Category Archives: friends

Bits of my weekend: Vol. 12

08 Sunday Aug 2010

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This weekend was divided into fun and chores.

Saturday we took an adventure and tried a new restaurant that had gotten some good reviews.  It’s a pizza place called Eatalian located in a warehouse in an industrial district.  When we looked past the bright warehouse feel, we somehow felt we were in Italy.

It might have been the strange “lounge area” that we met when we walked in.

Coffee table made of giantic cans of tomatoes?

It is a food processing facility (soon to be making cheese), bakery, pizzeria and gelatoria

Love the flower shaped bread.

The pizza was so thin, it was like a cracker

I haven't seen an espresso machine like this since I was in Italy

Rather than choose one or two flavors, I went with four flavors of gelato.

The chore part of my weekend consisted of going through boxes of stuff in our garage.  It’s been a few months since I’ve had the courage to go in there without closing my eyes and heading straight for the refrigerator to pull something out.  I don’t think my parents were really pack rats.  I just think that as years pass, you accumulate stuff and forget why you have it and you keep it.  So Al and I spent a couple of hours looking through things.  I’ll tell you I did find some gems of my own history.  Including my fan club kit for Howard Jones.  Only people who remember the 80s – might remember him (No one is to blame).  For now it still stays in the “keep” pile as I pick my husband off the floor from laughter.

We closed out the weekend with a dinner with our friend Mona.  We will always have a special relationship with Mona since she’s responsible for introducing the two of us.  We tried a place called Lemonade.  20 different salads, mac ‘n cheese, soups, lots of baked goods.  WOW.  Yummy.  And as we were sitting in the restaurant we caught a glimpse of this handsome dog. It was a great end to the weekend.

What a face!

I can’t believe I’ve been posting about my weekends for three months now.  I have Michelle at Six in the City blog to thank for that.  She’s on a hiatus from her “bits of my weekend” blogging as she’s suffered a terrible family tragedy.  Although I haven’t met her and she doesn’t know me except by my posts, I feel I do know her in some way.  So she and her family are in my prayers.

Bits of my weekend: Vol 11

01 Sunday Aug 2010

Posted by in Family, food, friends, Remodel

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I started this weekend off with a cool new closet!  Anyone who lives in an house built before the 70s can probably relate – no closet space. Our house was built in the 1950s.  Clearly they didn’t have nearly the amount of stuff we have (Costco didn’t exist).  I am trying to get rid of stuff.  But I always desire (note, not saying I am) to be more organized.  So we had our hall closet for miscellaneous stuff turned into a new built in closet.

Hall closet with 4 fixed shelves

Turned into a more functional closet with drawers and adjustable shelves.

built in closet for modern times: 5 drawers and 3 adjustable shelves

Saturday we had another Iron Chef Competition and we were ready to play!

Iron Chef theme/ingredient: olives

Al cut his crostini in the shape of olive leaves in hopes to capture presentation points. He topped a mixture of four olives on ricotta with lemon zest & parsley.

Donna & Eric decided to keep their crostini au natural and topped their green olives mixed with orange zest with smoked salmon. Garnished with orange wedges on a platter painted with olives.

Millie & Michael blew out the competition with their presentation. They used edible flowers and Italian bread sticks for garnish. The salad was flavorful with spinach, cranberries, pistachios and olives. Their wine pairing was the best. We knew the competition was over when they pulled out the edible flowers.

Shelley & Joe, fresh from their honeymoon in Italy, brought out the squid ink pasta, ahi tuna, cherry tomatoes - garnished with olives. Delicious!

Shelley demonstrates that size really does matter. The squid ink pasta was noticably bigger and better. Thank you to Bradley who first brought it to the attention of the judges.

I tried to add presentation points by bringing my own green square paper plates. The olive oil cake had grand marnier and orange zest. We served it with blackberries mascerated in sugar, lemon olive oil and orange zest. Final two garnishes - vanilla ice cream, some green olives and a small drizzle of lemon olive oil.

Winners: Everyone – we had a great time

Winners of the competition:  Millie & Michael

Today is my birthday AND my brother-in-law, John David’s.  Happy birthday John.  I received an amazing gift from my husband.  I just started group guitar lessons – I am a beginner.  But my husband arranged for me to pick my new Martin guitar after my lesson last week.  I thought I was onto him.  I thought I was getting a guitar stand.  Well he didn’t give me that, but I did get it from my in-laws!

there are no excuses for not practicing...

Lastly I got to spend my birthday with a bunch of people I really care about.

birthday dinner with some of my family

Enzo & Angela's homemade parpadelle with shaved truffles

I knew it would be just like old times.

my second birthday with a few chosen friends

Bits of my weekend: Vol. 10

25 Sunday Jul 2010

Posted by in Concerts, food, friends, weekend

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Vegan chocolate, chocolate chip cookie a.k.a brownie cookie

I was originally inspired to make the puffy chocolate chip cookies that Michelle from Six in the City blog has been talking about.  Until I got distracted by the description of this cookie: brownie-like, gooey chocolate cookie.  Uh, the only response to that is to make ‘em.  Would have never guessed and probably won’t tell most people these are vegan.  Click here for the recipe. But boy did the recipe make a lot.  5 dozen.  There are only three people in our household.  I took some to our Hollywood Bowl outing which was great with some hot coffee!  I guess I’ll have to wait until next week for the puffy chocolate chip cookies.

