August 30, 2021

Before summer came to an end, Kevin and I squeezed in a quick vacation to Las Vegas and three national parks which make up the Grand Staircase. We had planned the summer vacation a few months beforehand and was excited to finally be able to go see some of the natural wonders throughout the United States. On Sunday, Kevin and I boarded our early morning flight from Ohio to Vegas. The flight was a direct flight and lasted just under four hours. We both immediately browsed through the selection of movies to catch up on ones we would have liked to see in theaters. The moment we landed in Vegas, we headed straight for the shuttle to take us to our hotel. When the shuttle pulled up to our hotel, Park MGM, we hopped off and headed straight to Target across the street to get enough bottled water to last us the entire week. We then proceeded to pop into Eataly for lunch. Kevin ordered fettuccini Bolognese and I went straight for the Margherita pizza. We savored the lovely pasta and pizza before heading to check in. The moment after we checked in, we dropped off our bags and went to explore the strip. We took a stroll up and down the strip in and out of as many hotels as our feet can manage. When our legs finally gave out, we stopped by Din Tai Fong for dinner. We did end up making a last-minute reservation for dinner at night just to make sure we could get seats at Din Tai Fong for dinner. For Kevin, he had to get his fix of soup dumplings.

July 31, 2021

July has been a busy month in our family. I started the month off deep in recipe development mode and experimented with putting new spins on some of my favorite summer foods. Some of those delightful creations include my strawberry, chocolate, and hazelnut date bars loosely inspired by my love for Lärabars and a summer vegetable garden tart inspired by beautiful images I’ve seen all over the internet of garden focaccia. In between cooking, baking, general work and home projects, Kev and I also squeezed in some time to host some friends for a week at our home and travel to see family and friends on the East coast. I was eager to see two of my close friends when they visited a few weeks ago. My close childhood friends, Ada and Colleen, traveled to Ohio to visit me and check out some of the fun attractions in Ohio. We spent some time enjoying the delicious baked treats at Findlay Market early Sunday morning and then enjoyed a light lunch at Pho Lang Thang for lunch. With our bellies full, we headed to the Cincinnati Art Museum to check out some of the cool new exhibits before making our way to Jungle Jim’s for a grocery shopping experience. Ada was especially excited to check out the options at Jungle Jim’s. Colleen was just excited to see what kind of kitchen creations we would come up with after the grocery trip. We picked up enough groceries to last us for the whole week. For dinner on Sunday, Ada prepared some lobster rolls complete with lobster bisque – two dishes I absolutely adore, but don’t have the opportunity to enjoy too often. Ada, who lives in Maine, is able to access these decadent dishes fairly easily. I asked Ada to prepare some of her favorite versions of these two dishes and she definitely did not disappoint. Even though we still had to work throughout the week, we were able to enjoy dinner together every weeknight and squeeze in a board game each night for the entire week. When Thursday rolled around, we celebrated Ada’s birthday in the evening, packed our bags for our trip back home to New York City, and chatted into the late evening and early morning.

Last month, Kevin and I traveled to Hong Kong to celebrate Lunar New Year with family. We boarded our flight from Ohio to Toronto and then straight to Hong Kong. Long distance flights are typically very rough. At least, it gives me the opportunity to enjoy many of the movies I’ve been meaning to see, but just never got around to. Kevin and I had cozy seats near the back of the plane. We tucked ourselves into our spot, sat, slept, and snacked there for the next 16-18 hours. We landed in Hong Kong Saturday afternoon and proceeded to the arrival gate. We hopped on the convenient airport express shuttle and took it to the last stop. We then waited in line to catch a cab straight to his parents’ home. Hong Kong is in the opposite time zone as the States, so we had to try very hard to fight jet lag and stay awake. We stayed in for the rest of the day, enjoyed some dinner, and then went to sleep. The next morning, we met up with Kevin’s family for dim sum.

On Christmas morning. Kevin and I headed towards New York City to see my family and friends. We were excited to be back to see family and friends for the holidays. Last month, my parents and aunt traveled to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with us. This time, we traveled back to spend Christmas with them and the rest of my immediate family. LB, my little bro, has already shopped for all of the items I requested to make holiday treats for the family including holiday bark, and Christmas cookies. I also asked him to pick up some Arborio rice, so I can make some risotto one of these days. Christmas time in New York is always a joy. Whenever I have time, I like to sip on some hot chocolate (or bubble tea) and go site seeing in Manhattan especially Rockefeller Center. Rockefeller Center holds a special place in my heart since it is the location where Kevin proposed to me back in 2015. Back in Brooklyn, mom has been up early preparing her holiday feast of chicken wings, spare ribs, and braised beef, all dishes our family loves. I’m most excited to see baby Aiden who has aged another year since I last saw him. The moment I step foot into my parents’ home in Brooklyn, the festivities are nonstop. In previous years, I usually start making the dough for my pumpkin spice gingerbread houses immediately on Christmas Day. The dough typically needs to chill for a bit before getting rolled out, cut into shapes to make the house, and baked. This year, because we were shorter on time, we shifted some traditions around to accommodate everyone.  

My family made a special trip to visit me in Ohio during the week of July 4th. They arrived in Columbus on Tuesday, July 2nd in the morning, and spent the remainder of the week in Ohio. I had to work on both the 2nd and the 3rd, but I printed out a map, circled a bunch of attractions, and let them explore the area of Columbus.

Kevin and I finally went on our mini-moon to the Bahamas. We have wanted to take a cruise for some time now, but didn’t actually book our trip until after our wedding in July 2018. Right after our wedding, we wanted to take a mini vacation to somewhere warm. The temperature in Ohio has been getting colder by the day, so planning this trip to the Bahamas during mid-October worked out perfectly for us. The only direct flight we could find to ensure we did not miss our cruise had a departure time of 5:59 a.m. This meant we had to wake up at 2:30 a.m. and leave by 3:00 a.m. to have enough time to drive to the airport, park, take the shuttle, and catch our flight. We were both very groggy waking up so early in the morning, but we managed to arrive at the airport and catch our flight on time.