I spent more and more each December. Damn online shopping and the good sales. Now my room is filled with boxes and piles of goodies, for both gifts and myself. My mom is right...I have enough shit in my room to open up a boutique, or a convenience store.

Busy, busy, busy!

Hmm what's new since I last updated?

Went to the Russian River Valley Wine and Food Affair. $40 for unlimited food and wine at over 80 participating wineries, plus a great cookbook. Tasted lots of great reds and whites as well as some great hor deurves. The road was quite windy though, good thing Joe the DD was behind the wheel. He only had to pay $20 for the food and lots and lots of calistoga sparkling water hehe.






Took my parents to the Da Vinci Exhibit at the San Jose Tech Museum. It was really quite interesting. Da Vinci was so far ahead of his time, I even thought he could be extraterrestrial. Everything was so meticulously done, and math was behind pretty much everything. Go check it out if you haven't already done so. Tickets are $25 per person, only $15 if you are a member.

We stopped by Hukilau for lunch and of course had to buy some manju from Shuei-Do across the street. yummm.

Finally got my hair done. I woke up last Saturday, so fed up with my overly long and uncurly hair. I went on Yelp and called 5 or 6 different salons in the area but nobody had an opening until late afternoon. Finally, I came across La Nouvelle, right in Saratoga on Cox Ave. They received great reviews on Yelp so I figured I will give them a try. Lauryn, a senior stylist there, spent probably around 10-15 minutes listening to my ideas and giving me great inputs & suggestions. Anyway, I got a cut and a perm for around $160. I'll be back =)





To celebrate Brandon and Arjan's birthdas, we went to Nola's in Palo Alto. I loved their mojitos! Pretty good food too. We were mean to Brandon and made him wear a Queen's tiara made out of balloon while Arjan wore the Crown. hahaha he refused of course. I will upload pictures later. To continue the festivity, we walked over to the hookah spot. I was a first-timer so took me a while to get used to it. It was pretty fun, except it ended up being me with 11 other guys. SO TYPICAL! Always Emily V.S. the boys, hahah! I had to leave early but I heard everyone else partied till 2:30am or something. Nevertheless, I had fun.


Oh and on top of everything, I purchased a new synthesizer!!! It's so awesome but there are a lot to be learned. I've been studying my 200-page manual. I gotta learn how to use it before our next gig - Come check us out! It's free, but we are taking donations of new, unwrapped, and unopened toys as well as canned goods. All proceeds benefit Toys for Tots and Second Harvest Food Bank.

stressed out about my winter schedule. Lots of events and performances coming up and it's always difficult to turn down clients...

I need to learn to take it one day at a time.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween. I am currently recovering from the second worse hangover I've ever gotten.

People jump to conclusions too fast. I know I'm guilty of that sometimes, but I generally try to keep an open mind and not to stereotype others. I consider myself to be fairly modest, and don't like to boast about my background and what I am capable of. "But you're a performer, a musician!" True, but my parents taught me to be modest so I only step into the spotlight when necessary. Anyway, what I am trying to get at is that very often I come across individuals (talented or not), who stereotype me the moment they met me. To them, I am always going to be inexperienced and have limited knowledge and skills because I am "young." I don't like to argue and correct people when they stereotype me, but deep inside I do feel the need to prove them wrong. It pisses me off because I'm not just a young little Asian girl who plays the piano because her parents forced her to do it when she was a child. I am also not one of those "piano teachers" who went into teaching just because they learned some Beethoven Sonatas at one point of time and passed some exams and all of the sudden think they're qualified to teach others. I'm doing this because I have great passion for music and I AM talented! But you will never find me bragging and boasting because I don't need the ego boost and I know perfectly well what I am capable of and what I am not. It is such a turn-off when someone goes on and on about a topic not realizing the person they're speaking to may know a lot more about it than s/he does. Have this ever happen to you? It's so vain and bigheaded, plus it's just plain annoying. Anyway, I digressed. Be modest and don't stereotype others!

My new toy!

Yay! I'm one of the first people to have a customized Mino (thanks to the boyfriend.) It's a cool little video camera that takes up to 60 minutes of footage. Excellent quality too. Do you like my design?

Currently Reading

I tried on my new and free lip gloss (or at least I thought it was) from Laura Mercier today. At first I just thought it was cool that the lip gloss tingles, but it turned out to be a lip plumper.... Like I needed any more plumping!! I looked like I got stung by a bee. Well, ok I'm exaggerating, it's not THAT swollen and it'll go away in an hour or so. Anyway, for those of you who want fuller lips, I can tell you that the Laura Mercier product works! (and tastes kinda good heh.)

