weekend food fest

i cannot be more excited about where/what we're eating this weekend.

tomorrow, a trip to the eye doctor to get new glasses for both vic and me (thank you new work vision insurance plan) and then to miga 59 in the burbs which is this contemporary korean buffet (with korean bbq!) but all fancy. then afterwards to my parents' house to visit perkaloo and pick up my food order. heh heh heh. i asked my mom to make us noi mi fen, 2 salty and 2 sweet. :) if it would've been practical to transport sao bing, you taio and dou jiang, i would've requested it. a prelude to the goodies we'll get to eat in taiwan. mmm can't wait.

then sunday, i got us in!!! at table fifty-two. just look at this place's menu. http://www.tablefifty-two.com/. just look at this place's dessert options:
Art's Hummingbird Cake 8.5
Strawberry-Blueberry Buckle with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream 8.5
Smith Family Twelve-Layer Chocolate Cake 9

there's no way we're not ordering all 3. there is just no way.

and look at this wonderful review on centerstage: http://www.centerstagechicago.com/restaurants/table-fifty-two.html!
chock full of wonderful nuggets like: "good-old fashioned, home-style Southern meal", "thirteen white-clothed tables dot this beautiful space", "you won't feel like moving after the feasts served here", "sample a wide array of soul food at the weekly 'Sunday Supper'... featuring 10 dishes like ... buttermilk fried chicken breast and three-cheese macaroni", "don't skip dessert", and "the Hummingbird Cake, featuring two pieces of pineapple, coconut and banana cake with vanilla ice cream, makes a perfect end to the meal."

ahhh!!!!

tt

i don't understand.

why did they put all of this:

"turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder with direct injection that makes an astounding 272 bhp and 258 lb.-ft. of torque. This brawny powerplant propels the all-wheel-drive 2+2 sports coupe and two-seat roadster to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 5.2 seconds and has an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph."

into this:

funny-shaped new tt

instead of into this?

gorgeous old tt

idiots!!! makes me so mad.

mochi takes after her mama!

i LOVE horror movies.

(click on above picture)

cat trees

this blog post is on the very important topic of cat trees.

vic and i have decided to get mochi (the cutest cat in the world (except for perky)) a cat tree! this is for her benefit, but also for the benefit of our furniture.

but why is it that every cat tree sold at every pet store is so boring? where are the tree-shaped ones? where are the pagodas?

in my mind, i'm envisioning something like this:


but instead, in the stores i always find this:

i'd sooner bust out a hammer and nails and build my own cat tree than pay money for something like that, so i did an exhaustive online search and much to my own surprise and excitement, found this wonderful-looking tree:

now, i agree this 8-footer is a bit much (especially for mochi who is currently the size of a loaf of bread) but do you see how this could also please the homeowner? it's like a work of art! unfortunately it's also priced as art ($1000+) so mochi's probably not getting this as her parents are selfishly going on a cruise later on this year and money does not fall from the skies.

upon closer inspection of the website, i saw who the tree was actually intended for:

. . . . . . . . . .

while the 3.5 lb. mochi is quite ferocious, she is by no means a siberian tiger.

i also found this tree which looked promising:

but then saw this picture:


is that a snow leopard?!?!

i have obviously been looking at zoo furniture, but i really believe a cat tree should look like a real tree. now the key is to find one that doesn't cost $1000 plus $500 for freight shipping. otherwise, it really will be time to bust out the hammer and nails. poor vic.

hello vday, goodbye vday

yesterday morning there was this HUGE bouquet of flowers at our reception desk. i asked our receptionist if it was for me (knowing damn well it wasn't but i can hope can't i) and true enough it wasn't, it was for one of our first-year associates. how cute, young love. i remember when i used to get bouquets and cookies and chocolates... but now, i am my own cupid. if i want it, i buy it for myself. it's so romantic.

OKOKKOOKOK so i told vic we weren't allowed to buy each other valentine's day gifts (i already have 5 smooching singing & dancing plush gorillas, i don't need anymore.) and maybe i said something to him about how flowers really were a horrible waste of money, please don't send me any more flowers, i can't eat flowers, etc. but still. a cookie bouquet isn't technically a flower bouquet, right? ok, so maybe i told vic a month ago i swore off cookies by design b/c they contain trans fat and if i'm going to get trans fat from something, it's going to be from a double-decker chocolate cake. ok so maybe i don't have anything to complain about since i dug my own damn vday grave.

