Monday, March 17, 2014

Luck Be A Lady

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Since I dressed all 3 kids in green, and all the itty bitty pre-school kids at K's school were wearing green, I thought I'd do a St. Patrick's Day look.

I was rummaging through my closet, trying to find a green shirt to wear, when I came across this green skirt I got years ago.  Who knew that it would rise to the occasion?  Since the skirt was past my knees, giving it a retro feel, I decided I'd do a collared shirt to complete the whole retro look.  Here it is!

Notice something different?  No more braces!  Hooray!


I LOVE my new quirky sunglasses!

Top: Got it from a flash sale site a while back, here's a really cute lace one and here's a see through mesh one like mine, both from H&M
Bottom: Old from Banana Republic, here's a shorter lace one from ASOS
Shoes: Tory Burch
Sunglasses: Prada

Xoxo,
Lin

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Za Jung Noodle

So yesterday was one of those insanely busy days that I referenced here on a previous post.  Therefore I decided to make noodles for dinner.

Oh, how I love noodles.  I can eat them in any shape or form, with any type of sauce.  Whether it's Western or Eastern cuisine, I love them all.  That's why I love it whenever I get the opportunity to make noodles.  Easy and simple.  Most of my noodle recipes takes about 30 minutes from prep to finish.  So it's a great go-to meal when you need something in a hurry.

This noodle sauce is as easy as pie to make, the only thing is that you would really need to go to an Asian market for the main ingredients - the bean pastes.  Other than the pastes, everything else can pretty much be purchased at any grocery store.  You might have to find baked tofu at the Asian markets too, but even firm tofu will do.

Za Jun Noodle

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef, port, chicken, or turkey (I always use beef)
1 package of baked tofu (or just regular firm tofu)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 cup sweetened soybean paste
1/2 cup broad bean paste (I actually found one here on Amazon for you!  Amazing!)
1 1/2 cup water
1 cup oil

Steps

1) Heat about 1/2 cup oil, stir fry ground beef until done, remove from pan
2) Heat remaining oil, stir fry garlic until golden brown, throw in chopped onion until opaque
3) Throw in tofu, toss for about a minute, put ground beef back in
4) Put the bean pastes and water in.  Toss until everything is coated evenly.
5) Reduce heat to medium and cover.  Let cook for about 10 minutes.
6) Cook noodles according to package instructions.  Drain when done.
7) Pour Za Jung sauce over noodles.  Enjoy!

The sauce on Amazon is similar to the one on the right.  Not the same brand but same sauce.




Xoxo,
Lin

Red Cooked Chicken

I made these dishes last night and they were a great hit.  I had to stop C from overeating - if I let him, he would probably eat 6 or 7 chicken drummets (and a bowl of rice, and some tofu, and a tall glass of milk) all by himself.

This is called Red Cooked Chicken.  What's good and convenient about this dish is that you can throw whatever you desire into the pot to cook with it.  This time I chose baked tofu and then sliced them into thin slices.  You can also put carrots or daikon too.

As for the brussel sprouts, all I did was chop off the ends, halved them, coat them with olive oil, salt, and you can use pepper too if you like, and pop them in the oven at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes.  They're delicious too!

Red Cooked Chicken

Ingredients


Chicken drummets (the package I got came in sixes.  I got 3 packs because C can eat an entire pack by himself!).  You can also use drum sticks or wings.
2 cups soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup wine
2 carrots, sliced (or use baby carrots)
Ginger, 7-8 slices
Green onion, 3 stalks cut into 2 inch strips

Steps

1) Place chicken in a large pot and cover with water - about an inch over chicken.  Cook until boiling and all the dirty stuff (the gray-ish foam) floats to the top. Pour out water, fill pot with more water and turn heat to medium high.
2) Pour soy sauce, wine, and sugar into pot.  Place ginger and green onion into pot as well. 
3) Cook for about 1.5 hours. Stove setting vary.  My stove is very powerful so that's all the time it took.  My mom's would take about 2.5 hours.
4) As dirty stuff floats to top, scoop out and toss.
5) Makes 24 drummets or wings, and about 16 drum sticks.

