Sunday, August 30, 2009

Mandy's Birthday Dinner

My sister's birthday is coming up on the 1st. Being the busy bee she is her schedule is jam packed until October, so my mom and brother-in-law decided to have a simple birthday dinner at my mom's over the weekend. Here's my mom making salmon cakes for the first time. They're like crab cakes, but with salmon. She apparently got the recipe off of the Food Network.


I don't know the entire recipe, but I know it involves canned salmon, potatoes and bacon...


Here are some of the finished salmon cakes and some veggies she has for later.


She also made some Beef Negimaki, which is basically thin strips of marinated beef wrapped around scallion (aka green onions) that are fried. As you can probably tell this is the uncooked marinating stage.


Once all the cooking was done we had the beef negimaki, some bean sprouts and mushrooms, veggie hearts (at least that's what my mom calls them) with bacon, the salmon cakes and some sour/pickled veggies.


Mandy looks so happy. ^__^


Here's the happy family. Phil was away hanging out with some high school friends, so it was just my mom, Tam, Mandy and myself.


Afterwards Tam snuck out the surprise birthday cake and we all sang Happy Birthday.

It was a cute little ice cream cake from Carvel.


Yay birthdays! ^__^

Diaper Cake

One of my friends from college is having a baby in November, so I decided to put together a diaper cake for her. The date for her baby shower is still up in the air, but the good thing about this type of cake is it won't go bad.

First you start with diapers, roll them and tie them up.

Next you get a clear serving platter, like those party trays they use, and line the bottom with the rolled up diapers. You can put some baby care items in the middle, like baby powder and shampoo. Then you cover it with some cloth like receiving blankets, or in this case crib bedding.


Make sure to tuck it in tight.


Then add some more layers of diapers. I've heard of diaper cakes that are 4 tiers! But I've only ever made it up to 3.


Make sure to hide all the goodies on the inside.


Then use some more cloths to cover the rest of the cake. In this case I used some onesies and a cute little teddy bear jumper. And then top it off with something cute, like a stuffed animal. Ok, so the lamb is almost as big as the cake, but it's so cute! I still need to add some finishing touches, but this is what it looks like so far. Then you wrap it all up in clear wrap and you're all set!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Wedding Pictures Are Here!

This weekend we headed out to Flushing to have Dim Sum with Phil's godmother. This is the first time we've seen her since the wedding. We forgot to take pictures while we were in the restaurant so I snagged a picture as we were leaving. That's Phil's godmother on his right.

Afterwards we headed into Chinatown to do our routine grocery shopping. Phil was thinking we might not go into the city next weekend, so I had to stock up more than usual...

Then we left his parents and we headed into Brooklyn to finally pick up the wedding photos from our wedding photographer. Yay!

We were a little skeptical and had low expectations considering how cheap it was, but we were pleasantly surprised. They don't have the "wow" factor that the pictures from Taiwan had, but we weren't expecting them to. I guess it's better to keep your expectations low. ^__~

There were over 400 pictures, so I couldn't really post all of them. I took out some of the duplicates and all the kissy pictures (because really who needs to see pictures of us kissing close up?), and I posted them here. So check them out! There are some good pictures of the chopstick game.

As we were driving along the Brooklyn Bridge back into Manhattan to head home I snagged a picture. Nothing spectacular, but I thought the cloudy sky looked kind of cool...what more can you expect from a point-and-shoot camera?

Goundhog on the Loose

We recently discovered that we have a visitor in our backyard. Our neighbor informed us that there is a groundhog living underneath the shed in our backyard. Apparently his blind dog spotted it and started barking at it. (Don't ask me how the blind dog saw it...) Actually our neighbor said it was a hedgehog as he pointed to it scurrying under the shed. All I saw of it was its butt, but it definitely didn't look like a hedgehog - no spikes.

So we started searching online to figure out ways to get rid of it. It's not that we necessarily mind the groundhog, although it is munching on some of our flowers in the backyard, but our neighbor started worrying that it could get bit and become rabid. And with kids next door that's probably not the safest thing. Phil started out simple by trying to scare it out. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to work. But we had yet to actually see this groundhog again since the butt siting...

Then on Friday it happened - the groundhog made an appearance.

We spotted it from inside the house munching on some flowers. I ran outside while Phil kept watch from the window to get a closer look. I managed to sneak inside the gate and grab a photo of the culprit. He's pretty big (larger than a rabbit), but he blends in so well to the ground. You can see him right in front of the shed door.


