Flowers, Chocolate and Reservations for Two

NOT.

I have this theory that Valentine's Day is the first "holiday" of the year to boost the economy. Doesn't it make perfect sense? In all seriousness, why do we need to specify ONE DAY to show your significant other how much you love them? It's ridiculous! That's what you should be doing in the first place.

Instead of making reservations at an expensive restaurant with prix fixe menus incorporating believed 'aphrodisiac' ingredients and complimentary champagne toasts (keep in mind, nothing is ever free in the hospitality industry...the charge is in there somewhere), my sweetheart and I decided to lay low. Get your mind out of the gutter, you! 'Lay low' as in 'low profile'; just him and I without the typical Valentine's Day hype. We shopped at the Berkeley Bowl, and being the gentleman that he is, he made dinner for two at home! He was so cute when he was sitting at the dinner table concocting up ways to use the ingredients that we bought. He totally had that game face on...equivalent to my concentration level when trying to study.

This is what he came up with...



He knows his stuff. I was very pleased with our choice to stay home. I mean, I'm really good at making dinner, too...really good at making dinner reservations. WOMP. We only spent $40 at the store and got a 4-course meal. I got a keeeeeeeper.

Like I was saying, I truly believe that Valentine's Day is meant to boost the economy. The way I see it is that if you want to show your partner a good time, you should be showing them affection 365. I think that it's way sweeter to get a bouquet of flowers on some random day of the year than on a day where there's some truck conveniently parked at a 76 gas station for you to grab some flowers for the lady while you pump. Now that's just cheating! Seriously, no real lady wants one of those $20 gift baskets that has a stuffed animal holding a plastic rose in its hand. The stuffed teddy-bear's eyes are crooked for God's sake!

If you wanna be a real sweetheart, show that special somebody who you really are without the hype. For a lot of guys out there, y'all really out-do yourselves on Valentine's Day. You just set the bar for yourself and she's going to expect a lot more out of you after Valentine's Day--now what? Give your girl something to brag about to her friends over the course of the year or else you'll be that loser boyfriend who needs an unofficial holiday to remind you that you need to get off your ass!

Listening to a lady's advice can go a long way. My boyfriend did what he would do for me on any day and it makes me feel like the luckiest gal alive. After buttering me up with the caramel whipped cream with strawberries and two cocktails we laid low...[insert sexual innuendo here]. Or, you might just turn out like this guy...

The Ranting Jenny

I've become that girl. The coffee sippin', watch the news before work, one hour commute, laptop case slung over my shoulder workin' gal. My part-time job has literally taken over my life.

I hate it.

The work that I do has nothing to with what my $16,000 in loans has paid for the past five years. This is the least intellectually stimulating time of my life and it sucks hard. If I'm gonna kiss someone's ass I would much rather it be a professor than any of these lowly bastards in the tech industry that wear those stupid retractable badges that hang from their belt loops. At least a professor has done some good in their life: taught. I really loved the hospitality industry before I got promoted. I wasn't able to see what was really happening behinds the scenes within the management team. Unconventional practices of discipline? If I wanted to be treated like a five year old I would have never moved out of my parent's house.

Anyway, I wish I were in still in college. Booze it up whenever I wanted, pull-off all-nighters, biking to school, traveling with friends. Everything used to be so damn peachy. I used to be able to grab a coffee while waiting for my next class, have endless conversations with my roommates about boys...everything. Now, I brew my own coffee before I go to work, eat lunch AT WORK and talk to my Chef boyfriend about us. Nothing wrong with all of that, but my lifestyle has changed so much in comparison to where I was at exactly a year ago. My life now is so damn...routine.

I was caught-up in things that actually mattered to me. Being a contributing writer to the Vagina Monologues, interning to raise visibility of minority women, researching the colonization of the Philippine education system and then finally coming to a realization that I don't really need to associate myself with the Filipino community. I got my first A+ at CAL in a business class. I really found who I was and how much potential I have in life. I've said this before and I'll say it again, but my job only contributes to my financial capital. I need something to stimulate my human capital. It's such a shame that our culture emphasizes on higher education so much, yet it isn't affordable to the masses and for those who actually have access to it become robots in their careers anyway. We've lost sight of what was important once someone has completed college.

Essentially, whoever you are and whatever walk of life you come from, there's a glass ceiling just waiting for you. You know how when you're a child you just can't wait to draw on the window in the car on a cold day. For a lot of us, that's exactly what we're doing-- we wait to draw what we want on that window and little do we realize, we're just drawing. We're drawing paths for our lives that we cannot accomplish because, fuck, people won't let us. And, believe me, I'm the type of person who's all about dreams...it's just damn impossible to go about this world where meritocracy is nothing. Can you believe that? Meritocracy doesn't mean anything nowadays. It's all about who you know, not what you know. Take a dose of your own medicine, America. What the hell happened to what you know?!?


And, that is the Jenny rant for the day. That's what I think about while seating snobs who are about to have a business meeting over lunch.

YouTube it: "Little Boxes, Weeds"

That's how I feel about life.

Y'all Got Some Silly Names.

For the sake of my job, I think I'll hold back for a little bit on the real names that I have come by in the recent days. The entire time I've worked in the hospitality industry, I have never come across so many odd, g'damn hilarious names in such a short amount of time. Day-by-day I am recording names into my notebook to someday list all of these names...but I feel like if my boss ever Google'd (<--OMG, the spell check doesn't even underline that. "Google'd" as a verb. Holy shit this world is crazy!) me this blog may show up and they'd put two and two together. I don't want to lose customers or lose my job based off of one silly blog that I posted. Let's just wait for a more appropriate time.

