Blog: Entries Tagged With 'cooking'

It's hard to believe that Priscilla and I have been married for a whole month already, but the calendar doesn't lie. Married life has been great overall. Sure, it's not perfect, but what marriage is? Anybody who says they have a perfect marriage is either lying or hasn't been married more than two days.

Priscilla is adjusting to living in the Bay Area and is starting to drive around without needing her GPS. She's been busy changing her name with various agencies, cooking, catching up on all her favorite TV shows on Hulu, and applying to jobs. I've become slightly less of a light sleeper and have been getting better sleep overall, but a king size bed still would be really nice.

On Priscilla's birthday, I cooked for her for the first time since we got married. I made one of the things I make best- spaghetti! I made my own sauce of course, consisting of Trader Joe's marinara sauce, ground turkey, onions, garlic, tomatoes and mushrooms. Priscilla enjoyed it, even though I took a long time prepping all the ingredients and the sauce was a little healthier than she's accustomed to.

The following day I took her up to the scenic part of San Francisco, and we saw Fort Funston and Sutro Baths and ate at The Cliff House Bistro, which had these amazing fresh-baked popovers! Unfortunately it was a bit windy that day, which cut our trip short since Priscilla was cold. But I made it up to her by taking her to see The Avengers that night. The movie was awesome. But it's Joss Whedon, so I expected no less.

Priscilla and I decided sometime last month that she would be moving up to the Bay Area after we get married. Or more like, I made the decision because of the tech job opportunities up here and the fact that we'd be more financially stable in the short run if I were to keep my job. And she unreservedly agreed to leave her job, parents, thriving church, and the home she's known for 26 years to be with me. That's how selfless she is and how lucky I am to have her.

This weekend she came up to do apartment hunting, and we found a place we liked. On Friday I sifted through entries on Craigslist and PadMapper and found three viable leads. Of those, one never contacted me back, one sounded pissed off on the phone, and my top lead returned my call and sounded polite and sincere. So I went and checked out the latter's place and liked what I saw and liked the neighborhood. It's in the middle of Sunnyvale 1.8 miles from work, a real convenience. I returned with Priscilla on Saturday and she liked it too, so we paid the deposit and now the place will be ours!

The apartment is on the first floor in the back of a fourplex. It was touted as 700 square feet but feels more like 500. Cozy is the word. The bedroom seems a little bigger than my current one, the closet takes up the length of a whole wall, the bathroom is roomy enough and has ample sink space, and the living/dining room should be just big enough for a couch, coffee table, dining table and computer table. The only major downside is the kitchen has very little counter space, no built-in microwave and no dishwasher. But Priscilla will be the primary user of the kitchen and she thinks we can make it work.

The landlord, Tony, is a 77-year old Korean man who seems intelligent and looks very healthy and young for his age. He and his wife will celebrate their 50th anniversary this year! They seem personable and reasonable and are letting me move in in mid-April.

We're getting all this for $1200, which is not the best price, but reasonable given current market conditions. This is the first time I've gone with the first apartment/house I've seen, but I felt like it was right.

On Saturday we also saw Hunger Games with some church friends. Priscilla has been dying to see that movie after reading the books. I thought it has an interesting story and good CG, and I'll probably read the books at some point.

Priscilla wants to attend a church with a choir she can sing in, so we've been considering going to a new church since RBF has no English choir. On Sunday we checked out North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara. I visited four years ago but didn't remember much except that they had a choir and the message was powerful. But Priscilla and I found the church to be a little more traditional than we're used to, especially since she would like a choir that does more of a blend of traditional and contemporary.

The rest of the weekend was spent making lots of food! We made tacos on Saturday using rotisserie chicken, and Priscilla boiled the leftovers on Sunday to make soup. I made turkey and mushroom burgers. Priscilla wants me to be her guinea pig for her cooking when we get married. I don't think I'll mind in the very least.

Priscilla came up this weekend, having gotten cheap Southwest tickets during a sale in October. After I went to guitar class on Saturday, we went to the gym, went grocery shopping and made tacos with all the fixin's: corn tortillas, ground turkey, tomatoes, red and green onions, cheddar and avocado, seasoned with some fresh ground pepper. We forgot to get lettuce, but the tortillas were of the small variety so all the condiments barely fit on one anyway. The tacos were delicious as usual. (When are they not?)

After church on Sunday, we tried to go to Tikka Masala for buffet but found them closed, so we wound up instead at Shah and got lots of chicken. Next, we went to my company so that I could do a little work, and then we worked out again (gotta get in shape for our wedding clothes). Then we went to Bed Bath & Beyond in Santa Clara to create a registry, and we added a few household items we'll find useful to have. Our primary registry is still Honeyfund and we'd prefer people help us save for our honeymoon, since I already have most of the household items we'll need. We'll probably figure out where we want to go for the honeymoon after all this wedding planning madness is over.

