The Daily Sabs

Hot in the pot

sabs — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:20:06 -0700

I woke up this morning to a ringing telephone; it was morm calling for
no reason. We talked for nearly four hours. Afterwards it was time for
some open houses (one pretty good but not a wow), then back home to
talk to my dad. And then it was time for hot pot. We owed samshrew and
chris a dinner and chris wanted to cash in with hot pot. All you can
eat and drink for $29.99, nom nom nom.

Ps. Chris ate so much he's going to be ill all over samshrew. See?

xl and I become best friends

sabs — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:35:05 -0700

This evening Randall and I drove down to san Jose for a scheelbarrow
potluck party. We were running a bit late (the peach puzzle pastry was
taking longer to put together than I anticipated), but arrived just in
time for the eats.

It's always great to see these folks, but is more interesting to see
how their kids are growing. Mikela is so much more expressive than the
last time I saw her, and Xavier is finally coming out of his shell. In
fact, he and i became best pals at the end of the night. Actually, it
was a pretty big deal. His parents were shocked by the breakthrough.
This is the first time he's ever opted to hangout with an adult while
his mom is there. Normally he's attached at her hip. In fact mom's
sisters are actually upset by it and mom wasn't sure if she was even
going to tell them. I told her to tell them not to feel too badly.
Afterall, I have a big round head kids can relate to, and I'm like
only 10 years old anyway.

a couple of shopgirls

sabs — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:11:53 -0700

in case you missed it, sugar launched our first facebook game today. i get competitive, so head over to facebook and get started, okay? besides, the team made a freaking AMAZING game. it just looks so cool. so at least check it out.

ps. i am so tired.

pps. the blonde afropuff girl is randall. obviously. no really, he made his character himself, he even used real money to buy his fake clothing.

time to get crackin'

sabs — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:36:10 -0700

tonight i trekked across town to meet randall, cynthia, and our special out of town guest karenlee for some delicious ppq crab. cynthia was the one that suggested ppq, and when karen mentioned it to us, both randall and i jumped at the chance. we'd never been, but reading the reviews made me think it would be a winner. and well folks, it was. they even give you bibs. also cracking tools. and did i mention it's an asian restaurant? those two things are almost never found at asian restaurants. but most importantly they gave us delicious grab (well we paid for it, but still). the crab was prepared in a way that made it taste like a mix between fried chicken and crab. and more than anything it was great to eat a good meal and catch up with good friends.

folks, it's time to get crackin'.

hello? are you there? no? yes? okay. tomorrow? tuesday? wait, do what now?

sabs — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 22:07:20 -0700

the past week has felt like an odd game of telephone. every time i think i know what's going on, someone says that's not what was said. actually they don't say that's not what was said, they just say something slightly different. it's like we're all on the same page, but reading from a different paragraph. i think we've just about got it sorted out, but well you never can tell.

all i know is that's making me frustrated. i hate it when things are difficult when they clearly don't need to be.

in other news, the shopstyle team apparently had a huge success last night. they're a rocking team, so i'm glad to hear the whole event went down as planned! randall even represented by stealing my stolen hat. go team shopstyle!

ps. this is what randall thinks i'm like when i get home talking about work he doesn't care about. also, he had my dinner held hostage on the grill and homegirl here was hungry. and talking about herself as a homegirl in third person. obviously.

catch a happy birthday samshrew wave

sabs — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:33:55 -0700

today was an action-packed, not to mention snack-packed, day full of samshrew birthday fun. first off samshrew, chris, and sushi dog picked randall and i up for a jaunt across the bay. the east bay spca is putting on these special events all summer long, and today was a free kayaking with your puppins day. randall and i sadly don't have a puppins, so we paid our dues and rented a kayak.

afterwards (and before) we gorged on tasty treats from the jack london farmer's market (the fish tacos there = awesome). and then we headed back to the city where chris picked up a cake from his pals at Sugar Beat Sweets. we got stuck in a little bit of pride traffic (fun fact, i witnessed a cop break up a fight, and then take down a dude who wouldn't cooperate -- come on, he took a swing at the cop!), but eventually ended up at samshrew & chris's house.

