Noodies

Jon had Columbus Day off,

and we had a lovely lunch at Bill's

where I got a nacho burger.

That's right, a burger that had nachos

and all the trimming of nachos.

It was freakin' amazing.

And a strawberry shake.

And some disco fries.

And a lemonade.

After work I went to Uniqlo to try to buy

some more stretch pants.

The Old Navy pants I got

smell like burnt plastic,

even after washing them twice.

I've not smelled them lately,

but I've little hope they smell better.

Jon met me at the men's massage parlor/spa.

It's just where we happened to meet.

We were going to go to look at Mooncake's menu

before hitting up D'Ag for some pasta and sauce

for dinner,

but then we saw a nicely lit place

that we've never really ventured over to.

It was called Noodies.

It's Thai noodle soups and other things.

I got the beef noodles,

and Jon got a crab/oyster sauce flavored one

with a dipping sauce.

The wall of bowls and the decor

and lighting were all pretty cool.

Oddly, at both Bill's and Noodies there were mosquitos.

At Bill's, Jon was eaten a little.

At Noodies, Jon killed a mosquito and the lady tourists

sitting next to us cheered and offered to give him a wet nap or something.

He went to the bathroom to wash his hands.

Noodies was pretty good.

We'll be back.

Plus they are on Seamless.

They could come to us too!

Arrested Development: Bluth's Original Frozen Banana Stand (and Luke Bryan)

I spy an oversize banana,

which could only be:

Some marketing folks from Netflix!

They were giving out stuff earlier,

but by the end of the day there was a line to take a photo

with some strangers.

And on my way home,

outside of Letterman, I saw

Luke Bryan!

(I've never heard of him,

but people seemed enamored.)

Meanwhile my cousin Samantha got her picture taken

with Danny Masterson (Hyde from That 70s Show)

because he was hanging out at her office since he has a friend there.

Mercedes Club Residents Party

The pool in our health club opened today!

It's not even 70 degrees out!

We went to the free party, which featured

some delicious little bites of lamb

on vegetables and a dab of something delicious.

Um, it was delicious.

And there were three different liquor tastings,

including the lovely gin and tonic drink above.

The gin drink was refreshing, but it wasn't as flavorful as my Hendricks.

The best part was the live music:

these two guys playing and singing Latin music.

And, of course, the snocones by Handsome Dan.

A block of ice turned into magic fluffy snow

covered in sugary raspberry syrup and fresh lemon juice.

I think he kind of looks like Jake Gyllenhaal,

so you might want to check him out

and eat his snocones in real life.

Hello!

I had another snocone because it was FREE

and so good.

(A pomegranate with condensed milk--

Handsome Dan explained that the pomegranate was a bit tart

so the milk will set it off--so cute, 

I just want to suck on sugary ice!)

Since someone couldn't eat all the delicious snocone stuff or drink

and had allergies, we left after the guys played "La Bamba."

Poor guy.

Another reason for leaving was that it was really awkward

watching the swimsuit models freeze.

#firstworldproblems

Jonathan:  oh man

they are having an ice cream party at work

for no reason!

Joy's 30th Birthday Dinner

We went to Chez Sardine for Joy's 30th birthday dinner.

It was a nice intimate affair

with great travel stories that featured

a lot of food

and a delicious array of food and drinks in our mouths

that filled our bellies.

It was some good celebrating.

I made the card above in the morning:

Liberty of London stationery carved into a 3 and 0.

I wanted more space to write

the secret thing I've been writing in my cards

so I didn't cut out the 0.

I rather like how it looks still filled in

and unmarred by the 0's gash.

What do you think?

Fresh Direct Bluenanas Are in Season!

Jon and I ordered a few bunches

of these new bluenanas

before they ran out.

As a blue food they're supposedly

very high in antioxidants

and very good for memory, diabetes, and everything.

I also read that even though the plant

is carnivorous, 

it only eats Smurfs,

so humans wandering 

through a bluenana grove

are safe, 

and it helps keep the Smurf population down, 

thankfully.

But in all actuality,

Jon was pretty excited about this

until he realized it was a joke.

