Summer Manifesto -- How'd I do?

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Remember the Summer Manifesto? Since it's now Fall, I thought I should recap and see what I actually accomplished.

What did I do this summer?

.Spend daily time with God I tried, but for sure there were days I failed at this

.Be more active outdoors Hiked the 9+miles around Lake Chabot for the first time in my life, does that count?

.Go to the Alameda County fair We ended up making it to the fair twice! Thanks to finding free tickets online

.Write a speech for my sister's wedding Yes! I did it, and I made the speech too feeling less nervous than I thought I'd be

.Decide if we want to do any work on the house After some debating and thinking, we've settled on finishing off our garage and adding shelving. Hopefully this will happen before the end of the year.

.Go fishing FAILED, utterly failed at this. I think we fished all of once this year.

.Find a rug This we did do, found us an affordable rug with a pop of color that we can change out if we get tired of it.

.Try at least 3 new recipes (without modifying) meh, probably didn't do this one so well, i took a brief hiatus from cooking after getting preggers

.Clean out closet & donate clothes Got through some of this, but not everything

.Take care of our fruit trees Yes! Trimmed our apple, orange, and lemon trees. Even getting fruits on the lime this year!

Now we're reaching the end of the year. Can you believe it's almost November?

10 Million Dollars

The question was posed to us at church this Sunday, what would you do if you won 10 million dollars...

I couldn't think of an answer right away, but I thought, some food-related business. After giving it some thought, I think I would love to have an event planning / catering business. Nothing big, but something that would allow me to explore what I'm interested in.

Funny how I didn't think about purchasing anything? Must not be how I'm wired. Although, I did also think, I'd love to take a nice long trip.

How about you? What would you do with 10 million dollars?

(oh yea, I'd also hire a housekeeper...no more cleaning!)

My Summer Manifesto

Inspired by Meg Tsang

What would I like to do this summer?

.Spend daily time with God
.Be more active outdoors
.Go to the Alameda County fair
.Write a speech for my sister's wedding
.Decide if we want to do any work on the house
.Go fishing
.Find a rug
.Try at least 3 new recipes (without modifying)
.Clean out closet & donate clothes
.Take care of our fruit trees

Bridal Shower

A few weeks ago, we threw a bridal shower for my sister (she's getting married in less than a month!!! AH!). As a tribute to her love for the Oakland A's, we played off a green & gold theme.



Some of the crafty bridesmaids created the pinwheel backdrop along with the pom-poms. Along with a "Yes Dear" sign.




In the entry way we setup a station for guests to fill out these fun fill-in-the-blank tags and pick up a favor on the way out. For the favors, one of the girls found that M&Ms makes MLB team candies! So we ordered some A's M&Ms and supplemented with some generic white and cream candies. We also did a box of mint almonds with yogurt pretzels.




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Decorations: DIY by the bridesmaids
Food: Catered by Christine of Full Belly
Flowers: Trader Joe's & Safeway
Tags: Seafoam Safari
Cake: Nothing Bundt Cake

NOLA {Part 2}

On to the best part, the food of New Orleans. The food did not disappoint; although the hubs was mostly looking forward to a crawfish boil, but crawfish was not in season!

Our first night there was Christmas Eve, and we went to Borgne one of John Besh's restaurants. Borgne is Besh's coastal Louisiana cuisine restaurant. They had a reveillon menu to celebrate Christmas.




The hubs had the Crispy Boudin Balls -- Duck & Andouille Gumbo -- Black Drum -- Citrus Olive Oil Cake


I had the Duck Poppers -- Alligator Soup -- Whole Stuff Flounder -- Pot de Creme


On Christmas night we tried another John Besh restaurant, Domenica, his Italian restaurant inside the Roosevelt Hotel (featured here. We had a Meat&Cheese Board (the duck liver pate was amazeballs) -- Clam Pizza -- Stracci (oxtail + fried chicken livers) -- Tagliatelle (rabbit + porcini) -- Banana Zuppa Inglese. The appetizer and pizza was great; the pasta was way over salted (they ended up remaking the hubs' tagliatelle)

(see that big fluffy pillow dough on the top left corner, they were pretty amazing: its Domenica's savory version of a beignet fried in DUCK FAT. so yummy with the duck pate. anyway..moving on before i drool...)

