MG turns 36!

March 17, 2014 by Jamie Lam

This past Sunday was MG’s 36th birthday!

He came back from Los Angeles after a weeklong work trip on Friday. After a one night rest at home, we set out to go camping on Saturday morning. My sister Katie and her boyfriend, Baldwin, are in town. They’ve been camping in Texas once before and didn’t love it, but it’s nothing like NorCal California camping! Amirite NorCal people?

We drove to a new campsite called Bootjack Campgrounds at Mount Tamalpais State Park in Marin County. This campsite was established in 1920s and closed 1969 because of overuse. But it’s been reopened as of this year! It’s a first come, first serve site, and it was available for us! Thankfully most of the sites were actually empty. We decided to set up shop right next to a running creek so we could hear the stream when sleeping. With some lunch in our stomach, we went hiking on Old Mine Trail, which was a 1 mile hike to a scenic spot called The Bench. It overlooks the Bay and Stinson Beach, and in the far distance, my beloved city of San Francisco.

After the view, we hiked back, finished setting up our sleeping bags, and took a well-needed nap. I have the most comfortable naps when I camp – maybe it’s the fresh air. But they are awesome!

After waking, it was time to build the fire, which I think is still the best part of camping. The firewood made me a hungry girl so I started dinner around 5:30 (I’m such a g-ma!). Camping always means eating well. Don’t ever tell me that food isn’t part of camping. As MG says, “food makes every situation better.” And camping is no different. Garlic fries, mushrooms, grilled corn, and steak for dinner. Can’t ask for a better meal! And obviously smores is on the dessert menu. Wouldn’t have it any other way!

Katie picked some flowers for our dinner table!

Uh huh! ^^^

Thanks Chef Ming ^^^

After meals, we washed our cookware in the “magical fountain”

My infamous inside out smores!

We stayed up poking at the fire until 11pm. And there was this huge slug hanging out with us by the fire. We named her Daisy. Say hi!

MG and I woke up in the morning and watched the sunrise then made breakfast. Another epic meal – corned beef hash, toasted english muffin, sunny side up eggs, bacon, and tangerine juice. Yum! And this breakfast concluded the camping trip.

Beautiful view to wake up to!

It was another successful trip (though I forgot my wine opener, darn)! And I’m pretty sure Katie and Baldwin enjoy camping too now!

I love camping! Few reasons:

1. I love waking up to fresh air. It makes every sleep a well-rested sleep. Even if I wake up a few times in the night, I still wake up feeling refreshed.
2. I love peeing in the woods. I feel like a free woman! TMI? Never on this blog!
3. Campfires. No details needed.

Happy birthday my love. I hope you enjoyed your birthday celebration (even though I love to camp and you don’t, and that’s my favorite cake and not yours).

Seriously, best cake – Berry Chantilly from Whole Foods ^^^

What do you do to celebrate your birthday? Do you have some recommended camping spots? Please share!

What did you do this weekend?
Jay

Kara’s Cupcakes

March 14, 2014 by Jamie Lam

What’s your favorite place for cupcakes?

Mine is, without a doubt, Kara’s Cupcakes in the Bay Area. It started when someone in the advertising business decided to quit her job and follow her dreams to open a bakery. Maybe I love this place because her life is something I can relate to (I was in the ad industry and I quit my job to find a new path). Or it’s her locally sourced, organic products. Whatever it is, it’s damn good!

I’ve been craving sweets lately, and so I had to get my hands on some cupcakes. And Kara’s was the only place that would satisfy.

My favorite flavor is the vanilla one. I just can’t get sick of it. The glob of vanilla icing in the cupcake is the perfect touch!

Banana caramel and passion fruit never disappoint me!

Yup, I bought four!

Boys, write this down, and take notes:

Cupcakes can make any girl smile. What’s with these little cakes topped with a boatload of icing? It can seriously make a girl’s day. If you ever need forgiveness, bring a peace offering of cupcakes. Promise it will make all wrongs right.

What’s your favorite cupcake bakery? Where is it located and why is it your favorite?

Friday demands cupcakes,
Jay

Spontaneous Napa Trip

March 3, 2014 by Jamie Lam

My weekend plan was to go running and get some R&R at home on Saturday. But then my weather app told me it would rain. The weather doesn’t permit for me to work out so it’s okay that I decided against it, right?

I woke up on Saturday at 11am on a cloudy day, and spontaneously screamed, “OMG let’s go to Napa!” With that I woke up MG, texted my roommate to get ready, made pancakes for breakfast, and we left for Napa Valley within 2 hours of waking up.

