Ever Seen These Little Guys??

Welcome to the 4th day of the year 2014! yay~ it already seems like the year is going by fast!! (I know.. it's ONLY been 4 days..but still.)

My day started off by waking up at 11am after being drugged by Nyquil the night before.. Woke up with a pretty bad sore throat and a sexy(?), husky, manly voice followed by a dry cough. Not the best way to wake up, but I did. haha I ended up getting ready to go to Tranquil Tea Lounge with my fellow OT sisters (Don't know what OT is? A friend of mine, and fellow future OT, sums it up great on her blog! --> As Told By Cathy) Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the food I ordered but! No worries, I have 300+ pictures of food on my phone that I have not uploaded yet! So Here it goes!!

My mom decided to make some Onigiri which is a Japanese comfort food that looks somewhat like the pictures below! It was actually tough to make in the beginning but after couple of them, we got the hang of it! I got silly and started to make faces on them hahaha 

Real easy to make! All you need is cooked rice in a bowl, sprinkle some Furikake (Japanese seasoning flakes), and pieces of roasted seaweed to wrap around. My mom bought the triangle shaping tool for the rice from Marukai (very inexpensive) so it wasn't THAT hard to make those triangle rice shapes. Is that all it is? Rice and seaweed? NOPE. You can be SUPER creative and put whatever you want inside! In some I put kimchi I fried with some sesame oil and tuna and in another I put in fried spam. Usually, if you get these at a Japanese market or Japanese foodstore, they have all sorts of stuff in it. If you are ever in Southern California near Costa Mesa, there is a Japanese market called Marukai  Market. Inside the market is a food court with several Japanese restaurants where they sell these lovely Onigiris. I highly recommend trying these for yourself, even making these! It's fun and delicious!

Well, until next time! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

-Ms. Piggy.

Good Bye 2013… Hello, 2014!

Good bye 2013 and hello, 2014!!

Every New Years Day, it is Korean tradition that we eat rice cake soup (Dduk gook) to "gain" one year! It's interesting because technically if you don't eat dduk gook, then you don't "gain" a year of your life. (Kind of like birthdays, but in Korea, everyone turns a year older when the new year comes, not when they pass their birthday).

So, with my mom, mama Lee and dad, we ate our very first meal of the year! It was very delicious! Wish I took pictures of the food, but I think I was just way too excited to eat! My sister and brother in law came by at night and we feasted on so much food! We ate dumpling soup (mandoo gook), Beef short rib stew (Galbi jjim), and Korean pork lettuce wrap (Boh Sam)! We absolutely love mama Lee's cooking! Home made food is the way to go! Hopefully, I can learn all her secrets in cooking Korean food and make them myself one day for my future husband ;)

Anyways, we ended the night by playing a traditional Korean New Year game called Yut Nol Ee. Want to know more about it? Click here. It's a very fun game to play with family and friends! Great for the elderly and even kids!

Here are some pictures of the food we ate today! :)

 Pork Lettuce Wrap (Boh Sam)

Beef Short Rib Stew (Galbi Jjim)

Since it's new years, I have made some New Years resolutions. One of them being, uploading pictures of the food I make or eat on this blog! It's been too long since I blogged about food, it's time to bring it back! :) Hopefully you will join me in my food adventures by trying these food or even making them! :)

Hope 2014 is a blessed year for all!

Happy New Years!

-Ms. Piggy

O Canada~

Hello!

I was looking through my phone and saw pictures that I took from Canada! This was middle of July 2011. My church friends and I decided to take a trip to Canada before summer ended! My first trip out of the country with just friends! (I know. Had strict Asian parents.. what can I say. ;] ) Canada has got to be one of my favorite place in the world! (aside from San Diego!) It is a great place to live if you love nature and scenery!

I took couple pictures from here and there. I will be uploading non-food pictures!! Only because I want to share with you guys how beautiful Canada was! :D

Like always, feel free to leave comments if you like! :]

Enjoy!

I.C.A.
Ms. Piggy.

Right out side the apartment we stayed at. Everything is walkable! so close to the bus station, restaurants, markets, and sky train!

Went to Canada for a trip, and we could not survive one day without Korean food... so we came here! Insadong BBQ & Seafood Korean Restaurant.

My favorite Korean food... Soy bean paste soup! It's delicious!

Mmm.. My other favorite... Bo Sam... it's literally cooked pork  with the  marinated radish (the red thing) . you wrap these two in the pickled Nappa Lettuce  (yellow thing) So. Good.

Our Brunch... at 3 pm. :)

On the bus towards Stanley Park! 

Stanley park! oh, how I missed thee..

TREES!

MORE TREES! and people :)

They have a small water park (below) and this giant dryer! you press that little button and walk in, and it literally dries you :)

Children's water park

sigh.. beautiful.

Light house

Light house

View of Downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park

Another view of Downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park

 :]

love it.

My favorite drink.. Canada Dry.. I never knew they had Fresca.. I thought it was a US thing.. so I took a picture. :)

OFF WE GO TO EAT MY FAVORITE CANADIAN FOOD....(drum roll..)

POUTINE!!! :D Read the sign.

Inside the restaurant.

We ordered Four poutines.... OMG. it was so good... droool.

Poutine!

La Belle Patate!!! supposedly it's like the original poutine!!

JAPADOG. was SO GOOD! street food are the best!

On our way to Gaslamp district (?)

Pretty...

It rained a little... but it was still beautiful.

Some antique store. :)

LAMP POST.

GASLAMP!! :D

Every 15 minutes, this gas steams and places a quarter of the song! and then once it hits the hour, it plays the whole song :)

O Canada~

GELATO PLACE.. with THOUSANDS OF FLAVORS!!! literally.

It was so packed.. haha :D

On our way to an Unnamed place, on an unnamed road.

ON THE FERRY TO VICTORIA ISLAND! :]

VICTORIA ISLAND!!

It was a bit gloomy.. but still pretty!

Painters.

The Parliament in Victoria Island

Other views.

Read the receipt. $106.80 to ride the ferry... Did not do research on how much it would cost to go there... :( 

Heading back to Vancouver.. missed our ferry by 2 minutes... so we had to wait in the parking lot for another hour to get on the next ferry... 

Farmers market at Granville Island

Cherries!

Coke balls. These are like mini jawbreakers.. except. it's a candy ball that tastes somewhat like coke! Something about it.. is addicting.. :)

Truffles!

uh... cheese??

Outside the farmers market

I thought this was really cute.. a little boat-playground for kids!

sigh..

GEESE!!! and... BABIES!!!!

At UBC!

Apparently, if you are new to UBC, this is a place you HAVE to go to... it was pretty... awesome :)

Artsy. :)

Little Garden @ UBC

Garden

Camera!... literally.. a Carriage Camera!

CHEESE!

beautiful.

PASTA PLACE .. i think it was called.. don't remember the name :) but it was REALLY GOOD!

yumm... had so much left over..

NIGHT MARKET AT RICHMOND!!! Best experience ever!

Roasted Chestnuts!!! yum!!