be safe with your iPods

I witnessed a theft yesterday. I am still in shock that something of that nature actually happened in my presence.

...

I was on my way home from the job fair and was siting on the J-Church MUNI train. I got on at Powell Street station, found a seat and sat down. It was crowded, but not extremely crowded. There were three teenagers standing in front of me next to the doors. Two girls and a guy, roughly around 15-17 years of age. The girls were dressed in hoochie clothes that teenage girls should not be wearing these days, and one of the girls was hanging onto the guy in an inappropriate manner. Teenagers, right?

...

As the train pulled into the next station, Civic Center, which is one stop from Powell street, the three teenagers shout out "We're getting off! We're getting off! We're getting off!" The doors open, the girls run out and the guy turns around behind him and grabs this man's iPod out of the man's hands and bolts out the door. The man, with earphones still attached to his ears, jumps up, screams "Stop that kid, he stole my iPod!" and chases after the three teenagers.

...

All this happened in two seconds. I saw the kids run up the stairs and the man whose iPod the teenage boy took run after them. I'm pretty sure those three teenagers did not get far because the station was crowded with people and everyone heard the shout "He stole my iPod!" as the man ran after them. Plus, MUNI bulked up security at the downtown stations, so hopefully a police officer stopped them from hopping over the turnstiles.

...

The other passengers and I were in shock. All I could say was "Wow." I always heard or read stories about these kind of things happening in OTHER cities, but never did I imagine it would happen so close to home, literally.

...

Sadly, the three kids did not help the stereotype that comes with being "black" (which they were), because as soon as the next baggy-pants-wearing African American guy got on the train, everyone moved away from him and stuck their phones/iPods/blackberries/wallets deeper into his/her pockets.

Disney tales #5 - Fantasmic

Besides the fireworks, my second favorite show at Disneyland was Fantasmic. Do you remember watching Fantasia when you were younger? Well, Fantasmic is the shorter, live version. It was so cool seeing all the special effects, especially the fire on the water and the water fountains-turned-movie screen.

Here's a snippet of the show where a trio of Disney Princesses are dancing with their respective Prince.



I love Disney!

Disney tales #4 - Aladdin

A very shaky snippet of "A Whole New World" from the Aladdin show:

Disney tales #3 - the rides

I'm pretty lame when it comes to the rides at amusement parks. I refuse to go on anything that has the potential for puking, so that pretty much means every adult ride with loops, speed, and anything that has a 50 feet drop like this one (Splash Mountain):



The Boy's favorite ride at California Adventure Park is "Soarin' Over California." While we were waiting in line, I kept asking him, "is this going to make me puke? is it like the Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios? I could handle that." He's not one for puking rides either, so I was less uneasy about taking part in rides he said that we "can't miss out" on.

The "Soarin' Over California" ride was pretty cool, and no puke potential at all. Everyone is seated in a giant hang-glider and the ride is basically over a giant video screen. I felt like I was really hang-gliding with the wind blowing in my air and even the smell of fresh flowers. We flew over all the great sights of California: the Golden Gate Bridge, Yosemite, SoCal beaches, etc.
I will usually try to go on the Ferris Wheel at any amusement park just so I could get a good view of the entire park. This Ferris Wheel here, however, had a special addition to it - swinging gondolas. If you look closely, you'll see that most of the gondolas are on tracks that are shaped in an oval, which means that as the wheel moves, the gondolas also move along the oval-shaped tracks, thus "swinging".
Um yeah, we nixed that idea and opted to sit in the non-swinging gondolas. Like I said, I'm a wimp.
While we were on the Ferris Wheel, I was able to get a picture of the Scream ride, the roller coaster that goes around the Mickey Mouse loop. The Boy said we needed to build up courage for this ride, and fortunately for me, neither of us had enough courage to actually go on it.

Here are people screaming at the launch.

I believe this is a picture of the Mattahorn in Disneyland Park (view from California Adventure Park). I did agree to go on this ride -- it's a fast bob-sled roller coaster around some tunnels and water. I screamed the entire time while holding onto the handles for dear life.

The ride that did me in was "Space Mountain", the roller coaster that goes around in circles in a darkened room with flashing lights to make you think you're going through space. I was okay for the first thirty seconds leading up to the launch because it was going pretty slow and the space lights were pretty for a moment. Then came the launch and it started going around in circles and bends and more circles, I had to close my eyes because the combination of lights and the speed was making me nauseous. I did scream the entire time though. The Boy asked how I liked the ride and all I could say was, "I had my eyes shut the entire time." He said I was a wimp. I already said that I was.

bar-b-que

CC and I had dinner at Gates Barbeque tonight, and my goodness, I can't believe how much food they give out in one order! We each ordered the short ribs and a soda (or "pop" as it's called around here), and shared an order of fries. All that for $32 and change. Normally, at a nice barbeque restaurant, it's just $32 for an order of ribs.

