023: hot pot

Warning: food post!

Have you ever tried hot pot? It's kinda like a chinese fondue, where you have a huge pot of boiling broth or soup stock in the centre of the table & you just throw in whatever you want. It's a huuuge meal usually & we have it every so often in the winter months :)


You just have to gather up your 'raw' ingredients that you're gonna put in...


we use chicken, beef & pork that is sliced suuuper thin. This helps the meat cook really quickly in the soup... yum! It's sold at Asian supermarkets already sliced & frozen, so we just have to defrost it!


fresh salmon. my fave!


pieces of 'fish tofu' that is shaped like fish already!
we also sometimes just use fishballs...


prepare a little portable stove for your big pot of soup & just put it in the middle of the table with lots of spoons & chopsticks ready. (and make sure to use separate sets of chopsticks for your raw meats!)


and then everyone can start dropping stuff in & cooking right on the table


we have these awesome hot pot ladles that are great for dipping in your meats & scooping them out.
Other than meats, we also throw in some vermicelli & watercress for the greens :)


delish! We love topping it off with lots of sriracha hot sauce, chopped chilli peppers & kim chi. SO GOOD!

Have you done hot pot before? What do you put in your soup?
Do you ever do fondue? Oil or cheese? (or chocolate?) ;)

xoxo


ps, please check out our latest interview on the brand new website wellrounded.me! & leave a comment if you have a minute!

022: tutorial - cut out shoulder shirt

The long Canadian winters always have me wishing for spring & summer the entire time. Lately, there have been a million articles popping up about SS11 trends making me anticipate the warm weather even more! I've been seeing the return of the button-up shirt in so many variations, so I wanted to DIY one of my faves.

The shoulder cut-out is back in & I, for one, am celebrating it's return. I remember when Sam & I were younger, we were always supposed to wear our "party dresses" for birthday parties & picture days. I LOVED it & I especially loved my 80's dresses with their bubble hems & shoulder cut-outs! Even at the age of 7, I knew that the little peek-a-boo detail made me feel so cool.

For the past year or so, I've been wearing so many oversized shirts that are (fashionably) shapeless, and I've been so obsessed with the strong shoulder look too. So it's so funny because now I'm itching to start wearing collared shirts for their tailored forms! ... and I'm choosing to show you how to do a shoulder cut-out, which I'd say MUST be the complete opposite of an exagerrated shoulder, right?

before & after:


WARNING: This tutorial may not even need to exist. It's so simple that I may not even need to explain it, but for those who asked for more tutorials, this is for yoooou. ♥


Things you'll need:
- Collared Shirt
- Chalk
- Scissors
- Sewing Machine


Lay your shirt out flat & use your chalk to draw out how big your cutouts will be. You can choose to show lots of skin like me... or not. And just try it on and see if the chalk lines sit where you like... if not, draw it again!


Cut out the shoulder holes! Don't be nervous!


You can do a rolled hem or you can serge (or zigzag) the edges & then topstitch it down. Do it however you want. You're an adult. lol

& then bam!

let's not be too sexy. button dem buttons ALLL the way up. I've been LOVING that look :)


I should have ironed it. ah well.

I hope to pair this top up with a bit better of an outfit sometime in the next few weeks, as this skirt was just what I happened to be wearing to work earlier today. We'll see how versatile this piece turns out to be :) Do you guys reconstruct your own wardrobe sometimes? Will you think about trying this tutorial out? This is an awesome project for those massive denim button ups too!

xoxo

021: treesje

So many of you may already know from Syl's post earlier here on about my Treesje purse.


Treesje Avalon Mini in Grey

Let's play dress up! Okay! *puts skirt on as a dress*
Yeap, that's what I did today!


Tulle Skirt from India, studded belt, Avalon Mini in Grey Treesje purse

Jeffrey Campbell: Raid Wedges


XXI ring & Nightmare Before Christmas ring from Hot Topic

I'll leave you with this video to enjoy ;) Let me know what you think!

You’re watching Lady Gaga Remix for the Mugler Fashion Show. See the Web's top videos on AOL Video

020: fa-reezing

Like everyday of this Winter...I've been freezing cold.
It's awful. It's just so irritating when I'm in my faux fur lined sweater, sweatpants, socks and boot slippers but I find that the only part of me that's freezing cold are my toes. brrrrrrr.  
Where in the world are you? Are you enjoying the snow? sun?
Right now...all I want is to be in the Summer sun. Here are a few photos of things I'm craving for (mostly food).

I want it to be summer so that I can have Cold Stone or Marble Slab. Ya know?!

American style McDonalds. 40 chicken McNuggets, two massive fries & a pop. this cost me about $15 usd. That's INSANE! In Toronto it definitely costs $10 cnd for 6 nuggets, medium fries & a pop. I wish food was cheaper.

I want a Sushi pizza right now. This is s picture of one that I had in Waterloo at Sushi 99 or something.

Anyone play this game before? It's a word game called Topple and I'm the worst at it!! The letters are in the correct columns, it's just a matter of placing them in the correct blank rows. I would not survive a second in Wheel of Fortune. I was stuck on this for a while...but I solved it!! Do you know the answer?

Strange times. Like my new glasses?! I got them in the mail today! They were free from clearlycontacts.ca <3 Fellow Canadians: Ever bought or gotten free glasses from them before?

Love,

019: PB & N?

So Syl's been doing a lot of quality blogging unlike me. I don't have the most exciting things going on during these freezing cold Winter days. I spent the day preparing some orders to have shipped out & that's just about it.

Let's just say the highlight of my day was eating a Peanut Butter and Nutella sandwich on whole wheat bread with my cup of tea. Does anyone else mix their Peanut Butter with Nutella? When I was younger...I would just sprinkle sugar all over the peanut butter before closing the sandwich.

Oh yeah, I also laughed really hard at that RANDOM man on American Idol that was dressed as a transformer and actually had a running start and rolled down the side walk on his hands and knees. Good times...here he is!



Sadly, I love watching American Idol during the first round. I usually try to follow every episode before Hollywood...and then I completely ditch it. Do you watch American Idol?

Anyways, I snapped some photos of my Sandwich! It was the greatest. Here's my 3pm lunch.

My sandwich with my Orange Pekoe Tetley Tea in my Vancouver 2010 mug! ^_^

This picture makes me want to have another PB&N sandwich at 2:40am

On another note, I wanted to share this random photo. Syl and I were at a Guess Outlet and I noticed this note on a pair of leggings. I'm used to seeing these tags on slight damaged garments...but this note was just something I was not used to seeing.

First of all...DESTROY is checked off. Why is it for sale? Secondly, the tear was like 50% of the crotch. Lastly, the note is just rude, unnecessary/uncalled for.

xoxo