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TND ORIGINALS


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