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I made it to 2 Etsy labs craft nights this March. The host on the 8th was Aya Rosen of LoucheLab and we were drawing on porcelain tea cups and saucers. She had these special markers and paint for porcelain and after you draw and paint on your piece, you let it fully dry for 24 hours (it dries to the touch after 10 minutes) and bake it in the oven at 300 degrees for 35 minutes. Or something like that. I don’t draw very well so I just kept mine simple with hearts and swirls. It was a lot of fun!

My blank canvas and the porcelain marker

My outline in black

All painted!

Now, see the work of a real illustrator! Aya’s work is beautiful!

The following week Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin fame was hosting. In addition to her fashion line, she has 2 books; Alabama Stitch Book and the new Alabama Style Book. I confess that I didn’t know much about her (there were a couple of people there that were huge fans of hers) but after learning more about her, I totally respect her style and ethics (besides the fact that she is a total doll!). Her clothing line is all hand-stitched! Every single stitch is done by hand! No machine stitching what so ever! Amazing! She believes in sustainable clothing and believes in having good classic quality pieces that will last. The project for today was applique and reverse applique. She admitted that she loves to talk (being from the South) so she really shared a lot of information and tips. Unfortunately I am not too crazy about the piece I started. But that’s ok! I learned a lot from Natalie!

Crusher takes a look at the start of my piece (he is part of the “Where in the World is Crusher” swap I’m in!)

Rachel and Crusher!

My piece. I realized after I started it that my drawing is way too small for it to show the reverse applique. Live and learn!

Natalie telling us about the strength of jersey knit, the only thing she works with. She is a total sweetheart!
Here are some examples of Natalie’s work:

Aren’t these pieces beautiful! The images were done with stencils and painted on using airbrushing. This gives me so many ideas!

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We’ve been having some beautiful weather lately and we just had to go to the playground! Here are some recent photos!

Leah’s big smile!

Sienna and Emma play ice cream shop

These were actually from a couple of weeks ago when the weather was just getting warm but not as warm as recently.

Phoenix and Sienna play bounty hunter and wrangle up a runaway Sylvie!

Sorta playing frisbee

Nico and Sienna play the ‘putting rocks and sticks in the cone’ game

Fell asleep on the way home after fun in the park on Friday. More photos on my facebook here.

These are from Sunset Park yesterday where we went to have a picnic with Vietnamese sandwiches.

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Today was Sienna’s birthday party to celebrate her 3rd year here! The weather couldn’t have been worse (well, I suppose it could have been snow!) with rain and wind. Actually the rain wasn’t too bad, it’s the ferocious winds! I had a couple of cancellations but those who showed up had a good time! I’m really grateful to those that were able to make it. Sienna had a ball! I was up at 6 am (with the help of Sienna) to make shredded BBQ chicken in the crockpot, baked macaroni and cheese, devil’s food cupcakes and vanilla frosting (I made banana cupcakes and 2 different frostings last night) and zucchini’s with goat cheese (Allen helped big time with those!). I was in a bit of a frenzy during the party so I didn’t get the best photos. Hopefully Yves got some good video. I set up a game called “pin the party hat on Sienna” which I’m sure you can guess what that is all about. I blew up a photo of Sienna eating cake from her 2nd birthday. I also had prizes for everyone. It was probably unnecessary to do the game since all the kids had a perfectly fun time just playing with Sienna’s toys! I guess I’ll just remember the game for when she is older.

Frosting choices are strawberry meringue buttercream, vanilla and chocolate sour cream. (the photo of the dog is Crusher and is part of a swap I’m doing!)

the kid’s table

Sienna couldn’t wait to get at the cupcakes! I don’t know why Emma has the pear! LOL

Allen and Leah

Allen says something funny

Playing in the living room (you should have seen Sienna’s room!)

Opening Uncle Peeder’s present!

Opening Phoenix, Geneva and Layne’s present (Phoenix made that card herself!!)

Checking out the present from Emma, Leah, Jana and Allen!

A froggie bank from Phoenix, Geneva and Layne!

The girls playing on the bed

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Pete and I made it back to Shopsin’s (at the beginning of February) in record time! Our last visit was sometime in November. I really enjoyed our picks this time vs. the last time. I ordered an ATW sandwich (never bothered asking what that means) which consists of pulled pork, onions, cheddar and bacon! MMMMMMMMM!!! I was surprised by all the bacon in the sandwich and I really thought I wouldn’t be able to eat it all (but I did!) Pete was surprised that I did since I made such a commotion about all the bacon. I told him that it’s because I’m a fat fuck! He also asked if that was going to be the name of this blog post but I didn’t have the nerve. HA! Plus you just can’t let a good pig go to waste! Pete ordered the famous Mac N Cheese pancakes! At long last! Hearing about the MnC pancakes is what brought me to Shopsin’s in the first place but I was never in the mood for them. They were quite savory and tasty! Not as decadent as I thought it would be as they don’t overdue the MnC.

