LotusHaus

Sushi for Dessert? Make sweet mochi with fruit!

Making sweet mochi is super easy and tasty! Via the awesome bento blog JustBento and a guest post by The Tiny Urban Kitchen, I discovered a way to make "sushi" using mochi and fruit! So delicious! Wouldn't this be great for a baby shower or bridal shower! Pair this with some "floral sushi" styling for a sweet sushi inspired party!

My Asian Inspired Baby Shower!

These little baby monk figurines and Chinese display stands were the inspiration for my Asian themed baby shower! You can see my evite design here. Thanks to my mom, my hubby and two of my dearest friends, I had a colorful, meaningful and fun filled party!

In Chinese culture (as with many other cultures), food is so important during special celebrations, so I wanted to celebrate the concept of Dim Sum with my guests at this lunch time party, (Dim Sum literally means "to touch your heart," and consists of a variety of dumplings, steamed dishes and other goodies). Check out this colorful spread! I just have to share with you some of the dishes we served and what they mean to me.

Dim Sum is all about small delicacies with big flavor! We had shrimp and chicken dumplings along with eggrolls, pot stickers and edamame from Uwajimaya. My girlfriend steamed them all herself! As a mommy to be, I love these dishes and enjoy thinking of myself as a little dumpling with a special treat inside, like a pea in a pod!

I found an appetizer recipe for Asian Chicken Salad on Endive Spears and wanted this dish to represent a baby in a cradle. Super easy and so cute! The trick is to use the cooked rotisserie chicken readily available at the grocery store.

I'm Filipino and my mom makes two dishes that I absolutely love! Fresh Lumpia and Pancit. Fresh Lumpia is basically a crepe roll with an assortment of cooked meat and vegetables. My mom made these ones vegetarian with sweet potatoes, potatoes, jicama, cilantro, seasoning and lettuce. She wrapped them in wax paper and tied it with raffia. They are served with a sweet dipping sauce. The other dish I love is Pancit, which is a Filipino noodle dish. There are different kinds of Pancit but my favorite is Pancit Canton, which is a Chinese style version using egg noodles. We had to have noodles because they symbolize long life and prosperity!

I think the Chinese translation for lotus root is " lin ngau,"  which sounds like "lin yau", and means "every year you have plenty." I found fresh sliced lotus roots at Uwajimaya and made a quick lotus root stir-fry with sesame, green onions, cilantro and bean sprouts. Guests were surprised and delighted with the texture and flavor of the lotus root.

For dessert my hubby made these tasty Chinese Moon Cookies using wooden Chinese molds in the shape of koi fish and fu dogs (they turned out so cute!!!). As a surprise, one of my friends baked and decorated this gorgeous French Vanilla cake with blue fondant and cherry blossoms!!! It was amazing! The cake was so beautiful and delicious! Another surprise dessert was a batch of Nutella Chocolate Chip cookies made by one of my dearest girlfriends who helped to host the party.

For the buffet table decor, I used blue and orange cotton fabrics for runners. The blue fabric is called Koto by Alexander Henry (above left) and it also inspired my invitation design (above right) and color theme.

Since goldfish are also good luck, I thought it would be fun to have them floating around! I put them in glass cubes with a glass shelf that raised up the display stand. I love how it turned out!

I just love brocade fabrics and Chinese handicrafts with their bright colors, pretty patterns and intricate knotting and tassels... I also love tiny shoes and booties. So when I found these Baby shoes and lucky charm amulets in various stores in Chinatown I thought what a cute display these would be together. What great luck to find them in matching colors! Plus I can use all of these display goods for the baby later!

Here's how the living room was arranged. For munchies, we filled a fish bowl with rice crackers, sesame sticks and good ol' goldfish crackers.

Here's my Asian inspired diaper cake! I discovered an easier way to arrange the diapers than the last diaper cake I made. This cake uses about 90pcs of organic cotton newborn diapers, 60pcs on the bottom layer and 30pcs on the top. To do this, take a drinking glass and arrange a handful of diapers on their side in a circular pattern around the glass and wrap a really big rubber band around it. Add more diapers until the rubber band is tight. Remove the glass and rearrange diapers to fill in the hole. Make another layer and decorate. A Hostess Blog post about an Asian Inspired Bridal Shower gave me the idea to use a 3 tiered bamboo plant for the cake topper.

