When in Rome

When I saw the photos taken by my friend's little brother of their Christmas spent in Europe, I felt an obligation to share it. Just look at these... They are all simply works of art! 

All photos by Ernest Lee.

Punchlines

The FIVE worst things to say at a job interview:

5. Yes, I do believe in ghosts. Doesn't everyone?

4. When is the earliest possible date I could take a holiday?

3. It seems lately I've lost the will to live.

2. They couldn't pin anything on me and so they let me go.

1. "Face time" at my old job wasn't anything like I imagined it would be. How do you define it here?

Leaving Las Vegas

This year's AVP King and Queen of the Beach competition was held at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and it was a scorcher. Pool play started on Thursday with the top 16 individual players competing in a round robin format to emerge into Round 2, where 8 players continued on to compete for one of two spots in the finals. Phil Dalhausser and Jen Kessey were crowned King and Queen of the Beach. Woohoo!

During this same weekend, Phil, Niki and I spent a brief afternoon at the aquarium, and this is what we came across.

Black tip reef shark

Lion fish (venemous and dangerous)

Jelly fish

Punchlines

So the other day, I'm in for my weekly enema, and all of a sudden, the administrator sneezes and sends my...

...loose stool colliding with my shy testicle. It was like a depraved game of billiards but without the sorority chicks.

Chicago is

my kind of town, Chicago is

my kind of people too...

This weekend in Chicago was pretty relaxing. Unlike my other weekenders, I didn't run about the city in search of the best dessert, deep dish pie, etc. I was kickin' it at the W Hotel mostly taking goofy photos and such. 

AVP Men's final with John Hyden talking to Sean Scott.

Heather Cox interviews Todd Rogers on Universal Sports.

View of AVP Chicago event from The Drake.

View of clouds from the W Hotel.

Punchlines

Geez, do I have to repeat everything to you?

(signing) Yes please. As you know, I am deaf. But if you want to keep pointing out my disabilities, then that's obviously just fine, you heartless bastard.

Green thumb

One month later, I thought I'd give you an update on what's the haps. Yo check this out.

 

In all due seriousness, I think I'll get in touch with my green side and will return later today with earthy tales of my day and maybe some snaps as well.

Post script.

Okay, here's the real deal. Photos from Huntington Library and Garden in Pasadena, which features fourteen themed gardens.

Punchlines

Love is such a beautiful thing...

I heard it was many-splendored, too. And a Battlefield also? F*ck me... it just goes to show how damn versatile it actually is. Color me impressed.

Let them eat cake

Turtle Tower Restaurant is a small mom 'n pop place near Golden Gate park. Located on Geary Street amongst many other Asian restaurants, the building is not a particular stand out, but the taste certainly is. The types of restaurants in this section of Geary are purists when it comes to the type of food they serve. For example, a Japanese restaurant explicitly wrote on a sign: NO SUSHI. NO TERIYAKI. This was to keep out the riffraff i.e., those who are accustomed to Westernized restaurant offerings. 

The place we visited made the distinction of serving only Northern Vietnamese style food which means you are served your pho without mint, bean sprouts, or hoisin. My friend recommended that I try #6 the pan fried noodle soup with fresh rice noodles, beef, leeks and carrots. It was a combination of smokey, tender flavorful goodness in a bowl. Definitely worth having seconds and thirds, I should think.

One drawback is that the restaurant closes super early in the evenings. We were the last customers to order food and were rushed out of the restaurant at 8:30 pm. Still it gave us an opportunity to head to Hayes Valley for dessert.

Citizen Cake has been around for years and I came across Elizabeth Falkner on a Food Network challenge a few years ago. Most recently she was on Top Chef Masters competing against others such as Rick Bayless, Ludo Lefebvre, Hubert Keller, Michael Cimarusti, Roy Yamaguchi, et al.  She's the author of Demolition Desserts and I have looked forward to a visit to her shop each time I am in San Francisco. On this visit we sampled the following:

• Retro Tropical Shag - Genoise cake splashed with rum and an exotic passion fruit mousse, covered in vanilla buttercream and carpeted with un-sweetened coconut.
• Mocha Mi Su - Layers of cocoa genoise cake, mocha mousse and crème fraiche mousse. Finished with chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream. 
• Pineapple Upside-down Cupcake - A tropical treat: lots o’ pineapple chunks underneath moist buttermilk cake topped with a passion fruit frosting & coconut
• Carrot Cupcake - Our delicious carrot cake topped with cream cheese frosting and a marzipan carrot.
  

Oh my!

