Someone asks why I set goals. Well, I’m trying to set a habit-forming goals instead of something I know I can’t attain.  Whatever I did well, I’ll keep up with for the years to come. Goal #10 has been a growing list, and I would like to keep it growing each year.

Now, let’s first look at what a failure I have been in 2011 before we move on to set goals for 2012.

2011 Recap: 5 out of 10

1. 12 books a year – Win!

Well, I got to 11.5. I’m going to call that a win. I spent quite a bit of time trying get through Emperor of All Maladies before I gave up, so I’m going to count that as a 0.5. I really don’t like nonfiction as it turns out.

1. The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
2. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – Seth Grahame-Smith
3. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer – Siddhartha Mukherjee …Did not finish
4. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs
5. Ghost Story: The Dresden Files – Jim Butcher
6. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? – Seth Godin
7. Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins
8. Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins
9. Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
10. Side Jobs: Stories From the Dresden Files – Jim Butcher
11. Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale (Graphic novel)
12. Full Dark, No Stars – Stephen King

2. Play piano/guitar/sing on Sundays after dinner for an hour – Fail

I perhaps did that three or four times…

3. Eat a salad a week…Vegan Tuesdays don’t count!- Win

I did pretty good on this one. It’s good to have a few salads you’re addicted to and must have on regular basis.

4. Catch up on DVR on Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends (Friday is flexible) – Epic fail

LOL … Why did I even bother setting this goal!

5. Cook one new recipe a month…and blog it!- Fail

And you thought that with having more time during unemployment would be conducive to more blogging! I did cook more but I didn’t blog as much.  Also, once I started working at Saatchi LA, with me getting home at irregular hours, I actually haven’t cooked much at all.

6. Wednesday Date Night – Win-ish

Having gone out to eat quite a bit in the later months, we sort of just called that date nights too. At least we did get out to do stuff together a bit.

7. If the hair needs a wash, work out! – Fail

Again, why did I even set this goal if I keep forgetting?

8. Write every week day on the way to work – Fail

Hauling the laptop to work everyday became cumbersome. And then I didn’t commute on the bus any more. I could’ve written every morning during unemployment, but obviously that didn’t happen much either.

9. A secret goal…which was to find a new job than the one I had – EPIC WIN

So, yeah. I consider this a win because the old job did get left behind.  I still haven’t found a full-time position yet though. Hee.

10. Keep up with past success – Mostly win

Weekly lunch out and coffee treats, totally worked. I actually eliminated coffee treats altogether at some point!  Vegan Tuesdays stayed mostly dry and mostly egg-less.  I did switch out a few days in the year but I did quite well.  I’m still taking Italian lessons albeit ever so slowly. And I’m still finishing up magazine within days of their arrival.  The only fail in this would be that I didn’t try NaNoWrimo again.  November has become way too busy with tailgating and such that it was not realistic even to try to write any more.

Not bad, right? So…yay!

Now. For the next year…

2012 Goals

1. Find a job I love

Whatever it is! Now that I have had a taste of what it is like to work where you’re happy instead of just grinding away, this will be a difficult challenge. But I am sure I will find my place in the world.

2. Blog once a week on OakMonster.com

With all the microblogs I’ve got going on, this blog gets neglected. I’m going to fix that.

3. Cook one new recipe a month and blog it

Let’s try this one again…

4. Launch the Side Project

We have a web project we have been discussing with a friend for a while now. I just have to actually get to work on it.

5. Do at least 20 push-ups and/or crunches everyday

Baby step for this fitness averted girl.

6. Try one new restaurant a month

My taste buds need an adventure. Besides, this will give us perfect excuse for date nights!

7. Take a trip somewhere even nearby once a season

Once in a while I’d ditch Italian class for a weekend getaway. We’ll have to maneuver around the spring when Brandon is taking classes and the fall when I have football games. But we can totally do this! Already have a weekend getaway plan in January for our 10th wedding anniversary.

