This recipe was originally inspired by what my mom used to make for me and my brother on hot summer weekends. This is the perfect dish to make when you're short on time, and don't have too many ingredients in the fridge—which is why I adopted this recipe as a college student, and even now, as a working adult. I don't know if this is true for all Chinese families, but my family in particular likes to make complicated lunches, but keep dinners very simple. We'll usually have rice and several dishes for lunch and then have dumplings or noodles for dinner. For weekend dinners, my mom literally tosses this up in 10-15 minutes. As for me—well, I still have a long ways to go to get to her level.

This later transitioned from a family dinner item to an item I would always bring with me to school for lunch. You may consider this a risky option, based on what other kids might think. After all, I went to a high school located in Scripps Ranch, which is a neighborhood that's 70% white. Luckily for lunch I always either hung out in the band room or in my math teacher's classroom with the friends I met in Japanese class. They did not make fun of my lunch. In fact, they usually ended up eating half of whatever I brought.

Maybe half is exaggerating, but they did really enjoy it. I ended up making this for my friends whenever we hung out after school because it was just so simple. Making this once again for the blog made me feel really nostalgic. I realized just how much I missed hanging out with my high school friends in San Diego... and spending relaxing summer nights with my family without having to worry about the stress of work the next day.

The noodles are tossed in a simple "dressing" made with soy sauce, chili oil, sesame oil, and—if you're feeling fancy—a little bit of peanut butter. I like to microwave the soy sauce for around 20 seconds before adding the peanut butter. This helps the peanut butter dissolve and mix well with the rest of sauce.

As for the chili oil, I was actually lucky enough to use one that my dad made from scratch. He fries dried red peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, and bayleaves together with vegetable oil, and then drains out all the other ingredients until only the oil is left. This chili oil can then be used for all sorts of dishes—mapo tofu, as a dipping sauce for dumplings, noodles, soups, and more.

The toppings can be anything you have in the fridge, really—but my mom and I usually top the noodles off with a spicy stir fry made with ground pork as the main ingredient. Usually if I want to be healthy—or if I want to make this dish vegetarian—I will chop up some oyster mushrooms and stir fry it with tofu instead. Get creative and make the most out of whatever you have left in the fridge. Day after Thanksgiving? Use your leftover Turkey! I would just advise to cut up whatever ingredients you decide to use into small pieces so that they can evenly distribute in the noodles once you mix them in.

And that's basically it! If you want to create a "noodle bar" of some sort, you can skip the step of adding the toppings directly to the noodles. If you want to make everything vegetarian friendly, and let your guests decide what they want to top the noodles off with, just give everyone a bowl of noodles and let them decide what to add. You can also chop up some cucumbers and lay out some cilantro for your guests if they'd like to garnish. Chopped peanuts are good options too!

Does the above photo look a little naked (or "nood") to you? See what I did there? :-) It's because it's missing an egg, of course! Honestly, I've never met someone who, when asked, "do you want this dish topped off with an egg?" (free of charge), responded with "no thank you". Also, noodles and eggs go together like peanut butter and jelly. If ramen can have a soft boiled egg, and bibim naengmyun can have a hard boiled egg, then these Chinese cold noodles can have a sunny-side-up egg as well. In fact, it doesn't even have to be sunny-side-up. Top this off with a poached egg to take it out of Chinatown and make it restaurant quality.

Simple Chinese Cold Noodles

Ingredients

• 500g egg noodles or soba noodles
• 1 egg (optional)
• Sesame Seeds for garnish

The stir fry on top:

• 1 lb (around 450g) ground pork or ground beef
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp Chinese black vinegar
• 1 slice of baked tofu
• Scallions

Sauce for the noodles:

• 2/3 cup light soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Sichuan chili oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 egg

Takes 30 min, Makes 4 bowls.

