Gone Vietnamese and my baby girl

what's up blogger world... sorry been MIA lately... i'm so busy and stressed out at work, i have no energy to blog once i get home. Since I've been single, I started cooking much more often. One thing is obvious, it feeds me, another is, cooking truly is my stress reliever. The peeling, cutting, dicing, organizing, cleaning, in some way calms me down. Call me crazy, but that's how I roll..

So anyways, it's been pretty chilly in the big apple. my craving for PHO is out of this world when the temp dips below 40. it's like pregger craving for pickle juice, hahaha. so i decided to make my own, b/c i haven't found a good enough pho place in the city yet. My fav. is still Pho Pasture in Boston.

alright, ready to rock? let's roll...


Beef stock... the foundation of a good bowl of pho...
- Beef knuckle bones or ox tail
- 2 large onions
- 1 big ginger, about half size of your palm
- beef soup spice (cinnamon, star anise.. i have to go read the labels, but you can get those from any chinese supermarket)
- rock sugar or regular sugar
- fish sauce

Bleed the kunckle bones, which means boil it in water first, and dump out the water and dirty foam, rinse the pot. This is to make sure the left over blood is out of the bone, no foam, so that the soup is clear.

dump all the ingredients in. now some recipes calls for the onion and ginger to be broiled/grilled first. i have done them both broiled or just as it, honestly, i think it makes a very mild difference, only a seasoned pho eater would notice. so it's up to you.

simmer for 3 hours. YES it has to be that long, that's when all the flavor from the bones will come out.


Preparing the bowl...
- pho noodle... duhhh
- raw beef layered on top, could use eye round, sirloin or london boil. i had the eye round.
- cut some thin slices of onion and soak in ice cold water to make it crisp and put on the beef before the soup is poured...not pictured here
- lime

usually in the rest. they will have the bean sprouts, basil etc. but i don't like them. i know, i'm weird. i like my pho plain, beef on the side, and i eat the beef raw drizzled in lime and siracha. OH! and plenty of scallion in the soup. ahhaha..


SMILE~~


i cooked some bok choy in the soup to make peace with my body. i have been on an eatting binge, to be just a little bit health concious, i threw them in. and i had some awesome beef tendon balls around and threw those in too. i gotta show you this brand i use, it's $5 a pack, which is expensive in my world for beef balls, but they are absolutely the best. MUST have in HOT POTs!


pour HOT HOT HOT BOILING HOT soup over the beef... ohhhh yeeeaaaaa..... *shiver* remember the beef will get cooked through.. here i placed some more raw beef on top.. cuz i like it RAWWWW.. hahaha


my baby girl on the kitchen floor watching me cook.. and go after anything i accidentally drop on the floor.

will "paw" for greenies

"mommy, i said pleaseeee already.... gimmeeee"

yum yum yum

mommy and daisy... scary non-made up face... yuck

so anyways, that's my lame update on life, hahaha... it's exactly what it is, go to work, cook, eat, shower, play with the baby girl, andddd... yea that's it.

ya know, i thought i'd be dating given that i've been single for almost 4 months. but nada, not even one single date. i don't know what my problem is, too busy with work, too stressed, not interested, i don't know... but i gotta tell ya, give me another month or two, i'll jump at anything with a penis. a rabbit can only do so much, hahahahaa....

mine looks something like this. this shit was so sick when i first got it in japan. it vibrats, twists, lights flashing, 8 speeds and pulses, like, damn it's like a freakin' disco party up in here! i miss those little japanese porn shops, you'd be surprise that office ladies go there to shop too! and they totally act normal inside. i remember holding this vibrator and watching it being used on the DVD that's playing by the register, i was all like, i'm so getting this one!!! in every single color!!!

but yea, dating is dreadful. it's just the whole "putting myself out there" thing is like a freaking chore to me! being emotionally open to someone gets difficult as you get older. i wish i could go back to my whoreish ways like my younger days. but times have changed and i'm a total housewife now.. lame, i know. i feel like a single mother, everytime i set up a dinner date or something, i have to call my mom or friend to walk and feed daisy for me, so i try to keep this to 2 times a week, so i don't bother them too much. i've had daisy for almost 2 yrs now, and i still just want to run home and see her every night....

alright, enough of my blabing... hope everybody's having an awesome week.. i'm going to Stratton, VT for a ski trip this weekend. we'll see about my sore asses on monday, hahahaa...

all i need..