Are you one of those that can make last minute plans like this? I know some people don’t enjoy it, but I love it! It’s so exciting, an adventure ahead. I am so lucky to live in the Bay Area and simply get to Napa Valley by a 1.5 hour drive. Our Napa trips always consists of food in Yountville, 2 wineries, and a trip to Oxbow Market.

For this specific trip, MG and I took our roommate Jess and her boyfriend, Dan. (Maybe you’re wondering why I have a roommate. She needed a place to stay for a bit so we offered our downstairs to her. Simple story). Jess told me that she had never been to Napa before! Whenever you tell me “you’ve never ever…” I decide it’s my duty to take you to experience it (this applies very much so to food). Off to Napa we went!

First stop – Bouchon in Yountville. It’s a must if you love macrons!

Macrons, macrons, make me so happy!

Chai tea and coffee

Macrons, macrons, make her so happy!

Mind blown!!! Chocolate covered macron ^^^

With some food in our stomachs, we set out for some wine tasting! First we went to V. Sattui. The picnic area is fabulous! The oak trees give the winery a grandeur feeling, and it was so lovely on a cloudy day. Not to mention, this winery has a deli with some great eats. Afterwards, we went over to the Napa Cellars Tasting Room for another tasting and to purchase Ménage à Trois wine. Ménage à Trois has a great taste for the price, and their moscato is crisp without too much sweetness – yum. This tasting room is fun because it has a grassy area where you can drink, listen to music coming from these garden rocks, and play ladder toss! The employees aren’t pushy, which makes for a nice, relaxing environment.

And finally, Oxbow Public Market to snack and buy dinner!

I’m typically terrified of oysters (because of a bad experience one time. Ask me in person and if you’re lucky you’ll get all the details). But for some reason, when in Napa and at the Hog Island Oyster Bar…

Kumamoto oysters are so sweet! I can definitely get into oysters again because of these little guys

MG usually dislikes oysters (that’s an understatement cause he hates them) but he truly enjoyed them!

Grilled oysters ^^^

MG and I discovered dry-aged bone-in rib eye at a place called Five Dot Ranch. We call these steaks, “marshmallow meat.” We buy 2 steaks at $22/lb, get some hickory salt at Whole Spice, and we call that dinner!

^^^ Yup, made some sangria and drinking it now as I’m posting. My legendary steak recipe here

Charcuterie from Oxbow Cheese and Wine Merchant

A glorious meal indeed! Instead of working out and saving some money by staying at home on Saturday, we spent the weekend opposite of what was planned. Good laughs, great friends, macrons, cheese, wine, steak, and oysters all equal a magnificent Saturday! An awesome trip, yet again!

What are your favorite wineries? Have you been to Napa Valley? What’s on your must do list?

What did you do this weekend?
Jay

LA LA Weekend

February 24, 2014 by Jamie Lam

Sun. Shopping. Food. What more can a girl ask for?

Los Angeles is a dream come true, and I’m so lucky that it’s only a one-hour flight away. MG and I visit LA at least once every 6 months which is more than enough because it’s basically our Vegas. We spend so much money on shopping and food, and when we come back into the Bay Area, it’s kind of a relief.

This past weekend we went to LA for a dear friend’s wedding. We flew out on a beautiful Friday afternoon. Clear skies colored in the perfect blue.

The airport brings up many memories for me. MG and I dated long distance for almost 4 years. I always say the airport can either be the happiest or the saddest place on earth. Lots of smiles and laughs when vacation begins, or in my case, when MG would visit me or I would visit him, then followed by a lot of tears when it was time for goodbye. Before the other person left, we would get to the airport early, sit down in the baggage claim area, and talk until it was time for one of us to board. We have specific places in the airport that we call our “meeting spots.” My favorite conversations were our “Thank You” notes. We “thanked” each other for silly things that happened throughout our vacation. “Thanks for paying for dinner, dessert, and second dessert. Thank you for almost making me late to my flight. Thank you for warning me before you fart…” I’m glad all that time spent at the airport actually worked out! Now that we’re married, we actually still keep up our Thank You tradition by writing each other notes in a journal.

The sun was blazing so once we got into our hotel, I put on my bikini and immediately went to lay out by the pool. Finally, some vitamin D and a slight tan! Why can’t all Fridays be like this…

Our hotel kinda looks like the Tower of Terror right?

Fridays should also always have milk tea. For me, that would be honey dew milk tea!