If you want to cook with baked tofu, then place whole baked tofu pieces in the pot with the chicken.  Then take out and cut into slices once it's done.


I've given you the recipe for the cold tofu dish on the right on a previous post.  See here.




Happy cooking!

Xoxo,
Lin

Tinker Bell Birthday Party

Hi Everyone!  Although you're reading this on Thursday, I'm actually writing this post on a Monday morning.  I couldn't wait to show you pictures of my daughter's 3rd birthday party.  It took a whole month to plan, and all day on the day of the party to set up and prepare.   My husband, my mom, and I worked tirelessly the entire day setting up, preparing food, cleaning up, and hosting.  There were three exhausted adults by the end of the day, but it was ALL worth it to see how happy my daughter was.  She was beyond happy.  She ran around with all her little friends, taking charge like the she always does (even though she's the youngest one in the family), showing her friends her cake, taking them to her bouncer, telling all the grown ups that she's "FWEE today!"  My boys had fun with their friends, playing pirates with the sword and hats I got as favors for the boys.  Everyone had a blast.  Grown ups and children alike.  It was a great party.   And the best part is...it's finally OVER!!!!!

Here are the pictures. If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comment section and I'll get back to you with answers!


Looking pretty with Grandma!











I had to include some pirate stuff for the boys.



Party Favors - we assembled them ourselves



Crepe Caterers
Tinker Bell cake

Magician for entertainment

Cake Cutting



Xoxo,
Lin

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Tinker Bell Mother/Daughter Outfit

I had to do a post of me and my daughter's matching Tinker Bell outfits from her birthday party.  I actually bought this dress last year for my sister's bridal shower.  The theme colors were lime green and hot pink, so I chose a lime green dress.  During her shower, she mentioned that I looked like Tinker Bell.  And a light bulb went on in my head.  I thought to myself, what a perfect theme for K's 3rd birthday!  I have left over invitation paper that I can use, and this dress that I can wear!  So there you go, I wore the outfit for the party.  To complete the look, I used a Hot Bun bun maker and rolled my hair into a high bun.  My heels has white flowers in the front that looks like the pom poms in front of Tinker Bell's sandals.  So I put those on too.

I was just taking pictures with K when I thought that I should take pictures of my outfit and post on my blog.  So I told my husband to take some of me in my usual pose, hands on the hips, when I saw K trying to imitate me.  At first I told her, "Can you step aside for a minute?  Can Mommy take some pictures by myself?"  But she just stood there with her hands on her hips!  So I said, "Let's do a look together then!"  Gotta love my little love bug!  She's the most adorable little fairy I know!



On Me:
Dress: Old from last year, other cute lime green ones here and here
Shoes: Old, a really cute similar pair from Badgley Mischka  here
Earrings: Old from Bloomingdales, these ones here from Macy's are really cute
Hair Accessory: Hot Bun bun maker, find it here on Amazon
On K:
Dress: Disney Tinker Bell Dress
Shoes: Disney Tinker Bell Shoes
Is she or isn't she the cutest little thing?  Oh I love her so much.  Happy 3rd birthday sweetheart!
Xoxo,
Lin


Sunday, March 9, 2014

Little Girls' Hairstyles

If you're daughter is like my daughter, then you have the same problems I do.  My daughter has so little hair.  And since my first two were boys, I wanted to be able to do her hair, like, the minute she was born.  Well, I had to wait at least a year until she grew something.  Even so, they were so thin, short, and wispy that I had to look for creative ways to tie and/or braid it.  So my fabulous nanny and I have had to come up with different ways to do my daughter's hair.  Luckily for us, or maybe it's because we've "trained" her to be this way, she actually likes us doing her hair.  Here's a few of the hairstyles that we've created for her in the last couple of months.  My daughter is so cute - I tell her "tilt your head down," and she'll do it.  I tell her, "look sideways," and she willingly obliges.  :)  Love my munchkin.   I wonder if she knows I'm using her as my hair model?  :)   If you have any questions on the techniques, comment below and I'll tell you.



