by far, this was the best christmas. mila’s first! she loved the tree and the ornaments; she even loved ripping open the paper on her presents.
Category: travel
national bonsai + penjing museum
our new favorite little piece of d.c. may be the national bonsai + penjing museum inside the national arboretum. it’s a hidden gem in the city — an outdoor museum, surrounded by grass and trees. it definitely doesn’t feel like it’s in the middle of our nation’s capital, which is probably why we love it so much.
spam musubi: next big food trend?
poke is totally taking over the fast casual scene, and for good reason. it’s cheap for restaurants to put out and they don’t need a full kitchen to produce — just refrigeration. but there is so much more to hawaiian food than poke bowls. musubi, for example!
i wrote all about the growing hawaiian food trend in today’s herald-dispatch. check it out! and follow the jump for a how-to on this hawaiian staple. spoiler alert: you gotta buy some spam!
annapolis boats show
wait. there are people who didn’t spend their weekend on million dollar sailboats?
so last year, our friends bill — who has amazing taste in just about everything, and had curated a home full of gorgeous furniture and decor — got rid of everything he owned and bought a sailboat. that he lives on.
waimanolo beach
our mila loves the beach. the waves smacking her in the face? no problem! sand in her mouth? yum! she’s going to be the perfect little surfer girl.
our day at waimanolo beach was great. the weather was perfect. also, babies in rash guards. i’m not sure there’s anything more cute.
hiking makapu’u lighthouse trail
one thing steven and i wanted to do in hawaii was go for a hike with a great view. major bummer, though, because steven’s knee developed a nasty infection right before the trip. he was on crutches by day two. poor guy.
no one else in the fam was interested in tagging along, so i went solo. the makapu’u trail seemed like a great solo location. google said it would take 15-20 minutes to make it to the top. spoiler alert: that’s wrong. or maybe i’m just painfully slow.
the views were worth it, though.
the best shave ice in oahu
spoiler alert: matsumoto’s is not number one. sorry, obama.
when it comes to shave ice, the most important thing is the texture. it has to be creamy and not the least bit crunchy. then the flavor. natural is preferred. not too sweet — and you have to have condensed milk as a topping.
oahu’s cutest coffee shop
steven and i like to think we are savants when it comes to traveling. we love finding great food, awesome coffee shops and fun shopping. we found all of that at arvo in honolulu.
we crushed their loaded avo toasts, and their salmon toasts.
the matcha chia seed pudding + fresh fruit was amazing.
and then there was the activated charcoal lattes.
we went three times.
mu ryang sa buddhist temple
steven is always the best at picking out places to eat and things to do on vacation. it’s like his spiritual gift. here’s a perfect example: this korean buddhist temple outside of honolulu.
he said he picked it because he thought i would like taking photos here and he was totally right. it was super colorful, and totally secluded from the rest of the hawaii’s capitol city. walking around the mu ryang sa grounds felt like we were in another country, in another time.
bwi > gjt (or, mila’s first flight)
at two-and-a-half-months-old, our girl got her wings! i try to be a laid-back mama, but i have to admit i was pretty terrified about taking mila on her first flight to see her grandparents in grand junction, colorado. there were so many things that could have gone wrong. we could have been late (we almost were!), she could have cried the whole time (just a few minutes!), or even worse — a blow out at 35,000 feet (thank goodness that didn’t happen!).
chef meets girl 