a dash of adventure

wow...looks like christine and i are going through a terrible fun drought >___< that has to be remedied quickly


to be fair, grad school/working life is an adventure all by itself, but i do miss the exotic travel, cosplay prep and late night girl talks =\ wonder when that's going to pick up again... A-kon yeah? :D


well, on the adventure front, i've had some fun :) but cosplay has hit a stand still.  no worries, i still plan on whipping out at least!!! Tifa for A-kon *crosses fingers*


so, for your enjoyment, i've included pictures of my spontaneous trip to chicago to meet people i've never met and a place i've never seen.  i didn't visit millenium park, see the bean, tour navy pier, gaze over the skyline from hancock observatory or even eat deep dish pizza (so fail on that one :P) but i toured northwestern university and made some new friends :) i call that a good time ^__^

Chicago O'Hare Airport :)

Chicago!

Navy Pier

Chicago...from across Lake Michigan

Alice Millar Chapel

Northwestern University

Senior Tradition: paint rocks along Lake Michigan

obviously, i will have to go back to chicago again...for the deep dish pizza :P

Thanksgiving Desserts :D

So for Thanksgiving, I baked a bunch of stuff :3  Thanks to Tiffy's tips on food picture taking from before, I have a billion (bad) pictures on my camera that would be better if the lighting in my kitchen were better XD  But anyways, here you go~

Dessert #1: Pumpkin Maple Pie
The first thing I baked was a pumpkin maple syrup pie, but the pictures didn't turn out well at all :(  So I'll show you the one they had on the recipe website, skip that, and just post the others XP

Dessert #2: Raspberry chocolate tarts~
My ingredients :3  My kitchen was super messy XD

 Fresh raspberries, raspberry jam, cream cheese, and semisweet chocolate :3

Tart shells, with hand-ground almonds pressed into the bottom.

Chocolate + cream cheese as a base. 

Fresh raspberries on top~

Warmed raspberry jam to hold everything together. 

Drizzle some melted chocolate~ 

 And lastly, sliced almonds as a pretty decoration :3  Om nom nom.

Dessert #3: Pumpkin Cheesecake
For Thanksgiving dinner, I made a double-layer pumpkin cheesecake.  I used cinnamon graham crackers for the crust and sprinkled walnut bits over the bottom crust.  Then there was a layer of regular cheesecake, then a layer with pumpkin and spices, and then some walnuts as decorations around the outside.

Dessert #4: Pineapple Bread Pudding
I also made bread pudding for the first time.  The special touch was canned pineapple mixed in, and I used oatnut bread (with hazelnuts and oats) instead of white bread, because my mom likes the nutty bread.  I think it turned out a little drier than restaurant bread pudding, but people seemed to like it :)  I also sprinkled walnuts on top.

wahhhhh everything looks so good!!! :D

Cupcakes!

The other day, Huai sent me this link to these super cute adorable cupcakes :3

I think my favorites are:

But actually, they're all super cute 8D tee hee hee i saw the link earlier! i love the owl one XD

One day, we're going to open a bakery XD  I want to have all these cupcakes in there, and more~~

Please come visit our bakery :x  It will be themed and everything.

Making Food Look Good :)

Just thought I'd share an article that provides tips for awesome food photography :)  lately, i've been cooking different foods and desserts since there's been a lot of dinner parties and weekly get-togethers. I highly recommend anyone to start cooking and take pics of your creations as you go!

Things I've made recently

Honey Jalepeno Chicken with Japanese Soba

Mango Pudding

Apple Pie

Banana Bread <-- I made some too :3

Vietnamese Beef and Rice (Bo Luc Lac)

Unagi/Tamago/Spicy Crab Sushi Rolls

Homemade Pizza

Beef Noodle Soup

Chicken Alfredo <-- Is this the same as the one you fed us during senior design :O?  It was nommy.
Homemade Salsa
Japanese Curry
Blackened Tilapia Tacos
Chipotle BBQ Chicken
Homemade Turkey Burgers
Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Oh lala~  These foods look so good~~

Seeings the Sights of The Big Apple :3

Hi everyone!  It's been a while since we've posted anything -- because, I guess, we haven't been doing that much XD  But I spent the past weekend in New York City seeing the sights with my mom.

We arrived on Friday afternoon in JFK, which is a huge airport, and took a shared ride service to our hotel.  Traffic in NYC is... bad, to put it most positively.  It's the epitome of downtown nightmare.  But on the plus side, we got to do a lot of pre-sight seeing.


Our hotel was right next to Times Square, which holds a lot of big buildings with sparkly signs and flashy lights.  It's prettier at night, but still pretty impressive during the day.  We wandered around, took pictures, and then headed to tkts on 46th Street & Broadway, a row of booths tucked behind a set of red stairs.  If you want discount tickets for theater shows (Broadway and off-Broadway), this is the place to go.  We got tickets for Mamma Mia! for 40% off, which was pretty expensive but not bad for side orchestra seats 10 rows back from the stage.  Mamma Mia! is a really good show -- very full of energy, bright colors, good singing.  I would definitely recommend watching a Broadway show if you're ever in NYC.

Our hotel room card XD

Red stairs, at night.

