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...

Passport to Luxury 2012

Last year I was able to get tickets to Passport to Luxury through my job (read about last year's Passport to Luxury event here). Shopping, plenty of delicious food, and free cocktails - need I say more? I knew the time was approaching for this year's invitation-only event and I was prepared to beg, borrow, or steal to get my hands on some tickets. Can you believe that Modern Luxury magazine doesn't have yours truly on their VIP invitation list!? My dear friend Malia's brother's friend (seriously) works for a company who sponsored the event and she hooked me up with a ticket, thanks girl!

After coordinating a carpool and many outfit changes, we made it to the fabulous event and excitedly secured our passports! Our first stop was Prada - where there was a shortage of food and a surplus of rude salespeople. We moved on faster than a Lindsay Lohan stay in rehab!

Our second stop was Folli Follie, a quirky little store that I've always wondered about and never gone into. According to the passport, their collections of jewelry, watches, and accessories create a "full fashion concept." I particularly liked their cute and fun jewelery and will remember it for future gift buying. We were happily greeted by this multilayer cupcake stand from local Hokulani Bake Shop. (The same bakery recently was featured on and WON an episode of Cupcake Wars on the Food Network!)

Saint Patrick's Day

Oh Saint Patrick's Day, the rocky road we've traveled together! 

As a kid I despised you and your Pittsburgh parade that my parents would drag me to, at an ungodly hour, year after freezing cold year. During college I discovered that I, too, enjoy you and we rushed into a passionate love affair! Penn State even started a unique holiday while I was there, State Patty's Day. It was created so that we could celebrate together in Happy Valley because we'd be on spring break over the true holiday. Green beer, green Jell-O shots, and frat boys in green EVERYWHERE! [Bryce, are you actually reading this one? hehehe] It was insane and usually resulted in a 2-day hangover. Here in Hawaii, St. Patrick's Day is the only day of the year where haoles (white people) are the majority. There's a block party between the two Irish pubs downtown, Murphy's and O'Toole's (the bar where Bryce and I met) and it's awesome! 

The relationship between St. Patrick's day and I have finally found a happy medium, somewhere between the sober, freezing, boring parades of my childhood and the belligerent slop-fests of college. Since this is the first year that I've lived in Hawaii for a Saturday St. Patrick's Day, I was particularly excited!

The celebration began the day before with 3 trays of Lucky Charms Treats! Dare I say that these are even better than Rice Krispie Treats? I mean seriously, there are already marshmallows in the cereal. Just melt a stick of butter in a pan, add an entire bag of mallows, then mix in the cereal and convince it to mold into a cake pan. My advice is to be generous with the cooking spray on both the cake pans and the spatula or utensil that you're using in order to maintain your sanity!

Rainy Day Onion Soup

We've had some of the craziest weather I've ever experienced here in Honolulu this week: pouring and constant rain (versus our typically light and quick rain showers) and a few intense thunderstorms! On Tuesday it rained all day long and, according to the Aloha: Yinz Mangia Facebook page, this weather calls for soup: corn chowder, tomato, lobster or crab bisque, nabe (Japanese soup), and even chili and beef stew.

Luckily I had planned to make onion soup this week and all of the ingredients were already inside the house. Avoiding the rain and still filling the soup craving - score! What a great excuse to use my new mini cocottes and their corresponding cookbook.

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.