Instructions

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add in the noodles. Cook until the noodles are al dente (cooking time might differ based on the type of noodle used)


2. Strain the noodles and run them under cold water while they are still in the strainer. The cold water will stop the cooking process and make sure that the noodles stay al dente and do not become soggy. Place the noodles in the fridge to chill while you make the sauce and toppings


3. For the stir fry topping, combine the ground pork with the oyster sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, and cornstarch (adding corn starch to the meat will make the stir fry gooey and create a sauce underneath, which is perfect for topping off the noodles). Set aside to marinate


4. Heat oil in a frying pan and add the meat when the pan becomes hot. Stir fry until the meat is cooked and a gooey sauce has formed underneath. Add more water mixed with cornstarch if you want the stir fry to produce a thicker sauce. Add the chopped baked tofu and scallions and stir fry until everything is well combined and cooked through


5. To make the dressing for the noodles, first heat up the soy sauce for 20 seconds in the microwave. After it's heated, allow the peanut butter to dissolve in the soy sauce. Mix in the chili oil and sesame oil. Top off with sesame seeds and chopped scallions if desired
 

6. Take the chilled noodles out of the fridge and add the sauce. Toss the noodles in the sauce and make sure it's well combined


7. Fill a bowl with 1/4 of the noodles and top it off with the stir fry. Add a sunny-side-up egg and garnish with sesame seeds and leftover scallions

If you're a bit weirded out by the peanut butter in the sauce, I want to point out that the chili oil + peanut butter combination makes these noodles reminiscent of dan dan mian. Feel free to replace the peanut butter with sesame paste as well if you don't like the idea of Jif being in your noodles.

Shout out to my mom for giving me the inspiration to steal one of her dishes and taking my own spin on it. And shout out to my high school friends whom I miss so so much. I'll make this again for y'all someday :')

♥ Cindy

March has been busy busy in terms of trying to balance (A) preparing for a gig in April, (B) projects at work, (C) trying to create content this blog, and (D) planning out my Italy trip—so I haven't really gotten the opportunity to actively seek out new music or watch new performances on YouTube. Luckily a few of my Discover Weekly recommendations have been absolutely on.point. this month. Thanks Spotify—you've been so good to me this month!

3.

You will hear lot of appearances by muted trumpets in this playlist. More generally, this month's playlist comprises of songs that I'm actively practicing for an April gig at PianoFight, songs recommended by Discover Weekly, and a high school throwback, courtesy of BoA :)

listen

I Wish You Love

Ann Sally

Pure guitarispiration. Discover Weekly you've done it again. This is one of those super-easy-to-listen-to songs that helped calm and destress me in March.

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Alright

Jordan Rakei

Ugh, the piano solo in this is everything. This song also has the tendency to stay in my head for hours and hours after just one listen.

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Monsieur

Stella Jang, Pleyn

Upon my first listen, it took me a while to realize that this was K-pop. She has a very interesting Indie-accent that she not only applied to singing in English, but singing in Korean as well—which I've never heard before. Definitely very unique. Let's also talk about the call and response between the trumpet and the guitar... so yummy!

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Chamallow

Ben Mauzé

While we're still in the French state of mind: this pick is a French indie-alternative tune introduced to me by a teammate (thanks Emma!). At work we've been trying out this Spotify app called JQBX, where you and your friends can listen to a playlist at the same time, and you take turns becoming the "DJ" by playing your song contributions. So if you saw on your Spotify friends feed that I was listening to a few songs out of my normal genres and was confused (i.e. EDM)... that was my coworkers forcing me to :P

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Let Love Grow

Eva Celia

Clearly this woman knows how to control her voice very well. The chords are not super easy to follow and the melody also takes a while to get used to. In addition to the vocalist, there's a section in the song (at around the 2:50 mark) where the guitar riff transforms into the trumpet solo seamlessly with the trumpet finishing up the scale that the guitar started. The trumpet and guitar are also mixed to have similar timbres to make that transition even more bizarre! Such genius.

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Movie

Tom Misch

This song always gets stuck in my head after I listen to it. I love the dramatic intro with the actress speaking in the transatlantic accent. What the piano is playing from 4:20-5:00 is so damn pretty I die every time. Also I love the outro's lyrics (rhyming is so exact there), and the violins' tremolos which help juxtapose this song's modern instrumentation with an orchestral old black-and-white movie vibe.

