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

Richmond

In our 2nd week of recording in London, we had to change studios, and this is how I discovered Richmond.

We tracked a few songs here, and overdubbed some vibes, and also had a string quartet come in and play on 2 songs!


And one day on lunch break I stumbled across 2 places that really made me happy! First was the Richmond Hill Bakery.

lots of fresh flowers for sale by the doorway


Lots of delicious pastries!!!


Cozy blankets and handmade jewelry

a shelf full of old-school toys and games

And then across the street was their deli called "A Cena On The Hill".

Out front they have fresh fruits and vegetables and potted herbs.

I had the best olive of my life here!

Very cozy interior, with fresh salads, and freshly baked goods, and meat pies, et al...

Anyway, I hope I didn't bore you too much! Only 4 more days left of recording!!! My buddy Gus, from L.A. is out here putting last minute "magicalness" to the tracks. I'm pretty excited about how it's all sounding! It's starting to get super cold out here... I have just enough socks to keep my feet warm and get me home!

Thanks for stopping by!

love
p. ahn

sigh... Fall

The last time I walked around in true Fall weather was.... hmm... 2 years ago? It was a gorgeous day in Bath today.

I also stumbled across this at the supermarket...

...looks like we're not the only ones who have "freedom" food. ;p

Yesterday I went shopping (or rather browsing since everything was mucho expensivo!) at Liberty's in London.

And I found the cutest pincusions...
...the cutest wooden tape dispenser...
and spotted the very cute and alluring fashion blogger, Susie Bubble!
And oddly enough, I saw her again a couple hours later at the Acne store on Dover St. Super adorable, and super duper tall! In all, I had a very cute and Autumn-y weekend. :)

I hope you all had a great one too!

love,
p. ahn

Week 2: London

First of all, thank you to everyone for your great UK tips as well as the L.A. ones. Once I get settled back home, I will definitely have to check some of these new places out! And finally share some of my favorite ones with you too! Unfortunately, I have had very little time here in London to do a lot of venturing out, simply because we've really been hitting it hard in the studio, which ultimately is a good thing. :) I'm writing them all down though for future use, because I know I'll be back here soon!

Also, just to clear up any possible confusion, I have 2 more weeks to go in finishing the record. But it probably won't be released until Spring 2011. :/

Here is a video I put together of our first week recording in London. It's very poorly edited, and only gives you tiny tiny snippets of songs... but I sort of did that on purpose because the songs weren't finished by this point, and I want you to still be surprised when you hear the record when it's done! :D I have to say though, I'm pretty excited about it!

lots of love,
p. ahn

one week down on LP 2

Hi everyone!

Well, one week done, 4 more to go! It's going great so far! We started at Ethan's studio just outside of Bath, out in the beautiful country side, where in the field next door there are horses, sheep, chickens, geese and ducks. We've already tracked 5 songs! They're not completely finished... but we head to London tomorrow to do some live tracking with a band.

Here's the little log cabin (as I like to call it) where I've been tracking guitar and vocals this past week.


I love it. It feels like I'm demoing at home... but I'm not.

This is my little spot where I sing and play.

My very own woodstove to keep me cozy while I'm tracking.

The potted vegetable garden outside the tracking room.

Lots of BIG hydrangea bushes all around to brighten the grey days.

Now I have to go to bed. Another big day tomorrow, and I haven't been getting enough sleep!

Lots of love,
p. ahn

new record & new projects

So, it's official. I'll be working in England with the wonderful producer Ethan Johns. I had definite reservations about making a record anywhere but L.A., because it's my home, and my friends, and my hubby, and... well, i'm a home-body! But I think that this will be a wonderful opportunity to make my 2nd record, and have the experience be something completely different, and totally outside my comfort zone. The official start date is September 20th. (!!!) Just a mere 3-ish weeks away!

And so, before I go, I've set a few personal goals:

- I want to see more of L.A. I have a few boutique shops that I really like, but I've driven by strips of places, where it looks like there are tons of adorable stores tucked away in areas that one doesn't necessarily venture around. Not to say the neighborhood is bad. It's just that L.A. is not a very walker-friendly city. Yes, there are some areas that are really walker-friendly, but for the most part, it can be a pretty boring commute, if you're trying to get from A to B on foot. So maybe what I have to do, is drive to a random neighborhood, park my car, and just start walking. I think I would stumble on a few cool finds that, hopefully, I can share with you!

- I need to finish my "thank you" cards! They're almost done. I need to send those out before I leave, or I'll feel really unsatisfied!

- I want to start brushing up on my Japanese and Korean again, in hopes that I'll be working over there again soon. :)

- And... I'll be looking up cool places to hang and eat at in London. Maybe some of you who live in or have been there can give me some sweet tips!

Goodnight for now...

love,
p. ahn