Happy Birthday Carina!

Today we celebrated my sister's 23rd birthday at Jade Dynasty in the Ala Moana Shopping Center. I can't believe she's already 23.. it makes me feel old!! Oh gosh.. to think that I'm turning 26 next year scares the bejeezus out of me. So dinner didn't go as expected.. but when do our family dinners ever do? For some reason my family likes to come here for special occasions or birthdays. But their Chinese food is pretty good.

We ordered our favorite dishes... honey walnut shrimp, peking duck and black bean lobster to name a few.

My dad makes a better black bean sauce though :P I also ordered a variety of cupcakes from Cake Couture. There were actually 8 but was too lazy to take a pic of the other box :P

You know up until this point, my fav cupcake place was Hokulani's but now I think it's a tie between them and Cake Couture. I definitely like the local flavors of Hokulani.. but I also like the upscaleyness of Cake Couture. Both cakes are moist and rich in flavor. Frostings are a little different but I feel like both are an epitome of what a cupcake should be. It's a hard pick.. so I can't really decide. But def would say Cake Couture presentation is much more elegant and fancy looking. I didn't get to try all the flavors but the pumpkin and pb&j really tasted like pumpkin and pb&j. Mmm.. I think I'm craving for it again...

Oh and this is me and my obaachan<3 Isn't she cute?

Anyways, go visit my sister! She has an awesome make-up blog :D

Let Them Eat Cupcakes!

Babysat tonight and a had box of Let Them Eat Cupcakes (35 S Beretania) lying around for me and their daughter to eat :D Of course I didn't want to be a piggy and eat all of them... although I really wanted to take a bite out of each one of them so I could get a taste of them all :X But I decided to share one cupcake with the little 3 year old. She picked out the one with the strawberry drizzled type jelly on top of the cream. Good choice because it turned out to be PB&J.. which for those who don't know.. is like my favorite sandwich and could literally eat that everyday. I knew right away that it was a PB&J cause it simply tasted like one :D It wasn't too intense and had just the right amount of sweetness!

I hate packing.

So I decided that I want to start blogging again.  Yes I've been MIA! But now I'm going to make it a goal to blog everyday... well *almost* everyday :)  Might be a lot of random postings...

Anyways, this month has been a pretty busy month for me.  Not only did 2 of my besties come to visit, I also had to apartment hunt with Russpoo since our lease is up at the end of this month and he doesn't want to stay at our place =( I on the other hand wouldn't mind staying where we're at but I guess this area is too "noisy" for him.  Funny how we are so opposite sometimes... like I can sleep through anything.  There could be like a fire alarm going on and I would be sleeping like a baby.  Russ can't stand a sound of like a car passing by on the streets!

Well we luckily found a place and will be moving out by this Thursday!  So yesterday was packing day for us since it was like the only time where both Russ and I had off.  We literally were packing from 10 in the morn till 10 at night......... I wanted to die.  My clothes alone took up 3 LARGE boxes.  Why must I be such a clothes hoarder?  That's another thing Russ and I are opposite in is that I tend to want to keep everything and he's like a minimalist.. only keeps what he really needs.  I wish I could be like that but I'm too attached to my things!  Russ always makes fun of me saying that I should be on the show Hoarders...

We took a little lunch break and hit up our fav Mexican spot.. Los Chaparros!  I def needed a drink and ordered a strawberry daiquiri <3

Food is awesome here! We always order the Chingalingas (oops sorry forgot to take a pic) which is pretty much like a fried wrap.  So good!  I also ordered a Chimichanga which up until this point I had no idea what a Chimichanga was!  But boy was it good....

