Chocolate Confections

New Year, New Do?

2010-01-05T17:44:00.000-08:00

No matter how I combed Adlai's hair, it just wanted to stay up as if it's been applied with styling gel. So, I just left it like this as we went to his pediatrician for his 2-month check. His doctor commented on how stylish his hair was for a 2-month old.

Today, Adlai is 12 lbs. 15 ounces (just an ounce shy from 13 lbs.) and he's 24 inches long. He's now in the 50-75 percentile in weight and consistently in the 75 percentile in height. So far, he's gained 4 lbs. 4 ounces and 2 inches since he's last visit in late November.

Adlai

2009-12-04T17:56:00.000-08:00

This may be a little late to post but for those who didn't get an update, Adlai was born on October 24th. He weighed 8 lbs. and 20" long.

Here he is at 2 days old:

And this is his most recent photo:

Baby Ready?

2009-10-20T12:54:00.000-07:00

Today marks the beginning of my 38th week of pregnancy. So far I'm feeling good but a little slower in my walking/movement abilities. Last night I was still able to finish my regular 3-mile walk, so that's a good sign. I'm still able to sleep well through the night except that it bothers me when I have to roll from side to side or have to get up to go to the bathroom. I've never seen my hands and feet as fat-looking as they are now. And I feel like a big balloon!

A & I have taken birthing and baby preparation classes we need. We also got some expert breasfeeding session last weekend. Changing table is up, newborn clothes and accessories are all washed, hospital bags are almost stocked and ready. We've received our first delivery of cloth diapers making our room smell like baby.

Any day now...

Appointment Update @ 37 1/2 weeks

2009-10-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

So, A & I visited my OB yesterday. We were given updates on the H1N1 and the seasonal flu vaccines. I guess, it is highly recommended that I get one. However, I have a couple of weeks left before I pop this kiddo out that it sounded like it didn't make any sense to get one now. Apparently, it takes a couple of weeks before the vaccine takes effect.

As of yesterday, the kiddo is in position (head down) and I was already 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced. It would have been expected that I'd get nervous upon hearing those words but instead I lightened up and got super-excited. A seemed suspiciously calm upon hearing this.

We also discussed about our birth plan and despite the number of times the doctor mentioned "pain", I was not emotionally affected by it. I think the hypno-relaxation-endorphin-releasing birth CDs I've been listening is working. We'll know if it's really effective when the Day comes.

3 Years

2009-10-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

...since we got married on a perfect fall day in Vermont.

Still here...

2009-09-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

...and preggers!

I've practically missed blogging since the beginning of my pregnancy. There were a lot of activities going on and prepping for this new family-member-to-be. A & I have just been enjoying the belly progress and we can't wait to meet the little one (in about) five weeks from now!

Chocolates to Enjoy

2009-02-15T15:24:00.001-08:00

A few days ago, my work friend gave me these chocolates.

Chocolove Chilies & Cherries in Dark Chocolate (55% Cacao content)
Green & Black's Organic Dark Chocolate (55% Cacao content)
Green & Black's Organic Milk Chocolate (34% Cacao content)

I've had Chocolove chocolates in the past and so far not disappointed with its line of dark bars combined with fruits or spices. I can't wait to try them all! Hopefully, I'll have the time to write down my tasting notes so I can share them with chocolate fans out there.

Cold Weekend, Warm Kitchen

2009-02-08T18:27:00.000-08:00

As rain, wind and low 50's temperature hit the city this weekend, I cranked up the oven to bake this heartwarming pound cake. Adam started bringing lunch to work again and I thought this would be a good addition to his meal.

Brown Sugar and Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Maple-Espresso Glaze

Supersize Me

2009-02-06T22:32:00.000-08:00

A & I finally watched Supersize Me on Friday night. Twenty minutes later, I felt sick. As the film progressed, so did my stomach sickness. Note - we were having dinner while watching this. Twice we had to pause the film to remark on how eating fast food can do horrible things to a human body. After dinner, we had an apple each for dessert instead of the apple cake I made days earlier. By the end of the film, I felt a twinge, aching feeling on my upper left chest - as if I was about to have a coronary. Seriously, I don't think I can step foot in a fast food restaurant from now on. I can't even recall when the last time I was at In 'N Out. As much as I love this place, I think it will be for a long while before I visit it again and enjoy a Cheeseburger 'animal style'.

