah and my chef can cook vegan meals like these, then sign me up to be a vegan...in fact, I'll be anything my chef wants me to be as long as I am fed with good meals that I don't have to prepare :-)
One of my favorite vegan food is this Indian dish (I can't remember the name) at Whole Foods with tofu as a substitute for meat. Adding a little hot sauce to it and I could eat this dish all day. My only issue with this dish now is that I would like brown rice instead of white rice.
My gym has this fantastic vegan cafe. Everything there is super healthy and vegan. They give huge portion for the meals and the prices are reasonable and so their meals make for great take-out. Their desserts, like the chocolate mouse pie and chocolate clusters, are also very good but they are pricey and so as a result I am not as tempted to eat their desserts that often.
Last night was our gym night and since my husband and I both had early gym appointments with our trainers, I decided to not cook. So we had some take-out meals from this cafe. My husband ordered the Kale Quinoa Toss and I had the Fiesta Quinoa Toss. While they were both extremely yummy, I liked mine much better because you can't go wrong with anything fiesta related. I have never had quinoa before. So I had to ask the chef about it and googled it afterwards. Apparently, quinoa is a very healthy grain that is high in protein. The good thing is we still had quite a bit of left-over quinoa for another meal later tonight.
If I can have a full-time chef like Oprah and my chef can cook vegan meals like these, then sign me up to be a vegan...in fact, I'll be anything my chef wants me to be as long as I am fed with good meals that I don't have to prepare :-)
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sizing Down and Sushi Boats
I am trying to fit 2 separate topics into 1 post today. So the 2 topics in the title really don't have anything to do with each other.
First, the sizing down part...I have had to lose weight recently due to my high cholesterol. The nice thing about losing weight is I am dropping a size or two as a result. The bad thing is none of my pants fit anymore and so I need to go pants/jeans shopping and I really hate shopping for them. Because I am short enough to need petite sizes, finding pants or jeans with short enough length so that I don't have to alter is painful...and because I hate taking things to the alteration shop to alter, I refuse to buy any pants that won't fit me length-wise to begin with. Tops are a lot easier to buy because it doesn't have to fit perfectly. The only place that I used to be able to buy dressy pants and jeans was The Limited. I don't like shopping at The Limited for a couple reasons: First, their pants are never on sale when I need them and I always feel like I am paying an arm and a leg for the pants. Secondly, if you are not a size 0, the Limited tends to give you a complex when you go there because everything there seems to be a size 0 -- all the clothes that look so good on the manequins are size 0 and the manequins are 6 feet all and so the clothes don't look so hot on you when you try them on. Since Ann Taylor Loft does carry a very nice assortment of petite jeans that fit me well and since I don't have to buy pants for work anymore, I don't have to mess with The Limited for a while.
Another bad thing about losing weight is that now I am all confused about what my new size is. So it requires some returns when I order things online. For example, I had scoured the Bay area Ann Taylor Loft store for a larger size with my Pumpkin Spice jacket, it arrived today, and it was too big. So then I had to go back to the store (though only 5-10 minutes away) to switch to the smaller size at the store which I had tried on previously and thought it was too small. All of tops also seem to be down a size now and since this is my first or second time shopping since I have lost weight, I am still trying to figure out what my current size is. So it's really annoying to have to grab 3 sizes of each -- the size that I used to be in, the smaller size that I am in now and I am still learning that this is now my new size, and the one size smaller than my current size that I "wishfully" hope I can be one day (although I think I finally figure out today that this last size is still in the "wishful thinking" category).
Finally, another bad thing about losing weight is that if you still have say 5 more lbs to go, it's very frustrating trying to get the last 5 lbs off. You are also at a quandry as to whether you should buy pants for the size that you are now or the next size down which does fit you but is a bit snug and will definitely fit you when you are 5 more lbs lighter. See my dilema? I know, it is not really a dilema but it does make shopping tricker. Now I feel like a Seinfeld episode with all the neurotic explanation about the different sizes -- Seinfeld or George would definitely have gone into depth about all these possiblities :-)
Now the second topic...Sushi Boat. I am liking sushi a lot more now that I am in the Bay area. My favorite sushi places is all close to my house, which makes it very addictive and costly. Today when I went to exchange my Pumpkin Spice jacket, I saw a sushi boat restaurant where
boats full of sushi move around in front of you and you can just grab the plate that you want. The plates are color coded so that the waiter/waitress can tally your bill based on the color. I decided to stop by this sushi boat restaurant and try it out. In truth, sushi boat restaurants don't make the best sushi because to me sushi is better when it's freshly made and the rice is still warm. Today, I chose some sushi from the floating boats as well as ordering some fresh ones and the fresh ones were noticeably better than the floating ones that have been sitting out. Although it is not the best sushi, I do like sushi boat restaurants because it's a lot of fun seeing the boats float to you and choosing from the variety of sushi available. My sushi dinner today was surprisingly cheap. I will probably go back to this restaurant again even though it's driving distance (still just 5-10 mins) since there is only one other sushi boat restaurant near my house and it is not a very good one.
First, the sizing down part...I have had to lose weight recently due to my high cholesterol. The nice thing about losing weight is I am dropping a size or two as a result. The bad thing is none of my pants fit anymore and so I need to go pants/jeans shopping and I really hate shopping for them. Because I am short enough to need petite sizes, finding pants or jeans with short enough length so that I don't have to alter is painful...and because I hate taking things to the alteration shop to alter, I refuse to buy any pants that won't fit me length-wise to begin with. Tops are a lot easier to buy because it doesn't have to fit perfectly. The only place that I used to be able to buy dressy pants and jeans was The Limited. I don't like shopping at The Limited for a couple reasons: First, their pants are never on sale when I need them and I always feel like I am paying an arm and a leg for the pants. Secondly, if you are not a size 0, the Limited tends to give you a complex when you go there because everything there seems to be a size 0 -- all the clothes that look so good on the manequins are size 0 and the manequins are 6 feet all and so the clothes don't look so hot on you when you try them on. Since Ann Taylor Loft does carry a very nice assortment of petite jeans that fit me well and since I don't have to buy pants for work anymore, I don't have to mess with The Limited for a while.
Another bad thing about losing weight is that now I am all confused about what my new size is. So it requires some returns when I order things online. For example, I had scoured the Bay area Ann Taylor Loft store for a larger size with my Pumpkin Spice jacket, it arrived today, and it was too big. So then I had to go back to the store (though only 5-10 minutes away) to switch to the smaller size at the store which I had tried on previously and thought it was too small. All of tops also seem to be down a size now and since this is my first or second time shopping since I have lost weight, I am still trying to figure out what my current size is. So it's really annoying to have to grab 3 sizes of each -- the size that I used to be in, the smaller size that I am in now and I am still learning that this is now my new size, and the one size smaller than my current size that I "wishfully" hope I can be one day (although I think I finally figure out today that this last size is still in the "wishful thinking" category).
Finally, another bad thing about losing weight is that if you still have say 5 more lbs to go, it's very frustrating trying to get the last 5 lbs off. You are also at a quandry as to whether you should buy pants for the size that you are now or the next size down which does fit you but is a bit snug and will definitely fit you when you are 5 more lbs lighter. See my dilema? I know, it is not really a dilema but it does make shopping tricker. Now I feel like a Seinfeld episode with all the neurotic explanation about the different sizes -- Seinfeld or George would definitely have gone into depth about all these possiblities :-)
Now the second topic...Sushi Boat. I am liking sushi a lot more now that I am in the Bay area. My favorite sushi places is all close to my house, which makes it very addictive and costly. Today when I went to exchange my Pumpkin Spice jacket, I saw a sushi boat restaurant where
boats full of sushi move around in front of you and you can just grab the plate that you want. The plates are color coded so that the waiter/waitress can tally your bill based on the color. I decided to stop by this sushi boat restaurant and try it out. In truth, sushi boat restaurants don't make the best sushi because to me sushi is better when it's freshly made and the rice is still warm. Today, I chose some sushi from the floating boats as well as ordering some fresh ones and the fresh ones were noticeably better than the floating ones that have been sitting out. Although it is not the best sushi, I do like sushi boat restaurants because it's a lot of fun seeing the boats float to you and choosing from the variety of sushi available. My sushi dinner today was surprisingly cheap. I will probably go back to this restaurant again even though it's driving distance (still just 5-10 mins) since there is only one other sushi boat restaurant near my house and it is not a very good one.