we had many hours to kill (dinner reservations weren't until 8), so we snacked, played a round of life -- randall won, also it's pretty different to the version i had when i was growing up -- drank wine, and ate birthday cake. for the record, it was a vegan cake, was vanilla with strawberry, and even randall -- who is skeptical of anything vegan and normally only eats chocolate cake -- asked for a full slice. translation: it was tasty.

finally, after goofing about for a while more, we hopped into the car, miraculously found parking in the castro on pride weekend, and headed to frances for dinner. folks, i made these reservations weeks (maybe months) ago. it is the hot new must-eat at place in the city and after eating there, i can totally see why. the food was delicious, the service friendly and on top of it, and they even seated us 15 minutes early. plus, they knew it was samshrew's birthday, so they brought us out the most fantastic housemade salted chocolate cookies with humphry slocombe ice cream sandwiches in the end. oh and did i mention? they serve the house wine by the ounce. they bring a small pitcher that has ounce markings on the side, and they only charge you for what you drink. simply amazing. i can't wait to go back.

happy birthday samshrew!

sunday drivers and crooked streets.

sabs — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:17:27 -0700

last night, we found ourselves one block from the infamous Lombard Street, and Randall mentioned that he'd never driven down it before. Naturally we made up for that and drove down it right then (it was past 11 and the line was gone). Once we were done, Randall told me that while Lombard was more picturesque, he was positive that Vermont felt windier. I tried to make him take me then so we could see, but he said we should wait until the morning, especially because he didn't think all this windiness went with all the wine i had been drinking.

So we went today, and according to wikipedia (which, as you know, is never debatable) Vermont is indeed more "crooked." You can see for yourself:

An aMaizeing nerd Monday

sabs — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:00:06 -0700

This evening we did the unthinkable and went out on a Monday night.
First we headed to pica pica on Valencia (sooooo good, you must go) to
pick up dinner and then to Karen and Shin's where we devoured our
tasty arepas and settled in for some settlers. Turns out they are even
nerdier for it than we are.

Lots of nerdy fun was had, but the best part was that I won. (I never
win.) I even had the longest road.

Actually the best part was when shin pulled out a bunch of random
kitkats (corn flavor!) for dessert. Combined with the three kinds
reiko gave me at work, it was a 7 weird flavors of kitkat day. There
was raspberry, soy sauce, wasabi, soy powder, corn, melon, and
strawberry cheesecake. For the record, I liked the corn the best, but
they were all awesome in their own way.

Four heads be better than one

sabs — Mon, 31 May 2010 23:40:09 -0700

I love three day weekends, and get so sad when they end. However, if
they have to come to a close, they might as well end with good company
and good food. Tonight anneh invited Randall, Eric, and me over for
dinner; she made tangerine tofu and asparagus risotto. We drank wine,
chatted and gorged ourselves silly. Now to get to bed at a reasonable
hour. Boo on weekend's end.

it's not sonoma, but it'll have to do

sabs — Sat, 15 May 2010 23:32:16 -0700

today samshrew and i were supposed to head up to wine country for a girls' day wine tasting and spa treatments. sadly, she ended up having to work this weekend, and had to cancel at the last minute. this meant i could've (a) gone on my own (b) found someone else who wanted to go, or (c) stayed home and decide that it's too gloomy for wine tasting. i opted for c.

besides, hanging out with randall's not so bad. even if it's a day of domesticity like costco and pulling weeds in the backyard (seriously they had gotten so tall i didn't even realize there was a lily plant in the back corner). but it's especially not so bad if it's a day that includes grilled lamb for dinner, and a trip to bittersweet cafe for dessert. their spicy hot cocoa is so delicious, but the peanut butter cocoa wowed me tonight. it even comes with enough foam for moustaches. plus, getting out of the house and going somewhere for no real reason is always fun.

ps. seriously i had no idea these lilies existed, and i can't remember the last time i saw chunky (the elephant).