Browse Author: beakatude

Night Out

The Winter Olympics has taken up all of my attention this past week so I’ve been at home glued to the TV for pretty much every night after work.  Last night we watched the first half of short track speed skating before heading out.

We took a 10-minute walk to Gallery Lounge to meet up with the cousins and I got a big hug from Ranee, who came back from NYC to celebrate her brother’s birthday.  Fortunately for me, they were showing the conclusion of the speed skating competition there so I got to drool over my favorite Olympian with my girls.

Happy Everything!

This weekend was ridiculous. It’s Valentine’s Day, the beginning of the Lunar New Year, AND President’s weekend! Whoa. Yesterday Jes and I took a walk to the Ferry Plaza for some spicy noodle soup after a lazy morning in our jammies.  I guess you could say that this was our Lunar New Year’s Eve meal.

Early this morning, I took the dog for a run in the fog. It was so thick that you couldn’t see the bridge and the fog horns from the container ships were going off every few seconds. For breakfast, I made some mini pancakes and Jes made some breakfast sausage.

The dog joined us at the coffee table and got a taste of sausage and a pancake for himself. Lucky dog.

The rest of the day was spent watching the Olympics and getting the house cleaned up for the new lunar year. In the evening, we took a walk and I got a shot of this really pretty sunset. Jes made me one of the best rib eyes I’ve ever had. Seriously. There was something extra tasty about it…savory but a little sweet. Yep, sweet. It was an organic piece of beef that we bought from the deli at the Ferry Plaza and it was magical.

For dessert, I made a skillet apple pie and I think I’ve found the perfect crust recipe. Surprisingly it was really easy too!  Perhaps with a little more practice, I’ll have a winning pie by November.  Heh heh.

Tomorrow I’m going to work while most of you have the day off.  Thankfully I’ll get paid time and half.  Gotta makes me the moneys!

Slides and Street Food

This morning I got a text from Michelle to see if I was interested in checking out some food carts at a Precita Park in Bernal Heights.  I’m always up for street food so at 10:30, she picked me up with Jack in the backseat and we were on our way!  When we arrived, the vendors were still setting up and Michelle’s friends Lauren and Johnny were there setting up their stand.

They started Pearl’s Kitchen, which is what they call a “Part Time Deli” featuring a corned beef sandwich and some other Jewish delicacies that they didn’t have with them today.  With some time to kill, we went to the playground where Jack got to climb up the structures and go down the slides over and over again.  He was getting a real kick out of his new found skill of climbing up a ladder and going down the mini slide.

Once the carts were ready to go, we ordered a pizza topped with chanterelle mushrooms and I picked up a coffee creme brulee and a corned beef sandwich.

Jack absolutely LOVED the creme brulee and would run away with his spoon to make sure he didn’t have to share.

The corned beef sandwich was savory with a light rye bread that was pretty good and I usually HATE rye bread.  They also had a cart that sold grilled cheese sandwiches that had a massive line.  TLC was also there interviewing people there for a cheese episode for one of their shows.

Here are the rest of the photos.

Tasty Tastings

On Saturday, Jes and I went to Far Niente Winery for their Cabernet Release Day event.  For non-members it was $75 per person but complimentary to their wine club members (yes, we’re members) so we thought we’d take advantage of it.  We’ve had lots of their wine but had never visited the winery.  It was up on a hill and beautiful and the event was held in their wine cave.

We tasted 5 different wines: 2003, 2005, and 2007 Cabernet Sauvignons, barrel tasting of the upcoming 2008, and a Dolce dessert wine.  They had a variety of hors d’oeuvres featuring duck, steak, lamb, and tuna.  All were very cute and tasty.  Well, except for the lamb meatballs that smelled of armpit.

The wines were all good and the dessert wine was paired with an assortment of mini desserts ranging from creme puffs, fruit tartlets, french macaroons, and foie gras!

We had a fun time tasting and exploring the grounds.  The rain was off and on and at one point there was a rainbow off in the distance.  We managed to leave the winery without buying anything and spent only $2 on tip for the free coffee bar and $5 on tip for the poor valet guys running around in the rain all day.  That was probably the shortest and cheapest trip to Napa for us so far.  Can’t wait for the next release event in a couple months!

I filled my brain, heart, and tummy.

I traveled down to LA by myself this past weekend to 1) take a weekend course, 2) spend time with the family, and 3) eat some tasty food. I did all three and it was a very satisfying 4 days.

On Friday morning, I boarded the plane and had some reading to do.  Unfortunately my highlighter wasn’t cooperating and exploded.  *sigh*  This is the view from my window as we were descending.  Look at all the tiny containers waiting at the train station!  And the air was clear enough to see Downtown LA in the distance.

Once Mommy picked me up, we stopped for spicy bowl of Thai Boat Noodle Soup. Aaah…  After an afternoon of errands with Mommy, we drove up to Beverly Hills with Brother and Joy for our favorite meal:

Lawry’s Prime Rib with all the fixins. Woohoo!

On Saturday I spent all day at a Rehab facility in Brea that just blew me away. It’s amazing how much space, equipment, and resources they had there!!! On Saturday night, the sibs met up with me and Mommy in Cerritos for some Sun Du Bu at BDC. We also had made a stop at Yogurtland for my $1.34 treat.

On Sunday, I finished Day Two of my course and got a lot of hands-on practice and treatment ideas to take home with me. That evening, Brother and Joy picked me up and we had some sushi, drinks, and popcorn. The night was finished off with a glass of Minute Maid Fruit Punch (a Chimmy Family favorite) and passing out in the livingroom with the TV on. It’s funny how some things never change.

On Monday morning, I had an Eggo waffle (another Chimmy Family fave) and Brother dropped me off at LAX on his way to work and I had a Pinkberry original with fresh strawberries and shredded coconut. Only in LA can you get such a treat. It was only my third time having Pinkberry and it’s finally grown on me. I actually liked it this time. I arrived in SF by 10:30 am and made it home on public transit by 11:45 am leaving me with the rest of the day to unpack, wait for the appraiser to come and make measurements, and go for a run.

What an awesome weekend.