celebrations | kimberly ah

Apr 04 2017

Tuna & Watercress with Wasabi Ponzu Dressing

As promised, I’m going to share some of the food we made for the hanami party. The first is this spicy salad that we found on Cookpad. (Thanks to Jess for all of the hanami tips!) It is so fresh and delicious and I even think it would be tasty without the fresh fish. The wasabi-ponzu dressing is the highlight.

Tuna & Watercress with Wasabi Ponzu Dressing

Salad:

1 bunch of watercress

3-4 radishes, sliced paper-thin, cut into half-moons (A mandolin is handy here.)

1/4 red onion, sliced paper thin (The mandolin is already out. Use it again.)

6oz fresh sushi grade tuna or salmon, sliced into bite sized pieces (You can also use smoked salmon, but fresh is best!)

Dressing:

1 tablespoon ponzu sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons wasabi paste

Whisk the ponzu, oil, and wasabi together until smooth. Toss the vegetables, fish, and dressing together. Sprinkle with a bit of salt, if needed. Serve immediately. Feel the burn.

Tagged celebrations, food, homemaking, I *heart* Japan, Trader Joe's

Apr 01 2017

2 Comments

adventures, celebrations, In My Mailbox, Office Supplies, snail mail, Write On

Write On & National Letter Writing Month

It’s here! Already! I’ve missed writing letters, so I’m looking forward to catching up with my (oh so patient!) pen pals and hopefully writing a letter or two on the spring balcony! As usual, I’m going to set some goals for myself:

Spend out more of my stationery stash. (It’s out of control.)
Spend out my Easter cards/mail art stash. (Also growing out of control.)
Send something every day. (It’s not a requirement for Write On, but I want to keep up my momentum!)
Break out my new Letter Ledger!! (Seriously, it’s my favorite letter writing tool. Victoria of Paper & Type is a genius!)

That’s it. Write. Reconnect. Spend out.

Join me?

Tagged celebrations, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, snail mail

Mar 30 2017

6 Comments

celebrations, crafty adventures, some stuff about me

A Hanami Party

Last weekend, Naoto and I threw a hanami theme party. Hanami is Japanese word for “flower viewing” and it refers to the picnics under the sakura (cherry blossom) trees in Japan every spring. I’ve never experienced one in real life. Sadly it was raining on the best day to see the sakura on our last spring trip to Japan. But I love looking at pictures of them and dreaming of breathing in the fresh air while eating and drinking Japanese fare. So a hanami party has been on my wishlist* for awhile, so Naoto and I decided to throw one for my birthday which just happens to be during cherry blossom season! We couldn’t have a sakura viewing without the tree, so I made one. Well, a branch of one. Conveniently, there was a tornado in my hometown last month. (It ran two blocks north of my parents’ house and they watched it from their porch! Please leave your scoldings for them in the comments section.) Thankfully everyone was okay. My dad brought me a selection of branches and I picked the best one and turned it into a flowering cherry branch. I used this tutorial and spent a couple nights folding and tying blossoms. It was a pretty easy craft. I added some lights and suspended the branch from the ceiling, kind of low so it would add to the ambiance of the picnic, and I hung some colorful paper lanterns behind it. Amazingly, Presley looked but didn’t touch the branch. And yes, I did make my friends sit on the floor for the picnic. I wanted it to be as picnic as we could get! I didn’t want to have to shake up cocktails all night, so we drank lots of sparkling wine and sake out of cute paper cups. (I brought a tube of 100 paper cups home from Japan last year. They were sort of the inspiration for the picnic.) Naoto has been wanting to order a sushi tray from the Japanese market forever so we figured this was the perfect occasion! Isn’t it gorgeous? And we made two kinds of Japanese picnic sandwiches, egg salad with bacon & coleslaw and crab & cucumber. He also made a watercress salad with fresh tuna and wasabi dressing. (I want to share those recipes soon!) And we rounded out the menu with some cheese and crackers and fresh fruit. Oh, and birthday cake!! I recently added a couple of haori to my wardrobe. Haori are short kimono-like jackets. They’ve become the kaftan of my 2017. I haven’t been brave enough to venture in public wearing one, but I’ve worn them to a couple of parties now. My spring one, with pink and blue and grey blossoms, was very on theme for the party. It was such a fun night–as it always is with my friends and Naoto. I’m sad to miss sakura season in real life this year, but hopeful for a trip in the fall to experience a whole new season in Japan!

*I have a running list of theme parties I want to host…I wish I was a millionaire with a huge yard so I could throw each and every one!

