Sister#2 lives in La Mirada. It’s north east of Santa Ana. It seems that birthday celebration is the only time all of us siblings would make an effort to see each other, all under the same roof. Otherwise, at least one of us will come up with some excuses of being out of town (that’s me, hehe), being on business trips (that’s usually the VIP Brother#3),  going camping with kids (and that’s VIM Sister#6). The rest of siblings are pretty diligent on seeing each other at any occasion. VIM stands for Very Important Mom.

We booked a package going SJC to SNA (John Wayne airport) for $225 a person. That’s pretty impressive finding.  On Travelocity, the day before trip. It includes roundtrip airfare, leaving San Jose at 8:45am on Saturday, and returning from Santa Ana at 8:45pm on Sunday; one-night stay at Hilton, and 2-day car rental. Airfare purchase only would cost us $260 per person. Does that make any sense?

Hotel was so-so. Nice, but sub-standard for a Hilton. Mom, Sister#5 and husband came join us in lobby for pre-dinner drinks. We had some appetizers, and 2 bottles, between the 4 of us. Mom mixed about 1/10 glass of  wine with water, so she didn’t count as a drinker.  We had Louis Martin 2005 Napa Cabernet. I like it better than its Sonoma Cabernet.

By the time we got to the Fish 8-course birthday place, we were already full and gay. How could they serve 8 courses of fish? I wasnt impressed with the food, and that’s not doing the restaurant justice,  because we were too happy drinking and talking and dancing, and never really paid any attention to the foods served. They might as well  serve us bread all evening and we wouldnt complain.

Lesson learned: never drink wine in a traditional vietnamese place.  We brought different wines, and the waiters just refilled our glasses with whatever wine remaining in some bottles. And white wine was served at room temperature, in empty glasses that previously had red wine. And they served wines in those small fluted glasses with thick rim. I wanted to swirl the glass! I’m not pretending to be a wine snob, but i have my limits, people!

Things to ponder: why even contemplating drinking wine while eating viet foods?  I’m sure there’s lots of viet dishes out there that can be paired with wine. But our fish dishes are usually served with the traditional thick, smelly, yucky-looking yet yummy-tasting (ahem, I was told of this fact,  but never dared to try) sauces.  Chinese has their thousand-year eggs. Our sauces might as well be said to be pickled with anchovies for zillions of years in order to come out with  that grey color,  and whole-week- non-bathing smell of down-under. This kind of special food needs to downed with Ruou De’, or the korean  Soju.

12/11/2009 – I just re-read this entry, all smiling, and then realized the entry is supposed to be about my sister’s birthday yet more than half was complaints on the wine. How insensitive and distracted I was! I’ll use senility as excuse this time :)