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December 31, 2004
New Year's Eve @ Novi-Steve's place
We didn’t really have plan how to spend New Year’s Eve especially after our trip to DC & NY. Well, actually Greg invited us (Novi & Steve too) and also whole bunch of his friends to Lake Tahoe and stay at his parent’s house for New Year’s Eve, but the weather and traffic would be horrible to go there, and none of our husband wanted to drive in snow blizzard. We didn’t like the idea either to watch the firework at Embarcadero in this wet weather, therefore we came up with plan B, which was get together at Novi-Steve’s place.
We had a hot pot party, and because Steve & Novi invited their vegetarian friends too, we had 2 different kinds of hot pot, one just for the vegetarians and the other for the meat eaters. I think this was the first time I felt so spoiled with the variety of meals that I had. The appetizers and desserts were so good. And Tony made warm black sticky rice which he added vanilla ice cream. That was awesome!! The vegetarians were Nam, Caitlin, Tony and me, the rest are meat eaters (Novi, Steve, Steve’s Mom, Arthur, Didi, Fersan, Reza, Sandy, Nancy, Imelda and Ayas, who came 2 minutes late after the countdown).
Steve’s Mom and Steve’s brother, Arthur, were there too. Arthur is in US Army, and he will be deployed to Iraq for 12-18 months in the middle of January. We pretty much asked about how his daily routine in the Army. He is a tough guy, I’m sure he can beat up Didi easily. Hahahhahaaa…..
They had loots of shots of Soju-Korean drink, meanwhile I was the designated driver by force for Didi & Fersan, therefore I only had 2 glasses of wine. But we had a great time. And we wish everybody a Happy New Year that's filled with joy and cheer, a wonderful beginning to a glad and eventful year.
Posted by hamdani family at 11:24 AM | Comments (1)
December 29, 2004
Villa Florence Holiday Party & Forever Tango
We had our annual employee’s holiday party at work (Villa Florence and Monticello employees). The idea for this party, we as the manager wore the aprons when we served the appetizers for the employees, just for fun. And I brought also my Santa Claus hat. (I should’ve brought these hats when we went to NY –but I forgot).
There were a lot of people showed up, and we gave away all kind of prizes. DVDs, TVs, CD players, gift certificates, etc etc. Food from Kuletos was good as usuall.It seems like everybody had fun. Cool!!
And after work Didi & I, Novi & Steve went to see Forever Tango @ 8pm at the Post Street Theater. First Me and Didi picked up Novi then we went back to Villa Florence again to meet Steve. We had dinner at Pagolac – Vietnamese Rest. around downtown. I love this little place. They have the best vegetarian vermicelli noodle.
After dinner we went to the show, and the theater was pack. However, honestly I and Didi didn’t like the show at all. But Novi and Steve seem to like it tough. I know the dance was extremely difficult. Well at least we didn't have to pay for this.
Posted by hamdani family at 06:17 PM | Comments (2)
December 26, 2004
NY last day, back in SF & VALEN IS ENGAGE NOW!!
OOHH NOOOO...today is our last day in NYC, and again I tried to call Jetblue to find out if they had seats for Tuesday's flight. Unfortunately, the entire seat was full; it means we have to pack and go home, back to reality. It was hard to swallow though we started to know the city quite oke. Oh well, it was always like this on vacation, always good and we didn't want it to end.
Last night we watched in the news that there was an 9.0 earthquake in Sumatra, and when I heard again this morning there was tsunami after the quake and the victims was soaring to almost 10,000 and keep going. Oh my gosh, that is horrible. I can only pray for those victims.
Finally we checked out from the hotel around 12.30 and we asked them to store our luggage because we still wanted to go to Lombardi's Pizza and had lunch there. On the way there it was snowing a little bit, and we just love it. Being Californian we've never experienced anything like this. It was cold and snowing, people walked fast, and meanwhile we walked around slowly laughing and smiling. They must think we're crazy.
