Felt Dim Sum by Gail Tang

Tonight I had dinner with a bunch of Tyland people (asians) at Happy Chef in Chinatown. I reconnected with my friend Gail and we're totally going to knit it up this winter season.

While discussing future projects, Gail showed me these super adorable felt dim sum she made for a friend who moved away. See here:

 

She's so creative. My favorites are the felt dumplings... so realistic... so cute!

Monsters of Folk

 

M. Ward & Jim James/Rollercoaster Live

...Love those two together...

Why can't black and brown be worn together???

I'm not really sure who declared the unwritten fashion "rules" that people follow: 

"No white after labor day." I don't even know when Labor Day is and how much longer after Labor Day can't you wear white until the next Labor Day? What if you get married after Labor day?

"Never wear tights with open toed shoes." Why not!? I think opaque tights and some peep toed heels would look cute. 

And the notorious "Don't wear black and brown together." I will make this combination work! It is said that neutral shades go well with browns. Well isn't gray a neutral shade or tone? Does that go well with brown? I'm saying that it does. While I'm at it, I'm going to throw in red or navy in there too!

The lighting in my bedroom is pretty dim... which does not really help me in this color case. Nevertheless, I think these outfits can work. The left outfit is a gray dress with navy patterned tights and my brown oxfords. The right outfit is a textured tweed gray dress with red opaque stockings and my oxfords once again. The cohesion will be filled in with the right accessories, which I have yet to do but who says brown and black (tones) cannot coexist on a body?

Chocolate and Blackberry Tart

Tonight Alec and I are going over to his parent's house for dinner, so I thought I would make a chocolate and blackberry tart for dessert. I bought blackberries from Costco yesterday and since they were too sweet (it isn't their season anymore...) what better way to make delicious use of them than a tart.

I didn't have a proper vessel for a double boiler so I just improvised with a pie pan. I like when chocolate changes colors when you melt it...

 

 

The tart looks freakin' scrumptious but I won't know how it turned out until dinner tonight. I plan to make fresh whipped cream to serve with the tart so hopefully that will mask any imperfections if there are any.

I've got some asian pears that need to be eaten, maybe I'll try a pear tart later this week...

Paul Kahan's restaurants

My brother was in town last weekend and of course coming from a family of foodies, he wanted to eat big and drink big. He came prepared with a list of places to check out and I think he did pretty well for 3 days: Sunda; The Publican; Topolobambo; The Violet Hour; The Bristol; dim sum; and various other spots he and his wife checked out after hours.

Here are some tidbits to munch on visually:

pork rinds... spicy and salty...

 

charcuterie platter... yum...

 

the swanky prohibition era-inspired Violet Hour

 

It was way too dark in there to read/see anything.

Who needs a handyman?

So, our washer machine broke... First the water shuts off for a day and then the washer breaks. Mumble, grumble...

Anyways, I call the handyman aka our landlord's dad who is in Chicago and no answer. Alec and I sit on the problem until nightfall after a clever diversion of Jim Henson's Storyteller episodes. Then after I suggested we do laundry at a laundromat early tomorrow morning, Alec looks up what may be the problem. We then confront the washer head on... and proceed to climb on top of it.

Alec said that the problem may be the breaker so we need to unplug and plug the plug to see if that'll work. After a while of grunting and groaning, straining to reach the plug, unplug it and then plug it back in, we are successful and are now doing a load of laundry. -whew-

hehe....

Dear Mr. M. Ward, I love you...

a love letter to Mr. Matthew Stephen Ward: I, along with many others, have fallen for your raspy voice and soothing guitar melodies. Your music is the soundtrack for this rainy and cold Autumn in Chicago that I'm going through. If it were possible to have your music with me everywhere while I wander about the slick sidewalks of my everyday and watch the foliage change, I wouldn't have it any other way...

and I guess you can bring Zooey along... Just make sure she pipes down and keeps quiet.

Holy Crap... my next bicycle shall be this...

 

I stumbled upon this beautiful bicycle website on Ffffound! called Bertelli. They are based in New York and it looks like they build fixed gear bikes. All the bikes for sale or for browsing are works of art. So simple, so define and clean. I want them all. The bike builder, alias Francesco, says he combines old and new parts and creates a vintage feel with this modern type of bicycle. The bike pictured was one that I liked a lot because it reminds me of my own bike. I could probably tweak my bike to look like this. I would need a pair of white Vittoria tires; silver bike chain and spoke; and that freakin' sweet wooden handlebar. -drool-

"She will be mine, oh yes, she will be mine" -Wayne Campbell

Lo-dee-do, what do you know- It's knitting season again~

this photo was taken in my bathroom because its the room that gets the most light...

