Back on Track: Cooking

So one of my new year's resolutions pertains to cooking. In general I love to cook but every so often I fall in a rut and end up cooking the same ol' dishes or just flat out get lazy and resort to takeout. A while back I was pretty good at pre-planning my meals but the past couple of months we've been eating out way too much or getting takeout. It's gotta change. So my goal for this upcoming week, starting tonight, is to not only cook every single dinner at home but to try 5 new dishes I've never made. While perusing through my usual websites for recipes I came up with these 5 I'll make this week:

Red wine braised short ribs

Crispy skinned chicken a l'orange

Smothered pepper steak

Cajun shrimp casserole

Chicken and mushrooms in garlic white wine sauce

Review of a Decade

Wow! I can't believe we've made it through a decade already in the 21st century. I've had a lot of fun times and a lot of firsts. 2000-2009 has been good to me and so much has gone on in my life this past 10 years I couldn't help but reminisce...


I rang in the new millenium with wonderful friends from grad school...

In the summer of 2000 I went on a whirlwind tour of Europe with my friend Allisyn....


I graduated with my Master's degree in May of 2001...


Afterwards I started my career in the medical field with my first job in the Silicon Valley...


In the summer of 2002 I made the decision to move back to Southern California....

In February of 2003 I took the plunge and tried on-line dating...
In June of 2003 I went on date with this fella and little did I realize it would be the first of many...


In the summer of 2004 I made my first trip ever to Yosemite...


In December 2006 I got engaged on my 30th birthday...


In 2007 we bought our first home and celebrated our first Thanksgiving in it...


New Year's 2008 I camped out and saw the Rose Parade in person for the first time ever...


In May of 2008 we got married...


And afterwards we went on a fun-filled fantastic honeymoon to Walt DisneyWorld...


After our honeymoon, we adopted our 2 cats Sierra and Tiger. This is the first time I've ever owned pets in my entire life...


Yes, indeed! It's been a wonderful past 10 years and I've looking forward to what this new year and the new decade have in store.

Happy New Year!

Christmas with the E's

Since my family moved back to the California in 1991 we have always spent Christmas with my mom's side of the family. Everyone would head to my parents' home in the IE. Initially it started with my family, my aunt and her family, and my grandparents. As more of our family moved to California our celebrations got bigger and bigger. As our celebrations got bigger our Christmas celebration moved from So. Cal to Nor Cal. Since most of the family lived up there it just made more sense. I've never missed out on this gathering, except for last year. I was super excited to be able to see my family this Christmas. I took the day off from work on the 24th and we made our trek to San Francisco.

With Filipinos, Christmas is usually celebrated on the Eve. We call it Noche Buena. My mom and aunt cook up a storm, we basically eat all night, hang out, and then open all our presents at midnight. When we were younger we all took turns playing Santa handing out all the presents but as we all got older the task usually went to the younger cousins. This year my Aunt Melba played Santa.


It's not a Filipino celebration without rice!





My Lola (grandmother).







My cousin's kids James and Jeremy are the cutest!



With so many people and so many presents to hang out, my aunt started flinging presents across the room.

Imagine this multiplied by 10 and this is how full of presents my aunt's living room was.




Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones!

Holiday Baking

Every year around Christmas-time I bake/make treats to give away to family, friends, and co-workers. With the husband around I try to delay when I start my preparations because if I start too early the hubs will end up eating everything and I'd have to start all over again. Usually I get around to making 3-4 different treats but I got ambitious this year and ended up with 10 holiday treats. Some usuals that I make and I started perusing through my cookbooks and on-line for some new recipes to try. Here's what I ended up with:

GINGERSNAPS - A definite must for Christmas. Nice and chewy and full of ginger/molasses flavor.

RASPBERRY THUMBPRINT COOKIES - Got this recipe from the Betty Crocker website. Uses the cookie sugar mix as a base with raspberry jam in the middle.

CARAMEL MACCHIATO THUMBPRINTS - Another recipe from the Betty Crocker website. A coffee flavored cookie with gooey caramel in the middle with chocolate drizzzled on top. One of my favorites.



PEANUT BUTTER CUP COOKIES - A peanut butter cookie with a mini Reese's peanut butter cup in the middle.




COCONUT MACAROONS - A super easy recipe. Condensed milk, egg white, almond and vanilla extract, and flaked coconut.



CHOCOLATE CANDY COOKIES - M&M's mixed in with the dough. Mmmmmm.




GLAZED WALNUTS - I got this recipe from a co-worker years ago and I make it every Christmas and it's always a hit. Super easy to make - walnuts, salt, maple syrup. Yes, that's it.




WHITE CHOCOLATE BARS - These remind of blondie brownies but with more of a cakey texture.



PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE - I got this recipe from the Food Network. And it's all made in the microwave! And it's delicious!




MOCHA MADDIES - Nice spongy texture like a madeleine but with mocha flavor. Love this one too!

My Birthday Revisited

This past December 9th was my birthday. I'll be discreet with my age but I'm definitely in my dirty thirties. I took the day off from work and the hubby took me to Disneyland! And with free admission for me I couldn't pass it up. I love Disneyland at Christmas time! It was a chilly day down in Anaheim but we enjoyed it nonetheless.











We had lunch at the Blue Bayou. We had never eaten there before and the food was delicious!
My birthday mousse! But unfortunately it wasn't very good.

One of my favorite parts of Disneyland at Christmas time is seeing the It's a Small World ride decorated for Christmas.




'Twas a fun day!