Eclectic is as eclectic goes

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Bakin' with the kiddos

I decided to teach my little cousins how to bake brownie cupcakes today.


silly stirring


yummy batter


cleaning up


parked in front of the oven


she's waiting too


"I learned how to make a cupcake. I thought that it would be really hard. But it was so easy...My favorite part was knowing that we would eat it. My least favorite part was waiting for the cupcakes...The cupcake is delicious. It was chocalaty...Phuong Yi Yi says that milk is good for us. Brian won't drink it though. The end."


"...I hate to wait for the cupckas. And it look delishes. I also learned that when your done cooking it is hot. I learned that the book was a lier. We had to make a second batch. The end."

(I think I need to help him with his spelling next.)
(The recipe was inaccurate. One batch was sposed to yield 24. Instead, we had to make 1.5 batches to just yield 12.)


"...I lerned to make cupcaes. Craken eggs was hard. Putting cocoa was easy. My favorite part was wen I was etan the cupcakes."


finally!

It was a great activity for them. I mostly sat back and let them take charge. Even if it got really messy, I knew that they wouldn't "lern" anything if I did most of the work. The only part that I helped them out with was filling the cups. Fun times!

I know I ought to help them with spelling/grammer but I think it's cute when they spell things wrong. :)

Cambodian & Caribbean fooding

Only in LA can you get Cambodian and Caribbean food all in one day! Well, maybe in NYC too.

For lunch, we went to:
La Lune Restaurant
1438 Atlantic Avenue
Long Beach, CA 90813


Beef skewers

Watercress soup

Lemongrass chicken with onion and bellpepper
Weird eggplant/cucumber, fishy curry, porky curry

Cambodian food is a bit like vietnamese/thai food but much more flavorful! In my book, that is not always a good thing though; the fish dish was super fishy! The lemongrass chicken was super tangy! I didn't mind b/c I've had super flavorful foods before, plus I ate a bunch of white rice to help balance the strong flavors. Anyhoo, I think it is an acquired taste; them cambodians are used to not-bland dishes. Another thing I noticed was a lot of frog legs and pig intestines on the menu. We didn't eat those though! But the watercress soup had some cow tummy lining in it. And no, there were no crickets on the menu. :D I don't doubt that they eat 'em in Cambodia though!

I think overall the food was good, but I don't think I'd eat it that often. I'd recommend everyone to try Cambodian food at least once, and then decide for themselves. Just head over to Long Beach!

For dinner, we went to:
Cha Cha Chicken
1906 Ocean Ave (Cross Street: Pico Boulevard)
Santa Monica, CA 90405


Ropa Nueva: Simmering shredded chicken tossed with garden veggies

Ropa Vieja: Simmering shredded beef served with dirty rice & black beans, plantains and 2 corn tortillas

I guess I have had Caribbean food before b/c I've eaten at Versailles. Isn't Cuba part of the Caribbean? *note* must start on "How to improve my knowledge of US/World geography"

Anyhoo, it was pretty delicious! The chicken was very tender, and the jerk sauce was the perfect mix of hot and tangy. Too bad it was sooooo dark that I couldn't tell what I was eating until I would pop forkfuls into my mouth! I think I had bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and potatoes mixed with the chicken. The black bean rice was yummy, but my favorite was the plantains. It was the right texture and amount of sweetness. I think it would taste so yummy with vanilla bean ice cream! Too bad it was really cold, but I definitely want to go back when it's warmer. I also wasn't able to finish my plate off, I was so full! You guys know how much I hate wasting food though. :(

Funny food convos from tonight:
"Have you had plantains before?"
"You mean fried bananas?"
"No, plantains."
"Yeah, they are bananas...and fried?"
"No, a plantain is like a banana...but fatter and less sweet. And they fry it."
"Oh. Doh. Yes I have." (I was feeling like such a dork! I thought "plantain" was fancy moniker for "fried banana.")

"So on the menu they had frog! Have you had fish legs before?!"
"Yeaaaah....huh? No? Wait a minute, fish legs?"
"Yeah! Fish le....oh shit I meant frog legs."

Size DOES matter

First off:
I'm glad I can talk about my bras and boobies and not feel like I have to censor myself (if this was xanga, I can't be this candid!).

