Hong Kong Egg Tarts are one of my favorite Dim Sum dessert items. Luckily, they are also one of the easiest desserts to make and require the fewest ingredients (most of which are common staples everyone has in their pantries). I used to make these all the time for potlucks—mostly because of how simple it is and how impressed people were to see a standard Chinese bakery item replicated at home. To simplify the recipe a bit, I made a shortbread crust instead of the widely-known flaky pastry crust seen in restaurants and bakeries. To spice things up a bit, I added honey to the filling to give the egg custard a more interesting flavor profile.

Although known as a more Chinese item nowadays, this dessert was preceded by the English Custard Tart and the Portuguese pastel de nata. These egg tarts are said to have first appeared in Guangzhou in the 1920s, and later introduced to Hong Kong in the 1940s and 1950s through cha chaan tengs—restaurants that offered affordable, eclectic western inspired menus.

Ingredients (makes 12):

Shortbread crust:

• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (or 1 stick) of butter, unsalted
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Custard Filling:

• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1 tbsp honey
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400˚F ( 200˚C)

- Shortbread Crust -

2. Add the flour, powdered sugar, and butter to a large bowl. Beat the egg with the vanilla extract and add to the flour mixture. Knead the dough until smooth and shape into a long log shape

3. Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces. Take out a standard muffin pan and line them with scalloped cupcake papers. Take a piece of the divided dough and place it into one of the cupcake papers. Shape the dough into the pan by spinning the cupcake paper and covering the edges uniformly. Try to avoid a shell that's too thin. Repeat with all 12. (Note that it may be easier to shape these shells at the four corners of the pan—and then place them towards the center when done)

- Custard Filling -

4. Dissolve the sugar and honey into the hot water and add the milk. Set aside to cool

5. Beat the 3 eggs and slowly whisk in the hot water/milk/sugar mixture. Add a pinch of salt and the vanilla extract.

- Assembling and baking the egg tart -

6. Carefully pour the egg mixture into each of the short bread shells, leaving a bit of space on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the egg mixture solidifies.

7. Place aside for 5 minutes to chill, remove the cupcake paper, and enjoy!

I bought the Glossier Phase 2 set in July this year with an intent to try it out and review it here but completely forgot to because—well, because of a lot of things, but mostly laziness. So this is going to be my first beauty-related post since July 8th. Ugh. How embarrassing!

I purchased the Glossier Phase 2 Set for $40 to mainly try out the "Generation G" lipstick and the "Boy Brow" brow mascara. I wasn't so enthusiastic about the "Stretch Concealer" because my under-eye dark circles are far worse than the average person's and it only takes the strongest and most full coverage concealers (Nars) to disguise them.

I received a slight discount (around $12) by buying this set instead of each individual item.

Above swatches: left - Generation G in crush, right - Boy Brow in brown

My first impression of Glossier products is that they are all very lightweight and sheer. So if you want something with more coverage and higher pigmentation, I wouldn't recommend these products. Since the Glossier brand focuses on a fresh-faced, glowy, natural look, their products are used to enhance the everyday face rather than to make a statement. If anything, these products create a great "no-makeup makeup" look.

Generation G: I found the Generation G lipstick to be very sheer on my lips and not very long lasting. Because it's intended to be "tinted lip balm"—and very moisturizing because of that—this product is not meant to be smudge-proof or kiss-proof. It was a little hard for me to get used to this because I'm very used to high-pigment Korean lip tints that last a day on my lips. Because my skin is also very washed out, I tend to go for darker, redder shades. However, I found the color, "Crush," to be absolutely beautiful and refreshing and think that it would be a great shade for spring (or even Valentine's day!). In fact, I think every Glossier product and their shades are better fit for spring/summer rather than autumn/winter.

Boy Brow: Although I had mixed feelings about the Generation G, I was impressed by the Boy Brow. I previously used the brow mascara by Benefit (which was all right, but didn't have a very pleasant smell to it) and one by Innisfree (which was the wrong shade for me). This shade of brown, however, really fit my brows and gave them more definition without making them look too overdone or fleek-y. On lazy days when I don't feel like doing my full brow routine with the Anastasia Brow Wiz, this is the perfect option.

The Stretch Concealer in Light was, as expected, disappointing. It provided very minimal coverage for my under-eyes and didn't do much to conceal the dark circles. Its consistency is quite creamy and blend-able, with a slight brightening effect. I would recommend this to those who don't have a very bad under eye problem, but want to enhance that area with brightening/highlighting. For those like me who have blue-toned, super obvious dark eye circles, I want to recommend a high coverage concealer such as the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer, or a less-pricey K-beauty dupe for the Nars: The SAEM Cover Perfection Tip Concealer.

