celebrations – Page 4 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Happy New Year!

Hello 2017! Happy New Year Friends! We celebrated our NYEve with my In laws (we didn’t wait till midnight though) and my Dad In law prepared a beef tenderloin and side dishes. It was delicious! Great dinner to end 2016:) We watched a movie and the New York’s Times Square celebration. We went home around 10:30pm and just waited for the Space Needle fireworks celebration on TV. I cannot imagine being outside because it was freezing cold (kudos to others who watched it live and braved the cold weather).

We went to church on New Years day too and it was Mia’s second church service to attend (first was the Christmas eve service). 2016 was such a great year for us because of our Mia’s arrival. She is such a joy to us and we thank God for gifting us Mia. Cheers to 2017 friends!

New years day 2017! I took this pic before going to Church!

4am New years day 2017! Hubs took this pic while I was feeding Mia Boo!

watching the Space Needle NYEve celebration

Exciting news!

Hello Friends! How are you all doing?! It’s been a while since my last post because it’s been a busy week in our corner. My sister was visiting us for a week, she is living and working in New Zealand. We spent lots of time together, just hanging out and catching up. We also have some exciting news to share, WE ARE PREGNANT!!! It’s been a long journey for us but we are so blessed and thanking God for this gift and all praises to Him. Hubs and I (and our fur baby Riley) are so excited to meet our little babe before the year ends. Baby is due this fall. Looking forward to sharing more of our pregnancy journey with you all!

2016_07_05_DSC_7588 — 4th of July family pic!

Happy Birthday, Riley!

Happy 6th birthday to our fur baby Riley! We got donuts from Top Pot and gave the birthday boy just a little bite! We love our birthday boy!

Father’s Day 2016!

Hello everyone! I wanted to share our Father’s Day this year (I know it’s kinda late). It’s just fun to look back on how we spent our day celebrating with the family. My Dad passed away 3 years ago (Happy Father’s day in Heaven Pa), so it’s just my Dad IL,and my brother(he’s in the Philippines though) who I get to celebrate Fathers day. We had a simple dinner at home for my DIL. My husband went to the asian market and got lots of goodies for his Dad! It’s dangerous if I send Hubs alone to get groceries because he doesn’t stick to my list and blows my grocery budget! My DIL wanted some clams and mussels, so we cooked some in butter and white wine, along with some crabs, some sushi (fresh geoduck and uni), and wagyu steak (so DECADENT and worth the price, IMO). It was a nice sunny Sunday afternoon too,so we had dinner out on our patio. Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s out there (a belated one!).

Hubs made watermelon juice too!so refreshing and perfect on a summer night!

In laws Bday celebration!

Hello everyone! We celebrated my in-law’s bdays 2 weeks ago. We decided to do a late celebration due to previous commitments and other Holidays (Mother’s day). We ended up spending mother’s day this year with my husband’s grandmother. The b-day celebration dinner took place at a local steak house in our neighborhood (Jaks Grill) and my MIL requested that my husband bake her a chocolate cake for her bday. After dinner we had the cake and coffee at home, just hanging out and relaxing. Happy Birthday (belated one!) to my MIL and DIL, I’m so grateful for what they both do for our family.

2016_05_23_DSC_7552 — Ina Garten recipe!

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2016_05_23_DSC_7536 — Auntie Puss and Riley Puss

2016_05_23_DSC_7540 — Mom In law Kathy and her havanese dog Lexi lulu!

2016_05_23_DSC_7548 — with our fur babies!

Vancouver Eats!

Hello friends! This post is a continuation of our Vancouver trip. We had a quick getaway so we weren’t able to dine at some of the restaurants we wanted to try (poor planning on our part too).

Our first night we had dinner at Lupo Restaurant (it’s an Italian resto) and just walking distance from our hotel (so convenient for us). According to our research it’s one of the top 5 places to dine in Vancouver. So off we went! We ordered Burrata and it was amazing! So creamy and out of this world goodness. We loved it so much that we asked our waitress where they get it (so we can go to that store and hoard burrata for ourselves), she said they get it from a supplier which gets it directly from Italy! It crushed our burrata dreams! We ordered ravioli and gnocchi (for the hubs) it was good food but pricey!

2016_05_01_DSC_7394 — Burrata with fresh tomatoes and balsamic glaze.

2016_05_01_DSC_7396 — Ricotta Gnocchi with pork cheeks (this sauce was pretty acidic)

2016_05_01_DSC_7398 — Mascarpone Polenta

2016_05_01_DSC_7399 — This was their special that night, ravioli with short ribs!

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2016_05_01_DSC_7405 — ambiance was cozy, feels like you’re having dinner at a friends house!

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Nero Belgian Waffle Bar

We had brunch in this small waffle place located at Robson Street. We kinda get lucky because the line wasn’t crazy when we got there, once we were seated the line got really crazy! If you’re in to waffles this place is a must! Just be ready to wait and be patient because this place is amazing and people line up.

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2016_05_01_DSC_7454 — I had the Banella waffle

2016_05_01_DSC_7458 — Brie Cheese waffle with walnuts and honey!

Cafe Crepes

The Hubs and I also wanted to eat some crepes before checking out Gastown. The crepes are tasty here, but the service took forever. I don’t understand why, it’s not like they’re serving steaks or complicated dishes. Good thing the crepes were really good!

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We also visited a Japanese restaurant that I honestly forgot the name of:

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Had Ramen one late night!

Tried Vancouver’s best cheesecake:

2016_05_01_DSC_7439 — the famous Soft Peaks at Gastown!

