Yesterday Rob and I celebrated Cinco de Mayo by checking out the famous LA Kogi BBQ truck. Seriously, it’s famous — even the NY Times has written about it! The heart of Kogi are their Korean-style tacos and burritos served with your choice of short ribs, spicy pork, chicken, or even tofu. The meat is covered with shredded cabbage and a chili salsa and cilantro-lime relish. Mmmm.

So the trucks are finally making their way down to Orange County and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try it out. I found out from their Twitter that one of the trucks was scheduled to be in Fullerton from 7pm – 10pm so armed with the knowledge that the line starts early and gets looooong, we left Irvine at 5:30. !!! We got there at 6:15 and there were 3 people in line. We killed about 20 minutes at the nearby Sports Authority then headed back. In that short amount of time, an actual line had started to form and we were about 20th in line. Not so bad. The truck arrived 10 minutes early and proceeded to park in the back parking lot. Uhhh… at first there was some confusion. Do we turn around? What about our places in line?! But everyone was feeling the Kogi love — and once we all turned around to walk to the truck, we got right back into the same order we started in.

It took longer than normal for the truck to get prepped and the grill to get going (the truck manager came out a few times to apologize and thank everyone for coming out) so they started taking orders at about 7:15 and the food started coming out about 5 minutes after that. We finally got our hands on all our grub at 7:45. Mmmm. A few pics…

Rob took this pic of me standing in line. You can BARELY see me. I’m wearing a black hoodie.

THE MENU.

Rob placing our order. !!! We ordered the following:

7 short rib tacos
3 spicy pork tacos
2 chicken tacos
1 short rib burrito
1 kimchi quesadilla

NO, all that food was NOT just for the two of us. Though that would be really funny if it was. We were ordering for 5 and bringing it all to a friend’s place.

And finally Rob posing with the Kogi truck. Hee.

I AM LAME and totally forgot to take pictures of the food before we devoured it. ARGH. Sorry. If you’re curious, the yumminess can be seen here on Kogi’s site and here on Yelp. Beware — don’t look at the pics on an empty stomach!

For the record, my favorites were the short rib taco and kimchi quesadilla. I had a couple of bites of the short rib burrito (which has scrambled eggs and hash browns in addition to the salsa and relish) and I’m totally getting that next time. YUMMERS.

So I haven’t mentioned it here because I was waiting for official confirmation and I got it on Friday… my company is letting me keep my job and work remotely from home! YAY. When I gave notice back in December, I mentioned to my boss that I would be interested in working from home if she was willing to try it out. She sent a recommendation to corporate weeks ago and they finally approved it. Right in the nick of time since my last day in the office is tomorrow (Tuesday). I’m so relieved I don’t have to look for a job! Phew. Plus, I can wear jeans every day. WOOT. It’s always the little things that make me so happy.

Anyway, Rob and I have been plugging away at our “To Do” list and as expected, we have hit all the foodie items. OINK OINK. Here’s what we managed to do:

1. Have the BEST RAMEN EVER at Santa Ramen. CHECK!
2. Have 1 really nice (but not necessarily expensive) dinner in San Francisco. CHECK!
We went to Michael Mina this past Saturday night and it was amazing. I was too chicken to take pictures (hee!) so here’s a rundown of our meal (we both got the 3 course dinner):
Appetizers – Ahi Tuna Tartare (mmm, melt in your mouth good) and the Trio of Dungeness Crab
Entrees – Maine Lobster Pot Pie (this was mine and it was so good I wanted to lick the plate) and the Trio of Brandt Farm Beef
Desserts – I opted for the Trio of Chocolate (the white chocolate panna cotta was the only memorable item) and Rob picked the Root Beer Float (awww)
3. Have ice cream at Sketch. CHECK!
4. Walk around 4th Street in Berkeley. CHECK!
5. Have the most AMAZING chicken and waffles breakfast at 900 Grayson. CHECK!
6. Visit the UC Berkeley campus, look at the view of the Bay from the top of the Campanile, and purchase as much school paraphernalia as possible. CHECK! And I have pictures too!

The Campanile!

It was pretty hazy so we couldn’t really see across the Bay but we could see the “Big C!”

US.

