Rodeo Drive

I took the in-laws shopping in Beverly Hills today. We walked down the new "revamped" Rodeo Drive. Just off the golden triangle. Believe it or not, the street used to be stark and boring. Now it's grand. Apparently everyone and their mother is opening a flagship store down there. We stopped at LV and drooled over all the purses. Then we walked down to Gucci and Tiffany's.

But the best part of the day was seeing the new Prada store. Unlike the other stores, they don't open until 12 noon and man, do they do it dramatically. There is this warning sound and this metal - armor like- screen comes down and security guards are everywhere, and the trench drains flip over mechanically. It's gorgeously designed, by Rem Koolhaas, of course. How exclusive is this store? There's no name on the front of it, so you'd have no idea it's there. Course, while walking down the street, there are mannequins buried in the sidewalk...don't ask.

So we went upstairs to the clothes area all three of us all piled into one dressing room. Why? Because the dressing rooms are all glass, and everyone can see you - until you press the "privacy" button and the glass magically fogs up. Now that's cool.

The funniest thing was, the elevator was broken, and if you've ever seen the store, there are massive steps up to the clothes area. So they security guards told me to park my stroller in the front while we went around. I could tell that the sales staff was mortified at my big ass stroller parked right in the display. I can just imagine some fashionista coming into the store saying, "I must own that PRADA STROLLER." Ha.

**images courtesy of www.europaconcorsi.com

Now that the party is jumpin'

So in addition to the lychee sorbet, I also made a batch of green tea ice cream. It came out REALLY well! The only thing is, to make it - you need to buy maccha. Maccha is powdered green tea. Not easy to find, and man is that can small and expensive.

The reason I made those two ice creams was because we had two parties to go to last weekend. Both parties we brought our shave ice maker and all the accoutrements. That is, you get your plain shave ice, put on a syrup - we had fruit punch, root beer, melon, and grape flavoring. THEN, we had a tray of azuki beans, almond float, mochi balls and condensed milk. You can go for the gold and top it with everything.

Maybe when we are old and retired, we'll make this thing into a business. For now, it's the best we can do without flying back home to Hawaii...

What a wonderful town

Anyone, Anyone? I need some help -- a good friend of mine is going to New York...for two days! That is way too short to visit the greatest city in the world, but, if that's all the time you have, make the most of it! Hmm..what would you suggest for such a short trip?

As far as New York institutions, I'd say, eat a hotdog at Gray's Papaya. Follow that up with a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity.

Brunch at Tavern on the Green is a must, but reservations don't come easily. It is so beautiful to eat there with a view into the park. (For those of you who may not be familiar with this place, it was featured in the show Newlyweds when Nick and Jessica took a carriage ride through the park and ended up having dinner there.) However, my friend said this place seemed too "girly", so if anyone has alternatives for a nice place let me know. I'd say the Rainbow Room - but that may be too staid. Probably something young and hip would be better. Although my tastes have never run the "young and hip" direction - I'm a classic kinda gal. I know the meat-packing district is supposed to be the bomb - but who knows. I haven't been to New York in like 2 years.

I also suggested a Broadway show. The best show in town has to be Hairspray, The Boy from Oz or Avenue Q. She said they may go see Wicked. I've heard great things about that show too.

Of course the best part of New York is the sightseeing. The museums are to die for and taking a tour bus up through Harlem is also very cool. God I miss New York. Walk through the park and go to the fountain and the lake. All nice on a warm day. I OF COURSE, had to visit Strawberry Fields, the memorial to John Lennon.

Finally, what is New York without shopping? SOHO is my favorite place on earth. Dean and Deluca for my sweet tooF, Kate's Paperie for the most gorgeous stationery and Kate Spade for well, purses!
I suggested she go to H&M for the world's hippest cheapest clothes, and Macy's Herald Square just because - hello - an 8 story Macy's that takes up a whole city block? I'm there!

Well, any suggestions YOU may have will be greatly appreciated, I'm sure. I wish I was in Central Park right now...

Good eats

Fresh Salmon, garlic prawns, grilled pork chops...mmm... For my birthday dinner we went to Kincaids. Turns out if you go weekdays between 5pm and 6pm - they offer a three course dinner for under $20! You get a soup or salad, entree, dessert and drink. What a deal!

Course we drove like maniacs and got there at 5:59. The hostess was a total beyotch. And then when I asked if we could still get the special dinner (technically I made it before 6 right?) she was even bitch-ier, if that's possible. Still, I NICELY asked to talk to the manager, just to see if it was possible. I mean, after all, it was my birthday and the in-laws were in tow. She rudely said "FINE"...and we got the dinner. HA.

