WOW, I can’t believe it! I am amazed that I actually accomplished this challenge successfully!
First, I could not have come up with such a great idea.
I am glad that I have good friends who first challenged me and “coached” me through this expedition. Also, I could not have done it without 15 amazingly good men who took some time out of their schedule to let me get to know them.
Many people asked me if I had a bad date – honestly, I did not! YES, SERIOUSLY! I feel that I lucked out with quality and quantity of good men. I am not just saying this because it is a public domain… I am posting this because this is how I feel about it. Those of you who know me, you know that I speak my mind.

EPILOGUE: I guess this was my final conclusion. This experience has blessed me (made some new friends). Now, I need to keep learning and remember all my Ah-ha’s.

Final date for this specific challenge!  Hopefully not the last one!

I went with Mr D. on a scuba date! Yes, how innovative! Do not try this at home if you are not certified. 🙂
Mr D is actually my scuba buddy. We just spent the summer diving together and earned our advanced divers certification. We are now completing our rescue divers certification.

We met at Dive into Fun, in Henderson, right after work and rushed to Kingman Wash down in Lake Mead before the sunset.  We felt lucky because the road was recently grated and made it easy to roll down the unpaved road to the lake. It was the first time we dove on our own. On top of this, it was a night dive. The water temperature was just right; at 66 F. There was no wind. We had the perfect conditions for a perfect dive. We quickly got our gear set up and briefly planned our dive. We started by having Mr D. navigate and I was in charge of the diving buoy. Got 27 min of diving time before we surfaced where we planned. This was awesome.

While we were doing our surface interval we floated on our backs to watch the stars. How often can you see the stars in Vegas? With all the light pollution, it is almost impossible and it was nice to relax and enjoy the peacefulness and serenity of mother nature’s beauty.

Second dive, and it was my turn to navigate and Mr D. was in charge of the buoy. Now, we realized how nice it was to dive with our instructor. He would take care of all the details and all we had to do was enjoy the dive. Now that we were on our own, we had to think of everything.  Luckily, Mr D. and I are familiar at diving together and we have our underwater communication down.

When we finished our 2 dives, we had some hot cocoa to warm up and packed up. After each dive, we usually have some Doritos (this is the only time I eat them). Now this has become a Pavlovian response. We dive then we crave Doritos. Thanks to our diving group for this habit.  Mr D. was thoughtful and stopped by a little gas station to get some wannabe Doritos. They were still good. While we chowed down on the chips we drove to the Railroad Pass Casino for our usual after-dive dinner stop at the Iron Rail Café. Yes, our scuba instructor trained us well. We followed our usual diving itinerary like exemplary students.

Quick facts: The Railroad Pass Hotel and Casino was established in 1931 and holds the oldest active gaming license in Southern Nevada.

Highlights: Scuba diving is awesome
Mr D. is the best diving partner a person could ask for
Doritos and Prime Rib for dinner are the “best” after-dive combo

Mr J. is one of the first people I met when I moved to Vegas.
Tonight, Mr J. got tickets to a UNLV vs RENO basketball game. How awesome!
What a shame – I have studied and graduated from UNLV but I’ve never been to one of their games! I am not a good “Rebel.” I guess I will always be a “Cougar” (as a BYU Cougar fan, not the other “cougar”! Gotta specify especially to some of you! Ha ha)

Honestly, I’ve never been to a college basketball game (while at BYU or UNLV). I’ve only watched volleyball, rugby, and soccer games. This was a first! Dang, where have I been? Luckily, Mr J. took care of me and now I have been to a basketball game for the first time.

Mr J. was the hero of the day! Not only did he take me to my first college basketball game, but he made the effort to honor our date. This morning, Mr J. got into an accident; however, he still went to work and took me out on a date.

Mr J. had good seats with his coworkers at the game. It was a great game – UNLV slashed UNR! I wore my one and only UNLV T-shirt for the first time in public! How shocking. Gotta blend with the masses.

One funny thing happened while I was eating some chicken fingers and garlic fries. The meal came with some Red Hot Chili Buffalo Sauce. I thought that Asians could eat hot sauce. Well I did not expect the Red Hot sauce to be that hot! I dipped a piece of chicken in the red sauce and ate it. I never had something hot like this burn my throat. I started to tear up and cough a lot which alarmed Mr J. He finally decided that the Ranch was going to do it for both of us and the red sauce could be put aside. Ha ha. This was funny to me, because here I was confident that I could handle it but NO, I was a total whimp with that sauce.

Mr J. is a UNLV basketball enthusiast and he gave me the run down of all the players and coaching strategies. However, he revealed that he still remains the #1 fan of Utah State. Go Aggies.

Highlights: Mr J. is a hero, loyal and thoughtful
Mr J. is an Aggie in Rebels clothing
UNLV Basketball is awesome

Mr B.’ is my third blind date. Isn’t there a saying that the third is a charm!
We started the evening by sifting flour. We then weighed the white sugar and the brown sugar while the butter was melting on the stove. We mixed the butter in with the sugar, added the flour, and the baking soda…
Yes, we baked some yummy cookies together.

