Oriental Quinoa

... Cause I'm Asian... Hahaha!

Yesterday after school, I wanted to make a light healthy lunch for Lance and I so I decided to whip up some quinoa with a variety of mix veggies. It was really easy to prepare and you can use any vegetables you have in the fridge. Prepping for this will take a bit of time as you do have to chop up all the veggies. Play with the different styles of chopping them: julienne, dice, etc. I actually wish I put more vegetables in.

 As for the dressing, I made a sesame oil vinaigrette because I was craving this dressing from when I had a salad on a plane to Singapore. You've got the tangy balsamic flavor mix with the sweet honey infused with the sesame oil. Yum!!! It just goes so well. I kind of messed up because I made too much dressing, but that's okay, I'll just saved it for some salad for the next couple of days.

*I must add that this amount of food was perfect for Lance and I, not too much, not too little, so alter it to however much you need.



There is three parts to making this specific dish that I made.
For the quinoa part:

• 2/3 cups of dry quinoa 
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• a pinch of salt

I usually wash and soak the quinoa in a pot for about 5 minutes prior to cooking it to get rid of the saponin, which is a natural quinoa coating that can give quinoa a bitter taste. Even if you get the pre-washed quinoa, it doesn't hurt to wash it before cooking it. 

After soaking, I drain it, put in the water and add the salt. I set it down on the stove to cook for 20 minutes. I will bring it boil at first and then turn it down to medium to simmer. When it's done, I take it off the stove and fluff it up with a fork. While all that is cooking, I am cutting up the veggies, stir frying that and making the dressing. 

For the veggies part:

• 1 red pepper
• 1 cup of button mushrooms
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery
• 2 cups of baby bok choy 
• 3 cloves of dice garlic
• ~ A tbsp of oil
• a pinch of salt

Set your wok or pan on the stove on high to heat the pan up. When it is hot enough, turn it down to medium and add in about a tablespoon of oil. Let the oil heat up and then begin frying your garlic to get that nice garlicky fragrance. Throw in the carrot and celery and cook it for about 3-4 minutes. Then put in the baby bok choy, cook for about 2 mins. Finally, add the red pepper and mushroom, and cook it for another 2 minutes. Add in a bit of salt and when it's all done, try to drain out as much vegetable juices from the pan. 

For the dressing:

• 1/4 cup of sesame oil
• 1/8 cup of balsamic vinegar
• 1/8-1/4 cup of honey (depends on your taste)
• 1 tablespoon of sesame seed
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of soya sauce
• 1 pressed clove of garlic

Mix all the ingredients together until it is all incorporated well. Even if you don't think the honey is mixing in, don't worry! It is! Just keep mixing. Adjust whatever flavors you want if you need.

Lastly, add the quinoa and vegetables in a large mixing bowl. Spoon in a few tablespoons of the dressing at a time and mix thoroughly. Keep adding the dressing until, you're happy with the taste. DO NOT dump in all the dressing because that will be way too much. Enjoy!!

My outfit of the day: H&M heart print skirt and Cotton On blouse.

Print of my skirt.

Playing with my makeup.

Looking back at this picture really makes me miss my pink hair!! Ahhh. Maybe I'll colour the tips pink again...

The Veldt

I can't stop listening to this song ever since Lance played it for me. I was watching the music video for it and it is pretty creepy during the end. Lance actually screamed "nooooo..." when he watched video, hahaha. But I absolutely love how they made this video like the game Limbo. It's so eerie. I did a little bit of research and found that the song is based off a short story from the 1950s called "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury. I began reading the story and I realized it was one of the short stories I had to read back in high school... Insane!

The story is about an advanced technological house where machines do everything for you. When you want dinner, dinner is made. When you are walking down a hallway, the lights follow you. When you need your shoes tied or cleaned, a machine will tie and shine them. The main attraction for the story was the nursery. The children have a virtual nursery room which makes their thoughts of wherever they want to be come true. It gets pretty dark as the story goes on to detail how the parents worry about the children's health in regards to the usage of the room.

You have to read it!

 

On a side note, I think I found my future car plate. LOL

Food galore

*WARNING!* Don't read if you're hungry!

My week has been jam packed filled with food... Definitely going to have to try to work it off this week!