I'd warned him this morning not to be fooled too!

Now he's a bit disappointed.

If bluenanas tasted anything

like bananas and blueberries,

I'd be very disappointed they didn't actually exist too,

but who knows, man?!

Who knows?!

Jeckin and Pinal's Big Fat Indian Wedding

Great times.

Great food.

Great people.

Happy family.

Happy friends.

Happy lives.

The Time Wee Married The Shredder

Once upon a time,

this past Saturday,

in the land of PoPo's house,

Ayee found The Shredder

hanging out somewhere.

She brought him to the table we were all hanging around,

and like the squirrel from Chinese New Year,

he was quite mischievous.

At the time, we weren't sure

what he wanted with those flowers,

but surely enough,

his intentions became extremely clear.

Now if only he could figure out how to get the flower through the hole,

he'd be golden and his plan would be set into motion.

With flowers at his side and a ring in his hand,

he proposed to Wee,

kneeling among the orange slices and donuts.

He was so nervous that he was stepping on his cape!

But to his and everyone viewing's relief,

she said . . .

YES!

Wait, let me just say it like all the kids on facebook nowadays do:

I got on one knee with a ring,

and she said yes!

Status: Engaged

He had a little trouble putting the ring on her finger

since it was so heavy for him.

He has a forty pack of muscles on his torso,

but the multicarat ring was a little hard for him to manage.

Anyway, things couldn't be done fast enough!

Wee put on our heirloom cheong sam,

the one our PoPo, aunt, mom, and I wore for our weddings,

along with some other family and family friends,

and she and The Shredder just got hitched!

She's adoring and thinking about The Shredder.

Is he thinking about me?

I wonder if he'll think I'm pretty.

She called everyone she knew to tell them to good news!

She sang for him.

Chris had no clue what had transpired

with his fiancee or The Shredder.

Anyway, they lived happily ever after!

Asian Jade Society's Chinese New Year Dinner

My cousin Samantha asked me to accompany her to this event

because her coworker had some free tickets.

A free Chinese banquet meal is one of the stupidest things to ever turn down,

so I agreed to go.

Then it was canceled because of Nemo.

It was rescheduled the day of a big March storm,

but thankfully the snow started after we got home.

I don't really understand what the event actually was

since the woman sitting next to me was reading the program over

my shoulder, and I just gave it to her.

But it began with a dragon dance,

followed by a bunch of speeches and awards and more speeches

(and with about a thousand people or so,

we heard mostly "shhhhhhh"

for most of the time during the speeches),

and then some weird interlude with a Hispanic lady 

singing covers of some songs

with back up dancers.

It sounds like a bad dream or something, right?

The dinner was at Jing Fong.

It was my first time eating there.

(When we looked for a possible wedding reception place, 

they said they could hold up to

three more events and have the restaurant open at the same time.

We were really not interested in that sort of set up.

Queens has better Chinese food anyway.)

It was their most basic menu

--probably $250 per table (or $25 per person)--

which included: 

shrimp with mayo (mmm!),

basket of pork and chicken (eh),

fried tofu and seafood (eh),

chicken and corn soup (eh),

steak (mmm),

lobster (eh),

and then we left since it was getting late and loud 

and there was a storm coming!

Some women were dressed appropriately for a dinner,

and some were dressed like they were ladies of the night.

Most of the men were wearing nice suits.

I had Beyonce's "If I Was a Boy" video in my head.

We left as they were doing the electric slide.

Boogiewoogiewoogie!

 

So many red faces!

Everyone looked lucky that night.

(This is what half the room looked like--it was full on.)

Everyone loves a good Chinese new year bash.

My Green Thumb (?)

For Christmas 2011,

Jon got me a device that grows stuff in foam.

I opened it up the other day,

and planted some Japanese tomato seeds that

he got me in spring 2012.

At first nothing seemed to grow,

but then they started to sprout!

And shortly after,

they grew some more!

And some more!

Now I have no idea what to do once or if they actually grow into

a real tomato plant.

(I feel like they're probably going to rip themselves out of the machine.)

But trial and error and all

that survival of the fittest stuff.

Grow, my little ones!

Grow!