Kid's table at dim sum.
Clockwise starting from the bottom left: Jason, Chris, Tiffany, Melinda, Melanie, Keith, Ben, Allen, moi
Soooooooooo much foooooooooooooood!!
Adult table at dim sum.
Clockwise starting from the bottom left: Alicia, Monica, Monica's husband, Dennis, Peter, Papa Ku, Gloria, John, Kathy, Victoria, Adora
Hmm, ok I'm not gonna attempt to name everyone here because there aren't clear rows. It's just the adult table plus the kid's table all together! Familyyyyyy!!!
Just the kids :)
Left to right: Tiffany, Keith, Chris, Ben, Jason, Hojung, Allen, Melinda, then Melanie and me in the front
Adult ladies
Left to right: Adora, Victoria, Kathy, Gloria, Monica, Alicia
Papa Ku and Melanie. This is a funny picture, they look like bobble head dolls!
Jason and Mellie
Jason and Hojung. This picture shows Jason's attempt at appearing taller (angled from below, one foot out, chin up)
Engagement party MCs, Jeff and Chris
Table 7!!
Starter appetizer course with seaweed salad, shrimp, jellyfish, calamari, and meat slices in the middle
The groom and bride to be plus Keith. Not sure who the girl on the right is!
What an absolutely dashing couple!!
Cutting the cake
Kathy's speech
Van and Matt's unexpected first dance
THIS LITTLE BOY WAS SO FREAKING CUTE!!
He had on a little suit with light up sneakers. All the girls wanted to dance with him. I had to wait my turn after Melanie. *Melt*
The next 5 photos are a flip book of Keith and Jason's interpretive dancing to Matt's playlist :-P
The Ku crew holdin down the dancefloor
MC's Chris and Jeff
Mama Ku and me back at the hotel :)
After party!! Getting all 42 bobby pins out of Van's hair!
Like monkeys!
Stayed up til 2am playing Quelf :-D
Clockwise starting from bottom left: Matt, Melanie, Anna, Jason, Duncan, Keith, Jeff, Jen, Chris, Van
Jeff had to build a fort....
And stay in it until his next turn
Jen had to keep her hands on her head while drawing shapes
Not too shabby!
Jason then had to turn the shapes into a story!
Matt so lovingly gave his bride-to-be a large splintery plant to hold for the remainder of the game
A pretty epic point in the game: Van holding a plant, me unable to bend my arms and legs, and Anna was required to cross her arms whenever she talked!
Sunday morning breakfast with Mellie, Torryn, and Gloria
Me with my gorgeous future cousin-in-law
Next was lunch at Mozza! My cousin, Arielle, is the incredible manager for this fantastic restaurant in LA. I've been there twice now. The first time I came in about 30 minutes after Jay-Z ate there, and this time we got there a couple days after Adam Levine and his entourage were there. Definitely a spot for celebrity sightings! But who cares about the famous faces when you have such divine food to nosh??!
Pizza Alla Benno: Speck, pineapple, jalapeño, mozzarella & tomato. Instead of thick chunks of pineapple, they run a whole pineapple through a meat slicer to cut super thin rounds of it. I love this because they can use the entire fruit, core and all!!
Squash Blossoms, Tomato & Burrata pizza
Pizza with Long Cooked Broccoli, Caciocavallo & Chiles
After an enormous and succulent meal, we all sadly parted ways. How great it was to be able to all get together!
In a spotty left-to-right order: John, Torryn, Duncan, Gloria, Alicia, Keith, Melanie, Arielle, Phill, Jacob, Hojung, Jason, me, Ben, Papa Ku, and Mama Ku
Surprise surprise, ANOTHER big meal out! We went and had dinner with my dad's best friend's family. I hadn't seen them in 15 years!! Let me just say that I find it surreal that I can talk in those terms now and remember things that happened 15 years ago. *Sigh* Time is just flying by! We went to a fantastic Chinese restaurant in Monrovia.
Sea bass over tofu
Salt and pepper beef. This was terrific and wayyy better than any steak!
Classic green beans, Mama Ku's favorite
Cabbage and tofu
On top is bamboo pith (reminiscent of spongy tofu), broccoli, and tempura fried Japanese egg tofu
Traditional Peking duck
Chinese spinach? Not sure exactly what kind of green this was, but it was yummy!
Papa Ku and his best friend, Hao. They met freshman year at Harvard!
From left to right: Papa Ku, Hao, Hao's mother, Hao's father, Jan (Hao's sister), Natalie (Jan's daughter / Hao's niece), Jonah (Hao's son), Rachel (pronounced Rachelle, Hao's wife), and Mama Ku
Papa Ku and Hao again
Jonah, Papa Ku, me, Mama Ku, Hao's father, Hao's mother, Jan, Rachel, Hao, and Natalie
Tomorrow the parentals and I will drive up the pacific coast of California to make our way to Palo Alto for New Year's Eve!
Oh, and one more thing, all those things you hear about LA traffic is dead on true. IT BLOWS SO HARD. I had a very pleasant LA experience this past January when I took busses and walked around. But driving in it is a completely different experience. I imagine it's similar to how driving is in New York City. Also, being without a car for the past few years has lowered my patience for driving in traffic.* So, for the majority of the time we were in LA, I requested for Papa Ku to do the driving. However, I am proud to say that I did ALL of the driving from Atlanta to Los Angeles! Cuz I'm a boss.
*Driving on long stretches of highway is way different from "driving" in traffic
Oh, and one more thing, all those things you hear about LA traffic is dead on true. IT BLOWS SO HARD. I had a very pleasant LA experience this past January when I took busses and walked around. But driving in it is a completely different experience. I imagine it's similar to how driving is in New York City. Also, being without a car for the past few years has lowered my patience for driving in traffic.* So, for the majority of the time we were in LA, I requested for Papa Ku to do the driving. However, I am proud to say that I did ALL of the driving from Atlanta to Los Angeles! Cuz I'm a boss.
*Driving on long stretches of highway is way different from "driving" in traffic
