Pictures of Holiday Food

Mushroom stand. Most popular place at the farmer's market.

Christmas Eve hotpot. We're estranged from the Americanized side of the family so we didn't get to go to their party (and you thought I was whitewashed). I think they went to church or did something equally wholesome. Meanwhile we ate our shrimps with the heads on.


The Yellowcat made Christmas dinner. The effort included a two hour long internal argument..do you assemble the smoked salmon appetizers, forcing Asian people to consume capers and cheese, or do you set it out and hope people won't mistake capers for peas, ignore the cheese, and gorge on fish? Unexpectedly easy solution: The Yellowcat's family neglected to inform her that the guests were professional chefs. So that's why no one wanted to cook. . . At least they knew about capers...

Dessert: Apple Calvados Tart It's got that wow factor when hot, mediocre when cold. I made it extra sour w/limited sugar.

Someone needs to teach me how to pair wines with food.

Next stop: LA for 1 week, starting with the clambake engagement party!

Cold

It's cold. California cold.

Let me show you.

Back to Basics

You can move 500 miles, but you can't outrun your problems.

Car overheated. No one's home. Don't know anyone within a five mile radius. No, not even vaguely. Lonely dinners shared with the cat. Fifth time this year?

Luckily the fridge is stocked. So I cook. Meals fashioned out of the contents of the cupboard; that's how you learn to utilize every ingredient, take away the car. I imagine somewhere, there's someone who enjoys fixing cars but can't and won't cook. You and I, we should meet.

Basic Mandarin Orange Cake, in my one awesome Crate & Barrel bowl. It's one of those cakes you make for PTA meetings when you don't really want to go all out, but still want to be a step above the people who bring store bought cookies.

Cuz you know, all professional women can whip up a fine meal on a moment's notice. And if you can't, well, you and by extension your child can't keep up with the rat race. Epic fail.


Chocolate/peppermint cookies. If I see you this holiday season, this is your gift. Remember it's the thought that counts, and it takes a lot of effort to make icing with just a fork and bowl. And please don't give me that box of drugstore candy to reciprocate. Especially if the next sentence is, my wife/mother/girlfriend is an uber chef but she's too busy being successful at work to cook. SEE ABOVE SENTENCE ON RAT RACE EPIC FAILURE.


Chicken w/ scary foreign Madras curry powder and really old spinach, broccoli and potatoes reduced into mushy forms.


Chicken with really scary red Thai curry powder, coconut milk, same old broccoli, a can of mandarins and badly made rice.


Not pictured: obvious lack of skill in making Chinese food with kitchen stocked with Chinese ingredients and cupboard full of Chinese spices.

The Return of the Prodigal Jennmoe

Jennmoe Drama
Our life has taken on biblical proportions. Is that a sacrilegious claim? Maybe a bit. Almost biblical.

Moe at her last supper, 1 hour before departure.


And then we descended into the Central Valley, covered in fog that never receded, and returned to a land where its so cold the leaves actually change colors and all the shops close at 6pm. Because hell is actually frozen suburbia. C would add that Michigan is also located in hell but its in a different circle of hell.

A life lived once and then lived again. We'll be here, approximately 5 miles from where I grew up, for the next 3.5 years if not longer.

Intermission
People taking my apartment. If the link doesn't work, let me summarize: four people, 2 american eskimo dogs and 1 cat are going to stuff themselves into the condo. That's what happens when you use a third party broker to rent out your unit.

Jennmoe Comedy (Tragedy?)
a warning to all women...do not get engaged or married without first securing a job.

Jennmoe: help me get a job

Non-moe: aren't you getting married?

Jennmoe: we're not married yet and i have to get a job.

Non-moe: you're marrying an mba, you're set.

Jennmoe: i have to support my cat and create an emergency fund to put C into an asylum when i drive C crazy complaining about my lack of a job.

Non-moe: don't worry you're set. you'd just quit and have a lot of babies anyway.

Jennmoe: i don't want to sit at home all day, its like a prison or a zoo or maybe a fishbowl.

Non-moe: i have real work to do, you'll be fine you're getting married, your husband will support you.

Jennmoe: he's insolvent. im living with my parents. my cat has an eating disorder. help me.

(separately, with someone i dislike)

Non-moe 2: you know you're the most narcissistic person i know.

Jennmoe: the world does revolve around me, it has to revolve around someone and the universe has chosen me.

Non-moe2: one day you'll wake up and realize you're just a hollow shell and no one likes you. that day is probably tomorrow.

