New Years

Our new years eve plans were pretty mellow this year. We decided not to go too crazy w/ a crazy city party and went to Nate's house where he holds a party every year w/ an ice luge. The LUGE HUGE success. I've heard that it was a blast last year but now I think I can't go to a party without one. The set up was pretty sweet. My cousin has a small porch and steps that lead up to his house. The luge was placed on top of the porch while the intakers could stand on the ground below. It was perfect and a lot of fun. It's amazing how smooth the booze goes down.

The night wasn't too crazy, but we did have a lot of fun. Darren and I ended up spending the night at Erin's house and then made sure to get back home to Oakland pretty early to help with all of the new years day feasts.

The morning stated off w/ Darren, Popo, Mom and I making a crap load of Chap Jae. It's clear korean noodles. Kind of like a Korean style chow mien except that the noodles are made from yams so Mom can eat them. Once we finished making a whole trey of that, my Dad took it over the the Kag's and the rest of us got ready to go out.

The first stop was Auntie Anah's. She is a long time family friend. I'm guessing in her 80's and she prepares the whole New Year's Day feast w/ her twin sister all by themselves. It's a treat. The most formal of the three houses we all sit around the table. And pass food. I always make sure to grab my black beans. They say its good luck but I really like the taste of them. The biggest plus about the house: The Albacore, best sashimi of the day.

The second stop was what we call Uncle Alfreds or the Chinn's. But the party is held at my Auntie Arlene's sister's house in the hills of Berkeley. If you been around the hills of Berkeley the houses are phat. P-H Phat. It was a much different setting. We get there and Darren turns to me and goes.. wow its a little louder here.. haha... No sit down meal here, there's just a big table w/ food and you grab. The best dish from this house: Skirt steak. SOOOO tasty and tender. Delicious. We ended up staying for a while b/c well they also had wine and sake. I think between my Mother, Darren and I we each had 3 glasses.

Last and Final house of the night. The Kags. You would think by now I would be stuffed at the seams. You're right. I was stuffed but not stuffed enough not to eat. hahaha. Many people would think Christmas is my favorite holiday. WRONG. New Years Day is def my favorite holiday. How can you resist all that sashimi, steak, black beans!!! Ozoni...Everything was delicious and no 1 favorite dish here. But we did get in our sake shots w/ the family. Our initial plan was to drive home to San Jose after New Years Day. Lets just say we only made it to Oakland. Lets you know how much fun we had...

Now Diet Time, until next year! **Cheers**

Happy 25th Birthday Dan!

As it has been anticipated Brunch is Back. Saturday was Dan's Birthday and I always wanted to bring back brunch so it seemed like a perfect opportunity. I wanted to have something that was decently easy and also something that everyone would enjoy. We ended up w/ having loco moco's. Here was our menu:

• Hamburger Patties (Darren made the meat and it was DELICIOUS!)
• Gravy (Made from Trader Joe's beef concentrate)
• Fried eggs
• Rice
• Stuffed bell peppers wrapped in bacon
• Cream cheese stuffed bell peppers wrapped in bacon
• Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts
  
• Bacon wrapped bread
• Zucchini bread (that mark made)
• Doughnuts (From Byran Harada)
• Girl Scout Cookies (Jun and Michelle)
• Lots of Mimosas
  

It was a lot of fun and I was so happy to see everyone. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I forgot to take pictures of the food but let me tell you, it was ALL GONE. I was surprised b/c we got like a big thing of meat from Costco and made two pots of rice!

After Brunch and drinking all day we made our way to 4th street bowl. I already took a 2 hour nap by the time we left and was actually still in a daze when we got there. But it was a lot of fun. Check out some of the videos we took while there!

Us Dancing!


I need your love!


And the final performance: I'm Down on Bended Knee!



It was a really fun night and I'm sure we'll be back for more 4th street fun!

Russian River Weekend- Final Day

It has already been a very long weekend and Sunday was no disappointment. Some of us, myself included did not feel up to par on this final day so drinking really was not on my agenda. We all woke up early to clean the house and were able to leave by 11:00am. We then headed to Healdsburg for breakfast. Most of us had a craving for soup, I personally had a craving for french toast. We ended up going to a nice little bakery called Costeaux French Bakery & Cafe. Once done filling our tummies we headed to stonestreet the winery where Kaj worked. It was really cool b/c we got the behind the scene's tour.

