Providence LA – One of the top 50 restaurants?

This I weekend, I took my husband on a ‘fancy night out.’ Fancier than the usual fancy as we were celebrating a double whammy, my belated ‘I just got a full time job’ celebration and his birthday. We had been to Craft and really liked it but I felt we had to go one level above. So after much scouring of Chowhound, I decided on Providence headed by Chef Joachim Splichal.

The verdict? I felt like a judge on Iron Chef. We opted for the full tasting menu (8 courses) with wine pairing. When the amuse bouche came, three drink theme tidbits beautifully presented, I knew we were in for a wild ride. Everything was beautifully presented, crazy creativity and most importantly it tasted great! We often were left staring bewildered at the plated wondering how the heck did they do that? (the mojito ravioli was an example…a translucent bubble that burst in your mouth)

Staff was very nice, not snobby. Make sure you dress up a little.

My only advice…unless you really eat a lot, the half tasting menu would have been enough. I can’t imagine how anyone does the 12 course chef’s extravaganza. Was it worth the $$? yes, but you have to be the type who really appreciates the artistry in cuisine.

Wanderlust

I recently joined the group “You know you went to an International school when…” on Facebook. This list beings with “ You can’t answer the question: ‘Where are you from?’” I know I have face down many preplexed stares at my difficulty in answering such a simple question. “Do you mean where I was from originally? or where I moved from? Where I currently live?” It’s not such a simple question after all. On the list there was also “7) Your life story uses the phrase “Then we went to…” five times (or six, or seven times…).
You speak with authority on the quality of airline travel.” I have finally re-found my tribe. The tribe that really has a hard time committing to the word ‘home.’ I usually find that people become even more confused when I tell them that it doesn’t really matter where I live. And yes, I do have one of the thickest multi-book passports around. And yes, my close friends are scattered all over the globe but that seems normal to me.

I’ve picked up some very handy survival tactics and thoughts over the years. I hope this might make relocation for others easier. (And please feel free to contribute if you think of anything else)

Situation in Burma after Nargis

Yangon after the cyclone

When I got news of the Nargis cyclone in Burma, my thoughts immediately turned to my brother who has been shuttling between Thailand and Burma for his work during the past few years. I grew more worried as the BBC reported up to 22,000 deaths (unconfirmed) while yesterday the bangkok post reported only 300. (Today they apparently updated the number to 22,000)

Here’s an excerpt from my brother’s email:

We received very little news in BKK of the Typhoon damage. I was informed of the real situation on Sunday. I managed to get myself back to YGN on Monday evening – Yangon is no longer the same Yangon. Big trees, power lines are down across the street. The green YGN is now only left with few trees standing with stripped branches. Most of the houses are damaged with missing roof – corrugated iron sheets and nails are in great demand. Fuel and water are also in high demand and with limited supply – at the office we have to run the generator for power (until we finish our diesel supply). I had arranged for smaller generators already which are much more economical than the main one. For communication, Myanmar government is also asking for our help for emergency battery power supply to run their side so Yangon can communicate outside!!!

At my office we are sending non essentials back ASAP, over ten staffs will fly back tonight – as for me, they had asked me to stay and help for a few more days……..looks like it will take a long time to get the situation back to normal on YGN.
Luckily I still have SPAM from our last visit to New York.

How you can help :

• International Rescue Committee TO HELP CYCLONE VICTIMS: 1-877-REFUGEE
• US Campaign for Burma
• UNICEF

Help…my email is down

So for the past 4 or 5 days, my email has been on the blitz and achingly slow. That is until yesterday when it finally gave up on me and I was stranded in incommunicado land. When all your business depends on email, this is no joke. Especially when I am notorious for telling people not to call me..email me, that is the best way. URGGHHH.

I recently switched to dreamhost based on several recommendations. After trying to control my symptoms of email withdrawal, I sent an email to support. i got back an automated response that suggested that I should check out the status page for immediate updates on the “severity: medium” situation. 9 pages (all within the timespan of 2 hours) of ANGRY people with nothing to do except vent and hit refresh on the page for the next update. I have to say…its quite fascinating. Ahhh I like NA for email. (angry,vindictive, full of swear words and the occasion tears)

Here are some choice excerpts:

message from DreamHost:

Problem with central services (panel,webmail, etc..) and spunky cluster

We are currently experiencing problems with one of our internal firewall machines that is causing problems with our central services connecting to our customer database. This problem is expected to be fixed within 20 minutes, we apologize for the trouble and will update this post as soon as it is resolved or more information becomes available as to the cause.

“This entry was posted 1 hour, 5 minutes ago on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 1:12 pm…

20 minutes eh?

oh, and I love how the title makes the problem seem somewhat insignificant… until you realize the the etc part actually means AND EVERYTHING ELSE.”

“All of my web sites… 30 of them, and nn subdomains are down…great job boys and girls :sarcasm:”

“Hey, if you Dreamhost guys are reading this I’d really like to be able to use my website today. Please get it together. Thanks.”

“we’re all mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed 5hit”

“OMG MY SITE IS DOWN!!!! oh wait, it’s just a blog….eh”

“Lol, they say that the panel is working well who gives a fuck about the panel, that’s not what my website is you douche bags, my website is the website, not things on your end. Don’t bother updating with ‘Our business is safe, now on to yours, idiots.’ we really don’t care about how you guys are doing we want OUR sites to work.”

“Get what you pay for. This is what happens when you shop at the dollar store.”

 Well..let’s just say I’m glad its just my site on there and not my client sites. I may shop at the dollar store…but i don’t have my client’s shop there

My friends think I am white

So I am breaking my 2008 blog silence with this post. LReflection just sent me an IM “I think you’re really white” With the IM was this link to the blog Stuff White People Like. One of the most brilliant, funny blogs I have ever read… Hmm perhaps I am white. As another friend once told me. I am a ‘twinkie’ yellow on the outside, white on the inside! but hey I like sappy 80’s music, technology items in Pink plus I have an iron stomach! I think those are some very Asian traits!