06.13.08
Posted in Fun at 2:40 pm by loretta
I picked up the habit of taking pictures of food in Japan. To the amusement and embarrassment of my friends and family, the habit persisted. I could wax expressive on food, but hopefully you understand. My friend Shiaw-Ling suggested I start featuring food in my blog, and why not?
Keith participated in the Santa Clara Leadership course. At the end, there was a graduation and reception. The food was prepared by students from Wilcox High School, which has a culinary program. Yummy.
They offered substantial appetizers, including Southwest wraps, tofu “crackers” w/ mushroom tapenade, meat on a stick, and this beautiful suite of melon balls served on a cracker with a bed of cream cheese and a honey-mint glaze.
Dessert was equally refined and beautiful. Individual black forest chocolate cakes were served parfait style in clear cups to show the layers better. Small donuts (beignets, maybe?) had an assortment of fillings, or dusted w/ powdered sugar.
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03.15.08
Posted in Fun at 1:08 pm by loretta
It’s one month after Valentine’s Day. I’m struck by the ironic parallelism between Japanese tradition and American.
In Japan, Valentine’s Day focuses on the men. Women make or buy chocolate to give to the men they know. The usually fall into one of two categories. Giri-choco, or obligation chocolate is given to all a woman’s male friends and relatives. It’s a normal quality chocolate, usually pre-bought. Honmei-choco, or “true” chocolate is fancy chocolate, often handmade, given only to the man or men toward whom the woman has the greatest affection.
In return, clever marketers turned March 14 into White Day. This is the day the men reciprocate gifts to the women. “White” is to indicate that women are too “delicate” for regular chocolate, and so should be given white chocolate instead. I dislike white chocolate, finding it neither white, NOR chocolate, so I dislike that approach. However, I digress. On White Day, the men usually reciprocate a gift in excess of what they received.
In the U.S. Valentine’s Day focuses on the women. I’m not sure when that happened. I was taught that couples should equally gift one another on this day. Advertising and the zeitgeist indicate otherwise. Roses, chocolates, jewelry, and ornate valentines are the things to get. These are obviously aimed at women, since most men don’t care for such foofy things. What happened to equal exchange?
Well, in classic American crassness, it’s been fixed. March 14 is Steak and Blowjob Day. *ugh* According to the website, it was developed by a radio host several years ago, and sparked popular culture. As “payment” for the lovely gifts on Valentine’s Day, the men should get steak and fellatio from their women.
That’s the best name they could come up with? Seriously?
*WARNING!* The squeamish will want to skip the following paragraph. *WARNING*
Why not adopt the Japanese moniker of White Day, and have that stand for the creamy “foam” at the end of the act?
*WARNING* Paragraph ends. *WARNING*
Keith and I aren’t terribly romantic, so I’m the only one who managed to come up with a gift this year. Does that mean I get the blowjob? The whole thing just seems silly.
That’s why I’m going to jump on the Pi Day bandwagon. I probably don’t remember as many digits as most of my geek friends, but I do remember Pi = 3.14159. March 14 is 3/14, or 3.14, hence, Pi Day. To make it more fun, people have punned it to be Pi(e) Day. So you celebrate Pi by eating pie. I have no problem with that. How can you dislike pie? If eating pie gets you back in touch with your math, even better.
I wanted blueberry pie.
Don’t get me wrong. I love pumpkin pie, dutch apple pie, strawberry rhubarb pie, key lime pie, and others, but I love blueberry pie, and I haven’t had any in years. Also, I’m currently ill, and you tend to want the unreasonable when you are ill.
How is blueberry pie unreasonable, you ask? It’s really hard to find here in Silicon Valley. Amazingly so. When the fever had me up in the middle of the night, I went to the Baker’s Square website to find the closest one. Shiaw-Ling has bought pies there before and they are quite good.
But they don’t sell blueberry outside of the Midwest! Freaky! So I started hunting around. Most bakeries don’t even sell pies anymore, unless they are cream pies, or made to order. Marie Callender’s sells a blueberry apple, but that’s cheating. I don’t want blueberry-apple, blueberry cheesecake, blueberry-berry medley, just normal blueberry pie!
So I Google mapped “blueberry pie” in my area. Astonishingly few hits. None really local. I had coincidentally been to Heidi Pie Restaurant in San Mateo. It was a great diner with great pies. Too far to drive while I’m sick, though. (Any distance is too long, really. It’s not safe for me to drive sick.) Keith wasn’t thrilled with the idea of fetching a pie, either. “Why not just get a frozen one from the store?” he asked.
Doh. I am obviously sick. Why didn’t I think of that? Mrs. Smith’s must make a blueberry pie. I’ve eaten it in the past. So I leave it to him to pick one up on the way home from work.
I was sleeping when he got home, so when I finally woke up, I went downstairs and discovered that once again I have the Best Boyfriend Ever!
Unable to find one at the store, he bought stuff and made one for me! OMG, I know! He is just too awesome!!!
He didn’t put a traditional top crust on it, which is what I expected, but a dutch crumbled one instead. I feared it would make the pie too coffee cakey, but no.
It. Was. Delicious. He served it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and yummmmmmy!
Yup. March 14 is now solidly Pi Day in my book.
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02.28.08
Posted in Fun at 11:20 am by loretta
I belong to this Monday Night Dinner club. Mo’s birthday happened to occur on a Monday. After pondering, she decided she’d like to go to a restaurant that serves booze and suggested TGI Friday’s.
Serendipitously, that Monday was available for quite a few folks, so there ended up being 16 of us, including the ever-busy Woz. (The geek boys are still amazed he comes occasionally. But I think he likes hanging out with other geeks. ‘Cause he’s very geeky.)
