Wine and Bike & My Big Chance to Be on TV!

Last weekend we went to the Yakima Valley area for our annual wine & bike trip. We went with Rev. Brian Jacoby (who will be doing our wedding; he is getting quite good at lecturing, and even lectured me extensively this weekend when I started whining), Kristin and Nate and Steve.

The weather was good, although a little too hot for biking. Except for some flat tires (bikes and Tim's car), we made it safe and sound back to the hotel. Oddly enough nobody got tipsy enough.

One of the most exciting things was that at one of the wineries, there was a CBS crew doing a piece on several people who were riding their horses around all the wineries and orchards around Yakima. Of course I tried to move my chair so that I would be in the background, and hopefully make my long-awaited debut on the small screen. It was then to my surprise and delight that at some point during the taping, the cameraman actually told us to "act normal" because we would be on TV!!! The piece will be broadcasted on July 5th on the Early Show.

After the crew left, Brian and I were sent over to beg for the lunch leftovers from the CBS crew. We thought that the wineries served lunch, but obviously we were wrong. We were tired and hungry, so the team sent Brian and me to get some scraps from the catered lunch that the CBS crew had been served. Brian was sent because he is charming and a good story teller. I was probably sent because I'm whiny and skinny enough to look like I'm malnourished. Between having the caterers be charmed or filled with pity, we figured we'd get at least something to eat. Brian did all the talking: "Excuse me--I know this is going to sound pathetic, but we're really hungry...can we have some of your dessert?" Worked like a charm, and minutes later we were all eating the beautiful, but miniscule petit fours, albeit still craving something savery and more substantial.

The next day, we decided to go rafting. Lots of fun.

In Zillah, getting ready to bike

Kristin, Nate, Brian, Tim and Steve
at CBS's Early Show taping

Latest Craving

Meet the new and delicious Cherry Garcia Ice Cream Bar. My favorite Cherry Garcia ice cream, covered with a decadent layer of chocolate.

I've only been able to find it at the convenience store by my house (I actually get off one stop earlier so I can grab me a bar). No luck at Safeway, QFC or Trader Joe's. If you know of any other stores around Belltown that carry it, please let me know.

You Know the World has Gone Awry When...

..you see a minivan parked in front of the Tamarind Tree. Formerly regarded as just another hole in the wall in Chinatown (aka International District for those who wish to be PC), SOMEHOW, this Vietnamese restaurant got written up on the NY Times. And that was the beginning of the end...

You see, when a cheap, but good eats place like that gets written up on a mainstream newspaper, it becomes a mainstream phenomenon. Not only that, it attracts the white peeps; in special, the white peeps that live in the suburbs. In this particular case, it attracted two distinct groups: the hipsters and the soccer moms.

Like it or not, the white peeps ruin the ghettoness of such places, therefore driving up the prices of the food. It's supply and demand. Market economics, call it what you want. No, I'm not trying to be racist. For places such as the Tamarind Tree, gone are the days when one would walk in and be greeted by the smell of moth balls. I'm serious, I've BEEN to those places. My peeps (meaning the Asians) would just shrug it off and say nonchalantly: "Ok, so there are some cockroaches here, but at least they are dead." Not so with a white peep. He/she would FREAK OUT. And I mean FREAK OUT. In the olden days of these places, the customers would not be bothered, and in fact, even expect getting dirty plates, having somebody throw utensils at them and yell at them when taking too long to order.

However, when these places start welcoming the Caucasian clientele, one witnesses some dramatic changes: All of a sudden they try to change the decor, wean out the bad service, and worse: they try to PASS THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT INSPECTION. These little updates produce all sorts of ridiculousness. In the case of the Tamarind Tree, this entailed the following:

1) Change in decor: the addition of a water fountain, where the water cascaded down so fast that instead of a soothing feeling, it had the exact opposite effect. Not to mention the giant tile pieces that were missing from this fountain.

2) Marketing: neon signs advertising the said fountain (something along the lines of "Tamarind Tree: with its famous fountain")

3) Menu overhaul: all of a sudden things such as chicken feet and cow tendons do not make for appetizing entrees anymore. Beef with broccoli and some kind of meat in a sweet and sour sauce sound like a much better idea!

Bear in mind that Jen, Chris, Tim and I went there before I knew about all of this. But as soon as I saw the hipsters hanging out outside and the Chrysler van pull in, I knew I was in for quite an experience.

