W is a Rock Band Convert

W had called me on Christmas and I thought, hmmm, perhaps she is in Jersey this weekend. Lucky for me, she is and her dad was picking her up from the city at the same time I was getting off of work. It was great to see him again.

We headed to their awesome restaurant, Kuma, in Paramus, NJ and I got to see her mom. I had yummy hot and sour soup (my Chinese-American food guilty pleasure), sushi (very clever rolls wrapped in cucumber or carrot), fried dumplings (always yummy), and this dish I had never had before, shrimp song wrapped in lettuce.

I realized while watching a tasting challenge on Top Chef and seeing both W and D try to figure out what was in my vegan cupcakes that a good chef tries to figure out what ingredients are in the food they eat. Normally, I'm just chowing down. What's in the song? Diced shrimp, zucchini, shitake mushrooms, red bell peppers, sweet toasted pine nuts and fried rice noodles. I think that's it...

We were going to hang out at W's house but I was concerned about her driving too much so we headed to mine since she'd have to drop me off later anyway. After snacks and going through her incredible photos from Borneo, we started Rock Band (thanks Doris, we took good care of everything and put it all back).

W and I have a long history of karaoke so this was a natural next step for her. She has a great voice and took to the guitar and drums quite easily. Meanwhile, I'm like, "Am I on easy? Did you see me pick easy? This is not easy."