Finally, last weekend Rob and I were treated to our very own farewell BBQ. Thanks to Jimmy, Eleen (happy anniversary to you two!), Victor and Susie for organizing and hosting! We will miss all of you very much! *sniff*

Some other good things I did this weekend:
– Went to the Social Security office to officially change my name. CRAZINESS. But now I get to practice my new signature! It’s the little things…
– Hit the Black Friday sales. Wasn’t looking for anything in particular. Just wanted to check out the deals. Bought a bunch of DVDs for Christmas presents. And for myself too. Couldn’t help it!
– Went to Bakesale Betty’s in Oakland and picked up a chicken pot pie and strawberry shortcake for Friday dinner. SOYUMMY. The fried chicken sandwich (you can get it in salad form too) is awesome too. Check it out. Seriously.
– Walked Diesel around Fourth Street in Berkeley. Had the most amazing Meyer Lemon sorbet at Sketch. And visited my little slice of paper heaven, Paper Source.
– Made holiday sugar cookies with Rob.
– Bought and decorated our Christmas tree. Pictures to come.

Since I’m in the holiday spirit, I’m going to do this Christmas meme I found…
Welcome to the Christmas Edition of getting to know your friends!
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
WRAPPING PAPER! By far. Part of the fun is actually wrapping the presents and then embellishing them with bows, ribbons, tags, etc.
2. Real tree or Artificial?
Real. I just love the smell of a real tree. Plus, the whole process of going out and picking the perfect tree is one of my favorite things to do.
3. When do you put up the tree?
The day after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take your tree down?
I try to take it down the first weekend in January… but sometimes it’s later because I’m lazy.
5. Do you like egg nog?
No, although I am a little intrigued by the eggnog latte at Starbucks.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
I feel like I always have a different answer for these types of questions because I have a terrible memory. I think it would probably be the Barbie dream house I got from my aunt when I was really young. Maybe 6?
7. Do you have a nativity scene?
No. We don’t have anywhere to put it even if we had one. My dad has one, though, and he always waits for me to come home on Christmas Eve so I can set it up for him.
8. Hardest person to buy for?
My dad. He’s one of those people who has everything he needs. And is super picky.
9. Easiest person to buy for?
My friends Robyn and Carmen because we send each other wishlists every year. So easy! I don’t have to guess and I know they’ll like anything I get.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail! I love getting letters in the mail and I love passing that feeling on to others.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Nothing really comes to mind… maybe clothes that weren’t my style or didn’t fit?
12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
ELF! It’s the best!
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
No.
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Arrozcaldo. Basically rice porridge. YUM. My family has it every year on Christmas Eve. We eat it a few hours after dinner while we’re waiting to open presents.
15. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Clear/white.
16. Favorite Christmas song?
Classic – “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” (pretty much any version). Pop – *NSync’s “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays.” Hee.
17. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
My dad and Rob’s parents all live in Southern CA so we always drive down there to spend the holidays with them.
18. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Nope, probably not.
19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Both! My family opens presents on Christmas Eve (we’re not a very patient bunch) and Rob’s family opens presents on Christmas morning.
20. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
The (rude) crowds. Too many people out and about grumbling about buying presents.
21. Favorite ornament theme or color?
I have a gold theme on the tree as I do every year.
22. What do you want for Christmas this year?
For Rob to take me to Disneyland!
23. Who is most likely to post?
Sarah probably. I think she just might love Christmas more than I do!

That was fun. Happy December everyone!

Too bad I’m sick. I have a cold. And a runny nose. Not the greatest way to spend my birthday. Oh well.

At least I have lots of CUPCAKES to make me feel better.

One of my managers made chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting for me. They were so yummy. We enjoyed these at work yesterday after an unexpected birthday lunch at One Market Restaurant.

Then I got home to find that Rob went to SPRINKLES! in Palo Alto to get my favorite red velvet cupcake along with some other flavors to try. SO YUM YUM YUMMY. Their Red Velvet is the BEST light chocolate cake with the most amazing cream cheese frosting. Black and White (dark chocolate cake with vanilla frosting) is a solid classic, Chocolate Marshmallow is a unique treat (dark chocolate cake with marshmallow cream topped with chocolate ganache), and the Strawberry (strawberry cake with strawberry frosting) just might be a new favorite. MMMM. (Don’t worry — Rob and I split these cupcakes. I admit I’m a piggy but I do exercise restraint sometimes).

Rob even picked up a couple of doggie cupcakes for Diesel — carob and yogurt flavored. He totally went crazy over these.

Rob *also* surprised me with the metallic rose Nintendo DS. (Please excuse my crazy face and the laundry behind me — how embarassing). The only game I have right now is Mario Kart and it’s THE BEST.