Even more "HA" than that - if you sign up for Kincaids Premier email dining club, they send you coupons. Now and then I'd get a free $20 off dinner. On this particular occasion they sent me a special coupon for my birthday - get $10 off for every guest you bring - therefore - we got $40 off our already cheap ass bill! The dinner was incredibly good and who could beat that price.

I usually don't eat shrimp because they don't have butts. No seriously, why would you want to eat something that never excretes it's own poo?? HOWEVER, I can't resist anything that says "GARLIC" in the title, so I had the garlic prawns. They were sooo good. Kyle got the pork chop, and I must say, that was the bomb.

Kincaids is also known for their creme brulee. Go there. it's good, and CHEAP.

birFday

Well it's finally here - my birthday!

My son woke me up at 1am, 3am and 5am. What a way to start a day. Then I burned my cinnamon toast. That's ok. the day is still young.

Oh and I bought lotto. That 97 million is as good as mine.

**the day has gotten much better. i got like 8 hallmark e-cards, and uh...they were all the same one. How's that? Anyway - now I'm going out to pick up dinner and of course dessert...

Eye of the tiger

We don't let the baby sleep in bed with us. However. Screams at 4am last night tell a different story. Then my kid sucker punched me right in the eye. That was about 5am. Note to self, wear helmet to bed.

Lychee Sorbet

I gotta say, I never used to be a fan of lychee, however, upon special request - I tried to make Lychee Sorbet, and guess what, it was GREAT!

The cutest thing is, when you pull off the top of the can, there is a little collapsible spoon inside!! Like, hello, who is in that much of a hurry to eat lychee for god's sakes?? Just go get a bowl.

Read this ingredient list and get how easy this it:

4 cans lychee
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange juice

That's it. Sounds so simple and tastes so great. Just put the lychee in a blender, chop it all up and then add the rest, blend again, and throw into the ice cream maker. The only downside, lychee look like human eyeballs and that makes me want to barf a little....

Still, I gotta say, this is one of the tastiest ices I have ever had. More pictures here...

Sweet Dreams

I like going to tea, but usually it's pretty hoity toity. But now - that's all changed. If you live in the Los Angeles area, I highly suggest you go to Jin Patisserie on Abbott Kinney in Venice.

Jin has a cool relaxed asian-esque vibe. Maybe what some people might would label as "asian fusion?" Don't ask me what the hell that means, all I know is they opened a place down the street called Casa Arigato that makes Mexican-Japanese food. Don't ask.

Back to my point. Jin Patisserie is a cute little place with a beautiful grass garden patio, perfect since it's close to the marina. We're talking summer breeze, here people. The owner and head chef, Kristy Choo is the nicest woman and she makes these gorgeous unbelievable desserts all by hand. It's amazing, she is truly a master.

Even if you don't want to go for tea, just stop by and take a look at her dessert showcase, you'd swear you were in a Prada showroom, only instead of couture - it's all...edible...pastries. Good lord.

She even does custom MINI cakes for parties, check this out. Each one fits into the palm of your hand! So cute.

Go to her website and scroll over the images to witness just some of her creations, they'll make your mouth water.

Countdown - 6 days

Wow. Sometimes I forget people actually READ this blog. Today I got a few birthday gifts from my friends and guess what - it was ALL shampoo. ha ha. They all read that same Bumble and Bumble post I wrote a few weeks ago. Rusty said, "Wow, you must really stink."

Countdown to my birthday - 6 days, and the gifts are pouring in....not from anyone I know, not even from real people - from machines!

I got an email from the MALL, how's that one. It said, "Happy Birthday - come claim your free Chick-fil-a sandwich." Free fried chicken? You don't have to tell me twice. I'll be there.

Email number two - from the restaurant Kincaids (known for their Creme Brulee)- somehow I got on their mailing list and they are offering $5 off every person I bring with me to dinner.

Finally email number three, from Loews Cinema - home of the Mommy & Me movies. They are giving me a free SUPER COMBO - a large coke and popcorn. Aw, you shouldn't have.

Thanks random-generating-email machines. I love you too.

Nobody walks in L.A.

Number one, I can't stand UCLA anyway. Number two - I hate walking up hills. A LOT. So I went with my mom to UCLA today, we took the baby along for a ride. Hello - how anti-handicap is this place? There are stairs everywhere and the only way to get to the top is to wind up and down a million billion ramps.

Can you even see the stroller in this picture? Or does the thought of climbing those millions of stairs distract you?

God forbid you break your leg and have to hoof it to class. I just about had a heart attack pushing that stroller up those hills. I told my mom, there better not be ANY fat people at this school. They get cardio every day, there should be no excuse.