The ribs had a nice sauce on it, and there was also extra sauce available for dipping (spicy, sweet & mild, and original). The ribs were also a bit on the burnt side, and the outer part was more chewy than tender, but if you got a thick part of the ribs, the meat was juicy and fell off the bone real easily. The fries were super crunch, just the way I like em.


I also went to Costco the day after I arrived back in KC (to stock up on bottled water because I'm spoiled like that and will not drink from the tap), and I induldged myself in the Costco hot dog combo - a really large polish sausage and a large soda for $1.50. Can't beat that price! I only wish they serve this kind of combo at ball parks, amusement parks, and any other parks that serve overpriced snack foods.
Yeah, I think I've blown the summer six pack challenge too.

Disney tales #2

The first place I wanted to eat at while at Disneyland Resort was Ariel's Grotto. Why? Mostly because anyone eating there had the opportunity to meet the Disney Princesses.

Our first Disney Princess meeting: Ariel herself. She was in human form and had her ballgown on. We had our photo taken with her before being seated at our table. She was really quite bubbly, but I think she toned down the happiness when it was our turn because we were not 5 years old (Ariel was playing "I Spy" with the little girl ahead of us in line).
Next Princess was Snow White. I don't know why, but I think she's a bit creepy looking in this picture. Maybe it's because she's too happy. Anyway, she was also quite bubbly and floated around from table to table like she was as light as a feather. That's my arm if you haven't guessed by now.
Next up was Princess Belle of Beauty and the Beast (The Boy's favorite Disney Princess, although he said this one looked old...).
I really like Belle's dress, especially the back. I also wondered if these actresses were hot underneath her dress. I mean, it was like 85+ degrees outside, and it wasn't ice-cold AC inside, AND those dresses were made out of cotton, with lots of padding.
The Boy thought the prettiest Princess at the Grotto was Sleeping Beauty. I have to agree with him, mostly because Snow White is still freaking me out.

And the last Princess to grace our table was Princess Jasmine. She had a LOT of hair, all of which was probably fake.
I was disappointed that Cinderella didn't show up. =(

Anyway, I said Ariel's Grotto was a restaurant so here's what they offered for food: there's a prix fix menu of $27.95 for a three course meal - soup/salad, entree and dessert. The Boy chose the chicken noodle soup, and I had the garden salad, both of which were very simply made but tasted really good (probably because our last meal was at 10am and we were eating lunch at 4pm).

I guess I only remembered to take a picture of my salad, and forgot to take a picture of the entrees, which we both had a hamburger and fries. But, I did remember to take a picture of the desserts: chocolate cake and...
...baked apple crumb and vanilla ice-cream. And, if this was your birthday, they add a candle to your dessert and the servers sing to you. During our hour long lunch there, we heard the birthday song about five times (someone was also celebrating their 21st birthday at that time too).
Overall, I thought the price for the food was overpriced, but the opportunity to have your picture taken with each Disney Princess was well worth the price.

Disney tales #1

The Boy: Are you excited to go to Disneyland?

Me: YES! I'm so happy! Thanks for taking me!

The Boy: Have you ever been to Disneyland?

Me: Nope.

The Boy: You've never gone? Ever?

Me: Nope, I'm a Disneyland virgin.

The Boy: Wow. You must be beyond excited.

Me: I can't wait! I've mapped out our entire schedule so we can maximize our time there and be able to see everything at both parks.

The Boy: Oh great, you and your scheduling. Did you schedule in a pee time for me?

Me: I think I allotted a couple slots for bathroom breaks.

The Boy shakes his head.

Me: WHEEEE, WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!

The Boy: Yeah, we gotta survive the 6.5 hours drive down there first.

Me: Yeah, and then we're going to Disneyland!!! I'm like a kid high on sugar.

prelude to Disney

Before we started our road trip down to Disney, I had to take the MPRE, we had tickets to the rivalry series Giants v. Dodgers, and I bought another batch of specialty cupcakes.

The Giants v. Dodgers game was fun and exciting, mostly because all the Giants fans were booing Manny Ramirez, the Dodgers' newly drafted ex-Red Sox player. And for some odd reason, I think there were a lot more Dodgers' fans in the stadium than there were Giants fans. The Boy, of course, rooted for the Dodgers (he roots for anyone playing against the Giants). I was just rooting for a hot dog.
It was also freaking cold at the game, and I even bought along an extra blanket! I guess Manny Ramirez is used to the weather though; he helped the Dodgers win 6-2.
After the game, we had ourselves some desserts from Kara's Cupcakes. Do these pictures look similar to you? Well, this time there was no dog in sight and I actually got to eat the cupcakes.