The food was alright. I would have to give it another try, as I had been sick that day. Service. Well, our waiter started out describing the menu with a lot of fair. We ordered 4 dishes. Out of the 4 dishes, he got one of them wrong and never ordered the 4th one. When we politely brought the incident to the manager's attention, he said he would "take care of us by giving us free dessert." Free food has an effect of making you greedy and order more than you would otherwise. We each ordered something different. The waiter ractified what the manager had said: "So, I know there was some miscommunication, but seeing that you guys waited, etc, etc, I am giving you ONE free dessert." We were like: "ONE?" He's like: "Yeah." We were like: "ONE for the FOUR of us?" He was like: "Uh-huh." That was it. At that point I knew that no matter what, hipsters, minivan, tacky fountain, sweet and sour pork and all, that was still, at heart, an Asian restaurant.

The Most Expensive Jeans EVER (owned by Kelly)

So I got tired of hearing Diesel say I had to most horrible jeans ever. And that I wear them every day. So ok, he was right on both counts. The pair does sag in the back, making it look like I am wearing Depends adult diapers. But it is comfy. And yes, I wear it every day practically, but that's the only pair that I currently own.

Diesel did also bring up a good point. That I should get a NICE pair of jeans, and even if I paid over 100 bucks, as I would get my money's worth by wearing them every day, like I do with the diaper-jeans hybrid.

However, when the time came to shed some big bucks for a pair of blues, I was not up for the challenge. It just seems too expensive and excessive, especially after watching the Motorcycle Diaries, which follows the young Che Guevara and his journeys with the little people, those who live in misery, homeless in their own country, with very little to eat. And here I am, pondering whether I should buy a pair of jeans that would feed all of these people.

Diesel, my rich fiance, tired of seeing the pathetic sight of my behind, decided to put an end to the my fashion misery and bought me a pair of some hip jeans (loved by teenagers that watch MTV). They cost him some big bucks, but now he is much less embarrassed to be seen with me now.

To Die or Not to Die (During Your Honeymoon)

So for our honeymoon, Diesel and I decided we wanted to go to secluded Sri Lanka. The problem with September, when we'll be on our honeymoon, is the weather around the world. It'll eithe be too cool, too muggy, etc.

Sri Lanka and southern India seemed both exotic enough and somewhere where neither of us have been and could explore together.

There is one little problem with Sri Lanka, however: there is a civil war going on. This has been the case for years, and I am still getting versed on why the government and Tamil rebels just won't get along. Diesel and I have been following the news to see if there is any improvement. Here's what we know:

1) The war is, as said, a civil war, and foreigners have not been the target of any attacks
2) The war is restricted to the northern part of the country

However, here is what we also know:
1) Last month, some foreigners were killed by landmines in the northern part of the country, while chasing elephants
2) 2 weeks ago, a bus full of innocent civilians was bombed in norther Sri Lanka

That said, we are now still determining if our chances of survival is great enough to make this exotic trip worth our time...and our lives.

World Cup and Me at Fado's

I scheduled my work hours around Brazil's debut game, which was this Tuesday, Jun 13. My coworker and I headed down to Fado, the Irish pub across the street from work (how convenient!), where we met up with Diesel and my sister Emy.

We sat behind the Brazilian fans, all in yellow and green, playing the drums and screaming at the top of their lungs.

As expected, Brazil won. Not exactly their best performance, but it'll do for now. Kaká is the cutest and Ronaldinho Gaúcho is, unfortunately, the fuggliest. But he is indeed an awesome player and I am rooting for him.

Kaká, the cutest, after scoring Brazil's first goal


Ronaldinho Gaúcho, the fuggliest, showing some mad skills

World Cup Starts

The World Cup started this month. This is a VERY IMPORTANT time in the life of every Brazilian, and as such, I have been closely watching it. AND Diesel and I will be joining the festivities in 2 weeks, when we go to Germany to watch the semi-final game in Munich.

It has been a tumultous road to finding a working stream where I can watch games from my work computer. My coworker and I spent several hours googling sites where we could connect to a live stream of the games. The world seemed like a selfish place. BBC would only broadcast to UK users, and when I tried to connect, sure enough, they denied me access. Brazilian sites even denied me access to cilps of past games. My other peeps, the Chinese, masters of all things illegal, ended up supplying the only live, illegal broadcast of games through a live stream in CHINESE that would buffer every freaking 5 min. It was maddening, but at least it was something.

Lucky me, I'm practically married to a geek: Diesel did come through and found what is surely a very illegal live stream that has ESPN2. It's a peer-to-peer application that works really well. My coworker and I have been enjoying hours of good soccer. We passed it on application to several other coworkers, and currently, dozens of people have it installed in their computer. Productivity has certainly gone down as the hours spent watching soccer go up. Anyhow, if you are interested in joining the herds of the semi-useless, email me and I'll send you the link to download the player.

