Resident NY Feature, July 2011

I'll be receiving a copy of the magazine soon. Excited!!

Thanks, Jenny Lee for the wonderful interview and feature. :)

Emails are funny when you're reading and writing, "Hi Jenny.... Sincerely, Jenny" over and over.

See an online copy of the magazine here. I'm on page 24.

Goi Cuon (Vietnamese Summer Rolls)

These are often served as an appetizer at Vietnamese restaurants, but we Vietnameses eat these as a main course because it involves a lot of ingredients and unless you're serving a party of 20, you will eat these as a main course as well. You can easily serve these as an appetizer for a party of 20. Or use a smaller rice paper and serve to a party of 40. Really. The possibilities are endless.

I probably had a run-on sentence in there somewhere.

I've made these and posted the recipe before. But the pictures were from my cell phone.

I make these every time I am in a lazy cooking mood. Which is often (i.e. all the time). The hardest part of this entire preparation is frying eggs. Or maybe it's boiling meat. Or wrapping the entire thing without breaking the rice paper. Depends on your skill-set.



Oh wait. I have one disclaimer. See that obviously-not-boiled pork meat?

I actually had to marinade and braise something because my fiance doesn't like pork unless it doesn't taste like pork. He may have hinted that he wanted me to replace pork with chicken or fish. I may have said that he was overstepping his backseat cooking boundary and that I bought a lot of pork and pork is what's for dinner. He may have stepped down. I may have won that one.

I made a special marinade for him using hoison sauce/soy sauce/garlic/pepper and then braised it until cooked and tender. You can find a better marinade pre-made at the grocery store (see below).




Julienne carrots and cucumbers are easy with this tool.

If you're feeling a little more ambitious, you can try this with Chinese BBQ seasoning.



Ingredients
Pork, I used shoulder roast, cut into large chunks
Shrimp
Eggs
Rice noodles, cooked
Cucumber
Carrots
Cilantro or any greens you like (Thai Basil is popular)
Banh Trang, rice paper

Dipping Sauce
Hoison sauce, the thick kind
Peanut Butter
Spoonfuls of the pork/shrimp stock to dilute (and add flavor!)
Add sweet chili sauce or Sriracha for an extra kick
You can top with chopped peanuts, but I'm not that fancy

Bring water to a boil with salt, peppercorns and rock sugar. Add pork and cook until done. Remove pork and add shrimp into the same water. Remove shrimp when orangey pink and peel, devein (unless you have EZ peel shrimp like me) and halve. Save this stock. You can use it for Bun Bo Hue or Hu Tieu or anything that involves pork/shrimp stock.

To make the egg, you can make really thin crepe-like omelets. I just break 4 eggs in a frying pan, poke at the yolks a bit with chopsticks, cook, flip, cook, then slice.  Lazy cooking methods still make for tasty dinners. Heck, you can just scramble eggs and it will distribute nicely in the Summer Roll.

Julienne carrots, cucumbers and any other greens you'd like to add. Growing up, my mom always had a backyard full of fresh herbs growing that she would use for our Summer Rolls, but I don't have a garden and cilantro is all I've got, so I make do. I would recommend Thai Basil, if you really want to make it yummy.

Boil rice noodles, drain and rinse in cold water (Yes, RINSE. This isn't flour pasta. Rice stickiness is not fun when you're wrapping these guys).

Pour water (warm is ideal) into a deep plate for dipping the rice paper.

Dip rice paper on both sides in water and set on an empty plate. Fill the paper with all the yummy stuff, fold in the sides and roll that sucker without making any holes.



Dip in the peanut sauce and enjoy.

If you're like our friend, Justin, you can just pour all the ingredients in a bowl, drizzle the dipping sauce on top and eat it like a salad.

Or layer soften rice paper and filling and dipping sauce, cut a slice out (like lasagna) and enjoy.

Possibilities. Endless.

Poppytalk Summer Colours

One of my photos made it to the kickoff entry. Pretty happy start to the week. :)




I will be a little absent this week since we're 1.5 weeks before heading to San Francisco and I am in the midst of mad preparation. Plus, since you SF residents keep buying things before I can even take them there, it's making it a little difficult for me to have enough items for the fair. Just kidding. Keep shopping. It makes me happy. :)

The Boy and I are heading there on Wednesday so we can actually take a mini vacation before Renegade.

We would love suggestions as to where to visit, what to eat, what to do, how to get around without a car....

A Super Duper Clutch Sale

*Update (7:00p): All sold out! Thank you for a wonderful sale. Your Clutches are shipping this weekend!




I must apologize.

I never warned you that I was going to launch a new Clutch design. Then remove all the old Clutches. And replace them with the new design.

We never got to say farewell to the old design.

I've received lots of emails from you about my old design. I know you miss it.  I miss it, too. But we must move on and embrace change. Change is good, I promise.

Please accept this ridiculous once-in-a-lifetime sale (up to 75% off!) of the old design as my apology for not letting you say goodbye.

I hope you still love me. :)

Happy Weekend!

On Our Walk

Taken on Hubert and my morning walk.

Happy weekend!