Didn’t do anything at all today since I wasn’t feeling up to it but I managed to get myself together to have a low key birthday dinner at Santa Ramen, my favorite Japanese ramen house across the bay. Soup was a good choice for this little sicky.

Then we headed to San Carlos and the newest Bay Area Red Mango location. I know it’s a trend but I seriously LOVE LOVE LOVE tart frozen yogurt. And Red Mango’s yogurt is pretty awesome. It’s nice and creamy with a really subtle tart flavor. I do wish it was slightly more tart than it was (like Pinkberry) but overall, it was excellent. Rob and I got our usual Original flavor yogurt with strawberries, captain crunch, and mochi toppings.

It was a good day. Despire being sick and all.

Random. I cannot send or receive text messages on my cell phone. UGH. I think it stopped working about 4 weeks ago when I went into the AT&T store and had my SIM card replaced. GREAT. I cannot wait to get on the phone and deal with AT&T on this. They are SO HELPFUL. Umm, NOT.

I am *so* not a Monday person. I just LOATHE waking up knowing the weekend is over and I have to go back to work. UGH.

Had a good weekend… on Saturday morning, Rob and I had THE BEST ramen EVER. We went over to Santa Ramen in San Mateo. Yes, all the way on the other side of the Bay. It was SO worth it. The portion size was ginormous and I ate every last bit of it. I wish I had pictures to share so you could all see the size of the bowl I consumed. Unfortunately, we were sitting at a cramped 2-person table with 2 other couples sitting on either side of us so I did not feel comfortable whipping out the camera, hehe.

We also watched a few movies…
21
We actually went to the theatre! But only because we had free passes and a gift card so we totally splurged on Coke and popcorn. Awesome. As for the movie, I really enjoyed it! It established the characters and motivations at the start, got to the “action” quickly, and was entertaining all at the same time. Kevin Spacey was amazing as he always is but I wasn’t that impressed with either Jim Sturgess or Kate Bosworth as the main characters. Aaron Yoo as Choi was hilarious, though. Gotta love those Asian sidekicks. I also loved the contrast between Las Vegas and Boston — Vegas was all bright lights and glamour while Boston was gray and drab. It’s kind of an obvious distinction but it created a feel of heightened excitement every time they were in Vegas. The story did get a little complicated towards the end and I do not understand how to count cards but I’d still recommend it.

I Am Legend
Good movie but I got a little bored. :/ And I like Will Smith! One thing I want to mention — it felt like the movie got to the present without really explaining what happened to Robert Neville in the time since the quarantine. I didn’t realize this until just now, though, so it obviously didn’t affect my viewing at the time. Recommended.

The Game Plan
Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy movie. But then I’m a HUGE fan of Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock. (Rob used to watch wrestling religiously — that’s when I discovered the greatness that is The Rock). It was the typical “guy discovers daughter he never knew he had and his whole life changes” story. But I liked it (I think Rob rolled his eyes throughout most of the movie and proceeded to fall asleep at the end) and recommend it.

I got back from Las Vegas on Sunday. And I totally sat at work on Monday doing nothing. Shhh. Don’t tell on me. I was TIRED.

I had a good time. And I’m not even that big of a Vegas person. Here’s a quick rundown of the weekend…

So my friend (and bridesmaid!) Ruby wanted to surprise her boyfriend Jason (also my good friend and colleague — I used to be his assistant and now he’s my sales rep) with a birthday trip to Vegas with friends. Rob and I arrived on Friday night (after a short delay in Oakland, of course) and after a quick change of clothes, we headed off to the Mandalay Bay to meet up with our friends to surprise the birthday boy. We were supposed to meet outside of the Orchid Lounge, which is where Ruby and Jason were having drinks. As we approached, Ruby happened to be looking in our direction and what did I do — I WAVED. OMG. I’m such a moron. Luckily, Jason was looking down and didn’t see me. Phew. Once all of us were gathered, we walked in and practically jumped all over the poor guy. After a few hours of talking and drinking (only half an Amaretto Sour for me), we went over to the Rum Jungle for more drinking (not me) and dancing (yay).

