Valley Fair Mall & Dancing

I was back at the Valley Fair Mall all day today, shopping shopping shopping, and for a surprise to me, enjoying myself far more than I usually do when shopping.
In the afternoon Erich joined me, and we brought a couple more things, had Mongolian Barbeque for dinner (Choose what raw foods you want from a buffet, fill your bowl and they cook it while you wait - yum!) and then headed out to the dance studio.
Erich was DJing again, but we were able to get in a few dances :D

San Francisco Zoo & Sunset over the Bay

After a delayed start due to a malfunction of Erichs work mobile, we took the beautiful Pacific Coast Highway up to San Francisco. After a little detour to pick up Erichs mum to sort out stuff at the bank, we finally made it to the San Francisco Zoo. I was surprised to find that they didn't have as many "native" North American animals as I expected, or maybe we just missed them. The Bison were "Coming Soon", but the Grizzly Bears were awesome. One even jumped up on his hind legs and put his front paws on the glass which gave one guy the fright of his life - if the glass hadn't been there, he'd be squashed. I'm not sure if the big cat enclosures were the original ones or temporary ones, but we only saw one tiger and one lion. (the other lion having been shot by the police at Christmas for escaping and killing two young men). The Warthogs were not very co-operative, they stayed standing behind their log.

After the Zoo we went up to the USS San Francisco Memorial (a heavy cruiser which fought during the battle of Guadalcanal) on a lookout point that had a beautiful view of the Golden Gate bridge and out toward the ocean. We stayed until the sunset. Gorgeous.

Back to Erich's parents place in Daly City to meet up with his brothers and Jasmine for dinner. The guys rode their bikes and Jasmine drove us around to a friend Mark's place who also rides. Jasmine and I picked up Marks girlfriend Marissa. We had dinner at Sinugba Restaurant (Filipino food). I tried Pork Tocino (Tocino or tosino is a cured meat product native to the Philippines) and Halo Halo (Halo-halo (from Tagalog halo, "mix") is a popular Filipino dessert that is a mixture of shaved ice and milk to which are added various boiled sweet beans ...) (I didn't like the Halo Halo) and Erwin gave me a piece of chichiron bulaklak (Deep-fried pork intestines) to try. It tasted fine, but very fatty.

Another fun day :D

Winchester Mystery house

Spent the morning spending money at the Valley Fair Shopping mall, GREAT place to buy gifts. In the afternoon Erich and I took off to see the Winchester Mystery house. Begun in 1884, Mrs Winchester, the heiress to the Winchester Rifle fortune, employed carpenters and craftsmen to continuously build her mansion because the spirits of the dead who were killed by Winchester Rifles wanted her to. When she died, 38 years after starting the mansion, it had 160 rooms, modern heating and sewer systems, gas lights that operated by pressing a button, three working elevators, and 47 fireplaces. Either the "spirits" would suggest unusual and impractical features, or Mrs Winchester wasn't very good at architecture - there are stairs that go to roofs, windows that face walls, a door with nothing on the other side, and all kinds of odd things. We took both the House tour and the Behind the Scenes tour. Both were excellent.
After the Mystery House we went to another mall which was undergoing major reconstruction and I found a couple more things to buy there.. Whee! Shopping fun!

Sacramento, San Francisco, Daly City

Another early start this morning with a two hour drive to Sacramento, the capital of California, to meet up with Corey (Tombwalker) and his wife Kendra at their place. We jumped into their car and went to the Elephant Bar for brunch before going to an exhibition of real human bodies called Bodies Revealed.

"To help you see what a body really looks like on the inside, this Exhibition uses real human bodies that have been preserved so they do not decay.

