Erin's Year In Review

Erin Ting's 2012 highlights are the following:

• Senior in high school.  It seemed like yesterday when Erin enrolled at SAMOHI (Santa Monica HS) and joined the girl tennis team. Now Erin and her friends are the Seniors and looking forward to graduation in June 2013.  SAMOHI Girls Tennis Team are Ocean League champions, beating cross-town rivals, Beverly Hills HS.

• Homecoming Dance.  Erin's boyfriend, Brian Kong, was Homecoming King at SAMOHI, who ran a brilliant "Kong for King"campaign to win.

• Erin gets her driver's license.  Erin nervously passed her driving test the first time around.  Henry spent many Saturdays teaching Erin to park and drive, including driving backwards between light poles of the empty VA Hospital parking lot.

• Senior High School Prom.  Erin and Brian had a great time the SAMOHI Class of 2012 Prom.  Erin work a cute orange mini-dress and negotiated walking in those super-high, dangerous heels. They're not the platform shoes we wore in the '70's.

• Taiwan Summer Missions - English VBS.  Erin spent 3 weeks in Taiwan in August.  She helped teach 2 weeks of VBS (vacation bible school) in English in (NAME OF SCHOOL) in Kaohsiung and Hsinchu.  Then she spent the last week sightseeing and eating in Taipei.

• College Applications and Road Trip.  In November, Erin and Henry took a road trip to visit various colleges and universities - in fact, 7 colleges in 3 days.  UC Santa Cruz, Stanford, USF (San Francisco), UOP-San Francisco campus, Berkeley, UOP and UC Davis.  The highlight was a 1-hour meeting and 1-hour campus tour of UOP (University of Pacific) in Stockton, CA.  Erin is leaning towards dental school.  Pediatric dentistry or Orthodontistry seems to be her area of interest.  Henry let Erin drive over 200 miles in his car, including a harrowing drive through the "grapevine on the (I-5)."

• Macarons.  Erin's latest achievement is learning to master how to make macarons.  Macarons are vastly different from macaroons. (INSERT PIC.) Our family and her close friends are the beneficiaries of her latest delectable creations.  Alice and I are amateur critics of macarons and benchmark them with NY macaron bakery.  They must be slightly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  The filling and cookie must not be too sweet and have "nice feet."