September 28th 2006 - 5:15PM - Fremont Festival of the Arts, Massimo's

We went to the 23rd Annual Fremont Festival of the Arts last month. I didn't get this musician's name but he was pretty talented. The music was definitely Peruvian inspired.

So creative!!! Kinda risque if you have kids but kewl none the less.

WOW!!! Aluminum can planes...the next step in recyclable aviation!

Emily has been looking for a good-cute-pink-foldable-light-wide brim hat. We actually got close to finding one but in the end it wasn't the right size.

Ooooo, pretty blue....we had these for lunch. hehehehe...tasted like chicken.

Went to an Italian restaurant that I had seen before called Massimo's. There I assumed my 2nd identity...Don Chou. "Whatsa matta? Yous neva seen a guy smoke a sesame grissini before?"

Massimo's
5200 Mowry Avenue
Fremont, CA 94538
Phone.510 792 2000 Fax. 792 7041

They put clams along with the mussels but we were just dissapointed with the amount that we got. Thoughts of Stinking Rose and Left Bank's versions came to mind...it's not a good thing when you're thinking about other restaurants while you're eating at one.

The clam chowder was light...not as light as Townhouse but still pretty disappointing.

I do think that at some point I should start learning how to make cream sauces...they go great with all kinds of things.

Halibut and Prawns...lemon butter! Ok so the sauce might have been good but the price was simply not justified. The vegetables were bland and not washed properly...the potatoes looked half-eaten. You're really paying for the tablecloth-tax here.

This is the first time I've seen a place with the foresight to put a cloth on top of a lemon to catch seeds...if you feel the need to get all Martha-Stewarty (and I don't mean conducting insider trading), get your own "lemon wraps" here!

There's this PSP game called Loco Roco. You basically use the shoulder buttons on the PSP to tilt the world this way and that, while trying to control the movements of little blobs. Here you see that they found a prize...

If you leave them sitting for a little time, they start bouncing around and dancing...these were screencapped a long time ago but they're just getting in now...from what I remember, I was VERY happy while playing the game. The music, sounds, animation just came together perfectly. Such a unique game.

EXCEPT when I wanted to hurl the PSP at the wall for creating amazingly tricky landscapes. You can jump around but getting the blob to jump exactly how you want it (direction/speed/angle) is incredibly difficult...and then try to do it 3 times in a row (as you can see in this screencap).



September 27th 2006 - 12:00AM - BART, Left Bank, Shabuway, Table Tennis

"Make the seats near each doorway available to seniors or disabled persons." Instead of a picture of some nice elderly lady...they have this Dean Cain look-a-like. Perhaps, he's the model BART rider who helps people cross the street?

The bouillabaisse at Left Bank is incredibly salty. It's good just salty enough you could probably float on it. I want to go to the Dead Sea someday...

Went to Shabuway in Mountain View with Lih-Chern and Evan. It's been awhile since I had met up with them and I was glad I was able to have dinner with them.

There's more space in the Mountain View branch but still packed anyways...

Milpitas has a Table Tennis Club...they meet on Tuesdays...but there are so many people, it's hard to get a table...esp when everyone thinks of you as being newbies...I was constantly remined of the Japanese movie "Ping Pong" while I watched people play. Not because of the skill but the dorkiness. lol



September 20th 2006 - 6:30PM - Food Photography Seminar

Vina alerted me about a Food Photography seminar being held at the Apple Store in San Francisco awhile back. It was definitely something that I HAD to attend. Caren Alpert is a food photographer specializing in magazine and cookbook images. This picture that she used as a title background would effectively be captioned "Gypped".

Packed house...There were rows of people standing behind as well.

Caren is mainly a film photog but this is her first digital SLR that she purchased recently. For this seminar, basically she went through the steps of a photo shoot. Sometimes they'll take hours just doing 1 dish. Keep in mind that there are usually 4 people on the set...the photographer, the food stylist (Caren's food stylist is a guy named Basil...how appropo), the photographer's assistant, and a prop manager.

It was cool watching the workflow process...by the end, there were probably 20+ images...Basil worked the food layout, making sure that there weren't too many pasta holes. As a food stylist, he's learned a lot of the tricks of the trade...he dropped a few of them...apparently a lot of ice cream photographs are actually of mashed potatoes. And that pictures of meat are usually flash seared (very raw inside). Basil however prides himself on styling food that can be eaten.

Lotta people interested in food photography.



September 14th 2006 - 11:00PM - Capitola Part 2

The bartender recommended this place to us...it was small but nicely furnished.

Stockton Bridge Grille
231 Esplanade
Capitola, CA 95010
831.464.1933

Fancy calamari...

Of all the soups, Clam Chowder is a definite favorite. I believe it has to do with the fact that when I was growing up there were only 3 soups...Clam Chowder, Miso Soup and Hot & Sour Soup. Call it the Triumverate of Soups. Over the years though, I've developed a taste for Tom Yum and Borscht too...

Salmon Pasta...looks good huh? I can only take so much white cream pasta though. I think I OD'ed on alfredo once as a kid.

Grilled Pork Chop with Maple Demi Glaze served with Mashed Potatoes and Vegetables...an enjoyable pork chop is one that is moist inside. Nothing worst than an overcooked pork chop.

Clams/Mussels Angelhair Pasta

Strawberry Tart...the sauces were better than the tart itself.

The latest shoe fashion from Milan...guaranteed to leave a red trail while you walk.

Afterwards, we went to a beach between Capitola and Santa Cruz...someone had brought ropes to swing around with a light at one end. Very cool stuff...

Firewood is REALLY hard to come by when you're on a beach where there are 20 other bonfires. Also try finding it in the dark...

Got a prety good blaze going though...