How do I find time to practice when I'm tired all the time? I just gotta do it, I guess.

next year vacay -
baltimore, nyc, EUROPE!

and hopefully squeeze in Vegas somewhere hahaha.

It was 9:40 in the morning. I was at Longs mailing a package and there was only one clerk working the entire store. The poor man was running around efficiently doing everything from making copies of keys, ringing customers up, and doing price-check. He was doing whatever he could to please all the customers. And of course, there is always one bitch who's not on the same page as everybody. "Hello? Hello? I'm ready to check out." The clerk patiently explained to her that everyone else called in sick, but he will be right there. (Of course, the mailing program crashed in the midst of this chaos) The rude customer then replied "Well, why don't you just post a sign on the front door for customers, saying don't bother to come in today?" I, while shocked in disbelief, gave her a cold stare and said "Wow, really?"

This incident leads me right back to my previous rantings about how some customers think they're superior and they're always right. How and why are some people so rude??

I
am
exhausted
.

pop pop popovers!

I finally made popovers. And I used this incredibly easy mix from King Arthur Flour.




Here they are. slowly rising.




They puffed up like crazy.





Aren't they cute?




I served it with a tray of goodies.
[garlic butter, garlic hummus, soft swiss cheese, blood orange marmalade, nutella, caramel apple, honey]

VMAs...

so Britney took home three awards on her song "piece of me". The whole video is about her against the paparazzi and the media. Fine. Music is all about expressing one's emotions and feelings, but she didn't even write the song, not even the lyrics. Plus, the video is really crappy, especially the dancing scene in the bathroom. Where's the old Britney who could dance (but still couldn't sing)?

and

kanye west closed the show with his new song, which consists of pretty much the same melody in different keys, over and over again. For an artist who's cocky enough to compare himself to some of the biggest music legends, he really needs to come up with better music.

What can I say, most popular music today is crap. Kids nowadays think they only need to learn 3 chords to write songs. And of course, everyone can be a singer if they can kinda hold a pitch. What happened to the quintessential requirement of being an artist - TALENT?

my new obsession.

i finally permed my hair. It's not as curly as I wanted, but it's fairly wavy and more volume yay! But not being able to wash my hair for 3 days was horrible. I literally reeked of perming solution and my hair was so dirty.

Anyway, I enjoyed my last 3 day weekend of the year. The next long weekend will be thanksgiving, but I generally have to work on black Friday. Sooooo yes, back to labor day weekend. The good: hung out with friends, BBQed, played wiiFit (I want one!!) ate an incredible amount of food, finally washed and waxed my car, and of course all the misc errands. The bad: broke 5 bottles of beer and the glass shattered all over the kitchen floor. If I ever get in a bar fight, I will never use a corona bottle because it's simply not strong enough. Budweiser, on the other hand, stood strong like a champ.

Vegas in 2 and half weeks! That means I gotta be good for the next 2 and half weeks and keep the numbers of my outings for food and alcohol to a minimal amount, and then it's time to get loose in sin city. Can't wait!!

So it is settled. I may be sort of a girly girl, but I'm definitely a tomboy at heart.

Soul mate

"People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thank God for it. "
-Elizabeth Gilbert, eat pray love.

Scottsdale. FOOOOD!!!

I am back from Scottsdale. Four days in the 100+ dry heat and I didn't mind one bit. Lounging by the pool, shopping, and not to mention all the good eats! Actually we were eating the whole time..Our daily routine consisted of eat, tan, nap, and repeat. It was awesome to get away from everything. Anyway, this will be mostly a food post. Please don't be shock at the amount of food we ate. (Remainder of the pictures are on Picasa.)

Day one:
We arrived at our hotel, Firesky Resort, around 3pm. It was "only"92 degrees outside, which was the coolest day out of the four days. Dry heat is good, thank goodness, because humidity I cannot tolerate. Most Kimpton hotels give their members some incentives. In our case, we requested foam pillows, received free turn down services, and also got a pet goldfish for companion. But the sad story was that our goldfish Zola was found dead when we checked into our room....but the service manager replaced it within minutes. Goldfish?? it's silly I know, but it was cute! The replacement wasn't a goldfish but its name was Oseana.


Our room had a great view of the lagoon/garden, but the first thing I saw when I looked outside were four fratboyish looking guys walking by, carrying a keg!! awesome!! Anyway, Joe and I head down to the lobby lounging area where they had some very chic and comfy couches and found a chess set.


Master Chu taught me how to play, but I mainly just trash-talked my way through the games. Lounged by the sandy pool, sipping on cocktails, ahhhh vacation is good.


