New post! :D Just updates :)

Time for my monthly post! :) It's about time now, you'd think. I know I've already attributed the lack of posts to the lack of time too many times now, so I'm just going to come clean and say it: I've been too lazy to write. Ha! Never been a big fan of writing, and there's no explosive news in my life that I would like to declare to the world, so it's just hard to find that motivation. Gonna upload some recent pics and snapshots of my life in recent times. :)

Last Saturday was Deron's sister's wedding. Never really did fancy the groom very much but since I don't predict him coming across my blog, I think I'm pretty safe about discussing my feelings towards him. Essentially, a good-for-nothing who was born in a stinking rich family, and never really amounted to very much.

Anyways, it was a beautiful wedding, and the best thing about it is that it brought a lot of Deron's family to town, so it was a party for the whole week of the wedding. Woohoo!

I was vain and got a headpiece for myself at freepeople.com for the wedding. Hehe.

Avella, the flower girl! She's Deron's niece and we like each other loads. She likes to hang out with me and her mum says she loves me. But of course. Woot!

My favorite toddler in the world, Oscar, and his dad. He's the smartest kid in the world, only 3 and he talks like a small adult. If you ask him what SCUBA stands for, he'll find the closest step to stand on (so he can look taller and more impressive), and yell out "self contained underwater breathing apparatus"! And his dad swears he only told him that one time too! Amazing memory. :)

His sister Ione and his mum Cindy! :) Cuteeee.

I asked Oscar to pose for a picture and he decided to start picking his nose to antagonize me. He's the sweetest thing, the last time we left him when we left Portland, he was wailing by the door. The cutest!

Deron and I at the vegetarian reception dinner. Everyone went home hungry and split our separate ways to get burgers and pizza after that. Ha ha.

Avella and I! She was very distracted at the wedding, so all we could get out of her was this very forced smile. Cute though! :)

Tomorrow's the 4th of July. Come to think of it, it's my first 4th of July here despite being here for sooo long ( I always am not in the country when it's July. Odd. :p) You know, I've always wonder why people always say 4th of July instead of Independence Day. Isn't it a mouthful to say the date? Anyways, gonna go watch the fireworks display. Woohoo! Prolly gonna take the bike up Mt Soledad, and watch many fireworks displays at the same time. :)))))

BTW, I managed to get reservations at the French Laundry for next month! It's only the other 3-michelin star restaurant on the whole of the west coast, if you're wondering. Hoho! I'll blog about it just like I did with Joel Robuchon. This place seems a little cheaper (250 bucks for 9 courses) but VERY snotty. It's ridiculously hard to get a reservation! You can only make reservations 2 months in advance, and if you call exactly 2 months in advance at 10am when they open, you can't get through till 1030am or so, when the receptionist will tell you the whole place is booked! For dinner and lunch! It's crazy! Finally I gave up and got Nordstrom concierge service to do it. Apparently they get so many requests for that, they set up a WHOLE TEAM dedicated to making reservations! No wonder I can't get through. Damn it. If you google how to get a reservation at french laundry on google, you get so many articles about it, it's amazing. Anyways, google French Laundry and read it up on Wikipedia. Hehe. Then envy me. Hohohoho! :P

I'll blog about it I promise. :)

Going to Vegas with the lab in a week. Happy! Research is not so great now, so it's time to bail and enjoy myself before I shoot myself in the head over research. Heh.

Psychics

Jenn just told me over lunch that she went to see a psychic when she was on Catalina Island, which got me to thinking:

Are psychics really legit? Logically, they must be, since so many of them are in business and making money right? I've always heard stories about friends of a friend of a friend who got their fortune told and it was spookingly true, but I always take it with a pinch of salt. I mean, seriously, when you hear stories of "oh my friend's sister's cousin", chances are that the story (if there even were a story in the very first place) got distorted and exaggerated along the way.

So, back to psychics.

Honestly, I think psychics stay in business not because they are awesome at telling fortunes, I think they survive because people WANT them to be true. So hope against hope, they help keep the business adrift, in the hope that they get some indication from "a higher power". I mean, when it comes down to it, there really isn't much of a difference between that faith and faith in God. Ultimately, religion and psychics persist through generations because people WANT them to exist, want them to be all-empowering and wise.

