Ed – Page 11 – thosecoolkims

Christmas 2008 at the Faceys – another perfect Christmas!

After a wonderful Christmas Eve at our house with Ed’s family, we spent Christmas at Carrie’s parents’ house, with Eric, Shirley, the Facey kids, Debbie, Taylor, and Millie coming in from Perris. As has been the case since we’ve been married, we had yet another wonderful Christmas day filled with holiday joy, great food, and quality family time – especially with the Facey kids!

We got to Larry and Mary Anne’s house a little before Eric’s family rolled in, so we went to town right away with our presents. We got so many cool things, not the least of which was our choice of a musical theater show in 2009, complete with dinner! Eric and Shirley got the same thing, so we’ll most likely make it a double date!

Here’s us with a very cool cocktail book (accompanied by what is quickly becoming a new tradition – two cool new martini glasses!):

And here’s Larry and Mary Anne with our present for Larry – a really cool Disney Christmas tree skirt. We were pleased to hear from Mary Anne that Larry had been eyeing it for the past couple of years, so we’re glad he’s now the happy owner of it!

Here’s us with a very cool cocktail book (accompanied by what is quickly becoming a new tradition – two cool new martini glasses!):

And then the Facey kids arrived!

Our present to the Facey kids was a weekend with us where we’ll take them to a cooking class. In the meantime, we got them these aprons, paint markers, and a Ratatouille cookbook to get them ready for the experience! We can’t wait!

We got Eric and Shirley a framed history of the Facey name. Hey, you gotta know where you’ve been to know where you’re going!

Jordan, ever working her way up to Master Magician status, got this great book of magic tricks! She took great care not to let any of us look inside the book – a magician must keep her trade a secret!

Here’s Kendall with one of her presents – a Disney cook book! Oh yes, those Facey kids are going to be master chefs in not too long…

And here’s Ella with some cute new duds:

Wow, there’s no doubt they share the same genes, huh? Look at the chin, cheeks, eyes, and eyebrows!

We have no pics of it, but Kendall is growing more and more into a lady each time we see her. She got a cellphone this Christmas! Pretty grown up, if you ask us!

Here’s Ed with the Facey kids (minus Ella)!

How cool is this? The girls (minus Ella) all got watches that look just like Auntie Carrie’s!

And the festive placesettings for dinner:

Ella’s expression here is priceless. Do you think she was having a good time?

Mikayla took this photo of us. Hmm…does she have a future as a photographer? Great pic!

Great pic of Carrie and her dad!

Ed and Mikalya!

Merry Christmas, everyone! We wish everyone a peaceful and wonderful 2009 too.

Christmas 2008!

The Olde Ship is jolly good!

It’s often been said that English food is bland, tasteless, and boring. As we found out on our honeymoon, however, it’s simply not true. Actually, English cuisine just tastes so familiar to the mainstream American palate. Meat, potatoes, overcooked vegetables, fries (ok, “chips” in English parlance), lots of gravy! In any case, we were feeling nostalgic for England. Why? Who knows? Maybe it’s the fact that we just got two Christmas cards from our distant relatives in Exeter and Devon. Or maybe it’s just because our honeymoon in England two years back was such a proper jolly good time and the memories of the trip randomly came back into our heads. Well, no matter, because we needed no excuse to have a proper English meal.

The Olde Ship in Fullerton is the real deal, or at least as real as it’s going to get Stateside. It’s staffed by real subjects of the Queen and really does look and feel like the countless pubs we visited while during our honeymoon. For being in California, where we’re pretty accustomed to themed but obviously fake facades on many buildings, this one looks and feels like England, both inside and out.

Was it good? Is the Queen Mother’s favorite color baby blue? Of course! Ed had steak and kidney pie with a Newcastle, and as you can see here, Ed enjoyed it VERY much. So full of meat and gravy goodness.

Here’s Ed admiring the dish he’s about to eat:

The excitement is building…

And a closeup:

That’s some grubbing!

And what about Carrie? There was no way she could say “no” to fish and chips! That was definitely our favorite pub food while we were in England. So, here’s Carrie smiling with excitement:

And the closeup. Mmmmmmm….

It’s good!!

