Kings Game at Dodger Stadium

Posted by Hirono

kings

The Stadium Series game was awesome. The game was SO darn awful for the Kings fan , but it’s not every day that you get to watch a hockey game at an outdoor baseball field, at Dodger Stadium!

It was Pon Pon’s first hockey game and she did great! It was late for her (she’s usually in bed by 8:00 p.m. and the game didn’t start until 7:15 p.m.) but she was a good sport and loved interacting with fellow Kings fans! She even watched Kiss give powerful performances before the game and during the first intermission. She fell a sleep in my Boba baby sling for half of second and the entire third periods, which was good for her because those two periods were pretty painful to watch.

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Papa custom ordered the Stadium Series jersey for Pon Pon for this very occasion (no, the baby’s name is not Bailey , it’s the name of our favorite Mascot) but it was a little too big for her! Maybe next time!

The Greatest Night — 45 Years in the Making!

Posted by Hirono

Bob Miller said it best:

This is for you Kings players and Kings fans wherever you may be. All the frustration,the disappointment of the past is gone. The 45-year drought is over. The Los Angeles Kings are indeed the kings of the National Hockey League, the 2012 Stanley Cup champions.

I will never forget this night.

The Game Day!

Posted by Hirono

All photos courtesy of Sara Jordan Photography.

Kevin and I were an anti-wedding couple. In fact, we were planning to get hitched at a local Court House, the painless way. I was never one of those girls who dreamed of a perfect wedding growing up. Just between you and me, I actually disliked weddings because I found, not all, but most of them to be unbearably corny.

Then, on Thanksgiving Day last year over turkey dinner, we got trapped by our families into having a formal ceremony and reception (Japanese mothers can be very convincing, I tell you). We fought the idea for a while, but we soon realized that the wedding is not just for us, but for our parents as well, who have perhaps dreamed of this day for many, many years.

We decided to give them the gift of appreciation by granting their wish.

We agreed to have the wedding but Kevin and I figured that if we are going to have it, we were going to do it our way, on our own terms. This meant no traditional things like cake cutting, first dance, garter and bouquet tosses, slide shows, speeches, chicken dance … none of those cheesy stuff.

Instead, we decide to incorporate everything that we love – good friends, good food, good drinks, good dessert, and of course, our beloved Los Angeles Kings – into the theme, and make it as less wedding-like as possible. For a long time, we didn’t call this event a wedding (the evil “W” word) and referred to it simply as dignified luncheon with friends and family.

Now looking back (even though it’s only been a few days), having the wedding was the best decision we’ve ever made. The day was perfect … just perfect. The moral of this story? Listen to your mothers. They know what they’re talking about.

Our friend Gabriel officiated the ceremony and delivered the most heart-warming vows.

Bailey, the Los Angeles Kings mascot, made an appearance at the wedding. I think Kevin and I were more excited to see Bailey than the actual wedding! We LOVE him so much!

Instead of the traditional grand entrance, ours was the players introduction like the one at a hockey game. The wedding party entered the room with a hockey stick in hand!

Never mind the first dance! This is our first faceoff!

Here’s to best friends anyone can ever have! Lots of love to Winston, Daichi, Liwei, Saori, Maya, and Tiffany, for making this an amazing day for me and Kevin!

I will post about amazing vendors (photographer, florist, DJ, the venue, alternation, makeup artists, photo booth, etc.) in separate posts!

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Speaking of LA Kings, how about those boys! We are the Western Conference Champions! WOOT WOOT! I’m so excited about the Stanley Cup playoffs that’s about to kick off next week. I’ve waited many years for this moment. Winning the Cup this will be the ULTIMATE wedding gift! Go Kings go!

Wedding Favor: Custom Hockey Puck

Posted by Hirono

To go with our hockey themed wedding, we decided to give away custom wedding pucks as a favor!

Kevin found this online shop called Official Game Puck (OGP) in Canada that makes amazing custom pucks. For about $2.00 a puck, it was the best gift idea ever. And the pucks came out perfect, with our names and the wedding date on it!

Post Wedding Update:

We placed the puck on every table, on top of the napkin.

Photo courtesy of Sara Jordan Photography

OGP Enterprises, Inc
Price: ★★★★★
Service: ★★★★★

New Year’s Eve 2011

Posted by Hirono

I spent the afternoon of the New Year’s Eve helping my fiance’s family pack osechi ryori. This was my second year participating in this event and I still can’t seem to improve. I’m still very slow … but I’m learning!

I made a mistake of partaking this on an empty stomach, and ended up eating a truck-load of food there, including three freshly-pounded mochi (rice cakes) with azuki (sweet red bean paste), oshizushi (mackerel sushi), breakfast burrito, and small bites here and there. Kinda feeling guilty because a small, such innocent looking mochi has as much calories as a bowl of rice! Eeek.

