5 Fandom Friday (3)

5 Fandom Friday is a geek-blogger community building project started and hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and SuperSpaceChick. Every Friday, post a top 5 list based on a predetermined topic that can be found on this master post - you can also find more info on the project there. Participate as frequently or infrequently as you like, and if a topic doesn't especially appeal to you, feel free to put your own twist on it.

I've missed a few because I was on vacation, but I'm back and this week's theme is great because I love food! :D

This week's theme: Comfort Foods That Always Make Me Feel Better

1. IN-N-OUT


I'm a California native, so when it comes to classic "American" food and fast food, nothing says home like In-n-Out. It's cheap, simple, and delicious. I love getting it when I come back from a trip; it's my go-to homecoming treat.


2. Red bean, Riceball/Mochi, Sesame-stuffed Riceball (dessert) Soup

Not sure what the actual name of this is, but it's my favorite cold-weather Taiwanese dessert. My mom makes it every year, and the sesame-filled rice balls are to-die-for good.


3. Phở

Speaking of soupy foods, you can't beat phở for tasty comfort. Feeling cold? Under the weather? Nursing a hangover? You need some of this brothy deliciousness!


4. Minced Pork over Rice

This is a simple, traditional Taiwanese dish. I love a lot of Taiwanese/Chinese food, but I never get sick of this one. Om nom nom.


5. Ice Cream

I think this is self-explanatory. And anyone who knows me knows I am an ice cream monster.


Honorary Mention: I had to mention coffee and tea here because somethings a warm cuppa is all you need to brighten your day (and I love both!)



What are your top comfort foods?

What's Up Wednesday (10) / RSW (9)

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, so we can check in with each other. To join, just check out Jaime Morrow or Erin Funk's blogs for the link widget and sign up!


WHAT I'M READING

I finished The Dream Thieves and it was GLORIOUS. I need the next book asap! I think this is the biggest flaw to reading anything early; it makes the wait THAT much longer! On the bright side, I still have tons of amazing books to read and many more coming out in September!

I've picked up Charm & Strange again, which isn't to say it wasn't good. I was reading it on Kindle and then the Sister borrowed the Kindle to read something else. That's why I had to stop, but it's nice to be back in. The voice is great, really engaging.

I'm also reading Control, which is another ARC. It doesn't come out until December, but I've been dying to read it because I adore Miss Lydia Kang. Our fellow #twtpoem poet Miss April Tucholke had an ARC and was kind enough to lend it to me. So yaaaay for blog friends & books! (Also, am dying to read April's book, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea as well. It's out Thursday & I have ordered it as a birthday gift to myself since my birthday's this Friday.)


WHAT I'M WRITING

I started connecting my fragments together, so yay! More importantly, I think I figured out how to get my plot going on "Luck." Still haven't quite figured out where the beginning should be, but I was trying to add some more tangible stakes and I think I've found the thing for that. Now, back to the hard part. I'm just one of those people who need to get the beginning right for the rest of it to follow. *SIGH*


WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

The absolutely gorgeous writing in Maggie Stiefvater's DREAM THIEVES. Her turns of phrase are so evocative and brilliant, and again, she is a master of mood.

Also, inspired by the exhibit on the Japanese Internment in the U.S. during WWII inside the Japanese American National Museum in LA.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

I've been resting up! Unlike my past weekends, I pretty much stayed home this weekend. I saw Percy Jackson & the Sea of Monsters, which was much closer to the books and therefore MUCH BETTER. I thought the first one was awful in one sense but also very entertaining thanks to some of the humor AND a lot of the acting (I love Logan Lehrman's Percy). So yes, this one was better, though the pacing still needs work. They also really need to stop messing with the plot so much. :P

We also went to Little Tokyo to shop, but we stumbled upon the Nisei Week celebrations. It was festive, fun, and filled with delicious food. So I ate a lot too.

