Florida

This year has been a big one for birthdays amongst my people. Mom and Dad both turned 60 and Bryce turned 30. To celebrate their "150th Birthday" we spent a week together in Siesta Key, Florida. (Prior to my move to Hawaii, that's where our family vacationed on the regular.) We got right down to the fun having immediately with a trip to the Daiquiri Deck just hours after we arrived!

T Rex Cake - Happy 30th Bryce!

My husband, Bryce, turned 30 this weekend. We spent 3 glorious days in Whistler [British Columbia, Canada] with 8 of our friends. We ate, drank, skied and/or snowboarded, and enjoyed this delicious and hilarious cake!

The Whale Wins

Who loves birthdays?

(Raising hand in the air, waving it frantically back and forth) Meeeeee!!

Birthdays 'round here are welcomed with open arms and, in the month of January, it's my turn to celebrate. On the 15th I celebrated turning 29 with Bryce at a restaurant called The Whale Wins in Fremont (Seattle). It's nested in a building that shares space between several restaurants and stores. The interior is full of fun and function alike.

Golden Beetle Birthday Dinner

Last week was my birthdayyyy! I think it's about time I stop blasting my age all over the place so let's just say I'm twenty-something.

It's so secret how much Bryce and I love, love, love our new neighborhood of Ballard (in Seattle) and the Golden Beetle restaurant is just around the corner from our apartment. 

Celebrating [Birthdays and] Pumpkin

Today is the second day in a row that I've been cooped up in the house due to a nasty cold. It's truly mind numbing to be stationary on the couch with no energy to actually do anything. I know I'm not feeling like myself when I have no desire to eat, cook, or watch food-related shows on TV.

Being sick always gives me a better perspective on feeling normal, once it happens again. It's very easy to take for granted how lucky we can be to feel healthy from day to day. Because Mother's Day has just passed and I'm needing to reminisce on a great day after 2 crummy ones, I'll take this time to share with you a great experience that Mom and I shared back in January!

Mom, aka Carol, and I both celebrate our birthdays in January and this year my parents would be here in Hawaii for the occasion. Like we did a few years back, my Dad and I coordinated a cooking class for Mom and I to enjoy together while he would reap the benefits of leftovers, new recipes, and not having to search for a physical present! Of course we drove Mom cra-zay by not telling her what the surprise would be until her actual birthday.

Very early on Saturday morning we headed to Kapiolani Community College for our class called Celebrate Pumpkin. Mom snapped this great photo on the way. Visitors always manage to soak up the views in a way that residents forget to!

Bryce's 28th - d.k Steak House

Just last week my love/fiance Bryce celebrated his 28th birthday. Per usual (yes that's 2 links for 2 previous Bryce birthday extravaganzas) he went all out and selected that we have his celebratory dinner at d.k Steak House, located in the Waikiki Beach Mariott Hotel.

We were joined by our friends Cassie and Derek and got the dinner started off properly. Cheers to you, Bryce!

Chaslee's Birthday Butter Mochi

Hey y'all! Can you guess what this post is about?

It's Paula Deen's favorite food, y'all - BUTTER!

Here in Hawaii there exists a wonderful dessert called butter mochi. It's made mostly from sweet rice flour and eggs and resembles a baked custard. The flavor is rich, sweet, and heavenly. Butter Mochi's texture is the best part: sticky, super heavy, and slightly crispy on the edges. 

Mom and Dad's Visit - Part II (The Birthdays)

My Mom and I celebrate our birthdays just 6 days (and many years) apart from one another, which is either really convenient or very irritating for my Dad. In 2011 Mom and Dad were here for the occasion and this year we were able to celebrate and enjoy warm weather birthdays again! Shaking up the previously relaxing visit to Hawaii, we went out on the town for Mom's birthday.

We began Carol's extravaganza with pau hana (happy hour) drinks at a downtown Honolulu favorite of mine: Brasserie Du Vin. It's an adorable little French restaurant with the most picturesque outdoor seating area. Their baked brie is so good it should be illegal! We didn't indulge in any food during our visit, just many drinks and a few creative photo opportunities. Cheers! 

Great job on the photo, Darren! - in the mirror at Du Vin

A Berry Happy 27th Birthday

Happy Birthday to Me!

My request for tonight was to stay at home, drink champagne, have a surprise homemade meal, and not  to do any dishes. Ask (on your birthday) and you shall receive!

