Coupled Confessions

August was a banner month of visiting friends! Besides my family, who came to visit earlier in the month, we had the pleasure of seeing some of my college friends who were in town the past couple weeks. Schedules were busy and meeting times were limited, but it was so nice to see some familiar faces….

A couple of weeks ago, we had dinner with Jamie when she stopped by San Francisco for a weekend after completing her internship at Samsung in South Korea. We unfortunately could only meet her for dinner on a Friday night because we were in Las Vegas the rest of the weekend, but we caught up over some delicious seafood at R&G Lounge in San Francisco. Jamie was only a freshman when I was a senior, but she seems so grown up now! It made me so proud! (And at the same time made me feel old! haha*)

With Jamie at dinner at R&G Lounge.

First time seeing Jamie in over three years!

This past weekend, Luice and Stephanie were in town for their cousin’s wedding, and they were able to make some time for a short brunch before they had to rush off to the nuptials. I was so happy to see the Woo sisters again! We went to San Tung in Inner Sunset, famous for their dry-fried chicken wings!

Brunch at San Tung with Stephanie, Luice, and Sue!

Loved seeing everyone again!

In addition to visitors, I was excited to have two friends from back East move to the area this month as well. Sue, who came to visit last month, landed an awesome job out here at a renowned architecture firm, and our friends April and Ed (now engaged!) made the move earlier this month for April to start her PhD program at UC Berkeley. We’re so happy to have so many new neighbors from back home!

A couple weeks ago, Dan and I flew to Las Vegas for a 3-day weekend with some of my college friends! It was the first time being in Sin City for both Dan and myself, so everything was new to us! We got to eat some good food, watch the Cirque du Soleil show KA (the highlight of the trip for me!) and even I dabbled in some gambling…!

Here are some photos:

Arriving in Vegas.

We all stayed in a suite together at the Luxor.

Richard, Dan, and I were the first ones to get there! Here are the guys playing with their Android phones at lunch... so nerdy.

For dinner, we went to RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay

They had some delicious sustainable seafood. Thanks for the recommendation, Jenn!

I played the slots, and won 5 times what I put in! (I put in $2, came out with $10.)

The Strip at night.

Waiting to see KA at the MGM Grand.

The gentlemen before the show.

Waiting for pho lunch the next day at Treasure Island.

Outside of Treasure Island with some of my favorite Hokies! I missed them a lot!

Ice cream floats at Burger Bar for lunch the next day...

All of us at the Luxor.

Dan and I at the Flamingo hotel before leaving for the airport.

I was feeling under the weather much of the weekend, so I feel like I wasn’t able to fully enjoy Vegas, but it was nice to be able to see some of my college friends again. Next weekend, we’ll be flying to Phoenix to visit my cousin’s family for Labor Day Weekend, but after that, we’ll be done with jetsetting for a while….

My family was in town a couple weeks ago, and we got to spend some quality time together. It was the first time that all of us Yokoyama’s were together since New Years, so I was ecstatic to see them all again! I took a Friday off to spend a day with them in San Francisco, and then we drove to South Lake Tahoe for the weekend. Here are some photos from the Yokoyama reunion!

My family making their way down the steps of Lombard Street

Me with my mother and siblings.

Ramen lunch at Tanpopo in Japantown.

For dinner, we went to Zabu Zabu in Berkeley, a shabu shabu restaurant.

Dan and I treated the family to a delicious shabu shabu all-you-can-eat dinner.

On Saturday morning, we headed out in the morning to drive to South Lake Tahoe. I’ve been to Tahoe before, but it was in the winter when there was snow, and it was the northern side at Northstar, so this was a whole new experience to visit the southern side and in the summertime!

Lunch upon arriving at South Lake Tahoe.

We ate at Blue Angel Café. Their steak salad was good!

At a lookout point for Emerald Bay.

Beautiful Emerald Bay at South Lake Tahoe

My parents with the mountains in South Lake Tahoe.

Dan's got the blues

Miwa advertising her canned green tea.

I love my parents!

At night, the siblings came together for game night in our hotel room.

The next morning, at Heavenly Ski Resort.

The Yokoyama ladies

Miwa and I with our parents.

After breakfast, we rode the gondolas up to the lookout point.

Me with my sister and brother on the gondola.

Arriving at the lookout point.

The Yokoyamas at South Lake Tahoe

A gorgeous view of Lake Tahoe!

