1 year old and a Carnival

My little family has truly been blessed with some of the most amazing and beautiful people, the best and favorite just turned ONE!

I took a polaroid shot every month since her first.

:)

For her actual birthday we celebrated it by taking her to the California Academy Sciences where she went bananas for the Aquarium. She LOVED watching the fish in the Philippine Coral Reef replica. Not gonna argue with her, I mean the thing is from the floor to the ceiling, who wouldn't be wide eyed over that?? And she surprised us by walking on her own at the Living Rooftop area. I love my little amazing rockstar.

having a mini Marilyn moment

Now on to the party! Her birthday party was on a saturday at Coyote Point Park in San Mateo. Parties make you realize how amazing your friends are.  I love you guys so much and I am beyond grateful for all the help.

 Ready for the party

our little carnival themed spread

Popcornopolis! Best chocolate and caramel popcorn noms.

These weren't just cute cake pops they're really good too.

 Awesome twosome!!! Love you Sash and Tin, good job!

Let's talk about that dessert table! The cake, ice cream cake pops and balloon cookies were made by my super creative friends, Sasha and Tin, weren't they just adorable? These guys are so good at what they do. TRUST ME! .............and contact me for details :)

    

                                               

Weekend Cheating (food trucks)

This past weekend I went up to Pacifica to shoot Naked Chorizo's dishes! It was such pleasure to meet and work with Zenia, the main girl behind this awesome food truck. I have to be honest this particular gig proved to be extra challenging specifically because I'm on the Dukan Diet. BUT since It's already been a month I decided I deserved a cheat day. It was just too hard to resist the chorizo tacos. Chorizo + salsa + queso fresco + cilantro sauce = weak knees. I gave in too easily and it was so worth it. Please go and try them out when you see them at Urban Table in San Mateo, Off The Grid in San Francisco and Soma StrEAT Food Park. I highly recommend the Chorizo Tacos. 

After the shoot we went and checked them out the next day with the other food trucks in downtown San Mateo. My husband thought if I got a cheat day then he NATURALLY gets one too... uhmm sure. Other than Naked Chorizo we also tried out Pollo Fritto, which was.... MONEY... did I just really say that? yes, yes I did. Only because it deserved that term, I'm no fried chicken expert but that, seriously was one of the best fried chicken I've ever had in MY LIFE! Add that to your list. Lastly, dessert, I mean if you're going to cheat on your diet you better make it count right? So make sure to end it sweetly, while my husband is not really a sweet tooth he was tempted to try Pacific Puffs and they definitely won him over quick. I've had them before when I lived in the Marina neighborhood of San Francisco where their store in located and I am a devoted fan. 

Check out the photos on the truck and at www.andysermonia.com :)

Outtakes from the shoot. 

Soyrizo tacos, Chorizo tacos, Chorizo burritto, Tosilog and of course the ever famous Lumpia from Naked Chorizo.

 Yummy fried chicken sandwich from Pollo Fritto

 

My daughter seems upset, I would be too, why take me if you won't let me have the food, right???

Maybe next... YEAR :)

Food Coma = Back to reality

Dukan Pancakes

So my husband and I have decided to put down the rice and bread and bring our sexy back. Isabella's almost one now, we really can't use "we just had a baby" excuse anymore, why he uses that... I still don't know. The good thing is we're well on our way with a whole lot of support from each other.

Which diet you ask? That was easy, we saw the result right away from our aunt so we've decided to go with the Dukan Diet. It also seemed way easier than the other one I was thinking of doing, The Cohen Diet which my mom and her friends are into now. In a nutshell, you start the  Dukan diet by going to it's true weight calculator, you punch in your present weight and then your goal weight and a few other information which will help calculate your true healthy weight. Once you find out, they will also let you know how long you have stay in each phase. There are 4 phases in this diet: Attack, Cruise, Consolidation and Stabilization. We're  now in the cruise phase which allows you to finally eat vegetables again after the attack phase (all protein). However, I think the most important ingredient to this diet is the Oat Bran. Throughout all the phases you need one serving of oat bran per day and it gradually increases per phase. There's more information here.

NOT GONNA LIE, I probably hit the wall two weeks ago? and we're just in our 4th week. I'm having what I just discovered and what I'm going to call PASTRY/SWEETS withdrawals. Seriously! I'm getting crankier by the day and with Isabella's birthday coming up how am I going to resist the cake?! I dream of cupcakes and cakes and pies and candies and .................. SUGAR. real sugar. However, I refuse to give up on this and I don't want to bring my husband down with me, he's doing really well and I'm so proud of the guy. So, I use what I can and now present to you my Sweet Dukan Pancake:

Just whisk all the ingredients together and cook! To make it sweet I use a few tablespoons of an artificial sweetener like Splenda, some use Stevia but just like everything else, it's really up to you. 

For the Cohen Dieters in Manila, my mom and her friends are pretty serious about the diet now and if you'd like to taste any of the meals you can easily order from her just let me know! It makes a dieter's life EASIER, trust me, throwing out sugar and all my junk food was like breaking up with a boyfriend. Too much drama there.