Read My Latest Work on Storyloom - Cozy Sci-Fi and Spy Parodies

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, when I am not shooting food or testing recipes, I’ve been writing interactive fiction on StoryLoom. I have been really loving this job. I suffer pretty bad imposter syndrome when it comes to my food photography; maybe because I shoot everything on my iPhone, or maybe because so much of whether I’m happy with my photos depends on things outside of my control like lighting and the weather. But I actually feel quite confident in my fiction writing skills! Which is why I hope you will check out my work.

On Storyloom, I write stories where you—the reader—get cast as the main character and you can choose your own adventure. It’s not quite like reading a novel because you’ll be prompted to make choices along the way that can impact how the story turns out. There’s also fun background and character art—so it’s part game, part graphic novel. It’s also great for people who appreciate the written word but don’t have the attention span for long form fiction (like me).

Important Note: If you are viewing this on your phone from a link I shared on Instagram, please note that links to StoryLoom are not accessible through the Instagram browser. You will need to copy+paste the links below into a browser on your computer. Or complete this form so I can send you all this info by email.

Here’s the quick info on how to get to my stories:

1. Visit the StoryLoom website using a browser (Google Chrome strongly recommended) on your COMPUTER. (The team is working hard on a mobile-friendly version but right now the mobile experience is very buggy.)

2. Sign up with your Google account. They are currently in open beta so it is free to sign up, and you’ll get access to play and read interactive stories from a variety of genres! (Note that open beta also means there might be some bugginess from time to time.)

3. Visit one of the links to my stories below. OR click on “All Stories” and do a Ctrl+F or ⌘+F to search for the title.

4. Enjoy reading and playing through the story for FREE!

My latest stories on StoryLoom:

The Light Between Skies

Genre: Cozy Sci-Fi

Link: https://storyloom.com/stories/lilybubbletea-the-light-between-skies?id=b2c3b952-4eef-d45c-4fd1-211835af1628

A story about the cutest and fuzziest little alien. This one is loaded with a bunch of pretty art I created on MidJourney and I was inspired by Studio Ghibli and Cowboy Bebop to tell a story of friendship and adventure. (This work is in progress, so I’ll be releasing more chapters next month!)

Tomorrow Never Spies

Genre: Spy Parody

Link: https://storyloom.com/stories/lilybubbletea-tomorrow-never-spies?id=fcc2f278-3f95-cba7-7f69-373e799b52ef

I tell people this is like the spy genre’s version of Star Trek: Lower Decks. You’ll play as an introverted data analyst who has to team up with a dashing intelligence agent to save the world! A silly comedy set in a fictional—but familiar—world of VR headsets, awkward tech billionaires, and contagious viruses.

There’s Been a Murder!

Genre: Murder Mystery Anthology

Link: https://storyloom.com/stories/lilybubbletea-theres-been-a-murder?id=94c32655-8b73-4c15-c8aa-5a1147ad462f

Each chapter is a new mystery where you’ll look for clues and interview witnesses to solve the crime!

Previous works:

Last year, I also wrote a cozy mystery called Tea with Scream and Sugar—a story about an Asian-American food writer from a small town that * coincidentally * really resembles me. You can read more about that piece here.

Having trouble with StoryLoom?

Accessing StoryLoom can be tricky if you found this blog post through the Instagram app. Shoot me a DM on Instagram or complete this form so I can reach you by email if you are interested in reading my work but are having trouble accessing the StoryLoom site.

Thanks for reading!!!

Read My Interactive Cozy Mystery - Tea with Scream and Sugar on Storyloom

I haven’t been creating as much content for my Instagram lately, and it’s because I have been working on another exciting project instead!

If you love reading cozy mysteries, stories that involve many descriptions of food, or stories starring Asian-American women, I would love for you to check out the interactive story that I am writing on StoryLoom called Tea with Scream and Sugar.

Here’s the quick info on how to get to it:

1. Visit the StoryLoom website

2. Sign up with your Google account. They are currently in open beta so it is free to sign up, and you’ll get access to play and read interactive stories from a variety of genres!

3. Click on this link to go directly to my story, Tea with Scream and Sugar. OR click on “All Stories” and do a Ctrl+F or ⌘+F to search for the title, Tea with Scream and Sugar

4. Enjoy reading and playing through the story for FREE!

(Update for if you’re arriving to this blog post via Instagram: Sometimes Google does not like it if you are trying to view these links while still in the Instagram app. If you run into trouble logging in, please copy/paste this link into a browser app like Google Chrome instead: https://storyloom.com/stories/8ec26a08-cfd0-89a8-af3f-6d35141c1804 )

A little more about the platform:

StoryLoom is a platform for reading, creating, and sharing interactive fiction. Unlike reading a regular ol’ analogue novel, with interactive stories, you the reader can play as the main character, and you’ll be faced with choices along the way that will impact how the story unfolds. Do you remember the Choose Your Own Adventure book series? It’s a lot like that, but something you can play on your computer or phone.

StoryLoom is currently in open beta, so it is free to sign up (all you need to do is log in with your Google account) and free to play other creators’ stories (like mine!) or even create and publish your own. If you’ve been wanting to write your own fiction and have been seeking a place to share it with the world, this is an awesome platform to do so. (Plus, the people working on it are seriously super lovely!)

