pac mans, duck livers and the sake that isn't

Oy.

Let me just say how badly I need a camera. I've been basically commando'ing Eric's for the last couple of months, as mine has completely died. The original idea was that I would buy myself a nice camera after I scored 700+ on my GMATs. Since I don't know when that will actually happen, I think I'd better just suck it up and buy one.

(Anyone with suggestions, please email me!)

As Karen said this morning, we are just having way too much fun these days. We're all going just slightly bankrupt. But I did warn all of you that this would happen as soon as I got back into the city.

THE SAKE THAT WASN'T (Saturday)
Saturday was our highly anticipated sake drinking night. The two Erics, Karen, Agnes, Jarret, Jonathan and I were to meet up at Tsunami to have some drinks.

Yeah right.

I HATE Tsunami. I HATE restaurants / bars where they are snotty to me. This is probably the snottiest statement in itself, but no one should be treating me like that when I walk in the door and plan to drop money. Especially since one day I might actually be able to help them make some.

We weren't allowed to sit at the bar at Tsunami. We weren't allowed to sit at the tables at Tsunami. We weren't allowed to stand at the bar at Tsunami's. Finally, we headed over to their "sister" bar, 821, which was supposed to have a sake collection as well. A sake collection that included 2 sakes, one of which they only had a glass of.

After everyone met up there and had our obligatory glass, we decided to leave the punk-asses behind and go to Pink, where ePop's friend was having a bday party. It was a lot more fun than I remembered it. Then again, the last time I was at Pink, I drank 1/2 a bottle of vodka, showed random people my monkey underwear, passed out on the couch, and lost my keys.

Oh, and there was an earthquake that night.

Quote of the Night:

Eric: I need to have sex at least 3 times a week, and I only see my gf once.
Serena: That's why you have two hands and a girlfriend.
Eric: Yes, but masturbating with your left hand is like having sex with a retarded person.

PAC-MAN! (Sunday)
Of course, I had to wake up the next morning for the AIDS Walk. Considering that I went to bed at 5, and drank a couple of glasses of champagne the night before, this was no easy task.

At around 10, I rolled out of bed and headed for the 6 mile walk. How, oh, how, was I to find Laura, Isidro and Heather amongst the sea of people?

"where u guys at?" I text messaged Laura
"by the raisins"

OK, this being San Francisco, I fully expected like 4 naked trannies to be dressed as California raisins. Turns out they were just standing by where they were handing them out.

This year, we were much more mentally prepared than the last. Last year, we had to detour to my house (right along the route) and almost died after the 2nd mile. We were pretty ok until about mile 4 - at that point, Isidro abandoned us, Heather started pulling pac mans, and I had to stop for a pretzel.

After that, we headed over to Tasty Curry, the only restaurant that fit our criteria ("open and right here") for grub. The food was reasonably good - and very cheap - but if you go, bring your own water.

Quotes of the Day:

Serena: "I'm sweating out of my nose."

Laura: Makes a point. "Which I fully agree with."
Heather: "Did you just agree with yourself?"

DUCK LIVERS (Wednesday)
Monday and Tuesday were relatively quiet. On Monday, I had a romantic evening with myself, where I curled up in front of the fireplace with a glass of bubbly water, a plate of grapes, pate, smoked salmon and brie, and the latest Harry Potter. I can't remember what I did on Tuesday, but I'm sure it was unproductive.

On Wednesday, Karen, Agnes and I had an impromptu night out, all of which started because Karen and I have been craving foie gras. After doing a bit of shopping, I met up with the two at Piperade. We sat at the bar, and decided to share a bunch of small plates because we "weren't that hungry." Yeah right!

Amongst our original 5 small plates were a golden beet and fennel salad, Bacalao fritters with pimenton aioli, roasted red peppers stuffed with goat cheese and raisins, and prawns sauteed with garlic, parsley and lemon. But while they were all pretty damn good, nothing holds a candle to the foie gras sauteed with Monterey squid, grapes and verjus! Literally, Karen and I mopped up the plate with the bread. I think we would have eaten the plate if we could have!

At that point, we decide that, yeah, we're still hungry. So we order lamb chops with thyme and aged sherry vinegar. They were delicious, but so very rare. I ended up getting sick over them later.

We also determined the following rules when Agnes is drinking wine:

• After 2 glasses of wine, feed her bread
• After 4 glasses, start talking only in Chinese.

After dinner, we headed over to Minna, where it was still bouncing even though it was 10 already. Steen bought us a round, and we ran into Carol and Joel, the friendly waiter from our Bastille Day feast at Cafe Claude. Somehow, we all ended up at Anu later on in the evening.

Thursday was not easy.

Oh, there was no QUOTE of the DAY on Wednesday, but boy, do I have a gem for you from Thursday:

Eric Pop: "Now I know why women attack my nipples all the time!"

And with that, I head off to LA for The Wedding.