Recent Happenings

What's the happy-hap people?

So this past weekend, Jenna and I went to our friends', Miles and Kenny's, engagement party at the Rockwell VT Lounge in LA. They were celebrating their commitment to each other and also their anniversary. All their friends came out to share the momentous date with them and the food and booze flowed freely! It was so nice to see old friends and be able to share such a happy moment. Congrats Miles and Kenny!

One thing I've noticed lately is that it's getting really fun to dress up these days. More and more I'm tending to dress up for occasions rather than dressing down. I'll add a tie here, some spiffy socks there and in the future I hope to add even more small improvements to my overall look. The best part about it all is that I actually feel really comfortable and confident dressing up now. It's fun! ANNNND I'm pretty sure that Jenna doesn't mind. ;) Now, can anyone tell me where to get a good vest and a tie clip? Thanks.

Got that tie from UO. Always wanted one with a flat bottom!

Btw, Jenna is beautiful(!) and I love when she gets all dolled up with me. It's fun to pretend that we're actually grown-ups.

Sunday, Jenna and I FINALLY got to go back to Disneyland after our long time hiatus! I mean geezzzz, how long does a guy have to wait just to see some World of Color!? Well, at least the show was WELL worth the wait. If you haven't seen World of Color at California Adventures yet; get your ass down to Anaheim and wait the 2 hours at night for a very impressive, moving and fiery show! You'll definitely not regret it!

Here's a pic of the show from our view. Definitely be sure to get there early and get a spot near the railing where shorter people (ahem, Jenna, ahem) can see over the sea of cellphones and cameras recording every water drip! Also, the show is deliciously long and has a great soundtrack (with video clips) which will be sure to recall memories from all your favorite Disney and Pixar movies. Such a blast and I hope to see it again soon... A coworker told me today that she could literally feel the hair on her face singe because she was so close to the water during the 'flames segment' of the show! That's my goal for next time.

Oh, forgot to mention that Disney changed their 'California' letters in honor of the new show.

Here's a very purple picture of me and Jenna. We were matchers for the day and were totally caught by the ride operator of the Tea Cups as we ran for the purple tea cup.

Ride Operator: "You guys want a picture in the purple cup? I saw that you purposefully chose it!"
Us: "Sure." (embarrassed but also, secretly feeling cool)

Strangely, there were a lots of other couples and family doing the matching thing that day. Must be a Disneyland thing.

The funniest part of the day was during the Pixar Play Parade where, for some crazy reason, they've decided added a crapload of water squirting floats to get audience wet. HOWEVER, keep in mind that the floats are huge and many times have long extending pieces to them and we are only mere feet from their blasts of water. Needless to say, we got wet! Jenna got sprayed right in the crotch while I got showed on my head. These float characters were evil and their aim was maliciously accurate. Just ask the poor little 2 year old who got a full blast of water right to the eyes! (actually, it was hilarious!!!) And then every time another character or float passed by, the little girl immediately covered her face with her hands; protecting herself from those fiendish, water bazookas-yielding Pixar characters. She's probably scarred for life. haha!

HAHAHA.

The last thing I want to comment on is the fact that California Adventures awesomely transforms itself into a freaking CLUB come sundown! Above is a picture of the neon party stage which was the spot where all the party people came out to get their freak on! It was crazy!! As soon as it got dark, the music started bumping and people were out on the make shift 'dance floor' dancing to techno versions of Chris Brown and Lady Gaga. Nutso. Also, there were towers with go-go dancers, a DJ mixing songs, and even a disco ball to top it all off. Who knew California Adventures had all this in them?!

Wilmar or Sarah.... Have you guys witnessed this?! I'm pretty sure I thought I was back in Vegas at Haze or something. haha

Ok, well, that's all for now. What's next?

Mo' Food means Mo' Problems

Well not really...actually, more food is great and always welcome in my mind! Especially delicious food. There's nothing better than going to a restaurant where they serve really excellent quality food in large portions. However, lately I've been eating a little TOO many buffets or all-you-can-eat BBQ's (or candy for that matter) and have decided to whip my ass back into shape.

