Bringing in the New Year with One More On the Way!

Happy New Year everyone! And can I just say, thank god it's finally 2019. Not that 2018 was a terrible year. It's just that with my pregnancy brain, I've been signing every paper and check I write with 2019 this past month and my poor husband had to keep correcting me. Whoops!

Last year was quite a year for us. 80% of it is a complete blur to be honest but the truth is, I left the year feeling like our lives are finally heading onto the right path. We experienced some big changes, especially in the latter part of the year when we made the decision after the Woolsey Fire to close our restaurant. It was not an easy decision by any means, but a necessary one. Both financially and mentally. The fires and evacuations made it financially impossible for us to reopen, but at the end of the day, having a mental break from the stress of running a business has truly been a breath of fresh air. I feel like after years of holding my breath, I have finally been able to breath again. My writer's block also feels lifted suddenly. I'm finally writing songs again and I sat down to write this blog which I haven't done in such a long time.

Life post restaurant has involved my husband for the very first time since I've known him, working a 9-5 job, and I must say, having him home every single night to play with our son is the highlight of my day; even if right now I have to escape upstairs at 5pm every night to avoid gagging from the smell of food in the house. Yay pregnancy. However, I get to hear the endless giggles coming from downstairs and enjoy the perks of them playing "Ghost" before bedtime. Bailey runs into our room screaming "Daddy Ghost!! Daddy Ghost!!" and Gwith makes spooky "oooooo" sounds from down the hall. Bailey cuddles me as tightly as possible as he pretends to be terrified of "Daddy Ghost". It's the cutest game and it's my favorite way to end the day.

Now onto the details about these past few months of pregnancy because after holding it in for three months, I'm just dying to share!

Last year we were in New Zealand when I found out the wonderful news I was pregnant with our second baby. I waited the entire day to tell Gwith the news (which was such a struggle since I hate holding in secrets! Plus Gwith was asking me for days prior if I had taken the test yet!), but that evening, we took Bailey to dinner at Kabuki, the restaurant Gwith and I first met at. When we sat down, I made a toast. I said to Gwith, "To Kabuki. If it weren't for this restaurant, there wouldn't be four of us sitting here today." Gwith looked at me like I was severely confused and said, "No...three." I smiled at him and said, "No, four." The smile that came across his face was wonderful as he realized what I was telling him.

Family Dinner at Kabuki in Stamford Plaza, Auckland

It was impossible to keep it a secret from Gwith's family in New Zealand, as I had already begun having cravings and aversions. The worst craving I had was for bubble gum. You might be wondering why that was the worst craving. I'll tell you. Apparently they don't sell bubble gum in New Zealand...except for the American store that we had to drive out to just to satisfy my craving! Gwith kept getting brand after brand of "bubble" gum, but none of them were bubble gum flavored. They just made bubbles. Obviously, I wasn't having any of that. Unfortunately, my bubble gum craving was also the door to announcing I was pregnant to my brother-in-law's sister. After a family barbecue, she came over to the car to give me a hug goodbye and saw about 15 different types of gum stashed on the side. Either I came clean about my pregnancy or I would've forever been the weird woman with the biggest gum addiction known to mankind. Of course, my first response when she asked about the gum was to sound like a gum addict who needed to go to Gumaholics Anonymous: "Yeah...you know...I just really like gum..." Awkward silence. I couldn't last more than two seconds before spilling the beans after that. There was really no going back. Over the rest of the trip, and since we've been home, if we saw friends or family, we had to tell them I was pregnant. My food aversions were already so strong that it was impossible to hide!

About a month later, after my first doctor's appointment, we told Bailey the news! He yelled out a big "Yayyyyy!!!" and jumped up and down with excitement. Now, every single night he cuddles and kisses my belly and says "I love you baby. Goodnight baby." Even better, I felt the baby's first flutters a few days ago right after Bailey said goodnight to my belly. A mother couldn't ask for more. It's amazing to see the bond he already has with the baby and I'm so excited for him to meet his new sibling this July. He told our friend Sarah that he wants a sister...so I guess time will tell!

Big Brother Bailey is Getting Promoted July '19!

Pregnancy with a toddler around is definitely a different experience than my first pregnancy was. Bailey has been a real champ most days letting me rest (or he's just enjoying his endless Curious George marathon and milking it for all that its worth...). Gwith has been a complete lifesaver and to be perfectly honest, I don't know how Bailey would've been fed if Gwith was still at the restaurant every evening! By night time, my sense of smell is so bad that everything makes me sick and I can't be near any food...which means, Gwith has been preparing Bailey's dinners every single night. The first trimester is coming to a close and I thankfully feel the tide turning, albeit slowly. I finally ate out for lunch yesterday and had an actual meal! Hopefully soon I'll be able to smell food again inside the house so Gwith won't have to keep leaving just to eat dinner. I feel so bad. I've forbid him from eating in the house, sleeping in our bed (yes, his breath even with minty fresh toothpaste breath was grossing me out! Sorry babe!), and using most of the bathrooms in our house. Seriously, my husband is my hero for putting up with me these past few months. It has been a real treat. He finally got to sleep in our bed again last night though so I'm excited that while we didn't kiss at midnight since we were both fast asleep, we did finally share a bed again without me gagging! This year is already starting out great, huh? Unfortunately, I have developed an aversion to the word kitchen and even looking in the direction of our kitchen. And no, this isn't the same as my usual aversion to cooking in there! I'm praying that this aversion goes away very soon because I really can't keep avoiding looking in that direction of the house. Plus, I know Gwith misses cooking already and would love to mess around with some recipes and work on his plans to write a cookbook!