A human specimen is first preserved according to standard mortuary science. The specimen is then dissected to show whatever it is that someone wants to display. Once dissected, the specimen is immersed in acetone, which eliminates all body water. The specimen is then placed in a large bath of silicone, or polymer, and sealed in a vacuum chamber. Under vacuum, acetone leaves the body in the form of gas and the polymer replaces it, entering each cell and body tissue. A catalyst is then applied to the specimen, hardening it and completing the process.
This method of preservation creates a specimen that will not decay."
The exhibition was fascinating! Afterwards we went drove into Davis were we looked in a paper shop (mostly invitations and gift albums), grabbed a drink from Jamba Juice (a high-end healthy smoothie chain - mmmmmmmmm) and looked around a bit before going back to Corey & Kendras. After a few songs on Rock Band (a video game where up to 4 people play drums, guitar, bass or sing along) we had to leave so we wouldn't be late for dinner with Erichs whole family in Daly City, just outside San Francisco, just over an hour's drive from Sacramento.
We made really good time, so I was able to take lots of photos from the car as Erich drove around San Francisco. Erich drives a Mustang convertible so we had the canopy down which made it much easier.
We caught the sunset over the pacific ocean as we were heading toward Daly City, where Erich grew up.

I was warmly welcomed by Erichs family, who had just finished preparing dinner when we arrived. There were 9 of us all, Mr & Mrs Bitonio, Erich & I, Erwin & Ashlyn and Earl & Jasmine (Erichs brothers & their girlfriends) and Aunt Alice.
Erichs dad had brought a Pacific Snapper at the market because we'd discussed seafood yesterday and he knew I'd like it. It was baked Philippine style and tasted delicious. Aunt Alice had cooked her specialty, asparagus and shrimp, and Mrs Bitonio roasted pork, and made Lumpia (egg rolls) and rice. A veritable feast! Apparently it is a rare occasion for the whole family to get together for a meal as Erich's place is an hour and a half away, and with everyones work schedule and such, it can be difficult to arrange, so there was a bit of a party atmosphere.

Erwin & Earl, Erich & I headed out to an Asian supermarket shortly after dinner - Wow FISH! There were fishtanks with different species of fish and lobsters swimming around waiting to become food, just about every part of a pig that you'd want to eat, and some bits I'm not sure any sane person would like to try (Snout anyone? Ear? Trotter?) Piles of chicken and of course, all the other weird and wonderful Asian foods. The boys brought all sorts of goodies for snacking on and for me to try.

Back at the house everyone was soon blatting out My Sharona on Rock Band and having a great time.

After a bit Erwin & Earl decided to organize a trip into the city to Erwins work and pick up Erichs motorbike which he'd been working on. Edwin and Earl rode their bikes, and Ashlyn, Jasmine, Erich and I followed in Ashlyns car.
After a minor delay at the workshop the three brothers were off on their bikes and us three girlfriends escorting them in the car. Earl did a few stunts on the freeway on the way back - sitting up on the tank, wheelies and lying down on the bike.
Erich is a new rider and has only just got his bike license so (thankfully) isn't up to those sorts of tricks.
The guys were stoked though, its the first time they've all been able to ride together as they only had the two bikes before.

I got along great with the whole family, and they're keen to take me fishing, go to places like Alcatraz and include me in their plans. *happy dance*

French Toast & Flowers, Meet The Parents, The Mayflower and more

Erich got up early this morning to make us a delicious breakfast of French toast and herb scrambled eggs. He also brought some flowers which smell lovely.
We spent the morning giving the house a good cleaning pending Erichs parents arrival. When they did arrive though, they were running a bit behind schedule, so all five of us (Erichs Grandma was there too) piled into their car and took off to a furniture store to buy Erichs Grandma a new Lazyboy recliner/lift chair. Erichs mum got a real bargain on the chair, particularly since they were closing down that shop and it was on sale pricing anyway.
We went to the Mayflower Malaysian Restaurant (the best chinese food meal we've had yet in my opinion) after chair shopping and then headed back home.
Erich and I quickly changed then went over to the Oakridge Mall where we'd arranged to meet two more Warcraft guildmates, Cliff (Devinoch) and Ian (Fuzzywunkins) (pic taken at new years) They were having dinner with Cliff's parents who were visiting from out of state, and Danae, a long time friend of Ians. We wandered the mall for a little bit with them, then arranged to meet back at Cliff's place later, as he had to go and drop his parents off somewhere.
I brought another new chess set, called Strato chess, which is a three dimensional set - very cool.
I also picked up two new books and two pairs of shoes. (second pair half price!)
We didn't visit for too long at Cliffs place as it was getting late, but it was great meeting more folks that I talk to on a regular basis!