Food post

For Chinese New Year's Dinner, we had lobster stir fry with black pepper and green onion.  It was so good that we had these two days in a roll from the same restaurant. 

 While in Washington DC last summer, I tried some cream cheese pastry and loved it.  I saw these at the grocery the other day and decided to give it a try and it was gooooood too......moist and yummmmy

I know fried foods are bad for you but........these were frozen ones and we were hungry while grocery shopping and somehow they ended up in our basket......I baked them and the eggrolls were good but the popcorn chicken had too much batter I think.  I am glad we tried them.

Food Craving

Onces in a while, I will crave foods that are yummy but not friendly to your health.  Fried foods, high carbs, high sugar and all the fun stuff.  Couple weeks ago, we were in that craving mode and decided to go bad.  We were making excuses.....its the holiday season, its cold, its late (huh???), and the best one.....its been a long time since we had this.... :)


Vietnamese Eggroll (deep fried) serve over bowl of cooked rice noodles with dipping sauce.  To offset the bad, I stir fry some bell peppers for veg.

Pasta, Pasta, Pasta.....come to me Carb, come to mommy.......to offset the guilt, I serve it with fish....yeah, I feel better now....:)

Really good bottle of sweet and sour sauce

......serve over boneless fried chicken and don't forget the steam white rice....hmmm...hmmm...gooood

ok....I will try to do better tomorrow..... :):):)

Happy Chinese New Year 2012

Its that time again. Another year has come and flew by. It was at the back of my head that CNY (Chinese New Year) was round the corner but over the weekend, I didn't feel like I did when I was younger and with immediate families.  Then, the festive mood starts few weeks before CNY with adult shopping and gathering of ingredients for the CNY eve's dinner(major event) and exchange of gifts mostly fruits, liquor and gift basket goodies like chocolates, western cookies and my favourite chinese 'pork jerky'.

It was very exciting to receive 'ang pow' (red packet filled with $$$$) from my parents.  The money was always brand new and smells so good.  My father always gave me two ang pow, one for my savings account and one for 'gambling'. Its the only time of the year we were allowed to gamble.  Eventhough it was only small bets of 10cents to 50cents, it was still exciting and fun to win. I remember dragging my heavy purse filled with coins whenever we go visiting relatives so we cousins and friends could have a friendly game of cards.  I learned how to have a poker face and to lose gracefully (no crying allowed). I remember when I was out of coins, I would digged into my 'received ang pow' from relatives and asked my father for an exchange of more coins.  Being highly favored by my father, he would sometimes give me extra $$$ and tells me to keep it between us (I have 5 other siblings).  My father and I had alot of this 'just between us' moments and I miss him dearly.

DH went to the bank in ChinaTown and got me some new money for CNY.  They were running low on supply of new money and red packets.  I love to handle new money and the smell of new money.  Normally when I go shopping and I am handed old or worn out dirty bills in return, I would give it to DH.  I can't stand touching them or putting them in my purse.  It just feels better to touch new money. It marks the beginning of a new year, new life ahead, new energy, and somehow makes me feel good when I touch them.

Kong Hee Fatt Choy 2012.

Sweet Bean Miniature Pancakes

Thats the best description I can come up with for these very filling snack or street foods.  I have seen and tried these before in Singapore a while back.  They look kinda similar but yet different.  We were walking and then I saw a line forming at this little corner and the sun was shining directly at my face so I couldn't really get a good glimpse of what the queue was about.  I had to get closer to the window and tada....look what I found.....my favourite foods.....dessert.....well.....it looked like desserts to me.  We just had lunch and I was looking out for desserts anyway so this was a good find especially with a continuous flow of queuing customers, thats a good sign its good.  At first glance, I remember the ones I tried in Singapore but looking at the menu/signs, I was not sure whether they were the same.  I couldn't read the menu so I stood by the window observing how they were made and the ingredients and yes, it looked like beans they were putting in as fillings.....two kinds of beans.....green and red.

