To be or not to be....

Did I ever mention that I am awfully indecisive? I am. Very. Indecisive. I think too much, I analyze from all angles (or from the angle I want to look at), I get information overload and finally decided that I don't want it anymore. Many moons ago I was feeling rather carnivorously yucky as meat quantifies a big portion in my every meal. Plus the after-meat effect was quite unpleasant to my body. So I went to Walmart and got a juicer hoping that with daily increase of freshly squeezed juice intake my body function will go back to normal. I quickly realized what a hassle to use the machine. I need to peel, cut and core fruits and vegetable to be able to fit into the feeder. Arghhh... Right about the same moment I saw an infomercial about a big mouth juicer that could take an apple whole without all the hard work mentioned. I quickly started a frenzy search on the internet that lasted 3 days and might have read more about juicer than the person selling it. There is so much to learn about picking the right one. To find a perfect juicer, factors such as the kind of fruits and vege, the noise level, the speed of juicing, ease of cleaning, among other things, have to be considered. There are centrifugal, centrifugal ejections and masticating juicer, manual press, single and dual augers and twin press. You can read all about juicers by googling it. Obviously, each kind of juicers has its pros and cons and prices can be quite steep ranging from the mid 50s to well.. I don't know, go find one you like and then look at the price heh. And I finally found my perfect juicer but with price 5 times higher than the walmart one. Nonetheless, I am still indecisive because I like the ease of use of the centrifuge juicers but love the quality of juice produced by the harder (hassle) to use masticating, single or dual auger juicers and manual press. I also like to be able to juice fruits and leafy vegetables too.... By this point I think I will need a few different juicers to satisfy my needs which is.. erhh can't do unless I want to be first to be bankrupt by juicers. Also, I am sure that if anyone is still physically with me are now lost in thoughts to my ramblings.. Anyhow, I took the walmart juicer back and I still don't have a juicer.

So! If you have been directed to http://stephanielam.blogspot.com/, which is this blog from my All Things Knit and Green, same principle here. I can't decide which blog name to use!

Link

I am awfully indecisive. I can't decide if I want to use the name All Things Knit and Green or using my name Stephanie Lam. All Things Knit and Green are suppose to record all my knitting and plants news. Stephanie Lam should just record my random thoughts. But since I am an boring person and didn't have enough to split between the two. So right now all my new postings will be here.

http://stephanielam.blogspot.com/

And again, welcome to my blog.

Stephanie Lam

Hello!

Again...

Reading

I have been trying to finish reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It is a good read I admit but lots of other things are demanding my attentions now. A little knitting, cooking, learning Ps, trying my hand at blogging and thus taking pics of everything around and before I know its midnight and bedtime. I am rather embarrassed to renew the book for the 5th time again. heh



While staring out the window this morning, I saw roots are sprouting from the rosemary cuttings that has been sitting in a glass of water. How amazing! I trimmed down my rosemary and thought the clippings looked fresh and nice. I placed them in a glass of water and didn't know they would live! I will probably find a pot somewhere and plant them. More rosemary pork chops for dinner!

New shades

I sat on my sunglasses a few months back and so out with the old, in with the new!

PS. Here is to Zakiya, I am sorry I laughed at you about your shades.

Sick

I think got a cold. Don't know how I got it but I woke up with a stuffy nose and things went downhill from there. Slept whole day yesterday and ate plain rice porridge (jook), salted mackerel (sook yu) and fermented bean paste (fu yue). I might be in Tennessee but can't take the Chinese out of me.

Myself, Present.

Panic

Sometimes I take a step back from life and I realise that I’ve been running in Survival Mode.

Doing as little as possible to get through each day.
Holding back. Hesitating. Preserving.
Waiting for something. Don’t know what.
Just SOMETHING.

The days pass. The seasons change. The years slip away.
And you are no closer to your dreams. No closer to the kind of person you wanted to be.

And that tragic word. Regret. That word you’re not supposed to use these days.

Yet it’s there.
It eats and consumes your heart.
Body panics. Mind is paralysed.
Don’t know what to do.

So you continue to wait.

From Karen Cheng's Snippets of Life Panic 4/19/06

Shh... can't tell anyone...

