A week in the workaholic life of Allison…
Che xoi nuoc (mung bean-filled mochi with ginger sauce and sesame seeds)
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I’ve been under a lot of work stress lately, so Son decided I needed to take a break, walk around the park, and go play on the swings.
I may or may not have also gone down the slide a few times. π
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Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, always at the computer.
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Links I’ve loved lately:
Truth. Don’t believe anyone who tells you learning to code is easy. You’re not dumb, it just takes a lot (oh my gosh so much) of practice!
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Weekly Wanderings posts may include affiliate links. All opinions are my own.
Son knows how to make me feel better when I’m super stressed. It usually involves ice cream… or in this case, almond crunch gelato. <3
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The Mitsuwa Hawaii Gourmet Fair was this week!
Their saimin was most excellent.
Son quite enjoyed the garlic shrimp plate.
Spam musubi. From front: perilla leaf, wasabi, and tamago + furikake nori.
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85°C has macarons now. Not bad… we particularly liked the black sesame one.
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Pepper chicken from our go-to Chinese restaurant. Crispy-crunchy, delicious, with just the slightest bit of a kick.
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Links I’ve loved lately:
I always love the short stories on Some Kitchen Stories, and this one particularly struck a chord this week.
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Weekly Wanderings posts may include affiliate links. All opinions are my own.
What’s happening in my world this week…
The best pancakes I have ever made (recipe will be posted… eventually. We all know how this goes.), with macerated strawberries.
… in the middle of the night.
Because I’m a grown-up, and I’m allowed to? π
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I’m conflicted about this green grass. On one hand, we’re in a drought, but on the other hand it’s recycled water, so… maybe it’s okay? I don’t know. Can we just get a bunch of rain already so I don’t have to worry myself about these sorts of things?
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I was stretching after a run, when Son walked in the room. “I can do the splits, too! … nailed it.”
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Fried eggs. Old electric apartment stove.
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When you’re still up writing code at 2am because you’re working with a team in China… leftover pancakes come in handy.
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Tried the mango flavor of mochi ice cream for the first time, and it’s now my favorite flavor.
Also, if you’re not stabbing your mochi ice cream with a chopstick and eating it like a popsicle… you’re doing it wrong. π
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Perfect avocado.
Even better on fish tacos.
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I’m very morel-istic. (Ba-dum ba! I’ll be here all week.)
It’s been ten years (!!!) since Son and I went on our first date.
We celebrated by making a most-delicious chicken, morel, and rice dish for dinner… and then working late into the night, as we do.
To make up for all the work we had to do on our anniversary, we went out to a local Greek restaurant the next day.
Very tasty Mediterranean dips with pita bread (the baba ganouj was by far our favorite).
Son was craving a good steak, so we shared the filet mignon. Tasty!
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Have a wonderful week!
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Links I’ve loved lately:
What kind of foodie are you? (I’m somewhere between the Outer Borough Striver and the Feudo-DJ.)
Important reminders for you, and me, and all of us. Don’t be a dick.
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Weekly Wanderings posts may include affiliate links. All opinions are my own.
This week in my life…
One of my favorite things about living in LA is the fact that I can easily go to Japanese, Korean, and American supermarkets in a single trip… which results in some very random (but delicious) dinners.
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Next week marks ten years (!!!) since my first date with Son. He gave me a gift early – an adorable terrarium (and, fingers-crossed, finally a plant that I won’t kill…)!
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Japanese miso hot pot, no spice, with rice.
Lamb hot pot, medium spice, with rice.
Can you guess whose is whose? π
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New boots.
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My first-ever experience eating crawfish. (I spent the first couple of minutes turning it this way and that, trying to figure out just how on earth you’re supposed to open the darn thing!)
As you can tell from the aftermath, this will definitely be happening again.
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Mother’s Day sushi date with Son’s mom.
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Looking through boxes of old schoolwork in my dad’s garage, I came across this card. Of course, I had to give it to my mom for Mother’s Day (again). ^_^
Our Mother’s Day tradition for years was to visit grandma, and go to her favorite restaurant (the salmon plate was the thing to order). Grandma passed away last year, so we decided to revisit the tradition one last time to honor grandma.
Happy Mother’s Day!
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Links I’ve loved lately:
Diversity, and acceptance of diversity, is oh so important, in all walks of life. But that acceptance and inclusion of people who are not straight white males needs to happen from the top down… and it’s not, yet.
The programming talent myth. Spoiler alert: most programmers aren’t “rockstars”… in fact, most are just average, and that’s okay.
I finished Tara Austen Weaver‘s new book, Orchard House
this week, and now would really like to move to Seattle and start a gigantic garden. (In the meantime, I’ll be here in LA, living vicariously through other peoples’ beautiful vegetable-filled plots in the community garden nearby, bemoaning my lack of a green thumb.) I wanted to write a review, but then read this review and realized that nothing I might say could so eloquently and perfectly describe how wonderful Tara’s book is. Also, Tea, where can I apply to be one of your nieces once the current ones grow up? π
As a lady programmer… this. π
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Weekly Wanderings posts may include affiliate links. All opinions are my own.
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. π
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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. π
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. π
(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 fiancΓ© 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. π
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. π
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.
