homeengineer

fruit, dessert, and chai

2010-02-24T17:27:00.000-05:00

last weekend, we went to H Mart with G's parents. it's pretty far away, but it's fun. even though it's a korean market, it feels like there might be more chinese people than koreans there! also a lot of cambodians too.

now that i'm getting to the end of my pregnancy, i have been craving sushi! i am sooo ready to binge at Minados once they're born! but i've been craving other things too like durian. they had some at H Mart so we bought it. it was so yummy, i was really in the mood for it. some annoying guy was laughing about how bad durian smells to his girlfriend when they were walking by, but i think if you think it smell bad, you probably got bad taste!

G was too lazy to eat it because he doesn't like the way the stickiness feels on his fingers so i got to eat almost the whole thing, thanks honey!

then the next day, we went to Russo's and bought this napoleon tart. So yummy! of course G didn't have a problem eating this one.

To go along with the dessert, we made some chai based on Sham's secret recipe. she sent this whole package for my birthday, but being the kind of person i am, i couldn't wait for my birthday! here are some chai making supplies: tea, cinnamon, cardamom, and lots of love.

It was a very yummy weekend for us!

Snow Day = Day to make braised pork belly

2010-02-10T16:35:00.002-05:00

When I was younger, I didn't really like pork all that much. Or at least I thought so. The reason is because American pork is all over-salted or tasteless - bacon, ham, chops. Even SPAM - probably the best American pork is almost like not really pork. And I never made the connection between the Chinese pig meat I loved - char siu, feet, shoulder, and especially double-layered fat belly - and "pork." As I got older, I made the connection that these were in fact all different parts of the same animal. I mean...I knew that, but I didn't KNOW it. (Until this day I have a similar confusion over the difference between sheep, goat, and ram because they all have the same word in Chinese. It's not even like I'm fluent in Chinese, I'm just very easily confused.)

But it gets me upset when I think about the way we in America disrespect the meat we eat. People don't want to eat pig feet or ears or chitterlings or anything that is easily identifiable as part of an animal. We don't even call it pig, but pork. We don't want to eat cow, but want to eat beef and steak and burgers and Rocky Mountain oysters. And of course it's veal instead of calf, or more accurately - infant cow.

In my mind, when it comes to eating meat: stakes is high.

I can stand eating vegetables that aren't cooked that great because they are vegetables. But human beings do not need to eat meat in order to survive or even to thrive - so there is no reason we should ever eat meat that is not cooked to perfection. When we eat meat, we should make it worth it. You know what I'm saying?

Pork is - to me - the perfect meat. I could live without beef or chicken or even fish - but I don't think I'd ever stop eating expertly-prepared pork. So that having been said I used the snow day from work as an excuse to make some braised pork belly with ALL the fat still attached. Mmm. (Read this Slate.com article about why eating lard is not as bad as you thought it was.)

Step by step. (Oooh baby.)

This is some pork belly cut up into pieces maybe an inch (?) thick. Marinate it in dark soy sauce, light soy sauce and a little sugar plus a minced bulb of garlic. The dark soy is the key. We also ended up throwing some pig ears in there too.

S has this really clever technique when braising meats - that's to put sugar on the bottom of the pot and burn it until it's a deep brown color - that gives the deep rich color to the final product and probably lends a little bit of smoke to the taste. Unfortunately, i did it wrong and the sugar liquefied instead of burned - I guess I should have used a different pot - regardless, after it became syrup, it browned a little so I just kept going.

After that, you throw your pork and marinade into the pot and saute a little. No need for oil because of the thick layers of lard. Mmmm. After it's cooked a short while, dump in some water. S's style would be to fill it halfway and continue to refill as necessary. I am lazy so I just basically filled the pot. But my mom always braised stuff starting with a full pot so I wasn't concerned; although she would do it starting in the morning - not in an hour.

After the water has basically boiled down all the way, it will look like this. Notice we threw some hard boiled eggs (shells removed) in earlier, and see the whole pig ears on the bottom of the photo. At this point, you might as well taste the liquid in the pot and see if the flavor feels right or not. If it's too strong, then add some more water and cook it down a little more; if it's too weak, you'll need to add flavoring.

As I sliced up the ear, I listened to "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Steeler's Wheel.

This is screaming to be eaten with white rice. But given that it's basically eating straight lard, I opted for the slightly healthier brown rice.

you're just being shelfish

2010-02-09T08:50:00.000-05:00

Shelf-ish. Get it?

We forgot to take a "before" picture of our empty babies closet. But all these shelves (except the top white one) are brand new. Originally, I was just gonna put 3 shelves up and call it a day, but S nixed that.

She said she wanted the shelving to be dynamic, and came up with this layout plan: four foot-high shelves on the right, two extra large shelves in the middle, and a ladder leading down to the floor on the far left with shelves of varying sizes.

As usual, S was the lead designer and I was the lead engineer. She had a great vision to make it as functional as possible. I was a little concerned about there being too many shelves, which would make it too crowded in there. Turns out it's perfect as usual.

reupholstering fever!

2010-02-04T23:28:00.004-05:00

This is a chair from G's childhood. When we first moved in, G was thinking about throwing it away because it was so tore up, but I thought is has a beautiful shape and wanted to hold on to it. I saw potential in the chair and also I don't like to throw things out from his childhood. I knew that someday I want to do something with it and since we're working on the nursery, it was a great opportunity for another challenge.

we spent an afternoon at jo-ann's and picked out this fabric to reupholster it. but we needed 6 yards, and they only had 4! we were already thinking about going to the joanns in natick until my husband came up with the idea of using white fabric in areas that are hidden from view. so instead of driving all the way to natick, we just bought a little more plain white upholstery fabric.

So we started to take the whole thing apart! Here's G trying to figure out what pieces can be cut out of what part of our two different fabrics. he's good at geometry.

This is a lot of the materials laid out on the floor. it was a mess all week!

After the pieces were cut, I sewed them together.

Our new best friend: a staple gun

I didn't know he was taking pictures or else i would have wore something instead of a bathrobe! i'm using his patriots hammer to put the arm together.

It's starting to look like a chair again...

G says he never thought about how furniture was put together before this.

Revealing some of the white fabric we're keeping hidden.

close-up view

Now I just want to reupholster everything in the house! next project will probably be our media room sofa...another piece from G's childhood. probably even before he was born...even before people started to talk about "clean lines"!

Taste Test: Domino's New Pizza

2010-01-23T21:32:00.001-05:00

I know you don't care about this and really want to read about the baby shower...but we don't have pics of it yet. So keep checking back...

You may have seen the new Domino's Pizza ad campaign about how their pizza sucks, and that motivated them to redo their pizza and make it better. If you haven't heard about this campaign, check out the "documentary" here...

Now that we're all caught up, S and I decided to order the new pizza and test out their new claims of betterness.

They're offering two (or more) medium two-topping pizzas for $5.99 each, so we got one with pineapple and ham and the other with roasted red peppers and mushrooms. (Yo, Domino's has roasted red peppers?)

According to S
First of all, I always liked Domino's Pizza, so I don't even know why they need to change they ingredient. That was what i was eating in college, though I must say, I might not have good taste then, and my taste might have become a little more sophisticated as I got older.