Happy Inauguration Day!

2009-01-20T07:10:00.000-08:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Vosges Goji Bar

2009-01-18T16:59:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the end of my busy work week, I got this chocolate bar from Vosges Chocolates called the Goji Bar. Although there were other great bars to indulge on, I chose this one for its exotic ingredients. This particular deep milk chocolate (41% cacao) bar has Tibetan goji berries and pink Himalayan salt.

I am always impressed with this chocolatier. They use exotic spices, fruits, nuts and other things of the food kind that one would not expect that it complements well with chocolate (i.e. bacon - yes, try their Mo's Bacon Bar and you'll know what I mean). My tasting experience with Vosges chocolates began when my husband (then boyfriend) brought home two squares (what was left of a whole bar) of the Black Pearl bar. The only time I put wasabi in food would be in sushi. I never expected that wasabi could taste great in chocolate.

As for the Goji bar, the tartness of the goji berries balanced the sweetness of the chocolate. The hint of salt made it even more thrilling as the chocolate melted in the mouth - that burst of salt crystals jolted my senses. This chocolate made the husband say, "WOW! This chocolate is awesome!" And as I am writing this post, you can be sure that I am enjoying a little piece of this amazing chocolate.

Where Did Winter Go?

2009-01-14T11:45:00.000-08:00

What the.....? While the East Coast is experiencing frigid temperatures, we, in SoCal, are feeling summer-like temperature for the past several days. Today especially, it's 82ºF outside and climbing up to 88ºF! I didn't bike to work for the past few weeks because it was too cold. Now, I can't bike to work because it's too hot. It's only January and I want the cool weather back!

Gladeth and Paolo Got Married

2009-01-11T09:59:00.000-08:00

A & I were lucky to witness a very happy moment yesterday as one of my old friends finally tied the knot. Gladeth was my classmate since kindergarten and we graduated together from high school. We lived on the same street and did a lot of long hours of school projects and activities. Did I not mention that our mothers were also classmates in high school? It was fun to see our parents and their friends from Baybay enjoy the wedding party especially Glad's mom and dad. The proud and happy father gave a very touching speech that would make a daughter gleam with happiness on her wedding day. Two of my old friends/classmates from grade school were there, although, I didn't get the chance to catch up with them with all that was happening during the course of the exciting event. Here are a few photos I'd like to share (thanks to Adam who took most of them with his pro-wonderful camera).

Congrats Glad & Pao!!! I wish you both all the best.

The newlyweds introduced for the first time as Mr. & Mrs.

While waiting for the wedding pictorial to end, Adam took this of us with my parents and two of their friends from Baybay.

Floral centerpiece at the reception.

With (from left) Loida and Theresa.

With the bride (and the groom in the back).

Here we are again - grade school classmates celebrating Gladeth's wedding.

An A & A tradition at every party, we like to take a self-shot of ourselves. Ain't we a hot couple? :-P

Bike Ride

2009-01-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

A & I worked only a half-day last Friday. I came home, looked at our closet, turned away, then looked at it again. It was overflowing with dirty clothes that badly needed to be washed, dry cleaned or otherwise. As much as I didn't want to do the chore that day, I had no choice. While I was doing laundry, A decided to go for a bike ride up the mountain.

Late in the afternoon, I got a text message from him that he'll be up at the mountain for a while. In the message was a photo he took while at the top. On a gloomy, foggy Friday in the city, this is what it looked like above the clouds. Breathtaking!

Update: More photos of his bike ride here.

Helloooooo 2009!!!!

2009-01-01T09:57:00.000-08:00

From Pasadena, Happy New Year!!!!

This New Year's day morning, A & I walked over to Colorado Blvd. and watched the beginning part of the Rose Parade. Marching bands from as far as Hawaii participated in the biggest event today. As we headed back to our place, a stealth bomber passed above us. After the parade, A & I are going to chill-ax (and maybe a beer or two on hand) in front of the TV and watch USC Trojans battle against Penn State for the Rose Bowl football game.

We hope your 2008 was good and we wish you all the best for 2009.

