Recipe/Tutorial: Chicken Salad with Grapes and Nuts

Hi Everyone! As always, I apologize for my lack of posts -___-;; After my last post, (as was mentioned in the post) I was terribly sick for 2+ weeks after I made that post. Soon as I got better, I had finals, and juries for school. And 24 hrs after my last final, I had to completely move out of my school's dorm--back to California AKA halfway across the country!! -_____-^ I had to stuff everything into a storage before hanging out with my friend Ellen for a few days at her place and coming back.. NOW! I'm finally home, in my parents' new place :) after coming home, I had to unpack and unpack again. -____- unpack my stuff from NY, and unpack my stuff from my parents' old place. -sigh- As of now, I am happily settled in a new city, and just trying to get into a productive lifestyle!

What better way to start off that lifestyle than making regular posts on my blog again? hehe ;) (and a job lulz)

I haven't made a cooking tutorial in SO long! Well, here it is--Chicken Salad with Grapes and Nuts! It's really simple, and you can eat it without the sandwich part as well.

Ingredients:
-1 can of chicken (seasoned or non, it's okay. I used season)
-1/4 of a yellow/white onion
-1 stalk of celery
-handful of nuts (peanuts or almonds or walnuts) [I used peanuts just because it's what I had in the pantry]
-1 1/2 cups of Green grapes
-4 Sandwich bread of your choice [I used crescents]  
-1-2 tbs of mayonaise
-1/2 of a lemon's juice
-1-2 stalks of green onion
-salt, pepper, and garlic powder to season

You can always use whatever you have lying around, and don't HAVE to follow every single ingredient. I've had it with walnuts before, and it tastes great. I made it once forgetting the celery, green onions, lemon juice and it still tasted fine.

Okay! let's get started...

Short & Sweet

Hi everyone! :) As I've mentioned, I'm sick as a dog, so I've finally given in to paying the doctor a visit. Ellen ended up skipping class to escort me :3 My appointment was at 9 and I was filling out papers till 9:45!! -____- I had a horrible headache and stomach ache. Ughhh!

Aside from all that pain, afterwards, we stopped by a small cafe behind Columbia university and had breakfast.. it wasn't anything out of the ordinary... but it was so good!!!!

I had a smoked salmon and scallion scrambled eggs with potatoes and salad +__+ yum.

yummm

ahwl gone! :D

Hope this wasn't TOO much of a pointless post .__.
Best,
Jinna

Brooklyn Shopping Date With Vivian :D

Hello all~ ! I'm back with a new post~ :D Over the weekend on Saturday, one of my best friends here at MSM named Vivian and I decided that we would go flea market/thrift shopping! Unfortunately, turned out the flea market was only open on Sundays, so we ended up just thrifting and going into nice vintage stores :) Afterwards we ate at a really nice Japanese restaurant and went to a church revival after that! Talk about a NIGHT. I was SO pooped that I got sick the day after! haha i'm still sick, and I don't regret a single minute of it :p

So.. I've watched so much "What Not To Wear" on TLC with Stacey and Clinton last year before moving to NY. The one thing I learned from that show was.. SHOP FOR OUTFITS! NOT PIECES. Just because it's cute doesn't mean you should get it! If it doesn't go with anything you own, don't get it! (unless you pick up something else to complete the outfit..)

Here's the pictures from the day!

Review: Lancome Hypnose Drama + little haul ! :)

Here's my review on Lancome's Hypnose Drama Mascara! :)

Saying My Last Farewells

Yoyo =D my final post of saying bye to my friends and family in Cali! :(
I went to NRB (karaoke) with my sister and her friend Nara, and had a final going-away dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with my friends from school. Sorry for the picture overload!

Japan Town One Last Time :(

Yo yo! =D So 2 days before I left to NY, my friends and I went to jtown to get some ramen one last time :( Here are some pictures! And stay tuned till the end for a review of the KissMe Cool Sunblock SPF 50!

Moving into Manhattan =D

hey everyone! =)FINALLY a post! I've made it safe and sound (and alive) to New York! It is SUPER hot here, and it's nothing like the west coast's definition of "hot". It is SOOO humid! x__x My hair frizzes, hairspray can't hold my hair, and i'm CONSTANTLY sweating all day! It's so gross! I've only been able to wear my hair down ONCE since I came here! This is SO not my weather. -___-

Anywho, moving on! Here are a couple pictures from my departure date and the day I arrived :) My school doesn't start till the 7th, but because of freshmen orientation, I had to go by the 25th :/


Me and my friend Hyejune at the LAX airport! She's an old friend of mine that's majoring in piano :) We were trying to cover up our bare faces! no makeup eek!
It was 110F degrees in LA when we left... and it was raining when we got to NY! LOL. Talk about werid.

Here are some strange signs I found, lol.


My first meal at school! (well, not counting when I went earlier this year for auditions :p)

MSM! =D

Check out this crazy view from a classroom I was in...


And for dinner that night, my roommate Zijun took me out to see Manhattan! (at like midnight LOL) She already had eaten, so we stopped by this cool pizzeria nearyby :)


All the workers were so funny and nice! They were showing off to us with towels LOL

Tada~ My first out-meal in Manhattan was a calzone :) ham and cheese!

It was soooo good! A little too much Ricotta cheese in it for my taste, but it was still so good!

Here is my room!


My desk! hehe pardon the messiness, I was still unpacking :p



Check out this KILLER view I have from my room!! o.o

And last, but definitely, but not least, my new friends! My roomie (on the left) Zijun; pronounced zeuuuuuuhhjjjuuuiiine LOL. I'm so bad at Chinese! On the right is Guining AKA Winnie :) They're so sweet!

