| Drinking ice cold beer with a frosted plastic saucer |
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Etes-vous ici? C'est moi.
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| Nespresso |
[23 Nov 2009|07:42pm] |
We love every bit of our Nespresso machine. We fell in love with the machine during our visit to the Nespresso boutique in Singapore. Two days after we arrived back in Chicago, we headed to Bloomingdales and came home with this red baby. Now we can have a latte, macchiato, or espresso at the comfort of our home.
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| Brunch at The Publican |
[16 Nov 2009|07:27pm] |
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The Publican is one of my favorite restaurants. In fact, recently I was asked this question on which one restaurant would I choose to bring out-of-town guests to. My answer was The Publican. Owned by Paul Kahan, a renowned Chicago chef who also owns two more very popular restaurants, The Publican is always a full house. It's not easy to get reservations on weekends and even on weekdays, it is packed with people. It is only open for dinner except Sunday when it is also open for brunch. The Publican focuses on pork, oysters, and beer (lots of good European beer). I realize the brunch pictures are not representative of my earlier sentence, but those waffles..amazing-- crisp on the outside, light in texture.
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| Bubble-top Brioches |
[09 Nov 2009|08:47pm] |
I've made Dorie Greenspan's brioche loaves before and this time, she has a slightly different twist to brioches: baking them on a muffin pan. I always love Dorie Greenspan's recipes (if you can't already telll, she's my favorite food writer). These little cute rolls turned out impressive looking and they were made only with a regular muffin pan! Brioches are buttery in taste but I still like to eat mine by spreading butter and let it melt on a warm brioche.
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| David Lebovitz's book |
[06 Nov 2009|08:47pm] |
I finally got my hands on David Lebovitz's book The Sweet Life in Paris. He is an American who happens to be a food blogger and living in Paris. I've always wanted to check out his book given the good reviews but never got around to buying it. And then lo and behold, I stumbled upon it at the library. Just my luck. I checked the book out from the library and have been reading it on my commute to and from work. He talks about his life in Paris and in between the stories, he tucks in recipes here and there. I've already bookmarked several recipes in there that caught my interests-- chocolate cream puffs, chicken tagine...mmmm.
He talks about French culture and its quirks while juxtaposing it with American culture and its own quirks. His writing is full of wit and I found myself smiling when reading it on the bus. I think it's a good read even if one is not interested in the recipes in and of itself. One of my favorite parts was him describing his visit to a doctor's office in Paris. The doctor asked if he does any sports. He replied yes of course and went on to explain that he does yoga 3-4 times a week. And the French doctor said, "Yoga? That's not a sport. That's a philosophy."
Hopefully I'll get to embark on some of those featured recipes soon. Stay tuned.
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| Back in Chicago |
[25 Oct 2009|10:10pm] |
Wow it has been so long since I last updated. We were away for about 3 weeks in Singapore and then to Australia and Malaysia for my sister's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and I'm glad I got to be part of her bridal party. We had a wonderful trip, ate too much (so much so that Tim said to me "You are always thinking about food"), and was happy to be able to see and visit friends and places on this trip. I got to meet more of Tim's relatives and he got to meet more of mine. We spent a week in each country which also meant that we spent no more than one week in a single time zone. Singapore and Malaysia are in the same time zone but we were in Australia between the trips to Singapore and Malaysia. We came back to Chicago very exhausted but are still reminiscing our trip. We miss hot weather and talked about how we'd rather sweat in the 85F degree heat any day than having to bundle ourselves up in the cold. It's cold in Chicago but this is not even anything really cold yet. We felt hungry late one night after we got back to Chicago and realized that no where else was really still opened at that time and lamented that if we were in Singapore, we could have just gone to the nearby hawker centre-- and we would be able to wear t-shirts and shorts without worrying about the cold.
Now that we're back, we're catching up with work and work has been keeping us busy.
But we got ourselves a little treat. We bought a Nespresso machine. We fell in love with it after visiting the Nespresso boutique in Singapore.