Watermelon lemonade, pulled pork chips, house-made chips, bacon-wrapped corndog,
chai popcorn, corn on the cob with cheese and spicy garlic aioli

(Photo/ the Sister)

AND here's some brief SDCC stuff - swag! All the things we picked up/ bought!

Cute stuff we bought - except the Mr. Toast postcard & the Pancreas pin.

The miscellaneous stuff we picked up: Peanuts postcard; World's End pre-screening card; True Blood bracelets; RED 2 sunglasses; Black Sails bandanas; Adventuretime pins; an ebook novella voucher postcard for Breaking Bad; and a set of cards for The Awesomes.

The Sister bought the SDCC exclusive Snoopy iPhone case.


The stuff we picked up at the BBC Booth: Little Doctor Who figures, including the SDCC exclusive tuxedo Ten, and a SHERLOCK T-Shirt.

The swag we got from the 20th Century FOX Hall H panel: viral marketing materials for Trask Industries and their Sentinels for the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past movie (hat, propaganda posers); T-Shirts for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and The Wolverine.

This is all my book-related swag! From the Summit T-Shirt Bar, I made this Dauntless shirt. You could choose to have any of the faction symbols on your shirt, and on the back, it says DIVERGENT and the movie's release date. Also from Summit is that Divergent pin. From the Penguin booth, I got those Legend temporary tattoos, and from the Hachette Books booth, I got an ARC of Curtsies & Conspiracies by giving them the right password.

Also book-related AND movie-related was the Ender's Game swag. There was a lot and it's pretty awesome. From the Summit booth, there was the T-Shirt Bar again - so you can get the symbol of any of the Ender's Game armies on a shirt that says Ender's Game & the movie release date on the back. (We got Dragon Army, the best.) Also from the Summit Booth was that giant bag and the army symbol pins and stickers.

We picked up more stuff later at the Ender's Game Experience. Other than our green screen photo in the Battle Room, we also got to make International Fleet recruit ID cards/badges (you can see them under the wildcat sticker and the T-shirt), and we got those dog tags.

At the HANNIBAL panel, we got our first piece of panel swag. We turned in our tickets at the Fulfillment Room for this print of a sketch done by Hannibal Lecter. It's a sketch that appears in both the show and in the movies. I've not shown the actual picture because it's kind of graphic (a man impaled by lots of sharp, pointy things).

And lastly, we got these free YODA dog and cat ears for our furry friends at home. Loki has yet to be subjected to the ears yet. (The cat ears I picked up for a friend.)

Thanks for sticking around week after week, guys. I love hearing from you all, and I can't believe the summer is slowly but surely coming to a close. Ah, why?!

Anyway, I have to go figure out what I'm going to do for my birthday this weekend. True to my introvert nature, I think it'll involve reading and sleeping, hah.


Q4U: What have you been up to?


For more SDCC goodness, here are my previous related posts:

1) What's Up Wednesday (7) / RSW (6)
2) SDCC Recap No. 1
3) What's Up Wednesday (8) / Our Comic Con Fashion
4) SDCC Recap No. 2
5) SDCC Recap No. 3

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Wednesday, we presented you with a feast of books.

Today, we present you with a feast of food which we handcrafted with loving care and caring love and such copious amounts of delicious grease and fat as your arteries would clog in ecstasy merely to hear of!

Krispy's sister made bacon-wrapped asparagus.  It was so, so good.  All the bacon fat rendered out in the oven and cooked into the asparagus.

The sister ate one and was like, "OMG ALZ TRY ONE THEY ARE SO GOOD."
Alz ate one and was like, "OMG KRISPY TRY ONE THEY ARE SO GOOD."
Krispy ate one and was like, "OMG YOU ARE RIGHT THEY ARE SO GOOD."

Krispy, aided by slave labor from Alz, made her seasonal specialty: hedgehog potatoes!  Sliced not quite all the right through, stuffed with thyme and bay, cooked in butter, then baked in butter, and to top it all off we drizzled on the bacon fat from the aforementioned asparagus bacon rolls.  So delicious that mere words.  They cannot suffice.

