New Home, New Garden!

It's been forever since I updated this blog, but I thought now would be a good time. A couple months ago I moved to a quaint, quiet house in Santa Clara, and it has been a refreshing change. Lucky for me, the two girls I live with love gardening and vegetables, so we've got a fantastic garden where we've been growing all kinds of things.. two kinds of cucumber, zucchini, cauliflower, green beans, kale, spinach, chard, cilantro, arugula, mint, tomatoes, and we've even got a tangerine tree and an apple tree.

This is from maybe a month ago.

Just look at that beautiful kale.

These little tomatoes are so great, we have orange ones and red ones.

And we've been getting more zucchini than we know what to do with!

There's nothing like eating fresh vegetables right from your backyard. Happy summer!

Hawaii

After I went to Canada, I went to Oahu for another vacation! That was a pretty nice time.

This is the inside of a cave in Waianae, where my friend lives! We went in there. It was dark, and rocky. Hard to walk. But, I didn't fall or anything.

Cool mural I passed by walking around in Honolulu. People are so creative!

This is a picture of the ancestral lands of Waianae. I think this place is called something, I forgot. But, my friend's ancestors lived here. It's like one of those hidden local places that no one really knows about.

A beach in Waianae at sunset. This is my friends' parents' view outside their cabana. So pretty!

Another view out the window in Waianae. I was staying next to Waikiki Beach but it was just a lot prettier and non touristy over in Waianae, on the other side of the island.

While I was in Hawaii, my friend and I went to the Honolulu Art Museum, some little shops, a mall, a barbecue, Waikiki Beach, some other beaches, that cave, and that's pretty much it. So, it was a pretty nice time.

I'm Back

At long last.. I am updating my blog. I'm fairly settled in to what I suppose is my routine for the time being, so it's about time to say goodbye to summer.. although I expect the weather to remain somewhat warm for at least another month or so.

I really enjoyed Vancouver. I stayed with some friends and met a bunch of their friends, so there was always something to do... go to the beach or a park, check out one of their favorite restaurants, walk around downtown, go to a party, or just hang out.

Charlson Park is my friends' favorite dog park. My friend I enjoyed this view while we played "bocce badminton" since I am not good at badminton and we could not successfully hit the birdie back and forth... so we just made up a contest of who could hit their birdie with the racket the farthest.

English Bay is another great spot I enjoyed. There were these logs set up throughout the beach where people could sit or lean up against them while sitting in the sand.

My Vancouver friends have the cutest apartment. It is so cozy with these flowers in little bottle vases on all the tables, posters on the wall, and books everywhere.

We passed by these beautiful flowers while walking around downtown on my birthday and my friend's girlfriend bought me some carnations :)

We enjoyed these little cakes for my birthday.. the three of us each chose the one we liked best, and each of them was delicious!

This is one of the libraries in Vancouver. It was modeled after the Colosseum.They've got books in several languages, and even a big touch screen patrons can use to browse the collection or learn about the history of various cultures.

Vancouver is certainly a vibrant and unique place that I hope to visit again one day.

Video!

Hi friends!

I thought this would be a good opportunity to share a video I made for my web design/programming class. It features fun stuff I've done in the bay area so you've probably seen all these pictures before but it's still a nice video and I chose pretty music for it from this jazz soloists cd I like :).



So, enjoy, until next time when I have time to write a review of the book I just finished! :)

DC Trip, Abridged

So, I got a new phone today... and attempted to email myself all the rest of my DC photos but some of them did not go through in time. But, here are the ones that did.

Flamingoes at the National Zoo! I love flamingoes, they are so pretty in pink.

Neat mural near the U Street Metro station! This district is often associated with the Harlem renaissance, a very artistic and creative time, hence the gentleman playing a violin.

A glimpse of the Potomac River while whizzing by on the metro.

The white house, and a stunning view of DC sky. Look at those billowing clouds!

A closer look. It was kind of awe-inspiring to be that close to the white house. I could have gotten even closer, too. There were some ladies protesting on the white house lawn about women's rights. They had songs, too.

A deep fried oreo from the Arlington County Fair. I just couldn't resist. They had deep fried twinkies, too. We also watched a piglet race and just browsed the game offerings-- everything you'd expect from a classic fair/carnival.

So, fun times... guess that's all for now... not pictured are some jaunts to Georgetown and Dupont Circle; a visit to Friend's favorite specialty grocery store, Wegmans; a day at the National Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum; and more National Zoo highlights (lions and pandas and monkeys, oh my).

Hope everyone's having a good weekend! I am off to a neighborhood potluck tonight, maybe... and a much needed trip to the Campbell farmer's market tomorrow.

Stanford, revisited

Hey, remember when I went to Stanford last October? Well, last Friday I went back again because my penpal from Hawaii is working there this summer as a kids camp counselor. He is having tons of fun. The day I visited, the kids were getting ready to have a dance that night, and today they had a pizza party. Fun times for them.

Anyway, after my friend and I had lunch at Pizza My Heart in downtown Palo Alto, we walked around the Stanford campus a bit. We went up to the observation deck of the Hoover Tower, too, which was closed last time I visited, I think.

Hoover Tower is a 285 feet (87 m) structure on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. The tower is part of the Hoover Institution, a research center founded by then-future U.S. president Herbert Hoover. Hoover Tower, inspired by the cathedral tower at Salamanca,^[1] was finished in 1941, the year of Stanford's 50th anniversary. It was designed by architect Arthur Brown, Jr.^{[2]
-Wikipedia}

Remember that neat sculpture I took a picture of last time? Well, there's that sculpture, from up high in the Hoover Tower. It's a lot smaller from up there.