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Baby I'm a fool (Live in London)

Melody Gardot

This is one of the songs I'm doing for the gig that works really well with just guitar and vocals. I love this version in particular because of how she changes up the melody slightly in the intro and makes up for the lack of the orchestra. This is one of those songs that is so calming that it will no doubt help you fall asleep at night—and probably shouldn't listen to as you're driving.

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Voyager

Stella Jang, Pleyn

After listening to "Monsieur" as suggested by Discover Weekly, I decided to discover more music from this Stella Jang + Pleyn duo and found this gem. 

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Dindi

Cyrille Aimee, Diego Figueiredo

Another song I'm doing for the gig. I love this version because Cyrille Aimee's scatting is always fun to listen to.

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pretty little birds

SZA, Isaiah Rashad

I'm normally not a big fan of rap music that has the "Explicit" tag next to them, but this one was actually very unique. I love the addition of the muted trumpet (on second though, add a muted trumpet to any song and I'll love it). SZA has been really popular amongst my coworkers and friends these days, but I have to say that her best songs are those in the middle/end of the album that not too many people know about :) 

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BabyBaby

Suran

More muted trumpets and cool guitar fills in this one! There's something about adding classic jazz elements to a modern electronic instrumentation that makes the song sound trippy and interesting. Suran's songs are all super upbeat and catchy, and this one is no exception. Her voice is a little reminiscent of Amy Winehouse, which is probably another reason why I enjoy listening to her.

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song with no name

~名前のない歌~

BoA

I recently discovered that BoA's entire Japanese discography is up on Spotify and now I've been obsessively listening to her music from the 2000s and reliving my elementary/middle/high school days through them. Although her songs are really pop-y and simple, they're not repetitive or on the subject of sex like a lot of American pop songs are—which is why the middle school me loved them so much, and why I still do! This song in particular is really simple in terms of instrumentation, and really allows her voice to shine without much going on in the background. The acoustic guitar and cello combination is extremely beautiful. I also am so incredibly in love with the lyrics after I saw the translation. They don't just describe a romantic kind of love, but a love you can feel towards a friend, or just someone you're missing.

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I love these songs to death and listened to them an unhealthy amount this month. Which songs did you obsess over this month?

♥ Cindy

You may think I'm a weirdo for saying this, but I'm not a big fan of desserts that are head-to-toe drenched in chocolate. I feel that the flavor can get a bit overwhelming, especially when you have a chocolate base from a chocolate cake, chocolate fillings from chocolate chips, and chocolate toppings from frosting and syrup. Luckily, there are two ingredients that pair wonderfully with chocolate that help balance the rich flavor: cream cheese and raspberries. The tanginess of cream cheese and tartness of the raspberries help cut through the rich sweetness of the chocolate. You can see a myriad of raspberry + chocolate desserts and cheesecake brownie recipes all over the internet these days—as well as menu items at restaurants and bakeries. 

So I thought... why not combine the two? Raspberry cheesecakes are also a thing, so you're literally getting the best of three (!) worlds. The motivation to try to make something like this actually came from craving a certain black bottom cupcake from a bakery that always runs out of them. This happened with the guava pastries too. Guess I'm always craving what I can't have...

Oh! I should mention I brought another ingredient into the mix for the chocolate cupcake at the bottom, just to add an interesting kick:

And -drum roll- that ingredient is... instant coffee! You might have a bad impression of instant coffee, but Asian coffee brands do these instant latte mixes really well. For example, UCC coffee has a cafe au lait mix (pictured above) that you can just mix into hot water without milk and even a creme brulee latte mix that tastes absolutely delicious. Because there's sugar combined in the instant coffee mix already, you won't have to worry about the instant coffee making your batter bitter.

You can purchase these kinds of instant coffee mixes from most Asian grocery stores. I got mine from Nijiya Market.

I don't care if you hate the word moist—I'm going to use this word a lot in this post. It's a perfectly valid term to describe a delicious cake. In my case, I think chocolate cakes are best when they are super moist. To ensure that the cake is moist, it's important that you add adequate amounts of oil, water, and butter. I took the proportions from this recipe, and added two extra tablespoons of butter just in case. Because extra butter doesn't hurt (your tastebuds, at least). And we all know butter is at the bottom of the food pyramid, obviously.