 




 












There are so many other ways to do hair now that her hair is gradually getting longer...I've had to wait this long to post some pictures because it's only when I have help that I can do fancy hairstyles.  And those days don't come often!

Xoxo,
Lin

The Magic of Makeup II

I've been wanting to write this post for a while but never had the time to do it.  So since my mom is here helping me, and given it's a Friday afternoon (I don't have to make dinner, yay!), I can actually do something.  I'm always on the lookout for new and better makeup.  Us Asian girls like to stay as pale as a sheet of paper.  ;)  No spray tan for me, thank you very much!

As hard as I try to preserve my skin, somehow those crow's feet insists on making appearances.  Can't help it.  Therefore, I've honestly tried every product I can lay my hands on to minimize the look.  When I find that magic potion, I'll tell you about that too.  But for now, the foundation I'm using will do the trick.  I swear by the Chanel Vitalumiere Line.  It covers well, and gives you a glow at the same time.  And if you want more coverage, which I use, put on a light layer of MAC Mineralize Skinfninsh.  Those two put together is like, well, magic.  Look for yourself!










Ok, this ONE picture I cheated a little by using a photo editing software.  But the one above has no touch ups at all!


 Foundation: Chanel Vitalumiere in Ivoire, here
Powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light Plus, here


Happy makeup shopping!

Xoxo,
Lin


Saturday, March 8, 2014

A Typical Day in My Life

Ahh...the beauty of being a mother.  All mothers know what this post is like, and can totally relate.  Whether you have one child, three like me, or more, we all have similar days.  Ah, the joy of motherhood...

