aw. longing.

christmas eve. all about the cozy.

first christmas eve with my perfect someone. she is wrapping big boxes for me to rip open tomorrow morning in the bedroom... don't know what are hidden in there yet! 150% excited. she just came out and tried to guess her presents! naughty!!

we just finished off our local delight supper of fresh off-the-boat dungeness crabs from the north pacific, bought from monterey fish market after drawing the number and standing in a line of holiday cooks for over an hour, baked potatoes loaded with magnani's turkey gravy, locally grown salad greens topped with chopped pear, walnuts, dried cranberries, and honey infused goat cheese, and ladyfingers' strawberry charlotte, a perfect little chilled cake made with strawberry mousse. the wine that accompanied was a 2005 select cab from hagafen in napa, which i bought last year when i went tasting for an event.


totally worth waiting in line!

squeeze some lemon on this cutie and dip it in garlic herb butter... hmmmmmmm.

: : a cappella : revolution 2011: :

imagine. for 2011.

Imagine from PlayingForChangeFoundation on Vimeo.

time to remember

every december, my dear, dear friend ekt and her bau visit san francisco for their annual conference, aka the ultimate convention of the nerds. this year, ekt and i spent one evening at california academy of sciences adult event, nightlife and had a blast! it was the last nightlife event of the year, and the chocolate was the theme. we surely enjoyed sampling different kinds of local chocolates in between our tipsy nerd moments learning about the new discoveries of the planetary science in the planetarium, mingling with the butterflies and birds of the tropics in the tropical dome, and being taught about crazy mammalian bone called baculum (ahem) and the PRICC (primates without humans, rodents, insectivores, chiroptera, carnivores) acronym to remember who has this peculiar bone by a quirky host. at any rate, it is always nice to catch up with a friend from a long ago, from far away, and share some laughs and indulge in our common interest in the field of science.

ekt and i also share love for good food, simple, seasonal, tasty food, and she let me steal her personal recipe inspired by the bay area's own alice waters, which i thought would delight v's appetite. i had been looking for a unique winter-y recipe that is more on the fancier side of things without having it be too complicated or expensive, because my usual recipes are mostly "mom" cooking that utilizes whatever is in the fridge and would yield enough food for two of us for two meals, and could be made within an hour. so yeah, i wanted to make something special for my special girl. and the result? DELICIOUS. happy tummies all around! thanks ekt!

it is moments like this when i realize that it is that season when we should all take some time to remember how much we appreciate the love we receive from our friends...

keep away the cold

the rainy winter is finally here in the bay area. but this year, my heart is warm and jolly with hope. my tiny faux tree lights our dark nights.


and over the weekend, we found tokyo fish market, the place v was hoping existed in east bay, where you can purchase japanese grocery and other japanese goodies. we bought ourselves a cast iron sukiyaki pot and made our first sukiyaki from scratch! even without the store bought sukiyaki-no-tare "sauce," the combination of shoyu, sake, sugar, & kombu dashi (and clearly, a slab of beef fat to coat the pot) were all it required to make the flavor that was perfectly authentic.

no better way to fight off the cold winter but some hearty japanese goodness in a pot...! yummmmmm.