NEW52-Week27-Ted's Bakery and Morimoto Waikiki

So the real reason why I had to join the gym is because I love to eat.  This week's NEW 52 post is a very sharp contrast in the types of dining options on Oahu.  On Sunday, we ate at Ted's Bakery for breakfast/lunch.  Ted's is a bakery, you order at the counter, then sit outside to eat.  Very simple, no table services, very casual.  The kind of place one would go after surfing the north shore.  So we stopped off at Ted's on our way home from Turtle Bay.  I had the local moco (rice, hamburger, raw egg, and gravy).  The local moco is a classic dish probably only found in Hawaii.  Well I had to say that this was one of the best loco mocos I ever had.  The gravy was perfect!  To make myself feel better, I had it with brown rice.  Here is a quick photo (below).  Tate had the fried rice omlette but it wasn't really wasn't anything special worth photo or blogging about.  We passed on their yummy pies since we can get them at our local grocery store.  However, if you go, you need to eat their chocolate haupia pie.  My favorite!

Last night, we had our second NEW dining experience for the week.  We went to Morimoto Waikiki.  Yes, this is the new kitchen stadium of Iron Chef Morimoto.  It was one of our favorite dining of all time.  Tate liked it better than Chef Mavro's.  It was like having a familiar Japanese meal with a twist.  Let me just show you . . .

So for appetizers, we had the toro tartare.  It had the toro sashimi smeared on a wooden block and you had a choice of different things to top it (nori, cream cheese, wasabi, maui onion, avocado, and rice crackers).  This was a perfect way to start the meal.  Next, we had the kakuni.  This a a piece of pork belly that has been cooked for 10 hours.  It was so soft and full of flavor.  The third appetizer that we ordered was the wagyu carpaccio.  This was probably everyone's favorite meal of the night.  It was raw wagyu beef that was in a sauce of hot oil, ginger, and yuzu.  It was also my first time eating totally raw meat and I was so happily surprised.  For our entrees, my mom ordered the surf and turf.  She said her steak was even better than Ruth Chris Steakhouse.  The turf potion was ahi poke (raw fish).  It had a bonito foam on the top.  That was really cool.  My mom really loved her meal.  My dad, Tate, and I all ate the seafood toban yaki (lobster, crab, shrimp, scallops, clams, mussels in a spicy miso broth).  A little too spicy for dad, but Tate and I really enjoyed this meal.  I thought it was a really good deal at $43 for the quality and quantity of seafood that we got.

Morimoto Waikiki is located in the Edition Hotel.  This was the first time I even heard of the Edition.  It renovated and replaced the old Ilikai Hotel.  The Edition is really modern and classy.  We will need to plan our next staycation there.  Our waiter said that many movie stars and celebs frequent this hotel and he gets to serve them.  The Prince of Morocco was just there last night having a private party out on the outdoor lounge area.  Here are a few other photos from the night.  The only shot I didn't get was their gorgeous bathroom.  It was the nicest bathroom ever.

Here are my NEW layouts from the last few weeks.

This one shares highlights from our 4th of July celebration at Turtle Bay.

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NEW52-Week26 - play kitchen accessories

Just a quick post to share our NEW52 for week 16.

As you know, last week Tate made Bostyn a NEW store.  So this week, he bought her accessories to complete her store/kitchen.  How cute is this Play Kitchen Accessory (4 pack) set from Play Kitchens.  It comes with a baking set, smoothy blender, toaster, and coffee maker.

Bostyn loves playing with this set as it includes some fruits and butter, makes me coffee each morning.  Speaking of making me coffee, she only puts the cup under the coffee make instead of the coffee pot.  Why, because I use a Keurig so she just copies what I do.

Have a great long 4th of July weekend, if living in the states.  We are off to a mini-staycation at the Turtle Bay Resort.  Today we are going to hang with some of Tate's co-workers at the pool then see the fireworks on Monday night.

Favorite Things

Gennifer Bursett just released a new kit, Favorite Things and Summer Love photoshop action.  I love the action for all my outdoor photos.  It easily gives my photos a nice vintage looks by just adjusting the opacity.  Here is a kit preview for Favorite Things and Summer Love.

Now here are 3 layouts I whipped out yesterday.  I had so much fun creating with them.  Thanks Gen!

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Gen also has a freebie paper pack, Gidget and matching rub on alphas.  I can't wait to scrap a little more beachy photos with this kit.  Isn't it cool!

See you all later with layouts using Gidget and my NEW52 post.

NEW52-Week25, new store, food, friend, and gym

When this week was approaching, I moaned thinking there really wouldn't be anything NEW to blog about.  Boy, was I wrong!  However, this week involved nothing mind-blowing but just simple things for a little girl.  For weeks now, Bostyn had been asking for a store.  I showed her a sample "store" from a catalog and since then that is all she wanted.  So instead of buying one, Tate wanted to build it himself.  So this week, Tate was able to finish it up with a nice coat of lavender paint (picked by Bostyn of course).  I made a little open sign to hang from her cash register.  I still need to "pretty" it up a bit, labels, and such, but for now Bostyn can play in her NEW store for hours.

