Where's Yoshi?

Can you spot him in the picture?

The weekend update

Lots to talk about so let's get to it.

Friday
Immediately after work, I hightailed out to Torrance to pick up Denis. We grabbed a quick dinner at El Pollo Inka which was quite disappointing. Mario's is so much better.

We had to get down to Borders in Torrance early for the Lisa Loeb signing of The Purple Tape. In case you youngsters don't know who she is, she's the one who sings Stay from the Reality Bites soundtrack. I totally love that movie and her CD. She was re-releasing the Purple tape on CD since it was originally on a cassette tape. Ancient I know. Lisa came onstage and performed Snow Day, Do You Sleep, Hurricane, and Stay. I assumed that she didn't have any Q&As due to her still being quite sick. Poor thing.
It was a great Friday night to see her perform and meet her. Of course I got her autograph. She complimented on my Pink Head Tarina necklace. EEEEEE!

Saturday

More unpacking most of the day. My lil cousin Munchi was in town for CNY and of course she paid me a visit. We went out to dinner at CPK cuz we were craving salad. After dinner she wanted to do a sleepover w/ the puppies.

Sunday

Munchi and I dropped of Mr. Cee at 8am in Chinatown for the Annual Firecracker Run. That gave Munchi and I some time to catchup. Since D's was only a 10k, we decided to head out to Echo Park for the morning, grab a couple of cupcakes at Delilah Bakery. Her storefront is very cute and inside was charming. It had the 1950s decor and home made feel. The red velvet was moist and delish topped w/ the semi sweet cream cheese frosting. It was a perfect balance of sweet and cocoa. So good.
We needed to counter the sugar in our system and headed over to Masa Bakery and Cafe. I've heard great things about the brioche and have been wanting to taste. Their brunch menu isn't the typical pancakes and eggs but great plethora of crepes. Yum. Sorry no pictures since Mr. Cee took my camera.
After our tummies we full, it was time to pick up Mr. Cee. Munchi and I bumped into several friends who were also running the race.

I also saw JP who is on the Firecracker committee cheering on the munchikins running the Kiddie Race. So. Darn.Cute. Maybe next year I'll rejoin the committee. It's been while since I've done any charity work.

Since the weather was perfect, we decided to take Yoshi and Teddy to the Dog Park. This was Y's first time. At first he was scared and wouldn't leave our side. Eventually he started chasing other doggies and making friends. Too cute.

We'll definitely try taking them both out there more. Sad that the weekend has already ended.

Happy Chinese New Year!

This is one of my favorite holidays when I was a kid. Relatives and family friends would hand out these pretty red envelopes after you have wished them:

Kung Hay Fat Choy!

Xin nian kuai le!

It's a fun and boisterous celebration filled with lots of candy, food, and family. Once my brother and I have opened all our red envelopes, my mom would take us to the bank to deposit. But I always kept a little to buy something fun. Like a new Hello Kitty erasure that rings when you shake it.

Now that I'm married, the tables have turned. I now give out red envelopes to unmarried children and adults. I'm a little sad that I will no longer get them b/c they always remind me of my childhood. And who would be sad w/ money? At the same time I'm super excited that I get to give out cute envelopes by well wishers. This is my second year of handing them out and so far all my younger cousins have visited or called me. Makes me so happy to have a large family.

I wish you all a prosperous and wonderful new year.

Red Hot

After seeing Wan's new do, I knew I should visit Rochelle. The only problem, slightly on the far side. After talking to Wan, I was convinced that it's definitely worth the drive. I've never been to Downtown Glendora; it's such a cute town similar to Monrovia that I wanted to spend more time exploring the shoppes and restaurants. Maybe next time since I had an appt.

Rochelle is one hip lady and one of the sweetest. She immediately knew what to do w/ me. I usually give the stylist free reign (which could be a bad idea) . She listened to what I had to say about the things I do, my hair regimen (just blow drying) and what I wanted. I usually give the stylist free reign which could've been a bad idea but I trusted her. Right away she started snipping and chatting making me feel at ease. All a sudden she got a bright idea to color my front bangs red.

Uhhhh...really? Ya she sure did.

I've had different color highlights before but never my bangs.

Alright. Ya only live once. At first I was shocked and scared. Worried what people might think. After looking at the mirror again, I liked it. I love the cut, it's super easy to care for. I felt so mod and punkish.

Thanks Wan, I'm definitely going back to Rochelle and can't wait to see what she's going to do next.

Rock the vote

It's Super Tuesday. Remember to get out there and vote.

jovovich-hawk for target

Oh Joy! just announced the next Go Designer, Jovovich-Hawk. Yay!!!!

I just love their collection of feminine classic pieces similar to Anthropology. I've been eying their stuff since they were featured on Domino but can't bring myself to spend $$$. Thanks to Tar-jay, now I can. I can't wait till March 2nd.

Back to the Holidays

[getting into my time machine]

beep, bloop, blip, beep, beep...

1. Xmas week was spent w/ the inlaws in Norcal living in gluttony. All we did was sleep, eat, watch tv and repeat. One great thing about visiting them is going up to Napa. We hit up Lavender Hill spa for our couples massage, at brunch at The Girl and the Fig, and dined at The Culinary Institute of Arts (CIA) otherwise known as the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant which is cooked by culinary students. The food was soo good that Mr. Cee and I were pratically licking our plates. We would definitely go back there and take some cooking classes. I decided against it this time b/c the only class they had was making Mexican chocolate. I need something more challenging.

Although the prices are a bit steep, it was definitely a worthy experience and fun to watch the chefs do work in the open kitchen. If you're ever in Napa, I recommend dining here or taking a class.

2. After Xmas, we met up w/ some of Mr. Cee's Norcal friends for dinner. What do a bunch of Asians do on a cold winter's eve? Hot pot of course! We went to Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot, an oxymoron IMO but neverthess, you do walk out a little fatter from eating all that laaaamb.

Hot pot is essentially Chinese fondue w/ a pot of broth. It's similar to shabu shabu with a plethora of meats, meatballs, and veggies that will warm up your body on a cold winter's night. You can choose from plain broth to so spicy it could make your head itch. Gotta love these imports from Hong Kong.

3. Couple of my friends threw an NYE at Flight Bistro & Social Lounge in Huntington Beach w/ a couple hundred of our closest friends. Newly opened, my gf Peipei knew the owner so we ended of having the place to ourselves w/ dinner and drinks. We had a blast and it was so good to see so many friends all at once.





I was pleasantly surprised how delish the food was despite it being a fixed dinner and served to the mass. The steak was cooked perfectly and accompanied by a Cabernet sauce. The molten chocolate cake w/ caramelized bananas was a great way to end the 4 course meal.


Our first kiss at midnight.

Cheers!

A new Year = A new Me

2007 has came and gone just like that. I got to ring in the new year with some close friends in Huntington Beach. More on that later.

I started with 2008 with a bad start. I ended up catching a severe flu, close to pneumonia if I didn't see the dr. It was awful. I have never been this sick where I bed stricken w/ the fever for 3 days and coughing out a lung. Not only was I sick, we had to pack and move by the 18th which I was really excited say for the packing. I don't know how I made it through w/o Mr. Cee; he did majority of the packing and moving. He's definitely a keeper. I digress.

Since I had such a bad start, I thought I would officially start the new me on Chinese New Year revamping the blog. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and great new year.

kisses!