Secondly:
Thanks to Christina for introducing me to the world of not-wrong-bra-size.

One day Christina started talking about Oprah's "Bra Revolution." She also told me about how getting fitted at Nordstroms was the best. Back during second year, I had gotten fitted at Victoria Secret and apparently I was a 34A. I got suckered into buying this $50 strapless bra that I RARELY wore 'cause it was all lumpy and gross. I continued to wear whatever random bras I had.

Through my mom, I discovered the $2.50 Chinatown bra aka known as the dept store reject. For the past few years, that was the only place I went to for bras. I never really looked at the tag for size, I would just try on fun colors and if it fit/was comfy, I bought it. If you had asked me what my bra size was, I would have guessed 32B, 34A, or 34B. Shrug.

Last month, I was having a horrible day so I wanted to do something girly. How much girlier can you get than getting fitted for a bra?? So I went with Christina to Nordstroms. Turns out I was a 32B. The sales lady brought in a bunch of bras for me to try and immediately I fell in love with the Natori brand. Man, I'm just gonna save up my $$$ and buy Natori bras for everyday of the week!

The funny thing is, I wasn't a part of the 85% of women who wore the wrong bra size. I came home, looked at all my bras, and with the exception of the VS bra, they were all 32B. Haha. Here are some rules I learned from the sales lady:

1. Never wear a bra two days in a row (I don't do this anyway, I need variety!)
2. You should handwash your bras to keep it elastic-y longer (I usually just handwash dry-clean only clothes! I never thought you should do the same with bras).
3. When you first wear a bra, use the closest hooks. Then over time, switch over to the further hooks. (I'm trying to do this now, I feel the difference!)

Christina's blog pretty much lists the same rules that she's learned through ppl/experience over time. I'm glad she's made me more aware! Wearing a better fitting bra in the correct size does make a difference. Price also makes a difference too in terms of quality. As a college student, I wasn't able to splurge on expensive bras, but since I'm a working gal now, there's no excuse. With each paycheck, I will phase out my Chinatown bras and make the switch to the pricey-but-worth-it-bra-world.

Ladies, your turn to get fitted!

Vroom, vroom!

One of my favorite memories from Hawai'i is when Matt taught me how to operate a moped. One day after class we headed out to the UH parking lot. We started off with me sitting behind him so I could get a feel for what it was like to be on a moped. It was fun! I didn't wanna get off. But soon Matt decided that it was my turn! So we switched spots and then I got nervous. But he was a great teacher, and after a few rounds I felt comfy.

But then, I had to go all by myself! I started feeling scared. But man...after I got the hang out of it, there was no stopping me! For the next few days, I went up, down, and all around that parking lot. There were a few close calls with some parked cars but I managed to avoid them. I don't think I even fell once. Well, at one point, I got ballsy and decided to go faster and that almost ended in a date with the asphalt. Matt even said that I was ready to be out on the streets, where there were ppl...and moving cars. Haha. Quite a generous assessment of my skills, I didn't think I was ready!

I want to re-learn again! Who's gonna teach me? But I want to do it in Hawai'i...LA drivers are scary. I know that because I used to be one of them. :) My road rage has simmered down noticeably in the last couple months though!

Happy Birfday, Mama!

I love how I did 3 things on my list tonight without even intending to! See, my list isn't that impossible! :)

So originally for my mother's bday (which isn't until the 3rd) I wanted to do a spring roll party with just me, my parents, grandma, and the parents of my mom's current favorite baby in the family (Toto, who's Gigi's sister). 6 adults & 2 babies, sounds easy, eh? So when I invited my cousin, she said "No, you have to invite my sister's family too!" That meant...2 more adults and 4 kiddies. So when I went over to invite them, my other cousin was hanging out at their house, and I couldn't not invite her and her fam too. Before I knew it...I had to invite everyone in my family b/c they are all siblings. So I went from 6:2 to 17:11. Spring rolls turned to spaghetti. Celebrating on 1/2 got changed to 1/1 to accomodate everyone. Suddenly, I had less than 2 days to pull my shit together...

...And I did it!

1. Learn: How to cook a non Asian ethnic food

Spaghetti is Italian, so there you go! Okay, so I had picked spaghetti b/c I thought, how hard could it be? Just dump everything into the pot and let it simmer for hours. But I completely forgot about the prepping process, grrr.


