The ants go marching...

Weekend recap:
Spent my first Saturday in a while outside, hiking thru Portola Valley. I asked Moward to hitch a ride since the directions to the hike location were literally, "Drive down this long and torturous windy road..." Um...wow, that's a really good way to get people NOT to go hiking here. So after 1/2 an hour of driving, we finally reached the parking lot destination where 30+ Asians waited for us. I'd like to say that I was kidding, but I'm so not.

Hiking was uneventful, other than a small footbridge being inaccessible for the season, so about 75% of our party actually took off their shoes and crossed the creek at the shallow point. The more adventurous, and possibly sillier, of us (which means me) found a large tree that had fallen across the creek to cross. Because there were so many of us, the only wildlife we saw were assorted banana slugs and salamanders. But it was a good chance to catch up with old friends, meet new people, and generally conquer the great outdoors.
Toccata Forte got a scrape on his leg from also trying to scale the giant tree and at the end of the hike, guys were busting out EMT level first aid kits from their cars and packs. I had to laugh, they were offering TF-gauze, alcohol swipes, tourniquets (ok, just kidding on that last one)-but seriously? At one point, I started laughing and teasing TF: "Uh guys, it's just a SCRAPE." it's not like open heart surgery.

Brung and ToccataForte have wood...uh trees.

(Don't they look like saint niches?)

Afterwards we hit up the BUSIEST ASIAN SHOPPING CENTER EVER! ie. Cupertino Village on E. Homestead. for lunch at HC Dumpling House. And um...I just spent about 15 minutes writing up my review on Yelp. So you can read it here: Pen Reviews HC Dumpling House

Hu Chiang Dumpling House

Cupertino Village Shopping Center

10877 North Wolfe Road (off of E. Homestead)

Cupertino, CA 95015

(408) 873-4813

From hippie to hipster....another 60s icon goes commercial

Cal Style? Contradiction in terms? Apparently my alma mater alumni try to prove 'em wrong. They've created a mag called, "Bare" (cute pun, our mascot is the bear) to highlight Sproul Stylistas. And the requisite blog to go with it. Bare Daily

My college fashion highlights:

• -Wearing pjs to my Italian final because I woke up 20 minutes late.
• -White Chuck Taylors with old navy shirt dress
• -Adidas soccer sandles, EVERYWHERE.
• -A Gap denim skort...yeah, I said it.
• -old navy hippie paisley skirt, 60s platform shoes

Cal (UC Berkeley) is like the anti-fashion school of hippie couture. Unshaven, dreadlocked, tie-dyed anti-fashion. What happened? I used to wear whatever I pulled first out of my cabinet. Ripped and painted jeans weren't stigmas, they were signs of hard, artistic work. We used to make fun of people who spent all day dressing up. There used to be the sweetest girl, who was always on a ton of committees and organizational boards living in my dorm. But she TOTALLY wore a hair piece/fall, skirts or dresses and 3 tons of makeup-every day. I knew her roomate who told me that this girl woke up at 5am every morning to curl her HAIRPIECE. And we made fun of her all the time because she was so "L.A.". These days, I shrug and say, "to each her own." These days I can barely wake up early enough to put clothes on for work. This chick is probably blown up, done up and saving the world before breakfast.

The new publication's glossy pages and high production values are a far cry
from an ink-on-your-fingers newsprint rag that might cry out "Berzerkeley."
Nevertheless, there's something quintessentially Berkeley about this new
addition to the student publishing scene. Its first edition spoofs stereotypes
of the People's Republic of Berkeley (and conventions of fashion photography).
Student models from diverse backgrounds strut their threads in People's Park and
picturesque corners of Hearst Gym; an undergrad in Mama Cass-inspired hippie
gown poses barefoot in a tree — alongside snappy commentary on the legacy of the '60s ("Jefferson and Lennon asked for an upheaval and Berkeley
delivered…").

http://baremagazine.org/daily/

http://www.baremagazine.org/

(Not)Suckah-free Block Party-Top Chef Recap

Aww...Blogging Top Chef. Cuteness. Eric3000 recaps last week's episode.

Thoughts on last night's episode of Top Chef. Not Suckah-free Block Party.

Okieee...tacos. Upscale taco. Sort of a contradiction when you think about it, but you can upscale anything when you get your brain around it. I'd be scared as hell to do an upscale taco for Rick Bayless. Manoel is sad that his elaborate Spanish pronuciation gets him NOTHING and Spike, the weird hat wearing hippie gets top honors for his soy sauce pork taco. Andrew, I'm not happy to see, is still choosing to do meth during Quickfires-or he has to go to the bathroom REAL BAD. No chalupas? Sadness for mainly "traditional" tacos, Mark's looks good on the website. (here's what you do. Slice polenta 1/4-1/2 inch slices, deep fry with sage. Top with shredded spicy pork, cotija, green apple, mango, tomato, chipotle, jicama slaw-do the Suzanne Goin romesco-call it a day! Deep fry rice or wonton wrappers...something) Richard wins for his non-taco taco. Suckahs!

