Karmatic

24 January 2015

wok

A couple of dishes that I've cooked over the past week(s).

回锅肉 again. It's probably the most common pork dish that I cook, for the singular reason that you cut the meat after its been cooked. This eliminates having to wash a separate set of knife and chopping board.
The meat falls apart quite easily when I thinly slice, which results in nice charred bits that I very much like.

Loosely Taiwanese stir-fried cabbage. This dish isn't an entire success since it's having a bit of an identity crisis. I started off following a Taiwanese recipe, but substituted too many ingredients, such as my extremely spicy pickled pepper. The pepper over powered the shiitake mushrooms :(

In efforts of using up more of my pickles, I made sour fish with a meat to seasoning ratio more in line with 辣子鸡. For those unfamiliar, the proper format of that dish is that you must dig through the pile of peppers to find any chicken pieces.
(also finally used up that pack of frozen fish fillets from waaay back.)

Poached pear with spices (cardamon, cloves, cinnamon. Almost a chai). This was an attempt to rescue some ~~not so great~~ tasteless pears, which didn't work. I do like this particular flavour combination, so will redo with proper pears.

Red cabbage with gochujang (Korean pepper paste), a new staple, and cabbage with sausage.
Both are simple, both are delicious.

22 January 2015

almonds^2

Almost through another busy week, this semester is insane with the amount of weekly assignments.

Phoenix Dan Cong from last weekend:

This is a also from Tao Tea Leaf, but is of a higher grade than last time's.

It does not taste like roasted almonds as per the vender's descriptions. At most I got some faint taste of almond milk, but that is totally different than roasted almonds. However, I do prefer this more than the previous. Perhaps that's just a psychological effect of paying more.

This tea is predominately fruity, with the wet leaves smelling peachy and the liqueur also tasting sweet and fruity. In fact it greatly reminds me of a Taiwanese oolong from the sample pack I got at Tea From Taiwan. Unfortunately I don't remember which haha.

I wonder if twisted oolong leaves are more prone to breaking? Most of the leaves in this were also broken. They also widely vary in size.

From only these two samples, can't say that I love phoenix dan cong. But then again, it could equally be my incompetence at brewing and not the tea's fault. Theoretically I should enjoy them as they are the same cultivar as my beloved wuyi yancha and the mountain ranges are relatively close together. Will explore more of this type after some more yancha & Japanese greens.

19 January 2015

Japango

Was surprised that I didn't know about this tiny sushi shop less than a block away from the intersection that I've now lived at for a year and a half. This would be the equivalent of Solo Sushi Bekkan in terms of size (perhaps even smaller). Finally paid a rather spontaneous visit today.

Lunch special sashimi don ($13).

It was good but ND Sushi's is still the best. Though this is cheaper and possibly a bigger portion. ND Sushi has more textural contrast, a better hot sauce and you can actually distinguish the different pieces of fish. Here, the sashimi is chopped up and doesn't stand up well against the other ingredients. I do like the inclusion of the sweet egg omelet, though I would prefer it on the side as a dessert (which is its role in sushi joints).

Dave had a sushi bento set which included this one reeeeally delicious nigiri, possibly torched saba (mackerel) or yellow tail.

This restaurant does tick off a pet peeve of mine which is not offering complimentary tea (the western equivalent would be not offering complimentary bread). In fact they didn't even provide water! I'm sure they would have offered at least water if we asked, but to require asking for water is not good service.

18 January 2015

skincare routine: winter

Much has changed from the last time I made a big skincare routine change, here's what's working so far:

Missing: KOSE speedy white cleansing oil and Hada Labo gokujyun foaming cleanser.

These products are wonderful at keeping my skin hydrated and lightening scaring (since I've yet to figure out how to stop acne from occurring completely).

Oil cleanse: the KOSE cleansing oil is alright, doesn't seem to be as effective as Holika Holika's soda BB oil nor Shu's pink bottle one. I do prefer it more than HH's as it's a thinner texture and smells like nothing, but Shu's is still my grail oil. But KOSE is also much, much cheaper so I'm set on trying their other variations (especially the deep version).
Foam cleanse: finally got a low pH cleanser! It's also self foaming which is much more convenient than using a foaming net (though it was fun making a giant pile of foam using Shiseido's perfect whip). Hopefully this will be the end of my cleanser search, will report back after using it more.
Actives (vit C + AHA): The combination of OST C20 vitamin C serum, and Mizon's 8% AHA serum lightens PIH (acne scars) in roughly a week! That's super impressive to me. However, they do require proper usage as they are pH dependant products. This includes:
- using a low pH cleanser (or toner, or waiting a long time for your skin to naturally adjust)
- using them in a order with enough wait time in between: Vit C --> (BHA, which I plan on adding later) --> AHA. proper explanation via Snow (it was actually my question that she quotes in her post ah ha).
I'm very happy with the Mizon serum, however can't say the same about OST, which dries sticky and uses a finicky formula. They're both very strong formulations, so I can only use them every other day.
Moisturizing toner: Hada Labo shirojyun lotion, it's perfect (aka cheap and effective). I do like the inclusion of whitening ingredients, which is why I use it over the gokujyun line.
Serum: Benton snail essence also plays a part in lightening PIH, but the actives contribute a greater amount. I do like how quickly it absorbs into the skin.
Cream: Hada Labo shirojyun milk for day, and Benton snail steam cream by night. Again, Hada Labo is perfect but Benton's steam cream deserves most of the credit for keeping my skin hydrated throughout the winter. It's texture is very thick in the jar, but absorbs quickly and doesn't feel greasy at all. It helps to warm it up between your fingers before applying.
SUNSCREEN: always. Haven't found the perfect one yet though.

This is a pretty solid baseline routine, but am planning to add a BHA (likely Cosrx) and also Missha's first treatment essence (mm niacinamides). Maybe a tea tree serum? Also planning to switch the steam cream to Mizon's snail gel for the summer.

16 January 2015

no-buy

I decided to go to New York again over the reading week. This should be fun :D

Itinerary is currently filled with Uniqlo, tea, museums, and my ambition to eat lunch under $10s (so I can buy more tea). So in that spirit, let's see if I can see a no-buy until my trip. It definitely helps knowing that the pair of shoes I was considering to replace my brogues were roughly the same price as my flight.