Priscilla also gave me a batch of invitations to hand to a few people I invited. She bought two types of DIY invitations: a more expensive green floral one that I liked, and a cheaper silver-patterned one. The silver one actually looks better though.

Her dad helped print all the invitations (they look very professional), and a bunch of her church friends helped assemble them. We're getting help in many different areas from church friends. It's awesome to see how much people really want to help!

Priscilla bought plane tickets to visit me this weekend (again from the previous Southwest sale), and after picking her up early Saturday morning, we joined some church friends at Planet Granite for some fun and strenuous climbing.

It was her second time climbing indoors, the first time being at a place that had a difficult and limited selection. She completed a 5.6 and a 5.8, better than I did my second time. I completed a 5.8, 5.10a and made it halfway up a 5.10b. The last climb was pretty technical and required switching between the side and the front of the wall and strategically using cracks. I couldn't find a handhold halfway up and I was dead tired by then, so I bailed. I will get it next time!

Afterwards a few of us went to Sunny Bowl in Mountain View at my suggestion for some bibimbap. I've been there a few times but it was everybody else's first time; everybody seemed to like their food. The place actually moved a couple doors down into a much larger and nicer-looking space. They added stone pot to the menu and kept the original bibimbap prices the same, but sadly they no longer serve free frozen yogurt for dessert.

Priscilla and I did plenty of home cooking as well. I bought turkey burger patties, salmon and a bunch of other stuff from Sprouts. Saturday night we cooked salmon in the microwave and had salad. The salmon didn't come out too bad. Sunday night we grilled the remaining salmon and turkey burgers with my grill pan. The burgers were tasty and can be a healthier substitute for beef. The salmon came out pretty good- grilling it has the advantage that each side gets cooked while the center remains slightly uncooked.

Priscilla also brought pasta and Soyaki chicken up with her, and we had some when we went to my office to work and work out. We got a lot of studying/work done this weekend. She's studying for her online accounting class, and I figured out the root cause of an intricate problem that I've been working on for four weeks. I'm glad that we can help each other get so much done!

Victor C and Flora drove up to the Bay Area to watch Billy Elliot the Musical, so they gave Priscilla a lift. They arrived at my house Saturday night, and Minh and Christine happened to be there making Thai hot pot with Kenny, so the seven of us had hot pot together. For the broth, Christine used chicken broth and flavored it with lemongrass, tamarind and fish sauce, which is much different from the "plain" Chinese style hot pot I'm accustomed to.

Priscilla and I made sushi on Sunday, which was my idea even though I don't care for sushi, since she loves it and I'm such a caring boyfriend! I got avocado, cucumber and carrots from Sprouts, nori and expensive sashimi-grade salmon ($25/lb) and tilapia ($20/lb) from Nijiya Market. Lisa let me borrow some Nishiki rice, rice vinegar, and sushi mats and dishes. The sushi turned out really well, especially for a first try. Priscilla was definitely happy. Success!

After sushi, we visited Stanford since Priscilla hadn't been there before. We biked to the Caltrain station, took the train to Stanford, and walked/biked around the campus. I'm really envious of the beautiful buildings and landscape, even if they do have a lake that's all dried up!

Finally on Monday, Victor and Flora rejoined us and we went to dim sum at New Port Restaurant. I discovered that I actually like some kinds of dim sum, just not buns.

It was a short-ish but enjoyable weekend filled with good food, exercise, and good times with friends.

I spent this past Christmas down in LA hanging out with family and friends. I drove down Tuesday night, by myself unfortunately, since people I thought were going to go decided not to. But I had "The Case For Faith" by Lee Strobel on audio-CD to listen to, so the drive down wasn't too tough. The audio book was pretty engaging, so the driving part was merely secondary.

Christmas day I spent mostly with Raymond, learning how to drive stick on his Civic. Raymond- thanks for being a good sport and letting me wear down your clutch/transmission/engine/synchronizer in the name of practice!

On Friday, I finally did my second Slave Day with Priscilla (she's already done three for me). I made her buy me a dress shirt at Ross (this would come in handy the following day), play a logic game, sing praise songs, make food with me (I made turkey paella, which didn't turn out so great), and watch No Country For Old Men, which turned out to be boring, and she fell asleep.

The next day I went with Priscilla and her parents to the wedding of Nancy (a relative of Priscilla's) and Ricky. Priscilla's mom took a ridiculous number of pictures as usual, including many of me and Pris. But some of them came out really good. We actually look cute!

The weekend after New Year's, Priscilla's parents came up to the Bay Area for a friend's funeral. Priscilla had led me to believe that she wasn't coming, but she showed up and hid in my van, having borrowed a key from my parents.

That weekend we had fun making food (tacos), working out, studying, and me getting sick because of sleep debt. It's cool that we can have fun just doing the small things.

