My First Cross Country Adventure

Considering the longest 'car-ride' I've ever been was from Dallas to Memphis (actually that was the longest I'd ever driven - never again!) and our annual drives up to New Orleans for Christmas, this drive out from Memphis to Seattle sure is going to be interesting, especially for me. I'm sure I wouldn't want to be in a car after this long long loooonnngg ride but at least I won't have to drive unless I get really good about not falling asleep - yeah right! Like the king always claim, I can't even stay awake to get past Memphis city limits LOL!

We're hoping to get to Seattle by New Year's Eve to have a little 'party' to bring in 2008. Our new home has an unobstructed view of the Space Needle, so it wouldn't be right not to share it with our friends. Of course, after three to four days confined in the car, we might not be capable of staying up welcome the new year lol... oh I'm sure our friends can certainly enjoy the fireworks without us lol!

Time to get some z's and get ready for the ride tomorrow :) Wish us luck!!

We're Heeeeeere!!

Yes, we've moved to our little 'temporary' apartment, unpacked and pretty much settled-in within three days of the movers arriving. Pretty good for a bunch of amateurs; except, with the adrenalin drained out of him, the husband is now down with a bad cold :( Nonetheless, between sipping hot tea and orange juice, the king is up (at an ungodly hour for him) building our side tables just purchased a couple of days ago from Ikea. Isn't he simply awesome!?!

Tomorrow, we head back to Memphis. We're going to stay a couple of days, see some people, eat some bbq then take the cross-country drive back here with my car. Good riddance to rental cars in Seattle! That way, I can start driving around and seeing all my girlfriends I want to see who live out in the suburbs with the help of my faithful gps :D Exciting!

Happy new year to all my friends who visit my blog out there! Thank you for all your support. Keep the comments and suggestions coming. I do appreciate them all. Yes, even the crappy ones lol!

Oh Dear...

For those who don't talk to me on the phone or chat online regularly, you must think I've disappeared from the face of this planet - not a bad thing for some of you, I know :) Too bad for those, I'm still kicking it and very much alive lol.

Hmmm... what's been going on since our 6th wedding anniversary more than a month ago... I suppose not much if you don't count how many miles we've accumulate in a short 45 days. ...and to answer the question most of you would like to know most - have we moved!? No, actually, as I write this entry, I'm still very much (physically) in Elvis land in my awesome red and black kitchen. But it won't be too long before we make the move. Not too long at all!

It's been good to catch up with old friends in all the cities we've been to recently, made new ones and of course, tried more restaurants you even care to know. Asanebo in L.A is definitely worth mentioning however. ...it's been a lot of fun but the last ten days between flying back from Tokyo to Memphis, resting for two days and heading out to L.A and back (four days later) to Memphis for a mere sixteen hours before heading to Seattle for a half day, twelve-hour trip and back to Memphis this morning, I can safely say for the both of us, 'we don't want to see another bloody plane... for at least 72 hours' :) After that, you never know with our warp sense of adventure... if opportunity arises for us to head somewhere (more) cheaply and/or exciting, we're off, moving or not :)

The husband's got a boys' weekend coming up and I'm diciphering between staying back to do some light packing or going to see girlfriends in this continent (sorry for those not here) or even a long lost friend whom we recently caught up on Facebook and realized he's now settled in New Jersey, of all places. I don't know... either way, to catch up with friends away or here, I will be occupied.

It's twenty days to Christmas. We haven't got any lights up this year neither have we made concrete plans for the upcoming holidays. Hmmm... how unsettling :) Of course, we don't know where we'll be (yet) so that's a little tougher to decide what we want to do. Christmas invites are out but sadly, we won't be able to attend at least one of them in Seattle... (no invites from Memphis, as per usual LOL). I'm sure everything will turn out fine... at the end of the day, as long as we're together with good friends, we'll manage to have yet another good holiday season gone by.

No Turkey For Thanksgiving

After a couple more unsuccessful house-hunting trips out in Seattle, we're finally in Tokyo for Thanksgiving. How relaxing with no houses to see or specific things to do... just hang out, eat good food - sashimi for Thanksgiving is SO much more tasty then turkey which isn't my favorite, and absolutely nothing important to do :)

It's labor day here today coincidentally. They just called it labor-thanksgiving day on tv - I overheard this on tv on the English version of the daily sumo digest lol!

After a horrendous almost 13 hours flight with a crying toddler (omg I was on the verge of killing it and it's gramma and mom who were seated apart in business and coach and walked by me and knocking some part of my overgrown body every time I was about to doze off). This is the first time I have not slept on a long flight like this. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper when the bunch of excited and loud middle aged Cantonese-speaking aunties in the train insisted in letting the whole train hear their debate on who should pay for dinner then what camera to get and almost missing their stop - fortunately by then I decided to be kinder (step out of the killing mode) and let them know it was their stop lol.

A nice shower and a good meal with our friend Julia at Sushi Cho later, I plunked into bed and caught up with my much needed rest waking up at 3am craving for ramen lol! Good thing I knew the king was extremely tired as well - he was less irritated with the kid since he was engrossed with his Simpsons game on the DS. The man is absolutely in-the-zone when he's playing... never mind anything else that's going on around him...

Well, I have to go back to enjoying this trip. Tune in for updates... maybe :)

Another House Hunting Trip

We're off to Seattle this morning (again).

Still no luck with finding a the perfect house for us and I'm not holding my breath to find it on this trip either - sigh. It's getting a little tiring... and dealing with these annoying pushy realtors doesn't help. One even called contractors when we told him the house wasn't for us 'coz there were just too many rooms in the house and we prefer an open floor plan. He even tracked us to our hotel and left a message there! Worst are the female realtors. Arrgh! I'm meeting one later today. She is probably the most unpleasant one I've encountered on the phone this far... and then when I mentioned we're working with Redfin, she ALMOST tried to weasel her way out of showing us the house but she'd already said her schedule was open LOL! What a bitch! Imagine you're trying to sell your house and your agent doesn't want to show it 'coz she's too lazy to do her job 'coz she can't get BOTH ends of the commission. Greedy piece of shit! Unfortunately, I do really want to see this house she's showing on Mercer Island, so I let her really bad attitude and rudeness slip without saying anything back to her. If she tries anything today, she will get an earful.

This thing about dealing with RedFin is also bothering me a little. But we're not going to drag some sorry ass real estate agent with us just to see houses from Seattle to Bellevue to Kirkland to Mercer Island. We just want to look for the right house!

I'll keep my fingers crossed... but again, not too hopeful.

No Comment!

Yeah right, no comment from me(?!) on MY blog?! LOL!

