judyonthenet

Before I started shopping for gowns with my mother a couple weeks ago, I had the impression that finding a dress for my mom would be fairly straightforward. I had dropped in the formal wear store of Trudy’s last I was at the Pruneyard, and they seemed to have a large selection of off-the-rack dresses. I couldn’t have known then that I’d end up going to NINE different stores in search of a decent dress for my mother!

The first store we went to was Trudy’s. It’s the place where I found my wedding dress… but not the place where we bought it because of their pricing. They’re generally expensive with little chance of discount. Despite this, they were having a sample sale, and their selection of mother-of-the-bride (MOB) dresses was extensive, particularly for a size 8 mother. (I think the average mother is more plus sized, so finding samples my mother’s size was difficult at times.) As expected, their service was great; the attendant (Judy) pretty much found the perfect dress on the first shot, a purple Montage by Mon Cheri dress with coat and in decent condition:

MOB dresses tend to retail for about $500 for styles with coats (our original budget of $200 was apparently… difficult), and shipping times range from 2-3 months (not gonna make it for the wedding). This one was $299 because it was a sample (the dress customers try on to see if they want to order it) of a discontinued style, and off-the-rack the only alterations my mom needed was shortening the hem and strap. We tried a ton of other dresses, but we were all in agreement that this purple one was the best. We were at the register, and my mom even had her credit card out. At the very last second, I stopped her, as I just realized that the dress is almost the exact same color as my qipao. My mother and I both agreed that having both of us wear almost the exact same color of similar fabric would be weird, so we had to pass on the dress. It was almost so easy; I was pissed at myself for not going with my original plan of a traditional red qipao. *sigh*

That same day, we also went to Elegant Lace and Bay Area Bridal. Elegant Lace had good service and an okay selection, but in terms of samples, they were pretty beat up and mostly not my mother’s size. We were a couple dresses we liked that we’d have to order and pay retail, which is hella pricey. Plus the brand of dress we liked (Montage by Mon Cheri) had very few options in darker tones. My mom was hoping for a red or burgundy kind of color, but most of the color options were light colors. Dark colors were always black or purple. Apparently, red is some sort of taboo color for moms in American weddings. Bay Area Bridal didn’t have as many nice dresses, and their service was nonexistent.

One of the few red dresses at Elegant Lace

Later in the week, we went to Valley Fair to check out the department stores. The good thing about going to department stores is that dresses are cheaper ($200 to $300 retail) and you can return the dress if you change your mind (no returns allowed at bridal shops), but the selection is a lot less with very little color options. We found a decent coated dress by Patra at Nordstrom’s:

I liked the dress but was iffy about the color. I felt my mother looked better in the darker colors, and the color of this dress kinda reminded me of underwear. But we both felt it was pretty and considered it a viable option, especially at under $200. Other dresses we checked out weren’t that great, and Macy’s didn’t have any of interest for us.

The next weekend, I made a last ditch effort to find the right dress. If we didn’t find the right dress today, we’d buy that purple one at Trudy’s and just deal with the daughter-mother-matchy-matchy stuff. At the suggestion of my day-of coordinator, we went to the Great Mall. We went to Group USA, which has affordable bridal and formal wear. Nothing there were worked for my mother. We went to Neiman Marcus Last Call, which had nothing even worth trying on because of little selection. The last store with went to was Uni, a Chinese store that sells qipaos and cheaper formal wear. It’s run by a Taiwanese lady and strongly reminds me of clothing shops in Taiwan. Despite the cheaper quality, it was still pretty pricey, plus there wasn’t anything we particularly liked. So Great Mall was a total failure.

Right after, we went to David’s Bridal, tried some more dresses, but they were kinda frumpy looking. There was another non-plus-sized MOB trying on dresses, and I think her daughter and I kept looking at each other’s moms to try and figure out what to get them to try on. David’s Bridal’s MOB dresses are kinda more prom looking, and unfortunately we didn’t particularly like anything here either. Ugh. We gave up. Back to Trudy’s for the purple dress.

A dress at David’s Bridal

At Trudy’s, the purple dress we liked thankfully hadn’t been sold yet, but a second look at it reminded both my mother and me of how similar it was to my qipao. We told our dilemma to the Trudy’s saleslady (it wasn’t Judy this time… I didn’t get this woman’s name), which was that we couldn’t find a decent, dark colored gown that didn’t require ordering and wasn’t purple. We figured we’d try on more dresses while we there, so the saleslady looked briefly and immediately found another gown worth trying. It didn’t have a coat, and it was also purple… but it was a much darker, bluer purple. You could easily tell it was a different color from my qipao, and the color would allow the dresses to coordinate nicely together. My mom tried it on, and it was perfect. Flattering, NO alterations needed. It was $215 retail (no discount for this one) and a Patra dress, and the sample was fairly new so it was in great condition. Once again, Trudy’s got it on the first try. We purchased it immediately. While no returns are allowed, they do allow exchanges for store credit for, like, a week or something, so it’s not like you have zero options. Judy (the saleslady we had the first visit) was behind the counter and was thrilled the dress was sold. She had told a deliberating customer earlier that Saturday that, if they don’t buy it that day, it’d be gone by Monday. She was glad my mom’s purchase made her not a liar. Sucks for the other mom, but there is another wonderful size-8 purple gown in the racks…

Anyway, here’s THE DRESS for my mom:

From the side:

I’m stoked. I think my mom looks fab, and the color (which is definitely different than my qipao… we compared the dresses next to each other!) and style is very flattering. I can’t believe she doesn’t even have to think about alterations. Amazing. I just have to find a matching chiffon scarf (need to go to the fabric store), and then we’re set. I definitely recommend Trudy’s for mommy dresses.

New thing I learned today: Aubergine is a synonym for “eggplant“.

The color name for the first dress we tried at Trudy’s was called “fresh aubergine”. The same brand also had dresses in “eggplant” that were similar in color, but slightly darker.

Finally, the last of my trilogy of trilogies of cake tastings. This time around, we looked at bakeries that were supposed to be more reasonably priced, at least according to Yelp reviews.

Bakery 7 - Jen’s Cakes
I called Jen’s Cakes after reading positive reviews on their cakes and pricing on Yelp. I called their number and spoke with Jen, who got my basic wedding information and said I’d get a call back later from Anthony (her husband) on scheduling a cake tasting. He did call back, and I arranged for us plus my mom to check out their cakes at their home the next Saturday afternoon, as they were in the progress of moving their bakery from Los Gatos to Willow Glen.

At their home, we were greeted by Anthony. Anthony organizes all the cake tastings, as well as helps deliver cakes, so he’s probably the person you’ll meet if you taste with them. He’s very laid back and chill, constantly joking and a bit sarcastic. Might be kind of weird if you don’t get his humor, but it’s easy to shrug off, which is what my doesn’t-speak-much-English mother did the entire time. Regardless, his casual demeanor makes him pretty easy to talk to and, I imagine, negotiate and work with.

He led us to their dining room table, where we checked out the albums of their past works. The albums are well organized, with each picture listing frosting and decoration types plus a reference name. Their cakes also looked lovely, with minimal, if any, complaints from Kelvin about lumpiness. Anthony talked to us, trying to get a basic idea how we wanted our cake to look. We still weren’t sure at this point, but we did point out a cake we liked (one with a clean and simple design) and he wrote it down as reference. I asked about fondant flowers and ribbons and other decorations, and he’d give me an estimated cost for those things. He didn’t want to give cake price until the very end, when we decided favorite flavors and general decoration choices.

Once we were done looking at the albums and talking about the look of the cake, it was time to check out the actual cakes. Anthony said it was good that we mentioned I was bringing my mom so he could prepare for her her own serving. He brought out two nicely laid out plates, one for Kelvin and me and a second plate for my mom, along with glasses of water and menu map sheets. Samples were cut into small pieces for each person, but the samples were still a good mouthful, so plenty to get a gist of the flavors. The cake map listed each sample’s flavors by position, and since my mom had a different plate layout, it was nice that she got her own map. They were print outs, so you could write notes on them and take them home for reference. We were also given a list of all the different flavors they offer.

