On Baby Showers and Onesies

The day before I headed up north for my college friend's wedding, lil' sis and I hosted a baby shower for our brother. We had no plans in mind except eating, opening presents, and decorating onesies (You'll see! Way better than baby shower games!).

I bought a 9-lb ham on sale at Fresh & Easy for only $3.47! I normally don't eat ham, but couldn't resist such a bargain. I figured the easiest thing to do was to buy baguettes and let everyone make sandwiches.


I bought a box of 40 heirloom tomatoes for $5 at the Alhambra farmers' market so that went into making Bruschetta al Pomodoro (Italian Tomato Bruschetta) (since we had baguettes and all),

a Hong Kong-Style Tomato Borscht ,


and a Tomato Asparagus Feta Phyllo Tart.


For my brother's "bundle of joy," I decided to be cheesy and make "bundled" food such as my previous recipe for Bacon-wrapped Asparagus,

Mushroom and Cream Cheese Phyllo Bundles,


and pigs in a blanket (courtesy of lil' sis).


My brother said he'd provide dessert and brought pastries and cookies from House of Cakes and Cookies in Pasadena.


Instead of baby shower games, I bought onesies to let everyone decorate. I got the idea from one of my college friends, when her friends did that for her baby shower. I bought three packages of Gerber cotton onesies, which came in a 5-pack for $9.99. I got three different sizes, so the baby wouldn't outgrow them all at once. I bought some permanent markers for $3.99 and lil' sis already had a bunch of fabric pens and paints.

I was blown away by everyone's creativity.


On the left is my sister-in-law's older sister's creation. On the right is sister-in-law's friend's. They finished first while all my hungry cousins were pigging out. Ha!


The dragonflies were painted by my childhood friend. The butterflies and flowers by the older '88.


Everyone knows the significance of the fire truck for the younger '88's older sister. :P The happy beach scene with the smiling crab was made by the younger '88.


The oldest '87 painted the lotus and her middle sister made the tiger, since baby will be born in the lunar Year of the Tiger.


Cousin Q's younger brother did a little abstract art with his onesies. After he drew the one on the left, he spotted an extra onesie and proceeded to draw on it too. The funny thing was that he wrote his oldest brother's name on the front, and then his own name on the back on the bottom. Hehe.


Lil' sis attempted to trace her hand to do the Vulcan motto: "Live Long and Prosper." Unfortunately, it became a big lopsided mess. We pleaded with fashion designer cousin Phong Hong to save the day. Somehow, he managed to turn a deformed hand print into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Haha!

And guess who did the onesie on the right?


I'm still working on appliqueing a dim sum patch, a remnant from pajama pants lil' sis made years ago, onto my onesie. And lil' sis drew the Star Trek communication badge instead.


Cousin T, look away if you don't want to ruin your surprise!

Look away!

I mean it!

Last chance!

We all added our touches to a onesie for her baby, due next month.


Lil' sis made chocolate-covered strawberries as party favors for everyone.


I can't wait until little "Tiberia" wears everyone's creations.

*****
1 year ago today, Burgerville - Portland - Oregon.
2 years ago today, old canes.
3 years ago today, really great banana bread.