Birthday party in May

Posted on by kate

may11_2013_birthday_party
I had mango allergy last week, my face and eyes were all swollen up. Luckily it went away enough to not be noticed before the party.
Pictures clockwise from left: Dressed up for the birthday party. Handmade noodles I made for bringing to the party. My girlfriends. Alan was teasing Shag with steamed pork filling bun I brought back from the birthday party.

may11_2013_food
The colorful and abundant party food we had.The first picture on the second row was the Shanghai style cold noodle salad I made out of the handmade noodles I made that morning.

Bikini moment

Posted on by kate

may4_2013_fort_de_soto_dimsum_shopping
The day before my friend Sandy leaves for her home in MA, we finally got a chance and a weather went to beach at Fort De Soto Park together along with my Orlando friend Sherry. Well, if I had known we would taken bikini pictures, I would have us better prepared: starved ourselves a couple of days ahead, no salt and water for a day, at least, for better looking pictures. Not after a week of food and desserts, especially right after a pig out of dim sum and big cups of bubble teas. Hopefully, there will be a next time for better picture taking.

A welcome party at home

Posted on by kate

apr28_2013_party_at_home
It happened to be my old friend Sandy came for visit while I’m throwing a small party for several friends at home.
apr28_2013_party_at_home_group
I changed table cloth from white to this green white patterned one, love it. It doesn’t overwhelmed dishes yet fit the dining room theme perfectly. Alan made Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake that we learned from Bearfoot Contessa. I always loves her show, easy to learn and very inspiring.
apr28_2013_party_at_home_food
Dishes we had.
apr28_2013_party_at_home_night
Late night in our lanai. After our guests left, three of us winded down and enjoy the quiet night.

A rush to Miami

Posted on by kate

Apr20_2013_friends_ma
Old friends of ours came down from MA and took cruise from Miami. We took the opportunity jumped in our car and drove there had a short but sweet meeting with them and their two beautiful daughters.

Apr20_2013_EL_Palacio_hotel
The hotel we stayed in. El Palacio hotel is old but location is convenient and has a full view of the race track from its balcony. I took pictures with my Sigma 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM IF Lens for Canon in the pouring rain. The noise in the picture was the heavy rain drops.

Apr20_2013_Hollywood_Beach
The North of the South beach (sounds a weird description?) we went to had a very tasty lunch and nice spot for people watching before we met our friends in the evening.

Mirror and dumplings

Posted on by kate

apr11_2013_mirror_dumplings
The perfect fit mirror for our guest bedroom. The patience had been paid off, I had been looking for the right mirror for a good price for several years, OCD am I? ha!

I had Korean girl Kang came over for lunch today. I made braised pig feet and garlic chive dumplings for her. It was the first time she tried those dishes and she loved them.

Roasted new potatoes, steamed riblets

Posted on by kate

apr3_2013_creamy_baby_potatoes_steamed_ribs
Those new baby potatoes had creamier texture than large ones. I coated them with olive oil, lots of chopped garlic, rosemary. Baked in 450F oven for about 35 minutes, turned once at 20 minutes mark.

Steamed riblets, as seen in many Asian restaurants served as dim sum dish. It was quite easy to make, marinated them with ginger, garlic, light soy sauce, Sherry, salt, pepper then steamed for 30 minutes.

Lunch at TC Choy’s, Pan fried dumplings

Posted on by kate

mar31_2013_tc_choy
I have heard of its name long time ago, finally had chance to try it out. It was noon on Easter Sunday, extremely crowded. Typical dim sums, service was better than reviews on the internet, a bit on pricy side. The most remarkable dish to me and something other Asian restaurants don’t serve is those steamed flat bread (comes with baked duck), they were extremely light and tasty, it was gone so fast for four of us, we had to order two of them.

mar31_2013_pan_fried_dumplings
For dinner at home, I made pan fried dumplings, they came out really good. It was beef and pork filling.