Alz had never had them before.  They were beyond all hype and expectation.
Krispy says that this year they came out especially well.
Maybe because of the, you know, whole bacon fat thing.

Krispy's cousin baked a humble apple pie.  From scratch.  Including the crust.

We have tasted divinity in the form of apple pie. There's nothing humble about it.

Alz made a moist chocolate bundt cake with walnuts and Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips.  She neglected to take a picture so you get an MS Paint rendering.

Despite Alz's worries about it being only half-baked
(as so frequently many of her ideas and notions are)
the cake came out wholly baked and fine.

There were, besides, turkey and ham and carrots and regular potatoes and guacamole and truffle brownies and food, food, food, food.

We cooked.  We feasted.  We conquered.

Happy Thanksgiving!



PS And this guy got a bone and turkey and an extensively long playdate with Krispy's cousin's dog for his Thanksgiving treat. 

"I smell food. Why aren't you giving me anything?"

Wordless Wednesday: Boba in a different form!

Saw this on pinterest a while ago and wanted to try them. The sister found these.

BOBA POPSICLES.

And yes, they are delicious. BRB nomming.

Q4U: What do you wish came in delicious frozen form?

Foodie Friday: Foods of Taiwan

Oh, I managed an alliterative title and everything! As promised, I have another picture-filled post of the delicious morsels I gorged myself on in Taiwan during the trips I took in recent years. They may make you hungry. You have been warned.

Taiwan: Food

Drinks

Pink Boba (tapioca balls) to go in Milk Tea

Chrysanthemum tea with Ai Yu & Boba Milk Tea

Street Food

Popular street food dish: oyster omelette

Taiwanese Sausages

Actual Food

Tu Hsiao Yueh: a famous noodle place originating from Tainan

Tu Hsiao Yueh's signature dish: Dan Dan noodles

Tu Hsiao Yueh dishes

Din Tai Fung: signature dish xiaolongbao (dumplings with soup in them)

Split Pot Hot-Pot: You get 2 different broths to cook things in!

Desserts

Douhua (soft tofu dessert) with boba

Grass Jelly with various toppings

Donuts at Mister Donut, a Japanese donut chain

My favorite: snowflake shaved ice! (The shaved ice is extra fine and super fluffy!)

Gigantic regular shaved ice w/ fruit topping.

This place is famous for giant bowls of shaved ice, as you can see.

That's all! Hope you enjoyed this food tour. Have a great Memorial Day weekend! What are you up to this weekend? Have I wetted your appetite?



P.S. Sophia and I will be trying very hard to figure out technology this weekend so we can give you a vlog when you all come back! We're still open to questions!

Recipe: Spicy Tuna Hand Rolls and A Call for Questions!

Happy Friday, friends! As you read this, I will be at my alma mater, celebrating my cousin's graduation. So I apologize in advance if I'm a little scarce from the blogosphere today and weekend.

Also, before I get to today's recipes, I have a teeny tiny favor to ask. For APA Month, Sophia and I wanted to do a joint vlog. We've both been separately contemplating with the idea of vlogging, but neither of us knew what to vlog about. So we thought we'd go into it together and in MAY for APA Month.

So, if you would be so kind, throw your best QUESTIONS at us. You can ask APA-related questions, writing questions, book/reading questions, or really random questions (like what's our favorite pair of shoes or if we have a favorite font or what it's like living in LA). We will do our best to answer, and maybe we'll try to answer them as fast as possible. I don't know. Would that be entertaining? Rapid-fire questions?

In any case, we need QUESTIONS first. You can leave them in the comments or in my email or in my Tumblr Ask box (it can be anonymous there) or send your questions Sophia's way. THANKS in advance!

Now, here's the recipe as promised, and it's actually somewhat related to my return to campus this weekend because this recipe is from my one of my roommates, Shelly, who is a crazy good cook. It's because of her that I neither starved nor ate only instant noodles in college. She's another amazing Asian American lady I'm so glad to have met.

