Another year of Fasig-Tipton events have come to an end and this year was especially fun because I went to almost all of them. Usually I only stay the weekend and go to one, maybe two events, this time since my parents are selling the house I grew up in, I decided to stay a week. Fasig-Tipton is the auction house for thoroughbred racing horses and even though I am not in the market to buy a racing horse, my brother’s company, Sherry-Lehmann, hosts all of the events for horse buyers and I go as his guest.
The first event was a cocktail party. My sisters were in town helping to clean out their rooms at my parent’s house so they also came to the party.
We also saw my Jewish cousins. Sami runs all of Sherry-Lehmann’s PR and Michael was in town from London on holiday. It was a great night with my sisters and catching up with my cousins.
The next night we went to the gala. Grouchy Husband was suppose to come but he was tired from spending the whole day at the Saratoga Race Track so my mom came with me.
Anne Burrell was the guest of honor and my mom really likes her so she was excited to go. We even got a great picture with her.
The gala was at the Canfield Casino which is a historic, regal building with gorgeous architecture.
The last event I attended was the last night of horse auction sales. This is the first year I saw the horses being auctioned off. I was amazed at how much these horses cost!
My dad was my date that night. His best friend and his wife, parents to my Jewish cousins, were there also so we were in great company. There were a lot of horse buyers from Kentucky so it was great to hear their accents.
A highlight of the night was meeting my high school friend at the event. It’s been 20 years since we graduated, marriages and babies later, we had a great time chatting, catching up, and remembering high school.
All of the events had amazing champagnes and wines but what made these evenings so special was the fantastic company.
The Dumpling Mama xo
Every year during the summer we go to my hometown of Clifton Park, NY and spend a day at the 
The Sherry-Lehmann event tent was right on the paddock, where the horses come before they go to race.
This was the only time Grouchy Husband went to the paddock because we were told shortly after this picture that you couldn’t wear shorts. It was a bit of a bummer but I love and respect the traditions in Saratoga.
This was our table in the tent where we ate our 
We also watched the races on the TV from the table. The gorgeous blond at the table is my Jewish cousin. She manages the PR for Sherry-Lehmann and it is so much fun to see her at this event.
When the horses came to the paddock before their race, we would go out and the girls would take pictures near the horses they chose to win. Sometimes they chose separate horses.
And sometimes they chose the same horse. This horse was special because not only did the girls bet him to win, but so did my parents. My dad wanted us to bet for him the horse that had the jockey with the best record. My mom wanted us to bet for her a grey horse. Even though this horse was the last to get onto the race track, he was the first to past the finish line and everyone was a winner!
We stayed for 4 races because it’s too boring for the girls to stay the whole day. Out of 4 races, we had winners in 3.
We grabbed Shake Shack milk shakes on the way out.
We didn’t get too far outside before the girls couldn’t walk anymore because their feet hurt. Grouchy Husband went to get the car while we rested on a bench.
Hurt feet and all, it was a great winning day at the track!
Grouchy Husband and I along with the help of my parents and family hosted 
The girls picked a project where they would paint murals of the ocean and then put a collage of sea creatures and mermaids on top. 
A table was setup with all of the materials to paint the mural and make the ocean collage. The kids would go to the table to find what they needed and then go back to their seats to work on their projects. Even in the pouring rain under a tent, all of the kids were totally into making their projects.
At the very end, the kids could shake glitter on top of their collage. This was Baby’s favorite part.
After the art project, it was time to eat. My mom cooked dumplings, fried rice, and lo mein noodles. My brother made chicken fingers. Since the hot dog truck broke down, Grouchy Husband went and got the hot dogs and we grilled them. After dinner, the kids went to the ice cream truck to get a treat and get ready for a magic show.
Ice cream all over their faces, the kids were mesmerized by the show.
The girls had a blast being part of the magic tricks.
They even got a fish from one of the tricks.
Adults even participated in the show.
This is my Uncle Billy. He is walking to do something for the party in the pouring rain. The tent next to him is where my brother is doing all of his cooking. I could not have thrown this party without my uncle, aunt, mom, dad, brother, sisters, cousins helping to cook, put up tents, help kids find their name tags and cups, shuttle kids to the ice cream truck in the rain, organize collages to dry, hand out goody bags. The word “thank you” doesn’t even come close to how grateful I am for their help and love.