For dinner, we met up with two of Joe's former co-workers. We went to Elements at the Sanctuary Camelback Resort. I picked the restaurant mainly because the executive chef, Beau MacMillan, was on Iron Chef v.s. Bobby Flay and WON. I had to taste his food. This was a five star resort and a five star restaurant, with a young crowd and an amazing view of the Camelback mountains. We saw the sunset and countless lightnings up on the mountains, it was definitely a rare sight for us Californians.



Anyway, moving on to the food. It was one of the best meals I have ever had (not counting my mom's cooking of course.) Joe ordered a bacon wrapped filet, served with garlic mash, balsamic onions, mushrooms, and bleu cheese.

Hands down the best steak and mash I have ever had. Every bite I was in foodie Heaven. I ordered the Ahi Tuna Tartare with cucumber herb salad. Delicious as well. The coolest part of my dish was that they made the cucumbers looked like noodles. I also ordered a side of truffled mac 'n cheese.

I really am a sucker for good ol' mac 'n cheese so I couldn't resist it. It was soooooo GOOOOOOOD. The pasta was almost like gnocchi, with just the right amount of seasoning and flavoring. The truffles, OH MAN, the truffles... Joe and I almost picked up the bowl to lick the sauce. (BUT WE DIDN'T!!) Dessert was Chocolate and Peanut Butter Decadence.

We were both speechless. Joe's coworkers also got ridiculously delicious food that we all drooled over. I said to Joe, "it's going to be pretty tough to top this meal." (Little did I know what we got ourselves into on Day number 2.)

Day two:
Lounged by the pool and tanned some more. It was already 90 at 9am in the morning. We hopped into our pimping and free hotel shuttle, (a red Escalade) and headed over to Fashion Square to do some shopping. The stores were mostly the same as the ones we have in the bay area so I wasn't too excited about that. We had lunch at Kona Grill inside the mall. It served american food with hawaiian accent, as well as a full sushi bar. I know Hawaiian cuisine is heavily influenced by the Japanese but still, it was interesting to see a customer eating a burger at a sushi bar. We ordered onion rings as appetizer. but it was actually a mountain of onion strings!! It was served with Pineapple chipotle ketchup.

Joe ordered the Kona Pizza that had lots and lots of cheeeeeese, and I got a Salmon salad with sommen noodles and tofu.

We also walked by a cafe called P.B. Loco that serves all kinds of peanut butter sandwiches and also sell flavored PB. If you know me well, you would know I am a biiiiiiig peanut butter freak and you would be very proud of me because I resisted!!!!

We ventured outside the mall to see what was around. We stumbled upon Scottsdale Waterfront and stopped by little boutiques to shop, but mainly for the nice and cool AC. All of the sudden we saw Sprinkle's Cupcake!! There were about 15 people in the stores looking lost because they didn't know which flavors to get. We settled with a red velvet and a chocolate peanut butter (haha peanut butter AGAIN.) Called our pimping escalade driver to pick us up and went back to the hotel to enjoy our cupcakes with a couple cocktails. I gotta say, I think my red velvet kicks Sprinkle's red velvet's butt!


Tanned and napped, we headed over to Roka Akor for a late dinner. My friend Leslie recommended this restaurant and I was drooling over their online menu, so I decided to take Joe here to celebrate his new job/promotion. This place was rocking. It was fusion, it was contemporary, yet it incorporated the Japanese traditional Robata grilling. They take purified water and make ice blocks out of them, and then hand carved mini "icebergs" and use them in drinks or on food presentations. Since we were celebrating, we splurged for the 12-course tasting menu. (There was a 9-course tasting menu, but all the items I wanted to try were on the 12-course menu) Joe said we were going to regret it by the time we get to number 9 or 10, but OH WELL, we were on vacation and we didn't care!! Ok brace yourselves, (I looked like an idiot taking pictures of every course but who cares?) here they come:


1st course: A simple shrimp tempura with some chilli pepper and other seasonings (I thought I tasted Saffron.)


2nd course: spinach salad with sesame dressing. It cleansed our palates


3rd course: Butterfish Tataki on top of white asparagus, with yuzu shallot dressing.

4th course: Wagyu beef sushi, served with Oscietra Caviar, spring onions, and chrysantemun petals. I wanted to eat 5 more of these babies.


5th course: soft shell crab sushi with chilli mayo. It was still hot, yet not overfried. Best soft shell crab I had. None of those spider rolls crap you get at restaurants.


6th course: Sashimi Moriawase. tuna, salmon, and yellow tail. They also served it with chrysantemun petals and mustard cress. Very tasty.


7th course: Foie Gras wrapped in Nori (Seaweed), served with squid ink toast and Umeshi plum that has been sitting in wine. Mmmm rich and buttery goodness.


