Recipes: Vegetarian Dim Sum

I really like dim sum, but being a vegetarian, there are not many options. The only restaurant I know of that serves all veggie dim sum is Fine Garden in Rosemead. At regular dim sum places they have veggie things, but most of them are sweet pineapple, custard, or taro buns that are baked or steamed. You also get funny looks at regular dim sum places...after all, they are probably thinking "Why don't you eat meat? It is so DELICIOUS?" But who am I to read minds. It's an invasion of privacy.

SOOOO....I made vegetarian dim sum at home. Note: These are not vegan friendly, but the egg white can be left out to be made vegan friendly. Actually, I only added the egg white because Mama Chan said so, and I don't think it was necessary.


Vegetarian Dim Sum

Shu Mai wrappers (The one I use has a pink and clear plastic cover that sports a happy looking panda)

Shark fin melon (steamed and squeezed to be a dry as possible, can also be left out, but it gives it a nice texture)

Chinese celery stems (can be replaced with cilantro leaves AND stems, washed and chopped)

Vegetarian meat paste (chinese markets have this, if you can't find it replace it with tofu and some seasoning for flavor)

Vege shrimp (diced)

A large spoonful of cornstarch (about 1-2 tablespoons depending on how watery you ingredients look)

1 egg white

Mix everything together, minus the Shu Mai wrappers. Season with salt and white pepper to taste. If it is reallllllly watery, then strain out the excess fluid ( Save it, it makes for a great soup flavoring). Wrap it up and brush it with oil if you want it to look nice, and steam it for about 20-30 minutes. Honestly, it doesn't matter how you wrap it, but it looks nice with an open top so people can see whats inside like regular shu mai.

HAR HAR HAR. Good luck. Took me ages to perfect the recipe. Enjoy it!

xoxo

Places: Fosselman's Ice Cream in Alhambra

So I went with friendie to Fosselman's in Alhambra and had the coffee cookie ice cream. It was pretty good! It was two things that I LOVE, so I don't see how anything could have gone wrong. Friendie had matcha (ground up green tea leaves), which was pretty ok, and isn't her top cute! She is so fabulous. I do suggest going to http://fosselmans.com/ to check out the flavors they have. It is pretty awesome. The flavors are pretty yummy, but the base it basic so expect no SUPER AMAZING reaction. But very much tolerable, very much so.

PS: Sorry I have been MIA for the last few days/ weeks. I have been BUSY ok? hahahahahahaha LOVE YOU

People: My dad is on Business Week

Dad and the company he works at is on Business Week!

Places: Extraordinary Desserts in Balboa Park, San Diego

I had a Danish Parisenne or something. It had a complicated name. It was pretty delicious. It had the sugar crystals on top that you could crunch and munch on, but not enough PINEAPPLE! WHY!?! WHY WERE YOU STINGY ON THE PINEAPPLE?!?! It had vanilla custard on the inside, which was good. The Extraordinary house coffee was pretty yummy. It is in San Diego, but that is veryyyyyy fall from LA. My ass hurts from all the sitting and driving.

http://www.extraordinarydesserts.com/

Places: Brioche in East LA

I met college best roomie this weekend, and we caught up over at Brioche, which is a small french bakery over on Whittier. I had the iced coffee, which is pretty good, meaning that there was nothing I hated about it. The shiny goodness was the pastries. I had a cranberry orange scone. SCONESSS ARE DELICIOUS. I like them better than donuts because they are not as greasy, but they are covered in powdered sugar goodness. I also liked the pretty plate.
College roomie bestie is applying for med school (ie: that which destroys one social life). She is suffering, but it is for the sake of a good lucrative future. Oh yeah, she mentioned helping people too. I love college roomie bestie. She is so on top of it.

On another note, I bought some macaroons, which they are famous for, and cakes to go home. I will share later.

http://www.briochepastries.com/

Places: Perfectly Sweet

I had the carrot cake, and newly relocated friendie had the raspberry mousse. OH MY GOD. SO GOOD. I would punch someone in the face to live there.

http://www.perfectlysweet.com/

I encourage you to go, but you know a better suggestion? I encourage you to take me with you. K thx bye.

Places: Honey Badger + Newly relocated Friendies

I went to Honey Badger Cafe in Alhambra. Only two words can describe the way I feel about that place: FREAKING AWESOME. They had a ricotta and portabello mushroom sandwich, which was really really really really really good. I had the honey chrysanthemum tea, which was light and good for summer, but the flower petals kept falling off and in my mouth. That was not as awesome. It seems like a good place to study, chit-chat, and eat delicious sandwiches. Newly relocated friendie went there with me. Welcome to Alhambra and LA my dear! 

On another note, Honey Badger also had art hanging on the walls, which made it seem very comfy. I will definitely go there again. Who will go with me? It is lonely to go by myself. I'm a big baby, DEAL WITH IT.

