Fall is Fun!

Weight Loss vs. Blogging

I'm coming back!

I can't believe I've neglected my blog for so long. I promise to come back more often. In my defense my personal time was spent on trying to lose the baby weight. Taking time away from blogging to do that was not in vain because I did it! As of my last post I started to work out hardcore and can happily say I've gone down from a size 9 to a size 6/7. I'm not done yet, my goal is to be a 4/5 so I'm almost there just another 10lbs. Since I'm almost there, hopefully I can find more time to blog. Life is hectic with 2 kids and finding time is hard but I have to do it because I want to share my yummy food with everyone. I will just replace my husband time with my blogging time lol (^_^)

Next post will be a recipe post; Promise!

3 Dishes for Warm Weather

Papaya Salad has always been a favorite dish of mine since I could remember. The best thing about papaya is that it has my two favorite taste; spicy and sour. The only thing that sucked was I couldn't make it. No matter how much I try I couldn't make good papaya. I made edible papaya but it was never delicious or great until recently. Not too long ago I finally was able to make good yummy papaya. (^_^)

Beef Bulgogi Springrolls is a dish I love eating on a hot day. I never really liked springrolls that much until I created a yummy dipping sauce for it; now I love it.

Nam Sausage Salad is another favorite of mine. It's a great dish to make on a hot day because you don't need to use the stove. I don't know about other people but when it's hot I try my best to avoid cooking over a hot stove. The only hot thing you'll be using is a hot bowl of water to soften the white fungus. Everything else is chop, slice, 

and toss.

Khaub Poob Dub

 Khaub Poob Dub is one of my favorite noodle dishes. I can still remember when I was little and my mom would make this, I thought it was super duper delicious! YUM!

Fruit Nam Va

My lazy version of Nam Va

I loved making what I call Fruit Nam Va because it doesn't take as long as making the usual Nam Va. Fruit Nam Va doesn't require you have to the long string things (sorry for my lack of vocabulary, I have no idea what those are called). It's basically boil, mix and eat. The hardest part in making Fruit Nam Va would be cutting and dicing the melons; that's how easy it is!

Ingredients:

cantaloupe

honey dew 

tapioca pearls

cut tapioca flour noodles 

bubble tea pearls

sweet coconut milk 

amyle essence

palm sugar

water

(brown sugar & regular white sugar)

First thing you do is make the sugar syrup. There are two ways I make the sugar syrup. One way is by melting palm sugar and the other is by using brown and regular white sugar. It's your choice which sugar you prefer; palm sugar is lighter and brown/white sugar is stronger.

     Palm Sugar: boil 2 cups of water, when water boils put in 4-5 palm sugar cubes, once        

                            sugar cubes are all melted turn off heat and set aside to cool.     

     Brown/White Sugar: boil 2 cups of water, when water boils pour in 1 cup brown sugar 

                                            and 1 cup regular white sugar, when sugar is dissolved turn off 

                                            heat and set aside to cool.

After you have set aside the sugar syrup it's time to boil the tapioca pearls, cut tapioca flour noodles, and bubble tea pearls. You could take turn boiling each item or you could boil all three at the same time, it's up to you. I usually boil all three at the same time in different pots to save time. Boil each one until it's soft, drain in a strainer and pour into a bowl of cold water to keep it from getting sticky. (keep them separated in different bowls; do not mix into the same bowl)

While the noodles and pearls are boiling, cut (dice) the melons into small cubes.

*depending on how much you're making, you might not need to use all the pearls, noodles, or melons. for the left over pearls and noodles you can just rubber band the bags and save them for next time; for the left over melons I cut bigger cubes and put them in a tupperware container.

Once everything is cooled, done cooking, and diced you are ready to mix and eat. There really aren't precise measurements when it comes to adding the sugar syrup and sweet coconut milk because it depends on your taste; if you want it more sweet or more coconut. I like a lot of coconut milk in my Nam Va so I add about the same amount of sugar syrup and sweet coconut milk. Once I get the Nam Va to the right sweetness and coconut taste, I shake in about 3-4 drops of the Amyle Essence and add a couple cubes of ice; Nam Va taste best when it's cold.

(^_^)~ EnJoy ~ (^_^)

Lace and Pearls

Found this purse at TJ Maxx on clearance for $7.00; originally $19.99. I Love It!

Pink Ballerina

83.3% savings = awesome! The look on Carine's face = priceless!

 

*Bought from Bed Bath and Beyond; original $29.99 on clearance for $4.99. 

LOVE Bargain Shopping

I can't resist a good deal!

I rarely buy clothes, shoes and accessories at full price unless I desperately need it or it's already decently price. All the items pictured on the left were all from the clearance section except for the Urban Decay Naked Palette 2. 

