Books I've Read: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

The memory keeper's daughter - kim edwards - Usually if a book is one of those best sellers, they aren't good. This one is! A doctor in the 1960s delivers his own twins. The son is born fine, but the daughter has down's syndrome. The mother, as was the practice at the time, was put out, so he just gave away his daughter to his nurse and told her to leave her in an institution. After seeing how that place is, she can't leave her there, and raises the child as her own. It was so sad to see the way people treated this child, even to a nurse suggesting they let her die of a bee sting instead of treating her. The doctor tells his wife the girl is dead, and then we watch all the people in the book grow older. It is amazing to see what just one lie, one action can do to so many people's lives. It changed everything forever - sometimes for better or sometimes for worse. The writing was good… not pretentious or boring, but you could see her skill too. I would recommend this book.

restaurant review: taqueria san jose

our food tasty benefit ran out of food... we didnt really get any... so we had to eat something! we randomly picked mexican, then went to the mission and randomly walked into taqueria san jose. it's just an order at the counter, and they bring you some food type place. b didnt like his fajita. s loved his pork tacos. j liked his pork enchiladas and my chicken ones were ok. i think s wants to come back for tacos.... but i would not come back here on purpose. it was just eh. not bad not good. except for the strawberry water... that was the best i've had so far. cheap tho... mine came out to less than $15. you get a lot of food (3 enchiladas with toppings, nachos rice beans...). and empty on a wednesday evening.

folsom street fair 08

It shows just HOW behind I am with blogs that I didn't publish a Folsom Street fair blog till now. At this point, it's forever ago, and those of you who care have probably heard about it from other people, or seen photos online, or have been yourself. But it's fun to post up the photos here… We started out folsom by going to the raging stallions pre party Saturday night at the end up. The funniest part was watching Jade when the RS guys were up on stage. The next day, I got dressed up and went over to the fair. It was fun, but it seemed like there was less going on than last year. We got there early and got to see the whole thing, and left when it started getting so crowded I literally couldn't move. Just walking up one block to find Nick to say hi took forever… a very claustrophobic experience. I always love looking at people's costumes… Folsom street fair is such a SF phenomenon… so many people at a leather fetish fair! Nowhere else would they make such a big deal of it. Yay SF!

restaurant review: house of chen

When you're out of food, and you go grocery shopping, you still have to COOK the food when you get home. It was too late for that, and we were hungry, so we went to this random chinese food up the street, house of chen. We had sesame chicken, general however you spell that chicken, and noodles and white rice. It was fine. not great, not bad, just food. s is the big noodles person and i dont think he liked those noodles too much. we went to the place and ordered takeout. they were snapping beans on the table. totally empty on a monday night. i think its more a delivery/takeout place than eat in. we placed a PS order of steamed veggies, and it was gonna cost $9. $9 for some steamed veggies??? wow thats too much! so we canceled it. i guess id come back if we were starving again but it wasnt anything id purposely get. theres better chinese food places.

Vote No on Prop 8 - Save the Cheerleader, save the world.

Even if you don't live in California, you still might have heard of our Proposition 8. If you do live here, you definitely should have heard of it. What is it? From the official voter summary it says:

PROP 8 ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME–SEX COUPLES TO MARRY. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

OFFICIAL TITLE AND SUMMARY PREPARED BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME–SEX COUPLES TO MARRY. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Changes the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California. Provides that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. Summary of Legislative Analyst’s Estimate of Net State and Local Government Fiscal Impact: Over the next few years, potential revenue loss, mainly from sales taxes, totaling in the several tens of millions of dollars, to state and local governments. In the long run, likely little fiscal impact on state and local governments.