After trying their cakes, I think their cakes are a bit on the sweeter side for me. They also varied in texture (one was pretty dry, while another was easily fell apart from moisture). The first half were decent; we liked two samples which happened to be the exact same two samples my mother liked. One of them had non-dairy whip cream filling, which was the first I ever had it, and it was pretty good. The last half of the samples was gross because of the flavors they chose (TWO coconut cakes, banana, and lemon), and I’m surprised they’d put all these unpopular flavors on their sampling plate at the end. Kinda gives it a bad finish, even tho their cakes overall were not bad. Jen’s Cakes was another bakery where we were alone as we sampled, so it was nice to freely discuss. (Kelvin said I was being rude and speaking a lot of Chinese explaining stuff to my Mom at this tasting, and I didn’t realize I was. I’ll have to work on that.)

Anthony came back after the tasting to discuss flavors and cake preferences. I asked when the cakes were made, and Anthony told us our samples had been frozen, but he emphasized that they never freeze the cakes they deliver. (I wouldn’t have thought they were frozen, but my mom claimed she could tell. Whatever.) We told Anthony our favorite flavors, and he left us alone for a few minutes to figure out the quote. He came back with numbers for buttercream and fondant options that included the simple decorations (I think dots and thin ribbons) based on the one cake style we liked best, delivery and setup, and “love”. The price was very reasonable considering it included delivery (Anthony: “And don’t forget love!”). My only beef with the numbers is that fondant is $2 more per person more when standard so far had been $1 more. No difference to us, because their cakes looked smooth enough for the buttercream option. Giving us a copy of our quote, we finished our tasting and were on our way.

Jen’s Cakes followed up through mail (a nice thank you card) and phone call about a week later to check up on our cake search. I don’t think we’re going to go with them since their cakes are sweeter for our tastes (though now that I think about it, they didn’t have many mousse fillings in their tasting… maybe that’s why), though their prices and service definitely make them worth looking at as an option.

Service and organization (at tasting and through communication): A
Presentation (based off photos): A-
Taste: B
Favorite flavors: Bailey’s Irish Cream cake w/Bailey’s flavored custard, German chocolate cake w/ non-dairy whip
Price: They quote they gave us included delivery, so if you get rid of $50 for shipping, slices start at $5.75 before any negotiation, which they seemed open to.

Bakery 8 - Sugar Butter Flour
A long time ago, Kelvin’s sister-in-law got us a cake from Sugar Butter Flour in Sunnyvale for our engagement party. It was the first time I had red velvet cake, and it was nicely dense without being too sweet. I was bummed that I forgot to ask for some of the leftover cake at the time, as I wanted for me. Lucky for me, Sugar Butter Flour opened a storefront in the Pruneyard a few months later, and whenever I’m in the shopping center, I make sure to grab a red velvet cupcake. I get the impression that their cakes, aside from the red velvet, would be too heavy for me. Since they were so close, I figured I’d give them a shot anyway, much to Kelvin’s anti-sweetness disgust. I made an appointment with them on another Saturday afternoon over the phone.

I haven’t been to their Sunnyvale location, but the Campbell store is very small as it used to be a Mrs. Fields shop. We met with a young woman named Alisha (I think), who sat us down at one of the cafe tables. The other employee was out doing the cash run, so she was working with us as well as manning the counter, but luckily it was slow at the moment. She gave us a sheet with their cake flavors and general pricing, which I used for notes. Their cake prices were more expensive than I expected, but just about every decoration (aside from massive amounts of fondant flowers or super complicated designs) was covered in the price. In fact, there was no difference in price for buttercream or fondant, so you can look at that as a deal for fondant or a rip-off for buttercream. There were no albums to look at, but a touch screen monitor by the counter had an electronic album of their work. I had already seen them online, so I opted out of looking at it.

When it was time to sample, Alisha came out with water and a plate with four large samples to try. She then left us to try the cakes alone and go back to working at the counter. The cakes were majorly sweet. One of the slices was red velvet, which I was excited about, but the cream cheese filling seemed sweeter than what I was used to. Cream cheese filling is supposed to be pretty sweet, but the cupcakes’ frosting had been sweet without being excessive or gross. It was as good as it usually was. The other samples were even sweeter, but my main issue was the texture. They seemed dry and not very soft. When Alisha came back, I asked when the samples were made, and she said she didn’t know since they were from the Sunnyvale store. So who knows what the status of those cakes were, especially after travel.

We were pretty much done after the tasting since we weren’t that interested in the cakes. After asking a few more typical questions, Alisha was nice enough to box up the leftovers up for us to take home. One thing that’s nice about their wedding cakes is that, in order to discourage the whole save-the-top-tier-freeze-it-and-eat-it-a-year-later thing, they offer a free anniversary tier a year from the wedding. Other bakeries have discouraged this tradition as well, but I don’t think anyone else offered a free anniversary cake. Maybe I should have asked… Anyway, I told all the bakeries I went to I’d be saving the top tier for standard sizing ( (Tip: Ask about the dimensions of the cake. A cake for 100 people at one bakery may be a different size than a 100-people cake at another bakery.), but I doubt I’d freeze a cake for a year and eat it.

Service and organization (at tasting and through communication): B
Presentation (based off photos): C+, their buttercream ones don’t look smooth at all
Taste: C-
Favorite flavors: Red velvet
Price: Start at $7.50 a slice, $40 delivery to Cupertino

Bakery 9 - Cakes by Ana
Our final cake tasting destination, Cakes by Ana, was another highly recommended Yelp business for flavor and price. All I ever got was an answering machine when I called them, but I was able to contact them through email and arrange an appointment on a Tuesday evening after work. They only let you try two flavors of cake, but the flavors can be anything out of their cake offerings. They let you try multiple fillings, which are served on the side. We chose chocolate and guava, as I was curious how their guava compares to Aki’s famous guava cake.

Their bakery is kind of in the middle of nowhere in a warehouse-y area in north San Jose. The front door was locked, but upon knocking, we were greeted by the friendly Annette, daughter of the baker (I’m guessing Ana). She led us to her office, where we sat at a table that had cake albums on top. We went over the albums with Ana, asking about how much various decorations cost. There wasn’t a quote sheet or cake menu for information or to write on, so I had to ask Annette about everything and write it down myself. They have a pamphlet, but we didn’t get it until the end. Most of the simple decorations (cake shapes, bands, dots) are covered, and they also have access to fresh flowers at whole sale price. Though their website and pamphlet advertise cakes starting at $2.90 a slice, we were told cakes start at $3.95 (fondant at $5.60), with price going up with complexity of cake. Still inexpensive when compared to other bakeries. Things like fresh fruit fillings also cost extra, but the cost would be like a couple bucks for the entire cake, so I wouldn’t really consider it an extra cost. Specialty cake flavors also cost extra; for example, having guava cost $30 extra for the entire cake. Looking at their cakes, presentation with non-fondant icing wasn’t very smooth, so we’d probably have to go fondant with them.