Photo Diary: Nooks

We live in a 790 sqft 1-1 loft, which is quite small if you're used to living in a 1300+ sqft 3-2 apartment in Austin (for less than what we're paying now!).

We've learned to really appreciate the little nooks we can claim our own. Okay, you got me.  I claimed most all of the space in this loft. In my defense, I run a business from it. The Boy does have his drumming corner. All to himself. He also has a reading chair next to his drums which receives lots of light from the window behind it. Besides that....

Oh, I did add a little vintage letter 'N' to spruce it up -- originally for my last name, but it also works for his, too! Convenient, huh?

Also, I added a lamp next to his chair for night reading. That's it. The rest is his.

You can see how I made those air plant terrariums.
And view the rest of my studio (with that comfy chair).

Renegade San Francisco

Renegade San Francisco is just two-ish weeks away and I'm working hard to prepare inventory.

I want to bring as much inventory as possible, but I need some help from you. I can't make and take everything with me, so I need to make sure I'm spending my energy making the right things that you want to see!

If you do plan on attending (or not and just want to say hi and fill out this form), please fill out this form. No commitment to buy necessary, but a strong interest is highly preferred.

If you would like for me to hold an item for you, please include your name and email and which day you plan to attend in the last entry. No payment is necessary; I just want to make sure I have the bag available for you to see and feel (and smell) in person. You can decide what you would like to do from there! :)

Wedding Invitations

Remember when I tried to carve out a stamp for my wedding invitations and it ended up looking like some surfer print?

Plan B: KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid)

I drew the mehndi in marker and scanned it. I designed the invitations in Photoshop and sent them out to be printed. I recruited Aparna to help me score and fold. Done with little effort and way under budget. Win!

Photo Diary: Tennis

I'll make any excuse to use my telephoto lens, so I followed The Boy and his brother to the tennis courts and tried to capture some action shots. The Boy is the one who is photographed most, obviously. :)

See all the tennis photos on my Flickr.

My Favorite Boys

Happy Weekend! :)

Roasted-Strawberry Shortcake

I wasn't sure what to name this cake. I'm afraid the name suggests that I roasted the cake when I actually roasted the strawberries. So I hyphenated it. But I'm no grammar expert. Remember, I'm still educated as an engineer, and we are not good with English things.

My second concern is that this is not technically a shortcake. 

I should have named this cake, "Roasted Strawberries On a Layer of Mascarpone Topping On a Duncan Hines Yellow Cake with Cool Whip Piped Along The Circumference".


Hubert had a great time sniffing around when the cake was baking. He was even more interested when it was all done and I was photographing it. See above. High interest level. Or is it high-interest level. Or high interest-level.



As the new title suggests, I made this cake by following the directions on the back of a Duncan Hines Yellow Cake box. I replaced water with Very Vanilla Silk because water does not taste yummy and sweet.

I made this in a spring-form pan to make serving easy. I cut off the top layer because it poofed on the outside. Or the middle sank after baking. Not 100% sure.

Then! I spread a generous layer of custardy mascarpone topping (recipe from the Tiramisu recipe I used to make The Boy's birthday cupcakes). It'll soak a bit into the yellow cake. Mmmm.

I sliced strawberries, coated them with brown sugar (because they were NOT sweet) and roasted them in a pan until my apartment smelled of cooked strawberries (20 mins?).

Then then then, I snipped the end of a zip top bag, placed a star tip inside and filled up the bag with Cool Whip and started doing some decorating action.

I realize that the sides of the cake are not covered. Too many calories. Remember? Wedding dress? Right. But I'm baking a cake and wanting to eat it, too. Small compromises, my friend. Okay, fine. It's not the calories. I was lazy.

If I didn't use soy milk in place of water for baking the cake, I may have covered the sides. But I have to live with the consequences of my decision-making. :)

Vietnamese Tacos

After The Boy finally submitted to taking me to The Cheesecake Factory for my birthday, I convinced him that the Vietnamese Tacos appetizer would be good.

Side Note #1: The Boy was hoping I would want to go to a dressier restaurant for my birthday, but my first suggestion was our weekly spot for Vietnamese. He gave up after that. That's how we finally agreed on The Cheesecake Factory.

Side Note #2: I typically don't order Vietnamese food in non-Vietnamese restaurants, but I was in the mood for Vietnamese. 

Side Note #3: I always get the same thing at The Factory - Spicy Ahi Tempura Roll. So good. God, so good. 

The Vietnamese Tacos came to our table and they looked so yummy! I wanted to take a picture...but I left my phone at home. "Hey babe, can I see your phone?" "Jenny. No. Eat." Sad face.

I will describe them to you. Wait, I found a picture online. You can see what they look like here. 

Then, we took a bite. It was so good. We left one of the tacos for after our entrees so I could remember the taste to make something similar at home.

I made a simplified version because I just wanted the essence of the food without too much work. Seriously, it's just a weekday dinner. :)

I made mine with pork. I made a second batch with skinless boneless chicken breast because The Boy doesn't like pork.



I would recommend using a slow-cooker for the meat preparation, but since I don't have a slow-cooker, I used pans with lids.

