la petite frog

Canon Lens EF 50 mm f/1.8 and Miko

2013-10-24T18:06:00.004-07:00

This past weekend, I decided that the standard kit lens for the Canon Rebel Xs was no longer producing sharp images. I had already known that it was bad, but I stuck with it for 2 years. Since I shoot a lot of food photography and portraits, I decided to pick up the Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 lens. It's relatively cheap at around $100 and can produce sharp images.

Today my model was Miko! He's quite the model kitty. Below is a JPEG image straight from the camera with no cropping. Just sized down to fit the web screen.

Miko Mondays

2013-08-26T16:38:00.000-07:00

Miko's been pretty lonely lately since I was pretty much away for the weekend. As you can see, he looks upset. :(

I'm probably going to buy him more yogurt today to appease him. Haha! Not sure if that will work, he's a smart kitty.

Posted with Blogsy

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with Tobit

2011-07-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

Last night I turned to foodnetwork and drooled over the cookies that were being so deliciously displayed...not a good idea. The whole night I was craving cookies and right when I woke up, I decided to make some. Yummmy. The cookie of choice... oatmeal raisin cookies! Everytime I look around food websites or bakeries, I always see oatmeal raisin CHOCOLATE cookies. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of chocolate mixed in with the oatmeal and raisins. I do love chocolate, but I like to keep such strong flavors separate.

Lucky for me, I had a fresh batch of dried berries from Trader Joe's called, "Golden Berry Blend." These raisins, cherries, cranberries and blueberries are quite fresh and super awesome inside cookies.

And while I was creating a mess in the kitchen, my little chihuahua Tobit helped me. Well, actually he was just running around wondering if I was going to give him some treats. Tobit wasn't so happy that he didn't get to try the cookies, but I let him wear a nice bib.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
(adapted from Beth's Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies)

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Blend the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl.
3. In a separate small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Stir into the sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins.
4. Drop by rounded spoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.
5. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until light and golden. Let cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets to cool completely.

Strawberry Lemonade

2011-06-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

I went to the market the other day, trying to be all fancy and cook dinner for my family. I was also trying to figure out how working women are capable of cooking delicious and healthy meals without burning out from fatigue. Cooking is hard! I don't even have a job and I spent 6 hours in the kitchen...and I was not just standing around.

After I finished my cooking marathon, I realized that I made way too much food (steak, macaroni salad, lasagna, coleslaw, and baked potatoes). My sister just looked at me as if I was insane..I think she said something like, "Working women don't cook like this everyday. They would have just cooked ONE of these." Hah. Quite true indeed. I did outdo myself. But the food was yummy and she invited her friend so we were able to eat most of it.

Anyways, while I was at the market looking for vegetables, I found myself drawn to the lemons. I don't know how that happens but I always find myself unconsciously grabbing a bunch of lemons at markets. Well, it was a good thing too because it was 94 degrees outside and I was craving strawberry lemonade.

I couldn't really find a straightforward recipe for strawberry lemonade so I decided to just stick some water and sugar together and squeeze a bunch of lemons and what not..put some strawberries in and it resulted in a quite refreshing concoction.

Strawberry Lemonade

3/4 cup of sugar
2 cups of water
4 to 6 lemons
1 to 2 cups of strawberries
seltzer water (optional)

Directions:
1. Melt the sugar into the 2 cups of boiling water to dissolve the sugar. (Don't skip this step...or you'll have sugary grainy lemonade!)
2. While letting the sugar water cool down, squeeze the lemons to obtain 8 ounces of lemon juice.
3. Blend the strawberries in a blender and mix into the sugar water. Pour the lemon juice into the sugar water also.
4. The resulting juice is quite sweet so when you serve it, make sure to add as much ice. You can also add seltzer water like Perrier if you prefer your drink bubbly.
5. It's also quite tasty to add thinly sliced strawberries into the drink.

Wine Country Road Trip - Day Three

2011-06-19T23:10:00.000-07:00

Good morning! Today was the last day of our three day journey. Most of today was spent driving down the famous Pacific Coast Highway. It took a lot longer that way, but we were able to see the beautiful view.

Morning mass at a tiny Catholic Church.

Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church.

Barber Shop in the morning.

My sister using the fancy writing desk, pretending to be a doctor.

Gon in the rocking chair.

Jayoung unni and Blackberry Inn.

So green.

Pretty restaurant.

Beautiful view.

A toy shop called "Out of this world."

Beautiful mosaic chair.

Most of the stores we walked by were art galleries.

Myongon is sitting on a handmade chair. The artist's gallery/shop was somewhere on this street too.

The poppies here are beasts. Do you see that red poppy is taller than the car??? I can't even get my poppies to flower properly. haha.

Beautiful pink poppy enjoying the sunlight.

This is someone's house with crazy pretty flowers everywhere.

Here they put up a sign. haha so awesome!

Here's the wooden chair making gallery

These plants look so beautiful in the wind. They literally move like waves.

a lovely cave.

Seaside stairs.

We're at the bottom of the cave and stairs.

herro!

Fences!~

Myongon with a statue.

I'm a Pokemon!

Ocean.

Ocean!

Myongon!

Unni and ze ocean.

Gon on a stump

Flowing fields.

Unni is a prairie dog.

Jayoung unni! :)

Our awesome face picture.

Yay! A bit too bright :)

We ate ay Bayview Cafe for brunch. It had a lovely view of the beach and it wasn't expensive. ;)

Lalala. there's our waiter in the back. She was so calm and cool.

herrrrrro

yay!

