Alanmine

Never Forget

2011-09-11T01:40:00.000-07:00

People are always surprised to find out that I spent a short time in my life working as a police officer. A real life beat cop on the street. It was a very interesting time in my life filled with crazy stories that I will never forget. But I fondly remember one day in particular...

I was still in training at the time, and as a part of training, I rotated through all the shifts to be exposed to as much as possible. This day I was working the day shift, starting bright and early at 6am. I remember walking into briefing and seeing the TVs on with scenes of a smoking building. The early word was that some crazy person flew into the World Trade center. I remember seeing on TV images of the building with smoke pouring out on one side. It was surreal, but we had no idea the severity of it at the time. The sergeant who ran the briefing agreed to leave the TVs on in mute while we conducted our business. I didn't know what to think. I was out of the academy for about 2 months. Was this sort of thing what I was to be dealing with now? We all paid attention the best we could, and as we wrapped up briefing and starting to walk out, the first building started to come down. We all watched for a minute in silence. I don't think we really were able to processed what was happening, so we went out on duty like we were suppose to quietly.

Since I was in training, so I rode with a training officer. I remember we didn't really know what to do with ourselves. Word had started to come out that this was some terrorist act and there was another plane that had crashed by the Pentagon. We didn't really know if we would be seeing any activity near us. I didn't exactly work in a small city. It was somewhat conceivable, at least at the time, that San Jose would be as likely of a target as anywhere else. Having that kind of violence brought to our soil, made it seem like it could've happened anywhere. We were the only ones to think that, of course, and we started to get called about "suspicious" activities everywhere. People were freaked out, and honestly, so was I.

I think what calmed me down the most was what helped a lot of people that day. I called Britt at home after a couple hours of craziness to see if she was ok. Britt asked me why I was so worked up. She was at home watching PBS cartoons with an almost two year old Hannah. She had no idea what was going on and I appreciated the calm that was at home. I told her to change the channel to see what was going on, but she probably had no idea how much she brought me back to focus that morning. A morning of confusion and panic, and I had a calm, peaceful home, still waiting for me.

Not a lot really happened for the rest of the day. We tried to stay ready and available in case anything did happen. Safe to say the car thieves and drug dealers got a break from us that day. For as long as we remember and commemorate this day, I will always be grateful that I had a unique perspective on it all. A lot of brave and courageous people work everyday to keep the rest of us safe. People who have their lives and families who constantly remind them why they do what they do. I am honored that I was a part of that for a while, and I can honest say that I will never forget the events of 9/11/2001.

I Have An Eating Problem

2011-05-03T00:47:00.000-07:00

This is certainly not a food review. Probably more about how crazy I am about food.

If we ever decide to go out and share a meal together, don't ever take me to a food court. I love to eat all sorts of different foods, so if you present a bunch of choices to me at once, my brain will lock up and I won't be able to make a decision for hours. Whether a simple mall food court or a ethnic smorgasbord like the Emeryville Public market, I can walk circles for hours bouncing between a cheesesteak to a hot bowl of udon to Korean BBQ to Indian goat curry until everyone else have eaten, digested, and finished the complimentary mint. If it was up to me, I would get the sampler plate, with a bite from every place. Wouldn't that be the best ever? Maybe a bite size cheese-on-a-stick followed by a mini Stromboli washed down with sip of Thai iced tea with maybe a baklava for dessert? I'm not good with food and choices. Which is a long way of introducing my dilemma today...

I am currently serving as stay at home parent while the wife is in Minnesota enjoying her own food adventures (and maybe attending a graduation somewhere). With a toddler involved, it pretty much involves a morning of television with the likes of Mickey Mouse, a blue dog appropriately named Blue, and some sort of oddly shaped figures who likes to dance. Combined that with older kids with a very active softball schedule, I have been pretty much a car service with a bonus title of short order cook. So on my last full day as daytime nanny (and not even those hot ones that Jude Law might run off with), I decided that I needed to do something that I wanted to do for a change. And what I want to do it eat something good.

My first thought, of course, was the myriad of food trucks that I follow on Twitter (shameless plug) who are almost never where I am. The closest area where the good food trucks go seems to be Emeryville. (and by good, I mean just the current crop of gourmet food trucks. Not your run of the mill taco trucks, which I also love, and is pretty sure densely populates my neighborhood. But that is another day's eating/blog post) It seems that some cities are just more food truck friendly. If you drive down Hollis St in Emeryville at lunch time, for example, you can usually find 3 or 4 trucks parked and ready to stuff your face. But which place do I go? Who knows when I would be able to get this chance again? (Please, food truck community, someone come on out to Pleasant Hill/Walnut Creek where I work) There was only one thing to do: I made a couple of stops.

So I ended up with a lunch that looks like this. Seared ahi tuna roll from Jon's Street Eats. Short rib taco and BBQ pork slider from Mogo BBQ. Is that a lot of food for lunch? Yes. I couldn't eat it all, but the different tastes was so satisfying. It was definitely worth a short wait with a sleeping 2 year old to carry around. (More food for me!)

I started this by saying that you should never take me to a place with too many choices. Let me amend that. If you are anything like me and like to try a lot of different things, please come along on one of my eating adventures. I can't possibly eat a whole serving of everything (I try sometimes though. Ugh. I need a just inspiring post about a workout routine). Let's all get something different and share it with each other. Apparently I am a social eater. Maybe it's a cultural thing. Chinese people often eat their meals family style, sharing several dishes. I'd love to discuss it over some pad thai and fried chicken though. Won't you join me?

Let's bid on a brush with fame

2010-09-17T23:14:00.000-07:00

There is currently a celebrity auction going on right now called Twitchange where you can bid to have your favorite celebratory follow you on Twitter. All the money raised goes to relief efforts in Haiti. It's kind of a neat idea for people to use their celebrity for a good cause since it really requires nothing of them other than adding a name on their follow list, while peons like us can brag for the rest of their lives that they once had a connection online with Tony Hawk or Jessica Alba. I don't have the kind of money to participate in such things, however noble the endeavor (Dana White of all people currently leads the bidding at a whopping $15,000(!)), but it's fun to look at. If you have a few extra bucks, by all means, you should go support the cause.

-A couple of observations: As exciting as it is to see the top bids, the bottom feeders are packed with some good stuff. Who knew Mint Condition was still around? let alone having a Twitter account to follow.

- This is apparently the brainchild of Eva Longoria? Who knew she would be the brains of... well, anything. Good for you, lady!

- And if anyone would like to pay me money to follow them, I would be happy to donate said money to the cause as well. Bidding starts at two pence.

The hardest job in the world

2010-08-31T00:33:00.000-07:00

I was home early after a trip to the dentist today (a filling! The shame!). I decided to be the good husband and let Britt get a rare afternoon nap while I watched the kids and made dinner. It was only for a few hours and I was reminded of the how hard my wife's job is. A co-worker recently proclaimed that if she was a stay-at-home mom than she would get so much done around the house. I was offended for my wife at such an ignorant comment but I was still surprised at the craziness that she has to juggle on a daily basis.
I think part of the challenge for us is that our kids are so far apart in age. They just all have different needs to balance. On this day after school, there's Hannah working on a ton of long division and multiplication with decimals.

Honestly, I felt bad for her. Those are tedious long problems, and she had 60 problems on that worksheet. It's brutal for the 5th day of school. Might be a long year for her.
Then there's Sara, entering the 2nd grade, but sometimes I think she's ready for junior high herself. No homework yet for her so she's reading.

Obviously Hannah isn't a fan of watching her younger sister having a good time with no homework. They are mostly good with each other but tempers are often short.
And then there's the baby. Who is warming up nicely for her terrible 2's. She is a terror around the house, and a loud one. I tried to get a picture of her messing the house up, and when she saw me coming she decided to give a pose instead...

Oh that Audrey, she is going to be a handful...
So yeah, a lot going on at home on any given afternoon. I'll be happily going back to work tomorrow. Thanks Britt for keeping the fort safe at home...

Summer of Wedding

2010-08-05T22:31:00.000-07:00

There comes a time in everyone's life where all your friends decide that they are ready for marriage. It's just that age where everyone is about ready, and suddenly your Saturdays are booked up for the next 3 months. This was our summer for weddings. We actually haven't been to that many before this summer, maybe an average of once a year. This summer, however, we made it to 5 weddings in a span of about 10 weeks. We love weddings, I mean, how can you not? Being asked to join in celebration of perhaps someone's happiest day is both an honor and a privilege... and the free food! Don't even get me started about the food...

We were fortunate enough to attend weddings that were all a little different. We went from sunny southern California to the foothills of the Sierras, there were outdoor weddings and indoor ceremonies, there were weddings in English as well as Spanish... wait, what?? Yeah, that's how we roll. Let's take a quick look back at them all, shall we?

First was a trip down south to the wedding of our friends Cindy and Jason. A lovely church wedding, for two really great people. We ended up making a little vacation out of it and caught an Angels game as well as visit Britt's aunt and cousins.

I especially liked how the couple highlighted the solid friendship, their failure in relationship the first time around, and the reconciliation that brought them closer than ever to each other. Congrats, Cindy and Jason!

Next was our friend Corrine and Jason's wedding (different Jason. really) Wedding was at a nice country club in Gilroy. Something about the well kept greens of a golf course that really makes a nice setting to a wedding. This was a really fun wedding, with two of the funnest people we know. Just look at the fun prom cutout that was provided for guest above...

This was also the wedding with the "pants incident" which I really don't want to talk about. It's also where the staff spilled cocktail sauce on Britt's dress. Let's just call this a general wardrobe malfunction wedding for us....

Hey family wedding! My sister and I had a great time telling people that we were going to the wedding of our cousin Jose Chang. Yes he is my cousin! You don't see the resemblance? Not some weird third cousin twice remove either. His dad and my mom are siblings!

Anyway, this wedding was in a catholic church and was mostly in Spanish. It was very cool to see the wedding of a different culture. Plus my whole family was there so it was fun to hang out with everyone. This wedding also gets another half point because two weeks later we had the Chinese wedding banquet. That makes 5.5 weddings!

Then we were in Marin for the wedding of our dear friends Lis and James. The wedding was outside of a church with the most amazing view of the Bay. How amazing? Well see for yourself...

Again, a beautiful wedding. We are friends with Lis and her parents and MK in so many ways that this almost felt like the wedding of a family member. The reception dinner was a total blast, with the kids tearing up the dance floor. Thanks so much for letting us be a part of your beautiful day!

Finally, last weekend we were in the Sierra foothills at a cute winery where we attended the wedding of Britt's friend Christine and Matt. They live in Seattle now and we haven't seen them in a long time. What a wonderful reason to see them again! It was a beautiful, if somewhat warm day. A beautiful wedding centered on God, family, and friends.

And one of the greatest spread at the reception. A brunch menu! Honestly, if I were to have my wedding again, I would serve breakfast. We love it that much! It was fun, and we hope we will get to see them again soon!

Well that's our summer of weddings. They were all special in their own ways and we loved all of them. If you are having weddings and need to fill some seats, give us a call. After this summer, I think we qualify for "professional" status and can help celebrate your most special occasions. Call today!

Street Eats

2010-07-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

If you know me at all, you know that I love street food. The food of the everyman, doled out in paper bowls or on a stick, at affordable prices really bring people together. So last week we went out to Oakland for Art Murmur, a once a month art festival/street fair that includes many of the street foods that I've been stalking on Twitter and have been wanting to try. Hipster central? Yes! But I was just there for the food...

Many of the stands here are pretty simple. People made a bunch of food and set it on a table (I actually saw a lady walking around with brownies in a cardboard box and selling them for a buck a piece). That's actually the appeal, I think. Just good food for a reasonable price. The wandering musicians as entertainment helped as well...

Luckily, my whole family is with me on trying all sorts of food. Some more adventurous than others, I suppose. Audrey liked this Ube cassava cake thing:

The girls really enjoyed their grilled cheese sandwich. Boring, you say? Well it's award winning! Check out the trophies on the ground behind Hannah:

Me, I like a little of everything. Like jerk chicken stick from @eviljerkcart:

Or the best Mac and Cheese from @jonsstreeteats (ok, the girls ate most of this):

By the way, they had some awesome looking patty melts too. Might be my favorite street cart in the east bay right now. Check them out the next time you're in the Emeryville/Alameda/Oakland area (they rotate locations).

Good stuff. Oh, and Britt had a pretty generous bowl of gumbo from @gumbocart. Mmm I love gumbo.

Anyway, that's our love of street food. There is actually a San Francisco Street Food Festival in August that I am already circling on my calendar. If any of this looks good to you, then please join us, and we'll catch up on the curb, chomping over some delicious delicacies. I can't think of a better way to spend time with friends.