8. Play the piano/guitar once a month

Once a week was a bit ambitious. Let’s start smaller.

9. Update the paper trails

You’re supposed to keep, what, 7 years of documentation? I’m sure I have more like 12 years around here. Time to commit to cleaning house!

10. Keep up with past successes

Read 12 books a year. Lunch/coffee out only once a week. Veggie Tuesday (but less strict on eggs). Eat a salad for a meal on a non-veggie day. Continue with Italian classes. Leave no magazine unread.

Got goals? Share!

But I, for one, really am thankful this year for my friend Matt.

Without Matt, I wouldn’t be working at this contract, making new friends, learning new skills. I surely wouldn’t have found a work environment I truly feel at home in.

Without Matt, I wouldn’t have the budget to continue to host a Thanksgiving feast for my “orphan” friends as I have done for the past few years.

I would say that I owe Matt my first born for his help, but he already has two kids and I’m not having any. But pretty much, if Matt calls my house at 3 a.m. in need of a babysitter, I’d do it.

I would write a song about Matt like the Cantonians sing of Jayne Cobb. But then I couldn’t quite make it rhymes. “The hero of the Borens, the man they called Matt…?”

Talk about owing somebody a big one. There’s no other person I’d be more than happy to owe it to.

So, Matt. Thank you for being my big brother. Thank you for my job.

And thank you for my turkey.

To be exact, the Guinness-Spiced Cider Brined Turkey…with mashed red potatoes, brussels sprouts and bacon salad, fresh cranberry sauce, and Johnny Appleseed cocktails.  The “orphans” are supplying the rest.

Amy is bringing stuffing and her famous raisin bread. David is bringing some form of green beans his kids will approve. Bob is bringing dessert. And Olaina is bringing Ella to provide the cuteness while Justin is at work.

Happy Thanksgiving, one and all!

While I *am* indeed the official partner of Ghirardelli and a hostess to the upcoming Ghirardelli Intense Dark Pairings event for the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, there was a glitch in promotion and folks are being sent here to OakMonster HQ for information on the event instead of to Food.OakMonster.com where all the coverage of the event will be. Click on the banner on right or…

Click here and head on over to Food.OakMonster.com now!

Get the information on the event and see how you can get on my invite list.

Ah. The woes of having an internet empire.

Disclosure: Posts on the blog and twitter about the Ghirardelli Intense Dark Pairings event are based on an advertising relationship. I have been paid to host and promote the Intense Dark Pairings event for Ghirardelli. However, the opinion about the products are all mine.

Food.OakMonster.com is here, yo!

We’ll be working on some graphics for the food page on here. And possibly update the blog over all as well.

This whole limiting my television time seems to be working out. A little bit.

Alas. The first cold of 2011. The game changer.

I made New Year’s Eve dinner of 40 clove garlic chicken to feed James and Aurora and her sister Lee.  I took pictures of everything as it would be my first post for HmmFoodGood for 2011 according to Goal #5.  We sipped some wine and hung out until 11:30 before Brandon and I shambled home before the drunks got back out on the road.  We kissed at midnight and promptly crawled into bed.  So, no. I wasn’t out at a raging party.

The next morning, we were summoned back for Aurora’s famous crepe breakfast.  We came home to a few hours of television followed by a nap.

You know it was never good when you woke yourself up choking on your own phlegm.

What the f…?

Where the heck does THIS come from?  I was not even close to sick these past few days.  No signs of it. No scratchy throat. No itchy inner ears. Nada!

Here I was, stuffy, phlegmy and overall miserable after the nap.  And it went downhill from there.

Sunday was all coughs and fever so I wasn’t going to play the piano.  There went Goal #2.

Monday was all fever as the massive stuffy nose/head replaced the cough. My hair needed a wash but I wasn’t about to work out.  There went Goal #7.  I did, however, not watch TV and instead read my book.  So, score for Goal #1 and #4…although a lot of TV was watched during the time I was couch-bound.

