Easter Brunch & Pie Swap

It's almost spring time! Woohoo! [I'm so sick of drabby winter - hence, the overtly cheerful colors of this image] And with that comes...

"Yen's Quarterly Give-Back" <--- I just made that up :)

We got such a warm reception from the cookies we donated last winter, a friend suggested we do PIES this time around! Yep, a perfect excuse to whip out that KitchenAid mixer and apron you never use!

Bake a pie (or two) - we'll cut one of your pies into slices to swap and taste amongst each other and we'll donate your other [whole] pie to the Portland Rescue Mission for distribution to the homeless on Easter Day! Bake it, buy it (peel off the Costco / Safeway label), steal it, I don't care! Sweet or savory! I'll provide the bubbly but I'll also have tea, coffee, juice, etc. Oh and an Easter egg hunt! Just come veg out, let the kids run amuck, relax and feel good about giving back! It's just a reason for us to hang out!

Year of the Tiger

My dad's version of Cay Mai (it blooms only during this time of year).

Happy (Lunar) New Year! I think this year will be a good one... what do you think?!

How Charlie Rolls

Yesterday was our good friend Charlie's birthday. The night consisted of dinner and dancing at Studio 1. Charlie reassured me that dinner would be an intimate affair, with just his closest friends. I had foolishly attempted to help him pick out a venue for dinner. And each restaurant I suggested was "too small." I retorted, "How big do you want the place to be? I thought it's just suppose to be for close friends?"

But I should have known... no one rolls deeper than Charlie. When you think of "dinner with close friends," how many would you invite? Six? 10? 20? Ok, I'll even give you 30. But would you ever guess 60?! And to think I thought Michael and I were special and "close" enough to be invited to dinner! Ha. They just kept coming and coming. There were three cakes! And that was just dinner. The theme was black, red, and white. Charlie, decked out in a black suit, white shirt and red tie w/ vest had to divy up his time from table to table. Some say it was like MTV's Sweet 16. I say it was like a Chinese wedding. He had to make his rounds, toast and take shots with each of his tables! If this was for his 28th birthday, I can't even begin to imagine what his 30th birthday might be like. Or his wedding for the matter :) We better start mentally preparing for it now.

Cupids for Charity

When: Thursday January 28, 2010

Where: Old Town Pizza

Who: Singles ONLY!!!

If your New Year resolutions involve giving back to the less fortunate and say...meeting someone special, then you're in luck! Even if you're only toying with the idea of settling down from your wild ways OR simply venturing outside of your comfort zone to muster up the guts to talk to someone new, this event is for you.

Join us for a night of cheap drinks for charity!

Here's the name of the game:

To keep things even, all you have to do is:

BE SINGLE AND BRING A FRIEND WHO'S ALSO SINGLE OF THE OPPOSITE SEX!

Please don't come solo! We encourage you to spread the word and invite all of your eligible and single friends, but we're not in high school anymore, so don't bring your posse (unless you want them ruining your game).

Please also be sure that:

1. Your friend is not already in love with you.
2. You're not in love with your friend.
3. You and this friend have not had a (even remotely) romantic past.
4. You have not had dreams of having a romantic past with this friend.
5. And that you and your friend are truly single! No baggage please!

Breaking those 5 rules would defeat the purpose!

The event is casual and free to attend. If you're shy, we'll have hosts to help you mingle!

Old Town Pizza on MLK is an amazing space, with a spacious bar area, fireplace, high wooden beams and tons of seating. Drinks are cheap - stay long enough to enjoy happy hour at 9pm where well drinks are just $2.50 and pizza slices (arguably the best in Portland) are $1.50! But don't be so cheap that you wait till 9pm to come. Seriously. Everyone might already be drunk and the "good ones" taken by then ;) though we are expecting a very good turn out! It's for a good cause!

Plus, 20% of sales that night will go towards Portland-based Mercy Corps in an effort to help those who suffered Haiti's earthquake. Even before the tragedy, more than 80% of Haitians already lived below the poverty line, so imagine where this leaves them now. Please come support - every little bit helps!

