Home Cooking x Christmas Eve Dinner

T'is my favorite holiday of the year! As a custom for Christmas Eve, my family invited our family friends home for dinner. While being in the state of jet lag, I still managed to take some pictures of the festive decorations and yummy food. 

Poor Ginger

Wagyu Steak

Turkey from Cova

Crunch Cake from Spoil Cafe

Merry Christmas!

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." -John 3:16

Fruit Waterfall

I've done a few drawings in art class this year that I'm not confident enough to post. I'm sure it happens to everyone: when you start an artwork, you have this perfect image in mind; and once the drawing starts flowing in way that you haven't expected, you instantly see the many flaws in it. 

Nonetheless, I decided to post my first painting of the year. It's an acrylic on canvas (though it might look like oil painting instead), which I named Fruit Waterfall because of the feedbacks given by my friends. "The fruits look like a family waiting at a bus stop on water puddles under the rain," one commented. Though the color of the background is not what I've originally planned (I was thinking of a darker blue that can complement the orange and red), I'm quite pleased with the "waterfall" effect it creates. Additionally, the composition of my set-up and my piece resembles a photo of Petite Amanda's cakes I took a while ago. 

Set-up

Fruit Waterfall, 12/2012

BEST Thai in Hong Kong

Every Thanksgiving break, I like to go home for a short vacation to see my family & friends, annoy my pet hamster, and EAT. Before coming back to the States, my family asked me where I wanted to have a decent dinner at. Without hesitating, I chose Mango Tree. 

The setting of Mango tree adds a modern twist to Thai restaurants' typical interior designs. The dangly lights were especially catchy to me. 

Mixed Satay with Chicken, Pork & Beef

Kale with Salted Fish

After having boarding school food for an extended period of time, I am always ecstatic to see actually cooked vegetables. 

Phad Thai

One of my favorites at Mango Tree- just look at how delicately made that piece of egg is! I have tasted a lot of Phad Thai before, and none of them beat this. 

Curry River Prawns

I warn you- this light yellow curry with egg, Thai celery and onions does not taste like normal curry at all. In fact, it does not taste like curry, but as a person who hates spicy food, this is perfect for me. The crab version of this curry is one of Mango Tree's signature dishes. Because our family does not want to completely lose our etiquette and battle against the crabs like barbarians, we decided to go with the river prawns, which is just as good. Out of the many people who tried this dish, I have never heard a single one of them not yearn to drink the whole bowl of curry (oops... double negative). 

Sago Pudding

Sticky Rice with Mango

One of their signature dishes as well. Yes, I hate mango and therefore, I don't eat mango; but I do fight for the biggest slice of coconut cream covered sticky rice.

Water Chestnut in Coconut Cream

A refreshing dessert- the chewy texture of the yellow jackfruits and the bouncy texture of the red water chestnuts contrast in the iced coconut cream.

No pressure, but this restaurant is a must-go-to.

5/F, Cubus,
1 Hoi Ping Road,
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
(852)2577-0828

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Soul Train

I have stayed out of the theatre for a while since my last performance 3 years ago; I tried looking for opportunities to be on stage, but they just didn't fit well to my always-flying-across-the-pacific-ocean schedule. This fall at my school, I decided to join the fall play- Pullman Car Hiawatha by Thornton Wilder.

The play ended in claps and cheers as well as in queries. Pullman Car Hiawatha is set on a train travelling from New York to Chicago in the 1930s. It depicts the lives of about a dozen individuals, including people and objects like "the field", who all have their own problems and obsessions. In the middle of the play, the scene transform to beyond the train in the universe, where the sun, planets, and arch angels appear. Though highly symbolic, this play is beautiful and represents the souls of being (our cast decided "soul train" would best describe the play). 

As the porter and workman of the play, I was at first clueless about my roles. Luckily, I was able to grasp hold of the characters before the show and add my own twist to bring the house down and "play". Until being on stage again, I did not realize I've missed owning the spotlight. 

Thanks to this girl, my make-up got done!

Our Cast

Beauty in the Water

Swimming season just ended; I'm starting to miss it already. This season had been a roller coaster ride filled with misfortunes but managed to end with quite some flying colors. Things I've learnt this season:

1. Do not limit yourself because you are more capable of doing more than you think you can. 

2. Trust that there is a reason behind everything, even at times of failure. 

3. "Forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead." -Philippians 3:13

I can't express how thankful I am for everything that happened this season, even for my misfortunes that helped me to view swimming in a different way (when I had to sit out of the meets) and made success taste sweeter than it was. Now it's time for some off-season training! :)

Aka The Most Awkward Photo

Trick r' Treat

Disclaimer: I don't celebrate Halloween. I just like dressing up for the day and of course, getting an endless mountain of candies. 

My costume of a gingerbread man was fun and a lot of people loved it, so I thought I would just post a photo of it here. What did YOU dress up as this year?  

My Friend Patty as Santa & I 

A Day in NYC

Highlight of my long weekend: trip to NYC! Although I study in New York, I'm actually 3 hours away  from the city. The trip was supposed to be "academical" (i.e. visiting colleges), but we ate and shopped at Soho for the most part (hey, at least we passed by NYU & Parson). 

Soho- © Google Image

1st Food Stop: Lure Fish-bar. I just had a salmon tartar as I knew that I would be overwhelmed with food later on. 

Salmon Tartar

2nd Food Stop: Baked by Melissa. The special thing about this cupcake shop is that it has the tiniest and cutest cupcakes ever, served in twelve flavors. 

I have never been to Korean Town in NYC; to be honest, I've never even knew there was such a town. We had our final food stops of the day here, including dinner at Wonjo and we stopped by Paris Baguette to take some baked goods home. 

Dishes of Appetizers

Tofu & Kimchi Stew

I had a sip from one of the stews- tasted fine but it was too spicy for me.

Kimchi Pancake

Korean Barbeque

Beef vs. Pork Belly- I preferred beef; sweet and tender.

Special design of typical Korean restaurants- the pipe, which is used to evacuate the smoke accumulated during the barbeque. 

Because that was my second time having Korean food, I got a little too bold and tried all the spicy food.  I ended up with a sore throat and non-stop coughs. Lesson learned: never push yourself to the extreme.

New York City was a great getaway from the mundane city I'm studying in, but if I were to study there, I doubt I could actually concentrate.