Just finished watching Stuck In Love !  wonderfully delighted :-)

Storyline:

Meet the Borgens. William Borgens is an acclaimed author who hasn't written a word since his ex-wife Erica left him 3 years ago for another man. In between spying on Erica and casual romps with his married neighbour Tricia, Bill is dealing with the complexities of raising his teenage children Samantha and Rusty. Samantha is publishing her first novel and is determined to avoid love at all costs - after all she's seen what it has done to her parents. In between hook ups, she meets "nice guy" Lou who will stop at nothing to win her over. Rusty, is an aspiring fantasy writer and Stephen King aficionado, who is on a quest to gain 'life experiences'. He falls for the beautiful, but troubled Kate and gets his first taste of love and a broken heart. A tale of family, love (lost and found), and how endings can make new beginnings. There are no rewrites in life, only second chances.

It's true, there are no rewrites in life.  I wish there is but what a mess it would be !  I can't imagine going through the motions and not ever learning how to deal with it and move on.  We're the products of the choices we made, the route we took, the mistakes we committed.  By failing we learn to stand up and stand firm. 

The best line in this movie, for me, was when William said "we promise to wait for each other when the other is a little lost"...I don't know if I can go waiting the way he did as fidelity is a deal breaker for me.  But I also think it's easier say than done because sometime people do get lost and they need time to find their way back, they need a reminder of what they got.  I feel with God, anything is possible.  Broken heart and relationship can be mended if we look to Him for wisdom, strength, healing, and guidance.  He knows far too well the feeling of being betrayed.  All in all, a great movie on second chances.

Here I go on a new venture !  I've decided to open an online shop, selling hand sewn baby scarf/bib !!!  I've been sewing up a storm !  been bribing Bee with candies (so she'll model the scarf for me) and staying up late to code my online store.  I love fabric and sewing so this was a perfect combo for me !  Sewing cute stylish scarf for my baby girl and for other babies ?  don't mind if I jump in head first :-)

I've been thinking about how to run this business for days now.  I'm passionate about sewing and want it to maintain as something I love to do.  Every time I sit down in front of the Juki machine, I dream of what will become of the fabrics.  I come from a family of seamstress so it's no surprise that I love threads.  I want to do this hand sewn business thing but there's something missing... I just can't put my finger on it. 



A few Sundays ago, when I was telling Joan that my mom knitted a sweater for my baby girl, she told me she loves knitting and that she knits for charity !  she and a bunch of ladies get together to knit every week.  They sell their creations at craft fairs to raise fund for a local homeless shelter.  I love the idea so much and after talking about it with her again, I am confirmed of what God has been wanting me to do.  It feels right in my heart.  I long been wanting to put more money into good causes.  There're so many needs around me and I want to contribute more than what I'm currently doing.  I thought, if I can use the fund from this business and put it towards greater good, it's a win for all.  Seller and buyers alike, we all can help contribute a little to the less fortunate. 



There are 2 organizations I want to contribute to.  One is Burnaby Safe House and one is Free the Children (for the 2013 list of top graded Canadian charitable organizations click here).  Let's see where this will take me !  Please pray for wisdom as I tread this new water !

I'm so excited and can't wait to get going with this !!! 

Here you go !  another coupon for holiday shopping.  If in doubt, it's best to print the picture.  I've always use my phone to snap a pic. and used it.  It all depends on the sales associate you get.  They should accept the mobile picture because on the coupon it say show email on mobile device.  Say you have no data and no printer so the picture of the coupon is all you got !!!  Good luck !

IF you're printing:  click here to print the whole email with coupon at bottom

 



Eigensinn Farm Pork Steak with Green beans cooked with speck and garlic scape at Haisai restaurant in Singhampton on Sept. 6, 2013.  (Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)



KAT TANCOCK

Special to The Globe and Mail

 

In March, I attended a food-photography workshop in Sicily with Béatrice Peltre, author of the cookbook La Tartine Gourmande. The true value was in watching Peltre work: endless adjustments and retakes, extreme pickiness when selecting produce and the patience to keep trying until the shot was right.

