Birthday Wishes!

Thanks everybody for all the birthday wishes!! Thursday was my birthday and I have to say it was a pretty good one. We had a Halloween party at work, so that was fun. Everyone dressed up and people brought their kids in. There was pizza,wine,beer,and snacks galore. It was a pretty good time. Then I came home and had lots of great presents waiting for me. A new car stereo, new boots, a crock pot, The Office Season 5, a purse, some money, lots of great cards, and best of all Jon got Kim a ticket to some out here for a visit! Woohoo! She is going to come out for a weekend in Dec so we can hang out! The birthday was great, but I did miss celebrating it with my twin! The birthday continued to the next day too! At work my coworkers took me out to lunch at a really yummy sushi place. they surprised me because they had scheduled a meeting at lunch but then told me they were really going to take me out to lunch. It was fun! They even got me a desert and sang me happy birthday! My boss got me a Starbucks card too! Then I went home early and Jon and I went out to dinner with Marcus and Lauren to celebrate at DISHDASH. It was really good and we had a great time. Now it is Halloween so the fun continues! Happy Halloween everybody!

So cute

This is a video of Sandy playing with her toys. Jon was really excited when he got Sandy to play tug a war.

Paintball!

So I know I haven't posted in a while. ( I am kind of bad at this.) Anyway so a couple of weekends ago Jon and I decided to go play paintball. We asked Marcus and Lauren to come with us, so we all got up at the crack of dawn and drove to Los Gatos. It was Lauren and I's first time so we were a little scared, but I was excited to play. When we finally got to the place and saw the other people we were gonna be playing with we got even more freaked out. I mean these guys had their own guns, were decked out in full camo and were super intense. We played anyway. It was really cold, but I had on LOTS of layers. (my way of trying to cushions the hits, it didn't really work well..) Once the games started I had a lot of fun. At first I wasn't very good and got out pretty quickly, but as the games went on I got the hang of it a little more. It was really fun despite the massive welts I have on my legs and arms. The course was really awesome. It has a massive hill and a lot of really cool bunkers to hide behind. Overall, Jon and I had a really great time and I would definitely go again, bruises and all.Jon surrendering! No he just got hit so he had to go...

The field

Farmer's Market = Yummy!

The last full day of mom and dad's trip we went to the Japantown Farmer's Market. If you remember from my last post I won a $10 gift certificate so I used it to buy some yummy stuff. I was really excited because they had squash blossoms which I have never seen in a grocery store. We used to grow squash at home so one time Scot stuffed them with cheese and fried them and they were really good, so that was on the menu for dinner! I think my dad was in heaven! All the fruits and vegetables were really fresh and beautiful. We stopped at the Mediterranean booth and bought hummus and olives. We also bought some wax bean, green beans, zucchini, Japanese eggplant, mushrooms, and squash blossoms. Mom also bought some Pecan Sandies and flat breads. There is quite a variety of things at the market and they always have beautiful flowers. We decided that for lunch we would buy some tamales from the tamale cart. The lady that was selling them kept yelling free samples so dad walked over to the cart to try them. There was a plate sitting on the cart right next to a bin of spoons so dad dove right in. After taking a bit a women walked over and picked up the plate and walked away. Apparently, those were not the free samples. It was pretty funny and the women and her wife were laughing about it too! We still bought the tamales and they were pretty good. No Pepe's from El Paso, but still tasty. Here are some more shots from the market.
After the Farmer's Market we went to Race Street Seafood to buy Rock cod and mussels for dinner. Mom and I did the prep work and dad did the cooking (while Jon played with Sandy) and we had an excellent dinner. It was a perfect way to end the trip! Once we finished dinner we played a final round of Phase 10 and hit the sack. The next morning I had to take mom and dad to the airport. It was a great trip and I was sad that it had to come to end. It was really great to have them come visit!

Spirit of Japantown!

