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What a weekend! I absolutely love long weekends packed with activities. These days are probably the most carefree days I’ll have for the rest of my life - before the inevitableness of grad school, before mortgages and large loans, before family obligations, and before health concerns that most certainly accompany adulthood. I thank God for the comforts he’s blessed me with (and my workplace that allows me to work a 9/80 schedule!) that allow me to have wonderful, indulgent weekends like this!

On Friday, a few of us took advantage of the beautiful weather to take make a non limited-hassle 4-hour trip to Northstar. It hadn’t snowed there since the previous Friday, where we in the South Bay experienced an unexpectedly large rain downpour. As a result, the snow was packed and way too icy in the morning - Debbie Downer here was starting to dread the rest of the day. Fortunately, the sun warmed up the ice and the snow took on the consistency of a snow cone, and it became much more fun once I started imagining that I was riding down a mountainous snow dessert with a rainbow of colors and sugary flavors trailing behind my snowboard. It was the last day of winter for the year, and probably won’t snow much for the rest of the year, so it was a great way to close the season with such a nice, relaxed day of riding snow.

And, what a perfect transition to Spring! With Reid and Linda’s March birthdays recently passed, a barbecue was definitely in order. Ever since Reid got that super nice grill last year, I’ve loved playing host for our BBQs and potlucks. It’s a great way to get all our mutual friends together (and it’s especially fun trying to figure out how we all know each other - it’s a complicated and fun mess) with good food to usher in the new season. I started food prep at 10AM on Saturday and didn’t stop until 3 hours into the birthday bash. I’ve got to say that while I love hosting a social event, I’m definitely happiest in the background and facilitating via food - the social glue of any good party.

I’m not a great cook, but I was pretty happy with the spread this time around: grilled garlic soy sauce drumsticks (a recipe adapted from HK), 15 pounds (fifteen pounds!!) of kalbi (courtesy of Linda’s parents’ store - Seoul Market in San Jose), pulled pork sliders (with Reid’s manager’s recipe here), pulled pork soft tacos with the works, prosciutto-wrapped goat cheese, bruschetta (I LOVE bruschetta), red velvet cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting (Joy the Baker’s recipe here), nachos, and salami and kalamata olive pizza bagels. Everything was put together from scratch (except the kalbi); I get a particular satisfaction from that. And of course, there was some awesome contributions by many, many others: Charlene’s homemade guacamole, Sandy’s veggie platter, Kim’s thumbprint jam cookies, Wilmot’s healthy grilled peppers and mushrooms, and lot of beer and chips and drinks from others. Thanks for helping, everyone! :D

And even after all that delicious food, I spent several hours on Sunday afternoon eating more. Thanks to Nelson, I recently discovered SF Food Wars, which hosts local food competitions and hopes SF’s local denizens “compete and eat until your knife is dull and your stomach explodes”. Today’s competition was that of chocolate cookies with an overarching Jersey Shore theme, appropriately titled “The [Chocolate Cookie] Situation” at Mighty in SF. COUNT ME IN.

There were 20 different baking competitors doing everything to chocolate and cookie that you can imagine… and I had to choose ONE favorite. 20 cookies don’t seem like a lot for a girl who can eat half a package of oreos in one sitting (who? me? what?), but I was SO SAD by the 10th cookie. There was so much that I couldn’t even finish my favorite one. Eric took the smarter approach and ate only one bite of each cookie to judge, but who DOES that? You’re WASTING. COOKIES. Will someone think of the children?!

Anyway. Reid’s pics here. I was too busy shoveling cookies into my gaping maw to take my own pictures.

On a side note… Jersey Shore: wtf?

hahahahahahah

Thanks a lot, MTV, for your value-added contribution to my generation.

Happy new year! Okay, I’m 12 days late, but I’ve been doing important things, like sleeping—which is SO UNDERRATED when you have 8AM-EST-but-actually-5AM-PST meetings to attend. I’ve been in D.C. this and last week where it’s a whole two degrees above freezing temperature. For someone who wears a down jacket in 60 degree weather, staying warm saps any creative/writing energy I have after work is done (and when is it ever done?).

I have also neglected to clearly define my new year’s resolutions. Due to the excitement preceding the (now annual?) Tahoe cabin trip, and the subsequent business trips beginning on the first day back to work, I haven’t had the willpower to make those resolutions. I can perhaps resort to the usual “1) Lose weight, 2) Save money” but losing weight is hard to do with a generous per diem in D.C.

I continue to digress. Back to my first point: Happy 2010!

I brought in the new year in Tahoe once again, in a posh cabin with 21 friends over a span of 5 nights.

Many of us are avid snowboarders and carry season passes, so we went riding at Sierra-at-Tahoe for as many as 4 days. There was a bit of a blizzard on the first day, but the powder was perfect for smooth riding. I feel like I finally have a decent grasp on carving moguls, but it takes so much focus that I am entirely spent after one run. The Lower Main run is quite possibly my favorite run at Sierra: steep, smooth, and good powder when groomed; Beaver is very fun for tree runs on the side, except for one particular jump I hesitated on and totally faceplanted. At least my new riding helmet helps keep my brains in!

I’m tired and must sleep for the week’s activities in D.C. now, but Reid, the ever faithful blogger, has captured more cabin moments here. However, I do want to reiterate that the word game Bananagrams was more successful than I could have ever imagined! Best game ever, really!

What possesses people to wake up at 5AM on a Sunday morning and drive 7 hours in cold rain and snow, only to stand out in the snow for 4 hours? I don’t get it. I hate the cold. How can I love snowboarding? Yet I do so much. It was SO WORTH the 18 hour day trip to Northstar. Of course, I didn’t have to drive in the aforementioned rain and snow and just slept in the backseat instead, so I guess my opinions amounts to less. Still though: maximum lift wait time of 3 minutes, beautiful weather (sun shining through overcast clouds, snowing lightly), and powdered snow. Helloooooooooooooo, snowboard season! Plus, Eric’s 4-wheel-drive with snow tires is SUCH A WIN.

Hello again, old friend. It’s gonna be a good 4 months!

There is Eric up to his chest in fresh powder!

The last snowboarding trip on April 4th marked the end of winter for me. I couldn’t have asked for more at Northstar: there were literally no lines for the ski lifts, we virtually had the black-diamond slopes to ourselves at Lookout Mountain, the weather was gorgeous, and the snow was pretty decent for the time of year. It was all kinds of awesome!

The season had started off shaky for me, as I had only gone on two snowboarding trips from 2004 through 2008. This is how the first one ended up:

   At least it looks likeI’m having fun

The second trip last in January’08 yielded a similar experience. But last October’08, I VOWED TO SNOWBOARD. I splurged on pre-season deals (I’m frugal so I need good foresight for these things) and bought all my discounted gear, snow apparel, and the Double Whammy season pass to Northstar and Sierra. Thanks to the encouragement and tips from Arden and Justin, I was carving by my second trip in December!

My skills require some fine-tuning

The Asparaguys

   The Googlers - once “the Others”, now our friends