I sectioned off my box of raspberries among the cream cheese topping mixture and the chocolate cake mixture. Adding raspberries to the mixture will help add that extra bit of moisture to the cake.

Fill up each cupcake two-thirds of the way with the chocolate cake mixture, then top it off with the cream cheese mixture. This will create a beautiful shiny top to each cupcake—so you can ditch the frosting and the piping bags.  You can check if the cupcakes are ready by sticking a toothpick into a cake and seeing if it doesn't pick up the chocolate filling (seeing the cream cheese on the toothpick is normal).

Raspberry Cheesecake Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

Chocolate cake:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• Half a packet of instant coffee mix (optional, Asian brand preferred)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla (optional)
• 1/2 box of raspberries

Cheescake topping:

• 8 oz box cream cheese
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 box of raspberries

Takes 35 min, Makes 14.

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 300˚F (148˚C). Take the cream cheese out of the fridge to soften


2. Mix all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, instant coffee, baking soda, and salt) together. If you're adding an instant coffee mix that is sweetened, subtract a tablespoon from the cup of sugar to ensure the cake isn't overwhelmingly sweet


3. Heat the 1/2 cup of water and dissolve 2 tbsp of butter. Combine the water and butter mixture with all the other wet ingredients (milk, oil, egg, vanilla)


4. Combine the dry mixture with the wet mixture and whisk until the mixture forms into a ribbon-like texture, making sure that everything is well incorporated and that there are no lumps


5. Slice the raspberries into halves and carefully fold in half into the chocolate cake mixture, saving the other half for the cream cheese topping
 

6. For the cheesecake topping, combine the cream cheese with the sugar and egg. Carefully fold in the second half of the raspberries


7. Fill a cupcake pan with liners. Fill each cup two-thirds of the way with the chocolate cake mixture, then top off each cupcake with the cream cheese mixture, making sure to leave a little space at the top (since the cupcakes will rise)


8. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. You can check if the chocolate cake is cooked through by sticking a toothpick into a cake and seeing if it doesn't pick up the chocolate mixture (seeing the cream cheese on the toothpick is normal)

I brought these into the office and they were gone in a blink of an eye... I'm actually quite sad since I only had one and wanted more ): But according to my coworkers, the cake was indeed very moist!

These actually would've been great for Valentines Day! Maybe next year I'll make them for somebody—or even better, someone can make these for me ;) That's just a hopeful dream at this point.

♥ Cindy

The social media-made-famous beauty brand, Glossier, just made us millennial women all very, very happy by opening up two showrooms in San Francisco and New York City. Because the pop-up shop in San Francisco will only be around until April 15th or so, my friend and I rushed to the store a few days ago after work to try on all of the products in person, and to check out the cafe that Glossier converted into a pink makeup and skincare paradise.

Glossier took over Rhea's Cafe, a place famous for their Chicken Katsu sandwich and other Asian-inspired deli items like the Korean Barbecue sub. As you can see they converted the bar area into a full makeup try-on station, complete with a set of mirrors and a set of plates on the counter containing Glossier products for customers to try on. 

There were also some freebie Jolly Ranchers scattered around the tables, completing the nostalgic bar aesthetic.

I spent a lot of my time at the above counter, which contained all the different lip products (what a surprise) and all the different shades of their new product: Lidstar—a glowy liquid eyeshadow. I had already purchased the Generation G in "Crush" and did a review on it here. I realized after swatching several different shades of the Generation G that the color pay off for these varies throughout the line. Here's the face I ended up with after trying on a few products:

Eyes: Lidstar duo (shade "moon" in the middle, "cub" on the sides)

Lips: Generation G in "Zip" with lip gloss on top

Cheeks: Haloscope highlighter in "Quartz"

I'm not really an eyeshadow person, but I loved how easy the Lidstar was to apply, and how natural it looked on my lids. You can easily apply and blend out the 2 different shades with your fingertips. The range of shades are also super pretty and perfect if you're just starting out with eyeshadow like me. These light, pastel colors are great for spring and create a romantic, innocent look.