This week I decided to abstain from candy at the workplace. Correction: I decided to not eat candy from Wednesday on... Hey, it's a start. I also decided to go back to an old routine of mine and not eat anything after 9pm. This may sound like a pretty insignificant change but I can't tell you how many nights I find myself mindlessly snacking on junk from 11pm and on. And, thanks to my shitty metabolism, I'm pretty sure that sleeping's not gonna burn those extra calories off. Jenna did recommend that I just brush my teeth at 9, which would supposedly be a signal that my eating for the day was done....buttttt, i'm pretty sure I'd just eat again 10 mins later and then brush my teeth another time. I'd prolly have really white teeth though!

This week I bought a thing of Tilapia and indoor grilled me some spice-rubbed pieces of fish. I always feel a little better about myself and my health after eating a good portion of seafood. Tilapia is especially good because of its light, subtle flavor and very flaky texture. My meal consisted of me using my mom's technique of combining whatever spices she sees at the moment into a rub and then pan grilling it. Add a dash of lemon juice and a couple squirts of hot sauce and you've got yourself a tasty piece of fish. The broc was just stir fried with onions and a little chicken stock.

Tonight, friday, Jenna and I went out for Sushi. Using yelp as our guide (like usual), we found Ichima over in Northeast Pasadena. In the past, I've actually passed by this place on my way to the mall or the Best Buy area.

At first we couldn't find the place and just drove mindlessly through the shopping center. Luckily, we spotted their bright florescent sign and small crowd of waiting patrons outside in a very small back region of the center. Inside wasn't very huge either but they had a circular bar area that kinda reminded me of Fuji's in Davis, kinda. Amazingly, our wait time wasn't too bad, which turned out to be a lifesaver because we had been sitting in the waiting area next to this REALLY REALLY loud, annoying and vulgar dude. He was such an idiot and kept shouting out all these sexist, obscene comments that were really starting to annoy us... What a douchebag.

We ordered the Hawaiian Roll which was a cali roll covered with salmon and a buttload of seaweed salad. The roll was huge and I kinda ended up just eating the seaweed by itself before going on to tackle the actual roll. We also ordered the catapillar roll which is ALWAYS a super safe bet. Creamy avocado blanketing a warm roll of crab and succulent unagi! Mmmmmmmmmm! And also note that the toasted sesame seeds on top play a very integral part in the success of this roll!

To top it all off, just because I'm a fatty and was super hungry, we ordered a bento box as well: Tonkatsu with spicy tuna roll. I think I overly enjoyed the pan fried pork strips simply because I haven't had tonkatsu in ages when in reality, it was actually way overcooked and almost too tough to chew. On the other hand, the Spicy tuna roll was delicious and had the perfect amount of spice to it.

Overall, our experience at Ichima was a good one and we'd definitely go back another time. Not only did they provide quick and excellent service, but their food was yumms and they entertained me thoroughly! The best part of the night was that there was 2 birthdays and for each birthday the restaurant blasted their own custom japanese/techno birthday mix while everyone in the restaurant clapped and danced! It was pretty frickin hilarious, mostly because it was just so random and the music was literally like the volume while at a club. The bestest bestest part came when this guy behind Jenna started FIST PUMPING and yelled out, "Pauly D in the hizzouse!" because he had tall spiky hair like the infamous Guido! Hilarious!

Vegas Vacation

107 degrees during the day and it only got hotter at night... at the clubs...and on the dance floor.... err, that was lame! Haha! But it really was THAT effing hot and our group did all we could to stay in doors amongst the air conditioning during our weekend in Vegas.

Jenna and I drove from LA Friday afternoon and got to the new Aria hotel at around 8pm. Some were already checked in and were eating while the rest were intermittently trickling in, via airplane, from various locations in Norcal. By 8:30, the drinks were flowing, the people were dressed up and everyone was feeling goooood. [Insert picture of our alcohol bath here]

Now, I don't know many people in LA and therefore do not drink much anymore. Scratch that, I never drink anymore. Every now and then, Jenna and I will pop open a bottle of fine wine to drink with our weekend dinners or during a movie night. (classy, I know). But as far as the 'hard' liquor goes, it's been pretty absent from my life. So, as people began playing drinking games, it became clear (again) that Jenna was right about me... I was a cheap date! Luckily I didn't get as red as Madi.;)