This pizza, I think the cheese was really good. The sauce was good - a little on the sweet side.

What I didn't like was the crust. I don't like crust that is too thick and bready. It is also a little too buttery for me. I think I like the old crust better, but I definitely like the cheese and the sauce more on this one.

I'll give it 3 1/2 stars for taste, but because of the price, I'll give it 4!

According to G

I never liked Domino's Pizza. I thought it tasted a lot better the next morning when it was cold, so the taste wasn't as strong. But I'm also a sucker for advertising, so I was pretty excited to try the new recipe.

Dude...NOT disappointed! The sauce actually tasted like tomatoes - canned, but that's the standard for pizza around here. The cheese was mostly mozzerella, which is also standard, but slightly sharper because of I guess the provolone. The crust was definitely better tasting than the old crust, but s is right that it's too chewy. Also too much garlic salt and butter.

Toppings were surprisingly fresh! I would actually eat this again tomorrow...which I probably will for breakfast.

Painting Family

2010-01-12T22:54:00.003-05:00

It's G here. We did some painting over the past few. Many of you who have been over the crib know we had two little birdies painted in the living room representing wifey and me. Now that we're about to welcome two kids into the world, we decided it made sense to add a couple more to the tree.

Here I go working the paintbrush like a Wii remote.

The family should look something like this in a few weeks.

Before they moved, Theresa & Sophea (two real artists) gave us this joint to paint on. It took a while to figure out what to do with it, but...

Junior (a stuffed animal), an alien, a sheep, baby girl and baby boy, and a robot. Full update on the babies room soon...

diy updates: baby accessories

2009-12-30T22:45:00.001-05:00

G has been busy getting the house ready for the babies arrival. You saw the cornices already...and we'll update other things when they're finished. But i wanted to take a second to update you on some baby accessories i've made over the past month.

since there are no newborns nearby, everything is being modeled by other friends! thanks to snuggles, whisker, and david the bear.

baby tutu

baby bear hat

baby tutu and baby bear hat (and another gumdrop pillow I just made)

baby winter hats

baby mary janes with real pearls!

curvaceous pelmet boxes

2009-12-20T00:04:00.000-05:00

Of all the projects we've done, this is one of the ones we're most proud of. When all is said and done, I think the babies room is going to be the dopest room in the house.

For a long time, I wanted to put up a cornice box - also called a pelmet box - above some of the windows in our condo. G and I had done some planning, and we mostly knew how to do it. The problem was that G said we don't have a jigsaw so we couldn't build a cornice with a shape that I like, it would have to just be a rectangle. It wasn't exactly what I hoped for, but G said it was the only way.

But because this was going to be the first cornice in our home, and it was going to be in the babies room, I never gave up hope we could find a way to have a shape. If it was for our bedroom instead, maybe I would have accepted the plain front, but for this room, I was motivated to figure it out.

Just a couple days before we were planning to start on building them, I found a tutorial online that said you could make a beautiful pelmet out of just foamcore! That makes it easy to carve any shape you want! Isn't that a great idea? It's inexpensive and you can choose any shape you want, which allowed us to splurge on the fabric.

When I told G this idea, he was a little hesitant. He didn't think it would be strong - and he also prefers using wood because he thinks it's more tough and manly. But he changed his mind when he realized how much I really wanted some kind of style other than a rectangle on it. Thats something great about me & G together: I tell him what I want, and he helps me make it happen. Without him, I don't feel I can finish any projects. Without me, he doesn't ever want to start any projects!

Here is a step by step tutorial. We didn't do it exactly the same way the Little Green Notebook did, but hers was a good place to start.

First, we designed the front of the box. I was looking for a style that wasn't too ornate, but was still pretty. I definitely wanted a little bit of curve, not just right angles. Here's G drawing the design on foamcore. He's wearing a Randy Moss jersey in support of him since everyone else is blaming him now!

Then we used a boxcutter to cut out the right shapes, and used duct tape to connect them pieces together. This is G looking proud of the job he did!

Instead of using all foamcore like the other site, we compromised and used wood on the back so it's sturdier. The wood keeps the front from bending and also is the piece that attached to the wall.

We then covered the front of each box with batting to make it puffy. After that, we wrapped it with this fabric. Initially, we were going to use an amy butler fabric for this project, but based on the design of the fabric and the style of the cornice, they weren't a good match, so we changed our mind last minute. We looked all over the place for the right fabric, and when we finally found this one, we were excited!

Here is G using a staple gun to upholster the cornice. Can you believe it's just made of foamcore?

This is what it looks like on the window. Isn't it pretty?

So what do you think?

tutorial: bootleg gumdrop pillow

2009-12-10T23:48:00.004-05:00

i've been sweating this pillow for a long time, but i could never figure out how to make it. i surfed all over the internet for the bootleg version. i even borrowed amy butler's books from the library, but i couldn't find the right pattern for this pillow. just when i was about to give in and buy the pattern for the pillow...which only cost $11.99 anyway, i found a DIY tutorial for a "Moroccan pouf" online. i think it's kinda funny that it doesn't mention Amy Butler at all, when it's almost exactly her pattern, just a couple inches different in size.

When i saw it, it looked so similar to Amy Butler's pouf, that I asked G to reverse engineer and figure out how to change the free bootleg pattern to be more the right size of the amy butler version. that way it looks even more like the original one that i liked in the first place.

BTW, i did support amy butler herself by buying her fabric. a lot of the babys room is going to be done using her fabrics. but the reason i didn't want to buy the pattern is both me & G don't like paying money for ideas. Ideas should be free and we should share them freely!

Here is our process step by step.

First, cut out 8 pieces of fabric in this shape. The design we chose had some regular features, so we tried to make each piece identical. we could have been a little more random, but I wanted the uniform look.

Sew them together like this in pairs, also sew the diagonal edges together but not all the way to leave space to stuff it later. Then sew the pairs together until you have the outer casing of the pillow.

See?

Then start stuffing with whatever kind of stuffing you got. I used polyester fiberfil, although amy butler suggests using some natural stuffing that would cost $100 just for the filling!

It's a convenient time capsule too. We're going to let our kids open it when they turn 21. So we also put in a bottle of gin...

...a Bruce Lee DVD in honor of their dad's favorite guy...

...and a Justin Timberlake bobblehead given to me by Auntie kay.

Next, make a cover for that hole. It could be any shape, we chose something like an octagon.

We're going to make another one for the nursery.

Road Trip Down Memory Lane

2009-12-09T21:34:00.011-05:00

Note from new contributor Grouchy G: Just because S hasn't updated here in a long time doesn't mean she hasn't had stuff to update about. As many of yall know, there have been plenty of life changes for us, so free time to spend on the internets has been hard to come by. So she invited me to be her co-conspirator on this here blog, so there is less pressure for frequent updating, but so that we can still try to keep family and friends up to date with what's going on, specifically, what projects we got in and out of our hands.

I have guest posted on this blog before, but now I'm a real partner on it! This is really what I wanted all along. So below, I present to you my first entry as an official Home Engineer. (Holla!)

