mobile uploads

Did you know that you can take pictures on your mobile phone and either upload/email them to your computer or directly share it through a social media platform? Of course you didn't; that's why I'm around to teach you these things. What a great time to be alive, right now, in 2011, where we can for the very first time, start to pilot this fascinating technology.



I accompanied my parents on Saturday morning to meet an acquaintance from Korea at the Union Square Hilton Hotel. I'd never been there before but knew that it's frequented largely by international travelers. While seated in a quiet section of the lobby, I noticed a large congregation of Korean Air stewardesses form a huddle around their pilot to my left. There were probably about 15 young ladies reviewing itineraries and giggling at the captain's lame jokes (I actually didn't hear a word he said).



Cars were cleared by the city on Emmelle's street on Sunday due to a Honda commercial. We got a sneak peak at the 2012 Civic; I can't wait to see if we can recognize her neighborhood when the spots (I'm assuming they are for local dealerships) air.

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may 21, 2011 - someone else's perspective

Emmelle and I just booked our honeymoon travel to Paris, France. However, I stumbled upon this CNN video which suggests that Paris won't be around after our wedding date - neither will planes, the sky or anything. That's tough; I've always considered the honeymoon to be a just reward for all of the planning and preparation that has consumed this past year.

It would be extremely helpful to know when exactly the rapture will arrive on May 21. I'm really hoping that we'll be able to squeeze in the father-son dance that I've been rehearsing. This also severely jeopardizes the planned talent show portion of the reception.



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stronachie 12 years

A few weeks ago, I trekked out in the pouring rain to my local BevMo store for a new bottle of whisky. After staring at the same set of bottles in the store for twenty minutes or so, I left with the Stronachie 12 years (pronounced "Stronachie 12 years"). I am actually familliar with this bottle; I purchased one for Emmelle's uncle just a couple of months ago after a whisky merchant recommended it as a good combination of sweet and smoke. I remember liking it when I sat down with Emmelle's family to drink it; or at least I remember liking it because I made a point to. Remember, whiskies are for strong and virile men! While still a novice in the single malt game, I definitely know that I prefer a peatier, saltier dram. Thus, I was disappointed with the sweeter properties of the Stronachie and seemingly similar characteristics to the first two single malts I had purchased (Highland Park 12 years and Yamazaki 12 years). That's not to say that this single malt is bad, I think it's just what I'm not looking for at this point. And I can confidently say that I enjoy the first two more. And for whatever reason, I've had an incredibly difficult time identifying what I'm tasting with this single malt. What I can detect: some cinnamon/nutmeg nodes, a distinct oak flavor, malt and a smoke that coats your mouth with every nip. (I read in a tasting note online the presence of raisins, which I certainly agree with. I wish I could have identified that on my own. I stink at this.) Ultimately, this is a decent scotch for me, but I don't think I'll be purchasing it again anytime soon. I'll try to keep this around for guests. Come over and drink it. Return to the GreensandBrowns home page

wedding rings

Wedding rings are in...but cannot be worn. Or can they?

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chipotle buy one get one free

Yesterday, a co-worker informed me that Chipotle was offering a buy-one-get-one-free promotion through an integrated campaign on its Facebook Page and offline partnership with a new television series. As a digital marketer, perhaps I should weigh in on the effectiveness and innovation of an online-offline campaign such as this one. But I'd rather not, because you know, I don't like to talk about work unless it's absolutely necessary.

What I do want to talk about (and remember) though is the fact that I immediately printed out the coupon, left work early, considered multiple restaurant locations and routes home and redeemed the exciting coupon for a chicken and steak burrito with all of the tex-mex-cali fixins'. A proper and cost-effective Monday feast with Emmelle. I voraciously scarfed down 1.5 burritos to avoid turning to a soggy, refrigerated burrito days later.

What a great meal for our wedding planning penny pinching needs. What a terrible meal for our wedding planning dieting needs.

Years from now, when my life is considerably different from where and what it is now, I'd like to think that I will have the same zeal for coupons...and food...especially when they go together.

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la folie in san francisco (russian hill) & a quick note on Check! Please Bay Area

It's been quite some time since I last wrote about a Bay Area gastronomic adventure. And Emmelle has certainly expressed her dismay at our recent epicurean futility. Well, I can certainly take a hint when I'm bludgeoned over the head with it, which led to a reservation at the highly regarded La Folie on Polk Street. We actually made the reservation after watching a re-run of Check, Please! Bay Area.

Quick side note, how awesome is Check, Please!? It rivals Top Chef as my favorite television food show. Like Yelp, you have to take individual reviews with a grain of salt - the shows producers do a great job of finding some serious weirdos to journey around the Bay Area's food scene. They can't be trusted. But it's fairly easy to get a sense of each place, and whether or not it's worthy of a visit. The most interesting part of the half hour show occurs when one of the guests complains about a dining experience (chosen by another guest), completely offending the other. Great TV when you put together real folks who don't understand how to conduct themselves on television (I guess that's the point of reality TV).

