My memories of my friend Talena Ra date way back to when she used to order us younger kids (including her brother) to flap our wings like angels whilst circling a tree in the back yard for her amusement. Then when we were in elementary school, she made my sister and I start a company with her called, “Decorate and doodle,” where we would draw on socks we bought from K-mart with puffy paint. She’d make us crank them out, in her sweat shop, at her kitchen table. We never sold a single pair.

I also vaguely recall her forcing us to shoot a music video to Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach,” and making us practice in front of the hall way mirror over and over again until we got the dance routine down. And of course there was that infamous lemonade stand that we never set up because Talena had a great idea that we should go sell some lemonade to the construction workers in the next neighborhood, but by the time we all rode our bikes over there, we got too hot and thirsty and drank it all ourselves.

For those of you who know her now, you’re probably in shock. This is not the calm, quiet, pleasant and gentle spirited Talena we know and love today. This ex-teacher, busy mom of two, now hosts parties from her home and sells delicious, easy to prepare foods, working as a consultant for Tastefully Simple. [...]

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Catherine Kang and I became friends from the moment we met. She’s originally from Chicago and knew Joe in college, but I didn’t meet her until we moved to California. She is a clay floral artist and an ESL teacher. Yes, very interesting combo. Through her, I was invited to be a guest speaker at the university she works at, to speak to a business class about being a chef. It was so much fun, and I even brought food!

Both Catherine and her husband Bernie are amazingly talented professional artists. He helped her launch her own business teaching and creating clay flowers and other works of art. That’s how Bloomology was born. [...]

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From LA fashion designer to full time Orange County stay-at-home mom, Jinnie Sohn has made quite the switch in lifestyle…and is lovin’ it! We met at church and instantly bonded over fashion and food. She never envisioned herself to be the “stay-at-home type” before, but then Isabella was born and she instantly fell in love! It’s been an interesting ride as she has always candidly shared with me the joys, horror stories, and surprises of being pregnant and a first-time mom.

I wanted to feature Jinnie because she has always been fearless in the kitchen. She’s not afraid to cook up some creative concoctions that either turn into messes or successes. I dig that! And it wasn’t until quite recently when I went over to her apt and saw her amazing fashion portfolio. Afterwards, this busy mom of a newborn even took the time to cook for me! [...]

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Bobby Sue’s Nuts is a New York based company who uses all organic ingredients and saves the lives of helpless homeless animals. Like Superman? Maybe. This particular feature is very exciting for me because this is the first product that I’ve received for free, all thanks to my little blog-diggity. It all began with this guy named Dave who contacted me after looking through our website.

He said he spent a good half hour on the site and could tell I knew my stuff! Aw shucks. Then he decided to shoot us an email asking if we cared to try some gourmet nuts for free… um, yeah! [...]

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Sarah Yoo is someone who took a cooking class with me for her birthday and she was definitely a shining star. Right away I could tell she knew how to properly brown her chicken and slice up that butternut squash. Then I came to know that she is a serious foodie/ home cook who has her own food blog called honeyandlimes.

I decided it would be fun to make her the guinea pig for a new section we’re trying out called “Featured Fridays.” So I asked her to send me a few photos of her in her kitchen, in action. And then I made her answer some of my ridonculous questions. She was a great sport! [...]

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