Celebrate Barbecue Diversity, Part 2

Yesterday's barbecue was bittersweet. Erin, a member of our cliquish foursome that is Team Tokyo, is making a pilgrimage to the motherland. She quit her job, packed up, and is moving to Tokyo tomorrow. She'll be doing a 4-month stint at a visual effects house there, and we're a little devastated to see her go. My work environment will suffer immensely -- I met Erin about 4 years ago when I hired her at the internet startup where I used to work. Not long after, she left that company to work at Rhythm&Hues, and not long after that, she got me a job there as well (big shocker -- the internet startup went belly-up). She is extremely bright and I'm excited to see her thriving careerwise. She's also one of those wonderful people who is always up for fun, and as I experienced when we traveled through Japan together, she eats up life and never lets 'tired' get in her way. She's also a master behind the karaoke mic, and her rendition of Air Supply's "Out of Nothing At All" is truly something to behold. I know she'll have a blast back in Tokyo.

So, Erin and her roommates put on yesterday's barbecue at their apartment. Erin's parents were in town, and her mom provided a Filipino feast. I walked in to an expansive spread of grilled meats -- both on skewers and in sausage form. Additionally, she had made lumpia: addictive bite-size bits of seasoned ground meat wrapped in thin pastry and deep fried, vegetarian spring rolls, and pancit -- glassy rice noodles with vegetables, hardboiled eggs, and chicken. So much good stuff I had never tried!

Amazingly, the night eventually turned into a mellow, cozy, living room karaoke party. And when we sang the New Kids on the Block's "Please Don't Go Girl", we meant it.