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Kim Family Christmas Eve

Tonight we hosted Christmas Eve for the Kims, and everything was just perfect! We enjoyed good food, great conversation, a lot of laughs and some pretty cool gifts!

To start things off, we had to get the ambiance right. Here’s a few shots of our cozy Christmas setting:

I decided to make some little place cards for everybody with some peppermint sticks (because I’m nerdy like that):

And everybody really liked them!

The menu this evening was pretty simple – Ed’s mom, Kay, made a beautiful leafy greens salad with mango and raspberries (It was gorgeous!). We made the ham, my mom’s scalloped potatoes (Ed’s favorite), asparagus and wild rice. And for dessert, Ed’s aunt Grace brought a yummy cake from the Korean bakery! This cake is a big favorite of ours, it’s this very light cake with tons of fresh fruit on it … kiwis, pineapple, strawberries and oranges. Yum! Ed did most of the cooking this year, and it was delicious!

That’s a ham alright:

Preppin’ the asparagus:

Glazing the ham:

After dinner, we moved on to the gift exchange. I got a kick out of seeing Ed’s uncle, Luke, sitting on the floor, surrounded by tissue paper and presents. He looked just like a little kid!

The funniest gift of the evening went to Aunt Grace. Ed’s dad bought her a battery-operated megaphone! She’s quite the mover and shaker – she’s VERY active in many organizations and she heads up so many committees – so she needs her voice to be heard!

This year is a big year for Ed’s dad – he is turning 70 on January 1st. I thought that with the start of a new decade, he might enjoy a new “look” for his business. So I designed 3 different comps of a logo, business cards, letterhead and envelopes for him to choose from. I think it was a hit!

For some reason I didn’t catch Kay opening a gift, so here’s a shot of Ed & I with his mom:

All in all, it was wonderful evening. We thoroughly enjoy hosting Christmas Eve for The Kims! Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve 2008

EARTHQUAKE!

It’s been awhile since our last significant earthquake here in L.A. It wasn’t so surprising – afterall, we’ve been having what’s been deemed “earthquake weather” for just about a month now. Carrie’s office was approximately 13 miles from the epicenter – and she was definitely rockin’ & rollin’ in the Fullerton/Brea neighborhood. Ed’s office in Tustin is only about 18 miles away – and he was definitely shakin’ too. But all is well, and we’re happy that all of our friends and family are fine – that’s the important part!

While we did okay at work, the real surprise was when we got home – our little place in Long Beach really was a mess! We are sad to report that we lost some of those great wedding gifts we received … wine glasses, beer steins, glass trays and picture frames. Cupboards were jostled, drawers were disheveled, and there were 2 very frightened cats! Nothing major, just a big, inconvenient mess! But that’s about all.

Ricki, “hiding” behind the curtains.

Sophia, underneath the laundry basket.

Our bedroom: The aftermath.

Glass & olive oil – not a fun combo to clean up, just ask Ed!

Christmas Eve with The Kims!

This year was the 2nd annual Kim Family Christmas Eve Dinner here at our house, and we had a blast. We really enjoy putting on dinner for our family and we like seeing how excited they get over our preparations. :) It was nice and cozy – a party of 6. Ed’s Dad, Mom, Aunt and Uncle all were in attendance and it was a really nice time.

First, we got the table ready. We like to make make it look Christmas-y, but still in our signature modern aesthetic. Here’s this years table setting:

Then, off to the kitchen. Both of us enjoy the cooking!

Carrie works on her signature antipasto salad …

The final product!

Ed prepares the scalloped potatoes … (thanks to Carrie’s mom for the recipe!)

About to go in the oven!

Tonights menu consisted of:
Ham (we’ve never made a ham before, it turned out pretty well!)
Scalloped Potatoes
Garlic Green Beans
Antipasto Salad

and …

Peppermint Chocolate Sundaes for dessert!

Afterwards, we enjoyed lots of coffee, a great political discussion, and of course – the gift exchange…

Dad is happy about his digital photo frame/clock/calendar/radio combo!

Aunt Grace got a pretty hip shirt …

We had a lovely time and are so happy to have our family enjoy the holiday with us in our home.

Merry Christmas!

Korean Cooking Lesson, number one.

Yesterday we went to Mom’s for a wonderful lesson in Korean cooking. The goal was to learn how to make bulgogi, which is a most scrumptiously marinated, thin, flank-type steak. It’s delicious. We were anxious to learn – Carrie’s gotta know how to make the husband’s comfort food, and Ed enjoys cooking too! In true Korean-mom fashion, she prepared an enormous lunch first before the cooking began – but we certainly weren’t complaining!

Bulgogi ended up being a lot easier to make than we thought…it’s basically onions, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, and more green onions! We made so much that mom insisted we take home 2 large tupperware boxes full of individually bagged portions. We’re knee-deep in bulgogi now, so ya’ll come on over and try it before we end up with record setting cholesterol from eating red meat everyday! We had a great time though and we really enjoyed the lesson.

Here is tonight’s dinner:

That’s the bulgogi in the bowl, on top of rice. To the right, we have bindedduk, which are Korean pancakes made out of egg, onions, kimchi and seafood…and the green stuff is our favorite: sauteed spinach.

Look at Ed…so happy!

Carrie feels pretty proud of herself – yum!

Elfa Evolution: Complete!

Well, we’re finally finished with the closet. While it didn’t turn out exactly as we’d hoped, we still think we did a real good job. Bottom line is, we’re real people with a considerable amount of stuff. Although we try and maintain a “minimalist” household, we’ve still got things we like to use and really do not want to get rid of. But the goal was met – to get the space to serve as more efficient and practical storage. So now for the pics…

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Just to keep with the documentation of the process…here’s where we began this morning:

The Elfa system works by installing a top piece, and then everything hangs from it:

Ed assembling the sliding drawer system:

Starting to take shape:

Installation is complete!

Well, here’s where we decided we’ve got too much stuff! And we even sorted through everything more than twice! Oh well, at least everything has got its place. And Carrie’s dream – to have an organized easy way of accessing all of her varying paper – has been granted!

Our solution to solve the overloaded appearance of the space was to hang some curtains. We had an extra shower curtain rod, so we butted it up underneath the lip of the top of the closet and hung them. It’s working for now!

How’d we do? :)