bubble nails by aya - lost in emerald city

i love glitter!

lost in emerald city

nail color: gelish - seafoam

blue/green glitter: martha stewart - amazonite

gold glitter: martha stewart - citrine

bubble nails by aya - simply chic

sometimes, i just want plain nails - just color on my nails. it's nice to put something simple and chic that will match every outfit! i call this:

simply chic nails

beige color:  gelish - need a tan

i'm back... again.

i really suck at this blogging thing... when my "life" gets busy, this is the last thing on my mind to update. luckily, i have all the photos on my phone and on my external that i've been meaning to write about.

where shall we start?  let's see, my last post was in may (before my harroween nails).... so going in chronological order, we can start with my parents visiting me and meeting the bf for the first time!

so let me tell you... i always thought i would end up with a japanese guy - for awhile, it was important for me to marry japanese to continue the "pure" japanese bloodline... buuuuuut that never happened - my high school bf was half vietnamese/half philippino, my college bf was korean, my after college bf was chinese... seems like i never found a good japanese guy - since my first crush in third grade: daichi takeshita, i mean common, how much more japanese could he get for me right?!?! i think for my parents (more my mother - i know you're reading and trying to deny it, but i'm right) they wanted me to marry japanese also.  oh and he had to be smart, a doctor or something.. yah, well, i never found that japanese guy. shocking.

anyway, i guess the universe didn't want me to be with a japanese guy because i found paʻa - paʻahana leslie. he's hawaiian, portugese, irish, german, english and french - definitely NO japanese there. long story short, they met, my parents liked him, paʻa and i are still together, so yay!

this is us at dinner. paʻa is such a stud.

bubble nails by aya - happi harroween nails

i've been lacking creativity in my nails lately - you know what happens when you have gel polish (or any kind of nail polish) on your nails at all times? your nails get weak and brittle, they break and crack - no bueno! i gave my nails a break, no polish (not even clear polish!) for about three weeks, took vitamins to strengthen them.  then the festival happened so i didn't have time to spend three hours to do my nails all cutesy.. i've been sticking with the one simple color for the most part..

halloween was last week and i had to be festive in some way, so here it is:

happy harroween nails

orange polish: gelish - tiki tiki laranga

glitter: martha stewart - graphite

bubble nails by aya - purple color blocking

i used tape - scotch tape.  definitely, not as easy as i thought.  i got this new purple and wanted to do something different.

purple color blocking nails

nude glitter:  gelish - tickle my heart

purple:  gelish - star burst

gold design sticker

bubble nails by aya - splatter me colorful

spring is here and bright colors on your nails are fun!  this took forever, but it's cool to see how the colors mesh together and create a different designs.

splatter me colorful nails

white:  gelish - sheek white

green:  gelish - amazon flirt

orange:  gelish - tiki tiki laranga

pink:  gelish - shake it till you samba

blue:  gelish - ooba ooba blue

yellow:  gelish - coco cabana banana

bubble nails by aya - miami ready

as per usual, i did my nails before leaving to miami.  i wasn't sure what set my nail-mood for miami, but i went with a subtle look with a bit of glam.

miami ready nails

deep purple:  gelish - diva

gold, round, flat studs:  1.5mm

gold, square, flat studs:  4mm

miami - #sobewff day three

day three here we come.

today was EXCEPTIONALLY hot.  the last couple of days were hot, but there's a difference in hotness walking around town going in and out of stores and at an event, on the beach, with no shade with thousands and thousands of people!

first, denise and i went to a fun & fit kids event for #sobewff at jungle island, miami's zoo.  it was really cool seeing the festival put together an event for the kids and families to enjoy.  that's definitely something that we want/should to incorporate into our festival.

they had fitness activities for the kids to teach them to be active and healthy.

those are actually just white styrofoam planters!  creative right??

teaching you to grow your own veggies.

how appropriate!

although i thought it was weird that tony the tiger was short.

like really.

cooking class for the kids~  notice there are no parents close by?  that's because they weren't allowed in the there!  they are all standing along the staircase behind the window to the right!

ok, now on to the HOTTEST part of the day.  denise and i made our way back towards the beach to attend the whole foods grand tasting event.  

notice that sign says "village" - believe me you.

it WAS a village.

what a production - i was just in awe!

want to buy a cook book and get it autographed?!  you can do that!

this is just the beginning of the "village".  probably about 30 booths of sponsors showcasing their product.

this is looking into the entrance of the tents.

YUP, tents - plural.

i took this picture so i can show you what an awesome venue this is - literally on the beach, overlooking the white sand, blue water and sky.  whaaaaaaaat!!!??

this is inside the first tent.  there is another one!

denise and i left early after we made our round through the two tents because it was too hot, long lines and lots and lots people.  regardless, i was so impressed with the caliber of the event and how well each event was executed.

and to give you a better idea of how ginormous this event was, this is the directory of all the sponsors, food and beverage, wine, liquor, beer vendors that were present at this grand tasting.

it's jaw dropping!

moving on...  the last event of my stay in miami.  the tribute dinner to nobu and christophe navarre.  this event is similar to our halekulani event we have at the hawaii food & wine festival, except they probably have an extra 50-100 attendees, they have a live auction and we don't tribute anyone... 

the event was held at the ballroom at loews.

beautiful set up with elegant center pieces.

mistress of ceremony was ms. martha stewart.  

decked out in dashing sequin black leggings and sequin silver jacket.  

fab.  she rocked it.

denise and i before the dinner started.

it was nice to be at an event, sitting down, being served and not sweating!

first course:  scottish langoustine in sea water gelee, uni custard and nori tuile

by daniel boulud

i didn't like that this first course on the table prior to us sitting down, but surprisingly, it worked out to its benefit - it was so delicious!  the uni custard with the crisp caviars, gelee and a full, flavorful piece of uni.  mmm.  perfection.

second course:  homemade tofu with orange miso

by yoshihiro murata

interesting...  with the terrazas reserva torrontes wine pairing, it tasted great, but on its own, i felt the orange overpowered the miso and you couldn't really taste the creaminess of the homemade tofu.

third course:  steamed pork, crab and vegetable dumpling with mushroom sauce

by yuji wakiya

another interesting dish from my motherland.  the dumpling was steamed in the cellophane, which i'm sure shocked the americans, but i must say, the flavor of the dumpling with the mushroom sauce was very japanese and i enjoyed it a lot.

