Life with Miss T

新年快樂

2012-01-24T22:47:00.001-08:00

I'm only one day behind, so I hardly call it late. (I still haven't finish posts from last month!) Lunar New Year came relatively early this year since there's still more than a week in January left. Normally, we have dinner at my parent's on New Year's Eve. This year, my brother had to go out of state for work that day so we gathered a day early. I also don't think my Dad wants to miss any of the football games that day since he's in charge of cooking at my house. (Boo... the 49ers lost.) Since we ended up at home, I thought it would be fun to make some dumplings. It's not a tradition for my family since we're not from the northern part of China, where eating dumplings around the New Year is more common. I do have fond memories of making dumplings at my aunt's place in Hong Kong while growing up. Everybody got together to make everything from the hot water dough to the pork filling. My brother and I would tried to guess who will eat more dumplings every time. While the dumplings are boiling away (never pan-fried, I don't think I've had a pot sticker until I moved to US), we would make a dipping sauce with almost everything you could find in the house. Sesame paste, Chinese BBQ sauce, hosin sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup, hot sauce (usually a few to pick from), sesame oil, soy sauce, and countless others. The point is to achieve the right balance of savory, sweet, sour and spiciness to your specific palate. Sadly, we haven't done that since we moved to US. It's definitely one of those fond childhood memory that I treasured and almost forgotten about until I started to type this out.

I got a dumpling press for $1.50 at a Japanese discount store for T to use. I'm not sure the almost 5 years old could quite handle folding them. We used store purchased dumpling wrappers. (I haven't worked up to making my own yet.) Filled with a little minced pork and vegetables and wet the edge with a little water.

Press together the mold tightly.

Open and take the dumpling out.

You get a perfect little dumpling every time!

I only got one of the dumpling mold. So I had to make mine without one. The ones on the left are from T and the ones on the right are mine.

We ended up eating them for lunch and dinner that day. Boil the ones I made in water and served with chicken broth and vegetables for lunch. The ones T made were pan-fried for dinner. No pictures on the pan fried ones, they got eaten too quickly around here.

Chocolate Chips Cookie Dough Cake

2011-12-13T19:59:00.000-08:00

My niece turned 12 last month. Per the birthday girl's request, I made a cookie dough cake for her. My brother showed me a picture of one they found online. The one they showed me had a full layer of cookie dough in the center as filling, which I thought would be way too heavy (in terms of weight and taste). After a few more searches, I saw that it was not that unusual of a cake afterall and there are many variations of them out there. I settled on the idea to make small little cookie dough balls and incorporate that with the frosting in the middle. The yellow cake recipe is from CookWise by Shirley O. Corriher. The cookie dough recipe is the brown butter chocolate chip cookies from The America's Test Kitchen. I left out the eggs and use 1/2 cup less flour (if it's still too thick, add a little milk to get it to the dough consistency.)

My flickr stream shows that there are 100 views on this picture. There must be a lot of people interested in making a cookie dough cake? Maybe this will be the new cake flavor for 2012!

Candy Pretzel bits

2011-11-26T23:30:00.000-08:00

I've seen versions of this on pinterest a few times and thought it would make a great project for T to do. I had T and my niece made them together. This is possibly the easily "cookie" that comes out of my kitchen. Get pretzels (square or circle ones) and line them on a baking sheet. Top each of the pretzel with a Kisses candy (we used cookies and cream here). Put the tray in the oven at about 230F for 4-5 minutes. Finally, push a M&M on each while the Kisses are still soft. That's it! I think we'll do it again and give them out for T's preschool class for the holidays.

Only Light

2011-11-20T12:34:00.001-08:00

We took a quick weekend trip to Seattle last weekend. This is one of my favorite picture from the trip. It also reminded me to write down this little note.

Miss T designated us to do certain things for her. Chris somehow is the designated person to turn on lights for her when it gets dark in her room. Now, whenever T wants the light to be turn on, she calls out for her "only light" to do the job. =)

Kale Chips

2011-11-09T23:30:00.000-08:00

(Sorry for the blurry picture.)

I've seen kale chips 'recipe' for a while now but have never gotten around to make them. Chris and I already enjoys kale (cooked, not raw though) so while the idea is interesting, there was no reason to try it either. Last week I got a beautiful bunch of kale from my CSA box and I know I've got to eat it today or they'll be wilted by tomorrow. Kale chips seemed like a good idea to snack away a bunch of kale. (I have a little too much food in my fridge right now.) A little time consuming to make with all the trays needed, but not complicated at all. Just clean and dry the leaves really well. Tear them into pieces (no stalk!) Toss with a little olive oil and salt. Place in single layer on baking sheet. Bake at 325F for about 15 minutes. The best part, the 4 years old who eats most vegetables except for green leaves loves them! That is reason enough to make them again.

Watermelon radish

2011-11-07T22:22:00.000-08:00

I signed up for a farmshare CSA program a couple of months ago. I've tried a few different produce delivery service over the years and was never impressed since all the ones that actually delivers to where I live are more like a producer distributor rather than something more local. The quality and the variety of produces were not too impressive either. I kept looking though because I think it would be fun for Miss T to try some new food and save me a trip to the farmer's market every other week. Capay Valley Farmshare seems to be meeting my needs so far. While they don't deliver to my house, they do deliver to where Chris works. I do have to pick it up at his office on my way home, the box would slow him down a bit on his commute home on a bicycle. We got these watermelon radishes a few weeks back and I was surprised to learn that its origin trace back to China. The Chinese name is 心里美, "beauty in the heart". I ended up trying to make pickles with them since I'm not a huge fan of raw radishes. The pickles were okay, but my refrigerator smells like rotten food. (Miss T thought it looked very pretty but has no interest in eating it since she thinks it smells like garbage.) I may just have cook it like a daikon next time instead or something.

Backyard

2011-11-06T21:39:00.000-08:00

Since I kinda forgot that I had a blog for a while, I didn't get to post the finished picture of the backyard. This was back when the work was just done, still looking all nice and neat. If I were to show you a picture of it now, there would be more weeds around. We are in process of trying to hire a gardener to keep up with the maintenance. We are not good at it and there are way too much work to do between the front and back yards.

This is the top part of our backyard. I asked for the landscaper to leave me some space to play with. This was what I started the beginning of the summer. Now I have a lot of weeds, a lemon tree, and a blueberry bush. I think when I finally get that gardner, that person will have to help me out of what to do. I didn't mind having some space to play with, but this is actually way too big. I'm thinking of maybe using half as a flower garden. The other half would be a combination of fruit tree/bush and vegetables/herbs. But, right now, wish me luck in finding a gardener soon!!

White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

2011-11-04T23:13:00.000-07:00

Lesson learned here: low fat scones = cake. It's not horrible, but it's definitely not a scone! I'll leave the baking back to Chris...

White Chocolate Covered Cookie Pops

2011-11-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

Miss T is at the stage where she's asking to do a project or help out with something all the time. For Halloween, I thought it would be fun to make white chocolate covered cookies pops to share with her friends at school. I was buying the cookies for that monster brownie/cookie bar thing anyways. All we needed to do was to melt a couple bags of white chocolate chips and dip the cookies in. T got the job of ensuring all cookies get the correct amount of sprinkles on each. It was definitely a quick and fun project to do.

The only change I'll make next time was to use powder coloring instead of the gel stuff. I tried to color half of the batch to orange and the little gel was changing the consistence of the white chocolate too much. They ended up a light peach instead.

Something to keep in mind for next time. I think we'll of making them again for Christmas!

Chocolate Chip Cookie and Oreo brownies

2011-11-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

Anybody else addicted to Pinterest? I've been saving clippings on my computer for years but Pinterest made it so much easier. I've been seeing versions of this pinned by so many people that I developed a strong urge to make it. The problem, of course, is that I really don't eat much sweets. Especially not one with a chocolate chip cookie bottom, oreos in the middle and top off with brownie! I finally decided to make it to bring to work on Halloween. You can eat as much sweets as you want on Halloween, right? I used Joe-Joe's from Trader Joe's instead of oreos and made brownie from scratch. I did end up keeping all the edges, I like the crunchy edges and the middle part already filled the tray. It was a hit at work, but definitely plan on serving small pieces as they are very, very rich. Now that I got this recipe out of my system, I'm off to find something else that I just have to make!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've ever been this busy or had this much to do for Halloween. I think Miss T is taking over my life! Wait, I supposed that's what happened when you have a child.

We started off with a trip to the pumpkin patch earlier in the month. We missed out going with our friends, so I took her to Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm near my work. It was Columbus Day so she had no school and wanted to stop by my office to visit my coworkers. The farm was pretty nice, didn't get to ride the little train since it only runs on weekend. But lucky us, we also missed the rain that came down after we left. We even got a bit of sun (hence all the pictures of Miss T with lines as eyes!)

She had to go put her face in every cut outs there. I love this one where she was yawning like a cat.

Look, she's this tall now!

She, of course, tried to pick the biggest pumpkin she could find. Not very successful at picking it up though.

My favorite picture of the day...

Now we moved on the the next activity for the month. As part of the musical theatre company group at her dance school, she was encouraged to participate in the haunted house during the Halloween carnival. Being that she's only 4, she was not expected to actually be inside the haunted house to scare people. So her job was to walk around the courtyard inviting people to go in the haunted house. We did a little practice run the week before so she knows what to expect. She thought the idea of scaring people was fun, but she does not want to see pictures of herself. I guess she's scared of herself?

How's that for going from a cute picture of her to the other extreme?

At the day of the carnival/haunted house, she actually did go up to a few strangers and asked them to go visit her haunted house. We were pretty impressed that she got over her shyness, especially since the two other older girls with her were too shy to talk to anybody the whole time.

Finally, we got to the actual day of Halloween. Being that Halloween was on a Monday this year, she couldn't hang out with her cousins in the East Bay and stay up late. The Halloween parade at preschool was actually on Halloween though. Her official 2011 Halloween costume is...

Violet from The Incredibles!!

Oh no! Her secret identity is revealed!

She tried to convinced me to be Elastic Girl, but umm... me and that tight outfit? Not so much going to happen. After a few years of break, I decided to carve pumpkins for her this year. I must be really out of practice because before I could finish all three pumpkins, I stab my finger with one of the wood carving tool so that put an end to any more carving! Maybe it would be best of I limit myself to those "safer" pumpkin carving kits for kids.

Here are the two unfinished pumpkins.

(I don't now where she's learning to pose for pictures...)

I'm somewhat relieved that Halloween is over. It was hectic at times, but totally worth it to see how much she enjoyed it. We had to keep reminding ourselves that this pure excitement for things will only last a few more years. So in the end, any and all efforts are worth it. Now, on to November!

Low Carb Snack

2011-07-31T17:30:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I find myself doing a low carb diet. It could be part of an exercise plan to increase protein intake to built muscles or just a light detox type of thing where I wanted to decrease the craving for sugar. (I never loose any weight doing them, what's up with that???) The last time I was doing the low carb thing I came across this snack idea that I loved and would make even when I'm not on any type of diet restrictions. The dip is roughly based on the recipe from Whole Foods here. The cracker recipe I found on Food Renegade here after a little internet search. The only change I made to the cracker recipe was I used a salt-free seasoning mix instead of the rosemary and garlic powder. I also halved the recipe since I didn't want to keep them around too long so it'll go stale.

Eggplant-Garbanzo Bean Dip

(based on the Whole Foods recipe)

1 large eggplant

1 large onion, cut in quarter

1 clove garlic

1/2 can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed well

1/2 red bell pepper, cut into smaller pieces

2 tbls tahini

2 tsp lemon juice

3 tbls fresh chopped parsley

1 tbls chili garlic sauce (adjust to personal level of spiciness if needed)

olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375F. Sliced the eggplant in half lengthwise and drizzle with olive oil. Toss the onion, garlic and red bell pepper with a little olive oil and salt. On a large sheet pan covered with foil, place the eggplant halves cut side down and the rest of the vegetables around it. Roast in oven for about 45 min to an hour. The vegetables should be soft and caramelized. Let it cool for about 15 minutes. Scoop out the flesh of the eggplant and placed in a food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients in the food processor and process until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste. The dip keeps for about a week in the refrigerator. The dip goes very well with raw vegetables as well as the almond crackers.

Photos from the dance performance

2011-07-31T17:16:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures taken when she was on stage for the rehearsal since there were no photos allowed during the actual show. We were also late to the rehearsal, so we missed the musical theater part. I just realized that I really don't have more pictures of her in that outfit. The video is on order though, so at least we'll have copy of the show later.

And to show that she really did have an elephant outfit for the other performance...

Little Dancer

2011-06-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

Miss T had her recital today for both her musical theater and ballet/tap dance. It wasn't her first one, since she had a small winter recital back in Dec to practice. This is the big annual show at her school though. She actually goes to a decent size dance school, close to 1000 students at all levels. The annual recital actually consists of 3 different shows that's about 2 1/2 hour each. Lucky for us, both her classes are performing at the same show. The musical theater number was before the intermission and the tap number is after the intermission. Once the intermission began, I started to run to the backstage so I could change her in time for the next performance. No cameras allowed in the theater, so no pictures. They will sell a video of the show and I'm sure we'll get. The best part was how excited Miss T was to perform and how well she did on them. I guess this means that she will be enrolling in the fall again.

