M.I.A. from the Blogging World

So I have been missing in action from the my blogging world lately. Here’s what been going on in the last few months:

Fruit Tart recipe from Williams Sonoma website:

On the way to "hakamairi" (paying respects to the cemetery where our family is buried), we decided to stop off at El Tepeyac, this hole in the wall mexican place in Boyle Heights. My grandfather, when he was alive, used to live in Boyle Heights and we used to go to El Tepeyac all the time. It is pretty well known in the eating community. They are known for their huge burritos. We ordered the Manuel's Special which feeds 2-4 according to them. But really fed 5 people plus two servings more leftover. Due to my delicate condition (just had food poisoning days before), I really didn't eat much, but had to have a least a few bites to wet my palate.

I went to Nanbankan in west la, a robata style place that serves skewered charcoal bbq food. We have a bunch of little dishes: pork wrapped shiso, gobo root wrapped pork, quail egg, ika somen, chicken, beef, eggplant, and squid. I liked the food, but not sure how into the robata food I am.

I was introduced to this great Japanese restaurant in Japanese town called T.O.T. There is really only one thing I’ve had here that I really liked and haven’t seen anywhere else. It is called a tuna tuna bowl. It has rice, salad, seared ahi tuna, and spicy tuna on top with a teriyaki and wasabi sauce. So delicious!

Cuttlebug is my new friend....not my best friend because that title is still reserved for my Cricut. I just got this machine which is a manual die cutting and embossing machine. I mainly got it for its embossing capabilities. It is pretty easy to use and it adds great texture to paper. I haven't had a chance to actually make a project yet....so more pictures to come later!

I haven’t been blogging the restaurants lately. Partly because I have been lazy…partly because I have been trying to be good about eating out due to my increased blood pressure. I went with my cousin Jen to a great thai place in the valley called Thai Ni. They have these really good thai bbq chicken and ribs. I would drive out to the valley for those ribs!

At the end of April, I was in my friend Jennifer’s wedding in Atlanta. She married a wonderful guy, Anthony, and their wedding was so much fun. I traveled with my friend Marsha and her husband. We spent some time touring the city: going to the coke museum, eating at the Varsity drive in, and of course partying it up at the rehearsal dinner and wedding day. Jennifer looked so beautiful and classic in her wedding gown. It was such an honor to be in her wedding. The newlyweds invited everyone up for an after party in their suite where we kept the party going till 2am.

In April my sister came home for her birthday so my mom made a nice turkey dinner and invited my cousin’s family over along with the rest of my family. Masaki so generously bought a cake from Vanilla Bakeshop. It was a lemon berry cake and it was so beautiful. It was like 6 inches tall!

My dear friend Joni invited me to her family Easter brunch. It was so much fun, having breakfast, decorating eggs, playing egg hunt with her nephews and son, and playing egg toss.