This morning on NPR, they had a clip on the shortfalls of American work benefits in comparson to other countries. It's well known that Americans take the the least amount of vacations and are generally given less paid time off than elsewhere. Few full-time employees call in sick more than two days in a row. And even more interesting are those on maternity leave, who decide to come back to the job early. Baby? Hand it over to the grandparents or the nanny.
But who takes care of us in the arena of relationships and heartache? Ever find yourself in a puddle of mush beside the bed because the love of your life is on to greener pastures? A Japanese cosmetic company is offering its employees paid time off after a breakup. One day off is granted for those under 25 years old. Three days are granted for those over 30 years old. The belief is that relationships and breakups become more difficult as you age. The sign of an aging heart. Wonder what they give the 40 year olds...a new porsche?
Nick's birthday is next month and I've been trying to find something fun for us to do. He wants dinner at his favorite sushi spot in Berkeley and then after that I'm pretty much out of ideas.
But thank goodness for concert emails because I just bought tickets to Video Games Live for the week of his birthday. A full symphony and choir perform musical arrangements from popular videos games alongside video footage and lighting.
Wonder if I should go as a favorite video game character?
I was doing research on the StumbleUpon site, when I actually came across something interesting in their list of popular websites. It was a photo of..*gasp*..does that say 'bacon'? Bacon oil? Essence of bacon??
No. Bacon. Vodka.
It's quite brilliant and delicious sounding.
My new piano teacher is great. Definitely not as old as the teacher I had growing up, but I prefer youth and vigor over old and seasoned. It's great to be taking lessons again. It gives me something else to focus on outside of work, which we all know I need a bit of. I never expected to be this pleased with it since childhood memories were mostly of my mother nagging at me to practice. Tonight I even passed up drinks with friends to practice a little Bach and Beethoven. Yes drinks! I think that's good progress for this week.
I spent Saturday afternoon slicing food into tiny morsels and trying not to slouch in my seat. I felt like a kid sitting at the grown-up table wondering when I could run out to play. After years of reading and hearing about the acclaimed French Laundry, I finally had the opportunity to dine there. The NYTimes once wrote, "...this discreet restaurant regularly ranks as one of, if not the, best restaurant in the world", and Anthony Bourdain of 'Kitchen Confidential' describes the experience as nothing less than phenomenal, "My knees were shaking going to meet Thomas Keller, going to eat in that restaurant [The French Laundry]. I felt like I was going to the prom, like a kid in a powder blue tux sweating through my fluffy shirt. It's hero worship and wonder..."
My experience however was well, underwhelming to say the least. Admittedly friends had warned that this would be the case as their experiences were just so-so. The atmosphere was too stuffy, brought on by the other patrons and not necessarily the suited wait staff who seemed to enjoy the joking and smiles that came from our end of the room. Laugh too loudly however and we'd elicit frosty stares from the tables nearby.
The appetizers and desserts were delicious but the small plates and main entrees weren't memorable at all. My favorite was the foie gras, served as a cold mousse with toasted brioche, truffle creme and orange glaze. The log of foie gras was huge and we were continually brought warm brioche until we were wiping down the plates with toast.
The panacotta and caviar took a few bites to warm up to, but the combination of flavors in the end were wonderful. My small plate of bluefin tuna was very ordinary. As were the lobster mitts with pomegranate seeds in a curry reduction sauce. The duck came out too firm for everyone at the table. Bleh. The lamb was soft and tender, raised on a special diet by a small farm in Virginia. The special diet supposedly cleaned the gamy flavor out of the meat. Though I kind of feel like something's lost when lamb doesn't have a bit of gaminess to it.
Overall I was disappointed by the food, especially because it came with such a hefty price tag and a two month advance reservation. $350 to be exact. But the meal ended sweetly enough with a second dessert of truffled chocolates, verona and caramel covered macadamia nuts, marscapone pineapple cakes, creme brulee and lemon custard.
My friends Melinda and Adam are seven months pregnant. They spent the last three weekends painting their new house in preparation for Saturday's baby shower. Set in the late afternoon with no end time on the invitation, most of us still expected to be out of there by 7pm. Should have known better.
I've never actually been to a baby shower party. They had a wall of catered food, the entire kitchen filled with booze, family was mingling with friends, and the little ones were running wild in the corner with balloons. There must have been seventy people at the house. Insane. They planned on playing co-ed games but it was too loud to get anyone's attention. All in all a good time and I met up with a lot of old friends. Many of whom now have kids or are in the process of having kids.
Photo: Yunice's daughter (a twin no less) getting at the beer with her teeth. Sorry sweetie, I can't allow underage drinking. Only Abe got to do that.
Vacations start out slowly but end much too quickly. After just two weeks in China, I'm back at work catching up on emails and fighting through the never ending cycle of meetings. I was amazed to find myself in the same mental and physical state riding bart home as when I was leaving for vacation. Tired, hungry, and a bit sad to be departing.
With just a few days in Shanghai under my belt, I decided that I wouldn't come back to China. It was full of smog, rude people, and the food wasn't any better than here in the states. Perhaps it was my jetlag that made me respond quickly because by the end of the trip I didn't want to leave. We spent three days in Shanghai walking through Huangpu, the French Concession and Pudong districts. Each area has it's only unique architecture and class of people.
We took a bullet train south to Hangzhou where I spent four days including New Year's walking around the lake and drinking Chinese beer. The people were really friendly and the food was amazing. And so cheap. I tried real Szechuan chili peppers for the first time. It leaves a tingling sensation all over your mouth, including that burning feeling in the pit of your stomach. Delish. We rode a gondola to the top of the hills where you could see miles of tea fields dotted by the pagodas of Lingyin temple.
New Year's eve was pretty uneventful as the Chinese don't celebrate it like we do way. It's all about Chinese New Year in Asia. They are really into Christmas however. Santa and Christmas tree decorations were up everywhere and eight days into the New Year, the decorations still hadn't come down. Nick and I drank bad champagne in our hostel and did the countdown at an expat bar downtown. It was smoky and filled with techno tunes, but I woke up not hungover. Pretty good start to a new year!
We took a cross-country train from Hangzhou to Xian on New Year's day. It's a 24 hour train ride where we had to share bunks with four other people. I was about to rollover and die when the old men started snoring and the faint odor of feet permeated into the car. Once we upgraded to private sleeper bunks, it turned out to be well worth the long ride. The countryside is beautiful and changes quickly once you get into central China. Xian is a really fun and easy city to navigate. I'd love to go back and spend more time there, as well as explore more of the Shaanxi province. The Terracotta Warriors in Xian were one of the best parts of the trip. It's a sight to see and these pictures don't do it justice. The rest of my photos are up on Flickr if you want to see more of me eating yummy food.
