Saturday, October 18, 2014

Home Sweet Home: Mom's (& Dad's) Cooking!

Hey guys! Wow, it's been forever since my last post.

School has been super crazy. I don't know why, but I thought I could take on 20 units (as opposed to the typical 16 units most students take) and still handle grad school interviews. Well, I definitely got under three to four hours of sleep at least four days a week. However, things are getting better now; grad school interviews are over! So thankful and so relieved!


Anyways, last weekend I went home to Portland to celebrate my birthday with family! (...I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22.... eh sorry, lol) It was such a blessing after all those weeks of stressing over interviews and school. Although I still had a lot of homework to do, there's just something about being at home that makes everything better.

As expected, we went out to eat a lot. On the night we got back, we went to a steakhouse called Ringside Steakhouse. I'm no expert when it comes to steak, but I thought it was pretty good! I got the dry aged New York with a baked potato as a side. Dessert was their cheesecake. It was overall a very delicious and flavorful meal. Sadly, I don't have any good pictures because my iPhone's picture quality is absolute horrendous when it comes to dark lighting.

However, my favorite thing about going home is still definitely home-cooked meals. What can beat the taste of mom's (and dad's) cooking, right?

Don't they look adorable together? <3 <3 <3 I love my parents, haha.
Tofu Shrimp with Wood Ear Mushrooms
Radish with Oyster Mushrooms
Some dishes even came with love from my grandma (奶奶 - "nainai"), who lives in China! My dad had just come back from a trip to China, and he brought back a glutinous rice product that my nainai made and dried herself! Yay~ This is the end product:


This pancake (饼 - "bing") is made of the glutinous rice product--sorry! not sure what it's called--and the inside is a filling of tofu, egg, and salted vegetables. It's pan-fried, which makes the outside kind of crunchy but leaves the inside chewy. Super delicious!


The weekend definitely passed way too fast! I love LA and all, but I feel like every time I go home to the Pacific Northwest, it gets harder and harder to go back to LA. :( Does anyone else feel the same way?