The cake tasting is done pretty uniquely here. To taste the two flavors you chose, they make mini-cakes of those flavors from cakes made that day (leftover cake or batter for orders, I’m guessing). A little piece is sampled from the mini-cakes, and the rest is to be taken home to share with others. Cakes are covered in non-dairy whip, which is what they use for most of their cakes in place of buttercream, and little cups of mousses and fillings are sided with the cake. They said they prefer to use non-dairy whip because it’s lighter than buttercream and better for the lactose-intolerant folks. (I’m guessing this bakery is probably popular with the Asians.) I’m not sure I’m a fan of the non-dairy whip. It is indeed very light and its texture is fluffy, but there’s something not quite right about it. After it sits in your mouth a bit, the texture sort of reminds me of something made from powder. I didn’t notice it in Jen’s Cakes’ samples, but Ana’s uses a lot more non-dairy whip than they did. Aside from the slightly off-ness of it, non-dairy whip isn’t bad at all. I really liked the chocolate cake, not too sweet but still moist. Annette bragged that their guava cake is better than Aki’s, as it used more guava in the batter and mousse. I could taste it had more guava, but I don’t know if I’d say it’s better than Aki’s. The cake had a gritty, dense texture, reminiscent of cornbread, probably from the guava puree. It tasted just okay, but I did like the extra guava-ness of the mousse. The chocolate mousse we had wasn’t bad either. We were also sampled a raspberry preserve (tastes like… jam) and fresh strawberries, the latter being tart if not mixed with a mousse.

After the tasting, there wasn’t much more to ask for aside for a sample contract. Annette said she’d email us a contract/sample quote the next day. She packed the leftovers for us and stuck a brochure with it. (Unfortunately, I didn’t drop by my mom’s place that week, so I had to eat all the samples myself. Poor me.) We didn’t get a contract in our email until a few days later, but it had a lot of the relevant contract information I had asked about previously. Cakes by Ana’s was one of the bakeries with lighter cakes, so while it’s nice to take mini-cakes home, I wish we could have tried more flavors. Based on price and quality, I imagine they’re a decent option for folks on a tight budget.

Service and organization (at tasting and through communication): B-
Presentation (based off photos): B-
Taste: B+
Favorite flavors: Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse.
Price: Starts at $3.95 a slice, $30 delivery to Cupertino.

New thing I learned today: Hummingbird cake, like red velvet, is cake flavor originating from the South. It’s basically a banana cake with pineapple and pecans.

We tried hummingbird cake at Sugar Butter Flour, and Kelvin predictably didn’t like it.

The next three bakeries we tried were fairly close to Cupertino, with a couple in downtown Los Gatos and one literally down the street from our reception venue. For the reviews, I decided to take off the portions rating from the bakeries. It seemed unfair, since I was rating more as better, when it doesn’t really matter as long as you get an idea of what their cakes are like. Plus more isn’t always better, especially if you don’t like the cake. I always feel bad leaving leftovers, but believe it or not, sometimes you can only take so much cake… especially if you’ve just had lunch and your fiancé doesn’t like sweets.

Also, in case you’re curious about Kelvin’s point of view, so far he says all my grades are too high :P

Bakery 4 - Icing on the Cake
Icing on the Cake is another Yelp favorite. Located on a downtown Los Gatos corner close to 17, Icing on the Cake also sells ready made individual desserts and dessert cakes at their counter. Like their website says, they hold cake tastings every 1st and 3rd Saturdays on a first-come-first-serve basis. Kelvin and I dropped by on a Saturday afternoon to check out their cakes.

They were pretty busy when we arrived, even with several salesladies working behind the display of cakes. There are counters to the side, and I noticed a couple looking over wedding binders with one of the sales girls. I waited for them to be done, but it looks like they weren’t going to be anytime soon, so instead I bugged a random lady (totally forgot her name) behind the counter. Once she knew I was here for cake tasting, she immediately came over to the side to start our consultation, so I guess you just ask any sales rep to help you out with cake tasting.

A couple already doing their cake consultation

At the counter, she started taking notes on the quote sheet, asking us the typical questions (date, location, # of people, etc.). The bottom of the quote sheet has all the cake and filling flavors, which she went over with us. She asked us to put number next to combinations of cake, filling, and frosting we wanted to try. For example, if we wanted to try chocolate cake with mocha buttercream, we’d put a “1″ next to both “chocolate cake” and “mocha buttercream”. Then if we wanted to try white cake with chocolate fudge, we’d put a “2″ next to “classic white” and “chocolate fudge”. We picked five combinations, which were mostly white or chocolate cakes with various fillings, all with white butter cream frosting. She then ran off to the back to make the combinations we selected, while we looked at binders of their past works. I think this is an excellent cake tasting methodology; you basically build your own cake sample.

We checked out their binders, and I wasn’t particularly impressed. They only do buttercream cakes, so no super fancy designs that require fondant. We’re kinda iffy on fondant anyway, but their buttercream cakes didn’t look particularly great either. While it’s hard to get buttercream to be completely smooth, their buttercream cakes weren’t as smooth as other bakeries we’ve seen, and Kelvin particularly disliked that since he’s majorly bothered by uneven surfaces. They also don’t do shapes of cake other than round. So if you’re looking for a super fancy or very individualized cake, this probably isn’t the place to get it. However, whatever simple designs they do do, it’ll be covered in the cake cost.

The saleslady came back out with the samples, explained each sample, and left us to try them on our own, which I appreciate. It’s less anxious to try cake without someone from the bakery watching you. Another thing I appreciated was that she came back and gave us water as we were trying cake. And we really needed the water, cuz their cakes are really sweet. REALLY sweet. It’s the kind of cakes I always thought were popular in America, with the sugary frosting and stuff. Once I started regularly buying cakes from local bakeries that were pretty light, I thought maybe it was a misconception I had. But after reading the 150+ raves of the place on Yelp, maybe I was right after all. The cakes seemed pretty fresh, as the cake was fluffy, but Kelvin still felt the cake was “gritty” (whatever that means) and didn’t like the texture. I don’t remember the cake flavor, as I felt it was overwhelmed by the fillings and frosting. Kelvin hate sweets cuz “they make my teeth hurt”, and he said these samples were making his teeth hurt. We didn’t try what she said were their two most popular flavors (banana and apple spice) since Kelvin would never like them, but I wonder if they were any better at calming down the sugary taste.

Once we finished, she went over prices with us. She gave us numbers for a 90-person cake and 110-person cake (they really count every square inch on that cake, I guess) for our 100 person reception on the quote sheet, which we got to keep for our own reference. She told us we were welcome to come back again to either do more cake tasting or move on to the next step. The lady overall was good about questions and service, and I really like how they organize their cake tastings. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stand their super sweet cakes, so this place definitely will not be an option for us. Before actually trying any cake, I had contemplated getting a dessert cake for Anna’s b-day or getting Kelvin a delicious-looking mint chip cupcake, but I obviously changed my mind after the cake tasting. Clearly, this place lives up to its name of “Icing on the Cake”.

Service and organization (at tasting and through communication): A
Presentation (based off photos): C
Taste: C- (I feel like giving something lower would mean they “don’t pass” as a bakery :P )
Favorite flavors: None.
Price: Starts at ~$7.40 a slice for 110 people, but it was more like $7.60 for 90 people, so maybe it varies with size. Delivery fee to Cupertino is $80.

Bakery 5 - La Patisserie
Unlike the previous bakeries, we have had cake from La Patisserie before… several times actually. Sandra recommended this bakery to me a while back, and we haven’t stopped going since. I was expecting good cake based on our past experiences, but who knows how their cake samples would be. La Patisserie was the first place I called for a cake tasting, tho they couldn’t schedule me on a weekend until a couple weeks later. My mother joined Kelvin and me for our cake tasting appointment with Mojgan (I’m still not sure how to pronounce this; I kept thinking her name was Marjan from how she was pronouncing it) on a nice Sunday afternoon.

