Fine Dining in Hong Kong

While on our trip to Hong Kong we had a lot of really good meals. This one stood out more than some of the others and I thought I would share it with you, mainly Mike. We had Hot Pot one not in HK which we eat at home during the winter. They told me they would order things we do not normally eat at home. This dish then appeared by my side ready for the Hot Pot. See if you can figure out what it is and they tasted better than they looked.

Horse Races

This past Saturday, the King and I went to a Xmas Party held by one of my friends. It was held at the Golden Gate Racetrack across the Bay. We were seated in the Turf Club which is enclosed with an all you could eat Prime Rib dinner. It was a rainy day so being inside was very nice. It has been at least 20 years since I went to any races and the King had never been. We basically bet on the horses based on the names I liked, or wearing red. That didn't work so well so I had the King pick a horse each race, I would pick one and then we would pick one the experts were picking. The King actually picked about three winners, a couple that were long shots. The friend of mine that had invited us also was sponsoring a race. We got to go down to the Winners Circle and take our picture with the winner of the 4th race. We had a great time and may have to do this more often now that the King is a pro.

Busy Weekend

It was Crysta's birthday on Saturday, so she was obligated to do the family dinner. She had spent Friday night with her friends. She had Dragon Boat practice that morning while I watched the OU game. They have the International Dragon Boat races next weekend at Treasure Island. We then took her out to a new place we had found which turned out to be pretty good. Sunday we went to the Autumn Moon Festival in Chinatown. Spent the day looking for Moon Cakes and doing some other shopping. We then went out to dinner with the King's parents. Yesterday the King and I went to the Chinese Consulate to get our Visa's for a trip to China. The King is not working right now and thought this would be a good time to take her parents back to China to see friends and family. At the last minute it was decided that I would go with them. We leave next week for a couple of weeks. I look forward to everything except the plane ride which is 14 hours going over. At least we are flying on Cathay Airlines which is very nice and our flight leaves at 1:20 in the morning. I'm really hoping I can sleep on the plane. Hope everyone is doing well and we will talk to you later.

ZinFest

A couple of weekends ago, the King and I headed up to Lodi Lake for the "ZinFest" There were about 50 wineries there that were pouring over 200 wines. Lodi is a little more east of Napa and they primarily produce Zinfandel wine because of the higher than normal temps there, which the Zin grapes like. We drove up on Saturday morning, stopping at a nice Cafe to have breakfast. Needed a little something in the belly before we started partaking in the wines. Once we arrived we started hitting all the wineries with only knowledge of a few of them. There was a lot of really good wines I had never heard of but will now keep them on my list. It was very warm there with the King not happy about the fact she was perspiring. After a few hours of tasting and listening to some really good music from this kid who was playing, we hit the Sales Tent on the way out. I had been marking down the ones I liked and then had to whittle it down to a manageable number. We then went to a winery near by that I already knew about and really like. Picked up another half dozen bottles there as well. I will need to build me a wine cellar downstairs as I am running out of room to keep my wine.

Happy Birthday Pops!

Happy Birthday Pops!

I Love you very much and miss you even more.

2009 Dragon Boat Regatta

A few weeks back the kids raced in the High School Dragon Boat Championships and won. Unfortunately that meant that the racing season was not over. By winning that they secured a place in the Dragon Boat Regatta which is all of the adult teams in Northern California. We always kind of enjoy these races a little more because it just really pisses off the other teams when they realize the team that just smoked them is a High School Team. The first race of the day was the College Cup for all of the colleges in California. Teams like UCLA and Cal were in the race which was won by that damn High School team from San Francisco. Next was the Women's heat's and the Women's Final which was won by that damn High School team from SF. Next was the Men's heats and Men's Final which was won by, yep you guessed it, them kids from San Francisco. The final race of the day was all of the top level teams in the "A" Division Final. Sadly, we did not win this won which would have just been icing on the cake or salt in the wound depending on how you were rooting, but it was so close. They lost by .06 seconds. It was a pretty good day and they should be very proud of themselves, we were.

Dragon Boat High School Championships

This past weekend was the High School Championships for the kids Dragon Boat team. It was held at Lake Merced which is just across the road from the ocean. It was predicted to be a scorcher in SF that weekend with temps in the 80's. Upon our arrival at 6:30 it appeared like we were in for a beautiful day. Last year it was very windy and cold making it one of the most miserable days tat I can remember. This year I was taking no chances and had brought lot's of items to keep warm. The King and I walked up by the Zoo to have breakfast while we waited for the races to start. It got very warm on our walk back and we were excited that it would be nice that day. As soon as the races started the fog came rolling in. It went from being sunny to you could hardly see across the lake. Enough of that. The kids once again did very well. The girls team that Crysta is on won the Girls Championship in impressive fashion, killing the competition. The boys team got second place in a tight race with their main rival. The Gold Boat which Elijah is the Captain of won the overall top award. His team managed to win the two top races of the season which he is very happy about. They will race in Long Beach later this summer and can relax a little until then.