Yes, they want to change the constitution to eliminate rights from a group of people that the rest of everyone gets to keep. Right now, as of June, same sex couples do have the right to marry in CA. For a few short months, couples from all over have been taking advantage of the simple right that people all over take for granted - the right to marry the one they love. From couples who are brand new, to couples who have stayed together their whole lives, and maybe even raised kids and grandkids, they get to celebrate their love by marrying. And not only that... imagine your spouse lies in the hospital, but you can't see them. You can't help make medical decisions for them. Why? Because you are not legally married. Imagine you can't share health insurance, taxes, or any of the other perks that come with marriage that straight people enjoy every day. Sure, there is civil union, but that doesn't encompass all of the rights that marriage does.
Weird commercials have been popping up on tv. Saying that if this does not pass, that churches will lose their nonprofit status, and that children will be taught in schools how to be gay. These things are just so blatently untrue maybe they do themselves a disservice by broadcasting them, they're so laughable.
Do you want to live in a world where one group of people is denied rights? Sure, you're straight, maybe all your family and friends are straight, what does it matter? It does matter to you even still. Denying rights from one group of people sets a precidence. If the people as a whole allow this, then they will allow more. One step at a time, more and more rights can be denied to more and more groups of people. It may not actively affect you this time, but what about the next time? You may not live in CA, but your state may be next. Changing the very constitution to omit rights, the very fabric of the government.
I really doubt that marriage is for me, but i will vote no on proposition 8 in the election. Please go out and vote and do the same. And, whether you live in CA or not, please tell your friends about what they're doing. Trying to take away rights of normal, everyday americans just going about their lives - falling in love and getting married - such a basic and simple thing. Normal everyday americans just like you, who happened to be born being attracted to the same sex. If it isn't you, its someone who could have been you, who is like you, and what's to stop something like this from happening to you in the future? Nothing, unless we start now.
Vote no on prop 8. Spread the word. Thanks.

Books I've Read: Street Rules and Other Girls

After so many great books, I was getting spoiled and kinda meh about even good books. Then I started reading Street Rules by Baxter Clare. At this point, I remembered all the bad books that exist. This is boring, and although it's a crime mystery, it's just so unpersonable and thuggy talking, I couldn't get into it and stopped reading. Skip!

So, I skipped over to Other Girls by Diane Ayres. This wasn't a great book, but coming after a bad book, its good book-ness was appreciated. It's about four girls, mainly from the point of view of one, Elizabeth, who go to college at an all girls school in the 70's. Partway through, something really bad happens, and it changes everything… blah blah… they follow them for a while after school till they're in mid 20s and 30. It's really talky, in a very girl, melodramatic way. It reminded me of the L word. Everything is a drama and also overinflated. Ugh I hated that about college, everyone talking all fancy to sound smart. Bleh. I got to learn some new terms such as kai kai, and get a better insight into feminism and lesbianism. However, I didn't like any of the characters. Nope, not one. I did relate to one passage… "Jo asked her why she [referred the company of men to women, when she seemed most attracted to women sexually. 'I know this must sound absurd, but women terrify me.' Elizabeth laughed, but she wasn't kidding. 'I have never related to women as easily as I relate to men, as friends or lovers. Men are so easy to understand compared to women. And men never crucify me for being with women, But women, jeezus. My policy with straight women, is, never ever tell them the truth, even if they ask a million times. God knows I've learned this the hard way. If I'm honest, they run screaming. If I'm evasive, then it's not much of a friendship, is it? And dykes? Yikes.'" Of course, I'm not completely like her, esp with what she says about talking to straight women. But seriously, she mostly hit a nerve. I relate to men much better. And that one relation with Elizabeth is what saved this book as being good even though it's often pretentious and drawn out.

restaurant review: caffe luna piena

we went to caffe luna on a tuesday night, got seated right away. it's outside! i always thought just part of it was, but all of it was. i wasnt cold though. the bread and garlicy oil were pretty good. i had the ahi tuna, which the waiter said was pan seared. it was a little raw, but i wouldnt say pan seared. it was pretty good anyway, and the salsa was good on it too. it came with fresh veggies and potatoes. s had a salad which had real veggies, not the iceburgish kind, and fish, all of which he enjoyed. j had clam chowder and the seafood risotto. he found both to be heavy but good. overall pretty good, nothing spectacular, but i'd probably come back again. maybe try the brunch...

