Meli Deli Cooks in Apartment

As junior year goes by, I struggled to cook. Thanks to my loving mother, she made me the meats, the protein, for my meals and I would put them in the freezer. Besides my mother's frozen foods, I would eat more frozen goods from grocery stores such as Trader Joe's vegetables and fried rice. Over time as I got used to living off campus, I would buy my own apples and frozen vegetables from Smart and Final next door.

Out of the meals I cooked myself, besides packed noodles, over the stove, I made three meals on my own with some help of course. Once was when I made pasta after going to Sharetea with my roommates. I had a pack of Annie's macaroni and cheese, white cheddar flavored. I boiled the pasta, drained the water, and placed the pasta back into the pot with the cheddar and frozen vegetables. Voila! First meal I cooked on my own.

Second time I cooked on my own, I was feeling under the weather. I went to Smart and Final and bought tomatoes and red onions. I brought them back to the apartment, washed and sliced the tomatoes and red onions, tossed them in a pot of water, and boiled it for a while. Then I placed the meatballs that my mom made into the pot to add some protein. After that, I poured some of it into a bowl with rice in it to make rice soup. Meal two! Vitamin C Soup! I was pretty proud of myself for this one. I felt sick and tired, so to make soup was the best choice. I had rice soup for at least two days. Felt so much better after.

Third time, I boiled Annie's macaroni in a pot of water. Then I poured the macaroni into a drainer, tossed Wolfgang Puck Organic Free Range Chicken and Dumplings Canned Soup into the pot with some Trader Joe's frozen vegetables. After that, I poured the cooked macaroni back into the pot and voila! Meal three! I was feeling a little sick from the changing weather and wanted some soup. 

I can't say I am a chef, but I can definitely say "Oh yeah, I can make pasta... and pasta" just like Hallie and Annie's father, Nick Parker in Parent Trap. Ready to make more pasta in the future!  

Annie's Macaroni and Cheese, with White Cheddar

Boiling water with tomatoes, red onions, and homemade frozen meatballs

Wolfgang Puck Canned Soup with Annie's Macaroni and Trader Joe's frozen vegetables 

Disconnect to Reconnect

Wall Gazing Gallery 

Water Wall

Sometimes there will be days where you just want to take in all the surroundings and enjoy the little things. A few weeks back, I was feeling a little depressed and I wasn't sure what was the reason. After work, I took a long route to get back to the apartments and let me tell you, it was the best decision I ever had. It helped me take in the fresh air, the beauty of art on campus, and enjoy the sound of water falling. Every day, we are constantly on our devices, wired to technology. I am always staring at a monitor screen, whether it is for schoolwork, personal work, or at real work. Take the time to step outside and soak in the fresh air. I sat at the Wall Gazing Gallery sculpture for a while, listening to the sound of the water falling down, making rings of circles into the pool of water. It was beautiful. Something as simple as listening to the sound of water helped me feel happy. To make things even better, the ground was smiling back at me when I found the happy face art piece someone drew. True beauty. I like to ask each and every one of you who is reading this to disconnect from your electronic devices, whether it is your phone, laptops, or computers. You may take pictures, that is the only exception. Enjoy the art and nature around you.

Food + Theatre

Week 6 is officially over (along with week 7 now) and I decided to head home to support my best friend Kim's little brother, Gordon, in the Shrek Musical at my high school, Mark Keppel High.

That weekend's Saturday, my sister and I went to You Kitchen. The place was definitely weird, the system of getting a table and ordering. You first order at a machine (pictured below) and then you sit down at the table you picked, and pay for your food after you eat. Very interesting indeed. The food was okay.  Out of the three dishes we ordered, I liked the Sesame Chinese Pizza the best. It was so good! It was light yet flavorful. You can taste the green onions. Really good. The dumplings and buns were okay. The dumplings were a little saltier and greasier than expected, but I did like how the plate allowed the water from the steam to drain. I did like the skin of the dumplings because it was thick. As for the pork buns, I also liked the skin, the bread of the buns. The meat was again a little salty and greasy.

Saturday evening, we all went to Mark Keppel High to watch the Shrek Musical. It was amazing. Great performance by the cast and crew. It was also great to see my tech theatre teacher, Mr. Gillette, again. Always great to come back to my roots of where my passion in production stemmed from and give back a little.

The following Sunday, the entire family went to Nature Pagoda. I found it that week at Fullerton and sent it to my sister to show her. I thought it was crazy how this little gem is in the San Gabriel Valley, just a city over where we live, yet we never tried it. First timers! My mom actually went that week after my sister showed it to her, so 3/4 first timers. The clay pot rice dishes were fantastic! I saw them in the picture form on Instagram and felt like I was staring at comfort food. In person, in a flesh, they were prettier than ever. The food came out pretty quick and the rice were amazing. Each clay pot rice has its own sauce to go with it, so we put some of it on the rice. Then we mixed it and placed it on our plates to devour. The soups were also wonderful. Very clear and simple. The dumplings that came with the soup we ordered were a little saltier and very saucy as you can see below due to the sauce all over it. However, overall, the food was spectacular. To top it off, the Taro Sago, a sweet soup dessert, was lovely. Not too sweet and you can taste the pearls on your tongue. Also, the pictures below for Nature Pagoda was taken by my big sister, Melissa. At the time, I ran out of space on my phone to take pictures, so credits to her! You may like to check out her Yelp account for her critiques as well!

You Kitchen: Machine to order your food before sitting down 

Pork Cabbage Dumplings 

Steam water Hole Plate 

Sesame Chinese Pizza 

Green Onion Pork Buns 

Shrek the Musical at Mark Keppel High 

Nature Pagoda: Steamed Dumplings that came with the Soup ordered 

Hog's Stomach with Ginkgo Nuts Soup 

Preserved Meat with Taro Clay Pot Rice 

Chicken with Lily Flower Clay Pot Rice

Taro Sago 

Soup that came with the Rice 

Pork Ribs Clay Pot Rice 

WOMEN'S DAY

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY! All of the women out there, you are strong, you are capable, and you are incredible. Don't let anyone say otherwise. I am very proud of each one of you!

Today I have to admit. I said one of the words that many women should never say when there is really no for one. I used the word "sorry" when replying to one of my bosses and there was really no need of it because I did nothing wrong. Instead, I should have just replied with a simple, "Okay, I'll ask someone else. Thank you!" But I didn't... Slowly and steadily, I will learn to take the terrible word out of my vocabulary and only use it when I have something to be sorry for.

As days past by, women will continue to make a difference in this world and I cannot wait to see more women CEOs out there and doing amazing, spectacular things and killing it in everything. I see our society giving more recognition towards women and nothing is better than seeing a progression towards equality. To all the women before us who paved the pathways ahead of us, thank you. You are the inspiration that helped us all. Let's continue to follow the many women out there before us and pave more roads for future female generations to come.

GO WOMEN!!!