On Wednesday, November 25, Sasha Vujacic and Team Machine united once again for our routine dinner meeting. I know most Machine fans are probably wondering what we do during these dinner meetings. This time, chats about his family, childhood memories, music (including a private first listen of a “Machine song“ written by one of Sasha‘s friends), school, and coming to America surfaced and of course, laughs.

It was a chilly night the evening before Thanksgiving as I met up with Karen Balajadia, Yuliya Polovinchik, Sheyla Ornelas, Daniel Sagal, and Andrew Rafner at Chinois on Main restaurant in Santa Monica, California. Coming from a charity event in Downtown Los Angeles, Sasha was prompt to arrive at the restaurant cheerful, ready to eat dinner, hang out, and answer some questions. To begin the evening, Karen presented Sasha with an early Christmas gift from our team. Sasha received a vintage poster of one of his favorite drinks (which was mentioned in the first dinner article) Orangina, a citrus beverage that has originated in France. The poster read, “espumoso de jugo de naranja.” Sasha asked Karen, “what does it mean?” And well, if you don’t know either, it means, “sparkling orange juice.”

Since this Wolfgang Puck restaurant was new to all of us except Daniel, who recommended the eatery to us, we were all unsure of what to order. But as soon as the food arrived, which seemed like a massive amount of food for a party of ten, we were pleased to find that the food was delicious. The Team Machine dinner included dishes such as calamari and rock shrimp salad, Maine scallops with Pad Thai noodles, lamb chops, Szechuan beef, and fried rice. To top all of that food off, we finished the night with a sampler dish of several kinds of dessert served with ice cream.

Enough about the food. Between bites of the grilled beef, Sasha began answering the questions fans wanted answered. Questions like who his favorite actor is or what kind of music he likes were among the topics that surfaced. As each member of Team Machine played musical chairs, switching spots every half hour or so to get a chance to speak to Sasha, we also took the time to mingle and get to know each other more as co-workers. I am excited to say that it was a very productive evening that will surely bring many new and fun things to the site. So stay tuned!

After dinner, we stood up from the dinner table to take group and individual photos in the already closed restaurant. It was then when Sasha pulled out his iPhone and asked us for our opinion on a song his friend wrote about Sasha, the Machine, and Staples Center. After about another half hour or so of exchanging stories, it was time to say our Happy Thanksgivings and good-byes. I think I speak for all of us there when I say that it was a delightful, fun, and very productive night full of laughs with our favorite Laker!