Martha Stewart, one might think, would know all of this, with her extensive media experience and general air of OCD. And yet her Twitter feed of late has had the look of being hijacked by a half-blind toddler. The images, collected and spread far and wide by BuzzFeed, range from out of focus and badly lit to earning comparisons to the origins of penicillin and the contents of certain bathroom fixtures. Not a good thing.

Food photography, for all the derision it receives, isn’t easy, especially when shooting with a smartphone. Here’s how to do it right.

Don’t use your flash: “The best food under harsh lighting conditions won’t look appetizing,” says Vancouver photographer Joann Pai. “Never use the flash on a smartphone.” If it’s dark, look for external light sources, such as candles or a lamp. In daytime, shoot near a window, with the subject out of direct sunlight.

Don’t stop at one: “You’re never going to get it on the first shot,” says Vancouver photographer Shawn Taylor. “Try the same thing with little tweaks: lighting, where you place the focus, exposure, angle.”

Think about angles: “For me, the best angle is top-down,” says Pai. “It gives you a chance to style what’s around the table.” Taylor agrees, and says that trying different angles is key to getting a creative shot. “45 degrees is boring because that’s how you see your food when you’re sitting at the table.”

Don’t centre everything: “The fact that we can move the phone quickly to what we want to show is really empowering,” says Peltre, who suggests playing with cropping and what appears within the frame. Pai is a believer in the classic rule of thirds, placing the subject one-third of the way in from the photo’s edges. “I like to place my subjects off-centre.”

Don’t post straight online: A little adjustment of your image can go a long way, whether it’s via a photo-editing app (see sidebar) or just an Instagram filter. “When you’ve got bad light, sometimes the filter fixes things,” says Taylor.

Apps to try
Joann Pai suggests thinking outside the Instagram frame when shooting with your phone. Here are her three essential apps:

ProCamera 7 (iOS, itunes.apple.com)
Use this app to control camera functionality while taking photos, including manually adjusting shutter speed, focus, exposure and white balance – and displaying live ISO and shutter-speed data.

Snapseed (iOS, Android, Chrome, snapseed.com, itunes.apple.com)
Adjust ambience, brightness, and more in this mobile- or Web-based photo editor that’s been owned by Google since late last year.

VSCO Cam (iOS, itunes.apple.com)
Pai likes this app for its filters, which she prefers over those in Instagram as they’re more food-friendly. “Filters should alter the mood of the scene but not take away from what the food actually looks like.”

 

I enjoy strolling around and browsing Granville Island market !  I often spend a good amount of  time gawking at all the bakeries there.  They look amazing and taste very yummy too.  If you have a sweet tooth, you will fall in love with all the sweet shops in the market. 

Many shops on the island are overpriced so do shop with care :-)  My rule of  thumb regarding fruits/veggies is, if I can get the same at local market or farm, I would get them there instead.  The market here is best for hard to find/specialty items.  Chocolate and sweet bakeries are superb here ! Oh and the seafood too ! 

A typical day for us on the island would be getting hot drinks, sweet bakeries, and a bag of salmon jerky from the public market.  We then head outside to the community space to eat our goodies and to enjoy the live music (they always have local musicians).  Bee likes to chase the hundreds of birds hanging out there.  When food is done, we would go for stroll around, taking in the sight and sound.  They have a lot of neat shops outside the market and a kids market with an indoor playground.

On a dry day, I recommend taking a walk down towards the marina and checking out the floating houses there.  They are quite handsome to look at. 

 

In the summer, there's a waterpark for kids up on the hill.  You can bring a blanket and have a picnic up on the grassy area while the kids play.  It's quite of a pleasant outdoor area.