After we were all pre-partied up, our group of 12 (8 g's, 4 gu's) headed out to Tao fully aware that we were on some special guest list. I don't have any pictures of the fun events that occurred on the way to the club, or pictures from the long wait to get into the club, or even pics from inside the club but I remember that it was fun! We actually ended up waiting in the 'VIP' line for a loooong time and when we finally got inside, it was so frickin packed that we couldn't even move! We decided to split and have fun on our own. Here's some highlights from the first night:

- Pretty sure I saw Lloyd at our midnight dinner but when I asked others in our group they were like, "huh? Who?" So i didn't make a big deal of it. (Sarah!) and lo' and behold, he was performing the next night at Haze inside of our hotel, Aria! oops.
- I am awesome at photobombing. Sorry to those I bombed.
- I am also awesome at stealth stickering. Karen's friends were sporting many VIP bracelets by the end of the night.
- Mel, you are funny!
- Jeff IS a smiler!
- And it's a good idea to have a large ratio of girls to guys.

The second day was mostly about the pool. Seeing as the weather was a nasty hot 105+, the majority of us spent our midday in or around the pool... Albeit the more 'family-oriented' pool. haha. Then came the highlight of the day: the BUFFET!

When you think of Vegas what comes to mind? Partying, Girls, Gambling, Shows and Buffets! We decided to try Aria's buffet, aptly named The Buffet. We arrived at the buffet at 3:30ish because we wanted to pay the lunch price but stay long enough to enjoy the dinner menu. AND, thanks to some expert complaining, we were able to get some hotel credit and chop our buffet price down to $10/ head.

My first plate consisted of a shit load of eggs but mostly because I got a pile of the wrong kind first and then had to add a pile of the 'correct' eggs. Along with the scrambled eggs were sushi and some sort of beef. The beef sucked. It was dry and pretty hard to chew. The eggs were delicious though! haha.

Here's some sliced turkey (BLAND) with some fried plantains, more scrambled eggs, cheese and roast duck salad. The roast duck salad was BOMB and Jenna and I cried when it didn't carry over from the lunch menu to the dinner selection. The fried plantains were also scrumptious but a little heavy.

This is the dinner prime rib that everyone was waiting for.... just eh, for me. And the mess that is off to the side is a chicken curry on white rice.... Another eh..

Dinner did offer some better food choices and they seemed to add a more asian flare to the buffet. I had a couple Shui Mai's and some other asian dumplings. The chow mein was adequate and baked salmon was pretty delicious. The bowl of fresh fruit rocked and I gobbled up all the black and blue berries in sight. Also, I enjoy another round of fried plantains!

Dessert is where I shined (not the buffet) as I craftily constructed a spot-on Diddy riese-ish ice cream sandwich using two chocolate chip cookies and a scoop of coffee ice cream. The texture and softness was superb and although I was already stuffed at this point, I ate the entire thing. (the mango pudding thing on the side, however, was not delicious and therefore, not eaten)

After dinner we ventured down the strip to visit the M&M store. Here's a pic of a goofy looking Woody on the strip.... we also gleefully watched some large black man dressed in drag dance very seductively for passerbys. Ew.

Sorry that I'm not posting any actual pics of the jump, but here is a card to signify Jeff's jump of faith off the top of the Stratosphere! He is nutso and we are legally bound to never call him chicken ever again. Lets just say Jeff is a crazy monster who rocked that jump (and the jumpsuit!).

Oh, here's Jeff walking to his doom! I doctored it a little if you can't tell.

