Archive for the year 2011
Celebrity Sightings
Posted on August 7, 2011 by Ching under Things to Do.
When Brian and I went to the pool tonight, we were disappointed to find people there. We usually prefer it when it’s just the two of us. Friday nights are the best because there’s never anyone at the pool and we can pretty much do whatever we want. Tonight, there were a few people when we got there. There were a couple of guys with two little kids and then there was this guy with two girls.
After a while, the two guys with the two little kids left so it was just the five of us at the pool — Brian and me, and the guy with the two women. I thought the guy looked really familiar. The three of them were speaking Spanish on and off, but I couldn’t help but overhear some of their conversation. The ladies kept calling him Jason, so I began to wonder if it was Chef Jason of Taste & See (formerly of Sabor).
I asked Brian if he thought the guy looked familiar. He agreed. I told him that I thought it might Chef Jason. We both agreed that he looked just like him. I was too embarrassed to ask, though. I didn’t want him to think that I was stalking him. Though he is a bit of a celebrity. At least in my book. He is like a food God. Everything he makes is delicious!
I remember eating his delicious dishes at Sabor three years ago. I kept going back. I think he’s actually partially responsible for making me fat. Him and Joe at Carrabba’s. And a few other restaurants in town. LOL. We used to eat out a lot.
This year I found out through Gina Ann that he’s doing cooking classes at Taste & See. A few months ago, he started serving lunch at the cooking school. If you’ve never been there, you have to try it! The food is amazing! Now is actually the best time to go because he’s doing a special on FourSquare. I wouldn’t have known about it, if it weren’t for Gina Ann.
Chef Jason also has a couple of cooking classes coming up. Brian and I are already registered for the sushi class, which is on Saturday, August 27. We also want to do the tapas class at the end of September. We haven’t signed up for that one yet, though. I’m really looking forward to learning how to make sushi so we can start making sushi for dinner. I’ve yet to meet a fat Japanese person so it can’t be that bad for you. =P
Speaking of celebrities, we also got to meet Marielkis Salazar of Univision Kansas. She is super nice! So nice, in fact, that I might start watching Univision Kansas from now on. I think it might help me improve my Spanish. LOL.
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Spanish Immersion – Street Spanish
Posted on August 7, 2011 by Ching under Tagalog.
Here are some Spanish colloquialisms that we picked up at the free Spanish immersion class yesterday at Spanish Horizons.
NOTE: I’m posting this for Paige because she couldn’t make it. She still donated school supplies, though. She’s just awesome like that. I brought in her stuff and let Brian bring my donation in so that he could participate in the free Spanish lesson.
| Phrases | |
|---|---|
| ¡Hola compa! | Hi pal! |
| ¿Qué onda? | What’s new? |
| ¿Qué tal? | How are things? |
| ¿Qué tal la fiesta? | How’s the party? |
| ¿Qué tal los chicos? | How are the boys? |
| ¿Cómo te ha ido? | How have you been? |
| ¡Oye! ¡Oiga! | Hey! |
| Te amo. | I love you. (romantic sense or deep love) |
| Te quiero. | I love you. (friendly sense) |
| ¡Qué guapo/a! | How good looking! |
| ¡Ojo! | Watch out! |
| ¿Te gusta…? | Do you like…? |
| Me gusta… | I like… |
| No me gusta… | I don’t like… |
| Déjeme en paz. | Leave me alone. |
| ¡Deje de molestarme! | Stop bothering me! (almost looks like “Stop molesting me!” – LOL) |
| ¡Basta ya! | Enough already! |
| Buena suerte. | Good luck. |
| ¿Cómo se dice…? | How do you say…? (this is a really useful phrase) |
| Words | |
|---|---|
| los chavos | the guys |
| fulano/a | unfamiliar guy/gal (someone you don’t know) |
| a toda madre | great, fantastic |
| chulo/a | cute, good looking |
| ‘mano, ‘manito | bro/brother, little brother |
| ‘mana, ‘manita | sis/sister, little sister |
| quizas | maybe |
| simón | oh yeah (variant of sí = yes) |
| porfa | please (from por favor) |
| mamacita | literally little mama; can be used with affection or referring to an appealing woman, but has a sexist connotation |
The word mamacita made me think of “Ay Papacito” by Alicia Villarreal. It’s one of the songs that we Zumba too in Amie and Gina Ann’s classes. We actually used it as our cool down song in Amie’s Zumba class this afternoon.
Speaking of Amie, she actually called me a mamacita today. I think she meant it as a compliment. At least, that’s the way I took it. 🙂
| Bad Words | |
|---|---|
| Because you know that this is really want you want to know… =P | |
| mierda | shit |
| cabrón | son of a bitch |
| pendejo | asshole |
| pinche | damn |
| culo | ass |
| perra | bitch |
| puta | whore (same in Tagalog) |
| chinga | fuck |
Vendla didn’t teach us the bad words. There were kids in the audience. They were listed on the handout though, for those who are curious and want to learn them. Brian promptly made fun of me over that last one because I go by Ching or Chingay and it’s only one letter off from the Spanish cuss word. I didn’t know this until yesterday, of course. Had I known, I would have picked a different nickname. Actually, my grandmother is the one who started the whole “Ching” thing when I was little. They all called me “Ching-Ching” in Tabuc. I don’t think anyone knew any better.