We ended our weekend in Tahoe with mini golf, a Yokoyama family tradition.

It was really hot in Tahoe, so we cooled down with some shaved ice. (They claimed it was Hawaiian style, but it just didn't compare....)

I had a wonderful time with the family, but as always, I wish I could have made it longer! It’s so hard when you live across the country from your family and loved ones. I can’t wait until the holidays, when we can go visit them back East!

This past weekend, I flew down to Los Angeles to spend the weekend with a couple of my close college friends! Ryosuke had been in SoCal for a week for a business trip, and Mariko was very gracious to host us again and drive us around everywhere. We had a memorable, fun-filled weekend together!

I flew down to LAX on Friday morning, and after Mari picked me up at the airport, we went to Il Chianti, an Italian restaurant in Lomita. But this is not just any Italian food — it’s Italian food that is tailored to Japanese tastes, so it was very light yet flavorful, and it doesn’t leave you with the heavy feeling that a lot of other traditional Italian restaurants leave you with.

Il Chianti in Lomita

We got to the restaurant a little early, so we caught up on a bench outside while we waited for it to open.

Manila clam pasta with herbs

Afterwards, we went shopping to get a joint birthday present for Ryosuke, and waited for him to get out of work….

Boba Loca

Mari and I shared a watermelon slushy.

Cute Mari with our boba.

We took a walk around Charles H. Wilson Park in Torrance.

Ryosuke finally got off of work, so we picked him up at his hotel in Hawthorne and after wandering around Book Off and Marukai in Gardena, we headed over to dinner in Koreatown, at Honey Pig. My coworker Estella repeatedly recommended it, saying it was some of the best Korean BBQ in LA, so I’d been really wanting to try it!

Me at Honey Pig in Koreatown!

Mari and Richard at dinner

Doesn't it look delicious? It was a little different from the typical Korean BBQ I was used to from Annandale Koreatown.

Mari and I are ready to eat!

The service was great, and our waitress was very friendly and knew some Japanese. She showed us how to eat everything since it was our first time at Honey Pig. They even gave us some complimentary octopus to grill along with the amazing galbi and samgyeopsal that we’d ordered.

At the end, they added rice and lettuce to the leftover meat to make "bibimbap."

After stuffing ourselves to satisfaction at Honey Pig, we drove to Max Karaoke to spend a couple hours singing our hearts out! When the three of us would hang out back in Northern Virginia, we always went karaoke, so we decided to stay true to tradition!

Mariko and I at karaoke

They had a book of Glee songs!

We tried to get a photo of the three of us together with a timer, but it didn't work as well as we'd hoped... the base ended up being too reflective.

Ryosuke sang an impressive rendition of Jason DeRulo’s “Whatcha Say” at my request. (I have been loving all the covers of that song on YouTube — they’re even better than the original!) He should be one of those YouTube celebrities that do cover songs!

The next day, we headed over to Orange County and stopped at Mitsuwa’s food court for lunch.

Mitsuwa Marketplace in Costa Mesa.

Santouka Ramen -- it was very popular, and the line was pretty long!

Everything looks so good!

My shoyu ramen from Santouka.

Mari enjoying her ramen!

The ramen was well worth the wait! Sooooo good!

After finishing our lunch and hanging around Mitsuwa for a while, we drove to the OC Fair in Orange County!

Walking from the car to the OC Fair.

Mari and I at the OC Fair, having some shaved ice.

Shaved ice... very sweet! Unfortunately not as good as Hawaii's.

These turkey legs reminded us of our football games from back at school! We were too full to get any though...

Mari with the pugs!

Ryosuke and Mari waiting for the ferris wheel ride.

Ryosuke and I patiently waiting...

Mari and I, finally on the ferris wheel!

We were a little alarmed by how shaky the ride was.

Our view overlooking the OC Fair from the ferris wheel.

The three of us on the ferris wheel!

The Ice Museum at the OC Fair - some very detailed ice sculptures!

I think it was a Chinese lion...?

Angel carved out of ice.

Mari and I by the ice dragon, in the blankets they provided us.

An ice version of Rodin's "The Thinker"

At the photography exhibition at the OC Fair. We played around with the color isolation (color accent?) settings on my camera.

Mari at the photo exhibit.

highlighted oranges

The green stripes in Richard's shirt didn't really show up, but the green in the background did!

A stylish Mari among the photographs

Lots of orange showing up!

Peeking out from behind the walls.

