Park Tsang

My grandfather passed away two Saturdays ago and it came as a shock to me and my family. I don't how to say how I feel, but one phrase in Chinese that comes to mind is, "mm sae dut." That's my phonetic spelling (I wish I spoke or wrote more Chinese). I wish I could put into words properly the type of person he was, but I fear it wouldn't be enough, or even describe half of what I feel. I miss him terribly and each day it doesn't feel like it's real. I am just so sad.

His funeral was on Sunday and hundreds of people came to pay their respects. There were so many flowers and wreaths. S came and said he didn't realize what a community event it would be and that made me really happy and proud. He was an amazing man and touched so many lives. May he forever Rest in Peace.


Park Tsang: September 30, 1931 to December 12, 2009
http://www.parktsang.info/

Grandfather,

Your wisdom and the lessons that you have given me have been invaluable. I continue to live each day with the counsel and guidance you imparted on me.

Growing up, when my parents would drop me off at your house, I would always have a blast. The numerous sleepovers, trips to Encanto Park and Peter Piper were a lot of fun; but as I matured, the moments I loved and cherished most were the times we had - just the two of us. I would pick you up to go to Dim Sum or just sit at your house and watch television. So as selfish as that is, I loved the moments when I had you to myself. Those are the memories that will be kept sacred and stay with me forever.

Your dedication to our family and the hard work you struggled through to ensure everyone’s success is admirable. The stories I have heard about your younger years are inspiring, I cannot imagine the adversity and hardships you overcame to succeed in this world. Coming to the US and leaving your family behind must have been hard, but you made it work. The pride I have for your perseverance and determination, of who you were, what you did and how you lived, cannot be described. You have done so much for our family; we are forever indebted to you.

You were an amazing inspiration. I thank you for your lessons, wisdom, honesty, dedication, hard work, memories and love. But most of all, I thank you for being my grandfather. I love you, will miss you, and forever will honor you.

Love Always,

曾碧琪

Snickerdoodles? Yes, Please!

I saw on M's Cherry Dot blog that she made a snicker doodle pie for Thanksgiving. She said she found the recipe in a magazine. You can see her pie and the recipe here.

I decided to try it myself on Tuesday since I love snickerdoodles (anything cinnamon, really) and was curious to see what a pie form of the tasty cookie would be like. The pie filling is simple to make and takes no time at all. I had T make me a pie crust because he makes the best one. They are always flaky and buttery.

The pie turned out great and delicious! It has a good texture and flavor. It is slightly tart from the buttermilk and not overly sweet. Just simple clean taste. My only complaint? You don't taste the cinnamon sugar that was sprinkled on top. T said it was the second best pie he had ever tasted (first being the Kahlua pie from Marie Calendar's, bleh I say--it's not even homemade). I will definitely be making this again, just with more cinnamon sugar.

I really do need to learn how to properly crimp the pie crust on the edge. This is the second time my pie edge has turned out all funky.

That same night I also decided to make snickerdoodle cookies because I was afraid the pie would not be good so I wanted a backup dessert. I made the KAF Sugar Cookie recipe (found here) and rolled them in cinnamon sugar. I ran out of all-purpose flour and had to use bread flour instead. Since this made them a bit more puffy, I had a hard time judging when to pull them out. I think they were a little overdone, but everyone who tried them said they were delicious.

KAF Fudge Brownies

We had some people over for Burgers and Poker night yesterday and I decided to make brownies. I love all the KAF guranteed recipes since they have yet to fail me. The picture above is from the KAF website because I forgot to take my own photo last night, but mine looked just like this (with the shiny crust from dissolving the sugar twice in butter).

The ingredient list is very simple. I had everything on hand so I didn't even need to go to the store. The trouble I had with this recipe was when I was worked the cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, into the vanilla and eggs, I thought I had used too much cocoa because it wasn't blending as I had expected. However, once I added the melted butter with the dissolved sugar, it mixed very well and I had a smooth batter to add the flour.

I baked it for a little under 30 minutes and came out with perfect brownies. They were super rich and chocolaty, so a small square can satisfy any craving. The consistency was just how I like it, slightly cakey and super fudgey. Yum!