Goin' postal

Ok, seriously - I saw these on the channel 4 news. Custom postage stamps - with your own images - that you can actually send through the mail!!

Now I love personalized everything - but for some reason this freaks me out. Maybe it's the idea that someone will see your face on the stamp and then go trace it back to where you live and kill you.

Uh - am I overreacting a bit? Probably.

She's crafty

Remember how I said I went nuts and sewed a million things the other day? Maybe it was from eating too many cinnamon mentos (they're on sale at Sav-On, sTivo). Well here's all the things I made - you can tell I wanted to get rid of fabric - everything's the same color! I tell ya - two yards of fabric go a long way.

First - the door curtain. I hate people being able to look into my front door from the porch. So I mounted a cheapo $2.99 rod and decided to made some simple curtains.

Then I moved on to making a pillow cover for my body pillow. I bought this huge thing when I was pregnant. They say you aren't supposed to sleep on your back - it can cut off blood to the baby - so they recommend you wedge this thing under one side while you're sleeping. Can you imagine sleeping like this for 9 months? Nightmare. The things you do for your kids. I never had a cover, I don't know why, but now I do.

Finally, a simple tote bag. I got tired of running around looking for clean bibs, after I had already strapped the baby into his high chair. I originally got the instructions from Charla. It is supposed to be a purse, but I stuffed it with bibs and hung it from the high chair. I can always use it as a purse later. Very handy.

I am thinking of expanding to an online store and selling some stuff. We'll see if that ever happens. But if you'd like to do it yourself, you can find the instructions HERE.

The in-laws are coming, the in-laws are coming...

Well my in-laws arrive tomorrow and that means a lot of cooking. Tonight I am making coffee ice cream sandwiches as requested by my sister in law.

I have also been requested to make chicken quesadillas, corn chowder, and pasta salad. It'll be a week's worth of cooking. Maybe I'll post some recipes up in here.

Ohhhprah

Oprah's looking for people to be on her show. Look at these topics. If you are having an affair or really ugly and in need of a makeover - she wants you!

I need a topic that says, "want a ton of things for free?" Hell yeah, that's my kind of show...

Get carded

It was a craft weekend. I sewed tons of stuff - which I will eventually put up pictures of...

Every month two friends and I meet up and have a CRAFT DAY. We eat lunch and do crafts - all day. Sometimes we sit there and can't think of anything to do. This time I planned ahead and decided to make tiny 2"x3" gift cards. I REFUSE to buy store bought cards, why should I when I can make my own? I like to make a lot at one time so that I never have to make a card spur of the moment. These little ones are good cause you can either punch a hole and attach them to bags or just stick em right on packages...

Go HERE for more details pictures and information.

aching gums

My son has an affection for Coach purses. Forget the teething rings, stuffed animals, whatever. Nothing soothes aching gums more than a Coach purse, I guess. I can't imagine what he'd do if I brought home a Louis Vuitton bag for him to chew on...

i've got gas

I hate being cancelled on and I hate being late. So I try and extend the same courtesy to my friends. Sometimes, it's hard. So I'm going to meet my friend for lunch. I've got it all planned out. The baby wakes up, eats, poops and we're outta here. He did his part, but I didn't plan my part too well. I thought since we had extra time I'd stop for gas. I was on EMPTY and things didn't look good. When I pulled the handle out at the gas station, gas spewed EVERYWHERE. We are talking on my clothes, my hands, the whole side of the car. Thank god the windows were up or the baby would have been covered too. I felt like crying. Maybe it was just the gas fumes making my eyes swell, who knows.

God forbid the baby grabs my hand or clothes, and puts it into his mouth. So I drive home, wash off the gas, change my outfit, then hose off the car and take off to the restaurant. I was late, but at least the car didn't catch fire as I'm driving down the street.

The CPK Chinese Chicken Salad was good by the way.

you say potato, i say porn

Because my grandparents just moved, they get 6 months free cable - that is HBO, Showtime...everything.

Gram: Last night I saw a show where women carried men on their shoulders or some weird thing.
Me: What, like Amazing Race?
Gram: I've been watching a lot of porn lately.
Me: Uh - what?
Gram: Well we have this free cable and it comes on after all the movies I watch.
Me: Does that mean you have to WATCH the porn? Jesus just turn it off!
Gram: It's quite interesting.

welcome to hicksville

Well turns out they are building a giant 50,000 sq. ft. Walmart down the freeway from us! The only ones I know of are in booneyland east of Los Angeles. Now I'll get to experience the megastore for myself. I'm surprised - all the cities here banned them from building but I guess they got one passed through.

My brother loves megastores cause it enables him to buy cake and pants at the same time - whatever joy that brings him, I don't get it.