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| DisneyWorld 2009 |
[01 Sep 2009|08:45pm] |
Our 5-day trip to DisneyWorld elicited different reactions from people we know.
From a Disney veteran who goes there every year (and I'm not even exaggerating):
"5 days? You won't even get to see everything in 5 days!"
From a person who hasn't been to DisneyWorld (or Disneyland) and who doesn't know much about Disney:
"5 days? Can't you just finish seeing everything in the park in 1 day?"
Well, during our 5-day trip, we woke up 7am everyday, spent the whole day at the different parks and went to bed after 11pm. We tried to do and see as many things as time allowed. We walked alot (I said that walking in the Disney parks is way more tiring than running a half marathon). We went to Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, Hollywood Studios, and Downtown Disney. We did ALOT during those 5 days but we also did not get to visit Animal Kingdom. And even though we spent one entire day each at Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center, and Hollywood Studios, the most we covered at each park was probably 85%. So is 5 days really too short or too long?
I was impressed at how massive DisneyWorld grounds are. We stayed at a Disney resort which is on Disney Grounds but yet it took about 15 mins on a shuttle from the resort to the parks. Each park is not within walking distance to each other despite everything considered as part of DisneyWorld. The entire Disney grounds is a world of its own. No wonder they call it "4 Parks, 1 World".
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| Sunday at home |
[09 Aug 2009|02:27pm] |
Sundays are perfect for laying low and chilling at home. And of course, Sundays are also perfect for relaxing meals at home.
Smoke salmon, pickled cauliflower, baguette, fig jam, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.
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| Rock n Roll Chicago Half Marathon |
[05 Aug 2009|05:44pm] |
The excitement of the race started when we went to the McCormick Centre for the race expo to pick up our race packet and bib number. We usually never buy anything at race expos where booths are also set up for runners to browse running merchandise or sample food and drink products. However, we each ended up buying a pair of athlete sunglasses. In addition, Tim bought some running shorts and I bought a water bottle that came with a slip-on where I could slip my fingers into and grip the bottle comfortably to carry along on longer runs. We were so happy with our new goodies-- it felt like Christmas!
 Entrance to the race expo
On race day we got up at 4:45am to get ready for the race that started at 6:30am. I ate a bagel and a banana, pinned our number bibs onto our clothes and left for Grant Park. On the way to the train station, we saw other runners (we could tell because they also had number bibs pinned onto their shirts) walking on the streets. When we got into the train station, we saw more runners coming onto the platform too.
I was impressed with the race organizers. There were a ton of portable potties at Grant Park and I barely waited 5 mins in line before it was my turn. After I got done, I realized that there was a whole other section of portable potties that didn’t even have lines of people waiting to use them. In the other races, the lines to use the porta potties were always ridiculously long. I remember at the Las Vegas Half Marathon in 2007, people were still standing in line for the porta potties when the gun fired at the start of the race.
 Start line
With the rest of the 18,000 runners, we were huddled at the corrals. Tim was assigned a start corral that was more toward the front but he accompanied me in my corral until we got to the starting line where we ran by ourselves on our pace after crossing the start line. There were 21 corrals (!!!) in total. They let a few corrals cross the start line at a time in separate waves with each wave being separated by about 1-2 minutes. Many people thought that was a good idea so that there wouldn't be overcrowding on the course.
 Huddled at the corral waiting to start At Mile 1, there was a water station already. I thought to myself, "Why would they put a water station at Mile 1?" Between Mile 1 and 2, we passed all the familiar streets and landmarks in downtown.