I do feel like this baby is my food soulmate though. Cravings so far have included all of my old favorites including fruit roll ups (which my mom craved when pregnant with me!), strawberry cheesecake, caramel apples, meringues, and cheese dipped in honey. If I could design my dream dessert platter when I'm not pregnant, that would pretty much be it (minus my childhood favorite, fruit roll ups--I don't really need those on my platter as an adult!). Throw on some S'mores and I'd be set. Sadly this baby does seem to hate the thought of chocolate so far so S'more might be where our differences begin.

Happy Holidays from Our Growing Family!

I will be curious to see what this baby's personality and tastes are. Bailey is pretty true to my cravings and aversions. Most of the foods I craved with him are his favorite foods. He likes a variety of music and during my pregnancy with him, I didn't mind listening to most music. This baby is very offended by Gwith's rap music and I actually get nauseous when I hear it! It's a big Taylor Swift fan though, so my music library has been getting lots of play! I also got very nauseous from the smell of paint with Bailey and other then typical nesting feelings, I didn't feel too artsy throughout that pregnancy...and Bailey is definitely not the artsy type, at least not at 3! This time around, I'm pulling out the paint brushes and painting boxes for Bailey! It's like something in side of me is craving arts and crafts. It could be a coincidence because my stress levels are down since closing the restaurant (and I've always loved arts and crafts!), or it could be this baby is already craving the arts. Either way, Gwith may get lucky and I may actually help him paint the nursery this time around!

I'm excited for what 2019 has in store for us! Lots of adventures, much needed family time, and a whole new person entering our lives this July! I hope I can finally get back into blogging more frequently again...at least until July rolls around! With Bailey starting pre-school in one week, I'll finally have two mornings a week free for some quality me time! I'm sure the first few weeks, I'll be frantically trying to cram in everything I've wanted to do for so long, which will result in absolutely none of it getting done! From picking favorite photos from the last two years for an album, editing Bailey's videos, writing songs, writing blogs...or just playing a computer game and zoning out the world for a few hours! It's going to be a hard choice! Or I'll just be sitting on the floor, pregnant and hormonal, crying over my little boy being off to pre-school for the very first time. I'm guessing that will be the most likely scenario. Wish me luck! :)

I also sincerely hope this blog was coherent and not just a big pregnancy-brain ramble!

Aroha Restaurant: Our One Year Anniversary, Year in Review, and Meeting Lorde!

It's hard to believe it's been a year since our restaurant's grand opening! So much has happened in these last 12 months and we have learned so much about operating a business, customer service, and most importantly, ourselves. Saying it's been an easy ride thus far would a lie. It hasn't been. It's been hard, exhausting, overwhelming, and sometimes, downright depressing. But it's been worth every moment because for all of the challenges we've faced, it's also been exciting, fun, eye-opening and at the end of the day, completely amazing.

Celebrating our one year restaurant anniversary! (Sept. 10, 2015)

The biggest challenge we've faced in the past year is our overwhelming desire to please everyone, which these past couple months, we finally realized that's not possible. You can never please everyone or cater to everyone, and as we've realized this, I feel like we've brought the restaurant back up to the level that we always intended for it, and we plan to keep it there. We've always been about providing quality food and service and quality comes at a price. It's been hard to become okay with that idea! As young business owners, even if 90% of the customers love and appreciate the restaurant's food and concept, every time the 10% come in that complain that our freerange imported New Zealand meat is too expensive and should be $20 or less, we've made the mistake of trying to rearrange the menu and pricing to cater to these individuals. Of course, being sticklers for quality, we kept the quality and still tried to meet these demands. Needless to say, that has not worked in our benefit and we certainly have paid the price for those mistakes...very literally. The fact is, we will never sacrifice the quality of our food or service and at the end of the day, we just need to keep getting visits from our amazing customers who understand that. After a year of being open, we've finally learned that this group of customers does in fact exist and we just need to focus our attention on them! We're very excited to start Year Two focused more than ever on our concept and bring more amazing creations and ideas to Aroha!

At the end of this first year, the biggest lesson we've learned is to never be afraid to follow your vision. Go with what's in your heart and eventually, people will follow. It just takes time to grow and trying to rush growth is just a recipe for disaster.

While we've been through some very challenging times, we've also had some incredible experiences that we never would've dreamed of! A couple of weeks before our grand opening last year, we were contacted by the New Zealand Consulate to host a private event for the Consulate General, Leon Grice. The event went off without a hitch and it was a fabulous way to adjust to our brand new kitchen and staff.

Gwith and I with the New Zealand Consulate General, Leon Grice.

That day was exciting for us, both professionally and personally, as Gwith and I received the surprise of a lifetime! His family flew in from New Zealand to surprise us and celebrate our restaurant's launch!

Then, shortly before opening last year, we were contacted by The Breeder's Cup Taste of the World to represent New Zealand a month after our grand opening! This opportunity was an incredible experience as we presented our venison carpaccio to celebrity chef, Bobby Flay (who absolutely loved it!), and 1,200 other guests within a three hour time window.

Gwith and I with Bobby Flay at the 2014 Breeder's Cup Taste of the World

Flash forward and we've had some great talents visit our restaurant since our opening! Within the first few months, we had visits from now regulars, Hercules actor Kevin Sorbo and Kiwi native Flight of the Concords' comedian Rhys Darby.

Gwith and I with Kevin Sorbo (Hercules)

Rhys Darby and his wife, Rosie, tweet about his experience at Aroha

During the winter of last year, we also got a visit from the New Zealand news station, Seven Sharp! The exposure we were given apparently made Gwith a celebrity back in New Zealand and thanks to this video, we've even had Kiwis fly in from New Zealand with our restaurant on their list of places to visit!

