I’ll take three, please. They’re $298 each you say? I see. Picture me walking away slowly.

It truly is the beverage dispenser of my dreams. Sexy, curvy, design-y, part glass/wood/steel. It’s glorious, so glorious. Gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Unfortunately, that price tag is giving me the cold shoulder. via BHLDN

Similar
1. Beehive Glass Beverage Dispenser, $31.99

2. Crystal Clear Beverage Dispenser, $20.00

It’s no secret we like to imbibe from time to time here at Casa de Yu. Recently we decided to experiment and see what else is out there. I’m convinced Yong just wants me to stop ordering Rum&Cokes. So we decided to document our little alcoholic safari. We’ll include recipes just in case you decide to partake.

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The Old Fashioned. Born in the late 1800s, according to legend, to a bartender at the Pendennis Club in Louisville, Kentucky. I can honestly say this is a man’s drink. I know that sounds funny when you’re staring at  glass garnished by orange slices and cherries. But seriously, need some hair on your chest? We’ve got the cure. Like most other girls, tasting the alcohol in my mixed drinks is something I like to avoid. If that’s also the case for you, I’d stay far away from this drink. The bourbon stays front and center throughout with any other ingredients simply making the ride slightly easier. Slightly.

If you’re sitting in a club in Hollywood and cringing at the idea of paying $15-20 for a single drink, you might want to order yourself one of these. Then again if you’re partying in Hollywood and didn’t know that you should’ve walked into that club already half-drunk… that’s your own fault.

Recipe (with our modifications)
- 1 sugar cube or 2 teaspoons sugar (we used 1 teaspoon of pre-made simple syrup)
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- 1 strip of lemon zest (we skipped)
- 1 orange slice
- 1 maraschino cherry
- 2½ ounces of bourbon
- 2 to 3 ounces of chilled club soda
- orange slice & maraschino cherry to garnish

In the bottom of a chilled old-fashioned glass, saturate the sugar cube with bitters. Add the lemon zest, orange slide, and cherry. Muddle together the sugar, bitters, and fruit. Fill the glass with ice, add the bourbon, and stir well. Top with club soda, if desired. Garnish with the orange slide and cherry. Recipe modified from: The Ultimate Bar Book

Enjoy.

Last night, I finally got to catch up with some old friends. We couldn’t put our finger on who, but someone decided we should go to the Border Grill in downtown L.A. Another someone also touted this place as having some of the “best Mexican food!” I should have known, when that statement was thrown out it wouldn’t even come close.

The night started off fairly well, we were seated quickly and given menus to mull over. However, it all went downhill from there. The server took about 10 minutes just to come over, introduce herself and ask if we wanted something to drink. She took our drink order and then proceeded to ask if we were ready to order. We asked for a couple minutes and somehow that translated into 20 minutes. Finally, we place our order and, I can’t be sure but, it took about a million years to come out. Once it did, the server looked confused as to why he was carrying 4 plates and there were only 3 of us.

I ordered the Carnitas plate on a bed of buttery corn grits and black bean sauce. Can’t remember what that shredded red stuff on top was but it was pretty yummy. The whole thing was yummy, down to the guacamole and pico de gallo. But this is L.A. and I’m Mexican, so I’ve definitely had better.

The whole time I couldn’t help but get more and more upset over how small the serving was. Was it enough to satisfy me? Yes. Was it worth $21.50? Hell no. For that price I could’ve purchased as bag of carnitas from the local grocery store (already cooked) and eaten carnitas for about two weeks, easily. The presentation was beautiful but I was hoping I would have at least had leftovers to nom on at work today.

Let’s just say I won’t be visiting this place again. Our server kept disappearing for 30 minutes at a time. At one point she dropped off the check, which had errors on it that I found immediately. Only it took her 20-25 minutes just to come back and ask if we were done. I would understand if it had been a really busy night but it wasn’t. Not even close. I won’t get into how many times she had to come back with questions because splitting the check was apparently too tall a task for her. Horrible, horrible experience.

We’re hosting a Drunken Mario Kart Grand Prix party this Saturday. Which means… we’ve been sort of cleaning up the house to prepare for guests. I’ve mostly been getting around to doing all the things I had planned and made purchases for but never actually did. Like hanging up art and arranging spaces. Friday and Saturday morning should be interesting. We always joke about how we only throw parties to get the house clean.

We’ve also been trying to eat healthier without giving up tasty food. So there’s a lot of experimental recipes floating around. This particular meal was Garlic Ginger Pork with a salsa&raspberry sauce, plus mashed taters and garlic&ginger baby carrots. Baby steps, people.

Speaking of baby carrots, did you know that the “baby carrots” we’re all used to seeing in the grocery store are actually mature regular-size carrots that have been widdled down to that size? I feel totally used.

My house… having a moment. <3 Artwork purchased at Society6.

We received our new cookware today and I’m just so extremely obsessed with it. It’s all so shiny and new! I don’t care how dumb that sounds but I’m positively in love. Up until now we’ve cooking on some old pots and pans that Yong inherited/found and other random cookware that was in our kitchen when we moved in. The only thing I brought into the mix was a very large pot that my mom bought specifically to make large amounts of Pozole. Totally treating that sucker like an heirloom. Nothing matched, everything was stained/falling apart/missing handles… you get the gist. Never more!

I’m off to stare at shiny things and not cook on them for fear of making them less shiny.

I’m now the very (very) happy owner of a Silhouette Cameo! Can I tell you how much of a sexy beast it is? No? Well, it is. Got my order of self-adhesive vinyl in today and got to work! I’ve spent the past few weeks reorganizing our kitchen, trying to figure out what’s not working and why everything always ends up on the island. Yenno, besides the fact that we’re allergic to putting things away. So there’s a bunch of new containers living among us now. I wanted to get my Martha on and label them, but those labelers she uses just don’t do it for me. This definitely wasn’t an easier method, but a prettier one I think. The label was actually supposed to say ‘Maple Syrup’ but there was a little mishap when I went all X-acto knife crazy towards the end there. Syrup on it’s own works though, at least you still know what’s going on in the bottle. So excited to eat pancakes and waffles alluvasudden!

A round of applause for Yong who made this little lady a very happy camper with this gift. <3

We took a trip up to Seattle for a friend’s birthday earlier this month. The pacific northwest in December. Not sure what we were thinking. Fun times nonetheless.

work. holidays. sleep. tired. mess.

this year was as trying as they fucking come. happy to say it is almost over. happy i’ve survived. happy to be excited about what’s to come. i’d be really happy if i could find one missing memory card, though. that’d be nice.

Low lights, high ISOs and boys that won’t stop moving.