Summer break is a great time to catch up on all of those artsy projects that got put on the back burner during the school year. It’s hard to believe that a month has already passed, but looking back at the things I’ve accomplished this past month (nothing), I feel like my rest has me well-prepared for the upcoming school year. I guess I’ve just admitted that it’s time to get off of my lazy butt and do work. *Sigh*

Jar of prom memories

One project that I’ve completed is my preserved corsage jar. Although I actually attended prom last year, and thus, this project is about a year late, better late than never, right? I remember my prom like it was yesterday: dolled-up and photo-ready, I was ready for this special occasion that I knew I would remember for the remainder of my life. After taking dozens of editorial-grade photos with my prom group, we stepped into a sleek limousine that drove us smoothly to a restaurant that catered to our every need. After arriving to the hotel where the event would be held, we danced the night away to the perfect selection of music, only stopping to take sips of icy-cold (non-alcoholic) piña coladas. There were no awkward moments, broken heels, and no sign of drama: just blissful friends enjoying their last fleeting days of high school.

High school memories flooding back..

I wish it had went like that. But really, even with all of the drama before prom and the occasional discomfort during, it’s something that ought to be remembered.

Completing this project is pretty simple and straightforward. I wish that I had posted this a week or two earlier when there were still proms happening, but you could also adapt this to any other occasion in which you were left with a pretty souveniere.

Preserved Corsage Jar

Difficulty: Easy
Time: Several days

Materials:

• 1 corsage or boutonnière
• 1 lb silica gel
• 1 large air-tight jar (6-12 inches wide)
• 1 sheet color-coordinating tissue paper
• 1 large jam or mason jar
• Several small decorations (glass stones, marbles, etc.)
• 1 favorite photo, scaled to ~1-inch
• 1-2 feet color-coordinating ribbon
• Tools: refrigerator, tweezers, scissors, glue gun

Directions:

1. Promptly after returning, place corsage or boutonnière into refrigerator.
2. Pour a 1-inch layer of silica gel into the large air-tight jar. Remove corsage or boutonnière from refrigerator, gently wipe off any moisture that might have accumulated onto the surface, and place into jar. Slowly pour the remaining silica gel around and on top of the flowers, making sure to keep the petals and leaves in the desired placement and position. Tightly seal the jar and wait several days for the flowers to dry, following the instructions on the silica gel box.
3. Prepare a large and clean surface to work on. Cut tissue paper into 1-inch strips and place into jam or mason jar to amount desired. Put aside.
4. Carefully remove dried flowers from the jar of silica gel, gently shaking off any excess gel beads. Place into jam or mason jar and position. Drop small decorations around the flowers. Using tweezers, position the photo so it is visible when looking into the jar. Seal jar.
5. Cut lengths of ribbon to make a bow on the lid of the jar. You will need 6 different lengths: 1 to go around the entire lid, 2 to form the loops, 2 for the tails, and 1 to be folded to form the knot. Use pre-heated glue gun to first glue one length of ribbon around the lid. Using two more lengths, form loops and position and glue on top of the previously-glued segment. Then, glue the two tails. Finally, fold the last length of ribbon with the ends facing inward so that the cut portion is not seen, and glue on top of the other lengths of ribbon to finish off the bow-tie knot.

I often try to give the impression that I’m clever with my word choice, but more often than not, it doesn’t really work (see title above..). I was about to work on a post about a mini-project that I just completed, but then I realized that I had still not posted the previous post that I was going to post! Try saying “previous post” five times fast. Bet’cha can’t do it.

Last..awhile ago, it was Father’s Day! Is it “Father’s” or “Fathers’?” I’ll stick to the former. Happy belated Father’s Day, everyone! Since my father couldn’t be home the whole day, I decided to just do a special dinner for the honorary family member. My mother had been griping about no one wanting to eat Korean barbecue with her for the last few weeks, so I decided on KBBQ in order to “fill two stomachs with one cow,” cow referring to our dinner protein.

Bulgogi and galbi

Since Korean barbecue consists of many side dishes in addition to the meats, it’s a lot of hassle to make a lot of small sides for only three people. Luckily, not all of those sides are served hot, so they can be made ahead of time. Things like kimchi and tofu, we just set prettily on a plate, let come to room temperature, and garnished.

Korean barbecue for Father’s Day

In the picture above, it looks like the galbi has been burnt, but it’s really because of the flourescent lighting that we have overhead. In addition to the bulgogi and galbi, we had seasoned tofu, kimchi, sesame salad, mung bean sprouts, seaweed salad, and tuna pancakes. For dessert, I made a purple yam and sweet potato tapioca pudding.

Speaking of sweet potatoes, I am welcoming our newest family member, 紅薯 (pronounced hóngsh?)! His name means “sweet potato,” and he is a lovely orange-colored betta bought on the 18th. He doesn’t like my camera very much.. he tends to move right at the moment I’ve positioned him in the camera frame and right before I take the photo. Hopefully he will grow to like it, however!