Priscilla's parents had a retreat in Monterey this weekend, so she decided to visit me during that time.

On Saturday I picked her up from San Jose Airport and we took a stroll around Valley Fair and Santana Row. Of course, since we're both very frugal we didn't buy anything. In the evening we went to Capitol Drive-In, the last remaining drive-in theatre in the Bay Area, and watched Eagle Eye. The movie was so-so, but it was more about the drive-in experience. The ticket entitled us to a double-feature, with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull playing after Eagle Eye; we declined to stay.

After church on Sunday we hung out at the Sunnyvale Library, then went jogging at Lake Shoreline in Mountain View, then made fricasse of lamb according to a recipe I found. The food tasted pretty good, but I think we messed up the egg sauce at the end.

On Monday, while I was away at work, Priscilla made basa fillet, cheesy turkey pasta, and pear salad for me, and so-eagerly TP'ed my room. That afternoon, her parents came to pick her up, and her mom did a photoshoot of us for the cover of some Asian newsletter she helps with.

I think we had a pretty active weekend.

Tonight Priscilla and I cooked for Steve and Shirley at Priscilla's house. It's our last time meeting with them before they leave for the Bay Area. It's sad to see them leave, but I'll be joining them soon. ;)

We made grilled salmon that my dad taught us how to make, and shepherd's pie that Priscilla learned somewhere. Her dad made a Chinese dish with bean threads, pork, and cucumber. I have no clue what it's called. :)

For the shepherd's pie, we stir-fried carrots, celery, onions, garlic, and ground beef and added tomato sauce. Then we poured the mix into a baking dish and covered it with mashed potatoes, cheese, and finally a sprinkle of basil. Finally we baked the pie for about half an hour. And it came out pretty well! I might try making it myself sometime. Cooking really is fun!

I volunteered to cook today's dinner for my family, since I really need to get better at cooking if I'm going to survive on my own someday. So tonight was my first time cooking (almost) entirely on my own for them. My dad was nice enough to come in and help me cut up some chicken, though probably because I was taking way too long with things and he was getting hungry. It took me no less than two and a half hours to make two things: soup and chow mein.

The soup was made from ground turkey, barley, carrots, celery, onions, a dash of basil leaves, flavoring from boiled chicken, and unintentional pieces of broccoli that I needed to boil for the chow mein. Boiling the chicken in the soup ended up making things greasy, since normally we boil the chicken on its own and run the resulting broth through a fat separator. Oops.

Then it was on to the chow mein. This dish sported spaghetti noodles, chicken, mushrooms, carrots, celery, snow peas, and broccoli. I stir fried this stuff, but I used way too much oil, so the chow mein too turned out greasy. Way to go.

So the greasy grub was finally ready at 7:30, a hour later than we usually eat. My family was appreciative of my efforts, but I think the only thing I managed to do was to encourage my dad to continue being the one who does most of the cooking. Oh well. Practice makes perfect. Or in my case, practice makes decent. Perfection has to wait.

Friday: Most of the college group showed up bright and early at 8 a.m. for Priscilla's graduation. Her parents treated everybody (16 people) to brunch at China Olive Buffet, and she and I spent the rest of the day watching White Chicks and Ong Bak and helping my mom cook.

Saturday: Priscilla and I made pizza at her house. To make a long story short, low-carb dough mix is healthier, but it makes pretty crappy dough. Still, I ate a lot of the "pizza," though considering it's me, that's not saying much.

Sunday: I got tricked into going to an "infosession" for volunteering to help with junior church. I thought I was going to get more info, but by going I effectively signed up. Ah well, it probably won't be too bad, and quite a few of the college people are helping. I spent most of the rest of the day picking out components for the computer I'm building for Priscilla's parents. I never knew shopping for parts required so much... research.

Yesterday Priscilla and I found ourselves cooking at her house again, making our first attempt at chicken pot pie. My dad had shown us before, and I thought I had a pretty good idea of how to do it. So we went to the supermarket to buy the ingredients that we didn't already have: pie crust, mixed vegetables, chicken breast, and condensed milk. Only we forgot to get the condensed milk when we got there. And all the pre-made pie crusts seemed to be for making dessert pies (my dad later told me that they're all the same) so we went with a box of crust mix. Unfortunately when we got back to her house, we realized that we didn't have a rolling pin to flatten out the dough.

So there we were, two newbs trying to press a layer of dough into the pan with our hands, and making the filling with chicken and veggies in cream of mushroom soup diluted with water. I called my dad for help and after giving me advice, he ended with an encouraging note - "Well it doesn't sound like it's going to turn out very good..."

But by some freak luck we got all the quantities right, and we ended up not having merely watery cream of mushroom soup on a soggy pie crust. The finished product was actually not bad. I wouldn't say it was superb, but it certainly was worthy of being called a pie. A great fiasco was averted that day.