Backyard

2011-06-18T00:00:00.001-07:00

This was what my yard looked like this morning when I left for work. Overgrown weed. Retaining walls on verge of collapse. I literally never goes out there. The tire swing was probably the best thing it had going for it. Today is also the day landscape work started. The estimated time frame for the job to be done is 2 1/2 weeks. I'll be taking a picture each work day to document the progress and hopefully at the end, we'll have a yard that we won't be embarrassed to show people.

Oh yes, I'm way behind on posts and hopes to catch up on some soon.

(Incidentally the tire swing had to go due to the very ugly tree it was attached to. I need to find some way to incorporate a swing for Miss T now.)

Little dancers

2011-03-14T22:20:00.001-07:00

At one of her two weekly dance class. This one is ballet/tap.

Miss T's birthday part 1

2011-02-25T23:33:00.000-08:00

What? You don't celebrate your birthday more than one time?? Oh, wait, normal people only celebrate once on their birthday. Maybe the memo haven't got to this 4 years old yet. Her birthday is coming up on Sunday so we celebrated today at daycare. Everything started so innocently in the beginning. I was completely out of ideas on what to do yesterday. I know that I can't just go to the store and buy a cake like normal people. (I have that working mom's guilt and tries to do more than I could really handle to make up for it. Who needs sleep anyways?) I live with someone who does not believe in boxed cake mixes either, no matter how natural/organic it may be. I decided on a simple carrot cake with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting so the other kid's parents won't hate me for getting them all high on too much sugar when it's time to go home. How did I made the jump to have this cake at the end? I'm not really sure. I know I've always wanted to make a cake like this. Every time I see a garden cake in magazine/web/blog, I would study it and file in my mind for later. I guess it just seemed like a perfect cake to impress a bunch of 3-4 years old. And let me tell you, I feel like a rock star this afternoon. Nothing like getting recognition from 20 little kids. I hope Miss T enjoyed her first birthday party. Tomorrow will be all about birthday cupcakes for Sunday!

兔年快樂! Happy Chinese New Year!

2011-02-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

As with last year, we are bringing red envelops with chocolate inside for Miss T's classmate. She's a bit more helpful this year though.

Restaurant: Lettuce - Walnut Creek

2011-01-22T22:41:00.000-08:00

I know that there are places similar to this in San Francisco. Alas, I work out in Walnut Creek though and as far I know, this is the only one in the area. Lettuce is one of my favorite place to have lunch. I have yet tried a salad that I don't like. I won't go into the calorie area. I realize that depending on what you put on your salad, it will make a big difference. My take of healthy food is always eat as little processed/fake stuff as much as possible. This fits perfectly. For those that need more substance than salad, they also have sandwiches, soups, and pastas.

Lettuce

1632 Locust St

Walnut Creek, CA

Miss T - Bruno Mars Grenade

2011-01-06T17:32:00.000-08:00

Kitchen Staple: Tomato Pasta Sauce

2011-01-02T17:07:00.000-08:00

Every time I have to pick up a jar of pasta sauce at the store I think to myself, I really should make this instead. A slow cooker made the process extremely easy. We used it tonight for dinner with a little cream cheese melted in to make it creamy to go with the egg pasta Chris made. The best part is I have enough for 4 more dinner out of the batch. Just freeze it flat in a quart size zip lock bag and take one out the night before you use it. I made mine vegetarian this time and added TVP (Total Vegetable Protein) for additional protein and also to absorb some of the liquid from the additional vegetables I put in there. Free feel to use ground meat or a combination of meat/TVP instead.

Tomato Pasta Sauce

This makes a large batch. I would use it the night of and then freeze it in quart size bags (about 3 - 3 1/2 cup each). The amount of sugar and salt used will depends on the type/brand of tomatoes used.

Ingredients

2 can crushed tomatoes, low sodium, 28 oz each
1 can diced tomatoes, low sodium, 14 1/2 oz
1 can tomato paste, 6 oz
2 carrot, peeled and cut into big chunks
1 zucchini, trimmed and cut into chunks
½ large onion, trimmed and cut into chunks
2 celery stalks, trimmed and cut into chunks
3 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried sage
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 tbsp. basalmic vinegar
brown sugar, to taste
salt, to taste
ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup TVP, leave dry

Method

With a food processor, chopped each vegetables into very small pieces separately. It takes a bit more time, but you will have more uniform pieces if you don't mix all the vegetables together.

Put everything in the slow cooker and cook on slow for 8 hours. Adjust the seasoning with brown sugar, salt and ground black pepper as needed.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T23:04:00.000-08:00

How could I possibly not start off the first post of the year with this picture? We went shopping downtown yesterday and she picked this dress out herself at Zara. I'm lucky that they are only located in downtown and I can't shop online, or I may just end up buying the whole girl's selection for Miss T. It was a lovely start of the New Year/4 days weekend (took an extra day off on Monday since Chris still have the day off). First of the year always allow the mind to drift to goal setting for the upcoming year. Since I am still working on the ones I started last year (and the year before...), it's probably best to not add anymore to the list. Well, maybe just one, I'll try not to spend my entire pay check on clothes for Miss T.

Miss T's first dance recital

2010-12-19T23:47:00.000-08:00

(Backstage getting a bit nervous.)

I'm so proud and excited about it that I'm actually going to blog about it on the same day! (Well, close enough. It'll probably be pass midnight by the time I'm done.) Miss T tried out a short ballet/tap dance class back in Spring and really enjoyed it. So when the full season started in September, we signed her up for not one, but two classes. She continued her ballet/tap class and I also signed her up for Musical Theater class since she enjoyed singing so much. Today is the Winter Recital, mostly for the younger performers and the musical theater students. There will be a bigger, fancier show in Spring. At least I'm thinking it's fancier since I have to pay $50 for two performing outfits for each of her class. The outfits in the Winter Recital were all just loans from the school. Her musical theater class performs first, Frosty the Snowman.

Things started off okay, a little hard to hear them without microphone though.

Notice now that she's doing something completely different from the other kids? Yeah, she may have needed more practice on that...

There was a pretty good performance based on Nightmares before Christmas. Then it's her ballet/tap class turn, performing Suzie Snowflakes. She was quite upset that she didn't get to put this on first when we were backstage. She liked this outfit better.

I don't know which one is doing what they're suppose to anymore.

Not too bad here...

Look! She's in the air!

A few other performances, including one with the Grinch.

See the Whos' hair? They had to do that at rehearsal yesterday and again this morning, can't even imagine how long it takes to wash out the hair spray.

Her teacher Ms Katie had a solo. She's the teacher for all the musical theater classes.

Finally, for their great performance, everyone gets a candy cane from Santa Claus!

I'm super proud of her, even though she could have done better with her routines. She didn't seem nervous on stage, which I didn't expect her to be. She's already looking forward to the Spring show. I'm looking forward to two weeks of no classes to get her to. =)

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-28T22:58:00.000-08:00

This was the first holiday in our new place. We've been officially living here for less than a week and we needed to make pies for Thanksgiving dinner and also birthday cake for my niece. Luckily, the kitchen was pretty well set up before we started to spend the night here. The knives pictured above? I've been wanting to do that at the condo for a long time and never gotten around to it. Now that they're actually up, it's looking a bit scary.

The pies. The sour cream apple pie was mandatory. The pumpkin pie with the pecan topping was a new recipe I tried. It was tasty, but pumpkin center never set firm.

Since I never get to cook the turkey, I always bake one at home for us. For dinner tonight, I tried to make a turkey breast roulade. I took pictures along the process since I need to get back into the picture taking habit.

Turkey breast butterfied and seasoned with salt and pepper. The breast bone turned into stock for gravy.

Line turkey with prosciutto.

Topped with cornbread stuffing that has been cooled.

Rolled and tied with strings. Drizzle oil on top.

Baked until the internal temperature gets to 165F.

Served with roasted brussel sprouts and fennel.

Crossed section of the the roulade.

Overall, it's pretty tasty. The biggest problem is that we're more of a dark meat fan than white meat. So, I might have to make small version of this with thigh meat sometimes. The little picky 3 years old liked it as well. Her favorite part was the brussel sprouts. Yes, she is a strange one.

mochi maker

2010-11-16T22:47:00.000-08:00

Miss T loves mochi. Just plain ones with no fillings. I've been meaning to try making them at home. As much as she likes them though, I don't think I could justify the purchase of this.

Miss T's new room ideas

2010-10-18T23:09:00.001-07:00

Miss T's new room ideas by wkwong on Polyvore.com

The pic on the top left is what the room currently looks like. There's actually a great mural of Radiator Springs with all the cars on it. Maybe we'll try to keep it and just paint the rest with pink? She asked for pink, red and purple walls. But I think I'll have to keep the other colors as an accent. Or maybe just paint the two smaller wall red and the other pink? Strips? No idea how to incorporate purple in. Her toddler bed right now is actually orange, which will convert into a chair so it would be nice to incorporate that in as well. Definitely a work in progress...

Miss T's current favorite dress

2010-10-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

I got this dress way back (2 years ago??) in Canada. Miss T loves it and asks for her dress with button on the sleeves all the time. Too bad it's getting too small for her now. The big drawback on this dress: I need to iron it after washing every time. Let me declare something right now, I hate ironing! *sigh* Things you do for your child...

4th of July

2010-10-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

Ha! I just realized that my last post was on 4th of July and it wasn't even about that. Here's a lovely picture of my sister in law and my nieces. Old Navy should pay to use this in their ad.

(I have lots to share and catch up on, be patient with me. I think I may begin to climb out of the mountain of work that I've been dealing with the past few months.)

USBC National Bowling Tourament @ Reno, NV

2010-07-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

Have I really disappeared for a more than a month on here? And just as I was getting back into writing on a more regular basis. Describing work at the moment as hectic really doesn't seemed to do it justice. Hopefully things will change soon and my mind could finally get a little break. I'm just going to jump in with posts and eventually maybe I'll get back to the ones that I missed. (NYC posts? Hmm... I'm not sure how much I remember anymore.)

Chris has been bowling since he was in high school. Gotta love that second year of elective phy ed. This year's tournament is at the Bowling Stadium in Reno, NV. (Remember Kingpin? Yup, that's the stadium.) I think Miss T was disappointed that it was not in Vegas again. It was closer and we could just drive out there for a night.

Chris was bowling Thursday night and Friday morning. So we only needed to stay one night. Both of us keep putting it off and ended up in our favor since the price of the room at Silver Legacy dropped to $49 a night when we finally made the reservation two night prior. We later found out that it was the bowler's price anyways so I guess technically we could have gotten that price along. Miss T found this really big chair while we're checking in.

Chris and I were actually both sick. He was worse than I was so I tired to take Miss T out to walk around so she won't get too bored. I guess NV passed a clean air law this year and it really does make a huge difference in the amount of smoke indoor. We stayed mostly on the second level where the restaurants/games were and the smoke didn't bother much at all.

I think Miss T still had fun despite of putting up with the two of us. We had buffet twice, it was just cheaper and easier with just me and her. Buffet = as much bacon and dessert as she could stuff in her mouth. That was really the reason why she liked Vegas so much, she was allowed to have a whole plate of bacon to herself. And I had to take a picture of her with the bowling pin.

We stayed at the bowling stadium on Friday for all six of Chris' games. There were other kids around from other bowlers, so she got a chance to play as well. Of course there's more coloring.

A side note, I'm still surprise at the amount of people coming up to say how cute Miss T is. Even in Circus Circus where there are a ton of kids, she still get her share of attentions. A group of middle aged men were all going gaga over her in the elevator. The hostess at the buffet was actually disappointed that we don't live nearby. One random lady at the bowling stadium actually said how she wished she had her camera with her so she could take a picture of Miss T. Umm.. yeah, that's not strange. Of course, Chris putting her on his bowling bag and pulled her along the two blocks back to the hotel parking garage didn't help either.

If this keeps up I really have to consider locking her up...

Babysitting adventure

2010-05-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

We had my 3 nieces over last night while my brother and sister in law went to a wedding. So what to do with 4 girls age 10 and under? Make fresh pasta for dinner of course!

Chris and Hannah kneading the dough.

Then the girls got to take turn on the pasta machine.

Here are the girls about to attack the pasta.

This one was too little to help making the pasta. So she just helped to eat it (sans sauce since I was holding her.)

I swear Miss T was around somewhere. She was just so excited to have her cousins around that she couldn't stay still for pictures. We all also had garlic bread to go with the pasta. And just in case that wasn't enough carb, I made almond butter cookies and Chris made chocolate pudding for desserts. This is what they looked like full of sugar.

This is the sauce I threw together while the pasta was being made. The girls seemed to like it, so I know it had to be pretty good.

Creamy Pasta Sauce

1 - 1 1/2 lb ground turkey
1 med onion
10-12 baby carrots (that's all I have in the fridge)
5 cloves garlic
1 28oz can crushed tomato
1 12oz jar spaghetti sauce
1 tsp each dried oregano, basil, and thyme
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp fish sauce
6 oz cream cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Pulse the onion, carrots and garlic cloves together in the food processor until finely chopped. Saute the mixture in a 3 quart saute pan in olive oil over med-high heat. Cook until the onion is transparent, add the turkey and cooked until it's brown. Add the crushed tomato, spaghetti sauce, and dried herbs. Simmer sauce together for about 30-40 minutes. Add the fish sauce, sugar, black pepper and cream cheese. Add more salt to taste if needed.

