With an abundance of fruits and veggies in season (and the garden in full swing), Summer is my most creative time of year in the kitchen. There is so much to play with. I love getting my hands on ingredients I’ve never worked with before whenever possible, and the curiosity to explore is heightened. Overall I’m just more inspired to try new recipes (and make some up, too). Today’s post is a round up of summer recipes I tried for the first time, favorites I make every year, and some of my own made up creations.
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Strawberry Picking, Peony Peeping, Park Frolicking
It’s been a month and a half since I last wrote in this space (sorry!) May and the first half of June have been busy - with every ounce of my spare time and energy allocated to rebuilding the garden. I talked a little bit about how I had to dig up my established garden beds of 6 years in my last post, and won’t bore you with the details in this post - but I feel like I’m coming up and out on the other side of it for some air finally. Maybe my next post will be a full garden update?
For today’s post, I wanted to share some photos from a day out in Long Valley, NJ earlier this month. It was such a beautiful, sunny, “top 10” day - which has felt like a rarity this year. If you live here on the east coast, you know it’s felt a whole lot more like the PNW and has been unseasonably wet for us. I’m not mad about it though - everything is so green and lush. But when I saw a day like this in the forecast? I knew it couldn’t go to waste.
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Spring Things
The last few weeks have finally felt like spring in New Jersey (although we also had a mid April snow day and a couple 80 degree “summer” days 😅). I’ve been soaking up all the sunshine and what I like to refer to as “top 10 days” - spending as little time as possible tethered to a screen. In turn, I haven’t written here as much as I would’ve liked (only publishing one other post this month) - but that’s okay. This post is a bit of an April round up - so it’s got more packed into it than usual!
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Reframing a "Mundane Chore" as an Adventure: Visiting a New Grocery Store
A couple weeks ago, I stopped by this new Korean supermarket called Kasia on my way home from the shibori food scrap dye workshop I attended. I had seen a post about it on Instagram, and saw that it was only 15 minutes away from where the workshop was being held - so decided to check it out afterwards.
It was huge, and I think I spent over an hour (probably closer to an hour and a half) exploring everything. Right when you walk in, you get to see how they grow their own hydroponic lettuce - which I thought was so cool because I don’t think I’ve ever seen another grocery store do this. They also sell locally grown mushrooms, and I was impressed with how well they labeled their vegan options. Sometimes the experience of being in an unfamiliar grocery store can be overwhelming - so I really appreciated the bright green “vegan” labels they implemented. I feel like most specialty markets don’t do this. I scored a bottle of (vegan) oyster sauce, which I was very excited about!
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A Sunny Sunday for the Soul in NYC
Lately, I’ve been quietly reviving a regular blogging / writing ritual over on Substack. I feel like I’m finally finding my stride again, and want to bring some of that writing back over here, too. I’ve made a bit of Sunday ritual out of it - where I write the post the morning / day of (while listening to a cozy jazz playlist on Spotify). While the goal is to write every Sunday - sometimes my schedule doesn’t allow for it, and I’m giving myself grace on those days. Last Sunday, for example, I skipped writing because I was in the city.
Anyways, today’s post is all about the fun that was had on that day! It’s probably one of my favorite days in a long time, coming off of a very long and cold winter. If you’ve been following along over on Instagram this week, none of this is new - but it’s everything in one place. 🙂
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Christmas Cookies 2024
The year is winding down, and Christmas is officially over - but I wanted to write a post linking all the cookies I baked for the 2024 holiday season. Maybe bookmark it for ideas for next year? I actually wrote a similar post many years ago (2017) - I can’t believe that was seven years ago. But anyways, I hope you are all soaking up the joys of the season! One of my biggest joys is baking Christmas cookies, and it has become an annual tradition at this point. I don’t feel like it’s officially Christmas until every pyrex is being used to store cookie dough or cookies. 😉
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2018 In Review / Happy 2019!
I can’t believe that this is my FOURTH year writing one of these! And I also can’t believe that 2018 is coming to a close… what a freakin’ roller coaster it was. I started the year off strong - felt really confident for a couple months (wrote a 26 page outline for a book I started to write.. reconnected with some old friends), and then lost steam (again). I went on my first creative retreat (in Montana) and it was really expensive (lol). For the months following that, I questioned whether it was “worth it” and tried to digest all of the feedback I had received on my work. Going into it - I think I was already searching for “what was next” in my life / career. I felt like I had hit a wall again - really uncertain just about everything.. I took a leap of faith by applying to the retreat, and when I got accepted - I jumped into it hoping it would give me fresh insight and some direction… but I think I left feeling unsure what to make of it all (although it was a beautiful place to visit).