At Lombardi's our table was all the way in the back, very close to their kitchen that was why I can have good pictures of them when they baked the pizza. We ordered ½ original pizza and ½ clams. Didi loved the original, very Italian. But for the clam's pizza, because there was no sauce, it wasn't as good as the original. (I still like Aphrodisiac from Orgasmica better though).
After lunch we just went back to our hotel, and a few minutes later our shuttle picked us up. We came over 2 hours early, good that Jetblue has wireless spot, so I was happy and no complaint, I was updating my blog.
When we were already in the plane, we got delay for 1.30 hours. And it was because we had to wait for a few passengers that need connecting flight (their flight was late) and the pilot said we can't leave them because all the seats for the next few days was solid full.
Thank God, we arrived safely in Oakland. Valen picked us up, and we had late dinner @ Arang Rest. (Korean Rest. near Japantown, which opens till 3 am).
Oh ya Valen told us that he's engage now. He proposed to Irene on Christmas Eve. ALLRIGHT!! CONGRATS MAN!! We're happy for you.
Many of you maybe already heard about the myth if you caught the bouquet or garter on the wedding, then you'll next to get married. Believe it or not, I think that is true. I caught a bouquet on July'02, and we got married Sept'03. On our wedding, Valen caught the garter and now he's engage. Our friend Fielan, got the bouquet and I think she's in serious relationship too. Well I'm sure there are more stories related to this myth.
So girls and boys, chase the garter and bouquet will you. It could be a battle for your future spouse.
Posted by hamdani family at 06:16 PM | Comments (0)
December 25, 2004
Christmas Day and Explored NYC with Rina & Andry
First of all we'd like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas (It's a little bit late, but better late than never).
I went to 12 pm Mass @ St. Patrick Cathedral, actually I planned to attend 10.15 am Mass (NY Cardinal as the celebrant), but I overslept.
We all had to wait almost 45 mins just to get in and it was freezing outside. The Mass was just beautiful. I was sad and cried a little bit during the Mass, because I missed my family terribly. It was always during this time of the year (Christmas and Easter) that I'll be a little bit emotional, because we had been celebrating Mass together until I moved to SF in '97. Hopefully next year they all can come and we can celebrate it together.
After the Mass I met up with Didi, Rina & Andry (Novi's sister & brother. Andry just arrived last night from SF) at the Grand Central Station. And we'll explore NYC together. First we went to Brooklyn Bridge and walked towards Manhattan. Luckily the sky was clear and the weather was friendly (it was still cold, but was not that bad).
Brooklyn Bridge is beautiful, we took a lot of pictures. We recommend you walk across this bridge if you visit NY.
Next we wanted to have dinner at Lombardi's Pizza, but it closed (I thought so too), then we decided just go to Chinatown and looked whatever good there. So we had Chinese food for dinner, after that we walked around Canal St. looked for gift and souvenirs. There were a lot of knock off products, you just name it, the have it (Hermes, Prada, LV, Gucci, Dior etc, I guess just like Mangga Dua in Jakarta). After a few good hours strolled in and out stores in Canal St. we went back to Grand Central and heading for Times Square.
Times Square at night during this time of the year seems like a gigantic magnet to all the tourists, there were just a looot of people everywhere. Wait until New Year's Eve if want to see more people. Maybe because we walked a lot, we didn't realize it was actually -5C
or 22 F. Woow, no wonder it was freezing. After pretty much done with Times Square we took Andry and Rina to the Greek Food street vendor again and bought to go. I was pretty much exhausted and about to collapse I think, can't wait to take the subway and back to the hotel. Andry and Rina went to our hotel too, and they had their dinner (the greek food). Well apparently they have different taste; they didn't like it as much as Didi tough. Maybe when Didi had it, he was starving so it tasted soo good.
It was so much fun explored the city with Andry and Rina, hopefully we'll have time to meet up again with them before we leave.
Posted by hamdani family at 06:13 PM | Comments (2)
December 24, 2004
Lunch w/ Shinta, Central Park, Times Square
Finally Didi broke down, he was sick in the morning, sore throat and sign of flu. Oh no! I better stay away from you...hehheheeee....definitely I don't want to get sick here.