Well folks, i've tried to keep this post as short as possible! I have sooo many pictures >< I wanted to put em up all at the same time, but I think it would be a little over-kill on the pictures--not that I don't on any other post LOL. I will update tomorrow! =) I'm going to watch Twilight with my friend Hyejune and sleep :) gnite~

Best,
Jinna

Moving to the opposite side of the country

Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts lately.. i've been really busy preparing myself for school! As you all may know, I currently live in Los Angeles, California. But my college is actually located in New York! Manhattan School of Music :) So tomorrow night, I depart on a new journey for my long-awaited independent life. I'm such a mommy's girl, so I have no idea how i'm going to cope with being so far away from her.

Not to mention, leaving my all of my best friends behind tears my heart into little bitty pieces. I just got back from the cheesecake factory with my friends as a going-away-dinner. I still have to pack the rest of my clothes and makeup/toiletries! It's going to take all night.. First thing in the morning, I have to go and get my bow re-haired! (I play a string instrument :p)

Thanks for being so patient with me! You all are so kind and always leave lovely comments that really cheer me up. So, come with me along my journey to the New York life! I will update as soon as i'm settled in the dorms :)

Once again, thankyou everyone for the lovely memories I've made here in LA. Jr high and high school has been so much fun with you all.

Love,
Jinna

Tutorial: Cinnamon Twists :3

Hello beautiful people! =) I noticed I haven't put up a cooking tut in awhile, and don't worry! I WILL post up the tut for the kimchi fried rice :) But.. aside from that! Yesterday on the FoodNetwork (a cooking channel for those who don't know) Giada's "Everyday Italian" happened to be on [my fav show on the channel!] She made these Cinnamon Twists and they looked soooo good! +_+ I tried to roughly remember all the measurements and ingredients, so here it is! As for the dipping sauce that she made... I didn't have a lemon with me, so when I made it without, it was absolutely atrocious. So i'm just going to skip out the sauce! Also, the pictures may say one thing, but make sure to read my descriptions because I always write up the directions according to the mistakes I made/improvements that could be made!

Difficulty: Easy
Prep time: 10 min
Baking time: 15 min

Ingredients:
-Brown sugar (dark or light, doesn't matter)
-Cinnamon
-zest of 1 Lemon
-1 Egg
-1 sheet of Puff Pastry
-Powder sugar (optional)
-OPTIONAL: Sesame seeds (preferably toasted) they look really pretty on it, but I don't really like the two tastes of sesame and cinnamon... they're just for garnish


Gather up your ingredients! Yes yes, I know there's honey in the picture, but it was used for the terrible sauce, which I don't think is worth making.

Go ahead and defrost your puff pastry; it's supposed to be kept frozen, so put out to thaw 10-15 minutes before you start! It's usually rolled up, so it's a bit tricky to unravel it! Try keeping a knife nearby for its straight edge

Cut the dough into 4 squares--cut down the center vertical line, and then one center horizontal to make a cross shape.

Cut each of the sections into 4 pieces!

Cut em all up, they should look like this :)

Now, prepare a large bowl, preferably flat and shallow; add in 2 tbs of cinnamon~

You can add your sesame seeds here, but I regret putting mine in raw, and they were just a bit overpowering the cinnamon...

and 4 tbs brown sugar :) If you want to make them more of a desert, add up to 6 tbs! You can add some powder (confectioner) sugar for more of a melt-in-your-mouth taste~

Mix up the dry ingredients! Add the lemon zest here :)

Line a baking try with some parchment paper--I ran out, so I just had to use foil :( If you use foil oil/butter/spam it up! I forgot to, so I had one hell of a time removing them when they were done -0-

This picture shows two, because the original shape I was going for was a bit different, but I liked my second idea better--just use one strip at a time!

I tried it in this shape first, but it was just too big and ugly! :/ so trust me on this one. Just use one :p

Crack your egg and beat it up real well till bubbly :) Prepare a pastry brush too! If you don't own one, you can use your hands :) Some people like to add water in their egg wash, but I think for this recipe, it's better thick.

So taking the egg wash, brush it on both sides of a strip!

Roll it around in the dry mixture and cover well :) it's okay to have missing spots! Now, taking the strip horizontally, grabbing each end of the strip, twist the ends in opposite directions~

When you're done, you should end up with a whole lot of these! 8)

The oven should be preheated by now, so pop em in for 15 minutes! Keep an eye on them after the 10 minute mark, since everyone's oven differs. Mine was a bit on the crispier side and mine was left in for 15. Maybe about 13 minutes? Go figure. (but be prepared to leave them in longer; my oven is strong enough to nuke a planet.)

Ah.. what a mess -___- this is the time to wash the dishes and clean up your work area!

They're done!

Pastries don't like to come off in one go when they're hot, so cool em just a bit!

And here we go!


Finished! =-) they're super yummy with some coffee~
I hope you enjoyed this cooking tutorial! :) Haven't made one in awhile, so i'm just a little rusty ._. Sorry for the picture overload! But I would much rather have pictures as reference, than read a huuuge paragraph and have no idea wth the author is saying. :p Just a couple things to keep in mind: 1) Don't be afraid to go a little crazy with the sugar! 2) Keep an eye on them! Once they pass a certain point, they burn quickly! 3) Stay away from sesame seeds, unless you really want em...

Sorry if this last picture scared you, because it sure scared the crap outta me while scrolling down. LOL. I've been having some problems with falling asleep lately, so I've been hella tired. I had work today, and drove home for 1.5 hrs due to a brush fire in my area.

Goodluck trying it out! :)
Best,
Jinna