Halfway through Mile 2 before reaching Mile 3, I saw a spectator who had two dogs on leash. One of the dogs was a HUGE Great Dane and the other was a significantly smaller dog. The man was there with his dogs to cheer on his significant other who was running the race. The woman saw him standing at the side of the course with the dogs and then carefully weaved through the other runners and ran from the right side to the left side of the course to be alongside the man and their dogs. The woman continued running forward on the course. Both dogs got hugely excited when they saw their woman owner running on the course and both dogs kept attempting to come onto the course to run along with the woman. Now that was a pretty amusing sight because the Great Dane was a HUGE dog and each time it tried to run onto the course to be with the woman, the man who held the leash would pull them back onto the sidewalk. The smaller dog also attempted to follow the Great Dane to run with the female owner. The height of the Great Dane was definitely above my waist and my, although the male owner tried repeatedly to pull the leash back onto the sidewalk to restrain the dogs from coming onto the course, I could definitely tell that if let loose, the Great Dane will run at tremendous speed. All this time, the runners nearby saw the whole scene and were laughing. When we came to a cross-street at the end of the block, there was a traffic marshall standing there.The Great Dane still tried to run alongside the woman owner and with the exitement in the Great Dane, it unintentionally went up close to the face of the traffic marshall. The traffic marshall had a freaked out look on her face and after that just stared at the man who was still trying to restrain both the Great Dane and the smaller dog. And finally the man turned around the block with both dogs and went towards another direction. And I heard the woman owner of the dog telling her other runner friend "She was scared", referring to the traffic marshall. Heck, I would be freaked out too if I was the traffic marshall! Some runners nearby told the female owner "Cute dog!" The whole scene was really amusing though and definitely provided a little entertainment.
To show you how big a typical Great Dane is, here's a picture of it I found online:
Darn Chicago potholes and uneven road surfaces! At about Mile 4, I tripped and almost fell but luckily I got myself together and did not fall. Otherwise it wouldn't be fun at all.
 I'm on the right in black shirt and blue shorts ( Taken by official photographer)
We ran pass the McCormick Center at about Mile 6. At one stretch we ran through the building that looked like a tunnel of some sort for cars when pulling into the building. It was so dim even with the several fluorescent lights above. I had my sunglasses on during the whole time I was running so it was a little unnerving at that time. With every step I took I felt extremely cautious and finally resorted to lifting my sunglasses a little above my eyes until I came out of the tunnel.
Volunteers handed out cold wet sponges to runners at about Mile 7. That was a nice surprise though I didn't grab a sponge. I didn't feel hot yet at that time (the weather was still perfect then).
I still felt fine at Mile 8. Told myself that if I already ran 8 miles, I could do the remaining 5 miles and there was less than halfway to go! When we ran under bridges, spectators who stood on the bridges looked down at us and cheered.
We had to loop back and run back heading north at about Mile 9. And because we had to loop back, I got to see that behind me there was a sea of people. That boosted my morale a little to know that I wasn't at the end of the pack! Exiting from Lake Shore Dr (a highway), we continued on to Lake Shore Path heading back north. Lake Shore Path is a popular path for bikers, runners, and walkers. As you can tell from the name, the path is alongside Lake Michigan and it is a very scenic route. The only complain I have though is that Lake Share Path is narrow when there are so many other runners alongside and I had to weave through the runners when passing some of them or it could be tricky if I wanted to change my pace.
 When the course got narrow ( Taken by official photographer)
At this point the sun also came up and I was starting to feel the heat. I was looking forward to every water station. Another aspect that made me impressed with the race organizers was that there was sufficient water stations throughout the entire course.
M texted me to ask where I was (he was there to cheer for his wife J). I had just passed the marker that said 15k and so I texted him back (while running!) that I just passed the 15k marker. Later I found out that he was trying to calculate which mile was 15k. I am so used to calculating distance in miles too but it just so happened that when I got his text message, I had just passed the 15k marker.
 Now the space opened up (Taken by official photographer)
When we passed the 10 mile marker, I heard a woman telling her friend whom she was running with, "5k more. That's a breeze." Her friend didn't look very convinced though. One spectator shouted to the runners, "There's beer waiting at the finish line. We know why you're running!"
Around Mile 11, the heat was starting to get more to me and all I could think of (besides the finish line) was that I wanted water or Cytomax which they were also giving out at water stations. I continued running and each time I turned the corner hoping to spot a water station, I didn't see any. I was beginning to think that given that the finish line was only 2 miles away, I guess there wouldn't be any water stations left so I just had to deal with it. The spectator crowd was increasing and it was incredible. They cheered the runners on and kept telling us that we only had a little more to go.