We sat at regular cafe seating, and after she got our basic information, the first thing we were presented with was three binders of cake pictures. She gave us prices upfront ($5.75 a slice for buttercream, and $6.75 a slice for fondant), and I was taken aback since I wasn’t expecting their prices to be so reasonable. Looking at their binders, their cakes had pretty decent presentation, as most were very clean and smooth. Mojgan was present for much of our album browsing time, so she’d give us descriptions of some of the cakes we were looking at. I was really surprised at some of the buttercream cakes they had pictures of; I would have sworn they were fondant from their smoothness. Similar to previous cake tastings, I pointed to several decorations and asked for cost, and most of the time, she’d say it’s included in the cost. Fondant ribbons? Scrolling? Beading? Square cakes? All covered. The only thing I remember that she said cost extra was a giant fondant ribbon decoration (you can see a couple examples of it on the website) and fondant flowers. Even though she told me fondant flowers cost extra, she said pointed out that the sakura flowers we saw in a couple pictures were covered in the cake price. I asked if they could imitate any cake I wanted, she said they could and to send any pictures of cakes I like, but she kept it real by saying, “Don’t bring us a picture of a castle, because we’re not going to do that.”

Then to the tasting. Mojgan brought out a plate with four circular samples, and it was even accented with a little bit of chocolate frosting. Along with the nice presentation, La Patisserie was also the second bakery to let us taste their fondant. Extra bonus points awarded for letting us try 3 kinds of waxy frosting: regular fondant, chocolate, and white chocolate. Despite the three different flavors, they all tasted like gross sugar wax, and we didn’t eat much of them. The fourth sample without any fondant instead had a buttercream flower. It’s nice how we could taste the various cake decorations. The samples had a larger ratio of mousse filling to cake, and Mojgan explained to us this was to make sure we could taste the filling. In the actual wedding cake, there’d be more cake. She left us alone to try the samples. All their samples we tasted were yummy, just like the dessert cakes we’ve had from them before. Everything had the right amount of sweetness, but still rich and creamy with obvious flavors. Kelvin even liked some of the fruit flavors, and he generally hates fruity stuff. This was the first time my mother had their cakes, and she also liked the samples. We scarfed everything up, with exception of the fondant pieces.

Mojgan came back again for some final questions. There wasn’t a sample contract for us to take home; the quote sheet didn’t have any information on it aside from whatever she wrote down. However, we asked her about all the usual deposits and fees, and she wrote every detail on the back of the quote sheet for our reference. We found out that, for some reason, La Patisserie has the most expensive delivery fee, even though they’re only 1.5 miles down the street from our reception venue! Like 3 times more than average! It sort of put a damper on the reasonable cake price, so I’m hoping we can negotiate this down. They also have a $250 deposit for using their cake stand that is refunded when the stand is returned. I’m not sure if we have to use it… I sure hope not. There was a cake flavors menu in one of the binders that would have been nice to take home, as their website only has pre-made dessert cakes listed. However, she said I could email her for it, and I eventually did do that and got a copy through email. So not much in terms of documents to take home with you, but the cake tasting itself was A+ in our book. Even with the ridiculous delivery fee, the overall price is still comparable to other bakeries. La Patisserie would be the obvious frontrunner at this point if it weren’t for the delivery fee. I hope they can do something about that… I know Kelvin is pretty convinced to book here regardless.

Service and organization (at tasting and through communication): B
Presentation (based off photos): A-
Taste: A
Favorite flavors: I liked all of them. Kelvin definitely liked the chocolate cake with chocolate mousse best, as he ate most of that sample.
Price: Starts at $5.75 a slice. Delivery fee to Cupertino is $150 (OMGWTFBBQ).

Bakery 6 - Fleur de Cocoa
I accidentally scheduled my Fleur de Cocoa appointment right after the La Patisserie one because I thought La Patisserie was the next Sunday. Thankfully, I didn’t schedule the same time, and La Patisserie didn’t take very long, so there wasn’t any rush. I contacted Nicola of Fleur de Cocoa through email to arrange the appointment. I also had to select the cakes I wanted to try beforehand. They only have four samples for you to try, and you can only try two of them for free. (Extra samples are $5.65.)

We arrived at Fleur de Cocoa a few minutes early, and the place was freaking packed. (In fact, I even ran into an old high school classmate.) The storefront sells individual desserts, cafe beverages, and a few lunch items. Apparently, business is good. I was eventually able to let somebody behind the counter know I was here for a cake tasting, and Nicola came over and greeted me. She asked if I was the 2:30PM appointment (I was the 3PM), and she seemed disappointed I wasn’t them, as that means she got a no-show. She handed me a giant album to look at pictures of their cakes, but there was no place to sit down because they were so busy. In fact, there wasn’t any place to stand without blocking somebody from something. Eventually, table cleared towards the back, and we rushed over to claim it.

It was a lot easier to look at the album sitting down, and their cakes were very nice looking. Nicola came over to talk to us, though we weren’t presented with any information sheets. She had a quote sheet for herself to write down our basic information, but nothing for us to take home. Instead, she grabbed a cafe menu to write all the main contract details like deposits and prices. Going through the binder and asking about the costs of design details, I didn’t really get a good idea of how much things cost. I felt a lot of the answers to my questions were vague; I think she prefers to know a final design before throwing out numbers for design elements, especially since she doesn’t make the cakes (her husband does). The cake per slice was the priciest so far, so if we got a cake here, any additional cost for design wouldn’t be an option anyway.

The cake tasting comprises of two individual desserts from their counters, hence the $5.65 additional cost for tastings outside of the two given samples. We chose their signature Satin cake and their Fleur de Vanille. Both were very… mousse-y. Their wedding flyer states their cakes are heavily mousse based, but I expected a little more cake. I’m pretty sure Nicola also told me that the actual wedding cakes would have more cake, but I’m confused now since their flyer does state their cakes are mostly mousse, so maybe I misunderstood her. My cake desires are more traditional, I guess; I really wasn’t digging this mousse stuff. Even though it was mostly mousse, it was still incredibly sweet. My mother and I had a hard time finishing off the desserts (felt bad wasting it), and Kelvin of course wouldn’t have more than a small taste of either. Quality and freshness for the samples were very good, and I can see other people liking this sort of cake (and willing to pay a premium for it); it just wasn’t for us.

After we finished the samples, there wasn’t really much more to ask Nicola, so our cake tasting was finished pretty early. This place was very pricey, and we didn’t like their cake, so Fleur de Cocoa won’t be an option for us.

Service and organization (at tasting and through communication): B-
Presentation (based off photos): A-
Taste: C+
Favorite flavors: None.
Price: Starts at $8 a slice. She forgot to write down the delivery fee to Cupertino on my cafe menu, but I believe it was $75.

New thing I learned today: “Fleur” is French for “flower”.

I picked it up from a UPS hub a few days ago, and it looks pretty good! And yes, I got it online.

I visited five bridal salons in my dress search, and even though I found a dress I liked at one of the salons, I ended up buying it online. I know it’s kind of a jerkhole thing to shop for dresses in person for service and not buy from them, but I was too tempted by the significantly cheaper price from buying online. I originally found my dress at Trudy’s Bridal, but Trudy’s has this strict no-price-matching-no-discount policy. So the dress was full retail at Trudy’s, and the only other store near me that carries the brand I was looking for (Rin’s Bridal) couldn’t find the dress model in their records to give me a quote. My brick & mortar choices were limited.

I looked at several online stores recommended on the boards at The Knot and contacted them through email. I found my dress 30-40% cheaper online. I went with the least expensive, which was Lee Phillips Bridal. The owner of the store, Stacey, was very quick, responsive, and friendly with emails. You won’t see many stores listing their prices upfront on a website; you have to email or call them. The bridal gown industry places a lot of restrictions on stores that carry their brands. By limiting the stores that sell their products and forbidding discounts, gown brands maintain a strong control on their gowns prices and perceived value, along with service quality. Some online stores are not authorized retailers that have a direct relationship with these strict brands, and they bypass these restrictions by being a middle man for other stores that are authorized retailers. I guess authorized retailers are willing to risk their relationships with certain brands through increased bulk of sales. Anyway, I think Lee Phillips Bridal operates something like this, as they’re not an authorized retailer of the brand I like. Because they do business this way, they won’t divulge brands they offer and prices on their website until you contact them. It seems kinda sketchy, but nothing illegal, based on what I’ve read online.