Button mushrooms were whole, so I had to slice each one.


My cousin is vegetarian so I substituted tofu for meat in hers.

I also diced tomatoes, chopped onions, and sliced smoked sausage, and then I sauteed everything separately to seal in the flavor of each ingredient. Also by sauteing first, I wanted to extract the extra water from the vegetables so that when I put everything into the pot, the veggies wouldn't release water and dilute my sauce.

That process took nearly 2 hours! Finally I was ready to throw everything into two pots: a veggie (sans onions b/c Buddhist vegetarians don't eat onions/garlic) and a meaty one (I was too liberal with the garlic salt, my cousin had to dump in a bunch of sugar, haha).

I didn't really follow a recipe, I just referred to a couple on online ones for ingredients, but in terms of proportions, I guesstimated. So for roughly 30 people, I used 4 cans of tomato paste, one onion, 4-5? tomatoes, 3 packages of smoked sausage, 2 blocks of tofu, and 5 cans of button mushrooms. I added dashes of salt, pepper, and too much garlic salt (whose effects were reversed by sugar later on). :D

The part I hated the most was waiting for the noodles to boil. TOOK FOREVER! I had four pots of water going at the same time. Omigod. Stupid noodles WOULD NOT COOK FASTER. Next time I buy angel hair. >_<. So that was my experience in cooking my own spaghetti sauce from scratch. Thanks to Jenta, Susan D, and Christina for all your help! All in all, I think I spent roughly $30ish on everything! *Note* I will not be cooking any spaghetti for A REALLY LONG TIME.

2. Food: Throw a dinner party

Okay, so this wasn't the type of dinner party that I had imagined...with cute little appetizers, pretty drinks, and mellow music in the background (I still plan to do that btw!). But it was fun even though it got rowdy! I also know what the key is to having less stress when throwing a party- delegate, delegate, delegate! All my cousins asked me what they could do or bring and let me tell you, I was not shy. Andy's mom baked the marble chocolate cake with cream cheese, the twins' mom made almond jello, LJBD's mom did mushroom soup and salad and got me strawberry frosting for the words on the cake, J & J's parents did the yummy garlic/parsley french bread, and my stepdad hooked us up with alot of ice.







I didn't get pics of ppl eating b/c I was too busy stuffing my own face with food. :D

3. Give back: Make an honest effort to get along with my mother

So on NYE I did the opposite and didn't come home until 4:30am! Boy was she pissed; she stayed up all night waiting up for me. But I redeemed myself tonight. At first I was worried the party wouldn't happen b/c she was sooooooo mad at me, but my stepdad, my cousin, and I all did damage control so everything worked out in the end. I think she absolutely loved her party! And the surprise worked, she had no idea. Tonight was all about her, and just her, so I think that she felt extra special and loved. :)







For more pics, go to my flickr set.

UCLA friends...old and new

Recently, I was able to hang out with Nick, one of the first friends that I made during second year, and Susan, one of the last UCLA friends I made fourth year.

Nick lived next door to me and Christina at Rieber. Crazy times were to be had on our floor! I remember when Nick decided to become vegetarian the first week of school. He still is, nearly 4.5 years later! I also remember when I ventured out with his running club. My legs couldn't catch up! Mostly, I remember that he's such a sweet guy, so different compared to his roommates :D It was good to see you again Nick! Oh yeah, and it's such a small world. He lives so close to non-Korean Susan, up in Nor Cal.



Korean Susan (hee hee) and I met in Hawai'i. We were sposed to be roommates, but I switched and moved in with Trinh instead. At first I think Susan was mad I ditched her even though I didn't know her (I would have been mad too!) but I think she liked having the room to herself. :D And we still ended up becoming such great friends! I didn't really enjoy every moment in Hawai'i, but Susan made it bearable (we both had bouts of misery during the summer). Even after the program ended we still kept in touch and I saw her often (remember our Wednesday lunches!). But last fall she packed her bags and headed for grad sch in NYC, so I don't get to see her that much anymore! :( But I was glad we were able to meet up during her winter break. She drove to my area and I took her on a food tour along Valley. Before you leave let's hang out again Susan! :)


Spring rolls at Banh Mi Che Cali on Valley/Delta


Broken rice with various veggies, charbroiled pork chop, steamed egg, shredded pork, and shrimp paste at Com Tam on Valley/Del Mar


Roasted ice coffee, mango pana cotta, custard platter, and taro, tapioca balls, black rice in coconut milk hot dessert at Phoenix Bakery on Valley/Chapel

"Yes, that's right, a knife!"