For recipe, click here.

Obie Love

Just because we got a new dog this weekend, doesn't mean I forgot about my old puppy, Obs. I'm actually playing with Obie more so he doesn't get jealous. My sister and I took him to my parents for Thanksgiving. Here he is riding in my lap on the car ride to Phoenix.

And when my mom's parents came over for dinner, they wanted a photo with him too. He's a big hit with them!

New Baby

We adopted a new baby girl this weekend! T and I have been talking about getting a second dog in the past few months, but we were not actively looking except checking Craigslist every once in awhile when I was bored. We had no plans on Saturday and since Pima Animal Control Center is only a few miles from my house and we decided to take a look. I didn't have big hopes of taking a furry friend home, but I was hoping to see some lab babies.

PACC was having a discount so all dogs were only $25 to adopt with the neutering/spaying! No such luck on lab babies, but there were a litter of chow babies. We got a baby girl and named her Soba (I really love Japanese names for dogs).

She's getting along beautifully in our new home and crate training pretty well. Obie is learning to play with his baby sister. She's 4.5 lbs currently to Obie's 13 lbs, but she'll grow fast. Her paws are tiny for her size, so I'm thinking she'll be on the smaller side of a chow, maybe 45-50 lbs.

Apologies for Lack of Blogs

It's been pretty hectic at work these past few months, which leaves me less time for net surfing and random thoughts. And also less blogging is a result of me having nothing really interesting to say. Here's some "updates," I suppose.

Three weeks ago, D (my pledge mom) was in town for Homecoming at the UA and she wanted to go to Paint Yourself Silly. It's a paint your pottery place and they will fire and glaze up your piece for you. I use to love these places, but the one in Tucson is not very close to anything so I rarely ever go. In Phoenix, I went all the time so I have many bowls, cups, sauce dishes, plates, etc. with star motifs (I use to be obsessed with star things). I was excited to go this time after seeing J's blog and her mug. I decided to venture away from normal star route and try a dog motif since I am now obsessed with dogs. It turned out pretty well,. I'll take a picture of the finish product when I get home today if I remember.

I've been wanting to make pumpkin pie for awhile so T and I finally started on Tuesday. We made the custard the night before so we could have all the spices blend together. We used the KAF recipe and I was really excited about it because it sounded so good. But it's not really as "spicey" as the recipe claims. I think I'll try it again, but up the amount of spices. It smelled really good though.

Time is just flying by these days. I turned a year older last weekend. It's finally getting cold in southern AZ. I can't believe it's the end of November and we're headed into the Holiday season, which I love, love love! I love Christmas trees, lights, songs, and how cheerful (most) people are.

Hopefully, I can start posting more again.

New Show From Producers of Top Chef

Saw on Eat Me Daily that NBC is going to have a new reality show from the same producers of Top Chef. The prize will be a restaurant chain with four locations in different U.S. cities. "Contestants will have to impress "a panel of wealthy investors from the cooking and business worlds" with their restaurant concepts, menus, marketability, and management skills.

Reminds of that ABC show Shark Tank where the contestants sells their idea to a bunch of wealthy investors, which is not all that interesting. Do we really need more chain restaurants in the world?

Happy Halloween!

This month, I received quite a number of Halloween forward emails with pictures of dogs in their costumes. My favorite part of these (besides them being super cute) is that the dogs must be so well-behaved to let their owners dress them up like this.

Because tomorrow is Halloween, I decided to post my favorites from those emails (in no particular order):

I LOVE Harry Potter! This costume of Fluffy is AMAZING.

This actually looks freakishly real to me..

I like the minimal effort in this. I don't think Obie would let me leave a bag on his head.

This is just funny. Who thinks of this?

Terrible. That bottom looks so uncomfortable!

So cute!

This cannot be real...

Took me about 5 seconds to figure out what it was, but once I did, I think it's so creative!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Obsessed...with Pumpkin Carving

I am not feeling very well today (or the past weekend). All we really did this weekend was carve pumpkins (oh and corn maze on Friday night). I was going to write a blurb about each one of the pumpkins and talk about the trial and tribulations, but I'm just too tired and uncomfortable to do so. So here they are (note- all mine have a signature star on them):
My first Monster. They called him Bug-a-boo (no reference to Destiny Child's song).