One thing about Glossier I was impressed with was the cheerful, millennial-pink packaging they provided which was so up my alley. I was also overjoyed that they included some super fun stickers in the package. Their branding is definitely on.point as you can see with their social media marketing. Even though their products aren't super effective and convincing enough to buy again, I can definitely see the hype about purchasing their products to achieve that glowy, effortless, no-makeup look they've made so popular in their ad campaigns.

I also really identify with the quote on the box: "Skin first, makeup second." I haven't tried any of their skincare, but if you have, please let me know how their products worked out for you :)

Video and photos by the always aesthetically-on-top-of-it Evelyn Obamos.

Like almost every other millennial, I’ve tried my hardest this year to create a down-to-the-pixel version of myself on social media. Far from accurate, of course, this contrived version of “Cindy Zhang” stemmed from working at a social media company focused on showing users beautiful images and from watching the talented friends around me live their lives to the fullest on Instagram. I felt a pressure to do the same by showing off the most artistic and wittiest parts of me on the internet. As 2017 comes to an end, I want to be more sincere and tear down that image temporarily—if you don’t mind—and walk you through an honest rewind of the year for me.

The latter half of 2017 was—to say the least—mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting.

Mentally because expectations at work were not low, and working on an app that is used by millions of people is not easy. I came to understand that everything I built was fragile: poor code written on top of poor code. As that poor code festered in the repository, I woke up to crashes and a swarm of bugs created by that poor code. What was the most mentally straining however, was not things breaking but how I reacted to things breaking. I found my coworker constantly telling me to -breathe- during stressful situations that I handled with shaking hands at the keyboard—trying to fix a NullPointerException in order to make the next release so that the press article scheduled to go out at 10AM was accurate. But maybe I didn’t have to freak out that much. Maybe code is just code and the world won't end if Pinterest crashes for a few users.

I’m physically exhausted from actively choosing not to take care of myself. I had hit my all time low weight of 84 pounds in the second half of this year, which even at the short height of 5’3”, is a little bit alarming and enough to make my mother worried. I’ve struggled with my weight since sixth grade, so this is not the least bit new to me; but I feel like this year my body has taken the worst blow in the last twelve years or so.

I’m emotionally exhausted because I cut ties with many friends this year and saw several relationships come to an end. This may have a lot to do with the fact that 2017 was the first full year I spent away from San Diego, where most of my close friends reside. It might also have to do with the fact that I’ve changed quite a lot in the past year, and no longer identify with the many surface-level friends I’ve made in college. Losing friends, unfortunately, didn’t stop at losing friends. A relationship coming to an end somehow brought all things associated with that relationship to an end. This made me create a new set of boundaries on my life to restrain me to what I was allowed to touch and see on the internet, and even songs I was allowed to sing and listen to. Relationships going sour made me quite paranoid at what people back home were saying about me, and whether they were laughing at me behind my back. Because their perception of me is only as good as someone else’s, I felt like I had no control over their opinion of me if they’ve already sided with someone who thought negatively of me.

Anyways, this was my first serious relationship ever, so excuse me if I let my introvert tendencies slip into something that required so much communication.

OKAY, let’s take a break from all this. Yes I am exhausted, but I’ve also grown a lot in 2017, and after taking a lot of hits from this year, I can confidently say that I’ve grown in these 2 areas: music and engineering.

Music

I learned how to play the guitar!!! This still seems a little bit crazy to me because in the beginning I had a lot of insecurities holding me back and could come up with a million reasons why I didn’t need to learn guitar. The first being that everyone my age already knew how to play it, and I was too much of a late bloomer to even bother. A girl singing with a guitar is also far from original and seems like a musical cliche, doesn’t it?

When I started out, my fingers did not comply and I found it almost impossible to produce the simplest sound. Because I had been studying classical violin since 4th grade, it was mind-boggling to me to move my fingers in ways that were frowned upon in my violin training but were standard techniques for guitar. I had a hard time convincing my stubborn fingers to change their behavior and admitting that I was playing a guitar and not just a bigger violin.

There was a huge learning curve, but the solution to that learning curve was the same solution to everything else in music—more practice and more listening. I made it a goal to practice every single night, even if I was busy and it was far beyond my bedtime. Eventually it became a nightly routine—like brushing my teeth! I figured with even just a small amount of practice every day, I would gradually get better.