2016_05_01_DSC_7443 — I kinda agree that this is one of the best cheesecake I’ve had!

Footo Croissant and Tim Hortons before coming home!

Till Next time Vancouver!

Vancouver, Canada!

Hi friends! It’s been a while since my last post, got a little busy here and did a little get away with the Hubs to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Two weeks ago, we spent 4 days in Vancouver, Canada. It’s just 3 hours drive from our place (plus more depending on the traffic). We’ve been to Vancouver a couple of times before. We really like the city. It reminds us of Seattle, but a lot bigger. We mostly relaxed and did a few “touristy” things like visited Gas town, Stanley Park and window shopping at Robson St. We stayed at Rosedale on Robson. We really liked the location because it’s so accessible to downtown Vancouver. Till Next time Vancouver!

2016_05_01_DSC_7391 — we had a mini kitchen!

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2016_05_01_DSC_7431 — The famous Steam Clock at Gas town!

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2016_05_01_DSC_7512 — Forgot the name of the place, but this is where their soccer games are held!

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Gotta have Tim Hortons when you’re in Canada!

8 years of Married life!

Hi Friends! Happy Wednesday! Yesterday, the Hubs and I celebrated 8 years of married life. Wow! It seems like it was just yesterday that we had our simple and intimate wedding at a Chapel in New York City (less than 25 family and friends were there). I’m so blessed to be married to a guy that I don’t just love but actually really like. I like spending time with my Hubs, and planning our future together. I just can’t imagine life without him. I’m so grateful to the Lord for the gift of a Christ centered marriage ( we strive to have this) and a loving husband, I don’t take this blessing for granted because I know not all marriages are like this. Successful marriages don’t just happen, it takes works! Thank you, God!

I told my Hubs,not to get me flowers because I’d rather have food. HA! He stopped at Costco to get us pizza and sundae that we shared during lunch. The Krispy kremes were a personal request from me! We didn’t do any grand celebration (just dinner at our fave place) but we plan to have a little road trip later this month to have a fun get away and “celebrate” the special occasion.

For dinner, we went to our local fave restaurant Flat Iron Grill. We really didn’t want to go to Bellevue or Seattle just for dinner. The traffic isn’t worth it. We like Flat Iron Grill because the food is great and the service is even better. It’s always a bonus when we can support our local businesses too.

Top sirloin steak with goat cheese polenta (pretty Good!)

Happy Easter!

Hi friends! Long time no hear from me (it’s been a busy March here). Anyways, Happy Easter! As a Christian, we celebrate today as resurrection Sunday. The day that Jesus rose from the grave. He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Thank You Jesus for what you’ve done for our sake, we are so unworthy yet you died for us all. The greatest love story that the whole world will ever know!

After our easter service, the Hubs and I together with our In laws had brunch at Embassy suites hotel (a Hilton affiliated hotel) we’ve been going to this brunch buffet for a couple of years now except last year (they had to renovate, so they closed the buffet section). The buffet had a decent selection but I was disappointed today because their meat (their beef, and lamb) was really dry. Their bread wasn’t very good too. Poor Hubs and Dad In law, they both love bread. The ambiance and the service was great though!

I hope that you had a lovely Easter weekend with your family and friends! I’m off to watch College basketball here. The Hubs is enjoying his Sunday nap, together with our fur baby, Riley! Have a great evening friends.

Valentine’s 2016!

Hi Friends! Happy Hearts day to you and I hope it’s one lovely day with the special people in your life. On Valentines evening, we had dinner with my In laws at SEASTAR restaurant and raw bar (Bellevue location). Originally we wanted to do the Canlis restaurant but it was fully booked (I guess you have to book months in advance for this kind of place). Seastar was also a good recommendation from my In law’s friends so we didn’t mind (especially since it is also owned by Chef John Howie). I was looking forward to this dinner because based from what I’ve read it’s one of the BEST restaurants in Bellevue. It was our first time, so I kinda had high expectations when it comes to a Chef John Howie restaurant. Anyways, the place was spacious, ambiance was great, our server was very knowledgeable she answered every question my DIL had. We enjoyed our appetizers, they were all amazing especially the deviled eggs. Our entrees were good (nice presentation too) but to be honest VERY pricey for the portion we got. I guess you have to bring LOTS of money dining here. We’ll be back again for sure.

Some pictorials while waiting for the In Laws!

OOTD action going on: Loft dress, F21 coat, kate spade bag, target booties

Deviled eggs:salmon gravlax,wasabi tobiko,tangerine,dill. We also got the ahi tartare,bacon, roasted onion,truffle oil.

Maytag blue cheese pear salad (this was good)

I ordered: Sesame-Peppercorn Crusted Ahi (jasmine rice cake,snow peas,ginger soy reduction,wasabi creme)

My DILs order: Cedar Plank roasted wild King Salmon (Chef Howie’s famous salmon rub,smoked broccoli,citrus rice with wheat berries

my MIL and SIL ordered the same thing: seared scallops with beet risotto

For Valentines day we had a casual and lazy time, watched Kdrama (thank you Netflix!), did some errands and had dinner at our fave local Italian place.

Normally we don’t give Vday gifts to each other but this year Hubs and I gave each other gifts. He got me a Henri Bendel bag (my fave bag brand!) and I gave him massage “coupons” worth 4 hours, which he already availed 1 hour of it (way before VDAY!!)..HA!!

Riley thought it was one busy VDAY weekend, and he needs his beauty sleep!