紅薯

Will be posting the project I was talking about hopefully soon! I am so lazy.. Aah and I found out about some deadlines I missed for a website design. Unfortunately, I had never been notified that I was supposed to do one, so this will be a rushed job. Hopefully everything turns out well!

New:
Recipe Box > Chocolate Pudding Tarts
Recipe Box > Cranberry, Feta Cheese, and Candied Walnut Mesclun Salad
Recipe Box > Five-Minute Chocolate Pudding
Recipe Box > Tuna Salad Sandwiches on Whole Wheat

(I’m postponing Part 3 because I looked at the photos and they were terrible.) Chocolate and nuts: those two seem to always make the perfect combination. I can’t think of a single instance in my life where I had some sort of combination of those two and disliked it. Is that even possible? I don’t think you can put the words “chocolate,” “nuts,” and “dislike” in the same sentence (except for this particular instance) without it turning into utter nonsense.

Chocolate pudding in peanut-date shell

“I dislike it when you hide my peanut butter so that I can’t mix it with my chocolate pudding and slather it over my cinnamon toast crunch.”

Fine. Another exception, although rather strange. Who does that, anyways? Uhm..

When I saw this recipe for no-bake chocolate pecan tarts on Family Fresh Cooking, I knew that I had to make it. Chocolate? Check. Nuts? Check. No-bake? Makes it that much better. However, at least for now, I’m rather traditional about my chocolate-nut mixtures. I stick to chocolate and peanuts.

I made half of the recipe for the tart shells, but used my own chocolate pudding recipe that I have grown to love for its simplicity and less-than-sweet taste. Also, since the shells were just THAT good, I used extra “dough” for each shell. I had originally halved the recipe to make eight shells, but I ended up making six to make each one a tad more peanutty-goodness-intensive.

Chocolate Pudding Tarts

Shells adapted from Family Fresh Cooking’s No-Bake Chocolate Pecan Tarts
Makes 6 tarts

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup peanuts, toasted
• 3/8 cup pitted, dried dates (4-6)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 recipe Five-Minute Chocolate Pudding

Directions:

1. Process peanuts, dates, and salt in a food processor until crumbled and the combination sticks together when pinched. Chill for half an hour.
2. Line a six-well muffin tin with plastic wrap. Divide processed mixture into six portions and press into wells. There will not be enough to go up much of the sides. If mixture does not stick well, add water in 1/4 teaspoon increments, mixing and testing between each addition, until sticky enough. Place muffin tin into freezer until the shells are thoroughly chilled and firm. Remove shells from plastic wrap and store in a tightly-sealed container in the freezer until needed.
3. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of chocolate pudding into each tart shell. Garnish if desired. Serve immediately.

Second installment of my picnic menu (first part here)! Cranberry, feta cheese, and candied walnut mesclun salad. Well, that’s a long name. I’ll have to work on my clever-naming skills. The first time I was introduced to a salad much like this was a couple of months ago during the school semester. Before, I had honestly just thought salads meant lettuce, croutons, and dressing, but apparently there’s more to it! This salad is made with a mix of young, leafy greens and topped with dried cranberries, crumbled feta cheese, and candied walnuts. Very light and refreshing, and there’s no need for a dressing or vinaigrette to toss with.

Friendly with tuna salad sandwiches!

Oddly enough, there are still walnuts still in their shells at one supermarket near me. I really enjoy taking a hammer and smashing walnut shells open to reveal their walnut-y innards. I mean, I really like shopping for shoes.. Anyways..

Cranberry, Feta Cheese, and Candied Walnut Mesclun Salad

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

• 6 oz mesclun blend (any leafy vegetables will do)
• 2 tbsp dried cranberries
• 2 tbsp crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tbsp candied walnuts

Directions:

1. Separate mesclun mix into two bowls, with 3 ounces of greens in each. Top each salad bowl with 1 tablespoon dried cranberries, feta cheese, and candied walnuts.

As we enter the month of June, the picnic season is quickly drawing to an end as warmer and more humid weather approaches. Since there’s nothing better than stretching out on a picnic blanket in the outdoors with a loved one and a well-made sandwich in hand, listening to the cheerful chirps of birds, rustling of leaves by the cool breeze, and the bubbling waters as they move downstream, I’d say: Go have a picnic. Right. Now. It’s not hard if you don’t want it to be; Some portable food and beverages, and a picnic blanket are all you really need. And what a coincidence! Those are just the things I’ll be posting about in my next few updates. c;

Refreshing tuna sandwiches with a side salad

Today’s post will be about the main dish of our belated Mother’s Day celebration picnic: tuna salad sandwiches on whole wheat. I’ve always enjoyed tuna salad sandwiches. Creamy texture with a very slight crunch from the celery, sandwiched between slices of fresh and fragrant bread, makes great picnic food. With the addition of curry powder and white ground pepper (to boring, humdrum black pepper), my recipe brings more depth and complexity to our favorite classic re-made.

