culinary delights in the bay area

there is nothing better than a good meal shared with good friends. fortunately, the hubby and i have been able to enjoy quite a few delicious meals with excellent company over the past few weekends. it's definitely good to be in norcal again...

my college roommate jenny and her husband condy have just settled into an adorable home in the east bay... we were treated to a lunch of uber-gourmet pizza from zachary's and the cheese board. we also got to see molly and ian before their big move out to NYC~ twas so good to see my dwahmates again!!!

tasty treats at foreign cinema, uber-trendy brunch spot in the city (SF of course)... and of course it was Richie who made the reservations, hipster foodie that he is. ;) though i was a bit intimidated by the cooler-than-thou crowd, being the old stodgy married lady that i am now, i thoroughly enjoyed the brunch. the restaurant is in a converted old theater, with drive-in speakers at every table~ can't wait to revisit the spot some evening for dinner & a movie ;)

this past weekend, diane came for a pre-PUC campmeeting visit, so i had to take her to a proper SF institution. decided to try zuni cafe, and managed to liberate tayler from her husband&kids as well for a lovely evening in the city.

omg. one of the best roast chickens ever. very pricey but comforting solid mediterranean dishes. lovely intimate dining atmosphere with little pockets of tables tucked away in a suprisingly large space. i think i've found another favorite!!



for quite some time now, diane has been hell-bent on visiting ghirardelli square. i feared, actually, that the anticipation may have created some unreasonable expectations... the square itself is mostly under construction, with the main attraction being the ghirardelli chocolate shop, and the trademark neon signs that tourists (see right) looove to use as backdrops. nonetheless, we headed over for some chocolatey desserts, and were not disappointed. and i think that diane left feeling fulfilled - though it's hard to say what i can use to lure her back to norcal now :)

the post to end all posts!!!!

yup, it's time. here it is... a pictorial smorgasbord of the aforementioned crazy schedule that preceded the insanity that is residency..... i hope you enjoy...

5.20.07
the wedding day
(Courtesy of Joe Latter)

5.21.07

We had this lovely surprise waiting for us in the honeymoon suite...

5.22-24.07
...and the honeymoon continued, in lovely Santa Barbara...

I know, totally touristy, but we had to do the bed&breakfast and the two-seater bike :)

5.24.07
dinner at providence, another pseudo-honeymoon splurge at one of the restaurants I've been dying to try in LA... mmmmm this grainy cell phone picture obviously does not do the food nor the restaurant justice. but twas truly a great foodie experience.

5.26.07
first sabbath after the wedding

so it's traditional to wear the traditional han-boks to church the first sabbath after you get married, if for no better reason than to announce your new matrimonial status with bright eye-popping colors and to embarass the heck out of the couple. andy was a good sport, as you can see, and allowed my mom, aunt and me to choose a very pretty floral matching set. ah yes... that's why i married him ;)

later that evening... we had a 1st bday celebration for !!!

cupcakes, goldfish, and 10 billion courses of chinese food were enjoyed by all...

the lovely mommy and guest of honor, who looks pretty happy there ;)

5.27.07
graduation

5.29.07 - 6.3.07
FINALLY... the REAL HONEYMOON
four seasons resort, lana'i at manele bay

we rented a jeep, explored almost every square inch of the island, kayaked, ate GREAT, great, food... the lodge at koele, which was the sister resort to our beach-front resort, was where bill gates got married- as pictured on 3rd row, left.
we could understand why.

here we are at a literally deserted beach. it's called polihua beach, and only accessible if you're willing to brave about 30 minutes of bumpy, rocky, unpaved terrain.
we were soooo happy when we got there (as you can see).

it was totally worth the drive.