What is Tea with Scream and Sugar?:

The story I am working on is a cozy murder mystery starring an Asian-American woman named Iris (yes, a flower name), set in a small fictional town in the California’s Central Valley (which is, not coincidentally, where I grew up). As of the time of this blog post, there are 7 chapters available for you to play and I anticipate there will be 12 total chapters to complete the story. My goal is to finish it by the end of the year!

If you are unfamiliar with the cozy mystery genre, think of something like Murder, She Wrote or Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple character. It’s the opposite crime genre to a gritty hardboiled detective noir story. The main character is typically a woman who is smart and observant but not a professional detective. The setting is usually a small, quaint town where lots of people know each other. And often the main character’s identity revolves around some kind of cozy activity or interest, like writing, cooking, scrapbooking.

Here is the synopsis for Tea with Scream and Sugar:

Food writer Iris Hu returns to sleepy Appledale for the big opening weekend of her friend's quirky fusion cafe. She's looking forward to tasty treats and cozy cups of tea but she never expected a sinister mystery to be on the menu. When several cafe patrons end up ill—and in one case, dead!—it's up to Iris to save her friend, and herself, from the town's darkest skeletons.

True to my own form, you can expect lots of descriptions of yummy food, and I think the best compliments I have received so far on it are that reading my story has made people hungry!

But beyond that, I’ve really taken the saying “write what you know” to heart while working on this story, so there’s a chance you’ll get to know me more by reading it. Like myself in real life, the protagonist is a daughter of Chinese immigrants, who grew up among a predominantly conservative white population; the growth into someone who is prideful for their heritage after overcoming a childhood of struggling to fit in is very much a part of the story. It’s a topic I have covered a lot in the past through what I’ve shared on Instagram, and I am hoping the way I have depicted it in Tea with Scream and Sugar is genuine and relatable for other people who grew up in situations like mine. Furthermore, the story explores challenges that Asian immigrants face in the restaurant industry, how marginalized groups are treated in seemingly quaint Americana-vibey towns, and how (spoiler alert!) closed-mindedness is a villain that can live inside seemingly regular people.

If you’ve read this far, I am so grateful for your interest and support in my work, and I really hope you like the story! Here’s the info once again for how you can go play through it:

1. Visit the StoryLoom website

2. Sign up with your Google account. They are currently in open beta so it is free to sign up, and you’ll get access to play and read interactive stories from a variety of genres!

3. Click on this link to go directly to my story, Tea with Scream and Sugar. OR click on “All Stories” and do a Ctrl+F or ⌘+F to search for the title, Tea with Scream and Sugar

4. Enjoy reading and playing through the story for FREE!

Learning to Crochet in the Round

A couple of months ago, I decided to learn how to crochet. This blog post is about my journey as a beginner and some resources that I found to be incredibly helpful to me for completing my first project.

I had done some very basic crocheting back when I was in college, but being that my brain has very limited storage these days, I felt I had completely deleted any knowledge of how to crochet and was effectively going to need to start as a complete newbie. I’d also never learned how to read or follow a pattern, or how to “crochet in the round” (which I learned means to crochet round and round in a circle) and this time, I wanted to make things that were actually functional.

When I first began this endeavor, I started by looking at a written pattern for something I wanted to make. As someone brand new to reading crochet patterns, it felt as if I was trying to read a secret code! I was completely intimidated. But then I remembered that my old friend Google was always there to help me. I had jumped into things too quickly, but pulling back and getting an understanding of the basics quickly made everything feel much more accessible. These are the things that really helped me get started with making this jute and yarn basket!

Helpful YouTube Videos for Learning to Crochet

How to Read a Basic Crochet Pattern by Crochet with Tiffany

This video walks through the 5 most basic stitches: chain, slip stitch, single crochet, half double crochet, and double crochet. And for each one, the name, abbreviation, symbol, and a video demonstration of how to do the stitch is given in a way that is very easy to follow. After watching this video, I immediately had a clear idea of how to read a beginner pattern that used some combination of these stitches.

Reading Written Patterns by Simply Daisy

This video also walks through common abbreviations of stiches and other abbreviations found in written crochet patterns, and gives clear video demos on how to do each thing. This video included some more advanced information that the previous video did not, so I felt like it was a good follow-up while broadening my knowledge.

Some key things I learned in this video were the terms “front loops only”/”front post” and “back loops only”/”back post”. When you make a crochet stitch, it creates a V shape. When you make a new stitch on top of it, most of the time, you insert your crochet hook under the whole V. But sometimes you only go under one of the sides of the V. That’s what front/back loops are referring to. It will make more sense when you watch the video! (That being said, I realized after completing my first project that I did the entire thing wrong, using the “back loops only” process. Oops! But the project still turned out looking and functioning exactly how I wanted!)

Amigurumi Basics for Beginners by Ollie + Holly

Amigurumi is a term borrowed from Japanese that refers to the art of crocheting mini stuffed creatures. They usually have spherical heads and rounded bodies.