The selection of cupcakes included: Java (chocolate cupcake with a rich espresso buttercream); Passion Fruit (vanilla cupcake with passion fruit filling and vanilla buttercream); Banana Caramel (banana cupcake with caramel filling and silky cream cheese frosting); and Fleur De Sel (chocolate cupcake with caramel filling, ganache frosting and fleur de sel).

I was a bit disappointed with the filled cupcakes because there wasn't a lot of filling in each cupcake. The Boy took the initial bite and asked "Where's the caramel filling?" I took another bite and still didn't get any filling. There was like a shot of filling at the very top of the cupcake, and I couldn't taste it very much anyway.

The cake itself was moist, and the different frosting on each cupcake was DELICIOUS. I especially liked the Java cupcake because it wasn't too overwhelmed with a coffee taste, but had a nice enough hint that still made the overall cupcake sweet. The passion fruit cupcake was a little too tart for my liking, and the banana caramel was a nice balance of cake and banana bread. The Boy liked the Fleur De Sel, which had some kind of fancy chocolate frosting on it. It was a little bit too sweet for my liking.

There are still about a dozen flavors I have yet to try at Kara's Cupcakes. I guess that just means I need to do a cupcake run everytime I'm in San Francisco.

road trip

This is a preview to a series of posts regarding our "love weekend" at Disneyland. I put "love weekend" here because The Boy's father has been teasing him about our last weekend together before the summer is over and I have to leave SF for good ole KC to finish school.

This "love weekend" was somewhat of a surprise to me. About three weeks ago, The Boy suggested that we go away somewhere to spend some quality time together for my last weekend of the summer. He said I could go anywhere within California or a 1 hour plane ride. So I made a list of places: Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Tahoe and San Diego. At this point, he nixed the idea of Disneyland because he didn't want to go a place that was crowded with hyper children.

Somewhere within the last two weeks, Vegas was nixed due to the high airfare and hotel (I felt guilty for choosing an expensive vacation since The Boy was footing the bill), Tahoe was nixed because I didn't think there was enough entertainment. So it was down to LA and San Diego for a weekend at the beaches, and I was working on mapping out the locations we could stay at or go to while we were down in Southern LA.

Then just a week ago, The Boy asks if I really really wanted to go to Disneyland, and if I did, he would make it happen. The downer was that we would be driving down to Anaheim, but if I was willing to drive, then Disneyland can come true. So we planned for Disneyland. Boy was I like a child hyped up on sugar the entire week leading up to the weekend.

Anyway, Disneyland is about a 6.5 hours drive from SF, if there is no traffic. I had to take the MPRE on Friday, and we also had tickets to a Giants v. Dodgers game on the same Friday night, so we decided to start driving down to SoCal at 2am. I was able to sleep for a couple of hours before we started our trip, so I started out the drive, and The Boy finished it out.

A six hour drive anywhere on a two lane highway is boring, especially this one I took by myself last year.

A six hour drive in the pitch of darkness is torture.

A six hour drive on two hours of sleep is pure hell.

Thank goodness there were two drivers or else I would have been sleeping at the side of the highway.

So then we got to our hotel in Anaheim at about 9am, and the hotel clerks wouldn't give us an early check-in because there were no available rooms. So what did we do? We freshened up in the restroom and headed straight for California Adventure, walking through the doors at 10am. We didn't leave until 9pm, and as soon as we checked into our hotel room, showered and got into bed, we immediately passed out as soon as our heads hit the pillow. I have never slept so fast and so deeply in my life, and I'm one who does not do well sleeping in strange beds.

After a good night's rest, the next morning started at 8am as we headed for a day at Disneyland Park, ending the fun at 11pm, and starting the drive back to SF immediately thereafter.

I dropped off The Boy at his place at 6:30am this morning, and then I got home and got into bed about half an hour later.

The Boy had to go to work today too. Although I didn't have to work, I had to pack up my room to get ready for my return to KC.

Let's just say we are both beat. No more road trips for me. I will require air travel only on future love weekends.

Stay tuned for some Disney tales and pictures...

painting pottery fun #2

I had so much fun painting pottery the first time around that I had to find a similar place in SF as a date idea with The Boy. I noticed a pottery place on Castro Street and looked it up online later. The name of the place is Terra Mia Decorative Art Studio. Lo and behold, they also carry pre-made ceramics that one can enjoy creative painting with. What was even better is that on Wednesdays one can have free studio painting time if one donates three cans of food. With cans of chicken noodle soup and boxes of pasta meals, The Boy and I headed to the pottery studio on a Wednesday and let our creative juices flow.

My goal for the day was to create a Winnie the Pooh themed cereal bowl and mug for The Boy (his favorite Disney character is Winnie the Pooh). I sketched on images of Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore on the mug, but then I was pressed for time and just decided to paint the cereal bowl in similar colors as the mug.