There have been some moments--several hours, actually--of sheer despair. Last Friday, the live stream went down, and we were cut off from the wonderful world of soccer. I thought somebody found us out, for sure, and decided to deprive many a soccer fans of their right to participate in this great event. Fortunately, later that day, the live stream was ressurrected, to our delight.

The Nasty Sound of a Sigh--When Uttered by BG

I was starting to think that BG (aka Backstabbing Geek, if you have not been following the saga between me and my arch-enemy) was becoming a gentler, kinder soul despite being mostly frustration and meanness. That of course, was an incorrect assumption.

Today he was supposed to send me a revised report, which he told me was going to be ready today, which is what I communicated to the client. But of course he doesn't. As with other things, anything that he has to send me somehow gets ignored or forgotten.

So in an act of good faith, I decided to send him a very polite email inquiring about the status of this report--which I knew he wasn't going to deliver, because as always, everything I ask him to do is "hard and takes a long time." 5 seconds later, which is about the time it takes for him to get my email, I hear this deliberately loud SIGH. ***WHAT THE HELL?***Dude, I'm sitting in the cubicle right across from you, and I can obviously HEAR when you utter a frustrated sigh and SEE you when you make an ugly face! Am I asking you to do anything above and beyond your job. NO!

BG has done this before. I will start counting how many times he does that, and for each time I hear the nasty sound of his sigh, I will dislike him a little more...

Pinot Noir and the Worst Sandwich EVER

Last weekend, Tim surprised me with a trip to the Willemette Valley down in Oregon. The region lies about 30 min from Portland and has several dozen wineries where some awesome American Pinot Noirs have been produced.

Our friend Koko drove down to Portland with us, as she was going to a wedding by Hood River that weekend. We decided to get lunch in Portland at this cool-looking brewery place. Koko and Diesel had muscles and fries and a burger and both liked the food. I, however, decided to go "light and healthy" and ordered the "veggie grinder." Now, I had NO IDEA what a grinder was, but was told that it was a Midwestern hot sub sandwich, which was good enough for me. As the waiter delivered my food, I knew I was in for a bad case of diarrhea (if not worse). The sub was loaded with onions and peppers that had been smothered in butter. I could SEE it and TASTE it, and although it was completely disgusting, I managed to eat half of it. I began to feel queasy shortly after.

The weekend now seems hazy to me. I remember drinking a lot of wine and eating a lot o free food/snacks, mostly cheese and crackers. I also consumed an insane amount of prosciutto. I haven't eaten pork in almost 10 yrs, but somehow, could not stop myself from chowing down the disgusting pieces of meat. Dehydrated, wined out, still suffering from the delayed effects of a sandwich gone bad, and now suffering from a pork overload, I spent the weekend feeling queasy and fighting off a stomach ache.

It was the suck.

As I said, nothing about last weekend is very clear to me. Next thing I know, we are coming back with 2 cases of wine. I am still recovering from my stomach ache, and I'm sure that pigging out at Taco Time tonight did nothing to improve my condition.

Bday Weekend in NY

I'm a bit behind on blogging, but that just goes to show once again that I am NOT a geek in denial, and I CAN live without blogging.

Anyhow, for my bday weekend, I met up with Timothy in NY. He was there for work, and I was there for the free ride on his company's money. It's nice not to feel any remorse about paying for a $30 cab ride (or several) when you could have bought a subway ticket for a fraction of the price.

My mom and I flew to NY together, as she was there to visit a friend (it was her bday weekend too). I really thought I could deal with the red eye, but was utterly mistaken. The Jet Blue flight leaves Seattle at midnight and gets to NY at 8am (5am Seattle-time). Aside from being a long flight at a bad time, the following factors made this one of the WORST flights EVER:

1) Large and in charge guy sitting next to me and spilling over my seat, which left me very little room to move
2) Worst case of projectile vomit from a poor Asian lady who basically passed out, while the flight attendants tended to her and her family wiped off the puke off the plane's ceiling
3) Fussy 3-yr old that screamed for 3 out of the 5 hrs

So upon arriving in NY, after walking around a street fair and up to Central Park, my mom, Diesel and I ended up crashing at the hotel. My mom got picked up by her friend that afternoon and Diesel and I had dinner with MY friend David ("MY" denoting a friend that I will take with me in case of a divorce) and his friend Elaine. Somehow we ended up at this bar that Elaine described as an Eurotrash meeting point, where some random dude kept trying to crash our little circle. Elaine, in all her shamelessness, kept turning her back to him, to no avail.

The next day, we did MOMA and walked a lot. That night, we got great seats to see Avenue Q, a show that came highly recommended by David. In retrospect, I think that David would have been a much better date for Diesel, as several of the jokes in the show were highly embarrassing.

I took Monday off and went shopping! Hooray. NY was a blast...