Scenes from the road

2010-05-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

Driving down highway 5 to southern California is boring. But the rest
stops can be interesting. Where else can you get a steak from a gas
station market?

WonderCon 2010

2010-04-09T00:38:00.000-07:00

In a weird twist of fate, Easter this year falls on the same weekend as WonderCon 2010... Well, maybe not so weird. Organizers probably looked at the target audience and thought, "these people probably don't know Easter from a Klingon bar mitzvah." In any case, those of us who did celebrate the resurrection of our savior can still squeeze in a little nerdness on a Sunday afternoon. Mostly it's these people here:

I just like the general festivities. We really went on Sunday because Britt really wanted to attend the Chuck panel where the cast talks about the show and does some Q & A. As a bonus, we were shown the next episode a whole day early. I never knew group watching something like that can be so much fun.

None of us are big comic book readers, but the kids like all the dressing up and such. There are some questionable content for kids, but they are pretty good about keeping those things away from wandering eyes. For more kid friendly participants, Star Wars is always popular...

But this was most impressive. Homemade Buzz Lightyear costume, with real working buttons.

I recommend any of you who haven't been to check it out next year. Definitely a spectacle...

Paper Typing

2010-02-02T23:25:00.000-08:00

She didn't have to, but Hannah insisted on typing up her Martin Luther King Jr paper for school.

Too bad the paper was due last Friday.

You win some and lose some....

(Incidentally, I think I have failed as a parent who is reasonably hip to technology. My 10 year old types like an old person. That is unacceptable. I'm going to give a call to Mavis Beacon.)

NOT my 15 minutes of fame...

2009-12-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

It was brought to my attention that on the Australian version of that hit show Beauty and the Geek, one of the aforementioned "geeks" is named Alan...Kwong. Now I don't claim to have an original name, (Go ahead, try putting my name into Facebook and see how many hits come up. I'll wait a few hours for you) but why can't I be sharing my name with someone cool? Like a star cricket player, or the inventor of silent Velcro? Why did it have to be a reality "star"?

If you want to see, there is a profile of it here.

Untitled

2009-11-20T20:31:00.001-08:00

via twitterrific

Posted via web from Alan's posterous

Spider hunter

2009-11-11T00:25:00.000-08:00

Another fun job I have - family spider killer. Fortunately, Sara doesn't seem too afraid and have saved her big sister a few times. I was alerted of this one outside our front window though...

Umm I think I'm going to leave this one alone.

I do have a small desire to take a blow torch to it though. Must be the sadistic 8 year old in me.

Time for homework...

2009-11-10T01:04:00.000-08:00

One of the joys of being a parent is taking the time to help your kids with homework. So far, Hannah and Sara has been mostly good about school work as far as understanding what they are learning in class. Sara, having gone through two years of preschool, really seem to be ahead of most of the kids in her class. Less work does not mean no work though, so looking over her homework packet the other day, I was impressed with her being able to fill out the missing letters for words associating with a picture. Then I ran across this one...

You tell me which one doesn't look right, and then tell me what she was trying to spell, because I had no idea...

Untitled

2009-11-05T18:51:00.001-08:00

via twitterrific

Posted via web from Alan's posterous

Tales from the road

2009-09-19T18:04:00.001-07:00

We were getting gas in Salinas when we saw this place, which prompted Hannah to say,

"Hey Senor Taco. That means boy taco."

I laughed for a good five minutes after that.

Posted via web from Alan's posterous

We be Strollin'

2009-09-13T23:45:00.000-07:00

The Solano Stroll was today and we had the added excuse that Hannah and Britt was participating in the parade in the morning to promote her softball league. But really, I was just in it for the food.

Most important thing for me at a street fair is above: "FUNNEL CAKE". The other stuff deep fried is good too.

Because there is no love like food-on-a-stick love. At least I think that's a corn dog she's posing with.

New food is a plus too. You read that right. Crab garlic fries. And it tastes every bit as delicious as it sounds. Yum!

Oh, and I found out that my head is just too big to pull off these sorts of hats. Ah well, Ne-Yo I will never be.

But fortunately it's not a genetic thing. Look at this cutie in her hat. If only her dad weren't so cheap...

That's too meat-riffic

2009-08-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

I love bacon, but this might be even too bacon-y for me. Love the effort and craftiness though...

A full English fried breakfast served in a cocktail glass made out of bacon.

(via rathergood)

Nothing goes with a crappy Giants game like.. Marlin jerky?

2009-08-27T21:41:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Alan's posterous

Untitled

2009-08-27T18:59:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Alan's posterous

First Day of School '09

2009-08-26T22:21:00.001-07:00

First Day of School '09
Originally uploaded by Alanmine

Another first day of school.

A big 1st grader and an even bigger 5th grader.

Wow it goes by fast.

Music Appreciation

2009-08-26T00:41:00.000-07:00

Music and I have a strange relationship. I am one of the least talented musicians you'll ever meet. My music career consisted of one year of violin in the 5th grade, and there was a short time with a recorder (is that even a real instrument?) somewhere in elementary school. I have no concept of tone or pitch, can't read a lick of music, and my singing should be restricted to the shower. Despite my inability to grasp music on any tangible level, I have an emotional connection to music that is as vital to me as any of life's other basic needs. Music is something I feel, something that, if matched to my current mood, weaves through my soul and brings it out to the open. I recently told you how I keep a lot of me deep inside of me. Music is one way to channel some of that out. The right song helps bring a part of me out from behind the walls I have built. It's not anything that anyone can really see. The music just has to be loud enough to envelope me in its emotions, and I just feel along with it.

I especially like the part of the song where the music just goes, seemingly lead by itself, to a predetermined place. Branford Marsalis' solo in the middle of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square by Harry Connick Jr is my all time favorite. It touches me at my very core. I have also recently love listening to John Mayer, especially live performances, where he just breaks into unbelievable solos. I don't know much about music, but I know that man can play a guitar. I'm listening to Gravity a lot lately, but it's hard for me to nail down my favorite.

If I figure this out right, I'd like to share both those songs with you. What songs touches you emotionally? I would love to hear about it.

A Moment of Truth

2009-07-11T23:59:00.000-07:00

I was reading a friend's blog recently, and I was admiring their honestly and how much of themselves they were willing to put out there for all to see. I sense some trepidation though as they would always end by telling people that things aren't really so bad, or stating that they just wanted to vent a little. I thought to myself, you don't have to make those statements. It's your blog. You rant about whatever you want and people can judge as they like. If you are willing to share something in such a public forum, you should go all out and not worry about how people will react to it.

Of course, that is also when the hypocrisy fairies came flying in and kicked the high and mighty soapbox out from under me. Who am I to judge others who courageously shared from the dark and lonely corners of their mind? What have I written in this space that is in any way retrospective and let in even a hint of light from those on the outside? Does telling you about what I made for dinner last night or a funny story about my kids really say anything about me?

One thing I do get right about this blog is that it's the perfect extension of me. I live my life like a big card game. If other people are willing to show their hands, then they are the sucker. Me, I'm keeping my cards close to the vest, like knowing all the cards out there will give me some advantage in life. Sometimes all it means is that the pair of queens you're holding will never beat that flush out there. Is that really worth not having anyone really connecting with you and knowing how you are wired?

I'm not sure where I wanted to go with this. Just wanted a splash of honesty in this space somewhere. It's a start, right?

Tomorrow, I'll go back to telling you what I had for dinner.

Baby on the Move

2009-07-09T02:19:00.000-07:00

Speaking of time flying. Audrey apparently is going to skip the whole crawling thing like her sisters. She scoots on her tummy now, but as you see in the video below, she has decided 6 months is enough time to start getting up and walking.

Who's going to stop her? Not me...

Time Flies

2009-07-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

Got an email from the University of California Alumni Association today inviting me to Homecoming this year. They highlight all sorts of events to commemorate my 10 year anniversary of graduation... holy cow, 10 years?? Has it been 10 years since I left that place?? For some reason the 10 years after high school went by so much slower than the 10 years after college. Guess life happens a lot faster as you get older. Anyway, the weekend of Oct 8th, I will bring the family on campus to soak up the Cal experience. Culminating in a the Homecoming football game between Cal and USC. Think the Bears can win one for me? (am I old enough to be a gipper?)

New toy

2009-06-26T21:02:00.000-07:00

New iPhone 3GS, new ways to record my kids doing silly things. Like playing Guitar Hero, complete with 80's rocker side pony tail. They will never cease to invent new ways for me to embarrass my kids for the rest of their lives...

My first YouTube submission! (that I can recall....)

Fun with Food

2009-06-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

I saw these from Boing Boing a while back and thought they were cool and my kids would love them. So the other night, when I was at a little lost at what to make for dinner. I found a pack of hot dogs leftover from a recent BBQ and decided to try it out.

It's actually trickier than I thought to thread raw spaghetti through hot dogs. The noodles are pretty brittle. I found that doing a few spaghetti at a time helped a little, but mostly the key is to not worry too much about threading them through perfectly. They'll look fine once cooked.

The other important thing is to cook the noodles for a minute or two longer so the part that is inside the hot dog is cooked all the way too. It's not a big deal. Mixed in with the hot dog, my kids probably didn't even noticed if the spaghetti wasn't cooked all the way.

I ended up cutting between the hot dog segments to make them look more wild. They were a fun meal for the kids. I even brought a few to work the next day as a snack. Fun for all ages!

Budding photographer

2009-06-17T01:15:00.000-07:00

From Sara's pictures

As a parent, all I try to do is to provide my children with the opportunity to experience as much as possible, and hopefully somewhere along the line, they discover things that they want to spend more time on. That might mean some 3 month lessons in karate or trumpet lessons, but if you know me at all you know I am just not the pushy parents who makes their kids do anything specific. If they don't spend their summer vacation melting their brains in front of the TV, I am pretty much fine with whatever it is they do instead.

(Just to be clear, I have nothing against TV either. My kids pretty much know all of the Disney channel personalities as well. Everything in moderation. I hate parents who turn their nose up at things like High School Musical and Hannah Montana. Those shows aren't made for you. I'm not expecting you to sing along. I'd much rather have my kids knowing the words to a Jonas Brothers song than shaking their little booties to the latest Lil Wayne single....ok, WAY off topic now)

One of the things Sara has been interested in is taking pictures. If you've been around us you know that we are always taking pictures everywhere we go. Digital cameras are indispensable for us and I guess it naturally made an impression on our kids. Sara always ask to use the camera to take pictures of her own and we started to notice that she does a pretty good job. My sister had an old camera laying around so she gave it to Sara recently and she loves it. She takes it wherever she goes and wants to snap a picture of everything. With all this good work, I decided to help her put some of those pictures up somewhere to share with others. If you are interested, check them out here.

Sara's pictures

Freed from wires, not from cords

2009-06-14T03:15:00.000-07:00

I hate wires.

Whenever possible I get the wireless versions of all the gadgets I have around the house. Wireless keyboard and mouse, wireless networks, wireless controllers, wireless extension cords (just kidding about that last one. Would be cool though). I had the good fortune today to get wireless headphones that work with my computer as both headphones(I'm actually listening to them right now) and a headset, my phone as a bluetooth headset, and soon as a wireless headphones for the music on said phone. It's the coolest thing. I'm even giving it a plug (wireless, of course) with the Amazon link.

The downside to all of these avoidance of wires is the box of chargers that I now possess. Wireless still needs electricity, and while better than buying tons of batteries, why can't there be more of a standard chargers that more devices can just share? Having something run out of batteries is a minor annoyance. Rummaging through a box of chargers to find the right one is just plain crazy.

Do You Know What Today Is? It's Our Anniversary..

2009-06-09T00:25:00.001-07:00

Apologies to Tony! Toni! Toné! for borrowing their song for the title...

Gad, I'm failing at writing more already. Shame. Ok, must put something out there. Let's do this!

I celebrated an anniversary the other day. An important one too - 10 years of marriage. It's funny, all of the usual things you hear about long marriages apply. The ones about how lucky I am to have such a wonderful woman in my life, how I would do it all over again in a second, etc...all that good stuff. The thing that probably sticks out the most as I reflect on ten years of having my other half is probably the most generic of all: It goes by fast. In a blink of an eye I go from graduating college student to a husband and father of three. It serves as a good reminder to really stop once in a while and appreciate what you have in this great adventure. I certainly can't wait to see what the next ten years will bring. Hopefully I will be even better prepared to enjoy it.

Oh, the requisite (and slightly embarassing pictures):

Before...

Today

Short Attention Span

2009-06-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

Sigh... I am no longer able to put together thoughts that are over 140 characters. Thanks, Twitter...