Punchlines

I am so sick and tired of everybody complaining about hangnails today.
Well, excuuuuuuuuse me. Listen sister, that's a lot better than having a bunch of co-workers sing barber-shop quartet about whitlows.

Ferry Building

San Francisco is a wonderful place for gourmands. The inhabitants take their food very seriously as evidenced by the small places that crop up around the city that are small and artisanal in their approach toward food. Small batches. High quality. These are places which specialize in one thing. For example, olive oil. Just that and no other item. Or salted pork products. That's all that's available. One such place that houses these shops under one roof is the Ferry Building Market Place where I find myself each time I visit San Francisco. 

Some great shops to check out would include:

Acme Bread

Blue Bottle Coffee

Cowgirl Creamery

Boccalone

Recchiuti Confections

I can't say enough nice things about this place. It really is a gem. Couple the experience with a farmers market each saturday morning and I am quite tempted to take up permanent residence within the building itself!

Punchlines

We seek him here, we seek him there. Those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven? Is he in hell? That damned, elusive...

...Scarlet Pimpernel.

Bastille Day

Happy Bastille Day! I suppose it's because I just got back from Paris that I'm cognizant of this particular French national holiday. It celebrates the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison, which symbolizes the uprising of a modern nation. I'm a little bummed that my holiday stay did not extend until today to cover this event, but I am grateful that I did get a chance to see Monet's Rue Montorgueil displayed in the Musée d'Orsay. 

As for my unforgivable lack of updates during my trip, I can only offer this. I've been slacking off for good reason. I've come to the conclusion that there is a finite amount of time to get things accomplished in a day. Stop the presses, right? I know it's unfair, but it happens to the best of us. Even me. 

So what with all this blogging business, I find it is detracting from writing. Sure it was a nice placeholder while I worked on my outline for Character Study, but even that didn't need to take over two months. Seriously. Break's over. I may not keep up with the rest of it, but I will commit at least to provide a little levity each day. So with that, allow me to make up with a joke for each day missed.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Punchlines

Here's one thing that James Bond would never say...
"Que Pasa amigos? Tengo hambre...donde esta los tacos?" 

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Punchlines

Now if he was stoned, he would definitely say... 
"Jim Jim, I sure could use another hit of that." 

Monday, July 13, 2009

Punchlines

And while his head was dunked into a toilet, he would say...

Good Lord! What screenwriter has done this to me!?! I'm James Bond for Christ's sake!! My head doesn't belong in a toilet!!! 

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Punchlines

I must be an idiot. I fell for the oldest trick in the book tonight, when...
...she winked at me through her irridescent purple eye shadow. Then I closed the book (Geriatric Hookers of Amsterdam). Enough fun for one evening. 

Picasso of Pastry

On the final full day of our trip, we set out late to catch the midday views of Cathedrale Notre Dame with its soaring arches within and stood on kilometre zero, the very center of Paris. We then took a short trip to Musee d'Orsay to see various pieces from the Impressionist period. 

To my surprise, Renoir's Le Moulin de la Galette (1876) hung here which was reminiscent of my college days and having posters of Renoir's Boating Party and Seurat's Seine Grande Jatte covering my walls. After a quick hit of espresso, we worked our way to Saint Germain des Pres.

Near Saint Sulpice, we searched out Poilane bakery on an unassuming rue de Cherche-Midi. For those who are unaware, the Boule Miche is an iconic bread from the famed bakery of Lionel Poilane and is served in restaurants of distinction throughout Paris. 

Here is a quick peek at the ovens below the shop. As the bakery was quite small, we didn't stay long and proceeded to cross a few streets toward the famed shop of Pierre Herme also known as the Picasso of pastry. 

After sampling the macarons at Laduree, we decided to try a few more at Pierre Herme. The first three were similar flavors to those we tasted at Laduree (rose petal, chocolate, and sea salt caramel) while the last three were new (jasmine, passionfruit chocolate, and raspberry and pistachio). Verdict? Honestly, I preferred each of the Laduree macarons. The rose petal had a more distinctive flavor at Laduree, the chocolate flavor had so much more depth and richness and the sea salt caramel had a nutty and buttery smoothness with just a hint of smokiness. Still it wasn't a bad experience. Just not as distinctive and memorable as Laduree.

Punchlines

It seems to me we haven't spent enough time talking about...

...the important issues. Things like health care reform, proper cat maintenance, home dentistry, and of course Popsicle making.