For my first project, I wanted to make a round basket to hold my crochet supplies—super functional and kinda meta! So, I wasn’t planning on making an amigurumi sphere, but I did need to learn how to “crochet in the round”. I found that watching the whole process of how to make a sphere in the video above allowed me to get a feel for what my own rounded project would entail. I found the manner and voice of the person in the video to be slow and pleasant to listen to.

This video also showed me how to make a “magic circle” which is the way you start many projects that are crocheted in the round.

How to Fasten Off by Red Heart Yarn

This is the video I watched to learn the term “fasten off” or tie a knot to end the project and detach it from the ball of yarn. The voiceover sounds a bit robotic but the video helped me clearly understand the step.

More Helpful Links for Learning How to Crochet

I still really like using step-by-step written instructions to learn stuff, rather than having to pause/replay videos. I basically just watched all the above videos once and then referred to written instructions when I needed help for each step of my project. I found the website sarahmaker.com to be easy to follow. Specifically, these links helped me with my project.

• How to Crochet a Magic Ring

• How to Crochet a Flat Circle

• And if you are truly brand new to crochet, I think this page is a very helpful resource: How to Crochet

At the end of my project, I followed these instructions for an invisible seamless join by Crochet 365 Knit Too for what to do with the very last stitch of my round basket, to get a nice seamless finish. This one is not really a crocheting basic but I am including this here mostly for myself to get back to these instructions in the future!

Starter Kit for Crocheting Newbies

To get started on your first crochet project, you will also need the right tools! The most important things are yarn and needles, of course. Having a whole set of crochet needles in varying sizes is useful if you think you will stick with crocheting multiple projects; this way you will have what you need for any yarn size.

Here is the link to the starter kit that I bought** (affiliate)

At the time of this blog post, the kit is only $7 and it comes with a bunch of crochet needles in different sizes, plus tapestry needles and stitch markers. Honestly this is an incredible deal.

• Tapestry needles are used to weave your yarn tail into your piece at the end of the project or to stitch crocheted things together; they are like blunt-tipped sewing needles with big eyes for threading yarn through. The ones from this kit feel sturdy enough and come in a cheap but useful little tube with a cap.

• Stitch markers are for keeping track of a specific stitch and they work just like safety pins but not as sharp; the ones that came with this kit were pretty low-quality but this is the least essential tool in the kit anyway. If you end up hating these, you could use a paper clip or a safety pin.

• I found the aluminum needles themselves to have a good weight to them and they are comfortable for me to use; in contrast, I found a super lightweight plastic crochet needle in my crafting box from college and did not like the feel of that one at all.

I definitely recommend this kit! I use one of those pink pouches from Glossier to hold everything together (thank you to my friend Taleen for gifting me the pouch).

My First Crocheting Project

And finally, here is the info on my first project.

I thought, what better way to start than to make something that I can use to hold all my crocheting supplies? I made this basket by following this pattern from Crochet 365 Knit Too, with some major caveats. The pattern uses two strands at a time to get a bulkier look, but I think that is too complicated for a beginner like me who is just getting used to making the stitches and understanding what they should look like. So for both the jute and yarn sections, I just used materials that were thicker than the ones noted in the pattern, and did everything as a single strand. Also, as I mentioned before, I was not a very good student to all the teaching materials I listed, because I was connecting the stitches completely wrong the whole time! I didn’t even realize until I started learning how to read the pattern for my next project that I was doing all my stitches through the “back loops only” instead of building the stitches wholly on top of one another. So there is pretty much no way I’ll ever be able to exactly replicate this basket again, but I am quite proud of how it turned out.

I think this basket took me about 4–5 sessions that were 1–1.5 hours each. They were just spaced out over a really long time because travel, other projects, and distractions of life really killed my momentum. Also, about halfway through I spilled an overly-sweet mango tea all over it and had to rinse it off, which relaxed the stiffness of the jute and for a while I was really disheartened by that. IMPORTANT LESSON: Don’t let your yarn get caught on the straw of your drink!!!

Anyway, I hope this is helpful to someone out there who wants to learn how to crochet. And even if no one reads down to this point, at least I have this blog post for myself to refer back to when I eventually delete all this information from my brain and want to learn how to crochet all over again.

Food Photography with a Phone - Interview with the My Food Lens Podcast

GO STRAIGHT TO THE PODCAST EPISODE >>

Yes, it’s true—everything that you see on this website, as well as my Instagram, to-date, was shot and edited on my iPhone X.

How I got here was entirely from a combination of happenstance and laziness but at this point, one thing I am most proud of with my work is becoming a champion of phone photography. If I can help others feel encouraged to see that the quality of a photo is about the skill of the photographer and not having “better” (read: more expensive) camera gear, I can die happy knowing I made a positive impact on the world, helping to make one form of artistic expression feel more accessible to more people.

My friend Dyutima recently gave me the opportunity to share this message by inviting me onto her podcast, My Food Lens. This was such a fun experience for me; being someone who doesn’t absorb information as well through audio input, I actually had never listened to a podcast at all prior to listening to my own interview! I was actually pretty shocked, and pleasantly surprised, that listening back to my own voice did not feel completely obnoxious to me, and I am so grateful for the positive feedback I have received so far. Dyutima made me feel like I was just chatting away with a friend that I was meeting “face to face” for the first time, after corresponding for so long via direct messages.

