Monterey, Day Two.

Our hotel is right on the beach, and I fell asleep last night to the sound of the ocean. It was so rhythmic and relaxing, it made me (almost) understand why people buy those cheesy noise machines from Brookstone. But, there's no substitution for the real thing, and I slept like a baby.

(Actually, truth be told, when we first got into bed, we heard drunken college kids laughing, screaming, and daring each other to get into the ocean. Bug and I, the two grumpy old ladies that we are, reported their drunk asses to the front desk, and the cops came and broke up their party while we giggled in bed. Haha, yes, we're total tattletale kill joys.)

I woke up this morning to this gorgeous view from our window.


God, I love the ocean. Driving along PCH yesterday and waking up to this today, I cannot imagine living anywhere else.

We were up at the crack of dawn to get Bug to her 8:30 a.m. presentation on time. She was presenting her research to the board of a medical journal, and they totally ate it up. She did a really, really good job.

I totally snapped a picture. I am turning into my mother, God help me.


I was so proud. She is such a genius. We sat through other presentations (none as good as Bug's, of course) and then skipped out during the break after running into a sorority sister of ours who was also at the conference.

We strolled around the shops in Carmel and then headed back to Monterey where we changed and then took a cab to Cannery Row to do a little wine tasting.

We found a few tasting rooms, but this one on the water was my favorite. It may have been the views, or maybe the young kid behind the counter with a heavy hand and a willingness to forget how many tastes we had drunk.


Two tasting rooms in, and we were starving for lunch (yes, we were drinking before lunch). We went to a restaurant called Fish Hopper.


We had each probably had about three glasses of wine each, and so our judgment must have been somewhat impaired because we decided a huge, flaming volcano bowl for two was a good idea.


Hmm. It was not. I'm pretty sure we ruined the ladies' lunch next to us with our cracking up.


Also, I didn't take pictures of the food, just of Bug cracking up.






I was also feeling pretty good. I decided to "draw a doggie" for our server on the receipt. I don't know.


As if that stupid volcano drink weren't enough, Bug decided our next stop was another winery. Man, oh man. Our poor wine pourer guy (what would you call them? Wine barista? Wine tour guide? Hmm.), "Rafael." We called him by name, and Bug hustled him for some free glasses, which we got. Hilarious.

After all that, we decided to take a nap. We came back to the hotel and, as you might imagine, crashed. We are going to try and rally to go do something tonight, but these old bones aren't used to this much fun (and alcohol)!

Makin' our way to Monterey.

Another blogging drought, coming to a close. I still must catch up on my Google Reader -- which is like old take-out found in the back of the fridge -- I forgot about it for so long, I am afraid to open it ...

I have been looking forward to this weekend all. week. long. Bug has a medical conference in Monterey where she is presenting her research and invited me to join her for a sisters' weekend. I have never been one to turn down a free trip.

We left L.A. this afternoon (yes, I was actually able to leave in the afternoon), stopped in Camarillo for lunch, and made the long, beautiful drive north. The drive itself was relaxing. I am such a road trip junkie -- there are few things better than a nice, long drive -- and the weather was gorgeous, the hills green (by California standards, at least), and the ocean views divine.

As you can tell, I was happy to be outside. :)

We arrived in Monterey close to 9:00 p.m., checked into our hotel, and started our search for dinner. We decided on the Monterey Fish House.


We ordered scallops in a cream mushroom sauce for starters. This was my favorite thing we had. The scallops were tender and buttery. Delicious!


We each ordered Cioppino for dinner with garlic bread. It was very good.


Bug with a calamari.


For dessert, we had bananas flambe, made table side.






The final product -- so tasty!


After such a delicious meal, I am in a food coma. Tomorrow, Bug is presenting her research, I'll do a little work while she is in her conference, and then we are off to explore Monterey, Carmel, and hopefully do some wine tasting!

Merry Christmas from Oly.