On Saturday, I had a show at Amherst College. S and I met and became friends as students at UMass-Amherst, so we made the trip together and visited some of our old favorite places.

It was very meaningful actually. This was the 12th annual Voices for the Voiceless poetry concert, and I've been to about 7 of them. Maybe 8, maybe 6. I dunno, but a lot. It's one of my favorite shows to do every year because of the quality of poets and the attentive crowd. But usually, I drive right back to Boston after the show is over - but now that S came with me, we decided to take advantage of the school's offer for a hotel room and stay the night.

Moreover, old friend Shaggy Flores was there, and he was on point. Shaggy is a UMass grad also, who also met his wife in college. They brought their beautiful 5 year-old girl with them too. There are many parallels between myself and Shaggy. We both went to UMass, both moved to DC after graduation - we even were working about 3 blocks from each other. We both have masters degrees, and both are dope. We also both have our share of haters at our alma mater.

Also Bao was there, and he's one of my closest friends in the world. Bao & I have never done Voices together, although we've both appeared multiple times. And since he and his partner J just had their first child 6 weeks ago, it's wonderful to be able to spend time with him as we're getting ready to grow our family.

Also, two legends of Nuyorican poetry were there: Louis Reyes Rivera (amazing as always) and Americo Casiano (my first tiem meeting him) - both were phenomenal. I also got to meet Mwalim, who teaches spoken word and many other things at UMass-Dartmouth. Since I teach a simialr thing at UMass-Boston, we're like UMass brothers. I am definitely gonna hit him up for some knowledge about how to navigate that whole system.

But anyway, the rest of the weekend was focused on - what else? - food. So here we here we go:
Two slices each at Antonio's! Wow, it's been almost 10 years since we had this! Still just as good as we remembered. Maybe even better. Nom nom nom.

Amazing food from Santiago's Family Restaurant in Westfield. They catered the show. Ooooooooooooooh. Damn the pork belly is my JOINT. Even though I try to be pretty health conscious, the Chinese in me makes me unable to resist pork belly and extra oil in everything. Their food was seriously bomb tho. Full plate an hour after two slices at Antonio's.

S did leave the show a little early to catch up with our old friend from college Malis. And to see her beautiful family. Malis moved to Amherst for college, then never left! it was great to see her. After the show, we got calzones from DP Dough. We ate them so fast we forgot to take pictures.

Next morning we hit the Korean Restaurant on Route 9 in Hadley. We wondered if it would be as good now that we're older and get good pretty good Korean food near our home, or can get bomb Korean food every time we're in NYC or LA.

Nope, it was just as good we remembered. Mmmmmm.

Cider Donuts from Atkins Farm.

Yes I will have another.

what a monstrosity!

2009-06-23T22:13:00.007-04:00

From the time we first moved in, I've always known that I wanted a chandelier in the dining room. I was little embarrassed about liking such over the top (tacky) opulence that was why I was wavering. It took me almost 3 years to finally decide on it. All the blogs I saw on line and all the home decor magazines didn't like big crystal chandeliers.they even made fun of it. Finally I decided that I'm not going to care what the trend is. I’ve always wanted a chandelier...so I’m going to get it!

I get the love of ornate decorations from my mom. she watches a little too much thai movies! they all take place in a beautiful mansion!

When we got it in the mail, we were surprised that it weighed 60 lbs. G was nervous about hanging it from the ceiling. So before we put it up, he tied 60 lbs of weight plates to the ceiling. After a day, it didn’t fall out so we knew it was safe to put it up. Every little piece of the chandelier was separate. We thought it was going to come partly assembled but all the wires had to be attached and we have to be extra delicate because they're hand cut crystal.

When G connected all 18 lights he said what a MONSTROSITY!!

Yuri

2009-05-06T21:35:00.015-04:00

Before my travel to the Pacifics, G and I embarked on a new project together. We hand painted Yuri Kochiyama in her younger days. If you don't know who Yuri is, she became a civil rights activist in the 60's. She and her husband Bill were in the internment camps in WWII, and later got active with the Harlem Parents Committee, and later Malcolm X died as she cradled his head. She is almost 90 years old and still active, writing letters to political prisoners.

She is the most prominent Asian American civil rights activist ever. The style of the painting is that we didn't use any brushes - it's all made by dipping our hands in paint and putting it on the canvas. We wanted to ask other friends to participate by putting their hands on the painting too because it's a tribute - in the same way her hands laid the foundation for our work, our hands can honor her contributions.

We were partly inspired by the work of modern american artist,Chuck Close, who recreated photos with paint, by concentrating on tiny pieces - one dot at a time. But instead of using fingertips, we used our whole hands.

But most of all, it means a lot to us because me & G met when we were at UMass. Chuck Close used to teach there. The Asian American center there is called the Yuri Kochiyama Cultural Center. I think most of us who put our hands on the painting, we learned who Yuri was when we were in college, when we developed our Asian American political identity. It all comes together, and this project was the perfect thing for us to do together!

With me & G as the lead artists, we've had contributions from: VyVy Trinh, Theresa Vu, Chengyang Lor, Mike Keo, Wameng Lor, Theresa Hwang, Sophea Khem, Eugene Shih, Chun Fai Chan, Chintra Pich, Lyna Sun, Christophe Lim, Pywat Tan, Mealear Tan, and Morodoc Tan.

On May 19, Yuri turns 88 years old: that's the day we bring this project to a close.

Grown-Up Party #2

2009-05-05T21:59:00.012-04:00

G and I started drinking wine after we got married. we thought that drinking wine would make us look mature...it's kind of like smoking for 13 year olds, but for married couples.

the first bottle of wine we bought was on our honeymoon. we had a yellowtail shiraz in maui...and we hated it! we thought it tasted so terrible, and we didn't know why yellowtail was a popular brand.

but last week we tried yellowtail shiraz again, and we liked it this time! imagine that! i guess we didn't develop a tongue for wine yet when we first got married, but over the past 3 years, we learned how to drink it.

so this past weekend, we held a winetasting party to honor my brother's birthday. it was called "Plonkasaurus Rex." Plonk is a term used to mean the cheapest wine you can find, so we encouraged all guests to bring a bottle of wine under $12 and we would rate them and find winners.

the categories were: best red, best white, best new world, best dressed, and ultimate champion. my cuz lyna won 4 of the 5 with the salice salentino. and chloe won for best white with her delceoro. congratulations to the winners!

also, it wouldn't be a tek production if there wasn't a lot of food! my cousins kunthea and sokea helped by rolling shrimp and pork summer rolls, and G made his famous junk food sliders (little baby hamburgers) and soleak and map helped assemble the mini fish and steak tacos. chintra made a fruit salad - eaten by my sister's kids before any other guests arrived! i also made a khmer beef dish called kaw-koh, stewed with anise, clove, paprika, and secret ingredients for several hours, and served with vienna bread.

also, dessert was brought by sabrina (lollipop cheesecake) and chloe (cheesecake cheesecake) - and a birthday sheet cake for my brother and my cousin. look at the ridiculous picture on the cake. i told the guy to make the guy's skin brownish yellow because he's asian, but he just used regular white people color and did this to his eyes! this doesn't look like my brother at all! when G picked up the cake, he called to tell me, but he was laughing too hard.

