Friday, February 25, 2011

Penny

Penny 1


My parents' other chihuahua, Penny, passed away today. She was almost 15 years old. :(

When I was home last November she was still mourning the loss of her brother, Sebastien, last August. She cried herself to sleep each night. It was the saddest sound in the world.

I'm not much of a pet person, but Penny and Sebastien were the sweetest little dogs anyone could ask for.


Tuesday, February 08, 2011

On Superbowl Parties and Pop Rocks

After my afternoon tea at Tres by Jose Andres (SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills) - Los Angeles, I checked in with lil' sis since she was in town that weekend. She said she was headed over to cousin Q's older brother's place for his Superbowl party. Hey! How come I wasn't invited? :(

There were enough chocolate Pop Rocks left over that I wanted to feed them to my cousin's baby just to see his expression. OMG! Sooo cute!

On Superbowl Parties and Pop Rocks 1

I gave him a tiny piece first so it wouldn't alarm him. He had this bemused look on his face while the Pop Rocks crackled in his mouth. Then, his face lit up with pleasure and he simultaneously asked for more and gave the sign by brushing his hands together.

I asked him to say, "Please." Which he then obliging repeated, except it came out more like "pwease" and gave the sign by tapping his chest.

Such a clever boy!

He called me auntie too!


Monday, February 07, 2011

Tres by Jose Andres (Afternoon Tea) (SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills) - Los Angeles (Mid-City West)

After my brother stopped by with my adorable little niece, I was off to meet my childhood friend for afternoon tea at Tres by Jose Andres at the SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills.

Tres by Jose Andres (Afternoon Tea) (SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills) - Los Angeles (Mid-City West) 1

Tres is to the right of the main entrance of the hotel and is separate from Andres' more well-known restaurant, The Bazaar. Upon seeing the bookcases in the outside entrance, I knew I would already be charmed.


Sunday, February 06, 2011

This Little Tiger Wishes Everyone a Happy Year of the Cat!

Because my niece is just tooooo adorable.


This Little Tiger Wish Everyone a Happy Year of the Cat 1


My brother stopped by the first weekend of the Lunar New Year to visit and I just couldn't get enough of how cute she looks in her Chinese gown.

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Minutiae

One of the first pictures I took when I got my new/used camera almost two years ago were these photos of vanilla ice cream with chocolate revels. I was playing around with my camera, trying to figure out how to work it, and searching for subject matter to photograph. I knew I would somehow work that analogous anecdote in somewhere on the blog and the when of the photograph doesn't matter so much to you as it does to me.

Life is Like Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Revels 4

Except that the when of things has started to matter a lot more to me the longer I've been blogging. I guess because at the beginning, this blog was a more solitary endeavor and has now grown to encompass family and friends and so many more people than I expected. I ate this on this day with this person. I visited this restaurant on this day with this other person. I cooked this for the first time on this day and fed this person or just myself. A lot of vanilla. Occasional chocolate revels. And sometimes the dreaded icy chunks.

While my days have a whole lot more vanilla than anything else, I started toying with the idea of participating in Project 365, a photo a day for a year. Sure I take a lot of photos, but revisits to restaurants don't often make it on the blog. Non-food or just the minutiae of my life in general doesn't either. But isn't that life? A compilation of our minutiae? Small moments, occasional large moments, that add up and drift by year after year. I tried playing with this idea a bit when I did my month of mostly photos three years ago (Gah! How time passes by when you blog!), but that was more to give me a break from writing. I was intrigued following along Lan of Angry Asian Creations' Project 365. Perhaps because she's a blogging, and now real-life, friend. I enjoyed the glimpses into her day-to-day life, what doesn't make it onto her blog or Facebook updates. She fizzled out near the end. But then, via Lan, I found Jacqui of Happy Jack Eats' blog and her Project 365 too and enjoyed reading about her year.

I have no momentous year ahead of me. Well, not that I know of anyway. But it's my zodiac year, and well, if I'm gonna do Project 365, why not this year? The last time it was my year was pretty good. I really enjoyed my job, had my funnest vacation ever in Ibiza, Spain with Norwegian girl cousin, made lots of trips home and to New York and to Vegas, and right before the Year of the Cat ended, landed my dream job at the time, before I switched careers. So all in all, though this Cat year didn't start off well, I'm hoping overall it'll be as fondly remembered as the last time. OK, technically the Cat year doesn't start until February, but I'm used to the Julian calendar so I know it's a document of this year and technically gives me another month if I so want to include it.

Or perhaps I'll find out that my life really is more vanilla than anything else. I admit I'm pretty boring. If January is any indication, the highlights of my days are mostly food-related, or the people I see, or sometimes just what comes in the mail. Lots and lots of minutiae. It's as much an experiment for me as it is a chance for you to follow along, if you so care to anyway.

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Happy Year of the Cat!

Happy Year of the Cat 1

Happy Year of the Cat to all my Vietnamese readers! And Happy Year of the Rabbit to the rest of you!

The last time it was the Year of the Cat, I had a Vietnamese co-worker who had no idea what I was talking about. I didn't understand what she was asking because it never occurred to me that she didn't know that the Vietnamese zodiac has a cat, as opposed to the Chinese zodiac, which has a rabbit.

So in case you didn't know, now you do.

Vietnamese are not Chinese! Even though I'm both. :P And it's not Chinese New Year, it's the Lunar New Year! :)