We wish we had pics, but there was a pirate party going on in the bar. No kidding. There were about 30 adults all dressed as pirates. And we’re not talking cheap and cheesy costumes; many of these people went all out! They were singing Christmas songs with lyrics adapted to the pirate lifestyle. It was surreal, and we never did find out what the occasion for the pirate party was. Or, maybe they’re actually pirates and this was a normal, usual night out for them.

In any case, we highly recommend a visit. It’s super fun, and the food is undeniably authentic!

Out with a bang!

So we had to finish off our fab adventures in Buenos Aires with a proper culinary sendoff. So what better way than to finish it off at El Bistro, the in-house restaurant at the renowned Faena Hotel + Universe?

What’s Faena? Well, Alex Faena is sort of the Donald Trump of Argentina, but with considerably more taste, style, and flair. The Faena Hotel’s interior was designed by none other than Philippe Starck, one of our favorite designers. On many of our vacations, we’ve sought out his hotels – we’ve been to the Clift in San Francisco, the Delano in Miami, and now Faena in Argentina! Ironically, one that we haven’t visited is the Mondrian, which is right in our backyard in L.A.

Anyways, this was one stylin’ and upper crust meal. We’ve seen chefs prepare “foam” on Top Chef & the Food Network all the time, but this was the first time we got to actually try not 1, but 3! – during this meal (in between courses). And, as you can see above, the space is striking. It’s ornate, but nearly ALL in white with red accents peppered throughout. And the food and wine? Exquisite. Here’s a sampling of the amazing setting in which we dined:

Oh, as a little bonus, after dinner we walked outside the hotel and saw a monument to Juan Manuel Fangio, one of history’s greatest racing drivers and of course an Argentine. His heyday was in the 1950s when he drove Formula 1 for Mercedes-Benz. Here’s Ed posing next to the statue.

We leave first thing in the morning, returning back home. Buenos Aires is a most captivating and gorgeous city, one that will remain with us for a long time. Adios, Buenos Aires!

Tiempo para la parilla!

Argentina is known for many things, not least of which is its beef. And there’s nowhere better to eat your Argentinian beef than at a parilla, or grill, as we English speakers call it.

Luckily for us, our hotel is only a few blocks away from one of the best parillas in town, La Dorita. This unpretentious grill is muy autentico, with a bewildering array of available cuts of beef all grilled up to perfection. It attracts people from all walks of life – we saw families, stylish hipsters, seniors, businesspeople…anyone and everybody.

Here’s Ed with his bife de chorizo, not to be confused with Mexican sausage, but rather the Argentinian term for sirloin. Now THAT’S a hunk of meat!

And here’s Carrie with her half portion of bife de lomo, or what we call tenderloin. Can you believe that’s a half portion?!?

But one of our favorite things at La Dorita wasn’t even the food, as delicious as it was. It was this steaklover’s take on The Last Supper. It was hanging on the wall next to us. Oh yes.

Why break bread when you can chow bife and drink malbec with 12 of your closest pals?

We’ve arrived in Buenos Aires!!!

After a very long trip (two 6 and a half hour flights and a detour at a slummy hotel for one night), we are finally here at Hotel Home in beautiful Buenos Aires, Argentina! We look forward to some amazing times and will have lots and lots to write about in the coming days.

We did want to share just a few images from our journey and our first moments here.

Here’s us on the plane:

Ed had a beer on the plane, of which the slogan is (in Spanish) “It is what it is”. Truth in advertising, we guess, especially since the beer was about the quality of Natural Light!:

We arrived and checked into our temporary first night digs, a shady “Embassy Suites” that has no relation to the Embassy Suites we know at home. We only stayed here overnight because our arrival into the city was after the front desk at Hotel Home closed at 11pm. It’s here that we really became aware of those little differences one notices when traveling abroad.

Check this toilet for example:

We spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to flush the darn thing! Finally, we found that the flush button was inexplicably hidden in the shower. Why? We don’t know!

After being flummoxed with the toilet, we decided it was time to get some food. We ate at a nice little restaurant down the street and enjoyed a nice bottle of wine. Perfect way to settle in.

Now we’re checked into Hotel Home, a BEAUTIFUL boutique hotel where we’ll stay for the duration of our visit. Let the adventures begin!