Here I am with Ruby and Jason…

And here’s the group taking shots…

Sadly, the DJ at Rum Jungle was terrible. So there was not much dancing. We finally dispersed at 3am. EEEK. It was rough getting up the next day. I am too old to be staying out that late. :/

Didn’t do much on Saturday (poor Jason had a *little* too much to drink so he was out of commission for most of the day) but I did get to check out the Wynn. I haven’t been to Vegas since it opened a few years back and wow, the lobby and the shopping esplanade are gorgeous. The casino, though, looks just like every other casino on the strip. While we were there, I dragged Rob to the Manolo Blahnik store (later I even dragged Ruby into the Jimmy Choo store at Caesar’s Palace) — all in the name of “research” for my wedding shoes. A girl can dream, right?

We went to Aquanox at the Venetian for dinner. YUM-O. I had the filet mignon at a seafood restaurant. Hee. Afterwards, the guys headed off to the blackjack tables and Ruby and I took advantage of the free drink service (just cokes for me). Aaannnd that was our weekend. We hopped on a flight back to Oakland early on Sunday morning and took a nap as soon as we got home.

Good times.

In fandom news, has anyone heard/read the casting news for Prison Break season 4? WHAT THE HELL. TV Guide’s Ausiello has an interview with the executive producer if you want to read all about it. I think I might start watching again.

– Booked the videographer
– Reserved a suite at the Fairmont for “getting ready” with my bridesmaids (squee, girly fun!) and for the night of the wedding
– Booked my hair and makeup artist
– Ordered bridesmaids dresses from Jenny Yoo. They’re a lovely pink color in silk shantung fabric. My Maid of Honor and I narrowed the choices down to 3 styles and each girl chose their own dress. See how pretty!

 

– Ordered and mailed out our Save the Date postcards!

– And lastly, we’ve ordered our invitations… they’re set to arrive in a month. I don’t think I can wait. I loooove staring at them… all metallic and shiny. Is it possible to be in love with stationery? Cause I totally am.

In non-wedding news, I totally failed at my Lenten sacrifice this weekend because I ate ice cream both days. OOPS. It was totally worth it, though. :/ Just LOOK!

Yesterday, Rob, Diesel and I went to 4th Street in Berkeley. I wanted to go over to my little slice of heaven, aka Paper Source, to get some inspiration for miscellaneous paper projects I have planned for the wedding. Weelll, no trip to 4th Street is complete without a stop at Sketch. The owners, Ruthie and Eric, were former pastry chefs at Aqua. They use produce/fruits that are in season so everything is packed with flavor but never too heavy or too rich. It’s just perfect. I had the Strauss plain yogurt with cocoa nib topping (on the left) and Rob had the Cocoa Nib. Mmmm. I’m drooling right now thinking about it. We’ve also tried Earl Grey (sounds weird but it’s incredible), Raspberry sorbet (a bit tart but yummy), and Burnt Caramel (*drool*).

Today’s stop on the East Bay ice cream tour was Ici, also in Berkeley. This store was opened by Mary, a former pastry chef from Chez Panisse… I think I like this trend of pastry chefs leaving top restaurants if it means MORE ICE CREAM STORES! Rob and I waited a little over half an hour to get our ice cream but boy, was it WORTH IT. YUM-O. My treat (pictured above) was the Meyer Lemon (so light, so refreshing) and Chocolate Chip with a hand-rolled cone (the cone was so good and it had a chocolate tip!). Rob had the Chocolate Chip and Milk Chocolate Almond, which was also pretty spectacular. I can’t wait to go back and try some of the other flavors, like Ginger, Honey Lemon, Coconut Sorbet, etc.

Diet? What diet? Heh. OOPS.

_____
I’m back at work this morning and I SO do not want to be here. Particularly since the pants I’m wearing right now do not fit properly due to all the holiday feasting I did during my vacation. Argh. So instead, I’m going to do some blogging. Hehe.

Here’s a few highlights from the past few weeks:
1. Spending LOTS of time with friends and family. Being in Southern CA for so long made me realize how much I miss it.

2. Doing lots of wedding “stuff.” Most notably cake tasting! YUM. Rob and I went to 3 different bakeries and had all kinds of cake (white, chocolate, carrot, marble, banana) along with all different kinds of fillings/icings (buttercream, cappuccino, mint chocolate, fresh strawberries…). Seriously, the best part of wedding planning so far. Just kidding. Sort of. Anyway, we decided on the design of our cake and selected our baker. YAY. Some pics of the yumminess…

The samples at Heidelberg Bakery. This is where we’re going to order our cake!

Rob sampling the banana nut cake (I think) at Torrance Bakery.

Mmmm.