September 11th 2006 - 11:30PM - Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, Capitola Part 1

We had a moment of silence today on the BART while I was riding in to work...it was a very somber moment and I'll never forget the look on everyone's face while we remembered the people who lost their lives 5 yrs ago.

The date...August 8th, 2006. The place...Mystery Spot, Santa Cruz. What you are about to see will boggle and amaze you...like the sun rising each day! urgh...Yes, that area is perfectly level which means that the area all around MUST be as well. I went to Logic University too! Here's some links which helps to demystify the whole site...
Link 1 Link 2 Link 3 Link 4 Link 5

It's only looks crazy because you are!

Olympian Emily tries to do a triple flip off the table...mysteriously, it only becomes a double. Weird.

This actually was sort of dangerous even though it's just a perspective thing. Ever try standing on the edge of a table with just 1 foot? Well try that with an inclined table.

Yeah, my abs are rock hard. There were other things but it's definitely not worth return trips to this place. It's more of a "Yes I've been and you should too so I don't feel suckered" kind of place. At one point, I kept muttering "I'm hungry...how mysterious...hmmm..."

That's my motto!

Emily has been holding out on me...where are my free baked goods?

We caught up with Chris while they were tasting wines. There are quite a few vineyards near Santa Cruz supposedly.

Although this shot was blurry, I liked the motion aspect...



September 9th 2006 - 8:30AM - Seafood Pasta

Taking a page from one of my many cookbooks, Emily and I cooked up a seafood pasta dish. The base looks very much like my Clam and Chicken soup. We now know how to make an excellent base that is very close to Left Bank's. First time, cooking with white wine.

Since we had so many clams, I mixed up some black bean sauce...turned out to be too salty but still tasty. Very good for eating rice with.

I love the colors...the green of the basil perfectly offset the reds of the tomatoes and shrimp.

I love my plates! :-D

Angelhair pasta is very tasty...it feels good making a dish that's better than anything you could get at a restaurant.



September 8th 2006 - 6:30AM - Dance Spectrum Salsa

Dance Spectrum has this salsa intro class on Fridays that's followed with food...! Well actually, the food was Chinese food catering (which means big aluminum trays of food) but after all that dancing, it was good to get a little food in our stomachs...here Lori tries out some moves on Emily. Who's leading?

"Don't step on her feet...don't step on her feet"..Well I started out with 2 left feet but I'm getting better each time...this is definitely not easy "Hitch" dancing.

Lots of people...and a lot of people who were really good at dancing.



September 7th 2006 - 7:00PM - Patents, Ristorante Umbria, Canon

Apparently, there's a whole lot of patent humor floating around on the Internet...I found this one on a forum somewhere...geez, it's wordy.

“Stringed Instrument Instructional Aid for Locating Finger Placement. for Guitar and Bass Musical Scales”

Abstract: “An composition exhibiting a desired value of magnetic susceptibility, which can be used to fabricate components in an NMR device, and method thereof, wherein the composition comprises a metal ion selected from the group consisting of Gd+3, Fe+3 and Mn+2 and an amorphous material using a ligand or chelating agent to solubilize the metal ion throughout the marphous material, wherein the magnetic susceptibility of the composition exhibits a desired value at cryogenic temperatures such as nearly zero susceptibility at temperatures at or below 77° K. ”

hahaha...well, it seems like a very narrow claim...wonder what the prior art was like.

Here are links to blogs about funny patents...very humorous...
http://ipfunny.blogs.com
http://www.patentlysilly.com/
http://ip-updates.blogspot.com/
http://www.patentoftheweek.com/
http://www.promotetheprogress.com/

Cute Meerkats!...I love watching Meerkat Manor.

Oh yeah, since my windshield got cracked on my way down to LA (when I was picking up the ring), I finally got it replaced. VERY happy with the service/quality/price. Less than $200, and the windshield looks better than ever. I went to a bunch of websites and filled in their forms. All Star Glass had an internet coupon but their price for my windshield couldn't be beat (they had a special on it). The guy that came out to install the windshield was very friendly and we ended up chatting about all sorts of things.

This was at Dave&Busters awhile back, geez, this game Rapid River was a very tiring game. Turns out some routes are easier than others.

Emily's pretty good at this Wave Runner game. We should try the real thing sometime.

Crane Fly (Tipula vernalis...although I may have the species wrong)...as you can see, there are a lot of different species even genus.

This was the special at Los Gatos Brewery. One thing about the special there...don't get it. Not only is it expensive, but they just aren't as good as the trout entree. This entree looks just like the one from Macaroni Grill as well. Fish and Asparagus with Salsa? It's not that special.

This was the Osso Buco at Ristorante Umbria, where we had our farewell dinner for Megan. Oven roasted veal shank smothered in a carrot, celery, onion, tomato & red wine sauce...YUMM YUMM YUMM...just the right amount of red wine sauce. We called this one in ahead of time because it's usually a dinner-time only entree.

Ristorante Umbria
198 2nd St
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 546-6985

Everyone was pretty happy with their food. A+ for food. Great lunch place.

So here's the new lens that I got for my camera...it's the Canon 70-200mm f/4 L lens. I'm pretty happy with it although I'm still missing a good mid-range zoom. I think the next one will be a mid-range with Image Stabilization for those dim restaurant shots.

That's some nice bokeh...well, I like taking pictures of my models. They're usually the first things I take pics of when I get a new camera.

The following are shots of the sidelines at the Men's 100M Track Finals in Athens..."Just in Case"

"Hey, don't take pics of my butt!"

"I'm not compensating"...this guy brought the biggest lens Canon has to offer, a 1200mm fixed...he's a photog for some Chinese agency...for the 100M he had to stand a few rows behind everyone else.

Typical equipement for SI photogs...I wonder if those are Manfrotto monopods...