Check out this slideshow, taken by my favorite photographer-Eugene and his crew-delia, theresa, hsindy and victor.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsukemono/sets/72157617779526320/show/

look below for some more pictures:

Dumpling party

2009-04-25T00:11:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago, Eugene hosted his Supper Club installment at Delia's house. (Does that count? JK! He has a cat, and some members of the Supper Club is allergic.)

He hosted a Dumpling Party, where it took a community effort to make dinner. There was a rolling station and a wrapping station. It's a wonderful idea! Here are some pictures:

Here is G rolling some wrappers - or is he playing cricket?

What so funny?

The host Eugene. I couldn't remember his name, but then I read his apron!

Here I am helping to make them...

and helping to eat them! I was the first one to get to taste, and they were yummy!

T & T at their table. (look how big the grown-ups table is on the right!)

Eugene getting ready to play cards.

My husband losing a lot of money. (JK! But it sure looks like it!)

Playing Boggle and looking cute

Giving the side-eye to my husband. I think he tried to say UHS was a word...the plural of "uh". Uhh, I think it's not a real word honey!

Saipan

2009-04-13T05:59:00.001-04:00

Over the next couple entries, I'll probably be writing about my trip. I want to take the time to highlight each of the islands, because they all have different histories and cultures, and I feel like I learned so so much.

I was in the Pacific Islands because we had a cooperative agreement with the Dept of Justice to do an assessment on SA in US territories. We met with the governor, Attorney general, governmental entities, lawmakers, police, judges, community leaders and victim survivors, to find out gaps in services of each territory.

The first island I want to talk about is Saipan, maybe because it reminds me most of my homeland. Although it is predominantly Christian, they still have strong beliefs in their pre-colonized spiritual heritage. The people of Saipan believe that when you walk into the woods, you should not shout or make a lot of noise because it is disrespecting of spirits. Perhaps everywhere believes that, but we were warned - they probably assumed we would act American - disrespectful and obnoxious!

I don't want to make it sound so exotic or mysterious, like an oblivious tourist, but there are so many things that made me feel connected to something more than what was right in front of me. Like untouched beaches that looked like no people had ever been there, or like the Grotto we got to see, which is a beautiful hidden cave underwater. The water the purest blue water I could have imagined.

The part of the trip that stays with me the most was a visit to Suicide Cliff and Banzai Cliff. Saipan's indigenous Chamorro population was first colonized by the Spaniards, then another European country I can't remember, then Japan, and in the presnt day, the US. (Many of you all know that just like all the US territories, as well as Puerto Rico and DC, the people who live here do not have equal representation in our federal government.) So during WWII, there were several thousand Japanese civilians who had settled in Saipan - subjects of the colonizer.

During WWII, when they saw the American ships coming to land there, they knew Japan had been defeated, and they feared torture at the hands of America, so entire families - men, women, children, elderly - jumped to their death at Suicide cliff and Banzai cliff, one was above land, one was above water. Several hundred died. In American history, this is considered a great achievement, and it is told to us as Japanese soldiers who commited ritual suicide. But according to the locals, it was not only soldiers but families. There were so many bodies that ships couldn't dock. They say it was a horrific scene, it's very heartbreaking to think about. But every year, both Christian priests and Buddhist monks from Saipan, Japan, and all over the world, come to Saipan to honor and bless the dead. It is something none of us had ever heard of before, and it was an intense and sad experience.

We also learned that it was from Saipan that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

It's hard for me to let go of this memory, because it reminds me of the deperation of people when there is war around them. It is familiar to me because of the experience of myself, my family and my people.

For many of us here, we only know of Saipan because we know it's home to many of America's sweatshops. In order to get the "Made in the USA" label, they produce in Saipan, but still pay and treat the laborers as poorly as anywhere in the world. So much of the labor that creates "Made in the USA" are actually Asian and Pacific Islanders. Our companies tell us they are responsible and the real irresponsible companies are in Asia - but they are exploiting labor as bad as anyone in the world. It has a huge impact on the island's economy.

Despite all the colonization, the people still hold true to their culture and values as the indigenous Chamorro people. Of course, just like Native Americans, there's not a lot of pure Chamorros anymore, most are mixed with European and Asian blood.

Here, Asians and Pacific Islanders are lumped together - but there, there is a pretty big difference, and everyone acknowledges the distinctions.

Eating my way through Japan, Guam, Saipan, Japan (again), American Samoa

2009-04-08T23:08:00.012-04:00

I was gonna put captions for each photo to tell you what it is, but i think the photos looks beautiful as is!

leave a comment if you have questions.

and then I ate this buffalo

Guest Post / A Star in Saipan

2009-03-27T15:03:00.002-04:00

S told me that she and her co-workers were on the front page of the Saipan Tribune the other day. I looked all over the Internets for a copy of it, but it's not up. There's a picture of her supervisor online, but the one that ran on Page 1 isn't anywhere to be found.

But later on, she said the bellman at her hotel brought a little girl to their room because she came to their hotel seeking an autograph. That's so cute!

We've been talking every day, but the time difference is 14 hours, so it is hard to coordinate. But she has told me she is having a great experience, there are wonderful things and hard things to learn and hear about. I think there is a lot of stuff crammed into her trip. A month seems long, but in a lot of ways, it's short too.

While I'm away this weekend, I don't think I'll be able to talk to her much. I have to be honest, the past 3 weeks have been kind of hard. I don't take care of myself or anything around me unless she's with me. When we first became friends, I went from a C and D college student to a B and C (and occasional A) student and even made Dean's List once - I think that's a 3.5 or higher for one semester. Some of you nerds may not be impressed, but I haven't traditionally gotten good grades. The weird thing is, it's not even like she was a good student either. I think because I could envision a future together, it made me smarten up and work harder.

Since S has been gone, I realized I've been drinking more beer and sleeping fewer hours, and have allowed our bills and mail to pile up without barely opening any. Our plants are dying, and I've piled a bunch of clean laundry on one side of our bed and a bunch of dirty laundry on the other, so I sleep wherever there is space, whether that is the bed or the couch - depending on the day.

Anyway, this is to say that I don't plan to update this blog for the rest of her trip. Just look forward to her coming back and posting pictures and stories from her travels! She says she has a lot to share, but no energy to update from the Pacific Ocean.

Sorry this was so unfunny and slightly depressing...talk later!

Guest Post / Bok Sadai (#5 Style)

2009-03-23T06:05:00.003-04:00

it's G here. hi. two weeks until S gets back.

the dish i never tasted before S was bok lahong (papaya salad), as well as its variants like bok sadai (green bean salad), and what we call "bok mango" - which is self-explanatory. But the term "bok" in khmer doesn't mean salad, it means the method by which you make these dishes, by crushing all the ingredients in a huge mortar and pestle thing.

i am something of a connoisseur. i can pick out my wife's bok dishes out of anyone's in the world. it's pretty unlike anything i grew up eating, so i set out to learn how to make it. after working on it for months, i have determined myself to be the #5 best bok-er in the world. yeah i said it.

so before she left, we done did this. check it:

these are the ingredient for making bok sadai: fish sauce, shrimp paste, garlic, lime, MSG, smoked fish, hot peppers, beer. (missing: green beans and sugar)

then you toast this smoked fish for a little while to bring out the flavor. it's still in the package here, we bought it in revere or maybe lowell. at this point, you should also drink your beer. if you need more, go ahead and get more.

cut up the green beans into little pieces like this. check out how fast my knife moves - it's a blur! i think this was the day i sliced off the tip of my finger.

