Yu-ting's Cha Shiu Pork

                                             This was the main course of our dinner tonight, 

                                             Chinese Cha Shiu pork! I used my own recipe,

                                             which stemmed from a variety of others'. The

                                             recipe (marinate) is as follows:

                                             Chinese seafood sauce (or cha shiu sauce)

                                             Honey

                                             Soy sauce

                                             Freshly-squeezed orange juice

                                             sugar

                                             Chinese five-spices powder 

                                             lightly-smashed garlic

                                             some salt & pepper

                                             red pepper flakes

                                             *Sorry! I don't use measurement that much...

                                              Chinese seafood sauce and honey's ratio is about

                                               1 to 1. Soy sauce and orange juice's ratio is about

                                              1 to 1 too, but each of them respectively is about 

                                              1/3 of honey.

                                              A bit of Chinese five-spices powder goes a long

                                              way; in this case, 1 teaspoon should be plenty.

                                              *Marinate your pork in the fridge for at least 6 

                                              hours up to one or two nights.

                                              *Preheat the oven to 400 F and roast for 30 min.

                                              first and then brush the marinate (fresh one, not

                                              from the marinate bag) on the meat in every 10

                                              min. for about 4 times. Make sure you rotate sides.

                                              *Keep some water in the roasting pan while in the 

                                              oven for easy clean-up afterwards.

                                              

                                             Beautiful glaze! It was very tender and juicy!

                                             I also wrapped the pork, some radish, romaine 

                                             lettuce, and carrot with rice paper. Serve with

                                             simple Vietnamese dipping sauce (fish sauce,

                                             minced garlic, red pepper flakes, lime juice, 

                                             sugar, and water). Enjoy!

Can't wait to be BUSIER!

So that means I'm not busy enough, not even close!

It's been almost three weeks since we got back from Taiwan. Everything in Taiwan was great and we spent a terrific time with my family & friends. Eating like crazy in Taiwan somehow satisfied my craving for Chinese food and it would hold up for a while. If you still haven't got a chance to check out our Taiwanese album on facebook, please do so! I would have put up an album here if I could have known how to... (Does anyone who uses blogger know how to put up an album here?)

I am tutoring a couple of Americans Mandarin; it just a gig type-of-thing since the number is so tiny. I would like to be a certified Mandarin teacher though. I looked it up online for some certificate programs offered in the States but only found one result at Columbus University, New York. Yeah, it's no way for me to go there and participate in that program. My dimming hope...

I am picking up Japanese again and hopefully this time I can motivate myself for longer. Maybe I should set up a goal like, passing a Japanese proficiency test, or something like that, to make sure I would have a productive study outcome. Do you guys pick up any new hobby during the summer?

Diploma Arrived!

I'm officially a receiver of Master in Music in Ethnomusicology. 

Pasta with Tomato and Almond Pesto

I haven't tried this recipe yet! You may try and tell me how you like it! Check out www.cooksillustrated.com for more cooking tips on videos! 

PASTA WITH TOMATO AND ALMOND PESTO (PESTO ALLA TRAPANESE) 

from Cook's Illustrated, July & August 2009's issue  

Serves 4 to 6  

NOTE: A half teaspoon of red wine vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes can be substituted for the pepperoncini. If you don't have a food processor, a blender may be substituted. In step 2, pulse ingredients until roughly chopped, then proceed with the recipe, reducing processing times by half.  

1/4 cup slivered almonds 

12 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes (about 2 1/2 cups) 

1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves 

1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 teaspoon) 

1 small pepperoncini (hot pepper in vinegar), stemmed, seeded, and minced (about 1/2 teaspoon) 

table salt 

pinch red pepper flakes (optional) 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 

1 pound pasta, pregerably linguine or spaghetti 

1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/2 cup), plus extra for serving  

 

1. Toast almonds in small skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until pale golden and fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. Cool almonds to room temperature. 

2. Process cooled almonds, tomatoes, basil, garlic, pepperoncini, 1 teaspoon salt, and red pepper flakes (if using) in food processor until smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula. With machine running, slowly drizzle in oil, about 30 seconds. 

3. Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt and cook until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water; drain pasta and transfer back to cooking pot. 

4. Add pesto and 1/2 cup parmesan to cooked pasta, adjusting consistency with reserved pasta cooking water so that pesto coats pasta. Serve immediately, passing Parmesan separately.

I'm Back!