Pumpkin Spice is always nice
I recently received a gift card to Ann Taylor Loft. ATL is one of my favorite stores because I can always find something that I like in this store. In fact, my dilema most of the time is that I can't buy more than my budget allows. Ever since I found ATL and the regular Ann Taylor, I can't believe that I used to put up with shopping at department stores. It used to take me hours to find something stylish and classy among the tons of teenager-looking clothes. Another great thing about ATL is that I often receive a lot of 20-30% coupons via email and ATL always have these big 40-60% off sales.
So armed with my gift card, I went shopping at ATL this weekend. I haven't been shopping there since early summer and so I was surprised by all the new clothes. Their fall collection is out now and there are so many great pieces that I wanted. The deal this weekend was 20% off your entire purchase for both days, which ended up making me spend more money. But it was all for a good cause because I now have a new pair of jeans, a shirt that is 2 shirts in one (a redish blouse inside and a thin jersey material outside), and a make-my-day find of a Pumpkin Spice curdoroy jacket. Unfortunately, I have to have the jacket shipped to me from another store in CA because of course my size is always out! Here is what the jacket looks like: http://www.anntaylorloft.com/catalog/outfit.jsp?ensembleId=3417&N=1200212&pCategoryId=199&categoryId=2219&Ns=CATEGORY_SEQ_2219
I don't have any orange in my wardrobe because it is typically too bright of a color for me. So for me to pass up on a beige color for an orange color is a huge deal and it means that this jacket is very special...and it is also 20% off too...so how can I pass up on that? :-) I can't wait to wear it this weekend! Let's just hope that DHL shipping won't take more than 3-4 days.
It is really a good thing that my taste in color for clothing has changed over the last 3-4 years to include more diversed color than the basic/classic colors (black, white, blue, cream/beige, and some warm earthly brown) that I used to wear more exclusively. The classic colors are always so safe and when you see someone with great style they are usually wearing something elegantly simple in one of the classic colors. OK, since I am going to go on and on about colors and style here, let me own up to the fact that may be I am a bit style-conscious :-). So the style-conscious part of me does keep me "conscious and careful" on going too wild with the brighter colors because I don't want blind everyone with my loud overbearing arrays of color. I don't want to be a walking rainbow or a pumpkin just because I am wearing pumpkin spice :-)
While we are on the color topic, let's talk about colors that I do like these days. These would include any pastel colors (even purple) and especially mossy green and light yellow. I love pastel color clothing for the spring and early summer and I love my mossy green sweaters for the winter. I still can't handle dark green and dark purple. I am liking red more these days but typically more burgandy red. Of course, any shades of black, gray, and creme/beige are still my favorite color choices because the best clothes still seem to come in these colors.
So armed with my gift card, I went shopping at ATL this weekend. I haven't been shopping there since early summer and so I was surprised by all the new clothes. Their fall collection is out now and there are so many great pieces that I wanted. The deal this weekend was 20% off your entire purchase for both days, which ended up making me spend more money. But it was all for a good cause because I now have a new pair of jeans, a shirt that is 2 shirts in one (a redish blouse inside and a thin jersey material outside), and a make-my-day find of a Pumpkin Spice curdoroy jacket. Unfortunately, I have to have the jacket shipped to me from another store in CA because of course my size is always out! Here is what the jacket looks like: http://www.anntaylorloft.com/catalog/outfit.jsp?ensembleId=3417&N=1200212&pCategoryId=199&categoryId=2219&Ns=CATEGORY_SEQ_2219
I don't have any orange in my wardrobe because it is typically too bright of a color for me. So for me to pass up on a beige color for an orange color is a huge deal and it means that this jacket is very special...and it is also 20% off too...so how can I pass up on that? :-) I can't wait to wear it this weekend! Let's just hope that DHL shipping won't take more than 3-4 days.
It is really a good thing that my taste in color for clothing has changed over the last 3-4 years to include more diversed color than the basic/classic colors (black, white, blue, cream/beige, and some warm earthly brown) that I used to wear more exclusively. The classic colors are always so safe and when you see someone with great style they are usually wearing something elegantly simple in one of the classic colors. OK, since I am going to go on and on about colors and style here, let me own up to the fact that may be I am a bit style-conscious :-). So the style-conscious part of me does keep me "conscious and careful" on going too wild with the brighter colors because I don't want blind everyone with my loud overbearing arrays of color. I don't want to be a walking rainbow or a pumpkin just because I am wearing pumpkin spice :-)
While we are on the color topic, let's talk about colors that I do like these days. These would include any pastel colors (even purple) and especially mossy green and light yellow. I love pastel color clothing for the spring and early summer and I love my mossy green sweaters for the winter. I still can't handle dark green and dark purple. I am liking red more these days but typically more burgandy red. Of course, any shades of black, gray, and creme/beige are still my favorite color choices because the best clothes still seem to come in these colors.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Season premieres are finally here!
This week and next week are the fall season premieres for many of my favorite TV shows.
Grey's Anatomy 2-hour season premiere was on last night and boy was it good. The last 3-4 months have been hard not being able to watch Grey's every Thursday. I realized as I was watching the show last night why I like this show so much. The dialogues are really funny, which helps to make the show not so serious like ER. The characters are goofy and full of flaws and because of that it's just fun watching how much they mess up at work and in life. This is one of those shows like Seinfeld where the ensemble is what makes the show works well whereas each actor separately might not be that interesting to watch. Last night show was packed with celebrity guest stars - Bernadette Peters, Mariette Hartley, Kathy Baker, and Kevin McKidd. I hope Kevin McKidd will stick around for a while because he was such a good actor in Rome (as Lucius Vorenus - one of the major charcters). It doesn't hurt that Kevin McKidd is kind of hot even though he doesn't have the "perfect" good looks :-)
Brothers and Sisters (Sally Field, Callista Flockhart, Rob Lowe, etc) is on next week. And then there is Desperate Housewives. I feel kind of bad watching DH because the storyline is very cheesy and it is really not a great show. But again, it's kind of fun and I really like all of the actresses (Terri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, etc) and they are the reason for watching the show.
Now if only some of my favorite shows on Bravo would come back for a new season, then my TV watching experience would be complete -- but then I wouldn't have enough time in the day to watch them all. I love how every show on Bravo is either about human behavior or team work. The next Top Chef should be very interesting. I love watching Top Chef because it reminds me of team work or lack-there-of in the workplace. Then there is Flipping Out where this "perfectionist" real estate guy, Jeff Lewis, renovates and flips homes. Jeff has such a great artistic sense that his after-renovation flips are places that you would love to own. Jeff is also so OCD that it is so funny to watch his interaction with his friends and the people who work for him. Finally, there is this Millionaire Matchmaker show where some people were so ecentric in dating situations that I rolled on the floor laughing in pain in most episodes. It's a great show for observing human behavior and for single people to take notes on what not to do in a dating situation.
As I was watching ads for brand new shows this season, I realized that all of the movie actors are going into TV shows now. If they are not doing TV shows full-time, then they are guest-starring. With TV being the most viewed medium, I guess it makes sense that TV is where the actors would flock to.
Grey's Anatomy 2-hour season premiere was on last night and boy was it good. The last 3-4 months have been hard not being able to watch Grey's every Thursday. I realized as I was watching the show last night why I like this show so much. The dialogues are really funny, which helps to make the show not so serious like ER. The characters are goofy and full of flaws and because of that it's just fun watching how much they mess up at work and in life. This is one of those shows like Seinfeld where the ensemble is what makes the show works well whereas each actor separately might not be that interesting to watch. Last night show was packed with celebrity guest stars - Bernadette Peters, Mariette Hartley, Kathy Baker, and Kevin McKidd. I hope Kevin McKidd will stick around for a while because he was such a good actor in Rome (as Lucius Vorenus - one of the major charcters). It doesn't hurt that Kevin McKidd is kind of hot even though he doesn't have the "perfect" good looks :-)
Brothers and Sisters (Sally Field, Callista Flockhart, Rob Lowe, etc) is on next week. And then there is Desperate Housewives. I feel kind of bad watching DH because the storyline is very cheesy and it is really not a great show. But again, it's kind of fun and I really like all of the actresses (Terri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, etc) and they are the reason for watching the show.
Now if only some of my favorite shows on Bravo would come back for a new season, then my TV watching experience would be complete -- but then I wouldn't have enough time in the day to watch them all. I love how every show on Bravo is either about human behavior or team work. The next Top Chef should be very interesting. I love watching Top Chef because it reminds me of team work or lack-there-of in the workplace. Then there is Flipping Out where this "perfectionist" real estate guy, Jeff Lewis, renovates and flips homes. Jeff has such a great artistic sense that his after-renovation flips are places that you would love to own. Jeff is also so OCD that it is so funny to watch his interaction with his friends and the people who work for him. Finally, there is this Millionaire Matchmaker show where some people were so ecentric in dating situations that I rolled on the floor laughing in pain in most episodes. It's a great show for observing human behavior and for single people to take notes on what not to do in a dating situation.
