Worst week ever!

I'm really sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks! I've honestly had the worst week ever! My laptop got stolen at the gas station! Took them less than 2 seconds to open my door and grab my bag with my laptop, textbooks, and my sketchbooks! My sketchbook with years of my drawings in it!

And then on top of that I shattered my phone screen!

so it's just been a bad week.

But I'm back on the line with a new phone and new laptop (with a awesome decal, might I add).

So hopefully I'll be back on the blog soon!

Have a great day! Enjoy every second you get!    

More FOOD!

To celebrate the end of finals (wohoo! freedom!) I give ya'll a new recipe! Honey teriyaki glazed Turbot!

So, I planned this recipe to be made with Halibut, but unfortunately my local grocery store was out of Halibut that day. So I went with Turbot, a fish similar in texture, flakey but still meaty, and with similar mild taste. But for those of you who don't like a fishy smell, this fish is not for you. I'd go with a Tilapia or Sol, for a similar texture minus the fishy smell.

So on with the recipe!

I like to brine my fish in salt water with a couple tablespoons of vinegar. Especially a meaty fish like this, that won't break apart in the brine. So I let my 4 fillets sit in the brine as I prepared the glaze.

For the glaze you'll need:

1 cup honey

1/2 cup Soy sauce

1/2 Sriracha 

Juice of 1 lime (2 if your lime isn't very juicy)

1/4 cup vinegar

3-4 cloves of garlic; grated

About an inch of ginger; grated

1 stalk of green onion thinly sliced

Salt, pepper, and chilli flakes to tastes 

 Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. The mixture should be thick so it can stick to the fish. Massage the glaze into your fish and let sit for a couple hours to marinade. 

I took this time to make my garlic rice to go with my fish. I used regular long grain basmati rice and boiled it (1 cup rice to 2 cups water). After the rice softens, drain the water, and put the rice back in the pot on the heat to dry up the left over moisture. When your rice is dry, add grated garlic and thinly sliced green onion and mix. This makes a perfect, light side dish to go with your asian inspired fish.

I prepped my veggies (broccoli, asparagus, peppers, and pearl onion) with salt and pepper. I laid out a sheet on tin foil and put the veggies at the bottom, and my fish on top. This is where the thick glaze comes in handy. It sticks to the fish instead of puddling at the bottom with the veggies, which would make them soggy. 

Oh! don't forget to pre-heat your oven to 350F!

Close up the foil and bake the fish for about 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes is up, unwrap the foil, set your oven to a medium broil and let the fish sit for 5 more minutes. When your fish is fork tender, it is ready. 

Plate the rice, with the fish and veggies on top, and enjoy!

A pretty simple, healthy, and delicious meal!

Feeling 22...

So, last Saturday, the 5th, was my birthday! Woohoo! The big 2 2! And I planned a sort of "last minute" dinner with a few of my close friends and family (since, surprisingly, I got off work at 2pm instead of my usual 9:30pm). I chose SongKran Thai Kitchen in Uptown Galleria Houston as the venue. Having never been there, I trusted its "10 must try restaurants" rating in Culture map Houston. And it did not disappoint! After losing my reservation (my friends were all very late) we waited about an hour to get seated. But, the manager was more than accommodating! Constantly asking us if he can bring us something during the wait.  The restaurant is a bit small on the inside (seats about 50-60 people at most, I think) but the outside patio seating was lovely. He set up 2 heaters to help us combat the cold. And then brought out free virgin mojitos for the whole table (which he colored pink "for the pictures")

And the food! OMG the food! My mouth is watering just thinking about it! I started with the "son-in-law egg" which was a hard boiled, deep fried egg served with crispy fried onion and green onion on top, and a sweet and spicy sauce. The mix of flavors made me experience egg like I've never experienced before! For my main dish I got the Pad Phong Karii, which was a lobster and shrimp dish with dried yellow curry served with white rice. The mix of the sweet seafood with spicy curry was amazing! I'm glad I tried something a bit different, rather than the usual pad thai. I certainly was not disappointed. The food was totally worth the wait! Chef and owner Junnajet "Jett" Hurapan totally deserves the title of top restaurants in Houston!

Now lets talk about the outfit! I wanted to keep it simple and classy. I ordered the skirt off of "The Jay Sisters" page on depop, and boy did it make me feel like a princess! The soft cotton material made it light and wearable with just enough poof to make it glamorous. I paired it with a simple black cotton jersey top (well it was was actually a short skater dress) from Francesca's, Some Jessica Simpson suede pointed toe pumps (which I got on sale at Macy's!), turquoise and black and statement necklace (birthday present from my best friend who could not make it to the dinner *sadf face*), silver "Parker" watch by Micheal Kors, and "vintage" Micheal Kors side bag. I say vintage because my mom gifted me this bag back in 8th grade. 8 years ago! At a time when I didn't even know who Micheal Kors was!
I completed the look with a turban style hijab (medium grey viscous hijab from HouseofHaya.com), a simple wing liner, and a pop of color with my MAC "Ruby Woo" lips.
But the highlight of the night was just getting to spend some time with the ones I love. Getting to catch up and find out whats going on in each other's lives. We get so busy with our own lives that we forget to ask about each other's. So I cherish these moments where we can get together, share a meal and a laugh and just unwind. Forget about the finals coming up this week (eek!), put the phones away (except for the million pictures of course), and just focus on the people around you. I'm blessed to have such amazing people in my life!