Rick Bayless has to put the non-taco taco on his menu at Topolobampo. Suckah.

It's actually quite drama-free the arrangement of the groups. Team RedTide and Team Blue(Balls). Of course Zoi and Jen are on a team together-[insert generic lesbian joke here], cause then they can share chef clogs more easily. And feel each other up, to the disdain and fear of middle America conservatives. Team BlueBalls is: Stephanie, Richard, Nikki, Manny, Antonia, Mark, & ... Team RedTide is: Spike, Andrew, Erik, Ryan, Zoi, Dale & Jen. Spike must have been a stock trader in one of his many past lives; he plays the law of averages by avoiding Richard, who has immunity. Dale avoids Nikki like the plague. Good call my friend. No blueberry mushroom cheese debacle.

omg..who is Lisa? Ohhh...the OTHER lesbian. Ok. Got it. She's got-er the last member of BlueBalls ie. Team Sexy WHAT? Chefs-you are driving me up a wall..

They drive around Chicago in color coded Gadget mobiles. Dale the lone Asian and Chicagoan knows his 'hoods. "4 Vietnamese restaurants are coming up!" Instead they pull up to a leafy, tree lined, stretch of suburbia. You must go and beg these nice Chicagoans for their food...door to friggin' door. Suckahs. That must be hard on some people-chefs do not work front of house. Dats why they in kitchen-cause they curse and sweat and do meth..whoops. Team RedTide strategically sends the 'Pretty Boy' Ryan in with Lisa(?) of all people. He gets them some pretty good stuff. While Team Sexy's (sigh...)Nikki and Antonia lay waste to a very high end - but rarely used kitchen (if the newness of the fixtures is to be believed) to the horror of it's owner. It's almost like Nikki and Antonia were all, "Can we take this?" pointing to her newborn child and planning to cook it with fava beans and a nice chianti. Spike and Andrew make sure one small family will NOT make it through Armageddon by purposely demolishing a Costco funded pantry. Ah, television cameras make home invasion so accessible. Residents-you have been pwned-Suckahs.

Day of challenge: Yes, Spike & Andrew continue their 'bromance' by trying to drive each other's heads into the wall in the boy's dorm. Why do we spend like twenty minutes filming/watching this Bravo? Trying to tie it into "Make me a Supermodel?" Stephanie is all, "I'm ready to go COOK motherf#$@*%s! I'm sitting here in mah orange pants. I got done with my abwork 40x faster because Valerie wasn't drooling on my crocs. HAUUTE QUEEZEEN!"

Unfortunately, the teams have to prep AND cook on the same day. So what happened to those lost hours between 5pm & 5am the day before? Is it because nobody is as cute as CJ? Or they didn't do weird eating palate testing contests? Spike walks around with his shirt off all the time!

FOOD RELATED NEWSFLASH: the guy who invented the Egg McMuffin died. Sad.

Menus: BlueBalls - Paella, Mac & Cheese, Fresh Fruit "Cobbler" with sugar cinnamon wonton crisp, Mexican chocolate sauced ribs, Pulled Pork sammies, bean salad, boring ass spinach salad, inside out cookie. "Sexy" Drink. (Tom C: "What makes it sexy?" Nikki: "Lavender." I laughed like Satan with Tom. "This WILL bite you in da ass at judge's table! Sexy is Padma's sweat! Sexy is mah breakfast eggs! Sexy no is lavender. Lavender is 'soothing' according to a billion air freshener/Calgon products.") At least there are no blueberries stuffed into mushrooms topped with cheese. Suckahs.
RedTide - MiniSliders (redundancy much?), Corn dogs, two different sangrias, mini hand torched s'mores (Spike + hand held incendiary device. He'll be asking Richard for that eucalyptus soon), taco salad, pork tenderloin skewers, a 'dip' bar, Waldorf salad, and pasta salad
Pasta-freakin' salad? Uh...you guys raided panties-I mean pantries (but who knows WHAT Spike and Andrew did at that poor lady's house besides take her wartime rations from her bomb shelter) from around this rather well-stocked neighborhood and Zoi has to make pasta salad? I mean...there was pork loin! (ooh...pork loin. I take the pork loin from you OLD MAN! and your ranch dressing too. that was seriously sad. I wonder if they had to go out to dinner after that) Notice Spike's strategic product placement? KC BBQ sauce, it will make an appearance in our lovely block party lunch! By the way, read Ted Allen's blog on the Bravo website to see him ream both teams with a spike (the tool, not person) for treating the neighborhood folks like a bunch of yokels. They're all upscale foodies and the mayor actually lives there. Sure, make one or two things for the kids, but don't dumb down your food, it's Chicago not Nebraska. Good real food is appreciated everywhere by everyone. Don't be stuck up y'all. Suckahs.