As I was watching ads for brand new shows this season, I realized that all of the movie actors are going into TV shows now. If they are not doing TV shows full-time, then they are guest-starring. With TV being the most viewed medium, I guess it makes sense that TV is where the actors would flock to.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Vernal and Nevada Falls
We went hiking in the Yosemite this weekend. We chose the Mist Trail to Vernal and Nevada Falls because it was about an 8-mile hike with enough uphill for a decent workout and because we love waterfalls. It was a good thing that we went in late September when the waterfalls are smaller because the rocks on the trail would be very slippery during the early summer.
The first leg of the trail was uphill with steps that were carved into the side of the mountain. As we went up higher, the steps were no longer carved in and we were just climbing on rocks with slippery sand. It was tougher for the people who went down on that trail because it was easier to slip and slide down. Good thing I listened to the bus driver and took this trail up instead of down.
Both of the falls were smaller due to the end of the season but they were still quite breathtaking. Along the way up, there were a couple huge pools of water created by the waterfalls. We stopped here and there to rest quickly but moved on because we really wanted to make it to the top. At the top where Nevada falls was, we stopped and had a huge spread of lunch. I am a bit of a packer when it comes to packing food or just things in general. So of course, I have my half bottle of really good merlot, a spread of deli meat (turkey, ham, salami) and cheeses, crackers, and bread. Even though it was a lot of food, I was only bringing a little of everything and so it wasn't heavy to carry.
Terrain-wise, the way down was a lot easier. However, when you are full with food and have hiked for 3 hours up a mountain, going down is not a picnic at all. I had to use my knees to break during the way down and so my knees were achy for 2 days afterwards. The trouble with hiking is that the way back is always hellish. You just can't wait for the damn hike to end but it just drags on and on and it can be a very boring hike down.
Dinner at the Wawona hotel was wonderful. This is our favorite breakfast buffet. It was not the most healthy dinner since I figured that I must have burned at least a 1000 calories hiking and could afford to eat up. I had a great mushroom soup, which is one of the few creamy soups that I love. Then followed it with a fried trout fillet breaded in corn meal. Finally, dessert was bread pudding, which wasn't really worth the calories since I have had better bread pudding elsewhere.
We saw a lot deer and squirrels in Yosemite. We also saw some sequoias. On the way to Yosemite, we saw a casino on an Indian reservation and stopped by. We had a lot of fun playing table games and didn't lose much. On the way home, there were plenty of farmer's fruit stands to visit. We bought some huge peaches and an apple pie. I realized by the taste of this apple pie that not all apple pies are made equally -- This one really sucked! Perhaps, I only like apple pies because they are so good from the pastry shop at my local grocery store. Also, it's probably apple tartes that I like more since the tartness makes it better. This would explain why I used to dislike pies when I lived in North Carolina -- some of the pies I had there were just yucky. Apple pies that are full of sugar and has a yucky crust is just not worth the calories!
The first leg of the trail was uphill with steps that were carved into the side of the mountain. As we went up higher, the steps were no longer carved in and we were just climbing on rocks with slippery sand. It was tougher for the people who went down on that trail because it was easier to slip and slide down. Good thing I listened to the bus driver and took this trail up instead of down.
Both of the falls were smaller due to the end of the season but they were still quite breathtaking. Along the way up, there were a couple huge pools of water created by the waterfalls. We stopped here and there to rest quickly but moved on because we really wanted to make it to the top. At the top where Nevada falls was, we stopped and had a huge spread of lunch. I am a bit of a packer when it comes to packing food or just things in general. So of course, I have my half bottle of really good merlot, a spread of deli meat (turkey, ham, salami) and cheeses, crackers, and bread. Even though it was a lot of food, I was only bringing a little of everything and so it wasn't heavy to carry.
Terrain-wise, the way down was a lot easier. However, when you are full with food and have hiked for 3 hours up a mountain, going down is not a picnic at all. I had to use my knees to break during the way down and so my knees were achy for 2 days afterwards. The trouble with hiking is that the way back is always hellish. You just can't wait for the damn hike to end but it just drags on and on and it can be a very boring hike down.
Dinner at the Wawona hotel was wonderful. This is our favorite breakfast buffet. It was not the most healthy dinner since I figured that I must have burned at least a 1000 calories hiking and could afford to eat up. I had a great mushroom soup, which is one of the few creamy soups that I love. Then followed it with a fried trout fillet breaded in corn meal. Finally, dessert was bread pudding, which wasn't really worth the calories since I have had better bread pudding elsewhere.
We saw a lot deer and squirrels in Yosemite. We also saw some sequoias. On the way to Yosemite, we saw a casino on an Indian reservation and stopped by. We had a lot of fun playing table games and didn't lose much. On the way home, there were plenty of farmer's fruit stands to visit. We bought some huge peaches and an apple pie. I realized by the taste of this apple pie that not all apple pies are made equally -- This one really sucked! Perhaps, I only like apple pies because they are so good from the pastry shop at my local grocery store. Also, it's probably apple tartes that I like more since the tartness makes it better. This would explain why I used to dislike pies when I lived in North Carolina -- some of the pies I had there were just yucky. Apple pies that are full of sugar and has a yucky crust is just not worth the calories!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
These are a few of my favorite things
I unexpectedly received a new ipod shuffle from my husband who got it as a give-away from his company. I love it! I love how it's super compact and light and clips to your clothes so well for my gym workout and walking my dog. I also like the fact that both the itunes website and the ipod make downloading so easy. I have a phone that has mp3 capability and it was a pain to download songs to the phone from rhapsody. Finally, I love the fact that itunes allows me to get all of the old songs that I used to like and then new stuff too. I now have in my ipod everthing from rock to pop to raggae to rap to alternatives etc.
My husband and I recently bought a cuckoo clock. Now it's cuckooing every hour. I like it but I am worried about keeping our guests up with all the cuckooing. So I will need to make sure to remove the batteries when I have guests. We bought this clock from a clock store near our house. It's a lovely clock store with all kinds of grandfather clocks. I have always wanted to own a big grandfather clock. I would have one today if it wasn't so expensive to own one. So because we couldn't get a granfather clock, we settled for the cuckoo clock which we have always wanted to have too.
Another thing that I have always wanted to get and I am finally getting it as a special gift is cast iron teapots and tea cups. And since I am in a "green" phase these days, I love mossy green teapots. I also want a teapot that is flatter and winder versus round because I think the former is more dramatic. Here is the one I am getting: http://www.amazon.com/Old-Dutch-38-Ounce-Cast-Iron-Nobility/dp/B000FAKZ5K/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1_rsrsrs0
I don't know if this next one is considered a "thing" but I am going to my first opera out here soon. I can't wait for this since the Opera House here is supposed to be one of the best in the country. I have never lived anywhere where the opera production is big enough to have 2 different operas every month.
My husband and I recently bought a cuckoo clock. Now it's cuckooing every hour. I like it but I am worried about keeping our guests up with all the cuckooing. So I will need to make sure to remove the batteries when I have guests. We bought this clock from a clock store near our house. It's a lovely clock store with all kinds of grandfather clocks. I have always wanted to own a big grandfather clock. I would have one today if it wasn't so expensive to own one. So because we couldn't get a granfather clock, we settled for the cuckoo clock which we have always wanted to have too.
Another thing that I have always wanted to get and I am finally getting it as a special gift is cast iron teapots and tea cups. And since I am in a "green" phase these days, I love mossy green teapots. I also want a teapot that is flatter and winder versus round because I think the former is more dramatic. Here is the one I am getting: http://www.amazon.com/Old-Dutch-38-Ounce-Cast-Iron-Nobility/dp/B000FAKZ5K/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1_rsrsrs0
I don't know if this next one is considered a "thing" but I am going to my first opera out here soon. I can't wait for this since the Opera House here is supposed to be one of the best in the country. I have never lived anywhere where the opera production is big enough to have 2 different operas every month.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Food and Exercise
It would seem that food and exercise shouldn't go together but in my case they really should. The reason is because I LOVE good food and this year I have had to learn moderation when it comes to food and regular exercise to keep my high cholesterol down.
