Handmade With LOVE

That's what I've been doing lately. My hobby float from one another endlessly. I first obsessed with sewing. I made my home curtains and there is one room left, but the fabric still sit in the locker of my table. And then I obsessed with knitting. Back home in Cambodia, I've never finished my knitting and crochet projects at all! AT ALL! When I was making a bag, I ended up getting a purse. No time. Lazy. Who else to blame? Now I got a lot of supply for knitting and I even finished knitting 5 winter hats (one was the one i wore in my previous post), 3 scarves, and 2 Christmas stockings. I'm gonna post about them later, coming with instruction and patterns of each project. I was determined to finish making scarf for my in-laws before Christmas, but my interest now is in craft. I used to make Scrapbook before here and here with my own limited supplies. But now I decided that I can't avoid going Michaels and don't pick up a craft project to make anymore! So here it is I ended up picking up a lot of stuffs, but luckily most of the items are on sale.

Instant Scrapbook! Easy. Just print your photos and stuff them in the album along with these cards and write down whatever you like! No glue, no technique and other accessary needed. I'm lazy! and I think it saves time and hassle when I want to keep up with my photos from the trips.

This is not instant scrapbooks. Well, my scrapbook projects now is making one and mail it for my cousin's daughter, my both lovely chipmunks, my family, and my wedding. It's gonna take a while, because I haven't chosen which pictures to print.

Wooden alphabet projects. It's a bit messy, but it worth every sweat and penny! Heehee. I fond of them every much and it's gonna be my handmade gift for anyone I want to send my love to. Right now, I finished making them for my own. They require the wooden alphabets (Mine is letter "M", "P", "&" and a heart board, paints and accessaries, scrapbook paper and Mod Podge (I love it!). This glue works as everything from a glue to a sealer.

 I try not to be rush and buy everything I need to decorate my home office or my husband would call it studio. Because my long and corner Beford desk from PotteryBarn which I really love is for my office and the other side is for my sewing and other project. So here it is, my craft wooden alphabet. I'm making a custom frame and it's gonna stand right next to these alphabets.

How I love stamp! Handmade with LOVE!

I love anything handmade. I appreciated and value them most! Because yes it's made with love and heart.

Anyway, I determine to post instruction and everything later. It's easier to note them here and are meant to be shared at the same time. hehehe

Come away with me

No matter how independent we both are, living as a married couple, we still love the idea of running away together. We both are just a pair of birds and I love the idea thinking us as a pair of beautiful Blue Jay.

Dear Deja-Vu!

Massachusetts, It is good to see you again. And this time, I had a lot of fun and great time with my new girlfriends with a whole new experience. If only you realized that you were the point where my life have changed forever 6 years back. I bet you won't believe your eyes that I come back as a new brave, strong, proud and confident woman.

Cook Blog: Shrimp & Avocado Salsa Dip

It is hard to find the salsa dip that match with your taste bud. I love the their sauce, even though not much, but I long for something I used to have. From what I remember, I love the combination of shrimp and avocado and all the veggies should be finely chopped, not puree. Which is why I decided to make my own salsa dip. My recipe is not complicated, but quick and easy. We just need simple ingredients you can find in your pantry and refrigerator. More importantly we don't need to wait until the flavors are all blended. I serve it as my favorite snack as well as my dinner.

 Ingredients:

3 medium sized Tomatoes, chopped
1 chopped Onion
1 diced Avocado
2 finely chopped Jalapeno
10 Shrimps
1 Cup of minced Cilantro
Juice of 1 Lime
1/2 Tsp of Salt and Pepper
1 Tsp of Olive Oil
1 Cup of Tomatoes (Pasta) Sauce

Method:

Bring water to boil over medium-high heat and pour shrimps for 5 seconds. Discard the shrimp. Leave it cool down a bit then chop them.

In a salad bowl, combine the first 5 ingredient together. Add Pasta Sauce, Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil, minced Cilantro and finish with Lime Juice. Mix them well. Now, you're ready to serve with your favorite Tortillas.

Make approximately 4-5 cups.

Note: I love them a bit sour. If you don't, you can use only 1/2 Lime.

