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) (^-^)