I feel like I can sleep a week after the party. But then I realize that after the friend party is the family party. As tired I am after the day, it’s always worth it to see the girl’s smiles and be so happy with their friends.
Last weekend we attended my niece, Baby Lily’s, Red Egg and Ginger celebration.
The party was at Delight 28, my family’s favorite restaurant in Chinatown NYC.
My grandparents and relatives came to celebrate.
My mom’s best friend, Joyce-Yee-Yee, came with her husband to celebrate.
My sister and her husband, Mike, thanked all their guests and explained why they chose Lily’s Chinese Name.
The first character in Lily’s name means charitable or giving and the second character means happiness or harmonious.
The “cool” cousins table.
Guess who was the coolest?
Lily was held by all her favorite people. My mom.
Mike’s mom.
Mike’s Dad.
And of course me!
My sisters. We might not look alike but we sound alike. My Dad cannot tell us apart on the phone so he waits for the conversation to start before saying “hello” and our name.
The best gift to give at a Red Egg and Ginger celebration is a lucky 
Wishing Lily (monster) a healthy life filled with lots of luck and happiness.
Grouchy Husband has a group of his closest friends in New Orleans from when he lived their in college and years after. Khanh is one of those friends. Last weekend he and his family came to visit. It was the first time their girls have visited New York so we planned site-seeing adventures. First stop was 
It was a busy week and I thought our tickets were for 9am but when we pulled the tickets out to give to the attendent, Grouchy Husband realized I bought the tickets for 10am. I felt SO bad making everyone get up at 6:30am. We used the wait time to take pictures. Their girls are the same age as ours so it was instant fun and friends.
What I’ve come to realize when you raise girls is at some age (different for each girl), posing for pictures becomes something natural and they love doing it. They create their own favorite poses.
They are happy to listen to direction on how to create poses for the camera.
And love to let loose and take a silly photo.
Once you get to the top, you can see the whole city. The girls found the Statue of Liberty, the little green mark on the island in the middle of the photo.
The observation decks provide 360 degree views and is an easy way to see the NYC landmarks.
The girls loved looking out the windows. They liked seeing where their Uncle Matt (kow-fu) and great grandmother (bak bak) lived.
They loved the Sky Portal. Cameras display what is doing on all the way down on the street. Baby used the bars to play hop scotch.
Even after a rocky start (with the mixup of the ticket time) we had an awesome time at the top of the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
When I first decided to 
The process starts with printing your design in black on the envelope with a laser printer. I used Adobe Illustrator to create the design.
Print several envelopes at a time so that you can foil print all the envelopes afterwards and save time. Depending if I am testing designs or fulfilling orders, I will print between 5 – 30 at a time. The envelope paper has to have a smooth surface. If there is too much lint, the laser design will not come out dark enough for the foil to stick. You might have to test out different paper before you find one that works.
Cut foil that is big enough to cover your design and fold over the top.
You will need to 
Place the carrier board inside the envelope. Make sure the board doesn’t overhang to the flap.
Place the envelop, design side up with the entire flap over the foil. The glue on the flap will melt a little bit going through the laminator and the foil prevents it from sticking to the carrier board.
Heat the laminator to 355 – 360 degrees. I usually turn it on when I’m laser printing the design so it can heat up and be ready when I want to foil print. Grab a piece of foil and cover the design completely and then go over the top of the carrier board to the back.
This is how it should look like in the back.
Place the carrier board foil side first in the middle of the laminating area and slowly push it until the carrier board is picked up by the rollers inside.
The laminator will feed the carrier board through. The heat will stick the foil to the black design.
The carrier board will be pulled by the internal rollers to the back. Pick up the carrier board right after it comes out. It will be hot so use gloves if necessary.
Peel the foil slowly. Start from one of the corners closest to the flap and peel towards the edge with the foil folded over. Doing this while it is hot will get the best foil coverage on the laser printed design.
Right after the foil is peeled, peel off the envelope flap from the aluminum foil. The heat from the laminator will melt the glue to the foil. This might be sticky but try to peel slowly and carefully.
Remove the carrier board from the inside of the envelope.
And that’s it! You’re envelope is foil printed!
