Valentine Day

This year we decided to make sushi! The whole experience was very fun. We had so much sashimi that it wasn't even funny.

We made tempura of cucumber, onion, avocado, zucchini, and shrimp. It was a lot of deep-frying. I will not be deep-frying anything for a long time from now.

We splurged a little and got day-caught scallops. They were so fresh and rich. I could never imagine how buttery and rich scallops can get. I made a garlic and sesame dressing to go with the scallops.

This was our first time rolling a sushi roll ever in our lives. We made a spicy scallop roll with strips of cucumber. It was a lot harder than we imagined.


Spicy scallop roll cut and plated.

Next up, we had the salmon and tuna roll with cucumber and cilantro.

Then we made our last and final roll which was the "Dragon" roll.

The rest were all salmon and tuna sashimi.

The meal was very satisfying. For something so simple looking as sashimi and sushi, the process of preparing it with care was quite difficult. I think I'll leave sushi rolling up to the professionals from now on. However, I will continue to eat slabs after slabs of sashimi by myself.

Valentine

For Valentine's Day this year, we decided to stay home and make another epic pizza because that was way more fun than dressing up and going out.

All the delicious ingredients are here! We even got the fancy pepperonis and sausages from the butcher. For the dough, he called a local pizzeria up and ordered some premade delicious dough.


In addition to the sausages and pepperonis, we also made spicy candied bacon for the pizza.


Yay! Everything is cut up and ready to go!


Dough is rolled and ready for some sauce action.


Can't be a true dough master until flour is all over face!


We poured a whole jar of sauce on the dough because I really love sauce. We had some fun laying out the goat cheese. Don't worry, we filled in the holes after this pretty picture.


Basils and onions.


Sausages, bacon, and pepperonis. Oh yeaaah.


Cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts, sliced jalapeno peppers, and more basils.


Topping off with shredded mozzarella.


Baked pizza! Whoohoo!


So beautiful and so delicious! Best night ever!

The 30th Year

In the first month of the year, I turned 30.


It was quite wonderful. It happened on a Friday so my friends came to have a lovely dinner with me. All planned by lovely Helen and Priyanka.


We ate cakes and stuff.


Everyone looked all posh and dressy for me.


They're totally trying to guess how old I really am.


If you guess wrong, no cake for you!


If you guess right, champagne for you!


Err...can we get both?


I came home and my sister got me this super delicious red velvet cake. It was the best red velvet cake I've ever eaten in my life!


Besides the presents of good company and love, I also get physical presents. My dad got me these nude shoes. I'm now a grown up with nude shoes!


My mom got me warm fuzzy socks! My parents really care about how my feet look and feel.


In addition to the cake, my sister also got me this awesome PDF maker. I'm going to make everything a PDF! Rawr!


One more special present from someone super special. I was told that this box contained flowers ordered all the way from Russia.


Then why were they in a Japanese box?


The "Russian flowers" were really sharp....I tested this knife. It is the most awesome knife ever. If I had this knife as a kid, I would never hate the chore of being a prep cook.


The first 30 years of my life was really eventful and I'll even say that it was successful. I've done things that I wanted to do. I've reached goals that I set out for myself. Generally, I spent more time being happy than experiencing other emotions. There are still a bunch of things that I have yet to accomplished. How about I accomplish them in the next 30 years?