Waiting for spring!

Haven't been to a Lund's or Byerly's in a long time. I use to go there just because their desserts looked so good and I like to look. Was in the neighborhood, so I decided to stop in one. A few things I love to just look at: nice clothes, dessert displays and beautiful homes. I used to go to the Parade of Homes every season when they had them before we bought the house. I also went to the Luxury Home Tour twice now just to dream... Wow, so beautiful. There was this one neighborhood called Locust Hills in Wayzata, MN that I just fell in love with. If I was a billionaire, then that's what I would want. My own neighborhood with all my friends and families living in the same neighborhood, so we can see each other more often. My husband doesn't think that's a good idea. :p I've also been attending the ASID home tour every year for the past six years, except I skipped the past two since I was prego and then just got busy.

Anyway, decided to buy myself some treats. Actually, I've been treating myself everyday since the pregnant days. This super sweet tooth hasn't gone away since then. I need to stop, but probably not this week since I just bought like four packs of strawberries (since they were on sale) and stuff to make sweet treats with them.



Waiting for all the snow to melt, so I can go walking outside. I love that. I think this year has the most snow ever that I've experienced. I love March BTW. It's my favorite month. For some reason when March arrives, I am a new person all over again just like spring.


All photos taken with my iPhone. :p

Look Who's Also Hungry

I was busy making my pho broth + dinner and saw a pair of legs behind our tree when I looked out the window. Yup, it's a baby deer searching for some food in our backyard. And we live in the cities!





I decided to make pho broth from scratch. I found two recipes online that I wanted to try, so I'll let you know in a few days how it turns out. Yes, pho broth takes that long to make. There's a lot of steps to it for sure.

iPhone, recipe withdrawal, restaurants, etc.

I don't know where I got the above image from, but I certainly did not make it. I wanted to take some cake decorating classes this season, but I'm already busy with so many projects. Maybe in the summer. Been so busy that I haven't experimented with new recipes for weeks now! I am craving for some new food. The other day, my family and I went out for lunch at a chain restaurant and I couldn't help but miss my own cooking. I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but my cooking has improved so much that my own food tastes so much better than places that I used to enjoy dining at. But then again that was only a 2 or 3 star restaurant. :p

Speaking of the iPhone, I really miss my iPhone. I turned it off because I wanted to save some money each month since not working. I've had the phone since it initially launched in 2007. It became my best friend instantly. I'm usually not the type that buys the latest techno stuff, but since I was searching for a smart phone back then anyway, I tested the iPhone out and nothing else beat it at that time. It was funny how every time I brought it out in public, people around me were like, "Is that the iPhone??" And then I would get all these gawkers surrounding me. lol I guess it was kind of rare back then, but not anymore!

We also went to try out Mirror of Korea in Saint Paul on Valentine's Day. Yeah, I know. Not very romantic, but Valentine's is not just about couples. I have a family now, so we didn't necessarily go there because of V-day. I just felt like eating some bulgogi, so we decided to try them out. We have only tried King's and the one across from Mirror of Korea. Forgot what that one is called, but I don't like going there because it's so dark and gloomy inside. I felt scared to even go down to the basement to use their restrooms. Same case with the restrooms at Village Wok; although, I haven't been there in ages.

Mirror of Korea was fine. I was actually surprised how much cleaner and brighter it looked inside compared to the outside. The outside never wanted to bring me in. The food was good. We ordered the regular bulgogi and bibimbap so we could compare to other Korean restaurants. Actually, that's all we know what to order from Korean restaurants. :p I felt like an American going into a Chinese restaurant and the only thing I know what to order is sweet and sour chicken. I love sweet and sour chicken BTW. I didn't know that the bibimbap was going to come in the hot stone bowl. Otherwise, I would've asked for it not to. We also ordered the seafood omelette-type cake. It was quite appetizing. Overall rating of Mirror of Korea. 3/5 stars. It was clean, bright and food was good.

I promise to make a menu plan tonight and go shopping tomorrow.

Favorite Recipe Search

Can you guess what the most searched recipe is that leads visitors to my blog? It's so sweet. (Pun intended.) Yep, just about everyday, someone across the globe searches for "nab vam" or "tricolor dessert." I do wish more people would leave comments, especially if they have tried the recipe. It would help me improve things if the recipe needs improvement or provide others more tips. I don't blame them. Nab vam is a yummy dessert, probably the yummiest Asian dessert there is out there since we aren't known for our desserts. Have you ever notice that when you go to an Asian restaurant, there isn't much variety in the dessert menu (if there is one at all)? I think most Asian restaurants have a dessert section in their menus just to cater to the American public since Americans consume so much sweets.

Thanks for visiting!

Back in the loop...

Okay, I went out with almost two weeks without a meal plan and that's not good! Ever since I started this blog, I have been planning my meals every weekend for the entire week (at least dinner anyway). It has save me a lot of money and some anxiety over what to make for dinner. I just pack the leftovers for lunch the next day and eat my usual breakfast which can be anything. I have enjoyed trying all these recipes. In fact, it's one of the things that I look forward to coming home to now. I just never know what I'm going to get today (in the recipe)...and that can be exciting.

I must say, though, that I haven't really loved any of the Asian recipes I have tried. I wonder if it's because I eat so much Asian food already, so I am just more critical. The non-Asian food recipes tastes pretty good to me. Maybe it's because I just haven't had enough non-Asian food; kind of like how when I was young I used to think Chinese buffets were the best! LOL And then I ate too much Chinese (American-Chinese e.g. Panda Express) and now I don't like it as much. I happen to not like buffets anymore. Seeing all the cooked food looks appealing, but when I actually eat it, it is not so good. Nothing beats home cooked meals.

I'm also going to start a rating system on the recipes that I try. On a scale of 1-5, 5 meaning the recipe was near perfect where it tasted spectacular (okay, great) and I didn't have to change much or anything to the recipe. One would be disappointing taste and so on. So far, I have only one recipe on my blog that I would rate a 5 and that's the Chicken Parmigiana. That was just yummy!

A Treat for Myself

I have never bought myself any expensive cooking tools until recently. Last year I bought myself an All-Clad 12-inch cooking pan for about $140 after I got fed up with the teflon coming off of those non-stick pans I had. I have always used inexpensive knives from any available discount store and I finally had it with them. I decided to treat myself to a Wusthof chef's knife as I heard good things about this brand. I really don't know anything about what to look for, but so far so good. It comes with a lifetime warranty (even though I think warranties are b.s. anyway). I just hope my new knife doesn't end up like the one I've been using right before:

Another blog!

Ok, I decided to officially start a new blog for FOOD ONLY. Reading other food blogs and cooking new recipes from them during my maternity leave has inspired me to start my own. This will help me improve my cooking skills as well as photography skills since I want to take nice pics for this blog. Let's see how I do... I cooked almost a new recipe each day this week, but did not take any pictures. Too bad because most of them turned out really good, so I am so inspired to do more.