A Bridal Shower in LA

September 29, 2014 by 1 Comment

I can’t believe in less than two weeks, my youngest sister Judy will be married! She is having two ceremonies, one in Los Angeles, CA that will be the civil ceremony and then one in Chicago which will be the Thai ceremony. As I’m writing this, I am just back a couple days (and still recovering) from her bachelorette party in Montreal. Before I go into Montreal though, I wanted to catch you up with what we did for her Bridal Shower in June.

I flew into LA and stayed in her apartment, and early that morning I accompanied her to watch her get her hair blown out at Drybar. Boy, I wish they had one of these in Portland! It was super cute with their hair dryer light fixtures. details like USB to charge phone, hook for purse, and the menu with accompanying photos of different hair styles that could be done. I believe J got the Cosmo-Tai, a blend of the Cosmo of lots of loose curls and the Mai Tai that hints at messy beachy hair.
The bride to be enjoys a mimosa and getting a blowout at adorables blowout salon Drybar in LA. She got the hairstyle option of Cosmo-Tai, a blend of the Cosmo of lots of loose curls and the Mai Tai that hints at messy beachy hair. The bride to be enjoys a mimosa and getting a blowout at adorables blowout salon Drybar in LA. She got the hairstyle option of Cosmo-Tai, a blend of the Cosmo of lots of loose curls and the Mai Tai that hints at messy beachy hair. The bride to be enjoys a mimosa and getting a blowout at adorables blowout salon Drybar in LA. She got the hairstyle option of Cosmo-Tai, a blend of the Cosmo of lots of loose curls and the Mai Tai that hints at messy beachy hair. The bride to be enjoys a mimosa and getting a blowout at adorables blowout salon Drybar in LA. She got the hairstyle option of Cosmo-Tai, a blend of the Cosmo of lots of loose curls and the Mai Tai that hints at messy beachy hair. The bride to be enjoys a mimosa and getting a blowout at adorables blowout salon Drybar in LA. She got the hairstyle option of Cosmo-Tai, a blend of the Cosmo of lots of loose curls and the Mai Tai that hints at messy beachy hair. The bride to be enjoys a mimosa and getting a blowout at adorables blowout salon Drybar in LA. She got the hairstyle option of Cosmo-Tai, a blend of the Cosmo of lots of loose curls and the Mai Tai that hints at messy beachy hair.

This was a very pampering, laid back experience and I would definitely recommend it whether you go alone or with a group of friends or make it a party! I tell you, if I had one near me I would be going at least once a month because I have NO skill in curling my hair but I love the look. No wonder that Drybar even offers memberships to get your monthly blowout fix!

The bride to be enjoys a mimosa and getting a blowout at adorables blowout salon Drybar in LA. She got the hairstyle option of Cosmo-Tai, a blend of the Cosmo of lots of loose curls and the Mai Tai that hints at messy beachy hair. The bride to be enjoys a mimosa and getting a blowout at adorables blowout salon Drybar in LA. She got the hairstyle option of Cosmo-Tai, a blend of the Cosmo of lots of loose curls and the Mai Tai that hints at messy beachy hair. The bride to be enjoys a mimosa and getting a blowout at adorables blowout salon Drybar in LA. She got the hairstyle option of Cosmo-Tai, a blend of the Cosmo of lots of loose curls and the Mai Tai that hints at messy beachy hair. The bride to be enjoys a mimosa and getting a blowout at adorables blowout salon Drybar in LA. She got the hairstyle option of Cosmo-Tai, a blend of the Cosmo of lots of loose curls and the Mai Tai that hints at messy beachy hair.

While waiting our ride pick-up, we browsed, oohing and ahhing, over the sweet confections next door at Magnolia Bakery. I resisted getting anything, but next month when I’m going to stay a few extra days after the LA ceremony, I totally plan on eating my way down this street in LA that also includes Son of a Gun and The Grove. I was only able to resist because I already knew her friend Angie was bringing her homemade delicious cupcakes.

