whine up

ok - so i forgot to post this from friday - pretend it's 4 days ago...

my goal is to write at least twice a week. vs the twice a month i was doing before. so it's finally time for Spammo's Bachelor party! and i get to go! i love it. can't wait. i'm flying at 4 today for oakland, and Charles is picking me up. i haven't caught up with him in ages, so i really really can't wait. we're driving over to reno (or tahoe i actually don't know) and hanging out there for the weekend. sunday night i'm having dinner with Kurt, the FCE for the area. and monday we're spending the day with dr. pai, who judy and i had dinner with a month or so back.

last night i accompanied JD on a customer dinner with some UK docs. i must admit, i was sooo tired and out of it. i had no idea what conversations were going on. i spent most of my time chatting with the doc sitting next to me. a lovely old chap. who loves america. i mean, REALLY loves america. wouldn't stop talking about how he loves the bay area (ok, so he does have good taste), tuscon (how RANDOM is that), colorado, new mexico, etc. etc. i thought maybe he was talking about those places because there was nothing else to talk about. so i switched the conversation to something more interesting like AF. nope, still talking about america. and how much he loves it. and how since he has 30 days of holiday he should spend it elsewhere in the world but he always comes to america cause he loves it so much. it's just something "very special" haha. cute old man.

the food was good. ok. nothing like kitana. this place was called koi. i usually enjoy japanese food but their vegetarian option was grilled tofu with some veggies. not very exciting. i miss wan's crazy rolls with custom made appetizers. in fact, let me talk about 1 dish wan made. forget koi. he made this roll - first of all, he rolled it in cucumber. which was so fresh and so....SUMMER. inside he rolled green bean tempura, grilled asparagus, cream cheese, a touch of spice, avocado, and some sort of crunchy thing. amazing. then, as the garnish for this dish (he's huge on presentation), he made 2 things - one was these crispy won ton rolls with asparagus, cream cheese (all melty) and a huge chunk of jalapeno. went really well with the rolls. for the other garnish he made a bunch of grilled veggies, and held it together with a little bit of seaweed. and put some amazing sauce on it. some citrus jalapeno sauce. that was ONE dish. can you imagine how many others he makes? i've never had the same thing twice yet. point being, koi was just ok for me.

we didn't leave koi until about 11. i promised shankar i would go to his birthday party in aguora hills. it's the exit you take for zuma beach, so it's a hike. this place is called canyon club, and it's basically a big barn in the middle of nowhere. i get there, and the bouncer dude just lets me in. thank goodness i didn't have to wait in line. it was freezing outside. inside they were playing hip hop, and after a few minutes the 80s cover band came out. they were actually GOOD. i don't usually enjoy 80s, but i must admit, they were quite entertaining. i don't know what was going on tho - kept getting hit on. and these guys wouldn't go away. they would just keep hanging around, staring at me. ick. i'm sure they're nice guys, but they were being creepy. maybe they're just shy, who knows. but hanging around for 2 hours is just a little too much. funniest part of the night? this guy Ali who went danced next to me for awhile. staring guy #1 looked at staring guy #2. they chatted amongst themselves, and finally #2 goes up to Ali and says, "is that your girlfriend?" he says no, but they're gay, pointing at me and Lindsey. the guy's look on his face was priceless (i think he's a little conservative). so L gives me a hug and looks at the guy and says, "she's mine." hilarious. they figured it out a few minutes later that we were not in fact gay and resumed their roles as staring guy #1 and staring guy #2. staring guy #3 looked like he was 12. i swear - the people in this place looked like they needed to be carded for a rated r movie let alone alky. guy #4 was - i kid you not - at least 6'8" if not taller. he was the tallest man i had ever seen in real life, save Shaq when i went to a lakers game. it was like talking to the jolly green giant.

anyway, had a good time. today i'm off to tahoe!