✿ The ｡◕‿◕｡ Hills ✿

Originally I was buying these Candy Cane for my students.....however.....magically......out of no idea.....most of them end up in my stomach XD

I couldn't help myself....haven't have one for a long time, for almost 2 year I think. I bought 3 boxes in total. 2 of them are fruits flavors and 1 mini box with just mint flavor.


Front view of the Candy Cane from Jolly Rancher

Surprisingly I like watermelon more than strawberry one....

Haven't try this box yet, so no comment on the taste :)

Hopefully sour apple will taste good....

Bryen said I am a bad teacher because I am stealing form the kids. If so....I think he is a bad person as well, because he shared some of the candy canes with me hahahahaha..

I am so touched. Got my first gift from a student of mine. They did as a family project-- Milk Chocolate Fudge. Even I am not a sweet tooth myself, but I am still really appreciate their heart for making it. Other than that, H.N. also gave me a Reindeer doll today after class. :D
I am such a lucky teacher to have all these lovely kids :) I already have a bite of the fudge, it taste really good!



Look how happy they are!


They added Walnut to one side and original on the other side :) so thoughtful of them know I love nuts.

As a site note, they called me Miss Eva (blush) instead of Mrs. Eva XD

I read fairly slow, I don't know why, I guess that is just the way it is...
It has nothing to do with the language of the book, it is just me....I read slow. XD

December 4th, is the day I got my new book. This is a bonus reading from the series Harry Potter----The Tales of Beedle The Bard. I haven't start reading it yet, but hopefully I will enjoy this book like I enjoy the whole series of Harry Potter.

The package from Amazon when they deliver my other Harry Potter books always have some funny writing, so does this one :D


This is a small size book, should be able to finish reading in few hours. Yes, even for a slow reader as me. ok ok I lied....maybe 1 day the longest XD


Thanks bibi for Pre-order the book for me :)

But I guess they have changed the name.....OR~ they have more than one name for the same product? the name on the package is Mooli Coolz......

I first fall in love with this product when I went to Universal Studio with one of Bryen's best friend Jason. He treated me for my first cup of Dipping Dots. Rainbow Road was the flavor I picked if my steel trap memory hasn't fail me.

Today Bryen went to Wal-mart to pick up my weekly Juice like every other Friday, and I told him I want to have some Ice-cream. With my expensive taste he would normally just get me a pin of Haagen Dasz. However I wasn't in the mood for that...so I told him to find me some Blue Bunny Fudge Bar. BUT! dun dun dun..................He said there's no Fudge bar at all....

Instead, he picked this ↓

It looks like the Dipping Dots I had a while ago.


Each box have 4 cups in it, and they ain't' cheap! XD


Each cup has its own paper-ish spoon that you scoop with


Trust me, that is not my finger....


I wish it has more cookie bits in it, Bryen says it tasted alright (that means he doesn't like it). I think it taste fine, not great but edible. We going to try the other flavor "Banana Split" next time. Until then, I am going to eat another cup later tonight :P

Last night after work Bryen and I decided that we are going to try and make some pork burgers. So I defrost both ground pork and Hawaii sweet bread. It was a very simple meal, I cut the bread in quarters and sliced in half and make it into hamburger buns. For the patty part, used regular ground pork, salt, black pepper, Japanese style bread crumbs (パン粉), some rice wine, and 1 egg. I made 2 different types of patties, one regular (because Bryen likes just simple original flavor) one with green onions and coriander for extra herb flavor (for myself).

I bake the bread before serving and top the patty with some fresh cut onion rings and cheese....
For the patties, of course we hire our trusty grill pan again XD I dip the patty in flour before grilling so the burger will not dry out.

The is a whole burger view before I put the top bun on


Lots of ketchup and mustard!



Tada~ the finished Pork-burger



Tasting result:

The pork burger tasted so good.....never had one and will definitely make more in the future.
I love the extra herb I put in for mine, it does add extra flavor for me and goes really well with the pork-burger.