Capri, Italy circa May 2008

all i need is a salami and mozzarela cheese sandwich, a frozen magrarita and a bikini in an above 70 degree weather.

i'm a big vacation person. i think a lot of people around me are the homie type, where they don't mind just chillin' at home or go out of state for a day or two, but never really go on adventurous trips where the native language is not English. not that there is anything wrong with that. It's just that is not how i liked to spend my time/money. I get itchy when i don't travel. i break out in hyves. seriously, I think I have something called the travelitis, if i don't go out of the country every so often, I'll just cough up blood and have open sores on my face.

I carried over 5 vacation days from last year, because... HELLO?? I didn't have time to take a freakin' vacation! My destination last year was Sicily and Italy, 10 day grand tour sans big tour bus. My ex and I drove a tiny little Ford Fiesta from Palermo, Sicily to Sorrento, Italy, then traveled the rest on train and boats. Then I went to London and New Delhi India for work. This year, I am determined to go somewhere out East where I've never been.

I'm not really into the Western world, west europe is full of boring churches and cathedrals, plus i've seen those way too much on TV or read them in books. There is that lack of mystery that makes those place look lackluster compare to the rest of the world.

In May, I'm definitely gonna have to go back to China to visit my late grandmother. She passed away last July and I have yet gone back to her grave to pay respect. I was gonna go back in Jan. to celebrate Chinese New Year, but work and life got in the way, plus it's way too cold in China compare to here (my city is in the south, so we don't have central heat, which requires you to wear 5 layers INSIDE the house).

Right now, I have a trip to DR and Indonesia in the planning stage. My biggest concern when going traveling is not the time or money, I have plenty of both (kinda, haha), it's the people whom I go travel with. There are different types of travlers, i.e. some people cannot sleep unless it's a 5-star hotel, some people can't afford it, some people like to hand glide through the air, some people like to go to the zoo, i dno't know, all different types of people out there. I'm pretty flexible, but I certainly have more fun when I do more adventurous things, eat exotic food, or experience a different culture.

I truly feel like I'm getting burnt out from work. Sometimes we all need is a little time away, see a different scenary, realize that there are life outside of work, and see how other people live.

You can buy all the makeup in the world, go eat at the best resturantes in Manhattan or getting dressed by the hottest stylist in Hollywood, you will not feel the way you feel when you are on a different continent. Materialistic things can bring us pleasure, but seldomly does that equal to happiness. Throughout the years I have realized, I am the happiest when I'm traveling.

Speaking of traveling, I've been trying to get a big world map on canvas to hang up in my living room and put red flags to places I have been to. My goal is by the time I'm 75, I would have covered all the continents. I had a mentor who worked at the UN and World Bank, he has a picture of himself at every borderline of the countries he traveled to, i.e. North and South Korea. I thought that was such cool idea, but usually going to borderlines of countries are not that easy and means long out of the way car rides.

anyways, sorry for the rambling, i just felt the travel bug bite, lol. Ladies, if you travel, remember to take a mental picture of the prettiest scenary, when you are stressed out at work, close your eyes and replay that mental pictures, and remember this job paid for that plane ticket and hotel room! lol.

engaged at 25?

so i just heard one of my ex-fling got engaged at 25. 25!!! WTH is he thinking??? and where does he have the money to get married? buy a house? why so early? why the rush? at 25, he's barely off of the titty milk. i just do not understand!
alright, maybe i'm just a little bit bitter. he was a handsome funny guy with a whole lot of charm. maybe i secretly wish i would one day end up with someone like that. but here i am, 24, single, and still haven't been on ONE date.
maybe i should look into match.com or something. i'm just really curious who's on there and how does this internet dating thing works. to be honest, i think i've just lost all my mojo by being in a relationship for 3 years. i don't know how to flirt anymore, don't know how to talk to a guy anymore. i don't understand why people's got to play games? why can't we just go at it heart to heart without all that game? genuine guys are so rare these days.
anyways, i just wanted to rant, b/c i'm bitter, jealous and depressed. what else is new? hahaha... whatever, shit happens and life goes on

Should I get a brother for daisy??