My after…hey! There’s bread and lettuce still there!

Is that a whole pancake Pete leaves?? Gasp! There are starving children in this world! LOL

We made our usual stop at Economy Candy and I was in the mood for a cakey treat so we went to Sugar Sweet Sunshine where I brought home some cupcakes for everyone. I got 2 pistachios (by far their best cupcake!), a spicy pumpkin and oooooohhhh a peppermint chocolate!!! When I got home, which one does Sienna pick? MY peppermint chocolate one! Of course I am happy to share with her and gave her less than half of it. She ate all the frosting and about half of the cake. We usually don’t give her something that sweet so late in the day (it was about 4:30 maybe?) and yeah, we paid for that later. She was jumping off the wall that night!

I think Yves was explaining that he had the superior cupcake!

All cupcaked out!

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Went to a playdate at Yan Ling’s house on the 19th.

I took this shot of me and Carter. I cracked up when I saw the look on his face.

Ethan showing Starr his tool set

Toys

I love Phoenix’s dancing style!

Sylvie is the next Picasso?

Yan Ling and Carter

The kid’s table

Computer time!

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My SAHM friends and I have been talking about going to dim sum and we finally decided to do it 2 Fridays ago. I asked my parents to come so they can better translate and tell us about the dishes. There seems to be less English speaking in Brooklyn’s Chinatown than there is in Manhattan’s Chinatown, or so it seems in my mind. We met at East Harbor Restaurant at 11:30. There was 10 of us. It wasn’t too crowded. We got the standard stuff we usually get and a couple of different things. Everyone was more than willing to try everything…except the chicken feet. It was the very last dish and I actually wouldn’t have ordered it except my parents misunderstood and ordered it when they saw it. I was joking that I hadn’t seen the chicken feet and that I usually try to make the newbies eat it (I actually don’t mind it, it’s all about the sauce baby!). It was actually really tasty as it just came right out of the kitchen. The kids all liked looking at the fish tank. Everyone had a good time!

Poor chicken feet! No one wants to suck on them…except me!

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Chinese (Lunar) New Year fell on the 14th of February this year, aka Valentine’s day. We didn’t do much celebrating for Valentine’s day and I’m ok with that. I don’t know, I guess as I get older, it’s not a big deal to me. Yves is a great husband every day of the year (some days are better than others, of course! LOL) and I guess if you have a hard time showing affection, Valentine’s day is an easy way to show it. Yves doesn’t have that problem! I also think it is way too commercialized but I won’t get into that. It is, however, the anniversary of when Yves asked me to marry him! We didn’t celebrate that either but I did help Sienna pick out a card and a small box of candy. Normally, I would help her make a card but we were in the store and I found this card where you can record a greeting. I thought Yves would love to have a recording of Sienna saying something. He can bring it to work! So Friday I rehearsed with Sienna and helped record her saying “Happy Valentines Day, I love you Daddy.” It worked out well but she spilled the beans as soon as Yves came home. She kept repeating the phrase to him and I kept telling her to shush and we have to wait until Sunday. LOL

Anyway, this post is about Chinese New Year! It’s really hard to get a photo of my mother smiling. I had to tell her to smile! So I’m glad I got this photo, which is why I put it up top there. My family’s tradition is that we celebrate with a big dinner on the eve of the New Year (I don’t know any other Asian families that do that!) and then on the actual day, have lunch together. Here are some of the dishes.

Fried Rice (made for Yves)

Vermicelli with dried shrimp (one of my favorites and it only comes out during New Year)

Yves favorite (as well as Sienna’s!), chinese sausage and roast pork (sorry for the bad photo)

Turnips (not a favorite)

Chinese Broccoli

Abalone, another favorite of mine that only comes out once a year. My mother likes to tell me how expensive it is. Last year it was about $30 for a 12 oz can. Not sure how much it went up this year.

Traditional chicken

My view of the table. See that bowl of rice there on the far end? That’s for my brother Kenny. LOL. He always has a place setting even though he is never here for Chinese New Year. Made rational by some weird superstition of my mother’s.
Here is the dishes on the actual day, pretty much the same.

Offerings for the Buddha

The Buddha blessing station (aka fire hazard according to Yves)

More chinese sausage and roast pork!

