virtualberta

I've been so busy these past couple of weeks I haven't had much time to sit down and reflect. I had a rare party weekend two weeks ago: on Friday, I hung out with Melissa, Sherwin, and James Shi, among other people, until the wee hours of the morning at Whisky and Kama. Saturday night, Angela threw a wonderful surprise farewell dinner party for Joaquin and Mate. Now, not only is Angela a model and singer, she's also a producer, director, and actor. After the party, we headed to Chic to wish Wendy a happy birthday. The evening ended with dancing at Plush. I think that's enough partying for the year; I certainly needed the whole week to recover from my weekend!

With the realization that Galen will be leaving this Sunday, last week I decided to take him to more unusual restaurants. Monday night was Taipei East, a Taiwanese restaurant that had an excellent omlet with a basil filling and a simmered tofu dish. On Wednesday, we sampled the food of Xi'an and Xinjiang at Xiao Xiao Ke. Dishes not to be missed include their whole-wheat flatbread (xiao bing, pork ribs (zi pai, crusty on the outside, incredibly tender on the inside), soba noodles, and fish with kumquat sauce. Thursday night, we picked up the suit and shirts we got made for Galen--all he needs now are a snazzy tie and cuff links and he'll be quite the suave ladies' man. Friday night, we saw Melissa off on her much-earned vacation to Canada.

Over the weekend, we had a yummy dim sum lunch at San Want Hotel, arranged by Carol. The cha sa su are not to be missed. Bonnie and I went for a reflexology session, and in the evening, Galen and I attended another farewell party for Joaquin and Mate, this one an elegant cocktail party at Jay's beautiful appointed home. Afterwards, we went to Brown Sugar to listen to jazz. Sunday we had a family lunch and dinner at my favorite huo guo place.

It's only Wednesday, but already, I feel like I am near the end of the week. On Monday night, we say Welly Yang's musical adaptation of Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet. And last night, I played golf for the first time. This has all been interspersed between extremely hectic days at work, as I've been wrestling with the most uncooperative of Excel spreadsheets.