I was dreaming about updating my trip while staying in Taiwan and it didn't work out! I was as tired as I could possibly be and got dozed off before hitting the sack everyday. Well, now I am back! I was a little sad on the plane home and upset about the fact that I was coming back to U.S.A. (This means I need to say goodbye to awesome Taiwanese food and deal with the reality-paying bills, finding jobs and stuff). But it feels good and right to be home in Provo. After being washed by the heat and humidity in Taiwan, Provo's weather is like heavenly. I've heard that it would reach 100 degree soon around Friday but well...At least now I feel good without AC on.

So I will try to update and upload pictures from this trip ASAP. I probably will put up pictures on facebook first since it's the easiest way for me. That's for now, ciao!  

A Story.

Today, my cell's alarm went off at 8:00 in the morning. I struggled to get off the bed and I needed to be responsible to wake Trav too. After some fumbling around the house, both of us jumped into the car and left for Salt Lake City. The trip to the SLC USCIS office would lift the burden off my shoulder since I had not received my temp. green card at this moment. Well, I was supposed to receive the card about 3 weeks ago according to the welcome notice sent from USCIS. 

(Anyway, we really couldn't do much about other individual's timetable. In the past several weeks, I checked my mail box twice a day, anticipating THE card. NOPE. NOTHING.) 

So here we go. We had a quite pleasant 45-minute drive to the office and we were even 5 minutes early. When it came to our turn, we explained about our situation and requested to get my passport stamped with a special visa. I told the officer that I'm flying out on this Wednesday morning and I can't afford to wait on the (supposed-to-be-in-my-mail-box-a-million-years-ago) green card. After some contemplation, he stamped my passport and promised me that the card would arrive before the end of my trip. 

(And yes, this was my second time at the office for the same matter. I went there about two weeks ago to request the same thing but the officer of that day told me to wait for it. Why couldn't they just stamp my passport in the first time? Now it's 2.60 something per gallon!) 

Thus we brought back the stamped passport. As we pulled in the drive way, I went up to check our mail box. To my surprise, the mail box was filled with quite a pile; grocery Ads, a package from Gail (thanks to her sweetness to send me the program of BGSU's commencement), and, a mysterious envelope...I pinched and pressed the envelope, hoping to figure out what's inside, then my figure sensed an outline of a credit-card size square. 

Urrrrrrah. NO WAY. Was this it? I tore it open and spotted the trademark of USCIS. Men! Why? Why it came right after my appointment? Only 2 hours apart! AHHHHhhhhhhhHHHH!!!

So, this is the story of the day. I'm going back to pack now.

 

5 More Days to Go!

Ha! Can't wait! This morning when I woke up, I took a couple of minutes just laying in bed and imagining the moment when we arrive at the Taipei airport. My Mom has promised that my family will show up and pick us up from the airport. So the airport scene would be the first encounter of Travis and my family. How fun! (Sorry, If this is not the BEST attitude I should have...I know that Travis is pretty nervous about it...)

I think I will start packing today and I'm planning on taking only two luggage with us plus two items of carry-ons. I hope the airlines haven't launched the regulation to charge for carry-ons. By the way, by any chance if anyone knows  whether I am allowed to bring a 2-oz. sanitizer (flammable) on board? I need that to fight against the swine flu germs! 

I still have some errands to run before departure, such as getting gifts for my family! What would you get as a gift for your friends outside of the States? I have few ideas in mind but I would like to hear your say! (Besides, my family might be reading this blog and I don't want to spoiled the surprise by revealing my options!)  

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So Trav and I went to the Manti Pageant last night. The turnout of the crowd was pretty good concerning it was a weeknight. I was comparing the Manti one with the Nauvoo one and found the Manti one is more narrative-savvy whereas the Nauvoo one focuses more on performantive elements. I actually like Nauvoo Pageant better since it focuses only on the Saints' history in the Nauvoo period instead of attempting to encompass the entire story of LDS's migration (from New York to Utah) and the brief life of J. Smith, which the Manti pageant just did. Or maybe I'm just biased; I've always loved Nauvoo temple and the area, haha! One regret I have is that I didn't get married in Nauvoo temple but well, every temple is the Lord's house...

The Manti pageant lasted approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes. Afterwards, we took US-89 S. (about 15 miles south) to Gunnison and from there merged onto I-15 north to Provo. We were told to do so to avoid north traffic. Well, it still took us about 1 hour and 40 min. to get home. I just list this experience for the future references if somebody lives north wants to travel down to Manti to see the Pageant.