Saturday, January 31, 2009

Andrew's in town == eating + houseparty at Chez Chieze

Andrew drove down from Santa Rosa today.

The day consisted of ramen at Ryowa, dinner at Turkish restaurant, Sultana, and dessert at Evvia which was interesting since it was the first time we had a rude waitress (I have been eating there for almost 8 years!).

Simply put, we were greeted with:

"What do you want."

When given our desserts, she demanded from us to:

"Give me those (extra plates)."

And when we finished paying, she picked up the bill while we were still at the table.

Her name was Gina. "Gina from Jersey". ;)


So afterwards, we went to a houseparty at Chez Chieze. I mean this was a real HOUSE party. The house was HUGE 2-story with a bunch of bedrooms... maybe five or six - a total of seven people live there. Very Real World-ish. It was swell. Regardes.

Pool table
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Booze (and there's tons of cold beer in the fridge)
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People in every room
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A lot of polite and clean guests who take there shoes off before entering
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Friendly company
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A live Rockband (TAKE IT EASY, Andrew!)
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And a digital camera for guests to take random photos, with lots of props to play around with. The photos were then displayed against a white wall near the entrance.
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Good times. =)

Friday, January 30, 2009

...du thé, du café, du biscuits et du chocolat de France

Got a few packages from France today... one being a little something from Nina. I simply asked for a bag of fresh ground Italian coffee...

When I picked up the package from the post office, I could smell the coffee already.

Then I went home, opened up the box and found this:

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Le Malongo Café
50 rue St André des Arts
75006 PARIS
M4: Odeon or Saint-Michel
Tel: 01.53.10.87.87‎


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Pain de Sucre‎
14, Rue Rambuteau
75003 Paris, France
Tel: 01 45 74 68 92‎


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Mariage Frères
35, Rue Bourg Tibourg
75004 Paris, France
Tel: 01 44 54 18 39


MERCI, NINA ! Tu me manque beaucoup !

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

I <3 Red meat

Had to whip up something quick, tasty, and well-balanced for Raf's dinner tonight.

Ummm rib-eye
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... with a simple stir-fry of green beans, orange peppers, onions, broccoli, and shiitake mushrooms.
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"Rustic" is what I like to call it. ;)

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Bun Bo Hue An Nam

Normally this place is PACKED and requires a 45 minute wait just for lunch. But we lucked out and got in right when four people left. This place only serves pho, or Bun Bo Hue (with or without ox penis because, you know, eating penis is good for men - stamina, fertility, etc etc).

I LOVE me some BUN BO HUE ! Delicious, SPICY broth, pieces of beef, pork, tendon, fish cakes, noodles, and blood - which I gave to Carlo to eat. Ummmm.

Carlo ordered it with Ox penis. He couldn't tell which pieces of meat were the Ox penis. He ate it all and enjoyed it so it must have been good. =)

Ordered a coconut bean drink to balance out the spice.
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The only place that I like to eat Bun Bo Hue.

Bun Bo Hue An Nam
740 Story Road, Ste 3
San Jose, CA 95122
(408) 993-1755

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Food stuff

Since I've been back, I have been helping Ferrandi with some recipe translations, taking some French and Spanish courses, and working on some other food projects...

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We didn't have any tarragon so I cut tarragon leaves out of roquette (arugula).
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Did some serious deconstructing...
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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Happy Birthday mom and sis !

Since my mom and sis both have January birthdays, we celebrated them together... two times. Once at my mom's house, then my sister's. You know what that means. LOTS of food.

At mom's house.
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At sis' house.
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Fried won-tons
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Salmon
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Scallops and mushrooms
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Haricots verts and tomatoes
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Shrimp noodles
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Roasted duck
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Crab
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Korean BBQ + kimchi
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Happy Birthday!
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Thursday, January 01, 2009

Bonne Année 2009 !

We celebrated with a delicious home-cooked meal made by mom.

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Zacky is representing CAL into the new year...
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