Finish foil printing the rest of your laser printed envelopes. After your second envelope, you’ll get into a roll and the printing will be quick. I’ve done 30 at one time.
Mother’s Day weekend kicked off with a breakfast with Baby’s preschool class. We ate fruit and mini waffles. The class sang 
A placemat with my name spelled almost right.
We celebrated with the family at 
Everyone had a great time and the food was awesome!
My youngest sister’s birthday was last week so we sang happy birthday to her at lunch.
I love Mother’s Day. I love hearing about everyone’s plans and all of the wonderful things they’ll do to honor their moms. I love going to restaurants and seeing tables and tables of families and generations of moms. It’s a blessing to have my mom in my life and to be a mom to these two little girls.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a free Saturday so we decided to visit 
The girls tried to hide from me. Can you see them?
The garden was showing signs of spring and many things had started to bloom. In the 
The first activity was to make a nesting bag of small twigs and string for birds to come and use for their nests. You are suppose to hang the nesting bag on a tree like the one hung in the tree in the picture.
The second activity was to make a planter and grow wheat grass. The girls help my mom plant flowers every year so they are experts planting anything.
After the activities, we went into the terrarium and the girls watered the plants with spray bottles. It’s amazing how long they were occupied with a spray bottle.
Grouchy Husband helped them find tadpoles in the pond.
Princess could jump almost as high as the frog.
The girls loved the high heels on this lady bug.
Grouchy Husband in good company and relaxed on the wood recliner.
The girls climbed to the top of the highest rock.
After the Children’s Garden, we decided to take the tram to see the rest of the garden. The line was very, very long so we ate snacks and relaxed while we waited.
The girls got impatient waiting so they ran up and down the hill, touching the rock at the top.
Grouchy Husband bought Baby matching shoes and I don’t like them because they are hard to put on and tie so she can only wear them on days when Grouchy Husband is around to put them on and take them off. She loves these sneakers.
Finally on the tram!
The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and awesome. You can’t but admire all of God’s creation at the garden. This tree had a stand to keep one of it’s heavy branches up.
The girls spent some time throwing pennies in the fountain.
Before we left, we ate an early dinner.
The pizza cheese was very stretchy so Princess tried to see how long she could stretch it.
How blessed was I to spend the day with this little lady.
And this one!
Some last jumps before heading home after a long day of walking and activities. The girls (and Grouchy Husband) (and I) were happy to head home and sit!
My parents would have liked me to marry a doctor or lawyer because these careers are regarded in the Chinese culture as stable and successful. I married a police officer who owns a hot dog shop. He likes anything that drives fast, junk food, and Nike sneakers. He probably wasn’t the person my parents (or I) thought I would marry. Through all our differences and imperfections, he is always up for date night, eats my gluten and dairy-free cooking, helped take care of my grandparents, supports the vision for my blog, etc, etc.
Our first Chinese New Year celebration was this weekend. My grandparents hosted a “
The girls had a birthday party before dinner and got a remote control helicopter and airplane. Helicopters and airplanes aren’t toys two sisters usually get to play with so they were excited to open the boxes. Actually, I don’t know who was more excited, the girls or their dad.
Once they got the hang of it, it was so much fun.
For this celebration, we drank 2008 Montrose for dinner. Amazing. My brother let me choose and I specifically wanted a 2008 vintage because that was the year Princess was born.
We ate jai, a Buddhist vegetarian dish, to symbolize wealth and prosperity. This dish is usually eaten new year’s day because not eating meat is believed to enhance
We ate lobster complete with head and tail to symbolize 
We ate chinese fried 
We ate extra long 
We ate clams in black bean sauce to symbolize prosperity because their shape resembles Chinese coin.
We ate peking pork chop because their red color symbolizes prosperity and good luck.
Princess really impressed us with her chop stick skills. I don’t think I used chopsticks properly until I was 16.
Our favorite waitress at the restaurant is Hoong. My grandmother comes to the restaurant almost every morning and Hoong really takes care of her. She does the little things like bring my grandmother extra napkins and toothpicks which my grandmother loves. My family really appreciates all of Hoong’s efforts.
When the food is coming to the table there isn’t much talking but as we get full, conversation starts. Here is my mom’s family.
Here is Princess with my brother and dad.
The meal always ends with 
And sweet red bean soup. This is a family favorite, especially Baby.