Second "Sneak Peek" pumpkin.

Third Executioner.

These ones are T's.

He did an extra Mummy last night too, but I didn't upload the photo from my camera yet. We did all 6 pumpkins on Saturday. It was exhausting on my cramped hands and neck, but it was a lot of fun!

Happy Halloween!

Top Chef: Just Desserts

NY Daily News reported that Bravo annouced today that they are going to start a new spin-off series called "Top Chef: Just Desserts." The show is expected to air in 2010, but no judges or contestants have been selected (for casting info, go to www.BravoTV.com/casting).

Frances Berwick, Bravo's VP and general manager told Variety that the show was inspired in part by the difficulty that desserts have posted for "Top Chef" cooks.

"Their Achilles heel is usually the desserts," Berwick said of the "Top Chef" contestants. "As this has gone on, we've been thinking that it would be fun to do a 'Top Chef' with experienced pastry chefs. We've had a few pastry chefs on 'Top Chef,' but they haven't gone too far. It's just a different skill."

I am so very excited about this! And just last Thursday, they annouced they were picking up a second season of "Top Chef Masters." Ahhh I love Bravo!

NY Lottery- Such Cute Commercials!

Eeee! So cute! I want to get my dog pajamas too! They have another cute one with bunnies too.

Balloon Boy Raps

This is terrible. The mouth on them!

Circle the Cat

R sent me an email a few days ago with a link to a Halloween game and I finally got a chance to look at it a few minutes ago. I then proceeded to spend the past 10 minutes trying to beat it. It was frustrating figuring it out, but I finally did after probably 25 attempts. Click here to play.

There's a similar game on the iPhone called CatchaMouse. It's not as difficult though. I played until level 14 before I got bored of it.

Test Failed

Click to enlarge the photo. Dr. M sent it to my email the other day and I got a smile out of it.

Let's Bowl

There's a man, Floyd Burns, in Mesa who is turning 80 years old today. He plans on bowling 80 consecutive games. This is his third time bowling his age in games to celebrate his birthday. KVOA news said, "When he turned 77, Burns bowled 77 games in 12 hours, 32 minutes. His average score was 164. At 78, he bowled 78 games in 12 hours, 20 minutes - earning a score of 214 on his 78th game." Burns says he'll start bowling at 8 a.m. and bowl 10 games at a time on two lanes. He'll also bring along his five bowling balls.

And this is why I love old people. They're so cute. There's an old man who bowls on the league next to mine on Thursdays and he's really good. He bowls really slow and he doesn't have much strength, but his technique must be good because he almost always gets the spare (I've never actually seen him get a strike). I tried to take a picture of him once, but I didn't want to be awkward. I did high five him a few times though.

That's some stamina for an 80 year old. I cannot imagine bowling for 12 hours straight. When I bowl on my league (Team Shih Rex & Co.--currently in first place!) every Thursday, I am pretty beat afterwards and that's only three games. When I bowl for fun, I get tired and bored after 5 or 6 games. Anyways, here are pictures of my shoes and ball. I do want a new ball though. Mines about 4 years old and has many dents and cracks in it

Baked Good Recipes Tested

Long post ahead. In the two months since I've moved back to Tucson, I've definitely been baking a lot more. Two reasons for that: 1. I actually have my baking utensils available- I never took them with me when I packed and moved home. 2. When I make two dozen cupcakes, I have people who will actually eat them; between coworkers, roommates, and sorority sisters, things don't last more than 2 days usually.

Last week, I made two batches of Zucchini Spiced Muffin with Cream Cheese Frosting (from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes). These were very good and moist. I omitted the walnuts the first time and forgot to make the frosting (still good without it), but I thought it was missing something so the next time I added them and made the frosting and I think they were much better. Recipe found online here.