Orange juice and lemonade.

Unni's fish sandwich for brunch.

My breakfast. It didn't come with meat so we ordered a side of meat. so yummy!

Myongon always gets burgers.

Jayoung unni's yummmy sandwich.

Put the ketchup on!

He's sad without ranch.

Bye bye Mendocino!

We stopped at a little place to use the restroom on the way back down.

Here's the menu of the cafe we stopped by for a coffee break.

The cafe had cute decorations. They were probably handmade locally.

Here's our coffees and teas. My sister just got water, but our super cool barista added mango syrup (for free) to it and it tasted soooooooo good and fresh.

My blue canoe iced coffee was so good. It does not taste like a generic Starbucks or one of those chains. It had it's own unique taste and I loved it!!!!

Here's our barista! She was so genuinely sweet and kind. She's from Germany and she moved over to Sonoma County 9 years ago. Who wouldn't? It's so lovely up here! :)

The outside of the cool Blue Canoe Coffee and Tea. This is a must visit if you ever go up North.

Down the PCH.

Bathroom stop near the PCH. Gas prices are high.

We finally trekked down to San Francisco.

This restaurant is really popular on yelp.

But we didn't want to wait in the line so we ate here instead.

Trying to be fancy with the tea.

Our delicious dinner.

Right outside, there was a random chair in the road. Hooray!

Wine Country Road Trip - Day Two

2011-06-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

Here we are on the second day of our wine country road trip. All of us slept well in our little tent and we are ready to move on!

The fire was burnt out but still hot.

I don't want to get up....

Good morning!

Looks like prairie lands.

Haha look at our heads. yay!

Our reserved campsite.

Oak Point Campground. Hooray!

Bye bye Fremont Peak!

Morning cloudiness.

Looks like a scene from Kung Fu Panda.

Wild rooster and chickens.

Breakfast at Tiffany's....haha just kidding. Breakfast at Denny's.

Jayoung unni and me.

Pancake puppies!!!

Yummayyyyyyy

Myongon's grossness. Coke for breakfast and ranch smothered all over his hash browns and eggs.

I poured cream into the syrup and it formed a skullhead...haha kinda creepy.

Now we're on College Avenue in Oakland, CA. This is kind of near UC Berkeley. We stopped by Pretty Penny which was a really cute and artsy fartsy thrift store.

On College Avenue, fancy little restaurants. There were lots of hipsters and hippies walking around (and crazy drivers).

Pegasus Books..didnt' get to stop by, but it was cute.

Inside of a bakery and cafe/market.

Jayoung unni waiting in line for coffee.

Outside of the coffee/market/bakery. It was called Peaberry's Coffee and Tea.

After getting back on the road, we stopped by a little fastfood place for a snack in Cloverdale. It's really hot and humid in Cloverdale. My sister said it feels like summer heat in Korea. I loved it!

My sister in pose!

Me holding the bathroom key, which was a spatula.

Look at that family of redheads. So cute!

Payce! Haha

We all haven't showered for a whole day. We're awesome.

I got a soft serve ice cream. Perfect for the heat.

Yay!

yeeee! Can you read that red sign, "Best bacon cheeseburger in Sonoma County."

Burger and fries.

mmmm.. Jayoung unni got a yummy burger.

Myongon's strawberry shake was so freaking good and I don't even like strawberry shakes.

yeee! yummy.

Cool art statues everywhere.

haha huggggs not druggs.

Vineyards!!!! I've always wanted to see these in real life. The vineyards are not quite to their fullest size because it's still early summer, but it was still beautiful.

More vineyards and a lake. There were lots of tiny lakes spread out over the fields.

Awesome llama. Reminded me of Tobit.

Us in the redwood trees.

Myongon hugging the huge tree.

Here we are at our next sleeping stop in Mendocino, which was called Blackberry Inn. Basically we get a whole "building" to ourselves. And each building has different motifs. This one is the Sheriff buildings.

Here are the other "buildings"

And this is where we checked in.

Now we're headed towards our room.

Here it is! We got to sleep in the Barber Shop. Yayuh!

Cute little rocking chair with a nice blankie.

Waddup!

Free food. Everything was complimentary....unlike some hotels and what not. The banana bread and brownies were so good!

Beautiful writing desk.

I look like a granny.

He looks kinda crazy.

We look awesome.

Kind of reminded us of the bathroom in the Shrek movie.

We went up like 3 miles to Fort Bragg to look for food. Dude...this city sleeps early. There were only like 4 places to eat and it was kind of expensive too.

Store called tangents. harharhar. And also, people around here still rock the mullet. Business in the front, party in the back.

A weird picture in the Tangents store. Instant infant!

We ended up eating at a pizza joint called Piaci. It was an excellent choice!!! :)

Jayoung unni in Piaci's.

Us in Piaci's. See that door behind us? There was a really cute dog just sitting there. It wanted some piiizzzaaaa!

Our super delicious pizza. I think we got half toscano and half italian? Whatever, it was so good.

And their jalapeno sauce was yummy too. It had like a small bite to it and then it would hit you at the tip of your tongue. Kind of tasted literally like blended jalapenos with cream.

The beach near Piaci's. It was super cold.

Yay!

And finally, back at our "Barber Shop," we ended the night playing Monopoly Deal.

Wine Country Road Trip

2011-06-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of our three day journey up to northern California.

Jayoung Unni getting comfty for the long drive.

Vineyards!

Winchester in San Jose. This was where we visited the Winchester House, which was kind of spooky and cool.

