Hi! Whoa, I know. Just like that, I am here, yet again.
Oh well. I really hope I can be a bit better at this in 2012!

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Perhaps this is an appropriate first post back. Ellen and I just got back from a short visit to San Francisco. It was my first time visiting since the summer of 2006, which was nearly 6 years ago. Despite the fact that we chose (possibly) the worst weekend to visit weather-wise, I got to experience the city in a more relaxed manner than the times I’d been there before, involving a lot of eating delicious food with old and new friends and walking up and down Valencia Street. It was really, nice.

Caught an early morning flight.

A dapper and somewhat aloof cat I befriended.

Deep fried sole from Pizzeria Delfina.

Clam Pie (not recommended) also from Pizzeria Delfina.

Honey lavender and roasted banana ice cream. A smooth duo.

Used bookstore discoveries. I like’em all equally!

A lime tree on a street bearing this handsome fruit, just like that.

See you soon, SF!

My favourite sauceless pasta is back (found here). It’s easy to make, delicious, meatless, and really cheap to make. A few changes I make from the original recipe are: 1. I use whole wheat spaghetti instead of perciatelli (basically straight, uncut macaroni) because it takes forever to cook and it’s only alright, 2. I add diced onion to add the sweetness (a must, in my opinion) 3. add a fried egg (optional). I usually add a sunny-side-up when I make any sauceless pasta dishes because the runny yolk helps with the lack of sauce.

Then I fried some Padron peppers from the Farmers Market:

YUM! I really enjoyed them. I was really skeptical on putting a lot of sea salt as I was concerned about the extreme, out of control saltiness and spiciness coexisting in my mouth. But! the sea salt balanced the heat really well (and it really really did!). I’ve read it somewhere that the heat of the Padrón peppers vary greatly and I think it’s pretty true. The first one had a perfect hint of heat, whereas the second one was a killer! Then the third one wasn’t hot enough and almost tasted like grilled green pepper, but the fourth one was HOT! I really didn’t expect it, but the saltiness of the sea salt really eases the burning sensation on your tongue (ha) you get from the peppers, which is surprisingly interesting! If you live in Vancouver, and would like to try these, go to the Kits market every Sunday, 9am-2pm!

The canvas bag for Vancouver Farmers Market (that I’ve designed) is finally here, waiting for you to take home with! It’s a really sturdy bag, made of organic canvas and sewn in Vancouver, isn’t that nice?

New pair of Vans my brother’s sent me. Thanks, Egan!

The book I’m dying to start reading! I’ve just received in the mail yesterday. Few days ago, I had a strong craving for a history book for some reason, and I was extremely satisfied to have found this book. This is (apparently) a really non-committal book about the history of the world written for young readers, and it sounds like a perfect place for me to start. Thanks, Ernst!

I have been going through an anti-domestic hobbies phase (Haven’t touched the knitting needles ever since the last post) and I think I’m just getting out of it. Phew! So to welcome my domestic hobbies back to my life, I’ve decided to bake last night. I wanted to bake cookies with the stuff I already have, so I baked a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip coconut cookies. I only had one egg in my fridge so I had to cut the recipe in half, but the cookies were so delicious I decided to bake the other half this morning.

I’m committed to getting my mini garden restarted as well—this time more edible plants—so I picked up a couple of plants while I was out. Pineapple sage (it smells like a pineapple, woo!) and a Jalapeño pepper plant.

I’ve recently invested in a silicone non-stick sheet/Silpat, and this was the first time I’ve used it. It’s amazing! My cookies were so even and just perfect, and they came off so smoothly. Dream.

Happy mother’s day Mum! I love you. x

I didn’t stage this. One afternoon I found my bedside table looking
like this, and it was pretty amazing.

This is what I see when I am working on my desk. The little shelf used to be filled with all kinds of stuff I simply want off my desk, but
I reorganized it in honour of spring.

Dressew was/still is having a huge yarn sale ($1.99/all yarn!!),
so I kind of had to pick up some! I think I might have blogged about my failed attempt(s) at knitting and how obsessive it can be—It’s definitely one of the things I would like to learn properly/master.
It is kind of a strange time to start knitting I guess, but I mean, why not, especially considering that I haven’t really completed anything I’ve really liked. So after a bit of pattern searching, I’ve decided
to knit this hat! I like the moss stitches (my favourite stitch!) and a huge cable together, but I am planning to add a thick belt of ribs at the bottom. I really have nooooo idea if I can improvise this, but I assume you can just add a few rows of ribbing before I being this pattern? So far I don’t even have the right needles to start knitting, but I’ll hopefully keep yous up to date with my progress.

on the work related news, this is a small snapshot of the poster I’ve created for upcoming Vancouver Farmers Market. Doesn’t it make you smile just to think about biting into a freshly made buckwheat crepe? Because I DO. Do check out the opening dates on their website, www.eatlocal.org!

Spending my afternoon flipping through cookbooks and enjoying the spring breeze!

Update!

I am here in Vancouver, meaning that I have been lucky enough to experience this amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (unless I move to Sochi by 2014) that is also known as: Hello, The winter Olympics is coming to your city! It’s incredible to be here, and I am a HUGE fan of the Olympics, especially the Winter ones—I really do like the fact that it brings people together. And it’s just oodles of fun to watch most of the time.

Growing up in Korea, where the rest of the world believes that it is a small country somewhere in Asia between China and Japan, that is (probably) tropical with its people never having the chance to experience things like “snow” or “ski” or “mountain sports,” (all of the rumors are wrong by the way) the winter Olympics has always kept my patriotism in its most basic form as Korean athletes skaters bring home gold medals. When you are a kid, any excuse to stay up late is a winner, so naturally I have very fond memories of building a fort of blankets with my brother in front of the TV in our living room as we watch Korean skaters (favourite being the short track relays) at obscure hours. Since then I suppose I’ve moved to Canada, and have sort of stuck between which country I should choose, should there be any matches that concern both Korea and Canada (ie: short track), but then there’s a fond memory of watching the 2002 final with a bunch of friends in McDonald’s and how appropriate was that location for an Olympic hockey final!

If you are a Vancouverite who was born in Calgary or moved there before ‘88, you probably were lucky enough to be the person to experience two winter Olympics in your lifetime, though you may or may not recall anything. I, also, was lucky enough to be in Seoul in 1988, where the summer Olympics took place. I clearly have no recollection of it, and it will be quite strange if I did because I would’ve been only 1.5 years old. So this year I have given the chance to be capable of remembering being in Vancouver during the 2010 winter Olympics and I feel pretty darn lucky. I had no idea it was so much more than just providing the facilities for the athletes to compete. And I am glad to have learned that it is more than that!

On the other sports related news, I just registered for tennis lessons starting in 2 weeks, and the inner athlete in me is quite excited.