Meet Candy

The day has finally come. Bryce and I are now the proud owners parents of a KitchenAid Stand Mixer! We're thrilled to add this to the list of our favorite kitchen gadgets.

Cue Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely... Meet Candy.

S'more Birthday Fun - Bryce's 27th

It's no shock to any of our friends (or my blog readers) that Bryce and I go all out, and then over the top, for birthdays. This year my birthday celebration was a month long and included 3 obnoxious posts: a birthday BBQ with friends, a journey to an outlet mall though the snow to acquire gifts, and a just-the-two-of-us dinner at an Italian restaurant. Now it's Bryce's turn!

If you don't know what a Spam musubi is, read about it here before going any farther! Bryce's birthday began with presents and cards first thing in the morning. He's a big fan of Spam musubi and when I saw this bag in the store it really got me thinking...

Baci Bistro Birthday Dinner

After hearing so many great things about it, Bryce and I went to Baci Bistro for a belated birthday dinner for my 26th. 

I swear this is the last obnoxious birthday post but I JUST LOVE BIRTHDAYS. Read about the trip to the Le Creuset outlet to acquire my gifts and the birthday BBQ celebration! Now that mine is offically over, Bryce's is in just 3 weeks.

So we'd heard all about Baci Bistro, a small Italian restaurant in Kailua with incredible cheesecake and a Monday night offer of 25% off of your entire bill! We'd pushed our date back for four Mondays in a row due to scheduling issues and illness, but we finally made it. There's no way we were going to go on any other day of the week - NO WAY.

Clearly I don't look too upset to stretch out my birthday celebration with one last meal! The key to a great dirty martini is to order it dirty, take a sip, and then send it back for more olive juice.

Birthday BBQ

So... I'm very behind on my posts. My apologies. It's not any news that my birthday was last month. I told you all about my gifts (part 1) but I never shared my birthday BBQ (part 2) or Italian dinner out (part 3 - post coming soon) with you! My birthday was on a Sunday this year and we hosted a BBQ at Ala Moana Beach Park. It was a beautiful day and a nice, relaxing celebration. If you can't tell by my hair, it was windy out!

Fruit Pizza

Breakfast or dessert? Savory or sweet? What exactly is a fruit pizza - we need to know! 

Remember my dear friend Christine, whose baby shower I hosted back in November? She and her husband were blessed with baby Stephen just hours after leaving my birthday BBQ! 

The Le Creuset Outlet

Well, I'm officially 26 now. Scary, right?

 

Just after Christmas, Bryce, My Sandy, and I drove an hour North of Pittsburgh to go to the Le Creuset outlet store! This trip had been planned for months in advance and we even braved a little bit of snow to get there. 

Marissa's Despicable Me Birthday Party

I am the very proud Godmother to Marissa Jo, who turned 5 last month. When she was born in 2006 I got a picture message while in class and immediately cried my eyes out! How awkward is that in a lecture? 

Just a few months after she was born, I became her Godmother. Despite the college-face-pudge, this is one of my favorite photos of all time.

Rissa's birthday is in December so every year when I'm home for Christmas I throw her a party! You may remember her strawberry short cake party last year, if you've been sticking around that long.

Happy Birthday Mama!

Happy Birthday Mom!

26 years ago I tricked my Mom into fake labor and ruined her birthday, sorry Mom! Hopefully I've made up for it since. Carol has always been that Mom who does it all - works full-time, exercises 3 times a week, bakes piles and piles of cookies for special occasions, goes to Church, makes friends with everyone she meets, and keeps track of my Dad - all while wearing cute earrings and lipstick!

Since I went away to college at 18 (and then moved to Hawaii at 22), she's even managed to talk to me, her only child, daily! Mom - are there more hours in your day than there are mine?

It's truly a mystery of the Earth that someone who has so much baking talent can remain so tiny, but somehow she does it! Last year my parents were in Hawaii for our birthdays (mine is on January 15) and Dad and I ordered a new pizelle iron for Mom, which was shipped to the house. Her specialties include pizelles, 7 or 8 layer cookies, biscotti, and chocolate covered pretzels. Carol cooks, too, but she qualifies for baking all-stars!

