Asaragus Crab Soup

One of my favorite soups of all time is Vietnamese asaragus crab soup. Asparagus was introduced to Vietnam by the French and since the shoots resemble bamboo shoots (mang), Vietnamese call asparagus “mang tay” or western bamboo. Most of the time the “tay” is drop from the name of the soup. Sup mang cua has a slightly thick, silky texture and combines the sweet and succulent flavors of crab and beautiful white asparagus. Most Vietnamese soups (canh) are designed to be eaten with rice as part of a meal but this soup is typically serve as a first course in wedding dinner banquets or celebrations and is great on it’s own because it’s pretty hearty with all the fixings in it. In addition to the crab and white asparagus other common ingredients include enoki mushrooms, beaten eggs, scallops, imitation shark fin, and tapioca starch, pepper, fish sauce, and salt.

It is usually served as "shark fin soup" at weddings. We use imitation shark fin in my mom's version. It is very simple to make. The tapioca starch thickens the soup and creates a silky texture. You can use corn starch if you don't have tapioca starch. This is how my mom and I make the soup. Other people use chicken stock from the store instead of making their own. I personally think that the soup tastes better when the broth is cooked from scratch. Other people also put different things in the soup. My family prefers enoki mushrooms, scallops, white asaragus, imitation shark fin, crab, and beaten eggs. This soup is perfect on a cold day or any day.

xoxo,
Kat

Donut Connoisseurs

There seems to be a new dessert fad every season. A few seasons ago it was cupcakes. People were raving about Sprinkles, DC cupcakes, etc. Then it became macaroons. The new dessert fad in Southern California is Blueberry donuts. When I was still in Berkeley, my brother would tell me that I have to try the blueberry donuts when I come home. I was game. Blueberries are one of my favorite fruit.

Around where I lived there are two donut shops that sell blueberry donuts: The Donuttery in Huntington Beach and M&M Donuts in Anaheim. The blueberry donuts from M&M were way too greasy. I held up my donut and all you see is grease. I think they over fried the donuts. I thought the blueberry donuts were alright.

A few months ago, I lost more weight and my brother and I decided to buy donuts. I just monitor my eating habits, but I still eat everything that I want. We went to The Donuttery. The Donuttery is a local donut shop offering a large variety of classic and signature donuts, pastries, bagels, and deli sandwiches. They bake fresh daily. Very first impression is that it's a quaint little donut shop. The customer service was excellent. The lady that helped us was very friendly. She asked if we wanted to wait half an hour for the new batch of strawberry donuts since they only have the old ones. My brother and I waited. We ordered a dozen donuts: 4 blueberry, 4 red velvet, and 4 strawberry donuts.

The donuts were delicious. I LOVED the Blueberry donuts. They were not greasy like the ones from M&M. These blueberry donuts have become my favorite at The Donuttery. The red velvet comes in at a close second. Any red velvet lovers out there? You have to try their Red velvet donut.
Red velvet has made its mark in cake recipes with traditional ingredients like buttermilk, flour, and cocoa. By refining traditional ingredients, they managed to achieve a recipe suitable for our doughnut palette.

At The Donuttery, a donut is not plainly transparent, but imbued with subtle elements of time and collaboration by devoted culinary artists and customer feedback dedicated to sculpting the perfect recipe. They aspire to depart from the monotony often associated with the conventional doughnut shop. Just as life is colorful and dynamic--so should a doughnut.

xoxo,
Kat

Kari-gurashi no Arietti

I recently watched The Secret World of Arriety. The Japanese title is Kari-gurashi no Arietti. The screenplay is written by Hiyao Miyazaki. It is the film adaptation of the “Borrowers” series, written by Mary Norton, where tiny people live amongst humans and borrow necessities.

This movie was already released in Japan in 2010, where it proceeded to win every animated film award there is. The Clock family are four-inch-tall people who live anonymously beneath the floorboards of a suburban home, unbeknownst to the big people who also live there, borrowing simple items to make their home. Life changes for the Clocks when their daughter, Arrietty, is discovered. Although twelve-year-old Shawn is delighted to become a secret friend, his knowledge of her existence threatens the safety of all the little people.

