Browse Category: yum

VodkaFest 2010

Last night we went to the Bangs’ for a tasting of high-end vodka from Poland and Russia.  We all had individual shot glasses labeled with a famous person’s name.  Mine was Pavlov.  Heh heh.

There were 10 different vodkas and Vyl made a card of tasting notes and sheets for us to write down our thoughts and guesses of which was which.

I just enjoyed tasting them and had no idea what a Polish or Russian vodka was supposed to taste like.  I DID, however, pick out the Stoli.  Haha.  My #1 favorite of the 10 was Chopin.  It was creamier than the others and a little sweet.

Vyl also picked up food from a Russian deli.  I tried a perogi that looked totally like a potsticker.  And surprisingly, I really liked this dish that had beets, potato, onions, salmon, and herring at the bottom (the bright pink one).  Sounds disgusting but it was pretty tasty!

Here are the rest of the photos.

Christmas Vacation: Part 4

On Christmas morning, we woke up to find that Jes’ mom had brought home breakfast. It was an assortment of dim sum items that really hit the spot. After a few hours of being lazy and plotting out my course, I went for a run to Knott’s Berry Farm in hopes of buying some boysenberry jam and cookies for my co-workers. Unfortunately, Knott’s was CLOSED! Disneyland doesn’t close on Christmas…  Well luckily they have a “resort hotel” next door that had a gift shop selling the stuff I was looking for…sorta.  I didn’t find boysenberry jam but got the cute mini jars I was looking for.

After getting picked up and stopping for coffee at Starbucks, Jes started on dinner and I went to Cerritos to hangout with the dog and walk him while the parents went to Pala for their super buffet lunch.  This is Koa with his new friend, Mr. Lobster.  My mommy gave it to him.

Dinner was with Jes’ family and the roast was tasty as usual.  Jes and Jason received another set of matching outfits…cute sweaters, guys!  I got a nice coat and the cousins liked their gifts.  It was another merry Christmas.

Christmas Vacation: Part 2

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

On Wednesday, Mommy made Kanom Krok for breakfast and it was sooooo yummy.  Again, I LOVE the Magical House.  Later in the afternoon, it was time to take care of some business.  First stop was Wahoo’s the Irvine Spectrum.  I had been craving a fish taco and their famous rice for some time now and it was still as tasty as I had remembered.

Next stop was the vet.  Koa hadn’t seen a vet since we moved to SF and he was overdue for his vaccinations.  He was pretty good at first but as soon as we got into the examination room, his hind legs started to shake and he couldn’t stop panting.  Check out the huge tongue!  Once the vet came in and tried to examine him, I smelled something super foul.  He had expressed his anal glands all over the floor and it’s one of the grossest smells ever.  The vet had to take him in the back to get him cleaned up and apparently did it again!  Well, the vaccinations were done and he also weighed in at 29 pounds…what a fatty.

Afterward, we headed out to Pish’s office for a dental cleaning.  I was in fear of having 3 cavities but I had X-rays done and was cavity-free!!!  Whut!?  Unbelievable.

Joy and Mommy also arrived a little later and it was Family Fun Day the Dentist once again.

For dinner, we went out for Korean BBQ at ShikDoRak with Hols, Dayantha, and Huy.  We ordered a Combo Meal for 4 (there were 5 of us) and it still felt like a night of never-ending beef.  I was super full afterward but it was sooooo good.

Christmas Vacation: Part 1

Monday, December 21, 2009

We packed up the car on Monday morning and headed down Interstate 5 for a week at home.  It was smooth sailing all the way down until we hit LA traffic starting at Dodgers Stadium.  The last 30 miles home was a very painful 1.5 hours long.  Yikes.  Once we arrived in Cerritos, we had an awesome Kao Mun Gai dinner that my mom prepared along with a chicken soup with tofu made especially for Jesse and his cold.  After dinner, Jes passed out early and I took a solo trip to Target.  It was GREAT.  You can always rely on suburbia to give you wide streets, two convenient locations to you favorite store, and ample parking.  I finished up my Christmas shopping there and picked up a bunch of gift bags and wrapping paper.  It’s a good thing I left this errand for that evening.  It would have taken me about 2 hours to do the same in SF.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

On Tuesday morning, Jes and I took care of some personal business: a haircut for Jes at Supercuts and eyebrow threading for me.  Why is everything so cheap in Cerritos/Artesia?!  I got my brows done for 3 bucks!

For lunch we drove up to Santa Monica to meet up with Brother and his wacky co-workers.  We dined at Fraiche and it was pretty tasty.

The only disturbing part was the “pork belly salad” that Jes ordered.  It was literally two slabs of fat bacon over a tiny bed of frisee salad.  Ridiculous.  I also took an impromptu video of the table and it got turned into the WORK Christmas e-card.  Pretty funny stuff.

It was fun to drive around our old ‘hood and we even took the long way back to the freeway by driving down Wilshire Blvd.  Sometimes I really miss West LA.  Later that evening, we had a Chimmy Family dinner of spicy spicy Thai food.  Jes was very pleased while the rest of us couldn’t slurp down our Thai Iced Tea fast enough.

Apple pie will win one day.

Pie Party 2009

Michelle and Ryan threw their annual Holiday Pie Party this afternoon and once again I made an apple pie.  They say I’ll never win with an apple pie but dog gonnit I’m going to keep trying!  To switch it up a bit this year, I used a new recipe that involved adding fresh cranberries and topping it with a crumble.  As an apple pie, I thought it was quite yummy with a little sweet, a little tart, and a little texture from the chopped pecans.

mixture

Here’s the mixture of two kinds of apple, cinnamon, brown sugar, lemon juice, and cranberries.

assembled

Here’s the pie right before it goes into the oven.  Check out the little cubes of butter that I had to add to it!

finished pie

After 30 mins, I added the crumble and baked it for another 45 minutes.  With some final touches of my little cut-out stars, it’s done!

mini pies

I also had some filling and crust leftover so I made some mini pies with just filling and crust on top.  Aren’t they cute?!

counting the votes

Well, after everyone voted for their top three favorites and the points were tallied, a savory pie won again.  Aw shucks!

The winna!

Vyl (for the second year in a row) won with a bacon and egg quiche that was super tasty and totally deserved to win. Perhaps it was because she pulled the Bacon Card?!  Next year I’m going to make a bacon and apple pie.  That should win it!!

Here are the rest of the photos.

Turkey Aftermath

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving dinner was another tummy-stuffin’ affair.

Koa and the turkey

Koa also benefited from the holiday and got a bunch of turkey and ham scraps.  Unfortunately and as usual, we all paid for it for the next two days with his squishy poos and 4 am emergency walks.  Oh well, I guess it’s like his version of being hung over.

Korean hot pot

On Saturday night we drove down to Santa Clara to meet up with some friends for Korean food.  They specialize in a hot pot that comes piled on with veggies and underneath are pieces of udon noodles, hot dog, spam, and other tasty meats.  They also have the fried chicken that we’ve been longing for ever since KoKo House was shut down several years ago.  We also met a couple who were Korean by blood but grew up in China.  What a crazy combination!  They both spoke Korean and Chinese and I was trippin’ out the whole time.  I wonder what it’s like to identify with both cultures.  Traditionally they don’t particularly like each other so are you in constant conflict with yourself?