Then I observed how the customers were buying them.  I only wanted to try one of each but it seems every customer were buying more than two....like half a dozen or more.  Can you buy just one?........ hmmm....I tried to read the japanese menu again.  Finally when it was our turn, we just point one to each of them and yes, we can.  There were no sitting area to enjoy these so we found a good corner tugged behind the shadow of a fence and after a few snap shots, we digged in.  Boy, big mistake......they were hot like oven hot.....my tongue was screaming and I was trying to fan off the hot steam with my fingers.....funny.....was it good?.....well, I prefer the ones in Singapore.  Why?....cos....it was not so stuffed with the bean fillings that I can taste the pancake (or waffle ...it's kinda between these two texture) and it was not so hot that I could enjoy them.  Also, the ones in Singapore had more choices like peanut butter, fruit jams, coconut jam and even chocolate.  But I am glad we tried it here in Narita, Japan.

Jelly Roll 2 1/2"

I have seen lots of these precut 2 1/2" stripes Jelly Rolls especially at the specialty quilt & fabric shops.  I was never into buying one just because they gave limited amount of stripes in each fabric and I didn't know how many rolls I would need to buy and had no idea for a pattern.

Well, I stumbled upon these jelly rolls on sale like 60% off sale sometime back and couldn't resist buying them eventhough I had no idea what I was going to do with it.  They were getting rid of all their jelly rolls and they had fabrics of all kinds for kids to adults to batiks.  Part of me said 'NO' walk away, you have enough fabrics as it is but the other part said "But its on sale and a really good sale and you can make more donation quilts"...........aahhhhh.........

Yeah......I gave in and bought more than I should but I had to cos I didn't know how much I needed to do what I may need to do later...........does that make sense????.....

Anyway, I opened one of them and started sorting out the prints and measuring them for yardage.  I came up with a simple pattern that I thought would maximized the usage of the fabric.  I am really pleased with the outcome.  The finished top measures 50" x 60" which is a good lap size quilt.  I will keep my eyes open for a matching back when I am 'browsing' at the store next time.... :)

Christmas Shopping (2)

After the microphone shopping trip, now, everytime I am at the piano, I smile as my thoughts go down memory lane to that day at the music store.  I am still mic-less (if that is a word).  Why?....well....

As we were standing in front of a huge glass case filled with mics of all shapes, sizes, colors and price range......I felt overwhelmed so I turned to SM and ask.....

Me: Can you please recommend one that will suit my needs (assuming he knows what I need by now)

SM: Sure....(he pointed to a light blue one and said) ......This is the best one in the market for the price.  It can do a,b,c,d,e,f,g,.....(he was not speaking 'normal' english but 'recording' english at this time).....

Me: (exhausted and wanting to just go home).....OK, I will take one in black please.

SM: This does not come in black.  They only make them blue but it is the best mic and you will not be disappointed and a,b,c,d,e,f,g,.....(and yaddy.....yaddy....yadda......)

Me: Blue does not go with my black piano. Can you please recommend another one in black.

SM:  But this is the best one and it can do a,b,c,d,e,f,g,.....that no other one mic can do alone.

Me:  It does not match my black piano and will not look good.

SM: Would you rather sound good or look good?

Me: Both.

SM was speechless........yeah......I got him speechless..............(we all laughed at this point)

So anyway, to cut the story short as alot more funny conversations took place later on, after 1+ hour in the store we walked out empty handed and no present for me.  Why....cos we realized later on SM was selling us recording studio equipments for professionals who want to release their own albums/cds/labels ........whatever you call them and here we were trying to buy a stage mic for amateur me.  It was hilarious........towards the end when I was really confused about WHAT I needed to go with WHAT to use with WHAT............SM created a supply list for us on WHAT we need to start our own recording studio and it was not a short list.  So I left it to DH to decide whether he is up to the challenge to put them all together and figure out the software cos I know I am not.  DH decided to sleep on it.......good decision.