I just came back from the gym today where I spent about an hour and a half trying out a new workout routine that my trainer gave me last week. It's about 45 minutes of weights and 20-30 mins of cardio. I am feeling very euphoric right now after a great workout, especially since I haven't worked out since this past Monday. I used to think it must be terrible to be in the gym for that long but it really does help to pass the time if you go to the gym well-equipped with distractors such as a headset for the TV and an ipod with plenty of songs. It also helps a lot when the 45 minutes is filled with different machines/routines so that the time goes by more quickly. I really need to go to the gym more often because it feels great to work out. Also, when you get used to working out, missing a couple days seems to take a toll on your body and you notice the difference right away. Plus, I have 5 lbs that I am trying to loose -- 2 of them I had gained recently.
Now my favorite topic - FOOD! I love to try new cuisine and just good food period. I feel very lucky to have a Creole/Soul food restaurant near my house. It's actually a healthy version because the chef used to be overweight and so he is very conscious of making his food more healthy. Thanks goodness for that because we all know Creole/Soul food is not healthy :-) The Asian food in the Bay area is phenomenal. I have wonderful Thai and Japanese food near my house, which is very convenient. Although we do have a couple Vietnamese restaurants where I live, the best Vietnamese food is in San Francisco.
I am so hooked on Japanese food these days. Beef teriyaki when it's made right is the best. A Thai beef salad with warm grilled beef over a bed of lettuce and a light tangy fish sauce is to die for. When I was on the South Beach diet, a Thai beef salad was one of the few no-carb meals that I enjoyed. My most favorite Vietnamese restaurant in the Bay area is Slanted Door. It is one of the most booked restaurants in the Bay area. Bill Clinton had to stop by this restaurant years ago when he was president and visiting the area. The chef of this restaurant recently won the James Beard award for best chef. There are so many good dishes at this restaurant. One of the best has to be the imperial rolls (egg rolls in a chinese restaurant). They use rice wrappers at this restaurant for the imperial rolls. The wrapper is filled with pork, shrimp, mung bean noodles, mushroom, etc and then it's deep fried. Other dishes that are good here are the Shaking Beef and an Oven Roasted Fish. The beef are tender pieces of filet mignon cooked in some red wine sauce and the fish has a ginger fish sauce dipping sauce with it. We are taking my next door neighbors to this restaurant next weekend because they have lived in the Bay area but have never been to this restaurant.
Another thing that I am hooked on recently are Italian fried calamari. Obviously, I can't have this very often because it's deep fried. I am in the hunt for some really good fried calamari and they are the best when they are done right with tender pieces of squid in the inside.
Last but not least, one more thing that I am hooked on are tacos with carne asada. The Bay area is full of taquerias but it is hard to find a really good one. The best tacos have carne asada that are well seasoned and tender but slightly crisp due to grilling. To get the best tacos, one really has to try many hole-in-the-wall places. The best tacos that I had was in the Bernal Heights neighborhood in SF. I can't even find the place anymore because we were being driven around that day by a tour guide and we just stopped and ducked in to a hole-in-the-wall Taqueria that we happened to see. It was the best meat I have tasted and the best salsa. May be I'll try harder and try to find this place again. My next-door neighbor told us of another well-known Taqueria in the city that is on the top 100 restaurants in the Bay area. We'll need to try out this one soon.
Can't you tell that F-O-O-D is my favorite topic? This is probably the longest blog yet. I am now sufficiently famished since I just worked out and this blog is killing me with hunger. May be I'll go for the beef Thai salad today -- hmm...yum!!!
I just came back from the gym today where I spent about an hour and a half trying out a new workout routine that my trainer gave me last week. It's about 45 minutes of weights and 20-30 mins of cardio. I am feeling very euphoric right now after a great workout, especially since I haven't worked out since this past Monday. I used to think it must be terrible to be in the gym for that long but it really does help to pass the time if you go to the gym well-equipped with distractors such as a headset for the TV and an ipod with plenty of songs. It also helps a lot when the 45 minutes is filled with different machines/routines so that the time goes by more quickly. I really need to go to the gym more often because it feels great to work out. Also, when you get used to working out, missing a couple days seems to take a toll on your body and you notice the difference right away. Plus, I have 5 lbs that I am trying to loose -- 2 of them I had gained recently.
Now my favorite topic - FOOD! I love to try new cuisine and just good food period. I feel very lucky to have a Creole/Soul food restaurant near my house. It's actually a healthy version because the chef used to be overweight and so he is very conscious of making his food more healthy. Thanks goodness for that because we all know Creole/Soul food is not healthy :-) The Asian food in the Bay area is phenomenal. I have wonderful Thai and Japanese food near my house, which is very convenient. Although we do have a couple Vietnamese restaurants where I live, the best Vietnamese food is in San Francisco.
I am so hooked on Japanese food these days. Beef teriyaki when it's made right is the best. A Thai beef salad with warm grilled beef over a bed of lettuce and a light tangy fish sauce is to die for. When I was on the South Beach diet, a Thai beef salad was one of the few no-carb meals that I enjoyed. My most favorite Vietnamese restaurant in the Bay area is Slanted Door. It is one of the most booked restaurants in the Bay area. Bill Clinton had to stop by this restaurant years ago when he was president and visiting the area. The chef of this restaurant recently won the James Beard award for best chef. There are so many good dishes at this restaurant. One of the best has to be the imperial rolls (egg rolls in a chinese restaurant). They use rice wrappers at this restaurant for the imperial rolls. The wrapper is filled with pork, shrimp, mung bean noodles, mushroom, etc and then it's deep fried. Other dishes that are good here are the Shaking Beef and an Oven Roasted Fish. The beef are tender pieces of filet mignon cooked in some red wine sauce and the fish has a ginger fish sauce dipping sauce with it. We are taking my next door neighbors to this restaurant next weekend because they have lived in the Bay area but have never been to this restaurant.
Another thing that I am hooked on recently are Italian fried calamari. Obviously, I can't have this very often because it's deep fried. I am in the hunt for some really good fried calamari and they are the best when they are done right with tender pieces of squid in the inside.
Last but not least, one more thing that I am hooked on are tacos with carne asada. The Bay area is full of taquerias but it is hard to find a really good one. The best tacos have carne asada that are well seasoned and tender but slightly crisp due to grilling. To get the best tacos, one really has to try many hole-in-the-wall places. The best tacos that I had was in the Bernal Heights neighborhood in SF. I can't even find the place anymore because we were being driven around that day by a tour guide and we just stopped and ducked in to a hole-in-the-wall Taqueria that we happened to see. It was the best meat I have tasted and the best salsa. May be I'll try harder and try to find this place again. My next-door neighbor told us of another well-known Taqueria in the city that is on the top 100 restaurants in the Bay area. We'll need to try out this one soon.
Can't you tell that F-O-O-D is my favorite topic? This is probably the longest blog yet. I am now sufficiently famished since I just worked out and this blog is killing me with hunger. May be I'll go for the beef Thai salad today -- hmm...yum!!!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Why I love Berkeley
Berkeley is a really cool college town. It has great ethnic food and restaurants in general, shops, theater, and a very fun college atmosphere.
We were in Berkeley twice this past weekend. We went to see Candide at a local Berkeley theater. The theater was only about the size of a living room and so the actors were right in front of us in the middle of the living room. It was a good play. I haven't read Candide even though it has been one of my husband's favorite books and so it was good to finally see the play. Before the theater, we went to our favorite Ethopian restaurant, Fifine -- this is the best Ethiopian restaurant in the country -- my husband and I have never found any other Ethiopian restaurants as good as this one, even in DC! Then we came back to Berkeley for Chicago-style pizza at Zachary's -- it's another institution in Berkeley. As usual, there was a long line at Zachary's that night.
I really have never been on a campus where the main campus street is full of ethnic food -- Korean, Indian, Thai, Swiss, etc. It's a very diversed environment. I thought Univ of Wisconsin was fabulous with the ethnic food, UC Berkeley is even more diversed. I think I am gaining an appreciation for diversity being out in the Bay area. It's strange that although I have always appreciated diversity, I don't realize how nice it is to live around it until I have it. It's quite refreshing!
It's funny the contrast between Standford and UC Berkeley. Standford is incredibly poshy with manicured lawn and beautiful buildings and long driveways full of trees - in short, Standford is dripping with money. UC Berkeley is also a pretty campus with lots of green but the main street (Telegraph Ave) leading to the campus conveys hippiness and diversity. Quite frankly, Telegraph Ave is a bit grotty with dirty looking streets, some funky stores, and some wild looking people full of tatoos. I guess that this is part of the appeal of UC Berkeley - freedom of expresssion!