San Jose is a really nice city. There were lots of high end stores on this street. Kind of reminded me of 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

A bug flew in my mouth.

Myongon trying to avoid the heat.

Looking for places to eat.

It's very hot and I was wearing a fleece sweater.

We ended up eating at Viva Taqueria which got a lot of good reviews on yelp.

Nacho bar.

Yummy tacos!

Myongon's carne asada wet burrito.

My delicious enchiladas.

Huge burrito.

Outside pic of Viva Taqueria.

Drooling and sleeping in the car.

Peace! yeeee! :)

This cow was licking the metal fence.

Driving up to our campsite.

We are above the clouds. Isn't it just so beautiful?

Trying out the lighting.

This is like one of those back drops at picture taking places...except I fail at taking good pictures. haha :)

This plant was near our campsite. It means business man... freaking hurts.

Succesful tent and fire set up.

My sister acting like a deer.

My fire!

Jayoung unni found a huge wood stump that we labeled "pig."

Leftovers from lunch for dinner.

...ew haha

Cloud view as the sun goes down.

S'mores!!!

Myongon's face is so serious.

Delicioussss.

He stuck the s'more skewer on his glasses. smart.

Sushi Dinner in Riverside

2011-05-22T20:39:00.000-07:00

Early Bird Special:

Asahi Sushi..yummy!!!!!!

Same Expression... :)

Way too cool!

Disneyland with Annual Passes!

2011-05-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

Yay we got annual passes to Disneyland for the first time. :) It was so hot today.

Disneyland was preparing for Pirates of the Caribbean 4's Premiere. weeeee :)

Greasiest corn dogs ever...

I think this was oil from the corn dog dripping down his hands....

Disneyland has some pretty flowers everywhere.

Emo child with his dinosaur.

More pretty flowers...

Cool sun hat!

I can tell spring is almost here...

2011-02-27T17:24:00.000-08:00

I pretty much have a love-hate relationship with spring. Around this time of year, my skin gets really itchy. A little eczema here, a lot of eczema there. Even worse, my face gets strange itchy bumps that I've neglected to get checked for 2 years now. But I refuse to say a bit of itchiness dispels all my happiness from this season. Afterall, it is spring for goodness sake. Flowers here! Flowers there! Flowers everywhere! So lovely! And so I'll just have to be itchin' myself as I enjoy the pretty pop of colors.

Because Southern Californian weather is relatively warm all the time, growing tulips and poppies has been a tough venture. One of the workers at a nearby nursery suggested to freeze the tulip bulbs before poking them into the ground. Usually I'm a terrible instructions-follower...so when she told me that, it just went straight through my puny brain. But of course, my sister, who likes to do things the "right way" (whatever that means), made me store them in the cold like I was told to do. And so I reluctantly left them in the fridge (without any apples, because apparently apples emit some chemicals that will kill the bulbs) for about 10 weeks.

And I guess that was certainly the "right way" because once I stuck them in the ground, they exploded out of the pots after just a week! I was pretty shocked and I'm not sure if that's supposed to happen but they're looking healthy and green. Except for a few of them, because my chickens got to the planter box before me. (Those chickens are out to get me!)

In the pots below are a few of the tulip bulbs that grew just after a week and half. They're sitting in pots that I painted chalk-paint over. I keep forgetting to actually write something artsy on the pot with the chalk though. I figure it would be useless to do that anyway since it's been raining cats and dogs lately...(then I'd get a chalky puddle that I'd have to clean just because I wanted to draw)

My sister discovered that the chicken we thought was a rooster is actually a chicken. She had been laying her eggs in the corner of our garden this whole time! At first, my sister thought the eggs were snake eggs...

Here they are, all collected and in a basket. The eggs have a slightly blue-green tint that's so pretty to look at. We didn't know what to do with all these eggs so my sister just boiled them, Ina Garten's way, which results in perfectly boiled eggs all the time.

Ina Garten's Hard Boiled Eggs:

Ingredients:
-eggs

Directions:
1. Put the eggs in a saucepan filled with just enough cold water to cover them.
2. Bring the water to a boil and then turn off the heat. Let the eggs sit in the pan for 5 minutes.
3. Remove the eggs to a bowl and let rest for 2 minutes. When the eggs are cool enough to handle, crack the eggs on each side and roll them back and forth with your hand, breaking the shell. Discard the shell.

Day Eight Time to Go Home

2010-12-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

It's time to go home. It was a sad departure from Montreal but we were still happy to get back to our warm Californian winter.

We're at the Montreal airport and it's time to go home. Looks like an astronaut walking scene.

Cool airport window decorations.

While waiting, samchoon bought us some gelato. Mine was called tiramisu.

Actually, mine was originally the mango one which my sister is eating. But we had to switch because she didn't like the tiramisu gelato.

Vanilla gelato.

On our Montreal plane, we had to stop by Cleveland, Ohio to switch airplanes. Too bad we didn't get to look around some more. One thing I'm bummed about was that I didn't receive a Canadian stamp on my passport. Oh well! Yay!!! Our adventure is now over. Home at last :)

Day Seven in Montreal Again

2010-12-23T23:34:00.000-08:00

Here we are back in Montreal again. I guess we did a little circle from Montreal to Quebec City and right back to Montreal. But our first day in Montreal, we were only able to see the evening. But today, we toured through Montreal in the day time.

Well, this picture was taken still in old Quebec City. My sister wanted to get quick shots of a cute church near our hostel before boarding the VIA train back to Montreal.