Merry (belated) Christmas! We spent Christmas this year with Josh's parents in Olympia, Washington. This post is a little delayed, but if I procrastinate it any longer, it'll never happen. So, because I am lazy, here are a few pictures from the day and some captions:

As usual, all of the family dogs were present, and Josh went crazy for them...

Josh and his parents' massive Airedale, Teddy.


Josh and Kitt and Arian's dog, Boutros. (Josh really wants a big dog ... can you tell?)


Josh and his mom prepping the Christmas feast.


Josh's grandparents showing off their Christmas present -- a trip with the kids. I love his grandparents so much. They are the sweetest people. And, they are such an inspiration to given they just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary!


Josh's brother, Kitt, and his wife, Arian.


Josh's nephew in a hamburger beret he won in the white elephant gift exchange. (I made away with a bunch of Lindt chocolate -- score!!)


Josh's cousin playing with his new toy -- a car with a balloon on top. He and his sister are so stinkin' cute, I swear.


After dinner, Josh and Jason decided to play ping pong in the garage. Josh found an old Viking hat with braids.


This picture makes me laugh so hard, my side hurts. What can I say, he's special. :)


I hope you all had wonderful holidays, full of family, friends, and good times. Here's to an even better 2009.

Snowy Seattle.

We arrived in Seattle yesterday morning, bright and early, after missing our flight out Friday night. My saint of a friend, Jackie, drove us to the airport at the crack of dawn, and luckily second time is a charm -- we made our flight.

In case you have not heard, Mother Nature has decided to punish Seattle. She has dumped Upstate-New-York levels of snow on Jet City. Usually, if it snows in Seattle (which is not even an annual occurrence), it melts within a day or two. Apparently, there has been snow on the ground for a week now, and there's no sign of the snow stopping yet.

Josh's big bro, Kitt, and our nephew, Jason, picked us up from the airport and we slowly made our way along a snowy I-5 back to their house. The roads are a bit treacherous, especially considering Seattle doesn't have sufficient plowing equipments and Seattleites drive as well in the snow and Angelenos drive in the rain. (For example, see here.)

Saturday night, we had planned on attending my sorority sister Lindsay's wedding. There was a lot of question whether the roads even would be open, but I did not want to miss it (especially because I was worried that a lot of guests would be snowed in). So, we carefully made our way to the ceremony at Bastyr Chapel. The chapel is beautiful, and they had set up candles down the aisle and on the altar, which was especially cozy and romantic given the weather.

Some photos, courtesy of Taryn:

The altar.


Taryn and the beautiful bride.


After the wedding, the snow was coming down even harder. The word was that there would be additional road closures, 60 mph winds, and another 6-8 inches of snow in the next few hours.

Taryn gave us a lift to the reception at the Hotel Deca, my favorite hotel in Seattle (although I still call accidentally it the Edmund Meany). Because of the weather, we unfortunately had to cut out a little early, but the food, decor, and drinks were all top notch (not that I would expect anything less from Lindsay)!

Taryn drove us back toward her place, and then Kitt picked us up and took us home. The roads were scary, but we arrived safe and sound. We drank some wine, chatted, and then when the power went out due to the storm ... well, we lit a fire and poured some more wine.

I took some pics of the snow at Kitt & Arian's house ...






Kitt shoveling the driveway.


So, we are pretty much snowed in today. The snow keeps falling, and the roads by the house have not been plowed, so we are having a lazy day. I have been catching up on my Google Reader and blogging (as you have, no doubt, noticed) and the boys have been watching movies and playing video games. After this post, I am probably going to curl up with a book. Lazy feels good these days.

Birthday dinner: family, pasta, wine, and ... shaved bark?

Josh and I arrived safely in Washington to spend the week with his family for Christmas. Vacation time means time to finally catch up on the blogging ...

So, here's a post I have been procrastinating writing for a few weeks...my birthday! The birthday was back a few weeks ago. To celebrate, we went to a restaurant I have been wanting to try: Trattoria Tre Venezie in Pasadena. Trattoria Tre Venezie, a Michelin star restaurant, specializes in traditional, Northern Italian food (no eggplant parmigiana or lasagna here).