I am going to try and get through this. Start small and work my way up. Shorter posts, more often. With your support, I can do this.

In the meantime, feel free to follow me on Twitter anyway. @ak3700

Thanks and a shout out to my writing inspiration. It's her new blog that is getting me off my writing butt. (Writing butt?? That is a weird metaphor. See? I am out of practice)

2009-03-16T00:40:00.000-07:00

And they say kids don't read Dickens anymore...

Ha, so it's Brittany who is currently reading Great Expectations. But Hannah was interested enough to read 2 or 3 pages to check it out. Got to love a book lover.

It's a hopeful picture tough, no?

Belated Pi Day

2009-03-15T00:35:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness I almost let Pi Day just roll right by. I didn't even have a piece of pie to celebrate! Terrible....I've been busy. Weekends blow by either faster now that my kids are involved in stuff. There's Sara starting ballet class...

And even more so, Hannah started girls softball, which she loves so far.

So hey, who has time for silly holidays? (me!)

From Math to English...

2009-03-04T00:14:00.000-08:00

How could I plug the in vogue Square Roots Day without then giving proper respects to the ol' reliable Verb Day! March Fo(u)rth! Go do something today! I'll probably at my desk at work again, but with the weather as stormy as it has been lately, avoid getting all wet is activity enough!

Oh, and this day is extra cool becase my blogging friend's son was born on this day. Fits him so well, that active kid. Happy Birthday, Judah!

Math Days

2009-03-02T20:26:00.001-08:00

March is already home to two of my favorite days of the year (March 4th, and 3/14). Tomorrow, in an event that only happens nine times per century, let's go out and celebrate Square Root Day!! Nerds of the world unite! 3/3/09!!! Woohoo!

An Introspective Moment

2009-03-02T00:21:00.000-08:00

I was talking to a friend recently about friendship. This person was recently told by another friend that he wasn't being a good enough friend to him right now. This started a conversation about what it means to be a good friend, and what sort of expectations you should have from your friends. I came to the conclusion that you should never ever tell someone that they aren't being a good enough friend. We can all probably be a better friend to someone we know (I know I certainly fit in that category), but that is an introspective analysis that only you can conclude after an honest look at what's on your plate. Life goes at a hectic speed nowadays with work, family, friends, hobbies, church, etc. that needs to be re-prioritized constantly. To just throw the burden of your personal needs onto someone else and expect them to carry the load is both unfair, and not being a very good friend yourself.

If you think that I am not being a good enough friend to you right now, I am very sorry. I promise that I am doing the best that I can for you right now. I honestly think that you deserve to have someone in your life who will meet all your needs. If it turns out that I am not that person, that is OK with me and I hope you find that right person. I hope that you can still find some value in what I can offer you at this point in my life, for I still value our friendship very much. It may not be as much as you wanted, but it's still an important part of me.

- Signed, A Friend.

Lost and Found

2009-02-12T00:13:00.000-08:00

I found a quote a long time ago that really spoke to me and really shaped my outlook on life. It was printed on a piece of paper and kept in a quasi-journal thing in my room at my parent's house for a long time. Of course, who knows where that that paper is now. Yet I think of it once in a while and today decided to take advantage of this Internet doohickey to find the quote. It was tricky since I didn't know exactly how it went, but I found here, and I'm posting it here as a new keeping place. You can read it or not, I'm really clipping this one for myself. You will know me a little better for it though, if you are into that kind of thing.

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

- Charles R Swindoll

Mission Street Foods...At Last!

2009-01-25T23:59:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to rehash my previous experiences with Mission Street Foods. Just know that there I was, again, in line, waiting to get in for this week's cheap eats. I had a new plan this time, I was there when they opened at 6, and brought the whole family with me (hooray capool!). Quite a crowd had already developed outside, but I didn't mind a little wait. I just need them to not run out of food! The kids weren't as excited abut standing outside though...

After 45 minutes, the kids were pretty restless and hungry. I decided to walk the kids down the block to give them something to do. We walked by a Salvadoran restaurant so I decided that a couple of pupusas would make a good snack before dinner. We waited for the freshly made treats and when we got back to the even bigger crowd, Britt was nowhere to be found. I didn't think we were gone that long but apparently my name was called and they almost gave our table away because we weren't all there. Good thing Brittany is charming and convinced them we were only half a block away! So finally, I had made it inside.

It also worked out that this week's menu was pretty kids friendly. Macaroni and cheese? Hot dogs and chili? Check. The complete menu can be found here, but we all shared the mac and cheese, hot dog and chili, fried chicken, and BBBLT. Here they are before we dug in:

As you can see, the portions are not very big. They were indeed delicious though and we finished it all quick. But there was still dessert! The girls were very excited to have a scoop of the "Barack-y Road" ice cream. (So excited that it was gone before I got a picture. It was a scoop of ice cream. Use your imaginations) For the adults, however, butter friend corn bread with butter milk panna cotta.

By the way, sorry the pictures aren't the greatest. I had my nice camera with me, but I just couldn't bring myself to using the bright flash in that dark place. It would have been pretty distracting to others. So iPhone picture by candlelight will have to do...

So I was finally glad that I finally sampled the great Mission Street Foods. Even though I was hungry when I got home, it was a nice chance for the whole family to try some fancy entrees for a reasonable price. Besides, there's always the pupusas to top your stomach off!

Food Notes

2009-01-18T22:17:00.000-08:00

Things I've been eating lately (or at least thought about eating):

- Tried to visit the Mission Street Food phenomenon again last Thursday. Haven't been able to make it (inside, anyway) since they take over the Lung Shan restaurant (I do miss that taco truck). So we drop by at about 8:45 to this lovely crowd mingling outside:

I expected a wait, so we hung out for a while. People were getting in and out at a reasonable rate so I was hopeful, but then the dreaded announcement came that they were running out of food. So once again, I missed out on duck fat fried rice. We were determined to try something new that night though (well, and we were hungry), so we ended up at a lovely pupuseria where I had a pupusa con queso y loroco. Loroco is a flower that grows in El Salvador and commonly use in cooking. I wish I had a picture to show you, but I ate it as soon as they brought it to me (If it makes you feel better, the cheese totally burned my tongue). It actually doesn't have much of a taste. You kind of smell it more than anything else. Fragrant, but not a huge draw. But I ate something I never had before, and it was only $1.90, so I'll call the evening a success.

- Friday evening after getting a haircut for the upcoming Chinese new year (as well as taking advantage of the $8.99 haircut sale at Great Clips), Britt and I decided to grab a quick dinner at In N Out. For some reason (probably hunger, it does crazy things to you), I decided to go with the Animal Fries. For the 3 of you out there who don't know about it yet, Animal Fries is a part of their not so secret menu where you fries come topped with cheese, grilled onions and thousand dressing. I had it once before and wasn't really impressed. This time though I think I found the key: as soon as you get it, give it a good stirring so that the topping makes its way to the bottom as well. Much better that way. The question I had though, was when did they start having a specific container for this thing? Not so secret indeed:

- Finally, a quick one for the Asian kids out there. Who hasn't been to an Asian market as a kid and tried to talk their parents into getting them a Yan Yan? Cracker sticks that you dip into chocolate or strawberry...uh...sauce? They are the best and even now when I get them for my own kids, I would have to grab a few to make sure they are poisonous. I was at Ranch 99 tonight and we saw their newest creation:

Yan Yan kids? What the heck was I eating before? Was I guilty of some underage Yan Yan'ing all this time? I am so ashamed all of a sudden...

Crime and Punishment

2009-01-13T11:51:00.000-08:00

In my short stint working at the police department (a lifetime ago, it seems), we used to have a saying. "We never catch the smart ones," veteran officers would tell me. Fortunately for us, most people who decide on a life of crime aren't smart, and even the smart ones eventually do something stupid. I am reminded of this all the time reading about dumb criminals in the news, like this winner here. For all you young fledging criminals out there, if you are going to be dealing with unsavory people doing unsavory things, and a disagreement ensues, the police are probably not the people you want to call to settle the dispute.

Oh, and don't sell your children. Even for a lot of beer.

December

2009-01-12T23:00:00.000-08:00

Has it already been a month since I've last post? (Or, "I haven't post since last year!", as my 9 year old would point out) Time has a way of going by quickly, especially this time of year. What have I been up to, you made ask? Well, let me tell you....

Made a trip to sample the renowned "preggo pizza." It was basically a combo pizza with extra onion and extra garlic. Alas, it didn't work so well for Brittany. It did give me some crazy breath and heartburn, so it's not without it's powers...

Christmas time at the Merry Go Round at Tilden Park. Always festive and a kid favorite. Those are some good looking kids...

Christmas also means the annual AC Christmas spectacular. Always seem to grow bigger every year. I guess I have a lot to do with that...

Christmas also means lots of stops to see family and bunch of presents for the kids. Kids love to open presents, dad hates trying to find room for it all. (Some ends up getting donated. Don't tell the girls!)

And we brought in 2009 with a little quiet celebration at home. Sara is holding cider, I swear. She just looks funny because she was determined to stay up until midnight....

That's about it. You know, probably what all of you did this time of year....

Oh yeah, I forgot. There was the thing about Brittany giving birth to our new daughter...

Born Dec 23rd, Audrey Suzanne Kwong has made quite a splashed in all of our lives. She keeps us pretty busy too! (In a good way, of course)

Mommy and baby are doing very well. They do each other's hair...

We re-enact Disney movies... ("Circle of Life!!.....")

And we celebrated the New Year together.

Family of Five...That's going to take some getting used to.

Dutch baby

2008-12-17T00:32:00.001-08:00

I love breakfast, but hate waking up for it. We have breakfast for dinner all the time at home. Pancakes, waffles, omelets are all welcomed as long as it's past noon. I recently decided that an even better choice is brunch. Think about it. By definition, brunch just says lazy. No one eats brunch on a weekday, so you are already channeling the weekend (even if it is Monday night). It's saying that you didn't want to get out of bed but wants to eat like you did. All brunch items are simply prepared and in many cases, prepared ahead of time so you just roll out of bed and finish up. Simple and delicious, definitely the mantra around here...

Which brings me to the dutch baby you see above. It's kind of a cross between a popover and a pancake. I came across the recipe here and it looked like good lazy people food. Mix some very basic ingredients together, put it in the oven and let it do it's thing. I added some crumbled bacon (and took advantage of the bacon grease to lube the skillet) as a final breakfast touch. Sprinkle with powder sugar and a simple meal is ready in 30 minutes.

Cheesy Beer Soup

2008-12-11T23:48:00.001-08:00

With the weather getting cooler around here (for California anyway), I start looking for heartier meals to warm the house and everyone in it. Braises or stews warms the insides in a good, rib-sticking way, but on a week night there just isn't the time for that. Britt was also baking cookies so the ovens was already doing a fine job warming the house. I rummage the pantry and found a pack of Cheese Beer Wild Rice Soup mix and decided to give that a go.

The mix was sent from Minnesota by Britt's cousin a while back. I think on one of their visits out here I had made a smart remark about what Minnesotan food was. Roadkills and casseroles might have been involved in the joke, but when they went home, they sent this over and a sample of authentic Minnesotan cuisine. I don't stock a lot of beer at home, but I do like Red Stripe and keep a few in the garage (Hooray beer!). I figured the unique spice of the Red Stripe can only enhance the wild rice soup experience. Besides, bringing the cultures of Jamaica and the Great American North can't be a bad thing, right?

No matter how novel the final dish may be, this is still basically soup mix. 1 cup of beer and 6 cups of water, add mix and bring to a boil, then simmer for 40 minutes or so until the rice is tender. I was actually impressed with the amount of discernible vegetables in the mix. It wasn't ALL orange powder! While I waited I made a light pasta with diced tomatoes and olives for the kids since I wasn't sure if they would approve of the soup.

In the end, the soup was pretty good. I like wild rice soup in general, especially on a cold winter night. The beer added another level of flavor that worked very well with the salty cheesy taste (it was almost like eating cheese puffs while drinking beer). I suppose we can score one for Minnesotan cuisine. If any hockey moms out there want to send over whatever hot dish you think represent the midwest taste best, I'll be happy to try that as well.

Election Day

2008-11-06T22:41:00.001-08:00

Sorry I am a little late getting this post out. Had a little technical difficulty. Since I kind of lost the moment, I'll just mostly let the pictures speak of themselves:

Woke up nice and avoided the lines.

Got one of these ... (the ethnic version. Does it only come in English and Spanish?)

...so I can get a free one of these

and washed down with a free one of these.

Didn't get what I wanted the most, the Ben and Jerry's ice cream, but none of these made me want to vote anymore than before. I think I've only missed voting in an election once or twice since turning 18. Call me a political romantic, but I like being a part of the process. I even purposely passed on the early mail-in voting because I wanted to be in line on election day. Makes me feel so much more involved. So the high turnout Tuesday was what made me most proud to be an American. Let your voice be heard!