Ceiling of the church.

Back on the VIA train to Montreal, my cousin gave himself a reindeer tattoo.

My sister got a Christmas tree.

...and a Santa.

I was just sleeping.

Canadian cotton candy, which is where they got the tattoos

Montreal train station

French fry vending machine!

Metro in Montreal

Waiting for the subway to take us to our Montreal hostel

Here's our lovely hostel!

Inside looks really hip and young with all the art on the mirrors. They had Jason Mraz and Keane music playing in the waiting room.

Apparently, this hostel was rated Canada's number one hostel for about 5 consecutive years. Yay!

They've got their own bar.

Free coffee while you wait.

Right outside our hostel.

School bus, because Canadian kids go to school until December 23rd.

Sad. Someone's car was covered in snow and was broken into.

Cute housings in Montreal. Just look at those stairs!

More beautiful stairs.

Lovely roof decorations.

Funny and youthful graffiti.

mailboxes

Our lunch place called Rotisserie Romados. It took us about 30 minutes to walk here.

A funny truck with graffiti right outside the Rotisserie.

Line for the food.

They have a bakery here too. It looked so delicious.

4 sodas and 4 trays of fatty goodness. Each meal was only $7.

Tada!

And voila! Bunches of yummy fries with salad, rice, and spicy tender chicken. So good!

...and they gave us free bread!

After lunch, we walked to Little Chinatown and it was little. It only lasted about 4 or 5 blocks.

Notre Dame!

Montreal's huge underground mall.

Walking through the mall was way too tiring. It's 5 stories and way too big.

Expensive but yummy ice cream.

Time for more dessert at Juliette and Chocolat. It's a nice little sweet shop.

Inside, it's crowded and small.

Our first dessert was some kind of triple brownie layer with sauce.

Here's a hot milk chocolate.

My dark hot chocolate was so creamy.

Here it is poured out. If I waited too long, it started to curdle.

View of the kitchen.

A milk chocolate and banana crepe.

A hearty spinach crepe. We had to sneak some ketchup on it.

Fruit and ice cream crepe! So big and yummy.

Us eating our food

Enjoying the sauce.

All gone!

On the way back to our hostel, we saw a store that said "Chez Geeks" which literally translates to "House of Geeks"

We came back to the hostel pretty early and played French monopoly. Luckily I can read French well and it was super fun! Of course, my cousin won.

This was our last night in Montreal, Canada. Most of Day Eight was spent on an airplane back home to sunny CA.

Day Six in Quebec City

2010-12-22T23:30:00.000-08:00

It snowed today! It was our first time seeing real snow! It's a lot different than I imagined because real snow is tiny and soft! Since it was snowing and we didn't know what else to do in Quebec, we took a tour bus to the countryside to see Montmorency Falls.

It's snowing but you can't really see it in the picture. We are walking to the tour bus that will take us to Quebec's countryside.

We're on the tour bus now and we took a picture of some strawberry farms and vineyards. It's all frozen over now.

We stopped by a chocolaterie and they had chocolate shaped as rats and frogs!

Here we are at the Manoir Montmorency.

Walking down stairs to get a better view of the Montmorency Falls.

The Montmorency Falls are taller than Niagra Falls but Niagra is much wider.

On the bridge over the waterfall.

The waterfall is quite yellow compared to the snow.

The beautiful bridge!

Happy to be in real snow.

...and throwing the snow at me.

Cousin attacked by my sister's snowballs.

Back on the tour bus, we passed by cute Quebec country houses. See all that firewood? That looks kind of cool. Also, Quebec houses are known for their roofs being slightly curved at the ends. It helps to keep the snow from falling.

A very old house that used to be bed and breakfast place, but now it's vacated. Looks kind of creepy.

We stopped by a famous copper art museum. This lady is the daughter of a famous copper artist named Albert Gilles. She showed us how they hand make their copper art. It's pretty neat!

Chez Marie is a cute bakery and maple product store. Their breads are handmade and baked in a 150 year old oven!

Delicious bread with maple butter!

We are now at Sainte Anne De Beaupre is a famous basilica.

View of the basicila.

Mother Mary in the snow.

Front view of the basilica.

See these copper doors? It's the entrance to the basilica and were made by Albert Gilles from the copper art museum.

The basilica's beautiful ceiling.

A ceiling of one of the rooms in the basilica.

Look at how big it's inside.

The tour ended and dropped us off back in old Quebec and outside there's a snowy view.

Inside a Quebec McDonald's. It's very clean and cute inside.

Ice skating in real snow! Because we stayed at the hostel, we rented our skates for only $2 each! Original price was 7!

Yay! I'm terrible at skiing, so I just sat most of the time.

We asked a nice Quebecoise lady to take a pic.

Cute dog who likes to ice skate!

My ice skating shoes.

I bought a disco ball from one of the Quebec stores and tied it up in our hostel. Looks nice?

My cousin with the disco ball.

Samchoon has to dance.

Our messy hostel table. My sister is pointing at cubby number 2.

The boys' side is super messy.

Our side is even messier.

Today was our last night in Quebec and consisted mostly of touring the countryside. On to Day Seven in Montreal Again

Day Five in Quebec City

2010-12-21T23:30:00.000-08:00

Bonjour! To get to Old Quebec City from Montreal, we took the 3 hour VIA train. Then we spent most of the day roaming around and window shopping. The language spoken here is mainly French and so my family was depending on me to help translate. However, I forgot all my high school French and so we walked around for a while until we realized most of the Quebecoise knew how to speak English. Hooray!

