Currently Reading...

A couple books I have to read for my role as tutor for some of my favorite kids:

1. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy



I read this when I was in high school, I think. It was a GREAT book. Incredibly moving and powerful. Not in a "feel-good and everything is great with the world" kind of way but rather "gives you motivation to change the world" way. Catch my drift?



2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott



This is being read currently by my sixth grade girl. It's a classic that every little girl should read. With that said, I've never read it, so it's a real treat for me to read it with her. Afterall, I AM a little girl at heart~



3. Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler



This one is for my own please and oh my goodness, this girl is so hilarious! I absolutely love her! And tonight is going to be a belvedere evening~~~

Beard Papa's

When writing your thesis/paper/whatever you have to do/etc makes you want to pull your hair out...



Beard Papa's saves the day!

Saying goodbye to a very good year and welcoming yet another~

As the new year approaches, I turn over a new chapter of my life. And I literally feel like I shed old skin because my birthday falls near the end of the year. As a child, I didn't like my birthday because it fell right in the middle of the holidays, but I learned to cope with it. Now, holidays, especially New Year's Day, mean a lot more to me because I really feel like I am starting a new chapter of my life.

Christmas is hands down my FAVORITE holiday of all time, but New Years comes in really close. I love making resolutions because they give me the motivation to live my life better. My resolutions (and I think for the most part, everyone's resolutions) are usually the same: somehow, someway we want to be better people. This year, I will try my best to stop being such a lazy girl, which will be extremely hard as I do consider it to be one of my many talents. =P

This Christmas season was busy for me, though busy in a good sense. I had a couple Christmas parties to attend (I won a wine that was made by the Director of Biochemistry of USC!), a thesis to write, AND it was my birthday!

For my birthday, my sister was so cool. We went to go eat at Cafe Santorini, which in my opinion has THE BEST GREEK FOOD EVER PERIOD! As a warning though, their food is so so so salty. I was chugging down water like a camel! Then we went on a shopping spree, and she bought me so many cool things.


My sister is so cool because she does so many good things for me. I'm really blessed to have her as a sister. But I do a lot of good things for her too, so I guess we even out! =P

*From the top left to right: strawberry, peppermint, coffee, strawberry lemon, mint, i don't remember, red velvet, red velvet, coconut, dulce de leche, red velvet, red velvet.

For my birthday, instead of getting a cake, I got a bunch of tiny cupcakes (dozen). Which I thought was really cool and new and these cupcakes were absolutely so so good! And I got them in different flavors so we could all try out different stuff. We got these at Dots...good stuff!

My hand looks so awkward there...

The best sister in the whole wide world, who shared the best birthday ever with me! <3>

Gift of Giving

Lately, my sister and I have been going to school to study for our finals. Since our study sessions go into the wee hours of the night, we've made it a habit to drop by our local Starbucks for our much needed drug of choice: caffeine.

During this holiday season, our local Starbucks decided to support The Salvation Army's Angel Tree Christmas Charity. Basically, children, who are in need, get to fill out Christmas wish lists. Then, anyone can "adopt" the children's lists and be a secret Santa.

My sister and I decided to pick up two Christmas wish lists. I got a 12 year old girl named Sequoia who wanted a Hannah Montana doll and a jewelry making kit. My sister got a 1 year old boy named Cody who needed some clothes and shoes.

It felt really good to do a kind act and know that it made a little kid really happy. And our Starbucks gave us free drinks just for "be[ing] an angel." =P

Merry Christmas Sequoia and Cody!

Kimchi Sujebi ( I wish I had a cuter title) =/

My recipe for Spicy Kimchi Sujebi.

Sujebi is a Korean dish (obviously) that uses pulled strips of dough. It's pretty hard to do from scratch because you want all the strips to be of equal size, thin enough so that it can cook relatively quickly, and it just takes a while to knead the dough, and etcetera etcetera. So rather than slaving away for hours in the kitchen I decided to go to the grocery store for premade sujebi strips. It is, afterall, 2010. Oddly enough, the noodles are placed with the fake crab. Well, maybe that's just MY korean store I go to.

AND, this post is picture-less because my mom came home and I started to get nervous because my dish wasn't done and hence, I forgot to take pictures.

In any case, without further ado, here is the ingredient list and recipe!