In the episode linked below, I tried to share answers to the following questions:

• Phones can be tricky because of their wide angle lens and lens distortion. What would be your 5 main tips for killer phone photography?

• How important is light in phone photography? How do you work with light shooting with a phone? Do you use manipulators, is there a specific part of the house you shoot in?

• What are your key styling techniques that are suited for photographing with a phone?

• What is your editing application of choice and are there any hacks you can share?

• Has photographing with a phone ever held you back from approaching clients or striking a deal?

• Is it challenging to work with brands if one photographs with a phone? How do you navigate through it?

• Who would you say phone photography is for? Influencers, social media content creators, professional photographers?

• If someone chooses to shoot with a phone, how can they grow as a photographer? What skills should they focus on to improve their photography?

If you’ve been wishing to learn more about my process for shooting and editing all my photos on my phone (including all my client work!), give one of these a listen:

A Festive Champagne Brunch Done My Way

As the weather is finally starting to cool over here in San Francisco and we’ve finally started to get some much-needed rain, it finally feels right for me to shift my creative brain towards thinking about the festive season. It’s at this time of year that my mind is pulled to two extremes—I either want to be cozied up at home, warming my house with the smell of things baking in the oven and simmering on the stove, or traveling off to snowy places with charming town squares illuminated with holiday lights. Now that I’ve started busting out the fall-scented candles, I’m daydreaming about styling big platters of food and finding excuses to invite friends over for bubbly (but also about the prospect of actually getting to travel to someplace festive for the holidays this year). I am not big on family gatherings, but I do love so much the opportunity to celebrate small things with the people who are dear to me, and while that’s something we should do all year round, there is something about crisp cool air and gloomy skies that makes me crave that togetherness in my home.

For this blog post, I got to partner with Champagne Taittinger; founded in 1734, they are one of the last remaining family-owned and operated champagne houses. I am sharing an idea for a festive brunch idea to pair with Taittinger’s Les Folies de la Marquetterie, a wine that was created to be a tribute to autumn and those feelings of being at home. It mirrors a fall palette in its golden color and has delicate bubbles that remind me of the twinkling lights of the European Christmas markets in my daydreams. To me, it tastes very bright at first and then has a finish that is kind of oaky; in the tasting notes, it says it is “full-bodied and fruity on the palate with golden peach flavors leading to a finish with light woody notes”. It is a full flavored and complex champagne, so they recommend that it be paired with something robust like roasted meats.

I paired Taittinger’s Les Folies de la Marquetterie with Cantonese roast duck from a local restaurant and homemade waffles with scallions and lap cheong (sweet Chinese sausage) in the batter. The combination of duck and waffles was inspired by a brunch restaurant in London that I visited during Christmastime in 2019, so when I think of a festive brunch, I think of this combination! I thought it would be fun to style them together on this big vintage platter that I recently found on one of my antiquing hunts and I filled it out with slices of cara cara oranges, fresh jujubes, and lots of fresh herbs.

When you think of champagne pairings, you probably do not think of Cantonese roast meats. However, I recently came across this article on Food52 about why champagne goes with Chinese takeout. The article goes into how the two are perfect for one another because the bubbles of champagne allow you to better savor foods that are greasy by cleansing the tongue with every sip and its acidity provides balance when you are eating foods that are savory-sweet. So, although a Cantonese roast duck was probably not top of mind when roasts were noted as the recommended food pairing for Les Folies de la Marquetterie, I saw an opportunity to present a food from my childhood and my culture in a different light. And what I learned from that article was totally true! The succulent duck tasted sooo delicious with the champagne; taking a sip of it in between bites made each bite feel as if I was tasting the yummiest duck for the first time. 

I think most Westerners do not see Cantonese roast duck as a delicacy because of its typical presentation—I am talking about the ones you see hanging in the windows of bakeries in Chinatown or in the hot deli of Asian supermarkets—but for me, it is very much a special occasion food. If you go to one of these at Chinese New Year, they will be absolutely packed with uncles and aunties trying to order their siu ngap (roast duck) and siu yuk (roasted pork belly with crackling skin). Getting a roast duck was always a special treat when I was young, and I loved everything about it from savoring the fattiest parts of the skin that the rest of my family didn’t want to the soup my parents would make by simmering the bones with pickled mustard greens afterwards. Now that I am grown and living in an area with so many local shops that sell them, I can get a roast duck whenever I want and I can make whatever sides I want—even waffles!—but it will always feel like a special occasion when I bring one home.

I was thrilled that Taittinger was willing to give me the opportunity to share this idea of pairing Chinese roast duck with their beautiful champagne. As you may know if you’ve read the captions of many of my Chinese food posts on my Instagram, I have been actively trying to present the foods of my culture in a way that showcases its complexity and deliciousness, as well as its worth. For too many too often, Chinese food is only known as cheap and ugly, despite its rich history and the sheer volume of possibilities it brings to the palate with all of its regional nuances. I am always so grateful to work with a brand that supports my efforts to rewrite the narrative of Chinese food in America and it means so much to me that Taittinger allowed me to showcase their special festive offering alongside a nostalgic dish. I am so proud to work with a brand that has such a rich heritage and prestige of its own, yet is still so open to diverse ideas. 