MMMM! My favorite and apparently has become a Sienna favorite! Shrimp chips! My dad bought these on a whim because he saw them at the chinese bakery. It’s a rare treat as I only eat these at banquets.

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The last week of January was the last class of the winter semester of the Little Gym. We opted not to join again. I am happy to say that Sienna was in a great mood for the last class! I was worried there for a bit because the previous 2 classes she was quite moody and did not want to do anything and would cry at a drop of a hat. I guess it could also do with the fact that the month of December and January was a bit crazy with the holidays and doctor appts so our schedule was off (but I also learned that Pisces are moody, oh yay! I thought Cancers were moody-which is what I am, so poor Yves!)  Sometimes she is really great at class and is first in line to do the skill of the week. Well, she didn’t actually do that this time but she did do all the skills! It was nice to leave the Little Gym on a good note.

All Smiles!

Miss Josephine and Miss Winne. Of course my battery died when they had Sienna look up and wave to me!

Wheelbarrow on the high beam followed by a forward roll.

Rolling over the donut

Getting her ribbon

Bubbles

An attempt at a group shot! HA!

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The last week of January was Winter Restaurant Week 2010 and I met up with Pete for our usual lunch. It was a rainy and windy day and if I remember correctly so was our last outing for RW 2009! We went back to our favorite place, Nobu, as it never disappoints. Well, maybe we jinxed it! It wasn’t terrible but there were aspects of the lunch we wished were better. Peter went off the usual RW menu and picked a special sushi plate. According to the waiter, it was an assortment of fish of the season and some exotic fish. I stayed on the RW menu because I was looking forward to the Rock Shrimp Tempura appetizer, which as usual was delicious. For the main dish, I picked the sushi plate, which was different than Pete’s dish but when it came, they looked very similar. Pete was disappointed in his. He said it was good but not what he was hoping for. I enjoyed my dish (with an added snow crab sushi) but then remembered that I did prefer their cooked dishes! Next time I should re-read my previous blog posts so I can remember this! That’s the reason I started this blog, to help me remember! LOL. Anyway, my disappointment came at dessert. It was a tofu cheesecake with carmelized pears. It was tasty but uh, come on! TOFU cheesecake? That sounds like something I would make at home to keep healthy! HA!

I gobbled up my Rock Shrimp Tempura so fast I forgot to take a before shot! LOL

My dish with the added snow crab

Pete’s dish with his added sea urchin

dessert.

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Last week instead of having a mixer, I went out to dinner with the ladies (Brenda, Ali and Joy). We went to Ippudo, a ramen noodle place. Yes, a ramen noodle place. The stuff you eat in college that you add water to. Go figure! But there were good things said about this place. If you go there too late, there is an hour to hour and a half wait. We made it just in time and when the whole party got there, we walked right in. It had a cool tree like (or maybe it was real? Couldn’t tell as it was dark and I didn’t go up to it) sculpture in the middle of the restaurant. There seemed to be a lot of workers there as they cheered when you walk in and there was always a bevy of different people filling your water or taking your plate.

We ordered 3 appetizers, well I guess it’s actually 4 since we got 2 orders of the Hirata Buns (steamed buns, filled with pork, served with lppudo original spicy buns sauce.) These were similiar in style to the pork buns at the Momofuku Milk bar. I felt like you get more pork at the milk bar but I guess because of the sauce, it was spicier, which I liked. We also got what I swear to remember as pork belly but I don’t see it on the menu at menupages! As well as a Phildelphia Cheesesteak egg roll. I was so curious about this! They were all delicious!

2 orders of pork buns

The pork belly

Joy breaking the egg over the pork belly

The Philly Cheesesteak Egg roll

The ramen soup I ordered (which Joy also ordered) is not on the menu on menupages so I can’t give the name or accurate description. I do know that it had duck and an egg in it! While it was very good, I have to say that the apps were way better and tastier to me. The soup was just ok and while I can’t seem to taste MSG (or know any effects it has on me), I read that they do use that and Joy did taste it.

My/Joy’s ramen

Brenda’s (I think she got this:Kogashi Miso tonkotsu based noodle soup, a dark, rich broth made from roasted miso, topped with slices of berkshire pork, fish cake, green bok choice cabbage, and glazed with a layer of oil.)

Ali’s classic (Shiromaru Hakata Classic ‘the original tonkotsu’ soup noodles with slices of simmered berkshire pork, kikurage, red pickled ginger, menma, 1/2 hard boiled egg, sesame & scallions)

Brenda ordered a salted egg on the side that she shared. When it came I thought the shell was still on it but that brown color is not the shell. I was told it’s steeped in tea? It was quite yummy. The inside was perfect!

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