BOK the smoked fish. break up the bones!

add the fish sauce, lime, shrimp paste, garlic, peppers, msg, and sugar. BOK that! my steez is to add a little at a time of fish sauce, lime, and sugar and taste along the way and add more of each accordingly. the flavor has to be a balance of salty, sweet, sour, and MSG-y. all those flavors should be strong too. you can only know if you know.

add the sadai and keep up the BOKing.

blacken some chicken. dark meat is highly preferred - but that's always preferred in my opinion.

typically, most people like to BOK the sadai to the point where it's more pasty than this. but my style is to keep them more whole, i like the texture that way.

eat with rice. holla.

Guest Post / Prince as Decorator

2009-03-17T07:42:00.000-04:00

I spoke to S this morning and she said one week was down and we got three more to go before she gets back. I was shocked, because I swear she's been gone two weeks already. but no, it just seems that way. this sucks.

Anyway, I've had Prince on my mind for a couple days now, so I thought I should share a little bit of info on Prince - as it pertains to home design.

Many people don't realize Prince is a talented designer. But you know who knows? Carlos Boozer. Back in 2006, Carlos Boozer - who plays in the NBA for the Utah Jazz - was renting his LA mansion to Prince for $70,000 a month.

What he didn't know was that the place was nice, but not nice enough for Prince. He ended up painting purple stripes all over it, the numbers 3121 on the outside - which was the name of his newest album at the time - and his symbol on the walls. Best of all, he repiped the whole plumbing system to build a beauty salon on the first floor.

Carlos Boozer ended up suing Prince for more than $11 million.

I don't know what happened, but i assume nothing, because Prince is Prince, and Carlos Boozer is just Carlos Boozer.

(sorry babe! i don't have anything else to write about here...)

Guest Post / Crafty & Drunk

2009-03-13T06:46:00.000-04:00

another guest post from Grouchy G

with so much wine in the house. what should i do?

S is away. she would know what to do.

think man. think.

OH! i could try drinking some of it!

the weapon in the war against wine.

what of this cork?

i guess every bottle has one of these.

what can I do with these? oh...

laptop stands to keep them from overheating!

Guest Post / The Legendary 4 Onion Cha

2009-03-10T08:15:00.002-04:00

hi readers! every now and then I'll be featuring entries from guest bloggers.

today is my first guest post from my husband, also known as Grouchy G. (everyone seems to love that new nickname for him. except him!) since i'm away for 4 weeks, he'll be handling updating duties for me. don't mess up honey!

a few weeks ago, i had a dream in which i invented a new dish called "Four Onion Cha" - with onions, leeks, scallions, and shallots all fried together with pork. I couldn't stop thinking about it and so on S's last weekend here before her trip, I brought that dream into reality.

I'm lazy, so here is a very poor rendition of that recipe in pictures. It tasted better than I dreamed it to taste! word!

you all know how to stirfry with a wok, so do this:

sweat this much scallions:

add this much leeks:

throw a little bit of sugar and dark soy in there. when the leeks start to kinda wilt on the edges, throw this much onions:

and this much shallots:

more dark soy, more sugar and a healthy dose of regular (light) soy. remove all that vegetables to a dish, add several cloves of crushed garlic (more oil if you need of coruse) then this much pork:

that should have been marinated for at least 30 mins in wine, dark soy, sugar, corn starch, and crushed garlic.

then hit it with a cornstarch/water mixture. once that thickens, drizzle the sesame oil. toss it a couple times, turn off the heat and lay out that pork and sauce on top of the 4 onions.

holla. eat with chili oil and beer. that picture looks less good than it tasted.

happy burfday to me

2009-03-04T21:21:00.008-05:00

I celebrated my b-day twice this year. Over the weekend, my family surprised me with a white chocolate rasberry cheescake and my niece and nephews sang me a song. It was one of the best birthday gifts.

here is Kameron eating my cake...

here he is after he got caught...

here he is singing me the happy birthday song!

here's my grandma snoring me a happy birthday song...

here are the kids bringing me to the mall to buy me a present. (but i ended up buying them a present!)

Today, is my actual birthday. I haven't really had time to think about it because I am prepairing for my month long trip to Japan, Saipan, Guam and American Samoa. I wish it was for vacation but it's for work!

Today g and I took a day off work. We went out for lunch at Korean garden, run some errands, and bought cake from eldo's cake house.

My friend Sham sent us a package of chai tea, and i've just been so busy with work i haven't had time to sit back and relax and enjoy it. i was so glad to finally get a chance to relax and eat cake and drink the yummy chai latte made with soy milk.

here's me really happy!!!

hinamatsuri

2009-03-03T21:50:00.010-05:00

today is a really important day celebrating girls. girlhood. girl power. in japan.

it is a day for the household to put out dolls and celebrate the future happy life for their daughters.

i had the privilege of being invited to a party by my friend kallianne. it was hosted at her partner's parents' home - dr and mrs burns. also there was kenny and his sister amelia, and our other friend sabrina. i met some talented artists and ate some wonderful food. G would have come with me, but we thought the party was only for girls! after seeing the food, he was sooo jealous! LOL! he just ate a burrito for dinner.

here is the pictures. i don't need to talk no mo.

Photo Blog: Magnetic North and Taiyo

2009-02-23T22:09:00.007-05:00

Yellow Dessert for the Revolution

2009-02-15T06:00:00.011-05:00

Since I haven't been feeling well, giles has been baking to cheer me up. I have a sweet tooth but as i mentioned earlier in my blog, I am a poor baker because I am bad at following directions. Baking is like science, you have to follow a formula, too much of this can turn into something else, and I was never good in science! When I cook, i can taste along the way, but you can't do that with baking.

For those of you who don't know Giles, you'd be surprised that he is a superb baker! How could someone so grouchy make something so sweet? He is a dessert snob too. All ingredients must be fresh and he bakes from scratch. I used to use duncan hines and betty crocker mixes all the time, but after eating his dessert, i was ruined!

Recently giles baked blondies and brownies and renamed it Yellow Brown dessert for the Revolution. Since I only took a picture of the blondies, i will share with you his recipe.

melt the following in double boiler:
2 cups of brown sugar
10 1/2 tbs butter

mix in:
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

add the following ingredients to mixture:
2 cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch salt

set in a pan, add white chocolate chips and crushed almonds over mixture. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

City Pooping

2009-02-10T05:55:00.013-05:00

The first time I went to Cambodia was when I was 14. I had many new experiences. One of them was the 1st time going to the bathroom outside. In the country, when you "drop the kids off at the pool" you find a secluded place by a mango tree and dig a hole. My little cousin dug a hole for me and I couldn't even aim in the hole. That was when I realized that i much prefer to go to the bathroom in the city instead of the country!