I am not sure whether I would want my future children to go to Standford or UC Berkeley. There are pluses and minuses to both schools. They are both great big name schools that should provide a great education. Standford is way too expensive while Berkeley is definitely more affordable. The thing that would worry me as a parent would be whether my future children would be mix up in the wrong crowd if they were to go to UC Berkeley even though in theory the wrong crowds exist at every school. That's the trouble with parenting -- you want to be cool parents and want your children to experience diversity and freedom but you can't help but worry about their future and want to prevent their mistakes :-) As I get older, I gain more sympathy for how hard it must be to be a parent. I am not one yet, but I can imagine that it must be a very tough job.
We were in Berkeley twice this past weekend. We went to see Candide at a local Berkeley theater. The theater was only about the size of a living room and so the actors were right in front of us in the middle of the living room. It was a good play. I haven't read Candide even though it has been one of my husband's favorite books and so it was good to finally see the play. Before the theater, we went to our favorite Ethopian restaurant, Fifine -- this is the best Ethiopian restaurant in the country -- my husband and I have never found any other Ethiopian restaurants as good as this one, even in DC! Then we came back to Berkeley for Chicago-style pizza at Zachary's -- it's another institution in Berkeley. As usual, there was a long line at Zachary's that night.
I really have never been on a campus where the main campus street is full of ethnic food -- Korean, Indian, Thai, Swiss, etc. It's a very diversed environment. I thought Univ of Wisconsin was fabulous with the ethnic food, UC Berkeley is even more diversed. I think I am gaining an appreciation for diversity being out in the Bay area. It's strange that although I have always appreciated diversity, I don't realize how nice it is to live around it until I have it. It's quite refreshing!
It's funny the contrast between Standford and UC Berkeley. Standford is incredibly poshy with manicured lawn and beautiful buildings and long driveways full of trees - in short, Standford is dripping with money. UC Berkeley is also a pretty campus with lots of green but the main street (Telegraph Ave) leading to the campus conveys hippiness and diversity. Quite frankly, Telegraph Ave is a bit grotty with dirty looking streets, some funky stores, and some wild looking people full of tatoos. I guess that this is part of the appeal of UC Berkeley - freedom of expresssion!
I am not sure whether I would want my future children to go to Standford or UC Berkeley. There are pluses and minuses to both schools. They are both great big name schools that should provide a great education. Standford is way too expensive while Berkeley is definitely more affordable. The thing that would worry me as a parent would be whether my future children would be mix up in the wrong crowd if they were to go to UC Berkeley even though in theory the wrong crowds exist at every school. That's the trouble with parenting -- you want to be cool parents and want your children to experience diversity and freedom but you can't help but worry about their future and want to prevent their mistakes :-) As I get older, I gain more sympathy for how hard it must be to be a parent. I am not one yet, but I can imagine that it must be a very tough job.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The Democratic Convention
Are you watching the Democratic Convention? If not, you will want to get on youtube or CNN and start watching the videos. My favorite speech so far is from Hillary. Although I have not heard Kennedy or Michelle Obama's speeches and so I don't have their speeches to compare to.
First, let me get the superficial observations out of the way so that I can then get to the more important stuff. I like Michelle's light green dress, very hip and classy. I love the orange suit on Hillary. Who knew that orange can look that good? I have an orange skirt that I have never worked up the courage to wear. Even Chelsea looks really pretty today with long soft much blonder hair. I want the make-up artist who did Hillary and Chelsea's make-up. These women looked great tonight. Hillary must have gotten some sleep because she looks fresh and not worn out as she did towards the end of the primaries.
Hillary has always been a great speaker and her speech tonight was definitely smart and effective. She made a point of letting her supporters know that they should not be voting just for her only but they should vote for the healthcare reform and issues that they believe in and thus they should be voting for Obama. Many Hillary supporters have threatened to not vote or to vote for McCain if Obama were the Democratic nominee; this latter one makes no sense to me -- so one would change the issues they believe in and vote for different issues instead -- very logical there!
Being the geek that I am, I went and read the transcript for Michelle's speech. What struck me the most about her speech was the fact that it highlighted for me how America is such a land of opportunities. In what other countries could a South Chicago black woman go to Princeton and Harvard and become the president of the Chicago hospitals (or something like that...I might be off on this a bit)? It reminded me of my own immigrant background and how far I have come myself. Although it was only 16 years ago that I first arrived in this country with little to no English and with a mother who worked 2 minimum wage jobs to pay our rent, sometimes it is hard to remember that life because where I am not is so vastly different from where I came from. Perhaps this is why I fervently believe in the value of hard work and the power of taking action to improve your own destiny - you and only you have the power to change your life for the better but you will have to work hard at it because overcoming adversity is not easy. This may sound cheesy but it's the truth! Although disparity in wealth does exist even in Amercia, this is also the only country where there is not a rigid class system where one would have to born into a certain class. In America, one can go from barely making ends meet to being middle class or more. Whenever I get to travel or go to a special dinner or event, I am reminded of how blessed I am to have the opportunities to enjoy these things, especially since I could never travel outside of my own city 16 years ago.
If I can remember, I plan to watch the Republican Convention starting next Monday just to see what it is like. This is the first election where I am following the primaries and convention and it has been great. There is so much to learn from watching these things.
Two more days down and 3 more to go until the long weekend. I cannot wait!
First, let me get the superficial observations out of the way so that I can then get to the more important stuff. I like Michelle's light green dress, very hip and classy. I love the orange suit on Hillary. Who knew that orange can look that good? I have an orange skirt that I have never worked up the courage to wear. Even Chelsea looks really pretty today with long soft much blonder hair. I want the make-up artist who did Hillary and Chelsea's make-up. These women looked great tonight. Hillary must have gotten some sleep because she looks fresh and not worn out as she did towards the end of the primaries.
Hillary has always been a great speaker and her speech tonight was definitely smart and effective. She made a point of letting her supporters know that they should not be voting just for her only but they should vote for the healthcare reform and issues that they believe in and thus they should be voting for Obama. Many Hillary supporters have threatened to not vote or to vote for McCain if Obama were the Democratic nominee; this latter one makes no sense to me -- so one would change the issues they believe in and vote for different issues instead -- very logical there!
Being the geek that I am, I went and read the transcript for Michelle's speech. What struck me the most about her speech was the fact that it highlighted for me how America is such a land of opportunities. In what other countries could a South Chicago black woman go to Princeton and Harvard and become the president of the Chicago hospitals (or something like that...I might be off on this a bit)? It reminded me of my own immigrant background and how far I have come myself. Although it was only 16 years ago that I first arrived in this country with little to no English and with a mother who worked 2 minimum wage jobs to pay our rent, sometimes it is hard to remember that life because where I am not is so vastly different from where I came from. Perhaps this is why I fervently believe in the value of hard work and the power of taking action to improve your own destiny - you and only you have the power to change your life for the better but you will have to work hard at it because overcoming adversity is not easy. This may sound cheesy but it's the truth! Although disparity in wealth does exist even in Amercia, this is also the only country where there is not a rigid class system where one would have to born into a certain class. In America, one can go from barely making ends meet to being middle class or more. Whenever I get to travel or go to a special dinner or event, I am reminded of how blessed I am to have the opportunities to enjoy these things, especially since I could never travel outside of my own city 16 years ago.
If I can remember, I plan to watch the Republican Convention starting next Monday just to see what it is like. This is the first election where I am following the primaries and convention and it has been great. There is so much to learn from watching these things.
Two more days down and 3 more to go until the long weekend. I cannot wait!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Recap from last week and today's long day
It's only Monday and I already feel that a long week is ahead. That is not a good sign, is it? Today was a long work day because I had a deliverable that made me work late tonight. The good news is it's done and it was done early and so the work for this particular project will slow down for the next couple of days while I get busy on other projects ;-). Hopefully, tomorrow will be a shorter day...although getting up at 6:50am does not sound very good to me at the moment. Durn those early meetings!
The only thing that made this long day today bearable was a lunch out at a restaurant in the city. We had ratatouille for the first time today. I had to have it because of the movie (my favorite by the way!), and it didn't disappoint me. It was so very tasty! The restaurant's name was so cute - Chez Maman. When I was learning French in HS, Maman was one of my favorite words.
I saw a couple of really good independent art films this week: Tell No One and Man on Wire. The Bay area has an amazing selection of independent films. A couple weeks ago, I saw Bottle Shock which was a movie based on a true story about how California wines beat out French wines in a blind taste test in the 70's. Really cool movie! I think I am going to need to pay special attention to the art theaters in the future so that I can keep seeing these great movies. I have 2 free opening tickets to a play this weekend. Can't wait for that.