And my number one thing I must do in LA is go to K-town and get Korean food! Kang Hodong Baekjeong is one of MG’s top 5 favorite restaurants. It’s Korean BBQ in a very traditional and basic way. Some meats are not marinated, and the side dishes are egg, bean sprouts, and cheese with corn. The food is cooked over coal by the server at your table. Be prepared to wait over an hour at this restaurant. MG and I waited an hour for a table for 2 at 10pm. I’ve been told some people wait 3 hours! Worth it? Yes, at least once!

Is that an entire prime rib eye? Yup. Get it! So deliciously marbled. We ordered the beef platter for two for only $60. It seems like a lot of food, and it is. Which means it’s the perfect amount of food for me!

Saturday was the day of the wedding. We got dressed up, then went to Chick-Fil-A for a pre-dinner snack. Yum! Truly the best milkshakes you can order at a fast-food restaurant.

I dream about this image – MG delivering me a HUGE gift (hint)

The bride and groom had us take polaroids to replace our name cards for the reception!

The best part of any wedding is reconnecting with old friends! And cake.

Such a great trip to LA! Oh yeah, and one more thing that made this trip epic – I learned how to use chopsticks the correct way! I’ve gone 26 years without using it the right way. Now I’m a true Asian!

What’s on your must do list for LA?

What did you do this weekend?
Jay

Day Date in the Bay

February 19, 2014 by Jamie Lam

My first job out of college was in Sausalito. This city will always be near and dear to my heart. It’s a little city across from San Francisco, north of Golden Gate bridge. Listings for homes in this city are at minimum a million dollars. You can already assume, this place is gorgeous!

Foggy day today. I wouldn’t mind living here!

It’s next to the Bay, and you can directly see the city of SF. Beautiful. If you’re a tourist, you can take a ferry from the city to Sausalito. You can drive across the bridge. Or you can even rent a bike near the bridge, and bike into this city yourself. Honestly, I don’t know why tourists choose the last option because that bike ride has a lot of uphill/downhill routes. It’s vacation, not a work out! Tangent…

All this because MG had a day off from work so we decided to have a lunch date in Sausalito at Fish. Highly recommended if you haven’t been here before. Sustainable seafood, and it’s cash only. And I must warn you, this place is a pricey. Eat here on “Treat Yo’Self” day.

My all time favorite thing to order is the Crab Roll. Lots and lots, upon lots and lots of crab meat on a buttered roll. Deeee-licious. The ceviche is a great choice too. MG doesn’t like ceviche so we never order it. So sad… That’s one thing I wish I could change about him – I wish he enjoyed seafood as much as I did.

You know the “olive theory” from HIMYM? In a perfect relationship, one person loves olives; the other does not. I like crispy fries; MG likes soggy. I like the middle portion of chicken wings; he likes the drummettes. I love the Oreo cream; he loves the cookie part. Yeah, we’re good for each other based on the olive theory… But he doesn’t like seafood as much as much as me so we don’t even order it. I love ceviche. I love squid and octopus dishes. My favorite food is crab. Nope, not MG. WHY!

Anyway, Fish. Absolutely great food.

Clam Chowder

Clam linguine (I actually had leftovers, took it home, and added some cream to this pasta). Two lunches in one order!

Mountain loads of crab. Oh, and those fries are amazing too!

After lunch we went to the city and bought sweets. Our first stop was Kara’s Cupcakes because it’s my all time favorite cupcake shop. Plus, my roommate said she’d never had Kara’s before. WHAAA? We had to go.

Second stop, of course, was Ghirardelli for MG’s all time favorite drink – Sea Salt Caramel Hot Chocolate. Every time we’re in the city, MG has to get this!

Then we headed home after a full day of food with full bellies.

The perfect day date. The perfect Treat Yo’Self day.

What’s on your agenda for Treat Yo’Self day? Where do you go and what is a must do?

Love,
Jay

Yacht Partay!

February 17, 2014 by Jamie Lam

What did you do this weekend?

Oh me? You know… the norm… just went to a yacht party. That’s all. Boarded in gorgeous Sausalito. Curled my hair. Wore heels (not my running shoes). Typical fancy schmancy stuff. You know me!

Yeah right! My normal weekend is eating a lot. And a fancy weekend means hosting a LAN party. Saturday was a special occasion, our friend’s birthday bash on a yacht. It was fun to get dressed up for a reason and hang out with friends.

You know it will be a glamorous day when you start the day off with homemade brunch!