Therefore I had to explore some of NY city by myself, well not really by myself, because I met up with Shinta Dumais (high school friend) and her husband, Ludy. They picked me up from the hotel, and Ludy drop us off near the rest. We had lunch @ Wu Liang Chinese Rest. near Rockefeller Center. We caught up a looot of things, what has been going on between the two of us after 13 years. And surprise surprise Ludy's family is from Muntilan (small town between Magelang & Jogjakarta, West Java), the same as my mom's family. I'm sure if our Moms meet, definitely they know each other.
After lunch, we went to St. Patrick Cathedral, I was hoping I could go there for Midnight Mass tonight. However you need a Ticket to get in, and all the tickets for the Midnight Mass were all out. The Ticket is free, but you need to either call/write to them that you want to attend the Mass around October. And they went out very fast. I need to remember this if I want to come again to NY next year.
We just took a little tour inside the church, and went to Guggenheim Museum. It was only 25 minutes left before it closed today, well that was fine with me. I was rushing and scamming the exhibitions
it had. Meanwhile Shinta was waiting for me downstairs. Thank you yaa Shin. Then after that we crossed the street and took a short walk to Central Park. The weather was cold but wasn't that bad.
After all the touristy thing done for me, Ludy picked us up and showed me around the other side of Manhattan that I haven't explored, and drop me off again to my hotel. Thank yo so much guys, hopefully we can meet up again before we leave.
In the hotel, Didi was sleeping the whole time I was gone. Poor him. But he was eager to go out again for dinner. And this time we picked Korean Rest. called Mandoo (recommended by our book). Mandoo in Korean means dumpling, so it is their specialty. From the window outside the restaurant you can see all the cooks prepare this mandoo before you even get inside. We ordered Mandoo Combo (Green color: Veggie, Orange: Shimp & Veg, White: Pork), Veggie Fried Rice & Seafood Cap Jae. The food was good but not something that is extra ordinary. We have divided opinion, Didi wouldn't go back again, but I would.
Night was still early when we finished our dinner, then we went to Times Square again. Because yesterday was raining, we did not take any picture at all. This time, we got quite a few good pictures. Goosh there were waay to many people in Times Square, and this not even New Year's Eve. I really can't imagine.
What I heard from Shinta & Ludy if you want to celebrate the New Year's Eve in Times Square, you have to come around 2 pm, otherwise you can't get a good spot. And once you're in, there's no way you can go out again. Therefore some men bring plastic bag to pee pee....eeewwww.......that is just nasty. For girls, well I don't think that is the option.
But NY's eve celebration in Times Square is something that I might want to do, not sure when tough. This is once in a lifetime experience.
After done with Times Square, we went to this particular Greek street vendor located at 55th St. & 5th Ave. I got this info from Shinta & Ludy again, they said sometimes the line is 30-45 mins to buy food from this vendor, which start open @ 8pm. Fortunately, there were no line at all. They sell lamb, chicken & hot dog. And your choices either you can have it over yellow rice or in the pita bread. Didi ordered lamb over rice and chicken sandwhich to go. He ate it when we got back to the hotel and he said that was the best food he had in NY (with all things considered, price-taste-portion), well for $6/portion, that's very good.
Posted by hamdani family at 06:11 PM | Comments (0)
December 23, 2004
Museums day, Broadway Show & Empire State Building
Yes, today is Didi's birthday...and when the clock turned to 00.00 I didn't say Happy Birthday right away (has been in our tradition since we were dating). I was busy updating our blog....hehheheee
Well he approached me, and kind of reminded me cutely by hugging me (however he swore he did not do it purposely) Then I realized and looked at the clock, it was 00.10, well I was 10 menit late.
I wished him Happy Birthday and hope all the good things happen to us. I didn't really have present because we agree and consider this trip is a birthday present for him.
Allright, and we're done with this bday thing.
We started our day pretty late, we left our hotel around 12 pm, and it was raining on and off. We were heading to Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had a good experience as a tourist on the way there because when we got off from the subway station, Didi pulled out his tour book (just wanted to make sure we did not walk to the wrong direction). Suddenly an old Chinese lady approached and politely asked us where we wanted to go, after we told her our destination, she showed us how to get to the museums.