Happy Birthday Auna!

Hope you have a great day! Love You!

Barrel Tasting

Last weekend I went up to the Dry Creek - Alexander Valley part of the wine country. I went with Truman, the King's brother and 26 of his friends. We met at a friends house up in Windsor and from there hopped onto a party bus that drove us around to the different wineries. This event is held each year. You go to the different wineries and they are pulling wine from barrels to let you taste. Most of them have been in the barrel for about 6 months. You get to taste how it is at this point. A lot of them sell futures on the wine at a discounted price. Meaning, you buy the wine and in 12-18 months whenever they bottle it, they will send it to you. All of the places were serving food as well as the food we had on the bus. It was really a lot of fun to go on the bus with people who share your same interest. The bus pulls up, you get off, go drink wine and then get back on the bus. Look forward to doing it next time as well.

Who's House? - Our House!

Well ladies and gentlemen, last night in the great city of San Francisco, there stood two teams. On one side of the court was the arch nemesis Lowell Cardinals and on the other side stood our Lady Mustangs of Lincoln High School. The event, the San Francisco High School Girls basketball Championship. It was a brisk evening in the historic Kezar Pavilion in Golden Gate Park. Camera crews from Comcast Cable were in attendance to capture the meeting between the two storied programs. Once the introductions were made, it was game time. Lincoln started off very sluggish while nothing could go wrong for Lowell. By halftime Lowell had built up a four point lead. While we were being treated to a cheer leading demonstration courtesy of the Lincoln Cheer squad, one can only imagine what was going on in the Mustang's locker room. Was the coach pulling out her Knute Rockne speech or simply pleading for the girls to pull it together. We may never know. As the second half started it was evident that whatever had transpired , provided the needed spark to ignite the Lady Mustangs. They simply held Lowell to single digits in the second half while building a double digit lead which they never relinquished. As the final seconds ticked away, many tears of joy were shed by players as well as parents. For the Lady Mustangs are this years Champions! After the game was over and the trophy presentation was complete came time for the on camera interview. The Captain of the team Crysta Chan gave a very moving speech about how this was truly a team effort. I don't think this night will be forgotten anytime soon.

Remodeling

As you can see by the picture, I did a little remodeling around the house and built the wine cellar of my dreams. Pretty impressive isn't it? Actually, it was time for Silver Oak's Winter release up in Napa last weekend. The weather was perfect and they were opening there newly built winery. We went with our friend David and had a really good time. They were pouring he new 2004 Napa Cabernet which was very good as well as the 99 Cab, which was even better. Their wine sells for $100 a bottle but on this day it cost $30 per person. For that we got unlimited pours and they had nine restaurants from the Napa Valley that were serving free food. It was perfect. Can't wait for the summer release in August.

In Response

Well it seems my writing abilities have come into question by one who shall remain nameless. I have been busy with Chinese New Year activities as this is my year "Year of the Ox". We have done all the usual rituals and had all the ritualistic meals. Black Hair Moss - need I say more. Also have been busy setting up my aquarium. First I stained the aquarium stand to match the rest of the furniture in the room, it came out really nice. The King got me a really nice filter through her brother and then I added some other things to make it REALLY clean. The fish really seem to be enjoying it. Also I finally broke down and bought me a couple of new TV's for the house. I got a 40" Sony LCD for the dining room and then I got a 58" Plasma, new stand and Blue Ray player for the living room. Truman (King's brother) and I were busy getting that all set up. I really like it. This weekend is the Chinese New Year Parade and Street Fair in Chinatown. Also on Saturday, I will be making my yearly trek to Silver Oak Winery in Napa for their new release. Like I need a reason to go up there. Can't wait for Auna to come out so we can hit the wineries. Aside from that Crysta is finishing up her basketball season. They are 6-0 at this point, while her and Elijah have started the Spring season of Dragon Boat. The weather has been unseasonably warm this year with only a few days of rain. Looks like we are going to get mandatory water rationing later this summer. Of course it will probably rain on the New Year's parade, it always seems too. That's all I've got for now. Later!

Happy Birthday UK!

All of us in West Coast Peavine would like to wish UK a very Happy Birthday! Hope you have a wonderful day.

