Watch out, NYC!

...because here I come! Yes, it's another one of those crazy whirlwind weekends, and I actually haven't gone shopping in *weeks*, so you know what that means! I'll be in town this Saturday and Sunday, and you'll find me resting (or not resting) at the W Time Square.

P.S. Yes, Regina and I are going to Tao. Again. And this time, our reservations are at 11:30--that's in the evening. Full report on our actual wait time when I get back.

Vancouver - gotta love it

It's such a beautiful city...I notice it more and more now that I haven't lived there long-term for more than 6 years now. I was just there this past weekend and got to hit up the "touristy" places and oldie-but-goodie hangouts like Granville Island, Stanley Park, Opus & Elixir (hot!), Blue Water Cafe (still good), Milestone's (oh frozen bellini's), Flying Wedge Pizza (bacon cheeseburger pizza!), Yaletown, and the cute Aquabus.

Oh, and Happy Chinese New Year, of course :-)

A berry hiatus

Damn my blackberry.  Just after I professed my undying love and devotion to it, it's now reared its ugly head on me.  My right wrist is starting to feel sore again, and I'm getting a small inkling of "blackberry thumb".  So now I've tossed my beloved berry into a desk drawer and it will stay there until I find a reason to retrieve it. Apprently there are spas out there that offer blackberry thumb massage therapies--I gotta find me one of those. 

We're Conservative...no, really

So it was the Canadian election last night and the Conservatives
knocked the Liberals off their throne after 12 years. I'm not really
sure how I feel at this point...I didn't get to vote this time around
since I've now been away for so long. They say lower taxes and more
crackdown on corruption, but we'll see if they actually do
anything...not that I'm jaded or anything ;-)

I love berries...

...especially those black ones that fit in the palm of your hand and allow you to communicate with the world. Yes, I'll be the first to admit--I'm utterly and completely addicted to my Blackberry, crackberry, whatever you want to call it. I swore that I wouldn't be, and even laughed at Sandra when she got addicted to hers, but sure enough, as of last Friday, it's official--I am addicted. What happened? I actually dropped my fairly yummy sushi lunch in order to rush back to the other building where I had a previous meeting just to pick up my Blackberry. Sarah P. had IM'ed me to tell me I left it and I instantly dropped everything to get it back...and then, I did the most addict-obvious thing: I took it from her and clipped it onto my belt loop so I wouldn't leave it behind again. I'm ashamed to admit it, but the first step to ending your addiction is to admit that you are addicted, right? ;-)

It's DOM today

Today is the loathed and loved "Day of Maintenance" ("DOM"). While the combos of what I do changes each time, one thing is always true--DOM's are not for the weak. For example, today I will be at the hair salon for four (count them, FOUR) hours, then shuttling myself over to the spa for another two hours of mani-pedi action. I slept three hours last night and the only things I have consumed are two advils and half a glass of iced tea. Through the course of the next six hours, I'll probably have two more iced teas, an espresso, a glass of champagne, and two bite-sized pieces of brownies, and a handful of grapes, all courtesy of my DOM facilitators. I know--it's a tough life...if only I could get someone to run out and get me a bento box for lunch or something. ;-)

I really should just start a food blog

...because today's post is also about -- you guessed it -- food. Tonight a bunch of us (and I do mean a big bunch) went to Seasons at the Four Seasons. Good food, great company, and our server was really attentive and nice, too. Random topics discussed: the "cubic zirconium of saffron", APMM "Spring Break" 2006 trip to Cancun/Baja/Tijuana/LA/Iceland (don't know about that last one), "Why do all guys always swing shopping bags?", brulee = caramelization?... yeah, we're kinda dorky ;-)

Jack & Jack (not a drink)

Today we went to Jack Falstaff for the aformentioned Dine About Town lunch--can't really complain: $21.95 for a cream of wild mushroom soup with truffle oil, scallop ravioli with ahi tuna confit and baby spinach, and a creme caramel with dulce de leche ice cream and caramelized pineapples. :-)

Then tonight, I had my second dose of a different Jack. I have to admit all the "setting up" that they're doing for future episodes is getting sorta tedious, but I also think that 24 fans are pretty masochistic when it comes to how much predictable BS we can stand on the show. My friend Sarah P. is right--shows like 24 should really be watched on DVD--meaning the whole damn season in one fell swoop on a summer day with a big tub of ice cream and pizza. (Okay, she said the one fell swoop part and I added the food.)