The shoes were more expensive but they were still under $20/pair from DSW. They were from the clearance section with an additional 70% and 80% off. My savings at DSW was $160.18; spent $52.58 including tax ($49.84 with-out tax); $11.99 ($59.94), $15.99 ($79.94), $17.98 ($59.94) and $3.88 ($12.94) for the wrist-lit. [The prices I used are the sale prices, if I take the savings from the original prices it would be a savings of $249.16.]
 

From H&M, I bought a dress $10.00 ($29.95), blouse $7.00 ($17.95), knitted scarf and hat $5.00 ($12.95), infinity scarf $5.00 ($9.95) and silk scarf $7.00 (12.95). The cashier forgot to ring the silk scarf, so I got that one for free. I didn't realize it until I looked at the receipt in the car. So my total there was $28.49 with tax ($27.00 with-out) a savings of $55.26.
 

My most expensive buy for this haul was the Naked Palette 2. I used the $25.00 gift card my friend got me for my birthday to get it at 1/2 price. The palette is originally $50.00, so in this transaction I paid $27.75 with tax ($25.00 with-out) a savings of $25.00.
 

I got everything for about $108. My total savings for this shopping trip was $240.44 ($329.42) (^-^)

My Mini Me

Remedy for Spiciness

I love spicy food but dislike the spiciness afterwards! 

This Asian candy is awesome! Not only does it taste good, it can also help relieve your mouth of that spicy feeling after eating spicy food. One night after eating spicy food, I couldn't get rid of the spiciness in my mouth. Drinking milk and rinsing your mouth with hot water is two of the more known ways to get rid of the spiciness, but I didn't feel like doing either! I wanted to take my mind off of the spiciness and burning so I decided to suck on one of these. By the time I finished 1 yes 1 candy the spiciness was gone! I was so surprise and thought it was just a fluke. Thinking it was just beginner's luck I tried this method again and it worked! After the second try, I knew I had found an awesome and yummy way to get rid of spiciness. This is the first thing I run to after eating something extremely spicy! Forget drinking cup after cup of water, just take one or two of these. It's a great alternative and I suggest everyone to try it and see if it works for you. Caution though, depending on how spicy your mouth is you might need more then one! I hope it works for you too! (-_-)

27

January 6, 2012 = 27 years of life

I turned 27 last month; it was a bittersweet feeling. I still want to feel young but being a wife and mom makes it difficult to do so. However; I do believe for me, at age 27 I am exactly where I should be. I'm going to make this year the best one yet!

Spicy Mussels

An Original Kabbie Recipe

I didn't like eating mussels because of how they look and feel, but one evening while grocery shopping I came across a bag of small shell-less mussels and decided to give mussels another try my way. The small mussels didn't look as intimidating and I knew if I fried them I would be able to look pass their weird appearance. Since I didn't eat mussels, I didn't know how to cook them. I thought long and hard and came up with the idea that everything spicy taste good, so spicy mussels it was. How I came up with the recipe, I don't really know. I just went with my gut feeling and hoped for the best. To my surprise, it came out delicious! I have two versions of this dish, one with tomato sauce and one with-out. This post is on the one with-out the tomato sauce. 

I don't use measurements when I cook unless I'm following a recipe. Since this is my first recipe I strongly urge you to taste before serving, in case you need to add more oyster sauce, soy sauce, or salt (you can also add more if you prefer to; that's the best thing about Hmong dishes!). With that being said, the spiciness can also be reduce by skipping out on some of the peppers or by using less peppers. I am extremely proud of this recipe because I created it out of curiosity and it's edible! I hope you find it just as yummy as I did and still do! (^_^)

Ingredients


       1lb shell-less mussels

       1 jalepeno pepper

       2 habanero peppers

       4 Thai peppers (Hmong peppers)

       2 garlic cloves

       2 green onion stalks

       2 tsp cooking oil

       1/8 tsp salt

       1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

       1/2 tbsp soy sauce

       1 spoonful of chili garlic in oil

       dry pepper flakes

Preparation: Wash/clean the mussels and set aside in colander to dry. Crush the 2 garlic cloves. Rinse and cut green onion stalks, jalapeno pepper, habanero peppers and Thai/Hmong peppers as pictured to the left.

You want your mussels to be as dry as possible, or else you're going to have liquid build-up in your pan while cooking and you do not want that. If you do have liquid build-up; strain the mussels and repeat frying instructions. If my mussels are not as dry as I want them to be by the time I'm ready to start cooking, I take 2 sheets of paper towel and press down on the mussels. Do it once then flip the mussels (the mussels on top is now on the bottom) and press down again. If the mussels are still pretty wet, repeat the drying method until the mussels are to the desire dryness.