I think I'll stop here for now and do one more post of the more casual foods we had.

NOLA {Part 1}

I can't believe its been almost 3 months since our New Orleans trip! It was our "big" trip of the year; we were there from Christmas Eve through the 29th before heading off to LA for a wedding.

Most of the trip was spent walking, exploring, and, of course, EATING! This was our first time in NOLA (first time in the south - minus TX). The culture is definitely unique and enticing. It also felt quite familiar and comfortable, like easing into an old, comfy couch. There was a lot of old, mixed in with the new; and the rebuilding of the city was definitely felt, as well as the love of the citizens for their city.

The architecture was amazing; it really transports you back to a different era:






We also did a swamp tour while in Louisiana. The bus picked us up and drove us out about a half hour to the swamp. During the drive, our driver pointed out different areas where Katrina had hit and the damages that occurred. I wish I got photos of it, but I was too busy soaking it all in. In some places the water was 15-20 feet. Some buildings, like a movie theater, decided to not rebuild, and it still sits there - stranded and debilitated. Then some areas have rebuilt and come back strong. We also got to hear/see the damage on the swamp.





It was winter, so the expectation was that we weren't going to see much wildlife. We did spot a couple of little gators, including one whose jaw was busted open, saw a pelican, a nutria (giant rat). I was most excited about getting to hold a gator!


(Please excuse my ridiculous look, someone said something that made me laugh)

I'll end with one of my favorite scenes from the trip. This was the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel, dressed to the nines for Christmas:

(my photos really don't do this place justice)

Time Flies

Wowee! It's MARCH already, how crazy is that? Looks like I've been slacking again on this blog thing. So I thank you if you still read this thing. Here's a peek at what's been going on:

So many goodies: Noodle Theory Ramen w/ +Lynn Vuong; panne cotta & roasted chicken (from +Irene Byon bday); Koja Kitchen Truck; homemade pasta casserole and miso braised chicken; BeardPapa chocolate cream puff; lamb chops and oysters from Sushi Delight


 3crosses Volunteer Appreciation Month; ironman micro mugs (thanks to +Peter Lee); Sideboard w/ +Nicole Makinney Miranda; Chinese New Year dinners; Mimosa & Monte Cristo breakfast w/ +Erica Dang & +Matthew Lee; Homecooked Valentine's Dinner by +Edmund Lee; M.Y. China lunch


(I'll have to do a full post about our trip to NOLA still)

Ornaments

I wanted to post this earlier, but I guess better late than never. We had our first tree this Christmas in our home and added a few new ornaments to our collection. Here's a peak into some of the ones we added:

L to R (clockwise):
Blessed photo frame ornament from the hubs that came in my stocking this year
Snowman Lenox porcelain ornament. This was a steal of a deal that we found at HomeGoods (have I told you I love that store?). I believe he retails full price around $50-60 and we got him for $10 or so.
Mickey Mouse Disney Vinylmation ornament. He smells like the gingerbread man that he's eating. The hubs got into Disney Vinylmations towards the end of the year, so this was a fitting ornament, plus we had a coupon :)
Aruban Fisherman from Aruba (duh!). This isn't a new ornament, but still a fave of mine. We picked this up on our honeymoon. Which now has started a tradition of bringing home an ornament from trips we take (next year, you'll see the one I got from New Orleans)
Fabric Lion from Target. Target had a line of really cute ornaments this winter, and they went fast (at least the good ones did). If you didn't grab it when you saw it, chances are it'd be gone by your next visit.

There you have it! a glimpse into our Christmas decorations. Next year, we should have more exciting things to share on the Christmas decor front, keep your eye out for them!