Best pie dish ever

I got an awesome pie dish from Judy and Jing! I was debating about waiting until Thanksgiving, but Nick wanted something sweet....so I decided to make Caresse's (well, really Linda's) sour cream apple pie!

This pie is incredible and has become a staple at our awesome Thanksgiving celebrations - we're on the 4th annual coming up in November.

I was feeling lazy, so I bought a pillsbury crust from the refrigerator section. It actually worked out perfect! I don't know if it's the pie dish or the crust, but the combinations was probably the best crust I've ever had. I seriously dislike crust - it's not good. It seems like a waste. But I couldn't get enough of this crust! Flaky and golden. We had it warm with a tall glass of milk. Sooooo good! Can't wait for Thanksgiving!

The case for not tipping

I know there are a lot of people out there who feel that all servers should be tipped. I have friends who get really riled up about the subject. In general, I guess I agree. But let me present the case for not tipping.

We went out to eat last Saturday night. Just looking for some inexpensive, delicious food to fuel us for the 5k run the following morning. I ordered my meal, some chicken teriyaki. Nick ordered his, fried rice (with chicken, no shrimp) and we went in on a few rolls. Now, we frequent this establishment and were wary when we got our waitress. This is the woman who frequently screws up - things as small as fried rice with shrimp AND chicken or just shrimp, no chicken to bringing random dishes that we never ordered and having them magically show up on our bill. She has a hard time at this job.

But whatevs. We order and sit. Nick's fried rice comes.....and we sit...then the sushi comes..and we sit....and sit.....and sit.....and then.....we ask one of the other waitresses where my meal is.....she (we assume) goes to check on it, but never says anything to us....then, the bill comes. WTF? Umm.....excuse me, but I never got my meal. You know, the chicken teriyaki. That's when I get the awkward giggle - she said nothing. Just giggled and walked away. What the heck is going on?!

So then we wait some more. No one comes out to let us know the status of said meal. Eventually, Nick gets up and goes to ask someone what is going on. And if Nick has to ask, you know it's bad news.

My meal eventually comes and I spill my miso soup all over the table. Not my night. The teriyaki was good, but I'm still a fan of Nasai - back at school, on the ave....the cheap stuff. Soooo good.

Then we wait for the bill....and wait....and then Nick goes inside because he got sick of waiting. She hands him the wrong bill. When she finally gets him the correct bill, he decides he should pay in cash....because a credit card might be too much for her this evening :-)

To be fair, they did take my meal off the bill. But still, that was terrible service in my book. Nick ended up tipping a few bucks. Mostly because he didn't want to wait for change. Will we go back? Sure, it's great food, and it's not like we go there for the impeccable service. But I'm just saying. If ever there were a case for not tipping, this would be it.

Race for a Cure

Last Sunday, Nick, Caresse, Tyler and I ran in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in SF. It was a 5k and kind of last minute. This was Caresse's first race and it was a beautiful day for a little run down Embarcadero!

Here, I am repositioning Nick's pink glare-reducing strips. I'm sure they served him well.

Caresse and I, sporting our pink glare-reducing stickers.

Post race! We all finished. And I don't want to brag, but Nick and I definitely beat out a few of the Stanford swim team kids.

Sporting some of the Ford SWAG....Nick's wearing his t-shirt on his head.

Nick, sporting his Ford SWAG. Ahh, the neckerchief, in pink. So classy.

Caresse and I. She did it!

"Barefoot" Running

Nick's gotten into barefoot running after reading Born to Run. He literally wears nothing on his feet and goes and runs outside. It's pretty crazy. For his birthday, he got the Vibram 5 fingers. It basically protects your feet from pebbles, but provides no support - so your foot muscles can get some exercise.

I won't go that far yet, but the Nike Frees are pretty similar. Give it a try. It'll be good for you :-)

"Green" beans

My officemate was out of town and graciously let Nick and I pick up her CSA. Tons of fresh fruit and veggies.

Here are the "green" beans we got. Nick called them alien tentacles. They were pretty tasty.

Happy late Birthday!

Nick's birthday was spent in Cabo (not too shabby if I do say so).

