Strapya!

WOW I have not been on this blog for a whole year... kind of a shame, as I still do make food and all sorts of things. Anyhow, this whoole post here is to review a Strapya World purchase that I made a few months back!

If you are my friend, you are more than likely to know that I am a huge huge fan of Rilakkuma. I squeal endlessly upon seeing new Rilakkuma artwork on the San-X page and I check Strapya always for new Rilakkuma products. Now one of my all time favorite collections? was the Rilakkuma bunny one, with Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma wearing fleece-y bunny suits. Super cute~ I was very happy to see that Strapya sold items from this collection, on top of having the POCHETTE!

*SQUEAL*



















Unfortunately, the Rilakkuma version was sold out by the time I made my order. So much for owning both ;___;

Anyhow, this bag is just too soft, too cute, and I'm so terrified of ruining it.

Seeing that it was a shame to simply keep it as a keychain/ bag decoration, I also decided to crochet a strap for the bag as well; then I can wear it PROUDLY around my neck... which I haven't really been doing lately.




















Bonus picture: in my pjs. DON'T JUDGE


Even as a college student now, I will still melt over this adorable and lazy Japanese bear (my
brother too)! My brother actually convinced me to get this bag. :D

Thank you Strapya World for making San-X products available for international customers! Would buy again with discounts and shipping deals (sorry I'm cheap too).

Breaktime

It's 10:35pm on a school day. I should be continuing to write college essays right now, but I'm taking a break at the moment (*coughprocrastinating). Just yesterday, I was skimming through some old posts on this bloggie and randomly checked out the blog of White on Rice Couple, who commented some time ago xD. I'm so addicted! I love reading food blogs and the photos (and of course the writing!) especially have my attention.

Right now I'm reading their Portrait of a Gourmand post. Again, such adorable family photos! I absolutely loved reading about Gluten-Free Girl and The Chef's story of how they met. I love their family philosophy and I'm mighty envious of their daughter, Lucy. She's blessed with foodie parents and my gosh, she even helps them in the kitchen! Did I mention that she's two years old?

A little far into the future, but someday when I have children of my own, I'd like to teach them to love food and keep them involved with each process. My mom took great pains to get my brother and me to eat healthily and she's succeeded with me- no skipping meals, no eating excess junk, increasing intake of water, fruit, and vegetables... Since my dad is a cook and my mom cooks for a hobby, I've come to love eating food, exploring new foods, and sharing what I make. After all, what is life without good food? My children too should be able to realize this :)

Laaazy post

As usual, I've been making random food but haven't had time to post them. I'll just cram them all into one post.... :D

For my friend's birthday in July, I tried my hand at making white chocolate macadamia cookies. Firstly, I'd like to stress how expensive macadamia nuts are and how hard they were to find outside of Whole Foods. Secondly, I'd like to mention that sugar is not to be underestimated. I added so much sugar to these poor cookies... the other people I gave the cookies to were afraid to eat them, for fear of diabetes. =w=
















oof and please forgive the camera quality. I need to get some sort of a lens cleaner already...

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In October, my parents bought way too many asian pears at home. As a result, I made spiced
pear jam to go with waffles. I'm still not finished with the second jar though...

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Stacy's pita chips are kinda expensive for me (I'm a sucker for cheap things :P) so I was thrilled to find Sahadi's. It's a great Middle Eastern grocery store located in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn and they have the cheapest possible pita bread that I've seen- ONLY $.75 a bag for 6 pitas. Along with cheap pita, I made my own hummus, which is so much more cost effective even compared to buying it from Trader Joe's! I recommend using dried garbanzo beans as it saves cans AND it's... cheap. I just can't stop using this word!

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I've been looking for silicon baking cups for the past few years and usually they're $20 for 12. Can't have that... Then I found some for only $2 at Jack's 99 cent store~. But I haven't been making cupcakes at all so I finally found a use for them; mini quiches. I'm too lazy to make/ buy crusts, so these are sans pastry. Basically I grated cheddar cheese, layered chunks of spam and onion, and added a whisked egg with milk. The little toaster oven baked them in about 10 minutes? if not 15. Aren't they adorable?

Ginger what?

If only I had time to take photos, buuuut yesterday I attended the Asian American Restaurant and Food Fair at Flushing, NY! Unfortunately I was there volunteering at the Good Tea and Water tables and never got to sample all the foods. My team and I were busy brewing and serving maybe 3,000 cups of tea...

