We love Planet Earth.  And to watch select scenes in High Def, outside at the Hollywood Bowl accompanied by the Los Angeles Philharmonic was amazing.  Especially cool was that the composer to the soundtrack, George Fenton, conducted.

Icebergs from Planet Earth Live at the Hollywood Bowl

We went to breakfast on Sunday and stumbled upon a lovely surprise, a farmer’s market in Mar Vista that we didn’t know about.  We didn’t stop at any of the food stands, but we might have to next time.

Always a colorful selection of flowers at Farmer's Markets

Chinese Broccoli - food of my peeps!

Zebra heirloom tomato

we had to buy some of these

All in all, another packed weekend of fun stuff.  For other fun weekends, check out Michelle’s blog, Six in the City.  Michelle didn’t post this weekend.  But you can always look at previous weekends.

Started with 24, left with one

23 Friday Jul 2010

Posted by in cupcakes, friends

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Vanilla agave cupcakes with buttercream frosting

I started out with 24 cupcakes today. One dozen of these vanilla agave cupcakes and a dozen chocolate cupcakes with ganache frosting.  After a day of sharing, I returned home with one vanilla cupcake.  Not bad for a day’s work.

Paulo, a happy customer. A cupcake good enough to shove in your mouth.

National summer pastime

13 Tuesday Jul 2010

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Yellowstone National Park - when I was 3

When I was young, we visited a lot of national parks and camped a lot.  It was inexpensive and allow us to see the U.S.  As an immigrant, my dad was very excited to explore the United States. I often think so many people who grow up here in the U.S. never get that excitement – they take it for granted.  My friend Kathy just returned from a two-week road trip adventure and our friend Joe just left to take his kids to the Pacific Northwest on a tour of national parks.

There’s nothing like the smell of a campfire and the chill of the night as you snuggle deep into your sleeping bag. I miss that and my dad’s passion.

Bits of my weekend: Vol 8

10 Saturday Jul 2010

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We’ve been planning a get together with some of our longtime friends since February and finally found a date that worked for all.  I made Snickerdoodles and chocolate cupcakes.  My first memory of these cookies were from school lunch in Iowa.  I think they were popular because they were easy to make eat.  Click here for the recipe.

snickerdoodles with cinnamon & sugar

Sydney, Jordyn and Margaret

Daniel plays hide 'n seek

best friends

Al was feeling mellow

chocolate cupcakes were big a hit with Sydney

We rounded the weekend off with a concert at the Greek: The Steve Miller Band and Los Lobos,  Al’s client.  He and his partner (Tornado Design) have designed seven of Los Lobos’ albums, including the latest – Tin Can Trust.  They were nominated for a Grammy for box set, Mas Y Mas: The Los Lobos Box.

Albums comes out August 3!

On the way there, we caught a curious sight.

A monkey in a tree - off of the Arlington exit on the 10 Freeway eastbound

I hate to date myself, but Steve Miller Band’s Book of Dreams was one of the first albums I received as a gift when I got a “turntable” – I use that term loosely when I was in grade school.  I didn’t have many albums so that album was in heavy rotation.

One of my first record albums

The Steve Miller Band at the Greek Theatre

The concert was great.  And I was very impressed by Dillion Brown – a high school freshman of the Kids Rock for Free music education program at the Fender Museum.  Les Paul was Steve Miller’s godfather – thus the Fender connection.  Steve is taking Dillion on tour this summer to promote Kids Rock for Free.  What high school student would say no to that?  Rest assured, Dillion’s mom is also touring – so there aren’t any scenarios like in the film, Almost Famous.

For more great weekend stories, check out Michelle’s Blog – Six in the City.

Bits of my weekend: volume 6

27 Sunday Jun 2010

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It’s always good to start the weekend off with a healthy breakfast – packed with antioxidants.  I made low-fat blueberry muffins for Al and his friend Capt. Bill for their fishing excursion Saturday morning.  But of course there were extras for me and my mom.  Click here for more about the muffins.

fresh blueberry muffins

We met my friend Jen and her adorable baby Avery for lunch at the Curious Palate.  One of my favorite cafés.  It’s a great atmosphere with yummy food.

beautiful flowers on our table

Avery slept through most of the meal

The food was far from a snore. Quinoa salad and a veggie panini.

Princess Avery loved my mom. They shared a lot of laughs.

Does Avery remind you of Buddha? She certainly had the disposition of Buddha.

When I got home, I decided to do some more baking.  It’s relaxing for me.  I made a modified version of the Sprinkle’s Strawberry Cupcakes.   Learn more here.

homemade "Sprinkles strawberry cupcake"

Sunday, Al tended to our garden and we reaped a bountiful harvest of two strawberries and a malformed pepper.  But check out how big our tomato plants are – I don’t think we’ll have to wait much longer for tomatoes to come out of our ears!

from our garden

Al loves his tomato garden

I was really thrilled to see since we’ve turned on the meter for our solar panels from Solar City on Thursday, our meter is still going backwards!  It starts at zero and moves forward.  We’re negative, notice the arrow pointing left.  If you are interested in the panels, let them know that I sent you.  :)

backwards running meter thanks to solar panels!

