Ricardo event

fter work I had the privilege to attend a launch party for Ricardo's new kitchenwares. It turns out that it wasn't a sit-down dinner that I thought it was going to be, but more of a cocktail party. That's ok. It was a lot of fun and I even got a chance to talk to Ricardo. He is SUPER nice and easy-going. Just a few days ago I was shooting a celebrity (I won't say who), but I didn't have such a good experience. I'm so glad that Ricardo was nice.

The event was a catered event, but Ricardo brought home-made chocolates filled with caramel that he had made. It was to die for!

Here I am posing with Ricardo. Sorry it's so dark.

I really loved all the packaging and design for all his kitchenwares. I wonder who did the packaging design...

The party was held inside an art gallery, but they really personalized it for this event. There was a tree made out of spatulas.

The gallery had bits of his kitchenwares displayed throughout.

Here's a wall of cooking utensils and pans. His pans are all lined with ceramic. It's is all affordable too. I think they are available in Sears across Canada and some specialty stores.

On one side of the wall there was a cool wall treatment.

His rolling pins were pretty neat because they are black. Doesn't it look like a piece of art?

Now on to the food...

They had waiters going around with hors d'oeuvres, but there were also stations where chefs were assembling amuse bouche. This one was the lobster ravioli station with caviar.

Isn't it pretty?

It was sooooo good.

This one was chicken stuffed with goat cheese on a crostini.

I found this to be a bit bland, but my colleague loved it.

Mingle time.

Near the end of the party Ricardo went behind the counter and started serving food himself. What a sweet guy. Love him!

It was a great event and we all got parting gifts.

Our gift bags had the press kit for his new wares as well as a metal and silicone muffin pan and rose-shaped silicone baking cups.

My favourite would have to be the rose-shaped cake cups because I can make this beautiful cake that he included a recipe for. It would make an impressive dessert without it being too difficult to make.

Here's a photo of my face after I got home. I was trying out my Darkness lashes (style is K.ma3) that I bought a few months ago for the first time. They looked amazing on. My colleague wasn't sure if I was wearing falsies and another one didn't even know I had falsies on. They made my eyes look doll-like and really intensified it without it looking obviously fake and unnatural.

Good food, good company

ou can say that I'm somewhat of a foodie. I love checking out restaurants and trying different foods. My husband and I used to eat out a lot before we had our son and one of our passions was checking out different restaurants.

Yesterday my sisters and I took our cousin, who was visiting from the States, to a restaurant called L'Unita. I've never been there before, but I heard lots of good things about it. It's an Italian osteria and wine bar. Right away when we entered we felt welcome and "at home". There was nothing stuffy about the place. I had prosecco to drink and homemade porcini pappardelle. The pasta was a tad on the salty side, but otherwise it was delicious. We had a great time enjoying each other's company. I can't wait to do it again.

Tomorrow I'm going to a Ricardo event after work. Ricardo is a famous Canadian chef and he has a show called Ricardo and Friends on Food Network Canada. The event is a launch party for his new kitchenwares. I believe it's a sit-down dinner so I'm pretty excited what foods they will be serving.

Injured foot + small haul

his afternoon I had an appointment to see a Chiropodist. I somehow injured my left foot 3 weeks ago and every time I take a step it feels very sore and sensitive. I was waiting it out to see if the pain would subside on its own, but it doesn't seem to get better.

When the Chiropodist checked my foot she said I had the symptoms of Plantar Fasciitis. She said I should get custom-made orthopedic insoles to help my foot in the long run, but it would be very costly. It would cost $500. Yikes.

I have health insurance, but my plan is a spending account. Basically I have x-amount of money that I can use for anything each year. However, I've been using it for my son because he's been sick so much that I didn't want to use a big chunk of that spending account for my orthopedic insoles. My next option would be to do foot exercises daily that the Chiropodist showed me and wear an ankle/foot brace as well as wearing proper shoes with an arch. She told me that I should be wearing shoes with a small heel. Who knew wearing flats would be so bad?! She was saying that I should also be wearing proper indoor shoes instead of going bare foot. She suggested I look into Crocs or any other shoes with arch support. Crocs?! I vowed that I would never buy Crocs ever! My sisters all have Crocs and they are big fans of it, but I think they look like clown shoes.

I figured my health was more important than fashion so I decided to look into Crocs today. I went to the mall with my sister and I found these very comfortable pair that were lined. They are actually not that bad. I'm only going to be wearing them inside my house so I think it'll do. For those of you who are wondering these are in the style called Blitzen Polar in the colour Espresson/Mushroom. I got it in size M4 or W6. It was $39.99 before taxes.

My feet will thank me for it later...

Here's how they look looking down.

Here's my ankle/foot brace. I've been wearing it all day and I feel like it's helping a little.

While we were in the mall we went into Gap. I heard very good things about their jeans and I saw that there was a sale on their skinny jeans. I'm a big fan of skinny jeans so I decided to try them on. I tried several different colours, but my favourite one was the black pair. I have so many blue jeans and I've always loved how Jessica Alba wore black skinny jeans. Here she is wearing her black jeans in 2007. So simple yet so classic. She's also wearing my favourite flats- the Roger Vivier "pilgrim" flats.