Our latest DIY is our guest bathroom. I forgot to take a before picture so there is nothing to compare the after to.

My husband is a proud Bostonian. I wanted to give him a room that reflects a Boston theme. Since the Red Sox and Paul Revere is out of the question I decided to paint a silhouette of the city of Boston. His favorite room to spend time in is the bathroom so I decided to chose this room as our next DIY project. I proposed the idea to G, and he liked it. Like most projects, I come up with the idea, and he helps to make it happen.

I took a picture of the city skyline and and G photo shopped it. We made a stencil out of the picture. We spray mounted the stencil to the wall and painted over with a custom gray that was specifically mixed for us from Benjamin Moore. We painted the walls and ceiling to get the dark moody atmosphere.

To complete the urban look, we purchased the marimekko hetkia shower curtain-a simple black and white line drawing of people walking on the street.

giles is very pleased that the room he is guaranteed to go everyday is dedicated to him.

product recommendation

2009-02-07T16:03:00.007-05:00

The Tek and Phai families have been devoted users of Dyson vacuums. But me & G were just late to get on the boat.

I've always thought a vacuum was just a vacuum until my parents got us a dyson dc14! it picks up stuff like a tornado! Since we got it, my husband has a fetish for this vacuum. He likes to wear sweatpants and socks pulled up as he clean. I thought he looked adorably dweeby. Since we got the vacuum, the house is always clean. he vacuums twice a week.

I give this product a 5 out of 5 stars rating because i don't have to clean the house anymore.

samples of my 1st client

2009-01-11T20:43:00.002-05:00

the Pho family; photos by sopheak and her assistant giles

Who does Jordan look like?

2009-01-08T21:53:00.000-05:00

Anton Chigurh Jordan Pho

Ishmael Boorg Jordan Pho

Jerry Jordan Pho

Survey Results - GlowDay.com

Leave a comment if you vote!

loveli art

2008-12-18T08:30:00.000-05:00

This entry is not about home, but it's still about DIY and it's still art related.

I've always been a little bit shy of my husband calling me an artist. When he told his friend I was an artist, I just shrinked thinking that I'm just someone who makes things around the home, and I can be a little crafty and creative...but not an artist!!! I love to have the glamorous stuff, but I just don't want to pay glamorous price, so I try to make it myself. If I could build a mercedez benz myself, I wouldn't have bought it, I would make it! LOL!!! G just has been sooo supportive and telling me I'm an artist even before I believe it myself!

So I guess we are both DIY artists. Me doing home design, and him doing spoken word. He has been his own manager his whole career, so that's even extra DIY!

He's so proud of me, and even though I don't put it on my blog or say it, I'm so proud of him too. He's not shy about supporting my art, so i shouldn't be shy about supporting his art too.

even though 2008 was not that easy of a year for us, I think all the hard work he has done as an artist has finally starts to pay off this year. An agent approached him this summer and wanted to represent him. He was unsure about it because he likes to do everything himself, but when he saw the kind of celebrity they represent, he decided to do it. They are called American Program Bureau and they seem to like him a lot. Now he has the same agent as Jay Leno, Ellen Degeneres, LL Cool J, Jon Stewart, Nas, Mary J Blige, Spike Lee, and Kim Cattral! It's legit, not one of those guys on the streets who tell you they work for a modeling agency and ask you for a $200 deposit LOL! They already booked him a show at a University in Texas and they took care of him really well.

And while he is a great performer and an entertainer, he is also respected in academics. Last year, Harvard produced a documentary about three artists and he was one of them. But what I love most about him is that he really is the most humblest dude. If you talk to him in person you can have a hard time imagining him onstage and he has a hard time talking about it. and me, I'm less humble. I'm just a BALLER on a BUDGET!

Another thing that happened this year was G was in an independent movie playing a conceited poet. He says he based it on someone he knew but I promised him that i won't say who! We heard that it got accepted into the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival! It's the biggest asian american film festival in the country...hehe...and my man is the star!

One last moment of bragging- He was just invited to teach a college class at UMass Boston next year too! The University asked him to teach a class about story telling, poetry and performance in 2009.

I'm just sooo excited for him!

Green pinkish red and purplish dinner party

2008-12-16T23:39:00.001-05:00

Over the past weekend we were invited by Kalianne to attend a holiday party/birthday party in Waltham. The theme of the party was Asian food, so anyone who brought food had to bring something Asian. Those that knows me know this is what I do best! Because I'm really bad at following directions, I'm not good with following recipes - but with Asian food it's best to cook with feeling and love.

I brought Yum Woon Sen, a spicy cold noodle dish with lots of fresh herbs we picked from the garden in our stairwell.

Kalianne may not speak a lot of Khmer but she can hella cook Khmer food LoL!!! She made amok, and I was very impressed with it. And G liked it a lot too...but too bad I don't know how to make it for him! She also made prahok katih, a fermented fish dip with fresh vegetables. Her buddy Sabrina also cooked too, like brussel sprouts that actually tastes good! It was so good, I thought there was meat in it, because you know nothing tastes good without meat!

Check out the dessert...the pictures can speak for itself. Kalliane made most of them, and she is a great baker!

I love how the hostess were very detailed, like the tables were all set so nice, with cut flowers as centerpieces and snowflake doilies hanging from the ceiling.

We are looking forward to the next get-together!

Pho soup!!!

2008-12-15T23:42:00.001-05:00

In a few days I will go visit these dudes. Can someone tell me why they are sooo greasy? hi Jermaine Jackson!! I love kissing these kids, but I think there mom greases there face as a kiss repellent.

diy menu

2008-12-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

this is another project from a while back.

G and I work as creative co-directors for my brothers thai restaurant. last year, we repainted the whole interior with the help of my cousin kunthea in one night using three colors. customers who came in friday or saturday, then came back in on monday were shocked! but we forgot to take pictures of how bad it looked before we painted!

so anyway, this post isn't about that, it's about a more recent project: the menus.

my brother soden who is the owner of the restaurant was going to order new menus because his old ones were so shitty. but it costed like $700 for 25 menus! i thought i heard it wrong, but i confirmed with him that this is actually the cost! so being the frugal person i am, i volunteered the tek-li factory to produce new menus - and he would only have to pay for materials. no labor, what a deal!

I knew I wanted to work with bamboo. it has that raw organic feeling that them folks like. That's just the demographics of our customers.

we found some bamboo place mats, and used them as covers for the menus. but the place mats were too floppy, so i went to broadleaf studios, owned by theresa and sophea for some advice. When I got there, I met with both consultants. They helped solidify a concept. Not only did they helped find a solution to make the place mats stiff by using chipboard, but also recommended using photo corners so that the menu could be easily updated. Thanks Theresa and Sophea for all your help!!

Even though most of the materials were inexpensive, i did not cut corners on paper. I bought exotic paper from the Paper Source for the inside covers. I used different papers so that customers could feel that they're handmade and not all the same.

Giles did the most important piece: he wrote the introduction and rewrote the menu, and formatted it all.

it took a really long time to get them done. but we made 40 menus for less than $300. Our customers thought they were dope! Some even wanted to keep the menu after placing an order so that they can take time to read through. It's good to know that our hard work was appreciated.

