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01/29/12

Portland : Little Bird Bistro

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Portland : Little Bird Bistro

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Portland : Little Bird Bistro

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Portland : Little Bird Bistro

On our first night in Portland, we had dinner at Little Bird Bistro. It’s located just a few blocks away from our hotel which made for a convenient place to eat after a 5.5 hour drive from Vancouver, Canada. Little Bird Bistro is a charming little french bistro with the coziest space. We were seated upstairs and right away, they had a highchair set up for Luna and a glass filled with crayons for her. I was immediately impressed by their effort to make Luna comfortable right away.

To start, Peter ordered a cocktail and I had a glass of wine. As we sipped our drinks, Luna was happily busy colouring on their craft paper table covering. It was also nice sitting upstairs as it felt even cozier and made for a nice view of the whole restaurant. We ordered Luna a Macaroni Gratin (french for Mac & Cheese), Peter went for the fish of the day which was Seared Ahi Tuna and I had the Cauliflower Crépe with Carmelized onions, Poached Egg and Mornay sauce. Our server, Kristen, said the Macaroni Gratin usually comes out sizzling hot but for Luna they would bake it to a kid-friendly temperature. When Luna’s Macaroni Gratin arrived, it was oozey, melty good and at just the right temperature for her to eat right away. Obviously, they’ve served kids before. Totally impressed again!

For dessert, Luna sweetly asked for chocolates. So we got her the Chocolate pot-de Creme with buttermilk donuts. It’s basically a bowl of dark chocolate creme and two miniature donuts on the side. She completely ignored the donuts and went straight for the bowl of chocolate with her big spoon. Peter and I happily ate the donuts. When the bill came, it was accompanied by three complimentary miniature macarons which I have to say are best macarons we’ve had outside of France!

I would highly recommend this restaurant. Everything we had was so delicious and the service amazing.

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Portland : Little Bird Bistro

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Portland : Little Bird Bistro

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Portland : Little Bird Bistro

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Portland : Little Bird Bistro

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Portland : Little Bird Bistro

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Portland : Little Bird Bistro


Domestic 2.0 / Food / Portland1 comment — Posted by: Nerissa
01/16/12

Capturing Bits & Pieces…

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Capturing Bits & Pieces...

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Capturing Bits & Pieces...

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Capturing Bits & Pieces...

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Capturing Bits & Pieces...

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Capturing Bits & Pieces...

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Capturing Bits & Pieces...

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Capturing Bits & Pieces...

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Capturing Bits & Pieces...

The great thing about having an iPhone is being able to constantly capture bits & pieces of everyday life. Sadly, we haven’t been using our SLR camera all that much as it’s just too big & heavy to carry around. It’s nice to be able to document random things we do & see so easily & so effortlessly. These are all photos from this week taken with Instagram.


Domestic 2.02 comments — Posted by: Nerissa
12/31/11

Goodbye 2011

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Goodbye 2011

Thank you 2011 for all the memories, good laughs and the adventure of life! I feel like I’ve met so many amazing people through this blog, our shop & twitter. Thank you so much to all of you for reading and leaving us the sweetest notes. You don’t know how much all of you have inspired us in so many different levels. It’s been an amazing year and we look forward to a whole new adventure in 2012. Big love from the three of us! Happy New Year everyone! xoxo


Domestic 2.02 comments — Posted by: Nerissa
12/25/11

Merry Christmas!

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Merry Christmas!

Christmas breakfast is served. Merry Christmas from our family to yours. xoxo


Domestic 2.0No comments — Posted by: Nerissa
12/23/11

Grandpas Photos

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Grandpas Photos

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Grandpas Photos

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Grandpas Photos

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Grandpas Photos

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Grandpas Photos

These photos have been kept in a shoebox hidden in my closet for years. These are just a few from a big pile. The shoebox is filled with all sorts of old photos taken by my grandpa who I call Papa Ners. Papa Ners always loved taking photos & videos of daily life including all the travels he did. I’m guessing that these photos were taken with a poloroid. I love them! It’s beautiful to see the world as he saw it back then.


Domestic 2.0No comments — Posted by: Nerissa
12/16/11

Bits & Pieces

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Bits & Pieces

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Bits & Pieces

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Bits & Pieces

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Bits & Pieces

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Bits & Pieces

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Bits & Pieces

Capturing bits & pieces of daily life taken with Instagram on iphone 4S. Happy Friday everyone! Christmas is already next weekend. Yay!