By "we," I mean the usual cast of characters at these things: (clockwise: Josh, me, Bug, Anthony, Cathy, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Jackie, and PJ behind the camera.)


We piled in our cozy corner of the restaurant (the restaurant is small and has a warm, home-in-an-Italian-hilltown feel), ordered some delicious Montepulciano wine (a little Tuscan in with the Venetian) and had our slightly odd waiter give us a lesson on the menu. At first, this was appreciated. After awhile, it became a little condescending. The best exchange of the night:

Grandma (perhaps sounding a little skeptical): "This pasta is made with cinnamon?"
Snooty waiter: "Why yes. What is cinnamon but shaved bark?"

Jackie and I suppressed a major giggle fit. What is cinnamon but shaved bark? Deep thoughts, indeed.

It turns out the cinnamon pasta was delish. Some pics:

On the left, Bug and I shared Cjalsons for an appetizer, an ancient dish from Cania, Friuli. They are essentially savory and sweet raviolis, filled with up to eighteen combinations of ingredients, prepared for special occasions. This was, by far, my favorite dish of the night. Each little ravioli had so many flavors. The restaurant only serves Cjalsons every week or so, and if you have not been to Trattoria Tre Venezie and want to try it, be sure to be there on a day they are serving these little puppies. Truly delish!


For dinner, I ordered the special, Bigoli with crab (left). It was pretty tasty. Josh ordered the Casunziei all'Ampezzana, a ravioli filled with red beets with butter and poppy seeds. It was decent.


Jackie ordered the Tagliatelle alla Cannella (left), cinnamon-flavored tagiatelle with shitake mushroom sauce (a.k.a. the "cinnamon pasta"). I tried a bite of this and really liked it. On the right is the Ravioli al Ripeni d'Agnello, ravioli filled with shoulder of lamb.


For dessert, Josh ordered a cake from Susie Cakes (yum!).


It was marble cake with chocolate frosting, and it was a huge hit.


It was a pretty great birthday. My sweetheart of a husband did a great job planning the little get-together. Now, I am officially 28, which feels ... eh, the same. Two more years until the big 3-0 ...

Thankful.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! We had a whole mess of people over at our house to celebrate our day of gratitude and gluttony. Nineteen people, to be exact. This was especially ambitious given I had (very routine) surgery on Tuesday. Thank God for my mom who flew in from Alaska.

My grandma's first reaction was, of course, "Where are you going to put all of those people?!" Well, we cleared out our formal living room and rented some chairs. It ended up working out pefectly.

Some pics of our Thanksgiving table.




It was wonderful to have so many people in our home. It felt like the holidays when I was little with all of the family and friends piling in.

And, this was the first turkey I have ever cooked! Well, correction: We cooked two turkeys! (I couldn't risk running out of turkey!). Luckily, dinner turned out well, and I didn't burn anything or have any major snafus.


Per family tradition, we had holiday crackers. As usual, all of our holiday pictures are of us in those ridiculous paper crowns. (Remember last Christmas?)

Bug and Anthony.


Mom and Grandparents.


The whole fan-dam-ily (and some dear friends).


This Thanksgiving, I feel especially grateful for Josh, my sister, my parents, grandparents, and my dear friends. With all of the turmoil in our country and economy, I feel blessed to have my job (despite how stressful it might be at times) and especially blessed and hopeful for our new president.

And, now with Thanksgiving behind us, you know what that means... It's officially Christmastime! Let the present wrapping, light hanging, and carol singing begin!

Alive.

Wow, it's been almost six weeks since my last post and since I have opened my Google Reader. Wow, 1,800 posts to read. Hmm. (Please forgive the lack of comments.)

I have had writer's block. So much is going on, but it's sometimes hard to decide what is blogpropriate and what isn't. But, when life gets challenging, it's hard to blog about anything other than what's on your mind, so I guess I decided to just ... not.

Luckily, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. A picture-filled Thanksgiving post to follow soon.