That night, we rushed our asses off to get to club Haze inside of our hotel. It was packed beyond belief and if you're a guy, you absolutely get ZERO love from the bouncers/event coordinators. Another thing worth mentioning is the interactions with the 'club promotion guys' who you always meet in Vegas. Sometimes you have a great experience and get totally hooked up. Eg. Jenna and her SB friends getting a private area AND bottle service!!! WTF!? Our experience for Haze went like this: Madi talks to Brad at the Aria pool and he agrees to text her that night. A couple hours later, Madi then talks with the flirty (and equally idiotic) Darren on the strip and his curtsying ass tells us that he'd get everyone in for freeeee. Well, only Brad ended up texting us that night AND he could only get the guys in for a discounted price of $30. Well, we get there and spot Brad and somehow manage to hook up 4 guys with a free pass. We also spot Darren and Madi goes over to confront him about the missing text. (Know that Darren has Madi's number but we dont' have his)

the conversation as I saw it through read lips and madi's retold version:

Madi: "Hey, how come you didn't text us?!"
Darren: (and why do i always wanna call him 'Darren's Dance Grooves"?) "What? I did text you didn't I? [checks his phone] Oh shit, sorry about that, I feel real bad. Tell you what, call me once you get in there and I'll buy you a drink."
Madi: "OK! :)"
(she comes back over to us to tell us what happens but then realizes that she doesn't have his number and therefore can't call him for that free drink!!) muahahah, pretty funny in my mind!

Anyways, some craziness went on and we ended up going up and down between our room and the club until Jenna could no longer take the pain of her coughing. The 2 of us decided to hang out in the room while the others mingled in the club crowd and watched Lloyd perform on a 3'x3' stage! OH, but for the 2 minutes we were in there I saw boobies and got groped. Fun times!

Sunday was a very slow and relaxing day and I was really dreading the long drive back to LA. Jenna and I went window shopping around the Planet Hollywood miracle mile area and then ate sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich. We shared the Caribbean Jerk chicken sandwich and the Full Montegeu which were both perfectly toasty and SOOO scrumptious in their individual ways. We took one last look around Vegas and headed down 15 towards LA.

7 hours (!!!!!) later, we were back in the cool 80 degree sactuary that is Alhambra.

Thanks Danville friends for the memories and for the fun!

Vegas!

Vegas was a blast. I'll tell ya all about it later!

Poor Jenna...

:(

Today, Jenna received the dreary news that she has a case of Bronchitis AND an ear infection!!! Yikes, talk about bad fortune... Hopefully she'll recover in record time thanks to the antibiotics and other drugs the doc prescribed to her today. In the meantime, everyone send healthy thoughts her way!

Eat up

Its been a while since our last food post so I thought i'd share some of the foods we ate during out long fun weekend.

Friday night, Jenna and I decided to try another sushi restaurant in the Pasadena area. So far we hadn't been all that impressed with the sushi scene around here but decided to give O2 Sushi a try.... It was pretty good! Although not as good as our favorite spot in Santa Barbara, Edomasa, O2 served up some mighty delicious rolls. Here's a pic of a spicy tuna roll, a salmon skin roll and a yellowtail roll. The salmon skin roll was surprisingly tasty, mainly because the chef got a great char on the skin which packed the flavor in! The other two rolls were equally good and its pretty funny how similar this plate is to our normal sushi platter at Edomasa.

Here is the Special eel roll which was VERRY close to the bomb Flower roll from Edomasa. Too bad this one didn't include grilled asparagus or soy paper! Still, the eel roll was super creamy because all of the avocado on top and a pleasant find from O2 sushi.

Saturday, before we got to the Huntington Beach pier, we stopped by Fiesta Grill and Catering for some fish tacos! For some reason, I've have a bad craving for fish and for fish tacos in particular. We looked on Yelp and this place had the most decent reviews in the area. Heres a pic of their homemade chips and salsa. The salsa was tasty and someone even said on Yelp that they'd just drink the salsa plain.

Although I really wished they served fish tacos in a hard shell, the soft tortilla still sufficed. Here's a pic of 2 mondo sized grilled fish tacos with onions, cheese, lime and a little sauce. Super fresh, super seasoned and super easy to finish! Yum.

Then, later Saturday night, we decided to forgo our normal visit to yogurtland opting for boba instead. Our choice was Cofftea: a place we've driving past many a times and have often made fun of the name. Its a very small shop on the side of Vally Blvd. and a typical hangout for asians because of the free wifi. Jenna got plain black tea (ithink) with boba and I got a Mango Smoothie with boba. 2 drinks came out to $11! DAM, expensive.