It started with a late night dinner with my bestest friends last week! We ate at Earl's at about 10:30 pm I believe; after the guys were done with boxing. Lance and I started with the calamari. Mmm! I love calamari so much... It's my go to appie! I had the cajun chicken burger for dinner which had the perfect amount of spiciness! It was really juicy and not dry, topped with a slice of tomato, lettuce and cheddar cheese. I normally take one or both of the burger buns off because they make me uber full! I had Lance finish my food actually because I never take burgers to go as it just turns into a big ugly mess the next day when I try to reheat it. And to finish it off... Lance had the warm chocolate banana cake and I had the chocolate sticky toffee pudding... Oh my goodness. Mine was HUGE! I should have just share with Lance. The chocolate cake was super moist and the toffee sauce was to die for! And after? We went home to play Diablo 3... *Yeah!*

On Saturday, we went for Korean food at some place I can't remember. To me you can never go wrong with Korean BBQ. It is one of my favorite types of meals. We had some combination of food apparently for 2-3 people but there was 4 of us... And let's just say it was a little more than enough for all of us. We had the seafood pancake and yam tempura to start. Korean pancakes are amazing...they're flavorful, soft and chewy. I don't even care what's in it...seafood...kimchi...anything! Lance and I attempted to make kimchi pancakes at home. Oh man, it was such a fail... I will have to ask Hubert's mom to teach me. For the main meat part, we had the kitchen make the food for us because we didn't want to smell stinky from barbecuing it ourselves. Some meats were over cooked, but overall it was alright. 

Over the course of the week, I was craving bibimbap which is a Korean dish consisting of a variety of vegetables and meat, with a chili pepper paste that gets mixed in. After school one day, Lance brought me down town for a lunch date at the Kim Chi House. Lucky me! I love the food here. It's so consistent and amazing! The best part about this place is the nice couple that runs it. They're always here from open to close and give this place a real homely feel. I had the spicy pork and calamari bibimbap. It's HUGE... Trust me. You most likely won't be able to finish it on your own. They also give you the standard kimchi and bean sprouts on the side. My personal favorite dishes here are the cold noodles and hot tofu soup. You have to try it! The prices here are about the same as buying a meal at McDonalds... But probably alot more healthier. It is located in Chinatown inside the plaza that has Thai Tai on the outside.

After lunch, Lance and I went over the Core for some window shopping. We happened to run into a friend that just began shopping so we shopped together. I manage to pick up a hand oil from The Body Shop as it was on sale and it is wonderful! It is a roller ball tube like those perfume roller balls and it so easy to just throw it in your purse instead of lugging around a bottle of lotion. I find it really moisturising and perfect for the dry weather here. I should have bought more...  

Here is what I wore that day. A high low blouse from Cotton On. I discovered it from reading other blogs from Singapore and finally found the store when I was in Las Vegas last summer. I was reunited once again with it when I went to Singapore in November. It is pretty awesome when you can get amazing deals at the store. I'm pretty sure this top cost me 5 or 10 bucks when I was in Vegas... With it I wore a pair of high waisted shorts, my skull scarf, a pair of black nylon tights from Pretty Polly, over the knee Betsey Johnson floral socks and finally, my beloved UGG combat boots.

Yesterday night, Lance and I joined his work family for a late dinner at Charcut. Because of the large group of people we had, they offered us a 3-course family style menu where they bring out a few dishes and you share it amongst your table. We had to split up into two tables. I was actually offered this style of meal for my birthday last year but opt out because I wasn't comfortable asking everyone who was coming to pay a set price. Honestly, I wasn't impressed with the meal... It wasn't anything spectacular. If you book to come here with a large group... Try not to get pushed into their family style menu. I understand that the restaurant does get busy, especially over the weekends and they would like to prepare for a large group with everyone getting the same style of food for dinner, but it isn't worth it unless you would like to get full off dessert. Don't get me wrong, the restaurant isn't bad and the waiters are always very attentive. I just wouldn't go again for their family style menu. The duck fat poutine here is amazing... Everyone always gets it. It's absolutely worth the fattiness every once in a while.

The menu of the food we'll be having that night.

I ordered the birthday girl to drink and I thought it was really good when I first drank it... But on my second I was pretty sick of it actually... I don't even know why. I included the menu for you to check out what's in it. The first drink I was pretty disappointed because there was no flaming garnish as it says on the menu but the second time they got it, haha. It actually burned for a while... Yup, me, amused with fire once again. I swear I don't play with fire on my own time.

