Any Reason is a Good Reason to Celebrate

I love the company of friends. I will find any reason to have a get together, and Chinese New Year made finding an excuse to celebrate easy. I tend to plan in my head weeks in advance what will be on the menu, who to invite, what I will wear, what music will be playing in the background, etc. In my mind, my gathering will look and feel like I hired David Tutera, then reality sets in and I am running around last-minute buying candles, flowers/plants, decorations, food, wine and spirits.

For this party, James and I had a buffet of Asian inspired dishes. Here is the menu and links to the recipes.

• Asian Baked Crispy Chicken Wings – a mixture of two recipes from Korean American Mommy and Bin the Kitchen (who adapted his recipe from Korean American Mommy. I added the following to the original recipe: orange juice & zest, honey and ginger to taste and corn starch)
• Asian Beef Ribs – Chicago Defender
• Marinated Thai-Style Pork Spareribs – Epicurious.com
• Steamed Vegetables  with white rice – Livestrong.com
• Lemongrass Chicken Stix with a mixture of soy sauce, Sriracha hot chili sauce and chili garlic sauce for dipping  (Trader Joe”s, Thank you Adrienne)
• Vegetable Gyoza (Thank you Blaze and Jay)
• Veggie Balls (we opted for BBQ sauce, mix of Sweet Baby Rays and Trader Joe’s All Natural Barbecue Sauce) – Epicurious.com
• Mikayawa Mango and Chocolate Mochi (Trader Joe”s or online at Mikayawa.com)

Asian inspired buffet

James & Adrienne

Rei Bollozos "I'm the only Asian in the room xo"

Adrienne & Jeff Pearson

Ryan Slattery & Adrienne

Blaze Gusic

Michael D Cook-Wood & David Castillo

My mom (Patti) and sister (Carri) are so silly

Mom & James with Stephen Stocks in the background

Patti trying sake for the first time

A2 & A1

Mochi is not my mother's favorite

Patti DOES NOT like Mochi (lol)

Carri & Ryan laughing at my mom

In the end, all that mattered was the love and laughs that was shared. What excuse do you use to have a cocktail party?

Thank you for reading.

Adrienne xo

Related articles

• A Shopping Guide to Trader Joe’s (thedailymeal.com)

Celebrating 104 Years of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. Sisterhood

On Sunday, January 15^th my amazing sorority turned 104 years old, and on Saturday, January 21^st the Las Vegas chapters of Theta Theta Omega (graduate) and Kappa XI (undergraduate) held our annual Founder’s Day luncheon at Eastside Cannery.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (AKA) founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C. is the first Greek-lettered organization established by African-American college-educated women. I love being an AKA because it is a sisterhood of talented, successful, smart and beautiful women who believe in volunteer service and commitment to “Service to All Mankind.”

What makes being in this sorority extra special is being able to share experiences with my mother. I missed her at the luncheon because she was in Denver and Kansas for my grandfather’s funeral, but I kept her informed via text. Blessed are we to have a lifetime of sisterly memories to share.

Tiffany Carroll

Kenadie and Me

Meachie & Shirley Carroll

Sandra Bass

Erica Shaw

Mae Worthey

Thank you for reading,

Adrienne xo

I Love Burgers

I Love Burgers, especially this one, a Caprese with thick savory balsamic and the fried pickles were pretty okay too!

i ♥ Burgers at Town Square

702.675.7800

Fried Pickles

Caprese burger

MLK and Le Cirque at Bellagio

MLK banquet invite

Saturday night started out with me attending the 30^th Anniversary King Banquet at the Flamingo Hotel  during Martin Luther King weekend with my beautiful mother. We attended on behalf of my lifelong friend Cedric Crear. My mother loves events like this so when I asked her if she would be my date I got a definite yes. The guest speaker was Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta, I have to admit I did not hear because I left a bit after dessert was served. It was uncomfortably cold in the ballroom and the program was running long, but the message of why I was there was not forgotten. I left to spend some time with my good friend Rocky who was across the street at the Bellagio.

Rocky Nash

Earlier that day, she surprised me via Skype asking if I wanted to meet up after the event because she was in Vegas for a few days. I did not realize how much I missed our girl time until I was able to give her a hug. I refer to Rocky as my savvy international traveler since she is always on the move globally. Last year she lived in China and visited Sweden. Several weeks ago she was in Paris and now she lives in New York City. I love Skype. It makes it seem as if she is just across town when we video chat.

Image by Ken Lund via Flickr

Bellagio is such a beautiful property. We met in the lobby under the exquisite chandelier made of glass by sculptor Dale Chihuly then took in the Chinese New Yeardisplay at the Conservatory & Botanical Gardens before heading over to the AAA Five Diamond rated Le Cirquefor a glass of wine and some much needed girl talk. We sat at the cozy bar in the lounge and engaged in conversation with William the bartender and waited for her friend Stephani to join us.

Le Cirque Lounge

I am a diehard lover of red wine – the fuller the body the better, but after one glass, he turned us on to the French 75 (I’ll place the recipe at the end of this post) and literally had me licking my martini glass and rethinking my drink options. As she’s telling me about her whirlwind trip to Vegas the pastry chef delighted us with an array of scrumptious desserts. Nothing is better than lots of chocolate from a French chef.

Chocolate Egg

Mixed desserts

Chocolate Souffle with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

 

 

 

 

 

It was getting late so I said good night and headed home as they continued to Hyde (I will have more on the new luxurious spot in another post coming soon…)

French 75

• 1/2 ounces St. Germain
• 2 ounces cucumber infused vodka
• Splash of sweet and sour
• Top off with champagne

In a chilled cocktail shaker add some ice and shake well, then strain into a chilled martini glass and top off with champagne.

Thank you for reading,

Adrienne xo

Workout Update

I’ve decided to keep it going with a month to month at 24 Hour Fitness Sport. I’ve lost five pounds so far. What I like about this gym is the location – it’s in walking distance, it’s very clean, the slow period is roughly 10:45 a.m.-4 p.m. so getting one of the many elliptical and treadmills is never a problem (I live for cardio), and the staff is really nice too.

Source: RomeoRomero.com

My most favorite class is cardio funk  taught by Rawlins at 10 a.m. every Wednesday. It ranks right next to my kickboxing class with Romeo Romero.

I’ll give random updates as I reach my desired fitness level again.

Thank you for reading

Adrienne xo

A New Year, Back to the Old Me!

I have to admit, toward the end of 2011 I got out of shape and I have the 20 pounds around my middle to prove it. I always vowed not to be a cliché and jump on the “join a gym at the New Year” bandwagon. So I did… sort of.

I am trying out 24 Hour Fitness for one free week before going on a month to month program. It makes no sense to sign a yearlong contract if I lose motivation. It’s only been three days and Ibuprofen is my new BFF.

Wish me luck as I get my skinny back J

Thank you for reading

Adrienne xo