I know, fish sauce may seem to be an odd ingredient to add to a spaghetti sauce. It worked just like anchovy to give the sauce a deeper flavor, which I never seemed to keep around.

NYC 2010 - Day 1

2010-05-24T22:14:00.000-07:00

A couple months back my cousin asked if I would join her in NYC while she's traveling the East Coast. I thought about it for quite a few days. I've never went away without Chris and Miss T for more than a night. And frankly, I feel guilty leaving Miss T to Chris for 4 days while I go have fun. Chris was very encouraging (he really is the best husband BTW) and since Miss T is too young to really appreciate it yet, I decided to go. Besides, the plan was to just eat and shop. How can a girl resists that?

I left on a Wednesday night and took a red-eye in. I hate flying in the middle of the night since I can not sleep on planes no matter how hard I tried. But I also hate losing a whole day flying in the air if I were to leave in the morning instead. So I bit the bullet and took it. It was exhausting but the flight was pretty calm. Got in about 30 minutes ahead and landed at 7:15am. I ordered the shuttle to take me to the hotel came at 8:30am. Of course, with morning commute, I didn't get to the hotel until after 10:30am. I got a really good deal on a hotel called Fashion 26 in the Chelsea area that just opened in April. No luck with checking in early since the place was full but they promise to call me as soon as a room became available. So I left the luggage and started exploring. My cousin is not due to arrive until 6pm or so. I had a whole day to myself to wander. Now if only I wasn't exhausted from not sleeping the night before...

Walked down to Chelsea Market. Wish I had time to go back and buy a few things. Maybe next time.

Discovered the High Line. It's a reuse/transformation of an old industrial structure that is converted to a park, 30 feet above the street. They have the first phase opened that stretch from 14th street to 20th street. The second portion is scheduled to be finish at the end of this year/early next year that will extend it to 30th street. Can wait to go back next time to check it out.

Found Korea Town. The whole one block of it. They sure know how to pack businesses in there though. I think there are restaurants up on the 5th floors on some of those buildings. We ended up having lunch there a couple of days later. But on this day, I ended up at a fast food kind of place called KyoChon. They're known for their fried chicken, with coating that includes rice puffs. It was crispy and not greasy. Probably not the most interesting thing I could ate, but at least I can't find the same out here.

The hotel called after that and I went back to attempt to take a nap. For a brand new hotel, I have to say that I have the best service there. Everyone was really nice. They walk me up to my room while explaining and introducing the hotel. The room is not a bad size for NYC. Not as big as the room at the Warwick we stayed at last time, but it's just me and I don't need a big room. I love the bed! I wanted to take it home with me. They have Frette bedding on them and the perfect pillows and comforter. If only I could afford to get a set for my own bed...

And this bathrobe only cost $95 if you want one to take home.

After a nice nap for a couple hours, I tried to eelax a bit more until my cousin called to let me know she finally got to the her hotel. Dinner reservation was at 9pm at David Burke's Townhouse on E61st street. My hotel is at W26th street. Totally walkable. I think I fell in love in NYC more on this trip because I walked so much more and really appreciate being able to do so. I got to that area a little early so I walked over to Dylan's candy shop for some candies for Miss T. Finally met up with my cousin and her friend there.

Dinner was nice. Definitely the stuffiest meal/place of the trip. I guess the location reflects the crowd. Here are some of the dishes we had.

Tuna noodles and something. It wasn't on the menu online and not on the special menu that I got a copy to keep. Pretty isn't it?
>

Lobster 'steak'.

Lamb & Octopus

And the reason why I wanted to come here. A cheesecake lollipop tree.

It was late after dinner and the lack of sleep was definitely catching up with me. Took the cab back to the hotel. Video chatted with Chris and Miss T a little on the laptop (free Wifi!) and off to bed.

If I win the lotto...

2010-05-22T20:46:00.001-07:00

... Miss T will probably get one of this in her room.

There is no price listed on the web site, but I'm sure it falls in the category of "if you had to ask, it's probably too much."

I'm Back

2010-05-12T19:56:00.000-07:00

My Trip to NYC was great. Once I get a chance to upload all the pictures, I'll do a write up. But for now, I'm happy to be home (especially after my 8 hours delay @ JFK). As relaxing as it was to be away by myself for a few days, I missed Chris and Miss T. Actually, Miss T and I already made plans to go together next time.

Paulette Macarons @ SF

2010-05-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

We're not in that area of the city very often, but Chris wanted to trade in one of his Timbuk2 bag for credit towards a new one. The only place to do that is at their retail store so we ended up in Hayes Valley this past weekend. I've heard of this macaron shop before so I asked him to pick up a few since it's only a block away. (I was in the car with a very sleepy girl.) He showed up with a dozen. Not that I was complaining about it. In truth, they are not my favorite macarons. I like the ones from Patisserie Philippe better even though they don't have the same selection of flavors. They are very pretty and would make a lovely gift. Worth checking out if in the area.

Paulette Macarons
437 Hayes Street
San Francisco, CA 94102-4308

Favorite Frostings

2010-04-12T21:59:00.001-07:00

I'm late in posting this but I have to share my two favorite frosting recipes. I made two other batches (two dozens each) of birthday cupcakes aside from the ice cream cones ones a while back. One batch was for Miss T's birthday party at the bowling alley and the other was for my niece Sara. As mentioned before, I am still in process of trying to find that perfect vanilla cupcake recipe. So no cake recipe here yet. Butter cream frosting though, everyone's favorite is definitely the French Butter cream. The thing to keep in mind regarding this recipe is that because of the high amount of egg yolks, it has a pale yellow color that may not work if you want to color it to a specific color. Miss T wanted pink frosting, of course. Instead of pink, I could only get a salmon color out of it.

French Butter Cream Frosting

6 egg yolks, room temperature
1 lb of butter (4 sticks), room temperature
6 oz sugar
1/3 cup water
2 tsp vanilla

Using the whisk attachment, whisk the egg yolks until it is light. While the eggs are whisking, heat sugar and water until 240F. Pour the sugar syrup in a stream in the egg yolk slowly. Let it whisk until the mixture is cool. Cut up the room temperature butter into pieces. Put butter in one piece at a time, adding the next one only when the previous one have been incorporated. The frosting can be made ahead. If it is just the night before, I would just leave it on the counter. I put in the refrigerator and ended up with a block of butter the next morning. Just let it rest and get close to room temperature again. Stick it back in the mixer and whip it back up.

My second favorite frosting recipe is a Swiss Meringue Frosting. The process and recipe is exactly the same as the French Butter Cream recipe, except use 5 egg whites instead of the yolks. Whip the egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar until stiff peaks. Then just pour the hot sugar syrup in the egg whites in a slow stream. You could start adding the butter right after the sugar syrup. The mixture will look a bit too light and foamy right up until your last stick of butter, then all of a suddenly it will look like butter cream.

Biscuits that I will probably never make again...

2010-04-03T22:23:00.000-07:00

I had biscuits like these a few weeks ago with my chicken and waffles that are topped with a brown sugar/black pepper topping. I liked them so much that I wanted to try to make them at home. I don't, however, have the time/energy to make biscuits from scratch first thing in the morning. So the biscuits are from a tube. You know, the ones that pops really loud when you finally break the seal? I know I know, processed/package food are mostly bad for you with all kinds of gross chemicals and trans fat. I can't deny the convenience of having prepared packaged food though so I do buy them and checks the ingredients list closely. These I found at Trader Joe's and the ingredient lists are acceptable to me. I mixed up some brown sugar with freshly cracked black peppers and topped each with a generous spoonful. Bake as directed. While they are sitting in the kitchen cooling on the counter, Miss T walked in and said, "I smell something." Then she proceed to throwing up all over herself. She is still reminding me now, two weeks later, that I am not to make those biscuit anymore because it made her threw up. So, as much as I liked them, I will probably never make them again. I encourage other people to try them though, as I do think they are quite delicious.

Salted Caramels

2010-04-01T22:41:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Chris decided to take Miss T up for a couple more days of ski school while there are still snow. I don't remember having a couple of days by myself for a long time and definitely not since she was born 3 years ago. So what to do with myself? Make caramels of course! I saw the recipe on Good Eats with soy sauce as one of the ingredients. Now I can never resist odd ingredient in recipe to see how it works together. The morning after they left, I started my day boiling sugar.

Boil until it is nice and dark. (I only took the caramel up to 325F instead of the 350F that the recipe asked for, too afraid to burn it.) Add the cream and butter and bring it back up to 255F.

Pour into the prepared pan and let cool for half an hour.

I got some pink salt from Trader Joe's to sprinkle on. Don't have to be pink salt of course, I just wanted an excuse to buy it.

Sprinkle the salt on top. I think I will cut back on the salt here, 1 tsp was quite a bit.

Let it cool for another 3 hours. In my case, the whole day since I left and went shopping with my cousin in Napa and had dinner at Ad Hoc before going home. Cut into little squares and wrap with wax or parchment paper.

Easy to make and you get a lot of it. Perfect for sharing with unsuspecting coworkers.

Homemade Pasta

2010-03-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

I don't know why we never made fresh pasta before. Okay, we had one of those as-seen-on-the-tv thing that you dump everything in and flip a switch to push the pasta out of little holes. Easy? Absolutely. But it's missing that chewy, toothsome feel without properly developing the gluten in the dough. My parents happens to have a regular pasta machine that they probably used once in the 20+ years that they got it. (I'm not kidding, the price tag said it's from BEST. Who still remember that store???) Chris finally gave it a go this past weekend and it was almost as quick to make as that other machine. I tossed the freshly cooked pasta with some bacon, artichoke hearts, and lots of garlic. Yum! Can't wait to make it again.

Chicken and waffle

2010-03-13T22:24:00.000-08:00

Chris told me that there's a little, tiny place in the SOMA area that sells chicken and waffle. He had it for lunch on time and thinks that I should check it out. We had planned on going to the Timbuk2 warehouse sale this morning until we saw the line wrapped around the corner. There is no way we could wait in that line with a 3 years old. So he decided that we'll go grab food before heading back. There's also a Blue Bottle Coffee next door. My standard for good coffee is this, if I don't need to add sugar, it's good. I got one while I wait for my 3 piece chicken and waffle. (There is no sittings unless you want to sit across the street on the loading dock of the building.) It's a little pricey at $10, but enough food for me to share with Miss T.

I also had to get a brown sugar black pepper biscuit. I wish the biscuit was warm, but the sugar/back pepper topping was delicious. If I ever make biscuit, I will definitely copy that.

The final verdict? The chicken was better than the waffle. I probably won't go out of my way to get it again unless I really have a craving for chicken and waffle. A very cute little place though.

New Bag

2010-03-12T21:33:00.000-08:00

I finally upgraded my Nikon D70 to a Nikon D300s! I'm so excited about my new toy that I went and got a new camera bag to go along with it. (Cause I haven't spend enough money this week already.) I have other bags around the house of course, from a big backpack to a small one that will just hold the camera itself. The biggest problem is that I always have to carry around my purse separately. Actually, up until late last year, I was carrying around a diaper bag like this one for 2 and a half year:

I was browsing the web and found a tote like camera bag that is more of a purse/camera bag combo that I liked. After I showed Chris, he suggested that I take a look at the Jill e bags. I guess at some point he considered getting me one before. I ended up ordering one that night and it got here today.

Their web site actually shows you different ways to use the bag, from camera bag to a diaper bag. (So essentially, I went from one diaper bag to another one?) It comes with a few dividers so you can customize the layout. I have it set up like this so far for the normal weekend:

It holds my really big wallet and insanely big sunglasses case. The empty spot is where the camera will go. There's room for snacks for a 3 years old. This little pouch that came with will hold the random stuff like lip gloss and hand sanitizer. It is quite heavy though, but that have more to do with my camera than anything else. Can't wait to actually use it and play with my camera this weekend.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes!!

2010-03-09T22:12:00.000-08:00

I made a total of six dozen birthday cupcakes the past couple of weeks. Four of them were for Miss T and another couple more for Sara. You would have thought with all the practice I would have find a recipe to be my stand by at this point. But nope, it is still a work in progress. I stuck with a basic vanilla cake base and a few different kinds of frosting. The first ones I made were these, cupcakes baked in ice cream cones. Chris suggested it and I have to agree that it was quite popular with her friends at the daycare.

When I was thinking about how to proceed, I did a few quick searches on the Internet to see if I could find any pointers. Many mentioned the top heavy issue, being that the top part have more cake. I thought I'll try putting in some white chocolate chips at the bottom of the cones to give it some weight.

For the cake, I used a butter cake recipe from the Baker's Dozen Cookbook. Filled the cones with the batter almost to the top. They stand pretty well without any help on the cookie sheet, but I still wouldn't fill them too far to the oven though.

I baked them for about half an hour or so, check with a long toothpick. The cakes created a nice dome on top after they are baked even with a few cracks.

Since I was bringing these to daycare for a bunch of 2-3 years old, I didn't want to use any raw eggs in the frosting/buttercream. I ended up using the Vanilla buttercream recipe from More from Magnolia cookbook. It consist of only powdered sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla extract.

I made these the night before and decided to frost them right before I bring them to daycare the next day so the buttercream won't develop a hard skin. I packed most of the buttercream up in a pipping bag and tied it shut. Just leave on the counter overnight, it will harden if refrigerated. I left a little frosting out and frosted about half dozen to bring to work with me in the morning since I ended up with about 32 cupcakes when I only needed 24 to bring in daycare the next day. Of course I have to do a little taste test as well with Miss T.

