June

European Vacation

In June, we went on a two week vacation to Europe. We started off in London where we spent three nights there. Then went to Norway for a week. And finally spent three nights in Iceland. This is a photo journal of our trip. You can click on it for better viewing.

May

BK & La Caja China
We got off to a great start in May with the celebration of my brother Brian's birthday. Once again, Andrea and I threw down a grand birthday bash. This time, we reserved a picnic spot at George Washington Grove in Golden Gate Park for a pig roast. I've been wanting the Cuban pig roaster called La Caja China for a few years now. Recently, it seemed like the Caja China has been getting a lot of airtime... and rightly so. So this was the perfect excuse to finally pull the trigger and order this magical box. We invited about 50 friends to this pig roast and hoped for good weather. I'm not sure if it was actually Brian or the roast pig, but almost everyone we invited showed up... including a few of our Jewish friends (I'm not going to name names to protect their identity) and the weather turned out to be one of the nicest days so far this year. To feed a hungry mob of 50, Andrea and I ordered a 45 pound whole pig from our butcher, Ver Brugge.

La Caja China works like a luau pit, except that you don't have to dig a pit. The charcoal goes on top of the box and uses convection to cook the pig. It took us about 4 hours total to cook the pig. As you can see above, the hungry mob of people were patiently waiting as their appetites were fueled by the smell of the roasting pig. I used a Cuban mojo recipe similar to this, much to our Cuban friend Victor's approval.

The 15 minute wait time for the pig roast to "rest" was the longest 15 minutes of my life. Not sure if the picture above completely captures it but the skin was nice and crisp and the meat was falling off the bones. We had the butcher remove the head and the hoofs prior to us roasting it. As soon as the 15 minute of rest time was over, it took about 15 minutes for the whole pig to disappear into nothing more than a pile of bones. I was really surprised at how many people ate the skin!

Sara's Boring Weekend

Andrea's cousin, Sara, who lives in Portland, Oregon, came down and spent the weekend of the 18th with us. The weather in Portland was just beginning to rain (rain in Portland?) when Sara left and she was greeted with a sunny and warm weekend here in the Bay Area. Her timing couldn't have been better as there was absolutely nothing going on in the Bay Area that weekend.

On Saturday, we drove into San Francisco and hungout, ate, and drank in the Haight. I used to live in the Haight a few years ago, so I thought I knew all that there was to know about the Haight. We ate tapas and drank sangria at Cha Cha Cha, picked up a few hip t-shirts at Villians, and stopped for a refreshing afternoon cocktail at Hobson's Choice. Now this is where I got another bit of street knowledge about the Haight. I've been to Hobson's Choice many times before. Hobson's Choice markets itself as a Victorian punch house. They have wonderful Planter's Punch, Victorian Punch and Hobson's House Punch, in addition to the largest collection of rum in the country. I usually order the Planter's Punch, or beer, or my standard, Makers and Ginger Ale. As it was a warm day, I ordered a Planter's Punch and Andrea ordered the House Punch. Sara, on the other hand, ordered a Dark and Stormy. And I was glad she did! What a great drink. Now I really know all that there is about the Haight!

We rushed home from the Haight, packed our car with tailgating gear and headed to the Oakland Coliseum for the A's vs. Giants interleague baseball game. Eventhough Andrea and I live in Oakland, we're still diehard Giants' fans! The Giants lost the game but we still had a great time.

The next day, we got up early and headed up once again to San Francisco for a little morning walk we like to call Bay to Breakers. It's your typical leisurely Sunday morning walk through San Francisco with 60,000 of your closest (and not so closest) friends.

Over 60,000 people participate in the Bay to Breakers ("B2B"). Its a 7.5 mile footrace across the city from downtown to Ocean Beach. The "elite" runners usually finish, get back into their hotel rooms, shower and nap before most of us casual walkers even get past the START line.

This year, we were truly blessed to walk amongst Cheesus, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, and of course the Running Elvises.

After about 4 hours of walking across the beautiful city, we arrived at the finish line... just a head of a group of nude runners.

Since the day was so nice and it was still early, we decided to show Sara the other side of the bay. We hopped into our car for a nice drive across the Golden Gate Bridge into the countryside. We headed up the hills of Mill Valley and stopped at a little trailhead which leads to the Tourist Club. During the summer months, a thirsty hiker, trekking on this mile long trail on the west face of Mt. Tam on a selected Sunday, will find him/her self greeted with a cold German brew and a delicious bratwurst sausage upon arriving at the Tourist Club. You see, Tourist Club is the beautiful import from the Austrian hiking movement ("Naturfreunde"). This old mountain home is one of many hike 'n drink destinations established by some polka-loving folks back in the old country which can be found all over the world. To enjoy this unique and fun experience, you only have to follow two simple rules.

• #1 The first rule of Tourist Club: you do not talk about Tourist Club.
• #2 The second rule of Tourist Club: you DO NOT talk about Tourist Club.

Oops... I've said too much.

Our friends, Leslie and Todd, joined us for this pleasant hike to the Tourist Club.

We were joined by a few more of our friends. We were early enough that there were still no lines at the beer stand. It's a good thing that everyone fully obeys the two rules of the Tourist Club. Otherwise, we'd have a harder time with the pitchers. The Tourist Club also served hearty German meals. Steve (above right) had a hard time trying to tackle a bratwurst hotdog as big as his head.