The opera season is upon us and we have an amazing list of operas this season. I have never lived in a city where 2 operas run concurrently per month. That's amazing, isn't it? Some of the operas that my husband raves about and that I would love to see this season are Porgy and Bess, La Traviata (sp?), and Tosca. Also, Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Daughter has been adapted to an opera and has its opening this season. I love Amy Tan's books and of course have read this book. It's so cool that there is now an opera based on this book. Oh, how I wish I have season tickets to the operas and one of the good theaters around here! I will most likely try to go to some of these events.
Here is to hoping that this week will end soon so that I can have a long weekend with Labor Day!
The only thing that made this long day today bearable was a lunch out at a restaurant in the city. We had ratatouille for the first time today. I had to have it because of the movie (my favorite by the way!), and it didn't disappoint me. It was so very tasty! The restaurant's name was so cute - Chez Maman. When I was learning French in HS, Maman was one of my favorite words.
I saw a couple of really good independent art films this week: Tell No One and Man on Wire. The Bay area has an amazing selection of independent films. A couple weeks ago, I saw Bottle Shock which was a movie based on a true story about how California wines beat out French wines in a blind taste test in the 70's. Really cool movie! I think I am going to need to pay special attention to the art theaters in the future so that I can keep seeing these great movies. I have 2 free opening tickets to a play this weekend. Can't wait for that.
The opera season is upon us and we have an amazing list of operas this season. I have never lived in a city where 2 operas run concurrently per month. That's amazing, isn't it? Some of the operas that my husband raves about and that I would love to see this season are Porgy and Bess, La Traviata (sp?), and Tosca. Also, Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Daughter has been adapted to an opera and has its opening this season. I love Amy Tan's books and of course have read this book. It's so cool that there is now an opera based on this book. Oh, how I wish I have season tickets to the operas and one of the good theaters around here! I will most likely try to go to some of these events.
Here is to hoping that this week will end soon so that I can have a long weekend with Labor Day!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
More memorable Olympic moments
Between watching the Olympics and having a busy week and weekend, I have not had any time to post a new blog.
After the US women gymnasts struggled to win a team silver medal, I didn't think the rest of the gymnastic events would be worthwhile to watch. Boy, was I wrong. It's a good thing I tivo'ed everything so that I could go back and watch the US women won gold and silver in the all-around and medaled in the individual events. I am a bit behind on watching all of the tivo'ed segment and still have yet to watch the all-around event even though I know that the American women went gold and silver in this event. That should be so exciting to watch. Maybe tonight! I need to go back and watch the beam event that I taped last night since Shawn Johnson of the US apparently won her first gold at these Olympic events. For some reasons, I kept inadvertently see the news every day before I even see the event, which really does take the suspense out of watching the event now. Oh well, at least I now know that it will be worth my time to watch the taped segment.
I can't believe Michael Phelps won all 8 gold medals especially since he just barely out-touched someone else by a fingernail length to get his 7th gold. I read somewhere that he is so loaded with endorsements now, including the possibility of a 40 mil contract with Nike for swimwear. I am really enjoying all the swimming relay this year, especially the men relay events since they were much fun to watch.
The Jamaican men and women dominated the 100 meter event, claimimg the fastest runner title. I was so disappointed that Tyson Gay didn't even make it into the final. Usain Bolt of Jamaica who won gold in the 100 meter event made the run look too fun and easy. The last Olympics was much more exciting for the American Track and Field men. This year, it looks like Jamaica might be blowing out of the water this year.
What about that Romanian female runner who won for one of the marathon events. She was far ahead of everyone else with 10 miles remaining and I thought for sure that she wouldn't be able to sustain that lead. Well, she did keep up the lead and won the gold. Here was someone who was 20th in the last Olympics and came back to win the gold medal.
After the US women gymnasts struggled to win a team silver medal, I didn't think the rest of the gymnastic events would be worthwhile to watch. Boy, was I wrong. It's a good thing I tivo'ed everything so that I could go back and watch the US women won gold and silver in the all-around and medaled in the individual events. I am a bit behind on watching all of the tivo'ed segment and still have yet to watch the all-around event even though I know that the American women went gold and silver in this event. That should be so exciting to watch. Maybe tonight! I need to go back and watch the beam event that I taped last night since Shawn Johnson of the US apparently won her first gold at these Olympic events. For some reasons, I kept inadvertently see the news every day before I even see the event, which really does take the suspense out of watching the event now. Oh well, at least I now know that it will be worth my time to watch the taped segment.
I can't believe Michael Phelps won all 8 gold medals especially since he just barely out-touched someone else by a fingernail length to get his 7th gold. I read somewhere that he is so loaded with endorsements now, including the possibility of a 40 mil contract with Nike for swimwear. I am really enjoying all the swimming relay this year, especially the men relay events since they were much fun to watch.
The Jamaican men and women dominated the 100 meter event, claimimg the fastest runner title. I was so disappointed that Tyson Gay didn't even make it into the final. Usain Bolt of Jamaica who won gold in the 100 meter event made the run look too fun and easy. The last Olympics was much more exciting for the American Track and Field men. This year, it looks like Jamaica might be blowing out of the water this year.
What about that Romanian female runner who won for one of the marathon events. She was far ahead of everyone else with 10 miles remaining and I thought for sure that she wouldn't be able to sustain that lead. Well, she did keep up the lead and won the gold. Here was someone who was 20th in the last Olympics and came back to win the gold medal.
Friday, August 8, 2008
The Olympics - Finally Here!
Are you watching the Opening Ceremony today? If you didn't tivo'ed it or missed it, I think the Opening Ceremony is also on YouTube.
The Opening Ceremony was visually beautiful: footstep shaped fireworks, lighted drums, Chinese movable printing blocks (yes, the Chinese invented paper and printing), the globe, etc. Fourteen thousand performers participated in the performances during the ceremony.
There was a cute story that caught my attention. The athletes representing the Cayman Islands (my favorite Caribbean island) wrote NBC and asked that NBC does not cut to commercial after Canada because then Cayman Islands won't be shown on TV. So obviously, they were definitely shown on TV.
I read in the papers that the US althetes would be wearing Ralph Lauren clothing and beret (sp?) this year. I kind of liked the jacket better in the photos in the papers than on TV because but the dark color seemed a bit dull on TV.
I am very excited that the Olympic games are finally here. I love competive sports. The games/competitions that I typically love to watch are Track & Field, swimming, and gymnastics. I haven't been following the US trials at all this year and so I am not very clear on who the US atheletes will be in these particular games. I know that I will know most of the names by the time I am done watching the games this year. I also did recognize from the news atheletes who were at the last Olympics and who will participate again this time: Micheal Phelps (swimming), the 41-year old Dara Torres (swimming), and the 2 injured Hamm brothers who have now pulled out of the men gymnastics event.
Go America! I hope we win a bunch of gold medals and sweep the medals in my favorite categories.
The Opening Ceremony was visually beautiful: footstep shaped fireworks, lighted drums, Chinese movable printing blocks (yes, the Chinese invented paper and printing), the globe, etc. Fourteen thousand performers participated in the performances during the ceremony.
There was a cute story that caught my attention. The athletes representing the Cayman Islands (my favorite Caribbean island) wrote NBC and asked that NBC does not cut to commercial after Canada because then Cayman Islands won't be shown on TV. So obviously, they were definitely shown on TV.
I read in the papers that the US althetes would be wearing Ralph Lauren clothing and beret (sp?) this year. I kind of liked the jacket better in the photos in the papers than on TV because but the dark color seemed a bit dull on TV.
I am very excited that the Olympic games are finally here. I love competive sports. The games/competitions that I typically love to watch are Track & Field, swimming, and gymnastics. I haven't been following the US trials at all this year and so I am not very clear on who the US atheletes will be in these particular games. I know that I will know most of the names by the time I am done watching the games this year. I also did recognize from the news atheletes who were at the last Olympics and who will participate again this time: Micheal Phelps (swimming), the 41-year old Dara Torres (swimming), and the 2 injured Hamm brothers who have now pulled out of the men gymnastics event.
Go America! I hope we win a bunch of gold medals and sweep the medals in my favorite categories.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Half Moon Bay
Half Moon Bay (HMB) is becoming one of my favorite coastal towns in Northern California. There are many reasons why I like HMB. One of the reasons is because it has great beaches. My favorite walking beach is at HMB State Park. This is a long stretch of beach with hills/mountains as a backdrop. Did you know that HMB is a famous surfing spot? If only I could surf, then I could at least be in that cold water!
HMB is one of the few towns that has a big enough downtown full of cute shops, restaurants, wine bars, etc, which makes it a great shopping area and people-watching place. Last Saturday, Main Street in the downtown area was full of people walking their dogs. I counted at least 3 golden retrievers!