That is such a ridiculous title... 'No Sex, Please, We're Singaporean'?!?! ...and the government wonders why the population is dwindling to nothing. Well, we're either living somewhere else in this world busy having hot and sweaty sex or they're not 'allowing' us to procreate when the urge arrives... even in a bed on a plane LOL! How, pray tell, are the flight attendents going to monitor what everyone is up to in these suites when they're having sex themselves somewhere else on the plane!? Oh believe me, I know some of them and my friends are related to a bunch of them... the stories I've heard are pretty hilarious and disgusting! So they can say what they want, it's still going to happen... question is, will the flight stewardess partake when invited LOL!

My question is, are they going to make it illegal, like everything else back home, about this no sex in the air deal :) ...and now that oral sex is legal, is oral sex, sex?! :D


No Sex, Please, We're Singaporean

Sex Not Allowed in Airbus A380 Double Bed Suites

Even though Singapore Airlines has equipped its new A380 jets with private double bed suites, company officials are saying you'd better not do the bouncy bouncy in there or you'll meet with their stern disapproval. What are they going to do? Throw you off the plane? The first couple to book one of the double suites wasn't too impressed with the airline's prudish demeanor.

"So they'll sell you a double bed, and give you privacy and endless champagne -- and then say you can't do what comes naturally?" asked Tony Elwood, a 76-year-old passenger who booked the suite with his wife, Julie. "Seems a bit strange."

Let's not forget that Singapore Airlines is based in a country which still deems it okay to smack people with a rattan cane for even the slightest transgression, so you'd better keep that johnson in your pants, big boy. "There are things that are acceptable on an aircraft and things that aren't, and the rules for behaviour in our double beds are the same ones that apply throughout the aircraft," proclaims Stephen Forshaw, a Singapore Airlines official. He warns, "If couples used our double beds to engage in inappropriate activity, we would politely ask them to desist."

Since the doors close on the suites, how on earth are Singapore Airlines flight attendants going to know who is engaging in the old in/out and who isn't? It's always so noisy in aircraft anyway, you could be screaming to high heaven and no one would ever know.

We're thinking one of the most difficult temptations to resist aboard a Singapore Airlines double-bed flight is avoiding asking one of those gorgeous flight attendants, known as "the Singapore Girls," to join us inside the comfy suite. But then, for the $14,320 price for two tickets in one of the suites, we'd hope a good swift caning would be included in the ticket price. [Times Online, via Fleshbot (NSFW)]

Time Flies...

Yesterday, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! I have known the king now for more than ten years! It seemed like yesterday when I was upset he ALMOST didn't want me to move to Memphis with him (and still not wanting to marry me lol) and today, I am looking forward to leaving this place.... things change, situations change, people change, our lifestyles change... but the churches will always be here muahahahaha!

In commemoration of our wedding day, we went out and got some Krispy Kreame donuts. YUM! I don't like donuts but when it comes to KK, I never turn one... or two... or three down :)

We're postponing our 'special' anniversary dinner for when we're out of town. We're thinking of hitting Boston later this week... no concrete plans yet... but we hung out at home most of the day, kept out of each other's way (me on Facebook, he on the Scrabulous site both with tv's murmuring in the background) and eventually, got together for dinner - pizza and baseball - actually, he was watching baseball and I had the laptop in front of me playing scrabble :D But I did cheer and congratulate the husband when his team won the world series.

...so it was a pretty uneventful. Some people might think - BO-RING! But hey, boring is sometimes (I said sometimes!) good... no drama(!)... we were both happy and contented with not having any special plans for the day. We are happy in our relationship and just glad to be with one another at home on another special day.

I'm A Happy Camper

Yes you read right! I'm in Memphis and I'm happy. Woke up with a smile and hours later, I'm still glad to be sitting in front of this machine burning time. We've been home since Tuesday evening and it hasn't stopped raining since we landed. It's threatening to rain till tomorrow afternoon so I'm thrilled to bits! I almost feel like I'm in Seattle... as long as I sit here and dream :)

No luck on the house hunting front. We found A house... but I don't know if it's THE house. The king certainly likes it a lot. I liked it enough but they're building this humongous house in front of it that will block the perfect view it has now... so uh uh from me. Not that the view is that important but it's priced right now as a house with a perfect view that is about to be taken away... I also fell in love with downtown Bellevue. It's a bigger Germantown with serious shopping, restaurants and unlike downtown Seattle, no homeless bums asking for change! I like that a lot! I'm hoping to find something we like in Bellevue - a short 20 mins drive (or with traffic, four hours! LOL). That would make me very very happy :)

I'm also happy 'coz I found a new cleaning lady lol! Yes, it's the little things tho' this isn't little to me. I told the last cleaning lady a good month ago that I will call her when I'm back in town; and with all our crazy travels coming in for a day or two and leaving again, I haven't called her and of course, she has't called to check in. Well she did but I told her I would call her when I needed her. I think she must have thought I was trying to fire her or something... well, guess who lost her number lol! ...but fear not! My German girlfriend came to the rescue and gave me her cleaning lady's number - who was actually someone I had spoken to before but didn't have any openings. My other friend moved away and yup, I'm taking her spot. Happy happy joy joy!!

At the rate I'm going, I wouldn't mind staying here longer - as long as the rain persists lol... ok, maybe I'm truly out of my mind... but with the grey skies, the pitter-patter of the rain pounding ever so lightly on the roof of the deck, the cold air outside I can almost feel and the humming of the dryer ('coz I'm constantly doing laundry), I can tell you this is going to be another perfect day!

Back Home And Off Again

Well we've been home a few days... three, to be more precise... and tomorrow morning, we're flying back to Seattle. Yup, more house hunting sessions. We'll be back in the middle of next week, hang out here for a little and I think before this month is over, we'll head back out to Asia. Probably Tokyo... maybe Thailand. Not too sure about the latter yet.

California was a blast! I got to meet some of the king's friends from business school (a few were nice and interesting, namely those who have seen more of the 'outside' world) and his three pool (as in snooker, not swimming) buddies from law school whom the husband had a weekly pool game with back in the days. I really liked this bunch of guys. They certainly were not a bunch of tight ass lawyers but three really fun and funny guys who haven't changed a bit since their crazy grad school days - at least their wives claim so. Both wives (one's divorced) were already in the picture when they were in law school. It's kind of nice to hear stories from them about the king when he was still a kid... well sort of a kid - 20 years ago, he was merely in his 20s :D I mean, I've met quite a few of the husband's high school friends here but their stories aren't half as fun and interesting as the grad school ones. Maybe most of them don't remember much due to ????? ... or the husband just wasn't that exciting in high school LOL! But yes, these Stanford guys were great fun to hang out with.