This past week, however, has blown our minds. Within our final week of our first year, we had the opportunity to cook for not one, not two, but THREE Grammy award winners! One week ago, we had the privilege of serving System of a Down's lead singer, Serj Tankien during our Friday lunch. It was wonderful to chat with him and we were ecstatic when he asked us for a photo so he could Instagram his experience! The post blew up with over 12,000 likes within the day!

Us with Serj Tankien and his Instagram post

Still over the moon about this experience, on Monday night, Gwith received and incredible phone call and opportunity from New Zealand TV personality, Brooke Howard-Smith for his charity, Cure Kids. Just two days away before the launch of their video, "Team Ball Player Thing" (a charity video and song raising money for Batten's disease featuring New Zealand musicians), he was searching for a chef to cater the LA launch party at Grammy Award winning producer Joel Little's house. Gwith seized this opportunity and on Wednesday night, we made our way there to cater the event, supplying our Cloudy Bay clams, green lipped mussels, New Zealand lamb, and the biggest hit of the party, our venison sausages from our Sunday brunch menu! The event included a large majority of the artists featured in the video, including many of my husband's favorite Kiwi bands like Six60, Kids of 88, The Naked and Famous, and Daniel Bedingfield (who happens to be the singer of our song, "If You're Not the One"). Throughout the night, as the only pregnant lady there in my third trimester, I was kept company by non other than Grammy Award winning artist, Ella Yelich-O'Connor, otherwise known as Lorde! As she ate up our food (and repeatedly made her way back to the grill for more venison sausages!), she couldn't have been any sweeter. She was constantly making sure I not only had a place to sit throughout the evening but also that I was being kept company. I truly love the essence of Kiwi culture. Everyone is so down-to-earth and truthfully, if I hadn't seen so many photos of her online and in magazines these past couple of years, I never would've known she was a celebrity.

Us at the Kiwis Cure Batten Fundraiser (Top left: Me and Lorde, Top right: Gwith and I with Six60, Bottom left: The guests watch the launch of the video, Bottom right: Gwith and Lorde)

Please support this fantastic organization and cause by sharing the video and checking out the song "Team Ball Player Thing" on iTunes. Be sure to share with the hashtags #kiwiscurebatten and #teamballplayerthing! The video features a slew of New Zealand celebrities including Peter Jackson, Rhys Darby, Bret McKenzie, Boh Runga, Brooke Fraser, Dave Dobbyn, Gin Wigmore, Kimbra, Daniel Bedingfield, Matiu Walters, Sam McCarthy, Thom Powers, Alisa Xayalith, Lorde, nine of the All Black players,  and countless others! It really is an amazing collaboration.

As we start our second year at Aroha, we can't wait to seeing what new opportunities arise! We hope this upcoming year brings joy to everyone as we continue to grow into our roles as restaurant owners and take Aroha to new heights!

Thank you everyone for all of your support this past year! It has been one wild ride and we look forward to continuing our journey with you!

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30990 Russell Ranch Rd Unit C, Westlake Village, CA 91362
© 2015 Aroha Restaurant.

Aroha Restaurant: Breeders' Cup Taste of the World 2014

On Friday night, Gwithyen and I had the honor of representing New Zealand Cuisine at the 2014 Breeders' Cup Taste of the World event hosted by Bobby Flay! It was an incredible experience that will stay with us for a lifetime.

The past two weeks leading up to the event, nerves were definitely flying high as Gwith prepared and had to focus his attentions fully on Taste of the World, rather than the usual day-to-day service at Aroha! His sleep became less and less as he got ready for the restaurant's biggest event thus far. During the days leading up to the event, Gwith had some of our team members in the Aroha kitchen help prepare, including Becky, our line cook (and also server), who sliced the majority of our venison carpaccio for the event!

On Friday afternoon, we arrived at the Huntington Library's prestigious East Lawn, where we, and five Le Cordon Bleu volunteers, unloaded all of the food from the car and brought it into the purple decorated tent. As we wandered in towards our booth, we looked from side to side reading the names of the other 14 world-renowned chefs representing their countries, including Iron Chef Eric Greenspan, Michelin star restaurant chef Brendan Collins, food writer & TV personality Martin Shanahan, and award-winning pastry chef Francois Payard. We felt so honored to be representing New Zealand Cuisine among this talented group of chefs.

Gwithyen platting his Venison Carpaccio

After setting up his station, Gwithyen wandered over to the Irish table and introduced himself to Executive Chef, Ed Cooney. Just moments into the conversation, they discovered they had a mutual friend in common. Gwith worked under a talented chef in New Zealand who also happened to be Ed's Sous Chef in Ireland! It's crazy how small this world is! Ed, who has showcased his food for multiple years at Taste of the World, gave Gwith and I some helpful information, including how to pace ourselves. He let us know that it would start out slow and steady and then we'd just be hit for two hours straight. And wow, he couldn't have been more accurate!

Gwithyen Thomas and Ed Cooney

As the doors opened at 5pm, people slowly started trickling in. As I stood there, I even began thinking, "Maybe we shouldn't have plated so many dishes right away! There doesn't seem to be enough people." Within a blink of an eye though, I ended up eating those words. Before we knew it, hundreds of people started approaching our table. Our team couldn't plate fast enough! We would set 40 plates on the table, Gwith would turn around to begin plating more, and within two minutes, I would've handed off all 40 plates. Not only were people loving Gwith's venison carpaccio, they were coming back for seconds and thirds! Throughout the evening we had people telling us our venison was the best dish at the event and guests were recommending our table throughout the crowd! Among all of these other established chefs, that was an amazing compliment. The chefs from the other tables began approaching us as well and snagging a plate or two. My favorite moments though were when a guest would come over, read "venison" and shy away. Every time this happened, Gwith told them that once they tried it, they'd never look back. And sure enough, they'd each try it, and their faces would fill with joy as they swallowed their first bite. Within moments, they would turn around, walk to their group of friends, and bring them back to the table!