By the end of the night we were able to get most of the things packed up into boxes.  I was beyond exhausted!!  Apartment... I will miss thee...

lovelove day ♥

This Valentine's is our first as an *engaged* couple. Not that it makes any difference but it IS a little different from our norm since we now live together. Before we moved in together, Russ would just come over to my house, chill or we'd go out, have a dinner date and then he'd have to go home or he would sleepover but that would be like once a week. Now I get to see him everyday and night :D It is pretty nice getting to see your significant other everyday... well sometimes it's not so nice... jk! Anyways, even though we live together, I still think it's important to have date nights and keep the romance alive!! and not just on vday!! But I do like celebrating holidays and special occasions :) Since vday fell on a Monday (he works), we decided to celebrate on Sunday. We didn't do anything big.. just had a nice dinner date at Tsukuneya Robata Grill (located near UH). We went there once like a long time ago so I was pretty excited to go back.. plus I love tsukune!


My pineapple chu hai... got me a good buzzzz.


Crunchy cabbage salad w/black sesame dressing... I ordered this cause I love cabbage!!!


Mayomiso Tsukune... super bombtastic. I think mayo makes everything taste bomtastic though :P


Tsukune stuffed shitake mushroom.. one of my favs.


Onigiri


Dynamite


Fried bananas

Ordered some other things but I ate it before I could take a pic oops! Everything was delish and I was went home stufffed n satisfied :) Oh and instead of roses this year, Russ paid to get my nails done :)

Nails by Anri!! lovesss it. Don't know if you can tell but there's a little diamond ring on my ring finger :)

Don't get me wrong.. I do love getting flowers! But I do looove having pretty nails!! and they last a little longer than flowers :P hmm I should of gotten both. lol jk! My bubby (not my hubby just yet!!) is superduperawesome for putting up with my ridiculous nail addiction :P and for putting up with me all these years. So grateful for him in my life... not just on vday but everyday!! Knowing that I get to spend the next 489903292438 years (hopefully lol) with him makes me happy :) Even being able to come home to him makes me giddy *cheesy* I know. Love... definitely a beautiful thing :)

happy vday 2011 ♥

Crepe FAIL!!

So recently I've been really into crepes. My friend Maiko & I have been on a mission to find the best crepe on the island!! As I mentioned before, so far the Harajuku Crepes have been the best ones we've tried so far. The other crepe place we went to was this small hole in the wall mom & pop's type place called Ailana's Shave Ice (not to be mistaken for Wailana's). That was pretty good.. but the crepe wasn't folded and wrapped up cute like how Japanese crepes normally are. It was also a little more soggier. The crepe skin itself seemed more eggy... like a runny omelet lol. But it was filling and satisfied my crepe craving! Wish I had taken a pic of it but the crepe wasn't as presentable so I didn't feel like it needed a picture :/

Anyway, last night Maiko and I had our sudden urge of crepes again. We planned on going to the mall to do a little shopping and then we were going to hit up Harajuku Crepes at Shirokiya for a late night crepe. It was around 8 o'clock and we figured since Shirokiya closes at 9, the crepe place would still be open.

Well I guess the crepe gods were frowning down upon us because we were like literally a second too late. We saw a couple eating a freshly made crepe... so we thought ok great they are still open! But we didn't see the mean korean lady at the counter so we waited thinking she was on break (like she usually is). Then one of the Shirokiya staff came up to us and said the crepe lady just left :( You should of seen the expression on our faces... it was like someone told us it was the end of the world. We glared at the couple who were scarfing down their crepes and walked out... hungry and wanting crepes even more.

We contemplated Papa Beards, bubble tea and cheesecake... but I think we were so set on our mission to eat crepes that night we were willing to go all lengths for it. I had heard about a crepe place in Waikiki and thought that would be the next best thing. So we drove down to Waikiki... parked my car at the Royal Hawaiian and then walked all the way to The Crepe House which is located next to 24 Hour Fitness by Pacific Beach Hotel. It felt like forever walking there, but when we finally got there we were pretty damn excited.

They had a vast selection on savory and sweet crepes. They had pizza crepes, ham and cheese, pb&j and even loco moco crepe!! The crab cake crepe and the tuna & egg crepe sounded pretty good too.. but I was in the mood for a sweet one and ordered a strawberry & banana w/vanilla gelatto crepe (yes it's gelato instead of ice cream!). Maiko got the same thing except with cinnamon gelatto.

