Happy Birthday, Crystal!

A quick birthday shout-out to my dear friend, Crystal. I'm at work so I can't post much, but in case you're reading, hope you have a good one!

Massive photo update for the lazy blogger in me

Has it really been almost a month since I last updated? Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so in lieu of my usual wordy posts, I'm going the lazy route...

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Gabe and I spent Thanksgiving Day with my family, then headed to the Bay Area early Friday morning. It was a fun-filled weekend with good friends and of course, good food! Being back in the Bay Area reminded us of how much we miss living there, and most of all, how much we miss our friends!

Friday night dinner at House of Prime Rib with Jeff, Mel and Greg. I think I have officially OD'ed on prime rib and mashed potatoes, if you can believe it.

Jeff and Mel


G-Unit: Greg, Gloria and Gabe


Saturday Dim Sum and Farmer's Market with Susie and Ed (bummer, no pictures). We also managed to squeeze in a game of Scrabble. Heh! Then, it was off to a little pre-reunion gathering with wine and h'or dourves at the Sibley's.

Look at the beautiful veggies from their own garden! I wish I had taken a picture of the entire spread, including all the delicious cheeses and pate.


Jia and Kyle enjoying themselves. Brooke and Megan in deep conversation.


The boys


Saturday night dinner at St. Michael's Alley, where I had some delicious butternut squash risotto. How come I never knew about this hidden gem in downtown Palo Alto?

The girls


Afterward, we all headed to our 10 year high school reunion. It was great catching up with old friends and seeing how much everyone has changed (or stayed the same, in some cases). Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures from the event. I think the boys had more fun taking silly pictures of themselves...

Gabe and Kyle doing who-knows-what


But I do love the following pictures that Gabe took of me, Ryan and Jia. Hilarious.

Typical picture of Jia and Ryan, with half of Ryan's face cut out. (This is due to their height difference)


Now we understand how Ryan feels.


Anyway, that's pretty the weekend in a nutshell. We left the Bay Area around noon and stopped by Pleasanton to have a quick lunch with Whei. (It was great to see you, girl!) Then, another eight hours on the road, due to yucky Thanksgiving weekend traffic. We're just glad we got home okay.

Special thanks to Susie for letting me rest at her place and for taking us to Pinky and Valley Fair, and to Brooke and Kyle for their warm hospitality! Can't wait to see you guys again.

Mini-Sac Reunion

Some of you may not know this, but I lived in Sacramento for about two years from 2002-2004. While the city itself left much to be desired, I am thankful for the friends I made during my time there. Without them (and Gabe), the dinner get-togethers, and Alias nights at YC's Land Park house, I would've been pretty miserable. Most of us have gone our separate ways now, so it was nice to meet up again in LA, of all places.

Me and YC, my Taiwanese "fliend" and the only other person I know who shares my excitement over food.


(Part of) the old gang doing what we do best: eating! Pear, me, YC, Will, Gabe and Tim at Chabuya Tokyo Noodle House, my new favorite ramen place.


Funny picture of YC taking a big bite of a Beard Papa's cream puff.

Patty's Birthday

My first time at The Edison, a very cool bar that still retains many of its architectural and mechanical artifacts from its history as Downtown LA's first private power plant.

See the funky lights behind me and Gabe.


Me, Patty, and Jackie O (my fruity drink that tasted very good)


Jane, Patty and me. Patty unsuccessfully trying to sip her drink through the stirrer, which was NOT a straw!

Bad Food Cravings

Lately, I've been experiencing all sorts of bad-for-me food cravings. This whole business of eating better is not easy! Some of my recent cravings:

1) Chicken pot pie - I miss those frozen Aussie ones from Costco that I used to eat in college. They came in these convenient hot-pocket type pouches. I know I've graduated to better quality food, but I can't think of a good chicken pot pie place off the top of my head.
2) Thick cut steak fries with seasoned salt - You know, the cayenne pepper looking stuff that they put on amusement park fries.
3) Jalapeno Cheddar Boulder Chips - These are similar to Kettle Chips, but with a nice, spicy kick. I got hooked on these during Jia's bachelorette party weekend, in Boulder, of course.
4) Chocolate gelato - Saw this on the Olive Garden dessert menu the other day, as I was being a good girl and only having minestrone soup for lunch.
5) Donuts (any kind, I don't discriminate) - When I was driving Crystal home from yoga last night, we were stopped at a light and I noticed a Winchell's donut shop on the corner. That brief encounter suddenly put donuts back on my foodar. (FYI - that's food radar).

This afternoon, while chatting with Jane, the Hawaiian Transplant friend, I started salivating at the thought of spam musubi. Who ever imagined that a block of plain white rice, topped with a piece of fried spam and wrapped in a strip of seaweed, could taste so good? Now, I know what some of you people are thinking: "Gross, canned meat" or "Didn't you read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle in 11th grade?"* As a matter of fact, I did. And I still like spam and would eat it in a heartbeat. So there.

