I don’t typically put cars / bikes on my blog even though I love, love them since it’s kind of off-topic. Spotted this bike parked in front of our favorite ramen place and couldn’t stop drooling all over it. The hotness goes beyond spoken words. It even made the weird Asian dude that owned it looked hot by proximity. This is the Ducati Monster 696. (Warning: loud website with Godzilla on it) It’s only been recently that I notice more and more high-performance bikes taking this “Naked” trend — meaning there’s no engine cover like the standard race bikes we’ve seen in the past. Good stuff. 

Pictures from the trip here.

Niseko was fun and full of many eating excitements in addition to the usual “puffily” snow goodness. So I arrive back to a balmy NYC winter yet again. This is making me worry even more about our climate and the world. I vow that in 2008 I will be a better human being in contributing less impact to the environment (or at least pay the off-set, which by the way is pretty friggin expensive for international flights. Yikes! Kudos to Continental Airlines - they make carbon off-setting a part of your flight purchase. Yay!). For those curious about where your contributions really go with this whole “off-setting” business, NYTimes has an interesting article that covers it. And, oh yea.. floss more. Happy new year to everyone! Have you got a resolution?

 Donno if its’ because of the sudden cold front or the constant state of perpetual uphill battles at work, but I’ve been feeling the blues lately. Kind of like what my dog nemo’s doing in the photo - half asleep, half awake, comfortable, but not quite aware. I suppose every now and then everyone question self motivation and ultimate purpose in work and life. I tend to do this every November and this year is no exception.

Next week I’ll be compiling the 2nd annual gift guiding and switch over to the winter skin. And then I’ll be looking forward to a nice season of snowboarding and traveling.

To celebrate the spirit of summer, I’ve posted a new summery header graphic. This photo is taken from lido beach, long island during the shay-day-secret-situation event. I’ve also finally upgraded wordpress to version 2.2. If I don’t get too distracted from the sunny outdoors, you may see new features popping here and there.

For my friend’s wedding I’m planning on baking her the wedding cake. Although I have been baking cakes for over 15 years now, I’ve never done a cake at this magnitude before. I’m totally looking forward to it. Say hello to “cake 1.0 alpha”. This is a really rough sketch (first pass on illustrator) of what it might look like. The inside will be red velvet cake (cakeman raven’s recipe!)with cream cheese frosting. Then it gets a layer of marshmallow fondant in aqua with chocolate brown ribbon trim. Final touches will be little gumpaste flowers in white (you can buy them at SugarCraft), and chocolate bride-groom topper. This is a daisy version that inspired the idea. Click on the links for recipe. In the next week or so I will begin the year-long training to make this cake.

Last week was my mum’s birthday and today is my dad’s birthday. Neither of them read this blog, which is fine. I’ve never really been a very good child. Last week I forgot to call her. Not having spoken to dad in 7 years sure doesn’t help either. That said, I am always grateful to have a mum and a dad (albeit far away) so wherever you guys are — happy birthday! Image: eggpress mini card from luxe paperie ($5.50).

I’m feeling a bit beat up from the stress at work right now, especially with less than 7 days to go before I leave for the long vacation. It’s almost too dreadful to even think about taking time off from the chaos at this point. This is also the first time my health is being affected. Usually I sleep off most things that bother me. This time around, I’m grinding my teeth in anger while I sleep so much that my dentist wants me to get night guards to prevent fractures. I wish I could just lay flat on my tummy like little malu here (pictured). She looks like she’s feeling pretty good after a long tiring day.

I just want to share how gorgeous this table is. There were a few of them in the lobby of the Hilton hotel in Austin. I took some more pictures of the interior but I think this one alone really speaks for itself.

This has nothing to do with home accessories but it does has 3 very critical elements that makes it noteworthy:

- world famous graffiti artists (i *heart* graffiti)

- custom toys

- benefits for save the children foundation

The Paintball is an event that is happening in NYC (see above) where there’ll be featuring customized Dunnys and Super FatCaps toys. Along with the drinking and mingling and what not, you’ll also be helping to support an education program funded by the foundation. Sounds fun. While I’m talking about toys, check out the Yummy Donut Keychain Series for only $2.95! Sooo cute.

Yes, folks, I just launched my friend’s website today. It is a fundraiser for her to join us on a trip to Thailand this winter. She’s an adorable girl who works very hard — but being in the event-planning non-profit industry and living in NYC doesn’t leave much room for saving let alone getting by each day. Far fetched concept, yes. But hey, if people are willing to shell out to save a rabbit, this just might work. What will you get out of it? A - feeling uber good for doing something nice. B - You might be the winner on her souvenir list. and C - she’ll be helping me on the journey to document goodies abroad for you to drool at. Doooo it.