Uncategorized

  • Block 7.

    We had an "intermeetz" back in September at Block 7. We call it internet meetings since I was the spoke in this particular wagon wheel of friendship. Melissa, Tramanh, and Seo all knew of each other from online and eventually met IRL through me and so now that we're all in Houston, we occasionally meet up for dining adventures and ridiculous conversation. I believe this particular meet-up, Seo had just moved back to Houston from her travels overseas and so we decided to finally check out Block 7. Tramanh, Tu, and I had tried to go to Block 7 a little while before, but the place was too packed as it was a new fancy wine bar off of the up-and-coming Washington area.

    As expected, it was packed when we arrived and the place does not take reservations. We had a bottle while waiting at the bar.

    And then another after we circled like vultures around the tables.

    Marrow-buttered buffalo hanger served with b7 frites

    Venison "sloppy giuseppe"- ground venison, wild boar confit, housemade "joe" sauce, onion Challah bun

    Beet salad

    Grilled cheese- gruyere, local sourdough buttered and pan-roasted

    Prosciutto San Danielle- roasted yellow peppers, bufala mozzarella, dehydrated tomatoes

    Truffle popcorn- italian black truffle salt

    b7 frites- housemade aioli and housemade ketchup

    Milk and cookies

    Panna cotta

    block 7 "krack"- brown butter rice krispies, chocolate ganache, toasted marshmallow, passion fruit caramel

    Ugh, everyone has this card

    Enough food photos, time for peoples

    blargh forgot to turn off tungsten white balance and used flash

    Same here. Seo, by the way, has since become the sporadic movie-watching companion and random foodie partner. If she were as anal as I am about blogging about every travel detail, she could probably have her own travel channel program by now. Instead, she keeps them SECRET.

    Tu looks weird, but I like the look of the photo. Tramanh, you okay.

    HARSH LIGHTING PHOTO

    After dinner, we met up friends at Marquis and had their ridiculous long island iced teas. Followed by even more ridiculous drinks. And then dancing at Boondocks. That night ended in disaster, though good times were had up until then.

    Day after Grand Theft Auto.

    It's ok, we about to eat

    Excellent recovery food.

    The end.

  • ...

    I have not been sleeping well.

    When I was traveling frequently for work, I would wake up in the middle of the night in my hotel room, panicked that I had slept in late and missed a client meeting. The problem was usually exacerbated with having to deal with switching time zones on an irregular basis.

    I no longer have to travel for work. These days, I wake up in the middle of night, unsettled. Tired.

    I was told it would get better.

    It hasn't.

  • The Antics of Dogs.

    So obviously I love dogs. I am probably the dog-lovingest person who does not actually own a dog, but it's ok because all my friends have cute dogs. I figure I'll own a dog one day when I finally own a house and I will be that eccentric bachelor man with the large lap dog that walks around the neighborhood with patches on his corduroy jacket and maybe has a pipe hanging out of his mouth and for some reason an image of Sean Connery in Finding Forrester just popped into my head.

    Anyway, Tramanh and Tu had Cookie and Milo over for a weekend a while back, so it was a big dog party weekend. Good times, good times indeed. So without further ado...

    Pepper says, O HAI, WELCOMEZ TO THE PARTY

    Waiting for guests to arrive

     

    Milo, Tramanh's sister's dog, is a supercute beagle who looks like babby for life.

    Pepper being really trianglehead.

    Like a little boy. All that's missing is a cap and a backpack.

    Pepper being tired

    Pepper waiting to be annoying and barking at everyone

    Cookie modeling

    Uno being all "Huh huh huuuuuuuhhh"

    Milo knows a secret about you and wants to let you know that he knows.

    Milo being SRS BZNESS.

    ROOROOROOROO

    WUT

    All dogs photo

    Cookie eats meals one kibble at a time, so Tu has to sit there and watch her eat slowly or else the other dogs will steal it

    Such a happy dog

    Dogs lining up in V formation downstairs

    Cookie being a monster

    Pepper's O RLY face

    Milo being all O HAY

    Uno being earnest

    Pretty cute, Uno

    Sh-sh-shakin!