In the meantime, I saw something extremely funny today on TV and I it totally reminded me of the funny names that I deal with on a daily basis. Then, I decided to YouTube "funny names", and this OLD CLASSIC showed up.



I know, sit tight, kids. You're gonna have to wait for the names that I've come across for another day. I think this'll suit you well in the meantime.



Completely racist? I don't know. But I still lol'd. Bet you five bucks you laughed a little, too. Don't lie!

I love weddings. I hope that I'm blessed enough to marry a man whose last name wont make me commit social suicide.



Alright, I gotta throw in one real name.

So, this guy calls in to ask our owner a few questions. I told him that they weren't around and that I'll take a message.

Me: Your phone number please.

He gives me the number.

Me: And what is this in regards to?

Guy: Their business account.

Me: And your name?

Guy: Nimrod. N as in Nancy, I as in Igloo, M as in Mary, R as in Ryan, O as in Oscar, D as in David.

Me: Thank you, Nimrod. I'll be sure to pass this message on to them.

Me: [Hanging up the phone] Nimrod. *Chuckle*

=]

Valentine's Day Romance

If only White Castle was around here in the Bay Area, I would BEG chef to take me there for Valentine's Day. I hear they do a prix fixe menu and spazz up the place. Shits on any Michelin star worthy restaurant around, DUH.

Think I'm playin'? I aint.

Table for 1

Y'know, I just don't get how some people can't eat alone. Don't get me wrong, I love good company over a nice meal and a few drinks, but damn I don't need to be smothered with it all the damn time. I'm the type of person who doesn't mind going behind her boyfriend's back (Not really, Babe. It's just an example) to grab something eat at the cost of their joint account. After a long day at work I don't want to talk to anyone. I talk to people all day. I feel so alive when I'm by myself. Everyone else is so involved with their dinner/cocktail socializing that it just makes me appreciate the fact that I have the confidence to go out on my own.

--Existential Funk Thought: Do you ever go throughout your entire day without saying one word? Like, go for hours and realized that you haven't talked to anyone...not even sung a song aloud? If you don't ever say anything, do you even exist? Does your existence only mean something if you have other people reaffirm your thoughts, ideas, anything? Yeah, that's the kind of shit I think about when I dine alone.--

Usually I'll go ahead and prop myself up at bar extra solo. I intentionally isolate myself from anyone else at the bar because I want to keep it solo. If I want to make friends, I'll find something to talk about with the bartender. That's what they're there for right? They get paid to mix up something that will make you feel extra sassy and continue on with whatever small talk you please.

Last time I went out to eat at a bar by myself was at the Paragon Restaurant and Cafe at the Claremont Resort in Berkeley. I went after a long day at work. A much needed glass of wine, Ferrari martini, and samples of a grapefruit infused vodka and lemonade cocktail followed short after...I may have missed a drink or two in there somewhere. The bartender was super nice. Everything that he was mixing up I eagerly asked what was in it. I find myself to be a better mixologist than a cook, hence my interest. I'm sure my boyfriend can vouch for that one. The bartender wasn't busy, and it seemed like he needed some help getting the old man to my left to get off his back who was ranting about nonsense politics that I'm sure was going in one ear and out the other. It's funny how far just asking a few questions can go. I asked how they infuse their vodka, and he instructed me how. The bartender poured my red zin in a bordeaux glass to make me look important. You know, as an indicator that I bought myself the most expensive glass of wine on the wine list when in reality it was their house zin. Oh, it's the small details that can make someone feel like they matter. The slight gesture definitely made me feel a little more at home...and made me look like I knew what I was doing.

The food was great. Their San Jose location, which doesn't exist anymore, had some of the best apps ever. So, at the demand of my taste buds I ordered what I was familiar with from the South Bay. Their tuna tartare with taro root chips followed by the bread budding. I didn't even really eat that much because I have a tiny tummy, but what I did have was great. I won't lie to you, the Paragon in San Jose had the BEST tuna tartare ever. This particular one was interesting because it had pumpkin seeds in it. Really interesting contrast with the tartare itself. Ok, if you ever go to Paragon in Berkeley you must order the Banana Bread Pudding. It is seriously amazing. The warm bourbon caramel sauce over the bread pudding is for those who have the sweetest of the sweet tooths. Ordering it a la mode truly makes it heaven on earth.

Overall, I say sitting at the bar by yourself if a real treat. No awkward pauses and no real obligation to talk to anyone that you don't want to talk to. It feels good to do things on your own. For me at least, every time that I've sat at the bar to have dinner and drink by myself, the bartender has been real sweet and has let me taste a few drinks for free. It's either I'm really cute or they're just trying to make me feel a little more at home...I like to think both. At the end of my meal I found that the bartender had given me the employee discount on food, two free drinks and a jar to take home and infuse my own vodka. Shit, goin' out on your own can be real treat. So, if I may advise, take yourself out alone one day. Sit at a table by yourself or find a seat at the bar. You might end up going home with more than you bargained for.

If you really need some help on how to eat out on your own, read this article--
How To Not Feel Humiliated When Dining Alone.

Or, if you really dread eating out on your own, feel free to give me a buzz and I'll keep you company. Dinner on you?