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It’s just another awesome weekend.

I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary today but I’m having a fun weekend so far.  It started last night when Jes and I went out for drinks and some late-night Thai food.  I love Friday nights. We also met up with Jon and Janelle, who are up here for the weekend.  They’re staying at the Mandarin Oriental and it’s so pretty inside!

In the morning, I went to Farmers’ Market and officially decided that it’s one of my favorite things to do in SF.  Every time I go, I find something new and yet find all my favorites there each time as well.  I give myself one hour to shop and I end up spending way more time just wandering, sampling, and shopping.  Today, I came home with fresh corn, basil, and Japanese cucumbers.  I also bought spring rolls from Out the Door, an iced coffee from Pete’s, and some pretty dahlias for my coffee table. With sunny skies and pleasantly warmer temps, the walk home was nice.

patio

Later in the afternoon, I went over to the Sokol-Juns to have some Little Skillet fried chicken and Coors Light in their patio and scored a borrowed Crackberry Curve from Ryan.  Ah…it’s nice to have a smartphone again.  My temporary Sony Ericsson was ok but it certainly was a dumbphone.

beakafied crackberry

Here’s a picture of my beakafied crackberry.  Woot!

Sparklers are cool.

dayantha

July 4th was spent at the Agustins’ and we had a grip of BBQ’d meat to make up for Friday night’s vegetarian dinner.  Jes made chili lime wings and ribs while Susie brought her mom’s Kalbi.  Mm…. We also had KFC corn on the cob complete with butter packets along with more gourmet grilled white corn.  Eleen made some tasty salads and mashed potato and the Fernandos brought over beer and desserts.

Elise

I also got to play with Elise, Ti and Thilan’s little girl, who warmed up to me fairly quickly once I offered her some food to taste.  She was dolled up in a festive July 4th dress and I got to take some portraits of her too.

naptime

She also semi-bonded with Jes that afternoon.  She was getting sleepy and Jes gave it a try with getting her to calm down and fall asleep.  She cried for a minute or so before settling down and taking a good 20-minute nap on his belly.  Of course as soon as she woke up, she cried and forgot who Jes was an hour later.  Eh, so much for that.

Alia

Agnes and Tim also stopped by and brought little Alia with them.  Check out those cheeks and the cutest bib ever!

Masayas

The weather was nice that afternoon and perfect for chillin’ in the backyard.  Koa got to chow down on Kalbi bones and hang out with all his buddies.  There were five dogs out there by the end of the day!

walking

Once the sun went down, Dayantha’s parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmas showed up for a little walk down the street to see the fireworks.  I think we made a mini parade down the street with about 20-something of us and that’s not counting the 4 dogs and 2 babies!

Bay Bridge

We stood at the edge of the water overlooking the bay and could see fireworks near the Bay Bridge, San Mateo Bridge, and at Jack London Square.  They were all very far away but it was cool to be out there anyway.  It’s too bad I didn’t bring my tripod.  I got a bunch of blurry photos but this one managed to come out somehow.

sparklers

At the end of the night, we busted out the sparklers and snakes that the Masayas had brought up from Artesia.  We had 10 boxes of sparklers and it was fun going through them all.  By the end of night, the boys were lighting up whole boxes of sparklers for a more “spectacular” effect.  Luckily there was a metal fire pit in the back for us to dump all the ashes and burning paper.

Anyway, thanks for hosting another awesome BBQ, Agustins!  I hope we didn’t make you too nervous with all the fire last night. 🙂

Here are the photos.

Krishani & Sachan – Part Two

entrance

On Friday night, we attended Krishani and Sachan’s Bay Area Wedding Reception in Sunnyvale.  Everyone was dressed in beautiful saris and Krishani and Sachan were beaming with happiness.  The food was all vegetarian but I still enjoyed it.  Indian food is so yummy.

dancing

There was plenty of dancing and hijinks at this wedding reception, which is no surprise.  Before we left, “Ditty” came on and there was a special request for Dayantha to do his rendition.

family

By the end of the song, the entire family was up on stage dancing and celebrating.

girls

Thanks for the invite, Fernandos.  We had an awesome time!