She even gave us a few tips, that we need to check the museum calendar first, check all the exhibition floors are open, and also that we can only pay the admission $1 for each person, so for 2 people, we can just pay $2. Well good to know this. However I was not sure about the admission ticket is correct, from the book the adult ticket is $12.
Therefore we paid that amount, however after we paid, we realized that actually you can only pay $1. The museum shows the price for adult $12, but it is only recommended/suggested admission though. Ahaa!.. That Chinese lady was right, we actually can give whatever amount we comfortably can. I like this recommended admission idea, because everybody who wants to come to the museums don't have to be turn down with usually high price admission.
After a few good hours at the Met, we continued walk in the rain a few blocks to Guggenheim Museum. Unfortunately, Guggenheim closed on Thursdays. Oh well, then we decided to go to American Museum of Natural History, which is pretty far, and we needed to take subway. Being new to this new york subway, we took the wrong subway and ended up in Queens. On the good side, yeeeahh we've been to Queens....hehhehehhee.
Finally, we arrived at the Museum around 5 pm, and they closed at 5.45, so we were rushing and looked what seems more interesting (which was very hard). Unfortunately we can't see the Imax Theathre. Well hopefully we have time to go back here again before we leave.
After museums time, we went to Times Square, had dinner @ Sapporo - Japanese Rest. (Our book consider this place has a good ramen with moderate price, but we still love our favorite ramen place in San Mateo called Santa, by far!)
We walked around Times Square, and then decided to buy tickets to see the 8 pm Broadway Show called Rockettes @ Radio City Music Hall. Oh ya, I showed Didi the Rockefeller Center too, and took picture together.
The show ended at 10.45 pm and our review about the show is: ABSOLUTELY ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL!!!! If you happen to be in NY, you have to see this show.
And do you think our day is done? Well you're wrong, on the way home we passed by Empire State Building (now the highest building in NYC), and we decided to go up.
The good thing: there was no line at all (sometimes the wait just to buy tickets is 2 hrs, and then you still have to wait to take the elevator to go up). Who wants to go to the 86th floors on the windy and cold night at 11.15pm?...not many people of course.
And when we were up, oooh my goooshhh...the wind was so so strong, even I was convinced that I can be blown away by the wind if I pulled my feet to far from the ground when I walked. Good that we were able to take picture up there.
And after this long journey today, we walked back to our hotel, and got there around 12pm. We were just exhausted!!! But we definitely had a great day
Posted by hamdani family at 06:10 PM | Comments (1)
December 22, 2004
Liberty Cruise, Ground Zero, Wall street & Chinatown.
We took 3 hours Manhattan Cruise started @ 12.20 pm. I was afraid actually, you know, both of us easily got seasick, it happened to us on our honeymoon last year in Hawaii, we planned to go to the dinner cruise but then we got seasick and we had to cancel it. But anyway, we both were fine, the weather was very nice.
We had a great time, took a loot of pictures in front of the Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge & other skyscrapers. The first 2 hours we were still excited listening to the tour guide about Manhattan histories, however the last hour was pretty boring. (Actually from the CityPass ticket we bought, we only get the 2 hrs cruise, which only at 10 am & 4 pm, because we came around 12 pm, and we didn't want to wait for long, we upgraded for this 3 hrs cruise).
After cruise we took Subway to the Ground Zero, and walked to Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange. Then we continued and went to Chinatown. Ooh My Gooossh, this Chinatown is completely chaos, loots loots loots of people and total disarray. Reminds me of Pasar Tanah Abang in Jakarta. We bought souvenirs2 in here, then walked to Nolita (North Little Italy). Same as in SF, little Italy is only we a few blocks from Chinatown.
We had dinner at Bread Tribecca - Northern Italian Rest. We knew this rest. from our tour book guide, Frommer's. This book is very informative; it has all the info from inexpensive to very expense rest. If you already watched Eurotrip (a very funny movie), maybe you've heard about this Frommer's, we bought it because of that.
