Browse Month: July 2009

Yoon is a local star!

yoon2

yoon3

Back in March when we were last in Hawaii, Yoon was telling us about the possibility of getting her first murder trial.  It sounded really cool  but I had no idea it was going to be such a huge case.  He was convicted with manslaughter initially (20 years) but Yoon argued further for life in prison.  Turned out that she won the case and even got the dude an “enhanced” sentence.  My favorite quote is:

“The jury’s verdict has also spoken as to that contention, made by the defense. He didn’t walk into that knife,” deputy prosecutor Kristine Yoo said.

She was covered by all the local news stations and made us all proud.  I even got a chuckle when she had a little smirk on her face as she said that above statement to the press.  Make sure you watch the little video clips to see her in action.  Nice work, Miss Prosecuter!!

Pool Party…kinda

patio

grill

On Sunday we were supposed to go to Tomales Bay but for various reasons we decided to just have a BBQ in our courtyard.  It was a sunny afternoon so we all gathered just outside of the pool gate for Susie’s Mom’s kalbi and spicy pork, Ryan’s smoked pulled pork, Michelle’s pasta salad, Vyl’s salsa, and my corn on the cob.  Yum.

pool and gate

It turned out to be just as fun without the long drive.  Little J had lots of space to roam around safely (hooray for a pool gate) and we all stuffed ourselves silly.  We’ll just have to give Tomales Bay another try later.  🙂

It’s just another awesome weekend.

I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary today but I’m having a fun weekend so far.  It started last night when Jes and I went out for drinks and some late-night Thai food.  I love Friday nights. We also met up with Jon and Janelle, who are up here for the weekend.  They’re staying at the Mandarin Oriental and it’s so pretty inside!

In the morning, I went to Farmers’ Market and officially decided that it’s one of my favorite things to do in SF.  Every time I go, I find something new and yet find all my favorites there each time as well.  I give myself one hour to shop and I end up spending way more time just wandering, sampling, and shopping.  Today, I came home with fresh corn, basil, and Japanese cucumbers.  I also bought spring rolls from Out the Door, an iced coffee from Pete’s, and some pretty dahlias for my coffee table. With sunny skies and pleasantly warmer temps, the walk home was nice.

patio

Later in the afternoon, I went over to the Sokol-Juns to have some Little Skillet fried chicken and Coors Light in their patio and scored a borrowed Crackberry Curve from Ryan.  Ah…it’s nice to have a smartphone again.  My temporary Sony Ericsson was ok but it certainly was a dumbphone.

beakafied crackberry

Here’s a picture of my beakafied crackberry.  Woot!

3rd and 1st Place

#1

Jes has been in search of the next best bowl of ramen for the past 2 years since we moved up to SF from the OC.  His #1 is at the food court at Mitsuwa in Costa Mesa called Santouka Ramen. It has tender pork, a good salty taste, and comes with a soy sauce egg on the side.

#2

His #2 is at Ramen Nakamura in Waikiki. It’s hearty, comes with gyoza and fried rice, and their broth is so savory.

#3

Last night we had dinner at Katana-Ya and I think we found his #3.  Since this one is the only one we can access immediately, I suppose this is his local #1 thus far.  We have been to so many ramen places and he always leaves a little dissatisfied.  Thankfully we’ve finally found something worth going to again.  I had read about this place and had it bookmarked but when Susie mentioned to me the other day that it was her favorite ramen place in the city the deal was done.   So on our usual Wednesday night dinner, we had to get some.  Ah…now we don’t have to go to Costa Mesa or Hawaii for good ramen.

Sparklers are cool.

dayantha

July 4th was spent at the Agustins’ and we had a grip of BBQ’d meat to make up for Friday night’s vegetarian dinner.  Jes made chili lime wings and ribs while Susie brought her mom’s Kalbi.  Mm…. We also had KFC corn on the cob complete with butter packets along with more gourmet grilled white corn.  Eleen made some tasty salads and mashed potato and the Fernandos brought over beer and desserts.

Elise

I also got to play with Elise, Ti and Thilan’s little girl, who warmed up to me fairly quickly once I offered her some food to taste.  She was dolled up in a festive July 4th dress and I got to take some portraits of her too.

naptime

She also semi-bonded with Jes that afternoon.  She was getting sleepy and Jes gave it a try with getting her to calm down and fall asleep.  She cried for a minute or so before settling down and taking a good 20-minute nap on his belly.  Of course as soon as she woke up, she cried and forgot who Jes was an hour later.  Eh, so much for that.

Alia

Agnes and Tim also stopped by and brought little Alia with them.  Check out those cheeks and the cutest bib ever!

Masayas

The weather was nice that afternoon and perfect for chillin’ in the backyard.  Koa got to chow down on Kalbi bones and hang out with all his buddies.  There were five dogs out there by the end of the day!

walking

Once the sun went down, Dayantha’s parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmas showed up for a little walk down the street to see the fireworks.  I think we made a mini parade down the street with about 20-something of us and that’s not counting the 4 dogs and 2 babies!

Bay Bridge

We stood at the edge of the water overlooking the bay and could see fireworks near the Bay Bridge, San Mateo Bridge, and at Jack London Square.  They were all very far away but it was cool to be out there anyway.  It’s too bad I didn’t bring my tripod.  I got a bunch of blurry photos but this one managed to come out somehow.

sparklers

At the end of the night, we busted out the sparklers and snakes that the Masayas had brought up from Artesia.  We had 10 boxes of sparklers and it was fun going through them all.  By the end of night, the boys were lighting up whole boxes of sparklers for a more “spectacular” effect.  Luckily there was a metal fire pit in the back for us to dump all the ashes and burning paper.

Anyway, thanks for hosting another awesome BBQ, Agustins!  I hope we didn’t make you too nervous with all the fire last night. 🙂

Here are the photos.

Krishani & Sachan – Part Two

entrance

On Friday night, we attended Krishani and Sachan’s Bay Area Wedding Reception in Sunnyvale.  Everyone was dressed in beautiful saris and Krishani and Sachan were beaming with happiness.  The food was all vegetarian but I still enjoyed it.  Indian food is so yummy.

dancing

There was plenty of dancing and hijinks at this wedding reception, which is no surprise.  Before we left, “Ditty” came on and there was a special request for Dayantha to do his rendition.

family

By the end of the song, the entire family was up on stage dancing and celebrating.

girls

Thanks for the invite, Fernandos.  We had an awesome time!

Here are the photos.

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