Encore! Encore?

So today was the karaoke competition of the school's Olympic Week, and I'm almost ashamed to say that Team Faculty won. We might be too talented for our own good.

S sang the Diana Ross part, and of course she was awesome. I sang the Lionel Richie part. There was a lot of ham in the singing, but we made sure there was extra ham; rollerbladers with streamers, interpretive dance, a hype man, and a surprise appearance by Fr. P, which brought about an obligatory standing-o.

After work today, I came home, and the walls in the den are painted! Yes! But the carpet and molding isn't back in place yet; they need one more coat of paint, apparently. I am hoping to sit on my couch and watch tv when I come home from work tomorrow.

For dinner I went to a teriyaki place on Michigan. There is a lot of bad teriyaki in this town, but there's a lot of good teriyaki too, which makes it unremarkable.

Then I went up to the Newman Center and taught them some songs for their Black History Month Mass on Sunday. Which is cool, because it's the 'turn the other cheek' readings, which I never really understood until I read Dr. King.

Today I told my musicians at school that every time I am moving around during a song, it's because I'm trying to communicate something to them; otherwise I stay still. They were like, oh, really? We thought you were just "into it."

No dammit! I am not "into it!" I'm trying to get you to SLOW DOWN. or LOOK AT ME. or END THE SONG.

Sheesh! I'm tired of Catholic school music kids! I want public school music kids! Who take band class, have rhythm, and understand how to play in a group! And who don't complain about carrying their own gear! Sheesh.

Download Time

Sometimes I forget to download the pictures I've taken.

Here's a shot of my steak and polenta. The steak I cooked in the Showtime Rotisserie my mama left me for half a hour. The polenta I just fried in a pan with a little bit of oil. Does polenta count as a vegetable? Didn't think so.

They stripped my roof. They put the debris in my parking spot, because they were afraid it was going to blow down in the windstorm. Then it snowed, and then froze.

Yes, they covered the building in plastic after they stripped the roof.

They pulled off some boards and laid them on top of the a little box out. The Marlboro box is gone, but the boards are all still there a month later.










Here are some crazy white ladies that were singing karaoke a while ago.

The last 5 days

Ay! So much has happened in the last five days, I don't even know where to begin... definitely not at the beginning.

Christmas was karaoke at Uncle L's. We drank pomegranate martinis and sang karaoke. Some of A and M's friends came over. They all ate, sang karaoke... N stayed the night, even, which struck me as odd that they wanted to spend their Christmas Eve with our family, but of course they were perfectly nice, and I was glad they were there. I'm glad I had some emergency gifts to give them.... from when I bought H's Korean blanket with the Virgin of Guadalupe on it, and the shop keeper said, ok, as a bonus gift from us, take four items from this table.

My presents: Satrapi's Chicken with Plums, which I had bought for myself, but then H wrapped and gave to me; a thick green Korean blanket, and $50 cash. With the $50, I bought a red ceramic French press cafetera, which I've already used for coffee and tea. It's better than a glass French press because holds the heat in longer; and I prefer it to a stainless steel French presses, even the insulated ones, because I feel like the metal changes the taste of the coffee. It's probably all in my head, and yes, the plunger mechanism in my red ceramic French press is stainless steel, so phooey, but I like my ceramic cafetera anyway. It even has a rubber bottom, so I don't need a trivet.

My parents have arrived, and the days are flying by. Because of some cleaning and furniture planning on my part, my condo is now fully presentable, and there is plenty of space for four adults and a dog in my little casita. Even the downstairs hallway is under control. The only problem is that there are now baskets piled high of CLEAN laundry in my once simple, uncluttered bedroom, which I have no intention of folding. Well, we'll see.

Meals so far: Leftover ham and pansit from the party. Ham fried rice, tuna omelete, toast made with dried-fruit baked in. FuMan Dumplings for lunch; boiled dumplings, pan-fried pot stickers, spinach-tofu egg drop soup, tofu and veggies with garlic sauce, house special chow mein, seaweed with garlic/sesame sauce. Leftovers for dinner. Pork sausage patties, fried eggs, and toasted shokupan with B blackberry jam. Lunch at Than Bros. #10 medium, #9 large, #12 large, iced coffee, complimentary bahn choux, $20.