I also got to meet an old friend of mine. Donald's grown into the young man we all thought he would be; in a good career path and newly single - yup, just like the husband, he's not ready to do the commitment thingy... men! But yes, it certainly was very nice to catch up on 20 years of gossip, news of D's older brother Ivan, and younger sister who was merely a toddler when we were all teenagers. She is now going to college with boyfriend headaches. Wow, now I KNOW I'm old lol.

I have to update my Yelp entries on all the restaurants we tried in California but right now, I have other things to concentrate on... like playing scrabble on Facebook lol. I should have more time to blog and yelp after this Seattle trip though I'm thinking of heading to NYC for a couple of days to hang out with my girlfriend, Gen... hmmm... decisions decisions.

Hanging Out On Santana Row

We took the longest 4 hour flight from DFW (Dallas) to SFO (San Francisco) yesterday. No upgrade (arrgh!) and I got the middle seat (of course) in front of two idiotic Russian women who just wouldn't shut up! They were so obnoxious - even threatened (in the nicest way) the guy who was seated on the aisle seat on their row to move! Poor guy... and as if that wasn't bad enough, they had a constantly crying baby who actually crawled onto our row... seriously, they needed to sedate all three of them! The one of them - yup, the Einstein of the two - pulled down the 'table' (right behind my seat, of course) and pounded on it to entertain the kid while singing. Un-phucking-believable! NTAR NTAR!!!

You know I couldn't get out of the plane fast enough when we landed :D

Well... after a quick run to our favorite hang out at the Embarcadero (Hog Island Oyster - best grilled cheese EVER!) and dropped by at our favorite local chocolatier a few doors down to Ricchiuti Confections to pick up a couple of boxes of Fluer de Sel (YUM!!) and two bags for almond covered chocolates, we then took a short drive and dropped into Henry's Hunan on Sansome (the king's favorite Hunan place) to get take-out for our dinner-in. We then started our nice longer but more scenic route (not on 110 lol) to San Jose.










Awesome! For one week, I'll be surrounded by Gucci, Ferragamo, Tod's and the like. Plus, I'm a minute walk from Singaporean, Chris Yeo's restaurants. It's not authentic Singaporean food (you can only get authentic Singaporean food in Singapore) but it's good enough to satiate my taste for hawker food from home ...so THIS is my current paradise :D When my girlfriends took me to Santana Row the first time to the Straits Restaurant for our girl's night out, I fell in love with this area. Solid shopping (yup, high end boutiques, familiar mall shops and a short walk across the street to Nordstrom, Macy's... and a grocery store), good restaurants and a hip hotel. I'm happy!

We're here for the king's 20th college reunion at Stamford. I don't think he's going to be doing too much with the law school friends but I know I'm included in most of the events with the guys and their families from business school. Should be fun... it's poker night tonight so I'm hanging out here and meeting a childhood (well, teenhood lol) friend of mine and my brother's whom we'd just found on Facebook so I'm excited. Donald's apparently been in the San Jose area since the late 90s!! I can't wait for updates on all the other 'kids' we grew up with :) Okay, he's a guy so maybe not that much info lol.

We might also get to have a meal on Google campus. That should be an experience :D Will update with pics and/or videos of anything interesting :)

Funny

I don't like receiving jokes via email - people who know me (or have read my previous post) know not to forward me anything like so; not if they want me to read it... and I extend the same courtesy towards them. However, when I read this piece on ELT news (a site about teaching English in Japan) this morning, I figured why not share it with you guys and post it here... after all, if you have time for my blog, surely you can spend some time with this entry :)

The following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room-service at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the Far East Economic Review:

Room Service (RS): "Morrin. Roon sirbees."

Guest (G): "Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service."

RS: "Rye..Roon sirbees..morrin! Jewish to oddor sunteen??"

G:"Uh..yes..I'd like some bacon and eggs."

RS: "Ow July den?"

G:"What??"

RS: "Ow July den?...pryed, boyud, poochd?"

G:"Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled please."

RS: "Ow July dee baykem? Crease?"

G:"Crisp will be fine."

RS: "Hokay. An Sahn toes?"

G:"What?"

RS: "An toes. July Sahn toes?"

G:"I don't think so."

RS: "No? Judo wan sahn toes??"

G:"I feel really bad about this, but I don't know what 'judo wan sahn toes' means."

RS: "Toes! toes!...Why jew don juan toes? Ow bow Anglish moppin we bodder?"

G:"English muffin!! I've got it! You were saying 'Toast.' Fine. Yes, an English muffin will be fine."

RS: "We bodder?"

G:"No...just put the bodder on the side."

RS: "Wad?"

G:"I mean butter...just put it on the side."

RS: "Copy?"

G:"Excuse me?"

RS: "Copy...tea...meel?"

G:"Yes. Coffee, please, and that's all."

RS: "One Minnie. Scramah egg, crease baykem, Anglish moppin we bodder on sigh and copy....rye??"

G:"Whatever you say."

RS: "Tenjewberrymuds."

G:"You're very welcome."

(Thanks to Duane Flowers, who posted this to the Jalttalk mailing list)

Funny right?! :D

Some Of You Will Disagree

I just took this survey and this is what they said about me... see, I'm not as bad as you think.

I am 40% Asshole/Bitch.

I may think I am an asshole or a bitch, but the truth is I am a good person at heart. Yeah sure, I can have a mean streak in me, but most of the people I meet like me.

Last Minute Trip

We're making a less-then-48 hour trip to Seattle. Yup, purely house-hunting. Well, that and to get away from the forecasted 90+ degree weather here this weekend. I think the king was just trying to be nice before I go postal on him lol... plus it's THAT time of the month (yes I know it's tmi - too much info - but it's my blog and I can write whatever I wish and you can choose not to read or like what I read :D).

I'm keeping my fingers crossed on a house but honestly, I'm not too hopeful this time... :( Maybe we need to move somewhere else lol.

I'm A Millionaire ...!

Well, a millionaire not so much in dollars and cents; but I was just informed by American Airlines that I have officially 'collected' a million miles. Yes, one million miles! That's a lot of miles to redeem :) Yes it includes all my flight and credit card bonus'. I didn't start flying American much before I was married... I was a former NWA loyal customer... then I came to Memphis and it all changed, funnily enough; because Memphis is a Northwest Airlines hub lol. So it's pretty impressive how much I have accumulated in six short years hee hee. Of course, you're reading this from the wife of THE mileage whore who used to fly around the world to get as many miles as he could. ...don't ask me why 'coz just as I couldn't relate to it, I was, before I knew it, calculating my miles like the he used to; an act I still can't justify lol.