OK since this is my soapbox, a quick word about what I am least proud of in this election (and every election). I hate people who threatens to leave the country if their candidates lose. I'm glad they show passion for their candidate and you should show your support, but in a democracy, one side loses. That's how it works. It's not, "if I didn't get my way I'm going to play ball in someone else's yard." A majority of the people wanted one thing, so at least for the time being, that's how it's going to be. If you don't like it, there are still plenty of things you can do to change, or at least alter that outcome. That's checks and balances, also a part of democracy. This all works if we all just follow the rules, which convenient can be changed as well, if the majority of the people want it to. So please, love the whole system, not just the part that best serves you.
Thanks.

Ironic teachings

2008-11-06T22:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, life just presents you with situations that just makes teaching lessons to your children so easy. Hannah came up to me in church last Sunday crying and hold her eye. When I asked her what happened, she said she was running and slipped and hit her head on a sign out in the lobby. I asked her to show me the sign. We walked out and she showed me the yellow signed that said, "Wet Floor."

Well, that pretty much spoke for itself.

Street Eats

2008-10-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

It all started one Saturday night when the family decided to go to a women's volleyball game at Cal. We figured we would grab a bite to eat in the Telegraph area before the match. We started at Blondie's for a slice of the special (a Mediterranean mix that evening), then I wanted a Boba from Sweethearts cafe, and just had to splurge for the combo to have some fried fish balls (Hey! food on a stick!). Britt smelled fresh donuts from Kingpin so she got a dozen donut holes, and we topped it off with dessert from Yogurt Park. Oh yeah, did I mention we totally missed the volleyball game? I think after all that eating we would have passed out from food coma in the bleachers anyway.

Ever since, I have had a real interest in other cheap eats. A couple weeks ago I went to La Taqueria for the first time, arguably the most popular taqueria in the whole Bay Area. The tacos are big and filling, and even Hannah got over the abundance of parsley in the salsa and dug right in.

But then, I came across this article about a taco truck selling gourmet sandwiches once a week out in the Mission district (coincidentally, blocks away from La Taqueria), and I knew I had to go. Sure it's on a school night (ok, work night), and it's best to go later to avoid the longest lines, but I just had to go.

We arrived at about 10:45 and easily found the place. It was the only taco truck with a large crowd outside milling about. It was a totally mellow, friendly crowd though. When I first walked up I didn't know where the line started as people just stood around. I soon figured out that there was an order taker up front who would put your order on a post it and passed it into the two cooks inside. After listening to an inebriated lady compliment the make-up prowess of my friend for a few minutes, I worked my way up front to place my order.

I was disappointed to find out that they were beginning to run out of some of the food. The flat bread was gone and now they were just using tortillas for their sandwiches. I was first told that they were out of brownies but then they found out that it was the brie that they put on top that had run out. Another minute later I was told that they had one last piece of brownie with brie and it was all mine. I thought it would just be a small slice of brie on top to compliment the brownie, but as you can see, it's a big wedge along with some hazelnut. It is weird but it was also really good. I ate half of it before my sandwich was ready!

Even though I didn't get a picture, believe me when I tell you the sandwich was equally good (It's probably because I was so excite it I ate it before a picture can be taken). The pork belly was flavorful and tender, and I didn't even know I liked jicama but it worked perfectly with the pork belly. It was easily the best thing I ate all week.

Somewhat sadly, I just found out today that the taco truck format is being abandoned for a rotating restaurant system. I will still follow them wherever they end up from week to week, but I certainly feel special for being a part of the taco truck community while it lasted.

Overachieving kid

2008-10-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

I'm not one of of those "Proud parent of an Honor Student" kind of
dads. I just think it's funny that Hannah got a new math text book
today and can't put it down. She's now sleeping with it. What a nerd.

A Well Read Book

2008-09-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

I'm proud of my kids' love of reading, and of course, they have their favorites. This one has span both kids, and it's a shame it won't quite make it to the third kid. I'll probably tape it up and make it last a little longer, but there are pages that are torn too, so maybe it should go into well deserved retirement. In the meantime though, Sara will soldier on with the copy she has, and continue to read about aunt Annie's alligator, Silly Sammy Slick, and Young Yolanda Yorgenson a little longer.

Leftover Frittata

2008-09-17T23:19:00.000-07:00

Maybe because I've seen it on a lot of food blogs lately, but I have been really wanting to make a frittata. It's relatively easy to make, the kids love eggs, and as I started to notice looking at various recipes, you basically just throw a bunch of stuff together and use the eggs as a binder to hold it together. It's like a casserole without the Midwestern church potluck vibe. So when I came home from work tonight to complaints of hungry kids, I decided to raid the fridge and make something up.

As you can see, it's a bunch of stuff thrown together. There's leftover pasta from last night's dinner, cut up smoked bratwurst purchased for a BBQ a few weeks back, diced onion that's been sitting around for a week, the eggs of course, and a potpourri of cheeses that I found in the fridge.

(incidentally, how can you tell if a cheese has gone back if it was all green and veiny in the first place? Well, that's in there too so if my next post is from the hospital, you'll know)

Anyway, cooking eggs is always a good test of how seasoned your cast iron pan is, and I admit I was a little nervous (even though I've had this pan for years and have probably cooked an equivalent of two pigs on the thing). So just in case, I fried a few strips of bacon for some extra lubrication and chopped up the bacon to line the bottom of the pan. I had grand plans of flipping over the finished product, showing the crumbled bacon covering the dish, but have you tried flipping a cast iron pan over to a plate? You have to be an Olympic weight lifter to pull that off without wiping the floor with the frittata. So you throw in your mixture of stuff, pour the egg and cheese mixture over it all (plan for about 2 large eggs per person), and cook over medium high heat until the sides set. Then you put it in the oven at 375ish and cook until the middle sets, about 20-25 minutes. The middle can still be a little runny, but take it out to cool and the heat in the pan should finish the egg off to perfection. Slice into wedges and serve. A nice salad would go great with it. I added a dollop of sour cream on top, but I think salsa or even marinara would be ok (there is pasta in the thing, after all). That's about it. I don't even know if it's still technically a frittata, but I can tell you it was filling and delicious. There are also Spanish tortillas which are like frittatas with potatoes, and I think I will try that too. I think I just planned weekend brunch!

Eat this List!

2008-08-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

Somewhat inspired by the list fun seen on another blog and the upcoming Slow Food Nation festival in San Francisco this weekend, I ran into a post on the blog Very Good Taste of the "Omnivore's 100" of foods that every omnivore should try once in their life. I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but there's plenty of time, right? At least now I have this list to get focused. Instructions attached, so let me know how you guys do!

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison (jerky, anyway)
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho (Mmmm too bad it's like 2000 degrees out, I want some now!)
13. PB&J sandwich (hey my kids have started the path too! cool!)
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes (definitely on my Top 10 food of all time, if I were to make such lists)
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. ~~Cognac with a fat cigar~~
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (novelty store thing, crickets, I think they were)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV (hmm i remember the Sierra Nevada BigFoot. I think I almost threw up)
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (all of the above!)
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (wha?? I'm not crossing that out though. Who knows, I might try it)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

By my count 49 out of 100. Not terrible. Being chinese helped, I think (I actually might have tried some of that other stuff without knowing it). The only thing that I crossed out was the cigar because I don't smoke, but I respect the choice. I'm ready to tackle the list though, so let me know how you did, and we'll go eat some of this stuff together!

Vacation slideshow

2008-08-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

It has been almost a month since I've been on vacation. How time flies. There are a few pictures that I really wanted to share, and really only took to put on the blog, so in true Patty and Selma style, let's rip off a quick vacation slide show...

The vacation was pretty food-centric, which sounds good until you are bursting at the seems. This is the Dairy Queen in Medford that kind of kicked off the week. Notice how happy we are eating our ice cream If we only knew what piggies we would become...

One of the more interesting thing was with different trade laws in Canada, we saw a lot of things they are available back home. Here's Hannah with a dragonfruit. You've all probably had the juice, but have you seen or cut into one of these things. Interestingly enough, the fruit is rather bland. So think about that the next time you spend $3 on dragonfruit ginseng natural organic tea.

Just as exciting, the chinese market we went to sold live sharks! I don't know how one would prepared these for dinner, but I would certainly look into attaching freaking lasers to their heads.

On a related note, walking around in Chinatown in Vancouver, there were tons of stores selling all sorts of dried goods. Dried shrimps, dried scallops, dried oysters....oh, and even...

...dried lizard on a stick. This is the 'money shot', so to speak, of the post. I don't have one idea what you do with that. Make soup? Dip it in chocolate? Leave a recipe in the comments if you can help me out. (not that i bought any, of course. Imagine how many more hours it would take me to cross the border if I had to sneak one of those things by the border guards)

The only cup of coffee I drank in Seattle. On top of the Space Needles good, but the low quantity bad. I'm usually pretty good at adapting to local customs (I spoke a lot more chinese while we were in Richmond, BC., where there are more asian malls than probably 45 states), but by the time I got around to buckling down and going for some coffee tasting, I ended up wandering the suburbs of Seattle on a Sunday night with no coffee. I did, however, find...

I just thought it was funny. Would I eat there? Ye-ah!

And finally, a quick thank you to one of my favorite Canadians Nicole (ranking up there with Ryan Reynolds, Michael J Fox, and maybe even Bullwinkle) for the tip of having lunch at Burgerville in Oregon. Two days after she left me a note to check it out, on the way home from eating entirely too much crap, we pulled off the freeway for lunch about 10 miles outside of Portland and found a recently opened Burgerville. It's a pretty cool place. The most eco-socio-conscious fast food place I have ever seen. All food is locally produced (well, the Northwest, Oregon beef, Walla Walla onions, etc), recycles practically everything, compost bin at all restaurants. Oh, the food is very good as well. I would show you, but I ate it WAY before the camera even made an appearance. The girls are happy to show off the balloons they gave them though.

Ok that's it. Vacation is long over. School is starting. Indian summer kicks in with a few more 95 degree days before fall rolls in. Maybe we'll start saving to go back to Vancouver when the Winter Olympics roll around in 2010. Next time though, better pacing on the eating, and less touring of the world's Chinatowns.....

We Now Interrupt This Regularly Schedule Vacation Slide Show...

2008-08-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

Vacation memories aside, we also returned to an important point in Britt's pregnancy. She had an ultrasound appointment on Thursday where the sex of the baby can be determined. We had gone the surprise route with our first two kids so we decide to try it the other way and find out. We had a lot of well wishers who was pulling for some balance in the family and hoped for a boy this time around, but it was not meant to be. Come Christmas time, we will welcome our third blessing into the world. As with the first two kids, the sex doesn't really matter. We are still very excited and look forward to her arrival. Now we are getting a lot of official offers from people who have a lot of hand-me-down dresses that they want to pass along. I am ok with that. People often want to find out so they can start planning and have everything ready. For me, it just gives me more time to think and wonder and worry whether I will have everything ready. I mean, I have no excuse to NOT be ready. I've known what was coming for five months! So prepare we will. Hannah and Sara are very excited about getting a new little sister, and want to be good little helpers to their mom. We'll see how long that lasts....

Vacation numbers

2008-08-07T22:25:00.000-07:00

Vacation Stats, because they are fun:

Number of cats almost adopted from Oregon: 1

Number of Canadian parking tickets my dad received: 1
Number of Canadian parking tickets my dad plans to ignore until they come after him in this country: 1
Number of hours it took to get into Canada: 0.4
Number of hours it took to get back into the US: 4.5

Number of times my parents went to an Indian casino during our vacation: 5 (I think)
Length of tantrum Sara threw when she realized there was only 1 "room" in the Space Needle: 20 mins

Number of Ichirolls that comes with each order: 8

Number of Ichiroll regurgitated by Sara when she found out it was spicy: 1

Minutes between meals: Felt like 5
Pounds gained on trip: ???

Ugh, I still get a tummy ache looking at that...but one more look at a Canadian meal.

Til next time...I'll be on my WiiFit.