Dinner: chicken tinola (thanks Tulip Fleurs!), pea vines with toasted garlic and oyster sauce. After dinner we watched First Strike, and then a Good Eats marathon (Tender is the loin I & II; Wake up, little Sushi)

What else? Oh, I bought a new document shredder. No more fooling around.

Hope you all had great holidays! My gift to you, Chinese character of the day! This one, this one, and this one, with stroke animation!

Save the Sound! With Costumes!

(last night went bowling at the Sunset. Karaoke there seemed lame, so we went to the Kona Kitchen. It was ok, but it was Tuesday-night karaoke on a Friday night. Next time it's definitely Mandarin Gate or Bush Gardens)

Save the Sound! The People for Puget Sound have been putting out these commercials, and they are awesome. AWESOME.

I know there are more out there, because I just saw one with a salmon, who dances on the beach, backed up by an octopus on keyboards. Here are the four on YouTube as of today.

Summer Saturday in Seattle

Dinner at A's. Da la A si mangia bene. Vi faro vedere le foto dopo.

International District streetfair. I took the bus to the ID and met la H and la L at the Toyota Karaoke tent. The karaoke seemed to be about singing; we considered signing up but I decided not to once I saw how lame it was. The audience was sitting on their hands in the sun.

For some reason, McDonalds is promoting itself to Asian Americans, it's totally baffling, but the website is interesting. So of course, McDonalds had the most expensive looking presence at the streetfair, and to be fair, people were interested. The immigrants were, at least. Immigrants, wearing their sun visors were all over the McDonalds and Starbucks booths. Everyone else, including the Asian Americans, avoided the corporate booths like the plague.

The Republicans had a booth too, staffed by some young repubs who just... they just wear the wrong clothes to a street fair. Also, there was one rich Chinese guy wearing a republican tshirt. What a joke.

The booths to see were archipelago-inc, which is the awesome Filipino American culture t-shirt company I should have started in the 90s if I had any business sense. They are based out of Seattle and their shirts are all awesome. Let me know if you need any cultural explanation of the t-shirts. The other cool stuff was from spicy brown, run by some Japanese American kids who were quick to point out they were from LA (we know, son, we know). La H got pretty verklempt when she saw the salmon family tshirt.

There was also entertainment at Hing Hay Plaza; mostly dojos on display. There was a dragon team (lazy), some lions (shy) and some dogs (AWESOME!). I told la L that the UW cheerleaders should make a Husky mascot that worked like the Chinese costumes, instead of stupid Butch the Husky, who first appeared in 1994 when the UW athletic dept. discovered marketing. I told la L but she either didn't hear me or thought it was a bad idea.

Mool naeng myun. Ichiro was closed, so instead we went to the Hana at the Great Wall for some mool naeng myun. It wasn't that good, but it was fun surprising the Korean ladies with our addiciton for mool naeng myun. When we went to pay, I saw them sitting at a table eating salad rolls. Hey, I said, you're eating Vietnamese food! They giggled, yah, sometimes we get tired of eating that (pointing to the kitchen) all the time.

The neighborhood. Rushed home for an HOA meeting; it lasted an hour. I ended my term as HOA Secretary. We knew that the drughouse family and the B's were moved out, but la K broke the news that V was gone as well. Amazing! I think the Section 8 people across the alley drove her out.

With all the yuppies moving in across the street, the neighborhood is getting whiter; white neighbors = higher property values, which in turn gets me closer to my latest dream of owning a fabulous condo in Pioneer Square/ID/stadium district. I'm hoping the new owners of the drughouse tear it down and build a bunch of skinny townhouses for MORE YUPPIES.

Of course, more yuppies changes the feel of the neighborhood. White people tend to stay inside, so it's harder to meet them. I finally met one of the new neighbors across the street, and only because I've been walking through their alley on the way to the bus stop with the express purpose of running into and introducing myself to the new yuppies. I forget his name, but he seemed like a nice white kid and he had a lot of tatoos, so he's more like the old neighbors than the new yuppies.