I cut the meat into large chunks, seasoned with salt and pepper and seared in a pan. Add water, soy sauce and a teaspoon of sesame oil. I quartered an onion and added half in the pork and half in the chicken. Lid the pan, turn the heat to low, let it cook for about 2 hours or until fork tender. When it's done, use two forks to pull apart the meat. Yuuu-huuummm.

The topping is really easy...

Cucumber, thinly sliced
Coleslaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots)
Cilantro, rough chop

5:2:1 ratio (I totally made this up; I didn't measure, but this sounds pretty good)
Soy Sauce
Rice Wine Vinegar (sushi vinegar)
Sesame Oil
+ a splash of Lime Juice

Toss the veggies in the dressing. They are now very happy. 

Last night, I did add sesame seeds on top, but today for lunch (fine, breakfast), I forgot before photographing and promptly eating. But you can add sesame seeds to make it look fancy schmancy.

Throw all this on a flour tortilla, in a rice paper wrap, between two slices of bread, in an English muffin, on a bagel, on a bed of rice, on a bed of noodles...

For a vegetarian alternative, I would use fried tofu in place of the meat. Skip the slow-cooking all together.


Enjoy!

This is 25.

I'm 25 today.

I was going to draw this time line of "How My Life Could Have Been vs. How My Life Is" for this post.  I did not expect to be where I am now at my quarter-century mark. In a positive way, of course. Though "How My Life Could Have Been" would have been pretty cool, it would have been a completely different story.

Well, I did not end up making that time line. Instead, I took pictures of myself. :)


I don't have a lot of photos of myself because I prefer to stay behind the camera. But once in a blue moon, I don't mind taking a shower and putting on some make-up for a little photo shoot.

And that I did.

Here are some equally attractive photos. I'm sure my parents will be pleased to see the poised and mature woman I have turned out to be. :)

I lied.

Here's one that my mom would appreciate since she likes when I look shy and dainty.

p.s. Does my facial expression remind you of this one of Hubert?
p.p.s. The Captain Pug shirt I'm wearing is from Grand Wazoo. 
p.p.p.s. I really love my leather hi tops.

Happy Birthday to me!

Foldover Clutch

The Clutch got a little makeover -- she's a Foldover Clutch, now!



This bag is a bit roomier inside. When folded over, it can perfectly house the new iPad. It'll also fit your essentials.



Still comes with a detachable adjustable strap to wear short, long, crossbody or remove the straps for a cute clutch.



And an upgrade that I know many of you have been asking and waiting for -- a zippered interior pocket!

Available in most leather colors listed in the shop. Just ask!

What do you think?

If you're wondering, the zippered interior pocket upgrade is available for the Mini Ruche, Baby Ruche and Briefcase (+$10 to replace the open pockets, +$15 to add as an additional pocket opposite the open pockets). Just mention it in the Message to Seller upon purchase and I'll send a separate invoice for the upgrade!

Crawfish and Scallop Pink Pasta

Aparna and I were on our way to visit the temple where the wedding ceremony will be held so we could plan decorating logistics. On the way, I suddenly felt a small tug at my soul, forcing me to look on the right side of the road. There. A Popeyes restaurant in the distance. In Pittsburgh (Monroeville, to be more specific).

I was born in New Orleans, LA. The first morsel of solid food fed to me was Popeyes fried chicken (which explains my adept Popeyes radar. Thanks Mom). I lived there for the first eight years of my life.  There, I developed a love for Cajun food, King cake, beignet, crawfish boils and strawberry shortcake.

Strawberry shortcake?

My brother and I were on the swim team and after swim meets, my parents would drive to the McKenzie's near our house and treat us to a slice of strawberry shortcake. This was the only opportunity where I was allowed to lick the plate clean. I still do this, but don't tell my parents. They will feel shameful that their little princess acts like a Hubert. Actually, Hubert doesn't even lick his bowl clean. I'm digressing.

Since my Popeyes discovery, I've been craving everything related to my New Orleans experience.

I bought a box of strawberries, a pound of frozen crawfish tails and thought about buying a canister of Cafe Du Monde coffee, but I still have lots of coffee beans left, and I'm not sure I can go back to pre-ground coffee (so snobby, I know).

The box of strawberries will soon be converted into my birthday strawberry shortcake.

The pound of crawfish I used last night in a pink pasta.



I started this dish with the intention of making an etouffee, but after I cooked down the onion, oil and flour, I added a large can of diced stewed tomatoes and it started to look more like a pasta. Plus I forgot to start the rice cooker and so it was a matter of waiting 35 minutes for rice or 10 minutes for pasta. Exactly.

I sprinkled on some grated cheese (cheese and seafood? Yes.), and a splash of cream and it turned into a rich pink sauce.  I generously spiced the mix with red pepper flakes, Cajun seasoning (cayenne, black pepper, onion, garlic, chili powder, thyme, basil), Italian seasoning (more basil, more thyme, rosemary, marjoram, oregano) and salt. Added the sea food and simmered until it was rich and thick.

Ladled it on some penne pasta and The Boy dubbed it as one of his favorite dishes. I win! You can win, too!

It's no crawfish boil, but it hits the spot.