Tuesday was milder version of Monday.  Since I could use anything to make me feel/get better, I asked Brandon to bring me chicken soup and therefore brushed off Meatless Tuesday and Goal #10 to keep it up.

Wednesday I dragged my butt to work.  I figured I could use all the sleep I can get so I opted to nap in the morning instead of working on the blog.  There went Goal #8.  I also left my lunch at home so I had to go out which, as you will find out soon, led me to break Goal #10 again.  Date night also didn’t happened as I was half alive.  So tacos and TV was it.  I didn’t quite break #Goal 6 though, more like shifted it.

Thursday, having felt much better than the past few days, Brandon and I redid date night and went out to silence my cravings for Hooters wings once and for all.

Friday started with a nap on the bus and all the intentions to eat my leftover, but then my boss and I took our new colleague to lunch for her birthday.  So I did buy 2 lunches in a week and therefore broke Goal #10 BUT I did order a Cobb salad so that made up for sticking with Goal #3.

Yeah, pretty much I’m doing the year over starting tonight.

That means, I have to fit an active activity into the day tomorrow before I wash my hair.  I wonder if the long walk from one end of the parking lot to the farmers market will count…

I mean, look at how neglected this blog is!!!

Let’s take a look back this year, see what all I did, and give out some 2010 awards, shall we?

2010 in Pictures:

Drinking Buddy of the Year: Bus Buddy Amanda

We’ve been riding the bus together for a few years and carpooled together numerous times.  But it was this year that Amanda and I started hanging out outside of the bus.  We grabbed a few drinks either in Downtown LA or right here back in Los Alamitos.  We occasionally dragged our husbands with us too, like when we went to the Night Dive at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Next up on our agenda is shopping.  Our wallets should be afraid. Very afraid.

Bar of the Year: Chaya Downtown

I actually have visited less and less Downtown LA hot spots since last year.  Work dynamic continues to shift and happy hour gathering has become more and more difficult to manage.  Yet, I kept finding myself moseying over to Chaya Downtown whenever I have an excuse to do so.

At the beginning, I didn’t really give Chaya much of a chance.  Compared to the cozy vibe at the Library Bar, I felt Chaya was a bit more snooty.  I was proven wrong on that.  Also with Library Bar having become so popular it was too crowded for my liking, Chaya has plenty of space to spread out either right up to the bar or out in their Japanese beer garden.  It’s one of the better places in the financial district for happy hour these days with great menu and strong drink specials.  I mean, that $5 cocktail specials they have would knock a lightweight on her ass, I tell ya!

Chaya bar is not just for drinks, but for lunch too.  Bartender Greg always take a good care of me whether I was just picking up a very reasonably priced to-go bento box or sitting down to pig out alone.  The food was surprising fast out there at the bar versus sitting down at the proper restaurant section.

Newcomer Award: USC Trojan Nation

Fight on!

It only took me 11 years since graduation to get around to buy USC football season ticket.  Bless her heart, at the time of purchase, Gridiron Goddess Amy shouldn’t be spending her money on the ticket, but she did. And we roamed and ruled USC campus as tailgate nomads, lugging our own food and beverages, looking for a place to crash.

During the sesason, I reconnected with old friend Roy aka USC Psycho and crashed at my rarely-seen Trojan brother Joel and his wife Zoe’s tailgate.  I never quite made it to Hawaiian Jen’s group at the engineering quad though, my one regret.  I also made new Trojan tweeps as I tweeted my away games from my couch or at the bar with USC Long Beach Alumni Club.

Yes, the Long Beach Alumni Club is back and very alive!  As destiny would have it, it got resurrected this year.  And naturally, I joined and soon became their director of technology, handling their twitter account and soon to design their website.