UNRELATED TO ANYTHING NEWS: If you're reading the Top Chef Website, just genuflect for a moment, on just how friggin' pretty Lee Anne Wong is.

Cooking is uneventful. Nikki uses Velveeta for her mac and cheese (I thought it was government cheese at first) and gets worried about it setting up. Uh-NEWSFLASH! A shitload of people use Velveeta for mac and cheese, because it stays oddly liquid, it's like plastic or something. Both teams take initiave on working well together, tasting all the food and trying to get along. Mark and Richard are oddly subdued. Maybe because this is more like a real cooking environment instead of a competition, they can mellow. Stephanie fries wonton wrappers-good girl. Dale is pissed on a soapbox AS USUAL, complaining that Team RedTide is going too low-end. He will be making high end pork shish kabob. Dale...get over it. On initial viewing, the judges seem to take to the food well. Even Colicchio, who is bereft of snarky comments for the moment, maybe he got wasted on Pabst or just sauntered over to the dudes who were bbq-ing on the other end of the block (Did you see that? That was a pretty good idea. Iron Chef - Block Party! Winners get to throw Spike in the dunk tank) Padma ignores sexy drink to eat a hand torched marshmallow...sexily. She drops it on Ted Allen's Prada shoe - OOH SNAP! Girlfriend owes Queen Ted a new pair of brogues. Team BlueBalls does full service line, RedTide lets people get it themselves-so they can you know, smoke out in the back of the red Gadgetmobile and drink the residents' beer. BlueBall's Manny LETS Bayless know, hermano a hermano, that they're MEXICAN chocolate sauced ribs-which actually look damn good. Mexican yo! No Colicchio-RedTide did not STEAM the sliders. Jen's gonna rip you a new one while she points out the skid uh...grill marks. Shrimp and chorizo taco salad sounds nasty. RedTide deems themselves winners (Suckahs), chug the rest of their sangria, play b-ball, drop kick Spike and enjoy some beers while Team Sexy packs up their shit and sweats unnecessarily.

Judge's Panel: Team RedTide looks shocked, appalled and mortified as their competitors are called up first to Judge's Table. I swear I hear a beer bottle breaking. Andrew looks like he's going to take someone out-not Spike. Good thing Valerie left or I would tag her as a prime target. Since the only girls he can blame on his team are lesbians, he knows better than to go there and just pouts. Team BlueBalls ie Sexy WINS! by a hair. As much as I agree with Judges Panel for telling Richard his paella was actually pilaf-attend any one of the 4 million buffets out there that serve 'paella' and that's what you're going to get. If there was crispy rice anywhere, you'd probably get some octegenarian complaining that he has to clean his dentures of rice particles. Bayless points out the brick of mac & cheese. Colicchio likes nothing they served, but Stephanie gets points and wins the individual challenge for her fruit dessert (anyone hear a 'ringer' here?) RedTide is up and they express nothing but the aforementioned shock and disappointment. Andrew and Spike are sure that they have won because they were better entertainers. It's called TOP CHEF suckahs.

Unfortunately, the judges tag 3 SF chefs: Erik 'Papa Souffle' (that's adorable, it's his WWF tag team name), Ryan (can't make a classic dish to save my life) for his watery Waldork salad and Zoi for her boring pasta salad (when the judges mention you can get something better at Safeway, I actually wince). In the end, Erik is tagged out for his soggy corn dogs and the reasoning ("they gave us 12 packs of hot dogs!") behind them. Buh-bye Papa Souffle, come back to Circa! Next week...I wasn't paying attention.
Here is my question: better to impress judges or your customer?

Peep pan pie?

Awesome, posted over at Serious Eats: What to Do with Leftover Easter Candy via Cakespy

The Peeps s'more seems sort of obvious, but it was the malted egg shake that sounded intriguing. Claims of blending the chocolate malted eggs + ice + soy milk like a new brand of egg-cream. What next? Peep pie?




Conversations with Co-Workers

3:46 pm, 3.24.08

Nickelback: "Hey, can you get rid of those detail titles we're not using?"
Pen: "Argggg...." (clicks furiously, prints)
NB: "Hey (comes to look over shoulder), get rid of those other ones too...gotta keep it consistent."
P: "Ok."
NB: "ahha. Yeah, you're thinking 'Fuck you G.' I can hear it."
P: "No, I'm too tired. I'll think that tomorrow."
NB: "Ha. Ok."

