Monkey New Year!

Mr. B and I first met in October 2011.  Our first date involved beer tasting at Stone Brewery in San Diego, CA.  It was followed with a dinner at their bistro and a sweet hug goodnight.  Reminiscing about it still makes me blush and gives me butterflies in my stomach.  A lot has happened since then.  Together, we have:

• explored the rainforest of Cape Tribulation in Queensland;
• sipped exquisite Champagne in Reims;
• rowed a boat inside the Grotta Azzurra in Capri;
• horseback riding on the beaches of Cabo San Lucas;
• dove with exotic fishes in the Great Barrier Reef;
• covered our ears as cars raced during the Grand Prix in Monaco;
• hiked Haleakalā in Hawaii;
• drove the curvy road to Amalfi;
• sunset sailing in Boracay;
• devoured crepes in Paris;
• enjoyed a cold cerveza on the boardwalk of Mazatlán;
• indulged rich velvety Chianti Classico in Tuscany;
• strolled through the gardens of Versailles;
• snorkeled with the turtles in Pamilacan Island;
• wandered around the streets of New York;
• got engaged at the hall of paintings in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles;
• and many more.....

The places we’ve been may not seem a lot to the most, it’s because we take our time to explore and immerse in the culture.  When we travel, we try to not hop from one city to the next too fast.  We enjoy staying, taking our time, and appreciate the place that we’re at.  We apply this habit with pretty much everything that we do.  We always believe in quality before quantity.  And when given more opportunity, we aim for abundance of quality.

We are very excited to share all our current and future travels but from time to time, you may see some flashbacks of our trips together in the past.  We badly wanted to create this website sooner, but our life has been a whirlwind.  C’est la vie!

We are like most couples.  It’s a struggle to balance everyday life.  We have professions that currently restrict us from traveling all the time, but we try to not focus on that.  We do the best we can.  If our schedule doesn't permit and we are itching to go somewhere new; we often indulge in homemade food - most of them inspired from all of our travels.  Mr. B and I love to cook as much as we love to eat.  It is absolutely one of the things we love to do together.  Sometimes, our date night involves cooking together, sharing a bottle of wine, and Frank Sinatra singing to his tune of Come Fly with Me.

To celebrate the Year of the Monkey, we made Mr. B’s favorite – chocolate chip banana-yee bread.  He loves anything banana flavored: to candies, desserts, pies, cakes, and bread.  We only use the freshest and best ingredients not to be foofy, but we believe in quality eating.  And it’s good for us.  He calls it “banana-yee” because we use a lot of bananas on this recipe compared to others.  The more bananas we put, the sweeter it tastes without adding extra sugar into it.  On the other hand, I am a sucker for chocolate.  Every time we make this, I try my best not to dump another cup of chocolate into the mix.  So, we compromise.  More banana, less added sugar.  We try to keep our food and lifestyle healthy as much as we can, yet making sure that we don’t miss out on other yummy food that feeds our soul.

Banana-yee bread paired with a hot cup of Illy cappuccino

This year will be stamped as a year of amazing changes and wonderful memories.  We are both excited to face all that’s coming ahead of us, together.  And we are ecstatic to share with you, our La Dolce Vita!