Magnolia Bakery in LA on 3rd Street Magnolia Bakery Magnolia Bakery

For the bridal shower itself, we held it at Le Pain Quotidien in Larchmont Village. This was great for us because we did not have to pay a rental fee, and the manager there was so super flexible and accommodating. The ambiance was very light and airy and perfect for a shower! There was no time limit, no reservation fee or deposit, and we were allowed to bring in our own champagne (they will provide glasses and ice buckets) and desserts/cake.

We brought in some balloons and mason jars of flowers as decoration. One of the bridesmaids made sugar scrubs (as well as the floral arrangements you see) as a gift. Meanwhile I printed out little frames of icebreaker questions about memories of the bride, groom, and them as a couple but it turns out we didn’t even need them because everyone was so personable and friendly! For our games, we had a He Said She Said game and Guess the Bride’s Age game. We also had a Photo Hunt, but we ended up saving that to use at the Bachelorette Party instead!
The back table of Le Pain Quotidien The back table of Le Pain Quotidien Guess the Bride's Age game during the bridal shower Guess the Bride's Age game during the bridal shower Guess the Bride's Age game during the bridal shower He Said She Said Game is so cute for a Bridal Shower!

As guests came in, we took a photo of each guest with the bride that we would then put together later into a Bridal Shower Memory Book, along with a card that each guest wrote to the bride while at the party.
As guests came in, we took a photo of each guest with the bridge that we would then put together later into a Bridal Shower Memory Book, along with a card that each guest wrote to the bride while at the party. As guests came in, we took a photo of each guest with the bridge that we would then put together later into a Bridal Shower Memory Book, along with a card that each guest wrote to the bride while at the party.

The day before, I had glitterized the champagne bottles. I had pinned it as something cute on Pinterest and then saw that J liked it, so figured I guess I better do it for the bridal shower!
Glitterized champagne bottles

I loved the Tartines there, which are various kinds of breads topped with stuff. I wanted them all, but we narrowed it down to only almost all the tartine options, that’s all. Toppings varied from Curried Chicken Salad with diced tomatoes and scallions with harissa-cranberry chutney to Omega-3 of avocado, hemp seed, chickpeas, toasted seeds, baby greens and organic cold-pressed colza oil or Local Fromage Blanc with fresh herbs, scallions, radish and black pepper. We also rounded out those tartines with Organic Quinoa Taboulé with fresh mint, cucumber and tomato and Artisan Cheese Board and Mediterranean Crudité with hummus, babaganoush, tzatziki, and red pepper fromage with crudité.
Tartines from Le Pain Quotidien Le Pain Quotidien Organic Quinoa Taboulé with fresh mint, cucumber and tomato Le Pain Quotidien Artisan Cheese Board

Here are the wonderful cupcakes Angie made!
Cupcakes by Angie! Cupcakes by Angie! Cupcakes by Angie!

And you can never have too many desserts, so 3 of us brought even more sweets… Payal made the first two, and Lynn brought that plate from Susina Bakery I believe.

And you can never have too many desserts And you can never have too many desserts And you can never have too many desserts

My contribution was an assortment of macaroons from Caffe Concerto. They have a lot of flavors to choose from, varying from Mango to Milk to Salted Caramel, Espresso, Cassis, Matcha, Earl Grey and more!
Macaroons from Cafe Concerto Macaroons from Cafe Concerto

I would like to go to Caffe Concerto again… and eat everything. I really wanted to try the Milk macaroons but they were all gone by the time I came by!
Caffe Concerto Caffe Concerto Caffe Concerto Caffe Concerto Caffe Concerto Caffe Concerto Caffe Concerto Caffe Concerto Caffe Concerto Caffe Concerto Caffe Concerto Caffe Concerto

What’s amazing about what you see before you is that the 3 main organizers, 2 were out of town (one in Chicago, I’m in Portland) and the one who was in LA was pregnant and just gave birth a few weeks before!! But I thought everything came together so well.