Truth be told, I am not an expert when it comes to sparkling wines and their pairings, but duck is prominent in French cuisine just as it is in Chinese cuisine, and both cultures have iconic ways of preparing it that are absolutely delicious. So to me, sharing the duck dish that I grew up with as a pairing with this lovely champagne made lots of sense. No one would question pairing champagne with duck confit or duck à l'orange so this meal is my Chinese-American spin on that. If you are like me and colder days put you in the mood for celebrating things big or small, I hope you will consider making one of Taittinger’s champagnes a part of your celebration, and I hope that this post inspires you to think outside of the typical pairings to bring along a dish that is special to you.

Thank you so much to Champagne Taittinger for sponsoring this post!

Photoshoot for Hanabi Cakes

Hanabi is a local bakery that makes really lovely Asian-style cakes that are so adorable and not too sweet. They offered to gift me some cakes in exchange for sharing some photos of them in my Instagram stories. I usually only agree to do this if it is a restaurant or product that I already love, or if the company agrees to send me the sample obligation-free, meaning I do not have to post anything about them if I don’t end up liking it. However, I had heard good things about Hanabi and wanted to help a local Asian-run business!

I ended up really genuinely liking the cakes. They are tiny and perfect for my household because we like to end the evening with a little sweet treat but are not hugely into cake. I also ended up really liking the photos I took; this romantic/hygge tea party vibe is my favorite kind of theme to style and photograph, and sadly I don’t get to do it very often!

February 2021 Favorites

This month was emotionally challenging for me. Every day, I felt bombarded with articles about hate crimes against elderly Asian people. In my culture, we don’t call adults Mr. and Mrs. when we are young, we call them uncle or auntie, or the Chinese words for granduncle/grandauntie if they look hella old. Complete strangers are still uncles and aunties. Even when you are an adult, anyone who is obviously older than you is your auntie or uncle. So, when we see our elderly getting bullied—in some cases even being pushed to their deaths—because of anti-Asian xenophobia, it’s heartbreaking; it feels like the victim is a part of our collective family. It definitely put a dark cloud over Lunar New Year, which is normally our most festive time.

I’ve decided to use these monthly favorites posts as a time to also reflect on the month that has passed, and I couldn’t do that this month without touching upon the subject that was in my thoughts so much. I am grateful my parents are safe (they even got their first dose of the vaccine this month!) and that I am safe. But I know others who look like us haven’t been so lucky.

On a more optimistic note, I have started planting in my garden. For several years now, I have been planting tomatoes and veggies right before spring starts. I am starting early this year because I have nothing else to do and because SF has had a crazy mild winter—which feels all the more insane in contrast with the winter storms in the rest of the country. I am not an expert about when to plant so please don’t ask me questions. But I’ll probably share more about this topic next month.

Random Product Favorites

Vinyl Backdrop from Club Backdrops in Sandstone

I found myself reaching for this Club Backdrops Sandstone backdrop a lot this past month. It looks tan/sand colored on their site but with my edits it often ends up subtly peachy-pink. I try not to spend a lot on my backdrops; my earlier photos were shot with either a cheap-ass foamboard from the craft store or some abandoned wooden crates I salvaged from a parking lot. I just started investing in “nicer” props as of Black Friday last year but I am still really frugal about my backdrops. Club Backdrops has a great 3 for 2 deal so I bought three and this is the one I love the most. They are definitely not the most ideal; the material is stiff so it doesn’t lie flat without the corners being weighted down but they do wipe clean pretty nicely and the printing is nicer than vinyl backdrops I have purchased elsewhere.

Stoneware Planter by Opalhouse for Target

Bought this little planter from Target and I just love how it is the same color as my skin—something that is Very rare to find as a tan Asian. They come in other different sizes and shades too! Mine is the 4-inch in “light brown”. There is a kind soul in my neighborhood who puts out a box of cuttings and seedlings outside of his house on Fridays, so I picked up this little bb pothos seedling from him. I hope I don’t kill it.

Oolong’s Lunar New Year Lion Dance Costume

The dog costume I never knew I needed until I saw it! I am not really into dressing up my dogs but Lunar New Year felt different this year and I decided to indulge. Seeing my dog Oolong bop around erratically while running around in this (because the hood went over her eyes and she couldn’t see where she was going!) really did remind me of the playfully jerky movements of a lion dance and it was just too funny. The costume was surprisingly detailed and durable feeling. You can get one for your dog or cat here**! Oolong is a shih tzu-yorkie-generic terrier mutt mix of about 13 pounds and I got her a size 16, which fits her length and torso perfectly. I found that reading the reviews was very helpful for determining what size to buy.

Favorite Rejects

This section is dedicated to memorializing the photos that won’t be making it to my feed.

I snapped this as a really quick photo for my Insta stories but I ended up really liking it so I want to hold onto it here, too. Mandarin oranges/satsumas/tangerines are a really big part of Chinese New Year. Their name in Cantonese sounds the same as the word for gold, and plus they kind of resemble gold coins in appearance, so these are usually exchanged among friends as wishes for luck and prosperity.

