Cooking Class!

Last Saturday, I participated in Ako’s cooking class. http://akobishoku.exblog.jp/

Ako used to be a professional chef who has experiences working at restaurants in Detroit area. Currently she mainly teaches at home and sometime she visits houses to hold private cooking lessons. My last participation of the class was over 18 months ago so I was very excited to be a part of the class. Also she had just returned from her business trip from Fiji so I was looking forward to her stories from her trip.

Saturday’s menu items were chicken pot pie, wedge salad, gravy sauce, mashed potatoes, and dessert was mini-sized chocolate banana pies. There are some dishes that are traditionally famous for being high calorie dishes but Ako took the time to replace high calorie items with healthier items to lower the overall calories without degrading the tastes.

She does not only teach us how to cook the dish but also teach us about ingredients and cooking tools which helps me to appreciate more about the process of cooking.

There were three people I met for the first time in the class. Time flew very quickly by having fun conversation with them. At the end of the class, we decorated our plates after Ako’s example and enjoyed the dishes. Recipes from this class seem to be easier than the first class (hot chocolate cake & truffles) so I am going to practice so that I can become good at making them : ) Thank you Ako san, I was very inspired by your creativity and skills : )

この前の土曜は、Akoさんのお料理教室に参加してきました。http://akobishoku.exblog.jp/

Akoさんは元々料理のプロとして、レストランで働いていた経験をもたれる方で、現在ははお料理教室をお家で開かれたり、出張クラスもされています。私が最後に参加したのは１年半以上前でしたし、Akoさんは先月数週間フィジーへ出張で行かれていたので、そのお話を聞く事がとても楽しみでした。Akoさんはとてもセンスがいい方で、その様子は、彼女のブログからいつも楽しませていただいています。今回のメニューはチキンポットパイ、ウエッジサラダ、グレイビーソース、マッシュポテト、そしてデザートはミニチョコバナナパイでした。重くなりがちなアイテムをいかに違う食材を用いてヘルシーにするかというAkoさんの配慮があるレシピを習うことができ、またまた勉強になりました。単に料理の作り方だけではなく、食材についてやキッチン用品についてのお話をしていただけることもとてもためになります。今回は初めてお会いする３名の方とAkoさんと楽しくお話しながらの時間はあっという間に過ぎました。最後はおしゃれかつおいしいご飯をみんなで楽しく頂きました。今回のレシピは家でも簡単にチャレンジできそうな感じで、見た目もAkoさんのおかげでおしゃれに仕上げられるコツを習ったので、これから練習を重ねてしっかりマスターしたいと思います。Akoさんありがとうございました～☆

Airport

What an amazing place with full of complex coordination...

エアポートのシステムに脱帽。うまくできているなぁ。

Happy Halloween...

There is going to be a Halloween event at work. We will have a costume contest and a jack-o-lantern contest. My group is participating in the jack-o-lantern contest. We got a pumpkin and curved it this afternoon. Our pumpkin was small and the design was simple so we completed the work in one hour. It was really fun and on the way home, I was already thinking of getting another pumpkin and curve another one at home. For this pumpkin, I decided to do a design of a witchy cat with sparkling stars...meow...

Welina Candle

I finally finished designing a logo and a business card for Welina. "ECO + LOVE + PEACE" is their brand message and they promise their customers to deliver products that are made with good intention for people, environment, and society. Welina's first product is a line of handmade soy candles (seven colors and scents available). I am using the candles at home and depending on my mood, I choose different scents to enjoy. They all smell very pleaseant but so far "Slice of Fruit" is my favorite. The candles are currently available only through Welina. Contact: sales@welinaoc.com

***** Wedding Dolls *****

I made it in time! After researching about polymer clay and polymer clay dolls online, I was able to put together these two dolls. Big thanks to those polymer clay artists! I baked the dolls for about 10 minutes after the shaping was done. Then I did the decorations using a pre-packaged wedding theme stickers. I followed the advices by those artists to use aluminum foil to form most of the core body parts to save clays so I still have lots of left over clays to make more dolls : ) Hope my cousin and her husband will like the dolls on their special day.

I got hooked on Photobooth at Unique OC

Unique OC was inspiring!

The size was smaller than the one in last December but it seems like I was spending more time looking at high quality products. I was able to attend on both days since I was in the area on the weekend. It' s cool that they allow you to come in for both days with one admission ticket from Saturday. There are lots of well-designed&crafted products there. I wish there was a village where I could go anytime I want to to buy products made in local by people from here in LA or OC. I have been working on some designs of my friend's products for a year now and I am suggesting her to debut her products at Unique LA event. It would be nice to meet other creators at the event as well. I can't wait for the day to come!!

Oh, there is one thing I got hooked on at the event. It was a photo booth by photoboothlove.com.

They had a photo booth setup and you can bring any props you want to take pictures. It's unexpectedly fun! This photo taking experience was very popular and I saw many people lined up and kept on taking pictures. They can come to your house or any place you request to setup the booth. Here are some pictures I took with my lovely friend...

UNIQUE LA at LAB in Costa Mesa on Aug14th&15th, 2010

If you are into design & craft, you should visit the Lab in Costa Mesa this weekend. They are having an event called UNIQUE LA / Independent Design & Gift show.

I have been working on a craft project with my friends and we would like to have a booth for our products at this event soon. I have been to their December show before and it was inspiring. All the things are made locally by local artists. I am going to update more images from the event*