Right when we boarded the VIA train, we took out our stash of candy that we bought from NY. Candy for breakfast, yum!

I don't know what kind of candy this is, but it has a hint of ginger and it's surprisingly good!

The food trolley lady came around and stared at our candy stash. She couldn't believe that we were eating candy for breakfast. And so we bought 'real' food like coffee, bagels and orange juice.

This would never happen in California.

As we were passing by on the train, we saw these creepy trees with red leaves.

At the Quebec train station. Very darkly lit and cozy inside.

An art work made from metal chairs with inscriptions on them.

Nice street lamp.

Our train station from outside.

The snow serves as excellent lighting and it makes my sister's jacket look like it's glowing.

Tiny Quebec bus! It's so small and cute!

Walking to our hostel.

Quebec stores.

Very clean streets.

More stores.

Boulangerie

We finally arrived at our hostel, Auberge internationale de Quebec! Auberge just means inn.

Lovely little Quebec flowers!

I couldn't but help take pictures of the doors around here. They're just so elegant. I love the look of this pure black door with just a hint of gold!

Quebec housings and look at the cute blue door! It certainly has a European flair!

Haha, we were sooo lost.

Random huge red pots and Ghandi in the snow!

Horse carriage rides.

Really cool historic building.

My sister was attacked by snow.

Walking around some more, we were looking for lunch.

Even the Quebecoise use fake plants for winter decor.

Icicles formed because it was so cold.

My cousin broke off an icicle.

Inside of a restaurant. The decorations were pretty strange.

Yummy bread.

Food at last! It was kind of expensive since we went to a fancy place.

Le Chateau Frontenac

The lamb says, "open" in French. So cute!

Outdoor elevator. We had to pay $2 for it but we were able to see a great view of Quebec.

A super cute street with lots of tiny stores.

Blue and yellow door!

Painting on a wall.

Le Chateau Frontenac again. It's so big and grand.

A cute restaurant called "Cotes a cotes," meaning coast to coast.

A cannon in the middle of the snow. My cousin put a snowball inside.

A small church called Notre Dame.

Another building with a cool painting on it.

Our first day in Quebec was great and Day Six in Quebec was even greater!

Day Four in Montreal

2010-12-20T23:30:00.000-08:00

We spent most of today sitting on the Amtrak from New York all the way up to Montreal, Quebec. It was a 10 hour ride and I slept the whole time. (I was trying to make up for lost sleep in New York). When we arrived in Montreal, it was already night time so we didn't get much touring time.

My sister was taking pictures as we passed by the Canadian villages. Look at all that snow!

Off the amtrak, we arrived at Montreal and while walking to our hotel we saw mounds of dirty snow.

Montreal at night.

Cool building and brightly decorated tree.

Inside the Best Western hotel there was nice decor.

On the streets of Montreal, looking for dinner.

Lovely Christmas decorations.

A really modern and tiny burger place.

Tiny kitchen.

Canadian money. They take American dollars!

Burger, yummy fries, and lemonade! And they had delicious sauces too like spicy mayo and wasabi mayo.

Our night in Montreal was so far so good! Now we're moving on to Day Five in Quebec!

Day Three in New York

2010-12-19T23:55:00.000-08:00

Today was another busy and our final day roaming through the streets of New York. The only time we got to rest was in the subway. My feet hurt even more today and so I had to buy some comforting shoe gels...they work like a charm!

A delicious sandwich shop, Pret A Manger!

Here are our sandwiches! They were so fresh and good.

Me, trying to fit in to the New York background and our happy company walking in front.

Super cold, feet hurt, very little sleep.

Our wonderful and super awesome New York guide!

...and always fashionable and tres chic!

The place to get discounted Broadway tickets. Our tickets were half off!

My cousin and I tried to go into this playground but we were kicked out. In NY, you can't go in a park without a kid...but I still feel like a kid! Oh well...onwards ho!

Walking through more NY streets.

Endless height to the NY buildings.

At the Levain Bakery. We had to walk downstairs from the street to get into the tiny bakery. The window seen here is actually street level and we're below it.

The cookies from Levain Bakery were very moist and fresh. The darker cookie was peanut butter and the other is raisin oatmeal cookie.

Cool homes...very different from the ones back in California.

More cute housings.

Central Park

Strange leaf from Central Park.

A frozen lake in Central Park with large ice rocks on top.

Random unfrozen water in the frozen lake....with ducks!

Little walkway in the park.

Yay! Some nice European couple took our picture. (And the boat landing is under repair!)

We are about to walk under a strange wooden structure while our guide and my sister are way up ahead to the left.

Rabies Advisory!

Strawberry Fields in memory of John Lennon.

"Imagine War is Over" On the floor of the Strawberry Fields.

At the Momofuku restaurant.

Inside Momofuku it's very chic and small.

Yummy pork buns.

I dared to try tripe salad. It was actually quite tasty.

Pork bun close up!

Squid ball and mushroom soup.

Cotechino. It's like a sausage or something.

Apricot Sorbet

Quark Ice Cream

Metropolitan Museum. It's so huge inside. I think it's three times as big as the Ghetty Museum.

Strange but beautiful lettuce all over the place in NY.

Broadway! We watched Billy Elliot! It was so good!

Inside the theater, there were beautiful red curtains. And it was super packed and hot inside!

To the left a woman is taking a picture with one of the actors. I think he played the character Michael.