So it just so happened that the weekend that mom and dad were in town there was a festival going on in Japantown. Since we live in Japantown we decided to head down there and see what it was all about. Unfortunately, it was pretty hot that day. Not Houston hot by any means, but hot for here anyway. The festival was literally one block from our apartment so we just walked. When we got there we were surprised to see an entire street filled with souped up cars. Not really our style but we looked for a little bit and then decided to head further into the festival. It was pretty average as far as festivals go, but we enjoyed getting to see a hula demonstration and the Taiko Japanese drummers, along with some rather colorful characters. We all entered a free raffle and miraculously Jon and I both won! My prize was quite a bit better than his though. I won a $10 gift certificate to the Japantown Farmer's Market and Jon won a Car's (the animated movie) activity booklet and a folder made from recycled cardboard. We grabbed some really yummy gyoza, chow mein, and osaka style okonomiyaki. It was really fun but after being out in heat for a couple of hours we headed back to the apartment and rested up. That night we went to see and Acapella comedy group called The Blanks and the San Jose Improv. It was really good! I highly recommend it to anybody that likes singing. Mom and dad really enjoyed it too. I think it was a definite winner. If you are a fan of the TV Show Scrubs you will recognize the group. It is Ted's (the lawyer) band. Anyway, so it was a really great day and we all had a blast!

Enjoying our lunch at the Spirit of Japantown Festival.
The Taiko Drummers. They were really good and looked like they were having a lot of fun!

Bwha ha ha ha

While mom and dad were visiting we decided to go to see the Winchester Mystery House. Jon and I had been before last summer, but this time we did the behind the scenes tour. Our tour guide for the first part of the tour was a little unusual to say the least. He had a very interesting since of humor and an even more interesting laugh. Every time he told a story he would laugh for several minutes while the group looked at him in complete silence. He must have taken a liking to me because many of his stories were directed at Jon and I and he told me that I would have made a lot of money in the 1800's, not really sure why? The tour was fun despite the strange guide and I think mom and dad really enjoyed seeing the confusing mansion.



After the house tour we went on the behind the scenes tour where we had to sport hard hats. Styling! This part of the tour took us to the basement and showed us some of the inner workings of the house, like the coal stove and elevator shafts.




After we finished the tour we headed across the street to The Counter for lunch. It was very tasty once we all finally got the right orders. The burger didn't make Dad's top 5 though. After we finished eating we walked down Santana Row and did a little shopping. Then we headed home and I made pork and green bean stir fry and we played a rousing game of Phase 10. Jon won. Good times!!

Do grapes grow on vines?

Mom and dad came to visit Jon and I last week and we decided to go to Napa Valley for a wine tasting and an olive oil tasting. We started at Round Pond Olive Mill for a tour. the tour was so so, but had a good time and learned a few things about how olive oil is made. There were some very interesting people on the tour with us. One of the ladies that was there was vacationing in Napa for 3 months (we were just making a day trip!) and they rest of the people were swapping stories about all the vineyards they had been to and what wines were the best etc. Needless to say we were a little out of our leagues, but we enjoyed ourselves non the less. After the "tour" we had a lovely al fresco lunch were we got to taste the oil oils and vinegars that Round Pond makes. Lunch was delicious and we had a really good time visiting and observing our fellow guests.
Some of the people had "interesting" questions that we got a kick out of. This is Mom and Jon in front of the vineyard at Round Pond. They also made wine.

The elusive olive!

This was the set up for our olive oil and vinegar tasting. Each of the little blue glasses had a different kind of oil in it. The sugar cubes were used for tasting the vinegars.
We were taught to smell the oil, then take a sip of the olive oil and let it rest in our mouths for a moment, then suck in air through our mouths and finally swallow. Personally I prefer dipping my bread in olive oil or using it to make my pasta. Once you swallow you can tell how ripe the olives were when they were picked. If the olives were ripe the oil will be smoother and more mellow. If you you pick them while they are green it will be more peppery and more aggressive.
Jon tasting the Merlot vinegar. The trick is to pour it on a sugar cube. It neutralizes the acid so you can actually taste the flavor. Very yummy!

Our yummy lunch!

Group shot in front of an Italian Olive tree.

Next we headed to the Beringer Winery for a tour and tasting. The winery was gorgeous and we had a good time observing the grape heads.

This is the Rhine House. This was were the Beringer Brothers lived while they ran the winery.

This is us enjoying our break before the tour began.

The tunnels!!
Overall it was a great day and we had a lot of fun. We learned some things about olive oil and wine, but I don't think I will ever be a grape head, as long as it tastes good I'm happy!