In honor of Carina’s birthday I opted to prepare a romantic dinner at home. I got up early on Monday morning, picked up some flowers for my home, and laid out about 20 cookbooks across my always clean home. I set out to create a five course meal for my birthday sweet and told her to invite a few people. She did no such thing and decided to be “discreet” and announce the invite on Twitter. It’s ok though, it’s not like we have 900 “followers” or anything. What followed was a confirmation from a very elite guest, a food writer from the LA Weekly, Derek Thomas. What, a colleague of Jon Gold was coming to my house to eat a meal I prepared? I was nervous beyond words. I told everyone one thing before eating, “expect the worst and you’ll never be disappointed.” These turn of events led to one of the funniest nights in recent UG history. It was a labor intensive 5 course meal, aside from Carina impregnating some tomatoes, I did it all by myself. Here’s the menu and  pictures course by course.

I’m not surprised Carina liked the dessert course best, I did try to replicate one of the first desserts we had together at King Louie XV in Monaco or as we’d like to say, our first summer together. I must say, I was pleased by Derek’s enthusiasm over the food. It was probably not the best meal he’s ever eaten, but I’m positive he had a fabulous time. Dating Sensei, Margaret, rocked our little worlds. Attendees included: Margaret, Brian Breth, Derek Thomas, Zena warrior princess, Carina, and I. It was a night of uncouth talk, too much bubbly, and an endless supply of laughter. Here are some discussion highlights.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOn5hRfkqvc&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b]

After 5 courses we all had the urge to walk it off. Fortunately, where I live in my parent’s back house there are 15 acres and 300 horses to walk around. I never imagined the day when I would see Carina in a tractor.

What we set out to provide and what we ended up with were at opposing ends. It’s so interesting that a night that was supposed to be classy ended up, in this case, with us running around like horses. At the end of the night, I felt proud and tired at the same time.

The following day our UG investor, Chuck, cleaned out the back most conference room at his office for UG brainstorming. He’s so sweet. In order to sound grown-up, we like calling this brainstorm “work,” but it hardly is. We still have yet to make a dime, our bank balances are quickly dropping, and there’s no end in sight. But in all honesty, there’s no other place than here, right now, with anyone else we’d rather be.

The day ended with us interviewing our first employee, Young Jin. Young Jin is actually an intern, but he’s a breathing body and we’ll call him whatever we want. Here’s us interviewing him.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K-Rqbmv-QQ&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b]

On Thursday night, we headed to the Brass Monkey for karaoke. Even though I’m not good at it, it’s kind of become my new favorite thing. Here’s the conversation between our friend Bijan and Carina while I was singing:

Bijan: Clap when it’s her part.

Carina: Why? Is she bad?

Bijan: Just be a good friend.

I think you get the picture. The highlight of the evening was going to be that I would, alas, get to again see Mr. Fig. I know, I said I’d throw out his number, but I was feeling rather lucky and I wanted to give it one more shot. I’m a pretty passionate individual and when I see something I want, I tend to go after it. So Carina advised me to be direct and tell him how I felt. Did I get anywhere? No. Rejection, I suppose, is also a part of growing up. Here’s my Facebook status update the following morning:

Carina to Josie: You declared your love and he declared his like.

Here’s Carina and I while hopes were still high:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lNzpZpfZxo&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b]

To Carina: There’s no one I’d rather be burning the midnight oil with. You complete me as a person and as a colleague. Happy Birthday, my dear.

Chuck: Many thanks to you. Your untrammeled optimism and faith is always un-fleeting. You are our biggest cheerleader.

Claire Best: Our agent and our Hollywood confidant. Thank you for all your persistence.

To Mama and Papa Mora/Mama Ost: Most of all we thank you, Uncouth Gourmand breeders. Your confidence and “support” in us means the world. We swear, this business school education will pay off one day. Want to buy a piece of Uncouth Gourmands? Everyone else wants equity, but you guys. Please be patient, we may not be ready to cut the financial umbilical cord. We love you.