
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Sushi 85

Friday, May 29, 2009
Bangkok Spoon
The decor was really neat. The server was the most American Asian guy we've had in California. He spoke like a New York Pizzeria owner, and was pretty friendly.
Jonathan had the Panang Curry, with chicken and rice. He enjoyed it quite a bit. I had the Bangkok Spoon Clay Pot, a house specialty. I didn't care for it, though Jonathan liked it quite a bit when he tried it. The glass noodles were really sticky and sweet, and the bits of bacon were strange. Prawns and cilantro rounded out the dish, which I just couldn't get into. I took home leftovers, but they didn't get eaten and had to be thrown out in the end.
Overall, I enjoyed the place for its decor and staff, but didn't care too much for my dish. I don't really think I'd go back, mainly since the pad thai (the safety Thai dish, let's not lie) has tofu in it, and that's just not gonna fly with me. It was also a bit pricey for lunch, but not disturbingly expensive.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Fast Food Chinese
We went to Express 7 Chinese Fast Food, and picked up some takeout. Everyone online recommends you get takeout, but eat it there or take it home, since they give you more that way. I find this interesting, but our boxes were HEAPING full, so I guess it's true! Mine made for three meals! Anyway, it's set-up like any Chinese place in a mall... you pick rice or chow mein, then 1-3 entrees. You have the option to add a soup or an eggroll (or a fortune cookie for a dime, which is ridiculous, since they're free EVERYWHERE ELSE). We were there about 7:15-7:30, so it was nearing the end of their day, and as you can imagine several of the items were completely gone. I can't comment on the full menu because of this, especially since I might have ordered different items if they had been available.
Jonathan chose the fried rice (which had peas in it, so it was a no-go for me), and I got the chow mein. He said the rice was average. The chow mein was probably the worst I've ever had... it had LARGE chunks of celery, too much cabbage, and the onions were almost raw. The noodles were also very plain, so I'm glad I could add some soy sauce. Jonathan chose the beef-and-broccoli and the dai chin chicken. The beef-and-broccoli was very standard, but the dai chin chicken was fabulous. Easily the best thing that either of us ordered. I tried the honey chicken and the five-flavor chicken. The honey chicken was strange. As in, it tasted more like honey-barbecue than honey. Think: KFC honey-barbecue chicken. Yikes. The five-flavor, on the other hand, was rather bland for being labeled 'spicy' at the place... AND I even asked the server how spicy it was, and she emphasized "spicy."
It is also worth mentioning that I've pretty much given up forks when it comes to Asian food. It's just so much more efficient to use chopsticks. Really. Because of this, I need restaurants to provide me with quality chopsticks. Unfortunately, the chopsticks here were the absolute worst I have ever been issued. They were very thin, and very splintery. I actually put them down after a piece of wood got into my mouth, and switched over to a fork. Another thing worth mentioning... they only take cash. But the only place you can see that this is the case is above the cash register... so it doesn't help you after you've already ordered and had your food boxed up. Luckily, they have an ATM in the corner of the restaurant, otherwise Jonathan would have had to drive home and get more cash than we had on us (clearly I don't bring my purse to the gym). So between the mall-level food and the need for cash, it's not that great of a place. Especially when Hangen is not even a mile away from the apartment, and so much better.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
San Jose Improv & Smoke Eaters

The show started at 8pm, and we got there just after 7pm, which worked out well. The San Jose Improv club is down near San Jose State University and Downtown. We paid $5 to park across the street, which wasn't bad since otherwise we'd have to find a garage and all that jazz. No photos were allowed, so I am just going to include some stock pics I found online.
We picked up two more hurricane glasses there, as there's a 2-item minimum per person, and ordering a special take-home glass satisfies that requirement. The drinks were pretty weak, but at least they were original.
We shared some appetizers at the table, none of which I'd brag about, recommend, or order again. We got the nachos (beans on the side) which were disappointing. The cheese was really runny and there were more jalapenos on there than tomatoes and onions combined. We got the chicken tenders, which were more like chicken fingers (short, thin, little coating), and horribly overpriced when you receive 5 of them for $9. Then there was the calamari. Not that much, and it was really rubbery. Plus the cocktail sauce wasn't that good and there was no tartar option. At least there was plenty of lemon. Lesson learned: eat before you go.


