Happy baking new year!

This holiday season was one of the funnest holidays I’ve ever had. Let’s start with a very important message:

It’s true! I do love you!

I also love the foodstuffs, which Charles and Regina slaved away on all day, on New Years Eve. Regina really put her Christmas gifts  (Flour and Milk Bar cookbooks) to use. Everything tasted as good as they looked, and just FYI, the winter-weight-look is so hot right now. So if you see me, and I look a little different, i.e. puffy or swollen, I’m just following the trend, thanks to these delights! By the way, the macarons perfection were learnt from a class, not the cookbooks.

The Flour cookbook had recommended to readers, that they master the basic brioche first, before trying the fancier brioches. Regina did not heed. So rebellious and so successful, as shown here with the brioche au chocolat that she and Charles made:

However, she did make the basic brioche, AFTER we enjoyed the au chocolat ones. Priorities:

And then the custom-stamped sugar cookies. Yeah, not the most attractive cookies, but they were made with love. And of course, I like that everyone thinks that my 80’s painterly cookie was the decided best-looking cookie. I don’t even need to point it out. I think you’ll know by how attractive it is.

Not my first time eating multiples of these. The texture….oh, the texture:

Sixth annual CAROLING birthday for Wendy

Yes indeed, it’s been six years since we’ve been making the neighborhood a better place. This year was unprecedented. We received such appreciative responses, 100%, from everyone we sang to. We were so touched. A lot of our favorite households from yesteryear weren’t home but we met a bunch more who were absolutely delighted with us. And when I say “delighted,” I’m not kidding around. I would put sparkles around the word “delighted’ if I knew how, but yes, this years’ responses were twinklingly stellar. Here are the small handful of pictures I took. The best depiction will be Kylie’s video. I know she’s been busy last-minute Christmas shopping, so her video won’t be ready today but stay tuned people, it’s coming, and will make you super jealous. Feel free to admire Kylie’s video from Wendy’s caroling birthday last year as a preview of how this year’s video may turn out.

Snowy weather caroling! No, not really. Just grainy camera-work. It was still very fulfilling. With our voices and musical talent, who needs the snow?

We ended on a high-note because awesome Indian food was beckoning us to headquarters.

Most importantly, don’t forget, it’s Wendy’s birthday!

A BIRTHDAY BABY ANGEL got in front of my camera?

Let’s make this an activity for you readers. Here are two group photos. What’s different between the two? I mean, there’s plenty different, but tell me, what’s the MAIN difference? Hint: It has nothing to do with the lighting.
group1

group2

Time to enjoy the cake. It’s not just any cake. It’s a Chinese cake that’s “not too sweet.”‘ We got it from Sweeties Bakery in Gardena and I highly suggest you get yours there too.

Regina handles that cake with a purpose

Did you notice that fine instrument Regina was handling a couple photos above? Here’s a close-up:
l

FYI, it’s “gao-ji,” which means “luxurious.” If you’re not sure, just check the packaging –
It says “gao ji” right on the package. It must be luxurious.

This means, here’s a Chinese lesson:

“gao ji” is LUXURIOUS

“dan gao” is CAKE

“dao” is KNIFE

So, now you know how to say “luxurious cake knife”!

I had a great birthday party

Thanks Charisse for taking and providing this pic of me

Of course, I didn’t take any pictures of my awesome birthday party because my camera was in my car. Yes, I think it’s retarded as well. I know Wendy took some pictures, so I hope she’ll be kind enough to share pictures with me. This is what I took this morning when I woke up starving:

Yeah, I woke up starving this morning. I pretty much wake up starving almost every morning but this morning, my stomach growled with hunger extra much. So I ate my leftover chicken tacos from dinner last night. It was awesome. Then I dove into the dessert selection Iris gave me from last night. She got me some beautiful cupcakes from Lark bakery:

I enjoyed a few bites of the flourless cupcake this morning (the one with the strawberry atop). INSANELY delicious.

So, Iris was the best date last night. Not only did she present me with the cupcakes I showed above, she picked me up for dinner, AND gave me a balloon dalmation. How awesome is that?

And my lady friends got me an even better GPS system than I wanted. Yay! My life is rad.

After dinner at Malo, we ended up karaoke-ing in Koreatown. Again, I hope Wendy will send me pics to share. We sang our hearts out, and I even lost my voice. It was really serious. If you’re reading this, and feel slighted for not being invited, please don’t feel too attached about being slighted, because that’s not the case. This was my first birthday dinner party, EVER. So, I didn’t know how or who I should invite. In other words, I’m super awkward about birthday dinner business. But I’m glad you’re reading this!

Let me know if you’d like to join the mailing list for my further birthday parties.

McVerde barbecue

Charisse and Justin, aka “McVerde,” hosted a barbecue on Saturday at Pan Pacific Park. They made so much food and all of it was seriously INCREDIBLE. Ribs, raw corn salad, feta dipping sauce… I got these great pictures of the food but not of the master chef. Oh well.