I might still post this on Instagram. I’m on the fence. Please share your opinion in the comments! I was inspired by Ethiopian and Eritrean family style meals, and how there is a giant piece of injeria at the bottom of the platter with all the stews on top. I wanted to apply that concept to a fluffier flatbread (I used a naan recipe here) with other delicious toppings and dips piled on top for a really hands-on meal, but I think it ended up being too much chaos the way I styled it. I love how the colors and textures turned out though, so maybe this will be rescued from its reject status someday.

Another one that I am still very on the fence about. A while back my friend Sandy challenged me to make a pie that looked like the fish pie from the movie Kiki’s Delivery Service. I decided to make a mini salmon pot pie version, but I have never made an individual pot pie before and forgot to account for the major shrinkage of the crust dough after baking. I also underestimated how long this simple and cute fish design would take me relative to more elaborate pastry art I have done in the past so I was really stressing about losing the light from the sun and had to take it out for photos before it was the right shade of golden brown. I think my fish is pretty accurate to the movie, but I wish the photo was sharper and that the overall pie looked a little more polished. Let me know what you think in the comments—is it still insta-worthy?

other Random Favorites

Favorite Netflix Binge: American Horror Story: 1984. Definitely not my favorite season of AHS but in general I adore this show (if it is possible to adore something filled with truck-tons of gore) so much so this was still my favorite thing that I watched this month. The progression was similar to the prior season, Apocalypse, in that there are two very distinct acts. I didn’t find the characters as lovable or compelling this season and it was weird to have an AHS without Evan Peters. But the ‘80s fashion and music throwbacks were pretty rad. If you are an AHS fan, please let me know below! My favorite seasons are Murder House, Coven, and Hotel.

Favorite Video: This footage of an adorable Chinese baby and their makeshift dim sum cart.

Thanks for reading! Let me know in the comments what were the highlights of your February 2021!

January 2021 Favorites

I got some lovely positive feedback from my 2020 Favorites post, so will try to make this a regular monthly thing. I’m starting out strong by actually getting this post done in a timely manner, but we will see how it goes for the rest of the year!

I spent this past January mostly at home due to the latest lockdown, really leaving the house only for grocery shopping and picking up takeout. I shot Lunar New Year ideas and recipes that I’m excited to share with you guys. I binged watched the latest season of Great British Bake-Off, which I had very mixed feelings about. I had a lot of exciting preliminary talks with potential clients and partners. And I breathed a big sigh of relief on Inauguration Day. We actually got some decent days of rain here in San Francisco, which allowed me to feel productive, since I can shoot more on rainy days. Overall, not a bad month at all, and I continue to be grateful for my uneventful life and my health.

Here are some things that I loved over the course of this past month.

Food and Cooking Favorites

Pink Oyster Mushroom Mini Farm from Far West Fungi

If you’re reading my blog, then you probably already saw in my Instagram stories how obsessed I am with this pink oyster mushroom mini farm from Far West Fungi. It was by far the most exciting thing happening in my January. I picked mine up from their Ferry Building shop for $25 and I was able to grow the prettiest mushrooms I have ever seen in my life in a matter of days. The image directly above shows what the little growing kit looked like after 6 days and the image at the top of this post shows them when I harvested on Day 9 (I harvested them a day later than I should have). Maintenance for these mushroom babies is super simple—just follow the instructions that come with the kit (as simple as cutting slits in the plastic wrapping to make holes for the mushrooms to grow through and cutting air holes in a plastic bag), keep the farm inside the provided plastic bag in indirect sunlight, and gently mist the inside of the bag daily. The farm is expected to grow at least 3 mini crops of mushrooms like this. Considering the amount of happiness and entertainment I got out of it with even the first crop—it made me excited to spring out of bed in the morning to see how much they grew overnight— I think it is totally worth the price, which is less than two movie tickets (back when that was a thing)! They have other mushroom varieties too, but of course I am very happy with the pink one!

Black Garlic

I have already written many loving tributes to black garlic on Instagram because it has been one of my favorite ingredients as of late. I am a big garlic lover in general but black garlic is a different flavor entirely. It is made by caramelizing garlic in a limited temperature range over a very long amount of time until all the sharpness of raw garlic is gone and what remains is a dark, soft, sticky deliciousness that is naturally sweet, similar to very slowly caramelized onions. I get mine from local Korean markets like The K Market and my mind was blown when I first peeled back the papery brown skin to see that the entire bulb was one giant clove! I love mashing it up and then blending it into creamy things like mashed potatoes and cream cheese. So freaking good!

Miso Butter from Churn

I think butter in general is pretty high up there on the list of Lifetime Favorites, but this month I was blown away by this miso flavored butter by Churn. [Full disclosure, I received this as an obligation-free gifted sample from Churn.] When I learned about Churn’s flavored butter products, I thought of course flavored butter would be awesome, but I was skeptical about what would set them apart from making my own compound butter at home. This miso flavor truly stood out as more than the sum of its parts—a moreish spread that is creamy with a rich special umami. I struggle with making miso flavored things myself because there are so many types of miso and they are all so nuanced and I never know which to use or how much. But the ratios and flavor combinations in this miso butter are just perfect. Spreading this butter on some good bread is incredible already but I’ve also melted it into some mushrooms and ramen, and each was made more divine because of it.