Here's proof from our recent Hawaiian adventure:

*Yes, we were ghetto and ate it in the car in front of 7-eleven. It was THAT good. I couldn't wait until we got to the hiking destination.

Also, I'm willing to bet $10 that 9/10 people who thumb their noses at spam have never even tasted it. All I have to say is don't knock it until you've tried it.

*Editor's note: On second thought, this statement would only be true if I had a readership of > five. I think it's pretty safe to assume that all five of my faithful readers like spam, too. Right?

ARGH!

Being the anal-retentive person that I am, it's driving me nuts that the spacing in my last post differs from all the previous ones. I even attempted to "troubleshoot" the HTML but can't figure out what's causing the problem.

Two thumbs down for Blogger's limited formatting capabilities! I've noticed that it sometimes does weird things when I upload images. Bah humbug!

Lost...and Found

*Photos of our rings from the talented and uber-creative Boutwell Studio

Yesterday, Gabe thought he lost his wedding ring. As he was on his way to work in the morning, he realized he wasn't wearing it and assumed that it was at home. However, when he tried looking for it after he got back from work, it was nowhere to be found.

Gabe even asked me if I had purposely hidden it as an "I-told-you-so." Despite feeling really sad at the thought of actually losing the ring (in only four months of marriage, no less!), I have to admit, I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of the situation. You see, ever since we've been married, Gabe has constantly hounded me about taking care of my valuables. I wish I could recount all the conversations we've had on this topic. Personally, I think I already do a pretty good job! My whole philosophy is consistency. I just never take off my ring. I leave it on when I shower, sleep, wash dishes, etc. In the off chance that I do remove it, I put it in the same place so I won't forget. Gabe, I found out yesterday, takes it off sometimes when he plays golf, sometimes when he showers, and sometimes when puts product in his hair. He also has several places where he puts it. Sometimes on his desk, sometimes the bathroom tray... You get the idea.

After searching in all the usual places (under the couch cushions, pants pockets, bathroom tray, bedroom dresser, etc.) and even some not-so-usual places (both our cars, the washing machine, outside garbage), we still couldn't find it.

Then...voila! As I was sitting at the dining room table, I heard a loud clink and Gabe whoop with joy. Apparently, he checked his PJ pockets for the fourth time. This time, he decided to take them off the bathroom hook, and as he did so, the ring popped out of nowhere. How the ring got into his PJs is a mystery to both of us, but what a relief anyway!

Dinner + Movie Night

Now that we have DVR, it seems like we have an endless supply of taped shows, and hence, never feel the need to go to the movies. So last night, we decided to hit up Century City mall for a quick dinner and catch the 7:30pm showing of "Michael Clayton." Unfortunately, by the time we finished eating and tried to buy tickets, the movie was sold out. We ended up wandering around the mall and killing time at Borders until the 10:30pm showing.

Walking in, I had no idea what the movie was about, so I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out to be so good. This movie reminded me of how much I like George Clooney, eye-liner and all. (Seriously, it looks like he's wearing eye-liner throughout the movie).

Anyway, did you know that movie tickets now cost $11.50? I feel like the last time I went to a movie, which was only a few months ago, it only cost $10.00.

Also, can I just gripe about how much I hate parking in LA? Okay, I know it doesn't compare to SF in any way (to this day, nothing beats the $51.00 I paid for parking in the the Union Square lot). But come on! Can you believe we paid $19.00 for parking last night -- at the mall, of all places? That was with validation. The first time Gabe fed the ticket into the machine, it said $17.00, but I was in such disbelief, I told him to hold on a sec while I calculated the cost. Based on the exorbitant rates, we did indeed owe $17.00. But in the two minutes it took to eject the ticket and feed it back in machine, the total jumped up to $19.00. Ridiculous.

Odds and Ends

Remember when I started this blog and said that I get to write about anything I want? Ha! Well, this is going to be one of those posts. To make up for the lack of updates recently, I'm just going to write a little about everything.

Fantasy Basketball

Draft Rejects

So this is the first week of the season and already, I've forgotten to set my line-up! Oh well. I think the novelty and excitement wore off for me by round four of our draft, when all the obvious "good" picks were taken. Rounds five and six went something like this (with Gabe covering the phone so the others on the line couldn't hear him coaching me):

Me: Oooh, I want him! (Me enthusiastically pointing to #50 or something on ESPNs top 100 ranked players*)
Gabe: No, you already have a Point Guard.
Me: Oh, okay. How 'bout him? (Me scanning the list for another name I recognize)
Gabe: He's a Point Guard, too.
Me: Bummer.