Don't try this at home kids.

"So I have a really funny story."

Whenever somebody starts a episodic retelling with this statement, it rarely lives up to expectations. However, we had people over last night for hot pot/Easter/Mr. Jones' birthday and one of my "uncles" (it's an Asian thing, you call all of your parent's friends by the honorary 'uncle' or 'auntie'-even if they're nowhere near related to you) who is actually a quite refined man; into reading and teaching the Chinese classics, playing guitar, travelling said this. And I never expected the following to come out of his mouth. (I'm calling him Uncle Alien for now, cause you know, he's a FOB and it rhymes with his actual name.)

"I was at this dinner last weekend-and I was at the head table. And there were all these people singing karaoke (makes a pained face). One after another-old men and women singing songs. And there is this 77 year old guy-who is singing. And dancing! Like you know, cha-cha steps? He's really getting into it. And then all of a sudden, he grab his chest. Then he turns white. And he tries to grab the tv, but the tv and the man both fall down, off the stage. And we try, you know pushing his chest (CPR), but the paramedics got there, and after 45 minutes...he died."

Complete silence.

Then one of my 'aunties' sitting at the other end of the table breaks in.

"You know, but Alien said, at least he died happy! He probably had dinner, some whisky and he died singing!"

Everyone started cracking up.
That's totally the way I want to go.

At the sounding.

So it is Easter morning, and I am still up blogging at 1:35 am. If all goes as it is currently, I should be up for a dawn service. Which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

For many religions around the world both Christian and Catholic (and often coincidentally Jewish), the rite of Easter/Passover brings the significance of spring and new beginnings. We are encouraged to discard the old and welcome change, birth, growth and discovery. As the earth begins its cycle of renewal, so it brings it upon us.

Traditionally, this is where I would bring up things I'm looking forward to in the new year, things I want to change, what I want to get rid of. But my life-is more than exquisite right now. If anything, a greater sense of peace, contentment and self confidence is all I'm really after. There are so many things that are already beautiful in my life and I am looking forward to renewing my relationships with the people I know and cherish. Sometimes, I am afraid I have reached a saturation point. That I am so perfectly happy with the friends that I have, there is no room for anyone or anything else. Are friends like jello? Do you always have room for another?

Well, the answer is...probably. But they have to be the right friend. And the "right" friend for you now, may not be the right friend 15 or 20 years in the future. As my reverend said during this morning's service: "You have the ability to love everyone, you may not LIKE them, but you can love them."

The Germ and I had an interesting conversation on the way to Mr. Jones' birthday dinner last night; he's dating someone who is intelligent, good looking, thoughtful, gracious-but someone for whom he has absolutely no chemistry or feelings for. Ouch. And yet, how many times are we encouraged to seek these people out? The polite ones? The nice ones? The "perfect" ones? And we feel obliged to find some sort of connection with people because they are 'good'? Or 'good for us'? In the end, we only make ourselves miserable. At this point, he and I agreed...there is no room for lack of chemistry for either of us. Some of my friends are, well...to put it lightly...down right rude. Sarcastic. But they make me laugh til my cheeks ache. They have been known to take care of their loved ones, inside they are the stalwarts. It is because they are discriminating that it allows them to use their love to the capacity to take care of the ones they truly care for; not just every joe shmoe come lately.

I just watched (it's now 4pm) a divinely beautiful Easter service today that really reflects on the true meaning of Easter; God is in all of us. And God is love. What other people do is up to them, but what you do is up to YOU.

Holy...did Hellafied write a stellar entry: Why I Write.

Lunch weirdo.

1. Crack open Spa Salad from TJs: use only 1/2 the curry dressing. Enjoy the lettuce, grapes, romano cheese, chicken, mandarin oranges and skinny noodles.
2. Close empty container, discard (or wash and save for storing additional salads-god I'm Chinese)
3. Retrieve box of cut mango slices from bag
4. Open
5. Fork into slice, dip into curry dressing
6. Alternate bites with and without dressing
7. Enjoy

I had a much better entry about Asian parents forcing their kids to play sports as a response to an article on 8Asians-but got too caught up in nomming my mango. I'll write that article later. You should definitely check out this MSN article from today though: How to Raise a Millionaire.

It's smart and clever about getting kids to watch their pennies; and much less intrusive than Mr. Jones' way. Which is pointing his finger at me while I'm watching 'Law & Order' or reading scripts or eating lunch going, "Yeah! Save more money!" and laughing maniacally.