More Trojan Nation shenanigan will ensue through the spring, I am sure.  Thank god I’m not a basketball fan too or else my husband will never see me again…

High point of the Year: NaNoWriMo

I have great friends who always supported me through everything I do whether it’s AIDS Walk Long Beach with Team Lesser Weevils or joining GuerilLA in a spectacular improv musical unleashed upon the unsuspecting crowd at Universal City Walk.

This year I took a swing at National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and raised money for the foundation set up in my grandfather’s name in memory of both him and my mom.  Friends were super supportive with donations and encouragement.

I was writing on the bus on the way to work. I was writing it at lunch at work. I was writing some of it at home too.  50,000 words in 30 days proved to be too much for me as my inner editor and procrastinator kept chipping away at my words and my time.  However, I did have half of that for a draft of a memoir about our family’s ties to mom’s two big folders full of fortune teller notes.

Low point of the year (other than a disappointing USC football season): Sickness and death among friends

This year has sucked for so many friends healthwise thus make it a low point of the year.  Friends have been afflicted with fibromyalgia, MS, and cancer. I hate you, diseases, for making my friends’ lives unnecessarily harder. My fist. Your direction. Grrr….

Also,  a former colleague who had been dealing with kidney issues unexpectedly passed away.  He was okay one day and died in his sleep over the weekend. It was quite a jolt.

Holiday of the Year: Halloween for a completely different reason!

The past two years, weeks leading up to Halloween had involved running around with Thrill the World.  This year, I passed on the torch so I get to have my favorite holiday back!  Then again, the costume change this year was the most I’ve ever done.  5 costumes leading up to Halloween, if you can imagine.

1. Halloween Friday: Nerd Herder for work
2. Halloween Friday Party: Slave Leia for a Star Wars party at Amy’s house.
3. Halloween’s Eve: Crazy USC fan gear.  Well, I just topped off with what became my signature Dr. Seuss hat for the game.
4. Halloween afternoon: a Jedi costume was thrown on to visit Gregg at the hospital. I did tell him I was going to bring out Slave Leia but I didn’t think it was appropriate for a hospital.  David said if anyone was to have a heart attack, that would be a good place for it. LOL.
5. Halloween: Resident Evil’s Alice accompanying Brandon’s Tallahassee from Zombieland to our usual trick or treat evening at Paul’s house.

Song of the Year: Teenage Dreams, Glee version

Can’t. Stop. Listening.

Movie of the Year: Toy Story 3.

No, I haven’t seen the Social Network, Inception, The Kids Are Alright, or anything critically acclaimed.  Naturally, Woody and the gang won this round.

Surprise Movie of the Year: Hachi: A Dog’s Tale

It’s a straight-to-video gem.  I’ve grown up knowing the story of the original Hachikp in Japan so I was curious to see this movie Entertainment Weekly and my friend were raving about.  I knew it was going to be a 3 hanky type mush so I expected a little tears in my eyes.  But oh, no. No no no no. THAT was the middle of the movie.  At the end, I was sobbing so hard Brandon asked if I was okay.  I never cried like that for a movie. Ever.

Book of the Year: Delivering Happiness

Amy G. knows me more than I know myself sometimes.  She definitely knows something I don’t when she saved me a pre-release copy of Zappo’s CEO Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness she had received at an event.  It only took me months to get to read it.  And once I did, I was inspired and depressed all at the same time.  You know, excited about the future and the fact that there’s a company out there that has the same perspective about “work should be a happy, inspiring place” as I do. (Damn you, Zappos for being in Las Vegas!)  And of course, it’s a little disheartening to look at my current situation which is not quite what it could be.  Then again, there’s not much fun you can really wring out of the line of work I do. *sigh*

TV Show of the Year: Doctor Who

I might have just become a late fan of the show (helloooo Martha Jones!), but my attachment to David Tennant is pretty strong.  So I was very skeptic of Matt Smith’s taking over.  But the show managed to change my mind and kept me glued.  So, hats off to you, Doctor!

