Mini lobster feast...

Live Maines new shell lobster special at Wegmans - gotta get my hands on them!

Here they are playing in the sink...

And here they are all red and steaming hot for us to crack them open and dip them in buttery goodness!

Tom's Villainous Birthday Party

We were invited over to Tom & Alicia's home in Kissing Bridge for Tom's Villainous Birthday Party - we all had to dress up as villains. Finding a female villain was no easy task - I made do with whatever I could find hiding in my closet and a $2.99 cat mask. Peter did really well - he made a Wario costume and I helped with the mustache :) Our favorite villain of the night had to be Mary who came in the comfiest pajamas and robe. Armed with a box of kleenex and a pig snout, she was the infamous Swine Flu!

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Mom's Airport Send-off

After being in North America for almost 3 months and 2 weeks, it was time for Mom to head back home. She traveled a lot on this trip visiting our friends up in Canada on numerous occasions, to Vegas to see Dad and almost two weeks in Indianapolis at Sharon's. Here are pictures from her send-off...

Our parents...

Me & Mom...

All in the family...

Mary Anne & Dan's Post Wedding Party

Also falling on our one year NY wedding anniversary was a family party organized by Julie for Mare & Danny. A reunion of sorts as well as a celebration of their marriage for family and friends who could not make it to their wedding in Florida earlier this year. Julie made a beautiful cake for Mare - it still looked amazing even though it tilted a bit on its way to the party. Grandma was there with us, she was not in the best of health at that time but she was so happy she could join in the fun. Get well soon Grandma G! Here are pictures...

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One year ago...

A year ago... family and friends from near and far gathered on this day to celebrate our special day - 9.7.08

It was also...


Aunt Elaine's 80th birthday
&


Wojtek's birthday!

John & Alissa-Anne's Wedding

We are in Rochester this Labor day holiday weekend. Yesterday, we attended a beautiful wedding ceremony of John and Alissa-Anne at the St. Thomas Moore Church. John works with Peter and Johnson and Johnson's and he was a beaming with happiness throughout the day. We later joined the newlyweds at their wedding reception at the Rochester Convention Center. Here are the pictures....

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Jessica & Derik's Wedding

Yesterday was Jessica and Derik's wedding. The weather could not have been any more perfect for their special day. During the ceremony, Mr. Sun graced us with his presence and lit up inside in the chapel with his colorful rays as it passed through the chapel's painted windows. The ceremony was held at the Christ the King Chapel at Canisius College. Later in the evening, we proceeded to the Statler Tower where the reception was held.

Here I am with the beautiful bride...

Congratulations to you and Derik!
We wish you both much happiness!!

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Another year goes by...

Thank you everyone for your kind wishes!
Thank you for thinking of me on my birthday!

Greetings from Buffalo!

A couple of weeks ago, I was involved in a video project for my work office. It is a piece of informational video presentation about all things amazing of our beloved queen city, Buffalo. Here is the final product made by the most amazing producer ever, Amy Matikosh and an awesome creative director and film maker, Suzanne Zorick-Feather of SZF Productions. Check it out below...

...this is Tricia Takanawa signing off :P

Lake Seneca - Part Duex

Here we are... back to the finger lakes again to Lake Seneca. We are continuing with our Riesling passport trying to complete our visits to all the wineries on out list :)

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Jess's Bachelorette Party

We had dinner at Biermarkt in downtown Toronto for Jess's bachelorette weekend before heading to the local Karaoke bar. At dinner, we spotted several Hollywood faces as they were dining there as well. Jess got to meet Mr. Jurassic Park himself, Sam Neil and Noah Wyle from E.R. Thanks to Alicia who first spotted Merlin :P Who else was there? A Lost cast member and Mr. Break-up-with-post-it from Sex in the City and several others whom we could not name unfortunately. They were all in town for the Toronto Film Festival. That aside, here are picture from the dinner.

Jess and her maid of honor, Alicia.

Jess looking beautiful as ever!

With her pot 'o moules... if you have not been to Biermarkt, highly recommended. Belgium food and beer galore!

Alicia helping a fellow bachelor out with his 'to-do' list...