Amongst the 1,200 guests, we eventually had host and celebrity chef, Bobby Flay, come over to the table. He thanked Gwith for being there and after a short conversation, walked off with Gwith's venison carpaccio. The following day, Gwith chatted with him again. Not only did Bobby remember Gwith's dish, he said it was "excellent" and he will definitely be visiting our restaurant in the future.

As the night progressed, things only became crazier! At times, we would run out of plated food and guests would begin lining up at the table, with forks in their hands, waiting for the next plate. It ended up getting to the point where Gwith was plating a single dish at a time, handing it to me, and I was handing it straight to a guest while he'd begin plating another one. I even tried speeding up the process by drizzling olive oil on the plates and garnishing the dishes myself...which speaking as a non-chef, I have NO idea how Gwith drizzles olive oil while covering up the nozzle with his finger. I tried it and all I got was olive oil on my hand...not the plate. Clearly this is one of the many reasons I'm not a chef! Part way through, I looked at my phone to get a glimpse of the time. I was thinking, "Surely we only have another hour or so left! We've served hundreds of people, time must be flying by!" Ha. We had only been serving the flood of people for about fifteen minutes and we had about 3 hours left to go! By around 8:45 pm, it finally began to calm down. The tent slowly cleared out and we began having a steady flow of individuals stop by to taste the food, or return for their second, third, or fourth serving!

As the event came to a close, we packed up, and headed out of the tent into the pouring rain, where we were driven back to our car by a golf cart. The next morning, we got dolled up to go to the Breeders' Cup World Championship and hang out in the VIP Trophy Lounge. We had lots of fun placing a few bets (that we always lost on, of course), and chatting with the other chefs. Around 2 pm, we headed to the Winners Circle where group photos were taken of all the chefs and the BC Turf Sprint winning horse and owner, Bobby's Kitten, were awarded their trophy from Bobby Flay. In the meantime, my parents and sister stayed at home watching the Breeders' Cup on NBC Sports. While they caught glimpses of Gwith and I on the TV during the Winners Circle, we were most excited to see Gwith's venison during the Taste of the World segment. I later discovered this segment was also on the regular NBC network too! Besides being on NBC and NBC Sports, Gwith (and his venison!) were also on HRTV.

Click here to see more photos and the HRTV video from our experience at Taste of the World.

Gwith and I on the Trophy Lounge's Purple Carpet at the Breeders' Cup World Championships

Needless to say, these past few days were amazing and we hope to experience it again in the years to come! If you'd like to try Gwith's venison, make reservations online now at our restaurant in Westlake Village, California.

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30990 Russell Ranch Rd Unit C, Westlake Village, CA 91362
© 2014 Aroha Restaurant.

Aroha Restaurant: One of The Best Days of Our Lives

Do you ever have one of those days you wish you could put on repeat? Yesterday was by far one of the best days of our lives. It started with hectic prep work, continued into an amazing function at the restaurant hosting the New Zealand Consulate General and his guests, and finished with possibly what will be the best surprise of our entire lives.

To begin with, we couldn't have asked for a better first trial run at the restaurant. The Consulate General, Leon Grice, and his 20 guests absolutely loved the menu we offered. While Gwith was busy working, I got the pleasure to dine at the table and hear all of the rave reviews. I heard everything from, "I usually never take pictures of my food but this is picture worthy," to "It's been such a long time since I had a memorable meal" and so many more compliments. Needless to say, every item we served was a huge hit, as well as our New Zealand wines. One lady wanted to know where she could get a bottle of our Sauvignon Blanc. Our sommelier had to let her know that as our wines are primarily from boutique wineries, most of our wines can only be found at our restaurant.

Us with Leon Grice and a few of his guests

Throughout the meal, we had at least thirty local customers walk up to the door asking if we were opened. We also started taking reservations this past week for our September 10th grand opening and our September 9th soft opening for locals. We're only seating 40 people for our soft opening and we are already 90% booked. I know everyone is dying to see the menu, and since I'm in such a good mood today, I'm going to release a couple more items! We have already announced some highlights on our website, but I'd love to mention two more items that we served yesterday.

Crispy Pork Belly with butternut puree, roasted feijoa, baby cress, and a vanilla-champagne dressing

Raspberry Creme Brûlée served with coconut and a raspberry-passionfruit sauce

This week, we also release a photo of Gwith's Venison Dish:

Award Winning Venison pan roasted with sweet potato, cherry compote, pistachio, and a vanilla parsnip purée

We will be releasing the full menu soon, but I have to say, I'm loving releasing teasers at the moment! It's exciting to give everyone an idea of what we're serving without giving too much away too soon. Before I move on to the next amazing part of the afternoon, I must thank the staff that we had on board yesterday: Noe Lopez (Sous Chef), Jordan Greig (Sommelier), Brian Smith (Shift Leader), Alan Treitman (Junior Line Cook), and Miguel Villalpando (Dishwasher). For a first trial run, everyone did an outstanding job and we couldn't be more excited to have you all on our team!

