Howdy yawl. I'm at the tail end of an overwhelmingly busy September and I wanted to take an opportunity to get a quick post in. Back in August, we had a proper Bachelor party for Jason. All in all, it turned out to be a great trip. Here are a selection of the pics:
Jason's brothers, Jonathan and Harrison, did a great job of putting together an awesome weekend of activity. It all started with getting this sweet house up in Guerneville.
There were 10 guys total in the house and prior to settling in for the first night, we decided to make a food run for groceries for a fancy dinner we would cook ourselves the next night rather than the original plan of going out. Critically, we also needed Jalapeño kettle chips.
We came prepared with a fine selection of board games and poker chips to help entertain us.
Several hours in, things got wild. By several hours, I really mean about 10pm and by wild, I mean Jason started nodding off (much to Scott's amusement).
After a good night's sleep, we wandered around the house while getting ready for the day's activity. In the backyard, there was a particularly tall sunflower. How tall? More than Scott tall.
The major activity we had planned for the day was canoeing down the Russian River. Here we all are, ready to hit the water and get moving.
What a glorious day it was on the water.
Not content to merely drink in the delightful visual experience, Nathan & I (right) engaged in several canoe skirmishes with Scott & Willy (left). Much excitement ensued.
Almost 2 hours in, we got to the first "bridge" which marked the completion of the first third of the journey. Boy did we not expect it to be this far of a paddle nor this time consuming. We opted to break for lunch on an empty bank of the river. Unless you've tried it, you don't know how tiring it can be getting up to ramming speed or executing evasive maneuvers for so long.
After a few more hours of paddling, we got to the end and decided to get some supplementary side dishes for our dinner on the way back to the house. Low and behold, we came upon a Hawaiian food restaurant (named "Ono"). A little slice of home (and a couple big platters of kim chee fried rice) out here at the Russian River!
We all split up duties for the dinner with some folks doing salad prep, cooking corn, cutting up watermelon and the like. Here's Imran manning the BBQ and making sure the steaks get done right.
And here we all are sitting down outside for our delicious dinner. Warm weather, good food, great company. What more could you ask for?
Awesome weekend for sure. Glad to have spent that time with all the gang out there on the Russian River (my first time out there also). Many thanks to Jonathan and Harrison for organizing and congrats Jason!
So, there's been this big deal event in San Francisco that I mentioned 3 years ago here. The build up started last year with this warm up event now we've come to the 2nd to last curtain raiser: the Louis Vuitton Cup. As the official competition for the potential challengers to the America's Cup, this whittles down the competitors to the single strongest. Who will be worthy enough to face off against the mighty Oracle Team USA?
So they set up a nice little America's Cup Park on the waterfront just off the Embarcadero at Pier 27 where folks can watch these giant video monitors to see the racing action. Mum and I decided to check it out during the round-robin part of the tournament to watch Emirates Team New Zealand face off against Italy's Luna Rossa Challenge.
The LV Cup stage and the fans walking around while the racing goes on.
In the first "real" race of the round-robins (the first with both boats in the water competing), ETNZ completely outraced LR to the line winning by a huge margin > 5 min. Good on you boys! Seeing the AC72 catamaran race by for the first time in-person inspired thoughts of wonder and awe in the design of the boats (these 10+ story tall sailing machines) and the skill of the sailors who guide them around in the water.
Mum and I went back to the AC Park the following week for more boating action. After seeing the ETNZ boys beat LR again (even without their headsail), we had to pick a place to eat lunch. Having read an article on the NZ Herald the day before, I thought Mum would like to try a taste of Kiwi Cuisine here in SF (since she missed out when South Food and Wine Bar used to be here). So we walked from America's Cup Park next door to the Waiheke Island Yacht Club pop up restaurant.
The menu looked pretty fancy but I'll admit I enjoyed seeing familiar things (i.e. plenty of lamb and ingredients sourced locally or from NZ). Mum opted for the Mt Cook Alpine Salmon (above) and I got the Free range pork in abalone & kombu broth (below). Both dishes offered fresh, delicious flavours. The only criticism I can offer being I wish the serving size matched my expectations based on the cost a bit better.