  • Snow Day.

    Houston does not react well to cold weather. The first sign of ice, and everyone flees indoors. On Friday, we had the most snow that I've seen in Houston since the big snow of '88 or so. Back then, there was enough snow sticking to the street to pull a sled down the street and maybe make some snowmen.

    On Friday, I woke up and the snow was coming down in sheets. All over Houston, offices were letting everyone out at noon. At first, the snow wasn't sticking to the ground, but it was coming down quite nicely. Yen called me up and around noon, we headed out for some lunch at the local korean grocery store and to frolic in the snow after. Yes, I just said "frolic" (and later that night, I was an alcofrolic).

    The snow died down on the drive down I-10 to Komart. Traffic was insane in some parts of Houston with everyone just trying to make it home. We sat down for lunch and by the time we came out, the snow had come back with a vengeance:

    Phong's snow-covered car.

    Yen being a gross fiance

    We headed to Memorial Park afterwards to walk the three mile loop around the park. We were fully bundled up, but there were a handful of insane joggers no doubt training for the upcoming marathon running around.

    Other than that, the trail was mostly empty.

    Yen puddle jumping

    Looking like a cheesy '70's Christmas album cover

    Then we did something I've never done in my years of running Memorial Park- we ventured out to the golf course the running trail surrounds. The place was a beautiful canvas of freshly fallen powdered snow. We scooped up some of the snow on the ground and made excellent snowballs- light and powdery upon contact.

    Ugh, Uggs

    By late afternoon, it had stopped snowing.

    By evening, there wasn't a trace of it left.

  • Scobby Dru.

    For Halloween this year, we decided to finally do the group costume that we had talked about Halloween 2008. We looked online and decided to do an American Apparel Scooby Doo Halloween.

    Tu bought a child's Hanna Montana wig to use for his Fred costume. There had to be some cut and styling before it could be complete.

    That Tu, he's so hot right now.

    Tramanh's Daphne wig just, you know, sitting by the night stand.

    Tu decided to take over the clipping requirements and had me sit down to model.

    Putting on the finishing touches

    As for me, I went as, of course, Shaggy.

    WHHHHHYYYYYYYY

    Mine was also the laziest costume ever in existence, as befits his personality. Tramanh graciously bought me an (ugh) American Apparel deep v-neck. Tu lent me his brown fancy pants.

    Oh yeah, and Tramanh styled my hair to be more Shaggy-like. It was my first time ever getting my hair straightened. This consisted of three phases. Phase 1: Blow Dry. Sweat. Phase 2: Straighten. Sweat. Phase 3: Style. Sweat some more. I swear, I am the sweatiest person alive outside of those people who actually have hyperhydrosis.

    Shaggy slouchy time.

    Tramanh's Daphne costume was pretty impressive, considering I have no idea where you get clothes like Daphne.

    Uno went as Scooby Doo. But really, he was just being Uno.

    The finished costumes.

    The girls.

    Setting up.

    We tried to pose like this, the reference photo.

    When googling, google pointed out a page where someone had written "SCOBBY DOO", thus a running joke was born.

    The Halloween party.

     

    The landlords.

    WHHHHHYYYYYYYY

  • Food.

    Just some random pictures of food.

    For Tramanh's birthday bash in July, they ordered some 75 pieces of chicken from Popeye's. On a scale of fried chicken, Popeye's > Church's > KFC > Hartz's. Perhaps I should begin rating restaurants and movies on the fried chicken scale ("Man, that movie was so KFC"). We were left with quite a bit of fried chicken after the party, which we consumed for over a week after. Fried chicken sandwiches never got old to me. I always like to eat foods in their near purest form to preserve their original flavor (bread or rice serve as a buffer from overpowering flavor) so I tend to never use mayonnaise or ketchup, much to the disgust of my landlords. They also like to do things like microwave leftovers that should be oven heated, much to the disgust of me (jay kay, jay kay, guys).