We celebrated last Friday at Red Robin. Red Robin was a middle school/high school staple for kids growing up in Issaquah. We'd head to Red Robin before going to the movie theater. I remember (often) splitting a basket of clucks and fries with friends.

Later, in college, we'd walk to the original red robin for burgers.

We were thrilled to learn that there was Red Robin in Pleasanton - just 10 minutes from our house. We've come to learn that most folks don't view Red Robin the same way we do....quite a shame!

Anyhow, we celebrated Nick's birthday with friends, burgers and fries! Then headed back to our place for some of Lisa's famous mud pie! A delicious end to a fun evening. Happy birthday (month), Nick!

Hilarious

I got this from a friend.

Unicorns? Please

So the other day I was perusing CNN. Because I do that from time to time. The title of the article was "Rare Asian 'Unicorn' Captured." The first thing that popped into my head was a picture of a my little pony - anyone? And then I thought, "oooh, and Asian unicorn, how exotic.

You can imagine my annoyance when I clicked the link and saw this. So, it looks like a goat to me. Darn you, CNN. Bait and switch I tell you! Uni = 1...this thing has 2!

Here's the article.

Blast!

The pictures really make the post. I'll repost the unicorn one tomorrow. Darn you, Blogger!

Audrina Patridge wasn't that bad

I'm not a fan of The Hills or Dancing with the Stars.....but I am a fan of reality TV and watching "stars" try and dance on national TV.

Audrina Patridge didn't do awesome, but I was expecting her to be AWFUL. So she actually exceeded my expectations.

Probably won't tune in to see how she does. Instead, I'll watch it on hulu or just search for the video on youtube. But still, it will be interesting to see if she improves. She has a decent amount of rhythm.

Taking pictures at night

I posted a some pics of Cabo at night a few days ago.

Here are a few other night shots I've taken and what I've learned about taking night shots using a simple point and shoot.

1. Find the exposure setting - you'll probably need to be in manual mode.

2. The standard exposure setting is -2 to +2, but you can go as high as 15 on my camera. If you have a fancier camera, you can play with the f stop....but mine isn't fancy enough, so all I can do is play with the shutter speed. I just play with it until the picture looks good.

3. The best tip - use a tripod and set the shutter on a 2 second timer. The shutter is open for so long that any shaking will make the picture blury.

BTW - I just learned that my camera has a fireworks setting. That's fun.

Shoes

So I like shoes. Good thing Nick's into shoes as well :-)

Saw these shoes one day while wandering around Nordstrom.

More than I'd currently spend on shoes - although designer. I was really digging the fabric flowers on the strap. However, there is no way these shoes would make it down an aisle of sand. And I don't do well in heels. Strike 2.

Then I got the J Crew catalogue and found some fun little flip flops. They were around $25....and for some reason I was feeling cheap. So I didn't buy them. I got this brilliant idea that I could make them.

So I bought some Old Navy flip flops ($2.50) that happened to match the dress quite nicely. Then I bought a 2nd pair because Mochi broke the first ($2.50). Then I bought some fabric, needle and thread and some fray-check ($10).

Then I spent half of Sunday making all sorts of different sized fabric flowers until I made some that worked well. I even used scraps from the dress.....because I had about 10 ft of extra fabric.

Here's the result. Nick said, "it classes up the old navy flip flops." That should do.

Oatmeal Cookies

The guys at work requested some oatmeal raisin cookies. I hate raisins. I find them to be a waste of a perfectly good fruit. If you can't finish your grapes, make wine. That's what I think.

Well, Stace wanted to bake....so we baked some cookies. Don't worry, only 1/3 had raisins. I put chocolate chips in 1/3 and chocolate/butterscotch in 1/3 (Nick's request).

We followed the America's test kitchen recipe (except I added the chocolate and butterscotch). They were a little too crispy for my liking, but served the purpose.

Cabo at night

I've recently started playing with the settings on my camera to take better night pictures.

Here are a few from Cabo.

McDonalds

I have a fascination with McDonalds in foreign countries. The same but different. The arches are familiar, but there are often subtleties that make it fun and interesting.