Even with Stacey’s great email communication, ordering online is pretty nerve-wracking. You have to do all your measurements yourself and hope you do it correctly and the size charts are accurate, pay for the entire total upfront, hear nothing about your important and expensive purchase for months, and cross your fingers that nothing is wrong with your dress when you get it, as your options are limited with an unauthorized online store. I took my chances based on previous Knottie experiences, and it worked out great. I ordered it March 21st, and I was quoted a delivery time of August 25th, so the dress came an entire month early. The order also came with a complimentary dress bag for storage. Thank goodness too; I don’t know how else I was going to fit that giant mass of lace and tulle into the closet.

I highly recommend Lee Phillips Bridal. The dress I got was authentic and at an awesome price. So far, everything looks good. I can get into the dress no problem. (My waist was the size-limiting factor, and it was borderline for the size I chose. I was little extra worried this month cuz of all the cake I’ve been eating…) It still needs a lot of alterations for height and bust, as expected. We’ll see if I find any issues later on, but it seems unlikely at this point.

I hate wedding planning, but I’m not going to lie… I’m going to try as many cake tastings as I possibly can. I loves me cakes. Wedding cake consultations are generally free of charge, and they should be if they want you to buy hundreds of dollars of cake from them. Kelvin’s not a fan of sweets, so he’s not loving this like I am. (He’s actually trying to keep me from going to more… I don’t know what his problem is.) We stuck to bakeries that were local (mainly South Bay) and were recommended by Yelp or wedding review sites. We still don’t have a design settled on, so these bakery gave us quotes with no particular design in mind, though I tried to ask about what sorts of designs and details in their albums would cost how much extra. Here are my personal impressions of the places we tried:

Bakery 1: Satura Cakes in Palo Alto
I scheduled an appointment with Satura Cakes through email, which was super easy since they are very good at responding to email. I’ve heard rave reviews of this place; my mother’s coworker insisted Satura had the best cakes for Asian tastes. The bakery is located in the middle of downtown Palo Alto, and it has cafe seating and sells drinks and individual desserts, as well as (of course) cakes. My mother, Kelvin, and I met with Anne (who also did most of the email correspondence) on a nice sunny Saturday afternoon.

We sat at a couple of the cafe tables inside. Anne had us look through binders of their previous work as she prepared the cake samples for us. Looking at their binder, they seemed to have decent presentation. Kelvin has pretty strict criteria for presentation (smoothness is very important to him), and he seemed okay with what he sat. Anne came back with a HUGE platter of desserts; apparently their cake tasting mostly consists of using their individual desserts, not sliced sheet cake samples. This being our first cake tasting, it was very intimidating. They even packed all the leftovers to take home! (If you taste here, you might want to consider bringing a couple friends.)

Anne had us taste the samples in a very specific order (from lightest to heaviest), which was an excellent idea. Their cakes were overall good, though not spectacular as I had hoped. Their specialty, strawberry shortcake, was very good, and it was very fresh. The other cakes varied in freshness, but Anne admitted some cakes may have dried out from sitting out as individual desserts. (The strawberry shortcake, she said, was freshly sliced.) The dryness was obvious in a couple of the cakes we tried, which was disappointing. I’m surprised they would serve it like this; what if no one had commented on the dryness, would the potential buyer even realize that the actual cake they get for their wedding would be better? Also, their heavy cakes were really, really heavy, which surprised me since I thought this bakery was catered towards Asian tastes. Their red velvet cake was much too sweet. (I can tell you from eating many Sugar Butter Flour red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting that red velvet doesn’t have to be insanely sweet.) The chocolate ones towards the end were basically brownies. I’m glad they force this order of tasting. There’s no way I would have enjoyed the strawberry shortcake as much if I had just eaten the chocolate cake. Not all their chocolate cakes are like that tho; we had a couple lighter chocolate pieces in the middle that were much better.

Anne was super nice the entire tasting, offering us drinks and open to questions. Not being the baker herself, Anne couldn’t give us size estimates without consulting the pastry chefs first, but she was able to give some estimates as to what certain design elements would cost. As with all the bakeries we tried, nothing is definite until we show them exactly what we want. Anne mentioned that their pastry chefs can emulate anything, so if we saw something we liked, we should send them a picture. Satura Cakes was also the most organized, giving us a folder with a sample contract plus some wedding planning tips on paper. (In fact, I’m still using the folder to hold all the other cake tasting info I got.) Anne said she’d email us with a quote as soon as she could, and indeed she did email us the next day. They offer a 5% discount when you book with them within a week of consultation.

Service and organization (at tasting and through communication): A
Presentation (based off photos): B
Taste: B+
Favorite flavors: Strawberry Shortcake, Chocolate Cake with Caramel Mocha Cream, and Green Tea Cake with Vanilla Bean Cream (the tea flavor is really light).
Price: Starts at $6 a slice, delivery fee to Cupertino is $50

Bakery 2: Margaret’s French Bakery
Margaret’s French Bakery is another highly recommended establishment on Yelp. Their blog (written by Margaret’s son) is a spectacular cake blog. They only do cakes by order, so their bakery is in the middle of some warehouse-y area near downtown Campbell. Since they were so close to where we worked, we came for a consultation during lunchtime on a Friday afternoon. Kelvin and I met with Margaret herself, who I contacted through email and she arranged an appointment with me over the phone.

The cake tasting takes place in their small office, since they don’t really have a storefront. Wedding cakes is clearly their business, as they have pamphlets for other wedding services in the area. As we went through the binder of pictures, Margaret brought out a platter with 8 teeny-tiny slices of cakes on it. (Because it was a pretty intimate setting and Margaret was there the whole time, I didn’t feel comfortable taking pictures of the samples.) After Satura, I was kind of surprised at how small they were, but it was probably more what I was expecting if I hadn’t gone to Satura. And the cakes didn’t taste that great. I felt maybe the sample size might have affected the quality, as the pieces were kind of dry. (Kelvin described them as “gritty”.) She said the pieces were baked the day before, which kind of surprised me since they weren’t that soft. (Tip: Always ask about when the samples are made, and when the cake for your wedding day will be made. It’s typical for cakes to be made days before your wedding, especially if your cake has a complicated design.) I’m guessing perhaps they weren’t cut that day or the samples weren’t sealed away in the fridge well enough? I don’t know. Kelvin was pretty unresponsive, which was annoying. It’d be nice if he could make it less obvious in front of the owner his distaste. Even with the small sample size, we didn’t finish the samples. I usually can, but I think maybe I felt weird acting like a pig in front of Margaret. I asked her which flavor was her most popular, and she said everything on the platter was most popular, which I thought was kind of weird. Carrot cake? Seriously? (Admittedly, their carrot cake was pretty yummy and moist, even with the sample size.)

Margaret is directly involved in the cake-making, which makes it easy to ask her about approximate costs for certain design elements. I went through their binder and pointed out random stuff to ask about pricing. Pretty much everything cost extra (Tip: Did you know that non-circular cake shapes, like square, will often cost you extra? This was the case with most bakeries I spoke to.), except for small side frosting decorations like dots. Looking at their album and blog pictures, their cakes are absolutely immaculate. Gorgeous, gorgeous cakes, with even their butter cream cakes looking totally flawless. She gave us a copy of the quote she gave us, which was also the contract, along with a list of all the flavors they offer, including many we didn’t taste.

Service and organization (at tasting and through communication): B+
Presentation (based off photos): A+
Taste: C
Favorite flavors: I thought their Princess Cake and Strawberry Grand Marnier were decent. Kelvin only liked the carrot cake… which is too bad since he doesn’t really like carrot cake.
Price: Starts at $6.50 a slice, delivery fee to Cupertino is $50

Bakery 3: Cake Expressions
Cake Expressions also has some decent Yelp reviews, and they came highly recommended from the couple who had that crazy awesome Lego cake I mentioned about a while back. They also only do cake special orders, so no storefront with desserts. They’re located in some random building in another warehouse-y district, this time in East San Jose. The building is easy to miss, but they usually have a real estate-looking sign that says “Cakes” by the driveway. I made an appointment over the phone with them for a Saturday afternoon, and this appointment was bumped early at their request later on, tho the woman I met with, Robin, wasn’t aware that they had successfully made this change. My mom joined Kelvin and me for this trip.