I hope you enjoy this, and have a fantastic weekend!

For more recipes, restaurant reviews, and food tours, check out her blog: Shelly in Real Life.

(Long post below)

SPICY TUNA HAND ROLLS
Recipe by Shelly

makes about 10 hand rolls

Warning: The measurements listed are kind of arbitrary as I don’t really measure everything out, and it’s all up to you and how creamy & spicy you want your tuna to be.

Ingredients
SUSHI RICE
1.5 cups of sushi rice
.5 tablespoon of mirin

SPICY TUNA
.8 lbs of raw sushi-grade tuna, defrosted, partly frozen
1.5 tablespoons of kewpie mayo (see right)
a healthy squeeze of sriracha (depending on how “spicy” you like your tuna)
1 spring onion, thinly diced
a dash of sesame seed oil, less than 1/8 teaspoon (optional)

GARNISHES
1 avocado
1/2 of a cucumber, julienned


Instructions

First, cook your sushi rice. Make sure you wash the grains until the water runs clear, basically that means you’re washing all the starch off of the grains, which helps it from sticking together later in the process. I cook my rice in my rice cooker with a 1:1 rice, water ratio.

As your rice is cooking, start preparing your spicy tuna. I found that it is easier to dice your tuna when it’s still partially frozen, so that you don’t turn your tuna into mush. If your tuna is completely defrosted, then pop it in the freezer for 10+ minutes. Now, add the kewpie mayo, sriracha, sesame oil, spring onion to the tuna. The kewpie mayo has a completely different flavor than regular mayo or miracle whip, so please don’t substitute. If you have a taste of the kewpie, you will know what I am talking about. After you mix your ingredients, have a taste of the tuna, you can adjust the seasonings as you like, some might like it more creamy (add more mayo) or more spicy (add more sriracha). Now pop it in the fridge while you make your other preparations.

Wait until your rice is done cooking and let it cool down to room temperature. I like to cover my rice with a wet paper towel to prevent it from drying out. Once it is cooler, you can add the mirin to the rice. The mirin helps separate the rice into individual grains. You don’t want your rice to be drenched, just lightly coated. Also, I don’t add mirin to all the rice, I like to make it in batches, just in case I don’t use it all, that way, I can still eat the sushi rice as regular rice later on.

Final step – now that the rice and spicy tuna is prepared, it’s time to fill, tuck and roll! For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out how to make good looking hand rolls, which direction to roll, how to fill it up, etc etc. Now that I’ve finally figured it out, I hope these pictures will help you guys!

STEP 1 - Fill

Cut your nori sheet in half, and start on the lower right corner by filling it up with a bit of rice. Just a little is enough as you don’t want to overstuff your hand roll! Next, layer a few pieces of cucumbers and avocado. I find that cutting the avocado in quarters (the long way) helps in cutting prettier looking avocado pieces. Finally, spoon in the spicy tuna mixture. Notice in the picture above, I have an arrow for the direction in which you should fill your roll. While I used to think that it was pretty intuitive in how a hand roll is rolled, I learned that it is not! Masago is optional – if you like to add that bit of crunch, you can, but I don’t even taste it when I put it in so I choose not to.

STEP 2 - Tuck

The key to making a “tight” roll is to use your thumb to tuck that corner of the seaweed into the roll, it really does help, so tuck that baby in!


STEP 3 - Roll

Finally, after tucking your sushi, just roll it and then help the last bit of seaweed stick to the roll by putting a grain of rice at the end. That will help you seal your roll together.

Volia, you’re done! Just repeat steps 1-3 until you finish all your tuna, or you can refrigerate and eat it again later. As a warning though, the sushi rice is probably not gonna keep as well as the spicy tuna mixture, so be careful of that!
Serve with soy sauce and wasabi (Did I really need to write that?). We finished these rolls so fast that I didn’t even get to take a picture of my finished product!

(re-posted here with permission; originally posted on Shelly's blog: Spicy Tuna Hand Rolls)