It's another Cabo Wabo Xmas for the Cayco family! This year, the de Joyas & Chuidians were joined by Miko, Bea, and Monica. Yep, it was a full(er) house this year!
As usual, everyone gathered on Christmas Eve for a Filipino dinner at Tita Yeyet & Tito Pepeng's house.
Save some for the rest of us, Isa!
Christmas Dinner was held at Chris and Erica's place. Keeping our tradition from last year, the "kids" made the Christmas dinner. Everyone was in charge of their own dishes, but we all chipped in to help each other with the prep work in the morning.
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It was another wonderful Christmas filled with Food, Family, and FUUUNNN! For more pics, click HERE to see the album.
We had our annual Xmas tree ornament-making party, and boy oh boy did our friends deliver this year! Here's a creepy christmas poem, music and words by Russell, and read by a friend.
Russell, Corser, and I took a roadtrip from October 27 through November 2 up the Pacific Northwest to visit his parents in Walla Walla, Washington. The route took us through Bend, Oregon, then Walla Walla, WA, then off to Portland, OR for a few days, then back down through Ashland, OR to California.
Our friends from Ukulele Underground Aldrine Guerrero, Ryan Esaki, and Aaron Nakamura were in the Bay Area to play a show on September 24th, the day before Russell's birthday. Russell was also one of the opening acts, and he recruited his pal Grumpy Coyote to join him onstage for a few songs. What a great birthday gift!
Aldrine puts on an amazing show. Thanks for the opportunity, Aldy!
I made some Hoddeok today.Hoddeok is a sweet Korean pan-friend pancake stuffed with sugar, nuts, and spices. There's a version with cheese too, which I gotta try.
I made this one from a package kit from the Korean grocery, which had green tea in the flour. The package kit is just easier because everything's pre-measured. Next time I'll try it on my own, just like Maangchi teaches HERE.
Isa, Jay, and Marley-dog drove up from SoCal to spend the July 4th weekend up north. They spent Friday night in Elk Grove with the Chuidian family (and had a Filipino food feast courtesy of Tita Yeyet, from what I heard!), and drove to San Francisco to spend the rest of the 3-day weekend with us! We had a small backyard grillfest with some old friends who have just moved back to San Francisco. The sun came out for a second, just enough to warm us up before the afternoon fog blew in. Well, that's Ocean Beach living for you!
It was one of those ultra-rare days when the sun is actually shining in our usually fog-bound Outer Sunset District neighborhood. So we just had to drop everything and take advantage by having a backyard barbecue brunch cookout with Justa and Drew. And what would brunch be without bottomless bloody marys?
The weather was rather warm for Corser's taste, so he started acting like a dog (for once) and dug himself a cool little nest in the shady sandy soil.
For more mouthwatering pictures of our barbecue, click HERE.
We escaped to Kauai for 6 days in May. And it's a true "escape", complete with secluded beaches, small-town life, and empty wide open roads stretching out into the sky before you. Our hotel, the Aston Islander on the Beach, was on the border of the towns of Waipouli & Kapaa, which is on the East Shore, halfway between the North and the South coasts (the Western side of the island isn't very navigable). This central location made it easy for us to travel easily to various beaches & destinations. Our hotel was also a few minutes drive to the town of Kapaa, where a few of our friends were born, raised, and still live.
Some highlights: -- Making our way through many of Kauai's beaches on the North, East, and South shores. A few were pretty popular, most were almost deserted. The surf, weather, and terrain varied from beach to beach, and some were more suited to swimming, snorkeling, or just lying out on the beach away from the waves. -- Watching our pal Aldrine ROCK a live show (that links to another performance a few months ago, but so what, he's frickin amazing) -- Chowing down on the BEST coconut manju, seafood poke, saimin noodles, and shave ice (yes, we are NOW Hawaiian Blizzard shave ice believers!) thanks to our friends' advice -- Learning the intricacies of local pidgin language (examples: Never using the word "are", Saying "slippahs" instead of "flip flops", and Heavy utilization of sound effects) -- Wending our way through Waimea Canyon -- Ziplining through gorges in the rain
Click HERE for our pictures. Warning: there are a LOT! We'll be posting videos soon too.