I also took a picture of a fountain.

Here is that fountain from up close. Fountains are so nice.

Here are a bunch of the other buildings at Stanford.

My friend took a picture of me up in the tower, too. We had a tour guide take a group of us up there in a little elevator.

So, that was a fun day. It has been too hot outside to go out and do anything so I have just been working on my final papers. I should take a day off tomorrow but I am not sure what I would do. Maybe I will think of something. :)
 

San Francisco and other things

Here's a more expanded look of my little San Francisco excursion.

Here are some boats from Pier 39, my friend took this picture. The view of the mountains from Pier 39 is so pretty, and it's so nice to just go and see the water.

Here's a picture from the Pride Festival, which was that weekend. People were dressed so colorfully and really had a lot of fun.

Look at that interesting outfit! People were taking pictures of this guy left and right.

I will post some other San Francisco pictures later. :)

Friend's mom sent me a cookbook from Baton Rouge! This was the highlight of my week. She got it from a restaurant over there that she visited. So thoughtful. :)

It's got recipes for stews, rice dishes, seafood dishes, vegetable dishes, even some dessert dishes. I immediately made the Shrimp Jambalaya.

Due to the interesting method of simmering some onion, garlic, celery, and bell pepper in oil for a while, and then simmering it a while longer (40 minutes!) with some tomato paste and water, the shrimp and rice mixed in (shrimp first to cook for 20 minutes, then the rice at the end) came out this deep, dark color, with some fresh green onion and parsley to give it a pop of brighter color. Somewhat reminiscent of "dirty rice," I would imagine. There are a lot of ways to make jambalaya and this was quite good, with some hot sauce mixed in.

My housemate and I went to this farm today called Emma Prusch Farm Park because he thought it was going to be a farmers market but it was just a farmstand with vegetables. Still kind of fun to go and visit, the park itself is lovely (not pictured) and they have all kinds of birds wandering around.

This is a mama bird of some sort and her little chick. :)

A little peek at the farm. 

A goose! Brings back memories of being chased around by geese at Waller Park back home.

Also lately I have been enjoying crepes. Deb's crepe recipe is easily adaptable to savory crepes with the omission of the honey. The other night I made crepes with roasted asparagus, spinach, and zuchinni from the garden. Tonight I made a simple crepe with turkey lunchmeat, some pieces of fuji apple, and a little monterey jack cheese. Protip: if you ever don't really feel like cooking a big meal but still want something light and satisfying and not frozen or "just-add-water," make some crepes! 

Chocolate & strawberry dessert crepe I made a long time ago. 

So, fun times... now back to studying... so I can try to get ahead before I go and visit Santa Maria in a week and a half. Hope you guys are ready to have a good week!

Sneak Peek

I have been unbelievably busy these past few weeks keeping up with summer classes and work. I feel like I'm running a race and just barely keeping up with my last breath. Yesterday, though, I allowed myself a whole day of fun, visiting several districts of San Francisco: The Historic Civic Center District, Nob Hill, Tenderloin, Tenderknob, North Beach, The Financial District, Chinatown, and Fisherman's Wharf. That's at least four miles of walking, and my legs are reminding me today, but it was worth it to share these places with a good friend of mine who just moved to San Francisco and had not done a lot of exploring yet.

I am still waiting for all my pictures to transfer over to my email, but in the meantime, here is a sneak peek to show what's to come...

An entry from an old fashioned card catalog at the San Francisco Main Public Library...

Outside of a market in Chinatown....

Washington Park in North Beach....

So, I definitely got my fill of San Francisco for the time being. Stay tuned for more! What did you do this weekend?

San Francisco: The Mission District

Last weekend I made my first visit to the Mission District of San Francisco. It's called that because there is a mission there, along with several cafes, some restaurants, and markets.

I was meeting with a friend there, and before the meetup I did some exploring. I came across Duc Loi Supermarket, which is frequented by one of my favorite bloggers over at Brokeass Gourmet.

They had a great selection of produce, and various kinds of Asian noodles, among other things. I can see why she likes shopping there. :)

 This is the pastry display at Tartine Bakery, a very popular cafe. The line was out the door, as you find in the best places in San Francisco.

This is their quiche. I got a piece of it and it was delicious.

 My friend and I got sandwiches from Bi Rite Market. I got a very tasty turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, lemon aioli, and avocado mash.

We had our sandwiches at Dolores Park. It's a lovely park full of grassy hills and trees.

There's even a fun playground for kids.

We got ice cream at the Bi Rite Creamery, too. They had really unique flavors. I got a roasted banana and lavender honey ice cream cone.

So, that was a nice day!

And now, for something somewhat different....

This post is about neither food not travel. Well, time travel, kind of, because these are pictures from the past. Pictures of me that I thought would be fun to share. :)

This is me at Bridal Veil Falls in Provo, Utah last summer. It's a very pretty waterfall.

This is me as a hippie at a Halloween college party a few years ago. Fun times!

This is me on my first day of Brownies. I think I was in maybe 2nd grade.

This is my sister and I when she was a baby. I must have been about five in this picture. I liked making silly faces, haha.

Well, that was a nice little trip down memory lane, wasn't it? :)