I can't tell what exactly my friend is wearing in this photo, but I remembered that she was trying out the Generation G in "Jam", and the Boy Brow—from this photo alone, it looks like black was her shade.

The cafe actually served food during the pop-up event earlier on in the day—so it was a fried chicken and lipstick kind of situation. By the time we arrived in the evening, the cafe was only serving drinks at the bar. That was probably for the best, actually. Trying on makeup and eating a fried chicken sandwich are both lovely activities—but better done individually.

It's always refreshing when brands that solely sell online and do their product marketing through social media create pop-up shops. Especially makeup brands: the step of testing out products to see how they look on you is crucial. I also loved how they scattered the same items throughout the store, so that even if someone else was trying on a product you were eyeing, you could simply just go to another stand and find the same product.

Everlane also recently opened up a shop in the Mission recently!

So what did I end up purchasing? I got the Lidstar duo in "Moon", a translucent white, and "Cub", a peachy dusty pink. Because I'm quite picky when it comes to skincare, and because I haven't done a lot of research on Glossier skincare yet, I was a little hesitant to try any of the skincare that was displayed. However, I did end up purchasing their Invisible Shield Sunscreen, which upon trying, felt really lightweight—which is uncommon for most sunscreens.

Check out the Facebook Event, if you're interested in paying a visit yourself!

♥ Cindy

Goodbye pancakes and bacon: move aside and make room for a tastier and healthier alternative: Traditional Japanese Breakfast! I recently visited a brunch spot in San Francisco called Bon, Nene that served this kind of breakfast set, and felt myself feeling quite salty at the end after spending $18 + tax and not feeling very full. So a few weeks ago I headed over to Nijiya market in Japantown to pick up some ingredients to make my own Japanese Breakfast for two (definitely under $18). Shout out to my teammate Emma for eating my creations :)

Otherwise known as 朝食 —choushoku—or 朝ご飯 —asagohan—a traditional Japanese breakfast consists of a variety of fresh ingredients that contribute to a colorful spread (looks like I still remember a bit of Kanji from HS Japanese!). A set will usually contain Miso soup, steamed rice, some kind of grilled fish (yakizakana), rolled egg omelette (tamagoyaki), and more adventurous items like natto (fermented soybeans) and umeboshi (a kind of pickled plum).

Despite the health benefits of natto, I'm not a big fan and so I left it out of the meal. I also replaced the rather sour umeboshi with some sautéed zucchini and enoki mushrooms to fulfill vegetable portion of meal.

My Japanese breakfast consisted of (from left to right, top to bottom):  Miso soup, sautéed zucchini and enoki mushrooms, oven-baked salmon, onigiri, and tamagoyaki. These were all fairly easy to make, and I'll try to summarize the recipes to the best of my ability. Do note that I rarely measure ingredients when I'm cooking (as opposed to when I'm baking), so please season everything according to your own taste buds!

Oven-baked Salmon

To make the salmon, lay the filets skin side up on a sheet of parchment paper over a baking tray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper put inside a 350˚F (177˚C) oven for around 20-25 minutes, depending on how well-done you'd like it to be. Because I like my salmon a little more rare, I usually will turn off the oven around the 15 minute mark and leave the salmon in the oven for another 5-10 minutes. After taking it out of the oven, I served it with 2-3 pieces of shiso leaf underneath.

Because I love salmon sashimi so much, and because salmon has enough flavor to stand on its own, I try not to do too much when I'm seasoning it. Salt and pepper (and a little bit of olive oil if you're feeling fancy) is totally sufficient to season a fresh piece of salmon.

Tamagoyaki

It's quite difficult to explain how tamagoyaki achieves its shape in words, so I'll link you to this video which taught me how to make it (if you love this YouTube channel as much as I do, let's talk). It helps if you have a square pan, but the overall shape is still totally achievable with a circular pan. Your rolls will just end up looking a bit uneven on the sides like mine. My egg mixture included 4 eggs, scallions, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of sugar.

