drinkin' it up

Another weekend, another bridal shower :). My museum buddy is getting married. At her shower, we played games, ate, and made new friends. I always look forward to the punch served at showers. I was not disappointed. Here's the recipe with notes from the girl who made it:

• 2 1/2 cups white sugar (I use 1 1/2 cups sugar at the most)
• 6 cups water
• 2 (3 ounce) packages strawberry flavored gelatin mix
• 1 (46 fluid ounce) can pineapple juice
• 2/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 quart orange juice
• 2 (2 liter) bottles lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage (I use Ginger Ale)
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1. In a large saucepan, combine sugar, water, and strawberry flavored gelatin. Boil for 3 minutes. Stir in pineapple juice, lemon juice, and orange juice. Divide mixture in half, and freeze in 2 separate containers.
2. When ready to serve, place the frozen contents of one container in a punch bowl, and stir in 1 bottle of lemon-lime soda until slushy. (Take the container out of the freezer about 1-2 hours before serving so that you can get the "slushy" texture).


our paper flowers were a hit! they will be used for the rehearsal bouquet


chips and homemade salsa and bruschetta


crepes with fresh berries, cherries in cherry sauce, chocolate sauce, and heavy whipping cream


strawberry cheesecake from Porto's Bakery in Glendale

being crafty

In between the wedding and reception, I went over to another friend's parents' house to help her sister make paper flowers for her bridal shower. Neither one of us had ever made them before, but we had a kit which provided instructions and raw materials. It was a lot of trial and error. In the five hours I was there, we made fewer than 8 complete flowers. At that rate, it would have been faster to grow flowers. But, they were specifically requested by the bride and we love her very much.

the first wedding of the year

Last Saturday I attended the wedding of one of my dear friends from college. She was my first college friend outside of the dorms. We quickly agreed that we'd be life-long friends. I'm so happy that she found someone who complements her so well.

Sorry, no pictures of the food, but here are the menu items: Eight-item cold plate (i.e., cold meats), Shark fin, crabmeat w/asparagus soup, Crab claws wrapped in shrimp paste, Sea cucumber with black mushrooms, Lobster with special sauce, Crispy fried scallops, Fried fish w/spicy sauce, House special fried rice, Fresh oranges and longan, Wedding cake. I do wish I had a picture of the monster lobster.


the wedding was held at a Buddhist temple in Garden Grove


no wedding is complete without ... Hefeweizen! so random

speaking english

My dad has lived in the US for about 30 years now, but a lot of American idioms and phrases still give him problems. After he asked me about the use of "off" in an LA Times headline, we had the following conversation:

Dad: what do you call it when your alarm sounds?
Me: i say, 'the alarm went off' ... meaning it was activated ... same with a bomb
Dad: so off means on in this case
Me: hmm, yeah, that is confusing
Dad: usage of that word gives me problems
Me: then you go and turn the alarm off

testing out the features

My car has an interesting feature called the trunk-entrapment release. It's a 4-5" glow-in-the-dark handle inside the trunk which a person can use to open the trunk if he or she gets locked inside. I tested it out last night by locking my brother inside the trunk. He said, "Hey! It's not glow-in-the-dark!," but it worked just fine after he found the handle.

car shopping

... is finally over! Tonight I got my new car. It's a 2006 Corolla S in phantom gray. Manual transmission, 32/41 mpg, power windows, power doors, cruise control, rear spoiler, alloy wheels, 6 CD changer, and 9 months of Sirius satellite radio. It's so cute and fun to drive. Still, I wonder about my old Integra. I'm sure the salvage yard will be able to fix it up. I hope the new owner appreciates it. That car was good to me. I nabbed the front and rear emblems for memories. I had to replace both while the car was under my ownership.