Happy Valentime's... I mean Valentine's Day.

Greetings from SF's Pelican Delivery. Support your local businesses! Especially this one, cause the owner's a personal friend. No, I take it back...Brethren. No, really. They're great. Yelp em'. So what did we do on a Friday night when things are lookin' pretty soft on the eve of Valentine's Day? Kick back some beers, peel some crawdads, and sip cognac. Biatch!

Peel away...

...only... your hands smell like boudissy after.

FLOSS

boudissy is butt and pussy mixed together... by the way.

right J-Man?

EeuGh!

bet u ain't got one of these...

old school calcs... chords on phones?

"looks like it's about that time...gentlemen."

So like I said... Pelican's great. Try em' out. Yelp em'. They'll take care of all your delivery needs. Other than that, stay safe and don't forget to add "boudissy" to your vocabulary. I hope you and that special someone have something planned for Valentine's Dizznay. Don't get too romanticle. Pervs.

- Raw

The Day Of

What a fuckin' day...
Please excuse my language, but I must say that I am extremely pleased with the outcome of our one-day Tahoe quickie considering the unfortunate events that took place leading up to it.

Allow me.

First off, Friday afternoon we were scrambling around to find a rental car, or any means of transportation for that matter. We were running low on options.
Darryl's SUV was headed for the shop.
Janette's SUV needed maintenance.
Muriel's SUV is bound for death.
My car has massive cracks on the windshield and squealing breaks.
Alex was busy being drunk.
Luckily with the help of a good friend over at Enterprise, we were able to get an '09 Ford Expedition for cheaper than your average monthly cell phone bill. But we weren't sure at first what the outcome would be because it was a four day weekend for MLK Day and Enterprise didn't have cars at all. It could've been a Expedition, it could've been a Geo Metro. Luckily the cards were in our favor. I guess that wasn't an unfortunate event, but the stress of dealing with our means of transportation raised my blood pressure significantly. I'm glad it worked out, we were even considering not going under certain circumstances.
What was unfortunate though, was that while I was doing a load of laundry so I could actually have clothes to wear to Tahoe, my dryer decides to turn into a pussy, and took an extra hour longer to dry clothes that it usually gets done in 30 minutes. This delays my rendezvous with Darryl and Alex at Alex's house - I was supposed to be there at 1am, instead me and Darryl arrive at 2:30am (keep in mind, we're leaving at 5am). So because fate has decided to make me the lagger of the year, Alex decides to turn into the drunkard of the year.
Not really, but for that day, maybe he was.
The plan, after dispersing at 11:00pm, was to rendezvous at 1am at Alex's.
Anxiously awaiting our arrival, Alex begins to drink himself stupid because he can no longer wait for us after realizing that we didn't show up at 1am.
Just when we thought things were going good, Darryl and I show up to Alex's house, only to see through his living room window that he is passed out on his couch and that his phone was nowhere in sight...great...
After waiting and hoping that he would arise from his drunken death slumber, Darryl and I came to the conclusion that we might as well sleep in the car and wait for the morning.

Just to note, '09 Ford Expedition headrests = DEATH!
The worst engineering ever. Damn.
Can someone just make a car with seats comfortable enough to sleep in and get a good night's rest? Or at least a power nap...

Only by fate does Alex wake up at 5am and call us to apologize and ask where the hell we're at, in which we reply that we've been outside the whole night, which then made Alex apologize more and then blame me for doing my laundry and not being on time.

Anyways, we end up making it to Tahoe, where the table begins to turn.
The drive was fun and hittin' the slopes was exciting. We ended up getting separated for about 2 hours but it was all good. Nothing to fret about.
I even ran into some good folks from BMB.

(the arrival)

...amongst all the organized chaos of snow rubble. is it really necessary? at least it's waterproof...

I can tell you that this probably is... (Costco, 10/$10 - taste the difference)(...farewell Sierra... 'til next time)

When the resort closed, we couldn't be satisfied with ending the day there and going home, so we hit the casinos in South Lake Tahoe.

At first, it was colder than ever. I'm not talking about the weather, I mean the tables.
Craps was cut throat and Roulette wasn't looking too good either.
We began to question why we even came to the casinos.
Why didn't we just go home?
With the little money we had left, we either could've lost it all in good fun, or left with whatever pride and dignity we had left.
That's when me and Darryl turned it all around.
Putting the negative mentality behind us, we watched the Roulette board until we felt it was time to place our favorite bet, the "2nd 12."
Let it ride? Let it ride?
The series of events is now a blur to me, but what I do remember, is that "2nd 12" must've hit at least 10 times in two different sessions where it hit back to back at least 4-5 times in a row.
All of a sudden, Darryl and I were staring at about $400 thinking, "man we were just about to leave too."
I then proceeded back to the craps table, which by the way is currently empty because everyone left due to shitty shooters and cold dice. Standing there with good company, I let my girlfriend shoot. Little did I know that after hitting a few points, hardways, and come bets, we would leave Tahoe happy campers.