Finished dinner, we went to the famous Lombardi's pizza (also suggested by the book), and bought the pizza to go. It tasted kind of different, the dough was chewy. But we had it when it was cold, hopefully we'll have time to come again before we leave.
Posted by hamdani family at 06:07 PM | Comments (2)
December 21, 2004
Trip to NY, Grand Central Terminal & Rockefeller Center.
We woke up late today, and checked out at 12.15, and then we decided to take Amtrak to NY. We arrived at the Union Station quite on time for the train that leaves 1.05 pm.to NY. This trip was very comfortable, and Didi enjoyed the scene very much, meanwhile I was busy making our itinerary for NY.
And here is the itinerary that I created (very ambitious), I'd love to see whether we'll go to all the places or not.
Tues-12/21 : Rockeller Center & Grand Central Terminal.
Wed-12/22 : Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Wall street, NY Stock Exchange, Brooklyn Bridge.
Thurs-12/23 : Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum & Union Square.
Fri-12/24 : Museum of Modern Art, Empire State Building & Xmas Eve Mass @ St. Patrick Cathedral.
Sat-12/25 : Chinatown, Little Italy, Soho.
Sun-12/26 : Central Park & Times Square.
We arrived at Penn Station at 5.30 pm. HOOORAAYYY, FINALLY WE'RE IN NY!!.
From there we tried to take cab to our hotel, unfortunately none of them wanted to take us. Maybe because itâs not that far. Well we had no choice, other than walking to our hotel. I was exhausted already, I think 3 SF blocks is only 1 NY blocks. The Penn Station is at 34th St., our hotel is @ 38th St, but then we had to walk up another 5 blocks to Park Ave.
After checked in, we had dinner @ pizza place near our hotel, and Didi just wanted to stay in the hotel. Meanwhile, I continued exploring the NYC by myself. Well it was only 7 pm, and I didn't want to waste my time (and I had to follow my itinerary).
I walked to Grand Central Station (Park Ave @ 42nd St.), Rockefeller Center (5th Ave & 49th St.) & Empire State Building (5th Ave & 34th St.). I was waaalkiiiing the whole time, fortunately it was not that cold and still loots of people everywhere (Of course it's NY).
I feel totally safe and blend right in, and I was only in NYC for less than 4 hrs. I feel like I'm a New Yorker. Ooh goosh, I think I'm in love with this city.
Posted by hamdani family at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2004
Chinatown, White House, Arlington, Pentagon & Dinner with Ika
We were a little bit relax today, because we went to most of the places yesterday. We left our hotel around 12 noon, we had lunch @ Chinese Rest. in Chinatown which only 2 blocks from our hotel. Even though it was only 2 blocks, it was very tough though. Today the whole East Coast got a very very cold weather, the weather drop to around 18-20 F ( - 6 or 7 C). As far as I can remember I think this was the coldest I’ve ever experienced.
Therefore, we decided to take Metro to go around. We went to the White House again, because the 1st night we went to WH was during the night. Actually you can go inside the WH, but you have to write/email your request a few weeks in advance and they’ll send you the application, and I’m sure they’ll check your background and things like that. Maybe next time if I’ll go again, I’ll make sure to prepare this in advance.
From White House we went to Arlington Cemetery in Virginia. Well basically is just cemetery, and President J.F.Kennedy graveside is in here too. Unfortunately, due to the cold whether the graveside was closed. We were allowed only at the monument below the graveside.
Done with Arlington cemetery, we continued took the Metro to Pentagon. Didi was curious about this place. But again we pretty much couldn’t do anything over there. There was no tour and you can’t take pictures. As a proof we were there I took pictures of Didi when we were at the Pentagon Metro Station.
It was around 4.30 after we visited Pentagon, and we decided to go back to the hotel. Tonight we would have dinner with my Trisakty University friend, Ika. We hadn’t seen each other for almost 9 years. And thanks to Friendster, we started to keep in touch again just a few months before this trip.
Ika picked us up from our hotel around 7 pm, and we had dinner at Indian Rest. Uuuh yummy, made me miss Shalimar in SF. We talked and caught up a lot of things. Ika is working at the World Bank, and you know what, she doesn’t have to pay TAX…..grrrhhhh…. what a lucky girl!!