As I understand it, I'm getting some gifts in the mail... it had better not be a bloody towel! That's what the king got when he hit a million Hyatt points. Lame-asses! According to the husband, Mister AA Mileage Whore himself (three-million-miles around the corner), I should be getting more upgrade certificates. ...the real ones that count. Yup, free international upgrade certificates!!! Awesome(!) 'coz I'm running low on the eight I got at the beginning of the year and I'm trying to conserve as much as I can flying cattle class whenever I am able to get decent seats. But this means I'll have two more months to blow them all off (yes, unfortunately, they do expire at the end of the year); which means no more economy class till 2008. YEH!

See, I'm really not that hard to please :D

Addicted

The house is in a mess (clean, however :D), my errands are left well, I still have to run those some time... and I'm just glued to this monitor! I'm simply addicted to SCRABULOUS! I've been playing it on Facebook with the king, my pals in Australia and Japan... the time difference turns out to be a blessing in disguise (for a change). I have beat the husband two out of about two hundred games! Hey, that's two games he remains bitter for lol! We get so competitive it's hilarious. If you were a fly on the wall in this household, all you'd hear is... "... silence... silence... YOUR TURN!!! ....silence ...silence... silence... YOUR TURN!!!" You'd think that we could sit in the same room and play our real scrabble game but how would we surf the net, read our feeds and check email all at the same time right?! :D I guess he could move into the same room I'm in with the laptop but we fear each other peeping on the other's tiles LOL!

If you're on Facebook, come join us in a game. If not, do it online and enjoy! Yes, of course it's foc (free of charge).

Update

Ok, I figured I'd better do it here since rumors are still going around this city about the status of our move. Really, they can't wait to get rid of me (they mostly like the husband but sorry to disappoint you guys, we come as a package lol)!

Again, there is no 'for sale' sign in our front yard. We have not put the house on sale (yet) and are not in a hurry to. We have NOT bought a house. Yes, we are probably moving to Seattle but the house we put an offer in for hasn't been successful - we just found out late last night. The owners have decided to play hard to get (full price or nothing) and will take it off the market in a week (they claim) and no, we're not about to go chasing after it. So it's back to the drawing board. Yes, of course I'm annoyed! That was ALMOST the perfect house for us... but this isn't my first time dealing with people like that... after all, it's a buyer's market and if you don't want the big lump sum of cash we're offering, I'm sure someone else is willing to take it from us lol.

Right now, I'm thinking of Japan... spending a few months there and learning a little more of the language wouldn't be a bad idea... I don't know... just anything to get me outta' here... yesterday!!

We're Home!

Yes, I'm alive... and yes, I had a nice time in Paris. I got to meet Bruce's pal from high school, James (yes, big kahuna James from my last post), his wife Chantana, an awesome lady whom I grew to like very much in the short span of time I spent with her (even my sister-in-law who'd only met her over lunch grew a quick liking to her... there's just something and everything about her that ignites warmth and friendliness), their children, beautiful 7 yr old Anita-Louise and adorable three year old Benjamin. We even got to meet Chantana's parents; attended her dad's 60th surprise birthday bash and met a bunch of their friends and extended family in Breux-Jouy, a suburb about 45km outside Paris - for those not so bright Americans, that's about 30 miles :D ... so that was a nice change from the few not so nice people I encountered in the city. But that's another few stories we can reserve for when some of us see each other again (maybe) :)

I don't know if you'd find me hurrying back to Paris too soon... or Europe for that matter - though I can't believe it but the husband just asked if I'd like to go to Rome and Naples for a short trip. I don't know... the vibe's just all different. Plus I've done it all before... Europe to me is like a novel; read it once, put it away and put a check next to it. I don't need to go to the Louvre a gazillion times. Seeing the Mona Lisa once was the same as when I saw it the third time this trip. Yup, there it is... same smile... same look... just like in my text book! Things like that just doesn't excite me that much! The food, the people, the culture... I'm just not that into them! :D

Call me narrow minded (maybe I've been in Memphis far too long lol - hey you know if I'm going to blame anyone, it's my time here I'm going to pick on lol)... but the last time I went to Paris, I didn't want to leave! I wanted to stay, learn the language and live there for at least a few years! No, no man involved in this story lol. This was merely 8(?) years ago! So why was this trip so different? Yes, I'm older... more set in my obstinate ways. More anal then ever before... and maybe the Parisians were just nicer to me then since I was traveling on my own and I looked like a lost child lol... I don't know... but this trip made me aware of how I judge people in my warped sense of normalcy... how much more I cannot deal with idiots - and really, they are just as many there as there are here (LOL)... and how I enjoy my ginormous space, big new modern clean buildings as oppose to tight old dirty looking ones... even with great stories behind them. I just don't care! It's even more painful on top of all that, the dollar is so weak (no thanks to your 'competent' leader) against the Euro and how getting only one bag and wallet just rubs me the wrong way. If I can't go to France and buy all my Chanel and LV stuff I want, then why go right?! :D Yes, I will survive... that or I'd better strike the mega million in a hurry if the king is ready to hit Europe again.

We also met up with my brother and his wife. I had a really really nice time with them! They love food and shopping as much as we do (no, they can out shop me any day!), so it's always fun to hang out with them. It's always so nice to be with family and I do miss that privilege. Sometimes I do dream of living closer to all of them but I know when I make that move, I'm going to regret it lol - especially since I know I'm going to hate the weather that makes me grumpy constantly. Yes, I will be even less tolerable to deal with there - hard to imagine eh lol. Yes, absense makes the heart grow fonder... I have been away from home most of my adult life... why mess with it?! :) I'll just continue being a great aunt to my two nieces back home, a good daughter by calling mom every day and talk to dad whenever he has time to chat with me. I can't complain.

If you're interested, click here for more pics from this trip.

Trip #10 (Last Trip) Of Summer '07

Summer is finally coming to an end. It's only 7:37pm here and it's already dark outside... no more crazy cicadas buzzing... the temperature however isn't quite as cooperating; it's soaring back to the 90s this week. Yuk! Glad I'm going to be away to miss it.

We're headed to Paris, France in a couple of days. My third time and the first, for the king - hard to imagine huh? ...that he's actually not been somewhere I've been lol. We're going to visit his good friend James from high school who has become - what my business professor used to call - a big kahuna lol! I don't know James... but I've seen pics of his family and they're beautiful! I'm looking forward to meeting all of them. We're also having a mini family reunion with my brother (who will be on a side business trip to Zurich) and his wife; so I'm super excited. In the last year, I have seen my brother the most out of all the family members since he travels so much for work. It's nice that he actually wants to hang out with us lol! Actually, maybe he's just playing spy for my parents lol!

