A new whitewater kayaking woman

This is what I am into lately!!! I had the opportunity to take an all women whitewater kayaking class a few weeks ago, with my friend Wendy Lautner as the wonderful instructor.....and now I am in an article in Tahoe Weekly :). Well read along, Christina is me.......YUP!!! Peeling out :P

http://www.theweeklymagazineonline.com/fea/feat1.html

I completely 100% encourage women who are not afraid of water to go try it......It is really fun!!!

Memories of LPC

I have always told people that my last two years in high school is one of the best times of my life, and people usually look at me weird........

But recently, I just stumbled upon an old video that our high school teachers made for us, well it was made for I believe our second year's graduation....but our year was part of it too

LPC 2000 from SdGH on Vimeo.

This is why i love my school so much!!! All the amazing teachers we had. They are truly great educators. Education can change lives and they made me believe that!

Somewhere in Oregon.....on one big river

The slacker of the group finally decided that she should upload some of her pictures :)

Put in getting ready for the 5 day river trip under high wind condition

Wondering which way is upstream and which way is down

BTE hard at work fighting some crazy headwind

Whitewater here we come!

Beautiful wildflower

A view from our hike

The boys (including Rocky) off to their adventure

Kay and the Owyhee

SS Tahoe resting

Collin fighting Montgomery

Jatie looking good in Montgomery

Chels trying her new boat in Montgomery

Kevin showing off in Montgomery

Queen of the River in action!

I guess John is glad that is over

Great trip....looking forward to next year!

Some more Wrinkles

Some more Wrinkles video from the Snow Flake Lodge gig....





Wondering how the band got their instruments down the mountain? Here is how.......



This is me trying to video tape the action while trying to ski down....of course I am not as good as those guys :P

The Wrinkle on the interweb!!!

One night opening of DOT

Back in the beginning of March was BTE's bday and I wanted to treat him to a nice dinner. However, with my slim wallet, limited choice of good restaurants at N. lake, and some nice gifts that I got him. I decided that I can only afford a nice dinner for the both of us if i made it......so that lead to the one night opening of DOT!

For those who knows me well should know that I want to run a little eatery one day and I will name it DOT.

Anywaz, so I spent like weeks to plan the dinner, getting all the ingredients that i need, setting a menu, and buying stuff to transfer the "smallest house in the world" to a little nice faux restaurant. Then came the big day and guess what happened? BTE got really sick.....the 24 hours stomach bug that was running wide in the area.......poor him, spent his bday laying in bed all day, could barely eat.........so we had to reschedule...............

Friday came......I got home early, cleaned the house, moved some furnitures around and started cooking in "the smallest kitchen in the world". The door was supposed to open at 6 but I was delayed so when BTE came home at 6, I had to send him to the neighbours :P

The meun items were as follow:

California Calamari Two Ways

Wild caught shrimp risotto stuffed calamari with cherry tomatoes puree

And

Crispy tentacles dusted with roasted sea salt and cayenne pepper

Roasted Rack of Lamb

Medley of winter vegetables and balsamic reduction

Sinfully Dark Chocolate Cake

Rich buttermilk black cocoa chocolate cake with raspberry coulis

We had a wonderful time and even BTE said that was his best bday ever!

I have to say, I was even impressed by myself that I was able to pull this together......I think I will make this a tradition and do that again next year.......a chance for me to make a nice meal and celebrate my beloved's biggest day :)

and btw, I love square plates!

Kiss Seafood in the City!!!

There is a funny story behind this.......really!

So we were gonna head to the Bay area for Thanksgiving 2009 and I thought it might be fun to spend a night in the City (San Francisco)....and so we did......deprived of good authentic Japanese food in Tahoe, I decided to take BTE to one for a treat!

After some serious research, i decided to go to Kiss Seafood, a tiny 11 seater located in Japan town. Since BTE had never been to a true Japanese restaurant before, I had to lay down some rules for him so he can fully enjoy the food without offending the mighty chef.......

After a long list of rules......BTE jokingly said: This is serious, isn't it? I feel like this is a test of our relationship. If i don't pass, you will leave me, won't you? I must pass this test......Can you remind me of the rules again???

Are you ready for this? We ordered the Omakase (which means chef specials, the master chef picks out what he thinks are the best of that day and serve in the order he sees fit)

From left to right

Salmon Roe
Radish with scallops
Persimmon and Japanese green salad

Sashimi

I can't remember all the fishes in there but there were giant clams, butterfish, Tuna (red, medium and Toro) and other delicious fish. Everything was so good, each and single fish has its own unique taste and texture (unlike "sushi" you can in the general sushi place)

Chawanmushi-Japanese Egg Custard

Inside of the dish

BTE can't have eggs so he got grill Marckeral instead (equally delicious)

In the middle of service, BTE spilled some soy sauce on the linens and he was worried that he won't pass his "test", so he attempted to cover them

Stains exposed!!!

Uni sushi......so sweet and creamy!!! I loved it, BTE doesn't like it..."a texture thing" he said (separate order)

Braised fish (can't remember what species) in a sweet soy broth

Red miso soup with a variety of mushrooms

* There was also a sushi dish but I was too excited and forgot to take a picture!!!*

The meal was wonderful.....it was on the pricy side (~$ 200 including 3 orders of sake for the two of us)...but well worth it I thought....and BTE passed the "test"!!!

We ended up in the Japanese Mall and got some crepes J-style for desserts!

My first Le Creuset!

Smoky house.....why?

We definitely smoked up BTE's house the other day.....why? Cause we were trying to have Korean BBQ in the house without any vent :).

I saw some amazing Angus beef short ribs at the super so I had to get some...and what is better than Korean BBQ to cook those perfectly marbled tender beef.......nothing :)!!!



So I made a spread of banchan and fired up our camping stove and started cooking!!!


I have to say it was mighty tasty....except the fact that everything in the house smells like Korean BBQ for at least two days.....Well worth it I would say!!!