Do You Like Fishsticks?

I've been thinking about topics to blog about, and I would usually blog about my week. I don't want another typical recollection of the activities I've done over the week, but some with some thought and depth. Unless those topics get too boring to read, the I don't know. Blogging like this isn't really challenging/improving my writing skills, so what now?

I'm thinking of making a tumblr.com account because I have so many photos to post along with their descriptions, that it seems to make perfect sense to create one. I am a lazy person, and I'd rather post pretty pictures with a sentence-long description, rather than typing out a whole story (hence my weekly postings).

Who takes the time to read every word anyway?
It's okay, this is for my own reference, for when I want to browse through this blog a few years from now. By then, most likely, I'll probably have another new blog in the future (maybe when I graduate from school?). This is me, for this period of time anyway.

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My group of friends and I surprised two birthday girls with tickets to the Britney Spears concert this past Friday at the Staples Center. They were (obviously) ecstatic! I wish we could've joined them, but these tickets were first of all expensive, and hard to get.

We took them out to dinner at Little Fat Sheep, which was a place for northern Chinese hot pot. It was my first time there; as I walked into the restaurant, it smelled like faintly like Chinese herbal medicine. Later did I know that they add Chinese herbs into the delicious broth, so it's good for you. Despite the fact that they add the herbs in their broth, the herbs helped with the flavoring, and you'll be drinking the broth knowing that it's good for you!


For an Asian restaurant, their customer service was pretty good. The staff was attentive, so thumbs up for that!

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My desserts-run friend Wasin and I went to Old Town Pasadena to try some Dots Cupcakes. When we walked into the cramped contemporary-styled (isn't every trendy bakery?), there was a strong tantilizing aroma of a mixture of cream, vanilla, and flour; I didn't mind it. The cupcakes that were on display were really adorable; some had a flower-shaped fondant sprinkle placed in the center, some had regular jimmies on them. Of course, the frosting on each cupcake was decoratively spread in a tiered layer (look at the pictures for reference). We ordered red velvet, vanilla chocolate, apple pie, and strawberry shortcake. After ordering these cakes, the cashier gave us cute "bambü" forks for us to pick on our portable desserts.



Dots carries a supply of mini-sized cupcakes ($1.50) and regular-sized cupcakes ($2.75). Don't let the cute packaging and decorations fool you! Dots is no Sprinkles, if you prefer your cupcakes rich and moist. The frosting on red velvet was quite creamy (I'd prefer my cream cheese frosting with more of cream cheese taste), but the overall cake(s) (including its taste and texture) was just like any American cake.

I personally don't enjoy eating American cake in large amounts, for the cake is usually 1) dry and rough like overcooked chicken breast, and 2) too sweet (for me to say that, it's saying something). Dots cakes aren't very rich, meaning after one cupcake you'd be ready for the next one. If you don't like rich-flavored cakes, then Dots is probably for you.

Next up my non-existant "Things to Try" list is My Sweet Cupcake, which is conveniently located near my local Trader Joe's. I am having high hopes for that one!

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I don't know if I mentioned this in earlier posts, but I talk to my mother everyday, whether she calls me before I call her.

I've been home for two weeks in a row since last weekend, by the way. I called call her yesterday (Monday) afternoon because I had just finished class for the day and was walking to the trolley stop. She picked up, and asked "Aww do you miss mommy already?" Trying to hold in a smile, I immediately said "n-n-no! I don't miss you! You'll just yell at me for not calling you tomorrow!"

Mother: "Are you coming home this weekend as well? Ha ha!"
Me: "Nah, I'm not coming home-" (hears Father joke in background) "Stop coming home!! I don't want to drive you back every weekend!"
Mother: "Yeah, your dad is tired. It's okay, no matter what I love you my oldest baby!"
Me: -holding in a smile- "Aww Mommm! Okay byeee!"

I do miss my parents. They're weird, but I love them.

Mother Dearest; You are the best.

Not a normal week goes by without having unwashed dishes stacking up a mile high (okay, not literally) from the bottom of the sink (one of my hugest pet peeves). Especially when her boyfriend comes over to stay for the night. It's true that he is not a stranger to our little abode, but he is definitely far from being considered a "third roommate/apartment mate."

Good "roommates" clean up after themselves. Let me explain my procedure when he's over. When this guy comes over, and I'm sympathizing her, I see her cooking dinner for him right before he arrives. That's nice and sweet. When he does come over, he would ignore my existence until I greet him first. I walk into my room and close the door, occasionally coming out to grab something that I needed, but hey I'm respecting their alone time. Who enjoys being the third wheel anyway? However, sometimes he doesn't finish her food. That really ticks me off because she made it for him. Especially this time, I helped make her food (which I thought it was for her and I wasn't aware of his arrival). And what's more? He doesn't help her with the dishes, thus the sink full of dirty dishes. I really, really don't want to clean up the mess, especially since I've never witnessed him helping with just anything!

