Left the house around 12h00. Drove to Burbank for Erhan and Shirin`s wedding. Oh yes, barely any AC since the car overheats. Went to St. Jude to get dressed and 'shower' (You know how Charlize Theron showers in the movie Monster ? HAHA). Got there right on time at 19h00. The wedding was really lovely - a mix of Turkish and Persian culture.
Ｔｈｅ Ｇｒｏｏｍ’ｓ ｃａｋｅ ！ Ｔｒｉａｔｈｌｏｎ ｐｒｉｄｅ
Ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｅ ｂｅａｕｔｉｆｕｌ ｂｒｉｄｅ ａｎｄ ｇｒｏｏｍ
Miki lives and works 10 minutes from Burbank so she stopped by for a bit to say hello. WEDDING CRASHER!!! LOVES IT! Ｉ ｈａｖｅｎ’ｔ ｓｅｅｎ ｈｅｒ ｓｉｎｃｅ ｍｙ ｇｏｉｎｇ ａｗａｙ ｐａｒｔｙ ｔｏ Ｆｒａｎｃｅ．
Left around 23h00. Got home around 5h30. I am immune to caffeine now - drank a bunch of coffee etc and I still fell asleep.
Thanks Raf for being a trooper and driving the whole time! I guess Coke, Red Bull, and a large cup of coffee works for him.
So this morning went to pick up Christine at “7” and drive her to the airport. Raf wakes me up at 6am so we can get going. The plan was to go on our usual run after we dropped her off.
We arrive at her door at 6:45am. She opens the door in a towel and says “what’s wrong? Why are you here?” IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE 7PM. That is why we need to do 24 hour time in the US. AND that is why Raf should have double checked ! We were so tired and I was in allergy hell so we went back home to sleep.
I woke up, then met up with Weenie, Hubby, and Bean today. Ate at the orginal Vung Tau in San Jose. I got a delicious beef and shrimp rice dish of course. Ummmm
Ｗｅｅｎｉｅ ａｎｄ Ｈｕｂｂｙ
Then went to Neiman Marcus in San Francisco. The girls bought stuff (Weenie works at the NM in Palo Alto so she got some good deals). Then we hit up balls at Fantasia and more cream-cheese bread.
Afterwards, I went home and me and Raf went to drive Christine to the airport at 19h00. Grabbed a quick snack…
And then…. ROCK CLIMBING… one of my favorite things to do ever!
Here`s Carlo on a 5`10 - ＨＥ ＧＯＴ ＳＴＵＣＫ
Raf
Brain
I climbed a 5’4, 5’7, 5’8, 5’9, and half of a 5’10 (I would have finished if Planite Granite wasn’t closing *wink*). My grip strength is pretty weak but I felt really good up there. I hadn’t climbed for at least 1.5 years. It felt so nice to climb again. That is one thing the French need to have – climbing gyms =). Almost makes me want to move back home. Hahahaha
Weee！！！
Busy day today but trying to double book friends so I can see everyone in the “short” amount of time I have.
Hit up some Muslim Chinese food with Carlo and his co-workers. Ran into my family there too. Hah! Luckily my dad ordered for us. Lots of lamb and delicious bread/noodles.
My mom, Zacky, Carlo, and Scott
Later, Raf and I went to my parents house for dinner. And I saw this guy in a suit on a segway. Awesome.
And for dinner, my mom made egg rolls. They are the best egg rolls in the world. Filled with lots of meat, bamboo, and rice noodles. Ummmm
Manresa. Tasting menu. With Raf. Also accompanied by Andrew and his awesomeness, and we talked Carlo into it as well. Woot !
Andrew doing his model walk
Chee-zu !
The lighting was really dim so the few photos I pulled these photos were from when I was "staging" there.
The menu for tonight:
AMUSE BOUCHES
Petit fours "red pepper-black olive"
Lavender lemonade, mint
Parmesan churros
Courgette sorbet, pistachio vinaigrette
Sweet Corn cromesquis
Aprege farm-egg
ENTRÉES
Foie gras, gently roasted, licorice and cherry
Shellfish and golden rasberries in bonito broth, fragrant green curry oil
Tomatoes, both raw and cooked, smoked roe with roast tuna consommé (This photo is pre-consommé)
Pumpkin soup "potimarron", nasturtium ice cream
Into the vegetable garden...
Roast tuna and vegetables in exotic spice, flowering herbs
Sweetbreads, roasted whole, morel soubise with lemongrass
Roast lamb with eggplant and dates, anis hyssop
DESSERT
Pluots and olive oil ice cream, sorrel consommé
"Monkey bread" with Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream
Chocolate-blackberry napolean, black berry sorbet and coffee
Petits fours "strawberry-chocolate"
And for coffee... none other than Affogato
Afterwards, we took a quick peek into the kitchen - it was cool to be able to show them where I worked for a few days.
This dinner was amazing - and I have to say I haven't had some of the flavor combinations before. Everything was delicious, but I especially enjoyed the corn cromesquis, foie, garden salad, sweetbreads, tuna, and "monkey bread" dessert. I really want to go back but the wallet needs a little work... or a lot of work. =) Maybe next year heheeh.
Manresa 320 Village Ln Los Gatos, CA 95030 Tel: (408) 354-4330
We didn't get out of dinner until around midnight. We were supposed to meet up with Luigi at a house party but apparently the cops came and it had died down. We decided to go to 7 BAMBOO - the coolest dive bar/karaoke bar EVER!
If I still lived here, I would totally be a regular. And normally, I don't even like Karaoke! (Depends on how many drinks). 7 Bamboo is so cool that you can stream them online and even type in comments about whoever is singing at the moment - which is displayed on the wall inside. The crowd is completely mixed too.
Here is Vic. He was here last time, about a year ago. Raf is convinced he's the owner but I think he is just a regular. He's good!
This guy was so funny with the cowbell
More cowbell !
7 Bamboo 162 Jackson Street San Jose, CA 95112 Tel: (408) 279-9937
I started this blog to write about my first trip to Europe. Without this trip, I would have never pursued my dream of becoming a cuisinière. This blog then progressed into an illustration of my life as a student at ESCF - Ferrandi in Paris. Now I am off to the real world of cuisiniers. Vive la France!
Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements.
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