Yes! I am 1year older now! why? because 2 days after Thanksgiving was my birthday :P
This year I am going all Low profile, no big celebration or big party. Not because I don't want to, it is because no friends live in FL =.= and besides, I enjoy more just staying home with Bryen and Dorayaki. :)Thanks to all who said Happy B-day to me. I really appreciated :)

The day went by just like another normal days of my life. I wake up really late and roll around the bed hugging my hubby. We played some video games together, chased Dorayaki around our place and played with her for a bit.

When it came to dinner time, Bryen said I get to choose what to eat. I choose Wendy's, so Wendy's it is~ BUT!!!!!! they were closed due to Thanksgiving weekend...........................Orz
So we end up eating Pizza-Hut. We shared a drink and a medium pizza, and some hot wings. The wings weren't hot at all as we thought it would be :P But it was a great meal, lots of laughter and happiness. I also demand some Krispy Kreme and Bryen said he would get it the next day.

So here's my bonus B-day gift from Mr. Hill, fresh oven hot Krispy Kreme donuts. I love the original glaze.....they are just perfect. Not too sweet and so tender, it didn't took us long to finish it. We were both a little hungry when he came to pick me up after work.

Tada~


2 Original glazed, 1 with extra chocolate dipping, 1 with extra sprinkles. 3 for me and the sprinkled one is for Bryen.



OMG! the empty box! who did that! where's all the donuts? XD




I did had a wonderful birthday this year. Thanks bibi for everything, the pink DC, the dinner and the Krispy Kreme! *chu* love you forever~

Yeah, yeah I know thanksgiving should have Turkey,stuffing, gragy......and blah blah but since I spend our turkey budget on new kitchenware so until next year, no Turkey for the Hills. Instead, I cooked Hot Dog, Mac & Cheese, Cole Slaw, and brownies.

Our 2nd course is Mac & Cheese. I didn't really like the cheese sauce I made this time, because it has a little powder look to it. I don't know if I didn't melt the cheese all the way...or there's certain type of cheese they do not go together? Guess next time I have to try work with different type of cheese. However the taste for my Mac & cheese is fine. Golden brown on top and not dry in the middle. :)

To go with it I made some pink slaw~ I called it Pink Slaw because I add lots of carrots and it actually look more pink than white. It was my first time trying to make it and I am glad I tried. On a side note, I found out that Chinese Rice Vinegar works just fine for making the slaw. :P Who needs those fancy Apple Cider Vinegar or Red Wine Vinegar.

As for our princess Dorayaki, she was trying to get on the table and take a bite or two of the food I made, but was caught by me! Such an evil baby...trying to sneak in while we were busy taking pictures of the food.

For dessert, I made some Dark chocolate brownies. I went all out again by using Godiva chocolate powder XD This is one very expensive brownies.

This concluded the Thanksgiving Dinner at the Hill's. Sure~ we are one weird couple who didn't have turkey on the day. But who cares~ XD

Was busy the whole weekend, and finally have time to update my Blog. The first post is this chicken thing I cooked last week. I used only chicken breasts (1.5 breast meat) then cut in to bite size pieces, then stir fried with Taiwanese pickled mustard root (酸菜).

I soak the root for days so it will drain out all the artificial flavors and some of that yellowish dye it has. Seasoning is very simple, fresh garlic, chili pepper, salt and black pepper (but normally I like use white pepper for chicken and other white meat and black pepper with dark meat like beef).

That night we had it in soup with rice noodles with some coriander and green onions sprinkled on top. I also added some sesame oil at the end to boost up the smell sensation :P The dish turned out very good and I love it. Judging from Bryen's reaction, I can tell he enjoys it very much.

Here is a picture to share how the food looks like :)

After previous shopping Blog, Bryen asked me to go in more detailed about how terrible he was as a plumber. XD He took over 30mins to put this tap filter on and even used some scary tools.....(which all turned out was a waste of time)

The tap filter is really easy to put on but you know man, they like to show their "TOOL KNOWLEDGE" so does Bryen. He brought out his tool box and dig out some heavy equipment. He used too many tools for this little project *sigh*. As a result, he scratched the tab filter with his UBER vice-grip.