6:30am - I wake up, brush my teeth, wash my face, get dressed, then walk over to my boys' room to wake them up.
7:00am - If I'm lucky, they're awake.  If not, I spend the next 15 minutes trying to wake them with a combination of these methods - tickling, yelling, and when they were younger, dressing them while they were in bed.
7:15am - I go downstairs, I prepare breakfast, I pack the lunch/snacks of the day for 3 people.  All the while trying to mix the food up, trying to remember what I served the day before so my children will eat what's served today, whether it be breakfast, lunch, or snack.  But wait, only to be met with, "Whyyyyyyy?  Why are we eating THAT?"
7:25am - I bring the bottle of milk that I heated up for my daughter, and carries her 35 lb body downstairs with it from our bed.  She sleeps so late and has a later starting time at school that I try to let her sleep as much as I can.  But unfortunately we have to take the boys to school, so she needs to come in the car too.
7:30am - I put my daughter in the car.  I go back inside the house, only to find the boys, still not dressed, naked, playing some kind of battle game with each other in their closet.
7::45am - after FINALLY getting the boys downstairs, have their socks put on, their shoes on, their jackets on, and their backpacks on  (which takes several "HURRY UP!!!" before all that can be accomplished), we finally get in the car.
7:45-8:01am - I'm battling through morning school traffic, all the while listening to kids screaming in the car, and all the while telling them repeatedly, "EAT your breakfast!"  And having to break up arguments, and deciding who's right or wrong.  I have to make sure the Kids' music channel is on so they can pay attention to the music instead of finding opportunities to argue.  I weave, drive like a maniac, because I know it takes at least 20 minutes to get to school, and we'll definitely be late if we don't hurry.
8:01am - Whew!  We finally make it to school!  I have to remember to kiss my boys goodbye from the car window since we're not allowed to get off the car, and remember to stop on the side after pulling off the drop off lane, so that I can wave bye to my boys.  One always waves back, and the other walks on.  Oh well.
8:05am - I drive home to get my daughter ready for school
8:15am - I get home, get my daughter dressed, get her hair done, put my own makeup on, make a cup of coffee for myself, eat a cup of yogurt, and get my daughter back in the car so she can attend school.
9:09am - We get to school, I kiss her goodbye, and I'm rushing off to the gym for my class that starts at 9:15am.
10:15am - I get out of the gym, drives home
10:20am - I take a shower and get ready to run maybe one errand before I have to pick up my daughter from school at noon.
11:00am - I go to the grocery store to get food for the week.
11:45am - Should I go home to drop off the groceries?  Or should I just take this moment to wait maybe 5 minutes in the car before picking up my daughter?  I decide to take the rare 5 minutes I get to myself.
12:00pm - I pick up my daughter, taking at least 10 minutes to get off school campus because she never wants to leave school
12:15pm - we get home, I put on her Chinese DVD for her so she gets her Chinese "lesson" of the day.  Heats up her remaining lunch and feeds that to her, all the while, I'm STARVING because I had just done a rigorous workout and need to eat.  But I have to wait until she's fed first.  God forbid her show is over before I can get her to finish eating. 
12:45pm - I finally finished feeding her.  I look through the fridge to find leftovers from the night before to fill my stomach.  No fancy salads. It's "oh, there's one drumstick"  and "oh, there's some veggies left."  and "I guess I can put together a plate."
1:15pm - After taking off her school clothes, and untying the hair, and many, many "lets go to bed now," I finally get my daughter in bed for a nap.  By this point, I'm already exhausted.  I lay down with her, and make sure to set the alarm to 2:45pm so I can pick up the boys.  But wait, did I defrost the stuff I need to make dinner with?
2:50pm - oh crap!  I overslept!  I rush to pack snacks for the boys to eat on their way to an after school lesson, and of course I have to pack one for K too.  I have to pack materials for the after school activity, jacket for K, shoes for K, and something to hold K's hair back.  Then I rush to put everything I can put in the car first, and the go upstairs, pick up K, and strap her to her baby seat.  She's still asleep, and usually is.
3:15pm - I wait in the pick up lane.  I'm already too late because they get out at 3:15pm.  I'm met with, "mom, what TOOK you so long?!"
4:00pm - I arrive at their after school activity.  I have an hour to kill before I have to pick them up.  I take K to the park. 
4:30pm - I'm FREEZING at the park.  But K won't leave.  But she has to use the bathroom.  Thank goodness I brought the portable potty, and some extra plastic bags.  And wipes.
5:00pm - I pick up the boys.  Driving home and thinking how I should go about making them do their homework and getting them done on time before dinner starts.
5:30pm - I get home, take all the backpacks, the snack boxes, the trash out of the car, unstrap K, then tell the kids they can watch 30 minutes of cartoon before starting homework.  They fight over who gets to choose the show.  I have to break up the fight.
5:45pm - I start making dinner.  Very aware of the time because once the show is over, I have to make the boys do their homework.
6:00pm - show is over.  Takes several threats of time-outs and no more TVs to get the boys to sit down and do homework.  I go into their backpacks and get everything out for them.  Then I have to sit down with them to make sure HW is done.  Otherwise it's more bickering and chit-chatting.  My food is cooking on the stove and I have to be very aware that it doesn't get overcooked.
6:30pm - all homework done.  Hallelujah!  Dinner is done.  I set the table for 5 people, everyone needs a little something different to use as utensils, to drink, to eat.  One wants rice and the other doesn't.  Two want milk and the third doesn't.  While K tries to negotiate which utensil she wants to use for tonight.  She usually wins.  I'm just too tired to argue with her.
6:45pm - "Daddy is home!"  Thank GOD.  We start eating.  The whole time I get, "why do I have to eat that?"  and I'm like, "Hurry up!  You don't have much time before you have to go shower!"
7:15pm - dinner is finally done.  Daddy takes the boys up to shower and get ready for bed.  When Daddy isn't home, I have to wash 3 bodies, brush 3 teeth, and tuck them all in.  It usually takes at least 10 threats following enforcing the threats to get the 3 bodies and mouths clean.  Oh, don't forget the good night kisses and the "I Love Yous."
8:15pm - Boys are asleep.  If Daddy is home, if he did the washing then I was cleaning the kitchen downstairs.  Packing snacks and lunches for 3 kids.  Wiping down the stove, counter, dinner table.  Washing the 3 ginormous pots by hand and finding room in the dishwasher for the rest.
9:15pm - I take K upstairs to take a bath, when she's done, I brush her teeth, then I get ready for bed.
9:30pm - I take K in bed with me.  She talks and talks because she's not tired yet.  "Mommy, I need to go pee pee."  "....huh?  What?  Oh, ok."  I wake up my groggy, fallen-asleep-already self, and take her to the bathroom.
10:00pm - K finally falls asleep.  The.Day.Is.Done.

