The Mr.'s 29th Birthday

Last week was a super hectic week because I was busy planning a surprise birthday party for my darling husband! I decided to host a dinner party for his close friends (well only 7 of them because it was the  most I could squeeze at our dining table). Hosting a formal dinner party is definitely stressful but also really fun and rewarding when you see the look on your guests face. And in this case, my husband was the guest of honor and it was his reaction I valued the most. I'm so glad the party was a complete surprise to him and a great success! Thanks to everyone that helped out and especially the lovely Miss Ahn for taking all of the wonderful pictures! See her amazing blog here.

Without further ado...

The theme was "artsy and colorful"

Yes these are the 36" latex gallons. I LOVE THEM.

Yeap! Everyone got their own fake mustache

Avocado Shrimp Salad

With Homemade Cilantro Lime Dressing

Mascarpone Mashed Potatoes

The glorious prime rib

Dinner is served!

Yes, it was perfectly medium rare and amazing

Dessert

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

Thanks Everyone!

What a goofy bunch we are

To my love. Happy 29th Birthday! Just wait till your 30th, I have the most amazing party in the works for you ;)

Dinner Menu:

Avocado Shrimp Salad with Homemade Cilantro Lime Dressing
Prime Rib (Recipe by Chef John)
Mascarpone Mashed Potatoes (Recipe by Chef John)
Creamed Corn
Flourless Chocolate Cake with Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

March!

I love starting a new month! For some reason it just feels like a brand new beginning for me on the first of every month. New budget, new meal plans, new goals and plans for the month. March is probably one of my FAVORITE months because not only does it announce the beginning of Spring, it is also me and my husband's birthday month!

For March I am teaming up with my sister to create a meal plan that is all organic, unprocessed, all-natural foods while creating chinese food recipes that use these higher quality ingredients. A lot of people think Chinese food is greasy and unhealthy because they are seeing Panda Express in their heads. But actually Chinese food is quite healthy because it doesn't use salt (substituted with soy sauce) and it is abundant in vegetables! The only thing is the quality of meats and seafood at chinese supermarkets isn't great which is why we are going to create recipes using organic meats and vegetables! I'm very excited about this venture because there are a lot of healthy recipes for American foods on the internet but I rarely find any healthy recipes for AUTHENTIC Chinese food. Please keep in mind that our chinese food would be considered Taiwanese cuisine because most of these are recipes we learned from our mom.

I'm also super excited to create lots of homemade desserts and baked goods! I just discovered my husband got me the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer! (He says I ruin all surprises but I think I'm just pretty intuitive!) I also got an ice cream maker and an array of baking necessities!

 On Amazon deal for $47!

Macy's 1-day sale is pretty awesome. Especially if you have a 15% off coupon and open up a Macy's account (another 20% off.) My total savings was $85!

Kitchen Aid hasn't arrived yet but it's the 5qt on Amazon for $199 + $30 Rebate + 10% off using Chase Visa!

I'm so excited to use all of my new goodies! Stay tuned for all my cooking adventures in March =)

Homemade Uncrustables!

Recently made these as well! They are super easy to make and yummy. Perfect for a on-the-go mornings and afternoon snack.

All you need is bred, uncrustable maker, peanut butter & jelly!

Start by spreading peanut butter in the center of both slices of bread

Add the jelly on one slice of bread

Press down on the uncrustable maker

Remove crust

Ta-da!

Put in ziploc bags and store in freezer. Take out 30 mins prior to eating to deforest. Or put in microwave for 10-15 sec.

Baking Adventure!

I had a baking adventure with my lovely friend Jeanie! It was just out of the box, nothing spectacular but it was yummy nonetheless!

Our ingredients. Totally forgot to buy icing, but we don't like icing anyways.

Look at how happy she is whisking away!

We decided to pour the mix into 6 cones and 6 directly into the muffin pan

Some came out perfectly!

Some spelled over =(

Cake mix in pan + cake mix in cone

Our lovely creations!

It was a wonderful way to spend a lovely Sunday afternoon. Just two girls chitchatting and munching on these yummy cupcake cones!

Date Nights!

Inspiration:

Vintage Hollywood Bombshells

First look:












Full post later!

Can't wait for Providence! Yum yum!

UPDATE: After numerous mentions from my sister that I have not yet updated this post, I'm finally getting around to it! All the wedding planning has been crazy so I'm glad I can finally take a breather and update my blog. I'm still working on the layout that is why everything is so empty and WHITE. Or maybe I should just keep it like this...

Providence
Los Angeles, CA

Amuse Bouche: Orange juice + vodka (on left), Mojito ice (on right)

 Waiting eagerly for our nine course tasting menu

After the amuse bouche my photographer decided he would rather eat than watch me eat while he takes pictures. I had the nine course tasting with wine paring and it has some outstanding dishes and some dishes that were just okay. And am I the only person that doesn't know a wine paring consists of one full glass of wine with EVERY course??? By the end of the meal I can say I was sufficiently buzzed and I definitely was enjoying the food a lot more than in the beginning. The nine course with wine paring was $190 and I thought it was actually pretty reasonable considering the quality of food and amount of wine. Nine glasses for $65? That's quite a steal. 

I won't list all nine courses because I can't remember them all and also because I think Providence is one of those restaurants everyone should try at least once. All of the food was presented beautifully, the service seemed a bit casual for such an upscale restaurant, but its was definitely a nice change. 

Overall I was very satisfied and will definitely go back but maybe next time I will just get the five course tasting and no wine pairing...