Month: April 2005

Edda inside tent with Vince protesting outside.

Sheez, I love new hobbies. I’ve known about bookcrossing for a while, but now I’m into Geocaching. I guess I’ll need to buy a GPS system.

My Framebuilding Adventure

On Sunday, I got up at 6am and headed down to Monterey to watch the largest cycling event in North America – The Sea Otter Classic. My friend Jason had the (ugh) earliest start time of the day at 8am and I was trying to make that. I was off by about 3 minutes. Grr.

Also, the owner of the bike shop, Mike, was going to race in the 44-49 age group category. He’s a big roadie, but was convinced into trying out mountain bike racing. He didn’t even practice riding the mountain bike before he raced on Sunday. He still came in 24th out of 80 some. Pretty impressive.

Mike Riding Sea Otter 

We adjourned to the Hong Kong Flower Lounge in Millbrae for the banquet. I got seated at table 16! The number itself wasn’t terrible, the fact that there was a large pillar blocking our view of the dance floor and head table was. Whenever someone gave a speech or when people clinked their glasses to have the couple kiss, we missed out on the action. cse la vie.

Afterward the dance floor opened up, and here’s Choon and Pei-Sun tearing it up. They are really ood dancers…

Choon and Pei-Sun Swingin’ 

I went to Paul and Jackie’s wedding on Saturday. They had it at Villa Montalvo in Saratoga. It’s a pretty nice place, and apparently, one of the snazzy places to have your wedding in the Bay Area. The ceremony was pretty darn quick. I was in the second row and snapped some good pictures.

Jackie and her father 

So where is everybody? Oh yeah, everyone has a life. So, here I am, by myself holding down the virtual fort.

Today we went to the Fishkill All-sport. I’m going to try out a free week of membership and then hopefully join. I need something to keep me occupied during the afternoons.

The shuffling of some furniture in our little apartment has opened up a new perspective. Toys litter and scatter in the play room and the computer now lights up a corner of the living room. Now web surfing occupies the corner near the MIT lamp. Jeremy and I find this set up less isolating. Previously, every evening, I would scurry to the study to spot some email or Lands’ End shopping and I would disappear for 15 minutes while Jeremy waited for me in the other room. So now, I no longer scurry and disappear, I sit in the middle of all the hub-bub.

The hot weather today encouraged us to keep track of our sunscreen bottles; in the morning after Vince and Jeremy flipped some buttermilk blueberry pancakes, we walked around the apartment compex with Ruby. We lunched on dumplings and sandwiches. On Friday at Bright Horizons they’ll celebrate Earth Day and the school requested donations of trees and perennials. We bought a redbud cluster and a butterfly bush. The redbed was suggested by Katherine and the bush will attract butterflies when the flowers bloom. After the plant purchase, we ate ice cream at the little ice cream stand attached to the grocery store. Afterwards, a trip to Target and home to clean and dinner.

This week, Jeremy is preparing for his trip to Singapore.

This morning, we took the morning dog walk with Katherine. I went to my lesson and then after my lesson, we went over to Satya and Rubina’s house. We met their 4 month-old daughter, Maya, who was so little and content. They made so much food and I met a nice patent lawyer, Wendy and her husband/boyfriend Alfred (?). Also met a dentist, Theo who had a nice Nikon digital SLR. Rubina is a pharmacist and she had invited some collegues. She told me that Viagra is flying off the shelves and is about $8-9 a pill.

This evening we changed the whole layout of the apartment. We moved our bedroom to the first bedroom and changed our bedroom to the guest room with the rower and piano. And now the computer being honored by being moved into our living room.

The date was great! Jeremy came home at 3:30 and Katherine came by not much later and we got all dressed up. Vince was upset, he really wanted to go with us. We usually take him everywhere and he had picked out at tie and was fashioning it around his neck; ready to go out on the town. But we left him crying at the house and headed down to Westchester County. The restaurant is located on a Rockerfeller estate and has been established inside the old horse barn. Can you believe it? A fancy restaraunt in an old barn. The owners rebuilt the whole inside of the of the barn. The place was all done in browns, brown I-beams criss-crossed the roof, the bus boys were dressed like UPS men, and the waiters had brown pinstriped pants and vests. We decided to indulge ourselves with the farmers feast and a flight of wine which is where we get 5 savory courses that the chef decides and 2 dessert courses and also 5 glasses of wine paired with each course and a dessert wine. Wow!

So we asked for a printout of what we ate, but they couldn’t print it out right then, so they said that they would mail it to us, so here is the run down before I forget…

amuse beet soup
celery root chops
pork croquette and pickled cauliflower

Bass Tartare
moscato, tapioca, avacado and pea shoots
Fefinanes Albarino, Rias Biaxas – Spain 2003

Hot Smoked Sturgeon
fennel braised in saffron, citrus-grain mustard sauce
Francis Tannahill ‘Dragonfly’ Gewurtzraminer – Washington State 2002

Roasted Monkfish
mushroom consomme, chesnut noodles
Siduri Pinot Noir Sonoma County – CA 2003

Farro with Spinach
Villa Di Geggiano Chianti Classico – Tuscany -Italy 1999

Hudson Valley Cenison Loin and Sausage
roasted beets and braised red cabbage
Jean-Philippe Jaqueix Chateau Mouton, Bordeaux – France 2002

Rhubarb Soup
mint sorbet

Chocolate Croquette
pistachio parfait, chocolate sorbet
Samos Vin Doux Moscato Isle of Samos – Greece 2003

petit fours

Dinner was 3 hours long and fabulous. Jeremy was in a great mood because stuff at work went well today and we got more and more tipsy as the night went along. I finished most of my wine (they give really small glasses, not a full glass) but I could only taste the last glass of red and only sipped my dessert wine. But we ate every last bit and had a great time together.

We visited the pigs on the farm afterward (also to work off the wine before we went home) and saw that they were happy. They had their own huts to sleep in with heat lamps. Ha ha!

It was a new record of dining expense for us as the whole experience was $400 including the tip for the valet. Sheez! Another 10 years before this happens again. Ha! And I’m pretty sure Dame Judi Dench was at the next table!