So all you travel folks out there who have been to Paris lately, any tips? Any restaurants we can't leave without trying? I know about the macaroons and the eclairs already :) I should have had them when I saw them in Tokyo Midtown last week but I guess I'd just have to get them straight from the original source...

Giant Pandas @ Memphis Zoo

Le Le and Ya Ya are the pandas from China at the Memphis Zoo. I have no idea which one this is but it's adorable :) Go see them if you haven't!

Zoo Rendezvous 2007

We'd barely been home for 48 hours from Tokyo and where do we head out for dinner? Yes, sushi, of course! :)

Well, luck was with us this Friday evening at Sekisui Collierville. While dining, Dr Dewane (a regular customer like us) came up to us and asked if we were going to the zoo the next evening. Being the "blur like ika" (sotong aka squid) person that I am, replied without thinking, 'what zoo?!'. He rolled his eyes and said 'Zoo Rendezvous! ...it's only the biggest party of the year!'. It then clicked... the poster on the wall! 'Ohhhhh, no one asked me!'. Steve, another regular customer sitting next to me at the sushi bar exclaimed, 'that's not the right thing to say!'. So I tried again, 'nobody got me tickets!' Honestly, I wasn't trying to get anything out of Dr Dewane lol. I didn't even know he was in any way tied to this event! Plus, who in their right mind gives away tickets that went for a couple of hundred bucks per person to two people you don't know other then seeing them around at the sushi bar?! Well, the generous doctor pulled out two tickets from his pocket and said 'make sure I see you guys there'. The rest, as they say, is history :D

Zoo Rendezvous was the highlight of our weekend - well after the highlight of being handed those tickets lol. Looks like we're doing everything we need to before we leave this town, aren't we?! First Graceland on Elvis's 30th anniversary and now Zoo Rendezvous! Having lived in the Memphis area for more than six years and never gotten around to the local zoo (though we've heard so much about it) we were nicely impressed! We did plan on seeing the pandas before we leave but with all the travels this summer, it's been hard to manage a trip out to, of all places for a couple with no kids, the zoo lol. But this was definitely a spectacular reason to go!

There were 95 local restaurants that set up booths giving out 'free' food and drinks. Well, free for us since we didn't pay for the tickets... speaking of which, Dr Dewane wasn't only generous to us; he also gave tickets to other regular patrons at Sekisui and also a sponsor to the huge jungle lounge theme that housed restaurant booths such as Paulette's, PF Chang's, Half Shell, Sekisui (of course!)... he rocks! :D I don't know how we managed in the crazy crowd, but we met up with Joelle and David as planned - also Sekisui Collieville regulars :) The place was packed with all the food you can imagine, all the booze you can drink (yes, also 'free'!), all the people you can meet in one evening and countless sets of bands boogieing the night away. Yes, it was, well, a zoo! :D We even spotted Mayor AC Wharton in the crowd coming a little later in the evening.

My two favorite booths of the evening was that of River Oaks with chef Benjamin Vaughn behind making his version of fresh duck spring rolls that were absolutely delicious! We chatted for a little before going off to my other favorite counter.












Here, I had the most awesome strawberry cake I'd ever had by 'That Takes The Cake' who also had a bunch of cool looking cakes on display. Who would have thunk it?! Lol! You can get cakes here that look like they'd just come out of Charm City Cakes lol - well, almost. But I was impressed.














The weather was perfect, great live music every corner you turn, great food (some not so great but you can't have 'em all :D) and the alcohol topped it off and made it a great night for me (the king was responsible and had only one beer early in the evening since he was the designated driver). Too bad it's our last... but you never know with the Ryans... have ticket will fly :D

My Sashimi Is Alive!

Yup, the fish 'sat' there for a good 30 mins starring us down while we ate it piece by piece before it just... well, stopped :) Mighty delicious but yes, creepy! Didn't stop me from eating, of course.

Natto For Breakfast - It's Good For You LOL

I met natto this morning - decided to give it a try after hearing so much about how nasty it is from the king... ok it doesn't smell as bad as he claims..., but it is pretty bad tasting in an eeiky texture kind of way lol. I will try it at least two more time to give it my final verdict. But for now, I won't go craving for natto. At least I can say I have tried it :)

Sweeeeet!

How cool is this!?! Special edition Elvis' 30th Anniversary Reese's Peanut Butter and Banana Creme Cups. YUM! The hint of banana creme in addition to the regular Reese's peanut butter cup is delicious! I wonder how long they're going to keep this around. It's September and they're still around...

We couldn't find any in Seattle - wow we actually have something other people outside of this area doesn't have; but of course, it's Elvis-related lol. We got a whole box for friends who requested for them there... :)

Notice there are both young and old Elvis Reese's?! Funny huh?!

Home For A Day... Then Trip #9 Of Summer '07

We arrived home yesterday; two hours earlier then planned when we got lucky and caught the earlier flight back from DFW (with an upgrade tee hee). I suppose American Airlines doesn't ALWAYS let us down :)

It's been a full day of laundry... I have yet to start cleaning but my nails are screaming for some attention so it's off to a manicure in a bit. We have to repack - I can't say we have fully unpacked lol - and head off to Tokyo first thing tomorrow morning. It's been five months since we last went to Tokyo. Feels kind of weird... kind of ummm, unnatural for us lol. We're both excited to see friends we missed, new ones to make, and of course, food glorious food hee hee.

I have so much to update from our trip to Seattle but my nails are of more importance right now :) The only excitement right now that you guys might be interested is... we found a house!! Don't know if we'll get it but that's exciting as far as I'm concerned :)

Stay tuned!

It's Still Summer... Trip #8

We're off again tomorrow to the Pacific Northwest where it's 20 degrees cooler then here. We're heading out there this time with a serious project. Hopefully within a week, we'll find a house we like enough to compromise so that by early next year, some people here would no longer be threatened by 'our' presence. A big sigh of relieve for them muahahaha! You know who you are 'coz I know you're still reading :s Go do some bloody work for crying out loud - or do you need some help hahaha?! I have nothing interesting to say for now. But I will someday and when I do, trust me, you'll hear all about it.

Hanging Out At T-Nails

Just returned from spending a couple of hours hanging out with the 'crew' at T Nails - a fun and hilarious group of people who remind me of home. That's what I miss about being so far away from all my crazy cousins... talking a bunch of bullshit that means nothing to anyone else but us; and having a ton of laughs at each other's expense! They even got me a white chocolate mocha today! I'm gonna' miss all of them and having a comfortable and super clean place to get my nails done when I eventually leave this town... like I said, I'm not gonna' miss this city other than my house and some special people I've met here.