The only cuss word that I was familiar with already is puta because it is the same as the Tagalog word for whore. Suerte is also familiar because it means luck in Tagalog. Except, I think we spell it with a “W” like swerte. Gusto is similar in Tagalog as well. We say gusto ko for I like or gusto mo for you like. Guapo is the same in Tagalog but, as with the word for luck, I think we spell it with a “W” also like gwapo. The tagalog word for beautiful is maganda, but in Bisaya we always say gwapa. As much as Spanish has in common with Tagalog, it has even more in common with Bisaya.
I think that my ability to speak Tagalog and Bisaya has really helped me pick up Spanish a lot quicker. I expect to be pretty fluent in a couple more classes. I’m really looking forward to being able to hold Spanish conversations. Now I just need to find someone to practice with!
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Gavin’s Very Own Playground
Posted on August 7, 2011 by Ching under Babies, Life.
Finally got to see the swing set that Cory and April bought for Gavin. They got a really good deal on it. I think it was regularly $500-$600 and they got it for less than $200 on closeout. April is the queen of deals.
Feifel helped Cory put it together last weekend. Brian couldn’t help because it was a very busy weekend for us. He had a massage appointment, errands, Carolyn’s birthday party at Gina and Coley’s, dinner with everyone at PCP (since the Dill’s were moving back to the East Coast – they are there now), and he still hadn’t packed for his trip.
When we were at dinner Jay was actually proud of Brian for not being packed yet, despite the fact that he was leaving in a few hours. Of course, Brian was only going to be gone for three days. We are known for packing one to two weeks in advance of our trips, though. Packing only hours before departure is actually pretty uncharacteristic of Brian.
Anyway, Brian felt bad that he couldn’t help. Although, I think he is secretly relieved that he had stuff going on and was able to get out of it because it was a ten-hour project. Who knew building these things could be complicated? No wonder they are typically left behind when people sell their house and move. LOL.
We had fun at Gavin’s birthday. I think the three glasses of sangria helped. Kidding aside, I thought the inflatable water slide was a brilliant idea.
At least the bigger kids seemed to get a kick out of it. Gavin was afraid to go down the slide, but seemed to have fun regardless. Ethan was crying most of the time. You can hear him in the video. Must have been the heat. I think he was happier once he was inside the house.
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Catching Some UVs at the Pool
Posted on August 5, 2011 by Ching under Life.
West Central Genesis was still without power by the time I called them yesterday afternoon so Brian and I decided to go swimming instead. I was really looking forward to Zumba, but we had a great time at the pool.
We have gotten in the habit of both getting on this float thing. It’s amazing that it doesn’t sink, even with both of us in it. LOL. I think had we done that last year, it wouldn’t have been able to support both of us.
I am thinking about buying an actual two-person one though, because we kind of look ridiculous floating around in this single-person one. Although, Brian said he prefers it because it is more intimate. I think it’s just crowded. LOL.
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The Day Brian and I First Met
Posted on August 5, 2011 by Ching under Life.
Dining at Walt’s the other day brought back memories of the day that Brian and I first met. It was April 17, 1999 and I was dating this guy name Jason. A couple of his coworkers got promoted and so their group decided to meet at Walt’s to celebrate. He took me with him.
I met Brian, who was one of Jason’s coworkers, that night. I don’t remember what he was wearing because he was already there and seated when Jason and I arrived. The one thing I remember is that he had so much facial hair that you could barely see his face. He had long hair that he wore in a pony tail and was wearing a baseball cap. I think it was the one with some kind of leprechaun figure on it, which is one that he used to wear all the time when we first got together.
I was wearing my red plaid pants (I think they were little girls’ pants actually – LOL – because I used to be able to wear size 12 or 14 girls clothes back then; regular pants were too long on me) and my gray Guess fitted shirt. I had a long bob, just above my shoulders and I used to wear green colored contacts. I don’t think Brian remembers this much detail about our first meeting actually. I have better memory than he does. 😉
If you ask Brian, the one thing that he does remember from that night is my response to him when he asked me about my web site. I guess I said something like, “It’s not a porn site.” I was already blogging back then and had my web site at Chingay.com. It’s not there anymore, but this is what the old blog/web site used to look like. Anyway, I guess he got teased a lot because of my response. His coworkers were like, “She just met you and she’s already got you pegged.” LOL.
He must have gone to my web site because he sent me an email asking me out a couple of weeks later. Naturally, I declined because I was dating his coworker. We became friends and corresponded by email on and off. He was a terrible speller, but he was funny and I looked forward to our correspondence. We talked on the phone a few times, but didn’t really start hanging out until after I got dumped by coworker.
I think it was July when Brian and I started hanging out. We officially became boyfriend-girlfriend around October that same year. By December-January, I had moved in. After living together for a year, we bought our first house. Our closing date was April 13, 2001, which serendipitously happens to be almost two years after our chance meeting at Walt’s. We got engaged in May 2001, two weeks after moving in to our house, and then were married a year and a half later on August 10, 2002, which also happens to be approximately three years after we officially became a couple.
So there you have it. The short version (maybe not so short for you, but this is short as my stories go) of how Brian and I got together. There’s more to the story, but I didn’t want to bore you all with every single detail. Anyway, the moral of this story is that your rebound guy can be your life partner. Brian and I are living proof of this.
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