Day 8 - Finally Home...and a brief visual recap

2008-08-06T01:02:00.001-07:00

There were times where I didn't think we would, but we made it home this afternoon safe and sound (but not all the way sane, I'm sure). After vacations come laundry, and lots of it. Then comes the collection of souvenir and pictures that were collected on the journey. I am too tired to really get into it, but here is a few to prove that pictures were taken. Pictures requiring a little explanation is forthcoming. A whole Flickr set will follow as well, for those of you who like the vacation slide show experience (without the Patty or Selma impressions). But for now. My vacation in 6 pictures:

That's probably enough for most of you. If that is the case. Come back in a week or two. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Day 7 - Homeward Bound

2008-08-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

In a circle of life twist, I am here again at Motel 6 Medford, using the WiFi of the Travelodge next door. If there is one theme on this trip, it's WiFi still does not come easily or cheaply. I figured that a trip in today's age to major metropolitan areas, I would have little trouble getting a wee little bandwidth to keep me connected with the rest of you. That didn't turn out to be the case, which is too bad. I certainly failed in my attempts to provide a picture or two of amusement. There are plenty of pictures, don't you worry. On three different cameras and everything. So tomorrow night, when I finally get home, I will start sorting through both the pictures I have taken and the stories in my head, and hopefully, if laziness doesn't set in, you will be bored to death of endless recounts of the last 7 days. As with most vacations, there are goods and there are bads, there are hilariously funnies and hopelessly sads. I probably won't get to it all, but here's a preview (and a way to hold me to telling something stories):

- There wasn't much to day 5, except an excruciatingly long wait at the US border. I might never tell this story though. Just mentally put it in a dark place and never speak of it again.

- Then there was the search for coffee in day 6. You would think in the Seattle area this would be a short story. You would be SO wrong....

- More pictures of us eating than I care to admit to. I need some seriously physical activity when I get back to feel normal again.... a few more helpings of vegetable won't hurt either.

So hopefully, a quick, uneventful trip home tomorrow. (knocking on some serious wood) See you all on the other side...

Day 3/Day 4 - Blackout!

2008-08-01T21:41:00.001-07:00

So much for more stories when I get to Canada. I knew that I would no
longer have regular cell coverage in Canada (the roaming fees are
ridiculous, thanks Rogers wireless). That also means no Internet for
me either (it IS possible to miss the EDGE network). I didn't think it
would be so hard to find some Wifi somewhere though. The hotel I am
staying in charges $6 for 24 hours, which I just couldn't justify
(thank you unfriendly exchange rates). So here I am, happily going
back to the States tomorrow, sitting in the parking lot of a motel
down the street, borrowing their wifi (thank you Days Inn!).

Don't get me wrong, Vancouver is great. It even rained here like it
should to give me an authentic experience. Apparently I am just not
the kind if guy that can take one of those technology vacations. I
feel like I am in the dark ages!! Rest assured there are plenty if
pictures and stories. Depending on the line at the border, I'll be
back in Seattle tomorrow afternoon. Until then, it's back to an
unconnected world, and a not as useful phone in my pocket.

I better get going before the Days Inn employees hunt me down and kick
me out....

Day 2 - Now with minimal technology!

2008-07-31T00:45:00.000-07:00

This is the first post that I have ever done by email. Email and
slowly tapped out on my phone. We finished our journey to Seattle
today (Bellevue, to be specific) and am staying at a relative's house
for the night. We will cross the border tomorrow and be in Richmond
for two days before coming back to the Seattle area for the weekend.
So another day on the road. Just a couple of observations:

- eating on the road usually consists of a lot of fast food, and our
trip is no exception. My parents aren't the most adventurous eaters
either so it severely limits the choices some more. We had McDonalds
for breakfast and Denny's for lunch. Considering the fact that my
sister has pretty much taught me to travel for food (her and Anthony
Bourdain), this is flat out embarassing. In my defense a bit, the
choices of eatery in southern Washington leaves a lot to be desire
(along I-5 anyway). And we HAD to have found the Denny's with
construction going on so my mediocre chicken salad came with a side of
power tool noise. I am expecting my eating to take a turn for the
better now that I met up with my sister. Hopefully I'll have better
news to report tomorrow.

(to prove my point, my sister flew up to Seattle and had lunch at
perhaps the best salumi place ever. I'll link to her post as soon as
she writes one)

- one more note on roadside eating. There are Subway restaurants at
literally every exit. It's either a standalone place or inside a gas
station. Terribly annoying when you are trying to find food to eat.
Talk about taunting...

- We are staying in a huge house and is more than comfortable, there
is even Wifi here but we were tired and rushed to bed pretty early, so
here I am rapping away on my phone on email. I will have to remember
to ask for access when we come back for the weekend.

- Hppefully when we get settled in Canada tomorrow I will have time to
throw a few pictures on here. Right now it would just be a gallery of
people asleep in the car anyway. If you really want to keep track of
things I am trying to keep my facebook and twitter acount (ak3700)
updated. Hey, what else am I going to do in the car?I love my phone....

The Pacific Northwest - Day 1

2008-07-29T23:07:00.000-07:00

Just want to leave a quick note on day one of our adventure. I'll update this post with a few pictures later.

I should have known, but this trip got off to a wonderful start when we went to pick up our car and the lady told us, "We don't have a minivan right now, but we have an SUV for you." Uhh... that is not going to work for six people. So she had to call the Berkeley location and ask if they had anything that sat 7. They did, so we went over there and found out that we were the proud renters of a Suzuki XL7. Sitting seven is really a stretch, as it's really a regular SUV with an extra row of seat stuck in the back. As you can imagine, this puts an even further cramp on luggage space, which was a problem with so many people going. So we finally all crammed in, a cooler and luggage taking the window seat next to Britt, and off we went....

Other than that, it was pretty uneventful up I-5 and out of California. We had dinner in a town call Weed that was funny until we couldn't find any restaurants opened. Another hour and a half or so we pulled into Medford, Oregon where I now sit in a Motel 6, borrowing WiFi from the Travelodge next door. (Motel 6 offers WiFi...for $2.99 a day. My head still hurts trying to wrap itself around that). On the plus side, there is a Dairy Queen across the parking lot that is opened until 11, so I am also enjoying a Peanut Blaster Parfait as well. Mmmm... another 6 or 7 hours on the road tomorrow before we get to Seattle, so I better head to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will go more smoothly than today. But then, you would have no reason to come read this then, would you?

Leaving...On a Jet Plane

2008-07-29T01:34:00.000-07:00

...it's a fun song, but sadly no, we are actually taking a road trip. The bags are packed, and tomorrow we hit the road north to not-so-sunny Seattle/Vancouver. Will my kids survive the long drive? How many cups of Seattle's Finest coffee will I consume? Will I find some free WiFi to keep you all updated? We will all find out soon....

Quietly Mumble Happy Birthday Amongst Yourselves...

2008-07-28T01:08:00.000-07:00

...That was what was instructed to everyone right before I cut the delicious homemade cheesecake (darn, forgot to take a picture) for Britt's birthday. She is not a fan of birthday attention, so a nice, quiet BBQ lunch is all she gets. It ended up cold and windy anyway (great precursor to our vacation, I guess), so we came, we ate, and we retreated indoors, where the warmth of technology kept us company.

Right guys?

Perfect Cookies?

2008-07-21T23:30:00.001-07:00

As stated many times in this space, I am not the baker of the family. But if you start attaching words like "perfect" in describing your recipes, and fill the articles with science to back up your claim, you will have me interested. So perhaps when I get some free time, I will give it a try. I'll let you know how it goes....

(Of course, the recent mishap of my standup mixer's engine breaking will make this difficult. If anyone knows where a good place I can take the mixer to get repair, I would greatly appreciate it... and perhaps thank you with some cookies.)

Playtime?

2008-07-20T00:29:00.000-07:00

The kids have a lot of barbie dolls and they play with them in all sorts of ways.

I do not know which way this is.

Sheperd's Pie

2008-07-15T00:10:00.000-07:00

Had some potatoes around the house that were ready to bloom so I decided to use them along with some leftovers to make a quick sheperd's pie for dinner. Nothing especially exciting. What I actually wanted to bring up was that as I was leveling the mashed potatoes on top and getting ready to put it in the oven, I realized that I had no idea how to make those cool peaks with a fork that everyone seems to make that gets all browned and delicious looking. I ended up kind of plowing across them like I was getting ready to plant corn in them or something. Not quite the same. If anyone can show me how to make nifty peaks, please let me know....

Another Helpful Hint

2008-07-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

When your parents tell you not to climb on, or jump off of the tree in your backyard, they probably have a good reason. If you don't believe them, you will only find out for yourself, the hard way.

In case you were wondering....

2008-07-03T23:32:00.000-07:00

...yes, if you happen to be on the Wii Fit, getting some exercise, and you suddenly feel the urge to go to the bathroom, but you are in the middle of being weighed and couldn't wait and you accidentally pee on the Wii Balance Board....it's ok. The Board can take it. Wipe it up, and it still works.

I'm just saying, in case you were wondering.....

Farmer's Market

2008-07-01T23:08:00.000-07:00

When you want to go to a Farmer's Market in the Bay Area, the Ferry Building Farmer's Market is pretty much the gold standard that others are compared to. With Hannah having been freed for the summer from her busy activities, we decided to take a trip out and enjoy the summer harvest of local farmers.

I support being a locavore as much as the next guy. I think Michael Pollan has a lot of very good ideas on how we can be more responsible with our the way we manage of resources. Looking at all of the organically grown food on display (look at those pepper! beautiful), I am definitely inspired to do more to support the local farmer. It is pricier than your local grocery store, but you more than make up for it in quality. I really wasn't looking to do a lot of shopping on this particular trip, but I couldn't resist buying a few tomatoes as thoughts of a BLT swirls in my head. (I LOVE a good ripe tomato. I can eat those things like apples. On the other hand, eating tomatoes in the winter time is one of the saddest experiences that I can think of) Then, amidst the abundant free samples, I also bought some potato-stuffed indian naan, some rhubarb that Britt turned into a crisp, and this love cheese sampler from Cowgirl Creamery. (I mostly took this to sow my friend Tim, who has developed a taste for fancy cheese)

Back to the sampling for a moment... You would think that all the samples of ripe nectarines, artisan cheeses, and even pickled green beans would be a meal in itself. But you know, sometimes the sampling works and it does indeed get you to buy more stuff. Besides what was mentioned above, I also tried a salumi "meat cone" from newly opened Boccalone. Excuse the blurry picture, I was having camera issues, but it's a paper cone with meat. Isn't that exciting enough of an idea?

So on a lovely summer day, I really can't think of anything better than spending the late afternoon/early morning strolling the Ferry Building. If it was inspiring to get me to wake up a little earlier on a Saturday morning, it's certainly worth a visit from you.

My First Souffle

2008-06-22T00:27:00.000-07:00

For my last birthday, Britt gave me a strong hint when she got me a souffle dish. Being the strong willed type (and lazy, let's not forget to give credit to...ah whatever), I pretty much left the bowl unused for about a year. Then one day, while perusing some of my favorite blogs in my Google Reader (the greatest time suck mankind has ever known), I run across the Amateur Gourmet's attempt at a simple Ina Garten souffle recipe. What really sealed the deal for me, besides the basic recipe, are the step by step pictures that Adam took along the way. It's one of the easiest recipes that I think I ever followed.

Of course, that means that reprinting the recipes or too many pictures would be highly redundant. So here a just a few of how mine turned out, and I highly encourage you give this a shot. As mentioned in his post, there are kind of a lot of bowls and such involved, so clean up is a bummer, but I found that it was a great way to distract myself while I tried not peeking into that oven.

As promised, a simple recipe with very few ingredients. I had to substitute the cheese choice as all I had on hand was some lovely Swiss Emmenthal. I thought it worked out pretty well.

This was what it looked like before it went into the oven. This is also one of the few times that I get to play with the stand up mixer. Britt is the baker, so she is usually the one mixing things with it. It was great to just put the whisk to the egg whites and walk away to other things.

This was the final product when I took it out of the oven. I was hoping for more rise, but I think when I let Sara help fold the egg whites in the mixture, she was a little heavy handed and mixed everything in. It's OK though, I don't blame her or anything. It was a lot of fun letting both girls help throughout the process. Besides, the pretty rise only lasts a short time before the souffle cools.

See? No hard feelings...

Graduation Day

2008-06-14T00:45:00.000-07:00

June is also the time of graduations, and it's no different in our household as Sara celebrated her promotion into kindergarten. It was challenging journey (she did have to repeat the grade), but she was able to buckle down on her studies and passed all of her finals. That finger painting exam had us a little worry for a minute there, but her excellent color composition and organization of her stick fingers really pulled her through.

Of course, all of that is ridiculous. As proud of Sara as I am for her accomplishment of progressing through school, it seems to me we put a little too much pomp and circumstances into this. The parents agreed to buy cap and gowns for their preschoolers, ones that will never be worn again, all for a ceremony that lasted all of 10 minutes. I remember when Hannah finished preschool they made paper caps and I thought they were the cutest thing ever. Why couldn't we do that now? It's preschool? Is there someone out there living on the streets because they were a preschool drop out and can't make art with dry macaroni? (that guy is probably running Microsoft of something)

Ramble all I want, the graduation took place with cap and gown, the kids look cute, and Sara is on her way to kindergarten in th fall. I can't wait to see her in another cap and gown next year for her promotion to first grade. And they say we aren't encouraging our kids enough....

