Weekly Wanderings {week 11}

May the Fourth be with you! Between food poisoning, food poisoning, somehow catching a bad cold that has now settled in my lungs, and a 4am earthquake that woke all of Los Angeles, it’s been an exciting couple of weeks. I’m ready for some peace and quiet and, you know, not being sick. On the bright side, I’ve got abs of steel from all the coughing!

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I love Japanese supermarkets, because they always remind me of being on vacation in Japan… especially when you walk away with goodies like this black sesame pudding. 😀

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Food poisoning sucks. But finally being able to eat again without any ickiness feels pretty awesome.

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Best salesperson of the year award goes to a lady at the farmer’s market, who made us try every single thing that she sells. We walked away with full bellies and $20 worth of food, so I’d say it was a win-win situation. ^_^

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RAIN!!!

I’m the kind of dork who always gets super excited when it rains (can somebody help me convince Son that we should definitely move to Seattle?), but even more so since we need the rain so badly in California.

Even though it was really more of a hearty sprinkle than a good rain, but heck, we’ll take anything we can get.

Of course, we had the most excellent timing of going out for a run during the only one-hour period that it rained all day… but then again, sprinting downhill against the blustery wind, rain in our faces, screaming and laughing like a couple of maniacs was the most fun we’ve had all month. 😀

Also, oof. Sore muscles, I haz them.

… and then our internet and cable went down for a few hours. So, since it’s impossible to work when your job relies entirely on the internet, I made bread pudding instead. As you do. 😀

(Recipe coming soon!)

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As I’ve mentioned before, my brother’s girlfriend is vegan. But what I haven’t mentioned is that one of the things I adore about her is that she likes to cook and experiment with recipes possibly more than I do.

Now, I know it’s hard to imagine that things like kale spice cake or vegan rice krispy treats actually taste good. But holy mother of deliciousness, they were both so good I was going back for seconds… and thirds. (And I’ll have you know, reformed picky eater that I might be, I’m still going to politely refuse seconds if I didn’t really like something.)

Seriously, loved these rice krispy treats way more than the original recipe.

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Dimsum is my happy place.

Son adores shumai, and these were huge!

If there exist people out there who don’t adore xiao long bao (soup dumplings)… I don’t want to know about them.

Radish cakes are another favorite.

And, although the rest of the food was good enough to satisfy a craving but nothing to call home about, holy cow the milk buns we had for dessert were excellent!

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Sick again, sick again, la la dee da…

(This time with a bad cold that I caught from gosh only knows where.)

But lucky for me I’ve got an awesome fiancé who will run to all the stores to get me soup and popsicles and soft kleenex, and all the things to make me feel better. <3

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Also, in hilarious Allison news, I don’t even have to have Son scare me to get rid of my hiccups anymore. All I have to do is *think* of him, and they’ll go away. Talk about effective!

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Cream puffs!

Yes, yes, I know that getting my soon tofu with “no spice” makes me a total wimp. But I’ll have you know it’s delicious… so there. 😛

On the other end of the spectrum, Son’s super spicy kimchi oyster bibimbap.

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Earthquake! At 4am!

Which brings to light a sad truth when I realized that it woke all of my friends up… but even at 4am I was still up working. What can I say? Programmers are practically vampires, and I’m no exception.

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We needed to go grocery shopping (because unfortunately, my refrigerator has not yet figured out how to fill itself).

Son was craving natto (don’t ask, I don’t even know who he is anymore).

Mitsuwa has a food court.

I’m no longer complaining about having to go grocery shopping. 😀

I satisfied my ramen craving, Son got his tempura, everyone is happy. ^_^

And I’ve got to say… even the LA freeways feel like a vacation when you’ve got fresh sweet mochi and a bottle of mugicha for the ride home!

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Links I’ve loved lately:

Peabody is a genius. I didn’t even know I needed Three Musketeers brownies in my life until I saw her recipe for them!

Spam. Kimchi. Musubi. Croissants. WHAT.

Pretty much I either need more time for playing in the kitchen, or I need Alana to be my best friend (alas, both are equally unlikely), because these purple sweet potato croissants are missing from my life right now.

While I don’t love that there are people who have to live on the streets, I love that libraries can act as a safe haven and valuable resource for those who do. Also, I love libraries.

The people who need to conserve water the most are the people who can “afford” not to. This is a huge problem, but how do we fix it?

This article should be required reading for anyone who has ever wanted to create anything. Even the biggest successes have had so. many. failures. on the way to success!

I love milk tea, I love cupcakes. Totally need to make myself these milk tea cupcakes.

Love the sound of this jambalaya pizza.

This is fascinating. How do you laugh online? (When I’m talking to Son it’s “hahaha” all the way, but with anyone else I’m a more reserved “heh”-er.)

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Weekly Wanderings posts may include affiliate links. All opinions are my own.