After listening to my favorite acoustic guitar jams at work and practicing nightly, everything about the guitar turned out to be incredibly intuitive, and it opened up an entirely different world of music to me. Technically, it allowed me to visualize chords clearly and made me appreciate how easy it was to transition between consecutive chords of the same quality (even sliding into them to say the least! That’s unheard of on a piano!). Creatively, it allowed me to develop a different approach to songwriting from the one I become comfortable with on the piano. Can we also talk about how beautiful the acoustic guitar sounds? It sounds so incredibly... sad... like, in a good way. I love it.

But no means am I any good at guitar yet. I’m just more familiar with basic functions and I still have a lot to improve on in 2018.

I started doing gigs by myself! I probably should’ve started doing this sooner but always found myself in musical situations where I was only contributing a small portion to the full picture. I’ve constantly been surrounded by talented musicians and so I’ve become reliant on them to take care of me as a struggling musician. After doing a few shows by myself, I developed the skill of quick error recovery, meaning: not giving a shit when I sing/play the wrong note and moving on. I learned that in order to be a good performer, you need to put all your emotion and skill on the current note you’re playing (maybe a bit of thought on upcoming notes as well), and not linger on past mistakes you’ve made.

Engineering

The engineers at Pinterest are some of the most hardworking people I know, and I’m happy to say that I’ve learned a huge amount from them this year. There are a few who have been amazingly helpful in explaining difficult concepts to me and held my hand when I ran into challenges. I am incredibly grateful to those people and I’m confident to say that I’m a better engineer today because of them.

Pinterest Lens was my biggest project within my first six months at Pinterest. It was a huge technical challenge and I spent many long nights trying to build the smallest parts of it on Android. Luckily, I was able to finish the front end in preparation for a press event, and even did a tech talk around it in March. Doing an interview with Mercury News was another new and exciting step forward this year—mainly because I’ve been daunted by the idea of public speaking my whole life. Luckily, the PR people at Pinterest are, like the engineers, total beasts and helped me a tremendous amount in tackling these interviews and improving my public speaking skills.

I also ended up writing my first blog post for the Pinterest Engineering blog about Pincodes, which was technically challenging mostly due to dealing with a third-party library and working with external engineers. This was yet another project that made me realize that being a good product engineer does not mean just being a good programmer. It’s crucial for engineers to be good at communicating and to bring up concerns about what is technically feasible or not during meetings—which was, again, tough for an introvert like me. I'm still trying very hard these days to develop a good sense of the product and voice opinions from a perspective different than the PM’s or the designer’s, and to not hate the sound of my voice as I'm speaking up meetings.

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I wanted to end this year on a good note. So even though my reaction to 2017 was not the most positive, I want to remind myself that a lot went right this year and I should be fortunate that I have the opportunity to improve as a musician, engineer, friend, and daughter. Growing is by no means painless and it would be worse to be blind to stress and to overlook the problems that I have the ability to solve. I’m fortunate that I was able to come face to face with many challenges this year and—for the most part—overcome them.

-GASP- Can't believe it's finally time to move out of my 232-Square-Foot studio. Considering I have so many different hobbies, clothes, and just random things, it was hard to contain all of them inside such a small space. Here are some tips of how I made a small space work for me on a budget. (Photos by Ana Kamin for my Apartment Therapy Article and Jeffery Wang)

1. Black & White for large items, Brighter colors for small items

Too much color may overwhelm the small space and make your room look cluttered. If you're not willing to let go of color, adding them via wall decor or tiny accents are more tasteful.

Duvet Cover, Hanging Light: Ikea

2. Get Cheap decor Via Daiso

It's amazing how much wonderful decor you can get from Daiso. And the best thing is, most items in the store are sold for $1.50. I got these wall shelves and wall grid both from Daiso to display photos and souvenirs I've collected in Europe.

Wooden wall stands: Daiso; Fake plant: Daiso; Colored Pencils: Muji; Globe: World Market; Flower Decor: Flea market in Amsterdam

3. Add plants to liven up a cramped bathroom

To brighten up a small, dark bathroom with no windows, try adding some greenery around the sink area. Don't be afraid to add art inside your bathroom either—if the rest of your place has it, your bathroom deserves it too.

Baskets: Ikea, Soap holder: World Market, San Francisco print: Amazon

4. Opt for non-bulky, chopstick-leg furniture

In a small studio, it's crucial to find furniture that fit along the small dimensions of the walls and doesn't clutter the space. Avoid big, bulky furniture that have big legs and instead go for furniture with thinner legs. This will help loosen up the studio and give the illusion that the room is more spacious than it actually is. 