This is a picture of the pourer telling us about the area

From Russian River Wine Road

This is a big barrel. I forgot what it was called but it was huge!

From Russian River Wine Road

Shaun made his own wine that we were allowed to try. Michelle named it Shaun's juices.. haha

From Russian River Wine Road

The boy's in the lab

From Russian River Wine Road

The girls in front of that big barrel

From Russian River Wine Road

This is how we felt by the end of a vary LONG weekend.. It was a lot of fun!

From Russian River Wine Road

Russian River Weekend Day 3

The weekend has already started off with a lot of fun and its amazing that it could get even better. Saturday was our main day for wine tasting. We started our tour at De Loach. I knew that Sunce was a must go and since De Loach was right next door we thought it would be a good idea to start our tour off there. Our tour ended up looking like this: De Loach, Sunce, Le Crema, Martin Ray, Iron Horse and finally Korbel... 6 wineries, not bad.

The Girls at Sunce

From Russian River Wine Road

The Hawaiian Boys

From Russian River Wine Road

Michelle and Win.. They had Yummie Cheesy bread at Sunce

From Russian River Wine Road

Group Pic inside Sunce

From Russian River Wine Road

Yumm.. We took a Sandwich break a La Crema

From Russian River Wine Road

Check out that Beautiful View at Iron Horse

From Russian River Wine Road

Overall it was a good trip. There was a little blip at the end. We went to Korbel and they stopped serving us b/c we were Asian. Yes, we tested this theory w/ Mark who they continuously served till the end. If anyone decides to go there, make sure you don't go up to Gordon. He was Racist!

Darren: Coming out of his Shell

Lately, Darren has been really good about drinking. A couple of times he hasn't had a drop. The main reason is due to the fact that he's trying to lose weight but in our surroundings its a pretty big accomplishment. Social drinking has become a big part of our lives and its sometimes hard to resist the temptation. This past weekend Darren's friend Doug was in town from Slo. It was his excuse to let lose.

The night started and ended in our apartment. Crown shots and Beiruit always seems to be the way we start off. This night Darren and I decided to finish all the left over champagne (3 bottles) that were left at our house from Brunch. He then played a couple games of Beirut and then finished with some crown shots before heading to Koji Sake for a friends birthday party. Needless to say he probably shouldn't have driven, but we risked our lives and made it downtown.

Once at koji the guy was a little rediculous. It took me a good 30-45min to get him out of the bar. And for some reason our car was nominated to go to La Vics... Can you imagine this guy at LaVics..espeically with all the people in that place... Once you watch the video you'll understand what I'm talking about.

13x 6.... 69!

I think this year was one of my most memorable valentines days. The day started off with me making brunch for all my roommates and some of our friends. I made sausage and mushroom strata, hash browns and of course we had lots of mimosas! The pictures were taken after the food was half eaten.. opps forgot to take them before. But the strata was really yummie.. i was very happy the way it turned out.

Darren also surprised me (kinda) with a nice valentines day gifts. He decorated the bathroom sink with all the gifts. Champagne, chocolate, dice, message oils, and and and... ROCK BAND 2. I think that last one was a gift for everyone.


For dessert I made crepes, melted chocolate, strawberries, and banana foster.. I ate 3 of them.. We took a break from the diet this day.


Now many might wonder what the heck does 13 x 6.....69 means. Well, Devin, Steve and Ray were playing some card game when they finished devin shouted out his score. He goes... ha ha 13 x 6.... 69! With such confidence... haha.. needless to say the room was hysterically laughing after that.

Wight Loss Competition

Darren and I have recently been on this weight loss competition until we go to Hawaii at the end of April. Darren has been on South Beach and I'm on Weight Watchers. So far Darren has lost 12 lbs and I have lost 9lbs. He's beating me by about 2% points. I really don't think its possible for me to win. I mean he can lose so much more weight then I can.. But we'll see. Check out the chart on our progress. Too bad we didn't take a before and after picture, its kind of cool to see the difference.