So as you can see, the white chocolate chips didn't melt the way I imagine them to at the bottom and actually caramelized quite a bit after baking. The butter cake was tasty, but I think a little too dense for cupcakes. The frosting is too sweet for me, but I think will be fine with the 3 years old. To transport the cupcakes, I wrapped an empty multi-pak yogurt box (any large box will do) to make it more festive and cut crosses on top so the cupcake will stay in place. The idea came from a picture I found on the internet where someone did the same to a pizza box. To make it more challenging for me, it was pouring down rain when I had to leave. I wrapped a large plastic bag over and made it to daycare with all the cupcakes in tact. About half of the kids ate the cake as well, the other half just licked the frosting off. Exactly what I expected a 3 years old would do and I definitely enjoyed watching all the kids enjoy their afternoon snack.

Lake Tahoe

2010-03-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

For whatever reason, we have waited to take Miss T up to Tahoe to see/play snow. Chris haven't been up snowboarding as much as he would have like to the last few years since I think he feels guilty to leave us on weekends instead of hanging out with us. After doing some research, Chris found that Northstar have ski school starting at 3. So, off we go to Tahoe the day after she turns 3!

We left about mid-morning/lunch time on Sunday and planned on leaving on Tuesday after ski school is over. By the time we got there, it was about 3 in the afternoon so we went straight to Northstar to check whether we need to get her fitted for the equipments. She was so excited to finally play with snow! It was quite difficult to walk about when she stops at every little pile on the side of the walkway to touch it.

We stayed at a lodge with full kitchen since we both got to the point where we rather eat in then out. (Yikes! We've turned into our parents!!) The lodge was really nice and had access in the back to the lake. Miss T and I went out for a little walk and she even allowed me to take some pictures of her. I didn't get a chance to take any on her birthday this year due to the party so I just had to take her birthday pictures at the lake. I think I got a few nice shots. A little more playing in the snow and we went back to get settle in for the night in preparation for the next day.

Miss T and I both have ski school on Monday. I gave up on the whole snowboarding thing so I figure I'll give skiing a shot. We dropped her off with no issues. I think the fact that she goes to daycare everyday really helped. All I can say about my lesson is that I was better than snowboarding, but that's really not saying much. I also started to get sick after about an hour into my lesson so I had to cut it short. Will I try again? I don't know, despite the fact that I like it more I'm not sure I still like it. I'm just not an active/sport person I guess. Chris and I were actually wondering whether the poor girl would get my athletic skill (or lack there of). She only got about 2 hours of actual skiing time, attention span of a 3 year old is not exactly long after all. We went to see her and were relieved that luckily she has Chris's athletic ability rather than mine.

The second day started off with light snow and got heavier as the day went. Miss T actually leveled up and skiing mid-mountain instead. By then I was hit with the flu and no way am I doing anything. So in order to go see her, I had to get a ticket to ride the gondola to get there. She looks so small on the hill. Despite the heavy snow at times, she still goes on that magic carpet after sliding down every time. Her usual bad attitude when trying new things were no where to be seen. In fact, she didn't even get frustrated after she fell. (Another thing she didn't get from me!) I'm so proud of her.

She's talking about going back already. I think the snow will stay around for a little while longer so that may happen again soon.

Miss T is 3!

2010-02-27T22:30:00.000-08:00

As my little girl likes to remind me, I have a big girl now no more baby. I could have swore that it was just a little while ago when she was still a little bitty thing. We decided to have a little party for her this year, just family and a few friends. I've been baking more than ever (really, it's just 4 dozen cupcakes...) Now I'm exhausted and really looking forward to spending a couple days in the mountain learning to ski. Wait a minute, maybe that won't be so relaxing after all.

A quick recap of Miss T's celebration:

A couple dozens of these were brought to her daycare class to share with her friends.

Here's her taste testing them the night before.

Disappointment of opening up a present that was broken...

She discovered the joy of eating buttercream straight from the piping bag.

Another couple dozens of cupcakes.

Some bowling fun.

First time using the cupcake stand.

And lots of presents of course! Thanks to those that came out and celebrate Miss T's birthday with us.

Artist in training

2010-02-24T23:22:00.000-08:00

Miss T seems to have gotten a little of the artistic genes. I would say from me, since I'm the one who went to art school. Although I can't tell you the last time I actually try to sketch something. Don't even ask when was the last time I actually finish a complete drawing. Maybe she could inspire me to start again...

Productive Sunday

2010-02-21T22:33:00.000-08:00

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I would complain if I have a nice relaxing Sunday just hanging out doing nothing. I could even make that happen if I wanted to. But to me, the best way to spend Sunday is to get ready for the work week ahead, especially in terms of food. (We like to eat around here!) We have been trying to eat more whole grains so getting a head start is pretty important to accomplish that since they do tend to take longer to cook. Today, I made a loaf of brown soda bread (from the current issue of Cooking Light), a loaf of banana bread (from Joy of Cooking, but I made a few changes to suit me), cooked multi-colors rice (mixture of brown, red, and black rice), and also tried a recipe for quinoa pudding (milk, sugar, quinoa). The best part, I even got time to make dinner for tonight.

Creamy Chicken Pasta

I started off thinking that I would make a casserole. But since I had the breads baking in the oven, I just did everything on the stove top instead. I use Wondra flour all the time as thickener instead of a roux to cut down on the fat.

1 lb dried whole wheat spaghetti, broken into shorter pieces
2 cooked chicken breast, cubed
1 onion, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups of mixed cooked vegetables (I used frozen bell pepper, peas and corn cause I needed to use them up)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp Wondra flour
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 cup 2% milk
1/2 cup shredded low-fat three cheese blend
1 - 2 tsp seasoned salt (or salt and black pepper), to taste
handful of flat leave parsley, chopped

Bring water to boil and cook the spaghetti to al dente. Don't overcook since it will heat up a little more in the pan with the sauce. Drain.

While the water is boiling/cooking, cook the onion in olive oil on med-low heat in a 3 quart saute pan until medium brown and smells amazing. Add garlic and cook for another 30 sec. Add the chicken broth and scrape up all the little brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Mix the flour and the milk together and pour into the pan. Cook over medium heat until it starts to thicken. Add the frozen vegetables and chicken to pan to heat through. Mix in the cheese. Season with the seasoned salt, make sure to get it slightly saltier at this point since it will be mixed with the spaghetti. Add the pasta and toss to combine. Finish with chopped parsley.

恭喜發財！新年快樂！

2010-02-14T17:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year! We now begin the year of the tiger. Last night we had our 團年飯 at my parent's. It's a tradition to gather the family together to have dinner on New Year's eve to welcome the New Year's together as a whole family. Being that it happens to be on a Saturday this year made it a lot easier for us to meet at my parents. The only bad thing is that half of us have been sick and did not have our usual appetite. Here's the dishes:

The poached chicken and the pig's hand (I'm not convinced that it's the foot though) are there as usual. Normally we would have steamed fish, but we had a steamed crab this year instead. Another more traditional dish is the one with mushrooms, dried oysters, and seaweed that looked like hair. Okay, maybe that sounds a bit strange if you're not used to it. To round out the rest of the meal, we also have blanched lettuce with oyster sauce, fried pork chops, and shrimps with scrambled eggs.

I picked up a dessert on the way there from my favorite place to get fruit tart, Patisserie Philippe in San Francisco. I don't think I actually went in a bakery before that close to Valentine's Day and was pleasantly surprised to see all the baked goods with the little white chocolate hearts on them. They have this large, red heart shaped macaron filled with whole raspberries and cream. Even though it was a large macaron, there's no way I could divide that between 9 people. So sadly, I had to past on that. Take a look at the fruit tart that I got though:

I think the gold was a nice touch for Chinese New Year's, don't you?

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T16:45:00.000-08:00

The cookies above are from Patisserie Philippe in San Francisco. The raspberry meringue cookies looked so cute that I couldn't resist them while picking up a fruit tart for dinner last night. Chris and I actually don't celebrate Valentine's Day after we had a car accident more than 10 years ago on this day. It's harder to ignore it now that Miss T learns about these things and there were activities planned at daycare for it. As mentioned in the earlier post, I offered to make cookies for her class to eat during snack time since another parent have already volunteered to bring in cupcakes. I decided to make these:

They were pretty simple to make, just sugar cookie dough (home made please) and fill the cutout in the center with crushed hard candy before baking. I remember making these in the early days of dating Chris for Christmas one year. The trick is to pile the candy as high as you can in order to have any thickness at all after it melts. Along with the cookies, they were also exchanging Valentine's cars. These are the ones Miss T picked out:

From what I heard, the cookies were such a hit that a lot of the kids actually ignore the cupcakes and just ate the cookie. That definitely made the work worth it.

Busy busy busy

2010-02-10T23:16:00.000-08:00

February has proved itself to be quite a busy month. The worst thing was that I was completely unprepared for it. Yes, Miss T's birthday is at the end of the month and we already decided to actually give her a little party this time. Now that she's going to be 3 and have been to a number of her cousins birthday parties that she could remember, she figured it out that a birthday party means cake, presents, and have people sings to her. Of course, being us, we have no idea how to really throw a party so we'll see what happens. At least we know for sure her cousins will be there! Besides Miss T's birthday this month, there's her cousin Sara's and my cousin Elisa's as well right before hers.

Then there are things at her daycare that popped up. Valentine's day, I agreed to make cookies for the class. So in addition to making a couple dozen cupcakes for Sara's birthday party this Saturday, I'll have to make a batch of cookies as well for Friday. Usually, Chris is around to help, especially when it comes to baking. Bad news for me, he got sick today and have not been out of bed since dropping Miss T off to daycare this morning. I know I know, problem will be solve if I just go and buy the stuff. That's just not in our DNA. Don't get me wrong, I saw half a dozen cupcakes at the supermarket today for $5 and I was definitely questioning why I'm making them from scratch. Then I remember all the crap they put in there and I came back to reality. Being one to never pass up an opportunity to try something different, I can't just make drop cookies like chocolate chip or anything. So tomorrow night will be cookie baking night and let's hope I won't be decorating them in the middle of the night. I also asked about whether any other parents are doing anything for Chinese New Year. That somehow turned into me possibly going in to tell stories and pass out treats. Did I mention Miss T's birthday? I'll be bringing in cookies and ice cream for her daycare class along with little party gift bags. I realized that I brought on the stress to myself, so maybe something is wrong with me...

Have I mention that I'm sleeping on the couch tonight to avoid being sick? (I don't even know how it would work if BOTH of us are sick.)

Don't even get me started on work.

Comfort Food

2010-02-02T13:10:00.000-08:00

I'm sure I'm not the only one that thinks a bowl of homemade chicken soup as the ultimate comfort food, especially when you're not feeling well. I've been trying to fight off this flu/cold/whatever the past week and finally gave in and decided to stay home for a day to just rest. As great as staying in bed until noon is for resting, it does not do much to keep my stomach from rumbling. In a rare moment of foresight, I made chicken dumpling soup over the weekend in an attempt to cook up stuff that have been sitting in the freezer/refrigerator longer than they should be. One of the things that I always have around is bags of bones I saved from roast (chicken/turkey/goose). With 3 bags on bones taking space in the freezer, I decided to make some soup for dinner. (I have about 4 quarts of stock in the freezer as well.) I used the pressure cooker to make the stock to cut down on time. I actually use the slow cooker quite a bit for stock as well, but pressure cooker works better when there's less time. Chris makes fun of me whenever I make soup because I go overboard and put too much things in there that it's more like a stew. I restraint myself this time and it turned out perfectly.

Chicken Dumpling Soup

Stock:
about 2lb of bones leftover from roasted chicken
2 small carrots, washed and cut in half
2 stalks of celery, washed and cut in half
1 small onion, washed and cut in half
about 20 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic, mashed slightly
8 cups of water

Put everything in a pressure cooker. Bring it up to pressure and let it go for 1 hour. After it cools down and de-pressurized, strain the stock into a 5 quart pot.

Soup:
2 small carrots, peeled and diced
celery heart with leaves, diced
1 small onion, diced
3 sprigs of thyme
4 chicken thighs, diced

Add everything to the pot and bring it up to a boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer. while the soup is simmering, make the dough for the dumpling.

Dumpling:
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp garlic and onion salt
3 tbsp of milk

Mix the flour and baking powder together. Cut in the butter until it is mostly small pieces. Add the milk and mix together. Work the dough so it incorporate together, knead a few times. Divide into about 24 pieces.

Season the soup with salt to taste. (Season now will prevent breaking up the dumplings later.) Drop the dumplings in the soup and simmer for another 10-15 minutes, try not to disturb the dumplings or they will fall apart.

That's it. It's done. If you make the stock prior, you could easily make this a mid-week meal. I filled two small containers and put them in the freezer. As much as I need to clear out my freezer a bit, there's always room for good home cooked soup.

Piggy Bank

2010-01-30T23:45:00.001-08:00

DSC_0002, originally uploaded by _Winnie_.

Miss T was born in the year of the pig and as Chris always reminded her, year of the Golden Pig. We've been telling her that we will get her a piggy bank for all the coins that seems to show up everywhere around here. (I blame Chris since all my coins are in my wallet.) While shopping with her at Target the other day, we found the perfect piggy bank for her. A pink one with a tiara and tutu! Miss T now goes around the house looking for coins to feed her piggy. Totally adorable!

