What I made of my last day of vacation

(bruschetta with tomato-mango salsa and mozarella with basil)



Today is officially my last day of vacation, so I wanted to make it something more memorable than a day just sitting at home, watching TV. Last night I watched the movie Julie and Julia and I just about fell in love with the movie. It will definitely be one of those movies that I watch over and over when I feel down or want to snuggle on a cold rainy day. Anyways, watching the movie got me motivated to cook and blog. I was really into that a few years ago, but life got in the way. I guess that is good that I didn't feel like I needed to write in a blog to take up my time. So what am I doing now? Not too sure. I hope to keep this going though. I remember printing a whole book of my old xanga entries when I was living in LA. I wonder where it is...perhaps I will reprint them. In case anyone is interested, here is my old blog.

I really have a problem with tangents...

Back to what I did today.. So I made Chicken pot pie today. I got the recipe from simplyrecipes.com. I was just about to make boeuf bourguignon with Ina Garten's recipe, but I decided not to after I saw that the recipe called for cognac and whole bottle of wine. Maybe later. Well after a whole morning of looking up recipes, I left the house around 11:30 to go to Vons to get my ingredients. I tried Bed Bath to see if they had some ramekins, but they didn't have any that were big enough. Target didn't have big ones either. So I went to Ross, hoping for some good luck. That place is just great. I will have to go back there to decorate my home. Anywhoo, I found exactly what I needed. It always seems like I get the last ones they have! But it really was the last two sets they had...I think.

I had spent waaaay too much time walking around at Ross and it was already 6 pm. I needed to get started on this pie pronto! Well, all I will say is that we ate dinner around 8:45 pm...but I did learn to make my own pie crust from scratch!! I'm glad that I did it. I feel slightly accomplished~

(chicken pot pies~)

Brian and Steven enjoyed the pies. The pie top was nice and flaky~ ^_^

Strawberry Cream Cake

Made a French Vanilla Strawberry Cream Cake. Bought a bunch of strawberries for real cheap so I thought I'd make some cake with all the berries. Brian and I will be enjoying this for the next 4 days. Yuuuuum! It is the best after dinner with a coffee. I used whipped cream as the frosting so it's not really fattening. My ultimate FAVORITE cake!

Life in San Diego is going well. I'm getting used to living with just Brian. It's nice to be able to have my own space....to be able to do what I want, when I want. But I do really miss my family back home. I get to see them tomorrow...YAY!!!

Carrot Cake on Black Friday

Made some carrot cake today. Skipped the Black Friday hoopla and just relaxed at home.

Watched "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood" today. Yesterday I watched Jane Austen's "Persuasion" and the BBC mini series "Wives and Daughters"

I really like english films. Wives and Daughters really did a great job with the set and the costumes.

The issues in the film were not much different from the ones we face today. It's actually a very interesting movie. Makes you think that people are all the same, then and now....Asian or English.

Happy Halloween Cupcakes

Made some dark chocolate cupcakes with butter cream frosting on top. Brought it to work today for Halloween. I brought 11 and there is only one left. It tasted pretty good. People really love sweets.

I think after today I’m gonna go back on my diet. I bought this Korean recipe book that shows you how much to eat if you wanna reduce your caloric intake. I may start that. But I know my mom won’t stay quiet. She’ll have something to say about everything I make. So I’m glad that soon I’ll have my own kitchen to make my creations…free of nag.

I love her though…she’s a sweetheart. She just always puts her two cents in when I cook.

Made some Penne Pesto Pasta with some ground up sausage on top last night. It was pretty tasty! I think I'm going on Carb overdose though...but I think I was craving it. After being on that chicken breast diet...I needed the carbs.
It'll get to me soon enough, but I'll enjoy it for now.
Does anyone realize that mom's CANNOT just say it tastes good!! They have to say...why did you try it this way? The pasta...should it have been cooked longer? What about trying it with Spaghetti next time? You should have used my ground up beef that I have in the freezer....is that what this is? AHHHH!!

Roll cake with cream cheese filling

Made a Roll Cake for the first time today. Used Cream cheese filling.

Gonna make chocolate cupcakes and perhaps another cheesecake...

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Cyworld

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