All the girls....

At home with the Jacob family

It was great to see Mindi & Andy again... and who can forget their bright and adorable little munchkin Alyssa. Last time we saw Aly was almost a year ago at our NY wedding where she was our beautiful flower girl and what an awesome job she did. This time, we got to meet her new bay brother, Andrew. We can see that baby Drew is growing big and strong eager to fill in the position of being his daddy's little wingman :D

Our flower girl Alyssa all grown up and here she is holding her first pair of chopsticks!

Alyssa took this picture of her daddy & mommy...

She also captured this moment when mom was holding on to her baby brother Drew.


Aly with Auntie Sherene - and we both match in blue :D

With the Jacob family...

Alyssa loves trying on Auntie Sherene's sunglasses!

Hoover Dam

Our last full day in Vegas was spent with an early morning drive of about 30 miles to the Arizona border to Hoover Dam. We definitely beat the tourist groups being there early and needless to say, the weather was already a balming 102 degrees by 9:00 a.m. After that, it was back to the strip for more indoor entertainment, shopping and great food!

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When in Vegas...

It's been a very, VERY hectic August! Since leaving for Vegas at the end of July - we came back to Buffalo on August 4th. We all got some tan and Sharon came back with us to spend a little over a week before heading back to Indianapolis.

The trip to Vegas was filled with much walking and sightseeing and did I mention PLENTY of Mr. Sun. The weather averaged around 110 degrees fahrenheit and nights were around 100 degrees. We did have an evening or two when it dipped as low as 98 degrees.

We all got to see Dad who was really busy with the Malaysian bowling team. What ever time we can squeeze in with him - we did.

We got to see an old friend from college, Danny Png whom I have not seen since I left for NY. We were all very gracious to have him as a 'tourguide'.

In between seeing dad and hanging around the Vegas strip - we headed north to see the Jacob family. It was a relaxing Saturday and seeing baby Drew and playing with Alyssa indoors from the heat outside was heavenly! (*see next posting.)

Casinos are definitely everywhere and anywhere in sight - gamblers we were all not but good restaurants we enjoyed! Here are pictures from the trip... they will speak for themselves :)

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Viva Las Vegas!

We are leaving for Sin City - city that never sleeps in a couple of hours... the temperature there now is 84-106 degrees Fahrenheit. All packed, ready to go - see you real soon Dad and the Jacob family!

Grandma's Birthday@Bristol Harbour Lodge

Yesterday, Chele drove Peter and myself to Bristol Harbour Lodge by Canandaigua Lake to celebrated Grandma's 82nd birthday. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and the views out to the lake from the Lodge was just spectacular.

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Harry Potter@ Transit Drive-In Theater

In between our excursion stops, we spent some chill time at Jess & Derik's - right before we headed to our final stop which is to see Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince at the transit Drive-In. In continuation of our eating itinerary, we prepared and cooked up a nice gourmet meal for dinner from the produce and fresh seafood we bought at the farmer's market. We had a short stop at our place right before we headed to the movies to pick up more supplies - chairs, peanuts, wine, etc.

Suet Ling, Gordon, Sher & Jess ready to dig into their collaborative cooked gourmet dinner.

We made shrimp scampi cooked in butter and dry vermouth with garlic and thyme accompanied with grilled asparagus and griled vegetables with Italian seasoning.

Italian Festival

Our second stop was back in Buffalo at the anual Italian Festival. Not many pictures taken, since all of us were just too busy stuffing our faces with calamari, raw clams, dandelions & steak, hot stuffed peppers, cannolis, gelato and more!

Rochester Farmer's Market

This past Saturday was our full day excursion & activities with my office's IA familly. Our first stop was at the Rochester Farmer's Market. There were yummy empanadas from Juan & Maria's Empanada Stop, a wide variety of fresh seafood to choose from and plenty of produce to pick and choose. We were definitely off to a great start!


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Corn Hill Arts Festival

We headed out early to downtown Rochester to the Corn Hill Arts Festival. As usual, Dad@Mario and I headed first to the Kettle Corn vendor before the line gets crazy.


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