All day, I've been repeating myself over and over as I tell people that one of my Christmas gifts from Christina was a knife. A Henckels 8 incher chef knife, to be exact. She also got me measuring cups, THE cutest red colander, and some nifty cutting boards. But it's the knife that people do a double take on.

It's not the bestest luck to give out such sharp objects as gifts, esp during the new year, but whatever. Usually Chinese ppl believe that, but it's not Lunar New Year this week, it's white ppl New Year, so I choose to not believe that it's bad luck. =D



So why am I showing you all this loot?

Because it's all list related! Geez, Christina and I are accomodating our lives to our list so much. :P It's so fun at the moment! Are you guys sick of the word "list"? ^_^
Clockwise:
1. Breast cancer tote- I always go to the library and I leave with armfuls of books and sometimes they fall on the floor and it's embarassing. I was thinking of getting a tote bag to hold 'em all but Christina beat me to it. Yay, now I have a bag to hold my 4 books a month, and then some. Geez, I'm such a nerd.
2. That little card with 3 colors- That's Christina's Christmas/early birfday present. I decided to treat her to a trip to Olympic Spa. I already booked us appointments, we're going in Feb! Going to the spa is on both our lists. I hope we don't get hooked on it- spa-ing is an expensive pastime!
3. Colander, measuring cups, cutting boards, knife- One of the things on my list is "to stock my very own kitchen." Christina gave me a head start! Can't wait to start using 'em.

Schmartness

I love doing crossword puzzles! But I'm kind of picky...I only like the UCLA DB (Daily Bruin) and LA times CW, and I only like the ones at the beginning of the week: M-W. That's because they are challenging enough that it makes me think outside the box, but not too challenging that I get frustrated (The LA times Sunday CW is the worst-I only get like...2 clues right).

Susan, do you remember when we used to be addicted to them in HS? And one time Mr. Krapes caught us doing it in AP Psych? But Mr. Bolen was nice, he would help us! And there was that one time that we did THE WHOLE THING? That was pretty neat. When I got to college I started doing the DB ones to keep awake in class. When you do them enough though, you start to see that clues were being recycled. Any Bruins noticed this too? :D

Anyways, it's rare that I'm able to do an entire CW without "help" or cheating. I've come close on many an occasion, but in the end there's a few elusive ones that I just can't get, no matter how much I rack my brain. That's how I felt last night! But after thinking "outside" the box, I was able to figure out 17 across- Laugh in a Nebraska city?- "Omahahaha", and everything else fell in place.



Another reason I like LA times CW is because some of the clues have patterns. Some examples:

28 down: Taboo in a California city? "Fresnonono"
11 down: Granny in a Cuban city? "Havananana"
56 across: Toy in a Japanese city? "Tokyoyoyo"

And of course, the one that gave me the most trouble: "Omahahaha." :)

Omg, am I really that dorky? But doing CW puzzles makes me feel schmart!

Got books? (how original :P )

I've been an avid reader ever since I can remember.

Wait, that's not entirely true. I remember when I used to live in Moreno Valley, my mom would force me to sit on the steps and read while she sewed. I think I was 7 at the time. Ok, I've been an avid reader since I was 8. Heehee.

Since I love to read so much of course one of the things on my list would involve books!

Here are my 4 for the month:



How Nancy Drew Saved My Life by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

You gals/guys know me well enough; how could I not resist?! I've been reading Nancy Drews since I was 9...and 14 years later, I still do. That's a post for another day though. :)

The first and foremost reason that I read this book was because of the title. Doh. That's enough for me. Haha, ok all kidding set aside, I was pleasantly surprised at how the book was written. It wasn't as fluffy as it sounds. Basically it uses the same story vehicle made popular by other pieces of chick-lit: girl meets boy, boy breaks girl's heart, girl moves away and takes a job somewhere else and meets other boy. But you add in a setting in Iceland, an adorable little girl, a somewhat silly but smart heroine (Charlotte Bell) and Nancy Drew (doh!), and it's not just another boring story. Oh yeah, it has a non-conventional ending, which was refreshing!