Happy Birthday to.....Me.

2008-06-12T00:49:00.000-07:00

If you are wondering where the barrage of posts are suddenly coming from, you should know that we are in the midst what is known in our household as "Alan's month." There are just more events involving me than those other eleven months, so it's a busy time. I already took you through my anniversary, and there is also my birthday, follow by Father's Day. There was also a time when I would graduate from stuff this month too (ah those were the days) so really, you are getting a break from me compared to years past!

For my birthday, I wasn't looking to do a whole lot. Turning 31 is a lot like celebrating 9 years of marriage. People aren't exactly focused on the present year as talking about an adjacent year. So I decided to just volunteer it as a good excuse to have a little BBQ at my house, which people seem to like to attend. If you are my friend, then surely you like to eat, which is really what we do at these things. My parents stuff us with meat, we try to balance it out with some sides, and we sit around all day eating. Here is me balancing out all the meat by providing a refreshing watermelon:

Well, that and me having way too much fun with a cleaver.

I did have a birthday cake too. I eventually shared.

Best of all, I found out I have a lot of very nice and generous friends. It seems that many of them got together and bought me what I always wanted: a digital SLR. The shipping didn't make it to the BBQ, but I was still pretty happy when I found out, as seen here:

The stupid grin is of a little boy that got everything he wanted for his birthday.

In case you are interested, or was an investor in this venture and want to know where your money went, the camera arrived Monday morning in time for my actual birthday. Here's another picture of my stupid smile upon seeing the package had arrived:

And the premiere of the very first picture taken:

Hey, it's not artistic genius yet. I'm working on it...

Anniversary dinner

2008-06-06T00:52:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, the dinner. Eating a a big part of this blog and I would be doing a disservice to you all if I don't at least mention the slightly fancy meal that I had for my anniversary. After last year's extravagantly enjoyable dinner at Gary Danko and before next year's...uh... something special for a nice round 10 years, we weren't really looking for anything extra fancy. As luck would have it, the semi-annual (that's twice a year, right? I always get bi-annual and semi-annual mixed up) Dine About Town coincides with our anniversary so I looked for an interesting place to try. By pretty much random chance I went with One Market, who has a recent reputation around the city and I am a fan of it's locale...well, on One Market, across from the Ferry Building, where I always try to take a stroll if I am in the area. My sister's favorite casual meal, Foreign Cinema, will have to wait until next time....

Overall, I would say that One Market is a good reliable place for good food. It didn't blow me away with any of their offerings, but it was all well prepared, well portioned, and overall satisfying. The ambiance can be a little on the loud side as there are a lot of business folk who work near by who drops by for drinks and a bite to eat. It may seem unromantic to you, but Britt and I like the bustling crowd as we can people watch a little bit. I don't want to say we like to make fun of other people... well yeah, we do that sometimes...but when you are married with kids, getting out around other adults is part of the fun. There is always alone time every night after the kids go to bed. You know, those couple of hours where you are half asleep while the TV is on sitting next to each other? What is more romantic than that?

Oh, but back to the food. At One Market, the Dine About Town special allows a choice of two starters, two entrees, and two desserts. It's a great deal for getting a full meal at a reasonable price. Britt went with the white poppy seed encrusted skate wing (following a hilarious discussion of whether Skate was fish or fowl. Thank God for my iPhone). I scanned the menu and decided that maybe if I forgo dessert, I can get something else for about the same price, along with a side (which for me, can count as dessert. I'm a savory man). So after much deliberation, I decided on Alaskan halibut "Sous Vide" (which I learned, is like poaching, but with the food in a vacuumed sealed bag) over bamboo rice, peanuts, shitake mushroom, shrimp-coconut nage (another poaching like method). As I said before, it was solid and satisfying, if not spectacular.

The sides you see behind the fish are what are known as "Big Fries", and big they are. Britt remarked that they look like French Toast sticks and indeed they do. I wanted to try them because I had heard that fries at One Market were fried in duck fat, and who wouldn't want to try that? I can tell you now that ...I can't tell if they are fried in duck fat. It was a delicious fry, don't get me wrong. How they get just the right doneness inside and out with just a thick cut is something to be admired. I couldn't even eat them all even though there were only seven fries (to the equivalent of what seemed like 3 potatoes). Any uniqueness of duck fat frying though, I can't really say...

Finally, good thing one of us had dessert planned. The kitchen would never be able to send their congratulations if Britt didn't order the Peach Brown Butter Tart with blueberry compote as follows:

Aww what a nice touch. It was delicious too. I like good vanilla ice cream. And yes, we did try to eat the letters. The chocolate was hard to get off the plate, but it was delicious. After a brief, and intense discussion, we decided that licking the plate would just be a bad end to the meal.

So there you have it. Another year capped of (or is it kicked off? ah well, one of those) with a good meal, good atmosphere, and most of all, with my wife of 9 years.

Happy 9 Years!

2008-06-04T02:20:00.000-07:00

Oh my god that picture is from a long time ago. Granted, technically, this was while we were dating so it's more than 9 years old, but this picture is way funnier than some stuffy wedding photo that I could have showed you. I always liked my wind blown coif that day... and if I remembered correctly, I hurled after the tilt-a-whirl that day too. How romantic....

So yes, 9 whole years. Certainly no less significant because the big 1-0 is looming. It's still a wonder to think that is has already been that long. I don't really have anything profound to say, other than the somewhat generic, "It goes by fast" or "I wouldn't have changed a day of it." In today's society, we may already be viewed as a couple who have "made it". Our marriage have probably lasted longer than about 30 celebrity marriages combined. At the same time, I very much look forward to what lies ahead for us in the next 9, 19, or even 90 years. I may have read it in a fortune cookie once, but I believe the best part of marriage is the journey. An adventure that you take with someone who can share in the joy and excitement of each day. So from that perspective, my trip is only beginning. Through 2 kids (and working on a third), and a few interesting places we've called home, I wouldn't want to go get more stamps in our passport of life with anyone else. So Happy Anniversary, honey! We are just getting started.

Oh, here is us today. Right before dinner which I guess I'll share next time...

Get it your way (if that involves a flame thrower)

2008-05-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

Is there such a thing as, too hot and fresh? Walked into the strangest Burger King in Stockton the other day. I don't know what it was before Burger King, but the kitchen is off to the side away from the cashiers where you can't see them at all. Then Hannah's kid's meal comes in the singed bag above. What exactly are they doing back there??

Not fresh (or REALLY fresh) Onion

2008-05-01T22:44:00.000-07:00

This why you should store onions in a cool, dry place....and probably use it within two weeks.

Sharing Spam Musubi

2008-04-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

Sharing Spam Musubi
Originally uploaded by Alanmine

Nothing says Spring and warmer weather than fair season. We are warming up ourselves at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown in San Francisco. Fairs are big on crafts and culture, but honestly, we go for the food. While I didn't find the Japanese take on Funnel cake, I did expose Hannah to the wonderful world of Spam Musubi. No matter what your feelings are towards Spam, wrap it around some rice and you are pretty much good to go...

....The Apsaragus festival is next. Please don't let me have to use the port-a-potty too much!

Take Me Out to the Buffet...

2008-04-08T23:28:00.000-07:00

The Oakland A's has decided this season to join a growing trend among Major League stadiums to offer an All-You-Can-Eat section. For one flat fee, you can choose to knock off yet another one of those pesky deadly sins off your list with ease. It just so happens that my work decided to organize a little outing to a baseball game, and took advantage of the group rate to make all the food even more of a deal. So I rounded up my daughter Sara to come help me try what $35 can get your average, hard working baseball fan besides the A's brand of baseball.

(side note here. The A's always has a better campaign than the Giants. It makes a Giants fan like me jealous. The A's always have a clever campaign that really engages their fans (all 36 of them) out there. Don't even get me started on the Giants "Gamers Play Here" campaign. Gamers don't whine about their teams inability to sell themselves, and apparently they also can't hit they way out of their shirt.)

Anyway on with the food...or rather the three flights of stairs you have to walk up to get the section. A stroke of genius really, get the fan's heart pumping a little bit before clogging it with an over abundance of food. Lawsuits averted!

Pictures speak louder than words here, so I'll let Sara show you what is on the menu...

First, we have the nachos. Not quite stale chips. Gobs of warm cheese from a can. How can you go wrong? (Does that count as a Haiku?)

A rare chance for Sara to drink soda. The only non-carbonated choice was Powerade. I'll take clear soda over the blue anti-freeze any day...

(You notice the tiny paper shot glasses they used to sodas? You would think since it's All-You-Can-Eat they would just give you a big cup. Go Green, Coliseum!)

Now that we are warmed up, the hot dog is next. Sadly, they serve the same hot dog as the Dollar Days at the park. Tiny little things that might as well have a toothpick in it. With a 4 item limit on every visit to the concession window, my personal first visit involved 3 hot dogs and a drink....

Next come the highlight of our meal, the ice cream sandwich. If it wasn't melting so fast in the warm afternoon, we would have gotten more than one at a time. Simple cheap ice cream sandwiches, but one of those things that I rarely splurge for at a game, so it was nice to get one. We haven't sampled everything yet, so we decided to go back for a second one later.....if we had any room left.

For some reason Sara always ask for popcorn at baseball games. I wished it was Cracker Jack myself. Decent size bag. I kept thinking to myself, this would have cost me 6 bucks at the theater!

No Cracker Jack but peanuts! At least some tradition holds. Little paper bags of peanuts. Would have been better warm, but I might have just been pining for too much nostalgia.

That's all we could handle. One of everything. We left with the popcorn and peanuts and the ushers made us throw the popcorn out before we left. I totally understand not letting people leave with food during the game, they wouldn't want people to be hooking up their friends in a different section, but the game was over, and they would rather me waste the food than bringing it home to eat. Fortunately the peanuts were in my pockets and they didn't notice (just happy to see you!). Out of spite, of course, I then gave the peanuts away to Zach who was sitting in another section. Take that, Oakland A's!!!

So in conclusion, it's probably not worth the $35 regular price. But for $25, we got what we paid for, which was cheap food, a sunny day, an A's win (versus the Eating Champ himself, C.C. Sabathia), and for Sara, a big stomachache when she got home....

Root, Root Root for the Home Team...(or Adventure in Parenting, Part II)

2008-03-31T22:45:00.000-07:00

Now I may just have been being snobby when I found it difficult to go to Hannah's school functions, but she started to play Little League and you would think this would be more up my alley. I mean, I love sports, especially baseball. I have two daughters but fortunately they seem to like sports so far so I was glad that Hannah wanted to play baseball this summer. But maybe it's because she is playing with mostly younger kids, and I just don't have the patience for youth sports at such a young age. It's hard for me to watch practice. It's really slightly organized chaos most of the time. It doesn't help that the league is new and not the most organized. Brittany can find the humor of watching kids run around in circles(as you will hear), but me, I am subjected to two hours of this three times a week and it's hard. It's very, very hard....

Is it the scrum that occurs after every batted ball? Is it the kid that doesn't even bother touching all of the bases? Is it my daughter just standing there swinging her arms? The choices are endless...

We done read good.... (An Adventure in Parenting, Part I)

2008-03-28T00:25:00.000-07:00

I tried to be a good parent. I really do. It's important to me to be as involved as possible with what my kids are doing. There are some things, however, that I admit are hard to really get into. Here are two of those things:

1) School sponsored family activities

Every once in a while Hannah brings home fliers from school for activities at school to promote families learning together and getting parents more involved with their child's education. Nothing wrong with that, right? Except that I think we do alright doing things with Hannah, and I just don't think we are the target group of such activities. The other night was something called Family Literacy Night. Hey great, the family reads together is a family that stays together, I get that. I already read to the kids, I thought, we read before bed every night. The kids love to read and look forward to new books. I think we do a good job promoting literacy...The excellent promotional work by Hannah's teacher, however, really convinced Hannah that this was a big deal, and therefore it meant a lot if we attended, so I begrudgingly went along to see what the big deal was about...

...And boy was it everything I thought it would be. The idea was good, there were different stations ran by teachers to promote certain aspects of reading. My critical eye, however, quickly noticed alarming things. First, Hannah was coloring pictures that accompanied different Haikus. At first I thought, "Oh great, never too early to teach kids what a Haiku was all about." Then I tried to read it...

You obviously can't read that, so let me read it for you:

"Shooting Star
For the First Time
Fantastic."