Tuna Salad Sandwiches on Whole Wheat

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 6-oz can tuna packed in water, drained
• 4 tbsp sour cream
• 1 medium stalk celery, finely diced
• 1 hard-boiled egg, chopped
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp white pepper
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 4 slices bread
• 2 leaves lettuce

Directions:

1. Mix together tuna, sour cream, celery, hard-boiled egg, salt, and both peppers in a medium bowl. Adjust seasoning to taste. Chill in a tightly-sealed container or use immediately.
2. Toast slices of bread (optional). Place one lettuce leaf on one slice of bread, spread half of tuna mixture over lettuce, and top with a second slice of bread. Repeat for the remainder of ingredients. Cut as desired.

Lunch in the outdoors – wonderful

Such an eventful last two weeks! I finally executed the belated Mother’s Day celebration that I had been planning for what seemed like ages to almost perfection. More on that later, because I am clamoring to start playing my Pokémon White game, but we had a lunch picnic at a nearby rose garden that we polished off with a walk around the park, a pottery painting session (so it turns out that I am horrible at painting), and dinner at the Japanese restaurant around the corner.

Chicken curry~

I hadn’t had curry in ages, so I was rather excited, perhaps too excited, to see curry on the menu at the Japanese place we went to. So that’s what I ordered. I think I am a very predictable person.

After dinner, we went home and I began decorating the cake that I had baked the previous day. Its origins stemmed from before spring semester ended, while I was (supposedly) studying for my finals. Carefully keeping account of the calendar and scouring Yelp reviews, I planned a Memorial Day Sunday of strawberry-picking with my parents that resulted in almost nine pounds of fresh, ripe strawberries that would contribute to the making of my cake. Of course, being the Memorial Day weekend, bikers were coming into the capital. Thank goodness we were headed the other way; otherwise we would have been stuck in the massive traffic jam that ensued.

Bikers galore!

Since my parents’ birthdays passed while I was still in school and we did not have a chance to celebrate, I thought I would go ahead and give them a belated birthday cake. It is a Chinese bakery-style cake – the delectable, sweet, light, heavenly kind of cake with the strawberry filling and whipped cream casing. Although my decorating abilities certainly do not do the cake and its recipe justice, I’m still glad that I ended up making it. Chinese people don’t do the whole I-love-yous or I’m-glad-you’re-in-our-life deal (see The Woman Warrior or Double Happiness for semi-autobiographical literary/cinema proof..) but I could tell that they appreciated the gift even though it was somewhat sub-par in cake beauty. For future reference: cookie writing icing bleeds profusely on whipped cream frosting..

The inside looked a lot prettier

I feel like the recipe for Chinese bakery-style cakes are kept shrouded in some sort of mystery, hence the ages I spent looking for one. However, I finally found one here and would like to propogate the link to help de-mystify it. I’ve already said this, but the recipe’s outcome was absolutely heavenly! The perfect end to an already good day. The only differences between what I did and what the original poster did were that I chose not to do the custard out of laziness, I only made half the frosting recipe, and I found that I didn’t need as many strawberries. I think that if I make this again (and I most definitely will!), I’ll also decrease the amount of sugar, since it was just a tad too sweet for my taste. The finished cake is only about thirteen hours old, but more than half of it is already gone. I think that’s a good sign (:

But anyways. I’m off to play Pokémon. More on the picnic will be up soon! I feel like my website is turning into a food blog, but I will still adamantly defend it as an art blog as well haha. There’s an unopened package of Shrinky Dink paper that I’ve got my eyes on..

..No, not really. I must confess that I have never cooked anything by myself without any supervision or guidelines whatsoever. Yeah, there’s the occasional steaming to re-heat something and all-too-often microwaving, but other than giving the half-hearted stir over the frying pan that my mother or father has already set up with some magical mixture of proteins and Asian sauces, I don’t really cook. That was a long sentence. But I digress.

After spending the last few days out of state attending a relative’s wedding (didn’t know I had relatives in Indiana..) and eating pretty much only grilled meat, sticky rice, fried seafood, and only the occasional slice of cucumber, I vowed to have something green for lunch today.

Classic Asian broccoli and beef over something different: couscous

And this is where today’s concoction comes from. As I’ve learned from today’s lesson, soy sauce can get very messy, water evaporates quickly, and I am a complete sodium fiend.

But first: limousine! It somehow figures that I would enjoy taking photos of a limo outside more than taking photos of the decorations inside a crowded room with people who actually believe their point-and-shoot cameras are no different than a DSLR.. But again, I digress.