Cooking: Heat 1 tsp oil in pan, when oil gets hot put in crushed garlic. When the garlic starts to turn golden or brown turn heat down to medium and put in 1 spoonful of chili garlic in oil paste. Stir chili and garlic together and let it sit for 10 secs. Turn heat back to high and add the mussels. Once mussels are cooked for 30 secs add 1/8 tsp of salt, stir and let it cook for 2 min while stirring every so often. Add 1 tbsp of oyster sauce and 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce, let it cook for another 2 min while stirring every so often (if mussels look dry, sprinkle a little cooking oil in the pan to keep them moist). Turn heat down to medium, add 1 tsp cooking oil, green onion, jalapeno, habanero and Thai/Hmong peppers; and add another 1/2 tbsp of oyster sauce, stir and let it cook for another 5-7mins or until the mussels are fully cook while stirring every so often. Once the mussels are cook, turn off heat and sprinkle dry pepper flakes, stir the mussels and pepper flakes. Congratulations, you are done! (as mentioned above, do taste and adjust sauces and salt to your liking)

  

(^_^)~ EnJoy ~ (^_^)

Pa's Wedding DIY I

DIY Silk Flower Boutonnieres Tutorial

For my younger sister's wedding last September (2011) we decided to use silk flowers for the Groomsmen, immediate family members, and the four "meej koob" boutonnieres. If you haven't guessed yet her colors were teal and gold. The boutonnieres were easy to make and helped kept the flower cost down. I made 70 blue ones and 7 white ones. I estimate my cost to be about $0.75/blue boutonniere and $0.50/white boutonniere. I was able to keep the cost down by shopping at Hobby Lobby when they had their 50% off floral stems and floral accessories special. When I made the wedding boutonnieres I wasn't planning to blog about them so for this tutorial I used what I still had, as well as, what I was able to come up with. No worries, the tutorials for each boutonniere is similar enough that you will be able to replicate it.  As much as I wish I still had enough old materials to make the originals, I am glad I had to use new ones because it shows that you can create a totally different look by using the same steps.

Gold Leaf Boutonniere

Materials: hot glue gun (my bff for DIY projects), silk flowers, pearls, floral tape, gold leaves, scissors and pins that have a flat back.

I bought the gold leaves at Hobby Lobby and they were originally green, so I spray painted the leaves gold. All the materials shown were purchased at Hobby Lobby except the hot glue gun that was from Wal-Mart.

All the flowers came on stems, so I plucked the flowers off. After plucking the flowers I took off the back buds and center pieces on the front of the flowers; you should see holes in the center of the flowers as shown in the picture.

I circled some glue in the center of the bigger flowers. (preferably around the small center opening) Then I put the smaller flowers on top of where I put the glue and pressed down.

It was cheaper to buy floral stems of gold balls then to buy a bag of gold pearls, plus the stems had the gold color I wanted. After cutting the gold ball there was a sharp spot where the stem was attached to it; that was where I put the glue. I put the ball in the center of the assembled flower and pressed down. For the white pearl I put the glue on a side that did not have a hole, that way when I pressed the pearl down unto the flower the holes face sideways.

For my sister's wedding I used 3 gold leaves, but for the tutorial I only used 2 leaves because that was all I had left. Wrapping the leaves was quite easy, I positioned the leaves in the angle I wanted and wrapped the top leaf stem over and behind the bottom leaf stem. I continued wrapping the stems this way all the way down. To add additional leaves, you will follow the same steps as shown above.

After twisting the leaf stems I wrapped floral tape around the stems to create a one stem look and because it just looks better this way.

I thought the straight wrapped stem was boring so I bent it to create a hook like shape. You can bent yours, leave it straight or do something else. The possibilities are endless, it's all up to you. That's the fun part about DIY projects!

To glue the flowers unto the leaves, I put the glue on the leaves near the stems. Then I pressed the flowers down unto the leaves. After I glued the leaves and flower piece together, I flipped the boutonniere over and glued the pin; I put the glue on the stem part closest to the leaves. That was the last step! Yay!

Typical Silk Flower Boutonniere

I call this type of boutonniere "typical"because it has the 3 basic fundamentals of a boutonniere; leaf, filler, and 1 main flower.

Materials: hot glue gun, scissors, leaves, floral tape, flat back pins, bloom flowers, and filler flowers.

When you buy floral stems/bunches there are usually leaves on the stems; cut them, keep them and reuse them. It will save you a lot of money! I bought the flowers and fillers from Dollar Tree.

The flowers and fillers came in a bunch so I cut what I needed; one flower stem and one filler stem. I bent the back of the flower because I wanted the flower to face forward a little. After I decided how I wanted to arrange the filler and flower, I wrapped the stems together with floral tape.

