Gift Ideas

Hi!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I was home for the holidays, and ate waaaaaay too much delicious Korean and Thanksgiving food. And I even got to see a little snow falling on Thanksgiving day.

Now I'm in Detroit with my hubby where he's working. I checked out this really cool website that has city guides in it to look for fun things to do while I'm here, and stumbled across their super cute and very unique gift guide. And luckily for me, it's an affordable one! All the gift ideas are $25 and under. I highly recommend checking it out for ideas: http://www.designspongeonline.com/

I think I'll be making a lot of presents this year. I bought some "Aranzi Aronzo" books while I was in England. They're books on how to make cute crafts. And you know how much I love cute things! In fact, the title of one of the books is "Cute Stuff".


I also got the book called "Baby Stuff" since so many friends have had, or are having babies. Also, at Design Sponge there are tons of DIY projects that could make really unique and special gifts.

Anyway, I have a bit of a cold now, so I'm gonna stay in bed and get back to my sewing.

I hope you all are healthy and warm...

love,
p. ahn

Playing House

So the album is officially finished! I'm sorry for not posting anything sooner. I flew home to L.A. and 2 days later, flew to Baltimore where my Mike was working, and once we came back home together I focused on 'playing house' for the short amount of time we had together.

But yes, the record is finished, and I am so proud of it!!! There are some songs that really groove on it, and have a lot of vibe. And of course some mellow tunes as well. We recorded live to tape for the most part. And tape always captures a little 'sumthin sumthin' extra special. Sort of like film for photographs or movies. There is definitely something special to me about this album. I can't wait for you all to hear it! We're looking at a Spring release... I'll give you all a heads up though when it's getting close!

Playing house this past week has been about trying to make our L.A. Fall, feel like an east coast Fall. We did have some cooler days in there which helped make it sort of cozy. I've been making tons of soups, and a dessert where I had to make my own caramel! I literally said out loud to myself as I was whisking the caramel, "I'm making this right now. I'm making caramel!"

Baking is obviously a new thing for me. ;)

I want to share one recipe with you that is super duper easy, and perfect for the holidays, and will really impress your family and friends (especially if you're someone like me who doesn't cook a lot).

Hot Mulled Apple Cider
(based off the Barefoot Contessa)

Ingredients:
16 cups pure apple juice or fresh apple cider (basically one of those big, heavy jugs of it. I used 'Mrs. Gooch's Natural Apple Juice')
4 (2 inch) cinnamon sticks
2 oranges, peels and juice
8 whole cloves
6 star anise

Directions:
Combine it all in a big pot. Once it starts boiling, lower the heat and bring to a simmer for 5 - 10 minutes. Pour into mugs and serve!

*And if you want to add an extra touch, you can mix together cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar in a shallow dish. Wet the rim of your mug with water and then put the rim in the dish with sugar and spices, twisting til the rim has a nice coating of the spices. Then pour in the mulled cider and serve.

** If you want to get super duper extra fancy, you can make your own whip cream and put on top! I never got that far!

Lots o' love,
p. ahn