Although this wasn't for everyone, a lot of people enjoyed the beets. They taste wonderfully when roasted and the goat cheese is soft and subtle. Nothing really overpowers anything in this dish; everything is very balanced.

Lance loved the gnocchi. It was heavy tasting like a pasta but once you finished your bite, the taste and texture disappeared, leaving you wanting more.

The prime rib and duck fat poutine were definitely winners. The first was juicy, tender, and very flavorful. The poutine in very distinct and unique with the taste of duck fat and truffle oil as opposed to the regular poutine and gravy from other establishments. 

After dinner, a small group of us headed to the Marriott's lounge to soak in the food and have a few more late drinks. I had the After Eighteen drink, which was just some hot cocoa and peppermint schnapps. Nothing special. It was just to keep me warm. 

Good luck everyone on your upcoming midterms!

We'll run where lights won't chase us

Yaaaaay, second week of school is over. Hope school or work is going well for everyone.

Anyway, here's what's been going on with my life.

Last week Lance and I got totally swamped with errands and life that we decided to kick back, rest and order in some Indian food! I was craving it for a while actually and I'm glad we were able to order in because I was dead tired and still a bit sick. We decided to look up delivery places on Urban Spoon, and chose a decent place near by and quickly ordered as it was 9pm - one hour before closing. We decided to go with Taste of India as they had pretty good reviews and neat little features such as....ORDERING ONLINE! We ordered so much food but that's okay because we ended up saving it for other days.

We had the mutton vindaloo, lamb korma, butter chicken, coconut rice, chicken samosas, beef samosas and naan bread. I was pretty happy with everything we ordered. Every dish was super flavourful and loaded with meat. I actually hate it when you order curry elsewhere and they skimp out on the meat and fill it up with other things like potatoes and veggies. The meat was sooooooo soft and juicy, I was genuinely shocked and happy when we were eating. The naan bread was really big... We actually ordered four pieces and they were probably longer than my forearm. Yup, note to self don't ever order that much naan bread again. Delivery to my place cost $5 which is pretty standard. Thanks Taste of India, we'll definitely be ordering from you again!

On Friday, Lance and Hubert had a work meeting while I went shopping at Winners and did a bit of errands at the Core, banking, etc. I managed to pick up an iPad mini case and screen protectors. I also made away with a white Steven Madden leather-esque jacket that was on sale and a pair of UGG combat boots. 

I couldn't ask for a much better case than Miss Audrey Hepburn! 

Now, I've been searching for a pair of combat boots for a while and was actually contemplating getting a pair of Dr. Martens, but I found these beauties and I am in LOVE! They're leather and waterproof on the outside, which is much needed when it snows, and lined with sheepskin, which keeps my feet nice and warm. The distress leather look is amazing because I don't have to worry about keeping my boot perfect or free of wrinkles. I can bum around in these pair of boots. And the best part? A side zipper so I don't have to lace up every time I put on my boots!

After running my errands, I headed back to the hotel, grabbed some tea and played on my ipad while waiting for the boys to be done. I was so bored that I took a picture of the ceiling... It was a pretty nice ceiling, I'll give it that.

When the boys got off, we went for a really late lunch at Hot Pointe where we had mini hot pots and bubble tea. Lance and I got the hot & sour lamb hot pot and the garlic chicken wings with fries. I really love these individual pots because they are so cheap, but I can't stand how much cabbage they put in it. Each mini hot pot comes with a bowl of rice and you can order more side ingredients to add to your soup. Eating here always gives me the sense of nostalgia because these hot pots remind me of my childhood where our hot pots was placed above a burning coal. Now my parents just have our hot pot over a hot plate. Here, they burn some gel-like coal underneath that keeps the dish nice and hot which is a huge factor for me when having soup. There's a nice mix of lamb, fish paste, tofu, and veggies. On the aesthetic side, it's fun to see the fire burn up sometimes... If you're a pyromaniac, haha. The garlic chicken wings were kind of a miss here. I didn't like the flavour at all because it didn't taste like garlic chicken wings, but the meat wasn't overcooked, so that's a plus... 

Then we headed to Chinook mall since Hubert and Andy wanted to go shopping for their late Christmas staff party.

