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| this is the betty crocker cake that i made for our 11 month anniversary! i tried to make it look all fancy by adding on the almonds. doesn't it look so yummy?!! |
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| a pit stop on our way to l.a. we also encountered a crazy thunder/hail/rain storm on the grapevine! brent was freaking out because he could barely see through the fog, but thank goodness for the handy dandy bmw foglights! |
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| a shot of me and chicken at another gas station. i guess i should introduce everyone to chicken. i won him at the santa cruz beach boardwalk! we brought him along for sentimental reasons :oI |
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| "cluck cluck. i'm chicken!" |
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| heres my 80 year old doggie, chibi. he looks a bit scruffy here, but he's still a cutie! |
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| my older sister, jennifer. we both spoil chibi because no one else in the family cares too much for him. |
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| kawai ne? poor chibi..he's partially blind and deaf. his eyes are all cloudy but i think he has a tiny clear spot in one of his eyes. |
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| chibi doesn't know we're taking a picture of him. |
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| the main course! yes japanese people really do eat turkey on thanksgiving! |
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| a typical thanksgiving meal at the tani's usually consists of sushi, sashimi, rice....and all the turkey fixin's! brent brought the cookie platter. my parents seemed to be pretty impressed by it (they were just being nice) :oP |
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| this brown mush is the stuffing. it aint stoffers, my mom makes it from scratch! |
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| ahhhhhh...these are the special chopsticks used only for special occasions. i love the pressed origami kimono figures. i tried to swipe some before we left but my mom only bought these three. |
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| here are some california rolls and inari rolls (marinated soybean cake stuffed with sushi rice) my sis jen likes to call them 'footballs' and i like to call them nut sacs. guess which sister has the potty mouth? kekekek. |
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| my little sisters play area. i bought a n64 when i lived out in san jose and donated the consul. she's addicted! every day afterschool she's allowed to play as long as her homework gets done. and i'm glad she hasnt abused her privileges, unlike her older sister (me) who would sit there for hours with her college friends playing 007 and legend of zelda. man, the good ol days. |
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| thats my little sister, jaimie. as you can see, she's been a victim to my moms old fashioned ways and was given the rice bowl haircut. i personally think she looks adorable but now she's growing out her bangs, which extend from ear to ear. awww, so cute! |
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| some more sushi, sashimi and nut sacs. |
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| heres chibi doing his old "paw" trick. i taught him that when he was a puppy. everytime he raises his paw to me, i would give him a treat. but since he's old and senile his paw seems to raise up automatically, as if he's twitching. |
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| chibi the scavenger. |
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| one of the happiest and cutest couples i know! jennifer and her husband steve. brent likes to call steve time to time to ask for medical advice. its so cool to have a doctor in the family! i rely on steve just as much as brent relies on his merck manual. |
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| left to right: mom, julie (oldest sis), dad, jenn, steve, me and jaimie. all our family gathering pictures look the same because we always pose on the sofa. |
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| jaimie grinning for the camera. i think this picture was taken after she blurted out, "hey julie, i think you're the only one who isn't dating a doctor!" sarcasm and cynicism runs in our family but she wasn't suppose to say this out loud! luckily, julie didn't hear her. oh and brent was mortified when she said this...he's beginning to learn that my 10 year old sister is candid about her opinions on other people. (him included! muhahahhah) |
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| ummm, i don't know why brent took a picture of our carrow's menu. the restaurant was located a few blocks away from our hotel. |
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| brent almost sat on this dirty spot! |
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| "cluck cluck!" |
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| we visited old pasadena and did some window shopping. i wanted brent to get a 'feel' for the area since we would be moving to pasadena within a few weeks. old pasadena is actually located a few miles away from us. lots of great restaurants and shops...we can't complain! |
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| oh, thats me putting change in the meter. pretty self explanatory eh? sorry if my captions arent as witty as dr. chuns! |
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| we had 2 hours to window shop! oh the pressure! |
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| me looking at the Equator cafe menu. there was nothing "exotic" about it either. i think i had the green tea slush with boba and brent had a mango shake. |
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| a sign in the Equator. they played loud house music...(i think it was house music) i had to restrain brent from busting out his glowsticks! hahahha. |
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| thats brent pressing down on chibis head. chibi is a walking stink bomb..he absolutely reeks! everytime we touched him we had to wash our hands. |
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| yummers
okonomiyaki! (a mix between a pancake and a pizza) a true osaka okonomiyaki consists of a variety of seafood, vegetables and meat. since i can't stand seafood my mom makes it with meat and veggies, topped with tonkatsu sauce. |
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| jaimie hiding under a pillow cushion. |
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| me again. everyone knows brent hates taking pictures, so i was often forced to turn my head and smile pretty for him. |
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| thats me walking down our hotel hallway. brent: "work it baby, work it!" |
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| "ok damnit, i'll pose for you!" another shot taken in our hotel, the holiday inn express. ever wonder what the difference is between a regular and a express inn? in a express hotel, they don't serve breakfast. cheap bastards. |
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| this was when i got tired of his camera action...so here i goooooooo. |
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| a shot of the smoggy dense l.a. night sky. we were on our way to jason's place in altadena (near pasadena) we decided on dinner and boba! |
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| we decided to eat at the curry house in little tokyo. this was brents first visit there. they're famous for their curry (duh) and many many curry dishes. |
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| thats jason on his cell phone. did you know he's only 20 years old? he's quite mature for his age. his demure attitude makes him seem so much older. (but not as old as brent. puhahhaha) |
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| i ordered the pork curry tonkastu. the curry here is by far the best i've ever had. |
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| brent ordered the beef tonkatsu. |
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| oh my god, you have to try their tofu cheesecake! it sounds gross but you could hardly taste the tofu. the consistency of the cream wasnt too thick. it was very light and the taste of tofu was very subtle. don't i sound like a food critic? heheh. |
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| after eating at the curry house we headed back south towards pasadena. jason and son-jah claimed to have found the best tasting boba drinks. here is a picture of a very teeny weeny chair that jason had to sit on until another 'bigger' chair was available. |
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| of course in l.a., an asian cafe isn't complete without a set of tvs blasting k-pop or karaoke-type music. |
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| i don't remember what jason ordered....but they were definitely right about the boba! i know my boba, and the drinks at this place were deeeee-lish. damn, i wish i could remember the name of this cafe.... |
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| jason's drink. |
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| we decided to call it a evening fairly early...we had a looooong drive the next morning. |
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| thats my bag sitting on the dingy brown chair. |
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| bleh..we encountered crappy weather again. the clouds overhead spotted our trip with some heavy and light rain. luckily for us, it wasn't as bad when we drove down to l.a. |
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| cluck cluck! why do i have this hair clip on my flap?! |
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| and heres a rainbow! oh by the way, i am a gay rights activist. (no sarcasm, seriously!) |
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| no caption. |
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| brent drove most of the way while i snoozed with chicken under my arm. |
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| when we got back the street in front of the apartment was totally covered with leaves. brent was genuinely impressed by this, running up and down the street like a crazed tourist, snapping pictures of his street! |
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| me: (freezing and tired from the drive) "honey, lets go in now." brent: "gee-zus! look at all these leaves! this is crazy!" |
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