Their tasting area is a small room that isn’t very well ventilated, so it was still warm even with the portable air conditioner running. There’s two tables with chairs, a bunch of binders with pictures of cakes, a wall of model cakes, and a large TV showing the same couple cutting cake, with footage rotating every whole minute. Robin had us look at binders as she prepared cakes, probably slicing them from sheet cakes. As we waited, the very nice grand cake master of Cake Expressions, Cero, was passing through the tasting room and introduced himself to us, which was cool. Robin came back out with a platter of decent sized samples (which looked huge after going to Margaret’s) and a “map” describing the cakes on plate. She didn’t care what order we ate it, so we just went at it. And it was hella good. All the cakes were fluffy and moist, and none of the flavors were heavy. I love, LOVE their Chocolate Raspberry Truffle cake, which is a dense chocolate cake with raspberry puree in it, giving it an interesting texture. Very chocolately, but just right on the sweetness. Overall, we loved all the samples; the whole thing was immediately gobbled up. They’re also the only place to offer a mousse outer frosting, which was different. I didn’t really get a good idea of the difference between the mousse and buttercream because I was so enthralled by the cake, but I happened to like all the mousse covered cakes better, so I’m guessing maybe it’s not as sweet. Cake Expressions also had samples of fondant, the super thick waxy frosting that most complicated cake designs use (usually costs $1.00 per slice extra at most bakeries), so we got to taste fondant for the first time. (It’s gross. It’s basically sugar wax. If we get fondant, make sure to peel it off the cake before you eat it.) Kudos to Cake Expressions for thinking to do that.

I asked Robin when the cakes were made, and she gave me some sort of vague answer like “they were made this week”. This leads me to think that the cakes were a few days old, which is amazing since they taste so fresh. But then I thought, maybe Robin is tricking me into thinking the samples are old, leading me to think their cakes last a while when actually the sample were made that day. Stupid Robin and her mind games! Anyway, she said they usually make their cakes a few days before: one day to make the cake, one day to fill the cake, and how ever many days it takes to frost and decorate it. She confirmed the cake on the day of the wedding would have same texture.

I went through some designs we liked in the binder and got some estimates to what things cost. They have an incredibly reasonable starting price at $3.99 a slice, but just about everything you can think of is extra. Specialty cake flavors (like the Chocolate Raspberry Truffle) and specialty cake fillings (fresh fruit) cost extra, as is using mousse instead of buttercream. I think this was the only bakery where some flavors of cake cost more than others. Design elements cost extra, of course, but generally they seemed to cost less than Margaret’s. Overall, the cost was still lower than the other places we’ve visited, which was great since we actually like their cake. Also, Cero seems to be excellent at making complicated designs, so if you’re design is crazy, Cake Expressions is probably a good option. Kelvin, however, wasn’t fond of their presentation; he didn’t feel any of the cakes he saw were smooth enough. Despite this, he agreed he liked Cake Expressions best so far, as taste is the most important factor in the end. They also have very customizable flavors. One filling they have listed is Chocolate Mint Cookies & Cream, which made Kelvin perk up since he loves mint chocolate stuff, but then he realized it had Oreo, which he doesn’t like. Robin saw this and made sure to mention they could put any kind of candy in the Oreo’s stead, which I thought was a great idea… except I don’t want to make our entire wedding party eat mint chocolate stuff. (I know my mom definitely hates mint.) Still, the fact the option is there is really nice.

Similar to Margaret’s, Robin gave us a quote/contract sheet along with a list of flavors. The list separates regular flavors from specialty, so you know what flavors will cost you more. It also mentions which flavors of filling they recommend with each cake type. Very informative. I wish we had gotten the cake map though, so I could remember what I ate. Robin was friendly and open to questions the entire time, which made the cake tasting very pleasant. We even got a personal recommendation for the place while we were waiting. A customer waiting for her cake was in the tasting room the entire time, and she raved about them. People were also walking in and out, picking up special occasion cakes, so business was okay with them. This place was definitely the front-runner in our cake search after we tasted them. My mom is definitely one “with Asian taste”, and she really liked this place, after being surprisingly disappointed with Satura.

Service and organization (at tasting and through communication): A-
Presentation (based off photos): B
Taste: A
Favorite flavors: Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, definitely. The regular White cake and Red Velvet cake were favorites, too. (I didn’t like their cream cheese frosting tho. Too sweet.) Kelvin liked the Tiramisu, but for some reason I really didn’t like it here, even tho I generally like Tiramisu.
Price: Starts at $3.99 a slice, delivery fee to Cupertino is $45

More cake tasting to come…

New thing I learned today: Fondant really is just sugar and water.

I bought Dr. Mario Online Rx at the end of the May, right when it came out on WiiWare. It’s my first (and currently only) WiiWare game and probably my last download for a while until Nintendo comes up with a decent storage solution. (My Wii truly is full. I can’t even download the update for Dr. Mario Online Rx, whatever it does.) I paid 1000 Wii Points for it, which is equivalent to $10. Considering how simple the game is and how little it’s changed over the years, I’d prefer cheaper. However, considering the amount of time I’ve spent playing this game the last few weeks, I’d have to say I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth already.

Kelvin playing some guy named Moose.

If you don’t know what Dr. Mario is or have never played it, well, it’s simple. REALLY simple. Basically, there’s three colors of viruses (blocks) all over your screen, and you get rid of them by lining up blocks of four of the same color with dropped pills (combos of two colored blocks). The goal is to get rid of all the viruses. So yeah, simple. This game is so simple it appeals to everybody, even mommies. (I didn’t have Dr. Mario as a kid, so my mom preferred Tetris. Kelvin’s mom liked Dr. Mario tho.) When you’re playing against opponents to be the first to remove your viruses, multiple lines removed will lead to random blocks dropped on your opponents, often times messing up their block setups and screwing up their flow by making them wait for blocks to fall.

A couple other gameplay modes have been added to the game. “Classic” mode is where you aim to get rid of all the viruses on your screen, while the new “Flash” has you aiming for 3 specific viruses amidst other viruses. In single player, you can play for high score, or you can play against the computer in Versus. The computer is surprisingly good… or maybe I just surprisingly suck. I thought I was okay at Dr. Mario, but the computer kicked my ass on friggin’ Normal! I don’t even want to talk about Hard.

They’ve also added a new spin on the Dr. Mario game called Virus Blasters. Jessica tells me this game is already available in the DS game Brain Age 2. This is where there is one screen of viruses, and any player with a Wiimote grabs a falling pill by pointing their Wiimote and dragging down the pill. One thing that’s slightly different (outside of the control scheme) is that, when only half of a pill attaches to something, you can drag the leftover half elsewhere. Usually if the pill falls on something, the whole pill is stuck. Virus Busters is interesting in that multiple players share the same screen, and up to 4 players can play together, which makes it a viable party game. I don’t know how fun it is with 4 people since I haven’t tried it; it’s not bad with two, but I’m still partial to Classic mode.

Me and some buddies chasing some viruses in Virus Buster

In fact, most of the time I play this game, it’s against Kelvin in versus. We’re not too far apart in skill level, so it’s not unbalanced towards one person. Even if it was, there’s options to change the number of viruses and speed of the pills falling for each player, so you can assign handicaps. Actually, messing with these options lead to radically different games. Maxing out the viruses leaves a tiny empty space at the top, allowing little room for error, making it a race to do the first combo to mess up what little space your opponent has left and likely eliminate them from the getgo. Putting the least amount of viruses leaves you with a handful of viruses in a lot of empty space, making it an all out speed contest to eliminate the viruses, with combos hurting your opponent through falling time. The real difficulty changes with the speed option, as time to rotate your pill and decide where to place them is crucial. The virus level seems more to make the game longer or shorter. Right now, Kelvin and I are enjoying the max-out on virii with speed on slow setting.