Rib-eye steak eggs benedict with bacon and a hash brown. We used the leftover steak from our Valentine’s dinner. Yum!

I’m taking reservations for brunch at the Lam house. Call me! Just kidding.

Back to the yacht… San Francisco Bay is always such a beautiful sight. Seeing Golden Gate Bridge never gets old, and sailing under it gives the bridge a whole new perspective.

Amirite?

The gang – we’re having fun! I promise!

GQ – He’s single ladies!

My roommate, Jess, and Dan

Me and my Mingus

Whoa, that guy is handsome <3 <3 <3

We drove by a scenic spot to look at the Bridge too. This foggy city honestly has my heart.

After the yacht party, four of us went to the city to have dinner. We went to one of my favorite restaurants, Limón Rotisserie, which is Peruvian food. The food is delicious, and the the dishes are affordable (~$70 for four of us, that’s under $20 a person). We then headed over to Hayes Valley to shop around and get dessert at Smitten ice cream. Smitten is a made-to-order ice cream shop in a shipping container. The ice cream is your typical gourmet ice cream with a really creamy texture. It’s about the experience and watching them make the ice cream with liquid nitrogen.

For those who got inspired by Smitten’s shipping container shop and you want to do something like that of your own, you must first gather enough information, such as Delta Mark’s guide on how to prep ground for shipping containers, so your out-of-the-box project will also be successful.

Saturday was a fantastic day! I take for granted how beautiful San Francisco is, and it’s days like these that remind me I should be ever grateful to be where I am.

Take a moment and count your blessings. What are you grateful for?

Happy Monday!
Jay

Happy Love Day!

February 14, 2014 by Jamie Lam

It’s Valentine’s Day today! I hope you feel loved every day and but specifically more today. If you want to ask someone out on a date for this wonderful day of hearts, this dating advice is the ultimate answer for you.

I agree that 2/14 is a Hallmark holiday, consumerism at its finest. But it doesn’t have to be. It can simply be a day to remind you to love the people around you. In my own busy life, I forget to admire and appreciate the people around me. Be honest, does this happen to you too?

Valentine’s Day is just this. It’s just another day to remind myself to show people around me that I love them. People desire love. People want to be admired and acknowledged. Do it today!

One prime example is marriage. MG and I are coming up on 2 years in June (wow that was quick). He works all day, I work on projects, and then when work ends, we sit on the couch and watch TV and/or do personal things on our own tablets, phones, and laptops. Then we head to bed. It’s not like we don’t converse throughout the day, but we don’t have any serious conversations or emotionally invested talks. This is an easy cycle where couples grow apart, so it’s extremely important to have date nights.

I didn’t buy anything for MG, but I made him “date night” letters. I put together 13 envelopes for every month, leading up to next February. Each envelope contains a date night idea for each month. MG will have to open one envelope the beginning of the month, and we’ll set a day to go out.

I decided to make this gift because MG and I always talk about how date night should be built into our relationship, especially when we have kids. Life only gets busier with kids right? Or so I hear. Unfortunately, we haven’t started setting date nights yet, so I hope this gift will be a jumpstart for us because giving gifts is just one of the multitude of ways to tell a guy you like him.

These papers were from our wedding!

All wrapped up and ready for MG! (I used my DIY pom pom to top it off)

And lastly, I made him Valentine’s Day cards.

Adorable right? WARNING: this can only be given if you’re in the comfortable phase of your relationship. Don’t misuse this Valentine and don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Download the Meat Valentine here

And here’s my favorite one!

Don’t even… I’m sure you get anxious poops too! If you know me at all, you know this is the PERFECT card. You can use this card too!

Download the Anxious Poops Valentine’s card here

What are your Valentine’s plans? What did you get your loved one this year? How will you be showing your love to people around you?

Now go and tell people you love them. Everyone!
Jay

LAN-ing

February 10, 2014 by Jamie Lam

Remember my last LAN party? It was so much fun, MG and I hosted another one!

Same gamers. Different game. Most importantly, more food!

I think we all know MG’s task and my task when it comes to these parties. I’m set up. He’s the chef. Yeah right! I can’t even roll up cables correctly. I have no idea how he sets these types of things up, which is why I’m in charge of food. Only true LAN-ers know how important it is to have delicious snacks during game time (now that we’re not in college that is… College would have just been bring your own Mountain Dew and Cheetos). For lunch we had those fancy grilled cheese sandwiches again (we’ll continue to eat this since we bought sliced cheese at Costco!).