Mari and I with the giant camera at the exhibit.

Ryosuke and I at the exhibit

We spotted these performers on stilts. Amazing how they can walk so well in them!

Taking a break to enjoy some Dippin' Dots.

Rainbow Ice Dippin' Dots!

Mari and Ryo went on the rollercoaster, but I decided to sit it out...

Ryosuke at the end of the ride.

I played a game to use up my tickets, and ended up winning this ugly little bear doll. The pattern makes it look diseased... gross! haha*

We left the fair in the late afternoon to catch a showing of Inception. It was my second time seeing it, but it was still really enjoyable to watch and I was able to pick up on more of the details of the film. Definitely got me thinking all over again. What a great movie! I don’t think I will ever get sick of it! We enjoyed a late Japanese dinner at Sanuki no Sato back in Gardena. They are known for their udon and soba noodles, as well as their great izakaya food.

buta no kakuni

I ordered tempura with zaru-soba!

Ryosuke's sanshoku wariko soba.

A delicious dinner to end an eventful day!

The next day, after we dropped Ryosuke off at LAX for him to catch his morning flight back to Tennessee, I went to church with Mariko. Her father is a pastor and gave a very intriguing and inspiring message. It’s interesting to attend a service in Japanese, because it’s so foreign to me since I never had the experience growing up — any and all services I’ve gone to were always in English. Afterwards, we had some delicious cake at Patisserie Chantilly before heading over to the airport for me to catch my flight.

Patisserie Chantilly in Lomita

I had the Chantilly Fromage, their signature cheesecake with a creamy cheese filling, baked on a buttery honey graham cracker crust

It was really nice to kick back and relax with old college friends again, since the opportunity is so rare these days, living all the way on the other side of the country from most of them. A huge thanks to Mariko for being such a gracious hostess as usual, driving us all over the megalopolis that is LA… and to Ryosuke for extending his stay in California so we could all hang out for a couple days! Looking forward to another reunion, hopefully in the near future!

A couple of weekends ago, my friend Sue from college was in San Francisco for some interviews. I spent a Saturday with her and her friend Matt wandering around the city. Here are some pictures from our adventures in San Francisco….

Starting the day off with Roli Roti brunch at the Ferry Building!

The Roli Roti Plate. Best rotisserie chicken ever! The potatoes are also delicious.

After cleaning off our plates, we went inside the lovely Ferry Building.

We decided to try some of the oysters, since they were only $1.50 each!

Oyster Shots!

Sue with her oyster.

The oysters were great! Will definitely have to go get some more there again.

The three of us outside the Ferry Building.

Sue jumping for joy in front of the Bay Bridge.

I jump!

Matt jumps!

Sue jumping again. This would become a common occurence/theme for the rest of the day.

Finding our way around Telgraph Hill.

Matt jumps at the intersection.

Climbing the Filbert Steps... that's right, all 103 of them!

Looking down at the steps... this was still less than a tenth of it. Still a long way to go!

Halfway up, we stopped to smell the flowers.

Almost there! The Coit Tower is just ahead.

The Coit Tower! We made it!!!

Sue jumping at the Coit Tower.

Exhausted from the climb. Excuse my unattractiveness... but I nearly died climbing those million steps.

The view of the bay from the Coit Tower.

Us outside the Coit Tower, after regaining our composure.

Sue jumping on the streets of San Francisco.

My failed attempt at flying.

Matt got a lot of air!

Sue trying to figure out where Liguria Bakery is... when we were right in front of it. lol.

After grabbing some focaccia, we took a break in Washington Park to sit and enjoy the beautiful day.

The pizza focaccia from Liguria Bakery was so good! They gave us so much too; we couldn't finish it.

Walking through Fisherman's Grotto. There were so many people!

We walked past Hyde Street Pier, towards the Aquatic Park...

Finally here! Sue taking photos from the Aquatic Park.

View of San Francisco from the Aquatic Park. We walked all the way from the Coit Tower (the little tower to the left in the distance) to here! It was quite a lot of walking...

Ghirardelli Square and the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.

Sue and I with San Francisco behind us, before leaving to go to dinner.

It was so good seeing Sue again, since I hadn’t seen her in over three years, since I graduated from Tech. I wish her all the best and I know she’s going to be one of the best architects the world has ever seen, wherever she goes. San Francisco would be lucky to have her!

...and I'll end this one last signature jump from Sue!