N wanted to try the Chocolate Gingerbread Bar from the Food Librarians blog so I said I would make them last weekend. I read the Everyday Food recipe that she used and a review of it. The reviewer said it was bitter (from too much molasses) and too gingery so I used Martha Stewart's recipe. I couldn't find my square pan so used a round one instead. I did not like the taste of this very much. It definitely tasted like fall from the ginger and pumpkin pie spices, but the texture was a little dry for me and I did not think the chocolate tasted very good. For chocolate recipes, I prefer to use real chocolate or a mix, not just straight cocoa so that could be why. I might try the other recipe sometime later this fall to see if it makes a difference. Recipe found online here.

Everyone has a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. After making a dozens and dozens of chocolate chip cookies in the years I've been baking, I've finally found one I really love. The King Arthur Flour recipe is delicious. The cookies are not too crispy and not to chewy and the almond extract really makes a difference. Recipe found online here.

I really don't like cupcakes. I dislike its cake to frosting ratio. I think they are hard to eat. And the stores that sell them are way overpriced for the amount of work it takes to make them. But my sister always ask that I make her cupcakes so one night I searched online for awhile looking for a cupcake recipe that sounded good. I decided on the Vanilla Cupcake with a fake Vanilla Butter cream Frosting from the famous Magnolia's Cupcakes and they were great. This will be my go-to recipe for cupcakes now. They are very vanilla-y and moist (I added two extra tablespoons of butter to be sure). Recipe found online here.

The Food Librarian's blog is one of the only baking blogs I check regularly. The recipes she chooses are fairly simple to make and she gives good tips on substitute ingredients which I like. Thus, I often make things she posts.

T had made brioche the week before (which are sooooo good and I know I shouldn't eat so many because they are full of butter) and I remember reading one of her post with a brioche tart so I wanted to make that. I asked him to make me a batch one night because we had bought some pluot plums and nectarines. The result was decent, but I would not make these again. The brioche got a bit soggy from the fruit and jam and so I thought it was a perfectly good waste of delicious, buttery brioche. Looking at the picture from the Chez Us blog that posted the recipe, maybe I should have made one giant tart instead of the little tarts I like. Recipe found online here.

Another copycat from the FL blog, was Mark Bittman's Olive Oil Cake. I've always wanted to make an EVOO cake because I've read that they have good texture and flavor and the librarian herself gave it a good review. When I made it, T was nagging me again about weighing my flour because I usually just scoop (I know it's wrong, but it's so much faster). As always I ignored him, but as I was mixing, I realized it did look like a bit too much flour, however, it was too late to remeasure so I went with it. The cake turned out okay, but it was a bit dry. I actually made the orange glaze and that really helped it out. Overall I might make this again if I was in a citrus cake mood. Recipe found online here.

I'll try to post my baking blogs on a more regular basis now so I can actually say more about the recipe and how it turned out. Because I posted six different things, I didn't want to to make this longer than it already had to be. Happy Baking!

p.s. I also need to actually build my light box to take pictures of the food. These photos are horrendous. I apologize.

H1N1 At My House!

My roommate had been sick for a few days and went to Urgent Care yesterday. She found out she has the H1N1 virus. And last night, T started getting a fever. Initially he thought it was all in his head, but we took his temp and it was 99.8. He progressively got worst as the night went on and so we borrowed my sister's humidifier and poured in eucalyptus oil to help him breath better. He looked so cute trying to breath it all in. Then, he wouldn't stop inhaling it which only made him cough worst, not so cute.

Meanwhile, I feel perfectly fine and I'm not worried about getting sick. The doctor didn't give my roomie anything anyways so if I did get it, I'll just take some Nyquil and Tylenol and wait for it to pass. My house smells like Vick's Vapor Rub the moment you walk in.

SATC 2 Spoiler

Already confirmed to make an appearance on the new Sex and the City movie sequel was Liza Minnelli (she'll sing a song at the wedding of Stanford and Anthony). And now OK mag confirms the movie to have two new celebrity appearances, Penélope Cruz (appearing as herself) and Miley Cyrus (not sure what her role will be, but perhaps a younger Carrie as there were rumors she wanted to play that part for a SATC prequel).

I can't wait!

[image via www.sexandthecitymovie.org]

Jamie Oliver's New Show

Jamie Oliver, The Naked Chef, has a new show coming to ABC next year. He has done shows in Britain on improving school lunches and encouraging people to eat healthier and living better. And now he wants to move that to the States.