There's nothing wrong with that, I guess it's just a necessity of mankind. To be able to rely on a higher power. The comfort of it justifies it all.

louboutins

Maaaan, I wish I can get over my principle of not spending too much money on shoes... so I can get a pair of louboutins...

http://www.barneys.com/Tinazata/500724457,default,pd.html

Absolutely stunning.

Definitely going to Neiman Marcus the next time I'm at fashion valley to try it.

If I publish my manuscript before the end of this year, I will reward myself with this winner.

Hoho!

I've been so slack about my blog, I feel really bad. Been so busy though! Going to Portland next weekend for Memorial weekend. Wooohooo!

Thinkin of doing an impromptu trip in June. Really wanna go somewhere further. And exotic. I wish I could take more time off. Sigh.

Will post pictures soon. Work is going fine, just slow, but at least it's better than bad. Farmer's markets are kinda my thing now! The produce is more expensive, but the meals you get out of it feels soooo good. :)

Just made poached eggs with fresh tomato and basil jam. Woot woot!

P.S: I heart the comments from Millionaire Matchmaker. The girl cracks me up.

P.P.S: Went to a pirate party last Sat. Decided I still love jello shots, and that I am not fat. Woot woot!

You know...

You know, something is really weird. I seldom check my blog, but everytime I check it, it's when someone posts a comment! Like out of the blue I'll check my blog (like once in 2 months), and someone posted a comment on the same day! Creepy.

Okay will write more later, after I cook for Deron. Hehe!

blahblahblah!

Hi everyone!

Actually I was just checking my blog randomly. I think I haven't checked it ever since my last post! I was sooo touched by my dear friend HB who's always supporting me and reading my blog, and all the other exciting random people who leaves comments on my blog!

Things are oookay now. I have my lab meeting next Monday! In the past, whenever it's close to my turn to present, I work extra hard the week before. These days tho, every day is pretty much the same. Soooo worn out. Pfeh.

To people out there who thinks they love research and think that they want to pursue a phd, think again. I think with respect to other disciplines or jobs, research is the most unrewarding. Why, you might ask? Well, simply because you can work your arse off, you can be real smart, but ultimately, if luck is against you, it all results into nothing. Nothing.

There is no true satisfaction in research, because 90% of the time, your experiments don't work. Out of the 10% that actually works, 90% of the results are negative, and 5% are results that do not repeat. So you're left with that tiny percentage that you eventually publish, and then doubt yrself in the middle of the night: Did I do all my controls? Am I publishing the right thing?

So.

Anyways, moving onto more uplifting events.

I got a post bday bouquet from Jason and Jeff. Jeff said he was only responsible for three stalks of the bouquet cuz it was too expensive. Jason always surprises me with incredibly extravagant bouquets. I really appreciate it. Sometimes, all a girl need is flowers.

And it was double flower day, cuz I took the wrong train from L.A on the way back, and ended up sulking at Union Station for 2 hours. I was pretty much the nastiest person you can ever run into at a train station. The bouquet was so heavy I had to carry it over my shoulder like a sack of rice. And every time someone goes "Awww, those flowers are GORGEOUS!", I'll grunt and mumbled thanks. Or when someone asks "What's the occasion!" and beams at me, I just glared at them and go "nothing!". So when Deron came to pick me up, he had a bouquet of stargazers. Which was really sweet. And his first response when he saw my gi-normous bouquet was: awww, now my flowers look so sad in comparison. AWW!

My LV speedy looks puny next to the bouquet...

Anw at the end of the day, I was a happy girl. Hehe, sorry all you peeps I was rude to! A girl has her moments you know! :D

Sometimes I wish that people don't lie.

Maybe like that movie "Invention of Lying".

Maybe life would be simpler that way.

Cuz it hurts when someone dear to you lies.

You know why?

Cuz someone wise said this before: The thing about the stark truth is that everything else seems like lies.

The truth is good, only if you find it out the right way.

Not when someone is calling you at 8pm on a Friday night asking for help, and the truth tumbling out like that.

Not like that.

Joel Robuchon

So, finally I get to blah about the best meal in my life thus far. My only regret is not getting to it earlier....