(I'm not pictured here though)

Of all the memorable foods that I DID have, the ones worth mentioning are the watermelon gazpacho (can't remember the restaurant), flan and coconut pudding (Sato Japanese and French fusion cuisine), and Ginger Ale (by Bruce Cost).

So right in between the Twin Marquis noodles table and the SOYA soy milk table, was this ultra cool Ginger Ale stand. When I was a kid I asked my brother, why is this soda called ginger ale when it doesn't really taste like ginger? Well by now I've tasted the Canada Dry brand's, Schweppes, Seagram's ... but Bruce Cost's is the answer!

If I weren't holed up at home today, I would run straight to Whole Foods to buy myself a bottle! This stuff is made with actual unfiltered ginger root and it tastes way more genuine compared to its mass produced, high fructose corn syrup counterparts.

Para mi (yes, spanish) downing this ginger ale is a somewhat masochistic experience. The distinctive taste of ginger slightly burns my mouth. BUT IT FEELS GOOD. Really. In the end it soothes the throat as well. It also comes in Jasmine Green Tea flavor and Pomegranate, both of which have a bit less of that burning sensation and tastes great~

For now I'll stick to freezing my mouth with Coconut Ice Pops at home though... will be dreaming of ginger ale for the rest of the week.

Happy Independence Day

Belated anyways.

For one, I didn't party up a hooplah like everyone else in America did. I stayed home, made dessert and ate. That was my entire day. But I did manage to snap some pics of the gelatin I made!
















The top layer is a watermelon gelatin (recipe from Martha Stewart's FOOD magazine) and the bottom is a blueberry gelatin that I tried from scratch. I bought a box of blueberries that same day on a whim and after I decided not to make blueberry mini-pies, I remembered a watermelon gelatin recipe I photocopied a few years ago. I only thought of layering the two when I discovered that the recipe didn't completely fill 7 ramekins and 2 plastic donut molds (I ran out ramekins!)

The verdict? Very light and fruity. I never realized how pasty blueberries got when blended, so that was pretty much the texture of the blueberry layer. Not even sure if it needed much gelatin to keep it that way and it is most certainly not your average powdered Jell-O mix. The watermelon was alright with its subtle sweetness.

I've been making some pretty heavy desserts lately.. ya know, butter and cream. This came as something of a surprise to my family though they didn't seem all that pleased with it.
Me: Sooo dad how was it?
Dad: Too fruity. But I added some vanilla ice cream :D (coming from someone with a hugeee sweet tooth)
I personally liked it though ; w;

So recipe? I guess I'll post it.
















Blueberry Gelatin
This recipe should fill approximately 10- 6oz ramekins halfway
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 Tb lemon juice
1 packet gelatin
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar

1. Blend 3/4 cup of blueberries and lemon juice in a blender. In a sieve, strain the seeds and other hard bits.
2. In a small saucepan, mix water and gelatin and place over medium heat until gelatin dissolves. Stir in sugar and close the flame when all the sugar has dissolved.
3. Stir in blueberry puree and divide mixture into ramekins. Divide half of the remaining blueberries into each ramekin.
4. Refrigerate 3-4 hours or at least an hour or so if you are layering.

Watermelon Gelatin (from Martha Stewart)
- prepare as directed in link (didn't want to copypaste everything..)
- pour mixture on top of the blueberry layer, divide remaining blueberries into watermelon layer and refrigerate 3 hours.

I did once aspire to be a pastry chef ..

Just a simple list of to-make foods:

1. biscotti
2. macarons
3. improved crepes
4. molten lava cakes
5. butternut squash anything
   
6. cinnamon rolls
7. ... anything else to suggest? I'll be sure to take photos when I do make it
   

Soo just a small update today and a look into my life as-of-current.

Over Christmas, I did make a few goodies for my friends, which I'll get around to posting pics of sooner or later. I haven't made any bentos for quite some time =w= will try again sometime soon.

For school, I've joined my school's musical production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. So I've been busy with rehearsal everyday + junior year= VERY busy indeed. But yah if you're around Brooklyn Technical HS around the 23th of April, do come and see the show. ;D

tata for now then~

Sweet Sixteen

I'm finally 16! Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday this year and everyone who's been so supportive of me. To those who spent time with me today, I want to express all my love and thanks ; w;
I had so much fun at the beach and recieved all sorts of great presents (and so much Rilakkuma DDD: <333) Also hoped everyone had fun too!