Yummy to the nth degree

Special birthday cookies


It was my mom's birthday over the weekend and to celebrate, we went to the Ritz Carlton for their Sunday brunch. Needless to say, it was yummy and decadent and did I mention that it was great?


Lobster scramble for my mom


Steak and eggs for my brother and dad (I love how my dad's fork is ready to dive in)


Loin of lamb for me

I have to admit that the steak was the best. Perfectly cooked, fork tender, and juicy.

Oh, and there were desserts, desserts, and desserts. And a buffet bar with crepes, omelets, sausage, frittata, pastries, smoke salmon, and fresh fruit. I couldn't even look at food for another 8 hours.

Just because

I went to the farmer's market to buy flowers for my mom's birthday and walked out with 3 pots of orchids and 3 bouquets of ranunculus. I guess I never do anything just halfheartedly.

Do you like your work? Oh, that's too bad.

That's what my 8-year old cousin emailed to me. That's the entire email. How did she know the answer to the question and then so succinctly put her response in the second sentence? Amazing, my cousin, she is.

White Christmas

I finally made it up to Seattle last week for a white Christmas! I was so delighted and got to spend some good quality time with my family up there... which makes me happy and allows me to keep on chugging along with intern year.



Some great pictures from the trip (more pictures can be found here):

Hotel Des Arts

Tonight, I had the pleasure of seeing my cousin's artwork displayed at a gallery opening (Hotel Des Arts, San Francisco - yes, it's a hotel!). In short, it was fab, hip, and totally cool. Of course, I felt like the least cool person ever because everyone there has their hair and clothes picked out so meticulously that it didn't look like they spent the last 3 hours pondering over whether to part their hair on the left or right.

There were lots of cool pieces on display and a few that I didn't quite understand.

Here are some highlights.

My coolest cousin's artwork: (my favorite is the sailor boy)
My aunt Jackie and cousin Ian:

Just a cool painting. I like the contrast of the lady with the bloody bull. Anyone know the artist?

My cousin, being interviewed by Video In My Backyard (VIMBY):

She's such a star! Visit her work here.

Pictures of the city by the bay

My dad and I, on our way down from the Cliff House, San Francisco: (notice, I'm still smiling through the burning I felt in my thighs on the way up)
My cousins, who are no longer as little as I remembered (but just as cute):

Riding along in my automobile... er, I mean bike

I went to San Francisco to go bike riding with my dad this afternoon. It was a great afternoon with great weather and some unbearable, but still somewhat doable, famous San Francisco hills. We started out at the conversatory of flowers and ended up at the beach, and rode up to the Cliff House restaurant and to see the baths. Really great stuff. Will put up pictures tomorrow. Til then, I will rest my aching bones.

Making babies

So, I had my little cousins over the other day and we took my parents' three dogs to the dog park. While we were there, my precious little Jackson (the only male dog) was licking the behind of Princess, our female dog. My little cousins, aged 9 and 11, then asked me why Jackson was licking Princess. In the spur of the moment, I just said, "Oh, he wants to make puppies." Immediately after muttering that, I deeply regretted it, for fear that one of them would ask how puppies are made. Instead, I lucked out and they got all excited at the possibility of another puppy. Then, one of my cousins asked how you know dogs are married and I just sat there without an answer, hoping he would forget that he asked it.

Yeah, definitely not ready to handle kids and difficult conversations.

Graduation!

So, I have finally finished med school!

Oh, more pictures are available on my flickr page, and for my family out there - sign up for flickr and you get to see more through the family photo page!

Sunrise, sunset

For the last few days, I have been in the delta region, celebrating the lunar new year with my relatives (Chuc Mung Nam Moi, as we say in Vietnam!). Being in the delta, away from the city, means a different pace of life. I get up at sunrise, not by choice, but because everyone and their dog gets up at this time. Then, go to bed at an ungodly early hour (9:30 last night). You start off the day with breakfast, a walk around the market or neighborhood, and then sit and shoot the breeze with whomever is around. Then, lunch! After lunch, you take your obligatory nap and then shoot the breeze with whomever is around. Then, dinner! Again, shoot the breeze with whomever is around, and it's bedtime! Throw in a few showers here and there and you have my day for the last few days.

Oh, but a change of pace was staying up until midnight to watch the fireworks (a rather disappointing ten-minute show):

Other things that got thrown into the heap:

• Take pictures - lots of them. Apparently it's a new year tradition to take family pictures so I did that with my dad's side one day, and my mom's side another day.
• Go into an orchard of "mang" - which are these red fruits, crunchy and juicy like an apple, but almost tasteless. Actually quite addicting.
• Go to the museum, where I learned (as much as I could by "reading" the Vietnamese placards) about the history of Vinh Long province (where I am right now and where my family is from), what animals reside here (apparently lots of fish - makes sense, it's a delta, after all), and what people live here (turns out there are a good number of ethnic minorities here).

