This year I made cookies with my boyfriend for Christmas. I gave them to my co-workers and Grandparents for gifts. We chose the recipes from the 2008 Holiday Cookie Guide (Washington Post) and used our brand-new oven in our apartment! It was definetely difficult to make the cookies since our kitchen is starting from scratch (ingredients, tools, etc). Here are the results!
Pictures and Recipes on the next page.
Just thought I’d share our Gingerbread house! We bought the gingerbread house at Ikea and built it with materials we bought at Wegmans and some that I received in my Christmas stocking.
Gallery is in the full entry. Continue reading
So, yesterday I decided to research “Sai Min” (saimin/saimen/saimian), one of my favorite dishes that combines the best things in the world in one bowl of happiness and yumminess. I’ve had it at the hands of my island-famous great-grandfather (who used to own a store/restaurant in Hawai’i, and would cut the noodles by hand).
I thought it was a Cantonese dish, but after much research, I have found that it is unique to the islands! No wonder everyone I talked to about it had no clue what I was saying. Now of course, my family’s Sai Min (famous, let me remind you) is the Chinese version, with no spam, sausages, eggs, or fish cakes like the Filipino/Japanese/Portuguese versions. This has led me to realize that I’m not ethnically or culturally Chinese at all – my family is Hawai’ian, and any Chinese parts of us came as a result of being Hawai’ian, and got mixed up with the Japanese and Filipino aspects that also worked their ways in there. In fact—even our Chinese New Years dinners have Guava Chiffon Pie and Lau Lau sometimes.
Recipe and pictures under the cut. Continue reading
| MR. YOGATO FROZEN YOGURT http://www.mryogato.com |
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November 14th, 2008
Though a cult favorite when it comes to the “DC FroYo Wars”, I prefer tangysweet over Mr. Yogato. I love the cute mascot and decor of this small Dupont tangy yogurt establishment, but it just lacks in quality to me. The flavored yogurt flavors are just a tad off in flavor, even when laiden with samplings from their expansive toppings bar. It’s a great place to come for trivia-based discounts (10% off if correct, 10% added of wrong!) or if you work in the area (come 30 days in a row and they’ll name a flavor after you).
| NOOSHI ASIAN BISTRO http://nooshidc.com |
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December 10th, 2008
This asian bistro (formerly Oodles & Noodles) is now a college happy hour hangout with a carryout location next door. Loud and tightly packed, but there’s something that will tickle your fancy on the huge menu. I would visit this restaurant again only if in the area — there are too many similarly themed and priced restaurants in a more convenient location. Bonus points for the wide expansive menu (seriously — pages and pages of noodle dishes, sushi, pan-asian fare, and appirizers), but the service leaves something to be desired (they asked us to move over a seat so they could pack some more people in; people that refused to sit down because it was too crowded and chose to go somehwhere else). Dishes that we sampled were just okay — I’ve had better for about the same price at P.F. Changs, Pei Wei, Spices, Cafe Asia, etc.