Macaron

If you flip to the page in the dictionary as you look up the word sublime, these little cookie sandwiches are likely pictured. While macarons date back to the 18th century court of Versailles and were served to royalty, the double-decker macarons sandwich with a sweet pastry cream center are the invention of Laduree, of which 15,000 are sold each day to the masses. We sampled four flavors: rose petal, coconut, sea-salt caramel, and chocolate. This experience has got to be the culinary highlight of our trip thus far, but I am also holding out for Pierre Herme on Saturday as well as Poilane.

Among the cultural highlights would include a brief visit to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, and Psyche and Cupid.

We also visited the cemetary at Pere Lachaise to visit the graves of Oscar Wilde, Moliere, Marcel Proust, Frederic Chopin, Honore de Balzac, Eugene Delacroix, Sarah Bernhardt, Jim Morrison, and Richard Wright.

Punchlines

Don't you hate it when you leave your house in the morning, you wonder whether or not you've forgotten to...
...feed the puppy? Or even the baby? God, it's true what they say about pot. I gotta quit living alone and find someone to share the burdens.

Yep, there it is.

I'm joking. Well, not really. For those of you who enjoy leisurely travel, I will probably drive you bananas. You see, I am the type of traveler who will power through a city in a half day and take in a dozen sights just to capture it on camera. I used to be that way. I'm a little better now. But the first day in Paris seemed to be a prime example of regressing to my former mode of travel.

I was climbing the walls waiting for conference calls and emails to end, just to see the Musee d'Orsay which was open until 9:45 pm on Thursdays. Luckily the champagne and pastries kept me preoccupied for some time, or else who knows what I would have done. If left to my own devices, I suspected we could have hit...

L'Arc de Triomphe

Le Tour Eiffel

Musee d'Orsay and have dinner at Cafe de Flore, without issue.

We didn't make it to the museum, opting instead to climb the stairs to the first landing of the tower to take in the views of the Seine

Invalides

I think I've gone soft or something. But dinner in Saint Germain des Pres is never a bad idea, especially when your waiter happily tolerates foreigners and you soak in the atmosphere of sitting in a cafe where Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir once dined.

Punchlines

Men Without Hats must surely be the strangest name for a band. Unless you consider...

I dunno. Slippery When Wet comes to mind, but also Moebius Stripper, Nixon's Smoking Banana and Spontaneous Grape.

Hurry curry

I've no idea what took so long before we had our first curry in London. Oh, right, all of the various wedding related activities featured food and so it wasn't until our final night in London that we sojourned to Brick Lane upon a friend's recommendation to try Balti.

Until recently, I didn't realize what this particular dish was and apparently it differs from a regular curry in the method of preparation and presentation. In the last ten minutes of preparation, the contents are cooked at high temperatures in a distinctive flat-bottomed wok which gives the dish its name: a balti. The fresh spices, herbs and chillis added during the final stages of cooking make it flavoursome and colourful.

We chose to sample the dishes at Standard Balti House in East London and tried an amazing mulligatawny soup and vegetable samosa starters, then a lamb tikka curry as well as a chicken balti dish with naan and rice. OMG! I am drooling just thinking about it now. Luckily, there were leftovers.

Anyway, this was a wonderful way to top off a lazy day in which we didn't manage to leave the hotel until the tea time. Then we hauled ourselves across town to Oxford and Regent streets to windowshop at Liberty, Savile Row (particularly Kilgour) and Jermyn Street (especially Floris).

Next stop: Paris via Eurostar.

Punchlines
"You know, people are always asking me...
...if they can milk me. If it's in the morning, I'm generally amenable to it. But otherwise it can be rather annoying," says Crossword.

Bits and bobs

To those from Blighty, "bits and bobs" are what we from America call "odds and ends." Such was the day spent criss-crossing London from lunch at Wagamama a noodle shop south of the Thames and ending the day in the Ritz-y corner of Green Park and St. James Place at the Red Lion pub at the end of a cobblestone Crown Passage.

In between, we wandered mostly in Surrey touring the Globe Theatre in its third reincarnation as well as browsing through the most curious displays at Tate Modern.

The "soap on a rope" was the standout for me on this visit. But of course, I always manage to find and enjoy the recent works by one of my favorite artists, Jeff Koons.

Punchlines

I'm thinking of attending a new screenwriting-made-easy class that's being held next month at the local Super-8... for $800 (per day for three days) I get to learn from a "world class" award-winning writer who has come up with a new methodology. It's a little steep in price and I'm not exactly sure how that new 15-act structure plays out, but what really worries me is...

...their insistance on writing the part of Gerard Depardieu in each and every script.

Notting Hill

Oddly enough, Notting Hill was not on a hill, at least not as far as I could tell. Soon after lunch in Soho, we traversed town via the Northern line to the Circle line and then headed down towards Portobello Road towards the market.

