New Year's Eve 2012

Good afternoon! Thank you for the sweet wishes for my mum's birthday and the drooling over the dishes. My mum made sure I knew how to cook the basics - spaghetti, meatloaf, and breaded chicken - before I had moved out. After I had Princess Cupcake, I went on the South Beach Diet and this experimenting led me to more gourmet recipes via the Food Network.

It's trial and error as many of you know. I don't always get the results I want the first time, so I do try a second and even a third - asking myself did I miss an ingredient or step or what could I do better? I don't really watch Food Network anymore due to time, but since I have tons of recipes Pinned, I decided I didn't need to subscribe to any cooking magazines anymore because now there's Pinterest!

How did you spend New Year's Eve yesterday?

The Jaravatas - godparents to our daughters as we're godparents to their son - and our bunch have an annual tradition to get together and hang out on December 31st. As some of you know, it's hard to be out and about so late with children. This way both of our crews can count down and ring in the new year warmly, safely, and in the family way.

It has also been a yearly theme of Taco Bar. For appetizers, I made one of my faves - guacamole - using this recipe as my guide. I also made simple cheese quesadillas:

The above satisfied the tummy grumblings while I prepped the taco bar ingredients:

I received this ceramic dish from a 5th grade family back in the day. The dad is an avid cook and used to teach recipes in my class. I didn't start appreciating his ceramic gifts until I started to really cook and entertain.

I have found that I need a few more pieces. I think I need to poke around Target more and even check out Cost Plus or Pier 1. What do you think?

My Oahu auntie and uncle who live next door couldn't make it but my Auntie E popped in and dropped off these beautiful caramels from Nordstrom:

I usually avoid caramel because it's too hard hard and sticky for my stayplates. However, those delicious caramels are soft! OMGosh, I totally <3 them. They're better than the Nordstrom truffles which are super rich. Mahalo nui loa Auntie E! Sharon, soon-to-be expecting mum, had one and was in total heaven!

The Jaravatas brought over apple-huckleberry pie from Whole Foods and these two gelatos. Oh boy were they all scrumptious! We don't have gelato very often and my favortie was that caramel cookie crunch.

And of course there was a spirit:

And there was Martinelli's for the preggers mum.

I had to collage these pics of my godson and his sisters:

Those of you who have kids know how hard it can be sometimes to take that perfect pic. He was so excited to come over and misses his sisters often as they miss him runnin' around.

Trying to take more pics of the princesses who are just growing up way too fast:

Always can use another pic with my honey:

Ohana:

And look who included himself:

I told Sharon last night that AJ is the closest thing E and I have to a son.

So from our crew to you, Hau oli Makahiki Hou:

May your 2013 be brighter and warmer, plus filled with more XOs along with solid health and prosperity.