8th course: Simple asparagus with sweet soy and sesame sauce.


9th course: Rice hot pot with nameko, eryngii, shimeji mushrooms, and edible wild plants. (we could only eat a few bites of these because we were getting so full, but the leftovers were great for breakfast!)


10th course: black cod marinated in yuzu miso and homemade hajikami ginger. One of my favorite. The fish just melts away when you bite into them.


11th course: lamb cutlets with korean spices. I forgot to take a picture of this!!

12th course: Dessert!!!!! We actually waited quite a bit for the dessert, but we had time to let the food digest a little bit. The waitress brought over new plates, and new fork/knife/spoon. Joe and I looked at each other and said "uh-oh, we need all these for dessert???" Then we looked over, and the server brought us this.


chocolate molten cake with green tea filling/cream.
Sorbet: Green tea, pear, chocolate, and raspberry. (I didn't think chocolate cream-less sorbet can taste so good.)
"Exotic" fruits: Not too exotic to us, but there were berries, lychee, dried dates, and asian pear.
Fruit Chawanmushi: Custard with fruit chunks and honeycombs. Served with almond flavored lady finger.

First time in history that I admit defeat to desserts. Joe and I were still full the next morning when we woke up.


Day three:
Of course we tanned some more since neither one of us were hungry. I'm surprised that I wasn't sunburnt!!


The waterfalls in the picture were great for back and neck massages!!

Anyway, we were being lazy bums and just lingered around the hotel and played a couple games of chess. I also improved my trash-talking skills. Met up with another one of Joe's coworker at Old Town Scottsdale. We went to Grimaldi's Pizza. This place uses coal brick-ovens, and also won numerous awards for their pizzas, and have several locations in the states, including the original in NY. We chose our own toppings and the waitress recommended the ricotta, which was a GREAT choice! the crust was just right!

We each managed to stuff down a canoli afterwards. Joe is still raving about their canolis. Overall, award-winning pizzas, nice looking interior, not too snooty upscale, but not a mom-'n-pop's look either. The owner (or manager) seemed to know everybody in there and was very friendly.

After lunch, we walked around Old Town Scottsdale to kill some time and visited many souvenir stores. The whole outlook of old town is very western.. lots of cowboy merchandises. There was a store that sold only cowboy boots and each pair was at least 200 big ones. That's the price to pay for good quality leather I guess...but I can't afford it. I will have to settle with DSW because I really want a pair. There were also a lot of Indian, Navajo merchandises. Lots of gemstones, rocks, and jewelry. I bought some little trinkets because I am, afterall, a tourist.

We went for a nice swim when we got back to the hotel. The water was so warm it almost felt like a hot tub. Afterwards we went to pick up our boarding pass (The hotel is nice enough to do check-in for customers so they can get "A" seatings on southwest), and pick up a glass of wine from the lobby. They host a free wine reception every afternoon for an hour. Free booze, what's not to love?

For dinner, we decided to eat at the hotel's restaurant, Taggia, which offers Italian Coastal Cuisine (meaning, a lot of seafood) as well as all organic ingredients. I got the Bay scallop risotto, and Joe got the seafood spaghetti.


But my favorite part was the gazpacho. honey dew and tomato. it was a yingyang presentation. Tangy, garlicky, yet refreshing. delicious!


We wolfed down the panna cotta and my Montepulciano wine. For the remainder of the night, we chilled outside by the firepit. It was nice.





Day four:
Last day here. I was not happy to go back to reality... =( Anyway, squeezed in some more pool time and ate our leftover from Roka Akor. The front desk was nice and let us use their microwave. There was a mob of people checking into the hotel for a convention when we left. We actually caught a driver of a limo service who just dropped off some guests and was about to head back to the airport. That was pretty sweet, no waiting around for a cab. He took some quick detour around the freeway and got us to the airport in less than 15 mins. PHX airport is really cool, at some parts it almost looked like a shopping mall.

Anyway, the flight was so smooth and i dozed off in absolute content. This is what a vacation should be about. Just get away from everything and do nothing but eat and sleep. It was stress-free. I love it. Except the crew at w.o.m. managed to pull a prank on me saying the computers were down from virus...They got me going for a while, stressing about how I will be spending the whole day tomorrow fixing them (since I also double as the company's I.T. girl haha) Anyway, that was a good laugh, and a realization of the vacation ending. We are thinking about future vacation plans in Arizona. Possibly Sedona when it's not so hot. I heard it is beautiful there. I would also like to do one of those ATV or Hummer tours, that would be sweet!