My 22nd Birthday

Today I stumbled across these pictures of my 22nd birthday. I had just begun getting into cooking and my parents bought me all kitchen-and-food-related gifts. I was a senior in college and actually thinner than I am now! My hair was much longer and darker, too.

In addition to the nostalgia these photos stir up, there are 2 other major things they bring to mind:

1.  About a month after this birthday I decided I'd move to Hawaii! If my current (2011) self could jump into this picture and tell me then "Hey Ang, your 22nd year will be one of the very best of your life. You'll move to Hawaii, land your first REAL job, meet a fantastic guy, and successfuly make the transition to surviving on your own, all before you turn 23!" there's no way I would have believed my older and wiser self! Doesn't life always seem to be more interesting and unpredictable than you ever imagined? 
2. Dear Old (Penn) State will never be the same as it was back then. The uncovering of the scandal and following events that have occurred in recent weeks have shaken up the University, its leadership, students, athletics, and alumni. I am so sickened by what that MONSTER did to those poor children. They will continue to be in my thoughts and Prayers. As for everyone else involved, including JoePa (who I LOVE), if they did anything that allowed Sandusky to continue on his path of destruction I believe they should be held accountable. I wish the authorities had given a little more consideration to firing JoePa the way they did but I'm sure hoping they're doing what's right. This whole thing has consumed my life for the past 2 weeks and I'm emotionally drained from it all. It's incredible how one person has ruined so many lives. Oh - did I forget to say allegedly? Sorry, I hope he gets what he deserves - either in prison or after he passes through the LARGER gates.

We are so much more than this scandal and our football program. WE ARE... PENN STATE!

Here I'm demonstrating my EVOO dispenser's usefulness. "When you come home from the bars at 2 am, do this before you put the pierogies in the pan!"

 

Happy 89th Birthday Pap

This week would have been my Pap Pap's 89th Birthday and the 5th year we've been without him.  I stuck with tradition and had a nice Italian meal in his honor.  This time it was pasta with Italian sausage and a homemade sauce made from whatever I could find around my kitchen.  A major improvement from last year is that I made the cannoli filling myself, rather than buying the cannoli pre-made.

There are 5 of us cousins, Pap's grandkids.  Darren is 4th in the lineup and I'm 8 years after him, the baby by far!  Darren moved to Hawaii in 2002 and I followed suit in 2008.  So, since he's so close by I thought we could have our "Pap's Birthday Dinner" together!  What was supposed to be dinner had to be rescheduled for lunch... then Darren forgot about the change of plans!  Long and really funny story short - we ate dinner together the day after Pap's birthday.  We agreed that pasta and cannoli filling are probably better on the day after they're made anyways.

Dinner was delicious.  Darren told me stories that reminded me so much of Pap - like how he rigged chopsticks to a drill to stir organic peanut butter!  I cracked Pap's typical jokes "You know why I like chocolate?  Because you can't see the dirt!"  And we toasted our cannoli to our Pap Pap.  

We (all) miss and love you Pap.  

Benihana Birthday Party!

My good friend Chris turned 25 this weekend.  On Friday night he thought he was going to Benihana with his roommates, but when he showed up ALL of our friends were there!  We filled up 2 entire tables, what a great surprise!

Honestly, who doesn't love hibachi?  I remember how excited we were in 8th grade when we whole class got to go to Benihana and I'm 99% sure that I still have the Buddha mug to prove that I went.  (Now that's silly - getting a Buddha souvenir on a Catholic School field trip!)  People love Benihana in Pennsylvania and even here in Hawaii, where you can get good Japanese food on every block!

As expected, there were lots of veggies and the onions were stacked up like volcanoes.  That's even funnier in Hawaii!  Our chef was clearly not too happy and didn't care to show off so our volcano eruption was mediocre.

I snuck a picture of some of the food waiting to be cooked: noodles, shrimp, sauce, and veggies.

Tons of minced garlic, eggs, and veggies for the fried rice.

Benihana's famous garlic fried rice, sure to keep the Cullens and the Volturi away!

Scallops, lobster, and calamari - yum!  Who says you can't have more than one fish in the sea?

Jumbo shrimp and several steaks.  Of course, I was made fun of for ordering mine medium well.  Does anyone else prefer their steak actually cooked?!

The grand finale - green tea ice cream!

Happy Birthday, Chris!  We hope you enjoyed it.

Next year, we're going somewhere cheaper! With love, your friends :)