Mercury Row loveseat: Wayfair, Table: Ikea, Eames DSW look-alike chairs: eBay

A few more tips to making the most out of your space on a budget:

Download art online and print them at Target/CVS. One of my favorite online resources is Typographic Posters.

Use souvenirs/what you already own as decor, rather than going out to purchase new pieces. Chances are, the items you already own reflects what you're passionate about. Surrounding yourself with story-invoking pieces that you connect with will make your home feel like it's yours.

Use stools as side tables or beside tables

Take advantage of the beautiful pieces and low prices of Ikea, Daiso, Target, World Market, and Nordstrom Rack.

I truly believe that beauty starts with healthy skin. To be honest, I haven't started taking care of my skin until I graduated from college. As a college student, I found it difficult to commit to a rigorous five to six step skincare regimen every morning and evening when I was immersed in catching up on assignments, running back and forth between rehearsals, and studying for finals. I only cared about keeping my skin clean, and so I would wash it with a drug-store cleanser everyday, and stopped there. Having naturally dry skin, I began to experience a lot flakiness in the wintertime. Breakouts would happen in the springtime leaving stubborn acne scars.

About a year ago, I started out trying out a mix of Korean and American skincare products and applied these products in layers in the morning and evening. I saw dramatic improvements in my skin as it went from flaky and dry to bouncy and hydrated. It became more vibrant and glowy—not to mention my usually dull yellowish skin began to look brighter and healthier. I also experienced fewer breakouts and even when they did happen, a few products in this routine were quick to clear them away. (I purchased the following items all from Amazon and Sephora, but you can also get them from other websites, and some in-store at retailers such as Ulta, Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, and Walmart)

MORNING ROUTINE

Cleanser: COSRX low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser

This is a very gentle, slightly foamy cleaner that leaves my skin feeling moisturized and refreshed. It has a strong citrus scent that instantly wakes me up in the morning. Skin's natural pH is around 4.5 and 5.5, which is slightly acidic, and this cleanser helps it maintain that pH level. When your skin has a higher pH and is more alkaline, it can dry out and become more prone to breakouts.

I've found that it's super important to cleanse your skin in the morning especially because bacteria can accumulate on your skin while you sleep—either from your pillow or your hair—and this cleanser gets the job done while still being gentle enough to you before you've had your coffee. You need that.

Toner: Son & Park Beauty Water

This is a product created by Korean makeup artists Son Dae Shik and Park Tae Yun, two of Korea's top makeup artists who have done makeup for countless K-pop idols and celebrities. You can attribute the two of them for starting the "dewy" skin trend in Korea which is becoming increasingly popular in the States. This "Beauty Water" is one of their first products and is pretty hyped up in the Asian beauty community, so I was definitely dying to try this out. The best thing is, Sephora carries it! (Make it rain on your beauty reward points) This is a super gentle and refreshing cleansing water that can be used for many different purposes. I personally use it as a toner after my cleanser because I feel that it helps bring moisture back into my skin after I cleanse it. This product can also be used as a makeup remover or a cleanser itself. I love to use this on my skin throughout the day as well, especially if I'm feeling that my skin has accumulated a lot of sweat or dirt on a hot day. 

Toner (travel-friendly): COSRX One Step Pimple Clear Pads

These come pre-soaked in a container which is super convenient for traveling. No worries about having to bring a toner under three ounces or stuffing cotton pads in your makeup bag. These pads have a textured side for extra exfoliation as well as a smoother side.

Essence: COSRX Galactomyces 95 Whitening Power Essence

Another COSRX item, I know, I know. But these products really work. Plus, they're gentle on my dry, sensitive Asian skin and are very affordable (mostly under $20). You usually can't get quality skincare from American brands in that price range. Before I tried this out, I was using the SK-II Pitera Facial Treatment Essence to fade acne scars and brighten up my skin. A bottle of that costs at least $99, so this is a much cheaper alternative. Galactomyces (a dupe of SK-II's Pitera) is fermented yeast that can help with decreasing the look of wrinkles and brightening up dark spots. Since this essence has no scent, it is also a good alternative for the the SK-II if you don't enjoy its strong sour fermented smell.

Moisturizer: belif The True Cream Aqua Bomb

I recently received this sample from Sephora's beauty rewards program and was amazed at how long this moisturizer lasted me. I would only apply a small amount in the morning and my skin would still feel super glowy and moisturized after I came home from work. A must-have for those dealing with dry skin.