Last minute Christmas shopping (1)

Two days before Christmas, DH dragged me into a musical supply store to buy me my present.  I have hinted it would be nice to have a microphone when I am accompanying myself at the piano since my voice is very soft and the piano seems to tune me out.  So, he said he called the store about needing a microphone and they said they have alots to choose from.  By the way, truly, I hate shopping.....I really do...... especially last minute shopping which DH is famous for.

So we got there and this is the conversation between us and the very nice salesman(SM).

SM: Can I help you?
DH: Yes, I called earlier about a microphone for recording on the piano. (What he meant was using our own camcorder to record me and I just need a mic so my voice can be heard when I am playing the piano)

SM: Yes, we have that.  Here, let me show you what you need to record yourself.

So we followed him like puppies to one side of the store loaded with boxes of electronic looking gadgets.  He pulled out a box with a clear picture that didn't look like a mic to me but something that either belong to a car mechanic shop or an electronic shop or something in that nature.  It had alot of buttons, round buttons that turns and flat buttons that goes up and down, and lots of holes for plug ins.

Me:  hmmm.......can you tell me what this is?  It does not look like a mic.

SM: No, this is not a mic.  The mic goes here for recording (he pointed to one of the plug in holes).

Me: ok.....can you show me the mic.  I just need a mic to accompany myself at the piano.

SM: sure but you need this device to attach the mic to record yourself.  This is the best control board and software for the price and you can do it all create your own CD record.

Me: (very shyly and humbly) ......mmmm..... I am no expert and this is just a hobby and I am just playing for fun and self entertainment.  I just need a mic ....(actually I wanted to say, "Just show me the darn mic we came in here for"..... :)

DH: can you show us the mic I called earlier about.......

SM:  yes, here....follow me.....

DH:  how much are your mics.....

SM:  that depands on how much you want to spend.....we have from $100 to $6000......

DH and I looked at each other and didn't really know how to react...............for $6000 I would rather have jewelry or something in that nature....but not a mic.......... :):):)

Happy New Year 2012

Can't believe it is a new year already.  My old 2011 calender is still up and I keep reminding myself I need to go get a new one everytime I look up to find a day to a date.  It seems the older I get, the more laid back I have become.  I don't plan for holidays like I did before......what to eat, cook, where to go,.... 

Before moving or rather in my younger years, I used to entertain quite a bit, cook alot, attend socials, etc.... but now, I am exhausted just thinking about holding a party or going out... lol.  Since we moved into out new house, I have not entertained a party/social gathering/group of any kind.  I think I have really grown alot.  I seem to enjoy my space and time alone.  Is that what happens when you grow older?  I can spend a whole weekend in my studio and not feel like I miss out on anything.  Now it seems I am more stress out when I have to go to a meeting/social/etc.... I blame it on driving.......I hate traffic and houston has very bad traffic pretty much anytime of the day.

So for the Christmas and New Years holidays, DH and I spent most of our time watching movies, on the computer getting to know music/video softwares, shopping, eating, sleeping at very odd hours and waking up at very odd hours.  I did however go thru my 2011 UFOs and am very proud to finish some quilt tops for donations after its either tied or quilted.

I don't do resolutions.  Its too stressful like going back to school again and knowing homework and exams are coming and I better do this and that ......... lol.  I was actually thinking about continuing my hebrew learning but decided it was too stressful for these reasons..... :)...

After almost 2 months off, I finally got myself reaquainted with my Dear Jane project.  I abruptly stopped sometime in Nov2011 and never got the energy or motivation to start on it again till today.  I am glad I did.  Getting the chart and fabrics organized seems to bring the excitement back to life in me again.  The next step would be to print out the remaining patterns.  Then the best part is to pair the fabrics with the patterns and coordinate the colors.  I need to take pictures of individual blocks.  I have to remind myself to do that.

Tokyo, Japan Part 1

Tsukiji Fish Market & Imperial Palace Grounds

Narita, Japan

During our Christmas break, DH and I were playing on our computer and this is what we came up with some of the pictures from our trip. More to come as we find time to edit and create the videos. Meantime, enjoy this first one........