We had a blast hanging out with our Kauai buddies, checking out the sights, and soaking up the sun (in between the rain) while laying on the 3rd or 4th beach of the day. Thank you so much to Ryan & Emmi, Aldrine, and Aaron for being such great hosts during our visit!
I've never really posted anything work-related on this blog, but I couldn't pass this one up. It's kind of a big deal. After over a year of preparation and months of nonstop work, we were proud to present the 35th Anniversary Gala and Fundraiser for RAMS, which has been my place of work for just over 10 years now. The event (more details HERE) was a huge success, raising us much-needed money but also building closer ties to our community, as well as establishing relationships with funders, media, and other businesses & organizations. In conjunction with our anniversary and Asian Pacific American month, RAMS was also instrumental in establishing May 10 as the Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day in San Francisco and California, starting this year and every year thereafter.
Yes, these are all significant milestones for the Asian Pacific American community and for the field of mental health. But for me, the BIGGEST deal was... finally meeting Pamela Ling & her husband Judd Winnick from MTVs The Real World San Francisco (Season 3). OMG. They totally win the Cutest Couple award in my book. A couple coworkers and I took our other celebrity guests Chloe Dao (winner of Project Runway) & her mom, Hung Huynh (winner of Top Chef), and Victor & Tammy Jih (winners of Amazing Race), together with Pamela & Judd, out to dinner on the evening prior to our fundraiser event. Here's proof: Thank you SO much to all of our friends and family who supported the RAMS fundraiser efforts! I sooooo appreciate it!
For my 35th birthday, Russell treated me & our close friends to food, drinks, and karaoke at The Spot Lounge. It's one block away from our house, which is a very good (and sometimes a bad) thing for us because it's too darn easy to stumble home from. That's me & big bro Roland on the mic. For more embarassing pictures of the shameless debauchery, click HERE. A HUGE THANK YOU to Russell for such a memorable 35th birthday celebration! You are officially the Best Husband Ever!
We took our little domestic terrorist to unleash his wrath on the unsuspecting denizens of Carmel for the weekend. The 3 of us stayed at the Adobe Inn, checked out "Yappy Hour" at the Cypress Inn, and had dinner at The Forge In the Forest (which offers a doggy menu).
Corser makes his mark on Carmel.
Carmel-by-the-sea has a reputation for being one of the country's most dog-friendly places to visit. And it's true: there are doggies walking around everywhere with their people, being welcomed into stores and cafes and inns, getting ooh'd and aah'd and coo-coo'd over by puppy-loving passers-by. It was apparent that the pooches strolling about the town LOVED the attention, sitting and heeling like Good Dogs, wagging their cute little tails while getting their heads petted and ears scratched. And as usual, Corser had his fair share of admirers, people asking how old our puppy is, or reaching to pet him, or bending down to make their acquaintance with His Royal Highness.
The light you see in his eyes? That's pure unadulterated EVIL.
The problem with taking Corser to a dog-friendly town, it turned out, is that Corser is not a dog-friendly dog. He snapped at the server, argued loudly with the restaurant manager, and rebuffed the sweet shop owner who tried to ply him with sausage treats. We offered our apologies and received stinkeye in return. Yet, we love him just the same.
Russell, Corser, and I spent a weekend in Tahoe with some old friends. We used to go on snowboarding trips with these folks ALL the time, and haven't done so in the past few years. Mostly because everyone's got KIDS now! Well, we've got a little guy of our own too. We took him out to the snow park with all the kiddies, and he was a very good boy. Click HERE for the pics.
Russell's Aunt Lorna invited us and a bunch of other Gong family cousins to her house for dinner. She is going to teach me how to make her famous Sticky Rice! I was taking pictures, but unfortunately my camera's batteries ran out of charge about halfway through, so I didn't get to capture the final presentation of the rice, which was last to come out. Throughout the night, plate after plate of food came out of the kitchen, a seemingly endless parade of freshly and expertly prepared dishes. What a feast, Aunt Lorna!
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