When I called to make a reservation, the maitre d' asked which hotel we're staying. Turns out we get a complimentary limo ride to the VIP part of MGM Grand. Which was awesome, because I wanted to save on the cab, but in the end, Deron tipped the driver 20 bucks per way, so it worked out to be the same. -_-

I hate taking pics in the car. But was excited about my meal!

The limo dropped us in this courtyard of the VIP area, and we had a loooong walk to the restaurant. It was breathtaking tho, cuz everything was out of a fairytale. I would paste more pics of the walk, but I really want to talk about the food. Ha.

Walked into this very private restaurant adorned with fresh purple orchids, chandeliers, and crystals everywhere. It was a dream. We got the corner couch, which was spacious and awesome. I think they reserve it for the bday peeps, cuz 3 of the four bday girls got the corner couches. And there were people from all over the world. I overheard French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean. It was awesome. And all the other bday girls were so beautiful and elegant too!

Our table setting.


Me looking more excited than ever!

Part of the menu. Of course, they print the menus everyday on sparkly paper. ..... ahhh.

I couldn't resist getting the 6 course meal, which was priced at 200 bucks as a base, and I added on another 40 bucks for shaved black truffles. Heehee! Poor Deron got the three courses, and split the bill with me anyways. I told him not to pay for me this time cuz I would really feel uber bad about him paying this much. He put up a good fight, but finally conceded. Hee!

All I have to say is "wow".

They started the meal with the bread cart. There were a gazillion of breads, all baked that day in their pastry kitchen. And they were sooooo yummy! I got the saffron ball, basil ball and two brioche. Man, never had bread so delicate and yummy. Not too starchy, not too sweet, all the flavors were in harmony.

The next course was the "surprise" dish, which was black caviar on top of fresh dungeness crab. There was a certain acidity to the crab, which combined with the black caviar to give a rich seafood taste...without being too rich. I forgot to bring the booklet of our menu home, so you guys have to rely on my memory of the description of the dishes. But yes, this dish was outstanding. It was rich, yet refreshing at the same time.

Then this was followed by a cheese tart topped with shaved black truffles. The black truffles were a little sweet, and not too overpowering. Definitely not like the conventional truffle oils you get at the normal restaurants. So delicate and fragrant. And the cheese tart just melts in yr mouth. Not surprising, since the french is known for their pastries.

The second appetizer I had was the veloute of chestnut cream with foie gras and seasonal vegetables. Hands down, the best soup I've ever had. The soup, like the other dishes, was brinking on the edge of being too rich, but stopping right there at the brink. It was awesome. It was sweet, not too creamy, and the foie gras was flavorful and melts in yr mouth. Even the seasonal vegetables had different flavors of their own, so you know they were each seasoned differently.

The first entree I had was the lobster langoustine, which is the spiny lobster with daikon and cod roe. It was heavenly. The cream was just the right degree of sweetness and punch, and the lobster was lightly fried in a tempura batter. The texture of the lobster combined with the meaty taste of the daikon to give a truly intriguing play on texture. It was like nothing I've tasted in my life.

The foie gras and duck sous vide was my second entree, and it was just a solid dish. It wasn't as exciting as the first few courses, but the execution of the duck and foie gras was right on spot. It was a joy to eat.

Even the mashed potatoes was light and rich, all at the same time.

Then along came the cheese cart. All kinds of exotic cheeses from all over the world. I chose three of those, and they were delightful. The brie was stink, yet not too stinky, and extremely creamy. It was awesome.

And our dessert, which was orange jus infused with coffee, with cebayon, and ceylon tea. Served with a lemon sorbet. It had surprise little bits of meringue for a little punch, and it was great. Very light, very flavorful. Just a great ending to a heavy meal.




Finally the server came with a birthday ice cream cake! It was layers of mango mousse, and meringue (their meringue was OUTSTANDING), and ice cream. It was awesome.

Last but not least, the eclairs cart. I was too full at this point to put anything else in my mouth, but Deron got some nougat and macaroons. It was great, according to him. Heh.

And they left us packing with a box of orange/strawberry squares. Ahhhh, I was in heaven.

When I'm crazy rich next time, Imma dine here everyday. I swear. Ciao, Robuchon. Not for long though......