Skeptickle

The story that led to us choosing Café Primavera as our caterer is actually quite uncustomary. I started searching for a good but (relatively) affordable caterer after we changed our date. Only two caterers that I talked to who were on the Nestldown preferred vender list fit within our price range. There were a couple more that dropped the ball and didn’t get back to me so I assumed that they didn’t need our business. One of the people I got a hold of was Erika of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme catering. She met with us at a Starbucks and went over what they were about and asked us a lot of questions about the types of food we like and what we imagined things to be like for our wedding. She answered my prepared list of questions very professionally.

We scheduled a tasting at Nestldown while another wedding was going on, which I guess is standard for them. Sorry no pictures of that tasting, but it’s pretty much the same as the one for Cafe Primavera, except PSRT didn’t let us try the vegetarian dish. The food was delicious, but what totally blew us away was their homemade ginger ale. It was the best ginger ale we’ve ever had, with fresh bits of ginger floating in it. We seriously drank a whole bottle of it by the end of the tasting. So we were pretty set: good food, good ginger ale, and we really enjoyed working with Erika. I kept attempting to get a hold of Continental Caterers because they initially responded to my queries but they seemed too busy to get back to me when I was trying to schedule a meeting.

So we sat on making a catering decision because we knew it would be wiser to try out at least one other place before signing a contract. About a month went by and then Erika emailed us to tell us she was leaving PSRT and will be working at Cafe Primavera. Our file will be transferred to someone else within the company and they will be taking care of us from then on. I was both surprised and curious. I asked her more about the company she will be working for. She was reluctant to tell me about them because she didn’t want it to seem like she’s trying to steal clients (which she wasn’t, it was all my own doing). In the end, I convinced her to let us try the food at Cafe Primavera to quench my own curiosity.

Review of Cafe Primavera after the jump

Continue reading My Experience with Wedding Caterers

Rabbit's Foot Meadery

So after I kidnapped the hubs from work, we headed straight to Rabbit’s Foot Meadery in Sunnyvale. The owner, Maria was sweet enough to let us have a tasting even though it was late in the day. We tried 3 different meads, a chocolate raspberry port, three cysers, and three ales. I liked everything we tried and we made out with bottles of both a sweet and a dry mead.

We then set off to a tea shop and got educated on all the various teas. The shop specialized in Taiwan oolong and aged Pu-erh tea. We got a set of teas to try with the cast-iron teapot we found in Chinatown awhile ago. Since we had a late reservation at Chez TJ, we walked around for a bit and wandered into a fish store. They had some of the coolest fish and other animals to look at including this itty bitty shark:

Shark Purse w/ cute baby shark inside!

Chez TJ Review after the jump

Continue reading Rob’s Birthday and Chez TJ Review

To the cutest, most lovable person I know…

There’s no one else I’d rather share an overpriced Pink Starburst Jamba smoothie with, let alone my entire life with. Here’s to many many many more birthdays to come!

Picture from Andrea of Andrea'sRecipes on Flickr

I made this soup last night when we had a friend over to watch the season finale of Lost. It’s one of my favorite recipes because it’s versatile, easy to make, and absolutely delish! It’s really a conglomeration of different tortilla soup recipes I found around the internets and suited to fit my tastes (aka spicy!). Let me know what you think! 

**Warning: this soup is very spicy! To make a milder version, reduce or omit the smoked paprika and/or jalapeno peppers.**

Key:

T= Tablespoon

t= teaspoon

Ingredients:

• 2 T olive oil
• 1-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs and/or breasts, cut into 1″ cubes
• 1/2 T cumin*
• 1 T coriander*
• 1/2 t smoked paprika*
• 1 bay leaf
• 5-6 sprigs of thyme*
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup corn
• 2 fire-roasted red bell peppers, diced
• 1/4 cup canned jalapeno, diced
• 2 T tomato paste
• 1 (15oz) can crushed or diced tomatoes (preferably fire roasted)
• 2 qt chicken stock
• S&P*

*or substitute with 5 T poultry seasoning 

You can also add carrots, celery, okra, bacon, or black beans to make a heartier soup. 

Topping suggestions:

• lime juice
• diced avocado or guacamole
• shredded cheese (pepper jack or cheddar are best)
• chopped cilantro 
• scallions
• sour cream
• crushed tortilla chips (of course!)

Heat the oil in a dutch oven or soup pot on medium heat. Sauté the onions until translucent and toss in chicken pieces and all herbs and spices (cumin, coriander, paprika, thyme, bay leaf, and S&P). Stir occasionally so the chicken cooks evenly. When chicken is browned evenly on all sides, pour in the chicken stock and turn heat to high. When soup reaches a boil, throw in the rest of the ingredients (bell peppers, jalapeno, tomato paste, tomatoes). Stir to dissolve tomato paste. Bring temperature down to medium heat and simmer for 15-30 minutes. Pour into separate bowls when ready and add desired toppings. Serve with some cornbread. Enjoy!

Admittedly, I had entertained the thought of having a baby back in high school because it was a dark and lonely time for me. I  had thought that a baby would complete parts of my life that were lacking, like companionship, unconditional love, and something meaningful to spend my time on. Haha, it didn’t take long for me to find out through others with experience that that’s not always the case. In fact, having a baby can drain the life out of you and severely limit opportunities if you’re not well prepared. I don’t think that I would have done it anyway even if I were given the opportunity to, but I still idealized it at that point in my life.

Which brings me to a point I would like to make about why I’m not quite ready yet. I’m still young and not quite accomplished, so I do not want to be one of those mothers that have children just to fulfill their own wants and needs, either real or illusory. I don’t want to live vicariously through my kids just because I wasn’t able to do what I wished to do before I have them. I don’t want to resent them because they took two decades worth of my life away. I certainly don’t want to force my kids to be overachievers so that I can have something to flaunt and brag about as an indirect reflection of myself. These types of mothers have not grown up themselves and are unable to make the sacrifices necessary to support their children as similar but separate entities.

Rob and I sometimes joke around about one of our kids becoming an engineer/programmer and the other an artist/civil servant, but we really couldn’t care less if that didn’t end up being the case. I mean honestly, who doesn’t fantasize about their kinds growing up to become cooler, better versions of themselves? Notice I used the word “fantasy” instead of the word “expectation”. Big difference! But I think a lot of Asian parents get them mixed up anyhow.

This does not mean that I want to be the opposite kind of mother who is very hands-off and neglects their kids, but I will at least allow them to fail once in awhile. To let them know it’s okay to fail and the lessons that can come from it. I wish that I had that growing up because now I have the problem of only picking things to try when I know I’d be successful at it and taking failure very harshly.

I want to make sure I’m emotionally and mentally ready, but it may take years of reversing past damages to get there. It also takes time to save up enough and do enough research for us to feel safe on making that next step.