We were a little startled by the price though... it was about $7 for a crepe with everything in it. At Harajuku Crepe it's $5!!! But I guess it was kind of expected, being that it's in Waikiki and all. We were so hungry that we didn't care about it being $7 anymore. Crepes were made fast and handed to us nicely wrapped like the Japanese way ^_^ So the final verdict?

It was ehhhhh. Yeah that's all I can say for it. It honestly looked like it was going to be a pretty amazing crepe but the crepe itself was very thin and dry. Not moist and fluffy like Harajuku Crepes. Even the whip cream wasn't that good :/ The strawberry and banana still tasted a little frozen. And normally by the time we finish eating our crepes, we are so full that we complain about how full we are for the next 5 min. But this time? We got right up afterwards and walked towards f21 without a struggle. That just goes to show how unfufilling it was!!!

Oh well, I guess Harajuku Crepes won once again!!!!

Sick... again ;_;

I've been on a little blog hiatus because I pretty much felt like dying this past weekend!! I got sick yet again... as if I thought I couldn't get any sicker!? On Thursday, I had these weird aches and pains in my back but I figured it was cause I was carrying the kids at work. But then when I got home, I started getting chills. I still didn't think much of it and thought it was due to the chilly weather outside. I had to go meet my mom that evening and started feeling weak and dizzy. Later that night I felt even worse and seriously thought I was going to like pass out. Well I go to my mama's house and decided to take my temperature since I felt like I was heating up a little bit. Well lo and behold, I had a temp of 101.4. I rarely ever get fevers so this was a surprise. I couldn't believe that I was sick again after I was still recovering from my other cold and had a long drawn out cough that I still have!! :::sigh::: when will it ever end? I guess that's what comes with working with kids. As much as I love my little kiddies at work.. I wonder if it's worth my health and all the stress that I go through everyday. Anyways, I've been pretty much resting and taking it easy all weekend.

Once I started recovering a little, I had enough energy to do some cooking. Yes even with the flu, I still somehow had my appetite lol. I've been really into cooking ever since Russ and I moved into our new place. I'll admit, at first I was terrified since me cooking usually results in disaster. In fact my first real meal that I cooked for Russ when we moved into our new place was almost inedible :X He almost banned me from the kitchen lol. Thankfully with lots of practice and nights of having to cook dinner for myself while Russ was at work, I got so much better :D And now it's an enjoyment rather than a chore. Even Russ will admit now that some of my dishes are pretty good :P Maybe I got some of my dad's natural cooking skillz inborn in me ;) Anyway, here are a few dishes I have made!

Made mentaiko pasta w/pork belly for Russ. My first attempt of mentaiko pasta was a fail cause I cooked it... but it's better eaten raw!! doh.

Arabiki & longanisa sausage pasta... yes I like Filipino sausages!!

Btw you know what's a cooking tool must have!??

A food chopper!! And not just any food chopper but the Zyliss food chopper!! This seriously works wonders. If you hate cutting onions like I do, then you will no longer have to worry cause the Zyliss chops it right up... tears free!!


See?


It even nicely chops up garlic :) Oh Zyliss, what would I do without you?


This is another dish I made today.. arabiki sausage potato salad. I've been using a lot of arabiki sausage because Russell bought a load of them from Nijiya market so I've been trying to think of different ways to use them.


Russell made this "arabiki donburi"... looks good right? Well it FAILED tremendously. Even Russ will admit to it. He made his own sushi rice and mixed it with mentaiko... PLUS spicy arabiki sauasage and tamago... bleck. At least we know now that sushi rice + mentaiko + arabiki don't go good together!!!!!!


Btw, this bread dipping mix is awesome. I actually got it at Ross (which I don't normally reccommend for buying food). But I would say this is pretty safe and it taste really good with just some olive oil & balsamic vinegar!


This is one of our fav late night snacks... french bread & dip.





This is random, but thought this was a super cute but eerie artsy pic of my kiddies I babysit :D


This is her *hmmph* face... gosh I love chubby babies don't you?

