Dorks

So I went by my friendly neighborhood (closing) circuit city and saw guitar hero two on sale for only $45. Being behind in my gaming by an average of three years i went ahead and bought it. Vorp is a dork.

A Sophisticated Wine Party & Food Fest

Our dish

Tyler Moxley of The Moxley Team @ Alain Pinel Realtors Pleasanton held his fourth annual Wine Pairing Party Saturday night, the 25th of October. I pretend that I'm some sort of high brow individual but really I just go for the snacks. Alyssa and I brought an Anderson Valley Cab with an assortment of cheese and cracker options as well as a fresh loaf of a sourdough baguette. I did all the prep and presentation though the dish was her idea. I liked it and it got pretty much taken care of at the party. The rest of the food and wine options were nowhere near as boring as ours though. There were some tasty looking swans containing a nice chocolate mousse, and salami with cream cheese and pepperoncini peppers which i ate about half of (the platter). Good times with good people.

My Favorite

Our host with many, many empty bottles.

Taboo!

Alyssa rules at Taboo! 'Nuff said.

Back to the Blog

Sunrise over the Bay

When I started this blog I was hoping to update it about once a week. Recently that hasn't happened, I guess I'm just too damn busy. Lots of stuff going on though. Alyssa's mother Alicia recently had a birthday, we went to Fuddrucker's. She loved the gifts I got her, though Alyssa did all the shopping, I just contributed some cash.

Last Thursday Alyssa and I spent the evening in the beautiful Embassy Suites Burlingame (she slept on the sofa bed Grandma, honest). My cousin Margo is the guest relations person there and hooked us up with a beautiful room on the bay and some VIP treatment. Friday morning we went up to the city to check out the California Academy of Sciences renovation. Alyssa and I both enjoyed it very much but we're both dorks so if you like aquariums and the like you will probably like it just as much.

Sunday my Grandma Pat celebrated her 80th Birthday. Most of my family surprised her at her home church which was quite a kick because her church boasts a regular attendance of 10 and my family brought 25. She was super surprised and deflected all the praise directed at her to the Lord as she always does.

So yeah, I've been busy, but don't worry I still think my life is as cool as I've always thought it to be, and will continue to share it.

Good Times

So Bryn and Ryan finally discovered the sex of their unborn child, a girl, (see c'est une belle vie for more details) and Alyssa and I played some more party games with them Saturday night. The best part for me, was that the part that seemed to excite them the most about having a girl, was that they didn't have to worry about being peed on whilst changing diapers. It was pretty mind altering to see the two of them together and know that some time in the next few months that baby that Bryn has been cooking is going to be out and about. I truly can't imagine the joy they must feel right now bringing a child into the world.

In other news no progress on the top 100 but I have started Six Feet Under Season One on Comcast On Demand. It's pretty dang good and unexpectedly (to me) stars Michael C. Hall from Dexter. Kind of funny seeing an actor I recognize primarily as a serial killer playing the part of a funeral director.

TV and Not Movies

So I've been skirting the responsibility of watching the top 100 movie list because of my recent binge on television on DVD. I'm in the middle of Entourage Season 4, Deadwood Season 1, Heroes Season 2, Office Season 4 (after watching 1-3 to catch Josh and Vorp up), and the Wire Season 1. And the Black Donnellys Complete Series. I just completed Dexter Season 2 which was awesome if you don't mind shows about serial killers that are far from realistic. Also I've begun to DVR the new HBO vampire series True Blood, starring Anna Paquin, and Entourage Season 5.
It's a bit of TV overload I know, but I'm enjoying and invested in them all. So that's why Alyssa and I haven't gotten around to Bringing Up Baby yet. But we will soon, honest.

Waterford Crystal

It's hard to comprehend the simple beauty of watching a professional take something so ordinary and simple and turning it into a beautiful piece of art. The glass workers at Waterford Crystal are true professionals. There is a rhythmic art involved in watching people that know each other and trust each other, work together. Truly enchanting.
Unfortunately, because the only video I took of them working is 111MB, blogger won't load it. I'll have to edit it down.

Ireland the Beautiful

Since I returned from my vacation in early July, I've been promising pictures of the beautiful Irish countryside. The wait is over! Not that anyone cares, but still I feel I need to show some of these shots.

