Monday, December 25, 2006
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Patrick and I opened presents. Mom Ryan gave us a candle platter and pair of votives, Ursula Rucker's ma'at mama CD, George Michael's Twentyfive CD, a table runner with pair of matching napkins, a toy soldier cookie, and a Superstar video gift certificate for 9 rentals. Sam gave us a popcorn tin, a Food for Thought mini calendar, cds of music, and a North Face black winter jacket for Patrick. Phil, Drew, and Danny gave us a Warre's Otima 10-year-old tawny port (porto), sushi place settings for 4, and 12 beige oversized cloth napkins. Tony Quang gave us a set of 4 Downey's 4-ounce liqueur bundt cakes. Ted & Emery gave us a Jelly Belly box set, cheese and crackers. Tina gave us a box of christmas gifts lost in the mail from 2005 (customized Jesus candle, cookies and tin, Gay Haiku), Chuao truffles, Cocoa Bella chocolates, Vosges Creole chocolate. (Her package from 2005 was lost in USPS limbo for many months.) Melissa gave us a Godiva chocolates. Joel gave me a Michael Grecco book called Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait. Remi & Jesse gave us cookbooks: Korean Cooking for Everyone, Japanese Cuisine for Everyone. Rob gave us a "night out with the guys." Hao gave us a Lucky Bamboo dracaena. Peter gave us a Hickory Farms cheese, sausage, and hot mustard assortment. Aaron gave us a Neiman Marcus chocolate covered cherries, Joseph Schmidt chocolates. Steve gave me an Esquivel cd. I gave Patrick a Lightwedge book light and carrying case, Kabuki Springs Javanese Lular massage and body treatment. Sam picked us up and we drove to Mom Ryan's for gift exchange. Sam then drove us to dim sum brunch at Yank Sing One Rincon Center (101 Spear Street at Mission). Joining Patrick and me were: Phil, Drew, Danny, Drew's mom Jane, Mom Ryan, Sam, Ted, Emery, Remi, Jesse. We took photos in front of the beautiful Rincon Center Christmas tree. Brunch was 30 USD per person, and I was a little shocked that the price was that high. Karaoke at PDD's—Phil, Drew, and Danny recently got a new karaoke machine. Films at the Metreon: the women watched Dreamgirls, the men watched Curse of the Golden Flower which had really thinly developed characters but was enjoyable for its grand sets and costumes. The martial arts in the film was enjoyable but there wasn't much of it.