DIY dress to apron

2008-12-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

one really DIY project i like to do is buying a cheap dress with an interesting pattern and turning it into an apron. funky aprons at anthropologie cost about $30! so why not buy a dress from the clearance rack at forever 21 for $7 and just cut it up?

anthrolopolgie's apron mostly just looks like a cut up dress anyway. they want it to look like it's recycled, but you don't pay a recycled price! all their stuff has that look - as though it's repurposed stuff you find in a thrift shop...which makes it real easy for me to rip off their ideas! LOL!

i think i made this one about a year ago, but iwas going through my old photos and found this - and i wanted to share because i think my model is cute.

Preston Bailey fo cheap!

2008-12-09T00:26:00.001-05:00

Happy Holiday everyone!

as a kid, my refugee family never had a real christmas tree during the season. we only had a dinky fake one, and i always dreamed of having a lavish beautiful real tree in my home with ornaments and lights and the wonderful fresh scent all through the house.

but the grinch named G never had a real tree either, and he STILL doesn't want one! he says he doesn't agree with killing a living thing for decoration. last year i disagreed, but this year, i just used it as an opportunity to be creative!

now you all know i like to window shop, but even more i like to sidewalk shop! that means i walk around the neighborhood for old furniture people have thrown away, and that i can freshen up and use again. this time, me and the Grinch walked around the trees in back of our building and picked up a bunch of fallen branches and brought them home.

we spray painted them white, cut them in the appropriate places, and then put them in a tall vase that we used as decoration at our wedding. i cut up some wack garland and turned them into cute little ornaments - AND i put a bird in her nest on one of the branches, because birds have been the theme this year!

i was going after a whimsical look like Preston Bailey - and the result is our own "found" holiday tree that cost us the price of just one spray paint can. AND grinchy G didn't complain about killing a living thing. i'm happy we went through this trouble, because it makes it more special than if we just bought a tree from home depot. we get to have the holiday spirit, but with our own flava!

Rockin' & Crochetin'

2008-09-08T11:43:00.000-04:00

~~In a week or so~~ This weekend, my BFF Kay ~~is going to be giving~~ gave birth to her first child! So last month, her girlfriends threw her a shower, but since she lives in LA, I wasn't able to attend.

But I knew I wanted to make her and her baby something as a keepsake, so I took a month to crochet a present for the little one.

I used organic cotton yarn, and I wanted to make sure it wasn't too heavy since she lives on the west coast. and since i wanted the best of the best, i went to the bead store and picked up real pearls! I even looked up the average size of a newborn baby's head and feet to make sure what I crocheted wasn't going to be too big or too small.

After the finished product, i still couldn't believe they would actually fit because they look like the size of doll's clothes!

in addition to the bib, hat, and ballet slippers, i made a pair of mary jane booties too:

i also wanted to give something to the grown ups at the party too. the original idea was to wrap empty toilet paper rolls in pretty paper and put candy inside. cute right? But G brought up that the shower guests are from California and might get grossed out knowing where their party favors had been! so i decided to make a CD full of awesome music instead.

with G's help, i came up with a playlist that I hope is enjoyable for a baby, but I also hope is fun for the parents! Making the CDs and their cases was pretty intense, but it was really worth it because i was so pleased with how they looked when they were done!

here's me hard at work:

and here's the finished product - "Rockin' the Nursery"

The songs on the CD are:

1. The Most Beautiful girl in the World- Prince
2. Playground- Another Bad Creation
3. If you can't say love- Visionaries
4. ABC- Jackson 5
5. Banana Panakes- Jack Johnson
6. Girls just wanna have fun- Cindy Lauper
7. 5 on a joyride- Cody Chestnutt
8. Say After me- Bic Runga
9. Buddy Holly- Weezer
10. Jump-van halen
11. The Sun-Ghostface Killah
12. 99 red balloons-Nena
13. Sweet Caroline- Neil Diamond
14. Day Dream Believer- The Monkees
15. Angers- Robbie Williams
16. Little Star- Madonna

My Little Helpers

2008-09-05T00:06:00.000-04:00

My next few blog entries will be retroactive, looking back on projects and events I waned to write about but didn't get a chance to.

This one is about an adventure me and G had the week of July 4th on our way to go shopping. And it happened to be garbage day too! You know what that means, neighbors are throwing out good stuff!

As we were walking, we noticed our neighbor a block away had thrown away what used to be someone's bedroom dresser. But judging by its shape, it doesn't have to be a bedroom dresser. With a couple of changes here and there, it could work in the kitchen or living room or anywhere! We carried it home to use it for a buffet table in our dining room.

It took us a full week to disinfect it. and during that time, we planned how to convert it from a plain old piece into something that fit our decor. (G calls it "his" room since it would look right at home in a Chinese household!)

I knew i wanted to paint it black to fit in with all the black furniture in the dining room already, but something in me wanted to paint the inside of the drawers too. I asked G a million times if he thought it was corny to paint the inside of the drawers to match the room walls, but he just says who's gonna look inside the drawers?

but luckily I had little helpers the following week as three of my sisters kids and my two young cousins came to stay with us. It was so great to have them around to help me paint the buffet table! (JK! it was great to have them around no matter what, but you can't blame me for putting them to work!) We paid the price though, they kicked us out of our bed because it's so "comfty" and we slept in the guest room.

Anyway, they all chipped in and each painted a drawer themselves. it was a big help to say the least! I put Krishna second in command since she is 12, and the biggest of them. The rest were Brandon (10), Pywat (7 at the time, now he's 8), Mealea (6 now, 5 then), and Morodoc (still 3). (look at the littlest guy wearing the yellow shirt in that picture up there, he's almost falling off the bed!)

according to Pywat, kishna is a "pre-teen" and Mealea is a "toddler." i don't know who taught him how to classify kids by their ages. LOL.

And the finished product looked like this:

I'm glad it's cool and "green" to recycle old furniture nowadays. Back in the day, they just called us poor!

Oh and check it out, we got the kids to help clean our floors too!

affordable healthy eating

2008-06-26T22:54:00.000-04:00

Today I went to Russo's with my mother-in-law and father-in-law. This place has now became our favorite store! After introducing it to my father-in-law, he now goes once a week.

Russo's is not like any other grocery store that I have seen, especially on the East Coast. It's produce is fresh and inexpensive. And more important, they have a great variety of fruits and vegetables, including a whole lot of Southeast Asian stuff like sadao (a bitter leafy vegetable), banana blossoms, guava fruits, and green papaya. It also has an awesome selection of cheeses and breads, and the pre-made dishes look yummy, but we haven't tried them because every time we go, we get excited to go home and cook!

Oh, and the Asian produce is not in some separate special "exotic" section like Stop & Shop does "Food of the World." At the mainstream supermarkets, you see people go into the ethnic section and get like a mango and ignore everything else. Those store don't know anything about tropical fruits, I change the prices on Asian fruits like cherimoya to be cheaper since I know the cashier won't know what the heck it is. At Russo's, the Asian produce is just all throughout the store, it's weaved into every section.