 

Cook Blog: Spicy Beef Salad with Lemongrass Dressing

I'm a huge fan of salad. Both Asian Salad and Western style Salad. The main ingredient of salad is the dressing. So I want something a bit different. I'm in the mood to make western salad for church but I'll stick to Asian style too. That's why adding lemongrass to the dressing make the difference to this salad recipe. I love the aroma of lemongrass and sesame oil together. They combined each other very well.

Ingredients:

1 pounds beef shirloin steak
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp grounded black pepper

Salad

1 1/2 cup sweet basil leaves
1 cucumber, sliced
2 wedged tomatoes
1 Sliced Red Onion

Dressing

1 tbsp less sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp minced lemongrass stalk
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp Chilli Sauce (sambal oelek)
1/2 tsp sugar

Method:

Heat a nonstick pan on medium heat. Season the steaks with pinch of salt and black pepper. Add the steaks to the pan and cook until desired tenderness. Transfer the cooked steaks to a plate and slice.

Prepare the Dressing by mixing all the ingredients together.

Combine the Salad ingredient in a salad bowl. Drizzle the half of Dressing mixture over the salad and toss gently. Place the salad in the place and top up with sliced steaks. Drizzle the remaining dressing on the steaks.

Cook’s Notes:

Sambal oelek can be found at Asian grocery stores.

It has been quite a while...

... and it has been the moments of discovery that leave me gawking at how little I am in this world that is at once unfamiliar, big and scary and magnificent. I want to be who I used to be. That brave girl who is rabbit-headed and dragon-hearted in the face of uncertainty. I want to bet against the odds and to believe that there is more magic than fear in the unknown. I want to prove no one but myself. Above all, I want two hands to shape my dreams (our dreams) and two feet to take me there. Knowing that I've already grabbed by the waist by the most important and solid person in my life, I should fear no more. I know I'm not losing my way when I am with you. 

Cook Blog: Stuffed Mushrooms

I determined to blog more especially on those foods I made but then I never. So I am now writing cook post about making stuffed mushrooms that I just made 2 hours ago. Okay, because I feel like writing something. So blogging is it. This is the second post after I made my first post about how to make your own soymilk.

Initially my husband bought mushrooms because he wanted to make spaghetti. It has been few weeks and he never had time to make it. I have one tomato and half of onion left that I don't know what to do with them. I thought stuffed mushroom would be the best because my husband and I decided not to stuff our stomach with dinner late at 10:30 pm, so he asked me to bake his favorite ready-to-eat Samosa every night instead of heavy dinner. I don't know how he can eat them everyday, that's why I thought preparing this stuffed mushrooms, freeze them, then get them baked when needed is the best choice for now and also he can alternate Samosa with my stuffed mushroom.

Ingredients:

17 pcs of White Button Mushroom
15 pcs of Shrimps, 
1 Tomato, diced
1/2 Onion, finely diced
1 Stem of Spring Onion, chopped
1 Egg Yolk
1 Wedge Cheese (Optional)
1 Cup of Bread crumbs (to add crunchiness)

2 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
Pinch of Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:

Boil shrimps in water for 10 seconds, chop them and place aside.
Wash mushroom, dry them and scoop the stem out of the mushroom to make a hollow inside. Save the cap and finely chop the stem. 

In a bowl, gently combine shrimp, mushroom stem, tomato, onion, spring onion, egg yolk, cheese, bread crumbs, olive oil, salt and pepper all together. 
Use a small spoon to stuff the filling into mushroom.

Place all the stuffed mushroom in the baking pan, drizzle them with olive oil. Pre-heat and bake at 375 F for about 20 minutes. Let them stand for another 5 minute before serving.
You can add ketchup or squeeze lemon juice before serving.

Cook note:

1) Bake them for only 15 minutes if you want to save them to freeze and serve later.
2) You can make stuffed mushroom with other filling by using whatever you have in your refrigerator.

Cook blog: Homemade Soymilk

I'm a big fan of soymilk. Perhaps, I got it from my Dad. I always stopped by to get them everyday before heading to office. I enjoy it as my breakfast and most of time, I have it without sugar. It is very healthy and it's good to add to our diet.

There are many soymilk out there, but it's hard to find a delicious homemade soymilk nowdays. I used to ask my grandma how to make soymilk. She told me briefly and it was hard for me to catch what she was telling me because I know nothing about cooking and plus I was too busy to make my own soymilk.