3. Diesel playing with the other doggies in our family. He met my cousin’s dogs, Poker (also a shih tzu) and Roxy (a maltipoo), and he stayed at Rob’s parent’s house where he got to play with their dog, Oski (a pug). See the fun he had!

Diesel, Poker and Roxy (from left to right) on Christmas Eve opening up their presents. I take it back. Diesel probably didn’t enjoy playing with these two. Poker barked at him the whole night. Nicely, of course, but Diesel was still taken aback by him. And Roxy growled and lunged at him when we first got to my cousin’s house. She then proceeded to ignore him the rest of the night. I think that’s why Diesel is sitting so far away from them in this picture. Poor little guy.

Diesel and Oski. The Deez LOVES Oski. They play fight and have little tug of war games. I think he misses him. Aww.

4. Opening Presents! My friends and family were incredibly generous with the presents, as always. Some of the particularly noteworthy gifts I received:
– CTU t-shirt. HEE.
– Jack Bauer figurine. He currently resides on my desk at work ready to shoot anyone who approaches.
– Brookstone ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. YAY. Now I can clean my engagement ring at home. I can’t wait to get it all sparkly.
– Cuttlebug. An awesome embossing and die-cut machine for scrapbooking!
– Casio Exilim EX-S770. This was a total surprise because I got it from a vendor at work. CRAZY! It’s only my second Christmas at my agency but I have quickly learned that the holidays are ridiculous. Really. We give so much business to various companies throughout the year that they practically throw presents our way at Christmas. We received an insane number of gift baskets, gift cards, boxes of chocolate, popcorn tins, etc. But the camera was the best of them all. Good stuff.
– canvas Marc Jacobs tote that I’ve been coveting
– DVDs (Veronica Mars s3, Brothers & Sisters s1)
– And tons of other good things — honestly, I feel so spoiled. The people in my life know me very, very well.

5. Eating my way through Cerritos. There’s just some things I can’t get here… like Filipino food (I *must* learn how to cook the dishes I love) and Chick-Fil-A (the BEST fast food EVER). The only thing I didn’t have was Pinkberry. I had a day planned out to go and everything but Rob and I got lazy. Next time for sure.

… And I guess that’s it. I already miss the holidays. :/ Since it looks like it’s going to be stormy all weekend, I better take down all the Christmas decorations and put away the luggage that’s still strewed all over the apartment…

Hope everyone who celebrates had a very Merry Christmas!

So what else have I been up to?

On Wednesday after a completely useless 3-hours at work (our network and internet were down so I ended up cleaning my desk and filing the entire time), Rob and I had a “His and Hers” movie night with our friends Ruby and Jason. Ruby and I watched Enchanted and the boys saw Hitman. Enchanted had its cheesy moments (of course) but overall, it was a really sweet movie. And Amy Adams was *perfect* as Giselle. Loved her.

For Thanksgiving we went over to Rob’s brother’s new condo in the city where we stuffed ourselves silly with food. Rob’s sister-in-law Susie made turkey, the BEST stuffing ever, cornbread, green bean casserole, asparagus wrapped in ham, mashed potatoes with gravy and we brought over candied yams, pumpkin pie, and Rob’s special maple chicken wings. WOW… it didn’t seem like a lot of food on the table but now that I listed everything… it seems a little obscene. Besides eating, we watched a lot of football, played with our dogs, and ate some more. It was a lazy day. Just the way I like it!

Then of course the next day was Black Friday shopping madness! It’s become a tradition for us… Rob and I scour the ads on Thursday night and then wake up early to hit Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and K-Mart. This year we were specifically looking for a digital camera (ours broke a few weeks ago) and a printer (I need one to print out miscellaneous wedding stationery, like programs, etc). The camera we wanted turned out to be least expensive on Amazon so we didn’t even have to brave the crowds for that purchase! Surprisingly though, we didn’t really encounter any insane lines or crowds. But then we didn’t head out until about 8am so we missed the craziness for the big ticket items. Anyway, we managed to get some Christmas shopping done — a GPS system and iPod Nanos for Rob’s parents, DVDs for friends, this HP Photosmart C5280 printer for only $80, and the Justin Timberlake concert DVD and The OC season 4 DVDs ($14.88!) for me. Phew.

Yesterday we bought our Christmas tree! We got a small one this year (roughly 6ft) because we don’t have much room… but it’s so cute! As soon as we get our new camera, I’ll post pictures.

Now I’m savoring the last few hours of the weekend. After such a great few days, I really don’t want to get up for work in the morning. Nooooooooo. *sigh*