Feb 24 2017

Scenes From Valentine’s Day

Isn’t this bouquet lovely? Naoto sent it to me for Valentine’s Day as a little surprise. I took this picture about ten minutes before Presley ate a chunk off of one of the lily leaves, sending me into a panic. (Lillies are insanely poisonous to cats.) I literally turned my back for one minute and she was on the table eating the WORST possible plant! I did a quick Google and found only dreadful news and called the vet. While I was on hold (I suspect other pet owners were in my same circumstance…) Presley threw up and the chunk of leaf was there, undigested. The vet said it was a good sign but even with those assurances, I spent the next three days monitoring Presley’s eating, drinking, and bathroom habits like a new mother. We had to move the flowers into the guest room when we weren’t home, just to be safe. They were too much of a temptation for the little devil. Curiosity killed the cat and all…Other than that excitement, I started getting a cold on Valentine’s Day that has put me behind on everything I had planned for the end of the month. Next week is supposed to be a quiet one so I’m looking forward to catching up and getting back on track. Hopefully…

Tagged celebrations, holidays

Feb 14 2017

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day! I just mailed out round 1 of my Valentines today. I spent a few days last week at my parents’ house and forgot to work on them! I took the easy way out with a Paper Source kit, so hopefully I can finish the rest this week.

Do you have any Valentine plans? Naoto and I usually don’t celebrate, but I am cooking dinner tonight and trying my hand at chocolate mousse (from this Smitten Kitchen recipe) so I guess that’s kind of celebrating?

P.S. Up above is another vintage Valentine from my collection. I wish I looked that cute while I’m typing out my cards, but I’m usually standing at my desk and fighting off the cat while she tries to climb up my leg.

Tagged celebrations, holidays, homemaking, snail mail, vintage

Dec 15 2016

2 Comments

adventures, celebrations, Christmas, cocktails, holidays, Merry & Bright

CH Distillery’s A Cocktail Story

This may be my favorite Christmas adventure of the year! I love a good theme party, so when I read about CH Distillery’s A Christmas Story themed pop up, I jumped at the chance to take Naoto on a little Christmas date. He’s never seen the movie, but he enjoyed the cocktails anyway. Here are a few pictures from our night out…from appetizers to the best eggnog I’ve ever had.

Tagged adventures, celebrations, Christmas, cocktails

Oct 15 2016

1 Comment

adventures, celebrations, Forest Park, Halloween, Trader Joe's, Wine

Phantom Flight Night™ 2016

sheet pan fall vegetables and chicken thighs, Phantom Flight Night Another fall, another Phantom Flight Night™. I just love this party…this year it was a small group, only four of us, enjoying Bogle’s Phantom wine from 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2013. Unlike last year, this bottle of 2008 was fine and delicious, though I can’t remember which one we liked the most. sheet pan fall vegetables and chicken thighs, Phantom Flight Night Simple decorations this year…We made this one pan Autumn dinner and it was amazing…apples, brussel sprouts, sweet potato…all the best of fall. It was a good night.

Tagged adventures, celebrations, food, forest park, Halloween, Trader Joe's

Sep 27 2016

6 Comments

celebrations, Election Party, vintage

National Voter Registration Day

Today is National Voter Registration Day here in the U.S. If you haven’t registered or you’ve moved lately and need to update your registration, go to nationalvoterregistrationday.org and get registered! I think both sides would agree, we need all hands on deck this election!

Tagged celebrations

Sep 14 2016

3 Comments

celebrations, Oh Presley!

Presley Turns 10

Labor Day marked our tenth year with Presley. Because it was a landmark year, we had a little party for her. (I know, I know…we’ve become one of those childless couples who throws parties for their pets.) It was just a good reason to have Karen (the cat nanny) over for supper and to wear tiny party hats. Getting Presley to wear her tiny party hat was the best part of my week. She kept it on for all of three seconds, but I got a picture of it so I am thrilled. Her charmingly grumpy expression is just perfect. Karen gave Presley some treats and some wine bottle cat toys. (So far, Presley prefers the Catbernet to the Muscat.) She enjoyed a special tuna dinner while we ate her cake. Now I’m just looking for more excuses to wear tiny party hats.

P.S. Here’s the story of how we got Presley.

Tagged celebrations, crafts, decorating

Aug 09 2016

1 Comment

celebrations, cocktails, crafty adventures, Olympics

Rio Olympics Party

It’s Olympics time again! Last Friday I hosted a few friends for an Opening Ceremonies viewing party. Just like in 2014 and in 2012, I made a few decorations to get into the Olympics spirit. I had my flag banner left over from last time. (Yes, I saved it. No regrets.) This time, I added some tissue poufs in Olympics colors and a little torch. I may have taken a few laps around the apartment with the torch before I sat it by the TV. (I got the idea here in case you want to make one of your own. I used super sticky tape instead of pins and it’s still holding quite nicely.)Karen and I chopped up fruit to make up the easiest Olympic centerpiece ever. I made sausage, beans, and rice and brigadeiros, little chocolatey truffles made with condensed milk. (They are so easy to make! I highly recommend them as an easy treat while you watch swimming or gymnastics!) Karen made Brazilian cheese bread and Jackie made little shrimp and mango tostadas and James made two kinds of guacamole. We had quite a feast! And of course we had to drink caipirinhas, the National Drink of Brazil. They were delicious (topped off with a bit of sparkling water to dilute the booze just a little bit!)

I had so much fun getting the party ready and of course so much fun celebrating with friends. We tested each other’s geography skills and did our own commentary about the uniforms and cheered extra hard for the countries with small delegations. Go athletes!

Tagged celebrations, cocktails, crafts, decorating, diy, food