12.31.05
Heehee, I felt like a sous-chef as I helped bg prepare dinner for four. The menu consisted of prime rib with a horseradish crust, mashed sweet potatoes topped with bananas, and creamed spinach. The look on his face after he carved the prime rib was priceless. He kinda stepped back and looked panicky and said ok maybe dinner isn't quite ready yet. Heehee, the prime rib was still pretty red inside but luckily we had some boiling au jous that helped cook the prime rib to an edible stage. I made pumpkin muffins for dessert but I think they were a little too moist; it needed maybe a few more extra minutes in the oven. For those who haven't had pumpkin bread before it's similar to banana bread. Anyway, I'm happy I found someone who enjoys cooking because it's fun trying out new recipes and whole eating experience is more meaningful knowing that you prepared everything from scratch.

I was relieved that it stopped raining and it wasn't too cold walking around at night. We caught the New Year's fireworks along the Embarcadero but they didn't last very long. Haha, it was funny, there was no countdown to New Year's. The fireworks just started and we shrugged and said I guess it's New Year's now, a bit anti-climatic. Anyway, Happy New Year from two goofy kids!

12.29.05
Mmm, I haven't had hot pot for awhile but with all the rain and wind lately, hot pot sounds really good. Check out this article about how to make your own hot pot at home. I think I have a hot plate that is used for hot pot somewhere in my kitchen. Anyone interested?

12.28.05
I went window shopping for a few hours around Union Square and was tempted to get some dress pants from Zara. We went searching for Casio and Pentax digital cameras at Stonestown and narrowed it down to the Pentax because of Pentax's reputable experience with camera lenses. For dinner, we made some breaded pork chops and steamed broccoli.

12.27.05
I've been searching for online retailers that sell cool designed T-Shirts. Here are some that I discovered so far:

Gama-Go
Giant Robot
Super 7
Threadless
Upper Playground

12.26.05
Cinnamon honey bread! My love affair with carbs. Heehee, how can you not resist those rolls? I think I can eat four.

Texas Roadhouse
32115 Union Landing Blvd.
Union City, CA
(510) 324-7623

12.25.05
Merry Christmas! I got some cool Christmas gifts this year:

• Bento Set
• The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
• Dark Brown Leather Bag
• Gold Lame Bag
• Japanese Mug
• One Light Blue and one Lavender French Connection Hoody
• Purple Cashmere top

Christmas is always a quite affair at home. We rented a few movies: Saving Face, the Interpreter, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

12.24.05
We tried going to La Note but the wait was ridiculous so instead we went to Fatapples. I ordered yummy pumpkin pancakes. I got to meet bg's brother and it's funny how similar they look (they can easily be mistaken for twins) considering how me and my sisters don't look alike at all. Haha, I like Bryce's DCFC concert story and how his friend who's a big guy totally pushed through the swarm of screaming girls to be at the front. Funny how a lot of indie band fans are really young. Booo, or maybe an indicator that we're getting old.

Fatapples
1346 Martin Luther King Jr Way
Berkeley, CA 94709
(510) 526-2260

12.23.05
I helped bg make a test run of butternut squash soup. I like how creamy the soup is without adding any heavy cream.

12.22.05
Favorite Songs of the Moment:

Aqualung - Brighter Than Sunshine
Bloc Party - This Modern Love
Death Cab for Cutie - Marching Bands of Manhattan
Snow Patrol - How To Be Dead
The Stills - Lola Stars and Stripes

12.17.05
I went to Katie's PWC Christmas Party; it was held at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Unfortunately, it was also pouring cats and dogs outside, not a great combination with a short dress and high heels. It was kinda novel being able to dress up. I wore a purple dress with black lace. Here's a photo of me and the girls. Bleh, I should've left my hair down.

12.16.05
The last time I was at Bette's Oceanview Diner, I was super jealous of Emily souffle pancakes so I knew we had to order them this time. Very yum, but a bit too heavy on the chocolate. Next time I'm going to try and get the seasonal fruit one. There's always a long wait, even on a weekday but it's nice that we can walk around 4th Street as we wait. Afterwards, we hiked around the Berkeley Marina at the Cesar Chavez Park but there wasn't much of a view because it was a hazy day. We had lunch at Celia's.

Celia's
2040 4th St
Berkeley, CA
(510) 549-1460

We went hiking around the Berkeley Rose Garden and Indian Rock. Climbing Indian Rock was so much fun; it was like a natural jungle gym. I wanna revisit on a clear day because I heard the views are spectacular. I had a really delish hot white chocolate at Au Coquelet, a popular cafe with the students because it stays opened late.

Au Coquelet
2000 University Ave
Berkeley, CA
(510) 845-0433

Berkeley is known for offering great Indian food but bg rejected my suggestion of Udupi Palace because of its all vegetarian menu. We went to Breads of India instead.