**Side Note: Let me explain. In an effort to educate myself, I actually spent time reading ESPN's Draft Kit for Dummies (that's not really the title but close enough). And after diligently studying 10 pages of player profiles (and highlighting all the relevant stats), I realized I had only managed to get through the section on Point Guards! Feeling overwhelmed, I just decided to rely on dumb luck (and Gabe) to get me through.

So anyway, the rest of the draft went like this:

Me: Okay, what about Bibby?
Gabe: No, he's injured.
Me: Artest?
Gabe: No, he's unstable. He's the guy that caused all those fights and got suspended, remember?
Me: Oh yeah. Nevermind. You just draft for me. I'm going to watch CSI.

Maybe Fantasy Basketball just isn't for me...

Warehouse Sales
The first warehouse sale I went to was about a year ago for designer denim. Long story short, it was a total bust and I left disappointed. So much effort, so little jean! After lots of long lines, pushing and elbowing my way through the aisles, and MORE long lines, I left empty-handed. My sister, Angie, bought one pair of jeans that she was only so-so about. I suspect she did so only because she didn't want the trip to feel like a complete waste.

After that experience, I thought to myself that I would never go to another one of those things. Then, last Friday, I found myself sitting in rush hour traffic on my way to the BCBG warehouse sale in the city of Vernon, which is I-have-no-idea where. (Pretty much anything around the 110/Downtown area is a big mystery to me). The only facts I know about Vernon are from a friend's wife, who used to work at BCBG: a) It's really ghetto b) It's just a bunch of factories and warehouses and c) It smells like sausage because of the Farmer John factory.

By the time I made it to the sale, I was tired, hungry and had to pee very badly. (FYI - those are all very bad conditions under which to shop). Thankfully, I was able to find a porta-pottie in the parking lot and take care of business. I had to wait half an hour to get in, but three hours and two porta-pottie trips later, I left with my plastic garbage bag of bargains:

Sweater - $5 (original price - $98)
T-shirt - $5 ($39)
Going out top - $15 ($88)
Tube top - $15 ($78)
Dress - $35 ($228)

Total $ spent: $75

What a steal, huh? I guess the ordeal was somewhat worth it but part of me wonders if subconsciously I only bought those things because they were so cheap and I felt like I had to buy something, otherwise the trip would've been another big bust.

Eating Better
Gabe recently pointed out to me that ever since the wedding, my will power has completely gone out the door. Sadly, he's right! Lately, I find myself indulging in all sorts of unhealthy food - croissants, fries, pizza, you name it. This week, after feeling how tight my pants have become, I decided to get back on the eating better/workout wagon. No more Starbucks pasties for breakfast, no more sneaking pieces of chocolate from the candy jar at work, and no more pizza!

If I can stick to my plan for eating better and working out regularly, I am going to reward myself with a big ol' lemon tart baked by yours truly. I just saw a recipe in the most recent issue of Cook's Illustrated that looks Y-U-M-M-Y! (Of course, I am not going to eat it all by myself. Sheesh!)

Weekend Roundup

In addition to helping Crystal and Kei move, celebrating Adriane's 7th birthday and visiting our new favorite Indian restaurant with Jeanette and Garrett, below is a re-cap of the rest of my weekend:

Loads of laundry completed: 5
Trips to the grocery store: 1.5 (the .5 is because I abandoned Whole Foods after circling the parking lot for 10 minutes and not being able to find a spot, but later ended up at Gelson's)
Trips to Target: 1
Number of TV shows watched: Lost count after the Law & Order marathon
Visits to the gym: 0

Guilt rating: 6 (due to no gym + the bag of Raisinettes Gabe brought home + Indian food tonight)

Whew, I'm pooped. Time to shower and get ready for another week!

Another Milestone

I never thought this day would come. My first fantasy basketball team/season.

In case you were wondering, Gabe (the husband) is our commissioner. That would explain our league name :P

I'm back!

Dear Readers (a.k.a., Susie and Gabe, since you're probably the only ones reading this),

Welcome to my new blog! After a really bad case of writer's block (read: four-year hiatus from xanga), I've decided to start fresh and re-join the world of blogging. Think of this as my Clean Slate. Blank Sheet of Paper. Bowl of Plain White Rice. (Yes, I know that's improper punctuation, but this is MY blog and I'll capitalize indiscriminately if I want to.)

Considering all the exciting changes that have taken place for me this year -- officially moving away from home, getting married, starting my own family (FYI, that doesn't mean we're expecting), and living in a new city -- a new blog seems only appropriate. Hopefully, you'll stick around to read about my experiences and adventures as I begin a new chapter in life.

Before I continue, here are a few "ground rules" concerning Plain White Rice:
1) I get to write about whatever I want.
2) There's no guarantee that it will be clever, exciting or well-written. In all likelihood, it will be boring, like white rice. (Get it now?) If you don't like it, too bad.
3) Don't judge or jump to conclusions.
4) Leave comments if you're so inclined - I like feedback.

[Are you totally, utterly completely bored already? You can be honest.]