UPDATE: ADP, Blount International and Nike have agreed to match the donations we raise that night!

Got questions? Feel free to ask! Or go directly to my Evite by clicking here. You will have to add your name to the guest list before you can RSVP but please do RSVP!

New Year... New Decade!

Last minute planning led Michael and I to ring in the new year at Noble Rot (that wine bar I'd been raving about) with just the two of us and bottle of bubbly! It was our first one-on-one New Year (that must come with old age) and a lovely one at that!


"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."

~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

She said, "It's not Goodbye, but See You Later."

A lot of Texans seem to move up to Portland (like Kieu here on the far right), so it was inevitable that we'd lose some of our own to the good ol' South...

One of my oldest friends Thoai (second from the left above) and his lovely lady from Austin, Elaine (second from the right below) will be moving to Houston today!

They will be sorely missed, but it's just one more reason for me to go to Texas. "Everything is bigger in Texas!" I love it there!

Last supper :) Thoai & Elaine's Goodbye Dinner @ Uyen & Tinh's house.

Christmas in a Blur

Christmas this year went by in a blur. No seriously. I always thought Christmas always flew by, but this year literally zipped right past me. I think in the past, the anticipation of coming home for Christmas (from wherever I was) usually starts a month or two before I get to fly home and when I finally get home, I really work at savoring each moment. This year, with so many gatherings and celebrations starting immediately after Thanksgiving, I didn't get to sit back and enjoy the lights and scenery as much as I would have liked. It just came and went, almost like any other day :( but pictures here remind me of how much (more festive and) fun it was nonetheless!

As an only child with usually quieter Christmases, it's really fun to experience present-opening-mayhem at Michael's family's party. Sooo many presents! So many kids! It's a wonderful vibe.

We even attempted (as an unwilling team :) to make gingerbread men for the kids, although I don't think they got to participate or taste any (since Chu Hung, Chi Quan & I took over) but that might have been a blessing for them in disguise :)


Then Christmas morning at my house... "not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung, by the chimney with care, in hope that St. Nicholas soon would be there..." except St. Nick didn't come and my mom made sure Michael was the only one that got anything in his stocking!!! Wth? I didn't even get coal!



I tried my hand at sewing (for the first time in my life) a pal (gray monster on the left) for Pookie (brown monster on the right), a gift Michael had given me 3 years ago.



P.S. Our blog turned 1 year old this week too!

Cookie Credits

I really wanted to get a picture of each gal with their baked good but it was so hectic (and fun) that night, I barely got a chance to get pictures of just the cookies! It's not to say that anyone's cookie contribution was less important or delicious than the other. Everyone did a wonderful job! I have such amazingly (beautiful and) generous friends! We were able to donate over 20 dozen cookies (and that's after everyone got to take some home) - that's TWICE as many cookies as I was hoping for! Thank you SO much girls! It's really beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Cookie credits in order of arrival:

Allison didn't have time to bake, but that didn't stop her from contributing a beautiful array of cookies........... from Costco :)

I was beat from the previous day's catastrophe but in an effort to make something more edible, this is my rendition of oatmeal raisin cookies... not Martha's recipe though.


Tran's Rolo Surprise cookies. She never bakes, so she had to go buy new baking gear just for this ocassion!

I've never heard the other Yen lacking in energy or sound so tired, but after baking a "gazillion" Pumpkin Spiced Cupcakes, you can't blame her. It was really close to a gazillion because we initially lost count. She chipped a nail while baking too... let's hope no one found an acrylic in there :D

Annie Thao's peanut butter balls (not pictured) and beautiful coconut macaroons.

Lydia's strawberry and cream cookies! She donated all of her swapped cookies!

Ina's yogurt. Ina is a great baker (I've tried her cheesecake) but she did not have time to bake due to a hectic week at work, BUT she made it up with tubs of Skinni Dip yogurt.