I spent the second third of this year in pretty much complete (self inflicted) isolation. May thru August, I didn’t hang out with a single person outside of my immediate family. The immediate family I DID see or spend time around - I felt completely withdrawn from. I dreaded being around people of any kind, and was shutting out even my closest friends. I was falling asleep on the couch watching TV shows I didn’t even really like, and generally speaking… lost my desire to get out of bed in the morning. Creatively, I felt really depleted - the desire and motivation just wasn’t there. I spent a lot of time walking miles and miles of beaches by myself (moody, I know 😂). It was a rough few months where I felt really far from being my best self, to say the least…
The final third of this year has been a surprisingly reinvigorating few months. I feel like I’ve found the basis for the thesis project that I wish I had 4.5-5 years ago - the basis for a LIFE’S work (which is a REALLY bold thing to say, I realize) - but I really do feel that way. I started collecting beach trash at the end of August (after walking miles of coastline in the summer… it became impossible to continue to ignore). This then led to organizing / cohosting my first group beach clean up and the launch of some new products for my Etsy shop (beach plastic holiday greeting cards)! I haven’t felt this excited, passionate, and deeply ROOTED about anything I’ve made in well… maybe ever. In 2019, I plan to continue to grow the greeting card line, cohost more beach clean ups, and continue the important conversation about sustainability through my creative work. It’s gonna be a good year - I can feel it! But first, here’s a little recap of 2018:
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Vegan One Pot Warm Quinoa Bowl Recipe
I cannot believe that it’s October already… how did that happen?! The summer heat has officially died down, and the cooler weather has been rolling in. And with cooler weather, comes the craving of comfort food (which more often than not is something heavy, unhealthy, and indulgent). There is absolutely nothing wrong with indulging every now and then (during any season) - but I definitely find that it’s more challenging to make daily healthy eating choices once it’s sweater weather. My desire to make / eat salads definitely declines when it’s cold out, haha.
You may or may not have noticed that the word “vegan” has shown up in my last few recipe posts (here and here). I’ve mentioned before that I’m not fully vegan (or even vegetarian), and that still remains true.. but I have definitely made conscious efforts to cut back on the animal products I do consume - and have been trying to incorporate a lot more plant based meals whenever I can.
I’m dropping in today to share my go-to quinoa recipe! It varies, depending on what I have in my fridge (it’s a great “clean out the produce drawers” meal solution). I love that it can be eaten warm or cold (although on cold days, my preference is definitely hot/warm). Growing up, quinoa was never part of my diet (I grew up on white rice, being 100% Chinese). It wasn’t until a year or so ago that I got curious about the healthier high protein / high fiber rice-like alternative that is quinoa and started experimenting with ways to cook it.
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Dessert Goals Spring Edition & My First Ever VLOG!
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the press preview hour for Dessert Goals (spring disco edition!) Sound River Studios made for the perfect new venue right along the water with high ceilings and amazing natural skylight light (SO great for photographing all the yummy desserts!) I have been to all three NYC editions thus far, and I feel like they get better (sweeter) every time. ;)
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Chinatown NYC Food Tour Guide: Dim Sum, Dessert, BOBA, And Marketplaces... oh my!
I can't believe it's taken me so long to write this post, LOL. It didn't take me too long to gather the content... but what I mean is that Chinatown has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I am 100% Chinese-American, and my mom actually grew up in Chinatown. I still have a grandma who resides there, as well. I have been visiting Chinatown since my early childhood... and my favorite part about it has always been the FOOD. It's about time I write this guide! ;)
This year, Chinese New Year falls on Friday, February 16 (tomorrow!) - so I figured now would be the perfect time to share my recs. Are you heading into Chinatown to celebrate and experience the dragon dancing / parade? The confetti filled streets alone are worth the trek! I'm sure the festivities will continue into this weekend and maybe even into next week, too. If you have never been, it should be on your NYC bucket list. Highly recommend. ;)
Of course, before or after the festivities - you'll want to stuff your face! So I've compiled this guide for ya - in the case that you aren't quite sure where to begin. If you don't frequent Chinatown on the regular, it can be kinda intimidating (kinda like stepping into another country for a hot second). The places on this list are a combination of the places my mom has frequented over the years as well as some newer wave Chinatown spots that I've scoped out on my own.
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