Jennmoe: 1 in 5 people has a mental disorder. im a narcissus, you're an asshole.

Non-moe2: and thats why i hate palo alto, everyone's so full of themselves, everyone's just like you, ugly, asian, unimpressive but you think you're some hot shit.

Jennmoe: hey maybe i do belong here.

Hi.

Happy Thanksgiving. I'm still in San Diego awaiting yet another Craigslist potential buyer/murderer.

But I saw my condo posted on craigslist. My landlord lives 150 miles away; we've never met so we go through a third party. It's odd, watching others rent out your place before you've left, without telling you about it, without coming in to look inside. Even in this economy, the rent's going up to $1400. What fool is going to pay that?? My neighbor crams 5-7 into his place. You'd need that many to justify the rent.

Here's a second floor version, I like how their layout is just like mine. I don't know them but we have the same rug-sofa-tv-bed setup, almost down to type of furniture, color, general ghettoness except for the awesome tv. I like that it's messy, uncoordinated, large animal(?) on the rug. And I bet his tv actually belongs to someone else too.

My Foreclosure Story & OCD

You know what happens the day after you pass the bar exam? You realize that you still don't have a job. And you've now lost your only excuse. The economy is not an excuse for not getting a entry-lvl law jobs, only Asian parents wish this was true.

But I'm getting very good at telling my foreclosure story.

Furniture Buyer: So where are you moving?

Me: San Jose.

FB: (Look of horror). Well, I hear the jobs up there pay really well.

Me: I hope so because I can't get a job here, so I have to move back in with my parents.

FB: Oooh. (Awkward silence). (Looks around at the HDTV, the Nordstrom bag, the case of wine, the Kindle on the floor). How much does this apartment cost? Did you consider moving someplace smaller?

At least she bought my table.

To save myself from ridicule...only the Kindle is mine and that was a gift from my brother who's made more at age 25 than I'll make in my entire life. And ya, Kindles are awesome.

Probably adding on to why I can't get a job, I am socially retarded. You see, in times of economic distress, those of us with borderline OCD find comfort in restoring geometry and order to the universe. I created a Canada collage, mounted on pieces of moving boxes. This took me way longer and was much more comforting than going out with normal people.



And here, because I dont want to make a post just for this picture, is Old Mission Dam. Located in Mission Trails Regional Park, maybe just 4 miles from Qualcomm stadium, but very remote.

Things I'll Never See Again

For some insane reason, I went to Julian over the weekend. Julian borders the Anze Borrego desert so with a storm coming, I thought I'd catch a desert flash flood. Like the awesome ones on the nature shows, complete with the fast-forwarding of the clouds. Sadly sometimes reality just isn't reflected on television.

For example, it did rain. But it was ice-rain. And I found no refuge in town, every city dweller in their best pair of Uggs and faux-Northface gear lined up out the door of every pie shop. And flood...only the road flooded. Not a good thing when you don't have an off road vehicle.

Here's Lake Cuyamaca @ 39 degrees. Colder than Chicago and Ann Arbor and all the places I've visited this year.



Oh and San Diego doesn't know this yet and San Diego wouldn't care, but I'm leaving. I still think it's a piece of paradise and those that live here are the luckiest people in the world. But they won't let me stay.

I used to commute to work on these freeways. Both of them at different points in time.

Halloween Part 2 But Real

You know how the xkcd people have a crazy obsession with velociraptors? I've got one with spiders. Except spiders aren't extinct. First came the large black ones with antlers. It took me 3 years to figure out how to get rid of them. I spray them with water, put a bucket on top and then vacuum up their bodies a few weeks later.

Well, they came for revenge. They (the spider people) sent a Giant Furry Striped Spider. It's perched outside my window.

Size comparison:



This "spider," more of an abomination of nature, a mistake in creation, is also what my cat would look like if she were a spider. Furry, orange, striped, indestructible.

Details:


I saw it eat ANOTHER SPIDER. It's going to obscure my window with its spider silks. And there's nothing I can do about it.

Halloween & Muffy

Happy Dia de los Muertos. Muffy finally squeezed into her holiday costume! We got the on-sale santa coat, figuring we'd use it for all the holidays and our holiday parties and holiday cards. Because Muffy and me - total holiday spirits. It came in chihuahua size. Muffy's about 1inch too thick around the middle, but a week of running around didn't reduce her size. It's ok though because she sucked it in.

I told her to look scary for the camera so she put on her scary deranged cat sneer.