Woz told us straight up that he was a prankster. So when one of our friends, Janet, found a GIANT gold-capped tooth in her mashed potatoes at dinner, I was a little suspicious. Lots of my fellow diners freaked out, but I made sure to get close-up pictures of it.
Those poor folks at TGI Friday’s. They were entirely nonplussed. They forgave him when he revealed the gag.
I’m told he had it extracted earlier in the day. Hilarious!
Remind me never to sit next to him at dinner, though… It could have been any of us.
Happy birthday, Maureen. It’s one you won’t forget for a loooooong time.
Photos, including close-ups of the tooth are after the cut.
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01.30.08
Posted in Family, Fun at 9:17 pm by loretta
Wicked early in the morning, Maureen and I flew to Seattle, Washington to see our brother, Kevin. He’s finishing his second month of training before being deployed to Iraq. He had this weekend free, but the Army wouldn’t let him leave the state to come see me.
I promise I would have given him back!
It couldn’t be helped, though, so Mo and I went to see him for the day. He had to be back on base by 10p.m. (or 2200, as he and his troop called it).
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Posted in Family, Fun at 5:02 pm by loretta
This was the big day. The 26th. My birthday.
Mo and I had planned a big party, and I invited a ton of people. Day of prep went a little slower than desired. I expect things to run late. Fortunately my friends tend to run late, too. The ones that show up on time are generally sweet enough to pitch in.
The party went really well, once it got going. It was hard to figure out when to wedge in the entertainment. A bigger description and pictures are after the cut.
I almost missed blowing out the candles! I have some weird kind of phone karma that has people calling me at awkward times. It struck right before Mo brought out the cake. I went outside to answer it. I also apparently stink at getting people off the phone. I swear I tried, but after I heard them start to sing, I essentially had to hang up on him. Everyone laughed.
The rest of the evening went well. I was sorry that I got such a small chance to talk to everyone. I’m told that’s the sign of a good party.
Good.
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01.29.08
Posted in Family, Fun at 12:28 pm by loretta
I needed to run a ton of errands, but by noon I felt a migraine coming on. I hoped food would help, so I had a lovely lunch with my Sweet. Sadly it didn’t, so I fled home as fast as I could. I managed to get the pork in the pot (easy). I emailed the producer of the TV show I was to help on that evening to let him know of my headache. Then I collapsed for four hours. Ugh.
When I finally woke up, Maureen’s date for the weekend, Rory, had just shown up. They went out for dinner. Keith went somewhere for something else. I’m zombie-ing around the kitchen, fussing over the pork, when I hear screeching. I look up and my DUMB yellow cat walks in from the rain with a bedraggled, but alive, bird in his mouth! I follow him around until he lets it go and snatch it up. It’s warm, alive, and very unhappy. I wish someone else with a working brain had been there. I puttered around the living room for five minutes or so wondering what to do. Finally I decide to call Stacie. She has a brain and is wise about animal stuff. She says to take it to the Humane Society, so I do. I’m not sure driving was the greatest thing for me to be doing, but traffic was light. The bird was admitted and I filled out forms and returned home. Of course, everyone had returned while I was out and was worried about me.
The rest of the evening was spent socializing with Rory and watching him and Mo drink a bit much. Rory knows a ton of jokes. He also brought a game called Set, which I turned out to be good at, even in zombie form. Then we went to bed.
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01.20.08
Posted in Family, Fun at 4:06 pm by loretta
Today I feel: Hung over. Last night I went with Maureen to see a band that one of her co-workers is in. Maria, Shiaw-Ling, David, and Victoria came, too. The band, which has a clever, but not memorable, name has a full horn section. It was great! I danced a lot more than I thought I would. I drank many martinis and made what I’ll call “dance floor friends.” These are people I may never see again, but were fun and friendly on the dance floor. It’s an experience worth repeating.
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03.04.07
Posted in Fun, My TV Show at 10:17 am by loretta
The opening film at the historic California Theater and gala for the 17th Cinequest had a slight hitch Wednesday. A delay in the shipment of Mira Nair’s latest film, “The Namesake,” prevented the catch of a technical glitch. Sound would fade to extended static during several portions of the film. In spite of this, the film was well received. Future exhibitions at Cinequest will likely have a new print. “The Namesake” is a story of crossover generations in India and the U.S. and the balance of cultures.
Cinequest co-founder Halfdan Hussey, new San Jose mayor Chuck Reed, KNTV sports anchor Raj Mathai, and filmmaker Mira Nair all gave remarks to launch the festival and the film. Mayor Reed had a particularly nice statement about Cinequest, “Magic happens at the intersection of art and technology.”
The gala following the film at the Paragon was packed with people. Crowds were densest around food tables. Many also took advantage of the free alcoholic punch and coffee bar. Fare was light, yet satisfying. A DJ played a wide variety of music in the corner.
As the devouring hordes receded, it became more obvious who the filmmakers were. Clusters of filmmakers distributed flyers and engaged passerby with colorful descriptions of their upcoming films. I look forward to seeing the films by the folks I met: “Blood Car” and “Regarding Sarah.”
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02.21.07
Posted in Family, Fun at 12:22 pm by loretta
I subscribe to several bento blogs on RSS. I love Bento TV. This is partly Kaja Foglio‘s fault, if only because she referred to them initially in her blog. Of course the rest of it is all me.
President’s Day, I convinced Maureen to come with me to Daiso, a Japanese dollar shop. They had a lot of cool bento stuff. So Tuesday I made Maureen and Keith bentos.
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02.15.07
Posted in Family, Fun at 10:47 am by loretta
I spent Valentine’s evening with my sister shooting handguns. Wednesday is ladies night at Reed’s Indoor Range, so it was quite cheap.
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