Tag: friends

The Great FOODCATION of 2010!

About 6 months ago, we were having dinner with our dearest friends, The Hammonds, and we were talking about Wade’s big 40th Birthday that was coming up this year. Wade and his talents are no stranger to our blog – not only is he one of our fellow 4 Foodies, he’s also a self-taught gourmet chef who has prepared many amazing meals for us! (Check out his incredible skills on the Summer Tasting Menu he prepared, as well as Brittany’s Birthday Truffle Dinner!) He came to the conclusion that there was no better way to bring in his 40th year than to head up north to both Napa & San Francisco to eat at some of the best Michelin-star rated restaurants possible! Lucky for us – we were invited! We happily accepted and thus began the planning for a most epic adventure – The Great FOODCATION of 2010.

Wade planned out a great itinerary … here are the places we’ll be visiting:

Monday 5/10 – Napa/Yountville
Dinner: Ad Hoc (Chef Thomas Keller)

Tuesday 5/11 – Napa/Yountville
Lunch: Redd
Terra Valentine Winery (Tour & Tasting)
Dinner: Bouchon (Chef Thomas Keller)

Wednesday 5/12 – San Francisco
Lunch: The Slanted Door
Dinner: Walzwerk (Ed’s Birthday Dinner request – East German cuisine)

Thursday 5/13 – San Francisco – Wade’s 40th Birthday!
Lunch: Boulevard
Ferry Building (For Snacks)
Dinner: Fleur De Lys (Chef Hubert Keller)

Friday 5/14 – San Francisco
Lunch: Luce

As you can see, this is no regular vacation! Ed and I decided this is the last time in a long, long time we’ll be able to do something this decadent, so we’re going for it!

Our first two days will be spent at the Glen Ellen Inn, which turned out to be super awesome! For just $129/night, we got hooked up with an incredible room! Here are a few photos of our “Secret Cottage” we borrowed from their website:

Double-sided Fireplace!
The "Living Room"
Bedroom
Jacuzzi Tub!

We are settled and comfy and will tell you all about the amazing dinner we had at Ad Hoc tonight very soon!

Ed runs the OC Half Marathon!

Looking good and ready to go at 3:45am!

After months of training and a lot of excitement & anticipation, Ed ran his 1st Half Marathon yesterday! I cannot even express how proud I was of him and his awesome achievement! He finished the 13.1 mile race in just over 2 hours (2:11:21, to be exact). As he approached the finish line, he barely even looked tired – he was smiling and even came to the sidelines to give us hugs and high-fives!

Ed said the course was beautiful. It began in Newport Beach at Fashion Island and ended at the Orange County Fairgrounds. Much of the course was along the water. He even took some photos with his iPhone as he ran! (Check out the photo album here)

We had a nice little cheering squad just past the 13 mile marker to watch Ed come in. Being a spectator at this event was super exciting, and very inspiring! Here’s a shot of Ed’s cheering squad:

Jarod, Danna, Kristen, Kay, Mary Anne, Larry, Carrie & Paul

And here’s Ed as he’s coming in – looking great!

Jarod even caught a video clip as Ed passed by us on his way to the finish line!

Yes – he does!!!

Thanks to everyone who came out – and to those who showed all the love & support even if they couldn’t be at the finish line. This was a great day for him and a great accomplishment!!! GO ED!

Check out more photos here:

Ed’s Half Marathon

Ed’s Half Marathon

Another Sunday Funday in Los Angeles

This past Sunday we headed up to Van Nuys for the annual Best of France and Italy car show. This show was basically Ed’s dream – it featured French and Italian cars mostly from the 1950s-1980s. It was not your typical car show! I have learned quite a bit through osmosis just by being with Ed for so long – so I must admit, I really enjoyed it too! Many of the cars you just wouldn’t see here in the States, and we were impressed by the variety and condition of the ones on display!


This little number was one of our favorites – a 70s model Citroen DS21! Ed and & I LOVE these cars. They look so space-age and so unique. Just a bonus that this car was red!

The DS models have these really cool lights on the back and just don’t look like any other car! We’d love to own one, but they are really tough to find stateside, and they are waaay out of the price range!

This is a fun 60s era ad for the Citroen – so space-age!
citroen2

Some other favorites were this Caravelle Convertible …

And, who could forget the Renault “Le Car”?!?

Then, as if Ed’s morning couldn’t get any better, he unexpectedly spotted his favorite car ever – an East German communist Trabant! These are extremely rare and even more random – this car had Hungarian plates!

Ed stands happily by the Trabi

After leaving Van Nuys, we decided to do something completely different – we headed down to Culver City to see Sanrio’s Three Apples art exhibition, which was celebrating 35 years of Hello Kitty!

three_apples_top

Hello Kitty was such a staple for girls in my generation growing up … the pencil cases, stickers, lip gloss, you name it – every little girl coveted their Hello Kitty stuff, and she’s certainly maintained her staying power through the ages! Three Apples was cool because in addition to showcasing TONS of HK merchandise throughout the years, they also had a lot of favorite low-brow artists showing work inspired by HK. The space was impressive and we had an awesome time!

Here are a few favorite art pieces from the show:

(L): Mermaid w/Hello Kitty by Gary Baseman, (R): Awesome Velvet Hello Kitty Elvis!


Tara McPherson’s HK piece


Loved the colors and “classical” twist to this one.


Crazy Lady Gaga Hello Kitty Portraits!


A darker side to HK

As I mentioned earlier, the show also did an entire product retrospective. All the stuff they had there was amazing! Our pictures don’t really do it justice – there were entire rooms just filled to the brim with stuff – but here are a few:

Notice the dress made of stuffed HK’s!


An obsolete “plug in” phone I would’ve loved as a kid! And, lots of HK sweet treats.

Just when our day couldn’t have possibly gotten more fun, we had dinner plans with our dear friends Britt & Wade. Wade was making us dinner – and when he cooks, its ALWAYS amazing! He ended up serving a beautiful salad and the tastiest beef stew we’d ever had!

Salad with greens, avocado, yellow and red tomatoes, onions and toasted walnuts = YUM!


An amazing Beef Stew to welcome the fall – who cares if it was 90 degrees that day? :)

And that concludes another Sunday Fun Day!

More Baby Shower Crafts!

On Saturday, I was lucky enough to be a part of Jennifer Shrier’s Baby Shower! I volunteered to make the favors, and we decided on making a CD. The theme of the baby shower was a Mama Bird/Baby Bird, “nesting” theme, so all of the tracks on the CD had to do with birds in some way. Here’s a few shots of how the favors turned out:


As usual, I also knew I wanted to make a diaper cake. Ever since I found out Jen was pregnant, I knew I wanted to buy her these kitty Mary Janes for the top of her cake! This is how it turned out:

Close-up of the shoes (available in grownup sizes, too!)

And of course, the amazing Joni Newman made the cake and the cupcakes. This was her first time using fondant, and I think she did an outstanding job! Joni can do anything she puts her mind to, and I am very proud to know her! Here’s a shot of her cake and cupcakes – all vegan and delicious!

Overall, it was a fantastic day. We all even got to make our own onesies at the shower! Our host Elizabeth Arzate had the great idea and she rounded up tons of fabric swatches, felt, stamps, paints, and ribbon for us all to make our own creation.

I stuck with my kitty theme:

And here are a bunch of others!

Our hostess with the mostess Elizabeth, along with the Mommy-to-be-Jennifer!

Congrats to Jen & Laurence – we love you guys & know you will be amazing parents!