A nice surprise

2010-01-28T21:56:00.001-08:00

28/365, originally uploaded by _Winnie_.

Look what showed up at work for me today! No, not from Chris. This is definitely work related. Since I had such a horrible start this work week (got yelled at by some dumb person), this was a really nice gesture to remind me that I do work with some nice people. I got a whole dozen of these. Being that they don't keep long, I did share with a few people at work as well. Of course, Miss T got a couple to eat after dinner as well.

Manresa

2010-01-18T22:35:00.000-08:00

I've wanted to try this restaurant for a while, just never really got a chance to. Earlier in the week we found out that one of our friend is moving back to the East Coast and asked whether we would join her and another friend for dinner there. Of course I said yes. This is definitely more of a special occasion dinner level, $95 for the four course dinner and $160 for the tasting. I think this is enough of a special occasion.

We had the earliest reservation possible, at 5pm on Sunday. The host greeted us warmly and seated us just as our friends shows up. We decided on the 4 courses option. While it would be wonderful to do the tasting menu, none of us were in the mood of actually going through 7-8 courses with additional amuses as well. That ended up to the great choice since we still didn't finish our dinner until after 8pm. I would post all the pictures, but I only took pictures with my iphone (didn't want to distract people with my Nikon). If interested, please visit my flickr page to see them.

So what are my thoughts? Did it live up to my expectations? I have to say the two amuses they brought out was amazing. I guess that set the bar pretty high for the rest of the dinner. Some dishes were great, so if chosen correctly, you could have a spectacular meal. The four of us all ordered different things so we could try more dishes. There are definite hits and misses. My fish course seemed like someone forgot to season it. The black cod was cooked perfectly, nice crunchy crust with a moist flesh. Unfortunately, it had absolutely no taste. My pork dish was really good. Actually, I think all of us had a really good meat course. We added a cheese course to share as a table. Three of the four were good, the cheese cart was definitely not as impressive as the one at Gary Danko. Then again, I'm not sure any other restaurant could live up to that. My dessert consisted of exotic citrus (don't ask me what they are though) sorbet, ice cream and granita. In my opinion the best dessert at the table and great to finish after the rich pork dish that I had. So technically speaking, all the food was cooked perfectly. The flavors just didn't always come through. The one big problem we had was the pacing of the courses. As we were discussing at the table, if we noticed it, then there's a problem. We had long breaks between a few of the courses and the restaurant was not at full capacity. The staff were nice and professional, just not sure what the delay was for. For around the same price range, I would prefer Gary Danko more. (Much shorter of a drive for us as well!)

In the end, we did enjoy a great evening with friends. Too bad it took a friend to be about to move in order for us to get out there. Oh, the parting gift they had was you could take a handful of their salted caramels home. That, was quite good.

Project 365

2010-01-14T22:43:00.000-08:00

Not much to report the past week, just the normal schedule with work and daycare. I am attempting a 365 project where I would take a picture each day for a year. So far, it's going okay. The camera phone definitely help and it's kind of fun playing with the different applications on the iphone. Check my progress out here.

I got new eyes for the New Year

2010-01-06T18:37:00.000-08:00

(Chris got this for me to make me feel better yesterday.)

I didn't really set any New Year's Resolution this year. As with most people, I never end up accomplishing them anyways. I did have a general concept of taking care of myself better and doing some of the things that I've meant to do. Lasik is something that I wanted to get done for a while. I just had to wait for my eyes to be stable again after I got pregnant. Finally, end of last year, I decided to have my consultation to see if I could even get the procedure done. About 10 years ago, I was involved in a car accident that resulted in my left retina partially detached. Luckily, my eye healed quite well and didn't have any scary problems afterward. I got the okay to do and scheduled my appointment for 1/16. This was back in October. When I ran out of contacts at the end of the year, I just decided to wear my glasses instead of getting two more boxes (different prescription on each eye.) I have not wore my glasses out in public since I got contacts in 9th grade! Wearing them again just reminded me how much I hate them. So when they called me to say that if I wanted a Sat appointment, I'll have to change to the 23rd, I asked for the next available appointment instead. That is how I ended up getting it done yesterday.

I was very nervous the night before. I mean, they do have to cut my eyes open! Miss T knew just how to make me feel better though.
Miss T: " There's nothing to be scare about. Doctors are nice. They are there to help you. You don't need to be scare of doctors. You only need to be scare of lions. They will bite you."
When she put it in that perspective, it really does help. Yes, my almost 3 years old is much wiser than I am. I'm not going to go into all the details of the surgery. You could get that elsewhere if you're interested as I'm not all that interested in reliving it again. Just so you know though, I had my follow up today and I am seeing 20/20 already. I still could see a haze, but that's to be expected. Since I started with such a high prescription, I was really surprise at the result being this good so fast. Now, if only the bruising will go away. I look quite scary with the red in my eyes right now.

Software suggestions

2010-01-03T20:28:00.001-08:00

Ok, being that I don't think there's really much people reading this blog, I may be talking to myself here. But anyone know of any software that will keep track of crafting ideas, kind of like a recipe software? I can't seem to locate any, at least not for a Mac. Chris offered to write one, but umm... that may take a while.

New Computer

2010-01-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

We got a new iMac last month with a 27" display. So what to do with the dual 21" monitors that we had before? Hooked them up as well, of course! I think it's actually a little overwhelming but I mostly use my laptop. But with all the extra desktop space, I think I will do all my photo editing on that from now on. Now, I just need to a new camera to play with as well since I could really tell that my camera is outdated.

Gingerbread Syrup

2010-01-01T22:35:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, I have a cooking blog. This one has evolved into more of a photo blog with little stories to go with it. I do still cook most days. The idea for this syrup stems from the birthday present I got on my birthday. I love that I could make a really good latte with the machine in less than 5 minutes. But I'm also hooked on the gingerbread latte they sell this time of the year at most chain coffee shops. Instead of buying a bottle of syrup with questionable flavoring, I decided to make my own. This batch came out well enough, but next time I will use some whole cloves to keep the syrup more clear. I don't like my drink to be too sweet, so I made the syrup pretty strong in order to get enough flavor in without adding too much syrup. A teaspoon is usually enough for me. One warning though, Chris had to leave the room while this is simmering on the stove due to the strong ginger vapor started to bother his eyes. I was wearing contacts so it didn't bother me. The effect don't last for too long after it's finish though.

Gingerbread Syrup

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 sticks cinnamon, about 2" each; broken up
1 piece ginger, about 1 1/2" piece; sliced thinly
10 peppercorns
½ tsp. cloves
2 star anise, broken up
dash nutmeg

Bring everything up to a boil. Simmer for 30-45 min. Strain through a fine sieve and cool. Store in the refrigerator.

1/365

2010-01-01T22:27:00.000-08:00

Went to the movie today with Chris and my brother. I think I may have finally discover the joy of movies again. You see, I worked part time during college as a video encoder and basically watched movies (mostly very bad, "independent" stuff) the whole time. That was probably close to 8-9 years ago and I just lost interest in them until recently. Sherlock Holmes was definitely a fun escape for a couple of hours. Beautifully shot with pretty good acting. Will definitely watch the sequel when that comes out.

Christmas

2009-12-30T18:10:00.000-08:00

Alright, if I don't write about Christmas now, I'll forget everything about it soon. Christmas is really more about kids than the adults. Chris and I both agreed to only fill the stocking for each other and no big gifts. We normally get stuff for each other during the year and we (especially Chris) will just get anything that we wants anyways. So it's all about Miss T. This year was more fun since she's more aware of Christmas from daycare, TV, family, etc. We even got her to go see Santa this year. We had to convinced her that she could ask for more than one thing. (I know, probably shouldn't have done that.) So far, here's the list of presents she got for Christmas:

play doh set with an activity table (from Santa)
pink little people minivan (from Santa, since she asked for a pink car)
digital music turntable thing that makes a lot of noise
digital camera

books
4' high rag doll
doctor set
CDs (Baby loves Jazz and Baby loves Hip Hop)
magnetic dress up doll
finger painting set (someone please remind me to talk to my aunt about this one)
Totoro stuffed doll
metal cooking set

The list is not completed yet as she haven't got the ones from her grandparents yet. Even with all the new toys, Chris and I are still buying stuff for her yesterday. We don't spoil her at all!

Back to Christmas Day. All the prepping paid off since I only have a few things to do in order to finish off the meal. Before dinner, we were snacking on these.

The actual menu for Christmas dinner:
Roasted Goose

Baked miso butter salmon

Rice dressings w/ chestnuts
Scalloped potatoes
Sour cream apple pie
Caramelized banana lime tart

individual chocolate lava cakes
gingerbread cake
truffles

(We were snacking on these prior to dinner though. As shown here with spiced nuts in the background.)

Yes, there were more dessert than the actual dinner. But that's how it goes around here. =) I'm glad to have my brother's family and cousins over. A couple of friends ended up stopping by for dessert as well. I don't think we ever have that much people in our condo before! In all, good times with family with some yummy food. I would be happy to do this again, maybe just dessert next time and just skip the actual dinner part.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-26T22:39:00.000-08:00

This is what I was doing the morning of Christmas Eve. Let me tell you, peeling 5lbs of potatoes is not a fun job. Normally, we celebrate Christmas Eve with Chris' family at his grandparent's house and with my family on Christmas at my parent's house. This year, my parent decided that they are taking a trip to Vegas instead. So, the gathering with my family moved to my place as I'm more centrally located. We didn't mind since it gave us an excuse to totally go overboard with cooking. I decided to do as much as I can on Christmas Eve before we leave for his grandparent's house. Because we were making most things from scratch and that takes a bit of time. (We're a bit crazy like that.) All those potatoes ended up in this lovely dish.

Don't ask me how much cream went in that dish. I'm determined to keep that a secret.

Here's the other side dish that I was serving. A rice dressing with chestnuts and apples.

This is suppose to go well with goose. Oh yeah, Chris decided that we will cook a goose for Christmas. Something different and traditional at the same time. We only found one store with a lone goose sitting in the freezer. But I'll tell you about that later.

Chris was in charge of dessert, as usual. Aside from the sour cream apple pie that I'm responsible for, he decided to make a caramelized banana lime tart, 3 kinds of truffles, gingerbread, and individual chocolate lava cakes.

These are truffle fillings, not chocolate soups. We were having all kinds of problems with that white chocolate that day though. It was not setting in the filling and firming up too much when we went to coat the peppermint ones later on. Some of it have probably have to do with the cold weather. But I think since there's no standard for the ingredients that goes in the white chocolate, we may be using ones that have too high of a coco butter content. So until we could find a brand that will work, I think we are sticking with dark and milk chocolate for now. The three truffle flavors are thyme-honey (by far the best one), pineapple-coconut-rum, and peppermint.

After all that cooking, we drove up to Vacaville. (I'm pretty sure that is the land of grandparents.) We had a very nice visit with some of his family and grandparents. Miss T got to open her first Christmas present.

It was much bigger than she is. Miss T named her "Banana". And Banana now sits next to bed. She also plays the role of the patient with a doctor set that her Aunt Jenni got her. For those who didn't know, Miss T tells us that she will be a doctor when she grows up. We'll see about that...

Chris got the chocolate lava cakes mixed and divided into small ramekins before going to bed. I think he mentioned that he got to bed at 3am. (I was of course completely out by then.) Although I think a little of it had to do with him playing DJ Hero (gift from his sister), a little too late as well.

Conversation with a 2 years old.

2009-12-24T23:43:00.000-08:00

Too busy still getting ready for Christmas dinner. But here's a little story.

This is a conversation between Miss T and Chris two nights ago...
Chris: "Are you going to stay being my baby?"
"No Dada, I'm a big girl. I need to grow."
"Are you going to stay with me when you're big?"
"No, I'm going away."
"Where are you going?"
"Vegas."
"You're going by yourself?"
"No, I'm going with Mama."
"Can I come?"
"No, you have to stay here."
"But I'll be lonely."
"Kuan can stay with you Dada."

(Kuan is Chris' co-worker, btw.)

Birthday party @ Habitot in Berkeley

2009-12-21T23:37:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, we were invited to a birthday party at Habitot in Berkeley. We have not been there and I only did a quick internet search to get an idea that it's an interactive museum for young kids. We were warned that Miss T may get a little dirty, so I did bring a change of clothes for her with us. Of course, as usual, I left it in the car so it was a good thing we didn't need it.

The birthday party was in a separate room away from the actual play area. The place is not too big, but I imagined it would be more difficult to keep track of the little ones if it's any bigger. There are different areas set up for different activities. I think Miss T like the art/craft room the most.

We need to figure out a way to install one of these in our home. It's just a big piece of plastic/fiberglass mounted on the wall. It gets wash down with water from time to time to provide fresh canvas. She loves to paint and I don't let her paint nearly often enough at home. (I do have carpet everywhere!) It's hard to tell in the picture, but she is wearing an apron that they provided there. The main reason why she didn't need that change of clothes.

Aside from painting, there's a table set up for stamping. There's one more set up where they could play with gak. Gak is a very weird, slimy substance. But I guess that's part of the appeal? I can't tell you since I don't think I'm the target subject for it.