Shortly after the last guest left, my parents and sister stopped by to say hello. Little did we know, we were about to get the best surprise of our lives. As we're talking to them, Gwith received a call from his sister, Muirie, in New Zealand. He talked to her briefly and then the phone was passed around to me. As I'm talking to her, the phone suddenly cut out. A second later, I glance at the front door and Muirie is walking in with our niece Alex!!!! It's been 10 months since Gwith saw them last and over a year since I've seen them. We were expecting them out in a couple of weeks but they surprised us early. Gwith's expression was amazing. If things couldn't get any better though, just moments later, our brother-in-law, Marcus, and Gwith's brother Rohan, also came walking through the door! While we expected Muirie and Alex in a few weeks, we were told Marcus couldn't make it. As for Rohan, he's never been to the US since Gwith moved out here, so that was incredibly unexpected, to say the least. It's impossible to describe how amazing their surprise was. I'm still tearing up just writing about it. The fact that they came out here early to surprise us and show their love and support for us and the restaurant is indescribable. We couldn't be more grateful to have such an amazing family and so much aroha around us.

When my family first walked in, my sister came in with her camera. Frankly, Raishel loves to take pictures of EVERYTHING so Gwith and I didn't think anything of it. We are so grateful that she captured this amazing memory on video:

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30990 Russell Ranch Rd Unit C, Westlake Village, CA 91362
© 2014 Aroha Restaurant.

Aroha Restaurant: Floors are In, Sign is Up!...What's Left?

The clock is really ticking down now! Later this week, we'll be announcing our official opening date, along with a few signature menu items. I am eager to announce it but I also know that once we do, everything else has no choice but to fall into place.

For those of you wondering where we're at right now and why we haven't announced our opening date yet, here is what we're waiting on:

• The gas company. We've been in contact with them for the past month to have the gas line run to our restaurant so we can use our stoves. This is probably the most important thing on our list right now, as you can imagine! They're working on it and hopefully this week it will be completed.

• Internet. We're waiting to get the lines installed. Again, this week should be the week.

• Our Furniture. This I can give a definitive time table on! Our indoor furniture will be ready tomorrow, and our outdoor furniture will be ready on both Wednesday and Thursday!

This past week has been incredibly intense. As the countdown begins, it feels a little bit like an episode of 24. There's only so much time left in the season and still so much we need to complete by the end. It's all absolutely doable. If it wasn't, we would hold off on deciding our opening date. However, we have a date in our heads, and we are 95% sure that we'll be ready to open by then. It still doesn't stop us from having that ticking clock sound in our heads, though! In reality, our list is a lot less than it was a month ago. We started last month with a list of at least 40 reminders and this month, we have about 10 to complete. The hardest part for me is most of the things we're waiting on now, relies on other people. As confident as I am (deep down inside!) that they will be done by their deadlines, relying on other companies to get a job done always feels like a wildcard to me. But honestly, there's nothing I can do at this point to make these things happen any sooner, and I have to accept that.

Last week, we had our first round of interviews and I am beyond excited to say that we hired the shift leader for our front of house team! We will be interviewing a lot more employees this week and can't wait to have the full team together. In other news, we also met with our supplier and rep from World Wide Produce, Lynde, and gave her a list of all of the items we're going to need. There were some very interesting garnish items she had that we are also eager to try and hopefully serve to our customers! Last night, we received a copy of our wine list. We're ecstatic to announce that 60% of our list will offer New Zealand wines and all of our By the Glass wines will be from New Zealand! Besides a 60% New Zealand wine selection, all of our beers will be from New Zealand, as well as our soda and juice selection provided by Aroha Drinks. Speaking of, we got a sampler pack in the mail over the weekend:

Aroha Drink flavors include Sparking Blackcurrant, Sparkling Feijoa, Sparkling Rhubarb,
Ginger Lemon & Honey, Sauvignon Blanc & Saffron, and Elderflower & Green Currant

Construction wise, the flooring has all been installed, the LED lights are up on the soffits, the outdoor fountain is up and running, and the fencing has been put in for our patio! In the upcoming weeks, we will be getting our countertops, shelves, cabinets, and host station! We also received our menu booklets the other day. Our pet rabbit, Willow, is excited about all of the boxes of menus in our entryway! She's been enjoying climbing on them and even tried to open them herself.

The outdoor fountain

Over the weekend, we set up our phone. We had quite a fun time trying to get the answering machine to work! After Gwith recorded the greeting five times to get it perfect, we realized he recorded it in the wrong spot somehow. So, it took another five to ten tries just to get it right! We are happy to say the recording is finished, our phone is in, and it no longer makes loud obnoxious noises and speaks when someone calls to leave a message! YAY! The unfortunate part is, once we announce our opening date, we'll have to re-record the message...and then re-record it again when we open. It's okay though. He's doing it, not me...which means I just get to stand next to him and be entertained!

The best news of the week however is that our sign went up on Friday! We are so pleased with how it turned out! When we first looked at the property, this was the very first thing I envisioned. It's been amazing watching the entire vision of the restaurant come to life but seeing the sign, exactly where I pictured it back in March, is amazing.

As of today, this is what our restaurant looks like, pre-furniture (except for the outdoor couches and end table currently sitting inside!), with the complete wood floors and LED lights turned on!

We are so excited to finish the construction process and focus on our future customers and service! Stay tuned for the opening date and soft opening announcements!

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30990 Russell Ranch Rd Unit C, Westlake Village, CA 91362
© 2014 Aroha Restaurant.

Aroha Restaurant: We're Opening in September!

Hi everyone! It's insane how busy these past couple of weeks have been. I've barely had time to think, let alone type a blog. So much as happened. I barely know where to begin with all of the updates.