I have found out that if you tell your plans to others prematurely or getting overly excited about it you will jinx it. Yes I jinxed one of my big plans just this afternoon because I can't help telling. I am not a big mouth per se but sometimes you really need to do it for some reasons that I won't delve in. Boo Hoo... guess I will keep my mouth shut from now on. No wonder chinese mothers never tell when they are pregnant before the 3 months mark. I now believe that there are some spirits out there are just too jealous and take it away from you. :(

Blog: Tip of an Iceberg

Who knows blogging could be so exhausting. I have had my share of blog browsing this past year and had thought that this is easy.. I can do it. Heck I started last week ( I mean seriously starting) and couldn't be more wrong. EKKKK. I want a nice template, a personalized one and started to play around with my pictures and some really prehistoric image processing tools... stuff that came with my hmm... camera.. 5 years ago. So I googled around, and suddenly (light bulb in head) PHOTOSHOP 7 (PS). But I haven't played with photoshop since my first year of college. Hmm... shouldn't be that hard. If anyone is reading this, yes I had it coming. I sat in front of my laptop whole day the day before trying to figure out how to use PS7. I mean just the New, Save As, Image resize and other stuff took me a whole day and the outcome of my 1st masterpiece was not satisfying. My picture.. that's my masterpiece. I have already 1 comment from my friend, she was nice and said I should work on it more. OK. Then I thought blogger could have some instructions on this. I read to the part where people can actually get free blog templates! Yay!!! I could just do that. So I browse more.. now on templates. But I still didn't find one that I love dearly. I am still looking... and I also found out that PS7 was really old and they have new stuff.. CS3. And they have video tutorials out there to show people like me of how to use PS. Gosh... suddenly I asked the question of where have I been this past 5-10 years! And what will I find out tomorrow and when will my blog be like the ones people had out there. All nice and personalized. Oh well... I'll knit more and take more pictures and post it on hmm.. not really there yet blog. I pray people will be distracted enough by the contents to pay close attention to the blog layout. Now I will go knit some more...

Montego Bay Scarf

I have recently finished the Montego Bay Scarf from Interweave Knits Summer 07. I used about 3 1/2 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cathay yarn in light pink. I might have made a mistake of blocking the scarf as it is now too long and the yarn has less bounce to it. But it still feel soft and luxurious against my skin.

Montego Bay Scarf

I have recently finished the Montego Bay Scarf from Interweave Knits Summer 07. I used about 3 1/2 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cathay yarn in light pink. I might have made a mistake of blocking the scarf as it is now too long and the yarn has less bounce to it. But it still feel soft and luxurious against my skin.

Chai Kuih

Chai Kuih, vegetable dumplings can be found from any night market in Malaysia. The main ingredients are well… vegetables, jicama to be exact. A recent trip to Atlanta asian grocery store I have managed to find some jicama (sar kok) and this is my second attempt of reproducing the taste of Malaysia in my Tennessee home. Oh this is my first attempt to write recipe so bear with me if something is not clear.
Ingredients:

Fillings:

1 jicama, julienne

3-4 tbsp dried shrimp, soak for a few minutes, drained and minced

3-4 tbsp ground pork (marinated with salt, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil, optional)

1-2 gloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp oil

soy sauce, white pepper, salt

Dumpling skin:

I obtain this recipe from Lily’s Wai Sek Hong Chive Dumplings. Please refer to her site if you need detail instructions.

1 1/4 cups wheat starch/tung mein fun
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp vegetable oil

To prepare the fillings:

1. Stir fry garlic and dried shrimp for a few minutes until fragrant. Add ground pork and stir fry for a few more minutes.

2. Add jicama and stir fry for about 10mins in medium heat. The jicama should be a little crunchy and not soft. At this point, add salt, white pepper, soy sauce and oyster sauce to taste. Turn off heat and let cool while preparing the dumpling skin.

To make Dumpling skin:

Please refer to Lily’s Wai Sek Hong Chive Dumplings .

Fill jicama fillings into the dumpling skin. Be careful of not touching the dumpling openings with oil as the dumplings will not stick close during the steaming process. Place the dumplings about 1 1/2 inch apart in a well oiled pan/plate and steam for 7-8 mins at high heat. (I steamed 6 - 7 dumplings per batch) . After steaming, drizzle a few drops of olive oil on the dumplings to prevent them from sticking together.

Modified Forecast Sweater

I started on the modified version on the Forecast sweater from knitty.com. So far so good. But now I am thinking maybe a little bobbles will make the sweater more interesting. Don't feel like frogging so I will continue with the body. I have been using a worsted weight yarn I got on sale from red needle yarn few months back. I believe the name of the yarn was Colorado.

Modified Forecast Sweater

I started on the modified version on the Forecast sweater from knitty.com. So far so good. But now I am thinking maybe a little bobbles will make the sweater more interesting. Don't feel like frogging so I will continue with the body. I have been using a worsted weight yarn I got on sale from red needle yarn few months back. I believe the name of the yarn was Colorado.

