Favorite Picture for Today

Cooking Diary - Steamed Spare Ribs

This looks good and trust me, it tastes even better...

Cooking Diary - Curry Mango Chicken

I had curry mango chicken at a Thai restaurant once and fell in love with it.There's something about the combination of mango and chicken that just works. I tried my own version of mango chicken two days ago and it tasted GREAT! The secret source for this dish is "cream"...

Movie Diary - Julie & Julia

I am a big movie fan! I can watch movies all day (4-5 movies) and still have the excitement and attention to each story on screen. I am always curious and fascinated about how the next story will be told using the language of camera. I have a library card that allows me to rent movies for free but I have not used it for a long time. What a waste! Anyway, I began to rent movies recently from the library and found some that I really liked. I will start with my recent favorite.

Sweet! Charming! Yum!
I love food movies. From Disney cartoon "Ratatouille", romantic comedy "No Reservations", to Ang Lee's " Eat Drink Man Woman", these movies have drawn many interesting connections between food or cooking with love, faith and life. So does Julie & Julia. The story itself is interesting enough, not to mention Meryl Streep and Amy Adams' brilliant performance. It makes me want to laugh, want to live passionately and most important, want to cook! I am impressed by the French cooking and inspired by these girls. It makes me want to try a new dish every day as well (probably every other day, more realistically speaking). Maybe it is time to start a project like Julie Powell...

Cooking Diary- Chocolate Mousse Torte

I made my first chocolate mousse torte today and it definitely made my day! It is my second attempt to make a "fancy" dessert and I remember my first one is a black forest cake. It was so fun and I absolutely loved it! Here is the link for the recipe and everything.
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/chocolate-mousse-torte-114021.aspx
I am sure I will make it again sometime. Although I bought almost every ingredient with less fat, I still need to forget how much sugar, chocolate, cream cheese and cool whip I add in when I am enjoying my cake!

An Inspirational Message for Today!

Love this video. I feel inspired and strengthened and so proud to be a mom!

Emma is a month old and happy Valentine's day!

Emma is (finally)a month old yesterday(Jan.13). She has grown up a lot during the first month and brought so much joy into our lives. She is the first grandchild in both of our families and quickly become the center of attention of several generations. During the spring festival break, my parents and my two grandmas wanted to see her in skype everyday. They all gave me plenty of tips from how to hold her, how to feed her to how to educate her at early age every time we chat in skype. She is a lucky girl - so many people love her so much! Not to mention my mother-in-law, who stays with us since she was born, she is helping me take care of her everyday. I am sure Emma will be blessed with a very happy childhood with so much love, support and attention (just as I did).
Today is Valentine's day. It is our first valentine's as parents and it feels great. Hope that we can still be valentines to each other no matter how many children we have, haha....

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday is my 25th birthday. Jack bought me a black-forest cake.It looks great and tastes even better! It is my first birthday to celebrate with my new born daughter.It is very special to me. Being a mom has brought me infinite joy, fun,satisfaction. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to take care of this precious and beautiful little thing in my life. I will grow with her and share my life with her. I also appreciate my relationship with my parents more. I called them on skype on the morning and we gave each other birthday blessings on video chat. Since we have the same birthday(Feb.1), it is always the happiest day for my family every year to celebrate our birthdays together. My parents are very excited about their new status as grandparents as well. Emma reminds them me as a baby and them as new parents. It is the circle of life, the circle of love.