The top of the road begins with antiques and progresses to fresh fruit and vegetable stands. Though Monday isn't really the best market day per se and the weather did not appear to be cooperating with blustery winds and rain on occasion that afternoon, it was enjoyable to wander up and down the streets with Suzanne talking about reality TV, poker, screenwriting, sports and mutual friends.

Since she was staying there with a family, she was familiar with the terrain. She took us to the famous Travel Bookshop featured in the movie, Notting Hill. That as well as concluding our visit with delicious cupcakes at Hummingbird Bakery made this a delightful visit in this corner of London. We sampled the following flavors: vanilla, red velvet, carrot cake, and cream cheese chocolate. For a little taste of light fluffy deliciousness, try it out the next time you're in London.

Punchlines
Somebody explain to me the word "rush hour."
That's the bit between taking drugs and being hungry.

Soho House

On a brief trip to London in the winter of 2005, I was invited to celebrate a French director's 40th birthday at Soho House. It was packed with sparkling people that weekday evening and naturally I had a fabulous time. I didn't think twice about the visit until I met up with some work colleagues the following day. When asked what I did the previous evening, they looked at me chartreuse with envy that I had already had drinks at Soho House. It seems it is a private members only club which began in 1995, which is still trendy as it has traded on its exclusivity, particularly amongst the entertainment crowd. Their stunned looks reminded me of the phrase: Membership has its privileges.

Well just this morning I decided to take a gander at their application just to see what it cost for such privileges (£600 per annum, in case you were wondering) and amongst the questions asked are:

What is your favourite bar?

What is your favourite restaurant?
What is your favourite hotel?

What makes you laugh? (approximately 10 words)

How do you think your friends would describe you? (approximately 25 words)

You know they say there's probably no right answers to these, but I am pretty sure there are wrong answers.

What is your favourite bar? Hard Rock Cafe
What is your favourite restaurant? Denny's
What is your favourite hotel? Holiday Inn
What makes you laugh? redneck jokes
How do you think your friends would describe you? conservative, dirt poor, gun-loving SOB

All kidding aside, Nick Jones the founder of the Soho House and its sister establishments around the world indicated in an interview, "We have 14,000 members worldwide, 55% are men, 45% are women and the average age is about 33. 75% of them work in media-related industries." He has helped to make members only clubs cool once again. In fact the concept has traveled across the pond, with a New York club and a soon to be LA outpost on Sunset Blvd as well as Miami and Chicago.

By the way, if anyone asks for me while I'm out, tell them I'm having lunch at Soho House this afternoon.

Punchlines

Where did I put my common sense? I swear I had it just the other day.

It'll show up eventually. Meanwhile, I say, sit back and enjoy your rare sense.

Tennis anyone?

The epic men's final match of Wimbledon 2009 was the longest in history concluding with Roger Federer pulling out a tough win over Andy Roddick. Final scores:

Federer: 5 7 7 3 16
Roddick: 7 6 6 6 14

I won't attempt to do a recap of the match - do I look like a journalist to you? I didn't think so - but needless to say, it was riveting and astounding to see these two athletes compete, especially as Andy Roddick pushed Roger Federer all the way to the end, not making it easy for him to finally win after 4 and a half hours. While it was the longest men's final match, it apparently it did not best Gonzales and Pasarell's first-round Wimbledon match in 1969 before the advent of the tie-breaker, which lasted 5 hours and 12 minutes.

I didn't mind it so much as it gave me an opportunity to indulge in some British culinary traditions: a glass of Pimm's and naturally strawberries and cream. I'd share with you a recipe for strawberries and cream, but really it is quite self-explanatory.

After Federer graced the court to accept the cup, we headed back to Covent Garden and stopped by West Cornwall Pasty's for three different Cornish pasties: traditional beef and onion pasty, one with vegetables and beef marinated in ale, and a mushroom and chicken pasty.


The Cornish pasty is associated with Cornwall and was traditionally made for miners who were unable to return to the surface to eat lunch. It is a pastry filled with beef, carrots, turnip, and onion and it is simply delicious. Wives would sometimes fill part of the pastry with dessert and would distinguish the pasty from others by inscribing with dough the initials of their husbands.

When I return home, I will post a fantastic recipe that I've made in the past for your enjoyment. Stay tuned! Until then, revel in Federer's triumph!


Punchlines
I find it peculiar that there is a preponderance of small deaf signers at the bottom of the screen on UK television. Have they not mastered closed-captioning technology on this side of the pond?
The head of the BBC was a big time screenwriter - something about show-don't-tell seemed ingrained.