but i did not dig myself a vday dinner grave! vday evening was very nice as we had a nice romanicky dinner at roy's. :) they had a special 4-course prie fixe menu but vic and i had 5 courses b/c of course, we ordered an extra dessert. they can't have 3 dessert options and expect us (me) to only pick 2!!! i took pictures of the first course (appetizers) and the second course (soup/salad), but got so distracted by our third course (main entree) and fourth course (dessert), i totally forgot to take pictures and those were the ones that were the most impressive-looking. clearly i would not make it as a photo journalist -- i often remember to take pictures of things long after they've come and gone.

i did however get a good picture of mochi helping vic pick out condos/townhomes for us to look at:

"dad! this one looks good! the master walk-in looks like it has a good chance of holding at least 1/2 of mom's wardrobe!" ha ha ha. mochi you are too funny.

auto show

last night we had dinner in chinatown (very tasty) and afterwards went to the chicago auto show where i saw my dream car up close:

audi r8

but it starts at $120,000 so forget it.

the auto show was a lot of fun. we walked around the entire place and sat in a lot of cars. my favorites to sit in were the toyota fj cruiser, mercedes g500 and the jeep rubicon something something. the jeep was particularly fun b/c it was part of this off-roading course demonstration and did things like drive up 45 degree inclines, go down 45 degree declines, drive through a mini-lake, speed over bumpy terrain where you're bouncing 3 feet in the air, etc. the ride was over too fast, but i guess that's the thing -- it makes you want to buy one. anyway, i was sold and was convinced we needed a jeep (for the rocky hilly terrain that is downtown chicago), but only until we moved onto the next exhibit.

i made us stop at one point to enter a suzuki drawing for free travel luggage that was going to happen in 5 minutes. there were tons of entries so it looked like a waste of time, but you never know. but i should know. vic wins every contest he enters!! within the last year he's won an adobe acrobat/photoshop software package and an xbox360 elite at two different work conferences. unbelievable. so out of about 500 entries at this suzuki drawing thing, of course he wins. and he's not even paying attention! i'm watching (like a hawk) the suzuki rep guy juggle all the entry ballot forms and stick his hand in the bin, and vic is off somewhere checking out some suzuki suv (sitting in the driver's seat, opening the trunk, etc.) when they call out his name, he's still in the suv but i cheer and i'm so excited people are thinking i'm a girl named vic. but whatever. he goes up to get the prize and suzuki snaps some pictures, and i'm beaming the whole time. i'm married to a horseshoe and for the rest of the night i went around making us enter every sweepstakes they had. one of them was for a brand new car. we'll see!

rock band stuff

finally, we are platinum!

what a painful experience. it took 4.5 hours, which overall wasn't so bad, but when we were going through it, about halfway through i was really tempted to abort mission. i was just so sick of singing! before you begin, you think of nothing else you'd rather do than accomplish this damn mission, but then in the middle some strange funk hits you and you think you'd rather do anything but continue on.

around song 25:
me: "ok, we know we can do it. let's just watch spiderman 3."
vic: "what? we can watch spiderman 3 after we finish."
me: *sad face* "ok, fine."

around song 27:
me: "these songs suck. let's watch harry potter."
vic: "harry potter will be there after we finish. we've already come this far."
me: "what about the chimera virus? it's taking over england. we have to save london."
vic: "afterwards."

around song 29:
me: "rock band blows. this is stupid. shall we eat the fat-free cheesecake i made?"
vic: "ok, we can pause and take a break."
me: "what?? i don't want to take a break. i want to take a quit."

around song 35:
vic: "you doing ok? we're doing well."
me: "i'm dying."
vic: "sorry."

[note: although the above makes it seem like vic was ruthless in finishing, in fact he was very kind and kept bringing me water and drinks and asking if i wanted to take a break. by this point, i was singing all the songs lying on my back with my head propped up by pillows. vic was playing standing up. we were a very interesting looking band.]

around song 48:
me: "10 more songs! i can't believe only 10 more songs!"
vic: "we're making good progress. do you want to take another break?"
me: "no breaks, we gotta make it to the end."

around song 50:
vic: "are you tired, why don't you drink some water."
me: *with a slightly maniacal look* "i'm fine!!! we have to finish! oh my god the xbox better not break down. no red rings of death!"
vic: "let's just quit and watch a movie."
me: *evil look*

on song 56:
me: [after i flunk out for the first time during that stupid "i get by" song by honest bob and factory dealer incentives] "this song is so stupid."
me: [after i flunk out the second time during that same stupid song] "i hate this f-en song!"
me: [after i manage to slog through the rest of the song so we don't have to redo it] *dance a jig*
vic: "two more songs"

and then finally, after song 58:

i'm really glad to have done it, but never again! *cough* *no voice*

from sarah to aleen to diana

just look at this magnificent cupcake. it's technically called "sarah's signature butter cream cup cake" (from sarah's bakery) but today it was called, "diana's happy chinese new year afternoon treat from aleen, who is a great and fantastic friend".

