Halloween 2010

We had so much going on for Halloween this year. Not to brag but we got invited to 6 different parties. There was no way we could make all of them so we went to whichever one we were invited to first. The first party started on the 23rd which was at Jason's house. Then on Friday, we went to Catherine's house. The highlight of the night was a group of guys dressed up as a team from Justice League. There was The Flash, Superman, Batman and Green Lantern. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to take a picture of them as a group but I got shots of most of them. The food was great too. Catherine and her dad made fried wontons which I helped stuff with cheese and pork. Of course we made our pulled pork pizza rolls which were a hit as usual.

Oh yeah and here is the pumpkin Justyn carved. My pumpkin didn't turn out the way I wanted so I ended up throwing it away.

Last night we went to Julie's house for her Halloween shindig. She really went all out with the decorations. She even decorated the garage which turned out awesome. By this point my battery was really low so I only got a few pictures. I'm hoping I'll see some of the pictures that other people took and hopefully I'll be able to post them here. The best costume was Jack from Jack in the Box. He put so much time into making the ball head that it won me over.

Tonight I'm going to be getting over this massive hangover and practicing my Iron Chef dish. Wish me luck!

Weekend Update

I haven’t done one of these updates in a while and I know I should’ve since I’ve had things to blog about but was just too lazy and unmotivated to do so.

Last Friday, Justyn and I went on a date. We saw Jackass 3D in Cupertino. Honestly, I could’ve gone without seeing the movie in 3D. It just made it more.. gross. I’m glad we finished our popcorn during the previews and the first 15 minutes of the movie because I seriously lost my appetite.

Unfortunately, we had dinner scheduled right after the movie and although I lost my appetite, it came right back as we were pulling into the parking lot of Bistro Tupaz. The place is a little weird because you order at the counter and pick up your own silverware but don’t let that deter you from trying this place out. Don’t let these terrible and crude pictures make you run away too. They were taken with Justyn’s phone and the lighting was bad hence the unjustice.

The first thing that arrived at our table was the house bread. I want to say it’s a focaccia but it was much lighter than what I’ve had. It was fluffy and delicate yet dense at the same time and had a somewhat sweet and savory thing going on. Confusing right? But oh sooo good. It came with some butter that I think was infused with goat cheese which paired really well. I had to control myself and just have half a serving of the bread so I could save room for our entrees. Justyn ordered the sausage with polenta and I had the braised beef short ribs which was served with mashed potatoes and root veggies (beets and carrots). Surprisingly, I enjoyed the beets. The short ribs were super tender and did not require any knife work. I don’t really like sausage, but it was really nice. It wasn’t dry on the inside and packed a ton of flavor. I hesitate to even post these pictures but I need them to break up this boring post hah.

Later on that night we tucked a dry rubbed pork butt in the oven for a 12 hour nap so that we could make pulled pork pizza rolls for Jason’s Halloween party the next day. I’ve posted about these things so many times before so I won’t bore you with the details. We hadn’t seen Jason in a really long time since he’s been in China for work and his fiancé so it was really nice to see him again and hang out. It wasn’t so much a dress up kind of party so I’m glad I didn’t go all out. I would’ve been the only person in costume. I got to meet Bill & Flo’s baby, Shamus (sp?) which was adorable! He almost made me want to start having kids. ALMOST. Calm down. We had fun drinking and eating some really great food prepared by Jason. He made some chile verde with roasted veggies, chicken (which I don’t think I got to try), salsa and guacamole made by Matt and some awesome cake with some decadent cream cheese frosting for dessert :9 Oh yeah and we found out that night that the Giants are going to the World Series!! Woooo!

Cooking: Healthy Lemongrass Chicken & Noodles

I really needed to go back on my diet after this weekend's indulgences. I managed to eat an entire thing of Panda Express (chow mein, veggies, beef & chicken), had my way with beverages... I was really thirsty for some reason and didn't really do anything except for helping Justyn clean up the garage a bit. Since I was "bad", I decided to go back on my diet and hardcore it this week. I had some yogurt and a Subway breakfast sandwich for breakfast, for lunch I had a frozen food and for dinner I decided to make some lemongrass chicken with noodles. It's not a very authentic recipe but the varying flavors were all there. Justyn thorougly enjoyed it. I was barely 1/4 of the way done with my dinner when he had already inhaled his plate. He also said I could make him this dish anytime, he enjoyed it so much.

So here's the recipe and accompanying photo.

Lemongrass Chicken and Noodles

2 tbsp peanut oil
1 chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 medium scallion(s), green and white parts, chopped
2 tbsp grated lemongrass (I used store-bought tube form instead of fresh)
4 medium garlic clove(s), minced
1 cup(s) fat-free chicken broth, reduced-sodium
2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 lime zested
1 lime juiced
1 tbsp Sriracha
1/2 package of spaghetti cooked
1/2 cup(s) cilantro, leaves, fresh, coarsely chopped

Mix the broth, soy sauce, lime juice, lime zest and Sriracha together in a bowl.

In a cast iron pan, add the peanut oil and heat on high. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown on all sides.

Add scallion, lemongrass and garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute or until fragrant.

Add the mixture from the first step and simmer for about 4 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Add the mixture to the drained spaghetti and mix until combined. Then serve.

Christmas Card Update

Instead of making a bunch of posts about the Christmas cards I've made thus far, I decided to put them all in one. Saves a lot of time so I can make more right? You might've already seen a few of these but I retook pictures of them anyway. I'm not so concerned about friends or family seeing this since they won't know which one they're getting, so enjoy!