And then finally there was a water station at around Mile 12. I just needed that few sips and it was great. The spectators kept saying, "Only 1 more mile!"
Leading up to Mile 13 was a very short path that had a slight ascent that was starting to get to me a little before the final leg became a flat road again. I could see the finish line finally. I heard the MC and the music played at the finish line. I took up speed a little and then I crossed the finish line. My chip time was 2:16:18. My legs felt stiff and I was exhausted. But I got an ice cold towel from a volunteer which I used to drape over my neck. What a nice treat. And then I got my finisher's medal.
 Taken by official photographer
I was really impressed that this race was so well organized and I can't wait to do it again.
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| Golden Brioche Loaves |
[04 Aug 2009|09:56pm] |
I've possible found my favorite bread recipe. This brioche is soft and buttery. The top of the loaf has a rich golden color. I'm seriously liking every bit of my Dorie Greenspan baking book. It has not disappointed me so far. The brioche isn't difficult to make but it takes alot of waiting time for the dough to rise (this recipe even involves leaving the dough overnight in the fridge before baking). The good thing is that during all that waiting time, you can go about doing other things.
Tim had some for breakfast and even suggested that we make homemade sandwiches for next day's lunch with the brioche.
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| Am I missing something? |
[30 Jul 2009|08:22pm] |
It's funny how whenever I read the Malaysian news, there are sure some things that I don't understand. What I mean by "don't understand" is that it's hard to see through what people in the news are thinking. I don't get the reason for them saying the things they say or doing the things they do. Am I missing something here?
One of the issues:
The Home Minister issued a "stern action" against anyone who will take part in a (peaceful) rally tomorrow to abolish the ISA. Although it was not mentioned as to what he meant by "stern action" I won't be surprised if it involves getting arrested and getting locked up (and then later get released). Here's what I don't get: why can't people take part in rallies? Don't we practice democracy in Malaysia? Oh that's right, it depends on how this government defines democracy. Now, of all the previous rallies that were held in the past year, they were all peaceful and no violence erupted within the people at the rally. However, of course the peacefulness was disrupted by the government's own police force by tear gassing the people to disperse even when the people at the rally did not even break out in fights and violence. And then after that when video footage of these gas tearing of innocent and peaceful protesters were aired on tv, prompting interviewers to ask the authorities wasn't that a simple fact of breach of human rights, then those authorities would flubber through their responses with things that seemed questionably unintelligent. What is wrong will holding peaceful rallies, really?
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| He finds cooking therapeutic |
[19 Jul 2009|02:16pm] |
Tim is finally done with his MBA prog. After 2 1/2 years of doing it part-time while having a full-time job. And what has he been doing? Whipping up meals.
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| Le Colonial |
[17 Jul 2009|10:33pm] |
We tried another restaurant that is now added to our list of favorites. We've been to Le Colonial twice so far-- the first time for dinner and the second time for lunch. Le Colonial offers Vietnamese cuisine with French influence. The interior of the restaurant does look like colonial style. It reminded me of some old colonial places that I've been to in Asia. The restaurant has big tall banana leaf plants by the walls. Hanging on the walls are black and white vintage pictures of people whom I think are probably Vietnamese taken in Vietnam.
 Lychee sangria  Pho  Seafood dumpling soup  Seared scallops with garlic noodles and lime vinaigrette  Beef tenderloin with watercress and arugula salad  Coconut and mango sorbet  LIme tart with whipped cream
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| Chocolate banana bread |
[17 Jul 2009|09:46pm] |
This chocolate banana bread is another recipe from my Dorie Greenspan recipe book. It is extremely rich and dense which makes it perfect for chocolate lovers. I recently bought a bottle of coffee chocolate liqueur from Macy's and added some to the recipe. Eat a slice of this with whipped cream or ice-cream or even plain, it's all good.