Even this one couldn't handle the excitement.


She has decided to remain nameless.
But anyways, after all the commotion, she warns us that she has began to feel dizzy and lightheaded. What happens next? Casino security walks by. We assured security that she'll be fine once we get her some water and something to eat considering we haven't eaten since that afternoon and it's late + snowboarding is somewhat physically exhausting.


So what does casino security suggest? They insisted that she takes a couple hits from the oxygen tank. They were hawking her like they were some kind of drug dealers tryna get you on some new shit. The funny thing was that they were right and she felt better after taking a couple of oxygen hits. And the whole time, we thought they were tryna scheme and maybe detain us on some bullshit. Or at least kick us out. But hey, she turned out alright in the end. Peep the smile through the oxygen mask.

The ironic thing is that the last time we went on vacation with her, we were in Vegas, and her friend was wheel chaired outta the club and back to the hotel room.
This one was given an oxygen tank.

What's next?

- Raw

Shabu-balaboopy

"what does it mean?"

"...iono..."

"Shabu Shabu" is Japanese for, "shake shake."
...later I was told that it roughly translates to, "swish swish"...
But being that I am not Japanese, nor do I speak the language, I am not sure how accurate that translation is. What I can tell you, however, is that's what I was told by a waitress while eating in Hollywood at a restaurant called, "Koji's." Maybe that's what they tell customers to make their dinner more interesting.
...man was she fine...
But anyways, Shabu Shabu, described as some as, "Japanese Beef Fondue," is a Japanese dish consisting of thinly sliced beef and assorted vegetables. The slices of beef are cooked almost instantly after shaking in a pot of boiling water or broth. Served with rice and dipping sauces, this particular dish has made it's way into my personal favorites of '08.

Last Friday, I was fortunate enough to celebrate a friend's birthday at a restaurant that serves Shabu. That night, we ate at "Cafe Mums," a restaurant located inside of Hotel Tomo in Japantown, SF. I wouldn't actually consider it "inside" since the entrance is still located on the street. One would not have to actually enter Hotel Tomo. Hotel Tomo is just connected to it.
It's on the corner of Sutter and Buchanan.
I feel sorry for those who have eaten at Mums and did not order the all you can eat Shabu Shabu (that's like ordering a fish plate at the House of Prime Rib).
I know nothing of the breakfast or lunch menu - all that matters, is that for $42.95 and some tip, you can have all you can eat Shabu Shabu AND all u can drink sake and beer for 2 hours. Well, maybe 1 and 1/2, but we stayed there for 2 and they didn't mind.

Good Food. Good Company.
The essential ingredients.

They have Asahi... They have Sapporro... They have sake.

And oh, the Shabu's pretty good too.

Plus dessert. They have green tea ice cream. I hate green tea by the way, so I asked for vanilla.


$42.95... + tip...
All you can eat shabu shabu.
Never ending sake bombs.
All within 2 hours.
My end of the table (4 guys) consumed about 6 plates of beef.
In my opinion, it's worth it.
Unless you're a vegetarian that doesn't drink alcohol.
The atmosphere is great and the service is fast.
Although it gets pretty loud cause everyone's pretty much drunk.

Is it safe for a date with you and your girl? Eh, maybe.
It's better for a slightly bigger party.
And make sure they have an appetite so they feel they got their money's worth.
Or at least drink.

I do recommend another spot though, just as satisfying, and not as much a big a dent in your wallet.
Also in SF is the "Shabu House," located on Geary blvd. between 15th & 16th ave.
You can definitely taste the quality in the beef here compared to Mums.
A reason why that may be so is because they advertise Kobe Beef.
I'm not sure what exactly Mums carries. I honestly just sat down, asked for the, "all you can eat," and started eating. Restaurants will generally serve rib-eye or top sirloin - when sliced thin, it's hard to distinguish between the two.
The Kobe Beef, however, at the Shabu House is actually the best Shabu beef I've ever tasted thus far. Maybe it's thinner? Who knows. All I can say is that I know it tastes better.
I'll probably update a future blog with photo's from the Shabu House just to give ya'll a taste.

Their Dinner Kobe Beef Shabu Shabu plate is $15.99 for the regular, and $18.99 for the large. Imagine something similar to the pictures above, only, after you finish your plate, another one doesn't come out. I want to say that they do also have an all you can eat and drink option, but I'm not sure about the price and the time limit. I'd assume that beer and sake is included.
I'll give an update on that later.
They also do give you 3 choices of soup base to cook with: water, spicy miso, or ginger chicken broth. My personal favorite in terms of flavor is the spicy miso. Trrrruuuuuust.

Anyways, I hope that one day, you too will also be as passionate about Shabu Shabu.

- Raw