Now, I can make my own first homemade and of course delicious soymilk! With what I remember from my grandma and what I've been searching through Youtube. Yesterday, I spent more than 6 hours straight just to make almost 2 gallons of soymilk out of 6 lbs soybeans. To my surprise, with my effort and not to mention I nearly burnt my kitchen, my soymilk came out really good. My husband loves it and I love it too. And now I'm sharing my soymilk recipe, except I'll calculate how to make soymilk from 1 lb of soybeans instead, so you're not gonna spend more than 6 hours straight like me! Hehehe Enjoy!

Ingredient:

1 lb organic soybeans

1.05 quarts (1 liter) water

1 Pandan leaf (Asian Vanilla / Slek Toy) to add aroma

Sugar (to taste to your liking)

Method:

Rinse the soybeans throughly and soak them overnight in water. Be sure to add a lot of water because the next day, you'll notice the soybean grow bigger and longer in size. Discard the water and rinse the soybeans 3 more times. Remove the skin as much you can. Drain it and set aside.

In the blender, add the soybeans and water and blend well. Transfer the blended soybeans into a pot. Continue blending the rest of soybeans. Discard the soybeans foam before boiling them. Turn on the heat to medium, add the pandan leaf in the mixture of blended soybeans and bring it to boil. Be sure to stir frequently to avoid burning the soybeans sticking at the bottom of the pot. Once it boils, lower the heat to low and simmer for about 15 more minutes or longer. Remember, the longer you boil the richer your soymilk will be.

Once it's done, turn off the heat and let it cool down a little bit. Use the cheesecloth or cloth filter to filter out the the blended soybeans. Try to squeeze the residue and make sure you have all the soymilk is fully extracted. Discard the residue and pandan leaf. Add sugar to taste until it reach to your liking before serving.

Cook Note: Most of recipes I found in Youtube, they blend the soybeans and then filter out the blended soybeans before boiling the milk. It's easier and faster way, but I think boiling the blended soybeans before filter them out help making the soymilk richer in taste. 

Museum: Early Human

After our full day tour around city mall of D.C, we decided to pick a museum to visit. Deep down inside I was thrilled that we finally visit at least one museum. It was nearly 6 pm, but luckily the museum opened until 7:30pm for that day which normally they close at 5:30pm, perhaps because there were many tourists. We went to National Museum of Natural History to see the HOPE diamond--a very popular and most valuable one the in the world.

In that huge museum, there are many, many halls. It's not only about gems and minerals, but they have Insect Zoo, Ocean Hall, Butterflies + Plants, Hall of Bones, Hall of Mammals, Dinosaurs/Hall of Paleobiology etc. But we could only went to see Hall of Mammals and Hope Diamond. THIS PLACE IS TOO BIG TO EXPLORE in just one hour or even a day! My jaw was dropping!

So, pictures below were taken at David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. I sneaked out from my group there while the girls were enjoying taking pictures at Butterflies and Plants hall. But a few minute later, I was followed by the boys. I wish to upload all the photos at this place. So I picked some to share.

 I stood there like for some seconds and it went up from ,953 to ,983! *Eyes wide opened*

 

 

Pardon me for some unclear shots. I was dragged to other hall.

 

So we were trying to transform ourselves into early human in the booth. I also got them send my photos to my email too!

There is an app for iphone and android to transform ourselves into an early human too! Try them!

My transformed photo as a homo neanderthalensis, one of the closest relatives of modern humans.

"As a Homo neanderthalensis, you live between 200,000 and 28,000 years ago in what is now Europe and Asia.
You have a very big nose, which helps you survive in cold climates by warming and humidifying cold, dry air.
You bury your dead, use simple symbols, and may even speak a language."

My transformed photo as a Homo floresiensis, which became extinct just 17,000 years ago.

"As a Homo floresiensis, you live just 95,000 to 17,000 years ago on an island in what is now Southeast Asia. You are verysmall…with a brain only about a third the size of modern humans. But you make tools, control fire, hunt a variety of animals, and your small size helps you survive on an island with limited resources."

About the exhibit: The David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins offers visitors an immersive, interactive journey through the origins of human beings and the dramatic stories of survival and extinction in the midst of earth’s history of climate change. Learn more at: http://humanorigins.si.edu/