Fresh Goji Berries

My grandma grows a goji berry plant in our front yard. There are plenty of fruits every year (the joys of planting!) and the taste is sweet with a punch of bitterness/spice.

I don't think I like fresh goji berries that much (because the spice leaves a funny aftertaste), but it's good for my eyes apparently, so I shall suffer through.

It's interesting how nature opts for complementary colors though, it feels so intentional.

Taste Test: Tarte Asian Yogurt

I was in a local grocery store (see Old MacDonald's Farmer's Market) and saw that there was a new locally made yogurt, so I decided to try it.

        

Even though there was less sugar in Tarte than regular yogurt, it had a weird aftertaste that stayed in your mouth for a long while. I don't think anything was that special about it other than the odd flavor. 

Note to self, probably won't buy it again, but it's fun to go out of my comfort zone and try different variations of products in the grocery store. I feel like I often end up buying the same thing over and over again, so as long as I make a conscious decision to diversify, I can experience a lot more flavors and each bite could be a new adventure.

San Jose Municipal Rose Garden

Free things to do are probably one of the best things in life. For my grandma's birthday, I took her to the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden and fell in love with some of the roses with unique colors.

Trying my hand at photoshop...
The roses were originally purple!

I think roses need to be at least two colors to be considered legitimate.

Polka dot roses?! So beautiful

I love my grandma! (:

I think it's definitely worth checking out, although it's not like you can spend hours of your day here, you can still be amazed by how many different kinds of roses there are and enjoy the sunshine.

Foodspiration: BacaroLA

My friend Karen (check out her food blog here) took me to this small restaurant near-ish her apartment in LA. It had some really crazy interesting ingredient combinations that somehow worked! I liked how the portions were small, but everything had really strong flavors, so it ended up being very satisfying. The place is sort of experimental, and there's definitely a lot to learn from from their entrees.

Buffalo Cheese - apparently made with buffalo milk? It's much creamier and slightly sweeter than cow milk cheeses, although the difference is very nuanced. 

Bacaro Burger - The bread is a piece of toast instead of regular burger bun bread, so maybe next time I make burgers I don't have to go out of my way to buy the bun especially... but I typically make bun-less burgers anyway, but still a cool flavor combination~

MY FAVORITE DISH OF THE NIGHT - lamb in eggplant. SO MUCH FLAVOR I can't even explain. They used a lot of citrus to probably balance out the lamb with this crunchy potato chip on the top. The eggplant on the outside contrasted with the super soft lamb on the inside. 

Bone marrow! Honestly I thought my family was weird for eating this, but now they just legitimized it...by serving it at a restaurant. Anyway, so they used some lemon-y flavors to make the bone marrow into like a paste to put on bread. I didn't know this could be a dish...

Dark on the inside for ambiance~

Thanks for taking me, Karen! I really enjoyed it. I think they were also able to price their dishes super fairly (3 for $21?!) because they're in a sketchy-ish part of town, but this place is definitely worth trying. I love restaurants that challenge what I thought was possible in cooking.

Art Inspiration: Native American Pottery

I went to Stanford University's Cantor Center for the Arts the other day. Although the exhibition for SFMOMA's Pop Art Collection was still under construction (such a bummer! I really wanted to see it! Hopefully, I will get a chance to see before I leave...but it's difficult to schedule in), the closing gave me a chance to become very inspired by the geometric designs in the Native American pottery exhibition. I love the harsh edges and super modern patterns.

Asymmetrical, minimalist feel. Use of negative space very effective.

Typically, circles don't really work well in an art piece because they draw so much attention, but this somehow manages to complement the other rectangular elements.

Contrast with solid colors, repetitive lines. Varied Textures.

Love how they added a fantastical geometric shape in the center of the animal. You can still tell what it is, but the diamond makes it unique and interesting.

I think I'm often so caught up with modern or post-modern pieces that I forget to appreciate the more rustic roots of where a lot of these artistic ideas come from. I can't wait to add some of these geometric patterns into my future sketches! 

Easy Bulgogi Recipe

I love bulgogi, and turns out, it's much easier to make than I originally thought!

Ingredients (5-6 Servings)

2 pounds Rib-eye or other tender Beef (thinly sliced)

2 tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 teaspoons Asian Sesame Oil

1 tablespoon Sugar

1 bulb Garlic (minced)

Freshly Ground Black Pepper (to taste)

3 Green Onions (cut into 1 inch pieces)

Toasted Sesame Seeds (for garnish)

Optional: Oyster/Shiitake Mushrooms, Onions, Zucchini, Bell Pepper, Thinly Sliced Carrots

Prep

1. Marinate the beef in the soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and garlic for 30 minutes (or overnight)

Cook

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and stir-fry completely until browned. (5-7 minutes)

2. Add the black pepper and green onions and cook until the green onions are slightly limp, but still retain their color. (1-2 minutes). 

3. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

I'm not sure when you should add the optional ingredients. I'm assuming you would put those in right after you add the beef and stir fry them all together. Or maybe I should put the onions in first, and then the beef to get the flavor.

Credits to Quick & Easy Korean Cooking by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee

Easy Stir Fried Onions Chinese Recipe

Again, super accessible ingredients, and very similar to the previous green beans stir fry.

A colorful final product

Ingredients

1 Onion

1/2 cup Marinated Pork or Beef Slices

1 pinch of Salt

1/2 tablespoon Soy Sauce

1/4 tablespoon Sugar

1 tablespoon Water

1 tablespoon Oil

Optional: Picked Mustard (or Zha Cai)

Preparation

1. Onion: Cut the Onion into thin, curved slices. This is done by cutting the onion in half (by the flat way) and then putting the flat section faced down. Slice rainbow shapes from there.

2. Marinated Pork or Beef: Cut a piece of meat into small, thing slices. Add rice wine, oil, soy sauce, and salt. (If you do not have rice wine, you can add a bit of vinegar instead.) Put in fridge to marinate. Stir fry until brown and refrigerate to store. 

Cooking

1. Heat the wok. Add oil and wait for it to become hot.

2. Add the prepared Marinated meat. Stir fry. Then add the onion slices and continue to stir fry.

3. Add soy sauce, then add water (if it start sticking to the bottom of the wok). Add the salt and sugar. 

4. Stir fry until onion slices are bendable, but still crunchy and serve!