I had a great lunch at Half Moon Bay Inn last Saturday: http://halfmoonbayinn.com/ The best Chicken Ceasar Salad and Halibut tacos I have ever had. The restaurant is under an inn that seems to have very cute rooms. This inn made the Travel+Leisure magazine! Speaking of inns, there is a Bed and Breakfast in HMB on Hwy 1 that is a British restaurant and a B&B. They even have a double-decker bus in front of the place. It's a fun restaurant with great beer but the food was kind of bad. So I am not sure if the lodging is up-to-snuff after having their food. But again, it's a fun beer joint! If you want to stay in luxuries, then the HMB Ritz Carlton is the place to stay. It's right on the beach and it has a great golf course over-looking the beach.
Another reason why I like HMB is because of the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Reserve - one of the best hiking spot in the Bay area. This place has the best redwood trees and creeks to look at. This open space reserve has a diversed micro-climate system within the park itself - the redwood forest part is nice and breezy because of the nearby ocean and the open reserve part is hot and sunny.
Finally, the best reason for visiting HMB is the drive there. Along the way, there are tons of fruit stands where you can buy lots of fruits. There are also tons of nurseries that sell plants and roses (1 dozen for $5). When you get on Hwy 1, several beaches south of HMG, there is also a pie shop with great pies. I think the ollieberry pie might have been the best. Hmm, yum, yum!
So if you are ever going to be in the Bay Area, you will need to first drive up and down Hwy 1 and see the gizzillion beaches that are along Hwy 1. One of the beach has pebbles instead of sand. Then once you are tired and need a place to hang out, you might want to stop by HMB.
HMB is one of the few towns that has a big enough downtown full of cute shops, restaurants, wine bars, etc, which makes it a great shopping area and people-watching place. Last Saturday, Main Street in the downtown area was full of people walking their dogs. I counted at least 3 golden retrievers!
I had a great lunch at Half Moon Bay Inn last Saturday: http://halfmoonbayinn.com/ The best Chicken Ceasar Salad and Halibut tacos I have ever had. The restaurant is under an inn that seems to have very cute rooms. This inn made the Travel+Leisure magazine! Speaking of inns, there is a Bed and Breakfast in HMB on Hwy 1 that is a British restaurant and a B&B. They even have a double-decker bus in front of the place. It's a fun restaurant with great beer but the food was kind of bad. So I am not sure if the lodging is up-to-snuff after having their food. But again, it's a fun beer joint! If you want to stay in luxuries, then the HMB Ritz Carlton is the place to stay. It's right on the beach and it has a great golf course over-looking the beach.
Another reason why I like HMB is because of the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Reserve - one of the best hiking spot in the Bay area. This place has the best redwood trees and creeks to look at. This open space reserve has a diversed micro-climate system within the park itself - the redwood forest part is nice and breezy because of the nearby ocean and the open reserve part is hot and sunny.
Finally, the best reason for visiting HMB is the drive there. Along the way, there are tons of fruit stands where you can buy lots of fruits. There are also tons of nurseries that sell plants and roses (1 dozen for $5). When you get on Hwy 1, several beaches south of HMG, there is also a pie shop with great pies. I think the ollieberry pie might have been the best. Hmm, yum, yum!
So if you are ever going to be in the Bay Area, you will need to first drive up and down Hwy 1 and see the gizzillion beaches that are along Hwy 1. One of the beach has pebbles instead of sand. Then once you are tired and need a place to hang out, you might want to stop by HMB.
Monday, August 4, 2008
The First Lady of France
Recently, everywhere I look, I ran across articles or news about Carla Bruni, the First Lady of France. So I thought that she deserved a blog. Here is an article about Carla Bruni if you want to read about her in depth: http://www.vanityfair.com/style/features/2008/09/bruni200809?currentPage=1
Carla Bruni is the current First Lady of France who married the current French President (Nicolas Sarkozy) in November of last year. Carla Bruni's background is very unconventional for a First Lady. Carla Bruni used to a supermodel and she had had topless pictures (which she referred to them as "artistic" pictures) taken of her during her modeling career. She has had 2 recording albums and is getting ready to release the 3rd one in the coming weeks. When I saw her on last week's 20/20, she sang for Barbara Walters and she was surprisingly good. Her songs reminded me of those romantic French songs that you would hear in movies about Paris.
Carla Bruni came from a very rich family and as a result had a good education growing up. Modeling was a way to achieve independence rather than because she needed the money. She is versed with various musical instruments, including the guitar which she used to accompany her singing during the 20/20 interview. In addition, she speaks a number of languages fluently, and her English was definitely flawless when she was on 20/20. I was amazed of how well-spoken she was during the entire interview and how cleverly she navigated the difficult questions about her background. Whenever she is shown on news clips visiting other countries, she is always appropriately dressed in beautiful suits and she seemed to know the different countries' protocol (like curtsying to the Queen in England).
Carla Bruni has been compared to Jackie Kennedy. Her approval rating in France is higher than her husband.
What makes this story so interesting to me is how different French people are w.r.t. their expectations of their presidents and the spouses in comparison to Americans. Could you imagine how Americans would respond to having a First Lady who is still an active music artist or who used to be a model with "artistic" pictures? :-) Before the current French President married Carla Bruni, he actually went through a public divorce last year with the previous First Lady who by the way had a very public affair and ran away to NYC for a year to live with the other man during Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency. Who amongst any of our US Presidents have dared to have a divorce during their presidency?
This story just got my attention because it made me wonder whether we in America are more conservative in our expectations of our leaders' personal lives. I am not saying that conservativeness is good or bad -- it is just simply different when compared to other countries.
Carla Bruni is the current First Lady of France who married the current French President (Nicolas Sarkozy) in November of last year. Carla Bruni's background is very unconventional for a First Lady. Carla Bruni used to a supermodel and she had had topless pictures (which she referred to them as "artistic" pictures) taken of her during her modeling career. She has had 2 recording albums and is getting ready to release the 3rd one in the coming weeks. When I saw her on last week's 20/20, she sang for Barbara Walters and she was surprisingly good. Her songs reminded me of those romantic French songs that you would hear in movies about Paris.
Carla Bruni came from a very rich family and as a result had a good education growing up. Modeling was a way to achieve independence rather than because she needed the money. She is versed with various musical instruments, including the guitar which she used to accompany her singing during the 20/20 interview. In addition, she speaks a number of languages fluently, and her English was definitely flawless when she was on 20/20. I was amazed of how well-spoken she was during the entire interview and how cleverly she navigated the difficult questions about her background. Whenever she is shown on news clips visiting other countries, she is always appropriately dressed in beautiful suits and she seemed to know the different countries' protocol (like curtsying to the Queen in England).
Carla Bruni has been compared to Jackie Kennedy. Her approval rating in France is higher than her husband.
What makes this story so interesting to me is how different French people are w.r.t. their expectations of their presidents and the spouses in comparison to Americans. Could you imagine how Americans would respond to having a First Lady who is still an active music artist or who used to be a model with "artistic" pictures? :-) Before the current French President married Carla Bruni, he actually went through a public divorce last year with the previous First Lady who by the way had a very public affair and ran away to NYC for a year to live with the other man during Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency. Who amongst any of our US Presidents have dared to have a divorce during their presidency?
This story just got my attention because it made me wonder whether we in America are more conservative in our expectations of our leaders' personal lives. I am not saying that conservativeness is good or bad -- it is just simply different when compared to other countries.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
The new Batman movie
There is so much hype around the new Batman movie, Dark Knight. The first day that the movie came out, tickets for the 3 and 6am showings were sold out. Yes, people were taking a vacation day or calling in sick to see Dark Knight! This movie has been projected to pass the 400 million dollar mark by next Tuesday. The reviews also seemed to be good. So I just had to check it out.
So here are the good and the bad about this movie...
The good: Great special effects. The action sequences were amazing. The city of Chicago was beautiful on screen as Gotham city. Heath Ledger's performance was probably the only memorable performance in the movie. Christian Bale as Batman, did not seem that great in this movie even though I have liked his performances in other movies. Heath Ledger was so psychotic and freaky that it was hard to believe that it was him. So I guess it was a great performance from Heath Ledger for being able to transform himself into such a monster. I am wondering if it is his unexpected death at such a young age that made this movie so big. There are of course talks of him being nominated posthumously for an Oscar this year for this role.