Now I haven't written a Haiku since probably the 7th grade, but I'm pretty sure those words above does not constitute a Haiku. Maybe in its original Japanese form this would be correct? Anyone? Help?

If that wasn't puzzling enough, on the back wall of the cafeteria, there were butcher papers full of words that supposedly came from children's books. The point was to see how many of the words your kid can both say and know the meaning. I started to go through them with Hannah, and we came upon this list:

Now you can return the favor and read it to me. Chirped? Ok, I guess that's what it says. Curiois? Sounds like an illness the Man with the Yellow Hat caught from a diseased monkey. Ohey? ok, bad penmanship. Gracefully. Clumsy....I have no idea what the next word is. Peculior? At that point we left. Hannah went home with a few new books. And you can bet I will proofread them before I let her have at it.

Thirsting for Change....

2008-03-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

I miss my Tivo.

Not getting to watch TV on my own time is terrible to have to transition back into. Not getting to skip commercials is an even more painful change. So many commercials don't make any sense (Can anyone explain to me exactly what a HeadOn does? It's weird if not borderline dirty), and most just insults the audience intelligence.

Take the recent Propel commercial attacking Vitamin Water. They are in a gym telling people how there are 125 calories in a bottle of Vitamin Water, and how it's like 492 sit ups to work that off, and almost 5,000 extra steps to walk off that drink. The people are appalled! They don't want to do all that extra work! Good thing there's Propel, with only 25 calories per bottle! Yipee! Let's drink away!

I'm not a math genius, but 25 is still a one-fifth of 125. Sure that is less, but a one-fifth of 500 is still 100, and one-fifth of 5,000 is conveniently 1,000. If you walk up to those same people and ask if they want to crank out an extra 100 sit ups, wouldn't they be just as upset? Who wants to do "extra" exercise?? Come one people! Use your heads! Just drink some water!

What's Your Verb?

2008-03-04T11:38:00.000-08:00

Ah March 4th, one of my favorite days of the year. The only day of the year that is a verb. I think I will celebrate this day of action...by sitting at home tonight and doing as little as possible.

I really am trying to take it easy at home as my right wrist is kind of sore. Oncoming carpal tunnel? Probably. Ironically enough, while a lot of the blame is on all of the computering I do at work (specifically, the mouse work. hence the pain on just the right wrist), my work setup is 10 times more ergonomic then what I have at home. The work computers are heavily restricted as far as using only sanctioned equipment though, so even though I have my own nifty cordless trackball mouse (that I "accidentally" took from my last job), I can't use it at my current job. The only trackball option here is this jenky thing that looks more painful to use then the mouse (if not physical pain, then certainly mental ones). So this all lead me to just take it easy with the computers at home. Nothing was on TV though (except a pretty good episode of No Reservation where Anthony Boudain was in Argentina watch calves get castrated....yum!), so I ended up watch TV.....on my laptop. Hey, it's still minimal use of the hands! (Tons of crude jokes I can be making here, but I won't. And you shouldn't either)

Being kind of a tech happy family, (as much as this poor family can afford, anyway) it was inevitable that my kids would get all into it too, especially with games...

No, Sara here has not been taken into the addictive realm of World of Warcraft by her father. (It's actually Hannah that likes to play WoW with me. My Blood Elf Paladin is just girly enough to be appealing to Hannah. She loves to slay those undeads in the Ghostland! Ok, enough nerdiness...) Sara is actually playing a very educational game on PBSkids.org (my laptop can never handle WoW anyway). The headset is a toy from her High School Musical dress up kit. Still, I don't think it's ever too early to get your child's frag count up. I wonder if she'll help me play some Army of Two (shameless EA plug)......

Let them eat bread

2008-03-02T23:57:00.000-08:00

I am not a baker. It's too much pressure. Cooking is forgiving. You can skip an ingredient or make some minor substitution and it may not end up being what you started to make, but it will still taste good. When you are baking, almost every ingredient has their specific roles. So if you use the wrong item, or even in the wrong amount, your cookies might taste like cake, your cake might looks like a scone, and your scones just may looks like a cookie....dropped on the ground and stepped on.

"But Alan," you say, "you claimed that you like to cook for the geeky science of it. Baking is where all the science happens!" You're right. If I really am trying to bring out the Alton Brown in me, I must venture into the world of baking... Laziness still comes first, however, so when I caught wind of the No-Knead Bread phenomenon, I knew this was my chance to further my cooking repertoire.

Bread also works for me because so much of the baking world takes place in the land of desserts. I don't have that much of a sweet tooth (heh, try telling that to my dentist) and who wants to make food that you won't really enjoy? Bread-making, however, involves playing with yeast, which seems like entering the baking game at 'Advance'. I can't even keep the whole baking soda/baking powder thing straight, and now I have to grow some gas emitting little spores?? This better be as easy as they claim...

The first great thing going for it: Minimal ingredients! Flour, salt, yeast, and water. So far so good....

Mix all together and you end up with this gloppy mess. I believe the original recipe called it "hairy." Not much work far....

Then it sits....for a long time...this is the key, let the yeast slowly rise and develop the complexity of good bread. I was a little worry since it really should sit somewhere reasonable warm. But it's February at 10pm. Where would it be warm short of taking it to bed with me? The oven seemed like the only way to go. I just have to remember to tell Britt that it's in there in case she decides to preheat the oven for something while I am at work....yikes! ....Off to bed...

The timing of the whole thing is really the trickiest part. You should give it 12, preferably 18 hours to rise. It's pretty much impossible to do this on a weekday and still have it ready for that night's dinner. After much false starts (thanks to some untimely road construction outside my house), I decided to go ahead and just make it whenever I can. I may not eat it that day, but I'll still have fresh bread at home the next day. As luck would have it, we were being treated to Zachary's pizza the next day, so I didn't even need to worry about dinner when I got home. Just open up the oven to be greeted by my growing glop.

I was a little anxious and didn't get a picture of it after the long rise. I took it out and folded the glop once or twice, which turned out to be incredibly sticky. I think I lost a quarter of the bread by leaving it stuck to my hands. But I did the best I could and ended up with this...

After 15 minutes or so, I had to handle the glue dough again and try to form it into a ball before placing it onto a towel that has been floured or in my case, cornmealed. I don't really remember why I have cornmeal at home, so I figured this was a good time to use it. Then covered with another towel (more flour or cornmeal!) and let it rise again for 2 hours. This is where I went to have pizza. Mmmm pizza....

So this was the product that was going into the oven. Mostly round, but the best I could do without just baking my hands with the bread. I then came to my favorite part of the recipe because the baking takes place inside a dutch oven or other oven safe pot (like the one I used. I do not have a dutch oven. It is currently the other thing that I am coveting in my life, along with that camera that I begged you for last time). Baking is 30 minutes with the lid on, follow by 30 minutes or so without the lid, or until golden, brown, and delicious.

With all of the sloppy mess that I was handling, I was pleasantly surprised that what I ended up actually looked like bread. In fact, it looked like damn good bread. One problem though, by that point, I was all doughed out from the pizza I binged on, so as good as the bread looked coming out of the oven (and smelled even better), I just could not sample any that night without committing a deadly sin (gluttony, for those of you scoring at home). It tasted great the next day though, and the people that I shared the bread with seemed to agree.

It is somewhat time intensive, but the effort is minimal and the results well worth it all. It is such a cheap way to always have fresh bread around the house, that I am preparing another hairy glop as we speak. Let the baking begin!

Birthday Party

2008-02-26T16:04:00.001-08:00

Sara & MK
Originally uploaded by Alanmine

Saturday was Sara's 5th Birthday party, and as strange as it sounds, the weather cooperated and it rained for most of the afternoon. You see, being an election year, my street is scheduled to be repaved. The original plan was for the construction to take place right through the weekend of the party, which means no parking for anyone on the street. Luckily, it did rain (not as much as on Jan 4th though, the weatherman on TV said) and construction was delayed and party guests were free to take park wherever they want.

Of course, that meant 30 some odd people were crammed into my smallish house with no place to hide. It was festive and cozy, but I think it went pretty well. Thank you all who came and ate and partied. We readily admit that we are terrible at thank you cards so we didn't keep very good track of the many, many presents Sara receive. Just know that they were all very appreciated (even the messy and loud ones).

Of note:

- Who knew a plastic afro would be such a hit? I think I will start a Photo Set on Flickr of people in the 'fro. Stay tune, but here are some quick samples....

- Occasions like this allow me to play with my sister's fancy photography equipment. It's fun and I like how it makes me look like I am good at photography (which I most certainly am not). At the same time, it makes me want one SOOOOO bad. If anyone knows where I can get a cheap Nikon D70/40/60, please let me know. I don't know how much longer I can hold out and there really are more responsible things I can do with my tax refund.

- The first picture at top is currently my favorite picture anywhere. I told you that camera makes me look good....the beautiful subjects doesn't hurt either.

- I still can't believe we never took advantage of the Valentine's Clearance sales to decorate Sara's party before. A Love party every year! wait...that doesn't sound right....especially when she becomes a teenager....ack!

I Eat Your Brussels Sprouts! I Eat It Up!

2008-02-21T23:55:00.000-08:00

Oh, a quick word about the brussels sprouts. I love roasted vegetables. It is my preferred way of cooking almost any vegetables. The dry heat intensifies the flavor rather boiling it away in a big pot of water. It started with asparagus, and then broccoli, and now I even eat brussels sprouts!

(Ok, a clarification here. I don't actually remember ever having brussels sprouts before. I may have as a young kid, but I don't recall, so I was going along with their poor reputation along with everyone else. Britt claims to love it and always ask me to make it for her, so I figured if I was going to start, I would at least apply the best method possible)

Thanks to my new Food hero, Mark Bittman of the NYT for the inspiration. I liked it with a little balsamic vinegar, Brittany liked it the way it was. It didn't quite pass the Hannah test, but that might be shooting a little high....

The Food Section

2008-02-21T22:46:00.000-08:00

So apparently I've been kicked out of sharing my food exploits from my "food band" because everyone wants to have their own solo projects. I am certainly not the Paul McCartney of the group, (or even the Justin Timberlake...maybe I can be the Joey Fatone of the group. "Fat One" I love that....) but I have been a little more inspired to try some new things lately, courtesy of all the food blogs that I am suddenly subscribed to (thank you Google Reader, you have pretty much monopolized the last remnants of my free time), so I need to share things somewhere. (wow, I just looked back and realized that last sentence was like 89 words. my old English teachers all probably hate my right now) So the 'mine has a food section as well...

There is a general theme to the cooking renaissance . First, it must be relatively cheap. No running out to the store and buying exotic things like saffron , Italian ham, or fancy French goat cheese (or red meat, with the way food prices are going....har har). All of those things are delicious, but just too costly to buy, for possible one time use only. The family is in the midst of trying to be better about finances, so along with living without cable for a while (and Tivo! Nooooo!), we are sacrificing as much eating out as possible. So I am cooking to save money, not for extravagance.

Secondly, it must be relatively fast. The second thing I usually hear when I get home from work is how my kids are starving and about to pass out (they should get honorary Oscars. just take one from the Coen brothers. Do they really need two?). I have probably an hour or so before they walk into the kitchen with forks and look like they are ready to pick out my meaty parts (too many of those parts, if you ask me) for dinner. So I have to be creative sometimes. If I am extra good I can make some preparation the night before, but honestly, when have you known me to be so prepared and un-lazy? (Yes my wife is home and can totally handle dinner, or at least help. But cooking has sneaked its way up to being a genuine hobby with me and I like to try new things, along with the challenge of making things my picky kids will eat. You will just have to live with my wife's baking after you get through my dinners...)

So with that in mind, I decided to go with a classic and made Tilapia with broccoli in parchment paper packets. Not only is it easy, but a cinch to clean up, and the kids truly feel extra special getting their own little packet to open up. It was a last minute decision so I just threw a bunch of stuff together. There is some inspiration from here, but what I ended up with bares little resemblance.

First I cut the broccoli into small florets and place them in a bowl. I tossed with olive oil, soy sauce, and a little salt and pepper. I also wanted lemon juice and realized that I was all out, so I went out to my yard and picked two blood oranges off my tree. We have some decent size fruit this year for the first time, but they are WAY sour, so I thought that would be perfect as a lemon substitute. Besides, the color is cool....

I place some broccoli on each of the parchment paper sheets, and then placed the tilapia in the bowl and rolled it around in the remaining sauce. I placed it on top of the broccoli, and crimped closed the packets, making sure that there is enough room for the steam that will be doing the cooking.

The packets were placed in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Let the packets rest for about 10 minutes before opening, being careful of the hot steam escaping. Made some cous cous while the fish is cooking as a side. Roasted some brussel sprouts while the fish was cooling, and a meal was completed....