I finally have my CA license! and am registered to VOTE

I hate driving. it just always seems so dangerous... to myself, and especially to others. i've noticed tons of people who are likewise not great drivers, so it makes it even more dangerous if i'm on the road, and they're on the road...eek.. i haven't driven in years... except for one time a year ago when someone was too drunk and i drove a couple blocks over for her...lol. but emergencies come sometimes, so i did want to have a license. i've been putting it off because my MA one didn't expire til Nov 09. and i was sure i'd fail the written drivers test you need to switch it over. but it's time to vote, and this vote is pretty important, so i needed to be registered. so i gave myself a deadline, and told myself, STUDY!! i tried... but that CA license book is SO BORING! every time i picked it up i fell asleep! Time ran out and with only a week left there were NO MORE appointments online to get your license... PANIC! Luckily, ben said if we drive over to daly city to be there when it opens, we can get in without an appointment. he was really nice, and did that on Friday. with only 3 hrs of sleep because i went out to Drift the nite before, then came home and took bunches of practice tests and tutorials online (still couldnt read that book), i went in there. I was sooo nervous... even the form was hard to fill out. then i couldnt find my window when they called my #. My photo came out bleh. And then it was the test... the first test was totally hard. i just guessed. i failed. i asked her for another. i knew i had three tries altho she didnt tell me. this one was easier, and i got little enough wrong that I PASSED!! My old MA license now has a punched hole and the new one will be here in a few days! and i'm registered to vote. i hope you are too... i'm usually not too big on voting, but this is an important election, so i hope you all take the tme out to meet your state's deadlines (oct 20th for California) and register, then make the extra time to go VOTE! so yippeee i'm a real CA citizen now finally after 2 yrs!!

Movie Review: Speed racer

I never saw the cartoon speed racer, so I had no idea of what the movie was about. I thought it was about some imaginary world a school kid lived in… that's what I got from the trailers. I guess I didn't pay much attention, because that's not what it's about at all. This movie is almost 2 1/2 hrs long, and it starts out a little slow and talky. I was confused (yes, I can get confused about the plot of a kids movie) and losing interest and j was falling asleep so we turned it off. Next day, better rested, we started again. And it was great! Once you get through the front part, there is an exciting story about a family of car racers, who take on the corrupt big corporate racers on these really great race tracks that look like special rollercoasters. These cars don't take gas anymore, so they don't need to stop, and the races are fast, dirty, and edge of the seat. The whole movie is like a cartoon, but in real life. Everything is so bright and a charactiture. All of the characters were very engaging - the racer parents, the 3 racer brothers, the racer uncle, the girlfriend, the chimp, and even the bad guys. It was great! Afterwards, I googled the cartoon just to see if they match up, and they do. Great casting! See this movie!

books i've read: twilight

Twilight is the first book of the twilight series, which my friend s really loves, and has been compared to the harry potter books in popularity. All of that, and the fact that it's about vampires, made me want to read it. I was kind of dissapointed. Not that it's a bad book, it's not; it's a good book. But it's just not even close to great. I've read some pretty great books lately, so this paled a little. However, it's the first book, and first books (like first seasons of a tv show) are often slow, introductory, and not as good. So I know I can't judge the series till at least book 2. which I will read. Twilgiht is about an (almost terminally) clumsy girl bella (really, she cant even step foot in a dance, and routinely falls just walking), who leaves sunny AZ where she lives with her mom, to go to rainy cloudy WA to live with her dad. Once there, she meets Edward, and it's not giving anything away to say that he and his family are vampires, and that he and bella fall deeply in love and infatuation. You can see that much on the previews and sneak peaks of the movie they've made of this book, which is coming out soon. Have you ever watched the xmen cartoon? Where every episode, jean gray and cyclops are all "ooooh scoottt!" "ooh jeaan"? It's sickeningly sappy. Well, that's how bella and edward are once they've gotten together. My biggest problem with the book was that the main character is so weak. I hate it when people need saving every two minutes. I've just come from reading the anita books, where she is beating everyone up and is all tuff n stuff, to bella, who has to be carried around, literally. But if you like love stories, read this. And we'll see how the story progresses in volume 2. but before that, I think I will take a break from vampires for a book.