Japanese animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi takes the directorial seat of The Secret World of Arrietty. Best known for his animation work in films such as Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away, he stays fairly true to Mary Norton’s 1952 children’s novel The Borrowers upon which the movie is based. The director invites audiences under the floorboards and into the family’s miniature household equipped with items they’ve “borrowed” from the Big People.

Maintaining their secret world is imperative for their safety and survival. But despite severe warnings from her parents, Arrietty can’t help but reveal herself to Shawn, an ailing young boy who has come to live with his Aunt Jessica. While Shawn intends no harm to the little people, Hara the housemaid doesn’t share his benign fascination with them.

Most people don't know that I am a huge fan of Hiyao Miyazaki and Studio Ghilbi's work. I absolutely love watching anime. It is very different from American cartoons. The first anime I ever watched was when I was about four and it was Sailor Moon. Don't judge me. I use to read mangas too.

I am going to sound like a nerd when I say this, but I took an Anime class while I was at Berkeley. Nerd much? I learned so much from that class. I never knew there where so many genres of anime. Tezuka was referred to as the "God of Manga." The giant robot genre (known as "Mecha" outside Japan), took shape under Tezuka, developed into the Super Robot genre under Go Nagai and others, and was revolutionized at the end of the decade by Yoshiyuki Tomino who developed the Real Robot genre. Robot anime like the Gundam and The Super Dimension Fortress Macross series became instant classics in the 1980s, and the robot genre of anime is still one of the most common in Japan and worldwide today.

I also learned about the Japanese culture, history, Studio Ghilbi and how it affect the different artists' art style and forms. Many of these titles can be described by more than one genre or theme.
Some of the genres that I studied were:

Action (Cowboy Bebop, City Hunter, Lupin III)
Children’s shows (Pokemon, Doraemon)
Magical Girls (Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, Minky Momo, Nurse Angel Lilika S.O.S., Pretear)
Savior from another Dimension (Vision of Escaflowne, Fushigi Yuugi, Magic Knight Rayearth, El-Hazard, Orguss, Heaven War Shurato, Record of 12 Countries [12 Kokuki])
Hero (Gatchaman, Hurricane Polymar, Casshan, Hakaima Sadamitsu)
Sci-Fi (Evangelion, Dirty Pair, Wings of Honneamise, Rah Xephon)
Space Opera (Gundam, Macross, Xabungle, The Ideon)
Fantasy (Record of Lodoss War, Slayers, Aura Battler Dunbine)
Military/ Police (Full Metal Panic! , You're Under Arrest [Taihou Shichauzo], Patlabor)
War (Grave of the Fireflies, Area 88)
Samurai/ Ninja (Rurouni Kenshin, Ninja Scroll [Juubei Nimpucho], The Samurai)
Martial Arts/ Fighting (Dragonball Z, Saiyuki, HunterXHunter)
Ghostbusting (Yu Yu Hakushou, Haunted Junction, Ghost Sweeper Mikami)
Comedy (Ranma ½, Urusei Yatsura, Dragon Half, Excel Saga)
Romantic Comedy/ Soap Opera (Kima)

I have watched most of these anime. I also watched Astro-boy, Totoro, Sazae-san, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Akira, etc. These anime are fun to watch. However they are also a learning tool. The Japanese made these anime to teach their young about their history, culture, and ramifications about what we are doing to the world (especially about war, our depletion of natural resources, etc). I love analyzing the messages and symbolism from these anime. All of these anime have powerful messages about society, humanity, nature, the future and our reprecussions with reliance on machinery. Some topics have been about co-existing with nature like in Princess Mononoke. It's amazing how some of these anime are from the 60's and 70's; however, the themes and topics are relevant today.