Udupi Palace
1901 University Ave
Berkeley, CA
(510) 843-6600

Breads of India
2448 Sacramento St
Berkeley, CA
(510) 848-7684

12.11.05
I had my monthly brunch with Emily and Stephanie at the Kensington Bistro and I ordered a really yummy French toast made with challah, a Jewish egg bread, very light and airy.

Kensington Bistro
1568 Oakview Ave
Albany, CA
(510) 525-1350

Since bg was sore from skiing the day before, we just chilled at Strada amongst stressed out college kids who were in the middle of finals week. We walked around the Holiday Street Fair along Telegraph Ave. but I didn't really see anything I liked plus bg could barely walk so we breezed through it quickly.

Caffe Strada
2300 College Ave
Berkeley, CA
(510) 843-5282

I watched Just Friends, starring Ryan Reynolds. I liked the part where Ryan Reynolds starts whining about how he'll blow up if eats the pancakes that were smothered with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and candy and bitched that he'll just drink water. Later, I had yummy Thai food from Koh Samui in SOMA. I recommend the papaya salad, mango salad, and the satay.

Koh Samui and the Monkey
415 Brannan St
San Francisco, CA
(415) 369-0007

12.10.05
For a Christmas present, I took my mom, Jennifer and Windy to watch the Hard Nut. This time was much better, considering the last time I watched it I had to stand for the entire performance in the back of the auditorium. Anyway, for those who are tired of the Nutcracker, the Hard Nut is a nice alternative to the classic. As always, the snow flake scene was a crowd pleaser, as well as all the buff cross dressers.

Afterwards, I met up with Katie and Sandy in the South Bay for some Vietnamese food. I really like bbq pork noodle salad because it's light and yummy. We watched Rent and hungout at Sandy's place to chat. Rent was ok; I never really liked the story line initially, a bit depressing.

12.09.05
I had lunch at R & G Lounge with bg and Katie. After lunch, bg almost got run over by some service vehicle in the parking garage and this old Chinese guy laughed ridiculously loud at bg's misfortune, very rude. I guess it's one of those moments when you know you shouldn't laugh but you do anyway.

R & G Lounge
631 Kearny St
San Francisco, CA
(415) 982-7877

We had dinner at the Daily Grill; mmm, I really liked their artichoke dip. They had huge portions and it makes me wonder how people can finish their meals usually. No wonder Americans have a bad rep of gluttony and obesity.

Daily Grill
347 Geary St
San Francisco, CA
(415) 616-5000

Woot! I got a chance to go to the Live 105 Not So Silent Night Concert at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Tickets were sold out and people were selling their tickets at ridiculously high prices on craigslist. Luckily, the day before and day of the concert, people get desperate with selling their tickets and are more willing to sell at face value. These are the bands that were performing:

The White Stripes
Death Cab for Cutie
Hot Hot Heat
Coheed and Cambria
Autolux
Birdmonster

While we were waiting in line to get in, we realized we were surrounded by a whole bunch of high school kids. Bleh. Anyway, I really wanted to see DCFC and they didn't disappoint; they were awesome live. Hot Hot Heat was entertaining as usual strutting around the stage and Autolux was surprisingly good. Coheed and Cambria was too hard for my tastes. The lead singer had such a huge afro you couldn't really tell if he was singing or not. We were exhausted by the end so we missed the last set with the White Stripes. =/

12.04.05
Since it was Jennifer's birthday on Monday, I decided to treat her and my mom to dim sum in SF. We had dim sum at New Asia and grabbed at a checkered cake loaf from AA Bakery. Jennifer and I were slightly disappointed because the one they gave us had cream instead of custard. We also got a chance to check out the new H & M's at Union Square and all the Christmas decorations at Macy's Holiday Lane.

Afterwards, I met up with bg and his roomie to help them pick out a Christmas tree. Heehee, we all had our own criteria on what made a good Christmas tree. It needed to have the strong Christmas tree smell, the branches couldn't be dried out or too sparse, and the color had to be a nice deep green. The customer in front of us had to transport a 7 foot tree on top of their Mini Cooper, a bit comical.

12.02.05
I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the Metreon in IMAX format. Even though we were sitting in the far back, I think the experience was a bit overwhelming with the huge screens. I really don't remember which Harry Potter movies I've seen; I know I've seen the first one for sure. I still like the books more than the movies. There's just too many details in the book to be covered in the movie, and too many omissions is gonna make me dissatisfied. Afterwards, we had yummy thin crusted pizza from Amici's East Coast Pizzeria for dinner. We ordered the Philly Pizza. I like how thin crusted pizzas aren't too heavy and greasy.

Amici's East Coast Pizzeria
216 King St
San Francisco, CA
(415) 546-6666