Then, we were off to Staple Center to cheer on the LA Kings. I can’t believe this was our first game of the season, considering we used to go to so many in previous seasons. We met up with some of my finace’s hockey friends, and my pals Kerry and Carmela, also huge hockey fans. It was so nice to catch up with them! By the way, the Kings beat the Canucks, 4-1! Yippee! Oh yeah, and I had chicken tenders with fries, bites of my fiance’s nachos, and a glass of red wine.

We returned home in time for the countdown and had ochazuke, instead of a traditional noodle. Since we don’t have TV, we had to rely on our partying neighbor to figure out when 2011 ended and 2012 began.

I leave you this post with a quote my Facebook friend, Jerod, posted on his page: You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.

I hope you all had a wonderful 2011, and looking forward spending another great year filled with good health, love, and prosperity with you!

Puck Time with Kings and Wolfgang

Posted by Hirono

Right after I landed in Los Angeles from Atlanta, I hopped onto my boyfriend’s truck and headed to Las Vegas to watch my boys play in the annual Frozen Fury, a pre-season game that promises the exciting new season ahead. I didn’t even bother unpacking my luggage. I just tossed clothes in a washer and dryer and put them back in, some even unfolded!

Boy, has Las Vegas changed tremendously in the past 10 to 15 years or so. I remember going to the Sin City as a kid and the only things to do there were to hang out and play cheesy arcade games at Circus Circus and eat nasty $3 buffet. Now, the city has become the international entertainment and culinary mecca with endless rows of world-class shops and restaurants – the change I most certainly welcome.

With that said, please make all the fun you want at the fact that the first place we ended up was Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grill (I know, I’ll wait until you finish laughing). In our defense, the only reason why we ended up at this gastronomic cliché was because the hotel room wasn’t ready for check-in, and we had a $50 credit going toward our meal at MGM Grand … or so we thought. We didn’t find out until we finished our appetizer, our main course, and two drinks, that this was one of the ONLY restaurants in the hotel that did not honor the discount! In one sitting, we had burn through almost half of our weekend food budget …. and it wasn’t even dinner!

WP salad

The saving grace was that the food here was surprisingly very, very delicious. We ordered the heirloom tomato and burrata salad to start, which turned out to be (dare I say it?) mind-blowing! I love Caprese salad and order it at every opportunity I get and this one felt extra special because this was probably going to be one of the last times I get to enjoy these special tomatoes this season. Also, the balsamic reduction and tiny dollops of pesto puree that accompanied the tomatoes hit the dish out of the rink. The sprinkle of halved cherry tomatoes, sliced onions and pieces of roasted artichoke gave this salad a delicious edge.

WP linguini

Now, with the pasta dishes. My boyfriend ordered the linguini with clams and pancetta, which was, although drained in a sea of butter and oil, nicely salty and flavorful.

WP tomato

In contract, my spaghetti with tomato and basil with a basil smear was light and refreshing. I’ve never been a fan of fresh pasta because I love my pasta el dente and the homemade type gave the mushy, watery consistency. This pasta, however, was still very firm and bouncy. The consistency reminded me a little of undercooked instant ramen noodle but I mean this is a most respectable way.

The bill came out to whopping $90 but oh well, this is Vegas afterall. We need to take a gamble sometime. You walk away a winner one day and a loser the other. In our case, I think we got the long end of the stick. (And by the way, the Kings beat the Avs in a high-scoring, outrageously entertaining game, 4-3!) 🙂

Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grill
MGM Grand
3799 Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
★★★★☆

Beat It: A Biscotti and a Puck

Posted by Hirono

Question: What does biscotti and ice hockey have in common? Answer: Everything.

In my life, baking has become synonymous with the Los Angeles Kings hockey in a strange, serendipity kind of way. Here’s the story.

About five years ago, I went to my first hockey game at the Staple Center and fell absolutely in love with the sport and my local team. Since then, my life has revolved around the Kings and my mood heavily depended on the outcome of each game. And if you follow professional hockey at all, you can imagine what kind of despair, disappointment and rage I’ve had to endure since … well … 2002 to present.

One night, after yet another loss, I got so frustrated that I needed to do something to calm my nerves. So I went into my kitchen at 11:00 p.m., cracked open eggs, pour sugar and melted butter in a bowl, and started beating the crap out of the mixture. The motion relieved the aggression and somehow relaxed me, and I began performing this Zen ritual after each frustrating loss. And let me tell you, I did A LOT of baking in the last several years.

There’s nothing more therapeutic than taking out my aggression on the innocent butter and sugar.

Calming down a bit …

a-biscotti

… I think I’m okay now …

Well, the new hockey season has just begun and tomorrow is our first home game! It’s time to turn over a new leaf, a new beginning, a new hope. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that I don’t need to open a pastry shop in April.

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