Part of the reason why I enjoy the season turning from summer to autumn, other than having a legit good reason to make hot chocolate, is that I dig the knitting needles out and start hibernation projects. Or in my case, look longingly at the projects I started last season and contemplate whether to take it apart to make into to a different project or just let it sit there for another season out of indecision. I think this season I will finish a sweater! Well, let's just say that's a goal at least...

I think I may have just had a vegetarian moment...

It was a little unbelievable... just now (I blame my cold), I think I may have had a vegetarian moment...

But that's impossible! I've grown up eating meat! I've seen countless chicken carcasses being cut into pieces for the dinner rush at restaurants! I've seen my mom gut fish and beef tendons... and pull apart miscellaneous meat parts! I'm freakin' Chinese for Gob's sake. So, how... how could on all days, could I have been grossed out to pull apart one little blackened chicken carcass???

I pride myself on not having a weak gag reflex, but when I started to chop the little chicken, I felt nauseous. I think it was the black skin that threw me off... and how it was wrapped up so tightly in itself. I was trying to untangle the beast and chop it up with a dull knife. I had to pull apart the tendons and cut through the bone and something about that was really unsettling to me. Once I got the bird into 6 parts, I didn't bother much about chopping the body in half, I gave up and threw all the pieces into the pot. The worst part about this was the head of the chicken... so lifeless and shriveled up but I'll stop right there and say this: maybe once I get through dismembering 10+ blackened chickens I won't be such a wuss anymore...

Oh and by the way, the reason I needed to tear apart a black chicken was to make a soup with herbs to help me get over my cold. (Yes, yes the Chinese are weird) Here is a recipe I found on Serious Eats that may put things into perspective.

Getting sick is bull...

I hate to be one of the first people to get sick and start contaminating the world around them, but I don't even know how I started to get sick.

I think it was this morning... And the weather has been so awful. I bought myself some Emergen-C and Echinacea tea and as soon as I got home with some ingredients, I made some noodle soup. I think I will need to get some zicam or cold-eeze. I'm going to attack this cold before it attacks me! I hope...

I started to browse my foodie sites for some good noodle soup recipes.
(The one that I just made was simple and a little uninspired...) I came up with this one, from Tiny Urban Kitchen, which looks pretty basic and leaves room for creativity with ingredients. And there's also this one, from Rasa Malaysia, it looks delectable. Lastly, this one looks so good but there doesn't seem to be a recipe for it, from White on Rice couple. I guess I'll have to make a trip to Japan for that last soup...

In my browsing foodies sites, I came up with some more goodies, take a gander at: Food Gawker; Rameniac; and a personal favorite- She who eats.

The photo is from She who eats. Chika the blogger posts some really beautiful food pictures. She takes food pornography to another, more sophisticated level... hehe.

Btw, I love these flags...

Oh yea, I've been meaning to post these photos when I saw them today. What a cool and tasty way to learn your international flags, from Telegraph.

New Website to cook from

I've done the Epicurious.com and even the recipe section of Serious Eats, but I think I've found the one. A cooking/recipe website that may actually make me a better cook in my ethnic cuisine. Now I know that the best culinary lessons I should be learning are from my mum because her cooking is the best but since we live in different cities, this website may be my mum away from mum. Rasa Malaysia: Asian recipes & cooking! It makes the recipes look simple enough. I have to test one out and see how user friendly it is.

My target: Three cup chicken. Yea...looks simple enough... I have faith that this will turn out good. If anything to like about this website are the photos of the food... delicious....

Can I start making my christmas list now?

-drool- I want this canvas bag... I know that I have 2-3 canvas bags already but this one... It's the perfect size; it's practical yet timelessly stylish; it comes in 14 different colors and... I want it... The only thing I don't like is the price. That bag better last me a lifetime and a half for the price they're asking for. See here. Can't decide to save my paychecks for my wedding or for my New York trip at the end of this month...

Sunday sunday, la, la...

Oh Sundays, how I like and loathe you at the same time. It's nice waking up on your own accord and getting errands done like grocery shopping; laundry; etc. but in doing those things you're just setting yourself up for the week. A whole new week, where you'll have to go to work for 5 days in a row. Sundays... you mark the end of the weekend and the beginning of the week on the horizon...

One thing I like about Sundays is brunch. Saturday brunch doesn't make sense, but Sunday brunch... That's when you wake up two hours later than when you would normally arise and either pull on whatever clothes are laying around that would look decent in public and roll on over to your choice brunch joint OR for the more "economical" (a.k.a. lazier) group, you cook brunch in your pajamas and turn on pre-game Sunday football shows.



Now, I don't understand why Alec do the cooking for both of us more often. He is clearly the better (more patient) cook out of us two... And his palette is more developed and sophisticated. My palette can't even tell if the food I'm eating is cooked all the way through sometimes...