Runner Up: Hawaii Five-O.  Alex O’Loughlin’s taking his shirt off every other week?  If this is not the best show on television I don’t know what is. But to tell you the truth, it’s Scott Caan’s performance that is keeping me hooked.  His big softy, smart alecky Danno is the only real character on the show. Everyone else is kind of two dimensional.

Oh, and you’re welcome for the following clip. (Good luck, Aquaman!)  Alex’ chest deserves his own FB page…oh wait a minute…

Restaurant of the Year: Koi Sushi, Seal Beach

We have always known of Koi Sushi.  As a matter of fact, my memory of it was that Brandon’s parents wanted to take us there once but the line was out the door.  We rediscovered it one day as a part of my quest to find a true Japanese restaurant, not just a place that serves sushi and teriyaki.  Koi was exactly what I was looking for.

They hooked us at our first visit with a huge hunk of braised pork belly “appetizer”.  I mean, we could’ve split that for dinner, it was that big.  And it was delicious.  The teriyaki beef got Brandon addicted.  Tender beef cooked perfectly and the teriyaki sauce that’ not cloying.  What I like most is that they a special menu that changes every week I believe.  Food was fresh and portion is generous.  Service was great.  As long as we get there off peak hours, there wasn’t any line.

When it’s a restaurant that Brandon actually craves, that gets on my favorite restaurant list!

*

Well, that’s my 2010. How did you year go?

Breakfast:

• My Starbucks treat: decaf tall Americano with caramel sauce.
• Leftover plantano frito con frijoles y crema–fried plantains with beans and sour cream–from my Friday’s foray into Salvadorian cuisine. Ahhh…Sarita’s Pupusaria at the Grand Central Market!

.

Lunch:

• Mendocino Farms’ Vegetarian BLT.  Yes, you read that right. It has vegetarian “bacon” and pepper jack cheese. And it was wonderful.  You read that right. This bacon fiend actually enjoyed the vegetarian “bacon”!  Then again, I was eating int the sun in line outside of USC’s Bovard Auditorium. It’s like being home again.  Everything tasted better!
• A handful of blueberries

.

Dinner:

• A few glasses of wine at TEDxUSC reception and a few noshes, a little cheese quiche and a blue cheese & grapes egg roll.
• Came home and made The Minor Elvis: a grilled peanut butter, banana, and honey on 9-grain toasts.  The real Elvis has bacon in it…

.

Satisfactory level: Very satisfied. Again, the surprise that was the vegetarian “bacon”.  It looks horrifying but it tastes like a less salty, not so greasy, crispy fatty part of the real thing.  I would eat that again. And I’d even put it in the Veggie Elvis!

Thoughts: Holy crap. I ate a lot of carbs this week…

Saturday I spent the morning with my hubby cruising down to San Pedro for a feast that is breakfast at Gaffey Street Diner.  The rest of the day I spent baking, mostly.

That night, the hubby set me loose to party with my Twitter crew.

We threw an early birthday party for @always_blond at @fstop23′s place.  The ever gracious host didn’t call off the party when he heard that his daughter-in-law had gone into labor earlier in the day.  However, we had contingency plan as to where the key is and what we were to do if he had to run off to the hospital to hold his first grandchild.

All the usual suspects were there: @macabrephoto, @sendchocolate, @vbesack, @joncruz and @dananner who brought her daughter.  We also met @kerbehr and @hankito for the first time and I hope we didn’t scare them off…too much.  @phraktyl and @phraklet made an appearance after a long absence.  Finally, a surprise drop in from @anaperiodista completed the crew.

In the middle of all of the party, of course, @fstop23 suddenly yelled out, “Sophie’s here!!”

The condo exploded in squeals and applause.

I had made a promise to @fstop23′s daughter-in-law, who adores the Nigella’s Guinness Chocolate Cake recipe I make, that she would get her own cake once the baby’s here.  So I came to the party with one cake for the birthday girl, and a small one to be delivered to the new mama.