There is a firetruck set up complete with the uniform to play dress up with. Miss T wore it long enough for me to take a picture. There are other areas that we haven't got a chance to explore yet. I think we may have to come back, perhaps on a play date with one of her friend. (Maybe with Miss R?)

Back to the birthday party, there was of course great food. I think our hosts made most of the food. (Really, really good green curry chicken!) Miss T really enjoy the spam masubi and the cupcakes. To show the extend of their attention to details, they even made gingerbread cookie personalized with the child's name on them in the party bag.

And here's the partially eaten cookie. Miss T was too quick for me so I didn't get a chance to take a picture until she already took a couple bites. I wasn't sure she would like gingerbread cookie, but she sure liked this one. Thanks for the invite. We definitely had a fun time.

Habitot Children's Museum
www.habitot.org

2065 Kittredge Street
Berkeley, CA 94704-1404
(510) 647-1111

A Day in Yountville

2009-12-19T21:26:00.000-08:00

I got a tip that The Nutcracker performance in Yountville was a lot more reasonably priced for us to try it out with Miss T. (Thanks Jen!) I got the tickets about a month ago and while I'm at it, I can't help but got a reservation at Bouchon as well for lunch. The last time we went was probably about 4 years ago for Chris' birthday. I made reservation on Open Table and made sure to mention that we have a 2 year old with us, just so they know where to put us.

See the nice Christmas tree? We were actually seated right in the middle of the restaurant. Miss T is usually pretty good in restaurant, but she *really* likes it here. It might have something to so with the fact that since we stepped inside, everybody made a comment about how cute she is.

They even have crayons for her to draw on the table! We ordered the macaroni gratin for her. I got a salmon salad to start and a rabbit confit cassoulet for entree. Chris got a mixed green salad w/ goat cheese and a croque madame.

She ended up eating just the *crispy* cheese on top.

Isn't this pretty? I think this is the first time I actually like a slow roasted salmon.

I made Chris move the plate for me to take a picture. He ended up burning his finger a little bit since the plate was pretty hot. Oops. Miss T also ate a lot of the fries.

Lunch was great, if a bit pricey. Not like we come up very often though. (At least that's how my reasoning goes.) We went next door to pick up a little sweet treat for later and drove over to the Lincoln Theater for The Nutcracker. Miss T did okay, just about as well as her parent anyways. Her attention definitely started to waive after about half an hour or so. The intermission was really hard since she just wanted to go by then. We did manage to sit through the whole thing with no melt down. Even managed to stay awake the whole time. I have to admit, I was really to take a nap once the second act starts. I need to learn to appreciate it just like Miss T, I guess. Maybe we'll try a bigger production next year.

Oh, the treat that I mentioned. How's this for a treat?

This is a snowman red velvet cupcake. If you think a $3 cupcake is expensive, this baby cost $9.

But what a great way to end the day!

Christmas Concert @ Daycare

2009-12-18T21:46:00.000-08:00

So today is the Christmas concert/party at Miss T's daycare. (We got this really cute picture of our little girl and a frame that she painted and decorated as gift.) Miss T had been talking about practicing the songs and being told that she had to stand still and be quiet the whole week. Actually, Chris was not planning on going, but decided to in the end since she was so excited about it.

How did it go? I don't know, we ended up missing the whole thing because I was stuck in traffic. Times like this really get me thinking about working closer to home. I felt so bad about missing it. Since I had to pick Chris up on the way, he missed it as well. So don't even get me started on how much more guilty I felt when this conversation happened:
Miss T: "Mama, you didn't see me singing."
"I know sweetie, I got stuck on the road with a lot of cars. I'm so sorry."

"I didn't see Mama or Dada out there."

"I know sweetie, Mama is really sorry."
"It's okay Mama, it's an accident."

She then proceed to give me a big hug and a kiss.

I don't deserve such sweet girl.

Chris got her a couple of macaroons from the place next to his work while waiting for me to pick him up as a small treat for her. Sorry for the blurry picture, but there's no way she would stay still.

In an effort to try to make me feel better, since I was crying as I'm sitting in traffic calling to him that we'll be late, he got me a salted caramel chocolate tart.

I don't deserve such sweet husband either.

The guilt of being a working mom continues...

Cookies!

2009-12-18T21:43:00.001-08:00

As promised, here's the cookies I got from the cookies exchange yesterday. Don't they look yummy? Definitely some that I have not tried before. I guess that is the advantage of a cookie exchange, expanding your cookie horizon. We had 11 people participating total so we made half a dozen cookies for each of the other 10 people (60 total).

Here's a picture of the lemon shortbreads with lemon glaze that I made. I only made enough to give to other people so I didn't have any left for myself. Silly mistake that I'm thinking of fixing this weekend.

Cookie Swap

2009-12-16T20:10:00.000-08:00

We are having our first cookie swap at work tomorrow. I decided on lemon shortbread cookies because my first choice, chocolate peppermint meringues would take way too long to bake. But where was this book a week ago?

Pictures to follow on the cookies...

Make a sick day productive...

2009-12-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

...look, two posts today! The thing about not visiting your own blog for a while? You forget how bad it looked. So since I'm home sick with no voice, I thought I'll play around with the design a little. Hope the very few of you that still visit like the change. It looks a lot cleaner to me without the overwhelming pink all over.

Christmas Time

2009-12-14T12:35:00.001-08:00

Oh look, a blog post. How long ago was my last one? (Of course I could look it up easily, but let's just agree on "a while" and we'll move on.) Things have not slow down around here. Time does seem to go much faster with a little one around. With the hectic weekday routine and trying to make the most of the weekend, weeks and months goes by and it's December already! Now that Miss T is closer to 3, I figure we could start doing more Christmas activities with her that perhaps could turn into a tradition. Chris even let me get a tree this year. It's a fake one and we'll have to figure out where to store that afterward, but I think it turned out really well and Miss T really enjoyed decorating it. Keeping her away from the presents under the tree is a bit more challenging since she thinks all of them are for her. Chris and I have stopped exchanging presents (to lessen the stress of shopping for all the other people), but I've decided to wrap at least one thing for each of us just to get her over the idea that it's all about her. After all, one of the main thing about the Holidays is sharing.

The other thing that I've wanted to do is to make a gingerbread house. Now, maybe I've been watching way too many cooking shows, but I was really ready to jump in and bake one myself. Of course, I came to my senses and decides to take it slowly this year and just purchase one of those pre-built ones in the store and you just decorate. (Like my co-worker said, it's not like you'll eat the thing afterward.) I know Miss T would enjoy it, judging by her love of decorating cupcakes and cookies. I had the box sitting on the counter for the past week and she had been asking to decorate it ever since. So on Sunday, after her little bonding trip with Chris to watch Princess and the Frog, I told her she could work on it after she takes a nap. And you know what, the first thing out of her mouth when she woke up was: "Gingerbread house!"

I think we did a pretty good job.

We're taking her to her first ballet next week to watch The Nutcracker in Yountville. (I can't help myself and got a lunch reservation at Bouchon before the show.) If I could somehow keep this blogging momentum up, I'll definitely report back.

Bread Making

2009-07-05T14:26:00.001-07:00

For those who knew us, they will tell you that Chris is the baker in the family. Measuring and being exact were never my thing. I could manage things like tarts and pies because they do not require things to be really exact. Bread making, in my mind, is on a level that I was not interested in getting involved in. Chris made some delicious bread before and all that getting the water to the right temperature for the yeast, timing all the proofs, and kneading does not looked fun to me! That is, until I discovered Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day by Jeff Hertzberg MD and Zoe Francois. It was actually an accidental purchase on my kindle and I decided to keep it anyways. The only thing I had to get was a container big enough to hold the dough while it sit in the refrigerator waiting for me to bake it. I baked my first loaf this morning and it was good (better if I didn't burn the bottom a little bit). It really does only takes about 5 minutes of actual hands on work to start the dough and less when prepping to bake. The dough have not had enough time to get a good flavor yet and the crumb is definitely a little more dense that I would have liked. We'll have to see how the flavor develop as the dough will keep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. It's no Acme bread, but I will say that it beats a lot of the "artisan bread" that your regular supermarket is selling though. So, for the little amount of work involved, I may be making more bread from now on.

We had the bread for breakfast with some leftover cheese, cold cuts, olive spread and apples. Not the quickest thing in the morning to make, but definitely tasty.

A few very random thoughts

2009-06-11T23:00:00.001-07:00

- I discovered that there's nothing like thoughts of losing a few pounds to sent me to make desserts. I really do think I come up with the best ideas. (Picture and recipe to come soon if I manage to pull off what's in my head right now.)

- Am I the only one who thinks underwear are overpriced?!?!? And no, I'm not giving up on them.

- Speaking of thinking about losing a few pounds, I did discovered that finding clothes now is a lot easier. (It really just encourages me to buy more!)

- Talise really don't like to sleep.

- Why do they have so many fundraisers for daycare when we paid an insane amount of money each month already?? Yes, we try to participate on most as well.

- Foreign version of magazines like Woman's Day have much, much more interesting recipes. Eggplant and fish stew? Can't say I expect to see it in the US version anytime soon.

Eating habit of a 2 year old

2009-06-06T12:49:00.001-07:00

I was really hoping for a toddler who would be adventurous when it comes to eating. I know, wishful thinking on my part. When she first started on solid food, like most kids, she would eat anything I give her since it's a new flavor compared to the formula she was on. Now she definitely got to the point where she has opinions and favorites. It was pretty difficult for a while there where I have to cook separately for her. Even then, she would only eat Costco chicken and fruits. Lately, it's been a little better, at least it seems a little more balanced and more variety to me. Sometimes she may actually eat what we're eating. She loves rice with the dried shredded pork and seaweed/sesame rice sprinkles that you could get at Japanese stores. (She loves seaweeds!) Chicken is still her main source of protein, at least we got out of the Costco chicken phase. I'm still trying to get her to eat fish, which she will eat salmon sometimes. Vegetable wise, she loves broccoli and will eat some other greens. I don't think there's much fruit that she doesn't like. From what I've been told though, she eats a little more stuff at school. Thanks them serving pasta at least once a week, I could finally serve her pasta at home as well. Pictured is an example of one of her dinner. Poached chicken in soy sauce broth, rice roll (mixed with seaweed, sesame, and dried pork), broccoli, cauliflower and chicken broth. Aside from the cauliflower (Chris is not a big fan either), she ate most of it. Now, I just need to work on a homemade version of 'chicken nugget' that could replace the frozen stuff she asks for all the time.

Cherry Cloufoutis

2009-05-31T07:57:00.001-07:00

I usually purchase way too much whenever I go to the farmer's market. Everything look and smell so good. Before I knew it, I came back with a full basket of fruits and vegetables. Then it's a race with the clock to eat everything before they go bad. Last week was actually the first time I've been to the farmer's market for a while, I've been waiting for the summer fruits to start. I came back with cherries, strawberries, peaches, squash blossoms, Chinese broccoli, and a bunch of Chinese long beans. I had the intentions to eat the cherries as they are, but a cherry dessert sounded really good last night. A cloufoutis is like a baked custard, easy and fast to put together. Best part is that I have all the ingredients on hand already. The longest part of the recipe is probably pitting the cherries. Some people will say that is unnecessary, but with Miss T eating it with us, I didn't want her to deal with the pits. My OXO cherry pitter made the process quite fast anyways. Recipe is from Joy of Cooking. The only alternation I've done is replace the cognac with a little almond extract.

Cherry Cloufloutis

1 pound of cherries, pitted
4 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
3/4 cup all purpose flour
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 375F. Beat the eggs and sugar together until a little foamy and well combined. Stir in milk and extracts. Add the flour a little at time until fully corporate. Finally, add a pinch of salt to enhance the sweetness. Line the bottom of a baking dish with the cherries. Pour the custard mixture over the cherries. Bake at 375F for 10 minutes and then turn down to 350F for another 35-40 minutes or so, until the middle is set. Serve warm with powdered sugar sprinkle on top.

Blog?

2009-05-19T23:33:00.001-07:00

I have a blog??? Really?? Maybe I should write some posts sometimes.

(Yes, I will try harder...)

Christmas 2008

2009-01-02T13:06:00.001-08:00

I think that since Talise is close to 2 this year at Christmas, she's able to appreciate a lot more. One of the first thing she noticed were the Christmas decorations. The classroom at daycare and home all of a suddenly have all these 'trees' (her word for anything green) around! I think the second thing she noticed and enjoyed are all the lights outside of people's houses. I know for sure that she now knows what snowman is! She recognize Santa, but doesn't get the concept of him yet. She also still screams when Santa walked into her daycare classroom during their little holiday concert/party. I guess we didn't do a good job at introducing her to Santa, since we never mentioned anything about. Next year, she may understand the concept more. I'm still trying to figure out how to approach this holiday. I don't want her to think Christmas is only a time to get presents from everyone. Since Chris nor I are religious, we will have to turn this into something else. Maybe a time for sharing with others and enjoy your family. I guess I have a whole year to figure it out!

- I think we were at about 5 different Christmas parties this year between family and friends. It's a bit hectic, but definitely enjoyable to see everyone since we all get so busy with our everyday lives that we don't make enough time to spend with people we like.

- Thankfully, the gifts were not too excessive. There are still a few things that I think I may donate to daycare so she could share with other kids. I am also in process of cleaning out her old toys so we could donate those as well. She spend most of the time during weekday at daycare, so it make sense for her toys to be there as well and we don't end up with a living room that look like a toy store.