This is an easy day.  A hard day involves taking kids out of classes mid-morning, driving to doctor's/dentist's appointments.  Why does the dog seem off?  Gotta schedule a visit to the vet.  With 3 kids in tow.  Is that the dishwasher making noises?  Argh!  It's malfunctioning AGAIN!  Gotta remember to call for service.  What is going on at school tomorrow?  Do I need to provide snacks for any event, dress the kids for any special occasions?  Did I buy the birthday presents for the weekend birthday parties?  Nope.  Gotta find time for that before I pick up K at noon.  And dealing with sick kids.  Oh God.  Don't even go there.  I definitely can't afford to get sick.  There was this one time I was preparing dinner and accidentally cut my finger.  It looked deep enough to require a trip to urgent care.  It was pouring cats and dogs outside, and there was no one to watch the kids.  So I wrapped up my bloody finger in a napkin, and drove all 3 kids with me to urgent care.  Thank goodness there's one not too far from my house, and my husband was able to leave work earlier and pick up the kids there while I got treated.  Goodness gracious.  Then on top of all this mumbo jumble, the extra curricular stuff like the school meetings, scheduling for the kids, scheduling for myself, signing up this and that for the kids, updating the calendars.  I try to limit scheduling stuff for myself for these reasons.  Too much goes on the calendar!  I get a panic attack just looking at it everyday. Blah.

Well, that's the typical day of a mom.  Of me.  And I do it day after day, without complaint, like every mom does.  We love our job because we love our children.  And we wouldn't have it any other way. :)

Xoxo,
Lin



Thursday, March 6, 2014

Frozen

Ok, so it's not exactly the Disney version, but I wanted to channel my inner Elsa for my daughter.  :)

I kept trying to think of something blue I can wear - I rummaged my closet, and the only thing I can find was this pale blue cardigan and my blue coat.  Works for me!  I also found a skirt that kind of reminds me of the snow swirls conjured up by Elsa when she began singing "Let It Go."  I even wanted to do an Elsa braid for the look too, but that just didn't work out.  Somehow it looks better on an animated Disney princess than it does on a mother of three.  Go figure.  ;)

And of course, to complete the look, nothing says "Frozen" like a snowflake statement necklace.  :)




Top: BP tank top from Nordstrom, Banana Republic cardigan (old, similar here)
Bottom: H&M skirt (old, similar here and here)
Coat: J Crew (old, but this one here from ASOS is SO cute!)
Belt: Came with a skirt I ordered on Hautelook.com (similar here from Forever 21, in so many colors too!)
Necklace: Banana Republic (old, similar here from H&M)
Shoes: Nine West (old, similar here and here)
Bag: My grandmother's!  Can you believe it?  I found it in my mom's closet.  :) I'm LOVING this one here from ASOS. 

See you on the next post!

Xoxo,
Lin

Monday, March 3, 2014

Butterfly Kisses

Happy Monday, everyone!

I am actually writing this on Sunday, as I'm watching the gorgeous stars walking across the Red Carpet.  So I don't know what the outcome of the awards are.  But I do have to tell you this - ever since I started blogging about clothes, and it's only been, what, a month?  I see the whole fashion thing in a different light!  Really!  It's amazing how I pay more attention to the shapes and the forms of the actresses' dresses.   I'm loving Jennifer Lawrence's red dress, Lupita Nyong'o's GORGEOUS baby blue dress, and so far, I saw a glimpse of Goldie Hawn's dress with those glittery off-the-shoulder sleeves.  Anyway, there's so much more to come, and so much I want to say about the dresses, I think it's best to just leave the Oscar talk to those who blog about the Oscars!