“@fstop23, take the cake!” I called out after him as he was grabbing his keys.

“Oakley, she just gave birth. I don’t think she’d want to eat anything right at this moment…” He didn’t even get to finish that sentence.

Almost every woman in the place is a mother. They weren’t going to let him leave the condo without the cake.  And some plastic utensils.

“She hasn’t eaten anything since she’s gone into labor. She KNOWS you’re here with your friends and the cake. AND you’re going back out there without the cake?!  Are you fucking kidding me?!” That’s pretty much the general chatter.

He sent a picture back to us a while later of the mama holding the baby. A hospital bed table in front of her, on it was the cake–with a fork stuck out and a good chunk of missing.

Great time was had by all that evening as we rocked out to Rock Band.  @phraklet singing Eye of the Tiger was adorable. @macabrephotog posting the pictures of our butts on the internet–whoever stood in front of him during Rock Band–wasn’t quite as adorable but funny as hell.  And here’s a payback…

What a night, indeed!

Easter Sunday usually is just another Sunday for us. But this year we were invited to have dinner with Amy.  I have just visited with Amy last month but Brandon hasn’t seen her in a couple of years.  The mister doesn’t like to drive up to Los Angeles that much so once in a blue moon he’d do the honor.

We missed the earthquake on our way there.  Amy and her niece filled us in on the action while Kaya, the golden retriever, showered us with love. We also made a new friend with Jenni who arrived a while later and we all hung out and chat and drank wine while waiting for the roast.

And the what a roast that was!  I’ve always known Amy is an awesome cook.  But hot dang it’s been a long time since I’ve eaten her cooking.

Besides, it’s kind of nice to eat someone else’s cooking instead of my own once in a while.

The weekend wrapped up with a surprise message.

My high school friend and former BFF Jen has finally joined the Facebook.

Another point for social media.

And here’s to new friends, old friends, good friends, and 4-legged friend!

Then again, it’s easy to do when you have a restaurant downstairs selling awesome vegetarian/vegan sandwiches at lunch time.

Breakfast:

• The usual coffee treat from Starbucks
• Fage yogurt with peach puree. Yum!!

.

Lunch:

• Half of the French Onion Soup Melt sandwich from Mendocino Farms.  Grilled onion on melty aged gruyere on pretzel roll.
• Organic tropical iced tea
• A nice dose of sunshine
• Afternoon snack: crackers and a big spoonful of whipped cream cheese.

.

Dinner:

• Trader Joe’s frozen entree of paneer masala and spinach rice.

.

Satisfactory level: So so.  Well, the breakfast wasn’t all that substantial and the lunch, although nice, was a little bit on the light side.  It also didn’t help that I was cutting up 7 lbs. of meat to make the St. Patrick’s Day Guinness Beef Stew when I’d usually be cooking dinner either.  LOL.

Thoughts: Like I said, it’s becoming more natural and less of an obligation.  I was VERY tempted to drink while I cook dinner but I did very good.  Then again, knowing that I’d be indulging the following day is a pretty good motivation.

**

Oh yeah, St. Patty’s day at my house was off the hook.  We have a full house this year with my friends and Twitter gang.  Lots of food but not a lot of booze consumed.  Well, you know, it’s in the middle of the week after all.  But we managed to have a few Irish car bombs thrown about.

I had two. And was still standing at the end of the night. Yey me, the wayward alcoholic!

I don’t know why nobody has pointed out before, but my Twitter/blogger friend Dave Conrey called me a Thai-rish.

Kiss me, I’m Thai-rish!   LOL.

He said he’s going to make a t-shirt out of that.  I’m still waitin’, Dave!

**

The week of fun-ness to balance out the crazy work week continues tomorrow as Brandon and I will go on a little romantic getaway to Sunset Strip for the night.

Why?

Well, you’ll have to tune back in later to find out about that now, won’t you?