For more fun weekend tales, check out Michelle’s blog Six in the City.

Bits of my weekend: vol. 3

06 Sunday Jun 2010

Posted by in Art, Concerts, friends, Husband, weekend

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I started my weekend out right, with a great home-cooked breakfast.

eggs with roasted veggies and sriracha sauce (for a lil' Asian flava)

I rewarded myself with an afternoon at the Culver City Artwalk.  After attempting to clear some of the garage out. Groan.  Al’s art was up and so was Jeff’s, his business partner.

Al's theme was the crisis in the Gulf

Corazón

Foil

I love Jeff’s twig people.  He takes great stuff from nature and gives them a new life.  And his pottery has a lot of character too.  We have more of his art in our house than Al’s.

Twigs become graceful figures

these guys make me smile

love the lighting which showed off the art

Another artist in the Helm’s Bakery Building is Rhonda Voo.  She illustrates childrens books.  She’s able to capture the joy that kids naturally have.  The one that I loved the most, reminded me of myself.

How can you not giggle went looking at this?

My mom and I stumbled upon with my friends Mona and Emma at the Hasten’s bed store.  This is considered the Rolls Royce of beds. Here’s Mona in a $70,000 bed.  Same price regardless of size.  Um, I guess I’d order the King?  For that kind of price, I would expect to look like a Victoria Secret Model after sleeping in it.

Mona - contemplating her purchase.

Sunday we finished off the weekend with a great concert at Trilogy Guitars. It’s a little guitar shop just 5 minutes from our house that books great acts (mostly guitar).  Tonight we had two hours of Bluegrass, Blues and Cajun music courtesy of Goin’ South.  We loved it.  It was well worth missing the Laker vs Celtics game.

As we parked our car in a residential area, we saw some friends

One of the musicians played a really rare and funny looking instrument.

A Strogh Violin from Translavania. It made a really cool sounds. Tin-ie but cool.

To experience other great weekends, visit Six in the City blog.

Bits of my weekend: vol 2

31 Monday May 2010

Posted by in friends, weddings

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This long weekend was the weekend of the two Ws;  Wedding and Wine.  Our friends Shelley and Joe are wine lovers and they chose a great destination wedding in Paso Robles – wine country in the Central Valley of California.

We got there on Saturday and did a little tasting.  Our first stop was an olive oil vineyard.  I saw a bike that reminded me of my childhood.

I had a white bike basket like this as a kid

The rehearsal dinner was at the Adelaida Cellars in the room where they keep all the barrels.  It was great food, cooked by Chef Charlie.

this was barrels of fun and wine

love the bride and groom wine bottles

On Sunday, we had a little time to spend on more wine tasting before the wedding.  We visited Carmody McKnight, known as one of the most beautiful wineries.

Al walking along a path of white roses

We found a winery, Jada, owned by an Italian American from Hell’s Kitchen and is Sicilian.  One of Al’s people.  They had a great wine tasting that included CHEESE.  Al thinks my bias towards this winery is due to the cheese offering.  It might also be because of Ella.

Camera-shy Ella, Jada watch dog

The wedding was at a beautiful winery, Robert Hall.  We felt like we were in Italy.  And the lucky couple will be honeymooning in Italy.  We had such great memories of our honeymoon there.  Can’t wait to compare notes when they return.

A magical location: Robert Hall Winery

This last shot pretty much sums up how we felt about this great couple, Shelley & Joe, their gorgeous wedding and the wonderful weekend.

The estatic couple: Joe & Shelley

Check out Six and the City blog, for more posts about fun weekends.

Monday means red beans ‘n rice, y’all

10 Monday May 2010

Posted by in food, friends, New Orleans

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grilled asparagus

Okay, we enjoyed the red beans so much we er, forgot to take a photo!  It was a great night filled with lots of creative friends. It seems to eat red beans ‘n rice the following must happen:

  • it needs to be a Monday (New Orlean’s tradition)
  • must have a large group of people (8+) – we had 12
  • Cajun, Zydeco, Jazz music is a must – must love accordions and be able to toe tap
  • some cool beverages – in our case: Abita beer and Pimm’s Cup
  • bread pudding – tonight, courtesy of Tim

Pimm’s Cup -refreshing

The tradition is that on Mondays women did laundry and red beans and rice was easy to fix because it cooked all day.  Also it was a cheap meal – if you spend too much enjoying yourself during the weekend.

I was able to cook it all day too, courtesy of dueling crockpots (meat and veggie versions).  Click here for a recipe similar to what I created.  I doubled the green pepper and onion.  Added two more celery stalks.  For the veggie version, I left out the meat and put in a few shakes of liquid smoke – which although is labeled all natural – the natural is questionable. Enjoy y’all.

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