Meet diesel. I named him in the pet store. Need to seek daisy approval
first

FOTD, long days at the office, which led to retail therapy

howdy ladies, today i bring you, my office look aka my 5 minute face.

i used the SUQQU holiday collection e/s quad, which has a grey/charcoal/brown tone. face done by LM silk creme foundation, bought it for $17 at blissworld.com, free shipping and free gift. original price is $42. you know how i love me some discounts!


my face crack

15 hours at the office make me look TOWED UP. dang man, if i could ever imagine, this is my amy winehouse dupe, looking mad high n ish.

long hours at the office almost always leads to retail therapy, either that or alcoholism. my recreation drug of choice is retail therapy. so i dropped by bergdorf to pay a visit to my long missed P&J counter. to my surprise, MERRADY doesn't work there any more!!~!!! my SA girl quit. =( it ain't the same w/o her.



Light Cleansing Milk - $28
Whitening Serum - $45
Eye cream - $36
got a free P&J reuseable bag. gotta show you guys next time



miu miu asked for the ingreidents. THIS IS FOR YOU GIRL! click to enlarge

light cleansing milk is used to remove makeup. but i don't think it removes everything, so i'm gonna use it as a face cleansing when i run out of my cetaphil. it's a light gel texture, gotta squeeze the bottle to get product out. leaves skin refreshed and matte looking. love the orange oil scent.. yumm. oh, this is a HUGE bottle for $28!! it's like a regular size bottled water size! good bang for your buck. i wish they had a pump though.

whitening emulsion. i needed something to get rid of the pimple scars, plus i think this absorbs better than the "regular" serum. it's a very light texture, feel hydrating, but with a little bit of massage, it will all sink in. i use it day and night, so far no problems at all. the only thing is that the bottle is very nice, good heavy glass feel. but the pump is plastic and kind of cheapo feeling. though it does pump out exact amount i need.

the eye treatment has a pretty thick texture. i had ahard time getting it out of the tube at first. the texture feels like it has a lot of silicone in it. it makes the under eye area very smooth, doesn't have the usual sticky eye cream feeling, which i hate. feels hydrating without overly oily. i'm afraid of using heavy eye creams, b/c i get those little white "fat pockets" on my under eye area if i use eye cream too rich for me. this won't make your concealor slip n slide either. overall, i think the eye treatment is a promising buy. squeeze tube so i dno't need to dig my finger in, good size for the price you pay.

i've just started using these this week, so i'm gonna hve to report back with results. but so far so good. no breakouts. products all sink in. the price i feel is pretty reasonable for skin care. i'm used to paying $70 on face serums and $30 above for eye creams. so this is a good price range i feel.

you can call bergdorf to get the items shipped for free. but if anyone of you guys really want to try the P&J stuff, i'll see if i can help you do CP. bergdorf definitely have a better price point than ichibankao (fuz said she paid more than 5000 yen for the whitening serum, isn't that $50?). also, bergdorf usually have restock of popular items, like they still have allthe disney items, all of the spring items, only 1 lipstick is out,but it's going to be restocked in 2 weeks. i just feel like a lot of girls are missing out on this great line b/c it's limited availability. which reminds me, how lucky i am to work 5 blocks away from bergdorf, saks, henri bendel and sephora... hahaha

anyways, hope your week's going better than mine. i'll tell ya guys next time what i had to go through this week..

Daisy says Happy New Year!