Our past few weeks have been primarily focused on the final stages of the restaurant's construction. We made our final decisions on the floors, the wall colors, etc., and we've purchased our equipment and 80% of our furniture. We decided to forgo vinyl booths for the outside and instead have beautiful couch-style banquettes surrounding the back patio. We have a meeting next week for the shade sails that will be installed above the front and back patios...and then we have to find misters. We're still searching for our tables and chairs for the outdoors, which is why we're holding off on announcing our official opening day. We have an idea in our minds, but we don't want to make it official until we know our customers can actually sit and eat!

The completed walls and ceiling!

Aesthetically, the walls and ceilings are now complete...and our 10 foot long water feature has been delivered. Yes. I know I kept saying it was 8 ft but apparently a mix up made it 10 ft. Luckily, it fits. It did take six guys though to move it, and it was not easy! Gwith was actually too scared to watch.

The 10 ft long water feature being delivered.

The kitchen's tile floors are also done and the speaker system has been installed as well. We spent about an hour this week just searching for and downloading over 24 hours of Kiwi music. Our most exciting news however, is that we now have two completed rooms! The bathrooms! They are fully tiled and painted, and they look awesome.

Interior of the women's restroom.

This week, we also picked out our plates, silverware, and glasses. Gwith entering that shop was like a kid entering Disneyland. There were so many types and shapes to choose from. I have also ordered all of our menu covers, which will be a nice black leathery material, with our logo in silver. In bigger news, we purchased our POS system, which will be complete with a Guest Services System where we can take down our customer's allergies, preferences, birthdays and anniversaries, etc. With this system, we are excited to be able to implement a high level of customer service at our restaurant. Our system will also feature a large number of dish modifications so we can easily let the kitchen know about allergies.

This past month, we also brought on board our awesome wine director and sommelier, Jordan Grieg. He is searching far and wide to ensure that we have an amazing wine collection, with 50-70% of our list being from New Zealand. It's not easy to find in the USA and he is working his hardest to make this happen.

Throughout all of the craziness, something had to fall through. As I mentioned in the previous Aroha blog, we were hiring a muralist to paint the Auckland skyline. Unfortunately, a situation arose and this hasn't been able to happen. We are still hopeful to get a mural or large canvas painting done for the restaurant before opening, however, getting everything else done is our first priority!

We're getting down to the wire here and will be placing ads for our employees very soon. In between all of our meetings and decision making, I've been writing the employee handbook and training manual. It has been time consuming but I think it will pay off to have those available.

I officially feel confident now in announcing that Aroha will be opening in September! We have a majority of the furniture and equipment arriving by mid-August, and once we have the rest of our furniture ordered and begin hiring employees, we will officially announce our grand opening date.

That's it for our latest Aroha updates! We are so glad we got to get away to Catalina Island earlier this month. The vacation time was much needed and refreshed us for at least the following 24 hours! I would love to say that I'm only kidding, but it's actually kind of true! Hopefully within the upcoming days, I'll be able to blog about our Catalina trip, as well as continue my European Adventure blogs!!

Catalina Island July 2014!

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30990 Russell Ranch Rd Unit C, Westlake Village, CA 91362
© 2014 Aroha Restaurant.

Aroha Restaurant: Our Westlake Magazine Cover & In Other News: Interior, Meetings, Phone Calls, Repeat

This week has been one of the craziest, if not the craziest of the summer. I'm trying to think of the last day we weren't in constant meetings or on lengthy phone calls regarding Aroha.

We began the week meeting with our good friend and mentor, Elie Balas, of Menchie's Frozen Yogurt. After weeks of going back and forth on whether or not we'd need to hire a general manager, Elie's advise convinced us that we could in fact run the restaurant on our own. It's funny. That was our original plan. However, somewhere amongst the hectic summer days, we began to question if we'd need another hand. When there's enough time to overthink everything, plans can change drastically. Thankfully, Elie brought us right back to our original focus. We honestly couldn't have asked for a better mentor and are so thankful we met with him before this hectic week truly began.

The rest of this week has been a lot of running around and a lot of interior design. First of all, we found a fantastic muralist here in LA to paint the Auckland Skyline within our restaurant. He begins sketching it on Monday and we cannot wait to reveal it! Our 8 foot long water feature is also nearing completion. For the last two days, we drove back and forth around the valley looking at flooring, picking up samples, checking out equipment, meeting with various people, and spending our in between time on the phone or emailing. Among other things, we picked out the bathroom tiles and stalls this week. It's funny how when you plan to build a restaurant, there are just certain things you don't think about in terms of the design. I'd have to say that bathroom stalls were definitely one of them! Who knew there were so many different types and colors to choose from?!

We also picked out our beautiful floors and walls. We are still working on figuring out the cabinets and counter tops! Luckily, we're not quite there yet, so we have a little bit of wiggle room.

On Monday, the wires for the sign will be installed. We are still trying to determine when we want to put the sign up. Originally, we were going to wait until opening, however, with all of the buzz, we're now starting to think we should put it up sooner.

Construction wise, everything is progressing like crazy! At the beginning of the week, the crew was working on installing the air conditioning and heating system, as well as finishing the walls. By yesterday, half the ceilings were already up and the hood system was being installed! We are currently talking with someone to install our sound system and will hopefully have that underway next week. I am so excited for everyone to see the restaurant when it's completed.

Typing all of this, I'm still not sure how we've done so much in just a weeks time. Besides everything mentioned above, I have also created all of the employee job descriptions. They are now ready to go and we will most likely begin our search within the next two weeks. As of yesterday, we now have a very talented man creating our wine list.

Next week, we will be looking at more equipment, as well as picking out our seats and tables! We're cramming in a whole lot on Monday, as on Tuesday, we're taking off to Catalina Island for our final three days of relaxation.