Have you thrown a bridal shower from afar before? What did you contribute, or what cute idea do you want to share from what you’ve seen from bridal showers you have attended before?

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Kai Jiew – Thai Style Omelette

March 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Kai Jiew is a Thai Style Omelette. Unlike western style omelettes, the eggs don’t get a filling inside of cheese and veggies and meat, although some people will add ground pork or ground chicken, or onion or green onion to it, but my mom never did.  I love my mom’s kai jiew. I think every Thai kid can say that. I think every time I see her and there’s a kitchen available (be it at our home in Chicago or during our Christmas trip at a rental house in Manhattan Beach) I always request kai jiew. When I make it, it just doesn’t taste the same as my memory of hers, so I have to have hers every time I can.

It’s her birthday on 3/14- Happy Birthday! Sorry I’m not there in Chicago to hug you happy birthday mom. Miss you!

Kai Jiew is much more forgiving than western style eggs as you are aiming for fluffyness and crispness, but the look doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth and it will get a little brown. And, it is served with rice and is not just a breakfast option but an anytime of day dish. You need about 2 eggs per person if it is a main dish, but if served with other Thai food that is served family style, you could get away with 1 egg. Soy sauce is used to give it saltiness. You will not taste the fish sauce, but somehow if I exclude it, it doesn’t taste right. Although it seems like a lot of oil, this is really more of a flash fry than a deep fry- after I lift the egg out I reused the oil for another dish.

Serves 2- though in the photos you see I halved it just for myself. F doesn’t eat egg that tastes like egg. Actually, this is so good I could eat the whole thing by myself, but so I had to halve it to control myself.

Ingredients (serves 2):

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil (1/4 cup)

Directions:

  1. Break one egg into a bowl and beat with the fish sauce and soy sauce with a whisk or quickly with a fork until it is nice and bubbly with air. If you want to add other ingredients (ground pork or ground chicken, or onion or green onion) you should now before cooking it. That’s one of the differences between western and thai style omelette is that you can mix it all up beforehand, rather than messing with filling and folding it in the pan.
  2. Heat the large pan with the oil and wait until hot. If you drip a little egg from your whisk or fork it should sizzle and froth. Pour in the egg and deep fry until golden and the edges are a little crispy, about 2 minutes on each side. Lift the egg off the pan and to your plate, and shake off the excess oil a little on your spatula before you move it over the plate.
  3. Garnish with cilantro if you’d like, and serve with white rice and if you’d like, optionally chili sauce. I like mine plain.

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Lobsters in LA

January 5, 2013 by 3 Comments

I love lobster rolls. I seem to have a harder time finding them here in the Northwest, but in LA there are several roaming lobster trucks, so when I went to visit for Christmas week I requested that I try one. The Lobsta Truck was on holiday, so based on previous experience of my siblings and location from where we were staying, our next choice was Cousins Maine Lobster. It was parked right next to another food truck, Let’s Roll It, that takes various Japanese dishes and then substitutes cooked meat from other cultures instead- we looked longingly at inari pouches with lobster and a lobster maki roll, but did not get distracted. We were here for lobster rolls, and then off to a second lunch destination.

My brother and I got the Connecticut Lobster Roll, which has fresh warm Maine lobster served on toasted New England style roll and touched with melted butter and lemon. The fact that it is a New England style roll is critical. My mom went with the Maine Crab roll that uses Maine Jonah crab in the same roll brushed with butter and dressed with mayo. At first she was using a fork to just eat the crab meat and I was totally not going to let her throw away that roll- I would eat it plain- but then she discovered that it was really good bread and ate it all herself after all. One of my bucket list trips is to go to Maine and just eat lobster rolls all week.

Cousins Lobster Truck Cousins Lobster Truck

They have a cute little ironing board where you can wrap up your leftovers in foil if you’d like, but that’s silly. You will not have any leftovers. You will devour this sandwich in mere minutes, mmmming the whole time from the toasted but soft sweet buttery roll and the generous lobster meat.