The one I got is called the Premium Super Skinny jeans. I love it! It's super stretchy and the stitchings are done in a way that your legs look skinnier than they really are. I felt very skinny in these. No pun intended.

The only negative was that they only had the regular length. I would have liked to get the short length since I'm only 5'3. Oh well...

I love the sewing detail on the inside.

I got the size 2 or 26. I can't wait to wear these. They feel very comfortable- almost like a legging.

They were regular $59.99, but I got it for 30% off so it came out to just over $47. Not bad...

I also added 2 more nail polishes to my collection.

From left: China Glaze's Ruby Pumps and Light My Tiki.

I had this one on my wish list because I heard it looks like Dorothy's red shoes in Wizard of Oz.

I was drawn to this orange-y coral colour with some pearlescent sheen because I thought it would be a great colour to have for spring.

I also picked a Seche Vite's base coat and top coat. Sally's Beauty Supply was having a BOGO (buy one get one free) for the Seche Vite so that's why I got it. I can never have too much of Seche Vite's top coat.

Currently reading...

arma by Cathy Ostlere. Remember my resolutions for this year? Well, I haven't forgotten. I started reading this book a couple of days ago and I'm really impressed with it. It's not written in a typical novel style, but more of a poetic verse style. It's a story set in 1984 when a 15-year old Indian girl travels to India with her father after her mother's suicide in Canada. They go to India to deliver her mother's ashes to their final resting place. However, the day they arrive the Prime Minister of India (true story) is assassinated causing the country to go into chaos. I haven't gotten too far into the story to see what will happen next, but it is a beautiful book. Just this morning while I was reading about her mother's depression leading to her suicide I was struck by how much I could relate to her story. Both my parents were immigrants to Canada in the 80s and I could see how coming to a brand new country could be so lonely and depressing. Lots of people talk about North America as the land of opportunity and a place to go to give a better life to their children, but it's all at a cost. My parents had a good life in Korea. They both had good jobs and lots of family and friends. I'm not sure why they decided to leave that all behind and move to Canada with 3 young children, but they did. Luckily my parents moved to a city where there were lots of other Korean immigrants, but in this story, set in Elsinore... basically in the middle of the prairies, the mother didn't have any friends. I'm not sure if I'm breaking any copyright rules by including an excerpt from the story, but I want to share with you what really brought a tear to my eye:

Taken from page 70-71:

No one in town ever talks to me, Amar (Amar is the husband)

Then you must talk first. Be friendly. It takes time.

Time? We've lived here nine years.

You have to try harder.

Why should I have to be the one to try so hard? Do you know that one day a woman actually reached out and touched my sari? Like I was a bolt of fabric in a store. Such rudeness.

Then wear a dress. Some pants. Leave the sari for home.

Never. Canadian clothes are hideous. They are little better than a scarecrow's. Would you consider not wearing your turban?

That's different.

Oh, yes, Amar: That's different. If you're a man. If you're a Sikh. I'm just a Hindustani woman in this godforsaken place.

You must learn to hold your head high, Leela.

I can't any longer. Their eyes burn through my skin. I feel like I must apologize and I don't even know for what!

Well, then stay home. And never go out again if that pleases you.

I can't live like this, Amar. You must take me home.

There's no money, Leela. The shop needs new tools.

Then just one ticket. Please.

You'd leave your daughter and husband behind?

For a visit, Amar. A few months. That's all.

Stop these selfish thoughts, Leela! Your life is here.

But this isn't life! It's a slow death.

When I read these pages I thought of my mother. I thought of how much she had to suck in her pride to live here. She's worked hard all her life. I know that I couldn't uproot my family and move to a country where I didn't know anyone and didn't speak the language. It's unthinkable to me. Now that I'm a mother I constantly think about how brave my parents were. I could never do what they did. Of course now they love it here and couldn't imagine not living here, but I know how hard it was for them to make this their home.

Excited, then disappointed...

on't you hate it when something you are so excited to get turns out to be not what you expected? I was so excited when I placed my Kate Spade order for the wallet last week and I couldn't wait for it to come. My husband wasn't impressed because when the courier arrived he had to pay $87 for duty tax. Can you believe it?!? That's just ridiculous. So I had such huge hopes for it since I already paid so much for this damn wallet. At first glance everything seemed to be just perfect. The box was gorgeous and the packaging was so nice. It all went downhill from there...

I opened the box to see a card that was a coupon of $50 off my next order of $250 or more. Not sure if I will buy something in the near future as the shipping and duty tax is so expensive to Canada...

Right away I noticed the wallet was not what I had ordered. The wallet I ordered online had a turn-lock closure, not a snap closure.

The wallet was pretty thick. I think it's because it had cardboard protecting the leather.

I mean, this isn't a bad wallet, but it's not what I ordered!

The coin purse at the back is still the same.

Such a cute lining.

Here's a close-up of the front.

Here's the wallet opened.

It came with a care card and authenticity card.

So I noticed there was a smudge mark on the leather. I circled it in white here. It's hard to tell in this shot, but you definitely notice it in person.

All the pockets had the cute paisley lining, but one of the pockets had the other side of the fabric.

This is what it's supposed to look like- the paisley lining on both sides.

I'm so annoyed. I don't want to pay for the return shipping, but I also don't want to keep a wallet that's defective. I already wrote their customer service and I am waiting for their reply. Has this ever happened to you before???