Sunscreen: Murad Essential C Sunscreen

Protecting your skin from the sun is a super—if not the most—important part of skincare. UV rays can not only cause wrinkles to form, but also turn existing acne scars into dark spots, which may become very difficult to remove. Having a good sunscreen and applying in constantly is a must if you're planning to be out in the sun. 

NO FOUNDATION OR POWDER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES

I've been following this rule for as long as I can remember, and it's partially because my mom drilled this into my head so much when I was younger. She said that wearing foundation/powder on your face will drive you into a vicious cycle of breakouts, which causes you to cover those breakouts with more foundation, and then having that foundation break you out even more. I am also tremendously lazy in the mornings, and so I never bothered to apply a perfect layer of foundation or powder on my face. I must say that I do wear concealer though. The reason being that I have tremendously dark bags under my eyes, and the best way to cover those up is with a nice full-coverage concealer (shout out to NARS and THESAEM).

EVENING ROUTINE

Makeup Remover: Neutrogena Oil-free eye makeup remover

For my makeup remover, I use one of the classics by Neutrogena. It's important that you fully remove your makeup before you even jump onto the cleanser step. Heavy makeup like liquid eyeliner can be difficult if not impossible to remove with a cleanser on its own. Before I got eyelash extensions, I used to use a heavy-duty oil cleanser (Banilla co Clean it Zero) to ensure that my waterproof eyeliner and mascara were fully removed. Oil cleansers, however, can do a lot of damage to eyelash extensions so I switched over to a oil-free makeup remover to remove eyeliner in the rare occurrence that I do wear it. 

Cleanser: Shiseido White Lucent Brightening Cleansing Foam

I'm currently using this in an attempt to fade a few acne scars, but I have to say that it's not my favorite. It does get the work done by thoroughly cleansing my face and creates a rich foam when you apply it, but it might just be a little too harsh on my dry, sensitive skin. In fact, my skin feels rather stripped every time I wash away this product. So I wouldn't say that I use this product every single night—just on nights when I feel that my skin's been through a lot of oil and dirt. Other alternatives I have to replace this cleanser at night are the (1) Fresh Soy Face Cleanser (which is super gentle and has a fantastic smell) and (2) the classic Cetaphil cleanser—which I used throughout high school and college.

Toner: Neogen Dermalogy Real Flower Rose Cleansing Water

First of all, THERE ARE REAL ROSE PETALS IN THIS. The packaging looks beautiful (kinda extra, but whatevs) and the soft smell of roses just takes it to another level. Like the Son & Park Beauty water, this can be used for various purposes: as a makeup remover, as a cleanser, or as a toner. But again, I choose to use this as a toner after my cleanser. I just find it super moisturizing after using a cleanser that may strip away some moisture. I also find the scent of roses to be very calming at nighttime.

Serum: Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin C Serum

This is another product to assist the fading of dark spots that has pretty popular in the Asian beauty community. Vitamin C is essential to brightening the skin, and this serum has a fairly high concentration of it. I can honestly say that this has visibly made a difference on my skin and has lightened the appearance of a few dark spots on my cheek. It is also very moisturizing and gentle on my skin (although a few others have said that they found it to be somewhat harsh—in which case, they recommended applying this product mixed into a moisturizer).

Eye Cream: Innisfree Orchid Eye Cream

Although I don't have any wrinkles (yet), it's never too early to start using eye cream to prevent wrinkles later on. Better safe than sorry. This cream in particular is moisturizing without being too heavy. I've never broken out or seen the appearance of milia (which are stubborn white dots that may appear after using oily eye creams in the fragile under-eye area) after using this eye cream. The skin around your eyes is the thinnest layer of skin you have on your body, so it's best that you start showing it some love.

Sleeping Mask: COSRX Ultimate Nourishing Rice Overnight Spa Mask

This is by far my favorite product on both of these lists, mostly because I can truly see a difference whenever I wake up after using this mask. Rice tends to be super effective in dealing with dull skin and dark spots and this product is full of it. Whenever I wake up after a good night's sleep with this on my face, my skin looks super healthy, glowy, and bright when I first look at it in the mirror. I've also just realized that I've hit pan on this product and that it's time to order it again. Luckily it's not pricey at all.

Annnd that's it! I generally like to save the heavier stuff for the evening, since I believe a lot of work gets done on my skin by these products while I'm sleeping. I also throw in the occasional sheet mask and clay mask once in a while—but that can be explained in another post on its own ;)