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Lemon and Lime Bouquet

Bouquets for young flower girls in the colors of lemon and lime.

Real Wedding--Hacienda de las Flores

Cake: Patisserie Lafayette
Caterer: Wild Thyme Catering
Flowers: Grandiflora
Linens: La Tavola
Photography: Great Expressions
Venue: Hacienda de las Flores, Moraga

White Daisy Bouquet

Daisies are sweet and unpretentious. We paired them with a contrasting grosgrain ribbon with top stitch detail for a more tailored look.

Fuchsia Rose Bouquet

Vibrant pinks such as Barbie pink, raspberry pink, and fuchsia have lately became popular color choices. Roses in various pink and fuchsia are combined with summer pink celosia and burgundy scabiosa for textural interests.

Oh Dumplings!

Thanks to an unexpected early afternoon traffic along the 101 Fwy, I recently had a surprising culinary encounter on the way to visit our friend. We detoured off the freeway, and ended up on Broadway in Burlingame, a main street dotted with mom and pop style stores that felt like they are steeped in local traditions rather than cosmetic glitzy fanfares.

A sign in English, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese caught my attention. It's a dumpling house on the corner of Broadway and Laguna. Or more precisely, Grace Garden is a restaurant specializing in Shangdong cuisine, of which flour-based staples, such as noodles, buns, dumplings are the specialties. Yes, there are other dishes on the menu, but whenever I come across a Shangdong restaurant that handmade their dumplings, I had to try them.

The boiled dumplings (port with leek) and steamed Shao Long Bao dumplings were amazing. Shao Long Bao is more of a Shanghainese dumpling, and is "the item" to try at well-known Ding Tai Fung dumpling house in the Los Angeles area, or Arcadia to be precise. Since moving from LA, we have not found a satisfying dumpling place. My homemade version is not bad, but I don't have the expertise to make the dumpling skin myself and always had to rely on the mediocre machine-made variety from Asian grocery stores. At the end of our meal, we couldn't resist but bought more dumplings in its frozen-and-ready-to-cook form as a quick rescue for a "I'm too lazy to cook" weekday dinner. The home cooked version is equally good. The dumplings are as plump and juicy as the ones we had at Grace Garden.

Grace Garden Restaurant
1200 Broadway
Burlingame, CA 94010-3424
650.343.3322

Wedding Gown Sale at Glamour Closet

Glamour Closet is hosting its End of Summer Sale now through August 15. All wedding gowns are marked off an additional 10%-25% on top of their every day sample sale prices. With two locations, one in San Francisco, and the other in Los Angeles, Glamour Closet operates on a walk-in basis only, and does not take appointment.

A Summer Bouquet of White and Green

White with green is a timeless classic combination. We combined white hydrangeas, white mini calla lilies, and freesia for its subtle fragrance, for this summer bouquet.

Real Wedding--a Persian Celebration

Cake: Masse’s Pastries
Flowers: Grandiflora
Gown: Jin Wang
Music: The Ebrahimi Brothers
Photography: Lion Photography
Sofreh Design: Angel’s Touch
Venue: MacArthur Park Palo Alto