This is the infamous mango smoothie which was made not once, but twice! The first time, the girl forgot to put in the boba. So I go back inside the place and tell her about her mistake. She says, no problem and then tries to carefully ladle the boba balls on TOP of the slices of mango. By now, the smoothie is overflowing and dripping all over the place. And of course, she can no longer put the lid back on without making more of a mess. So, she decides to make the entire drink over again alllll because of some little black balls. haha. I should just told her to put them in a little separate dish and saved her the trouble. oh well. It just made for a better story!

LA Crowded

Being 6'2", I've never realized the difficulties of walking through large crowds. Most of the time I can just gaze over the other people's heads and easily spot the best routes to travel. Poor Jenna is only 5'2" and often ends up staring at backs or butts whenever trying to navigate through hordes of people! I never realized how exhausting it could be to not know where you're going or never getting the chance to really plan out a strategy simply because you can't see anything! Well, unfortunately, this past weekend, Jenna and I partook in two of the most crowded events I've ever witnessed in LA: The US Surf Open and the Hollywood Bowl performance of Rent.

On Saturday, we drove all the way down to Huntington beach to watch pro and amateur surfers battle on the waves in the US Surf Open. Watching a surfing competition has always been something I've wanted to attend and I've missed many opportunities in the past while in Hawaii. This time, we had to go!

The actual competition was held right off the Main Street Pier so I wanted to park as close as possible even though I had mentally prepared for traffic.... It must have took us 30 minutes just to find our little spot 2 miles (!) from main street! It was sooooo far away. Most people parking near us luckily brought skateboards or bikes just to ride over to the pier. geeeeeez.

After walking for about a day, we get to Main street and see this!!! Shitttttt... naked drunk people everywhere a 1pm! Every restaurant was jam packed and every poor/stupid car that was trying to drive through, was infinitely stuck at a standstill. Most were heading for the pier to join in on the festivities, but a large number were just happy to stand around and watch the bodies pass by. I over heard 2 dude's conversation:

Dude1: "Hey, what are you doin' just standing there?"
Dude2: "Oh, I'm just people watchin'"
Dude1: "Heh, heh. Cool. I'm boob watchin!"

Here's the view from the pier to the beach down below (or what was left of the beach). There were dozens of tents and makeshift building setup to showcase various surfing brands and technologies. It was here where many were getting free handouts while others were standing in line to try to win better prizes. And it was also here where I led Jenna around like a rag doll among the thousands of naked people! Sorry babe!

This is a view at the waterside where people were watching the surf competition. There was absolutely no room in the stands and we didn't even try hassling with finding a spot on the sand.... Our view from the pier was great and we were actually closer to the action.

I have no idea who any of the surfers were so I will call this girl, Surfer Dudette #1. I think she was pretty good... much better than me anyways. Actually, before Jenna and I left for the beach, we were watching the competition online and actually saw Kelly Slater surfing! He's so famous that even I've heard of him!

This guy was okk...

Another wave full of white water.

I'm pretty sure I could surf these waves.... haha. Maybe. But, maybe not.

Too bad I didn't have my $4,000 len like most of the people perched on the pier. I was having DSLR envy! :( The only way to cope with that is to tell myself that they're just compensating for something!

That last picture is from the pier looking back at the beach... Still insane and still crowded. I kinda wish we had brought our swimsuits so that we could either go into the water or suntan... but that would have been too much of a hassle. We watched the competition for a while and then decided to scurry back to Alhambra where there were less drunk, tanned potheads.

Yesterday, Sunday, Jenna and I went to the Hollywood version of Rent at the Hollywood Bowl! It by far surpassed every one of my expectations and I thought it was superb! I kinda know the story of Rent (only from the movie) but didn't know that this performance featured some real famous people! Jenna notified me only about 1 hr prior to the start of the show and that's when I really started to get excited!!!

Famous faces: Wayne Brady, Nicole Scherzinger, Vanessa Hudgens and directed by Doogie Howser aka NPH aka Neil Patrick Harris.

Here's us outside the theater before the show. The lady that I asked to take our picture was not very happy about it and seemed almost angry and me... and technology. I'm assuming she's had problems with 'hi-tech' cameras and photo takers in the past. Biatch.

And here's the view from our seats! Great selection by Jenna: we were on the isle (which gave us a lot of leg room) and about in the middle of the entire theater.