I think everyone loves chocolate. Funny though, I like chocolate too but I wouldn't say that I love them. What I mean is that I'm not one of those who can eat chocolate everyday. If I eat two pieces of chocolate today, even if it was two small pieces, that would be enough to last me for some days until I feel like eating it again.
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| Bastille Day 5k |
[13 Jul 2009|09:09pm] |
Last Thursday we ran the Bastille Day 5k. As you can tell by the name, it's an annual race organized in conjunction with Bastille Day although the real date for Bastille Day is tomorrow. All the while I had assumed that the 5k run event was tomorrow (the real day of B.D.) until a day before the event when I got an email reminder from the organizer that the race was the next day. So it was a good thing I checked my junkmail folder if not we would have missed it last Thurs.
The start line was about a mile from our condo so we decided to run and walk halfway there instead of taking the bus. There were way more people that I had expected to sign up for this race especially when it was on a Thurs at 7:30pm. We got to the start line and waited for the gun to sound and then we went on our own way.
I saw two kids, a girl and a boy. They were no older than 10 years old and they were running faster than me! At another point, I saw a runner that made me and many other runners smile: A dad was running while pushing a stroller. And it was a double stroller- those where you put your twins in. That man was pretty awesome. A lady who was hanging out at her balcony shouted down to the man and said, "Go father with the daughters!" Very nice.
After crossing the finish line, every runner was given a mini French flag (in honor of Bastille Day). My chip time was 29:01 mins. Met Tim at the water station who came in before me and we checked out the post-race party for a bit before we met up with M and J for beer and food. They had also ran the race and we had planned to meet after. I had Allagash White beer (one of my favorite beers) and wolfed down a Tex-Mex cheddar burger and mashed potatoes and gravy on the side. Mmmmm.
 Sears Tower on the left
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| Sip Cafe |
[12 Jul 2009|12:03pm] |
We have a new found love of where to grab coffee and baked goods for breakfast: Sip Cafe. With mismatched tables and chairs, one could just prop themselves onto the chairs (they have couches too, also with mismatched cushion pillows) and be contented using their laptops. Sip Cafe offers free wifi which is a huge plus. If you choose to have your coffee in a mug instead of a disposable paper cup, you can pick any mug you want from a shelf and bring it to the counter. Your drink will be prepared in that cup you chose. High ceilings, random wall images, and a loft-- I love independently-owned cafes.
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| Cream Puffs |
[09 Jul 2009|11:11pm] |
These little babies are amazing because of these reasons: they're so light and airy. You don't even feel guilty popping them into your mouth because they don't feel like a sinful dessert but yet they taste so good. Ok, I guess filling them with ice-cream and then eating more than two pieces at a time does make one feel guilty. Instead of filling them with whipped cream, I filled these cream puffs with ice-cream. To be more specific, I filled them with butter pecan ice-cream because that was what I had in the fridge although it will be just as good with any ice-cream flavor. Makes an absolutely great summer treat.
( Recipe )
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| Seared chicken breast with greens |
[08 Jul 2009|09:14pm] |
Incredibly swamped with work, Tim decided to do something therapeutic yesterday: cook. He went to the grocery store after work (he later told me how excited he was....ahhh, the simple pleasures of life) and as soon as he got home he started dinner prep right away in the kitchen while I was working on a spreadsheet for work in front of my computer. And then before I knew it, voila, dinner was ready! Seared chicken breast and red leaf lettuce salad with honey dijon vinaigrette dressing.
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| Running in my dream |
[07 Jul 2009|09:34am] |
Two nights ago I dreamt that I was running a half marathon and that I was leading the pack all the way. And then halfway through, I got lost because the race course signs were nowhere to be found and I didn't know where to continue running along the course. And then I gave up. In the dream I felt disappointed because I was leading the pack all the way! And I had to give up the chance of winning because of getting lost?! I remember thinking in my dream that all my training efforts for the race were wasted.
When I told Tim about my dream the next day, he said "At least your sub-conscious knows how to keep it real. It is impossible to beat the Kenyans in a race so your mind has to invent an excuse for you not to win the race."
Funny he said that when a couple months ago, I posted about my favorite running quote.
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