Archives

Saying Goodbye…

Jun3

Okay, misleading title…no I am not the one saying goodbye! This post is focused on bidding goodbye to an employee of mine. While I am sad to see her go, I am excited for her new adventures and her move to the mainland! Now, she is a graphic designer so I knew I wanted to personalize her gift with something handmade…and well…if you know me, you also know I am obsessed with miniatures so guess what I did…

I made a miniature of her office! Yes, this was all done by hand from scratch…I wanted to help her to commemorate her first ever office space as well.
Made her bookshelf, mirror (yes her mirror is blue!), art work…
Of course the iPad box contains an iPad inside too! Gotta focus on the details!
Did I? Yes, these are real books in her shelf that I scanned the covers of to create the books! Sorry I didn’t get to show a book inside, but the pages are text lined! Loved creating these mini books!!
One of my favorites in this project, creating the cork bulletin board! Yes, the pictures were the same as the ones on her real board!
Created the blinds in her office with the exact view out of her window…and yes, the blinds move!

I put a lot of work into this piece and while I had my moments of insanity (mainly because I am so focused and detailed), it was all worth it because she loved it! Ugh…I love miniatures so much…

Of course I had to cook for the going away party! I made homemade pancit because it’s one of her favorite foods. Very nervous making this because it’s just such a good dish and the taste is key! I gotta admit, I did a test run myself before this day and did not like the first test. I revamped the recipe I worked with and I think it came out great! My coworkers seemed to like it so I am super happy!

If you follow Kat, you would have noticed she talked about Butterfly Pea Flower tea the other week! It was such a coincidence because I had just ordered the dried flowers online and was prepping to make this drink! So you steep the flowers and the water turns into a very bright blue color. When mixed with acid, it changes color! I made a fresh lemonade (first time, was good!) and poured the drinks at the party. It was so fun to see it turn purple and pink! The tea itself doesn’t have a strong taste or any taste, it’s hard to explain. I would pour maybe 3/4 of lemonade to 1/4 of the tea. Tastes great!

Post Views: 4,511

Tea Party Cook-off

May10

Our division at work had a Tea Party the other week! This tea party was a cook-off competition with the proceeds going towards a charity. I always try to participate in the cook-off to support a good cause and of course the competition itself! With the help of a few colleagues, we did a great job! Actually, we won the best savory category! I had an idea for this dish and yes it’s been done before but I never executed myself before.

We made salad in won ton cups, finger food perfect for the tea party! I was a bit particular about this dish. I wanted the won ton cups to be perfectly light and crisp…and the won ton pi they sell in stores are generally too thick. So, I made a trek out to Chinatown because Yat Tung Chow Noodle Factory has an “extra thin and extra small for soup” won ton pi. LOL…I went into this not knowing what to expect. Well it was cheap and the customer service was stellar (just kidding about the second part). Well the pi worked out great! It fits perfectly in the mini muffin tins and it is thinner than most pi so it worked perfectly for my recipe. Check out the pics below! I’ll post the various dishes from the cook-off too!

Asian Crunch Bites
Any suggestions for a new name? Haha…salad in a cup didn’t sound too great. But this name is a bit too ambiguous. 
Best Sweets Winner!
Look at how beautiful this dessert is! Tasted great too! Definitely a worthy winner.
Wagashi

I have to give this contestant SO MUCH CREDIT. Sorry to the sweets winner, but I voted for this dessert as the winner. This person made these wagashi sweets all by hand and I’m sorry I don’t have all the pictures but she made different fruit shapes for each (the effort, food coloring, etc.!). The time and effort put in…is amazing. I grabbed this one. And yes, she individually packaged each one too!
Post Views: 2,154

Disneyland – Los Angeles, CA

Apr8

What trip to LA is complete without a visit to Disneyland? I’ll let you in on a little secret, this was my first trip to Disneyland. Yes, seriously. I didn’t have much travels as a kid and when we did travel, it was to the homeland, not the mainland. I’ve been to other Disney parks but was excited to check California out! We decided to check out both Disneyland and California Adventure Park…and boy am I glad we did. I didn’t know this beforehand but did you know…Disney celebrates Lunar New Year??

There was a gentleman there writing these on the spot by request! Well not completely by request, you had to choose a character from their list. I chose luck!
Lunar New Year ears. Yes, I bought it. And yes, I took pictures with Mickey and Minnie in their Lunar New Year clothes!
Can’t be a visit to Disney without seeing the castle…oh wait…umm…
Award Wieners – California Adventure Park
Spicy City Dog | $9.79
Cheddar-Jalapeño Sausage topped with Chipotle Crema, Queso Fresco and Pico de Gallo with Filmstrip Fries
A Cheesy Celebration | $9.99
Cheddar Sausage Link with creamy Macaroni and Cheese, Salsa Verde, crumbled spicy Cheese Puffs, and Cheese Curds on a Toasted Bun with Filmstrip Fries

I can only comment on the cheesy celebration because this was my dog. Did I tell you I am lactose intolerant? Was this a good choice? Probably not. I was lured by the cheesiness of it. Was it good? Ehhh…for all the flavors named, it was quite a plain dog. They just threw everything on top and it was all just…empty calories and not worth them either!