This is what irks me the most.
The next morning, I wake up and go straight to school. When I come home in the afternoon, I am usually famished. I wanted rice, and so I was going to go home to make rice for lunch. She doesn't have class until an hour after I come home. When I come to the rice bowl, it's unwashed, with dried rice sticking on the sides. I mean, at least submerge the thing in water so that it's easily washed off. But no. No rice for me until after I come home from my next class because that is when the bowl is washable.

But I digress. She tries to be considerate. She's not that horrible.
And since I have no rice, I decided to pop some of my mom's homemade popcorn chicken that was frozen in the oven. Anyone, who's anybody has tried my mom's chicken. It is so delicious, that my family members always want her to bring some to parties, and when she doesn't bring some, it'd be a long night of heavy sighs.

It's actually baking in the oven as I'm typing this blog, so I'll post some pictures up later.

EDIT: Here are some pictures :)

Mmm cheekan.

My school mascot was on the trolley to advertise homecoming! N.E.R.D. is gonna be there! /drool Pharrell.


My dorky brother on a kiddy ride thing.

Mother, thank you for bringing me poppable to me this week! (Although you'll never read this blog.)

Catching up

I am truly lucky to have such great parents.

I've got a dad who spends his time after work to drive an hour to my apartment to pick me up, along with a hodgepodge of my belongings, and drive an hour back home. He also drives me back to my apartment at the end of the weekend. Mind you, that is at least four hours spent on the freeway altogether (not counting bad traffic on the 60 either). This is one of the reasons why I try to avoid going home so often, as he is one of my only methods of getting home. My parents would hate if it I took the train to go home.

My mom is just as amazing, if not more. She calls me every day (yes, every day), and brings me to a guilt trip when I fail to make that one call for the day (though it can get very annoying, but that's okay). She makes sure my fridge at my apartment is full of food, and that I won't starve while she's not around. And what's in my fridge? Let me tell you what's in my freezer; homemade eggrolls and potstickers, meats and seafood, and frozen pizza from Costco (I swear, that's the only processed food in my food supply). In my fridge, there is fresh romaine lettuce, fresh tofu, bread, milk, eggs, along with the dinners/lunches my mom prepares on the day that I leave. Let me specify her Sundays on the weekends that I'm home. She gets up earlier than me in the morning, goes grocery shopping with my dad, then comes home at around noon. She prepares a couple of dishes for me to bring, so that I can easily heat these up and eat them with rice. That's a meal! She also prepares soup for me. This weekend, she prepared some curry chicken and potatoes, lemongrass pork, and ginger chicken soup (for me to be warm during these cold days). That's her whole Sunday afternoon right there, preparing food for me. How can I not be thankful for such a great cook for a mother? I feel like a modern day princess when I'm at home.

Just because there was a small demand for more pictures of food, I'll go post some. These foods were concocted in the previous weeks, but I was too lazy to post. I suppose I'll give a brief description of each picture/food.

This pasta was created with some alfredo sauce I bought from Trader Joe's for $2.99. I think it's pretty tasty sauce. I threw in some boiled and drained pasta, alfredo sauce, spinach, garlic, and shrimp in there. But I had some pasta left over. What did I do with it?

I came up with an oriental-tasting pasta, which was inspired from how I usually cooked my fried rice. It was delicious, but unfortunately I didn't have any pictures of the finished meal.

Speaking of fried rice, I make bombass fried rice. I make this when I have left over spam and rice. I keep a bag of frozen mixed carrots and peas in my freezer for stuff like this. What sauce do I use? Vegetarian oyster sauce, and no, it's not as bad as you think once you taste this fried rice. I even caught my roommate sneaking some into bowl, and she thought she was sneaky! LOL.

My mom's prepared frozen eggrolls look like this after I have fried them. It's hard to believe that it was frozen! These babies are the ONLY eggrolls I would eat huge amounts of (aside from the ones my aunt makes, but I digress). The filling includes mainly taro, shrimp (this is what makes it tasty), onions, carrots, vermicelli, and salt&pepper I think. They are the tastiest eggrolls, EVAR. Even ask my friend Shelly; I invite her over to my parties because I know she loves these. So, can I entice you readers (whom I assume are my friends) to come over and visit me? I re-created a Vietnamese dish with some vermicelli noodles, vegetables, and the fish sauce my mom made. I have a glass of the sauce kept in my fridge. The resulting dish is something like a fresh-tasting garden salad.

Finally, the potstickers my mom made at home. The filling was made using her own recipe, and wrapped by her, with love. <3. They can be found frozen in my freezer, but whenever I want to eat them, I take them out and cook them. They smell sooo good after they're ready. Don't they also look good?

Oh and another note, most of these meals only took <30 minutes to prepare. As my jack-of-all-trades uncle would always say, " I am proud of myself!"