What's going on with this world?!

So as I told ya'll,  I love to talk and debate. I love bringing up socio/political issues and discussing them.  Especially if the person I'm discussing with has some knowledge behind the stance they have taken. So here is my first socio/political "rant" *que applause*
So in light of recent events, the first thing I'm gonna do is say a pryer for the people and the families that were effected by the tragedy in Paris. May God grant the families of the lost lives patience to deal with the loss, and may He keep everyone else safe. May no other tragedy befall them, and may He  protect all innocent lives.
But as I'm praying for these french lives, I'm not going to ignore the rest of the world that was faced with tragedy that same day. The families of the 43 people that were killed in the bombing in Beirut. The 26 lives lost due to the violence in Baghdad. The lives and homes destroyed because of the earthquakes in Mexico and Japan. The mass lives lost in Nigeria.
So now, here's my main question, how many people showed their condolences for those lives lost? How many people even knew of the tragedies in places other than Paris? And why not?! Why don't people know about the tragedies that have taken the lives of people in countries other than France??
Selective empathy. People are picking and choosing the lives that matter. They decide who they care to mourn for and who they don't. Lives only matter based on how popular they are, the color of their skins, the religions they follow, and where they come from. All lives no longer hold the same value. Am I right?!
So I'm going to end my "rant" here. Looking forward to reading some of ya'll's opinions on the situations. So don't hesitate to comment!

TGIF!

Friday! Friday! Get to sleep in on Friday! When did the Friday anthem go from partying all night, to rejoicing the couple hours of extra sleep in the morning? Oh yea, when I got a job. My days pretty much look like this: Wake up at 7am, go to school till 4, work 5-9, homework till about 12am, eat somewhere in between, sleep and repeat. Sounds exciting, huh?! Hectic might be a better word. But Friday's... Beautiful beautiful Friday's... My day off from school, and work usually doesn't start till 2! So my version of a party is sleeping in until about 11, and treating myself to a yummy breakfast (since my usual breakfasts consist of an apple).

So here I have for ya'll, my first recipe! Ta-Dah! An easy to make, fulfilling, healthy (if you couldn't already tell) honey wheat avocado toast, with a poached egg on top! Sounds fancy, but trust me, it's super simple to make. 

You'll need: 

honey wheat toast 

Low fat cream cheese. 

An avocado

Lime

Eggs

White vinegar 

And seasonings (salt, pepper, paprika, chilli flakes. What ever floats your boat really) 

I start by taking a small sauce pan, filling it all the way with water and setting it on low heat.

While the water comes to a slow boil, I put my two slices of honey wheat bread in the toaster and begin making the spread. Take your low fat cream cheese (I like the whipped kind because it adds some fluffiness to my spread) and add it to a bowl. For two slices of bread I use one full tablespoon, but it's really up to you how much spread you want. Then I take my avocado (trick for telling wether or not your avocado is ripe: the little stem nub at the top of your avocado, when peeled off should have a nice yellow skin underneath. Green means unripe, and brown means overripe) and cut it in half. A simple way to make sure the avocado mixes well with the cream cheese is to kind of "shred" the avocado while it's still in its skin. You do this by running your knife in kind of a checker board pattern into the avocado (or a crazy slasher pattern like I do) before scooping it out. This gives you smaller chunks that will be easier to mash with the cream cheese. Add a pinch of salt and juice of half a lime to your avocado cream, and wa-lah! Your avocado spread is done! By this time you probably want to grab your toast. I like mine to be on the crunchy side, especially because adding the spread will soften it a bit.

Has your water come to a slow boil? Yes? Then add about a table spoon of the white vinegar to it (this helps the egg whites stay together) and turn the heat up to a medium low (still making sure the water doesn't boil too much). 

Crack you egg in a small bowl. Every egg you use should have its own bowl (this helps keep the shape of the egg when you add it to the water). Gently lower the bowl into the slow boiling water and tip the egg in. Let the egg cook for 5-6 minutes. You will see the whites starting to set. While your eggs are poaching, spread you avocado cream cheese on to your toast. I like to add a couple chilli flakes on top for a kick. When your egg whites are perfectly set, remove the egg using a slotted spoon. I like to hover over the sauce pan for a bit to make sure all excess water drains off the egg. Place the egg right on top of your avocado toast. Add some salt (I use Himalayan pink salt) and some course black pepper (I also add a pinch of paprika because I like my food on bit of the spicy side). Pour yourself a cup of coffee (or some  jasmine green tea for me) and enjoy! 

Meet the monkey

This is how Terry feels about us sharing our fun day secrets with ya'll!

Lets get started!

Life's busy, with school, work and all the responsibilities that come with being an adult (if only someone had warned me not to grow up!). And we, unfortunately, let ourselves be consumed by the pressures of our day to day lives. That's why we all need a little monkey business in our days! Need some good food, good conversation, and good times. So I will, with the help of an actual little monkey, introduce you to some of the ways I make my busy days a little more exciting through food, fashion, and a little fun!