Daisy says "Hiiiiii.... pretty auntiesssss~~ Happy Lunar New Year!! where my red envelopes at?"

she's so big now... can't believe another year passed by...

thankfully the year of rat ended!! it was one of the worst year of my life and i cannot wait for the year of the mad cow to begin. bring some bullish action to the market and give me some good luck in career and relationships, pleaseeee pretty cow pleaseeee...

i didn't do jack shit for chinese new year, parents aren't here, so boo hoo.. no red envelopes. hope y'all had better luck, i hate people with like 23 aunts and uncles and 15 cousins, they always have the best new year's... i totally should have went back to china and collected some mula.

ladies!!! i'm working my skin care routine post. i want it to be a comprehensive one, so i'm gona really work on it. i hvaen't even talked about my la mer experience yet and now i'm changing it up again. but anyways, the information will be mostly my routines, not so much exactly what products to use, b/c i definitely do not stick to one brand or product, cuz i have fuckin' ADD.

anyways, love y'all... xoxo

CoverGirl LipStain and Tarte A Perfect Whirled Cheek Stain Review

I don't know why I bought the lip stain, i'm not a lipstain type of girl. I've always been a lipgloss or lip balm girl, so when I saw the lip stain on ads, I brushed it off. However, when I saw it in Walgreens with the Drew's pretty lips, it showed up very faintly and not so scary, plus it's a marker, c'mon, who doesn't want to marker their lips? I'm sure i've done it gillizion times in kindergarden. Anyways, it was on sale for $7.99 i think. I think I got Wild Berry Wink, but don't quote me on that, gotta double check when i get home.

The lip stain feels exactly what a marker would feel on your lips. it's not sticky and color is very intense. but i don't think it feel comfortable at all, it's got that plastic-y feeling and I HATE IT! so whatever, i thought i'd change that by applying gloss on top of it, well, it felt ok, but i could still "feel" it on my lips.

I went about my day with on my lips. Went grocery shop, yea i went grocery shop with berry red lips, got a problem with that? came home, started cooking. poured a glass of water to drink. and what did i notice???? MY WATER TURNED PINK!!! yea! it turned pink b/c the stain came right off when it touched liquid. went to the bathroom to check out my lips. OMG, it's leaking pink fluid down my chin. looks like i just had some cranberry juice and threw it all up!

good thing - the faint pretty berry color stayed after i wiped the liquid off

bad thing - you've got a glass of pink water and lookin' like a berry vampire. if you were out on a date with this, your date probably won't call you back.

GIRLS! do me a favor and don't get this. if u want your lip color to stay, you better not drink all day. is that worth it? i think NOT~!

i'm gonna save this for drunk shit faced dick drawing purposes.


the new Tarte spring collection is out at Sephora. I'm not a big Tarte fan as i used to be. From my previous entry you can tell the e/s palette is not that big, definitely smaller than the regular squares. but the lipgloss was interesting, sorry, didnt' swatch it.

now the cheek stain this time is a swirl of light pink and berry pink. it has shimmer and much much softer than the regular cheek stains. they feel even softer than the holiday cheek stain trios. the color shows off very bright and very pink. i imagine it'd be great for the fair skinned ladies. but it's too bright pink for my taste. i do, however, give thumbs up for the texture. tarte finally got the memo.. go see for yourself!

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on a off topic, it's thursday and OMG that means it's friday tomorrow!!! i can't wait for this week to end. i'm so drained and it's been a short week! I'm in the mood for a poll..

Face of the Day - LM Silk Creme foundation, MAC Mineralized Compact, Maquillage Cheek Design in 70 (light peachy color), Maquillage eye jelly in citrus gold, Revelon Color Stay e/l in black, Maybelline Lash stilleto in black, Suqqu Holiday Collection e/s Quad (used the champane in tear duct to h/l, and the taupe to extend the lower lash, REVIEW TO COME SOON), Maquillage brow pencil in dark brown, and Chanel glossimer in Wild Rose.

Outfit of the day - Theory cashmere v-neck white sweater, BR black tank, some sequnced legging, BR knee length dress pants in charcoal, BR chestnut suade slouchy boots.

Mood - exhausted and hopeful, I'm going to start reading a good book tonight which I think will help me dealing with stress

Dinner? - veggie soup and noodle.

To-do list - get light bulb from Home Depo, go see a doctor about my throat *i can hardly swallow, that's why i can't eat hard food*, fold laundry, order VS semi annual (last day!), do my nails.

Beauty Lemming - the clarisonic skin care brush... it hit me late, but damn does it hit me hard!!!