ETNZ wrapped up the round-robin series as the top dog, they progressed straight to the LV Cup Final. LR Challenge bested Sweden's Artemis Racing in the LV Cup Semi-final and earned the right to face ETNZ in the Final. So, come Race 1 of the LV Cup Final, to the AC Park I returned, this time with Mari. Excitingly, she'd be getting her first taste of boat racing and the AC72 catamarans.
The round-robin races all played out pretty quietly however this first Final race gave the crowd the most drama filled day of action so far. Luna Rossa encountered boat problems early on and then, while cruising along comfortably, ETNZ nearly crashed the boat bearing away at the 3rd Mark and lost two crew members overboard in the process. ETNZ kept it together two men down and won the race handily, but boy did the crowd get treated to its fair share of excitement!
With the winds rising above the 22 knot limit, the 2nd race got cancelled and a moderately damaged Aotearoa (ETNZ's boat) sailed back to the sheds for some repair work. Caught this pic of them passing by with Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge providing a very scenic backdrop.
While overly drama filled in the eyes of an ETNZ fan, you can't complain about the end result.
So we celebrated the victory by heading on over to my favourite NZ-themed pop up restaurant (well, the only one I know of) for a spot of lunch. Fortunately, the Waiheke Island Yacht Club diversified their menu by adding some more affordable dishes to their brunch/lunch menu including this delicious taste of breakfast Kiwi-style: Apple Wood Bacon, lamb sausages, homemade baked beans, hash brown, mushroom, spinach & poached free range eggs. Delicious!!!
Not having had enough of a true taste of NZ, I insisted that we try the TCHO "Crunchie" bar: crumbled honeycomb, mandarin & manuka honey over chocolate mousse. Cadbury Crunchie bars hold their special place in my heart, but this surely tasted even better!
ETNZ dropped Race 2 (due to mechanical issues of their own) but won the other races contested during the middle of the week, setting up the potential to clinch the LV Cup final during the second to last weekend of August. And why shouldn't I go back up there again to watch the action?! This time, I brought other friends with me for their first LV Cup action (you'll see in a couple pictures down). We got a tasty lunch at the Ferry Building Farmers Market before heading up to AC Park and getting a taste of Moa Beer (NZ's leading craft beer so they say). They even gave me an eye patch to go with the Breakfast Beer I tried!
Another beautiful San Francisco day, another ETNZ victory!!! Unfortunately, again, the wind picked up and postponed the 2nd race of the day, leaving the LV Cup to be clinched another day (which, in reality, turned out to just be the next day).
En route from NYC to SEA, Traci & Kurt stopped by SF for a visit! Where else would we go after the race than to the Waiheke Island Yacht Club for their Happy Hour Special! By the way, yes Kurt wore his Icebreaker shirt.
We opted for "Tasting Plate of New Zealand" special which featured: 1) Hawkes Bay Venison Tartare with, soy radish & horseradish, 2) Citrus Cured Mt Cook Alpine Salmon, yoghurt & anise herbs, 3) three Coromandel Oysters, wasabi sorbet & lime. All delicious but, if pressed to choose a favourite, I'd say the Salmon took the cake.
Anyways, thanks to everyone who came with me to America's Cup Park to watch this spectacle. I'm very much looking forward to seeing ETNZ face off against Oracle to see who earns the right to hoist the America's Cup. Not sure if I'll have a chance to see any of the AC Final racing, but I'll be proudly waving my NZ flag (probably figuratively) and cheering for the boys! Hope they'll be able to bring the Auld Mug home to NZ!
Last night, they had Air New Zealand night at AT&T Park during the SF Giants v. Arizona D'backs game. Thanks to Nicolette for the tickets! I'm glad I got to go and enjoy a bit of cross-promotion for NZ!
It all started out in front of the Ball Park at Willie Mays Plaza where Air NZ had a big board and a handful of staff promoting flights to NZ. If you took a picture and tweeted it (#airnzgiants), you even had a chance to win a free flight to NZ. I got a pic with these two (rather tall) flight attendants. Haven't heard whether I won the flight yet...