Friday, May 22, 2009
Denver, 2nd Anniversary: Friday, Saturday, Sunday
**This post is possibly the longest one ever, mostly since Friday was a busy day**
Friday morning was more splitting. JB, Kathy, Eilbroun, Colleen, and I went to the
this is how they make ribbon candy!
this lightens the color, all you do is add air!
Colleen went to the Celestial Tea Tour, and the rest of us went to meet the other groups for lunch at Mr. Sushi in
JB's chicken teriyaki and sunomono salad
Kathy and I split from the group, as they were headed to the Coors Brewery for a tour; she had been before and since I don’t drink beer I didn’t really care for a brewery tour (plus I’ve toured a microbrewery before). Kathy and I were planning to drive up to
We asked about other area attractions, & were directed to the local US Corp of Army Engineers building. So we trekked over there to find a friendly park ranger. Since the station was on a big lake, we asked about renting canoes or something, which he said was pretty much prohibitively expensive. He recommended
at the Army place, they had a mammoth skull!
So we spent the next couple hours seeing the amphitheater and hiking one of the trails. We were both in shorts and sandals, so we couldn't do anything too rough. We were able to see some great sites, and I'm glad that we ended up there in the end. It was really hot, so we stopped for ice cream on the way out of that area at Blue Cow Eatery, a very local place with friendly servers. I had a vanilla milkshake and Kathy has a chocolate malt. Both were prety good, and the menu looked pretty neat too, if anyone is every up in Morrison, CO, hehe.
we ran into a wedding taking place!
this is the Sinking Titanic rock
The amphitheater and the view!
A view of the city from the top of Red Rocks Amphitheater
We met up with all but one of the other groups for dinner at the Hard Rock Café. JB and I split a The Big Cheese (burger) and fries. Delicious. From there we went to the Denver Museum of Art, since it’s open until 10pm on Friday nights. There are two buildings, and one was already closed (at 5pm), but we were able to complete the other building (4 floors), so that was cool. I was pretty bummed that the Sculpture Deck was closed, since I enjoy their uniqueness.
this is a hygrothermagraph, it measures the humidity in the museum
Jim Dine's "Wheat Fields"
I forgot to mark down what this work is
this was a creepy face that screamed weird things
Sandy Skoglund's "Fox Games" - a large installation piece
there was a video running in one room, the voices didn't match the characters
Rachel Lachowicz's "One Month Late" is made of lipstick and wax, and shows the obstacles women must overcome
This piece fascinates me. "Four Purple Velvet Bathrobes" by Beverly Semmes illustrates the concept that :a woman can never be too thin, too tall, or too rich." At the same time, it shows flowing and puddled water.
another fascinating idea. Mona Hatoum's "Untitled (Wheelchair II)" marks the idea of one trapped person forced to depend upon yet injure another.
My jaw dropped at this one. Fred Wilsons's "Untitled (Atlas)" has the weight of the classics (European and American only...) on his shoulders, while he stands on top of an African volume.
Who knew Andy Warhol did Native American works?
um, wow. Daniel Sprick's "Release Your Plans"
Karen E. Kitchel's "American Grasslands: Crop, Lawn, Pasture, and Prairie"
William Acheff's "Pueblo Trilogy"
Vanessa and Emmanuel just bought a house, so they had a housewarming party on Saturday. The house itself is fairly big, a 3/2.5 that’s two stories with a basement. They also have a ton of closets and a decent-sized fenced backyard. The theme of the party was Olympics, and each of eight teams had four players for six different events. I was one of two or three referees, and JB played for a team with Jim, Vivian, and Eilbroun. I had a great time, as I got to explain how to play Battleship eight times and make sure that nobody was cheating. I was amazed at how many people had never played the game, since I think of it as a staple along with Monopoly, Life, and CandyLand. Overall, Olympics took like five hours and was a great time. We went for Chick-Fil-A after that and then just hung out.
Eilbroun learning ladder golf, Vivian learning washers
JB practicing washers (it's like tossing a beanbag in a hole but harder)
Eilbroun and Vivian playing Battleship
Kathy and Steve playing Battleship
Andy and Tony playing Battleship
We had a 1:40pm flight back to
more Denver pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2646069&id=5201298&l=bbdfecbdce
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Denver, 2nd Anniversary: Thursday
Thursday morning we drove to
Thursday afternoon the group was free from all other activities, so we re-commenced being tourists. We ate lunch at Noodles & Company, which was pretty average. I had the Pesto Cavatappi, which was spiral noodles and pesto sauce with parmesan-crusted chicken, tomatoes, and garlic (hold the mushrooms). Jonathan had the macaroni and cheese with chicken, also average.
There was some group-splitting after lunch, and JB and I headed to play miniature golf with Jim, Andrew, Jeremy, Eilbroun, and Kathy. The first course we got to was tiny and overrun with a field trip of small children, so we went on to Grand Golf Park, which was at a real golf place and driving range. It had a few tough holes, but was overall a pretty boring course. The theme was wildlife, but the course was poorly kept and there were pinecones and needles everywhere. JB and I were the only ones to get a hole-in-one (different holes), which was neat just because it was my very first hole-in-one ever, LoL.
Then there was another split, where some of the guys went to use the driving range, others to get settled at Vanessa & Emmanuel’s, and JB and I went to check-in at our next hotel. We took a nap, then met up with everyone to head to Casa Bonita for dinner and entertainment.
While it’s a pretty cool place, we timed it poorly. We didn’t arrive until after 8pm, and apparently nobody called to find out that they closed at 9pm that night. This meant that by the time we finished eating, the shows were all over and we didn’t have much time to walk through the attractions. The place is gigantic, and seats like 1100 people. There are cliff divers, mariachis, and gunmen (all of which we saw) among the events taking place. We missed out on the puppet shows, fire jugglers, a gorilla (which we briefly saw but not really), magicians, and dancers. There are also mines and caves to tour, plus various other things to explore. It’s really designed for kids, but is pretty fun.
Advice: you have to purchase a dinner, but the food is pretty bad. So get the cheapest thing, since you won’t eat it anyway. Save the room for the sopapillas, which are free and all-you-can-eat, and DELICIOUS. We went with the fajitas, since they have the best reviews… but they weren’t worth even half the price (and they were about $18!). Cheap-tasting and salty. Bleh. And the tortillas were in a Ziploc.
From there, we headed out to a karaoke bar, called The Gorilla Room. Drinks were cheap and they had more songs available than any other karaoke place I’ve ever been to. The DJ was very particular, and if he didn’t like the song you put in, he wouldn’t play it (Eilbroun and I were going to do Aretha’s “RESPECT” and Kathy and I were to do Vitamin C’s “Graduation,” and neither were played). He also played them in whatever order he wanted (JB and Jim did Third Eye Blind’s “Jumper” long after two other songs they did that they turned in after “Jumper”). Kathy and I did do Beach Boys’ “
More Denver pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2646069&id=5201298&l=bbdfecbdce