10am = 97 degrees ... I'm definitely back in Phoenix!
Overall it was a quick ceremony with just two short faculty speeches and then the walk. I'm DONE with undergrad ... wow that went by so fast. I don't feel any different, though!
The day before graduation, we also had a nice outdoor brunch at one of my favorite places in the valley: La Grande Orange in the Arcadia area. It's a combination of a tiny boutique grocery, a wine cellar, an excellent cafe, and a plant shop ... my favorite things all in one place!
The patio at LGO
A beautiful late morning/early afternoon in the shade
Mom's reubin sandwich with fresh cole slaw
My smoked salmon croque madame
Migas (basically, crêpes) with honey, strawberries, and crème
Yum!
I'm now back in San Francisco underneath cloudy, rainy skies (while in Phoenix I really realized how strange it is that there were so many days when there's not a single cloud in the sky...)
Mom and I went to Chinatown today since she wanted to get some cards and red envelopes for new years money. We saw that gold is up to $2109 per ounce!
I bought a small shou Xiaguan tuocha (compressed bird's nest pu erh) from the shop that mom used to go to, and we stopped by Red Blossom Tea Co. as well. As soon as I walked in, I was so surprised that Alice remembered me. She immediately said "you were looking for some 2011 Formosa oolongs last time, right?" Before I could answer, she already went to the back to pull out a big unlabeled tin. It turns out, they had just received (earlier that day) a 2011 Wenshan Baozhong oolong. We tasted it in the shop and I could immediately tell that this tea was much more floral than the Alishan, but the Alishan had a thicker and more buttery mouthfeel - this Wenshan was very light, crisp, and clean on the mouthfeel with lots of floral aroma. I read online afterwards that Baozhong oolongs are crafted in a "twisted leaf" style as opposed to a "rolled" style like my 2010 Spring Alishan. Furthermore, the Baozhong oolong is the least processed of oolongs - very green (unroasted, perhaps?) and oxidized only 10-20%. We were officially the first people to taste this tea - it arrived in the shop so recently that they had no labels for it at all, which is why my bag is just hand labeled now :-p. Mom bought 2 ounces for me and we were on our way to the bakery (Napoleon Bakery) for some Nai Wong Bolo Bao and Dan Tat before dropping me off at home.
In the garden, Ian got us a yuzu tree (a wild japanese citrus with a highly aromatic rind) and a pineapple guava tree!
We were at my favorite garden shop here in San Francisco called Hortica - it's just an old little house turned into neighborhood nursery with plants out in the backyard between another house and a cafe backyard patio.
I'll do an entry on the balcony garden when a few more things get set up, but I'm so excited because fresh Yuzu is so difficult to find here. US Customs prevents importing fresh Yuzu fruit, so the only way to get the taste is from powder or in bottled form (read: not the same at all). It reminds me of my summers in Japan when my grandparents would make such a refreshing and aromatic drink by muddling the fruit. Also, during the winter solstice, people in Japan often take a nice hot bath with yuzu fruit in the water - the heat releases the wonderful smell of this unique citrus. It's apparently a cross between a sour mandarin and a wild citrus called an Ichang Papeda, and is native to the highlands of Tibet (hence its extreme cold hardiness even below freezing)
As far as the pineapple guava goes - wow this is going to be a fun plant to grow. Leaves are beautiful silver-green and soft - but it's the flowers and fruit that are unique. There are tons of buds growing right now, but once the buds open to show their flowers is when the fun will begin ... apparently you can pluck and eat the flower petals which taste like cotton candy. Furthermore, even after plucking the petals, the anthers will still be able to create fruit (guava fruit!). Guava and yuzu on our patio? How cool!
We also have an elephant foot palm (very small) for indoors that Ian named "mmmBop" (that's also how you say hello to it!). Stay tuned for the garden - I'll do a post soon
I also finally received my pharmacy technician license here in CA and applied for a full time and part time position inpatient at California Pacific Medical Center. I hope it's the Davies campus which is right by the apartment - it would be so nice to 1) get the job and 2) have it be at the hospital right here as opposed to some other campus. We'll see ...
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