Oh, and by the way, all hail the return of my tivo. The last few weeks with my new-and-beautiful-yet-tivo-less flatscreen has been wreaking havoc on my television consumption. (Did I mention that I missed the last two weeks of Desperate Housewives? Not to mention the season premiere of The Shield--argh.) It took me three trips to Radio Shack yesterday and a clear and thorough understanding of what "piggyback cables" are (no, don't go there), but finally, the familiar sound of my tivo's "boop boop" has returned--and once again, my life has changed.

24 -- and here we go again...

Another 24 (well, 22 really, if you count each of the premiere nights as one long-ass episode) episodes of 24 began tonight. Don't worry, I won't ruin the plot for ya, but let's just say Jack doesn't disappoint. People get shot, and stuff blows up in true 24 style. Of course, there are new crazies (aka Martha Logan) and new bad guys, and oh yeah, Audrey's back... *ugh*

"Dining about" everywhere

(I just lost the first version of this post when Firefox crashed...needless to say, I'm sad.)

So it's Dine About Town this month in SF. This week, I'll be checking out Jack Falstaff and Seasons @ Four Seasons (thanks, Sandra!), but hopefully I'll get to a couple more before the month is over. But did you know that it's also Dine About Town -- aka Dining Out -- in Vancouver? That's right, for your choice of $15/25/35 (CANADIAN dollars...that's like 2 cents), you can check out the oldies-but-goodies such as Lumiere (well, you almost could have--they're sold out) and Amarcord, or new favourites like Wild Rice, Blue Water or Glowbal.

Just got back from brunch with Psyche at the awesome Hog Island Oyster Co. at the Ferry Building--which by the way, is such a foodie haven/trap. I ended up picking up my somewhat-weekly cake from Miette (it's Chocolate Cream Layer cake this week), Stonehouse olive oil, and splurged on some incredibly-yummy (and weird...weird like "Spring Jasmine Tea") chocolates from Recchiuti. I told you I couldn't go on a diet!

Yeah yeah, I know this was another post about food, but you gotta admit that I got your tastebuds excited ;-)

(Yummy cake picture courtesy of Miette)

Testing blog by email...

Tried this yesterday and it didn't work. Trying again now...

A Million Little Pieces...of lies?

One of the great books Regina and I both read while we were vacationing in Thailand was James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. Now there's controversy surrounding whether or not this book was actually a true story. What a shame. I believed the guy, too.

The Tao of Pai Gow in Vegas

Just got back yesterday from a whirlwind weekend in Las Vegas. The official reason was that I was there to support CES, but since I wasn't working the booth, I really was just there to be there. ;-) On Saturday night a bunch of us checked out the new Tao, and lemme tell you, it's pretty hot--even when you compare it with the original and venerable Tao NYC.

Quick observations:
Tao LV wins --

• they have a nightclub next door
• they had porn stars hosting the party at the nightclub next door
• they have better service
• they don't make you wait for an hour after your reservation time (imagine that!)
  

Tao NYC wins --

• it's the original
• hotter people (on a non-porn star convention weekend)
• balcony seats have better views of the giant Buddha
• the kobe beef is served in a more reasonable (8 oz) quantity
• the sushi is cheaper ;-) (well, aside from the $24 dollar piece of toro that we almost ordered the last time we were there)

Either way, a Tao closer to this coast is always a good thing. It means I'm only a 1.5 hour flight away from my favourite lychee martinis and miso glazed sea bass satay.

During the week, I was also (unfortunately) introduced to the game of Pai Gow Poker. As anyone will tell you, I am the worst gambler in the world--in that I have the worst luck and zero skills. So Arielle introduces me to Pai Gow Poker which is the most fun card game because you can actually not win OR lose on any given hand. For bad gamblers like me, that means I can play for 4 hours straight and only lose $15 dollars -- sweet.

Way to ring in the New Year...

Wow only 47 minutes left of the first day of 2006. What did I do today? Nada. Woke up at 11 (no partying last night, just a full night of glorious sleep), made brunch, took a nap, woke up, mulled around and watched mindless shows on E!, and then made dinner. We had an arugula/pear/parmesan salad, chicken kiev, and porcini mushroom ravioli in a mushroom cream sauce. (Yes, I made it all.) Now I'm going to have some banana cream pie.

Totally caloric intake today: a billion.

New Year's resolutions? Sure I've got them--just don't count "dieting" as one of them. :-)