A couple of videos from the parade:

'08 Highlights

2008-12-30T22:52:00.000-08:00

Aside from celebrating the BIG 3-0 this year, here are a few highlights in the life of A & A:

A & I got each other bikes for Christmas. He takes his bike for a ride up the bike trail in Angeles Crest National Forest. Mine is a street bike which I sometimes use to commute to work. It was perfect timing when gas prices spiked early this year.

We relaxed in Maine with some of Adam's high school buddies last summer.

Our friend Little Miss M turned 2 with zoo-animals themed birthday party that was so much fun. Woohoo!

We finally took a proper honeymoon in Hawaii. We visited two islands: Kauai and the Big Island. The islands' natural beauty are different from one another yet both are equally and amazingly beautiful. Every now and then, we think about our trip to Hawaii and hope to visit again soon.

We took a road trip to Big Sur to celebrate our 2nd anniversary and camped there for a couple of nights - another beautiful place to revisit. This is the view from our campsite at sunset facing the Pacific Ocean.

Team Gaudam joined the Muddy Buddy race this November - a 6-mile ride-and-run event where there were five obstacles and before crossing the finish line the team had to crawl in a mud pit. The better halves watched from the sideline cheering for them. Go team!

We hosted another Thanksgiving dinner with family guests and a dear friend.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-24T22:54:00.000-08:00

To our family, friends and relatives near and far -

We wish you a wonderful and fun-filled Christmas!

From wintery Vermont with love,
A & A

Who doesn't love Moron?

2008-12-21T22:45:00.000-08:00

First, let me clarify as this may confuse those who are non-Filipinos. This does not mean a mildly retarded person as the dictionary defines it. I mean the soft, slightly sweet and sticky goodness that is very popular in Eastern Visayas (that's in the central part of the Philippines). It is made of ground rice or rice flour, coconut milk, tablea (tab-leh-yah) or chocolate paste; then rolled or wrapped in a banana leaf. Some add a strand of cheddar cheese in it or finely chopped peanuts or both. It is either steamed or boiled. In my opinion, I like it when it is steamed which does not destroy the shape and does not make it mushy. One can have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, as a snack or as dessert. It is very satisfying when paired with hot chocolate or tsokolate or sekwate (sek-wah-teh) in my dialect. People would buy these morons as their pasalubong (homecoming gift) to their families or loved ones.

My dad gave me a few of these when he got back from the Phils. I don't get to eat this often here because I rarely find one even at the Filipino store. And when I do have this sticky food on hand, I savor every bit of it.

This morning I was craving morons for breakfast. I reached out for our rice cooker with steamer and steamed a couple of them. Oh so delicious! Sticky but DELICIOUS.

Snow descend on San Gabriel Mountains

2008-12-18T18:49:00.001-08:00

It was a pretty scene early this morning when I came out the house. The San Gabriel Mountains, which is just a few miles away and can be seen from our back porch were lightly covered with snow. Just a few weeks ago, A & I hiked up one of the trails in these mountains on a clear Sunday afternoon. This morning, it was in the high 40's as I walked towards my car. It feels like winter arrived early this year. Awesome!!!

On a Cool December Morning

2008-12-14T16:43:00.000-08:00

I felt the crisp cold breeze as I stepped outside to bring our clothes in the laundry room. It was a gorgeous day outside perfect for a morning bike around town; maybe later, a good cup of hot cocoa.

The bleachers are set and ready for the New Year's Day Rose Parade.

One of the tree-lined neighborhoods that A & I love to bike around. No crazy drivers in this area.

Cookies for Santa

2008-12-13T15:10:00.001-08:00

To get into the spirit of the holiday season, I managed to bake a LOT of these goodies. Sugar, flour, butter - hmmmm, butter - were the stars of the kitchen last weekend.

Bicycling on the Freeway

2008-12-11T15:22:00.000-08:00

Today I saw a guy attempting to take his bicycle for a ride on the freeway.

The 110 freeway, also known as the Arroyo Seco freeway (the state's oldest freeway with a maximum speed of 50 mph) begins where Arroyo Parkway ends. I was stopped at the right-most lane waiting for the light to go green. I noticed a guy in a suit-and-tie attire between the left lane and the left turn lane, then realized that he was on his bicycle (not a motorbike). I bike to work from time to time and I usually stay either on the curbside or close to the curbside. So I found it odd that he would be waiting for the green light in between those lanes. As the left-turn light went green, the guy-in-a-suit-on-a-bicycle pedaled his way towards the freeway, which at this point I was certain that some crazy accident was about to happen. As this was happening, the driver on the left lane buzzed through the intersection (only left turn light was green at this point) blocking oncoming traffic turning left from the other end. As my light went green and as I passed through the intersection, I saw the suit-guy wheeling back towards the intersection against freeway traffic, both feet hanging close to the ground.