I will be working out furiously for the remainder of the month because I gotta be ready for VEGAS!!!!!!!!!

yay for vacay!

scottsdale booked! foodie and shopaholic heaven. will also be baking and lounging by pools in the 100 degree weather.

vegas in september woot!

brunch at sweet pea's. I <3 this place!

Crab benedictine buckwheat crepe (crab, avocado, eggs, hollandaise sauce. heavenly bites!)
mix berry crepe with custard.
freshly squeezed OJ.

Once in a while, especially late at night, I would just stop and reflect on my life, and then end up panicking because everything is moving too fast. Changes happen so suddenly and we don't quite have enough time to play catch up anymore, so then we start leaving out the less significant details in our lives. Before we know it, we stopped calling our old friends who moved away, the little cousin who was 5-year-old yesterday is now driving and going to college, and 2008 is almost 2/3 over and none of the new years resolutions were accomplished! It's so cliche, but we really need to stop and smell the roses sometime. Just slow down, and breathe..

badminton!!!!!

I will be sore tomorrow. really, really sore.

let's see how long I can keep this up this time!

lazy sunday

slept till 11 (which almost never happens..the weeks of sleep deprivation really adds up), caught up on foodnetwork shows, read a good 10 chapters of "eat pray love", and i will still be able to squeeze in a good couple hours of piano. It's been a while since I have a nice day like this to myself. life is good.

currently reading

so hot in herrrrrr'

It's nearly impossible to get anything done in this heatwave. sticky hands and shiny face..ugh. Although I would not mind to lay down at the beach in this weather.

lots of good food this weekend:
korean bbq, cowgirl creamery triple creme cheese, acme bread, kumamoto oysters, lobster ravioli, chocolate amaretto gelato shake, tri-tip, crab cakes, sushi galore, and many many more!

tummy = happy.

two weddings in a row, one as a guest, one as the "hired help." Summer weddings are definitely beautiful. Actually I just got home from playing at Mountain Terrace @ woodside. beautiful ceremonial location, but was noisy from the bikers and bicyclists meeting spot outside. Pretty cool though, who knew it would be so happening in the middle of nowhere on skyline blvd! The drive was a bitch though..I for sure will not be getting married there hahah! Clarence and Ifong's wedding last weekend was so fun and fabulous, and I am so happy to see these two lovebirds, who are so in love and so compatible with each other, to join as one. <3

Anyway, long weekend is always too short, and I always need another day to recover! hope everyone had a good 4th of July, I know I did!

Apple is an evil corporation.

I'm really not a big fan of Mac products...

After spending hours unsuccessfully trying to figure out how to connect an apple bluetooth keyboard and mouse to my laptop, (even with 3 uber geeks' help) I don't know if I should just return it or continue this hellish battle. First of all there was no set passkey and I have to edit the registry, and then I can't type into the passkey box, and I can't connect the mouse because there's no button to do that. asdfasdafasdf!!!!!!!!! Looks like a lot of users out there have the same problem.. but a lot of people got theirs working! This is really frustrating. I'm more and more convinced that Apple is evil and just wants people to keep buying their products and upgrade because their products aren't compatible with any other systems.

Apple, your products may look cool and trendy, but for now, I would rather stick with buggy Microsoft!!!!

"For their own good, vegetarians should never be allowed near fine beers and ales. It will only make them loud and belligerent, and they lack the physical strength and aggressive nature to back up any drunken assertions." - from Bourdain's "the Nasty Bits"

haha nothing against the vegetarians out there, but this quote just made me chuckle.

This and That

It's been a few very eventful weeks and will continue to be like this for the next month or so.

The camping trip was awesome. 24 people, 2 nights, at Big Basin surrounded by countless redwood trees. Sitting around the fire pit cooking and talking, truly relaxing indeed. (except for the part where we were freezing our butts off sleeping at night.) Usually it's almost impossible to get all of us together so it was great seeing everybody. More pictures are here.




a blurry picture of us



it took us 5 or 6 tries to get this right!


my niiiiice and big tent =)





A notable recipe I tried out the other day was "Raspberry-Lemon Custard Cake" It had similar texture to a bread pudding / souffle. I changed the recipe a little bit: Used 1/2 cup sugar instead of 3/4 cup. I took out the raspberry part in the recipe and put homemade apricot-almond preserve on the bottom of the cups/ramekins. The cake was yummy either warm or cold. Definitely a satisfying, low calorie, and delicious treat.




Kevin and Dernie moved down yaaay!!! One by one all you davis/sac people will convert and discover how grrrrreat the south bay is. (.....along with discovering some really horrible cupertino drivers. shhhhhh!)

At our usual hangout, VIP.