For our Sunday date, Mr B.’ suggested baking cookies at his house. What an awesome idea. We were limited in time since I was flying back to Vegas early in the evening so
baking cookies was perfect. Mr B.’ took the time to look for a cookies recipe and printed the “Chewy” recipe courtesy of Alton Brown.
I love to cook, but it had been a while since I baked cookies and Mr B.’ admitted that he did not bake often either. It was something different for both of us, but it was nice to work as a team in the kitchen. I poured the ingredients on his food scale while he monitored the weight. Then, I mixed while he poured the ingredients. We followed the recipe with precision – something that I usually don’t do. I guess I am more of a kitchen rebel, but it was a good lesson for me. Following a recipe does work. Ha ha

The cookies came out as the recipe described, yummy and chewy. I ate a lot of them without reservation. It was nice to chat with Mr B.’ and to get to know him. He showed me how he installed the wiring of a smart home system. He ran about 2 miles of wires through the walls of his house while it was being built! Impressive!
Too bad it was time for me to go. Mr B.’ was a gentleman and I enjoyed talking with him.

Highlights: Chewy cookies were yummy to my tummy
Mr B.’ was most definitely a charm and super nice.
Refreshing smart conversation

Second date for the day! Believe it or not, this is my first time experiencing 2 dates in 1 day.

Mr A. is the brother-in-law of a friend of mine from Tahiti who lived in the same valley and went to the same ward. From a link of the blog in Facebook shared by his sister, Mr A contacted me and said “I’ll take you out on Saturday!” I’m spoiled.

Mr A. thought of all the details exchanging a few emails to check with me if I would be up for a quick dinner and a concert of a group from Provo.  Yep, I am always up to discover “undiscovered” talent!

We met at Kneaders and grabbed a yummy sandwich before we headed out to Salt Lake City for the little Indie Rock Pop concert at the State Room. Mr A. was thoughtful and sent me a few days prior the youtube link of the featured group “The Fictionist.”  I like Indie pop rock so I was excited for the concert. We arrived on time for the concert unlike my Polynesian time arrival for Kneaders.  The Devil Whale was the opening act and I loved their catchy melody. This group is actually from Salt Lake City.  Mr A. was so thoughtful. He made sure that I knew that if I did not like the concert, or if I was too tired, we could leave. I loved it and can easily be a night owl on command, so this was not an issue.

The Fictionist’s presentation was not what Mr A. and I both expected. The singer seem to be yelling rather than singing most of the time.  Mr A. and I agreed that the opening act  of Devil Whale was better than the featured group. I liked Devil Whale so much that I bought their CD. My kudos to the lead singer!

Highlights: Mr A. is considerate and a music buff
Great concert and I got a signed CD from the Devil Whale! Yeahhh!!!
My blind dates are awesome!

My best friend set me up with Mr B.  They knew each other since middle school.  She told me: “You got to meet Mr B. I think you’ve got a lot of things in common.” Cool!  This was my first blind date and it is always nice to meet the friends of your favorite person in the world.

Mr B. picked me up and took me to his favorite restaurant Carrabbas. We had some good Italian food. We found out that we both have a passion for good food. I mean GOOD FOOD. So of course, we talked about food. Ha ha

Mr B. asked: “So, do you like chocolate?” and I answered what people probably wouldn’t expect : “No, I actually don’t!”
Yes, I am one of those weirdos who would prefer to eat fresh fruits over chocolate. Well, bummer because Mr B. was planning to take me to this chocolate place in Orem. Mr B. was curious about my feelings towards chocolate but I had to be more specific. I can eat anything above 70% cocoa. Since the cheap chocolate binding agent gives me a skin reaction, I seldom eat chocolate. When I eat some, I eat the good dark chocolate as a degustation.

Mr B. decided that he was going to take me to this chocolate factory anyway and I was fine with it. I am always willing to learn something! Hey, if I can go visit a coffee plantation in Colombia, I can surely visit a chocolate factory in Orem.

I found out that “Amano Artisan Chocolate is one of America’s Most Highly Acclaimed Chocolate.”

I was pleasantly surprised to see that all of their chocolates are 70% cocoa! Yeah, I can eat them. I was able to taste their chocolate and it was like a wine tasting experience as you try to identify the unique flavors of each chocolate bar. I was impressed to learn that cocoa is just like grapes and its flavor can be influenced by the soil, the weather… I tried a piece at a time and as the chocolate slowly melted in my mouth, I could distinguish the subtle evolution of the different natural aromas! WOW!!!

I tried the Guayas first and I immediately noticed was the smokey and berry like essence. I tried more and the one that stood out the most was the Morobe which had the right marriage of flavor between smokiness and citrus. An explosion of flavors! For somebody who is not a fan of chocolate, this was quite an experience!

Afterwards, Mr B. decided to take me to his friend’s house to play cards. His friends had other plans but still welcomed us with great hospitality. I found out that our host is the author of “Lehi, Father of Polynesia: Polynesians Are Nephites.”  Bruce Sutton knows a lot about the history of Polynesia. This is just amazing. (I was too shy to pick his brain! Zut alors!) Well, we did not end up playing cards but I sure enjoyed the company. We also watched Mr Sutton prepare amazing Cinnamon rolls.