I'm also really into bento making.

omurice w/arabiki sausages and red bell peppers

It's not as cute as how those Japanese mom's make for their kiddies, but hey it's a start right?

I could eat instant ramen everyday.

My dinner for tonight... lemon chicken and instant ramen. And yes I love Chinese parsley on everything!!! Even my burgers :)

BTW, I DIE.

Just had to share I got this as a belated bday present from one of my kiddie's that I babysit. So sweet right? I was pretty stoked cause I hadn't even checked out the new HK line out at Sephora. I got the HK perfume and eyeshadow & lipgloss palette. I loveee the perfume bottle the little pump thing to squirt out the perfume~* Surprisingly it smells pretty good. It's light and has a fruity flowery scent which is actually what I like! Seeee.. Hello Kitty and I our meant to be ♥ The eyeshadow is really nice too. The one I got has a violet, purple gray and black shade. It comes on really nice but I do recommend putting eyeshadow primer before hand to make the color pop a little bit. I can't wait to get the rest of the collection.. eep.

Indian food love ♥

So recently I've been eating A LOT of Indian food thanks to Russell's new obsession with cooking Indian food. He even bought a huge cook book called "The Best Ever Indian Cookbook." When Russell's really into something, he's REALLY into it. Like how he was going through a Thai/Indian curry phase and I had to eat curry for like 2 weeks straight ;_; Thank goodness his food actually tastes good or else I'd have to pretend to like it! We actually go to the Indian Market (located on S. Beretania St.) to pick up the ingredients. It has pretty much everything you would need to make Indian food! They even got Indian movies and jewelry. Here are a few of his Indian dishes he has made so far!

Pork vindaloo... kind of like a curry but has a more ginger taste to it.

Another pork curry type dish

Some kind of lamb lentil soup dish (sorry don't know the exact name!) and Russell's homemade naan......... jusssst kidding. We actually bought the naan already made haha. Just had to put in the oven for a minute and voilà, it's done and ready to eat! It's so good too!

Ok Russ didn't make this. We actually went to an Indian Restaurant called Cafe TajMahal that we randomly found on our way to The Big Fat Greek. I wasn't in a Greek mood so decided to try here. It is is a small restaurant right behind The Big Fat Greek. I was happy to find "lassi" on the menu which for those who don't know is an Indian yogurt type milkshake. Something I discovered when I went to India Cafe. I love it!! And I think it's actually better than India Cafe. It's more thick and a little bit sweeter. Taste just like a yogurt milkshake lol. It helps a lot with the spicy foods!!

Fish curry... that was my fav.

Indian lamb curry... this had HUGE chunks of lamb. Normally I'm not a big lamb fan but this was soft and tender. Taste just like beef but softer :)

Their fresh out of the oven naan... I think this was the best I've ever had!

And this is what I ate tonight... Russell's version of an "Indian" burger.

You'd think by now I'd be sick of eating Indian food but actually I still want to try out some other Indian restaurants. I loveee spicy food so that's probably why me and Indian food mix so well :D

Happy 25... or er.. not so happy 25.

See I told you I wouldn't take a 957485735375 million years to update again. So my 25th birthday was this past month. Jan 18 to be exact. It didn't really hit me that I was 25 until a couple days after my bday and then I officially felt like an old fart :(

Anyways, I decided to celebrate my bday on the 16th (Sunday) since my real bday fell on a random Tuesday. It was Martin Luther King Jr. weekend so I figured most of my friends would have Monday off. This year I decided I wanted to go full on out since I was turning 25... that's quarter of a century!! I had this whole idea in my head that I just wanted a party with all the things I love... which is of course Hello Kitty & animal print!!! I chose to have my party at Ichiriki Loft which I thought would be the perfect little place to throw my bday bash. I hadn't been to the Loft in over a year but I knew that the setting was exactly the pefect place to have a HK party. I was in total party mode and even went to Party City (which seriously has almost everything you would need to plan a party) and got decorations and little party favors. I was so excited that I almost thought party planning could be a new career for me. Boy was I wrong!!!