Nothing "new" at this one, but I do like the direct translation of a McChicken sandwich. It's a McPollo - and for those non Spanish speakers, it is NOT pronounced Polo, it is pronounces "Poy-o" (where Poy sounds like Boy but with a P).

Tortugas

I've always wanted to release baby turtles back into the ocean. Sadly, it didn't happen. BUT, I was pleased to see the Hilton los Cabos doing their part to help the turtles.

They have a turtle egg incubation area. They protect the turtles with a super secure wooden fence and a canopy to make sure the birds don't eat the eggs.

They have thousands of eggs that should start hatching tomorrow....just a few days too late.

Heaven in a bottle

We're in Mexico, shopping at the grocery store.

We walk down the sauce(?) aisle and I see this massive display of hot sauce. Our friend, Sterling, is totally into hot sauce, recently finishing a gallon size bottle (I might be exaggerating). So of course I had to snap this picture of a wall full of hot sauce!

His wife, Lisa, is really into ketchup. She puts it on everything. Once, at a BBQ, we almost ran out and I was nervous for her. So of course, I had to snap a photo of the ketchup wall.

And then, because I'm Asian, I took a picture of the soy sauce display. I've been on my same bottle for almost a year....but it seemed like the thing to do at the time.

Please

I actually titled this photo, "Carry your own bags, woman."

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the dude is carrying 2 bags, 1 in either hand and his backpack. the girl has her tiny little purse.

So here's the deal. If there are 3 bags, the guy should probably carry 2 - at they very least, so he doesn't look like an ass. But if the guy is carrying all 3...you sort of feel sorry for the guy....that he's stuck with such a needy girlfriend that can't carry any of her stuff.

Am I reading to much into this? Absolutely. But this was my initial reaction. So of course I pulled out my camera and snapped a photo for the blog. Duh! Nick was embarrassed that I would be caught, so he reminded me to turn the flash off. Already on top of it, N-ler.

Goodness, I sound so mean and judge-y. I'm really not, I just say stuff that most people only think.

Don't be concerned

For anyone concerned that I have gone political or a little too opinionated, don't worry. Rainbows and unicorns will follow.

I just go on a little rant every few months.

oh weddings

So Nick and I are trying to find someone to perform our wedding ceremony. We were in Cabo this weekend and met with one guy that is a definite No-Go.

I (embarrassingly) visit a destination wedding forum for people planning weddings in, among other places, Cabo. I did a search for "Cabo officiant." A lovely girl posted about her experience with Haven Boggs.

http://www.weddinghaven.us/cabo.html

From his website, I'd assume he performs weddings in Cabo. Most of the officiants in Cabo will do non-denominational or non-religious weddings. So I sent him and email:

Hi Haven,

We are getting married on blah blah blah blah. I was wondering if you had availability and am also wondering if you perform non religious ceremonies.

Thanks!

Bryn

Here is his response - you can't make this up!

Thank you for your request.
The answers are no and no.
I do not do non-religious weddings.
I am in the Houston area working at CPS as a family counselor.
God invented marriage. And God is love. My prayer for you two is that you love each other and you will find a way to put God's love at the center of your lives.

In so doing you can avoid numerous problems.

In Christ,
Harold Boggs
281-979-0996

I have a number of things I'd like to say to Mr. Boggs, but will refrain. And a quick shout out for working for CPS - I can be onboard with public service.......But, here are some of my issues:

1. Girl on the forum that recommended Boggs, didn't read the topic. LOCAL Officiants. Hello?! The guy lives in Houston.

2. A simple no and no would suffice. If he had left out the last 3 lines, he'd have never made it to brynashley.blogspot.com

3. Let's break this down a bit, shall we?

"God invented marriage." False - Marriage (or the idea of marriage) existed long before humans invented monotheism. Anthropologically, it's all about staking claim to offspring. "That kid is mine." Later, it was more like a business agreement between 2 families and oh by the way, the kids are getting married to seal the deal. There's the argument that all societies have "invented" their own form of marriage - suggesting that some higher power might be at work. I'm just saying that it's awfully bold to say that "God invented marriage."