How can I not be grateful for the amazing people I have been meeting through this challenge! My heart is just full of gratitude and humbled by the many great people out there!

Highlights: Amano Chocolate is amazing!
Mr B. is totally cool and an aficionado
Great afternoon with great people

PS: Yeah, I know I should be a food writer or critic! 🙂

Date #11 had to reschedule for tomorrow. (Wow! 2 dates in a day! That is going to be cool!) I suddenly feel popular.

So, I decided to have a date with my “family” while mingling around a good meal from “HO HO Gourmet” in Bountiful, Utah. Their chinese food is to die for … from a MSG attack! Who would have known that my “family” could bring out the silly goose in me! My nephew actually said “tatie Grace, you so funny. If I did not know you I would think you’re crazy.” In the mouth of a babe comes the truth!  Oh yeah, he is 18! Duh

Silly goose #A:

So I was asked: “Any funny dates out of your 10 dates?” (You got to know; with Tahitians it is all about being funny)
I answered: “Yes, two.” My family was disappointed with that low number but I fired back: “Hey this is 20% – Double the 10% for tithing! I give 10% and got 100% return immediately! That is AWESOME!” Ok this is a Math teacher’s joke.

Silly goose #B:

Ok, I had to share this one with them and now in turn with all of you.
A student came to me and said: “Miss Chang, I can’t have a B. You don’t understand, I am an A-sian not a B-sian!” Then I told him: “At least you are not a C-sian” mwahahah

Silly goose #C:

Last year, I joked with family that I was going to get married on 11-11-11. The family joke now is that the actual 11-11-11 I was dateless. I love it!

There were actually more jokes that came out but they were so silly that we can’t remember them. You missed out on the fun.

I barely knew Mr J. but I still called and shyly asked if he would like to go out on a date with me. I also asked if he would mind if I take a picture and post a blog of our date. Mr J. was quiet for a few seconds. Gulp! Yikes! I did not know what to say. The only thing I could say was: “Hello, are you still there?…”

Mr J. then laughed a little and asked if there would be a TV crew following us and reporting it later.
My reaction: “…”
Now I was trying to process what he was talking about. Here I was nervous about asking a “stranger” on a date and he just broke the ice with his quirky sense of humor. Mr J. is witty and when I understood it, I was able to relax.

Date time! Where do we go? To an all American restaurant: Claim Jumper! Gotta watch out with those huge portion size meal. As I met up with Mr J., I quickly dared to tease him with his own jokes. I told Mr J. that there was a TV crew joining us in a few minutes to make a report. Ha ha

This date was very informative. I can’t write anything about it though because Mr J. would have to send a special team to “eliminate” me.  Mr J. found out how many speeding tickets I got and I am wondering now if it was reasonable for me to reveal such “dark secrets.” Ha ha

It was fun for me to get to know Mr J., although I am not so sure if it was fun for him. Hee hee (Too many ha ha’s)

After dinner, we were able to walk around and we finally took this one picture that I had such a hard time asking for.

Highlights: It was fun to banter with Mr J.
Fun people watching
Mr J. is clever and witty.

Before I launched my challenge, I contacted a few people and Mr C.” was the first person who responded to my request. This gave me the confidence to move forward with this experiment.  Setting a time and date was not easy though. Mr C.’’ is a ‘people mover’ and our schedules were hard to sync.  Luckily we were able to make it work.

We decided to meet at a central location. Mr C.’’ researched a few ethnic places to eat. The options were either Israeli or Russian food. I’d never eaten Russian food and it sounded good so we went for it. Mr C.’’ is open-minded and was ready to broaden his horizon through this culinary experiment. We drove towards Tverskaya Russian Restaurant where they “proudly serve authentic homestyle Russian cuisine.” We found out that the Israeli restaurant is right next door to it! Good, we had something to fall back on.

The Russian restaurant was quaint and very pink (wall color)! Ha ha. I had to make the remark that it felt like we were in a Russian-mob owned restaurant. I was glad that Mr C.’’ read a few reviews on this restaurant and could tell me which dishes people liked.

With the help of our Ukrainian server, we opted to try some traditional dishes. We ordered the Pelmeni (homemade meat ravioli served with sour cream), the Vareniki (homemade dumplings stuffed with cottage cheese, mashed potatoes and served with onion and sour cream), and some Hungarian Goulash (Tenderized pork loin, lightly breaded –served with potatoes and braised cabbage). Now if this does not make you want to eat, then you must try reading this before dinnertime so that you can be more easily tempted to try it. It is worthwhile!

This was a feast for our palate! The right amount of dill, sour cream… Mmm… Just perfect!

Mr C.’’ is well traveled and I enjoyed talking with him and learning from him. I appreciated how honest Mr C.’’ was with me.

Highlight: Mr C.’’ is very resourceful and refreshingly open-minded.
Russian food rocks.
Awesome conversation.

Wow, got a huge light bulb flashing over my head. I am just letting it all out. Here are my new AH-HA’s

Don’t hesitate to let me know if I am going overboard! 🙂