She can also sleep in the coat. Actually, the costume is so tight she can't move. BUT most sexy costumes are so tight you can't move or breathe (see playboy bunnies), so this is really just part of the glamour. On the top left you can see a claw she lost during the struggle.


Now she's going to play Santa. So here she is, trudging along the snow carrying all the gifts. We couldn't really fit her arms into the coat because she's not a chihuahua. But Santa's kinda chubby too.

Relaxing after a long day's work. I was going to put a beer by her in this shot, but that's too Lolcat-like. And my cat's not going to be a lolcat.


One day we'll do costume + leash and the resulting pictures will either destroy the Internet, or get me arrested for cat abuse.

Chicago + No I'm Not Dead

No I'm not dead. Just not blogging as often. Still in San Diego.

Went to Chicago over the weekend. First time there, did all the touristy things in 1.5 days or so. Brought the crummy camera and didn't take very many pictures this time.

Proof of my existence - yet another picture of me + metallic animal.


Lake Michigan. Those people are strangers. This is the second Great Lake that I've seen, Erie being the first. And this is the second time I've been in the Midwest, aka Flyover Country. I like how they have a beach. Too bad it's freezing.


Same lake, different day, different angle. Beautiful isn't it? In between these two pictures, there was a rainstorm + long walk through the rainstorm in the dark without an umbrella.


Sue @ the Field Museum. This is the only dinosaur on display. They do own the bodies of three (3) man-eating tigers. They also painted a mural of Sue behind Sue. Not pictured: nearby soldier field! Also not pictured: how everyone has a smart phone and texts/constantly checks email on said smartphone, probably paid for by their companies. I have no such phone.



Cloudgate @ millenium park. It looks a bit like the trailer out of the Watchman where the bubble of doom creeps towards destroying the world.

And so that was Chicago. We also went to Lawry's in Chicago (as opposed to Beverly Hills) and decided that Zachary's pizza is far superior to their local chain.

Great American Cities Yet Unvisited That Are Not In The South Or Texas: Boston, Philadelphia.

Wedding Info

Figured I'd put this up here since I've signed the contracts.

Date: May 10, 2009 @ about 5pm
Ceremony Site: Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, CA
Reception + Dinner: Cypress Hotel in Cupertino (7 miles away)

Hotel rate is @ $99/109 I believe. Leopard spotted robes.

There's ample food for 75-80 guests; any less and we'll add in chocolate fountains, any more guests and people may starve.

I don't think we're sending out save the date cards because it's a holiday (mother's day) and nine months ahead is a long time to know if you're free. Someone will create a website w/the hotel rates and it'll be distributed with the invites.

Rehearsal Dinner: May 9, likely ultra scary Chinese food
Shower/Engagement parties: None

The trip begins: Calgary

Quick intro. C and I took a two week trip through Canada flying into Calgary, hiking through Banff, Jaspar, Revelstoke and Yoho, and flying out of Vancouver. I'm going to post pictures that capture the essence of the places we visited for the cities (as opposed to stock pretty photos), and for the national parks, I'll post all the alpine lakes inaccessible to most. August is the way end of the summer season, the marmots hibernate in September, so it was a wet cold trip.

The first thing we did after the plane landed was go get Poutine. It's cheese curds and gravy on top of fries. It sounds disgusting but it's actually quite good and very unhealthy.
We did frequent all the Canadian fast food establishments: Boston Pizza, Tim Horton's, New York Fries.

Another hot summer day in Cow-town.
A city of tremendous growth, new buildings beginning to obscure the view of the tower.

Construction of new condos.

One of many HBC's we eventually saw. It's Canada's first department store incorporated in about 1690ish. HBC designed Canada's olympic uniforms. We were privileged to watch CBC coverage of the olympics as opposed to NBC.

20 years ago Calgary hosted the winter olympics. This is what the ski jumps look like in the summer.

Banff - Shadow Lake

Canada's really just got one highway you need to use. The Transcanada highway, hwy 1. Once you leave Calgary, you encounter bales of hay and then a little while past that, you start to see Banff. This is the first viewpoint before you even enter the park. It's only about an hour from Calgary.

Our first task was to hike 8.4 miles into the woods to our cabin. This is about mile 3-4 @ Redearth Creek. Notice how on the hike in it's sunny....there are no pictures of the hike out because it rained and we had to proceed in our ponchos.

Our destination is Shadow Lake. This is the first of many many many pictures of various alpine lakes. They're created by glaciers and supposedly unspoiled by man. It was hot that day, 80 degrees and we went swimming in the lake with some German tourists. The thunderstorms would start that night and never really go away.

