Fun with Repeat Patterns!

Hello! If you'd like to learn how to make repeat patterns, here's a how-to post from Design Sponge. The above is one I made recently, inspired by sprouts and spuds (yes, the tubers are holding hands!) If you print out a bunch of these squares and tile them, they will form a continuous decorative pattern. I want to make a fabric out of it (just putting it through my home printer), but what would I do with it? Any suggestions?

Made Some New Friends

Noop (the pink guy) and Moochi were made over the holiday break from patterns downloaded from Funky Friends Factory. It was so much fun seeing them take form. Noop is now here in SF with me, but Moochi is still in Brooklyn with my sis Jenny. Another monkey will be on its way to my other sister in Manhattan, as soon as I'm done with it.

Such a nice, sweet little monkey, just like my sis!


This guys funny!

Equally amusing, if not more when flat

A Veritable Feast

One 18 pound turkey, four lobsters cooked two ways, two types of stuffing, braised Chinese mushrooms, sauteed pea shoots and baby bok choy, tofu with ground pork and rice. Soooo goood. Here, you see the chef enjoying her favorite part of the bird- the neck.

Thank you for cooking all day to create this amazing New Years feast Chan clan!!!

Eye Candy

There was an international potluck event at work yesterday. I made steamed chicken with black mushrooms and baby bok choy. Always being one to believe that one eats with the eye as well as with the mouth, I decided to do this classic Chinese dish up a bit, just a lil fancy fancy:

Lesson Learned

Apparently when you and your husband are dancing in the kitchen it is wise to inform him verbally that you will be sinking in his arms for a dip. It is also wise to not sink into his arms unannounced while near a full glass of coffee.

Happy Halloween!

Fun and pretty easy to make, thanks to linoleum block cutters. I'm tempted to carve into the little pumpkins as well.

This Little Guy

Homegrown Mung Bean Pod

Surprised us both! Some of you will remember the sprouts we used as wedding reception favors / centerpieces back in August-- this little guy is from one of the extra batches. I had stuck the extra plants in jars of water all summer, so I didn't expect them to thrive too much. That's why it was such a surprise when one morning Max looked at the plants on our window sill and found this sweet little pod. I've never seen a mung bean pod before!

It's always somewhat of a shock to discover the secret life of foods. You think you know a food, but really, you only know its market or processed form. Take mangos as an example-- it wasn't unti I saw a bunch of heavy green things hanging from long, green, umbilical cord-like stems all over a tree in Vietnam that I got a more complete picture of a mango. A mango is not a mango is not a mango after all.

Likewise, when I think of mung beans, I think of it as the star of a sweet Chinese dessert soup or as a co-star with glutinous rice in a zongzi, a rice dumpling tightly bound in bamboo leaves. I definitely picture its sprout form, without which a bowl of pho is just not as good. But what happens beyond the sprout phase? Here are some photos of them from seed to pod, just so you know.

Dry mung beans prior to soaking

Hulls start splitting after one day of soaking. Volume doubles.

Little root ends become longer.
At this point you can eat them (split hulls removed by me)

The sprout's cotyledons and stems turn purple and big leaves start to sprout

Immature mung bean plant leaves.
They're longer than they are wide

Leaves become rounder as plant matures