(yuji wakiya will be joining us in september!)

fourth course:  scallion crusted madai, congee and abalone salad with korean miso sauce

by roy yamaguchi

there's a reason why i always say roy is the shit.  'nuff said.

fifth course:  lemongrass braised short rib with kabocha squash puree and maitake risotto cube

by fredric delaire

risotto cube, amazing.  add maitake, even more amazing!  the short rib was very tender and well prepared.  well done.

dessert course:  matcha parfait with almond praline, sesame, kumquat and soy caramel

by johnny iuzzini

thank goodness i'm not doing that "no dessert" crap anymore!  this dessert was fabulous.  all the components eaten together just enhanced all the flavors and was a party in my mouth!  the parfait was creamy, the almond praline was perfectly crunchy, that soy caramel was... so good.  the kumquat on its own was waaay too sour for me, but like i said, together with everything was delicious!

nobu-san graciously accepting the tribute.  he is an amazing man.

group photo - used the panorama on my iphone, but half way through the group put their hands up so that's why the picture is like that!

this is nobu's acceptance speech - it was very heartfelt and sincere.

i hope you'll take the time to watch the whole thing.  i think you'll appreciate him too.

i'm bummed it's blurry, but i love this picture.  

nobu calls me aya-chan :)

see you in september.

what an amazing experience #sobewff was.  i am very lucky to have been able to travel to miami and have the opportunity to check out how other festival does things.  again, at the end of the day, it's all because of roy.  i'm not sure that i personally would want the hawaii food & wine festival to be on south beach's scale, however i hope we can execute amazing, well planned, beautifully designed, impressive events highlighting hawaii and all the bounty that comes with.  i hope the festival will be able to educate attendees about hawaiian culture through our daytime programs with kamehameha schools and let them experience hawaii at its roots.  i hope that we can instill an appreciation for locally grown products and those hands that have prepared it.  i think what differentiates our festival from many others is that we have a very unique product - the state of hawaii and its people who are passionate about supporting "local", taking care of our ʻaina, growing our future culinarians and aloha spirit.  if we can share that passion with the rest of the world where maybe, just maybe a few chefs can take that back home to the mainland and share with their team or attendees have a better appreciation for hawaii and the importance of its culture and history, i think the festival has done its job.  and as a result, if we're able to donate $200,000+ again in 2013 to our local beneficiaries, even better.

my flight back to hawaii was dreadful.  17 hours of traveling is very tiring.  the only thing i had looking forward to my three hour layover in la was hanging out with my parents eating my in n out burger.  priceless.

i savored every single bite till the very end.

miami - #sobewff day two

day two:

denise and i went looking for a place to get lunch and on our walk, we came across this cute, quaint street - espanola way.  felt like a italian village.

at night, we went to #sobewff second night, wine spectator's best of the best event.  this was by far, my favorite tasting event for the weekend.  the event was at the fountainebleau, another beautiful hotel in miami.

there were over 75 wineries participating at this event!

this is a yogurt lollipop prepared by the FIU students - this was amazing!  that's a frozen board - he piped down a strawberry yogurt, adds a lollipop stick, adds a dollop of whip cream on top and THEN soaks it in nitrogen really fast to give a quick flash freeze.

amazing AND delicious!

look how gorg!

black truffle.

does she look familiar?  yup, this is anita lo - she was on top chef.

you can see her again in september at our festival!

and of course, we went to go eat after!  tonight, we went to scarpetta, an italian restaurant in the fountainebleau.

hamachi.

mediterranean tako.

ummm, yah, that's a steak tartare under alllllll that shaved black truffle.

burrata.

from top left to right to bottom:  tagliolini (butter & parmigiano AND shaved black truffle - my FAV), spaghetti - simple but delicious, and butternut squash raviolini with veal cheeks.

long island duck.

polenta crusted cheesecake with strawberry gelato.  i've never had polenta crusted before, but it worked well!

pistachio souffle.  eaten together with the cherry gelato was perfection.

this was my fav.  budino di mascarpone with mango sorbet with homemade crisp mango fruit roll-up!

dinner was amazing.  there was an after party at the sls hotel, although denise, roy and jackie didn't want to go with me, i wanted to check it out - so i went solo.  and i left solo.  ;)

mastercard was a sponsor, can you tell??  the after party was cool - they had a cigar bar, a oyster bar, and a photo booth.  if only i had someone to party with....!!

i left shortly after making my round.  miami has lots of interesting people walking around late at night.  reminded me of my life in downtown la, but a bit more crazy!  sophisticated men trying to start a fight with a bum (as if the bum doesn't have enough problems..), people yelling at cars passing by, cab drivers yelling and throwing their hands up, security guards scolding pedistrians...  haha, jeez.  it was quite entertaining walking and watching all this happen!

i was able to fall asleep around 2am that night.  one more day of excitement and learning~