The Click Heard Round the World

Beyond Buffets: Less is More

Here's a picture of a typical buffet spread at my family's gatherings.

For most of my life, I've loved a good buffet meal.  The idea of endless choices of dishes and heaping plates of food has been a fantasy of mine.  

A lot of this comes from my family, who throw lavish potluck meals for the most minor of occasions -- birthdays, baptisms, graduations, etc.  For Filipinos, it would be shameful to throw a party without tables groaning under the weight of all the food, and everyone eating until they are stuffed. Not only that, everyone also has to go home with plates of leftovers or the party will be deemed a failure.

In college, I loved nothing more than a cheap all-you-can eat meal.  I would have dreams about eating and eating but never getting full.   

As I've gotten older and more sophisticated about food, I've found overindulging to be less and less enjoyable. The feeling of being completely stuffed doesn't have that same allure as it used to. Since I've become more active (biking, dancing, running, etc), feeling completely incapacitated after a meal means that I can't do these other activities that I enjoy.  

Cute Overload: Bali the Doberman Puppy Enjoys Weed (pic)

Yesterday my sister's doberman puppy Bali got his first exposure to actual dirt, grass and weeds yesterday, at at my cousin Ryan's house in Vallejo.  Once he discovered a bit of nature, Bali wanted nothing to do with concrete or the indoors.  Who can blame him?  It's fun to roll around in the dirt!

Bali has such a beautiful grey coat that I've never seen on a doberman before.  And he's got these piercing blue-green eyes that probably will darken as he gets older.  Dobermans are pretty big dogs, so this cute puppy phase is going to fly by, I think.  

So gotta log that puppy playtime while I can!

Celebrating Reena and Blake's Nuptials in Gangnam Style!

This Saturday, I had the pleasure of being a part of the wonderful wedding of my cousin Reena and her new husband Blake in Rodeo and Benicia, California.  It was a great opportunity for the extended family to come together and celebrate their love in true Filipino-American fashion -- with lots of food, drink, and dancing from the afternoon into the evening. (BONUS: No karaoke!)

The Joys and Pitfalls of Sobriety in a Drinking Culture

Here's my sister and her boyfriend drinking shots at Mua in Oakland, with the third shot meant for me sitting on the table untouched.  We are all celebrating our respective birthdays.

I haven't had a full glass of any kind of alcohol for many, many years.  I wish I could say it's because of my values or morals, but really it's just biology.  I'm allergic to most forms of alcohol.  I flush red, get a headache, and then get clumsy and sleepy.  That's about it.

For the most part, I don't miss drinking. 

Thankful

About a year ago, I moved to the Bay Area from New York, with some fairly ill-defined goals --- more of what Quakers call a "leading," rather than any kind of concrete plan.  I knew that I wanted to be closer to my family.  I felt like it was time for some kind of big shift in my career.  I wanted to expand my dancing into new areas.  That was about it.

So I said goodbye to my dear friends in New York, packed up my worldy belongings, put the cat in my carry-on, and headed west.

It has been a challenging twelve months, with several disappointments, false starts, and course corrections along the way.  I've had a number of times when I've doubted if this was the right move. So it's really only now, a little over a year later, that I'm starting to feel like that leading was the right one to follow, and that I was meant to be here.

I've got a new job (along with two other great consulting gigs), a lovely girlfriend, a swell apartment in Oakland, a fun dance crew I'm part of, my awesome family nearby, several Quaker Meetings around, and a friendly and active lindy hop scene.  Really, I've got all that I could want, and more.

So right now I'm just awash in thankfulness for all of it.

Golden Gate Park "Dim Sum Run" by the Net Zero Running Squad

Yesterday, I went running with some family and friends in Golden Gate Park on a gorgeous Saturday morning. It was one of those days that make you grateful that you live in the Bay Area.  We did a medium-difficult four mile run through the park, starting and ending at 30th Avenue and JFK.  

Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves with a delicious and super-cheap dim sum feast at Shanghai Dumpling on Balboa.  The highlight of the meal were the crab and pork soup dumplings, pictured to the right.  So tasty and fun to eat. We ordered boatloads of dumplings and still ended up paying under $10 a person! 

Probably not the healthiest thing to consume after a run. We were joking that any gains we got from running were quickly evened out by the terrible things we ate afterwards.  Which is how we came up with the name of our running group: "The Net Zero Running Squad."

Can't wait for our next Net Zero run and brunch!

A New Year's Eve Fun Run to the Golden Gate Bridge

For the last day of the year, my cousins had the brilliant idea to do a casual, 5 mile "fun run" from Crissy Field to the Golden Gate Bridge and back. It was a gorgeous Bay Area winter morning, in the mid-50s, sunny, windless and clear.  Folks were out jogging, biking, walking their dogs and taking pictures.  A perfect running day.

The run itself was mostly on packed dirt, passing by beautiful views of the city and the Bay.  I hardly noticed the effort as we chatted and admired the scenery on the way.  Before I knew I, was at the foot of the bridge, touching "Hoppers Hands."

After the jump is a 3D flyover of our route, if you'd like to do it yourself, either as a stroll, a bike or a run...

Christmas 2011 with the Santos Clan

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday, full of loved ones and yummy food.  The Santos clan gathered at the home of my Auntie Gloria and Uncle Andy in Hercules, CA.  It was a good crowd of about 30-some folks, each of them bringing boatloads of food and drink to the affair.  That's lasagna, beef with broccoli, potato au gratin, shrimp, corn pudding, pancit palabok noodles, fried dili fish, salsa and salmon on the table.  Not pictured is the roast beef, ham, sotanhon soup, and chicken curry.  

Did I mention dessert? My cousin Rafael of course always does an amazing job making desserts.  This year he made these delicious red velvet cake lollipops that he placed on a little Christmas tree. Almost too good to eat... but of course I ate about four of them.

We also had several cheesecakes, various cookies, rice crispy treats, pie, and desserts that I've already forgotten.

My Vegas Trip: A Casino Wedding, Jabbawockeez and All Manner of Excess

I just got back last night from a fantastic little trip to Las Vegas with the family.  Definitely my best trip there ever. The excuse occasion was the wedding of my cousin Emily to her long-time boyfriend Sean, which was being held at the Luxor Casino Hotel on the strip. As soon as mom and I found out about it, we were both super excited to go.  Apparently much of the rest of our family was also excited, because we all started booking hotels and flights immediately.

Here's me with my mom waiting to get on our flight from Oakland.

Here's a quick photo tour of my trip...

My Sis and I as Disco Robots (video)

Here's a fun little video of my sister Cori and I playing around in this Svedka Vodka photo booth thingee they set up at Club Mezzanine last Friday. You can see the original video on the Svedka site (for as long as they keep it up.)

We happened to be there with our cousin Reena to catch the amazing "Foreverland" Michael Jackson tribute band.  By the way, if you get a chance to catch this 14-piece band perform, go for it. They are one of the best party bands I've ever seen. And I'm kind of in love with their Janet Jackson singer.

At the Mezzanine, this young woman from Svedka vodka kept pestering Cori to go into the booth.  After about the fourth time asking, Cori relented, dragged me along, and hilarity ensued.  Now Cori really wants one of these animated photo booths for her next party!

Pics of us also viewable here.  Good times, good times.