Chili Oil / Sauce

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cooking time: less than 10 minutes
The chili peppers I bought came in a bigger package than I can use fast enough. I came up with this way to use up the peppers.
Ingredients:
chopped chili peppers
minced garlic
thinly sliced scallion
oil
salt
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Directions:
  1. heat up oil in a small pan on low heat
  2. add garlic to oil, continue to heat up oil
  3. add scallion and chili peppers to oil after a couple of minutes
  4. after all ingredients are cook through, before the garlic gets burned, turn off the heat, add salt
  5. cool the sauce and store in the jar, keep refrigerated 
Notes:
  1. heating oil to high heat is not recommended. If high heat is a must, keep the cooking time short.
  2. the oil can be used for dressing oil.
  3. can be used for stir-fry vegetables, meat, or add to noodles or rice.
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Eggplant with Chili Sauce

The Way I Cook

I love eating! Eating and cooking come together in my life. Cooking to me is not a chore but a creative process that I enjoy. Cooking and eating involve all five senses.
I am not a gourmet cook. I don’t have any formal training in cooking. I didn’t start cooking until I left home for college. I cook for my own enjoyment with ingredients I can get. I believe cooking has many benefits:
  1. building a connection between the food and my body/mind. Knowing what is in my food and how the ingredients come together to become a dish, my body doesn’t experience ‘anxiety’.
  2. eating exactly what I want. I have certain preferences that no restaurant can accommodate. This is important for people with diet restrictions.
  3. good for the environment. I do feel guilty when I order take out, fast food, or taking home leftovers. All the packaging that I don’t use when I cook and eat at home.
  4. quality time with family and friends. Food brings people together.
  5. save money. I enjoy going out for good food with good service but it gets expensive. I invest in good quality cookware so I get better results.
Cooking does take time, but it is time well spent. My goals is encouraging people to cook more for and with their loved ones. Through sharing recipes, I hope to create an energy of happiness.
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9 dishes I made for Chinese New Year celebration with family.

What I Ate in A Week

Just for fun, I tracked (most of) what I ate in a week and took photos that I managed to take. The photos are quick snapshots. I did not track much of drinks and snacks.

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Dinner: Pan-fried tilapia, bean sprout salad, cucumber salad, sauteed spinach, and rice.

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Snack: Strawberries with caramelized condensed milk.

Monday, March 14, 2016

Lunch: Rice with meat sauce, spinach, bean sprout salad, and cucumber salad.

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Snack: Strawberry short cake

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Dinner: Vegetable soup, tonkatsu (deep-fried pork cutlet), sauteed zucchini, bean sprout salad, and rice.

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Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Breakfast: coffee

Lunch: Vegetable soup, pan-fried garlic port chop, and rice.

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Snack: Dairy Queen small vanilla cone

Dinner: Spaghetti with meat sauce

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Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Breakfast: coffee

Lunch: Spaghetti w/meat sauce

Snack: Oriental Beauty tea, and a piece of cake

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Dinner: Vegetable soup, corned beef, cabbage, and rice.

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Snack: Drumstick

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Breakfast: coffee, and spaghetti with meat sauce

St. Patrick’s Day lunch with a friend: Iced tea, mulligatawny soup, Irish beef stew, sausages, Irish coffee, & sticky toffee pudding w/ice cream

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Dinner: Ginger & scallion pork chop, kale w/carrot, cucumber salad, beansprout salad and rice.

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Snack: A piece of cake, hot yuzu honey drink.

Friday, March 18, 2016

Breakfast: coffee & a piece of cake

Lunch: Instant seafood noodle soup with egg and cabbage.

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Dinner at Black Angus: bread, appetizer sampler, baked potato soup, and prime rib with onion rings.

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Saturday, March 119, 2016

Breakfast: coffee, a piece of cake, and instant noodles.

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Lunch: Corned beef, cabbage, and rice.

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Dinner: Braised beef with daikon & carrots, cucumber salad, pan-fried eggplant, and rice.

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Dessert: Mud pie with Pearl Dew Oolong tea.

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Sunday, March 20, 2016

Breakfast: coffee & a piece of cake

Lunch: Spaghetti with meat sauce and Buffalo wings

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This was an interesting experiment. Remember to take photos before I eat was harder than I thought. If I do this again, I should take photos of EVERYTHING I put into my mouth.

2015 was Great!

Looking back, so many wonderful things had happened in 2015.
 
– A lovely young lady that I met through work decided to go back to school to study interior design after we chatted a couple of times. This brings me so much joy! I can’t stress enough about the importance of education. Soon, I will gain another brilliant design colleague to collaborate with.
– Back in May, a student came to the UltraGlas booth and we started talking. I found out she had years of experience in writing for television and encouraged her to use her skills to gain work opportunities with designers. Weeks later I referred this student to my graphic designer friend Susan Leinen who was looking for a writer to help her interior design clients. When the student and I saw each other again in October, she had developed a unique services catering to the design industry.
– I consulted on design of a brand new showroom this year. It will open in 2016. This is probably the most fun project that the client is open to all ideas I had.
January
First time attending Design & Construction Week in Las Vegas. It was convenient to attend multiple trade shows in the same city.
February
Waited in line for one-and-a-half hours to tour the Hollyhock House by Frank Lloyd Wright at its re-opening after extensive renovation. My last visit was near 20 years ago.
March
Volunteered for “Let’s Bake A Difference” charity event along with fellow members of Conejo Association of Professional Interior Designers (CAPID). It was indeed very SWEET!
May
Working two trade shows in one day is no easy task. I am so proud of myself for handling it well! It was an honor to present UltraGlas to local designers. Thankful for the opportunities from Conejo Association of Professional Interior Designers (CAPID) and National Kitchen & Bath Association, Central Coast & Valleys Chapter (NKBACCV).
July
First time going on an out-of-town trip with Eleanor Schrader as our guide/organizer. I learned a great deal and is so grateful that I work in design.
August
Finally had the chance to visit the famous Sheats-Goldstein Residence.
September
Cut off 17″ of hair and donated to Wigs for Kids. This is my 6th donation. I may attempt to do it again!
November 
Wonderful connecting with childhood friends from Taipei Christian Children’s Choir. We got on stage and sang at the L.A. concert of one of our former members. Singing on stage with my friends once again was a blessing. Can’t believe it has been over 30 years.
December
2nd Le Vert thé tasting party was a success! Tea brings people together.

2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,300 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 38 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.