They played a number of promotional videos (clever advertisements) extolling the virtues of traveling to NZ on this special night. Seemed to work as I overheard several folks in the crowd discussing NZ.
Eager for a bite to eat once inside the park, we hunted down the Crab sandwiches that I heard I had to try. The verdict: tasty crab with buttery garlic bread. Delicious but, as with all sporting event foods, kinda pricey at $16 for how much you get.
We stood on the First base side as we awaited the first pitch of the night (thrown at 7:19pm). Play Ball!
As a part of the Air NZ promotion, four players from the All Blacks came up, did some activities with the Giants players before batting practice and got to hang around to watch the game. I definitely wanted to be at the game to have a chance to see some ABs players, in the US no less. So, as I gazed around the park, I kept a keen eye out for Aaron Smith, Conrad Smith, Cory Jane and Victor Vito (of course, players all on Super Rugby teams eliminated from the playoffs). While sitting in our seats in the left field bleachers, I spotted a group of the Air NZ flight attendants (wearing their conspicuous uniforms) walking towards an elevated area near the Coke bottle slide. I walked near there and, low and behold, saw Aaron Smith and Cory Jane! I caught CJ's attention, he noticed my All Blacks jersey and he gave me a thumbs up. I gestured to get a picture and he got Aaron to turn around to pose for a pic. At this point in time, I didn't know for sure whether I could get up there for a closer picture or not. But, I became determined to find out if maybe I could...
And I did! They had just given away tickets to NZ to four lucky fans in the crowd and I managed to catch the two guys at a good time to snap a quick picture (CJ on the left, Aaron Smith on the right). Had a enough time to exchange a few words with the guys and they mentioned: 1) Conrad and Victor probably stayed in the luxury box 2) they would only be in town for couple days total. I shook their hands and went back to the bleachers as a few other All Blacks jersey wearing fans made their way up to get pictures. Mari mentioned that she could see me during this entire event and that I looked like an overly excited, child-like fan. Too true.
After the 7th inning stretch, the game had settled down into a low scoring affair (even CJ mentioned someone needed to hit a home run or two). Unfortunately, all these kayakers in McCovey Cove didn't see any home run balls fly in their direction. In the end, the Giants held onto their two run lead (all scored in an exciting 1st inning) and Sergio Romo got all three outs in the 9th to end the game. Giants win!!!
On the way back to the Caltrain station, we stopped to grab a snack (sushi and a meatloaf sandwich) from the Safeway. Unfortunately, that little detour put us towards the back of a really long line to get on the train. As it turns out, they loaded up as many folks as they could onto the 10:40pm train and we missed the cutoff (meaning we had to wait for the 12:02am train). The card (which they handed out as a part of the Air NZ promotion - it had 9 facts about NZ on the back) pretty aptly describes our situation with the train having departed the station (the tired face also adds to the storytelling).
All things considered an awesome overall night filled with great company, an entertaining game and a close encounter with a couple of my sporting heroes. Throughout the evening, I had that sort of buzzing feeling that I remembered getting as a young kid meeting a few All Blacks for the first time. Very thankful to have had the opportunity to come up for the game and participate in the experience. I hope it turns out to be a successful venture and perhaps we might see a few more NZ celebs up here in the not too distant future. Well, this Bay Area Kiwi can dream!
Okay, so after alluding to this in a previous post, I've finally gotten around to getting these pics together and uploading them. Thanks to Linda, we had an opportunity to camp at the awesome Big Basin Redwoods State Park for the second year running. A few different faces this time around, but still plenty of Abbott folks representing. Away we go!
We managed to consolidate into fewer tents this time around and Linda, being camp counselor extraordinaire, brought the massive two cabin 10 person tent on the right for us "kids" (all 5 of us) to stay in.
After a lovely lunch on Saturday, a group of us set out to tackle the Pine Mountain Trail heading up to Buzzards Roost. Here's a pic of Babu, Khine, Me and Stephanie on a log bridging Bloom Creek near the trailhead.