Weird.

Of Christmas Trees and Ornaments

2008-12-08T22:06:00.000-08:00

When we go out shopping for a Christmas tree, I sometimes get nervous that we might not find a tree that we like. A few years back, we ended up buying a tree from a grocery store out of desperation that we were running out of time and needed to get a tree on a budget. Such a traumatic experience that led to one grumpy adult male and two women (my sister and I) who had to deal with a probably dead & dry tree. Yesterday, we visited three lots and it was pretty fascinating to see Adam going towards a tree and claimed, "That's it! That's the tree." A perfect 6-ft douglas fir within our budget including the stand. What a deal!

Now the tree is up and decked with glittering lights and ornaments. Every year, we pick out two or three new ornaments to hang on our tree. We don't really have a specific theme; it's a collection of ornaments over the years.

Our new holiday ornaments

A few ornaments from years past

Not the end of the world...

2008-12-07T18:17:00.001-08:00

While A & I were having a late lunch in our kitchen, we heard this very loud hovering sound. It sounded like it was above our rooftop. We're used to the sound of helicopters flying in our area (the police HQ is just a few blocks away and we live pretty close to a not-so-ideal neighborhood). I didn't bother going out at first but when A went to check it out he quickly asked me to come out and see it. I was in the middle of chewing my lunch but had to ask what is was. Adam yelled back, "It's a stealth bomber!". In half a second I stood up and ran towards our porch. We rarely see this awesome flying object but he and I were so amazed by how low it was flying above the city. Good thing I had my camera ready, we snatched a cool video of it flying above us.

Memories of Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T21:37:00.000-08:00

From Thanksgiving '05

The first few years I've lived in L.A., I never really celebrated Thanksgiving. My relatives sort of celebrated but not really (there was turkey and other dishes but no homemade cranberry sauce or traditional sides). So, I never really got the full experience until one year when my friends invited me to go to Mammoth Mountain on a snowboarding trip on a Thanksgiving weekend. We stayed at this cozy bed and breakfast. On Thanksgiving night - after a full day of tumbling, falling and balancing on a snowboard and not to mention the snow storm - we got back and were invited by the innkeepers to join them for dinner. There was roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing and other delicious side dishes. The dining area of this inn was set on a corner with almost- floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside, it was snowing and the ground was covered thick with snow. It felt like it was Christmas; it was perfect!

This is my fifth year of cooking dinner for family and friends. I must admit that I enjoy hosting a Thanksgiving gathering. Year after year, I learn a few things or tricks here and there:

- The first time I cooked a meal for three, all the sides were cold except the turkey. This has been a challenge for me every year as we only have a small oven with space only big enough to roast a single turkey so no sides can be cooked at the same time. I finally decided to buy a tiered rack so I can warm all side dishes including appetizers at the same time.

- As the party size got bigger, it helps to prep some side dishes ahead of time so I can enjoy a little bit of mingling around when guests arrive and not get stuck in the kitchen waiting for everything to come together.

- Brining the turkey is my favorite trick! It works every time and the result is a succulent moist bird meat:)

Although it doesn't snow in Pasadena, I try to make our Thanksgiving dinner enjoyable for my family and friends just like my experience in Mammoth Mountain.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pepper, Pepper, Pepper

2008-11-25T22:15:00.000-08:00

Last week, A & I had a blast having Pepper (the kitten) stay at our place. We totally enjoyed her company to the point that I was running late for work almost every morning. She loved playing fetch, jumping and chasing paper ball or anything that rolled on the ground.

Tsokolate is gone

2008-11-21T08:32:00.000-08:00

I'm in a bit of shock that my old blog is gone. This is all I can retrieve from the site. This week I've been trying to figure out a way to transition to a free site with the aim to cut costs (I blame you recession!!!). I was over-confident that it was as easy as a "1-2-3-and-done" deal but it didn't work out as I had planned. To no avail, it now becomes irretrievable. Oh well (sigh), moving on...