Post Views: 4,552

Ikea – Burbank, CA

Feb22

Ikea. This store has been a dream of mine to visit for years. We drove out to Burbank to visit this location and I am glad we did. It is a huge store and the street is named after them! I wish I lived in California, I would have bought so much stuff. Not to say I didn’t anyway, I made room for it in my suitcase. I still am holding up hope for it to come to Hawaii one day. Not sure why the this place has such low ratings on Yelp. It’s a nice big store although I’m not a fan of the layout, I guess it’s their way of making you walk through the ENTIRE store. It was a bit of a nightmare for me since I was so unfamiliar with this store, I kept getting lost.

Anyway, my main reason for the visit was also to try the meatballs! Food related, who would have thunk it.

Swedish Meatballs Complete Meal!

I love meatballs, so it doesn’t take much to impress me. I enjoyed it a lot! The gravy was great and the lingonberry jam too! Didn’t need the vegetables or mashed potatoes…give me a big plate of the meatballs and jam and gravy and that would be great. Well, as an Asian give me some rice too, thanks. Something else caught my eye as I lined up…you can see a corner of it in the picture above…

Chocolate Cake

I mean, look at that piece of cake. It’s everything you hope and dream of. It’s like that chocolate cake from Matilda. Mmm yum. I don’t think I need to say much more, just look at it. It looks as it tastes, gooey, moist and delicious. Ikea. Boom.

Post Views: 2,433

Update: Current Hobby

Jun4

Hey folks! This past week has been a doozy, in a good way! My office has been a complete and utter mess, the past few years, I’ve had the “excuse” of being in grad school to avoid cleaning. Well, it’s been a year since I graduated and I finally found the motivation to clean. It really did feel cathartic. There are some things that I’ve held onto for sentimental reasons, I decided to let go of some for my sanity! I cleared out at least 3 garbage bags and my office now looks great. I had at least two people mention they didn’t know I had two chairs in my office, that is pretty bad. I’ll have to try to keep it up, wish me luck!

Also within the last week, I started to build miniatures. I’ve always liked doing crafts and projects by hand so this was a natural progression. For those who know me well, know that I absolutely love miniatures. I’ve been watching tutorials on YouTube and decided to take the leap…buying all the supplies I need to start-up. If you’re looking for a starting point, please allow me to recommend The Square to Spare, she is awesome and gives great tutorials along with what materials to buy. I don’t know where I would be without her channel. The room divider I made below is based on this video. So anyway, no food today…just some pieces I made thus far…

First attempt! The cutting board with knife. The cutting board was from this tutorial. The knife, I carved out myself using wooden coffee stirrers.

Progress on the room divider. I messed it up but I messed up consistently so it turned out okay. I learned a lot of lessons doing this piece…

I’ve never done well with measuring and exact dimensions, I’m going to have to learn to be! I drew this cherry blossom tree free hand! Not the prettiest but I am still proud…

There are uneven pieces here, I learned the hard way that wooden coffee stirrers are not all the same size and shape…haha.

Dollhouse hinges! Yes! This divider can be opened and closed! Yay!

Can you tell what this one is? This was done on my own, no tutorials.

It’s inspired by those big floor lantern lights! Custom art by Jenny. Well, I printed out templates to trace onto parchment paper…still wasn’t super easy but so worth it. Koi fish, turtles and lotus flowers. I made this as a gift for my friend, I really hope he likes it.

Post Views: 11,114

Mixed Plate – Osaka Edition

May11

Happy Aloha Friday! Just wanted to do a post with some random pictures I wouldn’t be able to create full posts out of…from Osaka! Enjoy!

Okay, I have to admit…Coca Cola Peach was the drink I really really wanted to try in Japan. I read that it was a limited edition and prayed it would still be there when I took my trip. I actually ran into the 711 as we walked to the apartment and found it. Hallelujah. After a very long travel, I just wanted for throw down and take a big drink of this drink. Ummm…well, I didn’t like it. To me, it tastes nothing like peach….or if it tasted like peach, it tasted very artificial, almost flowery. I did not like it and would not get this again.

Check this out! I had to get a quick pic of this as we walked around…they have Aloha Maid! 80 cents a can, special discount. Haha! Is how our cans read too? Passion & Orange? I always thought it was just passion orange.

OKAY, HERE IS MY FAVORITE DRINK. Sorry for the yelling, but I really enjoyed this drink. It was delicious and refreshing. Okay, you see the word vitamin on the bottle but let’s be real, this drink ain’t healthy in any way and I no care. I even snuck a few bottles home…and regret not sneaking more. Okay, maybe I just need to buy some coke here and add my own lemon. So good…

For two days, I bought food from 711 the night before to have for breakfast. I had a hard time adjusting to Japan time so I usually woke up before 5am and got hungry. Here is one of the musubi packs, salmon and mayo tuna. Oh my, so good. The quality of the ingredients is just so great. You know how the musubis are here? We put it in the fridge and then it’s rock hard. Well these musubis stay ono and soft. 711 in Japan is awesome.