Domestic 2.0No comments — Posted by: Nerissa
12/12/11

A Beautiful Winter

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : A Beautiful Winter

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : A Beautiful Winter

Our home is featured on Design Sponge today and some of you couldn’t believe that our home in a little seaside village outside of Vancouver can look like the North Pole in the wintery months. Our winters are usually pretty mild but we’ve had a good share of bad winters. Don’t these photos look like they were taken in the North Pole? I took these photos in December 2008. What you see is the beach (Boundary Bay beach) at the end of our street. It was covered in snow and ice. We walked on it but got too afraid to walk too far as we weren’t sure how thick the ice was. Those footprints you see are not polar bear footprints, they are ours! It’s beautiful isn’t it?


Domestic 2.04 comments — Posted by: Nerissa
12/08/11

Giving Back – A Simple Shoebox Project

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Giving Back   A Simple Shoebox Project

Every holiday season, I always like to think of different ways of how we can give back. This year, I have started a tradition with Luna to give back to children her age. It’s a simple shoebox project organized by the Samaritan Purse.

All you have to do is find an old shoebox. Determine the child’s age category and if it’s a boy or girl. I decided to give it to a little girl with the same age as Luna. That way, Luna will have a sense of connection with it and understand that she is helping another girl her age somewhere far far away and she’s making her own small difference in this world to help a child in need. Once you’ve determined the age category and sex of the child, all you have to do is fill in the box with all sorts of things. So off we went to our local shopping mall. While choosing what items to buy, I kept on thinking of the basic necessities a girl Luna’s age needs most. If Luna was this girl, what would she need? So I filled the box with pink & white socks, little girls undies, shirts, colourful pencils, drawing notebooks, colourful hair ties, soap & a toothbrush. But how can I not give a child fun things too? So I included some stickers, candycane and a small teddy.

Luna helped me pack the box with all the things we bought. Then once everything was tucked inside the box, Luna took the teddy, gave it a quick little kiss and a hug before we squeezed it back into the box.

When we dropped it off, the lady said that the children in Ethiopia should receive them by January. Oh, how I wish I could see the little girls face when she opens her box. A special gift from Luna to another little girl living on the other side of the world.

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Giving Back   A Simple Shoebox Project


Domestic 2.0 / Kids4 comments — Posted by: Nerissa
12/07/11

Luna’s Year 2 Book

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Lunas Year 2 Book

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Lunas Year 2 Book

As soon as I finished Luna’s First Year of Life book, I promised myself that I would continue doing these books for her and document her life year by year. And now, we have Luna’s Year 2 Book! Just like her first book, I spent a year working on this. It’s a 222 page book with different chapters for every month of her life. I would spend a few hours per month working on a chapter which helped a lot. Otherwise, It’s a huge project to take on if it’s all done at once. It can get quite overwhelming. I find having different chapters also helps when looking through the book. It’s a lot of pages with a lot of photographs to look at so the chapters almost becomes a little breather and a pause before starting a new chapter with more photos.

Just like last years book, I always start with a little write up summarizing that year. Here’s what I wrote for this years book:

To my daughter Luna,

I had promised myself that I would continue to create these books for you as a memory of all the wonderful days we’ve spent watching you grow and become a beautiful little girl. When you’re older, you may not remember all of these special times that we’ve spent with you and all the milestones you had accomplished. Thus, this book documents all of our happiest memories together as you explored the world from month 13-24. The biggest accomplishment this year was learning to walk and talk. As soon as you started walking, I was there beside you holding your hand as we walked down the street together side by side. I never left your side. I knew from that day on that I would see the world in a brand new way – I was rediscovering the world as you explored it for the first time. It’s been such a joy watching you explore the world with so much enthusiasm to learn and feel things. You’ve opened our eyes and made this world a lot more colourful by pointing out and expressing all the little things you’ve discovered – birds flying, leaves on the ground, gravel on pavement, flowers blooming, airplanes flying overhead. You have helped us see and appreciate all the little beauties of this world. My hope is that when the day comes and I am no longer here with you, this book will tell a story of the beautiful life we spent together and the love we have for you. There are no words to describe this love but this book tells it all.