Favorite Rejects

These photos won’t be making it into my Instagram feed but I thought they were worth memorializing anyway.

I tried making pink mooncakes using powdered freeze dried raspberries for coloring but they just did not bake up well for a number of reasons: 1) I learned from others afterwards that freeze dried fruit does not retail color well in baking. Someone suggested beetroot powder might be a little better; 2) Alkaline water. A common ingredient in normal mooncakes to produce a signature golden brown exterior, but I temporary omitted from my brain that alkaline + acidic fruit = color change; 3) My overall shoddy eggwash job—this was just a straight up fail on my part.

I made this pretty damn delicious sandwich out of leftover fried chicken from Voodoo Love. Will probably write more about them another time because their Creole Nouveaux menu is amazing. But for now, I shoved some of their giant chicken pieces into cheesy everything buns that I made myself by adapting this recipe by Ariel Lee. Shoved in some little gems lettuce, pickles, pickled red onions, and a spicy-sweet mayo I made with honey and and Sichuan chili oil as well. Snapped this really quick photo with no intentions of it ever going on my feed before shoving this in my face hole.

I saw my friend Hanna make faux crab cakes from lions mane mushrooms and decided to give it a try. I have nothing against real crab cakes but I am a sucker for these weird plant-based hacks anyway, motivated by curiosity more than anything. And they turned out quite good! You basically shred up the lions mane mushrooms into a texture that really does resemble crab meat and just use them as you would in your favorite crab cake recipe.

Local Favorites

XLB and SJB from Dumpling Home

My favorite place for soup dumplings in the city is Dumpling Home. It’s a fairly new place that opened up in the brief time that indoor dining was allowed but I’ve only experienced multiple rounds of takeout. Their xiao long bao have super thin skins and look at all those tiny pleats! I wouldn’t say there is an insane amount of soup in them but there is certainly a substantial amount and I love that they are full of flavor. Their pan fried juicy pork bao (their version of sheng jian bao) are indeed very juicy, so much so that Spouse got bao juices all over his shirt the first time he bit into one. Their other items have been hit or miss, but their XLBs and SJBs are definitely worth a try if you live in the area! I love their numb & spicy pork, beef, and crab & pork XLB options. The numb & spicy pork is my fave, though they are pretty inconsistent in how spicy they are—the first few times I ordered they were not spicy at all, and in my most recent order they really packed a punch! They are always consistently delicious though!

Mr. Pickles Sandwiches

The sandwiches from Mr. Pickles are so good that Spouse and I ordered them twice in one week! There is nothing fancy about them whatsoever, but they just make reliably good, perfectly toasted deli sandwiches that are magically so so tasty and satisfying. I love that they have sourdough rolls that are easy to bite into without slicing open my gums, and how I can somehow taste a faint hint of propane from their toasting process (maybe that last part is not for everyone, but to me it adds to the toasty flavor!). Another thing I love about their bread is that when I bite into it, the sandwich fillings don’t immediately slide out—that means it’s the perfect texture and density! Mr. Pickles shops seem to be all over the Bay Area, but the one that I always pick up from is the one on 20th and Van Ness that is closest to my house; it seems to have its own website separate from the others and its own questionable pickle mascot…so I am not sure if the others ones in the chain will provide the same experience. My go-to order: a custom sandwich on a sourdough roll with pastrami, provolone, mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, pesto, pepperoncini, hot & sweet peppers, and oil & vinegar.

other Random Favorites

Favorite Netflix Binge: Carmen SanDiego, Season 4. I love this whole series actually but I binged its final season over the course of a couple nights in January. While that wasn’t its strongest season IMO, I do think it resolved things with the protagonist fairly well. Overall, what made me adore the series was seeing places around the world depicted in its somehow both retro and modern art style; the honestly compelling reimagining of the famous thief as a woke, complex do-gooder returning historical artifacts to their rightful countries; and the all-around badass Latina protagonist.

Favorite YouTube Video: This “One Day More” Les Miz parody by James Corden released the day before Inauguration Day. I have probably watched it 10 times now, and have most of the lyrics memorized.

Thanks for reading! Let me know in the comments what were the highlights of your January 2021!

My 2020 Favorites

I think we can all agree that 2020 was a turd of a year. The kind of thing that we’ll tell future generations about and they’ll partially listen in mostly disbelief, convinced that we are exaggerating about how bad it was. But IYKYK.

To memorialize the positive, though, here are the little things that brought small sparks of joy to my days…through 10 months of lockdown and those 2 normal-ish months at the beginning that seem like a lifetime ago.