For our picnic food/beverages, we went with Vietnamese sandwiches from Banh mi my tho!, Snapping Turtle Cab red wine, crackers with Brie, grapes and a bar of dark chocolate! And although our meal was an overall excellent choice, we couldn't help but be jealous of the other people's home cooked intricate meals! It was crazy... some people had bbq'd ribs and mac and cheese and even homemade guacamole! Groups of people just parked themselves in the walking lanes with blankets and picnic baskets and were chowing down on their fresh hot brownies or empanadas! Geez such creativity from this crowd. Next time, we'll have to up the ante!

Here's a very blurry picture of Vanessa Hudgens aka Gabriella from High School Musical. Her live singing voice was ok most of time but she did have some pretty raunchy dance moves. Lucky for Zac (according to a fella next to us!)

This is Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat Dolls during the Moo song. She did such a frickin awesome job during this song and I was totally blown away with how great of a performer she is. I mean, yeah, she's a musical artist who's job is to sing and perform but I thought she mainly got famous from her sexiness and the large boobs! (which they were!) But dam! that girl can really sing AND she's even really funny. She put so much energy and passion into her performance and this was probably one of my favorite songs of the night. Good job DWTS Winner.

This is the group during the 'Seasons' song and that's Wayne Brady and Nicole on the right of the pic. The large woman in the middle of the pic is one of the original cast members and DAM, she sang so loud that she probably didn't even need the mic for us to hear her!


The entire production was fantastic and I would go back for another show in a heartbeat. John Mayer is playing in a few weeks but I think his show is much to expensive. Oh, but to stay with the theme of crowdedness... I have to talk about the crazy crowd that appeared when we tried to exit the theater. Getting in was a synch because most people were picnicing outside the theater and only trickled in when the show started. However, when the show ended, people were in a rush to make it back to the shuttle busses and everyone had to funnel through one small walkway! GEEEEEZ. Poor Jenna was once again stuck staring at people's backs for nearly the entire time. Luckily, we managed to take advantage of our youth and agility while slipping in and out of the empty rows and skipping a few hundred patrons. We got down to the buses in record time and got back to our car in no time. Let just not talk about the line in the parking garage to pay and get out....  ugh. Crowds...

Anyway, FUN FUN FUN FUN weekend and hopefully Jenna will be right back in LA this Wednesday! Next stop is the Orange County fair. Lemme know if you wanna go too!

New Designs

Today is August 5th and its my Momma's birthday! Happy Birthday Mom! i love you so much and hope you have a great birthday. Sorry I couldn't be there to celebrate with you and the rest of the fam...

For her birthday, my dad got her the iphone4 (!) which he just received in the mail today. As I was driving home from work tonight, I got a call from my dad. He was flipping out!!! Apparently, he couldn't get the phone to work and it wasn't syncing with the itunes on their little macbook. Earlier in the day he had gone to the Apple store to set up the phone but they, annoyingly, sent him home, claiming it was easier to do it from there... Needless to say, my dad disagreed.

He was yelling that the 'thing' wouldn't turn on and that itunes was messing up and saying that it was signed into my account. I'm pretty sure he was pretty close to saying "F it" and returning the thing! Good thing he didn't!

Iphone4 for my Momma!

After another trip back to the APple store, they finally managed to get it synced up and to the point where my brother could set up my mom's email and wifi. geez... what a fiasco. I'm sure the guys at the Apple store got an ear full. haha.

I hope my mom enjoys the new phone and fully takes advantage of all it has to offer. And now that jailbreaking is legal, she should go ahead and do it!

Someday I will get my own Iphone4...

Meanwhile, at work today, things are definitely getting busier. Fabian, my designer mentor, is off for the next week or so which leaves me to deal with ALL my bosses alone! No worries, I got this shit!

The new box will be dubbed, "Quacked Eggs!" Bwahahah

Here is a design I came up with for these chocolate eggs that have a little marshmellow duck inside of them. The little, peep-like duck is so adorable and it's hard to want to eat him. And although I fully knew it was a duck, for some unexplainable reason, I designed the box with a Chicken in mind. Perhaps the duck reminded me of Chicken Little...

