Been A While...

Well, lots of new things happened since my last blog. I went to Turkey and Greece. (It was a great trip). I bought a condo last Summer.

istanbul

santorini

new place

It's been great living in a new place. I cook a lot now. No more tv dinners!! One great thing about this new living situation: I can invite friends over. I have learned to make many new dishes, mussels with wine sauce, paella, pork with cream sauce etc. Oh, ice cream, too.

making paella

friends

paella

pork cream sauce

blue berry clafouti

coconut ice cream

Again, nice to have your own space...

New Shoot

It has been 2 months since I last did a fashion shoot. Ashley was nice enough to model again for me. Her mom, Carol, who is a real sweet heart went out and bought some new clothes for the shoot. My friend Jacquie helped me with hair and makeup. The shoot went well and I am happy with the result.

Iron Chef Derwood

menu (made by rachel and mike)

lemongrass shrimps

lemongrass shrimps

After weeks of trash talking to the competing team, Kevin and Becky, and a couple of hours of preparation, Iron Chef Derwood was under way. Well, trash talking didn't end there, it went on during the competion haha. Needless to say, my sous-chef, Kathy and I walked away victorious. Woohoo!

A while back, my friends and I decided to have our version of Iron Chef America. We changed a few rules. In fact, we changed lots of rules; however, we kept the most obvious things such as main ingredient, judging panel, and scoring system for "taste," "plating," "originality" etc.

My dish was quite simple to make. All you need are chili basil paste, chopped lemongrass, Thai oyster sauce (made from Thailand) and garlic. Team Kevin and Becky made Cajun style shrimps with saffron rice and snap peas. I really enjoyed their dish a lot.

judging panel

judging panel

Though we didn't follow all the rules, the main excuse was to get together and drink. That's what we do best.

Back From CA

This is what my work area looks like when I came back to work. Very funny, Mike and Rachel.

I went out to Huntington Beach to see my mom and dad. They came over here October. At the moment they are staying with my sister and my brother-in-law. The visit also gave me a chance to see my niece. She was 3 months old when I last saw her in 2003.

My parents seem to adjust to a new life in the U.S. well. The weather in Southern California is perfect for them.

Click here to see more pix.

Christmas Eve 2006

Some pix from Christmas Eve party in Collingswood, New Jersey

New Fashion Shoot

I'd like to say thank you to Ashley (model) and her mom, Carol, Robin (Tangerine Dream) and Jean Paul (Dolce Vita salon) for their helps with this shoot. Most importantly, I want to say thank you to my boss, Jon for letting me use his studio.

Another Fashion Shoot

Click on image to see larger version

A New Start

I just received a phone call from my sister informing me that my parents have just arrived in LAX. They left everything behind (Saigon, Vietnam) to start a new life in the U.S. Well, that's all I am going to say for now.