Oh, I did get to ride an ostrich. Yeah, an ostrich. Apparently, not as hard as you'd think it would be.

Change of plans

So, a wrench has been put in my plans, which is bound to happen, and I am in the delta region for much longer than I anticipated. So, in short, I am sitting at some random internet cafe, right next to the highway that runs north-south in Vietnam, sitting next to my half-aunt who is younger than myself. I feel like traveling ios always full of situations that you never imagine yourself in. So, I apologize for not posting regularly, as I haven't been online in awhile. My goal was to post everyday.... oh well.

Here are some pictures to bide the time away.

On a boat, crossing the river to pay my respects to my ancestors:

The market in An Huu, my dad's hometown. Here are the bird sellers (they sell them as fresh as possible here), with the river in the background.

Snakes for sale, at $5 a pound, considered a delicacy in Vietnam:

Dragons, made of foliage, in Vinh Long, my mom's hometown:

Energized

That's definitely how I'm feeling here in Saigon. I spent the day walking around with my cousins, exploring, a little bit of shopping, and generally having fun. It was a touristy day for sure. I had dinner with a friend of my cousin's and the conversation was a great ending to the day. It's nice to talk to someone much like myself (though he is so much more artistic than I, and I am infinitely jealous) and who has been living in Saigon for several months now. Overall, good day today. No pictures from today, but definitely some later this week.

Tomorrow, I head down to An Huu, where my grandfather lives, and Vinh Long, where my aunts and uncles live. It's a 4 hour van ride and lots of fun - you know, cause feeling like your life is in danger every turn the road takes is loads of fun!

Dorm living

I just looked at pictures of my brother's dorm at UCLA and, however much I miss college, I did not miss the dorms. That room was tiny! (Sorry, Tim)

No Republicans allowed

So, I just found out that my youngest brother is not a Bush supporter. This makes me happy. Well, I'd be happy if he just saw a minute of one of the debates. But it's even better if he's not a Bush-liker.

Maybe our future has some hope after all. Too bad he's not even old enough to vote yet. If only the election was held on June 30.

going to grandma's house

i went to visit my grandmother today. it's funny when someone says that they're going to visit grandma, you imagine one of several things. 1. their grandmother lives in some posh nursing home and is wheeled around by a nurse everyday, ala grosse pointe blank. 2. their grandmother lives in some nice little old mansion filled with antiques. 3. their grandmother lives in some nice little old house filled with antiques and the entire inventory of Country Clutter (a store that really does live up to its name) - from 1970.

well, my grandmother doesn't fit any of those styles, but then again, who in my family fits some stereotype? my grandmother lives in east oakland, in a tiny little apartment with my aunt and her husband plus my uncle (got it? three other people). she's the nicest person in the world but at the same time, i can tell she's a strong woman.

so i called her up this morning to tell her, in my rudimentary vietnamese, that i was coming. i didn't tell her to prepare anything or to do anything. i just called to make sure she would be home when i would be around. when i come in, she starts giving me wonderful food that i haven't had in awhile and then talks to me. i haven't ever really talked to her and it was wonderful. though i can't ask too many questions, i got to talk to her about my cousin who is getting married next year in Vietnam, my upcoming trip there, my schooling, the snow in boston, etc etc. it was nice.

as i was walking around the apartment, i realized little things. she still boils her water. though she doesn't live in the greatest neighborhood, there is no good reason for her not to drink water from the tap. however, she continues to boil it, as though it's going to give her dysentary, which it would if she were in Vietnam.

there is a washer in her apartment, but no dryer. just seems odd, to just say, "oh, you have a washer in the apartment" without the qualifying, "and dryer." luckily, we live in sunny california where the sun shines more often than not and they can dry their clothes outside.

also, she watches american tv, instead of silly vietnamese soap operas on videotapes, which is nice. she was watching the cooking channel, so i asked her (halfway knowing the answer) if she tries to make the stuff herself. she just tells me that it's entertainment and she just likes to look at the food. plus, she can't understand what they're saying or the ingredients, so she just watches. then she says that what the woman on tv is making looks good. i tell her it's a ham and cheese sandwich and it's rather easy, proceeding to tell her how to make it, knowing that she neither eats ham nor cheese.

it's stuff like this that makes me think of how much i love my family. though it was a random visit and we only talked about a little bit, it was nice just to see her. so, everyone out there should call their grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, father, mother, sister, brother, cousin, etc! get that nice warm feeling inside of you. who knows, you might be better off for it.