Here we are at Kyotofu, a Japanese eatery. I think this was a green tea drink. It was very smooth and yummy.

Another dessert from Kyotofu. The ice cream is a duel of coffee and eggnogg. On the side was some kind of red fruit sauce and pepero sticks.

Sweet tofu! I'm not a fan of tofu, but this was really good. It literally tasted like sweet tofu.

Sweet potato cake with ice cream. Yummy!

Kaiseki prix fixe. It's an assortment of 3 desserts chosen by the chef. In front is green tea cream brulee. In the middle is a cupcake, and in the back is tofu cheesecake. Yummy!

Green tea chocolate! Very good green tea flavor and not too sweet.

My silly sister in the subway on the way back to the Hyatt.

Inside the Hyatt is a view of the Hudson. We were able to see a tiny Statue of Liberty from here.

Yay! It's another great day in NY city. And it was our last day here :( I'm going to miss New York and can't wait to get back! Now we're on to Day Four in Canada!

Day Two in New York

2010-12-18T23:00:00.000-08:00

Today, we hit up more famous spots in New York like the Brooklyn Flea Market, Chinatown, Times Square and much more. (We also stopped by SoHo District but I failed to take decent pictures! And Jessica took us to a super delicious ice cream place called "Sundaes and Cones," and again I didn't take any good pics.) Our feet were hurting so much because we were walking around nonstop from 8 am til past midnight!

Inside at the Brooklyn Flea Market!

One of the vendors in the market were selling these cool and green planters.

Another vendor with beautiful and natural items.

Super cute doll at the Hazel Village vendor. Looks just like Tobit!

Handmade items.

Vintage jewelry

Vintage cheese boxes.

Cute vendor with many vintage bags and clothing.

Super cute backpacks

Entrance to a subway.

Somewhere near the Brookyln Bridge.

At the famous Grimaldi's Pizzaria! We waited "on line" (as the NYorkers say) for more than an hour because it's very popular.

Delicious and fresh pizza! It was worth the wait!

A different type of pizza but just as delicious!

My yummy slice!

Chinatown is super packed and full of asians.

My cousin is making cotton candy after dinner at a Japanese restaurant. They give you a little cup of sugar to pour into the machine. It's so cute and clever.

Yay! We gave my cousin our sugars and so his cotton candy was much bigger.

Times Square! Very bright and packed with people.

Inside a giant Toys 'R Us store. To the left is a huge ferris wheel inside of the building!

Look at the array of M&M's at the M&M store. We bought about $36 worth of candy because we were excited and didn't see the sign that said $12 per pound.

This was taken right next to our Jersey City Hyatt Hotel. It's the Hudson River!

We are quickly moving on to Day Three in New York!

Day One in New York

2010-12-17T07:30:00.000-08:00

Hello! It's been a long while since my last post, but it's not been without good reason!
Today was the beginning of a 8 day adventure and from LAX, my sister, cousin, and I flew for 5 hours to New York for the first time. My first impression of New York was, "It's super cold! And look at all the tall buildings!" The 30 degrees Fahrenheit weather was a big change for a Californian like me but I had some thermals to help fight off the chill.

Anyways, here we are on our first event in New York, which was to take the subway from our New Jersey Hyatt hotel to the big apple. With the help of our lovely tour guide and good friend, we survived.

Jessica, my sister, and my cousin are buying subway tickets.

Here's a classic New York street with busy construction workers. Close by this street, the Twin Towers is being redeveloped.

In the subway, a mariachi band is playing music for tip.

Our brunch was bagels at "Ess-a-Bagel."

My raisin walnut bagel. Look at the thick layer of cream cheesey goodness!

The famous 5th Avenue with many brand name stores.

Rockefeller Center

Me, my sister, and my cousin in front of Rockefeller Center.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

A beautiful window display on 5th Avenue. The piece is made completely from paper materials.

Limited Edition Barbie Foosball table. Only ten were made and this one costs $24,999.99. Pretty crazy!

Spicy and yummy New York street food- chicken and rice!

In front of The Plaza Hotel. Remember the character Eloise? "Eloise! At the Plaza!"

At Dylan's Candy Bar. This is the stairs leading down to another floor of sweets.

It's nighttime now and we're at an outdoor market. Local, cool, handmade, or unique items are sold here. It's like a live etsy!

Artichoke pizza from "Artichoke." Super creamy and good!

Pommes Frites or french fries!

Yummy! With lots of strange dippings...oh yeah, and the fries are deep-fried twice!

At the end of the day, it was pretty late and we were super tired. But we ate awesome food and saw the streets of New York. On to Day Two in New York!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

2010-10-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

I made a delicious batch of chocolate chip cookies a couple of days ago. And that just made me crave some white choco macadamia nut cookies...yum! I don't even like white chocolate but when its put together with macadamia nuts, they are just so delicious. Unfortunately, I had only half of the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts that were called for, but they came out just right nonetheless. The recipe is adapted from Whipped and these cookies were seriously perfect.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies:
yield: 24 large cookies or 36 small cookies

Ingredients:
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
2-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
10 ounces white chocolate chips
1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking pans with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine melted butter, both sugars, vanilla extract, and salt. Whip the mixture for about a minute until texture is smooth. Blend 1 egg at a time into the batter.
3. Gradually add in flour and baking soda. Blend completely and make sure to use a spatula to wipe the sides of the bowl for any unincorporated flour.
4. With the spatula, gently fold in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.
5. Drop small spoonfuls of dough onto baking pan. The cookies will expand, so make sure to space them out about 2-3 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool for about 5 minutes on the baking pan before moving them to a cookie rack.