Serves 5

Ingredients
9 cups water
15 anchovies, beheaded and degutted (sounds horrible! And it felt worse beheading and degutting them T.T)
1 cup kimchi
5 tbsp kimchi juice
2 potatoes, cubed
1/2 onion, cubed
2 tbsp garlic, minced
3 tbsp red pepper paste
salt to taste
1 package of sujebi noodles
5 green onions, chopped

Directions:
1. In a pot, bring to a boil the water, anchovies, kimchi, kimchi juice, potatoes, onion, and garlic. Let it boil at medium high heat for 10 minutes.
2. Reduce temperature to low, and let it simmer for 10 more minutes.
3. Pull out all the anchovies. Add red pepper paste and salt to taste.
4. Add the sujebi noodles. Let it simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until the noodles are cooked through.
5. Add the green onions. Let it simmer for 1-2 minutes.
6. Serve and enjoy!

=)

Mozza Balls

I just gave a mock dissertation yesterday and so today was one of those days where I just wanted to not go to school and rest, which is exactly what I did. Comfort foods are perfect for lazy days, such as today, so I created my variation on cheese sticks. Mozzarella isn't my all time favorite of cheeses, but I don't know what other cheese you would use for cheese sticks. =/

I suppose you could buy super organic mozzarella cheese that comes in that ball in the water, but as I was saying, today was a lazy day. So string cheese it was! I used string cheese from Cowpals, cuz the cows on the packaging looked so cute! I want to be their pal! jk~ -_-

I used 4 string cheese sticks (two for my sister and two for myself) and cut them into bite size bits. Hence the name Mozza BALLS. =)


I set up an assembly line of 2 tbsp flour, 1 egg beaten, and 1/2 cup breadcrumbs with 1 tbsp dried oregano. I really like the woodsy flavor oregano gives to foods. Also, I thought the oregano matched the herby marinara sauce. (Well, I used a store bought can of marinara sauce and I assumed they used herbs such as oregano in their sauce. But it's just an assumption, or as my PI would like to say "hypothesis"!)

Dredge your balls into flour, egg, breadcrumb mixture. In that order. Or else.


Line up your beautifully covered balls and freeze for about 15 minutes. I think freezing really makes the cheese absorb all the flavors and also they come out crispier when you fry. So, yes, please freeze them.


Time to fry! Pour in olive oil into your pan so that it comes up about 1/2 inch. I used olive oil because, to me, olive oil is synonymous with Italian food, but you can also use canola, grapeseed, or whatever oil you have on hand. Although, I don't think coconut oil is a good idea...

Make sure your oil is hot before placing the balls in. I don't have a oil temperature gauge, so I couldn't tell you how hot the oil should be but you should be able to see little bubbles in the oil and that's how you know. The balls should spend 1-2 minutes in the oil on each side.


When they are done, they should come out a perfect golden color with the cheese oozing from sides.


Enjoy these cheesy balls of perfection with whatever sauce you like!

goodbye!

welcome to the magical world of Mr. Strange and Mr. Norrell

Who? Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell!

What? The revival of magic!

Where? London

When? 19th century

How? And that is where the essence of the book lies!

However, reader beware! This lovely book spans 800 pages! That's right. Eight HUNDRED pages. But don't let that scare you away! It's a brilliant read~

When I first saw this book hit the shelves of my local borders, I was immediately drawn to it by its title and illustrations. When I read the synopsis, I was hooked! However, I put the book back down because it looked like a bible! Fate had my reach for this book again, when my tutor students wanted to read a more contemporary novel. I immediately thought of this book because of it's Harry Potter-esque storyline. [Warning: Harry Potter and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell are very different magicians]. In any case, I'm very glad I did!

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell are two magicians who have dedicated their lives to magic. There is beauty and danger when one becomes too involved in their art. This is a concept that I can most readily attest to. I know that sometimes I can get so incredibly absorbed in my work that I forget that there is another world out there. It is a fine line between dedication to your science and becoming a slave to it.

So...go out and get some brunch!

I went to Rialto Cafe in Fullerton because when I was reading, Jonathan Strange was walking along the rialto in Venice. So imagine my surprise when I saw a cafe called Rialto Cafe? I just had to go!

It was such a cute cafe and downtown fullerton has such a homey feel. But the sidewalks were so small, I thought cars were going to run over us!

I got a veggie burger...for brunch...yes I'm strange...[no pun intended. hehe!]