As for La Folie, it was an extremely pleasurable dining experience. Let's go backwards because it's easier to remember it that way, a few select highlights:

• Emmelle's bread pudding dessert was accompanied by a Maker's Mark ice cream (I think we have an ice cream maker on our wedding gift registry. I'll just be feeding a bottle of Maker's Mark into the machine the first time we make any kind of vanilla ice cream).
  
• Our main courses, duck and rack of lamb (exquisite), were topped with tongue pieces of each animal. I've never had duck tongue or lamb tongue, and both were pretty good. I'm too tired to try to explain it.
  
• Butter poached lobster on squash ravioli; lobster and mushroom risotto - wow.
  
• I had a foie gras dish that included (among other things), quince chutney, a peanut butter "graham cracker" (didn't really know what it was) and some brioche bread. You're basically compiling a PB&J sandwich with foie gras. Decadent. This appetizer pretty much knocked me out.
  
• Two amuse bouche (bouches?). Quantity isn't the most important aspect of a meal of this nature but the exquisite taste of each was not wasted on us.

I'm of the opinion that anytime you are dropping serious coin on a French or Japanese meal, you are sitting down to potentially a "best meal of all time" situation. La Folie was definitely one of the better meals I've had. The best? That's too hard to say because I just ate what could only be described as an inspiring bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios.

Here's the Check, Please! Bay Area La Folie episode from Season 2, Episode 21. I have no pictures to share because I accidentally left the DSLR in the car before passing the car off to the valet service.



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yamazaki 12 years

About a week after I purchased Highland Park 12 years, I returned to the wine merchant near my office intent on bringing home a second bottle of scotch. I made it my objective to procure a smokier, peatier scotch as a worthy counterpart to Highland Park's honeyed qualities. Well, I guess I failed in some sense because The Yamazaki 12 year (not a scotch, not peaty) rests comfortably next to the HP12 (not Harry Potter) on top of my fridge at the moment. I knew nothing of this whisky before purchase other than Emmelle's proclamation that one of her co-workers had said it was a good one. Sold!

I did just a bit of research after my purchase - first single malt whisky distillery of its kind outside of Scotland, started sometime in the early 1920s. While only a Scottish borne whisky can truly be a scotch, the distillation process is very similar. A good whisky is a good whisky is a good whisky, and I definitely enjoy this one. It smells of toffee, and that initial experience on the nose remains when you touch it on your lips and tongue. One might mistake the Yamazaki for a bottle of maple syrup; it smells and tastes like it too. It's pretty pleasing and finishes with a relaxing smoke in your throat.

However, because of my relatively poor ability to identify flavors on their own, I relied on a direct comparison with the HP12. I would say that the Highland Park 12 year is a bit more viscous and definitely more complex. The Yamazaki 12 year, while good, was more of a one note experience for me. Ultimately, it may be slightly too sweet for my preference, but great to nip on after a meal.

If I were to rate it on a scale of 0 - 1 with 0 being undrinkable and 1 being drinkable, I would rate the Yamazaki 12 year with a resounding 1!

Togna came over to enjoy the tasting with me, and he made the connection between the parent distillery (Suntory) and the indie film favorite Lost in Translation (below). We also concluded that nothing is a collection until you have at least five of whatever it is you are trying to collecting. I love collecting thoughts about collecting things.



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phillips head screw cufflinks

I recently stumbled upon an interesting ecommerce site, Uncommongoods, which offers a variety of knick knacks, accessories and home decor items. Among some of the cooler pieces, I've found myself completely enamored with the phillips head screw cufflinks.

The $85 price tag on this set is pretty steep (for now), but from a purely aesthetic point of view, these would make a nice addition to any man's cufflink collection (I'm always drawn to shiny objects, aren't you?).

The weekend is here, meaning that outdoor activities should combat my ridiculous urge to purchase these cufflinks.

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engagement photo session with jason wu

I've made it a point not to use GreensandBrowns as a medium to share a bunch of photos, but just this once (at least until my wedding day, I have kids or a bunch of other events I'm not considering), I'm breaking that rule now.

Last week, we met our wedding photographer for our engagement photo session. His website can be found here. The session is really meant to accomplish two things. First, of course, we (Emmelle) needed some engagement photos to do some stuff with them. Secondly, and just as important, our photographer used this valuable time to acclimate us to his shooting and directorial style and get us comfortable with the camera. It goes without saying that I'm a natural in front of any type of lense; Emmelle had a little difficulty expressing affectionate with an onlooker, but did a great job as the day went on. She'll be ready on her special day.











If you're interested, a few more photos can be seen on my Flickr page. There you can see my sweet Batman cufflinks and pair of Tom kicks that I wore for this day. You know, because you care about these things. Big thanks to our photographer for a great day. He really did help us become more comfortable and the complementary nude session that followed went smoothly (Emmelle wasn't available for that one). We're really glad he's shooting our wedding.

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save the dates

I am supposed to be doing a better job of chronicling the engagement process. Here's the save the date video that we created that we sent out in early January (If embed isn't in HD, you need to clickthrough to vimeo.com):

While we're here, we might as well take a look at Colonel and General Mustard's electronic save the date as well. Please note, just because you can see this now, doesn't mean you are invited. In fact, if this is the first place you are seeing it, you are not invited. That sounds harsh.

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