Onigiri

Next up on the menu is onigiri, or rice balls that contain a variety of fillings such as salmon or umeboshi. I unfortunately didn't put too much effort into making these since the triangular ones are quite difficult to shape. To simplify the process a bit, I rolled my onigiri into circles and coated them with furikake. I used two kinds of furikake: one containing bits of umeboshi seasoning and a plain one consisting of seaweed and sesame seeds.

To make these, start off by cooking a cup of sushi rice. Set aside to cool after it's cooked to risk burning your hands. Separate into two portions and mix in the furikake seasoning into each portion. To shape the onigiri, wet your hands and sprinkle on some salt to prevent the rice from sticking to your palms. Roll them into spheres and you're done!

Miso Soup

To make the miso soup, I brought 3 cups of water to a boil and stirred in 2 tablespoons of dashi miso. Add sliced tofu, seaweed, and chopped scallions at the very end. I learned this bit from my mom: if you're cooking any kind of soup with vegetables, always put them in at the very end for them to retain their green color and freshness.

I learned how to make miso soup from this video, which I suggest watching before you attempt it. It suggests that you use dashi as the soup base, which is also quite simple to make by boiling  water with bonito flakes and then straining them out of the broth.

Though Bon, Nene didn't impress me very much, another option for Japanese breakfast I actually enjoyed was at a place called Casava. If you don't want to wander too far into the Richmond district, a great option closer to downtown is Samovar Tea Lounge, which serves a lot of healthy breakfast items with their wide selection of teas. Or... you can try making this at home like I did! Most of the recipes are simple enough and have a low chance of failure ;)

♥ Cindy

I was super stoked when one of my favorite YouTubers and Style influencers, Jenn Im, launched her own line of clothing called Eggie last year. It's so exciting to see an Asian woman like myself become a style icon on YouTube, especially considering Asians are still a rare sight to see in media (we are showing up more and more these days though!). I was also ecstatic to be able to purchase items of clothing on the Eggie website knowing exactly how they'll look on me since they weren't photographed on a 5'10" model. 

This dress in particular is from Eggie's 2017 Holiday collection. There were so many dresses in this collection that I fell in love with but I felt that this one was the most stunning. It's named the "Miss Honey" dress after the super sweet and nurturing teacher from Matilda. 

Apparel: Checkered Dress (Eggie, "Miss Honey Dress") | Sheer black top (Styleaddict, "Sabrina Top") | Black suede Mary Jane Pumps (Sigerson Morrison, "Kairos Heel") | Black backpack (Everlane, "The Modern Zip Backpack - Large") 

After walking around the Mission District for a while, Evelyn and I saw a man trimming flowers from his tree. He offered us a few branches of the yellow flowers—Acasia flowers I think they were called—which worked to brighten up a monochromatic outfit filled with grays and blacks.

Several dresses from Eggie's holiday collection caught my eye, but I decided to purchase the Miss Honey dress mostly for its versatility. This dress is completely work appropriate yet has the potential for a night out or special event, depending on how you style it. If you want to show a little leg, you can undo some buttons on the side of the dress. If you're looking for a little more warmth, this is a great dress to layer on top of a tight turtleneck.

Underneath the dress, I opted for a sheer black top with a simple pattern to play up the texture of the outfit—dressing it up but still keeping warm (I'm kidding about the warm part, to be honest). Also, can we give this dress extra brownie points simply for its pockets? For a girl who's always reaching for her phone, pockets are a great practical addition to any article of clothing.

Makeup: Lips (Pony Effect Blossom Lipstick in #02 - Spring Romance) | Brows (Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Dark Brown) | Eyeliner (Clio Kill Black Waterproof Pen Liner) | Under-eye Concealer (Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Custard)

Accessories: Rings (Forever 21)  | Black backpack (Everlane, "The Modern Zip Backpack - Large") 

A big thank you to Pinterest for the lovely backpack, as well as the colorful alley a few blocks away from Valencia Street in the Mission for acting as a beautiful backdrop for this photoshoot. Oh, and the nice man who gave us the flowers :)

Don't hesitate to hit that Pin button if you liked the outfit :-) Feel free to follow this board for my style-related posts, or if you're feeling more adventurous, you can just follow me entirely on Pinterest.

Photos: Evelyn Obamos

♥ Cindy