Not only that, I just saw that they are laying the groundwork for a giant two story Target right in my neck of the woods! I guess I'll have tons of options now. Ah, but will we be able to buy cake and pants? That's the real question...

White chocolate - and I don't mean Jason Williams...

What the hell - how could I have missed this. As obsessed as I am with television - I decided to skip a show called "Amish in the City." About Amish folks who, well, go to live in the city.

Tonight's episode they go to hang out with gang members in South Central, hello - and they go have coffee. The one dude has never had anything but folgers so when they go to the local Coffee Bean, good lord was he confused. He had never heard of white chocolate and had never tasted it either. Tell me that's not entertaining.

some like it hot

It's one of those summer moments, it's like 5am and the breeze from the ocean is cool - but it mixes with the heat of the sun rising up - you know it's going to be a hot day. I remember summer "smelling" like this growing up.

No houses in our area have A/C. I guess that makes sense since you'd only need it like 3 weeks out of the year. Still. I have a high body temp cause I am always dying sweating. Kyle is never hot. Ever. Must be from being raised in Hawaii. The baby must take after me, he's always sweatin' it up.

From the South Bay to the Valley, From the West Side to the East Side

I wondered why I kept seeing those guys from Jackass this weekend. It was the X-Games! We drove by Staples Center and man, even if you don't like extreme sports, you had to marvel at the sight of that giant mega-ramp.

There is always something happening around here. I was just reading a discussion about L.A., and for all of us who love it, there are so many people who hate it. The crazy thing is - most of them live here!

On that note - I spent the weekend at the beach and the weather's fine...take that haters...

sounds of silence

My son is like Pavlov's dog when it comes to TIVO. Whenever he hears that familiar - "bling" - he stops whatever he's doing to look at the tv. This is bad. So I went to settings and turned the sound off completely. Now I can watch Big Brother in peace...

You come talking that trash we'll pull your card

It's 12:30am and I am still awake. listening to Death to the Pixies. Not that I can't/don't listen to it everyday of my life...

I am going through my iPOD and making a list of holes I need to fill. i.e. I plan to go to Amoeba and find some treasure. I still haven't used the gc that sTivo gave me for LAST year's bday.

They are having a hip hop sale and I need to replace my copy of Dr. Dre's the Chronic and NWA Legacy Volume 1 1988-1998. I'm missing a lot of things. I had them on TAPE - does anyone remember tape - where have all the tapes gone.... I could also use Best of Rick Astley. What can I say I've got eclectic taste.

living together in perfect harmony...

Black and White cookies are a New York institution. If you've never had one, then surely you've heard of them on Seinfeld - when Elaine and Jerry went to buy the babka? If you've never heard of babka, well I just can't help you. You are pastry deficient.

So I made black and white cookies, but get this, I made them MINI. Oh yeah. The same frosty goodness, only tiny! They were very tasty. Black and Whites have the consistency of cake, so they were like tiny petite fours. Very yum.

Wash that man right out of your hair

It's good to change your shampoo once a week so your hair doesn't get bored. Seriously - your hair gets tired of the same thing everyday, so you have to change it up. Thus the fact that I have 6 bottles of shampoo in the shower. Thus the fact that Kyle is pretty ticked off. "Why do you need so much shampoo...blah blah.."

Hello - one for everyday (i.e. cheap) - Herbal Essences, one for the weekends (i.e. expensive) - Bumble & Bumble, and one clarifying (i.e. get rid of the junk)- right now I'm using Frederick Fekkai Apple Cider. I only bought that last one cause stupid Oprah put me under her spell and she said it was good. Don't believe the hype. It's not all that.

Anyway, now Kyle may get his wish of a single bottle because since the baby, I haven't been buying any and now I am left with NO shampoo... Doh! I asked for $20 for my birFday so I can go get some Bumble and Bumble Seaweed Shampoo & Conditioner. There is nothing better in the world, I stand by this fact.

Seriously, change your shampoo one day a week. Your hair will thank you.

PC Load Letter

Since the baby was born, I have been making an effort to be a kindler, gentler Jenn. So far, it's not bad. However. There's one thing that ticks me off - technology. My computer decided to take a massive dump, right in the middle of doing Rusty's invites. Ugh. Nightmare. Why? Why me????

Kyle - using his engineering brain - thinks nothing of sitting there for three hours trying to figure out the start up problem. Safe mode, recovery mode, blah blah - whatever. I would rather take my baseball bat - a la Office Space - and smash my computer into a million pieces. While that won't solve my problem - it will sure make me feel better. Maybe that's why Kyle said I should go to anger management classes this weekend...