Desert Rose

Recently I went to Lowe’s and got myself a pot of Desert Rose. At the time there were a few buds and 1 bloom. The roots were a little soft to the touch but I simple can’t resist the flower blooming potential. So I took a chance. And I am glad that I did. See how it bloomed in just one week. I watered it a few times and the roots became strong again. I am very please with this purchase.

Desert Rose

Recently I went to Lowe’s and got myself a pot of Desert Rose. At the time there were a few buds and 1 bloom. The roots were a little soft to the touch but I simple can’t resist the flower blooming potential. So I took a chance. And I am glad that I did. See how it bloomed in just one week. I watered it a few times and the roots became strong again. I am very please with this purchase.

Hello World Again!

It has been a long time since I blog. I have decided to change the blog name as well since my interest has shifted somewhat a bit since then. The blog sparklyheaven was meant to document the progress of me jewelry beading but didn't materialized. I meant the jewelry beading part. Haha. Now my interest is in knitting and plants. Hence the name ALL THINGS KNIT AND GREEN. I will also try to post some of my cooking adventure too. It would be my greatest pleasure to provide you with a minute or two of entertainment should you landed on this blog. Again, thank you and welcome!

Happy Chinese New Year! Oink Oink

Happy Chinese New Year!!! Today my mother was very excited and we quickly chowed down our vegetarian dish and squeezed our way into Mott St. because of LION DANCE! Yes, the Lion Dance, the main entertainment during chinese new year. It was festive, and brutal out there. Melting snow, wet and soggy street and lots and lots and lots of people squeezed into 1 cramped chinatown street. And boy it was fun just to be there, the festive vibe of everyone around and the constant popping of confetti fireworks (fake fireworks, since its illegal to burn the real thing). The person that invented the fake fireworks is a genious and I hoped he is now very 'properous'. Anyway back on to the street... I couldn't take pics fast enough since my once-upon-a-time very nice camera respond time was like 3mins. However I managed to get a few.

Confetti fireworks and people gathering around the lion dance. I couldn't see it in the pic. They must have dodged down when camera decided it was time to 'click'.

The lion dance band. (4 red sticks and the guy behind it. I think he was beating on the drum.)

Wet and soggy streets with used fireworks. The confetti was great in the air, not so on the ground.

And of course, after the lion dance we have to get down to business. A visit to the temples! In every part of the world, temple is a main destination during first day of new year. Its dangerous too. Over-zealous Buddhists trying to get the first blessing walking around with burning incense sticks.. oh boy. I believe my husband has a scar in between his 2 eyebrows to show for it. We quickly get our praying done, including me asking for new year predictions (chim) for the year in general and work. I wanted to get one for hubby but it was no time for doing things on my sweet time as people are waiting for my kneeling spot. So off we went to another temple on Central St. There was a line to go in there but it was far more efficient than the previous one and we went in and out in about 5mins with the line and got a red packets each from the monk. Pretty smooth sailing, all except the two women behind me trying to push me out of their way. I wonder what's the rush... the line to free vegetarian food? I didn't stay long enough to find out. :)

The front of the temple. Its not respectful to take pics in the temple so I refrained.

Chinese New Year Eve Dinner

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone and may everyone have a prosperious and healthy new year ahead! This is the second year that get to spend chinese new year with my mom and boy, I think I gained 10lbs just looking at the food she lovingly, but very efficiently whipped up. Check out our new year eve dinner.

Hou Si, Fat Choi, Tung Ku, Hoi Sam Jue Saw (Dried oyster, ..., mushroom, sea cucumber pig trotter). Our tradition and must have every year!

Abalone and fish maw soup! Oh boy this is good!

Scallion and Ginger Frog Leg, by far the best dish among all!

Of course, the regular staple like fish and chicken were present too but that fades into the background blissfully.. haha. I am a happy girl!

Chinese New Year Eve Dinner

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone and may everyone have a prosperious and healthy new year ahead! This is the second year that get to spend chinese new year with my mom and boy, I think I gained 10lbs just looking at the food she lovingly, but very efficiently whipped up. Check out our new year eve dinner.

Hou Si, Fat Choi, Tung Ku, Hoi Sam Jue Saw (Dried oyster, ..., mushroom, sea cucumber pig trotter). Our tradition and must have every year!

Abalone and fish maw soup! Oh boy this is good!

Scallion and Ginger Frog Leg, by far the best dish among all!

Of course, the regular staple like fish and chicken were present too but that fades into the background blissfully.. haha. I am a happy girl!