After dinner Ika took us around, we passed by Georgetown (a very lovely European-like neighborhood), we went to Virginia and stopped by at her house for a while. I love the way she decorates her house, very Indonesian, loots of arts and crafts from Java or Bali.
Great job Ka!
Overall we had a wonderful day. However we haven’t decided how we are going to go to NY tomorrow. Rent a car, take a bus or ride Amtrak. Hmmm…it all depends on our mood tomorrow.
Posted by hamdani family at 06:03 PM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2004
DC 1st day
We left our hotel around 11 am, it was very hard to wake Didi up around 9 am this morning, and he was complaining that it was only 6 am in SF. Oh goosh, apparently he was still in SF time zone.
Luckily our hotel located pretty close, around 10 blocks, to ‘The Mall’ (all the historic places & museums). So we just walked there and our 1st stop was the Nat’l Gallery of Art (East Building), we were shocked that it was no admission to all the museums, wow!! We were here around 2 hours, and then we walked around 8 blocks (big blocks) to Capitol Hill, then continued climbing up another 4 blocks to Supreme Court. From there we walked down and stopped by again at the Nat’l Gallery of Art – the West Building. This West Building is actually have all the famous painters such as Monet, Manet, Seurat, Picasso, Gaugin, Renoir, Matisse….you name it…we were just so amazed with the collections, and again it is free!! I guess this is where all the tax money go.
After that we went to the Smithsonian Institution – Nat’l Museum of Natural History, woow this museum is unbelievable. Didi was so happy and excited, just like kid goes to candy store. OoOOh NOOO, my husband is a geek. He was so excited checked every single thing, especially when could see the dinosaurs’ or other animals’ bones from millions years ago. And in the gem section, there was this HOPE Diamond, which is the biggest and flawless blue diamond in the world.45.52 carat. That was really WOW!!
This Gem section was amazing, you could see all diamonds, rubies, topazes, and sapphires either the most, the biggest or the best quality. Well, it’s a lot of super wealthy people out there.
We didn’t realize it was 5 o’clock, and when we were about to step out from the museum it was actually snowing. This made our trip back to the hotel even harder, we were exhausted, starving and cold. Then we decided to have dinner @ Zaytinya – Greek Rest. We know this from Hotel Monaco front desk, who is Indonesian too.
We finished dinner around 7 o’clock and went straight back to the hotel.
We had a very long day today, we started at 11 am and got back around 7.30, and we didn’t take cab or bus, just walked walked walked and walked. But don’t get me wrong we had a great fun!! Can’t wait for another long day tomorrow.
Posted by hamdani family at 06:02 PM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2004
We are in DC
Stanley picked us up around 7 am, and drove us to Oakland Airport, and there was already a long line. Well it’s holiday season, what can you expect. The flight was delayed only 10 minutes, and YES!! WE ARE IN DC!!
From Dulles we took 45 minutes shuttle to our hotel, Monaco Hotel. This hotel was actually an old Post Office, was built in around 1860, then Kimpton Group renovated and opened it as a 4 stars hotel in 2002. This first night we had dinner @ Ginger Cove – Caribbean Rest. Didi got this place from Citysearch, just a few blocks from our hotel and it gets a good review. Surprisingly, when we had dinner it was very slow tough, considered it was Saturday night. We don’t know why. We tried the shark fillet as an appetizer, which was very very good. The entrees were good too. This place is highly recommended.
After dinner, we decided to walk around the historic area, and it wasn’t really cold, around 40 F. However after walked for around 4 blocks we realized that the White House actually not that far either. Oh Well, let’s just walk to the White House then.
Never been to DC before, as soon as we arrived at the corner of Pennsylvania Ave, we saw this huge house with pillars in the front and it was gated at the front. Allright…that’s the White House. And of course, I was so excited, and asked Didi to take pictures of me here and there in front of that house. And he took quite a lot of pictures of me there.