i really wanted to eat it like a lady, but i wound up snarfing it down. so, as usual, it was gone before i knew it. :(

random stuff

happy chinese new year!! we are going to celebrate by eating chinese food and not eating at ai sushi for once. i got my aunt to give me her restaurant's recipe for chinese chicken noodles to make for tonight. ... but ai sushi has this japanese sweet potato that is so delicious. i know i know, there's tons of stuff i think is so damn delicious and the best ever, but this one really is. this japanese sweet potato dish's not on the menu b/c if it were, there would be a global shortage of japanese sweet potatoes and then ai sushi would have nothing to put underneath their filet mignon when they serve it!

completely unrelatedly, i really want to get one of these cool cat trees for mochi.

i originally wanted to get one for perky when i first saw these a few years ago, but since perky lives with my parents, my parents would have to consent to having an 8' tall piece of attention-grabbing cat furniture in their house. not surprisingly, both my mom and dad were like, no way.

also completely unrelatedly, rainbow six vegas 2 -- March 21 release date:
http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/02/05/rainbow-six-vegas-2-set-for-a-march-21st-release/

party! although i really can't think about that now. i'm just thinking of the japanese sweet potatoes.

going for platinum

a small miracle has occurred. netflix is finally shipping us harry potter. my god, the series has already come and gone by the time we are finally watching the movies!

i've spent the last few days working at my new second job. my old second job (rock band drummer/singer) has been demoted to third job as my new second job is being mochi's mama. after reading online about how serious kitty diseases can be to a kitty, i took mochi to the vet at the clinic yesterday. what a production. i had to rush back from work, line her new carrier with a fluffy blanket, get her into the carrier (no easy feat) and endure her pitiful meowing -- broken up only by her sneezes -- all the way to the vet's office. once at the vet's though, she was a good little kitten, except she sneezed (first and only time) on the vet right when he got close to check her eyes/nose. however, the vet was really nice, told me a lot about the cat flu and gave her treats and medicine. he called mochi Sneezy the whole time, which i thought was funny.

on the rock band front, i am having troubles picking a solo tour and sticking with it. i've done about 30 songs on hard drum solo tour but am stuck on vasoline. each time i play it's the same: i play 3 med drum solos but then get bored so i switch over to expert singing. then i sing 2 songs and think, i know i can do hard drum solo. so i try that damn vasoline song again, flunk out 3 times, curse the machine and go back to my solo singing career b/c i hate the drums.

thank goodness i have a bandmate. and one who is gifted at guitar/bass. :)

my bandmate and i are going to try expert endless setlist this weekend.

more mochi pics

here is mochi trying to lay an egg.



here is mochi helping me put the duvet cover on.


i am a tired mama, but still a proud mama.

i'm sleepy

i am so tired!

i feel like a mom with a newborn. our kitty has a cold (apparently it's common w/ new kittens) :( so she sneezes all the time and kept us up all night. she's very cute with her little mini *kachew* *kachew*s, but she's also a snuggler so she likes to come up onto the bed while we're sleeping and sneeze all over us. *kachew* *kachew* last night i kept nudging her toward vic b/c i felt like i was getting unfairly sneezed on more and it was keeping me awake, but then vic woke up after one particular sneeze (and spray effect) and said "geez, i need a sneeze guard", and that made me laugh really hard so i couldn't go back to sleep b/c i couldn't stop laughing.

anyway, i called the vet first thing this morning and they said it's very common, that as long as she's eating, she's fine and the cold will run it's course and she'll be healthy again.

in the meantime, i'm going to sleep with a towel over my head.

we finally did endless setlist on rock band. thank you to everyone who came over and helped!

we went to the whole foods in south loop yesterday. now that is a mega whole foods. not as big as the mothership in omaha which is larger than a costco, but has the same things offered as the omaha one that i've never seen elsewhere. an udon noodle station and sushi bar and enough samples foods that if you walk through the whole place you can get a 7 course meal w/out paying a penny. we found these mochi ice creams there that they handmake in hawaii (the same brand served at ai sushi) and got it in green tea and mango flavors. they were $7.99!!!! a box, but oh well, we have to eat.

speaking of food, what is up with eli's cheesecake. where has that been all my life. that is some TASTY cheesecake!! maybe it has to do w/ the fact i haven't had cheesecake in over 10 years, but it is damn delicious and the best i've ever tasted.