Bryen's All mighty Tool Box

Murderer #1

Murderer #2

Victim

Every now and then Bryen will bring cookies from work. He said when there's copies coming in the delivery people sometimes will bring fresh bake cookies to the law firm. It is always different flavor. This time they have milk chocolate cookie, white chocolate cookie and oatmeal raisin cookie. I remember they had peanut butter cookie before and it taste wonderful.

It always come in a bag of 3, I am not really a cookie fan but the fresh bake cookie have that soft texture and just the smell make me want to have a bite of two. I didn't eat all 3 of them all by myself, I SHARED with Bryen. We ate it for dessert on Friday night and we enjoyed it alot. Until next week, no more cookies for me :)

Bryen and I were suppose to shop for Thanksgiving Dinner stuff but we end up buying other things instead :P We were in the store for a long time untill "I" made the final decision. After careful consideration I think I will use these "Other" things more than turkey baking, so I say Bye bye to turkey very quickly. Why not buy both? you would ask, the answer it simple "we do have budget limit". To stay within the budget, I guess turkey have to wait in the store for me untill next year~

The first item is a cast iron grill pan, I love this thing....been waiting to have one since I don't know, FOREVER?! It is indoor use , however if u have outdoor grill i don't think you will want one of these...that would be very odd..............

Anyways, cast iron is probably the best pan you can get, because it keeps food warm for a long period of time, and you can put it in the oven without worry about the high temp. Love it Love it! Already tested with some stake last night and sorry I have to repeat this again, "I LOVE IT"!!!

The next item is a replacement for my old flat pan. I got the 2 pans set instead of 1. I forgot the actual size ...and I didn't even know they are red till we got home XD. All I cared were if the handle is confortable and if the size fits my daily usage. So far the new flat pans work great and I have no complains YET. hehehe


The 3rd item is a Grater, it comes with a bottom lid and measurement table on the side. With this new toy I never have to worry about chopping huge quantity anymore :P

The 4th item is a potato mash. I can finally stop mash potato with my Rice Scoop Spoon =.= yeah, I always use Rice Scoop Spoon to mash potatos....stupid/weird...whatever you want to called me but it worked for me at the time :). Now I can smash like a pro~ just smash away~



We did bought a 5th item, it is a tap filter. I am very sick of the old one we used, the big plastic bucket. After using it for few years the container itself gets so dirty and I couldn't wash anything off. It always have some orange water rust on the bucket, and the filter center .....always have black things floating out even when it is a brand new filter. I never know why I keep that old bucket filter for such a long time. Now I have this new tap filter, everything goes so easy, 1 switch and I have my clean filtered tap water for cooking and everything else :D

This concluded my weekend pre-Thanksgiving shopping hahahahaha

I like to watch cooking shows, but lately the shows on Food Network is getting "shitty" if you know what I mean. So I don't get to learn that much more like I used to.

Anyways, back to topic. Last night I am continuously on my stew style cooking and I cooked a very typical Taiwanese street style food "Squid rolled in fish paste with rice noodles in gooey soup" hahahahaha what a weird name....excuse me for not able to come up with any of those pretty/fancy names.

The soup base it self is pretty easy to make. I chopped some bamboo shoots along with Hua-Gu (a type of Chinese mushroom), carrots, and Mu-Er(another Chinese type fungus) then throw them all in the big pot with boiling chicken stock. Add some salt, white pepper, and some fish stock powder. Just let it keep it boiling for a while before adding the thickening agent and tada~ the base soup is done.

Before eating, I boiled the rice noodles with the Squid roll (I always added salt in the boiling water). I didn't make my own Squid roll because I cant find the fresh fish paste in Tampa so I end up using the frozen one. It still taste pretty good so it is all good :) for extra taste boost, I add some black vinegar and some Chinese seafood paste (called Sha-Cha Jian). You can either use coriander or fresh Basil for decoration and some extra herb taste. I chopped some fresh Basil last night because that is what I have handy.

For this particular dish, you can use noodle, rice noodle (both fat and thin type), or even eat it with rice. That is why I like this dish, because I can play with it and create different kind of textures so I wouldn't get bored with it even if I have it for days :P.

