For Japan With Love

For the past week, I’ve been thinking of how I could contribute and help out in the relief efforts to Japan. Lucky for me, Ever Ours & Utterly Engaged (two of my favorite blogs), are dedicating one day to bring everyone together to do something “For Japan With Love“. Each donation helps someone in need and each post that gets reblogged and tweets that get retweeted increases awareness. And this Friday, blogs across the web are vowing a day of silence for Japan. For the lives that were lost and to those who are fighting for their lives.

TO DONATE 

Visit www.forjapanwithlove.com; donate and share it! The organization of choice is ShelterBox.

ShelterBox provides emergency shelter and lifesaving supplies for families around the world who are affected by disasters at the time when they need it the most. Each large, green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items.

SPREAD THE WORD

This takes only a few minutes of our time but the power of one message that can be spread across the globe can be life changing. I invite all my fellow bloggers to join me, Ever Ours, Utterly Engaged and others to participate in Bloggers Day of Silence for Japan this Friday, March 18th. My blog will be silent as in no posts in honor and respect for what has happened in Japan.

If  you are interested in participating, you can e-mail lydia@ever-ours.com or info@utterlyengaged.com for more information.

It’s amazing how the blog world can come together to make an impact on helping. All it takes is 5 minutes and you can change someone’s life forever. So join us in this movement and see the change you can make by giving just a few minutes of your time “For Japan With Love“.

 

 

Tags: Bloggers Day of Silence, Ever Ours, For Japan With Love, Fundraiser, Japan, Utterly Engaged

Decadent Minis

Have you ever wondered how photographers take those gorgeous photos of food? I have! Lucky for me, my friend has set up shop at home to create and deliver her Decadent Minis. Focused on only mini cupcakes and chocolates, she needed someone to assist her in taking photos of her creations. I knew it’d be the perfect opportunity to test my inner food styling self. Or at least feed my obsession of taking food photos like a madwoman at restaurants, street vendors, basically anywhere as long as I have food in hand!

We set out to a neighborhood park with my camera in hand and was ready. My friend was able to pick up some pretty plates that worked great with the shoot. Loved the colors and subtlety. And with natural lights beaming on us, we went for our test run to attempt to create photos that we both swoon over on blogs. Results? Well, I think I have to say that I’m quite happy with them! The greatest part was that we had a blast and it was good bonding time. =) Thanks, Stacy for allowing me to help you and your business. Here’s to great success and many decadent minis to keep sweets lovers smiling. =)

P.S. If you attended the OMG Foodie Pre-Restaurant Week Party back in January, those delicious red velvet cupcakes were by the fabulous Decadent Minis!

Tags: Cupcakes, Decadent Minis, Desserts, Food Styling

Passport to Asia Benefit

This has been, what feels like, the longest I’ve been away on the blog. The past month hasn’t left much room for me to breathe or do anything for myself. What’s been keeping me busy? Volunteering at Asian Americans for Hope, a division of the American Cancer Society’s Asian Intiatives (ACS-AI). The event planning was put into full gear and I’ve been spending days, nights and weekends helping them prepare for the event.

And I’m glad to say that it’s FINALLY here! Being a part of this event made me realize that though ACS is a huge non-profit and there is an abundance of information and resources, there is a disconnect between what’s available and those in the Asian community. In a world where we can obtain almost any type of information with the click of  a finger, it’s almost baffling to realize that the cancer patients in the Asian community lack it. How so? Well there is a language barrier for services and information that is available. The ACS-AI aims to bring the vast knowledge we do have to these communities to allow them the same treatment and care as any other person that could speak and read English.

I learned that cancer is  the leading cause of death for female Asian Americans. Being one myself, knowing that rattles me but at the same time reminds me to stay healthy and think about my everyday choices. It’s a scary thought and even talking about cancer gives us all knots in the stomach because I’m sure we all know someone who’s been affected. But instead of wallowing in the pain and trying to gain the sympathy of others to help support our cause, we decided that our event, Passport to Asia, would be different. Rather than focus on the negative aspects of cancer, we wanted to be able to educate  people and at the same time celebrate life – for those who fought the battle, to those who continue to fight and to those who have survived.