Arrr. Dinnarrrr at Ivarrrrrr's; cajun style cod and chips with a cup of salmon chowder and an iced tea. Yes, it was too much sodium. Arrr. Then we went to see the pirate movie. Ay, the sea turtles!

I haven't done my Chinese homework yet.

Days of Discovery

A friend of mine got published in Pology Magazine about her experience in Sienna, Italy. She was really lucky to get adopted by a contrata! Complimenti!

Today has been a day of discovery.

Salumi--after wondering where this legendary place was for years, I finally found it. C and I walked there after class for lunch, but there was a line out the door, so we kept walking. Armandino Batali, father of celeb chef Molto Mario retired form Boeing a few years ago and quietly opened this tiniest of all possible restaurants in a gritty part of town, on 3rd Ave between Pioneer Square and the ID, near the Union Gospel Mission and the train station. It's been slammed ever since it opened. We're going to try to go next week.

Tamarind Tree--This is where C and I ended up having lunch. I've read gushing reviews about this place, and since I'm almost a regular at Saigon Bistro, I see a lot of yuppies in the parking lot. They've set up an outdoor dining section, complete with a big artificial water feature. The inside is decorated in a very tastefull import-store chic; warm colors, big broad potted plants, lots of natural fibers. C pointed out that they serve excellent margaritas at the big, beautiful bar, which glowed in the afternoon sunlight.

Given all this atmosphere, I was prepared to get ripped off. After all, Vietnamese food is everywhere in this part of Seattle, and it's always fresh, good, and cheap. Well, guess what, Tamarind Tree is fresh, good, and cheap. I was a little worried about the dark, hardwood chopsticks I was given to eat with, and also a little curious that you can get a bowl of noodles, or pay $2 more and get that same food served on a platter. It seems obvious to me that it's a tax on people who can't eat with chopsticks...

Big John's PFI-- C and I walked to this secret imported food place after lunch. It's a got all the canned san marzano tomatoes, bulk lentils, and crazy pasta shapes you could ever want, tucked away in a industrial looking parking lot behind the old Immigration building. You can get imported cheeze and jamon serrano for cheap (minimum 1lb purchase). I'll go back for buccatini.

Porcella Urban Market in Bellevue--Didn't actually go here, because it's on the eastside. C didn't want to go there either; but K's mom insisted, and they are glad they went. She said it's a little expensive, but she got a big old plate of jamon serrano, good jamon serrano, which might be worth crossing the lake for.

The critics all cream over Seven Stars Pepper Szechuan Restuarant, making it one of the it restaurants in Seattle. I like it, too, H and I like to go there for the firepot (H wasn't crazy about the menu). But I asked my Mandarin prof, and she said she didn't like it; too much msg. Msg = Mmm, So Good. She recommended crossing to Lao Sichuan Hou Gou, which doesn't look like much from the street. But actually, considering it's 'little Saigon' neighbors are Saigon Bistro, Saigon Deli, Tamarind Tree, Than Vi, and Malay Satay Hut, it's in excellent company. Seven Stars Pepper and Huong Bihn are just across the street. All are fresh, good, and cheap.

Time for a broad generalization: people who live in Seattle but don't eat in the International District are not worth knowing. There! I said it!

I had heard of Waterfall Park but I never actually knew where it was. Well, I stumbled upon it on my walk to class the other day, and it's a real, honest-to-God waterfall sanctuary in the Pioneer Square district. A plaque dedicates the park to the workers of UPS, which was founded on that spot.

A was so excited about getting published, she declared a karaoke emergency. We made some phone calls and then went to the Rickshaw Cafe, which has a lot of buzz as a karaoke joint. When we got there, the karaoke place was small, bright, and dead. Yes, the sound was good and they had wireless handheld remote mics, but I suggested we bolt. So the it was off to the Mandarin Gate. It was still early, but at least it was darker. Cocktail Frank was there, and so was Mike, who I recognized from 10 years ago. He said he hadn't been there in a while... neither had I, so it was a big fat coincidence that we were both there on the same night. No Amy O or Amy Amy Amy.

buffoonery.org is a now defunct blog that I found while searching for a link to the Mandarin Gate above. Thought it was interesting. A also reccomended her friend's as yet unnamed travel blog.