This match was really close. Of course, I messed up placing the last yellow-blue
pill. Tho Kelvin had just messed up before I messed that up. But as you can tell,
my mess-up from way earlier really jacked me to the end.

If you don’t have roommates, family, or a significant other living with you to be your Dr. Mario rival, it’s cool. The developers have made the (obvious) addition of online play. Of course, this is Nintendo we’re talking about, so you’ve got lame-o friend codes, and you can’t customize the things you say or pick strangers to play with. Nintendo does all the player matching for you, and there’s a set list of 8 phrases you can in between matches. I don’t mind this too much, as the idea of playing with complete strangers intimidates me, so their limited speech kind of makes me feel better when they kick my ass. (I’m telling you, there’s some Dr. Mario fiends on there. And I’m sure it comes as a surprise to no one that the top ranked players are all Japanese.) You can’t customize the game settings for random online play, either. You can play with your friends with friend codes, but I haven’t had a chance to try this out, as neither of my two Dr. Mario friends are ever online at the same time as me. (It’s kinda annoying how their names won’t show up until they’re on the same time as you, so my list is currently just a list of numbers.) The game also keeps track of some ranking score thing, but I’m indifferent to it. Unlike local battles, the game keeps track of your win-loss record overall, along with the score of the current opponent you’re fighting. (I really wish they had this for local.) I feel that multiplayer is the real fun of Dr. Mario, so online play was definitely a necessary addition.

In depth conversation on Dr. Mario.

That said, why don’t they have 4-player Dr. Mario?!? This omission really pieves me, as 4-player multiplayer was available in the N64/Gamecube versions of Dr. Mario. Do you know how many hours I spent playing Dr. Mario with Rodney and Jamie in college? A lot! It was hella fun! Now I spend $10 for a new spiffy version of the game that is minus a feature? Lame! I’m not asking for 4-player online, just local. It’s a great party game. I hope one day there will be an update to put this feature back in. Also, you can’t play Virus Busters online, which I thought was strange since it does have local 4-player.

I have no friends :(

I really dig the new, clean look of the game. The old versions of Dr. Mario have always been pretty dark, while in Online Rx everything is very white and sterile looking, much like anything else Wii-related. In single player you are still Dr. Mario tossing pills; in multiplayer you play your Mii. Miis show up chasing viruses in Virus Busters, and in single player Dr. Mario they jump around and cheer for you when you win. I know some people aren’t fans of Miis, but I love them. Anything integrating Miis is always a plus for me.

(These images were yoinked from IGN.)

On NES

On N64

On Wii

Anyway, I dig this new Dr. Mario. I haven’t played anything else on WiiWare, but I’m willing to go out there and say this is the best thing offered on WiiWare at the moment. If you’re not willing to spend the $10, you can download a demo that only allows online play with friends for free. It’s available through the Nintendo Channel on the Wii, or you can get a friend who owns the game to send you the demo.

Oh yeah, and be my Dr. Mario friend please. 5652+7731+9520

(If I ever figure it out, the following summary will go in a spiffy little box.)

In a nutshell: Dr. Mario has a new coat and goes online.

The good: Dr. Mario will always be good. ALWAYS. Even then, three different modes, handicap options, and online versus provide an incredible variety of play. Clean looking graphics, Miis in doctor’s coats look super-cute.

The bad: No 4-player for Dr. Mario! WHY? No online for Virus Busters, and zero options for online play with strangers.

New thing I learned today: “Viruses” is the proper way of spelling the plural of “virus”. “Virii” was made up teh interwebz.

I originally wrote “virii” all over this review, thinking it was an actual word. I’m stupid. I corrected myself, but I left one or two in for good measure :P

Because I didn’t arrange our engagement session sooner with our wedding photographer, FC Wong, he ended up being booked for several weekends straight until July. I wanted to take our engagement pictures before then, so I made an appointment with him on a Thursday. Kelvin had suggested Palace of Fine Arts (PFA) as a photo locale, and he also recommended we check out the Exploratorium while we were there. Well, if we’re going there anyway, why not take some pictures in there while we’re at it? FC was open to the idea, so I arranged to meet with him at 3PM in front of the Exploratorium on the chosen Thursday. Kelvin and I had to take days off from work, so we made sure to make a day of it.

We left early to get lunch in SF. I had my Shu Uemura makeover appointment at 1:30PM, so we just ate somewhere nearby in Pacific Heights. We ate at some random Japanese restaurant two doors down from Shu Uemura called Osaka. It was alright, nothing exceptional. After lunch, I got my makeover done early, and we headed off to the Exploratorium, pretty close to Pacific Heights.

We were 45 minutes early to the Exploratorium (we would have been even earlier if we didn’t accidentally get on the freeway instead of turning into the PFA parking lot), so we bought tickets and scouted out the museum. I had never been to the Exploratorium, so I was eager to check things out. The Exploratorium is a science museum where almost all the exhibits are interactive. I imagine there’s usually tons of kids, but because we were here on a weekday, there weren’t many people around. (The exception is the first Wednesdays of each month. Apparently, the Exploratorium has free admission on those days.) I wanted to look for interesting places to take pictures, but Kelvin and I didn’t make it very far, getting distracted with exhibits near the entrance.

In particular, there was this one table with a spinning disc, and you roll other discs onto the table to try and get them to keep rolling. It shouldn’t be that fascinating, yet we were enthralled.

We wasted so much time on the spinning table, we didn’t have time to scout any good spots to take photos. We met up with FC around 3ish out front, gave him an admission sticker, and we all went back to start the shoot. FC had never been there before despite taking lots of engagement sessions right outside at the Palace of Fine Arts. He had expressed initial concern about adequate environmental lighting in an indoors location, but from his first look, he could tell lighting was not an issue. He gave us a spiel about what to expect, which basically was he’d let us do our own thing and wouldn’t give explicit instructions unless he thought something might be neat or necessary.

Throughout the day, most of his instructions were to “act natural”, like talking to each other about whatever and playing with the exhibits. Every so often, he’d tell us to do something romantic, most likely something to do with kissing. Kelvin and I kissed a lot in the museum, occasionally freaking out a child passerby. (I didn’t hear exactly what one girl said, but I assumed she said “Mommy, they’re kissing!” because I heard her mom grumble in response, purposefully looking away from us, “Yes, they are… let’s keep going.”) Sometimes we’d pass by an exhibit, and FC would say, “Oh, we’ve got to get you in there.” If we were distracted by a non-photogenic exhibit, FC would either wander around looking for more spots to take pictures, or he himself would get distracted playing with random exhibits. FC seemed to really like the museum, and I think he liked the opportunity to take a pictures somewhere a little atypical. Here is a small sampling of what he took:

This tile wall is actually at the entrance to both the men’s and women’s bathroom, so
we’re making out in front of the bathroom as people are passing us so they can go do
their personal business. This tile wall is an optical illusion called the cafe wall illusion.
The lines in the tile are parallel!

This exhibit talks about effects of the mind, like even though the toilet water fountain
is as sanitary as any other water fountain, it’s harder for people to drink from it since it
looks grosser. Even though Kelvin is over a toilet, he looks so great in this picture,
doesn’t he? Kelvin grumbles about it, but even FC mentioned this was his favorite.

I should have taken my own picture of the entire exhibit, since FC is focused on making
good couple-y pictures, but this image is actually the head of a robot. The screen is
what it sees. So basically there’s this giant robot with lightening beams between its arms,
watching us make out. There was also a small crowd gathering around, either curious to
see what we were doing or irritated that we were hogging the exhibit.