Here is the end product, isn't this yummy or what?

Was talking with Chamil yesterday, and he gave me the idea that I should do a Cooking Diary, since I like to cook alot, why not write about it? I guess he is right, so here I am~ Sharing more food I cooked.

Ever since Bryen goes to Law School, my cooking chances have rapidly decreased, I am home eating dinner by myself every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. These changes have caused me to change my cooking method. I started to cook food with bigger quantity and stew style. I guess I feel it will last longer and I don't have to cook everyday since I am eating alone 3 days a week. :P

Last Sunday after work I decided to make Bryen's favorite popcorn chicken again, and to go with it I made some stir fried "Lai-Fen" (pretty much a Hong Kong Style rice noodles). I did with only vegetables because we already have chicken as our protein for the meal. I don't think that is the normal way I would get from a restaurant but that is definitely an Eva Style hahaha. It actually tasted really good, I used carrots, onions, green onions, cabbages and some bean sprouts. For spices I used some slat and white pepper, then add oyster sauce. I also did some changes for the popcorn chicken, I added fresh Basil before I scoop up and put on the plate. It really add a little herb smell to the whole dish and I like it.

Yesterday was another cold day in Tampa, so I thought it would be a nice day for my little princess to go outside and have some fun. I asked Bryen to bring Dorayaki to my work when he came to pick me up and he did. hahahaha it was like a big hit in the school when they arrived. All the kids flocked towards me like a storm. I now know my princess is a girl magnet, attracts girls at all ages. From principle all the way to my student's younger sister everybody all went "awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww he is so cute" *cough*cough* excuse me, not HE, is SHE OK?! I guess it is hard to tell a dog's gender.....=.=

Bryen told me when they arrived at school, Dorayaki's tail was down the whole time till she saw me in the classroom and then she tried to jump on me and hug me hehe such a baby. She probably was thinking that Bryen is trying to take her to some place and sell her to some stranger. I can hear her talking inside her head "where is my mommy? you baster! are you trying to sell me? I am going to KEEL you!"

Anyways, Dorayaki had a great time and enjoy her outside walking and very little running. On our way home she immediately put her head at the A/C fan like aways, aiming for cool air.....now you know why I do not take her out on a sunny hot day, because I wouldn't want to kill her XD

I should have take some picture but totally forgot about it. I was busy talking to the parents then to the principle and then to the other teachers before I can remember, we already on our way home....oh well, maybe next time ~

Tada~!!!!!!! Finally got my new DC (from Sony, called T700) this week. It came with a long story, but at the end I am just happy that I finally get to play with it. All I have to say is, FedEx SUX! How hard it is to delivery the item to the provided address?

Anyways, I tested the DC for almost 2 days now. I love it! I just wish there's a Black/White shooting function. Oh well, maybe next time I will buy a DSLR and it will come with that function :P

I have read the manual so many times I think I can memorise most of the parts already. Hopefully I can make this one last forever since Bryen even engraved it for me :D

I have alot of confidence I will enjoy this new DC alot, thanks bibi *CHU* love you~

Here's some photos I took with my lovely model Dorayaki:

The DC has scrapbook function, it will use your photo and make it into it, you can choose different background setting

very very clear shot

she is just such an innocent girl

I love this one the most :)

I think I have already taken over 50 pictures for the past 2 days. I am glad my model does not complained or even demand extra pay~

There's few more things I would like to try out with this DC, all I am going to say is "poor Dorayaki" buhahahahahahahahah..............

I never really like cereals, because most of them are either too sweet or no flavor at all. Eating too much sweet food makes me want to puke and eating food with no flavor you might as well kill me. So I normally end up not eating alot of cereals only occasionally during weekends.

If you know me you will know I love fruits, especially strawberries. As my husband and I were shopping for cereals the other day I found out this new type of cereal (it might not be new for the market, but it is new to me). It is from Honey Bunch of Oats with real strawberries. I know the company have many other flavors but this one actually taste pretty good.




