Mark Yeung [Burger] Melts

My good friend Mark introduced me to a new hangout ritual of his: Patty Melts.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much.

Actually, I was anticipating a trip to the bathroom to make out with the toilet because, after all, Mark Yeung was cooking.











Mark started by grilling onions in Kirkland bacon bacongrease.












Enny [what kind of a name is that?!?] ennyway, she took care of the burger grilling outside. Her eyes are a bit small, so I can understand why the meat she was preparing kept coming out a bit raw...












As you can see, the Patty melts came out looking mighty tasty.
Enny cooked the meat with Kirkland Cheese and let the bacon grease dripping onions and bacon sit on top of the burgers while they grilled.

The Kirkland bread slices were also smothered with grease and lightly grilled.

The smell was incredible.
I was never planning to blog Mark's little PattyMelt night, but the smell so intoxicating, I had to run back into the house to take all these blog shots.

I couldn't wait to sit down and enjoy these little buggers...

I pulled myself a beer.

Wow. These things are awesome.

Instead of running back in the house for my makeout session with the toilet, I stood up my porcelain date and grabbed another Patty Melt.

Yes, they're that good.

2008 California Sports Car Club

Stock Car, 

Street Tire

Indexed Class.

It reads 

"2008 

CSCC Solo 2 

Championship Series

Class: SK2

2nd Place

Michael Palero"

It should make a great doorstop.

J&Y Engagement Photoshoot: Hold the Tripod Please

Had a chance to hop on the photoshoot for the happy couple's pre wedding photos at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) early Tuesday morning at 2AM.

I rushed over from class and made the last 2 locations. My job was to hold everyone jackets and carry the tripod while making sure we didn't get robbed. It's so annoying to shoot while holding jackets and a tripod BTW.

I sent a few shots over that I thought were interesting and Jason and Yolanda loved them!

The couple promptly shot back with a thank you note that made my day:
"Mike - Our amazing moving, light-holding stick! :D So glad that you
joined us.. always good company and (usually) great jokes! And after
seeing some of your haphazardly taken, yet fantastic, photos from the
night, I'd say you can now answer "Heck yea!" when someone asks if
you're a photographer too. :) Go Mike."

I like how Jason misspelled the label, "behing the scenes"

Check out the other samples from Larry's website:
http://worlddriftseries.com/jandy/

And yes, I know I shouldn't share unprocessed photos...

From L to R:
Misha wants it...
It makes Yolanda smile...
Larry can't stand to look at it...
and it causes Jason to bow his head in shame.

I really need to stop taking pictures naked.

1st Day

Came home to an empty bed.

The room felt empty...

The TV was gone, her clothes were gone, the dogs were gone.

She was gone.

...the room was empty.

I rolled into bed and tried to put my arm around a nonexistent body.

There was no body to hold.

I was able to sleep by thinking of happy things (bacon-wrapped filet mignon, lobster and bouncing off a rev limiter at 9000rpm) but I wasn't able to sleep long.

I woke up at 6 AM.

Red Carpet

Last weekend was the CSCC (California Sports Car Club) 2008 Race Banquet.  I was pretty excited--  I raced all year in a heated class against many skilled drivers and was going to be recognized for my efforts.

I was pretty happy that I placed 2nd in my first year of competition with the CSCC.

Something I wasn't happy about was the fact that my wonderful dad cancelled on me the night before.  He cited money as the reason he could not fill the seat that I had already paid for him to fill.  

FYI, it costs $4 in gas to travel from where he is and back from the banquet facility.

I spoke with him 1hr before the banquet to see if he could attend.

"I have a headache, I'm sorry."

Fuck you dad.

and Fuck this divorce.

Victory Day Post 2

This morning at 2AM, I did a dry run of the breakfast in bed: tomatoes on vine with carmelized garlic and portabello mushroom tops. Hopefully I can repeat tonight's tasty dry during game time tomorrow at 7AM.

EDIT:

Breakfast went better than expected. Fluffy scrambled eggs cooked with 2% milk were thrown on a plate with the portabello mushroom tops, garlic and the mini sweet totatoes cooked on vine. I threw in some homestyle waffles and topped them off with raspberries and Maple Syrup from the same factory that does Cracker Barrel syrup. The meal was plated on a baking cookie sheet, carried upstairs and served as breakfast in bed with pulp free Minute Maid orange juice in a Belgian beer glass and organic wheat bread.

Dinner was sticky honey lemon chicken cooked in rosemary and thyme.

I forgot the honey.

It was served with my awesome parmesan romaine lettuce and Real Sangria on a bed of piping hot buttered mash potatoes. I topped the chicken off with the reduced honey/chicken/garlic/ponzu sauce/thyme/rosemary/soy sauce juices.

The flash broiled parmesan with olive oil tasted perfect.

Valentine's Day

I'm taking myself out to a bar early in the morning to beat the crowds and enjoy some time with myself!

10AM beers baby!

I'm a Pro...

It's currently 11:14AM.

I guess I should start studying for that Speech Final, as my class starts at 1:20PM and it takes 19min to drive to campus, 2min to find parking and 4min to walk to the Speech Lab.

Or I could continue fleshing out this blog with most posts...