For the alcove decor, I took extra fabric and made simple fabric scroll hangings and anchored them with wooden double happiness accent pieces that I found a long time ago but haven't had a chance to use until now. To change up my existing metal wall art piece, I printed out various Asian patterns and just taped them up.

For our baby shower game, the ladies had 5 minutes to use play dough and design little tiny booties. They were all so cute! I picked a winner and she received a prize. 

Instead of a wishing tree or guest book, I made rice paper fortune cookies and we asked guests to write their parenting advise or sentiments for the fortune saying. We will read through these after the baby is born!

For favors I wanted to create something meaningful and I had read about the tradition of a Blessingway, which is a mother-focused shower that honors and nurtures the pregnant women. Since most of my guests were already mothers, I wanted to tap into their courage and strength when my time comes to deliver Rafael. After searching without success for a blessing or prayer for a healthy delivery, I eventually wrote my own. So, for the favor I included a candle and a copy of the prayer. When I go into labor, my friends will get a text or email to light the candle and read the prayer. This way, all of these strong women will be thinking of me at the same time and I can look forward to receiving their encouragement! For the actual favor box, I used a DIY template from Twig & Thistle and altered it to fit my theme. 

Here's me (in the middle) and my dearest girlfriends looking lovely with these pretty Asian fans. I had all of my guests sit on the couch and take a picture with me. You can see more of these "fan shots" here. Thanks to all my friends and family that came to celebrate with me!!! I am grateful to have you all in my life!

Shanghai Passementerie } Elegant Asian Style Place Setting

Shanghai Passementerie is a lovely place setting featuring sophisticated Chinese knot work. The placemat and napkin ring are available at Algabar Home & Life and would be absolutely stunning at a dinner party or rehearsal dinner or as a wedding gift.

China Chic 8th Birthday Party Inspiration

The Studio Boum Blog led me to this lovely China Chic birthday party by Hula Seventy. Gorgeous!!!! I love the cheongsam party dress, the pink and red color theme and all of the fun details! Wish I had a 8th birthday party like that!

The New Definition of Finger Food!

Pure awesomeness! Check out these Finger Food plates by Fred & Friends! Via the fantastic Totally Tabletops. So fun!

Bison Homewares } Handcrafted Ceramics from Australia

I'm gettin' love and color therapy from these beautiful handcrafted ceramics from Bison Homewares in Australia! Via Style Files.

Erica O'Brien } More Beautiful Cakes!

Erica O'Brien is an extremely talented and style savvy cake designer from Long Beach, California! I am just crazy about the Japanese inspired cake and the lotus flower cake! Wow!

Lovin' Kate Sullivan } Cake Power

You are probably very familiar with Kate Sullivan's work as featured in various magazines like Oprah, Modern Bride and InStyle. I was drooling around her portfolio and thought I would share my favorites. I adore her use of graphic styling, pattern and fabric texture. The cakes shown at top left and right have retro modern graphic flavor and the one in the middle was inspired by the Indian movie Monsoon Wedding. The bottom row of wedding cakes display an elegant show of basket weave, cane texture and life-like gardenia blooms. Kate has some serious cake power!

Sea Thai Restaurant } Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY

While in Brooklyn a couple of years ago, I fell in love with SEA, a hip and trendy Thai restaurant in the Williamsburg area. In my dreams I have an event space like this with a lotus pond and a DJ booth! Not only is SEA a restaurant but it also boasts nightlife and celebrity status. Since I'm on a little Sex and the City kick this week, I thought it would be a great time to mention that in Season 6 Samantha met her boyfriend Jerry for the first time (who was the waiter) at this restaurant which was posing as a raw food establishment call "Raw"!

*P.S. The LotusHaus blog is officially 1 year old as of yesterday! Thank you so much for joining me in this journey!