Christmas 2010

From drunken nights to 5am sunrise walks, garage karaoke to all-day foodie day, 

15 passenger van to caravan trips, singing for the cashier at the market to holiday videos promised to never be shown again. 

We've all gone through it.

 I wish everyone was able to make it this year.

Thank you!

Little Tokyo and Arts District Day

Amado and I spent our whole Sunday in LA with Makoy.

First on our agenda was for some ramen at Daikokuya.

The last time we tried to go was after the reading of Greg's play but the wait time was too long 

so we opted for something else.

For Sunday, we decided to get there a bit early.

There were atleast 20 people waiting even before the place opened.

The ramen was good, the broth wasn't too strong unlike the others I've tried.

But still, ramen is not something I would wait 45 minutes for.

I'm too impatient for that.

The gyoza on the other hand was amazing.

I love how crispy they were. At first we thought it was agedashi.

Something I would definitely come back for, minus the wait time of course.

After walking around Little Tokyo, Makoy proposed we venture out to the Arts District.

I love love love love love love this part of LA. Did I say LOVE enough?

I'm not really a front yard and picket fence kinda person.

Give me brick walls, exposed interior and beams, I'm happy.

Oh and the free doggie poop bags, definitely a plus.

Yes, I'm cheap like that.

Obviously I tried to get some shots of the place.

I'm not really good with jut capturing the scenery so I was thankful I had Amado and Makou with me.

I tried to get more shots of Makoy though and I think we got some good ones.

I definitely want to go back and explore the area more.

May be even get more photos.

TOMS

I've always wanted a pair of TOMS. They're very comfortable and feels so light.
Amado and I went to Whole Foods last week to buy some ingredients for making Food for the Gods and saw that they carry TOMS so we decided to try some on.
They notified us that a few artists were coming on the weekend to customize the shoes when you purchase them on the same day.

We went back this morning and got ours done.
One of the many perks of being with Amado is that we wear the same size. We literally share everything, well except for bags.

Barefoot Contessa, I Love You!

Ok, maybe I really do need a stand mixer.

My friends Makoy and EJ came over today to hang out.

After a quick breakfast (spam, eggs and rice), we went to the market to pick up some sweets.

I decided to make chocolate chip cookies instead of just buying the pre-made ones.

I've always loved the show Barefoot Contessa on Food Network.

Ina Garten prepares very simple dishes but makes it look so elegant.

I tried to make her Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies.

But for those of you that knows me well, I don't mess with anything thats not really chocolate so

I changed it to chocolate chips instead.

I really love how moist the cookies were. I cooked them for 15 minutes, which looks a bit 

underdone but continued to cook even after I placed them on the cooling rack.

The Seeds Part 1

A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to take some photos of my cousin and her family.

They wanted some photos done for their Christmas cards.

I've never really done family portraits before so I was excited to jump in.

I have to say that parents have their work cut out for them in these kinds of sessions.

I'm leaving out some of the photos that they're using for their Christmas cards.

**I hope I'm not ruining the surprise by accidentally using them in this post!**

Heres my cousin Anna and her husband Ron trying to entertain their daughter AJ (Anissa).

There was  a lot of ooooh!, aaaaaah!, boo! and jumping that day.

But it was definitely worth it since I think we got some great shots out of them.

This and another shot required a lot of jumping. Ron had to pick up AJ, toss her up in the air 

to get her to smile and quickly sat back down to pose.

Forget P90X! That was some plyometrics workout right there.

I love love love love this set.

Thanks again Ron and Anna for letting me pretend I knew what I was doing that day.

Practice, practice, pratice!

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Food for the Gods

Someone "suggested" I try to tackle making Food for the Gods, also known as Ambrosia.

By suggested, I mean sent me an email with the recipe and said make it. Amado, *cough*..

For some reason this pastry has a holiday feel to it but don't make the mistake of

comparing it to fruit cake.

VERY VERY VERY DIFFERENT!!!

If made correctly, the pastry should be chewy and moist, not heavy like a cake.

The sweetness should just be enough and not over power the dates.

It was easier to make than I thought.

And its making me want a stand mixer even more. 

Ahem Santa.. 

Well maybe get me a Canon 5D Mark II first then a KitchenAid in Imperial Black please.

Gotta jazz it up a bit so I picked up a container from the store and brought it over

to our friends house when we had brunch.

I love how my friends will eat anything I make even if it screws up their diet.

Can you say sabotage?!

Finally!!!

Working on our Christmas cards.

Odd how the double-sided tape costs more than the photos and the cards.

And Amado's been dropping hints that he wanted me to make this for dinner.

Lollipop Chicken Wings

Mashed Cauliflower and Potatoes

Christmas Card

I think we're ready for our Christmas cards for this year.

Now I just have to figure out how to do it.

I took a set of Juku and Kami last year but never got around to printing them.

Amado insists we do one this year.

Ryan and Holly's Engagement

Finally able to post the engagement photos I took of my cousin Ryan and Holly.

I waited til they had the chance to send out their Save the Dates before posting

them online.

We took the photos on a weekday around sunset.
Everyone that I've taken a photo of knows that I try not to use flash as much as possible.
Half part lazy, other half, well I just really like natural lighting more.

I hope other couples will be as fun and easy to work with as they were.

Then again I might be biased since we're related.

Harana and Waka Waka

Had another great weekend last week.

Got to see another show, thanks to Auntie Ruth and Nancy.

This one was a bit more intense than the last one we saw.

The audience, especially the ladies went berserk during the autograph signing.

It was a great experience nonetheless, I got to see everything from the inside.

Kinda got giddy when I heard them sing one of my favorite songs during rehearsal, Harana.

I usually belt the lyrics out loud whenever Amado plays it in the car to the point where

he's learned to sing the whole song with me.

We went back to their hotel after the show for some very entertaining conversations.

I always enjoy hearing people reminisce specially around some good food and drinks.

Looking forward to the next show.

I'm surprised Amado was able to drive after all that.

Woke up around 11AM the next day just to repeat the whole thing all over again.

We grabbed a quick lunch and ran a few errands before heading out to Hollywood for the night.

Our friend Rich invited us to a birthday party and asked me to take some photos. 

Couldn't have been more happy that we came.

The Birthday Boy (Jesse) and his friends were amazing.

We did some pre-partying in the suite then headed to the restaurant

with the rest of his guests.

After some foodie conversations, we went back up to continue the celebration.

And they sure know how to party.

Thanks again Rich!

Others might argue but I thought the highlight of the night was.....
Waka Waka! (Shakira)
I need to get out more because I've definitely been missing out.

I'm really glad that Amado and I have been able to meet these amazing people.
Hopefully this is just the beginning.