Another thing I like about them is that they are a family-owned business, and their staff is very diverse. There are a lot of people of color working there, especially Asian and Latino immigrants, and they are not just stocking the shelves, but they are in management positions too. They are pretty helpful and friendly, and if that's the case, they are probably treated well. At the big supermarkets, staff don't care if you die in the aisle.

There's also a lot of locally grown produce, and that's good for freshness and not using too much gas to transport them. But it also must mean they have good relationships with a lot of local Asian farmers who are growing all these Asian vegetables!

It's good to see that good food is affordable. Lately I feel like only the rich have a right to be healthy. Tv and magazines show a lot of products you can buy to stay healthy, but they all cost so much money, that nobody can really afford them. But the people who shop at Russo's aren't just hipsters, but include immigrants of all colors, mothers with their babies, old Asian ladies, really all people.

www.russos.com

Wine Review: Les Caves Joseph Bordeaux

2008-06-24T22:20:00.000-04:00

This is my first wine review for my blog, and you can expect many more of them in the future. Me and G usually buy and try new bottles of wine 1-3 times a week. I'll post reviews when I remember to.

Tonight's wine:
Les Caves Joseph Bordeaux (2006)
$5.99 at Trader Joe's

For me, one of the best things about drinking wine isn't the first taste of it, but the taste after it leaves your mouth. Sometimes a wine could taste good, but after you swallow it could leave a strong tannin taste. And I would like it less, so it's not just taste in the front, but the whole sip that is important.

After I swirled it for 30 seconds, I took a sip. It has a sharp taste...very tart. And it leaves a strong bitter aftertaste. But the smell doesn't exist after you drink it, almost like you never took a sip in the first place.

It also left no legs on the glass, and it makes me think it is too light.

The smell is a little oaky and alcoholy. Those things can be good for whiskey, but I don't think it's good for wine.

There's nothing spectacular about this wine at all. This is one of the worst wines we've ever drank. Maybe it's better to use it to marinade meat.

Rating: 2 (of 10)

(G's review: Tastes surprisingly damp. Would be best paired with like meat pizza or something with a lot of oil and strong smells. Rating: 2+)

Rock'n tacos

2008-05-07T22:59:00.001-04:00

Over the weekend we went to our friends-Dr. Khem and T Fresh's house for Rock'n Tacos. Giles aka Liziest dressed up as his ex favorite rapper-Common, and I aka Tek-niq was dressed up as Lady Kier of dee-lite. Before heading to the dinner party, we stopped by our neighborhood liquor store to pick up Dos equis and Modela Especial de Mexico to go with the theme of the night.

Rock'n taco night started with tacos and the rock'n came later. Sophea and Theresa made the best tacos i've ever had. The host threw both soft and hardshell on the table. Some choices were seared tuna, fried tilapia, ground beef, and steak.

While every thing was delicious, I thought the steak was bananas- it was done to perfection-rare and juicy the way I like it. At the end of dinner, sophea busted out his mom's tuk prahok: a pungent fermented fish sauce with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and a splash of lime. Cambodians eat this sauce with steak and veggies. Prahok is used to determine if you are Khmer. If you don't like Prahok-you ain't Khmer. If you are not Khmer and you like Prahok-you're an ally. Hahaha! He should't have taken it out because we killed the sauce and steak. The cutest person sitting at the table was Tae. She concentrated really hard making cheese taco.

After stuffing our face with tacos, we went on to playing rockband. Some lead singers were Delia, Eugene, Theresa, Giles and Sophea. Tae and I took turn playing the bass. Victor and Hsindy showed up towards the end of the night. They made it just in time for Sophea's homemade Flan.

Thanks Theresa and Sophea for a fun night. That was our 2nd SUPPER CLUB meeting. Delia and Tae are next!

Thoughts on décor

2008-05-03T01:38:00.000-04:00

I love home design. I work for a non-profit working to end violence against women in communities of color. Work is so serious therefore I like to spend time on things that are not that serious, such as home design. I often daydream about my wants and needs for our little nest. I am not really interested in defining my style…it’s not consistent nor can it be categorized…it just is what it is. My style is not unique but it’s special to me. Sometimes I feel that people try so hard to be unique that it only becomes all about that.

I visit apartmenttherapy.com on a daily basis. I find it inspirational to see real people’s home and how they actually live. One of the reasons why I am an avid reader of apartmenttherapy is because people’s homes are not perfect-it’s not something you see in a catalogue. But I can’t stand many people’s attitude. When people start to emphasize the importance of “live in” it get’s so annoying. On apartmentthrapy, people will send photos of their homes for feedback from other readers. When a home especially looks neat and clean, many readers will complain that the home does not look “lived in” or that it’s “predictable.” A design snob’s mentality. Sorry, but I actually think that thrift store finds and Anthropologie is a fad. Yeah, I shop at those places, and I realize that enough people shop there that it does not make me unique or special.

My man and I drew a tree in our living room. It’s a project that we wanted to do together. We did it not because it’s so stylish or the artwork is so dope. We did it because we get to spend time together, support each other’s work. Some people like to present themselves based on the artwork they have on the walls, but we wanted to present ourselves through the artwork we created. It’s not about creating the best art, it’s about having fun, and doing what pleases us. It’s not about the presentation but the process that we get to engage in when creating art together. For me, that is what home décor is about. Do things that I find beautiful, practical, whatever it is that makes me comfortable. It's not about breaking new ground or proving a point. IT AIN’T THAT DEEP… oh btw, guess which bird is me?

grown up party

2008-04-30T23:34:00.000-04:00

Wow!! I can't believe it took me two months to put up my 2nd post. I hope to be better at updating this blog so please come visit me again.

Well, we transitioned from winter to spring into high fashion. Last month me and my boo hosted a swanky soiree with 20 of our closest friends.

Of course a soiree is not only about food but elegance and ambiance. We changed our lights to 25 watt, lit candles played music to set the tone for a cozy romantic atmosphere. Our friends indulged in an evening of fancy food, drinks and good conversation. After dinner, G surprised me with a strawberry grand marnier birthday cake from Konditer Meister..the best bakery in boston...probably one of the best in the country (that's what i heard). After dinner, we proceeded on to ROCKBAND and poker! we finished the night with an orgy..(j/k).

I've always wanted to host a midtown cocktail party of attractive people in their elegant clothes sipping on martinis...you know the kind of shit you see when you flip through a bo concept catalogue. But instead of yuppies in their late twenties... with our friends who are much more attractive and cool. Though the party had a swanky feel...those that know us know that were not pretentious but ganstalicious...that's just how we roll.

Here are some photos and the night's menu.

Amuse Bouche
government cheese & fancy crackers
hummus & dipping things
dragon & elephant platter

Aperitif
upper cut punch
bitter lady

Appetizer
salmon tartare

Soup
abalone soup

Intermezzo
clementine sorbet

Main Course
basil eggplant seafood

duck confit curry

star anise roasted pork

vegetarian Burmese noodles

my 1st post

2008-02-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

Hi this is my first blog post. This blog is devoted to being a home engineer. Some of the topics i will talk about are home decorating, party planning, crocheting, and other fun things in my life.