The Hot Pot Victims

Lobster, Shrimp and Oysters
Frog and Tofu

Christmas Day in West Coast Peavine

We awoke around noon on Christmas Day after our journey to SacTown the night before. We were expecting the King's parents and our friends David and Carmen with the twins for dinner. We finished wrapping all of the gifts as it was easier with the kids not at home. The our guest arrived for the non traditional but we may have to make it our traditional Christmas Dinner. We had hot pot which is a Chinese form of cooking. You get lot's of things like shrimp, tofu thinly sliced beef and lamb and noodles and dunk them into pots of flavored broth to cook. I chose to use my Zatarains seasoning for crawfish which is spicier than what we normally get. David brought over some lobster meat as well as oysters and some fresh scallops that we had to coax out of the shells first and some fresh frog that was cut up. We all then sat down and proceeded to stuff ourselves. It was really very good and the company was great.

Troy Enjoying his Prizes

Xmas Eve

The King and Isabella

Xmas Eve in SacTown

The King and I made our trip up to Sacramento to spend Xmas Eve with Teri and her family. I picked up my tamales as usual and then picked up the King. Load was a little lighter this year with the kids being in Hong Kong. Good thing, I'm not sure where we would have put them, the car was full. The traffic was horrible and it was raining. Normally what takes me 1 1/2 hours took me over three hours to get there. Once we got there we ate and then the fun started. We had lots of babies this year. As usual we had a great time and got home about midnight. Crysta called at 1:30 to wish us a Merry Christmas. We will have our Xmas when the kids get back on New Years Day.

Sooner or Later

Over the weekend Crysta's team was in a basketball tournament down in San Mateo. They have won this tourney the last two years. This year they once again made it to the finals. In the Championship Game they started off really bad and were getting creamed by half time. The other team was not bad, but not nearly as good as ours. When they came out for the second half it was completely the opposite. They ran all over the other team and ended up winning for the third straight year. After that we all drove down to San Jose State University to watch the OU women's basketball team, who were playing the Cal Bears. We got pretty good seats, which seemed to be in the middle of a lot of Cal fans. The King thought we should move but I liked where we were sitting and there were other OU fans near by. It was like deja vu, the OU women could not buy a basket in the first half. We sat there and listened to all of the abuse from the fans around us. The little Asian lady next to me that loved to clap so uncontrollably in my direction when Cal would score or a foul against OU. The guys behind us talking about how overrated the Paris twins were. To Cal's credit they played a flawless first half and led by 26 at the half. All of the fans around us were doing their Cal cheers during the whole half time, while we just sat there and smiled. When the second half started the OU women were on a roll. They chipped away at the lead slowly, and had cut it in half with ten minutes left. They just kept rolling and when they started hitting some shots you could hear Elijah really yelling. He sat in front of a couple guys who were the worst and he had enough of listening to them. With about three minutes left OU tied up the game and all four of us were on our feet yelling. Strangely the crowd around us had grown eerily silent. The girls then hit some key three pointers and OU ended up winning by nine points. It was an amazing game to watch and we all just had a blast. While there, we were keeping on eye on the Heisman Award and were so happy to see that Bradford had won it. It was a very good day all around. Yesterday we just finished up our Xmas shopping to mail to East Peavine. The King was VERY excited to learn UK next assignment is in Tokyo. Sayonara!

Sonoma Wineries

This past weekend we went up to the town of Sonoma to visit a few wineries. I had mainly gone to get a Christmas present for my afternoon receptionist who sells all of the kids candy and cookies for their school and she makes me salsa all the time. She likes a particular wine that can only be purchased at the winery. The winery is Sebastiani in Sonoma. The King and I as well as Crysta went up on Sunday. We bought the wine for Mercedes and tried some other things that were pretty good as well. I then called a buddy of mine Marshall who I work with on other projects. He does promotional work for a bunch of companies, including some of the wineries. We met him at a winery called Jacuzzi. Yes, it's one and the same. When the family came over from Italy and started a winery they developed pumps to get the water into the fields. Later, they used the same technology to develop the aforementioned Jacuzzi, plus they also invented the propeller. While there we enjoyed some very good wines, also since Marshall does a lot of work for them he gets the vendor discount which is 50% off. It's good to have friends like that. I bought a bunch of really good wines for half price. We then went to another one called Cline Cellars and again enjoyed the discount. The girls had never met Marshall, but hear me talk about him all the time. He is very crazy and we get along just great. By the time we left him to go shopping Crysta had us all in a group hug. I look forward to going back to these places in the spring when it is much warmer and greener. It was foggy and in the 40's that day.