Here are the photos.

Krishani & Sachan

church

vows

We went home to Cerritos this weekend to watch the youngest Fernando get married.  Boy oh boy do they know how to celebrate!  The ceremony was in their family’s church and they had a full mass with all the usual wedding traditions sprinkled in between.  Krishani looked gorgeous and Sachan was smiling ear to ear.

flower girl

It was a treat to see Elise as the flower girl with Ti carrying her down the aisle.  She just turned one and was such a little cutie that afternoon.

glance

The guests were taking communion so I went up to the front to see if I could get a close-up.  It was just my luck that Krishani glanced over to my side.

bride and groom

Here is the couple just minutes after the ceremony.

reception

The reception was held at the Westin in Long Beach.  It was a really pretty venue and the warm evening made cocktail hour really pleasant out on the terrace.

bouquet toss

Krishani changed into traditional Indian and Sri Lankan dresses that evening and they got through all the cake cutting and bouquet tossing pretty early on in the evening. I was also very touched by Mr. Fernando’s speech and I admit that I was in tears throughout the Father/Daughter dance and the speech.

Unfortunately for us, cocktail hour started at 6:00 pm and dinner wasn’t served until 9:00 pm.  So I’m sure you can all guess how toasty we were by then.

dancing

With the ceremony starting at 1:30 pm and the party ending at 1:00 am, this had to have been the longest wedding celebration ever.  Everyone partied until the end except for me as I got super sleepy towards the end of the night.  I had stopped drinking pretty early and that worked out well for me the next morning.  By the end of the night, most of us were pretty sober but exhausted.

table

As always, it was fun to see everyone together again and we all had a good time.  The boys were up to no good all night but everyone survived.

group

This Friday is Part 2 of the celebration and it’s in going to be in the Bay Area.  Sachan’s family is hosting a bunch of traditional Indian ceremonies and celebrations and they should be just as fun and interesting.  Congratulations to the happy couple!

Here are the photos.  Enjoy!

Sunday Fobby Supper

Father's Day

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there. Once again I was not home for this holiday and it kinda bummed me out. Fortunately, I have good friends around and one of them happens to be a dad now. So the Bangs and Sokol-Juns came over for dinner and had a Sunday Fobby Supper.

window

Jack had a good time hanging out by the window pointing to the pool and saying “agua agua” over and over again.  The dog also had a good time sharing his toys with everyone and humping his bed because of all the excitement.

beef noodle soup

Dinner was complete with Spicy Beef Noodle Soup and Mango with Coconut Sticky Rice. Jes followed a bunch of different recipes and it turned out great. There was just the right amount of kick in the soup, the beef from super tender, and the noodles were tasty.

mango and sticky rice

For the coconut sticky rice, I followed my mom’s secret recipe and made it the night before just in case I had to start over. Lucky for me I got it right the first time and it was oh so yummy…a little sweet, a little salty, and perfect with the manila mangoes that I bought at the store. Yay! By the end of the night, we were all so stuffed. What a satisfying way to finish the weekend.

Supervised Run Through the ‘Hood

View Larger Map

On Saturday morning, I rolled out of bed, brushed my teeth, put on my running clothes, and ran a 10K that started just outside of my building. Michelle, Vyl, and Bang came over and we ran from AT&T Park down to Candlestick Park.

run_01

It was a sunny morning and we got a scenic tour of the ‘hood while on foot. The finish was actually on the Candlestick Park field, which was also really neat-o. Vyl and Michelle ran ahead while I accompanied Bang to the finish line.

run_02

He was tired but I pushed him to keep going and he managed to only stop for water. We finished in 1:04, which is not bad for a guy who never runs.

post-race photo

Ryan and Jack were at the finish line and gave us a ride back to Mission Bay for brunch at a dive bar that serves brunch on the weekends.

jack

Jes met up with us and there was outdoor seating and Jack had lots of room to roam around as he munched on his toast.

Here are photos from the race.