Weekly Wanderings {2016 week 5}
Moving out. Finally done with apartments!
Our new house has the most beautiful roses… not to mention the most awesome view.
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Archive for January, 2016
Weekly Wanderings {2016 week 3}
It’s the little things that make me smile, like daily coffee in a mug that was part of a dish set that I inherited from my grandma after she passed.
Lookin’ up…
The perfect snack. Kerrygold sent me a package of cheese (they’re the best!), and I’m just a little addicted to this spreadable Dubliner. So freaking good.
Our current comfort food of choice. Slow cooker Thai coconut chicken soup with green beans. So easy to make, and soooo good over rice.
Whilst packing/purging in preparation for an upcoming move, came across these memories! Who else was OBSESSED with gel pens back in high school? Surprisingly, a handful of them (which are all more than a decade old) still work! The marbled and metallic ones were the best. Obviously. ^_^
Another fun find while packing, this one from middle school. I was known as “Tink” for years, after playing Tinkerbell in our school production of Peter Pan. 😀
My Boiling Point go-to: the Japanese Miso Hot Pot (no spice, with rice).
Banh nam are one of my favorite Vietnamese foods. Essentially flat dumplings made with glutenous rice flour and pork, they’re so good.
A month ago I subscribed to Try The World, which is one of those subscription boxes that send you a bunch of different foods to try each month. (For them, each box is a different country.) We really enjoyed it, which led to me browsing around in their shop, which led to me buying these canned squid in olive oil as a gift for Son (because it totally sounded like the kind of thing he’d love). Oh. my. goodness. What a good decision on my part. 😀 They were amazing (I think they’re worth the price, as a once-in-a-while treat), and tasted very much like crab. So tasty.
Interested in subscribing to Try The World? You can use this link to subscribe and get a free Paris box (I’ve tried it, it’s got some good stuff) (and yes, that’s an affiliate link).
My aunt sent us this huuuuuge crab as our Christmas gift this year (she’s the best at gifting!), so over the weekend my mom and brother cooked it up for us, and we feasted! Insanely delicious.
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Links I’ve loved lately:
Just finished reading The Moonlit Garden
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Things I want to eat:
And to balance it out, this BBQ Pulled Pork Quiche. 😉
My current breakfast habit is KIND Maple Quinoa Granola
Pain au chocolat was one of my favorite things when we went to Paris a couple of years ago!
I need to try these sticky rice waffles. NEED TO.
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Weekly Wanderings {2016 week 2}
Started the week off with this excellent bò lúc lắc (Vietnamese shaking beef). Buttery, tender, and way more flavorful than any I’ve had elsewhere. So good, we got a second order to go!
We got rain this week! Serious, drenching, holy-shit-I-am-not-going-outside-in-that-downpour rain!
I’m still not convinced El Niño is here yet (the rest of the week has been disappointingly dry), but I’m still pretty excited about the rain we did get.
The best part? Hot chocolate with colorful marshmallows, and homemade blueberry muffins from mom. My five-year-old self is quite pleased with how this whole “growing up” thing has turned out.
Two out of three kids visited mom on the same day and ate her soup and focaccia bread.
(Would have been three out of three, but my sister’s out of town.)
I definitely went back for a second helping… with mom’s permission, of course!
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Links I’ve loved lately:
I just can’t help myself, I love a good pun…
I keep watching this over and over, it’s just so cool.
Slightly obsessed with her ballet technique. I’ve watched a video of her that a friend posted on Facebook at least a couple dozen times in the last few days, and now I really want the DVD of the whole class!
I love author Delilah Dawson’s blog posts about depression and mindfulness – she isn’t afraid to be honest about real life, even when it really really sucks.
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Things I want to eat:
Definitely intrigued by this miso sesame gnocchi.
Chipotle beef and bechamel lasagna – talk about comfort food!
Chocolate + peanut butter + banana + muffins… yes, please!
Really love the idea of this baklava oatmeal.
Absolutely definitely need to make this apple fritter bread.
I always go for the Asian flavors, so obviously I’m all about this creamy kimchi and sausage pasta.
This no-churn ginger ice cream is absolutely happening as soon as temperatures warm up around here!
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Weekly Wanderings {2016 week 1}
Happy New Year!
My one resolution for blogging this year is to stop worrying so much. Stop worrying if people like the stuff I post. Stop worrying if I’m posting on the right day. Stop worrying that it’s already been two years since I traveled to Europe and I still haven’t posted about it because I just can’t quite get the posts to be perfect… just stop worrying. It’s all fine! Better to post imperfectly than not post at all, right?
And on that note, I’m starting up my Weekly Wanderings posts again! They faltered under the weight of perfectionism as well, which is silly because I love writing these, and even more than that I love having them to look back on what I was doing and thinking throughout the year. So onward, upward (and yes, there will be some back-posting as I catch up on the ones I missed…) and happy 2016!
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We’ve been taking a lot of long walks around our neighborhood lately, exploring the city (and getting plenty of exercise). On one such walk, I found a pig, and loved it so much I had to go back and get a photo of it.
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It’s New Year’s, and you know what that means… lots of sushi!
This year, I ended up with:
- 3 dozen spicy shrimp inari
- 1 dozen spicy mushroom inari
- 8 rolls of the vegan sushi
- 7 rolls of the bacon crunchy shrimp roll
- 3 rolls of the kyoto roll
- 2 rolls of a salmon, green onion, and cucumber roll
- 2 rolls of kappa maki
- a tray of salmon and tuna sashimi
Of course, we always have to start off with ozoni, with my mom’s homemade mochi.
And don’t forget your lucky bean! I’ve been making kuromame every year, with this recipe from Rachael of La Fuji Mama.
As if I didn’t have enough to cook, I also decided to make furikake nori rice krispie treats, inspired by this recipe from Joy the Baker (I left out the instant ramen). Mine ended up lumpy (to no fault of the recipe… but possibly because I used vegan marshmallows? or just plain user error, also a possibility…), but they were SO good. My family loved them!
Hope you’re having a happy and delicious new year so far!
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Things I want to eat:
I haven’t gotten into oatmeal yet this winter, but when I do I definitely want to make this dulce de leche oatmeal with bananas foster.
Every single thing about this ginger tofu pudding with soy milk mochi and kinako black sesame puddef millet crumble sounds insanely good. A project, but I really want to make it!
I want this smoked paprika potatoes and egg bake for breakfast every morning, please.
I have pretty much all the ingredients for these whole wheat double chocolate avocado muffins in my kitchen… and the avocados need to be eaten… so that means I definitely need to make them, right?
Really, really want to try these chocolate coconut bliss balls.
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