Sunday, January 31, 2010

Movie Reviews

My Sister's Keeper: Read the book. Skip the movie. The endings are different!

Avatar: Pandora is a great place! Watching this movie made me very angry at our white man society.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Feeling Good

Dim Sum to go: $7.49
Waking up for yoga on a Saturday morning: priceless

Friday, January 29, 2010

Virtually Scrumptious!

Here is a new blog where you can be honest about what makes you drool and weigh in on your scrumptious opinions. Kristen, of the Kristen Chronicles, and her husband Dane are documenting their culinary adventures. They pose a lot of "food for thought" which is actually food related. It's quite fun!

Treat your tastebuds at There is No Sincerer Love Than the Love of Food.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Welcome to the Club, Sis!

Let me tell you about a scrumptious weekend of celebrating Sis's milestone birthday.

Saturday evening we dined with her pals at Le Colonial. Their signature drink was popular at our table, but I preferred The Grand Greyhound which featured fresh basil. The family style appetizer platter is a must. After dinner, we attempted to go for cocktails at Swig, but due to the private party, they sent us to Bourbon and Branch (down a block and over a block, no windows). I'm a bit surprised to find they have a website. We were spinning around on the corner looking for a place with no windows, when a man with a black jacket and "Security" cap crosses the street hollering at us.

"Are you looking for Bourbon and Branch? Well, what are you doing over here? Come this way!" He points us to a line outside an unmarked door. Though the sign for the building says "American Anti-Saloon Legion" or something. When we got to the front of the line we were told to wait and the door shut again. Five minutes later, the lady opened the door and said "Password?"

We all looked at each other. The "Security" man hadn't given us a password... Somehow we were let in. We were ushered into a room through a hidden door (camoflauged as a bookcase). This room was packed with people blocking access to the door. We felt like hide-aways. I have no idea what a password would've gotten us. Into a different room? It was a great adventure, and actually looked like a very fun place. Now we know we need the password next time. Better yet, reservations!

We walked back up to SugarCafe. Their gimmick is that they are a coffee shop by day offering desserts and cocktails by night. The service was uber slow and they were down to two dessert items available by 9pm. Great concept for a late night hang out without the "club" atmosphere but very poor execution. Of course, we laughed it off and enjoyed our round of cocktails.

We finished the evening back at Le Colonial in their very hip lounge which had transformed to a dance floor with a DJ. Sis got her groove on celebrating her entry into a new decade. (and I, always love a dance floor!)

On Sunday... Sis and I enjoyed afternoon tea at Neiman Marcus' Rotunda restaurant. It is always a delightful mix of little sandwiches and desserts. The Eros tea is fantastic.

Following tea, we walked to AT&T Park (aka Telephone Company Park) for the final San Francisco performance of OVO by Cirque du Soleil. It was absolutely amazing!! The actors came into the audience a few times. The theme of OVO is bugs. Cute, acrobatic, ones. At one point, the circus leader bug came out in the audience bzzzz-ing and indicated that an imaginary fly landed on Sis's head. He was about to whap her with a giant fly swatter, but the fly flew away. Phew!

It was a scrumptiously wonderful celebration weekend. Welcome to the club, Sis!

Health Tip

Take your weight in pounds. Divide that by 2. That is the number of ounces of water you should drink in a day to stay hydrated.

Simple!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Give a Day, Get a Day and Yosemite News

Disney's inspiring 1 million people to volunteer this year by offering a free ticket to Disney in exchange for one day of volunteering for a participating organization. There are opportunities galore. Check them out here. If Miss Piggy can do it, we can too!

If only, a day of volunteering in Yosemite National Park got me a ticket to Disney. Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?

Speaking of Yosemite, I just learned that the Yosemite Fund and the Yosemite Association are merging into one organization. I think this is great! They both raise funds and offer wonderful things to the park. I'm glad to see they are pooling their resources and look forward to the enhanced services they will be able to provide.

Cartier in America

Last weekend was a well rounded culture weekend for A and I. We loved the SF Symphony on friday night date night. It was amazing how quiet the audience gets so the music can explode in the room. (We also laughed that when the music stops everyone takes that opportunity to cough, fidget, sneeze, whatever they need to do. It's like we are all holding our breath to hear every single note). I felt completely immersed in a different world. It's not often that one gets a chance to relish this kind of experience. We loved it.

On Saturday we enjoyed the Cartier in America exhibit at the Legion of Honor museum in SF. This, too, was a fabulous experience. Any girl who dreams about wearing tiara's and elaborate sparkley jewels will love this exhibit. I hear SF is the only place it will be in the U.S. so come on out to SF and be dazzled!

Two Thumbs Up!

That Takes the Cake gets two thumbs up from A and I. We stumbled across this little cupcake shop on Union Street in SF last weekend and just had to try it. D E L I C I O U S!

Go to the website...They have cocktail cupcakes on Saturday nights. What a fantabulous idea!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Date Night

Tonight is Date Night!

Two half price tix to the San Francisco Symphony thanks to Groupon and a free dinner at Hahn's Hibachi won on the Jack London Square Facebook page.

Haiti

Visit the American Red Cross website to see how you can help.

Mobile Fundraising: I think it's impressive and convenient that you can text "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Effort. This is so simple. If everyone did this, we'd all be giving a little, but Haiti would get a lot. (That's profound)

I spent .20 cents on texting to support the mobile fundraising, because I think it's a great concept. It's a simple message easily spread via social networking media (facebook, twitter, etc.) Brilliant!

01.13.10


On a day that work began for me at 5:30 am (in the dark), this scrumptious rainbow appeared outside my window and brightened my morning. Priceless.





Sedona


2009 closed out with a bang! We spent Christmas week in Sedona, Arizona. Luckily enough, we were there for a very rare occasion of SNOW! It was my sister's first official White Christmas (despite her attempts to have a white christmas in Boston).


We enjoyed the change of scenery, visited Meteor Crater (experience the impact!), the Petrified Forest (really old wood turned to beautiful rock via mineral replacement), forged trails in Red Rock Country (Bell Rock loop?), and traveled the wilderness by train watching for bald eagles and their nests. The most fun activity, however, was participating in Red Rock Fantasy. It was a contest of christmas light displays. They were themed and absolutely scrumptious. We got to vote for our top 5 out of 20-ish and it was tough to choose! It turns out I voted for all three of the winners.


Fun Geology Fact: Sedona is at the edge of the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado Plateau is rather large encompassing parts of the four corner states and is a plateau (go figure) which was uplifted as a result of various plate tectonics. The Grand Canyon is cut through the Colorado Plateau. In Sedona, we were looking at the side edge of the Colorado Plateau and seeing many of the same geologic layers visible inside the Grand Canyon. Fun!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Mirror Day

Happy Mirror Day! Also known as palindrome day. Today's date is 0102 2010.

Welcome to 2010. Happy New Year!