There was also a German polka band playing nothing but polka... umm-pa-pa, umm-pa-pa. Of course Andrea and Sara, being of good Norwegian and German stock, jumped right in. Not sure if Leslie has any German blood running through her veins but she definately part Chicken!

We sincerely hope that Sara wasn't too bored. Maybe next time, she'll do some planning on her own before coming down and leaving her travel fate in the hands of us, the boring married couple.

December 06 to April 07: Catch Up

Since we were off-line for a few months, I thought I would quickly catch you all up on what we've done in the last few months.

April

About a year ago, our friends Tim and Ginger packed up and moved to Chicago. It was sad to have them leave but it also gave us an opportunity to have a fun place to visit. We paid them a visit for a quick weekend get-a-way. It had been a few years since either Andrea or I visited Chicago. So Tim and Ginger showed us around the windy city. A trip to Chicago really isn't complete unless you've gone to 1. Wrigley Field and 2. had a deep dish pizza. Check and check. We caught the Cubs vs. Cardinals daygame, sitting in the infamous bleacher section at Wrigley. After the game, we strolled around Chicago and ate a deep dish pizza at My Pi. Folks, it doesn't get much better than that.

The next day, we explored some of the finer and more sophisticated spots of Chicago. We had lunch at the Billy Goat Tavern and ate their famous Cheezborgers. We also immersed ourselves in art and culture at the Art Institute.

We really enjoyed our time in this beautiful city. We'll be back.

March

In March, we added a new member into the Circle of Trust. Andrea and I enjoy playing video games but frankly we really suck at most of the games. The more complex and button there are, the more we suck. So we finally got rid of the Xbox (sold everything on Craigslist) and got ourselves a Nintendo Wii! Since the Wii was released, it has been a smash hit and stores have been hardly able to keep them on the shelves. After a few days of searching, we finally scored one! Happy-Happy, Joy-Joy!

We've had a few Wii parties in March. Its really funny to see how people react to this video game. Our friends Patty and Walter, who claimed not to be into video games, really seemed to hate bowling on the Wii :)

That night, I was "in the Zone". I bowled a 246! I'm thinking about quitting my day job and going pro.

Most of you know that I am a huge baseball fan, especially when it comes to the San Francisco Giants. In the years B.A. (before Andrea), I used to go to Spring Training in Scottsdale, AZ, every year to catch the first glimpse of the new baseball season. When I first met Andrea, her love for baseball wasn't as pure and beautiful as mine. But much like turning her from a vegetarian into a meat lover (she wants to get this t-shirt), I was able to get her to climb on board the American Pastime. Our first real date was at a Giants game. Our engagement pictures were taken mostly at the Phone Booth (aka AT&T Park, formerly Pac Bell Park). Our wedding weekend group event was a Sunday daygame. So we were both thrilled this year, that we were able to re-institute the yearly Spring Training trip to Scottsdale.

Our friends Stef and Eric live in Scottsdale. I've known Eric since the early days of college. I was actually there at the Summer of Stef in Seattle, when Eric finally made his move on her. I like to think that I (and Ken Maranta) actually brought them together :) They were happy to host us for the weekend. We went to see the Giants vs. Cubs game where Barry Bond looked real good striking out.

Before going to the game, we stopped over for a cold one at the Rusty Spur Saloon, which claims to be the oldest bar in Scottsdale. The Rusty Spur sold beer koozies that was in the shape of a cowboy boot... how fantastic is that? Of course, I proudly drank all my beers at the game with my new koozie. I've gotten countless number of envious compliments so far.

February

We held our first Annual Decathlon (of games). 4 couples (Ed & Laura, Leslie & Todd, Brandon & Shannon, Andrea & I) played 10 games for medals and bragging rights. The first game we played was called Mr. Mouth. Leslie and Todd took gold, Andrea & I took silver and Ed & Laura took bronze.

The rest of the 10 games we played included Sorry, Pass the Pigs, Cranium, Puppy Racers, Hungry Hippo, Apples to Apples, Candy Land, Connect Four, and Operation.

As the night wore on, the Decathlon got a little more serious as no one wanted to come in last place.

10 games and 7 hours of adult beverages later, we finally had the winner. Todd and Leslie won the gold medal, Andrea and I took silver and Ed and Laura finished with the bronze. Sorry Brandon and Shannon. Better luck next year... LOSERS!

January 2007

We went to Poipu, Kauai, for a family vacation. This was our niece Kaia's first trip to the Hawaiian islands. January in Hawaii is slightly warmer than Minnesota! As you can see from the picture on the right, Andrea and I caught our fish (Andrea caught an Ahi Tuna and I, an Amber Jack), while the "fishermen" of the Minnesota lakes were clearly left empty handed.

We had a nice dinner at the Beach House Restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious fancy meal with the best sunset on the island.

What's a Hawaiian vacation without a few Lava Flows and hula dancers?

We took a day to drive around Kauai to check out all the sights. We stopped over at the Wailua Falls as well as the Kilauea Lighthouse. The lighthouse is located at the northern most point of Kauai. We were fortunate to have been there during the whale migration period. Even Kaia got to see a few whales breaching in and out of the ocean.

December 2006

Andrea broke her ring finger at our first dodgeball charity league game. She had 2 pins "wedging" her chipped bone into place. So nasty!!!

The holidays were pretty low key... just spent time with the family and friends. This year, Kodi's girlfriend, Stella, spent time with us as Peter and Chantel were traveling.