In this exhibit, you try to figure out what things are by touching and feeling them. FC
made a ring shot out of it. Kelvin is caressing my hand; I’m caressing a light switch.

This is actually a giant screen with a simulated sky and ocean, with variables that can be
modified with a provided Xbox controller. We made the poor decision to try the “scary”
option before taking the picture, which created all these ugly super-high mountains in
the ocean. We had to wait for the peaks to fade before we could take a nice picture.
Also, the view shifts, and the moon would keep rotating out, so we had to wait for the
moon to show back up. I’m surprised how nice the background looks, because in person
it looks really pixelated and kind of ugly.

I think this exhibit, which was a giant plastic ball attached to a lense, demonstrated how
an eye functions. It didn’t look anywhere near this clear in person; to me it was really fuzzy
and pale looking. I don’t get how FC got this shot. Maybe I was looking through it wrong.

As the picture clearly shows, we’re sitting in some sort of sound booth with headphones on,
listening to some audio clips. What the picture doesn’t show is what we’re actually listening
to, which are audio clips of married couples arguing with each other. We didn’t realize what
the exhibit was about until we got in, put the headphones on, and read the display. I think the
goal was to figure out which couple is arguing in the most civil manner. I thought they all
sounded pretty pissed. Anyway, the audio was very unromantic and strangely (in)appropriate.

We didn’t get to see all the exhibits since we only had a couple hours until closing (5PM closing time is so early!), plus some of the exhibits were closed/broken. When the Exploratorium was about to close, it was time to go outside and do more standard engagement shots. Being outside sucked, as it was cold and windy, and my hair was flying all over the place. FC was concerned about the timing; he usually starts engagement sessions closer to sunset when the light is soft and flattering. At 5PM with an 8:30PM sunset, the sun is still high, and the light is harsh. Luckily, the area between the Exploratorium building and PFA structures had a lot of shade, with the light poking through the trees creating a soft light, so he was still able to take several pictures in not-as-harsh lighting conditions.

We call this “the stalker photo”.

Another thing FC had warned me about was that the PFA was currently under construction, and the dome thing had scaffolding all over it. I figured we’d still be able to find nice shots of other structures, and the PFA is near a lot of other places to take engagement pictures (Presidio, Golden Gate, Golden Gate Park, etc.). I wasn’t surprised of the scaffolding of the dome, but I was surprised some of the other structures were also surrounded by ugly metal fences and construction equipment. We still had some free columns to pose next to, thankfully.

Out of pictures FC picked for us, there were two taken with both harsh lighting and construction in the background, but I actually thought they were pretty nice. In fact, this one is one of my favorites:

I also took a picture of my own in harsh lighting and construction in the background, and I like that one too!

After circling around the PFA, FC felt it’d be nice to go to one more place, since the PFA was pretty limited. I thought he’d stop at this point, but I was happy he was up for one more locale. He suggested Baker Beach, which was pretty close to the PFA. If you don’t know Baker Beach, it’s the beach in SF west of the Golden Gate Bridge. Look at any Bay Area wedding photographer’s portfolio, and I can pretty much guarantee they all will have at least one picture from this beach. If there’s a couple walking/running/hugging/kissing on a beach with the Golden Gate in the background, that’s Baker Beach. I’ve never been to this beach before, and I was surprised there was actually a somewhat decent beach in Northern California that didn’t have bark and seaweed all over the place. It still had quite a bit a wood, but it was still pretty. The beach was real windy, and the water was still f*cking cold, of course.

We took the typical e-pic shots, and then FC wanted to try something with the rings. This involved us spending quite some time trying make handprints in the hard sand. I guess NorCal beaches still aren’t that nice after all. Eventually, we were able to make non-crappy handprints, but it was closer to the waves. FC then specially placed the rings for this cool shot:

Kelvin really likes that shot since you can see the tension setting of the ring in shadow. As FC took shots of this, Kelvin and I had to pay really close attention to the waves. If the waves hit the handprints, you’d be left with a very unhappy couple.

When we took our last picture at Baker Beach, it was already 7PM! I was so tired from the whole experience, but the whole thing was really fun! You can tell how much fun I had because I have an goofy grin on my face in so many of the pictures. FC was fantastic to work with. The last time I saw him was when we first met with him to talk about his portfolio and rates, and he was very nice then, but who knows if he was just giving a good first impression to lure us in? After the engagement shoot, I can say he really is a nice guy. (What a relief.) I never thought Kelvin and I would be comfortable being all smoochy-smoochy in front of somebody, but FC is strangely not-creepy like that. Aside from the locale, we gave him zero input on the shots. I liked his natural shots, but I’m also appreciative that he made sure to do more traditional pictures. FC gave us very little direction, which is in total contrast to the studio pictures we took, where every inch of our body was specifically placed and posed. The former’s method gives more natural and artistic (and not as corny) pictures, and it took me a little time to get used to looking at those kind of pictures, since I’m very self-conscious and don’t particularly like looking at my own pictures. (Damn my slouching, where is my mom when I need her to slap me on the back every five minutes? And my profile… I still hate my profile!) I got used to it though, and I think I may actually like how I look in them! Kelvin looks great in all the pictures, damn him *shakes fist* One thing I regret about the shoot is that I completely forgot to take a picture of FC… I had kept reminding myself earlier in the day to do so, but it didn’t happen :\ Anyway, FC has been great so far; I really look forward to doing the rehearsal dinner and wedding pictures with him!

And for reference, FC posted previews of our pictures in his blog the day after the shoot, and the gallery was done just 3 days later. Pretty quick. Prints can be purchased from the 30-day gallery. Getting the digital negatives for the engagement shoot cost extra from the actual shoot. However, they’re included with the digital negatives we’d get with for our wedding day, which for our package requires an album purchase. We probably won’t be buying any albums until after the wedding, and we’re tight on the monies right now, so I don’t know if we’re going to have any prints from this session for our wedding. I’m curious to see the unedited digital negatives, as FC said it’d include all the pictures taken. FC selected all the pictures in the gallery. Considering how Kelvin tends to look in pictures, I hesitate to think what some of the reject pictures look like…

Since this was a rare occasion where I was up in SF, I planned to meet up with Rodney for dinner in the city. After the shoot, there was an hour until dinner, so I just relaxed and enjoyed the beach atmosphere in the warm shelter of my car. I ventured out momentarily to take a couple of my own pictures before driving off to meet up with Rodney and his coworker friend Alice at a restaurant only a couple miles away.

Dinner was at Isa, a French tapas restaurant with TONS of Yelp ratings. I say it lives up to its ratings. All the plates are meant to be shared, and we had 9 different dishes plus 3 different desserts. It was all pretty delicious. I’m particularly partial to their steak dish and goat cheese dish. (Oh, that goat cheese is SO GOOD.) I also tried foie gras for the first time. I was scared it’d taste like those gross livers in Chinese dishes, but fatty liver is… fatty so it tasted okay. I’d still rather have my goat cheese. We also had one of the best waiters ever. He was very knowledgable and informative about the dishes, and he was friendly and cheerful without being fake or annoying. Too bad I don’t remember his name… how was I supposed to know the service would actually be good? At least, we tipped him pretty decent tho.

Because of Isa’s weird serving method (only one or two dishes served at a time), dinner was like 2.5 hours. When we got home to the South Bay, it was past 11PM, and I was exhausted. Man, what a day, but it was worth it. I got a bunch of nice pictures out of it, great food, fancy makeup, and I had a ton of fun all day. I need to go to the Exploratorium again sometime, but next time more playing with toys and less making out :P

New thing I learned today: The cafe wall illusion is given that name because the doctor who first described it saw it on a cafe wall in Bristol, England.

I tried to learn what causes the optical illusion, but I’m too tired/lazy right now.