We also went to a keiki swap meet at our local Children's Discovery Center and picked up this Melissa & Doug cut and play food set.  Such a simple thing, delights and entertains Bostyn.  She loves this NEW addition to her store.  The best thing is that it only cost us $4.

Many of my family (even my husband) mock me for having online "friends."  Many times, these online friends turn into real friends, like Stevie.  I first "met" Stevie when I was on Sue Cumming's creative team.  Since then, Stevie and I have kept in touch via facebook and pinterest.  One day, I made a comment about this cool looking shower curtain line which someone used as a child's art gallery.  However, I wasn't able to buy it since it was from IKEA and they don't ship to Hawaii.  Stevie graciously offered to pick it up and mail it to me.  What a dear!  Tate knew my excitement about this NEW thing for me, he quickly put it up the very day I received it in the mail.

Another NEW for the week, was 24 Hours gym membership for Tate and I.  So far, I tried 2 NEW classes.  I took a spinning and zumba class for the very first time.  I also had my first day with a personal trainer this morning.  I'm feeling great and can't wait to see a slight summer transformation.

Tate took this week off and we spent yesterday morning at Ala Moana Beach.  Here is a quick photo of Bostyn.  I love her little Roxy bikini.  When I put it on her, she told me "this my bra, mommy?"  You know there will be layouts to follow.  I got quite a few good shots, finally.

See you all next week.

NEW52 - Week24, cloud, apps, and Kahalu'u Fish Pond - edited

Sorry, so much NEW going on.  A very simple one, was my very first visit to the Apple App Store.  I'm not a very techie person so I thought I was getting some NEW apps for bostyn to play on her itouch.  However, I learned that these apps were full applications for use on my mac desktop or macbook.  Well, I love what I got.  My favorite thing was an app called cloud, which is an on-line file sharing services.  So far, I tested it out with sending some photos and small documents.  Pretty cool and simple.  I can't wait until apple releases their iCloud in the fall.  Not sure what the differences would be yet.  I would love to have a template ready for you and share via the cloud.  Maybe next week?

Some other apps include tap colors, which is a very addicting game.  I love that they don't really tell you how to play the game you just have to just try it out for yourself.  Simply, just fill up the screen with only one color.  It keeps track of how many moves you did and if you did more than the "par" then you lose.  If you make the "par" then you move onto the next level.  Here is my current screen shot, I'm on level 50.

Since I was actually in the app store looking for games for bosytn, I came upon Grimm's Rapunzel.  This is an interactive pop-up book.  Kids can read it themselves or have it read to them.  Then you can do little actions like water the garden and watch the flowers grow.  Here is a screen shot of one of the pages.

On Saturday, we went to a wedding for Tate's cousin at Kahalu'u Fish Pond.  This was my first time ever visiting this fish pond.  It was a beautiful location for an outdoor wedding.

Another photo of the bride and groom, they make a beautiful couple

Just a few NEW layouts to share

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NEW52 - Week23, paper layout

So what was NEW with me this week, I did a real paper double page layout.  This was not all too NEW to me but something I haven't done in a long time, especially a double pager.  If I did paper, it was to help Bostyn do her own page.  Finally it was time for me to dig my hands in it for a bit.  I've even painted/stamped the title, a technique that was NEW for me.  Actually, what motivated me was these cute pictures of Bostyn at the zoo and this perfect kit to go with.  I also went on to the Reminisce website for some creative ideas and saw they were having a sketch challenge.  I couldn't resist a challenge, so here is my page.

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Patterned Paper and Stickers:  At the Farm by Reminisce

Alpha Stamp:  ?  Found deep in my stash

Solid Papers:  ?  Again deep in my stash

Here are my digi pages for the week:

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NEW52-Week 22, 50th State Fair + Summer Book

On Sunday, we took Bostyn to the 50th State Fair.  I haven't been to a carnival in years.  I think the last time I went to a carnival was back when I was in college living in Oregon.  So the concept of going to a carnival was not NEW, I did manage to try some NEW things.  For one, I tried a deep fried twinkie.  I actually shared it with my friend, so my hips don't hate me all that much.  I also tried a NEW ride.  I was an idiot mom to take Bostyn with me.  It didn't look bad at all but the drop really scared her and she was trembling in my arms the whole time.  I hope I didn't scare her off rides completely.  Here are some photos from the fair.

So, I've been in a complete crafting mood lately.  I've been secretly stashing chipboard, cute mini file guides, and binder clips.  So what am I going to do with all of these things?  I don't know yet, but my creative urges are going strong.  So strong that I decided to buy a Summer Book from Elise Joy (esty shop) to document this summer.  I'm already planning on putting some photos and letters that I received from my students, as this is how I like to start my summer (closing out the school year and giving students a fond farewell).  I will also add photos and things from the fair.  I can't wait to get started.  You can read and watch videos about Elise's progress on her book here.  It is so very inspirational.  I could have easily put my own book together because I do have tons of paper, but I didn't have that cute cover stamp but most of all, it would never get done.  This way, I will be more likely to actually finish it.  I'll even keep you posted on my progress over the summer, just for accountability purposes.

See you all next week!