6.3.07 - 6.5.07
the honeymoon continues...
Honolulu, Oahu

good times @ the Polynesian Cultural Center

Remembering Pearl Harbor

oh my.
this is just one of the *ahem* many desserts we enjoyed, but in particular this culinary and artistic masterpiece was from the pineapple room, alan wong's enclave at the ala moana shopping center- it's literally on the 3rd floor of macy's. but we went there, out of all the other places to eat lunch in honolulu, because of a superlative dinner at alan wong's restaurant.

this was one of our entrees- ginger crusted onaga (Long-Tail Red Snapper with Miso Sesame Vinaigrette, Organically Grown Hamakua Mushroom and Corn). excellent fish, cooked perfectly, and reminiscent of the best chinese steamed fish you've ever had.. but BETTER. we also enjoyed the ridiculously tender "kalbi-style" short rib. it's like the best galbijjim you've ever had... but BETTER.


and for dessert, a little something they call "the coconut"

we now have a new favorite restaurant of all time. too bad it's an ocean away :(

6.10.07
another weekend, another state
this weekend: Jason & Sharon's wedding in Orlando, FLORIDA!!!

(this picture totally does not do the bride justice... she was gorgeous. jason looked ok too. hehe)
lovely ladies

lovely cake

lovely (??!) afterparty

(sooooo happy for our friends, and sooo happy that our wedding planning days are OVER!)

workin' hard for the $$

so i've been avoiding my own blog until i could properly update with pictures, and slideshows, and basically a spectacular multimedia presentation of life since the wedding.... but like so many other things in my life since i started work, i've decided that i just have to LET GO of my foolish ambitions. so here i am.

i'm on my lunch break currently, sitting here in a small office at the VA mental health clinic, counting the hours until i can leave and check out some of the local Korean markets. it's not that i don't enjoy my time here... it's just that i have whole city to explore, and dinner to cook, and there are only so many substance-abusing depressed vets you can see in one day before things start to get repetitive.

i shouldn't complain. residency is awesome. i got my first paycheck yesterday, and was stunned because i spent most of my first week of work surfing the web in this office, because patients weren't showing up or weren't scheduled... surely that didn't warrant ALL THIS MONEY??!! (ok, it's really not that much, but heckuva lot more than i used to make in med school = $0) i'm just so happy to have an income. and now, when i'm done seeing my patients at the end of the day, i feel no guilt whatsoever about just leaving.... no more checking in with the attending, or waiting for things to be signed, no more frustrating periods of limbo and wasted time... i do what i need to do, and i go home. WORK ROCKS!! ;)

newlywed life is similarly awesome, if i do say so myself. andy's living it up on a fairly chill rotation right now too, so we're definitely enjoying the time we can spend together before we're thrown into the chaos of the inpatient rotations. we've also been doing quite a bit of "home-making"... i'm beginning to understand what that term really means- it's been amazing to watch the empty house we moved into a few weeks ago shift and morph into our home. my goal is to make the place presentable for the many dinners and get-togethers i'm hoping to host in 2 months. a few more pieces of furniture, a lot fewer cardboard boxes littering the family room, and we'll be there.

and now, back to my regularly scheduled programming : "tell me about the voices in your head... when was your last drink? ... how does that make you feel??..." gotta love it.

teaser...

sorry, sorry, this is not a real post... but thought i'd throw out a link to a fabulous album of wedding pics that eli kim, one of andy's groomsmen, took in between his wedding party duties...

here's a sample pic- click on it for the album :)

video of the month

...aaand.... exhale

the past and future few weeks...
may 20- wedding.
may 27- graduation.
may 29- honeymoon in hawaii (as pictured above).
june 3- fly back to la.
june 4-9- pack like mad monkeys.
june 9- fly to orlando for jason&sharon's nuptials.
june 11- fly back to la.
june 13- move to sacramento.
june 15- fly to michigan for wedding reception part deux.
june 17- fly back to sacramento.
june 18- INTERN ORIENTATION.

as the inimitable shirley manson once sang... the trick is to keep breathing.

p.s. more pictures to come!! now that i'm on elena's hip "blog friends" list, i feel the need to raise the caliber of my posts ;)