tsunami

Apparently the tsunami made its way to the bay area on Friday morning. Here's a little video of it coming in. (Tak's family members in Japan are all safe, for those of you who've been wondering.)

The Commute

Things I like about BART:

• Its map is like a rainbow.
• It is way better than driving in rush hour.
• It provides good people-watching opportunities.
• It mostly comes at its scheduled times (knock on wood).

Things I don't like about BART:

• It's pretty nast-tastic (but I still take a seat when I can get one).
• [I know you can't really have just one bullet point. And there are obviously other less-than-super-cool things about BART. But the sick-factor is pretty much number one.]
  

¡Enchiladas!

Last weekend we embarked on another cooking adventure with our friends Jeff and Manisha. This time we made enchiladas!

We chopped and sauteed many fine ingredients, a la Tak's super-special assemblage of tasty recipes.

Jeff and I sprinkled (spritzed?) and toasted the tortillas to prevent them from cracking in the oven. Success!

And Manisha carfully prepared the cheeses (plural, I know, mmm).

OK, can I just take a moment for how pretty this little table setting is? Thank you, Crate & Barrel Outlet! And another moment for the pink deliciousness provided by our bartender (Tak).

The Happy Feast!

Tak has also been making lots of delicious breads lately, which I've done a poor job of documenting. Alas ...

Lunchtime adventure

Today I hiked up to Grand View Park during my lunch break. And, boy, were the views grand.

Coach Benjy

Last week, Robyn, Cat, Tak & I went to see Benjy coach the Albany Cougars at Cougar Field in the semi finals against the Cougars from some town over the hills. It cost $9 each (for HS soccer! craziness!), so we watched from the parking lot. Luckily we had coffee, burritos and blankets to keep us warm.

We were able to sneak in during OT to see the PKs. (I know lots of soccer lingo.) The Cougs did not reign victorious, but it was still a win for us because we finally got to see Benjy coach.

Chicken Tikka Masala

We had another fine night of cooking with Jeff, Manisha and Munish. We made chicken tikka masala. Yum, yum, yum, yum. We are good cooks.

Hippo Birdies, Sada!

Happy Birthday to my most cute, smart, funny, amazing niece!
I love you!

A beautiful day in Napa

We celebrated Presidents' Day with a little trip up to Napa.

It was (finally) a lovely day.

And we got some wine!

Benjy's hair did

Benjy decided to let Tak cut his mohawk.

We all supervised.

Ta da!

Berkeley moon

Andrew shirts

To celebrate Andrew's 32nd b-day we made shirts!

They look the same!

We were all trying to do our best serious/Andrew face, with mixed results.

valentine

Tak took me to Chez Panisse for Valentine's Day (but we took this photo at home)!

My valentine

The cafe had a special v-day menu, plus live music. Everything was deeeelicious. I had beet soup and sausage. Tak had a little pizza (I forgot what it's called) and lasagna.

And we got this precious Valentine's day dessert!

Bonus:

Weekend cooking extravaganza! Tak made fancy breakfast and fresh-baked bread (below), and we took our olives out of the brine and seasoned them!

office tour

Here's where I'm workin' now ...

The Faculty-Alumni House

courtyard

Andrew in the foyer

living room

my office door

my office!

the view down the street

the medical center up the street (plus shuttle)

UCSF's mascot (or something?)

SF

Muni, my new BFF

work surprise

Look what I found on my first day at the new job! Thanks, Mom!

Another skiing adventure

We headed up to Truckee again this weekend for round two of my re-introduction to skiing.

Tak showed off his moves on the big hill (he's the one in the center, third from the left), while I watched from below.

coming in for a landing

In the afternoon, we met up with Tak's mom and aunt for more skiing fun.

The girls on the slope

ski bums

Tak gave me his old skis and I got these new, fab boots! I love them.

We were welcomed back to the bay by this lovely sunset. If I had managed to get my camera out a few seconds earlier, you would have seen the GGB in all its sun-setting glory. Oh well.