On with my own stuff!  So...I'm running low on new clothes to post on my blog!  Which means...I need to buy more clothes so I can put in more posts...I don't think my hubby likes the sound of that...sorry Babe!  ;)

I was thinking up a look that I can blog about all this weekend.  It was raining non-stop all weekend so I had plenty of time to stay indoors and think up something.  I remembered that I bought a really cute black skater skirt not long ago from H&M.  I wanted to pair it with my beloved butterfly sweater that I bought last year from J Crew.

I don't wear multiple colors at once very often, but I thought that yellow and red works well together since they're both warm tones.  So here I am, for the first time, mixing colors on an outfit.  The look is pretty youthful looking, so I decided to do my hair kinda punk rock-ish.  I thought the look was pulled off pretty well!


My dog tried to make an appearance too!
 Top: J Crew, similar here from Nordstrom
Skirt: H&M, here
Belt: Bloomingdales, similar here from Kate Spade
Tights: Ann Taylor, here
Shoes: Steve Madden, no longer available, similar here
Earrings: Banana Republic, here ;
Clutch: Saint Laurent, here


Xoxo,
Lin

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Comfort Food

Happy Saturday!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far.  Here in So Cal, we're just trying to stay dry.  After almost 3 months of dry spell, Mother Nature decides to finally give us rain - and boy did she deliver!  It's been raining cats and dogs since Friday!  It's kind of nice having rain for a change, though it does cause a lot of inconveniences.  It was a little scary driving home tonight on the freeway.  There were parts of it completely flooded - my boys were shouting, "Yay! This is so COOL!" while I was trying so hard to focus on the road.  Leave it to kids to think something dangerous is "cool!"

Anyway, since it has been so cold and windy, I wanted some comfort food.  I made these dishes Thursday evening, and they sure did warm everyone up alright.  First up is Miso Soup.  I use a combination of chicken broth and water (3:1 ratio), and maybe about 3/4 cup of miso for every 1/2 gallon of liquid.  Then you add salt to taste, and cube some silken tofu to add to the soup.  Chop up some green onion, and you have yourself a pot of very simple yet delicious warm soup.



Next up is my chow mein.  My chow mein is so delicious, you should make double the suggested serving size for each person because everyone will ask for seconds!  Here's the recipe.

Chow Mein

Ingredients 

Marinade for Meat
1/5 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup wine
1 tbsp sugar
3/4 tbsp sesame oil
2 tsp corn starch

2 cups of oil
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 bag of spaghetti, cook about 2-3 minutes than directed on package (chow mein shouldn't be al dente)
1 lb of chicken, beef, or pork, cut into strips
3 stalks of carrots, peeled and julienne
1 onion, chopped into slices
3 cloves garlic, chopped into pieces
7-8 shitake mushrooms, cut into strips

Steps

1) Combine all marinade ingredients, put meat strips into marinade, set aside
2) Heat 3/4 cup of oil, throw in onions, stir fry until transparent
3) Throw in carrots and mushroom, sprinkle salt over vegetables, stir fry for about 3-4 minutes, scoop out, set aside
4) Heat 1/4 cup of oil, throw in meat, stir fry until cooked completely, scoop out.
5) Heat remaining oil, throw in the garlic pieces, stir fry until golden brown.  Put in boiled spaghetti, pour soy sauce over spaghetti, toss until all the noodles are evenly coated with oil and soy sauce.
6) Pour vegetables and meat over spaghetti, toss until everything is distributed evenly.
7) Serve and enjoy!

Serves about 8 adults



We usually eat out on Saturday evenings, but since it's so wet outside, we're having pizza inside tonight.  Happy cooking, everyone!

Xoxo,
Lin