I’m in love with Cookies & Cream flavoured cake, desserts, ice cream, candies you name it! I saw this mysterious little package at the Korean grocery store and didn’t quite know what it is but I bought it anyway.
When I shook the package I was positive that I’d probably find some weird cookies & cream flavoured gum. However, opening the container revealed little cubes. Cubes of cookies & cream white chocolate. Like they Henry’s chocolate bar. Yum!
Lately, I’ve been letting myself indulge in my food cravings but with one precedent: I have to make it from scratch (or close to it) myself. It seems like a hassle but it is even more satisfying when you get to eat the final product that you made with your own hands.
For example, the other night I craved Japanese ramen (the kind you get at a noodle house, not a package of Nong Shim). I decided to make it myself! I went to an Asian grocery store and picked out noodles, broth, pork and veggies. I cooked and combined all the ingredients and made a delicious bowl of Tonkatsu Shio Ramen. It was a success and in making it at home, I saved money and was more conscious on what was goning in it.
I mostly recently finished the first musical biography I have read in a long time, Mo Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove. It was a very joyful read.
It didn’t flow like normal biographies usually did and throughout e-mails and interviews regarding the topic Questlove didn’t want it to be any normal biography. There are e-mails the editors wrote to themselves, there are interviews with the manager and most importantly Questlove tells his life through the love of affair of other people’s music.
He’s loves music just as any other music critic. He relates world and life events to the records heard during that period. And a lot of records if heard will remind him of certain events, even ones as trivial as accidentally injuries.
I love the way he remembers such intimate details, allowing you to visualize every story. Along the way you’ll fall in love with the Roots.
For my birthday we made a reservation to Bent, run by Susur Lee and his sons. This was the second in the line of the Lee family restaurants in Toronto and is known for it’s raw seafood bar.
We started with the Truffled Filet of Beef Carpaccio: garlic potato shoestrings, red onion, Asian pear, braised shiitake mushrooms, Taiwanese vinaigrette. This dish was both beautiful in presentation and marriage of flavour and textures. I loved the addition of pear.
Next came the Vietnamese Seafood Ceviche: shrimp, scallop, octopus, mussels, jalepeno, asian pear, red pepper, celery, potato, vietnamese coriander & lime, chorizo buckwheat rice cake. The spice in it was nice. My favourite part of it was the octopus.
We were totally obsessed with everything about the Carmelized Black Cod: Asparagus (wrapped in bacon), thai ginger squash & carrot puree, lemon chive veloute. The puree was silky and heavenly and the addition of crunchy chickpeas was a nice touch.
We did get one veggie dish to calm ourselves from all that meat. Jerusalem artichockes (which I didn’t know were shaped like mini potatoes) paired beautifully with hazelnuts and goat cheese.
To drink I had the And Also (yes that’s what it is called). It contained Broker’s Gin, Tromba Tequila, Aperol, Lillet Blanc, watermelon juice, cucumber, grapefruit bitters, simple syrup and fresh sours. It paired very nicely with the dishes we ordered.
Nash had the Georgetown Storm containing El Dorado 12 year rum, homemade ginger beer, nutmeg, lime and orange.
Our waiter highly recommended the Wild Banana and Chocolate Chip Cake and we were super glad that we listened to him. It was divine and I loved the vanilla marshmallow that came with it.
Birthday dinner at Bent was totally worth it. It’s a sharing restaurant so it’s recommended that two people have at least 4 dishes. It’s a great place to celebrate or if you’re feeling particularly ballin’.
I’ve had the same makeup brushes for over 6 years. Though I took great care to clean them, they started to feel a bit hard on my skin so I decided to order a new set. I found the Shany 24 Goat & Badger brush set on Amazon for around $24 (CAD), which is an awesome deal. Just because you buy stores by some high end brand name doesn’t mean you’re always getting the best.
The brushes come in a faux-leather pouch great for travelling!
The brushes themselves each have a slot in the bag and come in protected cases. They’re all silky smooth. It even comes with a set of instructions to tell you what each brush is for (great for the novice make up artist). I own so much make-up and I can’t wait to continue playing around with it with these new brushes!
Ahhhh! I can’t believe I turn 28 today. I’ve been having a quarter life crisis or something about it recently. 28 is not that exciting. There aren’t songs written about it and people start to really pester you on getting married or having kids, neither of which is really priority right now.
But I realize, I have a cool life for a 28 year old and I am going to be more proud of it. I have so many cool upcoming things in store and there’s nothing stopping me from doing all the things I want! I’m cooler and wiser than the person I was at 25 and surrounded by awesome people. Today my Twitter feed is full of dog gifs.
28 it really isn’t so bad after all.
I was gifted this adorable Camera USB! It looks exactly like a Canon DSLR (but it says SONY for some reason).
The lens come out to reveal a USB! Isn’t it adorable?
I recently qualified for the Influenster Bioré Baking Soda Vox! I received a complimentary set of their pore cleanser and scrub from their baking soda line.
The Baking Soda pore cleanser was light and gentle on the skin. You can see little flakes of baking soda in the bottle. It leaves a nice fresh scent that is not too overwhelming. I found that using it daily doesn’t dry out my skin too much, but always remember to moisturize after cleansing your face!
This was a little bit strange at first. It literally looks like baking soda when you pour it into your hand. At first, I would use way too much water and dilute it too much. It feels like a micro scrub wash when used, leaving my skin feeling fresh and exfoliated. I wouldn’t recommend using this daily as it is a little bit more drying but it does what it advertises!
I needed to calm some anxieties down this weekend and I found that building things with instructions and a final product help a lot. This is why colouring doesn’t. It doesn’t really have instructions so I end up thinking too much about it. Anyways, I found this adorable Nanoblock Eevee online!
There were over 130 super tiny pieces.
The instructions had very little words and were a bit hard to follow at first. I found the best way to follow where to put what was to start from the easiest place and match the patterns (sometimes it’s unclear what is pointing to where). Plus I don’t know how anyone with hands bigger than mine would do this as the pieces are so delicately small!
Tada! Here is my hand for size comparison. The good thing is if you lost a piece it includes extras of everything.
I’ve been indulging myself in a lot of delicious home-cooked meals lately. It’s just so easy to learn how to make something you’re craving by Googling a tutorial. There are even videos out there that show you step by step instructions.
Lately, I’ve been buying more interesting ingredients such as cornish hens, asparagus, scallops and making Nash and I fancy meals we can eat in the comfort of our own home. That’s what we did for Valentine’s Day!
I love the satisfaction of successfully executing a perfectly cooked meal. Hope to explore more recipes this year. And a bonus side effect: we feel healthier and have lost some weight!
Tiana Feng 