    This is what the McDonald's Angus Third Pounder looks like under some nice studio lighting and not in real life. It tastes pretty good for a $4 fast food burger, but nowhere near as good as burger joints.

    Maggi is the lifeblood of this household.

    But it is not soy sauce. You don't use this during dim sum to douse your dumplings in. That's like saying Worcestershire sauce is soy sauce. It's not, okay?

    Nights drinking wine around the kitchen island with the landlords are my favorite nights. Good old sit down conversation with no other distractions. Seems like it's fast becoming a lost art these days, much like chatting on the phone (which I personally avoid because people only seem to call as a filler while they're driving some place these days rather than really just calling just because).

    I bought this barrel of wine for Tramanh's birthday because, well, c'mon, it's a barrel of wine.

    Its now-empty carcass serves to hold Tu's change. Someone told me that guys don't carry around change- is that true? I find it most rewarding to pay for a purchase in exact change that leaves no additional change in my pockets, which is pretty rare. The next best thing is paying with sufficient change to get quarters back. It also makes me do math in my head a lot. My brain age is 10.

    I bought some chestnuts from the asian grocery store. They're pretty good for a buck a pack. I just find the warning of "CONTAINS CHESTNUT" directly under the ingredients amusing.

  • They'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands...

  • Donny & Roz.

    Donny and Roz tied the knot two weeks back. It's been a while since I'd been to a close friend's wedding (despite everyone settling down and getting engaged these days), and I'd have to say it was a blast. After living with them for 2 years (and them being engaged halfway into it), it was about time. The wedding was nice and simple, and by the end of the night it was their close friends dominating the dance floor. In terms of fun, it was about as good as you could want.

    At the ceremony.

    Yen went to elementary school right across the street from the church.

    Jeannie being all bridesmaidy

    Melissa trying not to laugh. She's always yelling at me all "STOP MAKING ME LAUGH", but no dice. I will NEVER STOP.

    I've lived with these two for 2 years and I think I've only seen them kiss once. This wedding was the most pda I've ever seen from these two. Awesome.

    Then, the post-agenda activities begin...

    Poor Roz, Aggies are a strange bunch.

    Pretty much the end of the night.

    So congrats again, Donny and Roz. You guys deserve it.

  • Ellie.

    They found Ellie in the street and she followed them home. No tags. According to the vet, she had recently given birth, but being so young- maybe a year or two-, she didn't know to look for her pups. Tu and Tramanh decided to temporarily foster her until they could find someone to adopt her. Fortunately, her aunt ended up adopting her, so happily ever after.

    A pretty calm dog- very well-natured and docile.

    Watching her reflection.

    Or maybe the reflection of the creepy guy with the camera.

    Getting the last of her shots.

    Pepper trying to steal her food.

  • Dangerous Crab.

    You know those enormous dungeness crabs that are sitting in the asian supermarket seafood tanks? Tu and Tramanh decided to cook the Calder household dungeness crab for dinner. I've never had dungeness before, so this was a first.

    These suckers are huge. They're about the same diameter as the pots we have.

    Big enough to be a Pokemanz. Or an Ultimate Fighting Crab.

    Spaghetti to accompany the meal.

    FINISHING HIM

    We could only fit 2 crabs per pot. Clarified butter on the bottom.

    The placemats

    Required tooling

    Of course, random dog photos

    I like how they always sit like this.

    Putting on the finishing touches.

    Boiling really slow. We cooked these for about 25 minutes.

    Pretty dang good spaghetti

    Crab being too dangerous

    Dangerously good.

    I'm not a fan of blue crab in the least, but dungeness is large enough to make getting to the meat worthwhile. I think it took about an hour for each person to finish their crab, and some people had to just save part of their crab for later. Pretty good stuff for a random weeknight meal.