On Wednesday, March 23rd we are hosting Passport to Asia. A night of food, drinks and performances by Cate Song, Hsunami and Paperdoll, hosted by Jen Kwok. We are banding together for one cause – to find a cure.

Date: Wednesday, March 23 @ 6:30pm

Location: 82 Mercer

Ticket Price: $125 (Proceeds to benefit ACS-AI)

For more information: www.passporttoasiany.com

Tags: 82 Mercer, ACS, American Cancer Society, Asian Americans, Benefit, Cate Song, Fundraiser, Hsunami, I Live for Life, Jen Kwok, Paperdoll, Passport to Asia

The Well – One Night One Cause

I had the privilege of being invited to The Well. It was a fundraising event in support of charity:water.

ONE NIGHT brought together talent, delicious sweets, cold drinks and great people; all for ONE CAUSE - The Well. This night was the first of many steps in bringing clean water to the millions of people in the world who don’t.  And the best part about it? People from all walks of life were there because they believed in providing ONE community with clean water.

This is personally my favorite charity of all time. Through the years, I’ve looked for charities that I would support unconditionally and believe in their mission. The mission is simple – there are billions of people who don’t have access to water; charity:water provides it by building wells. And their campaign? Donate your birthday. Instead of having friends give you gifts, you ask that they donate your birthday. Say you’re turning 30, your friends would donate $30 to your campaign for charity:water. How genius is that? Simple,effective, and personally? much better than receiving gifts that I might not use or use only a handful of times. Being able to provide someone or a community with clean water means much more than the material luxuries we have.

The Well is hoping to bring clean water to an entire community. They’re half way to the goal but need our help getting there. Little steps make a big difference. DONATE HERE and start a movement.

At The Well, we got to enjoy performances by the Cate Song and Peter Bradley Adams.  Both amazing performers and if you haven’t had a chance to check them out, do so on their site and keep updated on when they’ll be performing next on their Facebook pages: Cate Song FB and Peter Bradley Adams FB.

To top it off, we got to enjoy wonderful desserts! Cupcakes from Cakes by Christine NY and Cupcake Stop; Whoopie Pies from Sweetery NYC (if you haven’t checked them out, do so! A great partner to work with to develop a fun marketing campaign), Cake Pops from Sweets by Sillianah and Cookies from A Girl Bakes in New York.

What can I say? It one memorable night. A very special thank you goes out to Cate Song for allowing me to photograph the event. It was my first “official” shoot and can’t express more gratitude for having had this opportunity. So thank you, Cate – for believing and trusting in me.

See full photo album on Facebook.  

 

Tags: Alvin Ailey Studios, Cate Song, Charity:Water, Fundraiser, Music, One Night One Cause, Peter Bradley Adams, The Well, Water

Mayor’s Lunar New Year Event

We had the honor of attending the Mayor’s Lunar New Year event to ring in the year of the rabbit. The celebration was held at the Rubin Museum of Art - a gorgeous venue for a cocktail reception. I was surprised to find it in its location; I would’ve never guessed such a great gallery existed on 17th btwn 6th & 7th Ave. The passed hor’dourves were not as impressive and rather lacking in authenticity of what Chinese dim sum should taste like. I won’t disclose the vendor that sponsored the event, but if ever asked, I wouldn’t recommend them for traditional dim sum choices. I was at their location several years ago and don’t recall a great experience – not the best and over priced for what it is.

The saving grace for the event? Chinatown Ice Cream Factory! You can’t get more authentic than this with the family owned business where they churn the homemade ice cream in the back of their store. If you haven’t been, you MUST give it a try and my recommendation? The ZEN BUTTER! Just a hint of peanut butter with toasted sesame seeds.

And the highlight of the night? Well the Mayor himself came to wish everyone a Happy New Year. This would be the first time I’ve been present to see a public figure speak. Nothing fantastic but appreciated that Mayor Bloomberg attemped to be funny. The Lion Dance group did an amazing job and I have to commend them for doing an outstanding performance in such a small space with all the older Asian women and men patting them, rubbing and almost groping the poor kids under the costume. They do this because it’s deemed to be good luck to touch the lions and give them “lai see”.

A special thanks to my friend Morgan for extending the invitation and welcoming us to the event!

 

Tags: Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, Chinese New Year, CICF, Dim Sum Go Go, Lunar New Year, Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, nyc, Rubin Museum of Art