I have been to many weddings: a full mass in beautiful cathedral and Christian-light ceremony which I really don’t mind.  I’ve been to the  we-made-our-own-tradition, and this-ain’t-about-God/gods ones, and those are usually quite fun.

But this one totally takes the Holy Roller cake.

It’s a little bit frightening when every sentence of the introduction of the ceremony had either God or Jesus Christ in it. And then realized that most of the people there were from the bride and groom’s respective churches.

The speech about marriage being a union of a man and a woman as intended by God, now that I came to expect.  I remembered going to a Catholic wedding once with my gay “fiance” Cheech as my date. (Hey, Cheech did say if Brandon wasn’t going to marry me, he would do it just so I didn’t have to leave the country. So yeah, he was my gay fiance! Haha!)  We were late so we were in the back of the church anyway, but when it got to the man and woman part, we were rolling our eyes and stifling our giggles in the back.

Here, I rolled my eyes to myself and softly “pssshh”.  In hindsight, the folks I heard singing the hymn behind me later on probably were damning me to hell the entire time I made side comments like that.

Especially during the submissive wife section of the speech.

I thought for a second I had traveled back through time. It was said at least 3 times that the wife is made out of the husband, and must be submissive to him and follow him.  He is to follow Jesus and she is to follow him.  He may not understand you or anger you, but you should listen because he is your husband and you have to trust that he is right.

Did the wind blow so hard we landed in 1910?  I wasn’t really sure.  Until the kid next to me stared playing with his iPhone out of boredom.

To each, his/her own flavor, I understand it and respect it.

Another friends’ wedding was the complete opposite to this one.  Theirs was a spiritual union. They mentioned that love is for all and marriage is for all as well.  That the couple would listen to each other and be supportive of each other’s choices.  Perhaps those on the other side of the gay marriage fence would be offended by someone turning their wedding into a bit of a political soap box.  Well, that’s how I feel about getting Jesus preached at.

But, man, having to sit on a windy and chilly rooftop for one-hour while getting Jesus beating into me totally gave me a glimpse into what my personal hell would look like.

This lovely heavy-handed Christian flavor also continued through the reception which is, you might have already guessed, a dry one.

Thank GOD the bar was only a few steps away.  I kept running into the bride’s cousins there.  LOL.

However, the redemption came with the Chinese banquet.

11 fucking courses of fantastic Chinese food, y’all.

There were only 8 of us at the table up through Course 4 before 2 of them left.  We did pretty good considering one of the friends doesn’t eat seafood.

1. Appetizers, and there were five: roasted duck, jelly fish salad, seaweed salad, marinaded tofu and mushrooms, barbecued pork, and sliced beef.
2. Honey walnut shrimp
3. Scallops, snow peas, carrots
4. This green soup with seafood bits in it.  Funny part is I asked the waiter what soup it is. He said it’s vegetarian. Me: Oh, ok…wait is that shrimp? Him: Yes. Me: Er…ok…
5. Beef and asparagus sauteed in some wonderful sauce and served in this crispy noodle bowl.  Our friend Ed called in “Poetry on a Plate”.
6. Wonderfully crispy skin fried roast chicken with wonderfully moised meat, served with shrimp crackers.
7. Abalone with bok choy and shitake mushrooms.
8. Steamed whole fish with ginger and other spices. De-boned whole at the table. It was pretty cool.  Sweet, sweet fish. So very tasty.
9. Egg fried rice with whatever was left in it: a little barbecued pork, some shrimps, some scallops, some chicken.
10. Mango pudding.  Lovely, not too sweet little cups of heaven.
11. Cake: you either get chocolate cake with whipped cream filling or yellow cake with strawberry cream.

.

The holy rolling ceremony may have turned me off.  But the food definitely got me thanking the Lord!

And I’m also thanking God to have blessed me with the diversity in my group of friends.  So far, nobody kills anybody over their political or religious believes.

Not yet.