There was a gap at the bottom of the flower and I didn't like it, so I glued the bottom of the filler to the bottom of the flower to fill the gap. I also did this to one of the sides. In the last photo above, I cut off a piece of the filler that was hanging by itself in the back. I cut it off instead of gluing it because it would've been in the way when I added the leaf. 

I picked a geranium leaf because it was different. To help keep the leaf in place, I put a little glue on the back. After the glue dried (10-15 secs) I wrapped the the stems again to hide the small geranium stem and because it made it easier to glue the pin down.

The boutonniere stem was longer then I wanted so I cut the length I preferred and bent it. 

(you could leave it straight)

End Result: One Happy Customer (^-^)

* I didn't add bows to my boutonnieres, but if you want bows you could certainly add them.

La Vie en Fleurs

La Vie en Fleurs: Life of Flowers

I love growing flowers, giving flowers, receiving flowers; I love flowers! My love for blooms is why Spring is my favorite season. I cannot wait for warmer weather.

Sweet Potato Fries

Quick, Easy, and Yummy!

You will need 2-3 Asian sweet potatoes (or more; depending on how much you want to make). *no salt; just peel, slice, fry, and eat!

1. Rinse and peel the potatoes.

2. Slice the potatoes into long sticks; should look like regular french fries.

3. Heat oil in pot, once the oil is hot put in the cut potato sticks. 

   - Deep fry until the middle is soft. It's ready 

     when you can poke a fork through it easily.

 (^_^)~ EnJoy ~ (^_^)

Peace of Mind

Inner-peace; so many seek it but only a few can actually achieve it...it is truly the best gift one could ever give herself(himself).

Rainbow Love

Rainbow: a dragon (in Hmong belief) or a magical pathway leading to a pot of gold or a phenomenon created by light being refracted and reflected off water molecules. Of the three I listed, I prefer the first two explanations. 

I love rainbows! The Hmong people believe that rainbows are dragons; how cool is that? Ever since I was little I've always had a soft spot for rainbows. Even though we all know scientifically how rainbows are created and what they are; rainbows will forever remain magical for me. With that said, I found a new photoshop action that colorize my photos. I'm amaze by it and can't wait to play more with it. Below is a photo I quickly created, enjoy (^_^)

Favorite Photos I

Posed photos are nice but I prefer candid, unexpected, and spur of the moment photos. 

These are some of my favorite photos. I have more favorites but since I am too lazy to go through all my photos I quickly selected a few. I enjoy taking photos of my kids because the photo I get is not always what I see through the lens; a lot of these photos end up being my favorites. Beside taking photos of my kids, I also enjoy taking random pictures of random things. Of all my random photos, I love the "Sky Bunny" and "Beautiful End" photographs the most. I haven't taken as much photos as I had hoped to. Life is hectic with two kids which makes it hard to find time to focus on my hobbies. Hopefully as Nova gets bigger and is more independent I will have more time to take pictures. With that said I cannot wait for Spring, so I can take them outside and click away.

Blog Lift

Blog Lift: similar to a "kabbie lift" which is similar to a "face lift"

2011 was a roller coaster of emotions and self discovery for myself and my little family.  My most memorable moment would have to be the birth of my son Nova ZooTxuj. Still can't believe my little chunker is turning 9 months in 12 days! He's growing up too fast, I still want him to be my little baby. After much reflection and thought about this past year, I came up with some goals for myself. No, they are not resolutions but life changes. 

1. Be a more possible person
What I mean by this is for me to be more patient with impossible people. Ignorance is truly bliss and some people are really ignorant of their words and actions towards others. My encounter with PPD has taught me that I am too precious to let myself be bother by their ignorance. The best way to deal with an impossible person is to be a possible person, and that is to have patience. Why? Well when you have patience you tend to careless about their impossibilities, therefore, it doesn't bother you as much and you can live a more carefree life. It definitely sounds easier then it is but I am determined!

2. Do more DIY projects and learn to cook more dishes
I want to learn how to cook other cuisines besides the usual Hmong/Asian/American fusion dishes I've grown accustomed to. I've actually started cooking more Korean dishes and I'm loving it. I have so many DIY projects lined up but I've been too lazy to do a lot of them. I need to start again and keep at it!

3. Be Kabbie
Depression sucked and I never want to be in that hole again! Confidence is a must, as well as, a positive outlook on life, marriage, motherhood, so basically a positive outlook on ME and everything I am! I <3 Me!

2012 is going to be the starting point for me to have a love affair with myself. I am excited to see where this new relationship takes me. I only hope I am sure it will bring nothing but happiness to my little family and myself.