Yeah, it is not too fancy, just regular Honey Bunch of Oats stuff with extra strawberry slices :) I am glad I am starting to enjoy eating more cereals now.

I don't say this often, but the passed 2 days I have never feel so comfortable since I moved here. Many people would say that Florida is a wonderful place, so warm, so nice...blah blah blah. The truth is, I HATE IT!!!!

I am, and probably never will be a hot place hot weather person. I love cold weather, I like to find a way to keep myself warm rather than find a way to keep myself cool. It might sound weird, but I do have a full closet of sweaters.....

I can count how many new clothes I bought ever since I moved here, and I rarely want to go out to take a walk during the day. That really shows how much I hate hot/sticky weather here. Do not get me wrong, if the weather is dry heat, I probably will like is more; but humid....yew....yuck....I can not take it at all. The feeling that everything stuck on your face...the feeling that your own sweat stuck on your skin forever....No uh, no thanks. And for all the above complains and reasons I end up to have my apartment A/C blast 24hrs, 365days a year :P

Not just me who doesn't like the hot/steamy weather, so does my princess, Dorayaki, she is totally on my side. Whenever my husband and I take her out, she aims for the A/C fan as soon as she gets into the car hehehehe. She puts her head right next to the A/C fan and enjoy herself, such a smart girl~

Thinking a bout the trip to Taiwan in December, I don't know if I should be happy or not. I am happy because I get to see my family again, but I also worry the weather going to be very humid and drive me crazy :X

Well, I guess I will worry about it when the time comes. For now, I am going to put my full pajamas on and then chill out in my living room couch under the blanket with my puglicious Dorayaki and enjoy our day because it is such a cold/chilling "not-a-typical" Florida Day.

I got flower and card :D


Our stake dinner with bacon flavor potato mash and stem vegi. It tasted really good.



Time fly, I have been married for 2 years now. WOW.....:P
I guess when you are happy and enjoy your life u feel time goes by quicker. I would really want to pause the time and enjoy my life as Mrs. Hill more if I am allow to.

According to Mr. Hill, he said I am weird. I like to hear when people called me Mrs. Hill. So far not many people actually called me that, at school students and parents called me "Miss Eva" at home Bryen called me "bibi" hmm.....I guess only people from Vet called me Mrs. Hill.

Anyways, on our 2year anniversary we have decided not to spend alot of money since we already plan our Xmas trip to visit my family in Taiwan. So, we went to Blockbuster and rented 4 DVDs to watch and also got some stakes for dinners over the weekend. The movies were great, and dinners were wonderful. I guess the best part was we get to spend time with each other.

Ever since Bryen got into Law School, things around our place got a little busier. I am home alone more...and he always got reading/stuff to do for the law school whenever he is home. The end result is we didn't get to spend as much as quality time as we used to. So this anniversary weekend was good for us :)

As always he never wants me to get him anything and he said he HAS to get me something. He enjoys to see me get all excited and see my reaction when I read the cards. (basically I cry whenever I read the cards) ah~ what can I say...I am one lucky wife~~

I am happy I am Mrs. Hill :) and I plan to be Mrs. Hill for lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time!



Happy Anniversary!



PS. I love you

Yeah, I look tired....playing with kids for more than 3hours plus socializing with all those parents make me sooooooooooo tired. (*CHU* my cute tonton)




Halloween Cup Cakes!



1st and 2nd layer of the pizza

Before Baking

Final product! tada~

Yeah, it is a late post, but I still want to post it. We had a great party at Chinese School last Sunday. We was heading to Walmart for some personal items but end up buying pizza ingredients :P

So our Pizza night starts! Mr. Hill like his with lots of meat...and I like lots of vegetables....and we end up having a big pizza with lots of everything hehe

This time we have mozzarella cheese and provolone cheese instead of the 4 cheeses that Mr. Hill always get. It turns out my choice is good, because the end product taste yummy!

I tried the cup cake the next day, and I guess icing is really not my type of food. I end up eating just the cake and throw the icing away XD

Again! today is Wednesday, another pizza night! because Mr. Hill don't need to go Law School tonite!! I guess that is something worth to celebrate :)