Dark Chocolate Truffles

2010-10-26T00:44:00.000-07:00

J'aime le chocolat! I love chocolate! And so I had to make chocolate truffles which is basically chocolate ganache rolled up into spheres. The truffles can be flavored with liquers like Grand marnier or even balsmic vinegar. Then they're covered in delectable coatings like cocoa powder, nuts, and matcha powder. The coatings that I used were powdered roast grain, shredded coconut, walnuts, almonds, and cocoa powder.

When I buy chocolate, it has to be dark. The darker the better! I'm one of those chocolate fanatics who can handle biting into 100% cacao...yummy. The first time I ever bit into pure chocolate, I felt like I was tasting chocolate butter. The silky texture, the aroma, the intensely rich chocolate--the experience is quite life changing. I wanted to share this wonderful 100% taste with my friends, but they didn't care too much for it. Actually, I think one of my friends started spitting the chocolate out and tearing up a bit. I guess I'm the odd one. Well at least I'm not alone when I say that it's always a good idea to use the best quality chocolate possible. I really wanted to buy some Varlhona chocolate fèves, but I didn't feel like going all out just yet. Plus, I recently bought Ghirardelli 60% chocolate bars and I think they work just fine! And usually I buy Ghirardelli chocolate chips, but I remembered Ina Garten said that chocolate bars are better quality than chocolate chips...something to do with the added emulsifiers inside of the choco chips. (Ina Garten is my hero!)

I used Ghirardelli's dark chocolate truffle recipe and I had to cut the recipe in half because I didn't have enough heavy cream on hand. I almost had the chance to buy more heavy cream, but my sister wouldn't let me until I used the mere remaining tablespoons left in our fridge...boo hoo! I digress, the chocolate truffle recipe was quite simple and it leaves much room for experimenting. Below, from left to right are the three kinds of chocolate truffles I made. The first one is a green tea infused truffle covered in chopped walnuts. The next one is flavored with roast grain powder rolled in sweetened coconut shreds. The last truffle is coated with cocoa powder and chopped roasted almonds.

Dark Chocolate Truffles:
yield: 30 truffles

Ingredients:
2 (4 oz) 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate bar, chopped into small equal pieces
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
6 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions:
1. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Add the butter and stir until melted. Add the chopped chocolate pieces. Stir until completely melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and pour into a shallow bowl.
2. Cool, cover, and refrigerate the mixture until firm, at least 2 hours.
3. Using a melon baller or small spoon, roll the mixture into 1 inch balls. Roll each ball in the cocoa. Enjoy immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Note: Instead of only using unsweetened cocoa for coating, I used chopped nuts, coconut shreds, and matcha powder.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2010-10-24T02:13:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been eating way too many sweet and salty foods. And why might that be? Well...for the past week, I've been watching the show 30 Rock. (By the way, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin are absolutely hilarious). Tina Fey's character inspires me to eat a lot of sugary and fatty foods like chocolate bars, hot dogs, and pizza. I bet my calorie and sodium intake is way overhead...not good! Consequently, my body has been angry with me and I finally decided to change for better! Hooray!

The first healthy food that came to mind was good old chicken noodle soup. Oddly enough, I don't even like chicken noodle soup...but I think it's because my body was yearning for some nutrition. And so, I opened my fridge and found some carrots, onions, and chicken and I was sold. The cooking process was quite simple. All I did was brew up some chicken stock (because I didn't have any canned stock), threw in vegetables, and boiled the soup. Et voila! Fini! Bon appetit!

Bread and Butter

2010-10-23T18:16:00.000-07:00

I love fresh and warm bread and who doesn't? One goal I've been trying to accomplish for a couple of weeks now is to make delicious and edible bread! The first time I tried to make bread, the oven was just too hot and my breads came out so hard that we used them as pet rocks. The next couple times, I was able to make softer bread, but the insides were not fully cooked--we used that to make croutons. After my bread baking failures, I decided to take a break. Then I picked up a copy of Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice and was enlightened. (For reals). The reading was so fun and interesting and one of the many things I learned to enjoy was listening to the sound of the fresh-out-of-the-oven crackling bread--it's like a lullaby. And my favorite recipe in the book is the Italian bread...the crust is crisp and the inside is soft, I'm almost tempted to use the bread as a pillow.

With my Italian bread dough, I made breadsticks, mini pizzas, and a couple bread boules for homemade chili...it was so good! No more rock-like breads! No more undercooked dough! These Italian bread pieces were just perfect. And because I was so happy with my breads, I saved one bread boule for sir butter. They get along so well.

Italian Bread Recipe:
(adapted from Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice)

Biga: (pre-ferment for Italian bread)
yield: 3-1/2 cups dough

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
1/2 tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp water, at room temperature

Directions:
1. Stir together the flour and yeast in electric mixer. Add 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp water and stir until a coarse ball forms. Add flour or water, according to need, so that the dough is neither too sticky nor too stiff.
2. Knead in electric mixer on medium speed with dough hook for 4 minutes.
3. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 2-4 hours, or until nearly doubles in size.
4. Remove the dough from bowl and knead lightly to degas and return to bowl, covering bowl with plastic wrap. Place bowl in the refrigerator overnight.