From Shadow Lake you can take some more hikes. We hiked up to a pass at 7500 feet. Here's the first of many pictures of various alpine meadows. C's muling our stuff around while I carry a daypack.

And from the pass, we followed a "caribou trail" straight up a mountain, past the treeline into no man's land. It was so steep you couldn't stand straight, and on the descent I actually just slid down the hillside. The trail actually leads up higher, it's called the Copper Mountain Scramble (random guy's site + he actually went all the way up). But from here you can see Shadow Lake below. And the shales covering the mountains. Giant spiders lived under those shales.

And the next day we walked out.

Banff - Lake Louise & Moraine

People don't normally think of Shadow Lake when they think of Banff. We did (briefly) visit Banff the commercialized tourist town. Canada's got some weird obsession with Greek, Pizza, and Steak in that every single restaurant serves all three types of food. They call it "west coast cuisine," That and they have McDonalds.

And because the sun doesn't set until 10pm, we visited the famed Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise at 7pm, long after the crowds had departed. Common question...why is the sky that color, what's wrong with your camera? Well, it really was that color. It's twilight against a coming storm.


You can google for stock pictures of the lake. But I was there. These canoes rent for $55/hour.
We also visited Lake Moraine, which is about 11km away from Lake Louise. It's the supposedly just as beautiful cousin. The guy who found it thought the lake was a moraine, but obviously, it's a lake. The sides may be lateral moraines, but the lake is a lake. It's also packed, but not quite as packed with tourists and the trails aren't paved. Another common feature of lakes: logs.

Yoho - Lake O'Hara

My dear reader and unknown public, you're probably already sick of alpine lakes. But I have so many more. We're proceeding a little out of order now, mostly because I misclassified my photos. The parks kind of merge together and to the wildlife it's all the same.

We took a bus to Lake O'Hara in Yoho Nat'l Park. This is 10 miles in and you have to reserve the bus way in advance. You could also hike in, but I wasn't up for that.

From the lake, you can take other trails further into the mountains. The trail we picked took us by Lake Mary Schaeffer first. All these lakes have little melting glaciers attached to them, which you can't see in this picture because this glacier was almost all gone.

I also refer to this hike as the hike of death. It involved rockslides (see rocks below - that is the trail) and one cliff face. I like to post pictures of people because it shows we were physically present.

Lake Macarthur is the final destination, another cobalt blue lake with a glacier and wildflowers. Here C demonstrates that yes, you can swim in glacial water. It's very very cold. This lake is colder than Shadow Lake.

C took a fancy to photographing mushrooms. We have ~50 pictures of various types of mushrooms, but don't worry, I'll spare you the pain of sifting through them all.

This picture doesn't look like much, but it's a wilderness corridor. That's a natural bottleneck created by geography. Animals are forced to either walk through this corridor or take Hwy 1. I sat here for about an hour waiting for a bear to walk by, but none did. Grizzly bear season is between Aug 15-Sept 15, but we only saw 1 grizzly bear during our trip.
My bear story. So the day before we hiked to Shadow Lake, a grizzly bear sat on the bridge obstructing the trail. Various hikers who encountered the bear either ran or took pictures. Self preservation v preservation of your death in digital mode. I know I'd take pictures. But the bear didn't come out for me.

Jaspar - Columbia Icefields

Back on track, after Shadow Lake we went to the Columbia Icefields in Jaspar. Then back to Banff/Lake Louise. Then to Yoho and Lake O'Hara. You can see how I got confused.

Like a good tourist, we went on the Brewster bus to the Athabasca glacier. It's a bus that costs way too much to drive you up this glacier and then enclose you in an iced parking lot type surface so you can take pictures of each other.

As you can see, they marked off the safe area with cones. Glaciers in the summer are especially dangerous because they shift and you can fall into a crevasse and suffocate. I spent a previous day reading up on the Swiss rescue technique for people trapped in crevasses. Thus I felt like I couldtake this picture while risking my life, off the coned safety zone.

But away from the cones you can see the runoff and the crevasses carved by the waters.

An ice cave visible from the iced parking lot.

Alternatively, for no fee, you can hike a few miles up on the other side of the road and get a view of six different glaciers from Wilcox pass. Here's Athabasca glacier again, and you can see the road taken by the Brewster buses and the parking lot way in the distance.


From the pass we saw a herd of big horn sheep. C took this picture. It's unique because my lens and camera have no zoom capability. So the sheep is about 10 feet away from him. I was all ready to dive into the river, believing somehow that sheep can't swim.