The bad: The plot became very convoluted in the 2nd half of the movie. I thought the movie would never end because it was a 2 and 1/2 hour movie. This movie suffers from too many twists and turns that in the end made the plot rather incoherent. There were just too many far-fetched explanations given in fast dialogues over why someone did something. The movie was also a bit dark and violent. I read that the director was trying to make certain "intellectual" points through this movie. One of the points was whether the presence of Batman really makes the world a better place or does it create more chaos and criminality as a result -- probably a metaphor for America's position in the world. Anyhow, while I can appreciate "intellectual" points in movies, they do need to be backed by a coherent and intelligent plot. Otherwise, I wished that the director would spend more time on making the movie better rather than making the points.
Unless you are a huge Batman series addict or an action movie junkie, I probably would not recommend this movie for you. But I do understand if you do go to see it because you might be curious or want to see for yourself (like I did) what all the hype was about :-)
If you are looking for a good movie that is also based on history, check out Mongol, which is about the early life of Genghis Khan. Unfortunately, this is only the first of a trilogy and so you and I will all have to keep watching.
So here are the good and the bad about this movie...
The good: Great special effects. The action sequences were amazing. The city of Chicago was beautiful on screen as Gotham city. Heath Ledger's performance was probably the only memorable performance in the movie. Christian Bale as Batman, did not seem that great in this movie even though I have liked his performances in other movies. Heath Ledger was so psychotic and freaky that it was hard to believe that it was him. So I guess it was a great performance from Heath Ledger for being able to transform himself into such a monster. I am wondering if it is his unexpected death at such a young age that made this movie so big. There are of course talks of him being nominated posthumously for an Oscar this year for this role.
The bad: The plot became very convoluted in the 2nd half of the movie. I thought the movie would never end because it was a 2 and 1/2 hour movie. This movie suffers from too many twists and turns that in the end made the plot rather incoherent. There were just too many far-fetched explanations given in fast dialogues over why someone did something. The movie was also a bit dark and violent. I read that the director was trying to make certain "intellectual" points through this movie. One of the points was whether the presence of Batman really makes the world a better place or does it create more chaos and criminality as a result -- probably a metaphor for America's position in the world. Anyhow, while I can appreciate "intellectual" points in movies, they do need to be backed by a coherent and intelligent plot. Otherwise, I wished that the director would spend more time on making the movie better rather than making the points.
Unless you are a huge Batman series addict or an action movie junkie, I probably would not recommend this movie for you. But I do understand if you do go to see it because you might be curious or want to see for yourself (like I did) what all the hype was about :-)
If you are looking for a good movie that is also based on history, check out Mongol, which is about the early life of Genghis Khan. Unfortunately, this is only the first of a trilogy and so you and I will all have to keep watching.
Friday, August 1, 2008
TGIF - The Weekend is finally here!
First, a disclaimer about my misspellings and missing words. I will probably do this very often in my blogs. It is not easy to capture my overflowing thoughts when I have so many of them...LOL. So please bare with me and feel free to fill in the missing words as you like.
Now, aren't you glad that it is finally Friday today? I don't think I have ever looked forward to a weekend as much as I have with this one. I have so many plans and things to do for this weekend. First of, I am having a fitness assessment tomorrow. This is the first session from the 5 free trainer sessions that I am getting with my new gym membership. Secondly, I would really like to see a movie this weekend -- may be one of the following: Mamma Mia, Brideshead Revisited, and Dark Knight. Thirdly, maybe I can go hiking this Sunday -- haven't done that for 3 weeks now. Then there are the must-do chores: Costco (don't love it...don't want to go...but we are out of paper products! and Target (to return some stuff that didn't work).
This week has probably been longer and harder because I just came back from a vacation in Cabo San Lucas. My Cabo vacation was very nice and relaxing. The water was warm -- just not swimmable but great for strolling. It was all-inclusive resort, which is really bad because it was just too much food everywhere. I was worried that I would put on lots of weight while in Cabo and undermine my South Beach diet efforts (I am on this diet due to my recent high cholesterol problems). The good news is that I did not put on any weight -- probably partly because I didn't drink all of the cocktails and consumed all the tortillas that I could have had. On my Cabo trip, I "attempted" to read and translated Spanish signs and spoke a couple words in Spanish. Unfortunately, most of the time, I got Spanish confused with French (since I had 3 years of this) and so I was probably speaking French to the folks in Cabo. That was great fun for them, I am sure :-)
Speaking of vacation, I am trying to plan my Christmas vacation right now. I would love to go to Sydney Australia because I have never been there and it's on my list of places to visit. However, Sydney is out of the budget this year. I am trying to take advantage of our "free" flight tickets with United frequent flyer program. So most likely, I will end up going to Hawaii, South America, or the Caribbean. Now, South America would be fun for Christmas! I would love to go to Rio Brazil but I will have to see if it's a feasible trip for our budget. So I will need to do some research on Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Peru on frommers.com and check out the lodging prices. If you have a recommendation for any of these South American countries, please share!
Have a great weekend, everyone...especially if you are having fun visiting a new city in Europe!
Now, aren't you glad that it is finally Friday today? I don't think I have ever looked forward to a weekend as much as I have with this one. I have so many plans and things to do for this weekend. First of, I am having a fitness assessment tomorrow. This is the first session from the 5 free trainer sessions that I am getting with my new gym membership. Secondly, I would really like to see a movie this weekend -- may be one of the following: Mamma Mia, Brideshead Revisited, and Dark Knight. Thirdly, maybe I can go hiking this Sunday -- haven't done that for 3 weeks now. Then there are the must-do chores: Costco (don't love it...don't want to go...but we are out of paper products! and Target (to return some stuff that didn't work).
This week has probably been longer and harder because I just came back from a vacation in Cabo San Lucas. My Cabo vacation was very nice and relaxing. The water was warm -- just not swimmable but great for strolling. It was all-inclusive resort, which is really bad because it was just too much food everywhere. I was worried that I would put on lots of weight while in Cabo and undermine my South Beach diet efforts (I am on this diet due to my recent high cholesterol problems). The good news is that I did not put on any weight -- probably partly because I didn't drink all of the cocktails and consumed all the tortillas that I could have had. On my Cabo trip, I "attempted" to read and translated Spanish signs and spoke a couple words in Spanish. Unfortunately, most of the time, I got Spanish confused with French (since I had 3 years of this) and so I was probably speaking French to the folks in Cabo. That was great fun for them, I am sure :-)
Speaking of vacation, I am trying to plan my Christmas vacation right now. I would love to go to Sydney Australia because I have never been there and it's on my list of places to visit. However, Sydney is out of the budget this year. I am trying to take advantage of our "free" flight tickets with United frequent flyer program. So most likely, I will end up going to Hawaii, South America, or the Caribbean. Now, South America would be fun for Christmas! I would love to go to Rio Brazil but I will have to see if it's a feasible trip for our budget. So I will need to do some research on Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Peru on frommers.com and check out the lodging prices. If you have a recommendation for any of these South American countries, please share!
Have a great weekend, everyone...especially if you are having fun visiting a new city in Europe!
My First Blog - Why am I starting a blog?
A friend of mine suggested that I start a blog since I obviously enjoy reading other people's blogs and sharing my ideas.
So to the friend who kept "harassing" me about starting a blog. Ask and you shall receive! Now I expect frequent visits and comments from you!
So what I hope to accomplish with this blog is to share with my friends:
- What's going on with my daily life in the Bay Area
- Interesting current events
- My philosophical thoughts about life -- if you know me, then you should know I have lots of these thoughts to share :-)
- My adventures around the Bay Area and beyond
- Books that I am currently reading
- Movies that I would recommend
- Restaurants I visit and like
Most of all, since I don't get to see most of my friends in person, I hope that this blog will help me to keep in touch with all of them. So if you are reading and keeping up with my blogs, please post a comment or email me to share your thoughts.
A quick hello to my friend who is moving to DC. Good luck with your new endeavors. I know you will love DC.
So to the friend who kept "harassing" me about starting a blog. Ask and you shall receive! Now I expect frequent visits and comments from you!
So what I hope to accomplish with this blog is to share with my friends:
- What's going on with my daily life in the Bay Area
- Interesting current events
- My philosophical thoughts about life -- if you know me, then you should know I have lots of these thoughts to share :-)
- My adventures around the Bay Area and beyond
- Books that I am currently reading
- Movies that I would recommend
- Restaurants I visit and like
Most of all, since I don't get to see most of my friends in person, I hope that this blog will help me to keep in touch with all of them. So if you are reading and keeping up with my blogs, please post a comment or email me to share your thoughts.
A quick hello to my friend who is moving to DC. Good luck with your new endeavors. I know you will love DC.
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