Italian Bread:
yield: two 1 pound loaves or 9 torpedo rolls

Ingredients:
3-1/2 cups biga
2-1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
1-2/3 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp diastatic barley malt powder (optional)
1 tbsp olive oil, vegetable oil, or shortening
3/4 cup to 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp water (or milk if making torpedo rolls), lukewarm 90-100 degrees F
semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting

Directions:
1. Remove biga from refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough. Cut it into about 10 small pieces with a pastry scraper or serrated knife. Cover with towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour to take off the chill.
2. Stir together the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, and malt powder into a large bowl or electric mixer. Add the biga pieces, olive oil, and 3/4 cup water and mix on low speed with paddle attachment until a ball forms. The dough should be slightly sticky and soft, but not batterlike or very sticky. If dough feels tough and stiff, add more water.
3. Knead dough in electric mixer on medium speed for 6 minutes. The dough should pass the windowpane test. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer dough to bowl, rolling to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
4. Ferment at room temperature for approximately 2 hours or until dough doubles in size.
5. Gently divide the dough into 2 equal pieces or 9 pieces for torpedo rolls. If dough is not flexible, let dough rest for about 5-10 minutes. On a floured surface, carefully form pieces into batards, bread boules, pizza dough, or breadsticks. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap.
6. Proof at room temperature for about 1 hour, or until dough has grown to about 1-1/2 times their original size.
7. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Score the loaves with parallel streaks and bread boules with 'x' slashes.
8. Transfer dough onto baking pan lined with parchment paper and dusted with cornmeal. Lower oven temperature to 450 degrees F and bake for 10-15 minutes.
9. Transfer loaves to a cooling rack and cool for at least 45 minutes before slicing.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-10-22T01:03:00.000-07:00

Choco chips! Choco choco choco! Chocolate chip cookies! I think freshly baked chocolate chip cookies are one of my greatest weaknesses. When the fragrant chocolate aroma wafts around the house I go crazy! And then I tend to eat one too many cookies for my own good...not good. Even my dogs come around to see what I'm baking--but of course dogs can't eat any! (These cookies are all mine!) Well, not really all mine...to prevent myself from overeating these delicious golden cookies, I send some to my neighbors and friends.

I've been on a baking frenzy lately and so I've been running out of butter and chocolate chips. To make things worse, I accidentally melted 3/4 cup more butter than I was supposed to for this recipe; but I didn't actually stick all that extra butter into the batter. I think it's because I love butter and of course, dark chocolate. One of these days, I'm going to melt them together in my makeshift double boiler and just sit in front of a window and eat-it-all-gone. When I do get my lazy bum to the market, I'm going to stock up on a couple pounds of butter and a few good bags of baking chocolate.

Does anyone have any idea what the "best baking chocolate" is? According to America's Test Kitchen, in which I place a bunch of my trust, Callebaut's 60% chocolate is the best baking chocolate. I'm tempted to buy some, but they're quite expensive and I don't exactly know where to buy them. For now I'm sticking with Ghirardelli's dark chocolate and it's still absolutely delicious and perfect for baking sweet goodies.

Chocolate Chip Cookies: (America's Test Kitchen)

yield: 16 large cookies

Ingredients:

1-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

14 tbsp unsalted butter (1-3/4 sticks)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1-1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli recommended)

3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10 inch skillet over medium high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1-3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.

3. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (optional), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

4. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons. Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet.

5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10-14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

lapetitefrog

Fish Shaped Bread

2010-10-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

These cute fish shaped breads are literally called "fish bread" in Korea and "baked sea bream" in Japan. But they're not actually made from fish, they're just shaped like them. And inside these little fishy pockets are various fillings like sweet red bean paste or cinnamon and brown sugar. Sometimes they're filled with chocolate, nutella, and cheese...the possibilities are endless with this little fish.

If you want to make these from scratch, you can use my Korean Pancake recipe. You'll also need a fish shaped pan. If you have one already, lightly oil the pan and pour the batter in. Then put some filling on top and pour a little bit more batter on top. Close the pan and heat it on medium heat it for about 2 minutes and flip over for another 2 minutes. Depending on how soft you want the bread, you can leave it in the pan for a longer or shorter time.

And if you're wondering where you can get one of these fish shaped pans, you can find them in asian markets or online. I had to buy mine online because the nearest asian market was sold out of them.

Apple Pie on a Rainy Monday

2010-10-19T00:56:00.000-07:00

I've been having cravings for apple pie lately. Just the thought of a warm buttery crust with delicious sweet apple filling makes me feel happy inside. And since this morning was quite chilly with a little bit of rain, I forced myself to go to the market and get myself some fresh Granny Smith apples. They smelled great...and since I bought too many, I might save some for caramel apples later.

The apple pie recipe I used is from allrecipes.com called "Apple Pie by Grandma Ople." The pie came out a little bit too sweet for my family's liking and so I decided to cut down on the sugar. Other than that, the pie was perfect! We almost ate the whole pie in one day!

Apple Pie
yield: 8 servings

Double Crust Pastry Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup butter

6 tablespoons cold water

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until dough is crumbly. Add the cold water and mix until a ball is formed. Divide dough so that one half is bigger than the other.

2. Roll out the larger ball and transfer into a 9" pie pan. Roll out the second ball and cut long vertical pieces to form the lattice cover.

3. Set in fridge while preparing the apple pie filling.

Filling Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

4 Granny Smith apples (peeled, cored and sliced)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt butter in saucepan and stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, cinnamon, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

2. Fill lined pastry pan with sliced apples. Pour sugar mixture over the top and cover with lattice pastry crust.

3. Bake 15 minutes in preheated oven. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.