When we got there, the boys took off while I went into the Pink store for a laptop case, towel wrap, a bangle and a yoga set, and more underwear from Victoria's Secret... Ahhh, those stores are my weaknesses, I don't even know why... Must be the extra 50% off the sale items... That's right... I got everything for about $30.  

We then left the mall and headed back to Hubert's house to wait until the movie times for Django Unchained rolled around, but Hubert crashed so hard at home because he was awake for 24 hours and we couldn't watch it. So hopefully this weekend we will. 

On Saturday, I headed to Ming's for some cocktails and food with the Le Germain staff. The interior was pretty unique. The interior of the lounge is very unique. Pictures of communist leaders' decorate the walls and there's a heavy sense of propaganda from the mid-late 90's period. Their drinks are named after famous dictators and leaders. It's hilarious. Unfortunately, I didn't get any of those drinks, but I did order the Paris and the Mona Lisa. Yum!!! I love their martinis here. They are made just the way I like drinks which is sweet and fruity. This lounge had a bit of an Asian influence to their food; which makes sense since the place is called Ming. I ordered the takoyaki and okonomiyaki, and surprisingly it wasn't bad. They could have added a better cut of squid in their takoyaki and more ingredients in the okonomiyaki. Overall the batter was pretty standard when it comes to making those kinds dishes. I've actually been watching a few okonomiyaki videos that it made me want to make one, but I didn't have the ingredients so since I was at Ming's I decided to order it. Anyway, I had a pretty relaxing night and I couldn't have asked for more.

Now onto my nerdy little corner. I have been playing Diablo 3 for the past week and oh my, I am addicted. I think it's because I love RPGs and that I can play with Lance, and occasionally Mike and Hubert, when our schedule meets. I've never played any of the Diablo games, but I know Lance was a big fan of the second one. I currently have a witch doctor and I love how she can summon different creatures to help her fight. I find it so hilarious. She has this one skill that summon's a giant toad that swallows people. HAHAHA. To be honest, I only chose her because of Witch Doctor song from Alvin and the Chipmunks, haha, I know, lame, but I liked this song as a child. Ooh eeh ooh ah ah ting tang wallawalla bingbang...

My character is super sexy.

I hope everyone's had a fabulous week and if not, I hope your weekend's even better!

A puppy to brighten your day!

Happy Friday!

Here's one of my favorite Saturday Night Live skit to brighten up your last day of work and school before the weekend! 
It's a pretty bad clip, but the only one I could find...

Cheers!

Hubert, I dedicate this post to you. (Boxing Day 2012)

I don't know why, but I could hardly sleep the night before Boxing Day... I ran on half an hour of sleep for shopping... My day started at 7ish when the boys got off work. Hubert had to shower so Lance and I went up to the gym to wait for a bit. When he was done we met up at the breakfast room for some complimentary continental breakfast included in everyone's stay at the Germain. The danishes and croissants were super yums! I should have taken pictures of it but they were really flakey and buttery, just the way I like my pastries! The strawberry jam in the danish wasn't too tart or too sweet, it was just perfect.

Rocking some hotel slippers.

It took us about 10 minutes to get to Chinook mall, the biggest mall in Calgary, and I begged Hubert to park underground since it was super cold that day... I believe it was -26 degrees Celsius? Yeah, insane! It took us 30 minutes to get a parking spot... We finally spotted this lady walking to her parking spot which happened to be in the aisle over and we stalked her to her car..it's the only way to get a spot on this kind of day! Hubert used his awesome valet skills and reversed incredibly fast and followed her right to her spot. Yippee! That's right, Hubert, your 5 months of valet prepared you for this moment!

Anyway, it's 10:30 am and I'm just ecstatic to get my Boxing Day shopping on! I was only excited because I haven't shopped on Boxing Day in a few years. I forgot how packed the malls got, but I was actually kind of used to it, having just gotten back from Singapore. 

Lance and I were Hubert's personal shoppers for the day. Hubert forgot his normal shoes and was wearing his dressy work shoes that clashed with his jeans and hoodie. He decided he was on a mission to get a new pair of everyday casual shoes. What a hooligan. 

