A Weekend With Kiwi's

After I completed my work in Melbourne, MH and I spent a few days in Auckland, New Zealand. 

Thanks to our gracious hosts, S&T, we had the inside scoop on the coolest local spots and activities around town. 

Ocean View of the City

Cows on Motutapu Island                              New Zealand Lambs

Meat Pie

Fish and Chips

City View from Mount Eden

G'Day Mate From Melbourne

I had hoped to see the world famous Phillip Island fairy penguin parade, but making the trek to Phillip Island and back after a full day of work wasn't a realistic itinerary. 

Instead, we took the opportunity to catch up with some old friends (shout out to Mr. & Mrs. G!), visited some great local spots, and enjoyed several fantastic meals. 

City from St. Kilda Beach                                 Custom Rock Candy

Graffiti Alley

Flinders Station

A Day Trip To Malaka

Over the weekend, MH and I took the bus to Malaka, Malaysia. We weren't sure what to expect and arrived ready to try the local cuisine. 

Malaysians like their food S-P-I-C-Y and I could not hang. MH had the chicken dish pictured on the top and I had the noodle dish pictured on the bottom. All of the little flecks of red are chili and I was unsuccessful picking enough of them off to make the noodles palatable for my weeny taste buds. Instead I gulped down a refreshing watermelon juice.

All of the sights are clustered together in the center of town and it didn't take MH and me too long to get to each of them by foot.

In the event you weren't interested in walking, an assortment of gentleman peddling decked out bicycles were cruising the town for your convenience. Each bicycle had it's own decorative theme and some even had stereos blasting music.

Before heading home, MH sat at the restaurant behind the water mill and enjoyed some refreshing beverages. Visiting Malaka was nice to check off our list, but I don't think we would feel the need to visit again anytime soon. 

Sights In Singapore

Singapore is an absolutely beautiful country but the heat and humidity is not one of my favorite attributes. 

The week went by like a flash. When I wasn't working, I tried to fit in as much sightseeing as possible.

National Orchid Garden

Merloin & The Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Singapore Flyer

Sultan Mosque

Singapore Art Museum

Adventures In Downtown Los Angeles

My MIL & FIL were in town over the weekend, so we had a little adventure in Downtown Los Angeles. We met for lunch at the Grand Central Market and it worked out perfectly since we each wanted to eat something different. 

After lunch, we walked over to the Bradbury building to take a look around and appreciate some historic Los Angeles architecture. Since we didn't take a tour, checking out the building didn't take too long and then we walked around the corner for my first ride up the Angel's Flight Railway.

Treats From The Heart

To celebrate Cupid's day, I made a few special treats: chocolate and vanilla oreos and custom labeled vanilla sugar cookies. To finish off my boxes of love, I packed the cookies with an assortment of light and dark pink heart cut outs. 

I hope your Valentine's day was filled with love too!

Go Bananas For First Birthdays!

Happy first birthday Timothy! Your monkeys and bananas party theme was too cute. I loved all of the decorations down to the banana balloon weights.

MH and I look forward to watching you grow and celebrating all of your milestones for years to come.

The Artist

My SIL had an installation on display and MH and I were honored to see it at the opening reception. 

The installation titled "A Collection of Memories" featured her collection of souvenir pennies from her travels throughout America. She plans on completing her goal of visiting all 50 states before the end of this year. 

New Year's Day

MH and I spent the first morning of 2013 at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Since it was a beautiful and sunny day, we strolled through the arboretum and gardens at a leisurely pace and snapped pictures of this and that along the way.  

The arboretum is maintained very well and the grounds offer a variety of beautiful sights. It you are looking for something to do outside on a beautiful day I would definitely recommend checking it out for yourself.

Christmas Festivities

The winter holidays came and went faster then I would have liked this year. We were late putting up the tree and started a new home project just after the holiday so my fun and enjoyment of the Christmas decorations were short lived. Nevertheless, MH and I had a great holiday season with family and friends and I was glad to be able to spend some time in the kitchen to do some baking.

MH and my Christmas breakfast cinnamon roll tradition was altered slightly by a lovely invitation to a Christmas morning brunch and a new recipe. Since MH's parent's decided to not visit for the holiday, MH's sister had us over for brunch and we enjoyed our cinnamon roll tradition together.  

I typically bake a modified version of my Mom's cinnamon roll recipe, but after coming across Lauren's Latest blog and her Cinnabon cinnamon rolls I couldn't resist giving them a try. I think this is going to be my new go to cinnamon roll recipe. They taste pretty darn close to the real deal!

On Christmas Eve we enjoyed a traditional prime rib dinner, and MH and I made roasted garlic butter roasted mushrooms, roasted cauliflower and carrots, and a sour cream apple pie. 

The pie was featured in Martha Stewart Living and I don't think I would recommend the recipe. Although the crumble and crust were delicious, the pie in whole missed the mark. There was something about the sour cream apple filling that just didn't seem right. 

Since we enjoyed all of the traditional dishes on Christmas Eve, we decided to have a non-traditional Christmas dinner and cooked up a delicious homemade mexican spread. 

We made beef tamales, chili colorado, garlic grilled chicken, carnitas, al pastor, spanish rice, black beans, roasted corn salad, vegetable lime salad, guacamole, salsa, and a pitcher of horchata. To compliment the meal, we also bought some corn and flour tortillas, chips, and Jarritos sodas from the neighborhood Mexican market.

To finish the meal I made the an Impossible Cake otherwise known as chocoflan. Making this cake is a serious science experiment. When you prepare the cake and slide it into the oven, the cake sits at the bottom of the pan with the layer of flan floating on top, and when you pull it out the layers are reversed!

The cake turned out well and I was pleasantly surprised how nicely flan and chocolate cake paired together. I hope you had a wonderful holiday filled with delicious treats too!