If you're ever in the Memphis area and need to get your nails done, you can certainly rely on the skills of Tina, Kristy, Alan or Jenny... Kristy is also an eyebrow sculptor. I call her a sculptor 'coz she's awesome at waxing - even when some ladies come in with practically no eyebrows HAHAHA! I kid you not lol. Plus I get tons of compliments on my eyebrows; so if you need help, head down to Winchester. They're located at the same strip mall as Huey's and Half Shell and they do walk-ins.

Cousin Tara & Damien Head Home Today

It was fun hanging out with Tara and Damien both in and out of Memphis... they got to see Graceland, eat bbq and see what their cousins on the other side of the world live like - I'm sure a report to my parents will follow upon their return home lol!

In Case You Missed Us On NBC LOL

Ignore my fat arms and back fat. I should have changed my outfit I know... but gimme a break - we were heading out to the airport and didn't know the tv crew was really coming till 2 hours before. Ok, I have no excuse for not changing. I THOUGHT I looked HOT HAHAHAHAHA!

Us On Inside Edition - AIYOH!!!!

Don't ask me why we sat there like twins with arms half crossed onto the other arm. I never noticed we sat alike LOL. OMG I look so moronic LOL! I guess that explains why I'm not a TV superstar hahahaha!

Exciting Last 24 Hours

Wow! I thought the highlight of the last fews days would have been my cousin and her boyfriend visiting - but the husband's interview last night at home with nbc blew us all away lol. Yes, NBC like the television network!!! Talk about being married to a celebrity huh lol! Tara and Damien sooo thinks we're paying people to impress them lol! First the guy who came up to us at the Commissary who identified the king as the (ex) Mathematics teacher featured in a newspaper article he read earlier this year(?) or late last year... and then the the bloody tv crew at the house setting up for the interview LOL.

Elvis Presley's 30th death anniversary at Graceland was wild... but we're all EP'd out. I will have a post with tons of pictures soon. I'm at our 'shameful unidentified destination' and am hitting the pool so blogging isn't exactly a priority... besides, no wireless arrgh!!! Guess where we are! :D

Trip #8 Of Summer '07

Yes we're off again tonight. This will start a line of travels right into the Fall. Oooh, I'm so excited!! :) We're traveling with my cousin Xiaoyan and her boyfriend Damien tonight. Destination - unidentified lol. We'll be back early Monday morning for a few days and we'd be off again to Seattle after that :) Of course, before we leave Memphis later, we're heading out to Graceland this morning. Not a very smart thing to do on Elvis' 30th death anniversary but I suppose what better time to see it then with the rest of the world and all the tv crews and tv personalities :)

Foodies In Argentina

I know I know... this is long overdue... I can no longer taste the dulce de leche in my mouth - not that I don't crave it - and I am even almost over my please!-no-more-steak-'diet' LOL. Yes, all these years, I have been eating what I thought was yummy steak dinners at Ruth's Chris not realizing that the best steaks sits in Buenos Aires patiently waiting for me :) Did you know that Argentinians eat more beef then anyone else in the world!? Yup, the average person consumes about 140 pounds of beef a year! That's like 50% more than the average American! ...I'd hate to be a vegetarian there; ok I'd hate to be a vegetarian anywhere hee hee.

We went to two parrilla (Spanish word for 'grill') restaurants while in Buenos Aires. The first one, Cabanas Las Lilas (review can be read here) and the second one El Mirasol. Cabanas Las Lilas had always been popular in Buenos Aires and the king went there on his first trip. He had such a good time he wanted to take me there. Even though the more up-to-date reviews of this restaurant claim that the standards have slipped and the quality of the food isn't as stellar, I can't say I have any complaints whatsoever about my meal there... between Cabana Las Lilas and El Mirasol, it's hard to pick a favorite. The quality of meat at Cabana Las Lilas was absolutely amazing! I cannot say I have had a better piece of rib eye where every mouthful of meat was perfectly marbled. Absolutely orgasmic, I kid you not! The meat was also extremely good at El Mirasol... the service at was much friendlier, less stuffy and I think I can safely say I had the best appetizers of my entire trip here. The empanadas here... yummy spicy ground beef. Hmmm... curry puff LOL! Sorry I digress... it's a Singaporean trait when it comes to food. Oh, and the bbq sausages with the chimichurri... wow!!

Believe it or not, while food is usually the highlight of our trip, I believe the weather was more exceptional. It certainly was nice to get out of the Memphis heat to fly into cool wintery Buenos Aires. Can't say I wouldn't do it again. I know we could have flown over to Australia where we wouldn't have to pay for hotel but ummm... Argentina is so much more exotic :)

Speaking of exotic, we even went to the oldest cafe in Buenos Aires HAHAHA! Cafe Tortoni. OK, not exactly my kind of scene (at all) but hey, I get to say we did the touristy thingy :) Plus I had a churros and the husband had an alfajor (right) and we were out of the huge cafe quicker then it took us to be in line to gain entry lol. Just get me a bloody mocha frapaccino for crying out loud! Speaking of which, Starbucks will soon make her entry into the Argentina market this year.

If you want a nice meal, go to Sucre. This would be my favorite restaurant amongst all the places we went to eat in this city. I enjoyed every dish we had here. From the salmon ceviche (we also got the Peruvian style ceviche), jamon y queso croquettes (it sounds so fancy but it's just ham and cheese croquettes lol), to the very simple but super delicious and garlicky orechietti pasta with pancetta and brocolli - I can't say I have had a better pasta dish to date!! ...to the best coconut tart dessert I have ever had with a scoop of rich mango sorbet (it was so rich it tasted like ice cream). The food was simply spot on and service was absolutely excellent as well! I'm not giving Sucre justice by not writing a piece just on them but there is just too much going on right now to do so. I have procrastinated and now, a day before my cousin arrives, I'm doing laundry past 10 o'clock in the pm lol. Shame on me! :(

Who is she? Well, she walked out of her family bakery just as we were walking by and she offered us samples of their pastries. Full sized samples! None of that cut a bloody pastry into forty-two pieces like they do here, if you're even that lucky lol! Of course after having a fresh warm cinnamon roll in the cool crisp morning air, we marched right in and got us more pastries we certainly didn't need lol. They get my vote for best coquitos - coconut macaroons - I have ever had! Hmmm... there seems to be this pattern of yummy coconut desserts here...?!?