I actually read it in one sitting the second I came home from the library, and I plan to read it once more before it's due at the library next week. :)



Anybody Out There? by Marian Keyes

Marian Keyes is an author that I stumbled upon by accident. I think the first book I read by her was Sushi For Beginners, and I saw that, as well as this book, at the "recommended" section of my local library. I've been looking for another author to get into ever since I finished reading all of Olivia Goldsmith's books (she died of plastic surgery complications maybe 2-3 years ago?).

Anybody Out There? was a pretty good story. It's about a woman named Anna who wakes up from a terrible accident and doesn't know what happened to her or her husband. The book weaves in and out between past and present so it can get confusing. Plus Anna has a zillion sisters so it was hard to keep track sometimes. Oh and did I mention it takes place in the US and Ireland?? However, all the random stories lead to what happened to her husband, and how she copes. It's almost like a mystery, but more poignantly told. I actually teared up at some parts. This book really made me think about how we deal with loss- not just the actual loss, but the eventual acceptance of it.

After reading Anybody Out There? I think I will make it a point to check out all of Marian Keye's books.



24-Karat Kids by Dr. Judy Goldstein & Sebastian Stuart

Okay, I just read this book b/c it looked fun. And I wasn't really look for substance, which is the reason why I also read Bergdorf Blondes last year. What is so great about reading fluff is that sometimes there's something of value in it, and if there isn't, well at least I had fun reading it. :P

This book is about a lady who gets an offer to practice in THE prestigious Upper West Side peds clinic. Of course she comes from humble beginnings and hates everything that the rich stands for. Her fiance (who she's kinda bored with) also shares her sentiments. But she takes the job anyway, vowing to never become one of them. Almost immediately, she bonds with her little patients and she doesn't want to leave them to their psycho parents, so she has to learn to understand the lifestyle of the rich so she can better understand and treat her parents accordingly. And of course she and the fiance had a break up and she met other guys. The book is very predictable from the beginning. I knew what was going to happen at the end. But it is what happens in the pages in between is what made me like the book alot.

This book isn't for everybody! Boys, you'd be bored. :P



The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Finally, no more fluff! Okay, I LOVED THIS BOOK. I need to read this again. There is amazing stuff in here! Gosh, where to start.

Okay, this book is divided into 3 parts- corn, grass, and the forager. In the corn part, you learn about how corn is such an integral part of our everyday diet- it's in nearly every processed food we eat! Even the meat some of us eat come from corn-fed animals. In this section, the author walks the reader through how meat is processed (pretty sad), and how cows aren't sposed to eat corn but they are force-fed it b/c it makes 'em grow faster! Cows, by nature, are only sposed to eat grass. There's some other stuff too but I don't remember it.

Okay in part two it's basically about the organic food industry. It talks about if the "organic" food really that much better than regular stuff, and if there is such a difference in the end. Very interesting! Then he talks about farms that rely on old-school farming. Man, that's way too much for me to even go into. You people need to read this book!

Finally in the last section he talks about pig hunting and mushroom gathering among other things. Made me hungry for salami and mushrooms! Sigh. The book was due today and I couldn't renew it, so I had to shove the last 80 pages or so in during work today. Okay, this is what I remember. (Jen walked into my office during lunch and I showed her an excerpt, so that's why it's come to mind.) In this one paragraph, he talks about how even though vegans don't eat animals b/c they don't wanna kill them, animals still die as a result of the planting/cultivating/harvesting of the grains that vegans eat (I don't remember the examples). So if we want to kill the least number of animals as possible, we need to eat the biggest single unit of food that exists in the smallest space- which is cow! (That's good news for Christina! :D)

This book was really interesting, I wish I could remember all the stories! What I really liked was that the author wasn't telling us what to eat or how to think. He just laid all the facts/stories there for us to digest, and for us to make what we wanted out of it.

I want to re-read this book a year from now. It's that good!

Whew. Look out for my next 4 books in a month! :) I hope all my reviews won't be as long as this one.