Love, Mommy

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Lunas Year 2 Book

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Lunas Year 2 Book

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Lunas Year 2 Book

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Lunas Year 2 Book

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Lunas Year 2 Book

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Lunas Year 2 Book

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Lunas Year 2 Book

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Lunas Year 2 Book

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Lunas Year 2 Book

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Lunas Year 2 Book

I’ve been getting a lot of emails this past year from such lovely moms who I have inspired from Luna’s First Year of Life book with questions on how they can do the same for their little one. I use Blurb to print the books and since I have a design background, her books are totally custom. All I have to do is download their indesign plugin and use that to custom design her book. Below are the specs I used for Luna’s books:

- Standard Landscape (10×8″)
- Hardcover, image wrap
- Premium paper, matte finish

I hope I have inspired more moms to do these yearly books. It’s not that much work if you just spend a few hours a month working on it. It’s so rewarding to see it printed as you flip through the pages and see a life full of happiness.

xo, Nerissa


11/23/11

Best Weekend Breakfast

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Best Weekend Breakfast

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Best Weekend Breakfast

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Best Weekend Breakfast

Introducing a new section on the blog called – The New Domestic Originals. Here, we will have a collection of all things made & tested by us. Whether they are recipes, crafts, design… it’ll be a collection of all things we create to share with all of you.

For today’s first TND Original, I’m sharing our favourite weekend breakfast. We don’t have a name for it quite yet, we’ve just always called it the Best weekend breakfast. And, it really is, trust me! I’ve been making this for quite sometime now and it is always special every single time. I love our weekend breakfasts so I always make it a point to spend sometime making something special. With a little one in the house, everything still has to be done very fast so this makes for an excellent breakfast that doesn’t sacrifice taste at all.

Ingredients:
Good quality bread (sourdough, french bread, or simply your homemade bread)
Cherry tomatoes
Avocado
Eggs
Italian Salami (my favourite is soppressata)
Basil or tarragon (I prefer basil)
Eggs
Good quality hot paprika
Vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt (not table salt)
Pepper

Making:
1. Toast your bread. I like mine super crispy. Then spread a good layer of avocado on the bread. Sprinkle the avocado with sea salt and layer with either basil or tarragon. Thinly slice your cherry tomatoes and lay them neatly on top of everything.

2. Heat up a small pan in the highest heat. Place your Italian salami on the pan and cook on each side until crispy like bacon. Grab another pan and fill half way with water. Pour a few drops of vinegar onto the water (this helps hold the eggs together while being pouched). Then crank up the heat until almost boiling. Once it’s almost boiling, put the heat down to medium then crack open your eggs and drop them in the hot water for pouching. I like my egg yolks runny so I only pouch for a few minutes and remove the eggs right away.

3. Once the eggs are done, scoop them up and place them on top of your layer of cherry tomatoes. Be careful as the eggs tend to be slippery. I like to put 2 eggs on one toast but this is up to you. Then sprinkle the top with paprika, fresh ground pepper, a tiny bit more sea salt & finish it up with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. If you’re feeling creative, decorate the top with either tarragon or basil.

Voila, you’ve got a fantastic weekend breakfast!

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Best Weekend Breakfast


Domestic 2.0 / Food / TND ORIGINALSNo comments — Posted by: Nerissa
11/06/11

Coming Soon To The Shop!

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Coming Soon To The Shop!

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Coming Soon To The Shop!

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : Coming Soon To The Shop!

Coming Soon! Canvas and Leather Mason Bags made by Heritage Leather Company in California with a stamped The New Domestic leather patch. Available in two colours, process yellow & basic red – hand painted by us using waterbased screen print ink. Hope to have it in the shop within a week or so…


Art / Design / DIY / Make / Domestic 2.0 / Shop3 comments — Posted by: Nerissa
11/06/11

24 Months

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : 24 Months

Last monthly photo for year 2! Luna turned 2 a couple weeks ago while we were in Mexico and it’s hard to believe that our little girl has been part of our family and this world for 2 years. It’s such a wonderful age as she is even more aware of her surroundings and is always so excited to discover the world with a favourite saying that repeats a million times a day: “what’s that?”. She wants to know about everything she sees, feels & touches.

Some of her other favourite sayings are: “I’m mommy & daddy’s baby”, “I’m stuck”, “are you ok?”, “daddy at work”, “mommy, daddy, papa, coco… happy”, “daddy hold me”…. it’s always so sweet hearing her cute little voice as she expresses her thoughts & feelings.

I had also promised myself that I would continue doing her yearly book to document her life year by year. As soon as I finished her 1st year of life book, I immediately started working on book 2 which is almost done.

We are so proud of our little girl and so happy to see her growing up with so much joy & love for life. We are all very excited to see her continue to grow as we enter a new chapter of her life.

Peter Hoang & Nerissa Goco : 24 Months


Domestic 2.0 / Kids / Luna's Monthly Photos5 comments — Posted by: Nerissa