Our last 'meal' in Buenos Aires consisted of the most awesome combination of ice-cream from Freddo. Despite the locals complaining about the cold weather - it really wasn't that cold with the high humidity; even though the recorded temperature was only in the 30s. It still wasn't too cold to eat ice-cream (it never is!) in the Galaria. It was hot and stuffy in there. So we took the opportunity to have us a little Freddo. YUM! Talk about the perfect blend of flavors we picked!!! The bitterness of the mocha ice cream (with coffee beans) together with the white chocolate'y flavor adding to the rich sweetness of the dulce de leche ice cream and the crunchiness texture of the very generous serving of almonds... OMFG!!! I'm salivating right now just thinking about it :)

Sorry the writing on this piece sucks lol. I know it... the flow... yuks the flow. But I want this out today or there really wouldn't be time until we return from our trip next week ;) Yup, we're heading out again soon.

One last thing before I go. The drink of my choice when I next go to Buenos Aires... diet pomelo soda! A slight bitterness to it (just like the pomelo fruit) added to what-tastes-like a semi-sweet carbonated lemonade. YUM! We walked into Disco (not the disco dance lol but the grocery stores ol) and browsed to see what their stores were like. I had to try this. I love this drink!!

If you're interested, you can see more pics of our trip to Argentina here.

Time to get the morning started.

No Such Thing As A Salt-Free Diet Here

We had walked past Emeril's a gazillion times in the last three stays this summer at the Signature at the MGM Grand. I can't say we have ever questioned ourselves about wanting to eat there. I mean... we have had the best in New Orleans! ...and Emeril Lagasse, to us, is more of an entertainer then a chef. But on our last day, our casino host invited us to have a meal within the MGM compound. The budget, $50 per person. Not bad for lunch. So we decided why not give Emeril's New Orleans Fish House a try... after all, we've just about tried every restaurant at the MGM and was running out of new places to try!

While everything was tasty, I have to preface by saying that almost everything I had was waaay too salty for my liking! Even the rosemary bread - though good, the salt factor spoiled it for me...

I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised by how the dishes were overly 'seasoned'. I mean, have you seen the amount of salt Emeril 'bams' his bloody way through his shows? Apparently, the chef that day was also doing his take on his boss's style. I like Emeril - as a tv entertainer behind his fancy little kitchen in the studio... studio in the kitchen? Anywayz, he makes people laugh and unlike Bobby Flay, I don't find him sickening and/or annoying. But I honestly don't see him as a chef. I mean, how many gazillion dishes can you put the same bloody seasoning on?!










To start, I had the shrimp remoulade salad - nothing special. I wish they'd given me some extra remoulade sauce on the side... it was barely enough to taste - however, the little I tasted, it made me want some more - the one bloody thing they don't give me more of is the sauce I want - of course! It was good but it could have been far better. The king had the blue crab and bell pepper fondue - he loved it and said it was very well executed, whatever that means. Think he's also been watching too much Top Chef :) We got the seafood gumbo to share - yes we were being complete pigs! Shit, we were being comped $100 by the casino for our meal so don't think we were going to be coy and not take full advantage of it :) ...surprisingly, the gumbo was very tasty! I've had my share of bad gumbo (even in New Orleans!) so I must say, I was nicely impressed.
For entrees, we had the seafood pan roast with jambalaya and the fish special of the day; striped bass with corn macque choux. Both the jambalaya and the corn macque choux were absolutely delicious! As for the the fish in both dishes, they were omg way too salty! ...so was the butter sauce on the pan roast. Insane! Nice thing was, when I brought it up to our second waiter, he was very good about it and actually offered to get the kitchen to redo my dish. No, I didn't let them - after all, by that time, I had enough food in me to last me another week!

Our first waiter (unlike our second one) was the most depressing looking service person on the job. When he was serving us and telling us the specials, he never once smiled nor looked like he wanted to be there... but when he was either standing with his other colleagues chatting away or when he was standing by himself talking (to himself) - I kid you not - he looked like he'd taken some serious happy pills! It was quite funny - especially when it looked like he was at a stand-up comedy routine all by himself. Yes he was laughing! Ok, I was obviously a little too distracted by this guy...

Three stars (our of five)! If it wasn't for the saltiness of the food, I would have given it at least a 1/2 more star... the weird waiter didn't bother me too much. It was just funny to me. Will I go back to Emeril's? Sure... especially if the casino would like to pay our way again. Our tab that day (before tipping) came up to a whole dollar over the $100 comped :D Hey, we're pros at this by now :)

Hiding At Home

OMFG!! Can it get any hotter then it's been the last few days!? I hate hate hate this horrible horrible unbearable ie 'untahannable', weather! I want to go back to Buenos Aires where it's nice and cloudy and cold!! Arrgh!

Do Phone Companies Only Hire Morons?!

via Consumerist by Meg Marco on Aug 06, 2007

Slate's Seth Stevenson shares this verbatim chat his girlfriend had with a Verizon rep:

A Verizon Wireless online pre-sales specialist has joined the chat.
You are now chatting with chelsea.

Chelsea: Hello. Thank you for visiting our chat service. May I help you with your order today?

You: I am interested in the international BlackBerry and am looking for detailed information for rates on data and voice when making calls from different countries in Asia.

Chelsea: Please hold on while I check that information.
Chelsea: Unfortunately you will not be able to use the phone in Asia.
Chelsea: I do apologize.

You: Hmm. OK. Actually [I] am nearly certain the international BlackBerry can be used everywhere but Japan.

Chelsea: I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.
Chelsea: I will be right with you.
Chelsea: I just tried to look for Asia in the countries list, and it was unavailable.

You: Yeah. Asia is more of a continent than a country (like Europe--not a country, France--a country). I'll stop by a store I guess and try to figure it out.

Chelsea: Ok.
Chelsea: Thank you for visiting Verizon Wireless, I look forward to speaking with you again. Have a great day!

Your chat session has been ended by your Verizon Wireless online agent. We wonder if Seth's girlfriend really did have a great day.

Ads We Hate [Slate] (Thanks, Wade!)
(Photo:Maulleigh)

The Simpsons Movie

Wait for the DVD - but that's just my opinion.

We saw the movie the day it opened here in Memphis. The husband is a huge(!) Simpsons fan; so when we got off the plane from Argentina, as exhausted as we were, he was determined to be the first on the block to see it. ...and see it we did! I was afraid it would be packed with kids. I mean, it's summer holidays and who wouldn't go hide in the movie theatre with some popcorn and soda especially with the opening of the much awaited Simpsons movie!?! Well, apparently very few people in Memphis felt the same lol!

I was a little disappointed with the movie. I was hoping it would be a laugh out loud like the South Park movie but what I got was a longer version of a Simpsons tv episode with practically none of the other characters that makes the show so hilarious! If you saw them in the movies, they hardly had any lines... it was a let down for me. No Mister Burns nor his loser sidekick assistant Smithers, bartender Moe, and not even my favorite, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. Why did they have to go introduce new characters?! ...and what's up with that little Irish kid?! ...and what happened to spider pig!?

