Mahjongg in June

One of the things about blogging is that you are always most excited to post about your most recent adventure, even though there are dozens of adventures in the tank (the tank being the memory card of your dslr).  Almost most recently I played Saturday mahjongg with my ladies (and gent) with Miss J hosting the first mahjongg of summer.

Now, Miss J is often quoted as having said, when asked what kind of cocktail she would like, "anything vodka, with a little vodka in it".  Please see fourth video down in the posting linked here...for a laugh, if you want to hear the sound of 7 middle aged people getting progressively hammered at a holiday dinner party, just listen to all the videos in succession. Let the slurring commence!

ANYWAY! You know you are going to get a good cocktail at Casa J.  She started with fresh limes.

A bowl of mint leaves.

Vanilla vodka, fresh blueberries and a dash of curacao for color rounded out these summery glasses of blueberry/lime/mint perfection.

J can spin some tunes. She was working a summer 2010 playlist:

Katy Perry California Girls

Usher OMG

Jay-Z Young Forever 

Lady GaGa & Beyonce Telephone

Ke$ha Your Love is My Drug

Keiko is incredibly photogenic and a bit of a paparazzi whore.

A few of our mahjongg afternoons have had Asian themed food. J bought gyoza at Trader Joe's and fortunately they did not end up on the recent much commented upon list. You have probably read the list. If not, please click through to entertain yourself. Squid Ink's list of the 5 most disgusting things found in Trader Joe's frozen section. lulz.

We paired the gyoza with Mae Ploy chili sauce, yuzu puree (my personal favorite) and Chinese mustard. I was happy. I was drinking, playing a fun game and gossiping with some of my favorite people. I would have eaten shit-on-a-shingle and been chuffed. But I love anything with thematic continuity.

We also listened to:

La Roux Bulletproof

Jackson Derulo In My Head

Taio Cruz & Ludacris Break Your Heart

Jay-Z w/Alicia Keys Empire State of Mind

OMG!  Figs on a plate!  Don't tell David Chang.

One of our other favorite canines, Miss Moneypenny. Very camera shy. About 0.5 seconds after I shot this she bolted to get away from the press. I am pretty sure she wasn't wearing panties.

NEWS. If you know, you know. If you don't, well. This isn't the time or place.

This.was.delicious.  T brought homemade dessert. David Liebovitz' almond cake from a blog post last week. Not a dessert fan, however this is monstrously delicious. It needs to go into the file of successful recipes for regular rotation.  The cute story here is that while T was baking this she asked Mr. Liebovitz two questions in the blog comments section about the construction of said cake and he got back to her right away. We were both super impressed by how personally he takes his blog. David, the cake is fantastic.

Last mahjongg of the evening before I headed to Stevenson Ranch for dinner. I think this was T's "pointless pyramid".  

At a friend's house in Stevenson Ranch that night I got a schooling in real mahjongg from two Jewish ladies who have been playing mahjongg for years. They shouted out directions and rules out at me like I'm a shiksa making kishkas for an important bat mitzvah. Oy!  Turns out all these months we have been playing special ed mahjongg.  I love gaming, and T says she is OCD when it comes to rules and etiquette, so we feel completely compelled to do this thing right.  In the middle of the night Saturday night (insomnia, good times) I ordered four 2010 mahjongg hand cards from the National Mah Jongg League. Our mahjongg future is about to change dramatically. Bring it on!