Now that Phil has spotted the enemy his drive has been renewed and he has vowed to out smart the groundhog. Who knows how long that little guy has been living under the shed, but he better watch out because Phil is on the prowl.

What will happen to our little animal friend? Stay tuned to find out...

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Mid-week Fujiyama Mama Outing

I know, an outing in the middle of the week? That's almost unheard of for us. But yesterday we headed out to Fujiyama Mama with some of Phil's coworkers for dinner. That meant no cooking for me - yay!

I didn't end up taking too many pictures, but I did get a shot with a good friend of ours, Ghimel. Even though it was a Japanese restaurant they had bubble tea. Strange...but no complaints here.


I'm not really a fish/sushi person, so I normally stick to the non-raw fish sushis, like the spider roll (soft shell crab), the calamari rolls and veggie rolls.

Phil said he wasn't hungry, but ended up ordering 3 rolls anyway. I think he got an asparagus and shitake mushroom roll, california roll, and shrimp tempura roll.


Ok, that's all for now until the weekend. And this weekend I think we're finally getting back the photos from the wedding!! Stay tuned. ^__~

Sunday, August 16, 2009

New Washer!

Sunday was an exciting day at the Jerrsey Diary household. It was new washer day! We had planned to redo our laundry room during labor day weekend anyway, so we were going to wait until then to purchase any new laundry appliances. But our old washer was quickly dying - burning smell and all - so we took the plunge and bought a new washer. And boy is it fancy. It's complete with digital display, fancy buttons and noises.

Look how shiny it is!


Phil's dad helped us install the washer and we ran our first load - yay! I guess these are the little joys for homeowners...

Afterwards my mom took everyone out for dinner at a mexican restaurant nearby called Jose Tejas. You might not know it's a mexican restaurant when you see it from the highway. With the giant "Eat" sign it looks more like a diner.


They happy in-laws.



My mom tried to get Phil's mom to order an alcoholic fruity beverage, but considering his mom doesn't drink at all I persuaded her to settle for virgin strawberry daiquiris. Mommy was so sad...

Then the food came. We had ordered an appetizer of Chili and Queso dip. We didn't realize it came with chips. That might explain why the waiter looked at me funny when I asked for an extra basket of chips shortly after placing the order. The dip was very tasty.


Phil ordered the Chicken and Chorizo Etouffee. We had no idea what an Etouffee is, but apparently it's similar to cajun style gumbo. It was a little spicy, but good.


Phil's sister ordered the Steak Fajita.


I had the Beef Enchilada.


Phil's mom had the Chicken Guadalajara, which is basically chicken stuffed with cheese and peppers. I think Phil and I ordered this last time we were at this restaurant. From what I remember it was pretty good. A lot of food for one sitting though.

It's a pretty good Mexican restaurant. Be warned though that a lot of their dishes are cajun style, so they start to get a bit spicy (at least for me) after the first few bites. Not sure I've ever heard of cajun Mexican food before, but the food is still tasty none-the-less.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Back in NYC - Sichuan and South Street Seaport

This week it was back to NJ, so over the weekend we headed back into the city to hang out with Phil's family and do some grocery shopping. (There's nothing like cheap produce from Chinatown!)

First thing in the morning we headed to Brooklyn before making our way to Manhattan to take a look at washing machines. (The one that came with the house is slowly dying...)

I took some pictures of the city as we were crossing the Manhattan Bridge. This shot of the Empire State building is one of the few that didn't come out blurry or with random pieces of bridge in the shot.


We were considering going to Joe Shanghai, but the line is always so long we decided to go to Famous Sichuan across the street instead. Here's Phil with Lydia, Winnie, Kevin and Lucia.



Sichuan food is known to be spicy. I'm not big on the spicy, so I tried to stick with the soup dumplings, scallion pancake and fried dumplings.



After lunch Phil and I went grocery shopping with his parents. That's when we passed the old Hong Kong Station noodle place that we ate at back in April. It seems this was the building that's been in the news recently for being condemned. Apparently the landlord didn't maintain the building so it wasn't up to code. Unfortunately that means all the residents in the apartments above got kicked out...


Once we finished grocery shopping we headed over to the South Street Seaport to meet back up with Phil's cousins. It was a nice day on Saturday so we took a stroll by the water.