The day of my bday party, I was kind of in panic mode. Not ONLY was I sick and coughing like crazy.. I also found out last min that another guest was coming and I didn't have enough party favors (NOTE TO SELF: Always buy extra just incase!!!). I didn't want that person to feel left out so I actually went all the way back to Party City which is kind of out of the way for me and got extra party favors.

After I got that done, I told myself OK I have lots of time to get ready for my party. I also told myself... I want to be there EARLY so that I can set up the party favors before my friends arrive. Well I guess my timing was off cause I ended up being late. Even the cupcake girl who delivered my cupcakes had to wait for me to get there... how sad. I was running around like a maniac and when I got to The Loft, 2 of my friends were already there!! Thankfully they helped me set up and calmed me down a little bit.

My party deco came out a lot cuter than I thought... thanks to the peeps at The Loft! I was pretty happy. All my friends came in animal print like how I wanted! I did find out though that the guest who I went out and got the extra party favor for ended up not coming!!! So I really didn't need to go all the way out to Party City!!! But that's okay. I was just happy all my friends & lover was there with me to celebrate.

Despite being sick... I wasn't going to let that stop me from having my party. But it did make it a lot harder for me to enjoy my time cause I was hacking away. Why of all days did I have to get sick around my bday??? *sigh*

There was, however, a few bday blunders... like Uhhhh the 2 HOURS wait we had for our nabe. Seriously... so unlike Ichiriki.. but we literally waited 2 hours to have something that we had to cook for ourselves anyways. I was a tad bit annoyed, especially since we had to be at Oceans by a certain time for our vip table.

Not only was the wait long but our servers weren't very attentive and we had to like literally go up to them and ask for where our food and drinks were. We even had to ask for utensils to eat with! I don't know if we came on a bad day but they knew there was a 15 ppl party coming in. They should have expected it!!!

The plus side, the food was pretty good but I couldn't thoroughly enjoy it since I was rushing to eat it so that I could get to Oceans on time. Food wise.. great. Service wise.. HORRIBLE.

As if anything else could go wrong.... I was also dissatisfied with my $93 Hello Kitty red velvet cupcakes that look like something I even could of made at home. Ordered it from Frosted. Be warned, if you want superly over priced cupcakes that look like an amateur baker could of made.. then order from them because that is what you'll get.

Although things didn't go as expect, I tried to make the most of it and just had fun with my girlies n hubby at Oceans. We got a vip table and drank & danced the night away~

Alcohol + being sick... was probably not the best idea though!!

I decided this will be the last time I'll throw a big party for my bday lol. Or at least until I'm 30!! Seriously, it takes too much work!!! Plus there's not much to look forward to after 25? I am still gratefull , however, for all my awesome friends who came. They are the best =) And so is my hubbster ♥ Ok on to the pics!!

HK Fiesta @Ichiriki LOFT

Party deco~

Party favor for the girlies~

Kawaii ne?... thanks Sascha for the confetti idea!

Brent & Sascha in the animal print spirit!

Even Brent joined in the animal print fun~

My bday nails! mix mix ♥

My bday shot glass ;)

Drinky drink time

The Russpoo & I


My lovely friends ♥

My pretty in pink prezzies

Table setting

My $93 cupcakes.

Should of just asked my mom & sis to make a ginormous cupcake like how they did for their friend's bday

The girlies

Cran vodkas @Oceans808

January babies

My friends Candi & Tiana


My sis Tiffany and I

Da boyz in their white tees

Celebrated my real bday at Taormina... had no complaints there!! Food is delishhh.

My grandma & cousin Erica


Isn't my obachan cute?

Even the caesar salad was good

Seriously best bolognese pasta everrr.


My sister and her super cheeesey lasagna

Tiramisu love.

wee happy bday to me.

so gooood...

I literally ate almost the whole thing :X

The fambam

All my goodies :)

One of my kiddies that used to be my class brought this for me at work :) Zippy's chocolate dobash cake... how thoughtful!!