So here is my "Chicken Coop" box fully decked out with red chicken coop, flying chicken and the words 'chicken' all over the thing... grr. Don't worry, I easily transformed it into a duck theme and made it even flashier!

Cookies!

The other project (for another boss) is a box for Cookie Dough bites. They're to be sold in a standard size theater box and my company is trying to go into competition with the preexisting king of cookie dough bites. I had a bunch of designs made but this is the only one I photographed.... Conclusion: Too classy/fancy for cookie dough bites.  Back to the drawing board on this one.

And all the while I was doing a whole other slew of designs for my OTHER boss for this line of little boxes! Because we didnt' know what type of food item would be featured in these boxes, I had to design them using generic patterns. The patterns had to be fresh and exciting, but generic enough for any type of food... ugh. This project was a killer for me. I've been working on it for the past 2 weeks. I refused to take an pictures because I dont' wanna have to see another pattern!!

Very nice!

When I got home tonight, I found this wedding invitation in my mailbox. It is for my cousin's wedding in October and I'm super psyched to go! It'll be nice to go back to Tahoe breath the clean crisp air up there! The only drawback is that Jenna can not attend... so I guess I'll have to boogie for the 2 of us. :)

Tahoe Buffet

Last weekend, Jeff (my brother) and I had a basketball tournament in Tahoe! On Friday, we both flew up to the Oakland airport from our respective residences and then drove with the fam up to Tahoe that night. Now, basketball tournaments are fun for many reasons. Namely, we get to play together and have tons of fun with friends who we rarely see. Another great aspect of tournaments are that we get to have time with my parents, exploring the local area through their food and late night activities.... Ok, mainly just the food. Well in Tahoe (and Vegas) the best food is at the All You Can Eat Buffets!

Every year, we take our time to stand in line for the Harris Buffet which costs a hefty $30 per person! Because of that price, I make sure to eat my moneys worth and encourage others to do the same. I may not be as big as I once was back in the day but I can still put it down at a Buffet. And there's always a technique and certain procedure to get the most out of your buffet experience.

-Go for the expensive meats: Prime Rib, Filet Mignon etc. They're going to be the most expensive cuts and will probably taste the best!
-Skip the salads and carbs: You don't wanna fill up your precious stomach space with lame items like lettuce or bread sticks. Only turn to these things if you're really feeling the effects of the meat sweats.
-Eat fast and keep moving back to the buffet lines: I, unfortunately, take after my father and tend to eat my meals really, REALLY fast. Because of this, I don't feel the effects of eating food until much later. But when that wall hits, it hits hard! (MVF!) In a buffet, I suppose this is a good thing because the faster you go, the more prime rib you can gobble up!
-Keep hydrated: I, myself, like to keep drinking lots of liquids with my solid foods. This is to make sure everything sloshes together nicely in my stomach.
-Lastly, Push yourself with a little competition with others at the table: My brother and I tried seeing who could eat more.

This was my first plate. I know it looks empty but there was actually a load of about 8 sushi pieces which I ate while standing in the Prime Rib line!

Jeff doin' work!

My second plate with more prime rib and some vege's to cut the meatness in my belly! Not pictured are the scraps I picked off my mom's and brother's plates.

Jeff's second plate(s) foolishly included miso soup and salad. Such a waste at a buffet.

Dessert came early this night but the pumpkin pie was delicious! Not pictured is the ice cream with peanut butter M&Ms, cream puff, chocolate brownie, fruit tart and GIGANTO jug of milk!

Jeff sneakily stole one of those fruit tarts to go and ate it later that night! Gross. He also ate more items that weren't pictured.

All in all, I think we did a good job getting our moneys worth without having to "pay" for it later that night. (not for too long that is..) The meats were delicious and tender but I won't be eating fist sized portions of bacon wrapper Filet Mignon for a loooooooooooong time!

Oh, and we won 3rd place in the tournament and I went almost 100% shooting... if the ball was ever passed... Poor Jeff came away with a displaced left thumb and almost no progress on his homework! haha. At least we got our buffet and a little souvenir from the power balance tent!


**Updated Thoughts**
I was really upset that there were NO cookies at this Buffet! No cookies and no Jello! Those 2 things should be standard at all Buffets. Thanks.