Surely, with age means more of this! Veggies > Chips

Baked goods ^^^ (Broccoli Rice cups recipe here)

Nope, not your normal cornbread muffin!

Then for dinner, we had to order Hungry Howies. It’s the best pizza ever! That’s an understatement. 4 pizzas for 8 people… Yup, we overdid it. We had two pizzas left.

This was the ultimate highlight of the night:

Homemade spam musubi!!! Musubi!!! See the excitement?

My friend Serena made these for the entire gang. You should go check out her blog (Food-Touring) – Really cool foods from around the globe.

Back to the nerd gathering – If you’re wondering, yes, I game during LAN parties too! This time we ventured to Borderlands 2. It’s an easy to understand, first person shooter game that requires you to complete tasks, which in turn will jump you to the next level. There’s a whole story… blah, blah, blah. Now let’s shoot monsters!

Do you go to LAN parties? What games do you play? What snacks do you have?

Don’t you want to come to my party?
Jay

New running shoes!

January 27, 2014 by Jamie Lam

After watching Katie and Baldwin run the half marathon (Disney half here), MG and I were encouraged to start running.

Why right? Ugh, who likes to run? I’m with you. I HATE running. You know those people that tell you “once you’re over the hump, you will love to run.” I hated those people (perhaps hate is a strong word… umm no it’s correct).

But I have to admit, maybe it’s not as bad as I thought. I could barely run down the block before, but I am proud to say I can run a mile now and easily cool down because my breathing is back to normal in no time. I can even run three miles now! Yay!

MG and I thought some new shoes might motivate us to run some more. We actually visited a running store in Campbell called The Running Revolution (4.5 stars and $$ on Yelp, not too bad, so we went to check it out). I’m SO glad we came here! But I still wish MG had gone with the shoes I’d recommended on shoe hero. The employees are super knowledgeable and avid runners themselves. They put you on a scale to see how you balance your weight on your feet, film you while you run, then you try on a bunch of shoes and run in them outside. Basically, they recommend shoes that fit your running habits and then you choose which ones are most comfortable for you.

I found out that I was an entire shoe size off! I also have “arches so strong they are tipping me over to the side” (word for word). Fortunately, MG and I don’t have any bad running habits – no buckling of knees and no strange footing. The employee told us, “nothing is stopping us from running.” If he was just trying to sell me shoes, I ate everything he was saying and ended up buying these beauties!

Asics Nimbus 15 – Super comfortable!

^^ left and right socks – crazy right?

The right pair of running shoes makes all the difference. If anything hurts (achilles heel, knee, arches), most of the time it’s because your shoes are not giving the right support and/or you’re wearing the wrong size. It’s extremely important to buy good shoes if you run frequently.

These shoes have made a drastic change. It’s still not easy to run, definitely not as easy as runners describe it to be. But I do believe that once I build up my stamina, I could, maybe, start to enjoy running.

It’s time to admit, I don’t hate running like I used to in the past. I don’t love it right now, but I am trying to enjoy it. I’m one step closer for sure! Ask me in another month how I feel about it.

Do you run? What encourages you to do it? What are some tips on building stamina? What kind of running shoes do you wear?

Advise me!
Jay

Chubalee’s first bath!

January 24, 2014 by Jamie Lam

A colossal moment in history! At least in my books!

MG and I gave Chubs a bath for the first time! We always joke that his head smells funny. MG says it’s cause he has stinky breath, but I think it might be because I kiss him too much… True story. Hence the reason why he got washed!

MG had been doing some research on bathing techniques for cats, especially ways to destress the cat during a bath. It was suggested to wash a cat in the sink instead of a bathtub because a tub is synonymous to a never-ending ocean. So we did that.

It wasn’t bad! He was calm and didn’t scratch us at all. He meowed about 5 times, but that was it. While I was drying him, he laid on my chest the entire time. If he could talk, “Why… why would you do that? why?”

I gave him some turkey afterwards as a treat. I think Chubs enjoyed his bath because it was nonstop purring after. He likes to be clean and now he smells so fresh!

I can’t… this picture is just toooooo fricken cute!

If you have a cat, do you wash him/her? Is it a good or bad experience? And how often?

Cat lady,
Jay

Jay's Cup

the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair…

Tag Archives: life

MG turns 36!

Kara’s Cupcakes

Spontaneous Napa Trip

LA LA Weekend

Day Date in the Bay

Yacht Partay!

Happy Love Day!

LAN-ing

New running shoes!

Chubalee’s first bath!