We bumped into his Uncle Tat by the water where he was taking some pictures, so he took a couple pictures for us.



Once we met up with the cousins inside the Pier 17 mall we walked around some of the stores inside. Phil and I ended up in the flag store so I could prove that they did in fact have Taiwan's flag. Yay Taiwan! ^__^

The cousins and Aunt Chan.

The next stop was the Häagen-Dazs where we all loaded up on ice cream. It seems like we've been eating a lot of ice cream lately.

Saturday was the Yo-Yo Open at the South Street Seaport. Phil and I missed most of the festivities, but we did make it in time to see the crazy Japanese band that came on afterwards. Notice the giant red squid on the right rocking out on the guitar. Only the Japanese...(and I say that lovingly). I guess the Yo-Yo Open must be pretty big because there were some people who came all the way from Japan just to attend.

Before heading back to Phil's parents' house we made a stop at Lucia's apartment. I think I caught Kevin off-guard with this picture...(don't ask about the nose...) He's trying to figure out what the homemade basil ice cream that Lucia made actually tastes like. I think he and Phil eventually settled on either Pizza or Boston Market..I wonder how well Boston Market flavored ice cream would sell...

Then it was off to Phil's parents' house to have dinner with his Grandma.




Another family-filled weekend in the city. Next weekend we get our new washing machine - yay! The exciting life of being a homeowner. ^__^

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

YMCA Dream House

One of the things that we did in Ohio was visit the Lake County YMCA Dream House. Every year they build a new home in a different location within Lake County and sell tickets for a chance to win. If you win, you can choose to take the house or a monetary amount - I think it's $250K. The catch is you can't sell the house right away, you have to live in it for at least a year.

Phil and I don't live in the Ohio area anymore, but it's always fun to look at these newly built homes. Doesn't the house look nice from the outside? It's hard to believe this house is actually worth less than our house in New Jersey...just goes to show how expensive property is on the east coast.



Each room of the house was designed by a different designer. Let's take a look around...
The first room off to the right when you walk into the house is a little sitting room.


As you continue into the house you enter the living room with the kitchen off to the right. Look at all the shiny new appliances!


This is the side of the kitchen that opens up to the living room. There's no island in the kitchen, but it has plenty of counterspace and feels very open.


This is a view of the living room from the kitchhen. Not sure about the choice in color, but overall very nice with the high ceilings. You can kind of see where the 2nd floor overlooks into the living room at the top left.


The far end of the kitchen opens up into the dining room, which leads off to the back patio on the left. Very bright with all the windows.


Next you walk past the living room and the sliding glass doors to the patio to the master suite. I'm not really partial to the master bedroom being on the first floor, but the room itself was nice.


The master bedroom leads to the master bathroom. There's actually a fireplace on one wall that you can see through into the bedroom. And the bathroom comes complete with a tub and a standing shower.


Angled double sinks to avoid fighting for the bathroom in the morning.


Inside the master bathroom is a walk-in closet. Look it's Steve and Anthony in the closet with Su-Kyi.


Then we made our way upstairs where the rest of the rooms and the second bathroom were. This was the upstairs bathroom. Nice and simple.


Bedroom above the garage. This room was surprisingly long. Too bad about the slanty roof though. I would have went for something other than bunk beds.


Another room - I think this is supposed to be a guest room. It has a little alcove off to the right of the closets with a mini-fridge...


Bedroom number 4 - it was a smaller room, but the way they designed it was a good use of space. And look it's almost the same bright green as our bedroom at home!


And then the final bedroom at the end of the hall. Nice and roomy.



Laundry room on the first floor.



They even had some cute woodsy decals on the laundry room walls. Phil and I are planning on redoing our laundry room soon, so this definitely gave us some ideas.


The last stop was into the "man cave" in the basement. Complete with flat screen TV, fake fireplace, shag rug...


Foosball table...


And bar...


The "man cave" had some nice decorations, like this chair made out of skis. Apparently when you win the house you get to keep all the furnishings.

Once we were done looking around we hung around for a bit while May and Anthony filled out their tickets. Steve and Rebecca made themselves at home in the living room.


Meanwhile Phil got to play with Su-Kyi. She was letting every one carry her around. Just don't let her see her mommy!

Aren't they cute? Looks like Phil is getting in some practice...