I was able to buy loads of things I've wanted for a while. From Forever 21, I got a pair of navy sequins shorts, a studded clutch and a mint green circle skirt. 4 candles and 3 lotions from Bath & Body Works. And lastly from Victoria's Secret's Pink, 3 yoga pants, 2 sweat pants, a hoodie (I really like gaming in lounge wear where no one can see me, hehehe) and a loaaaad of undies. Yay! Poor Hubert waited outside for an hour for me while I was in that store and Victoria's Secret. Sorry!

But don't worry! I was a good friend, Lance and I managed to dress Hubert up in a few stores. He's trying to change up his style for a more business casual look. That's right, ladies! He's changing it up. He got a couple of cardigans and a few dress shirts. What?! I'm so proud of him. He finished his degree, changed jobs, changed look! He's on a roll. Can't stop this kid! Now all he needs is a new lady friend. 2012 was big for him. Especially since he also got his appendix removed and had kidney stones a week after. What bad luck! But happy that you're all better now. :D That day, I got to see his appendix scar... Ewww!!! Definitely not something I want!

It was about 3 something when we left the mall and our mission failed terribly because Hubert couldn't find any shoes. I felt so bad for the guys, since they both worked overnight again that night so we had to rush back to the hotel, where the three of us just climbed into bed and passed out! Yup, be jealous of our friendship.

The next day, started early for me again. I waited for Lance to get off work, we grabbed some breakfast and then went shopping at The Core; a mall downtown that was just newly renovated. It's a decent mall, but the layout is all funky.  Sigh, breakfast was a real disaster that day. The waitress was such a b... I hate it when people ruin the start of my day. The other waitresses were just as useless, standing around and gossiping. Such a toxic environment, I didn't even bother having breakfast the next day because of this one particular waitress... Charcut should really look into hiring new breakfast people.

Oh well. Lance and I walked over to The Core which took about 5 minutes to walk to from the hotel. We checked out a few stores, but to be honest we were only there for H&M... I managed to grab a men's jacket for 30 bucks, scoreeee! Plus it was super warm, so I didn't care that it was a men's jacket. To be honest, when it's colder than -15 out, I don't really care whether I'm fashionable on the outside, just as long as I am warm! So far, I really love this jacket, I haven't had to wear the multiple layers of sweaters that I normally wear with my other jackets and the wine color is just beautiful! 

At the beginning of that morning, Hubert gave Lance some money to buy him a pair of shoes. He told us he was judging his friendship based on the pair of shoes Lance and I got him, whether it'd be nice and his style. It actually took us a while to find the perfect shoes which happened to be at Spring. To be honest,  I didn't even want to go to that store and when we got there Lance was looking at the guys shoes while I was looking at bags... Typical me! We were about to leave the store when I saw a pair that stood out to me and showed it to Lance. He agreed that that was a good pair of shoes for Hubert and we bought it. Shows to know how much I know my best friend... Well better than Lance anyways. ;) 

 

We grabbed some Jugo Juice before heading back to the hotel while playing 20 questions. At night, I was fortunate to have Lance take me to Murrietas for our annual Christmas dinner. We usually celebrate this before Christmas but Lance was too busy this year with work that it was done after. We had The beef tartare to start which I love! Yup, I love raw beef, I could eat lots of this, or beef tataki... Lance, my sister and I have done it... No shame. For our entrees, I always go for the lamb, while Lance had the chicken this time. And for dessert? Creme brûlée, of course! Mmmm. Such a great dinner, to end my mini staycation.

A bit overcooked (not the rack of lamb), but honestly, I love lamb. I almost always get this when I come to Murrieta's.

Lance said the chicken would probably be too salty for me and was he right! Really strong seasoning, and cooked perfectly; but he liked it. He said the corn pappardelle was very good too. Really flavorful and contrasted the chicken.

When we checked out the next morning, Lance, Hubert and I went for breakfast at Diner Deluxe because I was really in the mood for a typical breakfast instead of just the hotel's breakfast. I love it there. The interior has such a retro feel and the service is always great. I got the blackcurrant spritzer and the double bacon eggs benny with the breakfast poutine. 

Thank you, Lance for all my great Christmas presents this year. You really go above and beyond, and I really am grateful for everything. I truly am so blessed to have you in my life. You inspire me to continue having my dream of a pastry shop one day and even through just blogging. Let's have a wonderful 2013 together, with many more great memories. I have faith this year will be a great one.