Places: Big Man Bakes & Blossom in LA

I spent the day with my office husband yesterday. We went to the Art in the Streets exhibition yesterday at the Geffen Contemporary. (Will post about that later). We also were planning to go to Nickel Diner, but sadly it was closed. Note: IT IS CLOSED ON MONDAYS. BUT we found other wonderful things. We went to Big Man Bakes (http://bigmanbakes.com/), which had AMAZING CUPCAKES. Now, I love baked goods, and this was a delicious baked good. OH had the chocolate on yellow cake, and I had the lemon. Big thumbs up on both. I heard that their red velvet is delicious as well. I really want to try the carrot cake one next time.

We also went to Blossom( http://www.blossomrestaurant.com/), which is a vietnamese restaurant. It was really good too! Prices were reasonable. Service was good. They had young coconut ($3.50). HUZZAHHHH!! I had the veggie spring rolls ($4.50), which was super good. I liked the atmosphere the best. There seemed to be two parts to this restaurant. One side was more traditionally restaurant-ish, whereas the side we sat on was like a wine bar/ cafe/ tea house. It had a more modern feel to it with big windows. LOVE BIG WINDOWS.

Next post will be art in the streets, which is free on Mondays!

Eats: half & half

So there is this boba place that opened on Atlantic Blvd in Monterey Park. There is usually a huge line. At first I thought, why does everyone think this is so good. THEY SERVE IT IN A TUB! A LITTLE TINY TUB! SOOOOO CUTE.I got the boba with black sesame milk tea. Apparently, they can also add grass jelly, honey boba, red beans, etc... The downs: cash only, crappy sitting area, no wi-fi. 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/half-and-half-tea-house-monterey-park

I forgot the name of this restaurant

메밀공나물전- Buckwheat and bean sprout pancake

Espresso Haus 2

Espresso Haus, Seoul, SK; Peppermint tea
Espresso Haus, 연희동,서울; 따뜻한 페퍼민트 차

bridges

Macaroon

Random thoughts: Tolerance

Tolerance is important. Patience is important. Both of these things are very very very important qualities.

Travels: Napa

Like the title says.

DUH

Random thoughts: Some People pt 2

So I think lots of people are idiots. I know I'm not the brightest of the bunch, but I know there are people dumber than me. How do I know this? I read facebook. Even though you are friends with someone on facebook, it doesn't mean that you are really friends with them. You might have been friends with them for a semester in college, but then you guys had a different class schedule. You never talked again, and then you realized you became two completely different people. The interests you used to have changed, and their interest changed as well. That's enough with that. This section cut short= there are idiots I am friends with on facebook.
Now, what makes them idiots? If you know me at all., the thing that irritates me to no end is when people try to sound elitist educated or poetic. Fake poets suck because they are fake. They think that poetry is just a matter of using the longest words they know to describe some naturalist scenery in front of them. I suppose I am being elitist educational by pointing these people out, but I am a hypocrite. Oh well, DEAL WITH IT. The worse fake poets are the ones who claimed they didn't like to study, and then they act like they know about the nuances of the words they use. DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE CONNOTATIONS AND DENOTATIONS OF A WORD? IS IT THAT DIFFICULT TO SAY WHAT IS ON YOUR MIND WITHOUT USING THESAURUS.COM? DON'T YOU REALIZE THAT WHAT YOU WRITE MAKES YOU SEEM LIKE AN IDIOT? DON'T YOU REALIZE THAT YOUR IGNORANCE MAKES ME EMBARRASSED TO BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Now, you could say that I could just unfriend you, right? If I do, you would be insulted, and usually that would lead to a round of gossip and a can of worms. I would prefer to just rant about your ignorance on my blog to let it out and avoid that can.

PS: you know what's the worst... the nice comments. UGH it just proves that there are more idiots in the world, and it could be a link from those idiots to me. THAT WOULD BE TERRIBLE NOT ONLY FOR ME, BUT ALSO ALL THE PEOPLE AROUND ME.

Eats 1 & random update

Sushi in Kangwon-do

it was delicious.

Cheesecake from Lotte department store.

Was good, but the pistachio nuts bothered me.

Attempt...attempt to be healthy.

It's been a while since I posted something relevant to my life. I have been dying for the past six months at school, but now I finally have a break. Soon I will be basking in the sun in California.

Right now, I am still in Seoul and teaching disabled children English. It's a volunteer gig, but I feel like it makes me understand a lot of things I did not understand before.

Music: Nell - 기억을 걷는 시간

I've always liked Nell (넬). The lead singer, Kim Jong Wan, has a voice I would melt any lingering anger I would feel at anytime.

Mel

Music: Hot Potato - Confession MV (English Sub)

I really like this song lately. Perfect for summer and summer love, which is nonexistent in my life, but I can still appreciate the song. It's adorable.

Mel

Music: Timbaland - Morning After Dark ft. Nelly Furtado, Soshy

Lately, I've been obsessed with this video. It has that weird twilight supernatural stuff that I'm not too fond of because I think the idea of commercialization of the supernatural is kind of weird. Isn't the supernatural suppose to be above the natural, whereas commercialization is bringing it down to the masses. It's not above the natural then is it? I don't know. I have too many assumptions about things I suppose.

Mel