Kim's super special Cherry Cheesecake muffins baked with love from her assistants Tylin & Tysa.



Thuy's chocolate dipped pretzles! This busy mom showed up unexpectedly with this yummy treat... sans kid!
I did not get a dedicated picture of Tram's "Surprise" Cookie (bottom left) and Marionberry Bonanza Bars on her lovely three-tiered presentation plate or Minh's chocolate chip cookie (top center), but Tram's Bonanza Bars were quite the hit and Minh's cookies were covered in chocolate chips (just the way we like them).

Cookie Swap

I am hosting my very 1st Annual Holiday Cookie Swap!

No guarantees on the "annual" thing though, since it depends on how much success and fun we have at this one ;)

Please bring four to six dozen of your favorite cookies, plus copies of your recipe to share! If that scares you, just think of it as only two or three batches :) or even less if you decide to make more elaborate cookies. No need to stress out - it's suppose to be fun! And it's for a good cause, since a dozen of each contribution will be delivered to the Portland Rescue Mission the following day.

The rest of the cookies will be swapped amongst us (we'll eat a few here :) but you will have plenty and a variety of yummy cookies to share with your family and friends at home too! BRING TUBBERWARE for your take-home!

And don't stay home just because you think you can't bake! God knows I can't bake, but it's a good opportunity for us to get together for a good cause. Plus, it's something different! Think outside the box and bring cookies, cupcakes, tarts, macaroons, brownies, biscotti or anything you'd like! You can even reply with a suggestion for someone else to bake your favorite cookie!

I will provide milk, coffee, tea, apple cider and wine!

Please respond with the type of cookie you'd like to bring (as to avoid us all bringing the same kind) or if a few of you would rather keep it a surprise, that's perfectly OK too!

Look forward to seeing you gals next week!


xx, Yen


P.S. If time is of the essence, feel free to make them the weekend before (keep them in an air-tight container) or even bring refrigerator cookie dough that you've made in advance (wrapped well in plastic and parchement, which can be frozen for up to three weeks) with instructions on how we can bake them at home!

Halloween 09'

After changing our minds about four times in the span of one week (the week before Halloween), we finally decided to settle on a Sesame Street theme - just in time for its 40th Anniversary! Michael went as Oscar the Grouch (so appropriate :) and a bunch of his friends went as Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Bert and Ernie (although Bert and Ernie decided a steak dinner was more important than Halloween and did not show - so lame)!

Have you ever noticed that most of the Sesame Street muppets are male!? There's only three (Rosita, Zoe, and Abby Cadabby) that are female and of course, none of those characters had adult costumes for Halloween, so I had to improvise! I chose to be Abby Cadabby - apparently, she's quite popular with girls these days, but if you haven't watched Sesame Street recently, you wouldn't know who she was (I had to Google her myself) and subsequently, no one knew who I was suppose to be (it's hard to be a muppet when you don't have pink fur)!!! But my costume had LED lights on it, so by the end of the night, I just went as an eclectic fairy (ec-lectic, not electric :) Who cares! I LOVE HALLOWEEN!

Elmo was the designated driver.

Uyen & Tinh's Wedding

Wedding season is here!!! UT's wedding was rowdy and very fun. There was a photo booth which people took advantage of :: ahem :: People got crunked. We all danced. Thang caught the garter again (I swear, if those two don't get married next year, I will be very surprised)!

1st Weekend Back In London

Yen and I just got back to London after resting it up in Portland for six and 14 weeks respectively. Anh Minh happened to be in London from Hamburg, Germany for work this weekend and we met up with him and his friends for dinner at the Oxo Tower, a Harvey Nichols' restaurant on the South Bank with one of the best views of the Thames.

And if anyone knows Anh Minh, the night never stops at dinner... We headed to Cargo in Shoreditch and ran into a girl at the bar with mad b.o.

His friend took us to the "best" fried chicken joint, but he didn't order the chicken. Sketch. It wasn't no Popeyes.