Day Six

I made the mistake of watching my favorite drama while cross-stitching last night. I ended up taking out an hour's worth of stitches. It was so painful, but I had no other choice.




I also love putting together puzzles. I had bought this one a couple years ago and decided to put it together this month. Unfortunately it has been the last thing on my mind these couple days. It's a stunning 1000 piece puzzle with Kathy Jakobsen's lovely landscape of autumn trees.

Small Changes

I made little progess last night. I'm determined to work on it little by little everyday and it'll all add up and amount to something wonderful I hope.

Ham Shui Gok

When I went to New York, my best friend and I had dimsum in chinatown. It was my first time trying the authentic dimsum as opposed to the store bought shu mai. Well there was this one kind that was crunchy on the outside with chewy mochi and savory delicious-ness inside- I later found out that delicious-ness was called ham shui gok.

And during the weekend, I just had to make it myself! My version has more of a korean taste, the only similar thing was the crust, but it's still delicious.

In the original version I heard you use ground pork, which I replaced with ground beef. My mama always taught me to grind your own beef, that way you know what's really in your beef. To the ground beef I added: finely diced mushrooms, onions, garlic, and scallions, a touch of sesame oil, a good amount of soy sauce, a bit of salt and pepper and mixed filling together with an egg. In a separate bowl I combined sweet rice powder (Mochiko powder) with water and seasoned that with a tiny amount of salt and sugar. The texture should be soft to the touch but not gloppy. Then I rolled ball-shaped mochiko dough with my palms, stuffed it with the filling and closed it up. Then you fry them in oil and voila, my version of ham shui gok! Enjoy~

I also started a new cross stitch pattern. This is the progress I made in four days.

Title: Noah's Ark Sampler (Cross Stitch & Country Crafts Dec 92)
Date Started: March 14, 2009

Sleepless night

It's one of those nights where I'm absorbed in my thoughts. So many things are flowing through my mind and there are so many unanswered questions. There is so much I want to say, yet everything within me is holding it back. Maybe it is best to keep those questions unanswered.
And to top it off I am listening to the perfect song.

아무래도...

Yet another new project

I am known for starting new projects before completing the previous one(s), but I just couldn't refrain myself from buying a new x-stitch pattern. I can't wait for it to arrive in the mail :) It's not an easy thing to find a pattern that I absolutely love... but that is exactly what happened. i j u s t s i m p l y cannot WAIT!

In the meantime I'm still trying to finish stitching a pattern from Paula Vaughan's 'Quilts for all Seasons'. I was anticipating to finish it in December 2008 but it just got buried with all the school projects. I shall post pictures soon!



I'm craving this macaroni salad I made a couple weeks ago. It's so colorful and yummy with kiwi, apple, carrots, potatoes, red onion, and macaroni! For the sauce I ground up kiwi + apple and mixed it into light mayonnaise and added a splash of lime.
It's really simple to make and the freshness just explodes in your mouth.

I cooked the pasta more than al dente because when the pasta becomes cold it'll naturally become more firm. Then I diced apples, kiwi, carrots, potatoes, and red onions. I let the onions sit in a bath of water to mellow the flavor and boiled the potatoes until I got the perfect firmness, and blanched the carrots. For the sauce I took half and apple and 1.5 kiwis and blended it with just a bit of light mayo with a squeeze of lime and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Toss the macaroni and the fruit and veggies in the sauce and voila. Store in a airtight container and enjoy as a simple snack during the day. :)

Kimchi love!

I love kimchi, do you love kimchi? I love it so much that I need to devote a cross stitch pattern to it. :D I am excited to announce you my newest kimchi cross stitch pattern! And I am proud to say that I know how to make kimchi!

For those of you who are wondering what kimchi is. It's a traditional korean side dish (banchan) and its something that is always present on the korean dinner table (with minor exceptions). There are many types of kimchi and everyone likes their kimchi a special way. Some people like it freshly made, some people like it more fermented, etc. Kimchi consists of cabbage, radish, scallions, garlic, red peper flakes, fish sauce, etc)

It is true that kimchi presents itself with a foul smell, but once you get acquired to the taste of kimchi it is something that you crave and can't live without. Or at least that applies to myself ^^;

And it's extremely healthy too, it is packed with vitamins A, B, and C!

I've also been busy at creating cross stitching kits. I've decided to make kits out of the popular patterns for now. The dinosaur cross stitch kit is available at andwabisabi

Included in the kit is the cross stitch pattern, 14ct. white aida fabric, DMC floss, and a needle.

I've been completing a lot of custom orders lately. The newest addition to andwabisabi is the lovely eiffel tower pattern. I was concerned if I'd be able to achieve a likeness, but after working and reworking it, I've finally achieved what I wanted. :) What do you think?