Now that it's beginning to feel like winter, the indoor food court is a nice cozy place for dessert and snacks.  They have a good selection of fast food vendors here.  If you have loud kids like mine, this place is great !  No kid ? well, there are some fine restaurants around that sure will please your palate.  There's Bridges, Dockside, Edible, Sandbar, to name a few.  Also, just before the entrance to the island, there's Afghan Horsemen restaurant.  Food is excellent.  One of my favorite restaurant.

Below are some pictures we took on our recent visit, after CandyTown (Christmas street in Yaletown, very small, not too many vendors, wasn't worth the expensive parking fee).


 

Lovebug all bundled up !

Granville Island Public Market 1689 Johnston St | Vancouver, BC | (604) 666-6655

 

 

GET $10 OFF $40 WITH CODE tracycollin

*new customer only*

 

With the cold weather moving in, all I want is hot noodle soup for dinner.  Here's a recipe for an easy tasty dinner.  It needs only few ingredients and if you're Vietnamese, you probably have all of these ingredients in your pantry already !  Simple quick dinner for the win :-)

I just started to write recipe so please ask if something is unclear.  Everything is estimated (to closest unit of measurement).  If there's an "about" word before the ingredient, try a little bit first then add some more in after.  I cook mostly by eyeing and tasting :-/

 

What you will need for 4 servings:

- 10 cups water
- 1 whole chicken (I prefer free range) OR 4 large chicken legs (about 3 pounds)
- 2 cans of whole bamboo shoots or a pack of fresh one if avail. (I prefer Aroy-D brand)
- about 3 tablespoons of good fish sauce (Viet Huong 3 Crabs brand is the best kind)
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- a small 1" chuck of rock sugar or less than a teaspoon of sugar
- about 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder (optional, for coloring only)
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 1/2 white onion, quartered
- 1 teaspoon of olive oil
- 1 bunch of green onions
- handful of cilantro

Rice noodles:

2 pack of round rice noodles cook as instructed on package.  Usually, I cook them in 8 cups of cold water.  Bring to boil and let boil for about 7-10 minutes.  Turn off heat, close lid for 5 min.  Test for doneness by pinching a noodle, if break apart it's done).  Drained in colander.

Instructions:

- Clean the chicken and set aside
- In a large pot, put in 10 cups of cold filtered water
- Put the chicken in the cold water and turn the stove on high, to boil it
- Once bubbling, put in the turmeric powder, this will make the chicken and broth yellow (for look only, opt out if you don't have turmeric around)
- Let the chicken boil in the water for about 20 min, then turn down heat to medium/low, close the lid (for at least 15 min.)

 

- While the chicken is cooking, wash the green onions and cilantro.  Thinly sliced the green onions and roughly chopped up the cilantro. 
- Take the bamboo shoots out of cans, washed in cold water, and thinly sliced it length wise (long)

- Remove the chicken from the pot, the water from the chicken should run clear.  Set aside to cool.

 

- Skim the top of the broth (I usually run the broth through a mesh layered with a paper towel, the fat gets trapped in the fiber and this usually remove most of the fat from the broth)
- Quartered the white onions and put it in the pot
- Put in the sliced bamboo shoots
- Put the in the fish sauce, salt and rock sugar. Taste the broth, and if needed, add more fish sauce to your liking.  Remember, once you pour the soup over the noodles, the broth will be diluted a bit.)

- Remove the meat from the chicken (if using whole chicken, leave the wings and thighs) and put the bones back into the pot (to sweeten the broth).  Simmer on medium for at least 20 min.

- You can either hand shred the chicken meat or slice them (I shred them because it's easy !!! one less cutting board and knife to wash :)

When ready to eat, REMOVE the bones and onions from the stock, ADD the sautéed shallot to broth and bring the broth to boil.

Serving:

- Put noodles into a bowl, put the chicken meat on top, scoop in the broth and bamboo shoots.  The noodles should submerge in the broth.  Sprinkle with green onions and cilantro.  Top with a dash of pepper and Sriracha hot chilli sauce or slices of chili.

* If I have guests over, I usually put a small dish of fish sauce with a few slices of chilli on the table for those who wants a saltier broth.