The Boy still had to go to work that day, so he only picked one project, a cute little penguin (Happy Feet fan that I am) that he painted all by himself. These are the almost-finished product -- it just needs to be glazed and fired.

Three days after our painting fun, our finished items, all glazed and shiny, were ready to be picked up.
Pictures of The Boy's and my masterpieces.

cheesecake factory madness

You are never disappointed when you have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory:

Crabcakes appetizer
Chicken Quesadilla
Thai Lettuce Wraps (my all time favorite! I don't know how this can be an appetizer when it's practically a whole meal for me)
Miso Salmon
Jambalaya Pasta
Tiramisu Cake
30th Anniversary Edition Chocolate Cake Cheesecake
SOOOOO YUMMY!

garden variety

sweet green bell peppers

hot jalepeno peppers

juicy tomatoes

basil

grapes on the vine

i'm so spoiled

The Boy and I had dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant tonight, Koi Palace, and we did some damage! The Boy normally doesn't eat as much as I do and I was surprised he wanted to order an extra dish in addition to our usual three. He must have been pretty hungry, or he skipped lunch or something.

Anyway, we ALWAYS order the Honey Walnut Prawns. Whoever invented this dish deserves to go to heaven if they're not already there. Whoever thought shrimp, mayonnaise and honey walnuts would taste so well together? When I first heard of this dish many years ago (summer of 2001 in Taiwan), I did not think mayonnaise and shrimp was a good combo, mostly because I hate mayo. Was I wrong! I became addicted after my first bite, and have been a loyal fan of the dish ever since. However, there are places that can still screw up this dish, so we normally don't order this dish unless we know for certain the restuarant knows how to cook it. We have a list of restaurants where we don't order this dish because it's not prepared correctly and just tastes fishy and bad.
Okay, on to our next dish...we usually get Chicken Chow Mein, but The Boy was in the mood for fried rice tonight, so I ordered the Yan Chow Fried Rice, which is just basically combination fried rice with shrimp, chicken, bbq pork, fried eggs and green onions. It was light and not greasy, and it was yummy in my tummy.
The extra dish we ordered tonight was the Potstickers. Everytime I order potstickers, The Boy always ask "what's the difference between a potsticker and a wonton?" And I always reply that there's really no difference except that wontons are in soup and potstickers are fried, and they're all really some form of dumplings anyway. These potstickers were made of pork and mushrooms, and tasted even better when dipped in vinegar sauce (and chili sauce for me!).
And finally, our usual Peking Porkchops. Crispy, sweet and tangy all in one dish. I love this dish, but I always have to have floss on hand whenever I eat this dish because I always get meat stuck in my teeth and I really hate having things being stuck in my teeth for too long. Thank goodness for individual floss packets that fit neatly into my purse (or even a wallet!).
You're probable wondering if the two of us actually ate all of this. Don't be so surprised (*insert sarcarsam*) but we didn't finish it all. About half of the fried rice and a third of the porkchops were packed up in a doggy bag. Still, we finished the entire plate of potstickers and honey walnut prawns, which is A LOT for two people, especially when one (The Boy) eats like a bird.

I am going to have major food withdrawal when I go back to KC in two weeks. I'm going to miss all this good food.

vietnamese fast food

After ten weeks of interning in Oakland, I finally discovered "Chinatown" and this wonderful Vietnamese fast food restaurant. Another law clerk led me to this restaurant when he told me he knew where to get Vietnamese sandwiches. Not only is the food good, it's pretty cheap too. I went back to the restaurant for lunch today to see what other yummy foods to get my maw on.

There was a line out the door today!

After staring at the selection for what seems like hours (I was only standing in line for about ten minutes), I decided on spring rolls and fried rice. I initially just wanted the spring rolls, but the steaming pan of fried rice was practically seducing me with its scent to buy some.
The fried rice was really good, and surprisingly, not one bit greasy. I especially liked the pieces of Chinese sausages in it.
These pre-made springrolls were very fresh also, especially the veggies in it. The lettuce, cucumber, mint and chives were exceptionally crunchy, and each bite I took had a strong minty taste. There was also an equal balance of vermicelli noodles and veggies, unlike the ones that normally have more noodles than anything else. I like a lot of spice, but since I didn't have my bottle of rooster sauce, the peanut hoison dipping sauce was pretty good too.
All that for under $5! What a deal! Of course, I immediately suffered a food coma after stuffing my gut, but I couldn't take a nap at work so I had to go get myself a Red Bull.

(side note to T - You have got to go to Hau Giang in Dorchester because they have THE BEST banh mi thit. I am still searching for a place in SF that serves a comparable sandwich.)