Last dish to share…I love soba so this was one of my meals. I love that they give you a little packet of water to add to the noodles so they don’t stay stuck together. Man…wish our 711 would step up their game. And they sold these two dashi eggs on the side, yup I ate both and yup both were perfectly cooked and seasoned. Orange runny yolk for the win. Have a great weekend guys.

Post Views: 4,912

Hong Kong Mixed Plate

Mar23

This was a brand new ice cream from Japan that they sold in Hong Kong supermarkets and of course 7-11. Hong Kong has a lot of Japanese offerings! So what’s so special about this ice cream? Shucks, I wish I had taken a picture of the contents! This is ice cream with mochi balls…and the mochi balls were soft! How do they do it? I tried the Hokkaido Azuki Mochi and it was delicious. If you have a chance, give it a try!

The sushi and sashimi is so cheap in Hong Kong supermarkets – we got this sashimi and sushi set from Market Place by Jasons. The quality was superb and the price was very affordable for the quality.

The next few pictures are from the Hong Kong Lego Store. I was amazed by the lego sculptures of Hong Kong! I am a lover of miniatures and the detail put into these structures is insane. Please view them in awe with me.

Last pic is just of a random night market. One of those night markets you are supposed to haggle prices with…my cousin did pretty well with it. I’m not much of a haggler but then I also don’t buy much…haha.

Post Views: 3,745

Mixed Plate

Mar17

Have you folks ever used those food ordering apps? Sometimes, you just don’t want to leave work to pick up lunch so ordering food to your door through an app just sounds right. I work with college students so they are completely on board with ordering off of them! One of the first apps on the scene was Postmates and I had a code for $100 delivery credits. Well, somehow it’s gone. I don’t know how to get it back and it was for Hawaii specifically so I don’t know what happened. Well the app makes it super easy, you pick a restaurant, order your food and pay through the app. Then your delivery person will come to you to deliver your food.

I do not currently recommend it because there is so many glitches with the systems (uber eats and postmates)!!! First, there are constantly no drivers available (at least during lunch time)…and when it finally does come online (after 2 dang hours of checking), if you don’t get your order in fast enough…there are “no drivers” again. When we finally get our food, we’ve had people delivering on bicycles and scooters. Huh? I wasn’t part of the last order but they screwed it up majorly, they ordered three entrees. First delivery and it was only one entree. 1.5 hours later, the last two entrees come and it’s the wrong order. What a nightmare. I don’t see how they could have screwed it up so royally.

I think the only time I would give food delivery a try on my own would be for food from hard to get to restaurants (Waikiki, no parking, etc.) Well…just wanted to share an order I got from Itchy Butt.

Spicy Pork Rice Bowl • $6.00

$6! It’s a big serving AND it comes with a soda. Okay so they never give the right drink, somehow always giving us 7up. Must be their least popular drink. This is actually one of the tastier spicy porks I have tried, doesn’t look great but tastes great. It’s not too spicy too. The total price for me was just under $10 since you have to pay the delivery fee and of course you should tip the driver. The delivery fee varies but for Postmates, it’s about $3.99 per order so depending on how many people are ordering…gotta split that fee!

Next is just a quick sampling of dessert we got from Island Vintage Shave Ice. I forgot what the first one was, sorry! The second one is mine, Lilikoi Moana Bowl. Yes, I know people eat this as a meal but I couldn’t resist it. To me an acai bowl is like a smoothie with a lot of good stuff on top. Shoot, I’m wanting it again…delicious. I tried this acai bowl both at their Ala Moana location and the Waikiki location. I prefer the Ala Moana location.

Have a great weekend folks!

Post Views: 4,127

Leaving on a Jet Plane…

Dec3

I am finally taking a trip! A well-deserved rest from work and school…and I’m heading off to Hong Kong! The past few months have been interesting, still trying to find my ground. Considering continuing school in spring but seriously lacking the motivation right now. Ah! I got off-track again, so sorry. If there are any readers left, I hope you do bear with me. I’m hoping to do some updates from Hong Kong through Instagram. So if you’re interested in following along, please do check me out at: maybeitsjenny on IG!

I leave you with one of my favorite shots from an airplane ride. I don’t usually get to take pictures on the ride because I always take the aisle seat. Hope you are all doing well!

Post Views: 4,110

Mixed Plate – Office Potluck

Sep22

We had an awesome potluck over the summer at work…and my coworkers really turned it out! Well, they always do but this time…everything was just so onolicious! No specific theme, just bring whatever you want! Here are the pics!

Homemade ume and ebi musubi, taco salad, pasta salad…yum!

Slow cooker mac and cheese!

Yummy pasta with pesto and bacon, delicious!

Homemade Pancit! It has both the egg noodles and the rice noodles…it was so good!! I love myself homecooked pancit and this definitely did not disappoint!

Ham! Yes, a whole ham. It was so good! If I remember correctly, it was done in one of those one pot cookers. The ones that do pressure cooking, slow cooking, etc. I am so hungry as I am writing this post…haha

Post Views: 7,267