Cousins Lobster Truck crab roll Cousins Lobster Truck lobster roll LA

Cousins also has a restaurant in Pasadena, which then offers additional menu options if you don’t have the flexibility to stalk down the latest location of their truck.

Actually, this was quite a lobster day. First, after all that sweet lobster had melted in my mouth, on the way to lunch stop #2 I had the lobster ice cream.

Cousins Lobster Truck lobster ice cream

And, later that evening, the family went off to eat the specialty house lobster at Newport Seafood Restaurant.

Newport Seafood Restaurant Chinese lobster

I don’t think there is ever too much lobster. Having it whole where you need to free that tender lobster meat from the shell is not something I really enjoy- I prefer lobster tails and lobster rolls and let’s say, lobster that is added to a dish (such as the Risotto Con Aragosta I had at Michaels on Naples).

I was so happy with my dinner at Michaels- my lobster risotto was decadent but not too creamy, and I also go to share 1/3 of the  Bistecca Per Due special they had, a really tasty 32 ounce prime rib eye roast with my brother which they carved table-side for us. Even though it was a chilly 40 degrees or so, sitting on their upstairs patio was no problem at all because they had covered it with a tent and had plenty of heat lamps, a roaring fireplace, a saxophone player playing at the bar, so sophisticated  it didn’t even seem like we were outside. If I hadn’t been with my siblings, I would have never gotten to experience this elegant meal- and it was one of my top two meals of the week (the other being Cousins which was delicious but not really elegant as we were eating standing on the street). Great picks J!

Michaels on Naples lobster risotto Michaels on Naples Bistecca Per Due Michaels on Naples Bistecca Per Due

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Christmas Holiday Decorations at Disneyland

December 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Oo As noted per my last post, I was at California Adventure Park and Disneyland with the family for Christmas Eve. My sister is an annual passholder so she is able to guide us everywhere and tell us the priority of where to go and what to do- thanks so much to our activities coordinator J!

The decorations in Disneyland included this gigantically tall tree full of huge ornaments that were in a red and green and gold theme. And, check out the awesome caramel apples they offer, which include some special decorated ones for the holidays. I admit I have this problem where I don’t usually eat fruit unless it is all cut up (who knows if there is a bug inside- I’ve seen a spider inside a strawberry before!), so I did not have any interest in purchasing one, but that doesn’t mean I can’t admire the artistry here. Also, these apples are humongous, they are as big as two of my fists together, and probably weigh a lot. I’m not sure how you can even eat these with just teeth!

Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations apples

For the holiday season, Disney changed the Haunted Mansion to be themed towards Nightmare Before Christmas, including a room that smells like gingerbread, mmm. You can FastPass this attraction, and so we grabbed one and then waited in line for 20 minutes, got through, and then rode it again 20 minutes later after we got out. Just outside the mansion not only were there the characters of Jack and Sally posing for photos, but they had a little kiosk selling Nightmare Before Christmas themed items, one of which was an adorable little plushie of what looked like puppy Zero. It was in the hands of a small child with his family who were looking at it, and it was the only one I saw at the kiosk but I thought it might be uncouth to grab it. It was seriously adorable though.

Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations Nightmare before Christmas Haunted Mansion Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations Nightmare before Christmas Haunted Mansion Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations Nightmare before Christmas Haunted Mansion Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations Nightmare before Christmas Haunted Mansion Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations Nightmare before Christmas Haunted Mansion Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations Nightmare before Christmas Haunted Mansion

And, it is totally worth waiting in line for It’s a Small World because what they do with this attraction for Christmas is a-ma-zing. No Fast Pass, but the line keeps moving to make you feel like you are making progress, it is fun people-watching as the line is outside so you can see all the passerbys (versus other attractions where the line goes into the attraction area more) and the clock opens up outside every 15 minutes for you to watch and there’s interesting manicured shrubbery in squares and animal shapes as well (my favorite was a lion shrub!). Inside for the holidays, they mix the normal It’s A Small World song with a variety of Christmas songs and really up the amount of all the eye candy of all the decorations. Hearing the singing of joyful children around the world in anticipation of the holiday is really heart-warming.

Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations It's a Small World

Didn’t I saw, a-mazing!!!!!?? The decorations in It’s a Small World! Holiday edition really are incredible, there’s so much going on you don’t really know where to look because there is something everywhere. You may even want to ride this twice so you can find all the Disney and Pixar characters interspersed throughout.

Both the attractions above are must-sees for December visits because of their holiday transformations, yes, definitely go even if you’ve seen the regular, non-holiday incarnations before. Each are 15 minutes long and are higher capacity rides so are worth the wait and while waiting the line keeps moving. And, walking along Main Street towards Sleeping Beauty’s castle was spectacular that evening. We missed the Believe in Holiday Magic fireworks spectacular at Disneyland because we had chosen the World of Color show at California Adventureland instead, thinking we would leave the parks after that since we had a full day arriving when the parks opened, but some other family members suddenly had a boost of endurance  and wanted to continue at California Adventureland. My sister and I ended up returning to Disneyland around 10:30ish so that I could see the castle  and we awwed at seeing various toon characters like Chip and Dale and Mickey and Minnie in their pjs.

Besides the blue traffic cone for soda that I purchased from Carsland, the only other souvenir I purchased was a “Glow with the Show” Mickey Ears hat. These hats have ears that light up and coordinates with the evening shows at Disneyland and California Adventure Park and which I left for her to “borrow” on her other visits next year. Again, thanks for all the planning J. I volunteered Oregon for next year, but it looks like it’ll be on the schedule for 2014.

I wonder what I’ll do next Christmas… I thought Christmas in Hawaii was wondrous and probably couldn’t be beat, but a Christmas Eve in Disney was just as extraordinary, and it was magical.

Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations castle Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations castle Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations castle Disneyland Christmas holiday decorations castle

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Christmas Holiday Decorations in California Adventure Park

December 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Some photos from when I was there with the family for Christmas Eve. It really was a great day to visit- the earlier part of the day before lunch was rainy and overcast which probably kept the crowds at bay that you might expect during holiday time when all the kids are off school. It was a very low key day where we didn’t feel a need to rush around to ride everything or see everything- we Fast Passed Radiator Springs Racers and the World of Color, and then relaxed checking out a few attractions when we saw the line was less than 30 minutes, like Toy Story Mania, Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, and Heimlich’s Chew Chew train. Shut up, I love that ride, I always ride it. I don’t care that everyone else are parents holding infants and toddlers. As it got darker and the lights turned on and sparkled and you could see and hear happy children everywhere all day and every employee was polite and helpful and cheerful and everywhere was clean, so it was a great atmosphere.

We started out in California Adventure Park before we hopped over to Disneyland for the afternoon, so this is the first set.

Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas

I was really impressed by Carsland, they really made it look just like in the movie, including feeling the charm. Look at the details even with the flowers! Then, when it was lit up in the night it was so sparkly- the website for Carsland actually captures quite a bit of it. One of my goals was to visit Carsland and eat at the Cozy Cone Motel, where they offer various food items in cones, such as chili con queso, a chili in a bread cone topped with fritos, or chicken verde, and even in the morning they have breakfast specials of a Bacon Scramble Cone and Verde Scramble cone that includes scrambled eggs (you can read more cone offerings at the Disney Food Blog). The beverages come in cones, and they had a special blue one for the holidays in addition to the orange traffic cone one. You can also check out that they have various drinks to match the characters in Cars Land.

Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Carsland Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Carsland Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Carsland Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Carsland Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Carsland Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Carsland Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Carsland Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Carsland

And, the backdrop for the Radiator Springs Racers ride is lovely, and really look just like the rocks are natural- I can easily imagine this being in Arizona which is the inspiration.

Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Carsland Radiator Springs Disney California Adventure Park decorations holiday Christmas Carsland Radiator Springs

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