Snow Day

2008-02-19T21:19:00.000-08:00

As promised, I took a day off during the kid's ski week vacation and took them to the snow. We realized that it was Sara's first time in the snow and that is really a shame. We tagged along with a friend's family and ended up at a snow park that is barely two hours away. Why didn't we do this sooner? The kids had a ball, getting braver as the afternoon went on and going higher. Unfortunately, our seldom visits to the white flaky stuff also meant that we don't really have the cloths for it. The rain boots you see on the kids are cute, but they are far too loose and snow got into them easily. Sara went through 4 pairs of socks and is now the proud owner of $8 wool socks, courtesy of the snow park store. If it were up to me, she will be wearing those on all future trips to the snow....until she's 16.

As a bonus, I also learned something that probably everyone who lives in the snow already knows: Never park your car next to a slanted roof full of snow. I had never seen snow smash a windshield before, and if I wasn't feeling so bad for the guy, I would have taken a picture to show you. Alas, you will have to just watch my kid in action:

Get it while it's hot!

2008-02-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

Overexposed events like the Super Bowl makes it hard for me to be motivated enough to say too much about it (and from the scarcity of post here, one would think not many things motivate me to say anything here). I didn't have too much rooting interest in the game, so I was glad it was entertaining. For once, I think the game was better than the commercials...

...I did come across this for sale at Amazon though, which I thought was pretty funny. I wonder if they also sell those Dewey Defeat Truman posters too....

Watching MORE TV?

2008-01-23T21:20:00.000-08:00

Out of habit, while I flip through my daily newspaper (who still reads newspapers? like on paper? apparently I still enjoy scrubbing the newsprint off my fingers everyday), I scan the back page of the entertainment section where the tv listings are to see if anything of interest is on. Lately, of course, I always end up with the conclusion that, well, nothing is on! I have as fond of memories of American Gladiators as the next guy (Larry Csonka! Nitro!), but on one of the networks? in primetime? what's next? update of Knight Rider? (oh wait) Reinvent Bionic Woman? (what? damn it!) Cast Dakota Fanning in the new Small Wonders? (Yes!)

The way I see it, there are two things preventing a resolution to this writer's strike business. First, the writers have not done a very good job of getting the average American to give a crap. Ask any Joe Schmoes in Middle America if they know that the writer's strike was still going on and at best, you'll get an answer to the effect of, "The writer strike? Is that still going on?" How would picketing a Hollywood studio lot bring your cause to the public? Last time I checked, I don't happen by the set of CSI:Walnut Creek on my way to work, and I certainly don't see anyone telling me that they are getting robbed of their online content royalty on my way to Safeway. Worse, while the writers are whining in their little corner of the world, the networks are getting away with sprinkling just enough new programming into the schedule that people don't even notice something it changed. There has been a steady increase in the hour of reality programming anyway, so what's 3 or 4 more opportunities to see what people would do if they were tied up to an alligator while trying to travel across the country trying to hook up with their high school prom date for a chance to win a hundred bucks and a bottle of ketchup? and I suffered through all sorts of interruptions during Heroes last season, isn't it coming back on in a few weeks just like last time? Television executives have effectively trained your average viewer to have basically no expectations when it comes to their programming, so really, no one gives a crap. How are the writers going to drum up any kind of support? (I know movies are technically affected too, but we are still a couple of months away from the well running dry on those...wait, Rambo opens this week? ah geez....)

I know one way that the writers can rally the public and put more pressure on the movie execs (which, incidentally, was my second point from earlier, but I am way past an organized rant by now), keep count of the length of the strike! Nothing revs up the urgency in a situation (and that is exactly what the writers need at this point) like some big number highlighting how long it has been going on? Does anyone know how long the strike have been going on? No! If you got into writing because numbers aren't your strong point, count weeks or something! Wouldn't you be more concerned if you turned on the TV and were told that we are entering week 13 of the strike, with no end in sight!?!? Come on! You guys create drama for a living! This has not occurred to any of you? Did all of you at one time wrote for the WB??

(Stepping off the frothy soap box)

For me, I think the strike has done me a lot of good. Mostly a financial decision, but made simpler because of the current situation, I have canceled my satellite TV subscription. For getting 200 channels there wasn't really ever anything on anyway. I will probably breakdown and resubscribe sometime after baseball season start (hear that, Comcast? DirectTV? I am declaring my free agency), but for now, I don't feel like I am missing anything at all.

And thanks to the magic of technology, there is more content online than ever. Through the magic of services of Joost, Hulu, Fancast, and even Netflix, I can actually watch more TV than ever, in bed on my laptop. So really, thanks you writers for taking a break so that I can catch up. I am trying to watch some recent shows that I never got around to the first time. I started watching, from the beginning, Arrested Development, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and that 800lbs gorilla known as Lost. So I'm going to stop looking at that depressing TV grid everyday (I switched to a weekend only newspaper subscription) and start figuring out how to best watch my TVs on my iPhone....

I Don't Think We Are In Kansas Anymore....

2008-01-16T00:30:00.000-08:00

And you thought the storm last week was a hassle for you...

Of course, the kids now have the roomiest yard to play in....

End of another year?

2007-12-31T00:56:00.001-08:00

I thought as we draw close to 2007, I will acknowledge the year that was by finally taking part in one of its technologically hip trends. Yes, this was the year that the social networking phenomenon took off and I finally succumb and joined one. It's not really the whole networking with friends that I really care about (although it does seem to do some of the keeping in touch with others that I am otherwise so poor at). I just want to play with all of the web apps that are developed for such sites. So if you ever visit my page, don't be distracted by the endless random social applications (or not, it's experimental that way). As I am shocked and surprised that anyone reads this blog, I will be pretty impressed that you leave me a message as well.

Oh, I never mentioned which site I finally joined, huh? I have been telling everyone that since I am such a Google whore that I want to join Orkut, with the tag line of, "It's the number 1 social networking site in Brazil!" In the end, I will just have to play with OpenSocial apps elsewhere....

Parental Quiz

2007-12-13T22:29:00.000-08:00

So when I open the fridge and see this:

Should I think:

a) Man, if there is room for individual pieces of candy in the fridge (it's on the bottom shelf too), I obviously need to do some grocery shopping.

b) Well, at least they want to take care of the candy they have and not let it melt in my couch.

c) Why haven't I eaten their Mr. Goodbar yet??

The crazy things kids do....

New! Bigger! Improved!

2007-11-09T14:39:00.000-08:00

As much as some are seeing me develop into an Apple whore, my heart (or flower, if you want to keep the dirty metaphor going) already belongs to another. If you are talking about me willing to at least try to use every product that they spit out, just put the word Google in front of it and I'm there. I admit I did stray for a while there during the getting-to-know-you honeymoon phase with my iPhone, but with Gmail now supporting IMAP, the Google Reader coming out of beta, and my continual quest to better organize myself with the help of Google calendar (sharable so my wife/secretary can do the actual tracking of dates), I am back to being a faithful follower of all things G. (incidentally, if you are one of the lucky people with a few shares of their stock, I am waiting for my residual in the mail)

All of which leads me to introduce the newest feature of this humble blog. To the right you will see all my shared items from my Google Reader.....Who gives a crap what I am reading while at work everyday, you may ask? ... Well I don't know, what are you doing here now reading about my technically promiscuous ways? As you will probably notice, the items are heavy in tech and food items. Because if there is one thing that I like to do, it's eating good food and playing with gadgets...preferably both. (I'll be awaiting my invite)

Save Your Allowance....

2007-11-05T23:19:00.000-08:00

Caught up on some TV today and watched the 100th episode of Family Guy. Stewie finally kills Lois, and it leads to an entertaining cliffhanger...then I see this blurb on the 'ol Internet...

Boy hires hitman to kill parents ground denies Playstation, TV

I think there is a social message that I can be ranting about, but my soapbox is in the shop, and I'm sleepy...

On a related note, I am almost ashamed to say that new Hitman movie looks good, and I never played the video game.

Public Service Annoucement

2007-11-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

IMG_8355
Originally uploaded by Alanmine

Now, I understand people not giving out the best candy on Halloween. I would buy candy and keep the good stuff for myself too. I also understand you getting rid of candy that you don't want. I have also sorted through my kid's bounty, pulled out the crappy stuff, and gave them out to the 15 year old kids who come by at 9:30 at night with no costumes and a pillow case. But please, use a little common sense. Please do not give out those old chocolate laying around thinking, "Gee, we should get rid of those cute little chocolate that looks like little bottles of wine." Because kids biting into razor blades are no fun, but making my kids drunk before bed is not acceptable either. Thank you. *cue cheesy music*

Losing it all...

2007-10-28T19:04:00.001-07:00

As if the Cal football season isn't being flushed down the toilet fast enough, now our most famous moment in the sun is being surpassed. Life as a Golden Bear is not good right now.....

(Got to admit though, this is a pretty awesome play in a totally ridiculous way)

Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart?...I Doooo!!

2007-07-14T23:51:00.001-07:00

As a tie-in to their long awaited movie, the Simpson has a promotional deal with 7-11 to give the Kwik-E-Mart experience at their stores. As an even deeper tie-in, a few selected stores were.... er.....selected to be completely transformed to look like an authentic Kwik-E-Mart. Now if that isn't worth a little trek down the peninsula, I don't know what is. So down in Mountain View, nestled between the Computer History Museum and Google headquarters, one can live like any citizen of Springfield and get themselves a donut with pink icing and sprinkles, and wash it down with a Squishee or perhaps a Buzz cola. If all of that isn't enough of a surreal experience, how about...

- We waited in line to basically shop in a 7-11. How crazy is that????

- At the Computer History museum, there was a wedding taking place....I don't even know what to say to that.

- At said museum, at said wedding, we heard a mariachi band playing....I need to be invited to weddings like that more often.

- While in line at 7-11 (let us digest that last statement again......), the person regulating the line at the door was heard soliciting a job from the guy in front of us (who was wearing a Google t-shirt) I should have known that Apu probably has a Computer Science degree and probably worked at a call center for Adobe in Bangalore before becoming an entrepreneur in Springfield.

Anyway, they ran out of Buzz Cola, I didn't feel like buying overpriced Krusty-O's, and none of us were brave enough to eat donuts with bright pink frosting (well, Hannah wanted one, but this was one of those rare instances where my good parenting sense kicked in).

(Thanks Sis for the help with the pictures)

Item #463...

2007-07-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

...things you would not see in your house if you did not have children.

Courtesy of my iPhone!

Karaoke Sara

2007-07-01T02:27:00.001-07:00

Sara singing Seasons of Love from Rent. I don't have anything to add. It speaks for itself.

Temptation

2007-06-30T00:29:00.000-07:00

I want to give a sincere thanks to all of you.

Really, I appreciate your efforts.

You have used very good reason and common sense to try and talk me out of it You tell me it's just not my time yet. If I can just wait, it will only get better.

Well, I couldn't do it. It sucked me in like nothing ever before and I found that I can resist it no longer...

Purely a Business Decision...

2007-06-25T01:28:00.000-07:00

Enjoy the scene now, the tickets will be sold soon. I have to get that iPhone fund going somehow...

Bad Luck

2007-06-06T20:10:00.000-07:00

Losing your driver's license mere weeks after your renewal. (My last license lasted a good 5 years) - Bad

Having to spend my lunch break sitting at the DMV, surrounded by the weirdest looking bunch of people ever. (Doesn't normal people need to go to the DMV anymore?) - Worse

Coming home to a letter from the Coliseum letting you know that they have a "property" of yours. - Priceless!

Where's Webster? (not the short kid)

2007-06-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

I had a discussion with a co-worker today where she told me that she doesn't think she is "nerdy", but that she was more "dorky". I didn't know what the difference was except that she claims that dorky is just basically a little un-cool where as you are nerdy if you are a math major or play a lot of WoW. (I only hit .500 on that one). Well I looked it up and came up with these definitions:

Slang A stupid, inept, or foolish person
Vulgar Slang The penis.

I don't think either of those about my co-worker. Maybe she should find a new term to describe herself, like ghee, or even, chipmonkey! Suggestions welcomed.

I Really Am Not That Geeky...

2007-06-04T00:30:00.000-07:00

Breakthrough brings 'Star Trek' teleport a step closer

Disclaimer:

- I am not a Star Trek fan at all. I've seen a few, mostly Next Generation ones, but that's it.
- I do not claim to completely understand what the article is talking about. For some reason, quantum physics fascinates me. I like how I, at best, barely wrap my mind around the ideas. Somehow, having something just beyond my mental reach is stimulating.

Of course, I can say the same about woman. (Probably not the only time women has been compared to quantum physics)