- I think she's getting the hang of opening presents now. Of course, her birthday is just around the corner so she'll have more to open. I guess we will have to figure out whether to have a party for her or not this year. I might just bring stuff in daycare that day. We'll see.

- Her favorite toy so far is probably the wooden sushi set her Uncle Alan and Auntie Brittany got her. I don't think she went through a whole day without playing with it. It also goes with the kitchen I got her nicely.

- Chris got her a tricycle and she loves it. She has been pointing out bikes everywhere she goes. Not surprisingly since she's used to seeing her Dad's bikes. Now her helmet fits her better, we could go for walks with her on it. She's can't pedal yet, but it has a handle in the back for us to push and steer. I think she likes that more than the stroller.

- Her little cousin Audrey was born on 12/23! Talise is no longer the baby in my family. Looks forward to her playing the Talise soon as they are closer in age than her other two older cousins. Since Talise is an only child, her cousins will be the closest thing she has to siblings.

- Lastly, Chris got himself the Rock Band set for the Wii. Talise have been helping with the drums since. I think she enjoyed it a lot more before she got a chance to sit with my Dad on his set of real drums. She was talking about drumming with my Dad a long time afterward (well, what we understand of her description anyways).

So much to catch up on...

2008-12-03T18:22:00.001-08:00

- Halloween went pretty well. Although I did missed Talise's daycare parade because I had to finish up a big account. We did meet up with one of Talise's ex-daycare buddy at the mall and hung out there for a couple of hours. The two girls running around in their costume were way to cute!

- Even though Halloween was on a Friday, I actually didn't get a chance take pictures of Talise and her cousins until the next week. As you can see, the girls all looked great and didn't mind a chance to get into their costumes again.

- It's official! Talise's favorite word is "NO!"

- She is also getting quite bossy, "SIT down, Mama! Sit down!"

- She likes to name everybody she knows before sleep, some more than others (like her cousins).

- Time out is going on pretty often now. It may still take multiple time outs to get her to apologize sometimes. Stubborn little girl, no idea where she get that from! (In fact, she's in the corner right now.)

- All meats are "chicken" to her, at least we're out of the Costco chicken phase.

- Even though she still doesn't eat exactly the same thing we do yet, she does eat quite a few things that I'm happy about. Broccoli and kale, to name two. She will eat almost all fruits in sight! Carbs on the other hand, we're still working on.

- Thanksgivings went well, considering that she haven't been feeling the greatest and had to be around so many people from both of our families.

- We decided not to put up a Christmas Tree this year again. First, we don't have that much room. Secondly, she'll pull everything down. Maybe next year... She does enjoy the stockings hanging on the mantel though.

- Speaking of Christmas, don't tell her, but she's getting a little kitchen playset and probably a tricycle. Chris and I agreed long before that we will not over do it, with more presents from others and all. So we are limited to one big present each. I will probably have to go through her toys now to see if I could throw away/donate some that she no longer play with. Things like tuffed animals/dolls, she's just not interested in. Cars on the other hand...

Future Craft Projects

2008-09-10T20:48:00.001-07:00

I was at Target this afternoon getting some medication for Chris (and spend way too much on other stuff that I had no intention of getting in the first place.) While I was walking around the baby section, I noticed these cute hair clips.

I like the fact that they are simple and modern. After I saw the price tag though ($9.99!), I decided that I finally found a craft to do that someone would wear!

These are not the first hair clips I found that ignite my desire to start making something again. A friend forwarded a personal Barack Obama fund-raising that she put together. For a $8 donation, she'll sent you one of these clips:

They're so cute and fun that I've been looking all over Etsy for other ideas. I think I could also incorporate some of the little beaded animals I made that I haven't figure what to do with on hair clips.

Time for another shopping trip to the craft store!

The Omnivore’s Hundred

2008-08-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

Saw the list on my brother's blog from Very Good Taste. Figure it'll be fun to see how I do compare to him.

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

I got 51. Although I've had dishes that claims to be Kobe beef, I don't believe I've had the real thing. So I'm marking it yet. And I'm not crossing anything out, I like to think at least I'm open to it if given the opportunity.

Seattle-Vancouver: Day 5

2008-08-27T18:27:00.001-07:00

Ah yes, where did I left off? I should probably finish writing about this trip before I completely forget what happened. Day 5 ended up to be the most touristy day of our vacation. After being stuck at the border for more than 4 hours the day before, I think we were determined to see Seattle, at least the two most famous attractions.

- Pike's Market. I think I was more impress it with it the first time I was there a few years ago, before the ferry market opened up in San Francisco. While it is still great to see local produce at the farmer's market, somehow the experience is just not the same. (Yes, I know the ferry building is modeled after Pike's Market.) Love how much work some vendors put into displaying the products though.

- Chris and I now been to the Space Needle area twice now. We still have not went up to enjoy the view. What can I say, we're cheap and can't justify spending $15 a person to stand in a long line. Besides, you could get great shots of the Space Needle from the bottom.

- We were with my parents and the relatives that we were staying with at this point. After Space Needle, they wanted to go to Chinatown to get food for dinner and have lunch. At this point, I've seen enough Chinatown to last a while so I suggested that we split up. Half of us went back to Pike's Market to walk around some more and look for a place to eat around there instead.

- What exactly is a crumblet?? I may never find out since they were sold at the crumblet shop.

- Dinner turned out to me cooking a fresh fish they got from Chinatown and bbq meat/poached chicken. We didn't really want to eat in, but since food was already bought for us, it would be rude to leave. (My parents, once again, went to an Indian Casino.) It did gives me a chance to use their built in steam oven. I want one of those! Yes, it cost about $3000 with installation. but still.

- Alan and Chris drove around for quite a while that night trying to find coffee/tea. You would think that wouldn't be such a problem in the Pacific Northwest. But it was and they came back empty handed.

Seattle-Vancouver: Day 4

2008-08-09T07:26:00.001-07:00

Day 4 started out fine. We're planning on eating a dim sum brunch and heads back over to the US. Little did we know how long that actually took...

- Found this really ugly sofa in the dim sum restaurant. Really, I think this is the ugliest sofa I've seen for a long time. The girls look cute on it though.

- We should have known to change our plans when we saw that the wait time through the border is "unknown". This is what it looked like:

- More than 4 hours later, we finally crossed the border. I guess being that we're all US citizens, we went through pretty quickly. So, really, the long wait is because all those Canadians that decided to cross the border on their long weekend. (What are they celebrating on BC Day anyways??)

- My brother rushed out to catch a baseball game when they got back to Seattle. My parents yet again went to an Indian casino like they did almost every night on our trip. So Chris and I decided to at least seek out a cafe. We found this cute little cafe in Renton that had great cupcakes. They even had mini cupcakes that's the perfect size for Miss T. The funny thing is that she doesn't like her hands dirty, so she refused to eat the icing.

Seattle-Vancouver: Day 2

2008-08-06T19:44:00.001-07:00

So day 2 started out okay. Miss T was up around 6:30 or so and my dad was also up chatting with my relatives already. This turned into him taking Miss T to proceed waking the rest of the family up (I'm sure Alan really appreciated that every morning). This is the day we are driving up to Canada.

- I was able to get Miss to stay still long enough for pigtails in her hair. Her aunt decided to put my nieces in them as well. So pigtails for everyone!

- The drive up to Canada was pretty uneventful. A little less than 2 hours and we are at the border from Seattle.

- We are actually staying in Richmond instead of Vancouver. I know before going that there are a lot of Chinese living in Richmond. But I don't think you could really get a feel for it until you see that there are malls everywhere filled with Chinese businesses. I'm pretty sure you could get by there without a word of English.

- Food courts in those malls are actually quite good. I had the best roast pork ever in one of those malls. It really does enforce Chris' theory that Chinese people only shop and eat though. Even Miss T was shopping 'til she dropped.

- I found a store in Richmond called The Real Canadian Superstore. It's like one of those huge Walmart or Super Target that sells everything. The difference? I went completely crazy for their kids clothes. I later found out that all the clothes there are designed by Joseph Mimran, person behind places like Club Monaco. I think I got about 14 pieces of clothing for the girls at around $100. Look at this cute dress I got for Miss T for $7.95.

- Chris and I ate too much in the afternoon at the said food courts. So we skipped dinner that night. Miss T though, had a roast pork bun and about 1/2lb of strawberries. That amount of strawberries in such a little person makes for a very unpleasant diaper experience the next day.

Seattle-Vancouver: Day 1

2008-08-05T19:04:00.001-07:00

A little introduction, Chris and I have been thinking of taking Miss T somewhere on a plane to see how she would do. We actually really wanted to go to Hawaii, but being that it's 4 hours each way, we thought we'll try somewhere close first. We decided on Seattle and once my parent heard about it, they decided that they're going with my brother's family as well. So, it's not only enough that I work with my mom and my brother, I'm taking a vacation with all of them as well. Good thing I actually like my family. =)

- Virgin America have nice new planes and a screen for each person. We were delayed for about an hour but they made up for it by flying fast enough to cut half an hour off the trip. Miss T fell asleep on the take off and didn't wake up until an hour later. So the trip was okay.

- It was lunch time by the time we got there, so I decided that we'll drive by Salumi to see how long the line is. Miss T is getting hungry as well so if the line is too long, we'll have to make other plans. Luckily for us, it was just outside the door. One of the worker was passing out a cayenne and garlic salumi to taste while we're waiting. It was good, but Chris decided to try a different one on his sandwich. I decided to spurge and get the cured meat platter. I had the better choice as you can see from the picture below. (By the way, we highly recommend the mole version.)

- We were staying with a relative of mine that lives in Bellevue. After getting lost for a while (the number streets does not go in order and will change name as you keep going on the same road!), we met up with my parents and my brother's family. The house is really too big, I would guess at least 4000 sq ft. All I could think about is, who's cleaning this place???

- A big house to stay in means a big house to chase after Miss T. Along with her two cousins, they love running from one end to the other. The problem is that there is a wood stairwell that we have to make sure Miss T doesn't try to go down. This translate to a lot of running back and forth for Chris and I as well.

- Dinner was at another one of my relatives' house. Home cooked meals is always appreciated while traveling. She must've been cooking all afternoon as there are about 7-8 dishes including soup.

- Bellevue is as suburbia as you could get. There are all these really cool little playground sprinkler throughout the neighborhood. The house where we had dinner was across from one and of course all the girls wanted to play after dinner. Miss T looks to be enjoying it.

- Just wanted to share one more picture of Hannah and Sara reading Miss T a bedtime story. I guess this trip is one way Miss T could experience what having siblings would be like.

Weekend Cooking

2008-07-12T23:04:00.000-07:00

An ideal weekend for me includes having a few hours to prepare food that'll be ready to go for the work week ahead. With Miss T, who has a tendency to be attached to me, getting food on the table when we get home can be a challenge. I've already discovered that if I don't at least have an idea of what I'm going to cook, we'll probably end up eating take outs. So I started to work out a rough menu for the week when I go grocery shopping on weekend. It evolved to now where I try to assemble a couple dishes that I could just heat up or have everything prepped so I could just throw everything together after work.

Here's the rough menu and what I've done today to prepare for the:
- vegetarian lasagna (assembled and ready to bake)
- meatballs in tomato sauce (meatballs were cooked today, half went in the freezer; will cook the sauce in slow cooker; pasta cooked and toss with a little oil before cool)
- pork stew (meat took down from freezer to defrost; carrots, onions & celery washed and cut into chunks; potato will have to be cut at the last moment)
- chicken thighs (took down from freezer; marinate the night before to be bake)
- unagi fried rice (rice cooked; unagi defrosted; green onions chopped)
- bunch of spinach cleaned
- banana bread (baked and ready for breakfast with a little nut butter or Nutella)
- chocolate pudding (dessert of the week, Chris made this one though)

Haven't work out all the details yet, like what to eat with the chicken thighs and pork stew, but at least now I have something to go on and should be able to avoid having to eat take outs.

Fourth of July 08

2008-07-12T22:54:00.001-07:00

We actually went somewhere this year during the Fourth of July weekend. It helps that it fell on a Friday this year, making it long weekend with no additional time off from work. For those of you who knows Chris, you know that he rarely ever takes days off. (Although we are taking a vacation later on this month, but more on that later.) We didn't actually planned to go somewhere. It's more like our friend offered us to stay with him because he got a 3 bedroom suite at Squaw Valley at no charge. Oh, he also wanted Chris to join him, his girlfriend, and her friend on a bike ride around Lake Tahoe.
We drove up on Fourth of July and Chris went on his ride with them the next day. Miss T and I just hang out at the suite and the complex the whole time they were gone. She hated being in the car seat so much from the trip up that I really didn't want to get her in the car again. She had a good time just walking around anyways. That girl loved walking on grass and rocks so much that you would've thought we lock her inside all the time.
Overall, we had a great time and thankful we get a chance to stay at such a nice place for free. I'm pretty proud of Chris finishing that long ride. (Almost 92 miles in 6.5 hours!) We were talking about maybe we should forget this moving to a house thing and just get a small condo up there! Okay, maybe not really going to happen unless we win the lotto or something.

Pink hat!