But something didn’t seem right tough. If it were the White House, how come I was the only one posing in front of that place? Meanwhile people walked by didn’t seem to care.
Then Didi quietly approached me and whispered, “I don’t think this is the White House”.
Hhmmm…really??? Ooh welll…..then we walked out from that place and laughed at ourselves.
We continued walked and then I saw security guy and asked him where the White House was, and he told us just another block. Yup, we actually weren’t at the White House. We were just so embarrassed. I think we know the clue, if there were no one else took picture, most likely you are in the wrong place. Finally we were in front of the White House, and we just took the picture of the building because it was getting really dark. Then we walked back to our hotel and slept like a baby.
Posted by hamdani family at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)
December 17, 2004
Villa Florence Managers' Party @ Benihana Rest.
After worked all the Villa Managers had Christmas dinner at Benihana Rest. in Japantown. Our significant others were invited too; but I decided to go alone.
And actually only Douen (Chief Eng.) and Jean-Pierre (GM) brought their spouses. Me, Ondina (Exec. HK), Claudia (Front Off Mgr) & Mary Ann came alone and we went together. And Mary Ann forgot which floor she parked her car. Hehehehe…oh well..we were late, but it was oke.
This was the second time I went to Benihana, the 1st time was quite a long time ago, with the Kimpton Group Accounting Dept. I think it was in 2000.
Actually nothing really special with this Rest.in terms of food, what makes this rest. unique is the cook made our order in front of us, and when they cook them they’ll perform special acts with their cooking tools or with the meals.
Our cook made a volcano from Onion, which was very interesting. And even though Benihana is Japanese Rest. most of the cooks actually are Mexican….hahaha not authentic Japanese.
Overall we had fun, I sat next to Jan, and so we talked a lot about many things too. I knew that Jan contacted the servers and told them that we were celebrating 2 birthdays (Mary Ann & JP), therefore towards the end they sang Happy Birthday and brought Mary Ann/JP a piece of cake. That was quite a chaos the way they sang Happy Birthday. Very funny.
We finished around 9.30 pm and I said goodbye to Mary Ann & JP. Doeun dropped us (me, Ondina & Claudia) at the Villa Florence because all of our stuff was still there, and then Didi picked me up. As soon as we got home, I was just dead sleepy. I think I drank too much. I slept a few hours until around midnight, and then started to pack for our long trip to DC & NY. We finished packing around 1.30 am, and we had to wake up at 6 am for 8.55 am flight. I was so excited, I couldn’t sleep.
Posted by hamdani family at 05:58 PM | Comments (1)
December 15, 2004
Jenny in SF
Hari ini aku tadi ada Final buat kelas pajakku, moga2 hasilnya memuaskan deh. Trus abis pulang kelas jam 8-an gitu, langsung ke Ichiraku Restaurant, soalnya temen kita si Jenny lagi dateng ke SF dari hari Minggu kemaren.
Well sekitar info buat Jenny, dia ini dulu emang sekolah & kerja disini, sebelum akhirnya forgood July'03 lalu. Pacarnya si Jenny- si Ucup, malah udah forgood duluan Summer 2000, dan si Ucup ini temen deketnya Didi banget, so kita sering banget dulu jalan sama Jenny & Ucup). Eniwai, aku kaget banget hari Senin kemaren pas di emailin sama Jenny kalo dia lagi di SF buat graduation adiknya sampe 12 Desember nanti.
Dari kemaren2 ngajakin ketemuan cuma yaa akunya lagi stress banget buat Final, jadi akhirnya kita janjiannya baru bisa hari ini deh.
Yang ikutan ke Ichibana aku, Didi, Jenny, Fersan, Stanley & ceweknya Lei-len. Nelponin si Novi & ngajakin dia & Steve, kebetulan tempatnya tuh deket bener dari rumahnya mereka, cuma si Steve kayaknya pulang telat, jadi nggak bisa ikutan deh :-(.