One of the reason why I wanted to watch The Secret World of Arriety is because I wanted to figure out the underlining themes and message behind the film. It's really touching in the film when Shawn told Arriety that he is dying and that he didn't care anymore. Arriety told him that he have to have hope. The Borrowers are the ultimate recyclers, surviving on what we throw aside, taking only what they need to survive. They walk lightly on the earth. By comparison, Shawn, despite being full of good intentions, partially destroys the Borrowers’ home when he tries to give them a gift and makes their home much easier for the housekeeper Hara to find.

Nothing in Arrietty is painted in absolutes. Hara may be the vilain of the piece, but she is definitely a vilain who views herself as the hero. She does not want to hurt the Borrowers, merely to capture them. She simply lacks the empathy and imagination to understand that being captured and caged is a fate worse than death to a natural creature like a Borrower. Shawn was suppose to die, but he didn't. He would come back the summer after, but he doesn't see Arriety ever again.

The ambiguity of the Borrowers’ place within nature is illustrated by the moment when the raccoon stares at them and then moves on by. The Borrowers live in a dangerous world where death could come from any direction at any time. The price of being part of nature is living with that danger all the time.

Of course, living in a world where the raw edges of nature have been smoothed and civilized away is no guarantee of safety. Arrietty’s life may be more dangerous than Shawn’s, but she knows how to live while the sickly Shawn is so obsessed by his own mortality that he is blind to everything else around him.

Embracing nature has its costs, but then so does trying to enslave it. Mastering nature brings protection and control at the cost of truly living. Becoming one with nature means surrendering safety and control, but brings with it the gift of truly being (like Arrietty) part of Gaia.

xoxo,
Kat

Wedding Fever

I am on a roll tonight. I just feel like de-stressing by writing. Besides I can't sleep, so why roll around in bed when I can write instead. I swear it's wedding fever around here. Many of the people that I went to junior high and high school are getting married this year. It's weird that some of them are popping out babies too. I can't believe that they are my age! Oh well, I'll just be an old maid. In ten years I'll be ready for marriage, just not now. I want to focus on my career and education. I rather have stability first. It looks like there will be another wedding in my family at the end of the year. My cousin Thao and her fiance Richard are planning on getting marry this upcoming December.

About five/six months ago my cousin Julie (Thao's sister) got married to Chris. After meeting Chris for the first time I asked Julie how they meet. There story is absolutely amazing! Julie went to a Rutgers football game in Canada with her friends. Chris, who is a Rutgers' football fanatic, sat in the row in front of Julie. Julie told me that she was pretty drunk, and she started to mess with Chris's hoodie. She kept pulling his hoodie over his head, tied the strings, and put on his sunglasses for him. She also told him that, " You are the unabomer." Chris's friends didn't know why he put up with her antics. At the end of the game Chris asked for Julie's number. She gave it to him, thinking that he probably won't call. She didn't think that she'll ever see him again. After two weeks, Chris finally called Julie. They were together since then. I find it amazing that they were both living in Hoboken at that time. However they met at a Rutgers game in Canada and not Hoboken. Their love story is amazing.

I find that being over 21 at weddings is so much more fun. Julie's wedding day was sunny in November. She was really lucky with the weather. Julie was such a beautiful bride. Her dress was to die for. Her ao dai for the tea ceremony was simply gorgeous. The speeches at her reception made all of us cry. The speeches were my favorite part of the day. You get to see all of the love, and happiness. The photobooth was pretty fun! You can see that Julie and Chris are so in love with each other. They are perfect for each other. I wish you guys luck on having six kids. Julie wants to have six kids. That's quite alot of kids.

Here are some of the pictures from the wedding:

I can't wait for Thao and Richard's wedding! Richard propose to my cousin before the lunar new year. I love how Thao took a photo of her ring and sent it to all of the girl cousins. We have been waiting for Richard to pop the question. We knew that they are going to marry each other. They make a cute couple. Richard did a really good job on the ring. It's very pretty. I am determined to get into shape for their upcoming wedding. I am happy that Chris and Richard treat Julie and Thao well and truly loves them.

xoxo,
Kat