Cooking & Food Photography Favorites

5qt Stand Mixer from kitchenaid

I bought this on Black Friday in 2019 and almost returned it after it sat in the box for about 2 months. I’m not big on baking cookies and I was super intimidated by working with yeast, so I began to question why I bought it in the first place other than out of envy. But that changed when I made my first focaccia (a pre-lockdown coincidence!) and boy was I glad to have it in the months that followed. It turned out that I didn’t need (knead?) to be intimidated by working with yeast at all, I just needed to learn to be patient. I never got on the sourdough train, but this was so handy for kneading quicker, simpler doughs for everything from soft pretzels and biang biang noodles. My quality of life was definitely higher in lockdown because of it. Yes, it’s a bit splurgy, so I recommend waiting for a big sale before buying and getting a color that brings happiness to your eyes. Mine is Buttercup colored and I got it for $224 from Bed Bath and Beyond.

TL;DR: Worth the price if you find it hella on sale, and you hate arm workouts.

Beer Can Style Glasses

I got these glasses from Crate and Barrel. This past year, I would try to create a little “home cafe” experience in the middle of the afternoon as much as I could, to help break up the monotony of the workday. Having a distinct set glasses of reserved specifically for making special cafe-inspired drinks seems trivial but any little way to create separation from regular home life made a difference for me. I loved experimenting with making iced matcha lattes, tea sparklers, smoothies, salted cremas, and more, and these chic glasses really brought some extra joy to the experience.

Tabletop Induction Cooktop

Having one of these really helped turn weekend dinners into fun activities; the ability to cook at the dining table really helped with recreating those interactive restaurant dining experiences at home. We spent many Friday and Saturday nights chowing down on hot pot, budae jjigae, and Korean BBQ. And if you don’t care about aesthetics, you really don’t need special cookware to do these. I make my hot pot in an old secondhand Dutch oven and I sear up my KBBQ meats on a big skillet. Just be careful with heavy-bottomed/cast iron cookware on the induction cooktop because it apparently may scratch the surface (which I have not experienced).

I have this one**, which has worked well but has quite a loud fan. I also would have preferred if the cord was longer. So, while I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this one, I do think it is worth it to have some sort of tabletop cooktop to create these experiences at home!

Kitchen Linens from Granit

These are my favorite photography props for filling in space and creating a naturally disheveled look in my photos. I often get questions about these and unfortunately, they are not available in the US. I bought them from a Granit store when I was in Norway last winter. (EU and Scandinavia folks, lucky you!) I have amassed quite a collection of kitchen linens and I have found these to be the softest and easiest to shape of the ones I own; I wish I bought more!

Unsweetened Cold Brew Black Tea Concentrate from Trader Joe’s

This was my overall favorite Trader Joe’s find for 2020, and my favorite thing to use for those home cafe drinks I mentioned before. It was super convenient to have an unsweetened concentrated black tea that I didn’t have to brew myself, on busy days when I knew having a cafe-like beverage would help me focus on my work but I didn’t have time to make anything fancy. I found that mixing this with some hot water and condensed milk made for a great fast Hong Kong style milk tea and it also went really well with Korean citron and ginger tea syrups.

Local Favorites

Ground Domestic Wagyu from The Butcher Shop by Niku

My go-to for when I want to treat myself to an amazing homemade burger. At around ~$10/pound, their reasonably-priced ground domestic wagyu is the best low key luxury meat and I’ve been raving about it all year. While I still like my fast food burger now and again, I don’t think I’ll ever try to order a “nice” burger from a restaurant anymore—that’s how confident I feel about my homemade burgers when I get my meat from here.

Frozen Lobster Tails From New England Lobster Market and Eatery

Despite the name, this awesome seafood market is located in the Bay Area suburb of Burlingame in a random ass area near the airport. (It’s next to one of the major kitchens from which I assume bad airline food is produced.) I used to love eating out on their huge front patio picnic area, but this year most of my visits involved going through their drive-through to order frozen lobster tails to cook with at home (including making the lobster garlic noodles pictured here!). Reasonable prices, friendly staff, succulent lobster meat. What’s not to love? Their lobster corn chowder is also amazing, but it’s just not the same having it at home, so I’m going to wait to have that until I can dine there again.

Fresh Oysters from Sun Fat Seafood Company

This small seafood market in the Mission has a wall lined with buckets of fresh oysters at unbelievably low prices. They always seem to have my favorite varieties too—like Fanny Bays and Miyagis. The staff is always kind enough to check the oysters before bagging them up to make sure they are fresh and in good condition. Get good at shucking at home and you can have yourself a real oyster feast; this was something we treated ourselves to on special occasions a few times this past year.

Honorable mention favorite: Spouse’s shucking skills.

Random Quick-Fire Covid-Life Favorites

Current Favorite YouTube Channel: How to Drink. I don’t make cocktails at home very often, but I aspire to? I don’t know, I just find this dude entertaining and I like his sense of humor.

Current Favorite Bubble Tea Drink: Cookie Butter Hong Kong Milk Tea from Urban Ritual

Favorite Netflix Binge of the Year: The Umbrella Academy, Season2

Favorite Mask: I love the yellow one I got from Lilo & Len on Etsy because it fits me well and I can breath comfortably despite having a tiny nose. Sadly it doesn’t look like they are making masks anymore, but they have some cool Joe & Kamala fan merch (for my favorite president and vice president elect of 2020!)

Thanks for reading! Let me know some of your favorites for 2020 in the comments or DM me on Instagram to let me know what categories you’d like to see in the next Favorites roundup!