Lumayan cerita seruu soal gimana2nya Jakarta deh, gimana dia miss ke mall di SF sini cuma pake sweatpants & shirt, something casual gitu, soalnya kalo di Jakarta nggak bisa tuuh...mesti berdandan ria & rapi deh.....well, tapi kan enak nggak usah ngelaundry sendiri, belanja sendiri, masak sendiri, bersih2 sendiri, etc etc..so overall she's happy in Jakarta and her new life.
Abis makan, trus Jenny main2 ke rumah sebentar, ngeliat2 wedding album kita & juga nonton videonya. Dan ternyata ada titipan dari si Ucup buat Didi (early birthday present nih ceritanya, Thank you Cup & Jen!). Taunya ada 2 presents tuuh, wow!!! Box yang pertama itu agak2 gede dan taunya isinya 2 Tshirts, trus box yang ke-2, small box & dibungkus sangat rapi, dan waktu dibuka.......hahahhaaaa..
ngakak deh kita bertiga......intinya product samples from his company deh......Thanks ya Cup!....
Posted by hamdani family at 05:46 PM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2004
Surprise Party for Mary Ann & Jean Pierre
Yes, today is my boss (Mary Ann) and also my GM (Jean Pierre) birthday.
And I've been planning to have surprise party for them @ Puccini and Pinneti (Mary Ann is the Controller over there too) today after work from 5 - 6.30 pm. The tricky part was Mary Ann casually mentioned to me yesterday that she might just want to stay home and did not come to work. Ooooh oooohhh that is not good. However we finally found a way to get her to come to work today. So far everything was under control and worked as plan.
Around 5 pm I was able to sneak out and run to P&P and people I invited was already there. I was glad that Mary Ann's best friend, Jan Zakin, Jan's husband, and Jan's Mom was there too.
And how to get Mary Ann to come over to P&P? well, Mellisa who is the GM @ P&P called Mary Ann, that told her she had a problem with one of P&P sous chef and need Mary Ann's advice, and of course Mary Ann believed that, she came over, and totally surprise that we were all there to celebrate her birthday.
And for Jean Pierre, I just asked his fiance (her name Jan too) to find out a way to get JP to P&P. Both plans worked, and they didn't have a clue.
We had fun, lots of people showed up (even one of my coworker who I don't like and I didn't invite...uuugghhh she iritates me!), loots of drink, loots of food.......
Jean Pierre got 2 shirts from Cafe Cotton, and for Mary Ann we all chiped in and bought her David Yurman's blue topaz necklace. And she loveess it. Eric got her David Yurman's white pearl earring, Meg got her David Yurman's black Onyx ring. And Jan Zakin gave her LV bag. What a collection! I was just so glad she was happy and really had a great time. In the end, Mary Ann hugged me and thanked me, and she said that was the best birthday she had.
Posted by hamdani family at 05:37 PM | Comments (1)
December 05, 2004
Dinner @ Kuletos - For Novi's Birthday
Hari Minggu pagi2 aku udah nongkrong di depan computer, dan beli tiketnya Sting yang start onsale jam 10 pagi. Konsernya padahal baru nanti April 1'05 (hopefully bukan April Fool yaaa). Untungnya dapet tuh 2 tiket.
Trus malemnya ngajakin si Novi dinner ke Kuletos dalam rangka celebrate ulang tahunnya dia. Seharusnya sih minggu lalu tapi kan aku lagi sakit. Yang pergi aku, Didi, Novi, Steve, Fersan & Yute (padahal Yute udah telpon nggak mau ikutan, eh pas kita udah nyampe downtown kita telpon dan bilang bahwa kita udah nyampe di depan apt.nya.....hehehhee...maksa deh).
Kuletos lagi rameee banget, maklumlah holiday season...untung meja kita masih di hold, padahal kita telat 20 menit, untungnya aku kerja di sana, jadi ya no problemo.
Kita ordernya lengkap deh, dari appetizer, entrees, dessert. Steve & Yute ordered Brick Chicken; Novi, Fersan & Didi ordered Steak and I had Tuna. Everything turned out very good and we were stuffed & happy. What a great way to end our weekend.
Unfortunately nobody brought camera, so no picture to capture this moment. We just remember this in our heart.
Posted by hamdani family at 05:35 PM | Comments (4)