2008-06-25T21:06:00.001-07:00

This was taken at the Father's Day bbq at her daycare. Whoever came up with the idea of having it 10am-12pm on a Friday?!?! I've been taking a day off each month to try and get some errands done, so I also talked Chris into taking a whole day too. After the lovely hot dog (my breakfast since I haven't ate yet prior), we decided to do something we've never done. We left her at daycare while we go to downtown ourselves. Yes, she was throwing a fit when we left. We also know that she'll be fine with her friends. It was nice to go on a little date with Chris, even if it involves going to a bank. We went to Sea Salt for lunch and was able to just sit at the bar because Miss T is not with us. Food took a while since it was a busy Friday afternoon. But we made the best of it and enjoyed each other's company. It is nice to know that after being together for 13 years, we do still like to talk to each other.

Not feeling good...

2008-06-13T16:43:00.001-07:00

The past couple weeks - month or so has been pretty tough, both on Miss T and us. She's in the process on getting her molars. The two on top are out, but one of the bottom one is still trying to push its way out. This means a lot of sleepless nights for all of us. Just when we got her to sleep through the night in the crib at least half of the week, bam! back to square one. Then with all her hand chewing and kissing everyone at daycare, she got the flu that was going around. According to daycare, 6 of the kids were out sick last Friday. So now she's doing the clingy thing too, won't even go to her Dad. This picture is a pretty good indication of how she's feeling the past weeks. Not the usual playful and happy baby at all.

Old Shoes

2008-06-01T10:17:00.001-07:00

Miss T outgrown her first sets of "real" shoes that she actually walked it. So we will be throwing out about 6 pairs of shoes. Yes, she does have that many pairs of shoes in rotation. Believe me, her shoes needs to "breathe" after she wore them. =P

I wonder if the crayon tastes good...

2008-05-20T22:22:00.001-07:00

Truthfully, I have no clue what Miss T do at daycare all day. When her dad drops her off in the morning, it's time for breakfast. By the time I picked her up, she's playing with the toys in the front room with all the other kids waiting form their parents to pick them up. They make note of her diaper change, meals and nap, but I have no clue what kind of activities they do. A couple of weeks ago I noticed a Mother's Day coloring page on the wall with Miss T's name. Really?!?! She could color? I'm pretty sure she had plenty of help since he stayed within the line on everything. But I keep thinking she's too young to be playing with crayons. I mentioned to Chris and we decided to order her first set of crayons from Melissa & Doug. They're triangular shaped so it won't roll off the table and I think the texture is a bit harder than the Crayola ones. Of course Miss T kept trying to eat them. Now I haven't personally tasted them myself, but it must've tasted pretty bad because every time she puts it in her mouth, she makes a face and complain. We're hoping one of these days she'll figure it out that the taste don't change and stop chewing on them.

Cinco de Mayo dinner

2008-05-15T18:13:00.001-07:00

I know, this is like 2 weeks later. But I was actually quite proud of the fact that I managed to get this on the table on a weeknight. The secret weapon? The slow cooker! Before I left for work that morning, I placed 4 chicken quarters (skin removed) in the slow cooker with 3/4 of a jar of roasted tomato salsa, 1 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, and 1/2 tsp oregano. Set the cooker on slow for 6 hours and that's it! I love the great smell that greets you when you get home. I served the chicken on top of Spanish multigrain pilaf (have you tried the Kashi pilaf with those 7 grains and sesame?), cooked with a little tomato paste, chicken broth and a can of black beans. I didn't have time for fresh gacamole, so packaged one will have to do (it was ok eating with the rest of the stuff, but too acidic to eat by itself). I originally envision making taco or burrito with the meat and grains, but at last minute I decided to toast a piece of tortilla until crispy to eat as chips.

Sleeping Buddies

2008-04-27T23:07:00.001-07:00

There are so many mornings that I wanted to take a picture of this sight as I'm leaving for work. But despite daylight saving time, it's still very dark at 6:30 in the morning. I finally got a chance when for once, Miss T was sleeping in longer and I woke up before the two of them. Sleeping with her is not a choice. She usually started off the night in her crib, but at some point she'll wake up demanding to be move to our bed. She's very insistent about it too. We've let her 'cry it out' for probably 2 1/2 hours before giving in. That's not something we could put up with when we need to work the next morning. So we'll just keep our fingers crossed that one day she'll sleep longer in her crib. In the meantime, we'll enjoy the time when she still wants to be close to her parents.

Future Computer Geek

2008-04-10T21:48:00.001-07:00

Computer Geek
Originally uploaded by _Winnie_

(Woohoo! Video!!) Chris actually really want to keep her away from the tech field. So we'll see how it'll go. It's so cute to see how little she used to be.

We've been taking short little videos of her. We actually got a HD video camera for it too. But the newer stuff is still on the video camera waiting to be downloaded to my laptop. As soon as I get a chance to do that, I'll share more.

Inked

2008-03-30T23:10:00.001-07:00

Things I learn from the Tattoo Expo:

- A lot of people thinks that it is a good place to bring babies. Hey, I have no problem exposing kids to tattoos. But with all these girls half-naked walking around, that might just be too much skin. Besides, what kid is going to stay still for the time needed for their parent to get a tattoo??

- Entrance fee is expensive! $22 only get you in, and of course the crappy food you have to endure in there.

- While looking through some of the tattoo artist's portfolio, you quickly realize that as bad as having someone name tattoo on your body, a portrait is much worse.

- Piercings look WAY scarier than tattoo.

- I got my first (and probably only) tattoo today. I picked my daughter's Chinese name. While I was getting mine done, some guy decided to interrupt my tattoo artist with questions. It was a Mexican guy that wanted his name and Mexico written in Chinese. That's like me getting a Spanish tattoo. I appreciate the fact that the guy admire Chinese culture, but, really?

- Scarring is something that I have no intention of learning about. (A stall was doing that yesterday but got shut down because it got too bloody.)

- Did I mention the interesting crowd that shows up to these expo?? =)

Baby Clothes

2008-03-29T23:25:00.001-07:00

So aside from the clothes that you could only put on baby once, per last entry, the second silliest thing is probably "designer" clothes for baby. Every since she's been born, Chris and I have been buying Baby Phat clothes for her at Macy's sales rack. The smallest size Baby Phat comes in is 12 months, so she just started being able to wear them. There is NO way that we would ever pay full price for any of these clothes, I believe a pair of jeans is about $38. But when it's on sale, it's not too bad. More importantly, Miss T is so cute with a little bling!

Miss T as a model

2008-03-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago, a friend asked if Miss T is interested in being a shoe model for a shoe company her friend is starting. We thought it might be fun, so we took her to do a little photo shoot. The web site for the shoes are now up and she's right there on the front page (well, at least for now). Kuuru Shoes

Holiday Clothings

2008-03-18T22:05:00.000-07:00

I know, it makes no sense that someone would buy a piece of clothing knowing full well that it will only be wore one day. Especially for baby, it's not like they could fit into it again next year. Yet, I can not help myself from buying them for every occasion. St Patrick's Day for example, Chris decided that on Sunday night, she needs a green outfit. Preferably one that says "Kiss me, I'm Irish". Well, most of the stores are closed at that point and our only option was Target. It took looking into two different Target to find something. You can't see it in the picture, but there is a four leaf clover at the bottom that says "Kiss me I'm Irish"!

Here's a t-shirt I picked up for $3.50 the day before Valentine's Day. I think we could work this into her regular outfits though.

Talise's first Birthday cake

2008-03-09T21:38:00.001-07:00

Okay, takes me more than a weeks to finally post pictures of her going after the birthday cake. I think it's probably a mistake to get a Mango Mousse Cake as she basically turned the whole thing into liquid. She did like the kiwi on top of the cake though.

My little one year old!!!

2008-02-27T16:42:00.001-08:00

How time flies! Miss T is 1 today! We can't believe we've enjoyed her company for a whole year already. Seems like it was just yesterday that we took her home with us. Her 12 months check up is set up for 3/6, so I don't have the actual weight and height for her quite yet. I did take her in for an ear infection last week and she was at 20 lb 6 oz. Other little info:

- No walking quite yet, but very good at cruising. She may be willing to take a couple of steps if she's going after something close.

- We are about to start introducing real milk to her. Hopefully, she'll be off formula soon.

- She had no interest in drinking from a sippy cup last week. But now, she's starting to take little sips from it. So I guess that's a good start.

- She likes real food. Not so much baby food anymore. I'm still trying to figure out what to feed her. Some of her favorites are noodle, dim sum, yogurt, cheese, and bread.

- She could have quite the conversation with you, if only we know what she's talking about.

- As I'm typing this, she's playing peek-a-boo with be behind my laptop!

Home Cooking

2008-02-10T23:08:00.001-08:00

The past week is actually the first week the Miss T finally starts to eat things that I'm cooking for her. I've tried before and she was just not interested. So she was on bottled baby food for a while, it's only dinner during the week anyways because her daycare provides food. She started to be really interested in sharing our food lately, so I gave cooking for her another try. The first thing I made was a mixture of lentils/rice/sweet potato/onion/garlic cooked with low sodium chicken broth and seasoned with a little spices. She actually liked it. I was so excited that I made another, rice porridge with peas. Both of them have been smooth out by the hand blender for a bit since she still does not like food with too much textures. Next step, getting her to eat the same food we do.

I woke up Saturday morning wanting pancakes. I mostly substitute part of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat in almost everything I make. That's how the pancakes ended up to be whole wheat. The recipe is based on Alton Brown's pancake mix. We made them plain and w/ chocolate chips. Chris and I get the chocolate chips ones. =) Miss T ate some of it, started to have problem with the texture issue after a while and I didn't push it. She haven't been very hungry at breakfast and it may not have been the best time to introduce something that solid.

For lunch, I had some sliced pork marinated in the fridge and decided to do a chow mein. Chris wanted something Asian and being that it's the first weekend after Chinese New Years, it'll be busy everywhere. Well, guess who likes chow mein? Miss T was opening her mouth for more before she even finish what she had. There's even a little hot sauce on the noodles. I guess for now, I'll keep try different things with her and see what happens.

團年飯

2008-02-07T20:46:00.001-08:00

We had our new year's eve early on Sunday to make it easier for us to get to the East Bay. For those not familiar with Chinese New Year, the New Year's eve dinner is a time to gather the whole family to receive the new year ahead. We had some traditional items like the steamed fish and poached chicken. My mom always make a poached pig's hand (or is that feet??) as well. The beef and broccoli is new, weird actually since we hardly ever makes it. Due to the name for dried oysters in Chinese sounds similar to the words for "good things", it's also traditional to eat that. We had it in the filling for lettuce wraps (lettuce not shown due to lack of room on the lazy susan). Saute seafood with vegetables is pretty standard for us and most Chinese banquets. Finally, there's chicken broth that I could easily drink the whole potful of if only I didn't already stuffed myself with the rest of dinner.

Modern designs for baby

2008-02-05T17:32:00.000-08:00

Just saw the new DwellStudio line at Target. If only they had this a year ago, I may have to get this set! The main reason why we didn't get any furniture was not only that we're only planning on having one kid. It was also that we didn't like most of the styles out there. The style we like tends to be the more clean and simple European look. Furnitures fit that descriptions are generally high. Oh well, more money to put in her savings account instead...

Swim Lessons

2008-01-31T20:27:00.001-08:00

It's been 4 weeks since Miss T started on her swimming lesson. Actually, at her age, it's more like playing in the water with Dad. We mainly just wanted her to get used to the water and not afraid of it (like her mom!) In just a few weeks, we could already tell that she's getting more used to it. Well, as long as you don't get water on her face anyways. =)

Life with Miss T

新年快樂

Chocolate Chips Cookie Dough Cake

Candy Pretzel bits

Only Light

Kale Chips

Watermelon radish

Backyard

White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

White Chocolate Covered Cookie Pops

Chocolate Chip Cookie and Oreo brownies

Halloween 2011

Low Carb Snack

Photos from the dance performance

Little Dancer

Backyard

Little dancers

Miss T's birthday part 1

兔年快樂! Happy Chinese New Year!

Restaurant: Lettuce - Walnut Creek

Miss T - Bruno Mars Grenade

Kitchen Staple: Tomato Pasta Sauce

Happy New Year!

Miss T's first dance recital

Thanksgiving 2010

mochi maker

Miss T's new room ideas

Miss T's current favorite dress

4th of July

USBC National Bowling Tourament @ Reno, NV

Babysitting adventure

NYC 2010 - Day 1

If I win the lotto...

I'm Back

Paulette Macarons @ SF

Favorite Frostings

Biscuits that I will probably never make again...

Salted Caramels

Homemade Pasta

Chicken and waffle

New Bag

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes!!

Lake Tahoe

Miss T is 3!

Artist in training

Productive Sunday

恭喜發財！新年快樂！

Happy Valentine's Day!

Busy busy busy

Comfort Food

Piggy Bank

A nice surprise

Manresa

Project 365

I got new eyes for the New Year

Software suggestions

New Computer

Gingerbread Syrup

1/365

Christmas

Christmas Eve

Conversation with a 2 years old.

Birthday party @ Habitot in Berkeley

Habitot Children's Museumwww.habitot.org

A Day in Yountville

Christmas Concert @ Daycare

Cookies!

Cookie Swap

Make a sick day productive...

Christmas Time

Bread Making

A few very random thoughts

Eating habit of a 2 year old

Cherry Cloufoutis

Blog?

Christmas 2008

So much to catch up on...

Future Craft Projects

The Omnivore’s Hundred

Seattle-Vancouver: Day 5

Habitot Children's Museum
www.habitot.org