restaurant review: cha-ya vegetarian japanese restaurant

i'm not a vegetarian, but i love veggies, tofu, etc. we stopped at cha-ya for a light, snacky dinner. it was full on a saturday evening, so 3 of us sat at the bar. it was like our own table anyway. the menu is fairly large. i got stuffed eggplants and some tea. the tea comes in an individual teapot, less than $3, and that was very yummy, my favorite part of the meal. j and s got udon soup. that came right away, and they liked it. we had spring rolls which tasted like nothingness to me... i could only eat one it was so bleh. my food came when they were just about done. it looked really pretty, great presentation. but it tasted like nothing. i ate it but good thing i wasnt really hungry. it was a very unsatisfying meal. vegetarian food can be nice and hearty, this was all bland. a ton of the menu was deep fried. i gave it 2 stars for the tea and the fact that they liked their soup. but i would not come back. oh and ps its cash only.

Ben's Birthday Weekend

The other weekend was ben's birthday. we went out to dragon, which was eh, we had a couple of pretty yay birthday dinners out, but the best part was the homemade strawberry cake that jesse and i made for him. It doesn't taste like the package strawberry cakes at all... kind of like a yogurty moist texture with a sorta but not strawberry shortcake flavor. i got it from wholefoods online, and here it is! You should try it, it wasn't hard at all! (PS you can tell i did the frosting part of it). It does not serve twelve. It made six servings.
Strawberry Cake
Use fresh strawberries to decorate the top of this decadent cake. If desired, you may substitute part of the unbleached flour with whole wheat pastry flour or white wheat flour
Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup natural cane sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup plus 4 to 6 tablespoons puréed fresh or frozen and thawed strawberries
1/2 cup milk
1 (1-pound) box powdered sugar
Fresh strawberries for decorating
Method

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans or one 9- x 13-inch cake pan. Set aside. Combine flour, cane sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, 1/2 cup of the butter, 1 cup of the puréed strawberries and milk, then add to bowl with flour mixture and beat with a wire whisk until combined. Pour batter into prepared cake pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until done when tested with a toothpick. Set aside to let cool slightly, then invert cakes onto a cooling rack and set aside to let cool completely.

To make the frosting, sift powdered sugar into remaining 1/4 cup butter in a large bowl. Add enough of the remaining 4 to 6 tablespoons strawberry purée to make a spreadable frosting. Frost cooled cakes, then decorate the top with fresh strawberries just before serving.

Nutrition

Per Serving (140g-wt.): 410 calories (120 from fat), 13g total fat, 8g saturated fat, 1g dietary fiber, 5g protein, 71g carbohydrate, 100mg cholesterol, 350mg sodium

Movie review: the ant bully

How many ant movies are there? A lot it seems… and I don't think this was the best one. A boy who is annoying and bullied, and wears his pants hiked up too high like urkel bullies ants because theyre the only thing he CAN bully. Magically, they shrink him (a la honey I shrunk the kids) and he has to learn to be an ant. Including caring for others. Awww. Lol. The ant bully isnt as totally cheesy as it sounds. It was pretty good. Not great, but worth watching. I feel like it took lots of pieces from other previous cartoons.. Various things reminded me of the cute stare from shrek, dore from finding nemo, the honey I shrunk the kids, ants and bugs life, and probably more. Maybe I watch too many kids movies lol. But I love them!!!