Posted 8:40 AM by Blah blah

Dinner at Lisa's (Friends)

Lisa, my cheeky British friend, made a nice dinner for me at her house last night. Her birthday was Wednesday. She was also in full mommy mode, stopping every so often to talk child lingo with her two sons, Matthew (5-year-old) and Daniel (1-year-old). Matthew is starting kindergarten and has this coy way of looking at you. Both are sooo adorable. She says Matthew has at least two girlfriends already. Ha! Also it was good to see her husband Paul again, a shy software guy.

She made "al dente" rice, a nutty, crunchy rice that I have never tried before. It was delicious. She also made a vegetable dish that looked like Chinese food plus some very yummy pork chops.

While we were eating, Matthew said, "Watch me!" He ran to the sofa and tried to do a somersault on it. Then he jumped on it a few times and dived onto the other sofa. Haha! Reminds me of ME as a kid. I loved to jump on sofas and beds. I was such a monkey.

Her right foot, sadly, is still painful and visibly swollen. The capsaicin (i.e. pepper) cream I gave her a few weeks ago is very effective, cutting her pain by 60%. Still, pain is her constant ball and chain. Pain radiates throughout the middle of the sole of her foot. Her nerve was cut and she has no feeling in the lower part of her toe. She had trouble walking several blocks to the store the other day, and she cannot move her ankle around comfortably to practice driving a car. Plus, she's begun to put more strain on her foot as she runs after the kids daily. I pray for a faster recovery. She has such a sweet and inspiring attitude about the whole situation, saying her foot injury in July has helped bring her all these new friends.

Lisa and I click so well. We can both be such big teases. It's always a delight to talk to her and her family. Thanks for being such a wonderful friend, sweetie.



I also wrote this on her guestbook: "The dining hall at my UC Berkeley dorm, International House, was somewhat of a meat market at the start of each semester. I love the place! We also had 'face books' after a few weeks, with photos of the residents. Watching everyone jostle to make friends with the most attractive people was hilarious. I remember once I was having dinner with this pretty PhD political science student from Japan, and this guy came up to us and literally got on HIS KNEES in the cafeteria to ask her for something. He grovelled. What a wimp! Haha."