Portland Gathering

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                Date:  Tue May 27, 2003  11:27 pm
                Subject:  What a wonderful weekend

                Hi all,
 
                Whew!  How time flies when you are having
                fun.  Kelly and Salina left Portland about
                7:30 pm and are on their way south.  They
                plan to stop around Mt Shasta tonight and
                do some more exploring before driving home
                tomorrow.  If he cannot find a hotel with
                Internet connection, we will not hear from
                him till tomorrow.  If this email doesn't read
                right to you, it is because I had so much fun
                and exercise this weekend that my head is
                still foggy and my body is still sore from all
                the golfing.
 
                I think Kelly deserves all the credit for
                making this Memorial Day weekend
                gathering in Portland a splendid
                happenings.  He practically moved his whole kitchen and his local grocery store up from San
                Francisco.  It took at least half an hour to unload all the utensils and grocerys from his car.  He left
                SF Thursday mid night and drove all night so he can be here ahead of everyone to cook a welcome
                dinner!  And what a delicious dinner it was with dishes like fish head tofu soap, curry fresh crab with
                rice noodle (fun see), and bitter melon with spare ribs!
 
                Simon and Jaime arrived about 6 pm on Friday after a leisurely drive from Vancouver.  Can you believe
                they actually stopped and had a snack at a Berger King!!  After cooling their heels for a few moment,
                Simon, Jaime and I went and played 6 holes of golf before it got dark and came home to enjoy Kelly's
                welcome dinner.
 
                Teddy and Katherine arrived about 9'ish.  They left Vancouver shortly after their 16 year son just had
                his wisdom tooths pulled!  As soon as they arrived, our Chef in Residence fired up the stove he
                brought from SF and cooked up a big fire storm.  It was such a wonderful meal that we ate till
                midnight.  Thereafter, Simon and Teddy led most everyone on Karaoke while Kelly,  was busy
                with, (what else?) preparing bows/buns for Saturday morning breakfast till 3:30 am.
 
                Saturday morning, we spent a few hours on a scenic drive.  Then we went to a local Factory Outlet
                mall so everyone can experience tax free shopping in Oregon.  Simon, Jaime and I returned to my
                house about 6:30 pm to meet our last Vancouverite while the rest of the gang continued on to Frys
                where Teddy loaded up with wireless network gears for his house.  If we were to do it over, I would
                make arrangement for Simon and Jaime to play a round of golf instead of touring and shopping.
 
                Anthony and Pat arrived about 7pm.  As soon as their car pull up, we rushed them off to the golf
                course.  We were in so much hurry that they had to change to golf attire in the middle of the street!
                We didn't even give them a chance to go into my house!  The five of us (plus Simon, Jaime and I) had
                a great time trying to find the little golf ball in the dark.  Thanks to Anthony's ball tracking skill, we
                were able to play 6 holes without losing a ball even though often times, it was so dark, we had no idea
                where the ball landed.  Afterwards, we met up with everyone for a quick dinner out.  We again had fun
                with Karaoke till 2 am.  Before we went to sleep, we enjoyed some tasty green bean soup courtesy of
                Katherine.
 
                Guess what we did on Sunday after a breakfast of congee with century eggs and pork, fried noodles,
                and "chong fun" prepared by you know who?  If you say golf, you are right!  Simon, Jaime, Anthony,
                Pat, Bernadette (my wife) and I tee off around 11:30 am for a full round of 18 holes.  Teddy and
                Katherine went shopping.  Kelly and Salina also went shopping for seafood to cook a 10 course
                dinner!  After a great round of golf, we got home about 5pm when Kelly and Salina had a wonderful 10
                course dinner waiting for us!  The only minor glitch in the day's event was we should have bought at
                least 2 more dozens of live Oregon oysters for Pat to enjoy.  But I think the heavenly prepared steam
                rock cod, oyster on the half shell, Lobsters on noodles by Kelly helped her to minimize her craving for
                the delicious oysters.  After dinner, Anthony, Pat, Simon and Jaime started their 6 hours drive home
                to Vancouver so Simon and Jaime can attend their daughter's graduation at UBC and Anthony and
                Pat can fix sick mammals again.  The rest of us had a somewhat quiet evening and went to bed early
                around 1am.  And yes Simon, Teddy can attest to it that even I participated in the Karaoke when he
                put up the old Carpenters!
 
                Monday turned out to be another nice and sunny morning.  We ate some left over for breakfast and
                took a 2 hours scenic drive out to the Oregon coast.  Did a quick drive by of the End of the Oregon
                Trail marker by the beach in Seaside, Oregon.  Then stopped for some more tax free shopping at the
                Nike Factory Outlet where Teddy and Katherine bought Nike golfing outfits so they can be more
                prepared to golf with the Vancouver gang, rain or shine.  Afterwards, we drove to Astoria and bought
                lunch to go at the local KFC to eat on my boat.  As soon as I had my fill of KFC, I fired up the
                engines and took the boat out for a cruise not knowing that Teddy and Katherine had wanted to start
                their journey home.  We had a short cruise on the Columbia River out towards the Columbia Bar and
                the Pacific Ocean while watching the sea lions looking for dinner.  Everyone took turn on the wheel
                with Kelly eager to learn to rules of the water and drove the boat on the return trip.  We headed back
                into the marina right as the rain started to come down.  Teddy and Katherine headed back to
                Vancouver while Kelly, Salina, my wife and I got home about 9 pm where, once again, Kelly cooked
                diner for us!
 
                After another breakfast of yummy left over, Kelly and Salina went sight seeing and hiking for the day.
                We met up at my house about 5:30 pm, and guess what, Kelly cooked dinner of won ton noodles for
                all of us before they loaded their kitchen back into their car and started their journey south.
 
                Thanks to the Vancouver golf diehard gang of Simon and Anthony, it was the first time in my life I
                played so much golf in 3 consecutive days.  I have never ever played more than 9 holes in one week
                before!  I will cherish this wonderful memory of us strolling on the course enjoying our company.  I
                also pledge to start practicing more and look forward to our future golf meetings.
 
                Simon and Jaime, Anthony and Pat, and anyone who likes golf are more than welcome to come and
                play with me so I can get more practice.  I still have 18 guest passes left at my club that I need help
                to use up before the end of this year.
 
                Teddy and Katherine, whenever you guys want to practice your golf game with a novice or want to do
                some more tax free shopping, come'on down.
 
                Kelly and Salina, what can I say.  I have no word to describe how much we appreciate all you two did
                to make this such a memorable time.  It is also the first time ever that I have a live in chef to spoil us.
                Keep cooking away but do take some more time out to relax and enjoy yourself next time instead of
                worrying about how to feed us every meal!
 
                I am sure Kelly will give you a full report from his perspective on the website when he returns home
                safely.  Both of us took a lot of digital pictures.  I will try to get mine posted some time in the next two
                days so Kelly can incorporate those he thinks is appropriate onto the website.  We did so much and
                shared so much this past few days, it is hard to remember everything.  If I missed something about
                you, hope you can forgive me or fill in for me.  For anyone who now wish they had been able to join
                us, you are welcome to come visit me in this quiet and hidden part of the universe :-).
 
                Until we meet again
 
                Tom