A group of 8 of us went out to an AWESOME pho party at Pot de Pho out in the Inner Richmond district. I remembered coming to the restaurant was Straits. The chef was there to give us the details on each course and someone from the Pine Ridge winery was there to tell us about the wine pairings. The food was awesome - best broth I think I've ever had! Great job, Marcia and Kimberly!!
After swinging by the old 486 Funston space, we charged up for our walk around the Academy by grabbing a bite to eat at the Beach Chalet. I give the burger 4 stars and KL (aka Michael Bauer of 250 King) would give the BBQ pork sandwich 100 stars if possible. Right after saying hello to the albino alligator we jetted over to the Cliff House for a quick naughty Santa drink and to take in the ocean view. We then stopped by the old windmill in the Golden Gate Park and take in the tulips.
We spent a nice Sunday afternoon wandering around the California Academy of Sciences and taking in all the sights. It was a super nice way to calm ourselves down after the holidays! Love the penguins and their little tuxedos!!
A big thank you goes out to D and L (especially L) for hosting a chicken pot pie party last night. The salad and homemade dressing was delicious and the homemade pot pies rocked. The crust was super flaky and the all organic ingredients tasted awesome! I think she needs to write a cookbook!
We just happened to watch two bordertown movies this weekend. One was starring my mother in laws favorite heartthrob and current Mentalist, Simon Baker. Not Forgotten was pretty good up until the end which was pretty unbelievable. I thought Blind Horizon was pretty good all the way although Neve Campbell as an assassin is pretty far fetched. Faye Dunaway was way underused as well!
Thank you to D and A for hosting a fabulous 13 person dinner party complete with grilled pork, blonde ambition carrots, brussel sprouts, pumpkin puree, and tons of drinks. I was convinced that I need to see Avatar even though I think it's going to piss me off. The smaller afterparty headed out to Supperclub for a little nightcap. Good times!
On Xmas morning, we had a surprise visit from the Santa on Clipper Street!! He got a nice sweet package of bacon from us for stopping by! The angry snowman found a perfect place to hang out from my closet door. Everyone besides TZL played a cooking role in preparing dinner, although he did bring 8 ears of corn and 4 packages of crescent rolls! And, finally, Indy wanted to be part of every event including the gift exchange and, of course, dinner.
I had a great dinner at Ironside on Monday night with a couple of other biotechy guys and then headed over to Ozone Thai for a nightcap. On Tuesday, Slacker and I met up at 4th Street for some appetizers (aka wings) followed by dinner at Tad's. On Wednesday evening, KL's mama arrived, so the late afternoon was spent getting the house in order. I cooked up what turned out to be some delicious breaded chicken in olives and capers. Thursday afternoon we had lunch at Max's - delicious corned beef sandwich and chicken pot pie!
We had our annual Holiday Party this past Friday at the ARYx building and it turned out to be MUCH better than I expected. We had a white elephant gift exchange where I "won" this sweet framed photo. Then, a raffle was held using all the $$ I had won with my magic money cards. After that, BA picked me up to head to the Aris household for the evening!
In this 12/09 paper, the researchers from the UCSD as well as other institutions describe a new technique for detecting neurotransmitter release in situ in the frontal cortex of rats. They used CNiFERs (nee sniffers) to detect ACh release by M1 receptors after administration of clozapine and olanzapine to rats. It will be interested to see how if they can apply their technique to D2 and 5HT2a receptors as well.
Bindu the Hindu strolled into town for work and we were able to connect with her for dinner on Friday night at Tropisueno. The food at dinner was just OK, but we got to hear all about her buddy Chuckles. Then, we went over to the Wheedlers place for a little cheesecake dessert and champagne. We got to hear all about her fear of cats, but there was no crying all night long!!