It wasn't bad. It just could have been better. Funnier. Stay and watch for the credits where little Maggie says her second word (anybody knows her first?! :D) and the 'few' Korean names in the credits that surprised me :)

Happy To Be Home

It's nice to be home. I said 'home', not 'here' :) It looks like we're going to be home for a little bit. Ten days to be exact. Then we're off again somewhere else. No, not Japan, yet.

The school year is about to start and usually, I will be fanatically looking for somewhere else to visit before the king returns to work and settled into his new, always hectic routine. But this year, it's really nice to sincerely welcome August with open arms. I'm sure the husband misses the students (I know he does!) but life goes on. There are a ton of other students out there he can educate if he so chooses. If not, there is always money to be made somewhere else where he will be appreciated.

I'm looking forward to my cousins visiting in a week. It's not often I get family coming onto this side of the world so it's very exciting for me.

I have a ton of blogging to catch up on, so stay tuned while I get my act together ;)

David Burke Las Vegas

Although dinner at David Burke is filled with flavor, the creative and ingenious presentations makes this restaurant special. Our table of four was wowed again and again.

We were 15 minute early for our 7 pm reservation; but the hostess was welcoming and seated us immediately. In a stylish place where we might have expected to encounter some attitude, we received none from any of the staff. The decor of the place is eye-catching but not too distracting, and the center installation is awesome - it's something I would love in my house lol! Ok, I would need a bigger house first :) But, a woman can dream, can't she?

The service was attentive, but unusual. We had two waiters who performed in tandem to serve us. Since there were still times where neither was around, it didn't really lead to better service. My husband and I disagree on the pacing with one thinking it was too fast and the other too slow, so maybe it was just right. Yeah right! I'm correct, of course :D

I don't want to give too much away tho' I think my uploaded pictures might already - at least I didn't upload EVERY picture :) The list of appetizers is appealing and fun! We opted for two of the signature appetizers, the 'crisp and angry lobster' and the 'pretzel-crusted crabcake'. The lobster was delicious, though trickier to eat than I expected with the utensils given; even my Boston-born husband struggled a bit. The crabcakes were delicious and different than what we might have expected from the name. My girlfriend's boyfriend ordered oysters which looked plump and tasty, but I wasn't able to manage to steal one from him (OK he didn't offer LOL but who could blame him?!).

For entrees, I had the special of the evening (Alaskan salmon) - it was SLIGHTLY more cooked then I would like it so it wasn't perfect but tasty nonetheless. I'm glad I ordered it also because, in contrast with most of the entrees at our table, the portion of my salmon was smaller than I expected. I also ordered a smoked gouda croquette on the side. Contrary to a lame review on Yelp, neither the king nor I had trouble discerning the smoked gouda flavor in the potato mousse within. YUM!

My husband had the lobster steak with curry fries and candy grapefruit - also a special of the evening. The lobster steak was delicious! The mountain of super skinny fries was crispy, and the candied grapefruit provided a sweet and sour counterpoint to the dish. My girlfriend ordered the DB take on Peking Duck; it looked appealing on the menu, but wasn't the kind of dish I would order since I have very high expectations/standards for anything relating to Peking Duck. The dish is actually just duck in rice noodles but very flavorful; I would have liked the noodles a little less cooked but my girlfriend absolutely loved this dish. I still wish they didn't name it Peking Duck - arrgh!


You HAVE to leave enough space for dessert! You just have to! Or, you could just do as we did and make pigs of yourselves LOL! Our table of four each ordered a dessert and one more to share for the table. I had the white chocolate "faberge egg" with mango, and my girlfriend's boyfriend thought this was his favorite of all the desserts. My girlfriend had the banana split with ostrich egg; this was nice, but it was pretty much a bloody banana split, so I would have opted for the selection of ice cream and sorbets in mini-cones if I had this to do over (and was ordering for her hahahahaha). Her boyfriend had five tastes from five states creme brulee. The mini creme brulees came in shotglasses in what looked a little like a test tube rack. He loves creme brulee and was very happy, but the waiter who presented this let us down here and wasn't able to clearly explain what the five states and five flavors were. My husband had panna cotta with butterscotch, curry (!?!), and caramel, topped with meringue cigarettes. My personal favorite! The combinations of flavors were well matched and not contrived; it was popular at the table and also husband's favorite. We also had to have the signature dessert, the cheesecake lollipop tree with bubblegum whipped cream. This sounds like something out of Alice in Wonderland, looked the part, and was great! The dessert featured 3 different flavors of cheesecake bites: strawberry, dark chocolate, and heath bar. The concierge at our hotel enthusiasticaly recommended this specific dessert, and it lived up to its advanced billing. I hate whipped cream, but I loved the bubble gum flavored whipped cream especially when I dipped the raspberry garnish into it.

A solid 4 stars our of five!

OK, so with a great dinner, why not five stars? For me, the principal reason is that I ate at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon earlier this summer and it was a little better in every dimension. The service was crisper (one waiter who knew EVERYTHING about every dish and wine); the dishes were more consistently executed (every presentation and taste was spot on), and the atmosphere was more romantic (DB is loud, but if you're having a boisterous celebration you'll fit right in).

DB was great fun! Put yourselves in the hands of the Mad Culinary Genius, and you' ll never know what's around the next corner. But it will taste delicious!

Trip #7 of Summer '07

The king still wishes this is only a sick joke; but nah, it's true. We're leaving again tonight after being home for less then 48 hours lol! No, honestly, contrary to believe, I'm not trying to drive him insane nor am I trying to kill him hahaha!

We're going back to Las Vegas tonight for four days/night. Yes, on Frontier Airlines again :) Nonstop, no hassle, cheap and on time... well, almost :) Why are we going back to Sin City when we were there less then 4 weeks ago? Well... because we can... and a friend of mine is having some shoe convention thingy there and asked if we would meet her and her boyfriend there. ...and really, you don't need to give us more excuses to return to Vegas. Sure it's the third time this summer but what beats laying around in the sun by a quiet pool (yes a quiet pool does exist on the Strip lol), gambling till the wee hours in the morning and your eyes are about to pop out like a loose mattress spring, waking up to Starbucks at your lobby and just going to try restaurants we have never been before just to be able to yelp about it hee hee. Yes, this is what summer '07 has been about. Welcome to the summer of blogging :D

I'm sure I'd have time to enter new posts when I'm there. At least I'm hoping to catch up with some of the restaurant reviews from our last trip since yelp only supports restaurants within the 50 States... I suppose that's what FoodCandy is for :)