The hike up the mountain (roughly 1200 ft over 2.5 miles) wasn't too bad and afforded us many great photo ops. In this one, Khine does her best "pro rock climber" impression.
Alas, it all comes down to perspective...
We made it up to Buzzards Roost on a lovely afternoon and gathered for a group pic: Me, Khine, Stephanie, James, Teleshia and Babu.
While we got a good amount of shade on the trail, the top didn't have much at all. As we took a break to rest and snack, I caught sight of this little guy hiding in the shadow of a small tree trunk to get a bit of respite from the hot sun.
As previously mentioned, not much shade at the top there. That, however, didn't stop us from doing a jump pic! By the way, at the horizon towards the left side of the pic is the Pacific!
Another pic of Blooms Creek after we finished the hike back down the Pine Mountain Trail. So cool and calm!
Post-hike, we sat around and recuperated before getting ready to prep dinner. Here are Me, Khine (carrying Linda's dog Ed) and Babu enjoying our rest on the picnic table.
As I learned last year, Linda takes her food seriously and so here we have the tri-tip hitting the grill (teriyaki on the left, bbq on the right).
Dinner is served! Arugula/artichoke salad, red quinoa polenta, tri-tip and grilled veggies. Yet another legendary Linda camp meal!
And for dessert, Steph, Stephanie, Khine and Teleshia took jumbo marshmallows and stuffed them in their mouths!
Another year, another enjoyable weekend at Big Basin. Thanks so much to Linda and the rest of the gang for making it fun and memorable. Cheers to the outdoors!
Graduation season has come and gone. I've long appreciated the ribbon leis Mum has made for me and Deryck throughout the years and I occasionally thought to myself perhaps I'd give that a try someday. What folly...
The task began with a treasure hunt of sorts. After deciding on a specific lei style, the Pakalana lei courtesy of Joy of Crafting, I had to go find eyelash yarn of natural colors. This being the mainland, fat chance I had of finding anything particularly useful, other than the bright green color in the middle. Thankfully, Google came to the rescue and I stumbled upon the website for "Amazing Yarns" who I found out I could drive 5 minutes or so up the road to visit. While they didn't have exactly what I wanted in terms of eyelash yarn, the nice lady did scrounge up this reddish silk yarn and dark green yarn that just might do the trick. Side note: if you happen to be looking for some unique yarns, call on the friendly folks at Amazing Yarns!
The Youtube video made it look so easy, but I had never crocheted before. It took me FOREVER to get the hang of the chain stitch...
After about an hour or so, I only had a few inches of chain stitch to show for my efforts. Talk about frustrating! To boot, I began to worry that the red silk yarn overpowered the bright green eyelash. The dark green yarn, with its low profile, could barely be seen. Had I chosen wrong?!
On top of those doubts, I made the rookie mistake of tangling up the silk yarn. And then I had to stop the chain stitching to untangle the monstrous ball o'yarn.
This literally took hours. Slowly and painstakingly removing knot by knot and carefully laying it out so that I could keep it untangled.
With silk yarn untangled, I could resume the chain stitching. I think by this time, I finally began to settle into a rhythm. A slow, inconsistently-sized chain stitching rhythm. It didn't help very much that my fingers started to hurt too.
In the end, after hours upon hours of work, all the chain stitching finally came to an end and I could then loop and twist the full length together. I think it turned out pretty good given the materials I had available. In particular, I'm pleased by the color of the red which turned out to come through very nicely in a fairly natural looking floral way. Victory!
Anyhow, as amazing as it felt to finely complete the job (in the wee hours of the morning no less), I'm pretty sure I'll retire myself from the lei making business and leave it to the professionals. The combination of coordination, repetition and patience required just doesn't quite suit me. Now more than ever do I appreciate the craft that goes into making each of these leis. Mum, you amaze me. To all my friends out there, I hope none of you consider going back to grad school anytime soon! Congratulations to all the 2013 grads and, until next time, adieu!
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