Christmas Eve Tonight

We visited Atlanta earlier this month instead of during Christmas time in order to celebrate Bc's 80 year old birthday. It is always so happy to see how well BC and Pat are doing. I had to tell BC that 80 is new 60 since 100 is common place now a day. I am always fascinated how meticulously they decorated for the Christmas, especially a old American town with many years collection from Stein Mart. Also sided with skating man given by us several years ago. So cozy and warm. BC was so intrigued by this glass ball to reflect sunshine over the wall and tirelessly moved into a optimal spot until sun finally went away.

I am waiting to post them until now. Merry Christmas and happy New Year, BC and Pat. I have to tell you that I am so lucky to have you in my life.

Happy holiday to everyone!

My Dream Is Still In the Pipeline

Just not sure how long it has elapsed since my last post. Really just lazy or not motivated or ... Well I did post some pictures once a while in my Facebook. But I can not believe that I have forgot my most loyal readers here - Pat and BC.

Finally I stepped out a tiny step to create my pipeline dream - my own brand which is culture meaningful and transcending. Here it is my first prototype which aims to just get touching and feeling. Those Zodiac characters are made by real Chinese peasant artists. Its imaginative purity makes it so authentic and inspires me.

Beautiful Morning

Evening Walk

David and Kevin's house is right on the edge of the desert. Kevin, Sammy and I took a nice walk before pot roast was slow cooked. Weather just could not be better. It was so pleasant. We walked about 25 minutes to see a reservoir. On the way back,we can see Restless Sin City under the dark from a distance.

Dinner Special

1. Green Lettuce Salad with home made toasted garlic bread
2. Mush potato with minced onion and diced roasted jalapeno
3. Grilled skirt Steak marinated with red wind, rosamary, black pepper

Lunch Menu

Cucumber Salad with Peanut Soy Dressing
Grill Cheese
Grape and Salami

Full Moon Right Above

It has been so pleasant outside and made us realize it would be so nice to read in the front porch after the night falls. It might even be perfect if we have a full moon right above. Well we have this super size paper lantern brought back from the very first trip to Montreal. It survived airport security check by barely escaping squeezing through inspection machine. Well it really is peaceful.

Back to the Basic

Sorry Ina, this is not your Barefoot Contessa. It is my basic- my garden this time. I worked in the garden for a quite bit today. Mainly cleaned up our back screened porch. Once a while, I go back to check the sanity of my plants. I always do basic maintenance such as watering and fertilizing. It keeps them live. But that does not necessarily give the charm and appealing they are meant to be. My itching hands touch and feel them once a while for better or worse. But intention is always good. Here they are

The Salad Du Jour

Sammy made its Ina Garten's recipe with all grilled with vegetables- Zucchini, red onion, potato, beet, bread with fresh tomato, local cheese and Salami. They are either from our garden or from our farmer's market. It can not be a complete lunch without Italian sparkling wine-Prosecco. Simply pleasant!

My Rabbit Update

I saw my outdoor pet several days ago in the backyard. When I moved to the front garden, he followed me and starting chewed my monkey grass a couple of feet from me. I guess that he is lonely as well. It puzzles me of why he is alone in the middle of the city.

Robert and John, This is warning! Be gentle and behave as a grow-up. I am showing my pet's picture now.

Beef Bourguignon

To dry beef pieces well is the secret to have a great beef bourguignon. That is what we were told in Julie&Julia. We just have to try to prove the difference it makes. That became a little job for me when Sammy apparently has not faded yet from the fever of Julie & Julia. I went to Farmer's Market and tried to find that perfect beef stew meat. I did not find beef stew meat but I did get a piece of beautiful round beef roast which can be chopped for the stew. I went back to the grocery to get carrots again for this dish.

Well we have something else special. It is golden chanterelles mushroom from our friend Laiyee's woods. I had it very first since I bought some from the market without knowing how delicious it is. It is not able to be cultivated and comes from wild period. It happened that Laiyee dropped by to give us her home-made black berry and straw berry sauce. So we invited Laiyee and Bob to share our beef bourguignon dish. Laiyee is a great baker who baked a beautiful peach pie and mozzarella tomato salad within two hours. As Bob tried to tell my mom, it was very luxurious dinner. Surely it is. $18 of a piece of beef, very expensive and hard-to-acquire mushroom, .... Most importantly, a lot of love and appreciation of fine cooking and above all, family and friends.

I suppose to post this a while ago. Well guess it is never too late to share the joy.

Chinese Lantern

I was fascinated with the plant that bears a small lantern-shaped pot first time I saw it. I was told exactly it is called Chinese Lantern plant. I managed to order a couple of plants. It was last winter and thought it was dead in my semi greenhouse. Well I found some sprouts coming up after the original branch dried up. I transplanted into the ground this spring. The plant is not interesting as I thought until it started bearing the lanterns. I cut them off before the lanterns are ruined by rain. It started looking nice after I cut off all the dried leaves.

After Julia and Julie

A Little Bunny

It has been stuck in my mind when our friend Robert one day told me affirmatively "Trust me, a little bunny is cute but he is dumb too". Not long after, we started noticing that a little baby bunny hopped around our garden even in the bright daylight and in the middle of monkey grass of our front yard next to a busy road. The first thing that went through my mind is if he eats my plants. Sammy insists that he only eats weeds and unwanted grass. I spot him just about every other days and he grows up in front of my eyes. It is a big relief that he always eats those weeds every time I see him. I have tried to take a picture of him for a while without success. Finally I saw him a couple days ago and run inside the house to grab my cam. This time he was still grazing outside. He has no fear around me and I can get close to a couple feet. Now I have it.

I wonder why I was so eager to have his pictures. Just prove how eco-friendly my mini surrounding is , or to be certified as wild life refugee if such thing in Athens, or just to prove that Robert's assertion is totally wrong. He is surely cute. I still have to prove that he is not dumb, don't I?