Alyssa's 22nd

Alyssa had a little family get together on Tuesday to celebrate her 22nd Birthday on her 22nd Birthday, (August 19th). She was nice enough to invite my parents and brother, as well as myself of course. She looked very cute in the new shirt I got her whilst modeling her new shoes, which I also got her. My brother got her a birthday card for a three year old which was payback for the Happy 30th card that she gave him (on his 27th birthday). The added bonus was that the card doubled as a crown which he insisted she wear throughout the party. I was impressed she could fit a card made for a three year old on her head. Her mother made the most delicious Lasagne I've ever tasted, and I've had some pretty tasty authentic Italian dishes. All in all it was a pretty great night.

Pacific Coast Highway & Montecito Wedding

This last Saturday my family and I drove from my parent's house in Carmel down Highway 1 to Montecito (near Santa Barbara) for a wedding. The drive was beautiful, I rode with my dad in his convertible and my brother and mother went in her car (also with the top down). The wedding was a really nice backyard ceremony at the Journey's home in Montecito. I wore one of the three shirts I purchased while in Paris with my pinstriped suit, and I think it went off pretty well. Enjoy the pics!

Food.

I like food. Some might say love. Alyssa and I, with prep help from her mother Alicia, made some Penne Pomodoro with a sauteed asparagus side. The Pomodoro was delicious, the tomatoes and basil were homegrown from Alyssa's backyard and I stole some garlic from Josh (just two cloves, don't tell him, he doesn't read this so I'll know if you told him) for the asparagus. Essentially the asparagus was warmed in butter, olive oil, and garlic, and seasoned with a little freshly ground sea salt and cracked peppercorn (from Costco and Safeway respectively). It was also delicious. Fried asparagus sure looks unappetizing though.

Moxicillin

Moxley is all butt hurt that I don't post about him enough. Typically I don't write much about my business associates/realtors but he likes to whine a lot and i can only handle so much of it. So check out Tyler Moxley at http://moxleyteam.com/home/ so i don't have to listen to him whine anymore. Thanks

Yes, I like Chicken Piccata...

...and getting caught in the rain.
Alyssa and I cooked up some delicious Chicken Piccata at the house last night. Alyssa brought over everything (she treated me to dinner) and I had a bunch of BS Chicken Breasts from Costco. It was incredible. Really savory with the tang and acidity of the lemons and capers. Enjoyed the hell out of it. We'll do it again as soon as I have enough counter space to do anything. My kitchen is the smallest little space ever. We made enough for Josh and Whitney to have some too so we got them to do dishes for us. I hate the idea of cooking, it always seems like too much work, but when Alyssa starts, I have to join in, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and feel that unless I'm doing it it won't be done right. So when she cooks for me it usually turns in to her helping me cook, despite her best efforts to keep me out of the kitchen.
Then Josh and I whooped some ass in Pictionary. It's nice playing a game that requires you to think like your partners with a person you've known for twenty years, while playing against two people who have met 5 times in the space of two months. Advantage, Matt! Alyssa also brought over some Casaba melon, a more delicious honey dew in my opinion, and some Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough for dessert. I ate all of the CCCD by myself.

Game Night!

Last night Alyssa and I went out with the Lacks for a dinner at The Hopyard in San Ramon. Afterwards we got down with some 25th Anniversary Edition Trivial Pursuit goodness. Alyssa and I won a hard fought battle against Ryan and Bryn after Josh and Whitney withdrew halfway through the game for Josh to go to bed and Whitney to go home. I've discovered the most difficult part of the game is actually landing on the center square after collecting your pie pieces. We added a twist that you had to answer a question when landing on the final square. Ours was, "Which sport awards the Stanley Cup to its championship winner?" being a huge Sharks/hockey fan it wasn't too difficult to come up with hockey. Probably wouldn't be making this post if we didn't win, but we did, so there.

My new dog

Tucker, everyone. Everyone, Tucker. I'm going to be stealing this dog from his current owner Ashley sometime in the next couple of weeks. He is awesome. Full of energy, yet still very soft and cuddly, he was incredibly hard to say goodbye to. I welcome any suggestions on how best to get him away from Ashley, at this point I'm thinking about some shaving cream around his mouth and paying some kid to cry "RABIES!!" and threaten to tell their mother that they were bitten. I'd have to change his name too, Tucker has at least one too many extremely unflattering rhyming words. I can only imagine the nicknames people would come up with.