If there wasn't any better way to end this crazy week, our cover story in Westlake Magazine came out yesterday! We are so pleased with the article and would like to thank everyone involved for this incredible opportunity including the magazine's founder Rebecca Grossman, writer Charly Emery, photographer Jane Gibson, makeup artist Nicola Gerboc, reporter Robyn Flans, and Liz Barrett from the Chamber of Commerce.

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30990 Russell Ranch Rd Unit C, Westlake Village, CA 91362
© 2014 Aroha Restaurant.

Aroha: Light Speed Ahead!

Big changes are now beginning at Aroha. During the week, our final permit was checked off, giving us the go ahead to continue and finish all of the construction! As of next week, we will be ordering our equipment.

Before the rest of the walls go up, we stopped by the restaurant with my parents and wrote our names on the inside of the wall, along with an "In loving memory..." for my grandpa and Gwith's mom. It's nice to know this will always be there, inside our restaurant. We are so grateful for all that Pa and Janet did for us and we know they would be proud. On another note, check out our beautiful artwork! Stick figure smiley faces and heart faces have been a long standing tradition in my family since as long as I can remember. It seemed only natural to draw them on the wall as well...and of course, we couldn't help but draw Willow too!

It's amazing how fast time has flown by. In just a few months, the place has gone from an empty space, to full framework, to plasterboards and soon enough, it will all be complete. It's crazy how in just a few days, the rest of the walls and the ceiling will be covered! Once it's finished, I will be posting photos of each of the steps!

This past week, Gwith and I finalized each of the menus and we are excited about our unique twists on a few Kiwi classics! We want to keep you guessing and in suspense until the restaurant opens, so we can't give anymore details beyond that. All I can say is though, the menu sounds delicious. We've also worked on plating styles (YES! I said we!). I'm still very excited that some of my styles will be at the restaurant. Honestly, since I'm not a chef, I didn't expect that. However, I sat down next to Gwith and started drawing some styles and he really liked them!

Other exciting news happened to us this week but we can't talk about it for another few weeks. It's incredible though and we are beyond flabbergasted about this opportunity!

Next week, Westlake Magazine hits local stores, offices, and hotels with our cover story! We can't wait to see what it looks like! If you live in an area that receives Westlake Magazine, be sure to check it out. If not, I think they also have an online version to view.

Time is moving fast now and in just a blink of an eye, we'll be opening. We are still expecting the first week of September but we'll officially announce a date as we get closer.

Switching topics from the restaurant, I'll give a short update too on one of our leisurely activities of the week! At the end of last week, my sister's fiancee, Miles, hosted an incredibly fun interactive murder mystery party! We searched the house for clues, trying to regain our memories, and figure out which one of us was the killer. The best part, however, had to be when Gwith, our friend Ben, and I were running around the backyard trying to escape being chased by a crazy person (aka my sister). When we heard a noise, Gwith ducked to the side of the house, hiding in the shadows, while Ben and I hid under a tree. Suddenly, we saw my dad walking by. Oddly, he looked straight at Ben and I, didn't see us, and continued to almost walk past Gwith too. Gwith, being the silly guy he is though, decided to jump out and scare my dad. Little did he know my dad was actually the killer of the evening! My dad taps Gwith, walks off, and Gwith sits on the ground. Ben and I came over to grab him, when he looks at us and says "I'm dead." Whoops. The rest of the evening, every time my dad tried to lure us away, we'd eye him and shake our heads. He had no idea we saw the whole thing go down! It was hilarious and way too much fun! Miles plans to eventually sell some of his murder mystery games. I will keep everyone updated on their availability in the future. They are great for parties and we may even host one at the restaurant someday!

Anyways, that's it for this week's update! Next week, the news and updates will be flowing as Aroha really begins to take shape! Tomorrow, I will be releasing Part 3 of my European Adventure blog, so please check it out when you get the chance!

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30990 Russell Ranch Rd Unit C, Westlake Village, CA 91362
© 2014 Aroha Restaurant.

Aroha Restaurant: We're Going to Be in Westlake Magazine!! (Plus: Some Major Changes and Ben's Birthday Surprise)

This is the first morning all week that we haven't had multiple meetings and appointments before noon! I'm so happy to be able to sit down and share with everyone the latest updates on the restaurant.

First of all, and this is probably the greatest news EVER, we're going to be on the back cover of Westlake Magazine for their July/August Food & Wine Edition, and have a two page spread about us and Aroha. We had our interview a couple of weeks ago and on Monday, we did our photo shoot at our restaurant and the Westlake Yacht Club.

I have to say this now: I felt like a supermodel by the time our amazing hair and makeup artist, Nicola Gerboc, was done! And major props to her for getting my hair to stay like it did! My hair normally hates me when I try to style it, so the fact that she got it to not only stay, but stay for hours and through the wind, is a major attest to her talent.

For the shoot, Gwith and I brought two outfits to switch between. I, of course, brought my new dress that I bought in Milan, as well as a beautiful yellow one from Cache. Our first stop for the shoot was at the Westlake Yacht Club. In my life, I've done three photo shoots prior to this: our engagement photos, my CD cover, and our wedding photos. This, though, was the very first time I experienced a shoot like this. Our photographer, Jane Gibson, would come over to me and pose with me to instruct Gwith and I on how to pose. We were constantly being directed in how to angle our shoulders and our heads for each shot. I felt like a model for the day and truly loved it. Poor Gwith though was having trouble dealing with the sun and the reflector. He has a terrible habit of sneezing from the sun. So, I'm sure half of the photos are of him with squinty eyes! Part of me is waiting to see the cover and see his eyes closed. I'm assuming that won't happen but you never know, right?