...another week, here I come...

Honest to blog...

Honest to blog, there are a few things better than watching "Shaun of the Dead" while baking chocolate chip cookies... & the weekend is almost here.

oh, when life happens...

What is one to do when life happens other than to live it? I feel like these past two months have really bared down on me. It's like that elementary school bully who knocks you down and pins you as you writhe underneath it and wonder why you were built such a small kid. As I've said before "This adulthood thing is difficult." And the light at the end of the tunnel isn't getting any closer.

I've been consumed by the move into my new apt; wedding plans that have turned 180 degrees from what I imagined it would be; keeping up a healthy workout regime AND trying not to sweat my job... I know that these things are everyday and even... normal but it doesn't feel that way.

One thing is for certain: my cherry tomatoes are turning red and ripening. I've eaten 5 of them today. Small pleasures make the world go round.

oh yeah, jacob and mira got married.

I forgot to post about Jacob and Mira's wedding. Jewish wedding numero deuce under my belt. They are always a good time. And the wedding was beautiful. Jacob looked beautiful, Mira looked beautiful and the table decor was edible. They were wed at the same temple as Jacob's parents in Skokie(?). David (Jacob's dad) cried at this wedding as well as Joey's wedding, which I think is sweet. Of course there are a whole bunch of photo albums on facebook about the event, but here are a few of my favorites:

wargh!

I've been moving! Argh. Today I came home from work and working out to find that my hard work of unpacking during the week and setting things up to look nice has been undone by the fiendish doings of my fiance! -sigh-

More news and pictures of my place coming soon. <3

a new favorite music video

I recently acquired Zooey Deschanel's band, She & Him's cd, Volume one. I gotta say that I was skeptical of Zooey's voice, which I still am, but she's grown on me a little. M. Ward (the "him" part of the duo) however, is wonderful! I really hope that the trumpet noises on track "This is not a test" is him.

Anyways, I actually got the idea to get the album from this adorable and cinematic music video for the song "Why do you let me stay here?" off of Volume one. It stars Miss Deschanel along with Mr. Joseph Gordon-Levitt who I have a gigantic celebrity crush on. And it was directed by Mark Webb, who directed "500 days of Summer", which I have yet to see. You may view the video here because I still need to figure out how to upload videos on my blog from Youtube.... Enjoi.

-sigh- heart Joseph Gordon Levitt...

Whew. A moment to myself as my hair dries...

I'm waiting for my hair to dry as I'm getting ready to go to bed. I knew that this past weekend leading into this week was going to be a little crazy. I feel like I haven't really had a peaceful moment to myself. I am going to try right now... even though the noise being created in my head is mostly from wedding stuff and trying to move out of my apt and I can't seem to escape those two things. Well... to get it out my head and onto a blog, here are some more photos of things I like/want at my wedding:


The driftwood card holder was an idea that Walter had but it looks like someone else had the idea too. And the chart of lilies are just some ideas of florals for the wedding. I like the purple heart and hot chocolate lilies. I was going to post the image of what hairstyle I will wear but I think I will save that for later... (I don't want Alec to know...) So tired already but I must trek on!

Studio Ghibli/Capsule short

I remember a while ago my anime friend Liz showed me this cool short film by Studio Ghibli (the same studio that the Hayao Miyazaki is part of). I rediscovered the short after dl-ing "High Collar Girl" and "Nexus 2060" by Capsule. Capsule is a shibuya-kei type Japanese band that did the music for the short films. There are a total of three shorts. I love them all. The animation is soft but still detailed. The music and the theme of the films go very well together. Czech it out: Soratobu Toshi Keikaku.

an ode to Nina...

To my friend Nina, the one who got me addicted to wedding magazines... This blog post is for you...

wedding dress shopping~

So, I went dress shopping with Jen and Jeanne to White Chicago. It is a consignment bridal gown store with a great selection. It was recommended to me by my friend Mira and I highly recommend it to any new brides looking for a dress. Their dresses are mostly well known brands that have been consigned but not wed in... Basically you get designer dresses for affordable prices. Only a few of the gowns have been wed in but they're still in great condition. The girls at the store were very friendly, professional and helpful. And I love the fact that you must take off your shoes at the entrance and put on socks to walk around in the studio space. Here are some of the dresses I tried on:

this one was pretty but too typical...

this dress I picked out from their website and wanted to try on in person...

this dress was made from organic fabrics and felt great on the skin...

the train is pretty cool too.

And of course I'm not going to post the dress that I actually chose to be the one because I want it to be a surprise... Just know that it is beautiful, it was made by Lazaro and it's nothing I've ever seen before in a wedding dress. Can't wait!

More inspirational photos for wedding...