It all started with Fiona’s visit to the Bay area for summer and wanted to get together with friends. Marlena who's called as Lala by her friends came up with the idea of having dinner and just hanging out in the companion of good friends. William suggested a place  for dinner at  Buca di Beppo . A family style restaurant with Southern Italian cuisine.

But it would be boring and too plain just to get together and have dinner ... so Lala and Fiona decided to do something fun. The invitation was already sent out since three weeks before, to make sure everybody had enough time to think about it and replied for rsvp.  Lala and Fiona came up with the idea of making a “theme” out of the occasion by giving out something memorable to commemorate the event. The idea was to provide guests who came with pictures of them in a small book. Therefore the get-together also functioned as a “networking” event.

This was a perfect idea because basically a lot of the guests were strangers to one another that evening, a friend of a friend…. Thus the small book would serve as a medium, like an ice breaker. … The main idea was in case a guest got drunk and remembered talking to someone cute next to him or her. Then this smooth guest managed to ask for the phone number but could not remember his or her face the next morning.. With the advantage of writing the number on the book, the guest would still be able to have the phone numbers handy and remember her or his face next to it on the book.

The dinner was at 8:00. There were eighteen people who showed up. The place was “Buca di Beppo”.. David, having a hard time remembering the restaurant’s name… calling it “Bukan di Depok” (an Indonesian term. Bukan = not, di = at, Depok =  a place in Jakarta where University of Indonesia is). Sounds similar and easier to remember

Guests came in around 8:30 and started to be seated around 8:45 pm. Then panic time… so who’s sitting with whom. It appeared that the singles were looking to sit next to the other singles. They tried not to be surrounded with couples whom for sure will be in “their own world”  couples alert!!!

Dinner time… Prasad and Steve arrived later. Of course Steve could not make it earlier. He is “imported” all the way from Los Angeles (he does not live in the Bay area). Lieman and William also arrived late. Lieman went to pick William first from the airport… Coming from Las Vegas, obviously William came with a hungry stomach, diced eyes, and winning hand…. Wait, “winning hand”? William would not admit how much he won that night. But some people were actually hoping that he would pick up the tab. J At any rate, there was enough Italian food to feed everybody (coming from Vancouver, Las Vegas, to Los Angeles) on the table, and still had enough for guests from the Bay area.

The dinner was delicious; particularly the Calamari, Chicken Masala, and Tiramisu were the hit. Some people (especially Ririn and Fiona) thought that the Linguini was a bit too peppery hot. But overall, who cared about the food when you were eating in the companion of great people.

Toward the end of dinner, Ika and Lala came up with a plan to give Donald a surprise. They told the waiter that it was his birthday!!! It was quite a surprise for him who suddenly alerted that it was his birthday that evening. However, the guests were very entertained with the surprise.

Lastly, the book got distributed, the chocolate got eaten ... guests were admiring the book and signing each others ... just like yearbook moments. Lala and Fiona were thankful for the compliment and the good times. See clip Video by Fritz

 After dinner, everyone were headed to “Bubble Lounge” to “burn” the excess fat from dinner, plus just relaxed away. Guests drank, played pool, danced, and basically had the best time. While the guys played pool, the ladies were on the dance floor checking out the “fresh meat”. Fiona, Lala, Christine, Rose, David, Ika, Donald, Steve, Prasad, and Miguel and later joined by William were enjoying the music and the rhythm.

Lieman, Willy, William, David, Ernes, and Marli tried their skill on the pool game. They even played a little game where they teamed with each other. At the end, the fun was stopped at 2:00 am because the place was closing… so everyone was basically a winner that nite, including the spectators who showed much support and enthusiasm!!!!