The next day, we hit most of the typical tourist sights.  In the morning, we got up early to beat the lines for the ferry to Liberty/Ellis Island, taking the subway down to Battery Park and arriving a little after 8 AM.  Definitely recommended to go early, because when we left the lines were practically out of the park.  Tickets are $12/adult, and you get to ferry to Liberty Island, home of the Statue of Liberty, and then Ellis Island, which has an immigration museum.  It was a beautiful day to see the Statue of Liberty.  Ellis Island was nice, but we didn't have much interest in the immigration/history bit, so we didn't spend that much time there.  They had a Barbie display, though XD

By the way, the ferry is not recommended for the faint of heart (those who get seasick).  The ride there is gorgeous and not too bad -- you can see the city skyline, the Statue from far away, etc -- but at the dock back on New York, the ferry sways like an earthquake.


After that, Greenwich Village, a nice-ish residential area with lots of small cafes and restaurants.  There is a food tour offered that we didn't take, but we stopped by this adorable cafe called Cafe Angelique to have lunch.  The food was not bad but not what we're used to -- I'd have to say that New York food is very light and in smaller portions than the typical "American-sized portions," bearing semblance to European food.

 

Next was Central Park, which was probably one of the highlights of the day.  Central Park is huge and gorgeous!  Especially on a nice day.  The weather isn't too hot this time of year, especially in the shade, and the trees are green and the sky is blue :3  Lots of people, lots of entertainers, lots of walking.  I would love to spend a day just ambling around aimlessly there.  They also offer horse-drawn carriages, bike rentals, and bike tours.  There were also some pr0 roller bladers.

We stopped by to rest at our hotel before going to Madison Square Garden -- which is, disappointingly, a misnomer, because it's actually a sports arena/theater.  But, I did manage to find Image Anime and take a look at wigs!  If you ever need to buy a wig, definitely consider Image Anime.  Their wigs are amazing -- heat resistant, natural-looking, and they feel better than my natural hair (which is kind of sad QQ).  Expensive, but reasonably-priced and even inexpensive for the quality you get.  The only con is that their stock fluctuates and you sort of just get what you can if you can get lucky, and their website is not updated at all.  But you can email them or call them.  They're really nice.

 

Okay, enough about that :3 Our last stop of the day was the Empire State Building... which, I'd have to say, is excessive amounts of difficult with a superfluously complicated to access observatory.  Lines are long, which is to be expected, but they ask the families to step to some weird waiting area (and that doesn't really help make the line shorter or anything, just herding people to the side).  And then, when you finally get your tickets (not a bad price for the regular observatory, though, only $20/adult), you wait in line to get your picture taken and then get to the elevator, only to go up to the 80th floor.  Then you have to wait in another line snaking around the floor to go up the other 6 floors (or you can walk up, but we were tired).  On the plus side, we got to see King Kong, and the person inside was having way too much fun being King Kong XD 

It was cold outside, but the view is nice; you can see all of NYC from up there.  There's also an indoor area with large windows, but no seating area, cafe, or information.  We stayed to watch the sunset, which I'm sure was beautiful behind the clouds that materialized on the horizon once we arrived (like Tokyo Tower) XD...  The sky was pretty, though.  We were tired, so we left without seeing the night lights, but I'm sure that would have been nice to look at.  Maybe I'll go back sometime :3  The observatory is open until 2 AM, so it'd be cool to watch a meteor shower there.

The next day, we got up later and walked to Grand Central Terminal.  By the way, most everything is walkable in downtown, and it's nice because you get to see New York City life :3  And Grand Central Terminal is very, very pretty.  Definitely worth a visit, and pictures really don't do it justice.  Next to it, we happened upon a monthly festival they had going on that occurs every 2nd Sunday of the month.  There, they have booths of clothes, scarves, accessories, food, and art.  Things get repetitive, but it's fun to wander, and the stuff is inexpensive.  Kind of reminded me of the Pecan Street Festival ^ ^

One of many dress designs displayed on the street, created by fashion design students(?).  We saw them on the way :3

 

 

Our next stop was Rockefeller Center, which houses the Top of the Rock Observatory, some cafes/restaurants, and the NBC headquarters (or whatever the news station equivalent of HQ is).  They have pretty statues, fountains, and flowers :3  The other thing they have is an NBC store and a Nintendo(!) store.  I realized I don't watch enough TV to know much of the stuff in the NBC store (nor do I play enough games to know the stuff in the Nintendo store XD), but they had Doctor Who shirts (!!) and lots of Heroes, The Office, and other shows.  The Nintendo store was cute, and I got some pictures of my mom playing with a DS, haha.  Close to Rockefeller Center is Radio City Music Hall, which doesn't look like much from the outside, but is apparently very nice and plush on the inside.  A good choice for a show, if you like what they're showing when you visit ^w^

 

We had lunch at another cute cafe called Le Pain, where they sell all organic food.  We sat outside and enjoyed the weather (it was a bit cloudy so not too hot).

 

Our  last stop was back to Image Anime, so I could purchase a wig for Aerith.  I spent way too long deciding, and in the end I think my wig is both the wrong color and too short.  Sigh.  So I'm fretting about that, but I guess we'll see what I can do with it.  If nothing else, it's a very pretty wig that I could, er, wear normally and pretend to be mixed with.  Except I really just look like a very convincing Asian girl who dyed her hair brown, rather than mixed XD


We took a bus via New York Airport Service to the airport in the afternoon -- the bus was late, so I'm not sure I recommend this service, but at least it's pretty cheap ($12  for one person, $19 for two).  From there, my mom and I parted ways as she headed home, and I headed out to orientation.


All in all, I'd say NYC is a nice place to visit.  If you're a fan of city life, this is the place for you.  For me, I like my cities cleaner and safer, so I'd pick London or Japan over NYC, and I'd never live in NYC.  But there are lots of exciting sights to see, so I'd definitely come back to visit again someday :)


Looks like fun :)