The Daily Sabs

after a pretty low-key afternoon, professor layton and his apprentice luke were attacked by zombies. normally this would suck, but they were heading to a zombie watching gathering (walking dead at julie's house), so it was okay. they figured their zombie selves would fit right in, and that there would be fresh brains to eat at the party. fortunately for julie and co, the duo are true gentlemen, so no brains were eaten.

ps. how sweet was walking dead? way more dramatic than the comic. amc has outdone themselves again.

pps. hope you all had a great halloween!

This afternoon erin, julie, chris, Kristy, Kristen, and I headed down
to union square for some professor Layton fun. There were red british
telephone booths and a couple of actors dressed up as game characters.
I was really hoping to see the professor, but the gal playing flora
told us he was on his lunch break. Randall said he wasn't there this
morning either so I smell a puzzle that's unsolved.

Speaking of puzzles, they had a booth for the girls and one for the
boys and are pitting the sexes against each other to see who can solve
puzzles better. I don't know which will prevail, but I do know that I
will win! I heart puzzles and can't wait for the third nerd
installment of the professor!

geoloc

geoloc

geoloc

geoloc

geoloc

For weeks Julie has been asking to have her life fulfilled (aka eat a
tasty lunch), so today reiko, Julie, and I headed over to tea garden
for some taiwanese niu roh mian (beef noodle soup). While there we
chatted about our moms and slurped up the noodles. Julie told us a
story about how her mom called her once at 11pm asking where she was
because a lady doesn't stay out like that. Oh moms, ladies do stay
out, they also eat soup. Lots of yummy soup.

i don't recall ever celebrating cinco de mayo when i was a kid, nor do i recall celebrating it when i lived in heavily mexican populated santa cruz. however, over the last several years i have definitely made the effort to drink a margarita and have a tasty meal. i know, it's not really celebrating the holiday, but hell, it's about as much effort as i put into easter, christmas, and the fourth of july, so i think it counts enough.

today, nicole, jamie, and julie (the sales crew) also decided to celebrate. we figured that since margaritas weren't really an option, we would do the next best thing and head to the taco truck. when we got there, the truck windows were closed, and it looked like they were going to open soon. so we waited a few minutes, and then sadly the guy said "sorry we're going to a party" and they drove off. it would've been nice if he told us before we waited around for nothing, but he was busy shoving his face. total bummer. we ended up going to el faro instead. i ordered the nachos chiquitos (which is essentially smaller nachos), but bejesus, they were the size of my face.

speaking of my face, last year's was much better.

it's hard to believe that just one week ago, the weather was a nasty pit of wet disgustingness. especially considering how extremely gorgeous it was today. in fact, i'd go as far as to say that today was hot. at least it was in dolores park, in the sun, where we were gathered for julie's birthday. snagging a picnic table at the park is always an interesting feat. if you didn't reserve one ahead of time (the way burger always does), then the only tables left are in the sun. but if you get there early enough to get one, you can get one. so you have to decide, table in the sun, or blankets in the shade. we opted to take advantage of the awesome weather and went tables in the sun.

one of the main reasons julie wanted to have her party in the park was so that she could have a pinata party. while she and i were hanging the pinata, i accidentally smacked her in the head. it was like a bad three stooges sketch. two bumbling fools and a pinata. to make up for it, i let her get one good smack in.

happy birthday julie!

ps. after all that sun and champagne, i am in desparate need of a nap. once done with the nap, samshrew and chris are treating randall to a sizzler dinner. i'm not 100% sure why, but apparently they owe him two sizzler dinners from a couple of years ago and are finally making good on one of them.

to celebrate the new year, julie decided to host a dumpling dinner. last night, after our awesome 99 ranch run, we made the fillings in order to be ready. and tonight, we put everyone else to work. we made over a hundred potstickers, and then topped those off with mochi ice cream and delicious sesame and peanut balls soaked in ginger syrup/tea. afterwards we went outside and lit sparklers (the real kind made from metal!) and ran around as if we were a dragon line. julie's housemate took a video, and as soon as she posts it, i'll share it with you.

Happy New Year (again) everyone!

this evening julie had a bunch of us over for octoballs and vino. now octoballs aren't balls of octopus as much as they are round balls of batter with a surprise octopus center. they're also not really called octoballs, they're called takoyaki and they're absolutely delicious. breaded awesomeness with a delicious tidbit. plus they were super fun to make. once you make them (in the special machine), you then coat them with kewpie mayo, brown sauce, seaweed, and benito flakes.

and if this wasn't enough food, we also ended up making okonomiyaki. i've had this several times and never even realized it was like 80% cabbage.

can't wait for octoballs and vino part two!