His production company chose Huntington, West Virginia as their location because of the 2006 CDC report of them being the fattest and unhealthiest city in the United States. And Jamie Oliver plans on shaping them up. The people of Huntington are not too happy about it though because they do not want to get stuck with the fattest city label. Too late I guess.

I tried to find the video of him dancing in the Village People costumes, but its not available for embedding and I can't find it on YouTube so you can see here.

[image via dailymail.co.uk]

Track Crime in Your Neighborhood

Been crazy busy at work so I have not really found time to blog, but saw this on the news yesterday and thought it was interesting.

Pima County Sheriff's department has purchased service to a website called CrimeReports.com for $12K a year (paid for by money seized from drug dealers and other criminals). You can now see on a map what criminal events occured in your neighborhood and it's free.

I went to the site and looked up my home address and there was nothing nearby (thank goodness!). I searched my zip code and just about 7-10 miles away, there were neighborhoods full of crime such as assault (no injury), theft (larceny), theft (vehicle), robbery, assault (domestic violence), etc. TONS! The site is really slow to load and move around the map so that was annoying.

Overall though, pretty crazy stuff going on in Tucson. Information is updated every 24 hours, so the information citizens obtain is timely and accurate

I Knew Kids Were Like Animals!

Eat Me Daily posted a video from Steve V at Vimeo that was a modern remake of the now classic Stanford psychological experiment from the 60s where kids are put in a room with a marshmallow. They are told they cannot eat it until the researcher comes back and if they wait, they get a second one. It's pretty funny. There is one kid who is so cute. He keeps smelling it and looks so tortured. He also looks like one of my ex coworker when he was little.

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

I compare these kids to animals because of this YouTube video I saw about a year ago on this crazy Japanese game show where they stack food on animals. This one is so cute (probably because I love animals more than I like kids)! The little girl who scratches the marshmallow is like the chimpanzee!

Yanko Design

Yanko Design is a really cool site that shows modern designs, a lot of them are international. They take something classic and turn it into some totally cutting edge and interesting. They have things from kitchen products, medical use, furniture, etc.

I found their site about six months ago for the first time when I read about the Muji Spice Taste-Leaf book. A book with pages that are embedded with different spices. I thought it was a cool concept. Here are some images:

Today I saw the One-Hand Kitchen Equipment made specifically for fractured, permanently disabled, and paralyzed people in mind. The designer, Gabriele Meldaikyte, really thought about cooking processes for each item and I love that! Although it's not really available in stores, I think the idea behind it is really noble. Here are some images (but check them all out here):

If you got a few minutes to waste, I reccomend checking the site out. There are some really interesting and innovative things on there (not just food or kitchen related--although those happen to be my favorite).

Meat Tenderization Ring

Saw this ring on World Famous Design Junkies site. Neat. I would consider getting one. You never know when there will be meat to pound or someone's face...

Food In Real Life

I came across a pretty fun blog today called Food In Real Life. The site says, "Preaching truth to packaging. Pictures of packaged food, cooked to specifications, compared to the photo on the box." Here's an example:

T doesn't really let me eat prepackaged food anymore but I definitely had my fair share of them when I was in undergrad. The photo on the box really sold the food for me. but after I prepared it, I would become severly disappointed so I guess it's a good thing I never eat these anymore.

Some of the photos do kind of match the real food though, so maybe I can talk T to letting me eat those :) Check it out here: Food In Real Life.

Messy Report

There are reasons why one should not eat lunch at their desk. If you can't tell, I have tomatoe sauce splatter all over a financial report. Ops.

Daily Teachings

The Universe is completely and utterly in love with you. No matter how many mistakes you make, no matter where you are in life, no matter what you think of you, the Universe loves you for all eternity.

My Goddaughter Turns Two!

I feel kind of weird to be posting personal photos of people, seeing as I rarely (if ever yet) post pictures of myself, besides that one profile picture to the left, but seeing as she is so adorable, I just can't help it.

I got her a Disney Princess Tricycle and she had fun being pushed around on it at her party. Her legs are a little too short to pedal, but she's growing so fast, that I'm sure she'll be able to ride soon enough.