We haven't received the photos yet from the shoot, but Nicola did take some amazing shots from her phone!

There's a possibility we'll be doing a follow up article with the magazine once the restaurant in opened. We had so much fun doing this one and are excited to build a friendship with the magazine. For more information on Westlake Magazine, visit their website. The magazine reaches approximately 40,000 readers each month throughout the Conejo Valley and surrounding cities including Westlake Village, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, West Hills, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Lake Sherwood, Hidden Valley and North Ranch Estates, Malibu, and other neighboring communities. Besides being available at multiple hotels and businesses throughout the areas, it can also be found at Gelson's, Barnes & Noble Bookstore, and various Ralph's and CVS stores within the area.

Aside from the fun photo shoot, we've been dealing with plenty of things for the restaurant as well. We met with the permit office on Tuesday and hopefully, by the end of this week, we will have our final permit done. Once that is finalized, the construction can really start moving forward and we can place an order for all of our equipment! Getting this permit will be a huge stress relief but it's also going to be a huge push towards our opening. Once we have it, there is literally nothing in our way between now and our currently planned, September opening.

Yesterday, we met with our landlord to discuss a few things, including the landscaping he will be doing outside the restaurant. Next week, we will be meeting with him and his landscaper to discuss the look of the entire outside. We are beyond honored to be included this decision. Tony is an awesome landlord and we are so lucky to have him. Currently, this is what the outside looks like:

Take a look, soak it in, because in a few months, it won't be remotely recognizable. I'm not going to spoil anything, but believe me when I say, it's going to be beautiful.

Outside of the restaurant, we somehow made time to see some friends, including our friend Ben, who we kidnapped for his 19th birthday yesterday. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!) Gwith seriously called him up and told him he had five minutes to get ready, before we picked him up, and took him to his favorite restaurant for lunch. Because he keeps thinking I'm going to post a photo of him on my blog, I thought it was time I finally did...and I've decided to post two just to make up for lost time.

Ben meeting Willow for the first time 

Lunch at Mandarin Lotus, the best Chinese Fusion restaurant on planet Earth

In the next few days, I'll be writing Part Two of Our European Adventure, covering our time in the beautiful area of Tuscany! Here's "Our European Adventure, Part 1 - Chicago & Rome", for those of you who haven't had the chance to read it yet.

I look forward to sharing more updates about the restaurant in the upcoming weeks and be sure to pick up a copy of Westlake Magazine next month to learn more about us and Aroha!

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30990 Russell Ranch Rd Unit C, Westlake Village, CA 91362
© 2014 Aroha Restaurant.

Huge Updates as Aroha Moves Forward

It's hard to believe we've only been back from our incredible European tour for two weeks! So much has been going on, I don't even know where to begin.

We arrived back on May 28th and went straight to the restaurant. While we were away, there was a lot of progression. The construction crew has finished up the gas lines, some of the plasterboard is already on the wall frames, and as of yesterday, they have completed the plumbing system.

The construction team working on the plumbing lines. 

Plasterboard on the Walls!

Amongst all of the progress, we were also happy to take our Beer & Wine notice down. We are now in the final stages of getting our license! In the upcoming weeks, we will begin refining our wine list and testing other wine suppliers in California. We are excited to bring a range of organic and biodynamic wines from New Zealand, California, Italy, and France. After our wine tour in Italy, we can not wait to add a few delicious Chianti wines from the small wineries! We also were able to tell a noticeable difference between natural sulfite and artificial sulfites in wine. The most noticeable observation we had were the lack of headaches! While most imported wines have artificial sulfites added for preservation, we are making it our mission to only provide wines with natural, organic sulfites from the grape skin.

In other beverage news, we're going to be importing sodas that are exclusively available in New Zealand called Aroha Specialty Sodas! Not only is the name obviously perfect, the flavors are unique and delicious as well. Some of the flavors include rhubarb, feijoa, elderflower, and green current.

This week, we've had some amazing opportunities arise thanks to our lovely friends at the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, which I can't wait to announce in the upcoming weeks! Due to all of the excitement, I did a full update on our website with all new information about the restaurant and New Zealand cuisine. The logo got an update as well: I changed the heart to red to match our future building sign! We are also getting closer to pinning down our opening week. Currently, we're eyeballing the first week of September but depending on our progression, it may be as early as mid-August.

Yesterday, thanks to Westlake Magazine, we attended our very first polo match in Santa Barbara! I wish I could say I watched the game, but Gwith and I ended up having such a good time chatting with the other guests that we probably only watched the match for a couple of minutes. I did go out on the field during halftime though and stomp on the grass. I had to. I grew up on "Pretty Woman" and I'd be lying if I said I didn't always watch that scene thinking it looked like fun! The strangest part of the day was when we met a man named Howard, and we were told his family invented the earplug. I almost fell over because my grandfather had told me for years that our cousins invented the earplugs! My grandfather was first cousins with his grandmother, apparently. It was such a surprise to end up meeting a distant family member who I had only heard about! It's such a small world. The real irony is on the drive up to Santa Barbara, Gwith turned to me in the car and said, "I wonder if there will be anyone we know there?" I told him how unlikely that was... I'll never doubt the possibility again.

Gwith and I at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club

As I was dawdling on the internet before, searching our restaurant on Google, I came across an article written three days ago by Conejo Valley Guide talking exclusively about Aroha! We are over the moon about all of the publicity the restaurant is already getting!

Thats all of my updates for today but I do promise to sit down in the upcoming days and talk all about our trip, because there is so much to talk about!!

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30990 Russell Ranch Rd Unit C, Westlake Village, CA 91362
© 2014 Aroha Restaurant.