"God is love." Sorta. I totally get where he's coming on this - a lot of good has been done in god's name. But I would also argue that a lot of bad has been done in his name as well (ironically, I got this note on 9/11).

"My prayer for you two is that you love each other..." check....oh, you're not done...

"...and you will find a way to put God's love at the center of your lives." There's love at the center of our lives. May or may not be god's.

"In so doing you can avoid numerous problems." Plenty of Christians get divorced (I'm assuming he is talking about divorce and not hell....which I'm sure he believes I will be visiting). I'm not saying we're perfect, but we do pretty well.

I have absolutely NO problem with people wanting to include god in their marriage. I've been to weddings with lots of prayers and hymns and have enjoyed every single one. I'm just saying, it doesn't happen to be what we are going for and this guy went a little too far. A little "judge-y" if you will.

Wonder how he feels about gay marriage. I should have told him I was a lesbian.

The tooth fairy

Neighbor lost another tooth.

I asked her about the tooth fairy.

Here are the facts:

1. Tooth fairy is a girl, duh

2. She leaves fairy dust (aka glitter)

3. She makes a little jingling sound when she's coming

4. If you open your eyes and see her, she won't leave you anything

5. Just like santa

6. $0.25 is still a lot to a 5 year old.

Poor Mochi

Stacey positioned mochi on the couch so he looked like he was sitting and watching TV. He was not amused.

Happy Birthday, N-ler

We're in Cabo....but today is Nick's birthday. He turns something under 30 (but not for long, he he).

He always says "possessions are fleeting" - so he's the most difficult person to buy something for.

But hey, what can I say....I love that kid.

Happy Birthday, N.

Burn!

No, not that burn (as in, to make fun of someone).

No, I actually burned my hand. While making pizza in the 450 degree oven.

It's the same color as my nail polish.

It hurt for a little while, now it's just ugly. I burned my hand once before in high school. Same hand. My left hand could still be a hand model, but my right hand is done for. The nails on my left hand are better too....so it all works out.

Pizza pizza!

While Stace was in town, we also made some pizza!

Here's Nick's - alfredo, garlic chicken. Delicious!

And our creation - feta, tomato, artichoke hears and a little fig balsamic vinegar.

Running another half

Technically, I've now run a full marathon - it just took 2 separate races.

Lisa and I headed to SoCal for the Disneyland half marathon. It was Lisa's first and my second.

We left Friday morning, Mochi was so excited, he wanted to join in the fun. Pretty sure his little legs wouldn't get him through 13.1 miles.

We stayed with some friends at the Grand Californian! This was an awesome place to stay and I highly recommend it to anyone headed to Disneyland.

We checked in for the race, and found a few little glitches.

To start off, I was #13996 out of 14000. Low numbers = fast runners, high numbers = slow runners. I'm not saying I'm a Kenyan, I'm just saying I'm faster than 4 people. I'm sure it was a mistake, and they did move me to the correct corral once I could provide proof of time from a previous race.

Then, we realized they thought I was a male. See the little "M" under my age? See the "F" under Lisa's? Yeah. Oh well. I should really be use to it by now.

We got our stuff ready the night before, because the last thing you want is to be searching for safety pins at 4AM.

Here we are before we left for the start. Me, Julia, Lisa and Cindy.

And after. We all finished!

So here are my thoughts on the race:

the bad

1. 13.1 miles

2. Boring scenery from about miles 4-9, consequently wondering why I was doing this again

3. Getting passed by a speed walker and a grandma

4. No hills (yeah, going up hill sucks, but going downhill makes up for it)

5. Not being as fast as I wanted

the good

1. Finishing

2. Knocking off some time from last year

3. Getting to run through Disneyland before it's open to the public

4. Getting to run through Angel's stadium

5. Not hurting as much as last year

6. Beating out over 50% of my age group - men aged 25-29. Embarrassing! (Women were actually better overall in this age group....but I'll take what I can get).

I want to get faster. I'm really slow. I seem to be a decent sprinter (gauged entirely by my ability to leg out grounders on my way to first). The long distances just do me in. I'm thinking 10k might be an ideal length. Anyhow, if you have a tip on getting better at running long distances, let me know.