Limousine in front of the bride-to-be’s home

Secondly: Just thought I’d share this picture of the clouds I took from inside the plane as we flew back to my hometown.

“Please turn off all electronics and secure personal belongings.” – I think this one was okay

This dish is definitely experimental, as I didn’t look at any other recipes as a guide before beginning and because I actually added sauces here and there at different points while cooking. However, I still wanted to share it because it’s something different. Replacing ordinary white rice with tasty couscous gives it that little boost of creativity that I thought made my remedial cooking skills just a tad more palatable.

Broccoli Beef over Couscous

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup water, divided
• 1 tsp cooking oil
• 1/4 lb (4 oz) beef (1 1/2-inch cubes)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup couscous, uncooked
• 1/4 lb (4 oz) broccoli, chopped
• 1 1/2 tbsp scallions, chopped

Directions:

1. Mix together 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce, 1 tsp cornstarch, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and 1/2 cup water.
2. Swirl and heat 1 teaspoon cooking oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add beef and let fry for 1 minute undisturbed. Flip beef and add liquid mixture. Cover and let cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, stir together 1/4 cup water and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, quickly stir in couscous, cover, and remove from heat.
4. Add broccoli, 1 tbsp spring onions, and 1/4 cup water to the frying pan, give a quick stir, re-cover, and cook for another 5 minutes. Uncover frying pan and add additional water as needed or cook a few seconds longer as needed until sauce is thick to liking.
5. Fluff couscous with a fork and place into serving bowl. Top with beef and broccoli and pour sauce over. Garnish with reserved spring onions.

Laziest. Webmistress. Ever. As I am lounging in my chair and sipping hot green tea at home while listening to Jay Park and the chirping of birds outside – great combination, I know – it dawns on me that I haven’t posted anything in more than three weeks. There goes another New Year’s resolution failed..

After backbreaking finals, writing papers until my eyes were red and my fingers were sore from typing and getting paper cuts from flipping pages, packing from midnight to 7am, catching cold, and a 9-hour drive home, some form of comfort food was desperately needed. I’ll spare you the self-pitying details of my last week of school by getting right to saying that this was the perfect time for some chocolate pudding.

Simple yet elegant chocolate pudding garnished with sliced bananas

Creamy, light, chocolaty, easy to make, and light on calories so you can have as much as you want without more guilt, this chocolate pudding is perfect served warm or chilled, and garnished with whatever floats your boat. I keep it not too sweet because I like my chocolate dark (; and I often serve mine with strawberries and bananas anyway. Actually, I put some of the pudding and bananas from the pudding cup in the pictures onto some toast and I thought it was fantastic.. someone tell me that I’m not the only one who does this, please.

Five-Minute Chocolate Pudding

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp instant coffee
• 2 tbsp dark cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 cup soymilk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Mix together sugar, instant coffee, cocoa powder, and cornstarch in a small saucepan.
2. Stir in milk one tablespoon at a time into dry ingredients until no lumps remain.
3. Heat over medium just until bubbling, about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent sticking on bottom of the pan.
4. Immediately remove from heat and stir quickly for about 1 minute.
5. Pour into two bowls, and chill and serve as desired, or serve hot as a chocolaty soup. Cover with cling wrap touching the surface to prevent a skin from forming if chilling.

Sitting by the sunlit window area at the dining hall a few days ago with my laptop and a cup of coffee, I tried as hard as I could to finish my reading assignment, knowing that if I didn’t do so now, then I was in for a late, late night up. As I absentmindedly lifted the steaming coffee to my lips, my eyes flickered into the cup. In an instant, there was a longing for home that came over me. Subconsciously, I had been expecting to see a layer of creamy, rich, sweetened condensed milk that should have been sitting there waiting at the bottom, like in every cup of coffee I had at home.

The bold taste of strong coffee and the sweet taste of creamy condensed milk meld with a stir of the spoon

For those who aren’t familiar with the way the Vietnamese make their coffee, it’s in individual servings made using a small dripper over the cup. Ground coffee is placed into a filter sitting over the cup, then a screen is screwed over it. You simply pour hot water over it twice and watch the dark, rich coffee slowly and magically drip into your cup. After impatiently staring into the cup for a few minutes (or you know, making the rest of your breakfast or quickly getting dressed), you get your prize – some of the loveliest coffee in the world.

I won’t deny that I’m not a professional in the art of coffee-making, so here’s a link to a real one: HowtoBrewCoffee.com. Some notes: I don’t use chicory because I just don’t buy it, I definitely do not put as much coffee as he does into the filter because I find that I can’t screw the top on if there’s too much (experiment with yours), and don’t screw the top on TOO tightly or else you’ll get frustrated trying to unscrew an extremely hot screen. Also, I usually stir up most of the condensed milk, but leave a little bit at the bottom to stir when I’ve only got a bit of coffee left as a sweet reward.