China 2014 Reflections

Because my huge midterm for AAS 1100 was this past Thursday and because recently I've been feeling rather reflective and nostalgic, I thought it would be appropriate to write down some thoughts about my trip to China during my winter break. I know this post was supposed to put up last week but I'll be honest, I had a lot of difficulty writing this. There were just so many feelings that I didn't know how to articulate into words. But hopefully, I was able to do it some justice in the end.

So why is my trip relevant to this class, you may ask? Well, if you take a closer look at the semi-essay/reflection below, here are some thoughts I've been bottling up for quite some time.

Introducing My New YOLO Series and Ep.1: Chocolate Irish Cream Cake

Despite what I said about my mission to direct my blog in more academic directions for this semester, there are sometimes those days when I need an excuse to let loose and bake whatever the heck I want, no matter how much time I don't have to spare or the amount of butter that goes into the recipe. After all, that's what ~procrastibaking~ was originally about right? Can't stray too far from my roots. 

SO...what I have decided to do is, in addition to my weekly academic posts, I will be starting a new blogging series simply titled "YOLO Baking Challenge" for now, in which I get to do something that's not very much not part of my normal baking repertoire, something so indulgent/fancy/overly-ambitious that I can only try it once for both practical and financial reasons. They will not be weekly posts. but I guess at minimum, they will probably be once or twice a month, depending on how busy I am with exams/papers/lab (although that hasn't really deterred me in the past hehehe).

Teriyaki Chicken and Pineapple Fried Rice

I feel strangely, wonderfully invigorated today after deciding to restart this blog yesterday (as I was well...supposed to be studying for my Human Development exam), like I just came off of an adrenaline high. Guess blogging does bring more meaning in my life after all.

As I was thinking about how to make today's post relevant to both my blog and to the topics we discussed in class Thursday and going through my notes, I suddenly decided to re-watch one of the video lectures we discussed in class about "Dubious Gastronomy," narrated by Robert Ku, an Asian American Studies professor at SUNY Binghamton. I will post the video below (it's pretty long) but basically Professor Ku's whole lecture was focused on the stigmatization by Asians of certain culturally-adapted Asian-American foods, like Chop Suey, California Rolls, and dishes made with SPAM, distinctly "fake" and "unauthentic" foods created to appeal to the conservative American palate and how inaccurate and ignorant it is to even label something as "authentic." As Robert Ku says:

             "The Asian presence [in America] is a dubious thing, neither legitimate nor 
              authentic, neither Asian nor American. It is perpetually liminal, always 
              conditional, never value free, and unnaturally hovers above, below, and in between 
              easier discrete categories." 

Returning to Blogger-Universe and My (Overly-Ambitious) Future Plans

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted a new blog entry. The last time I posted was October 16 and here we are now on February 27, almost four months later and I haven't fulfilled a single promise I made to you guys. So many things have happened over the past few months (finished another semester of college, went to China, started my penultimate semester of college etc.) that I'm not sure where even to start. 

Forgive me, oh culinary gods, for I have majorly sinned...

P.S: btw folks, HAPPY FALL !! :)

So. I knew I was totally lying when I promised I would post regularly every week and keep you guys updated on all the shenanigans I have been up to this semester. Turns out this semester has been crazier than I had originally planned it to be and well......here we are a month and a half later, with no new blog post. I honestly should be sent to hell for making promises I know I can't keep. BUT I have been cooking/baking/doing culinary explorations I swear! I kinda have to, or else I'd really starve. It's just really hard to blog when you just want to eat dinner and get onto the next 10 million things on your to-do list. 

Hopefully I will have time this semester to update you all on the things I have been up to this semester but for now, I leave you all with more Pusheen and a real promise to blog more in the future! So that's it for today, hope y'all have a great, great day!  

Lemon Almond Madeleines

I wish my life was as simple as Pusheen's

So several things happened when I arrived back to school:

• I moved off-campus for the first time into a 9-room house 5 minutes away and realized that the house was absolutely disgusting and that my room smelled like a wet dumpster.
• I then had a tiny breakdown on the phone with my parents, where they promptly told me it was all my fault and I had to suck it up.
• I went shopping for tons of Lysol and Febreze
• I cleaned for two days straight.

So yeah, it's been quite week. But at least now I'm almost settled which means I can finally go back to my beloved baking. Which brings me to these madeleines.

Summer 2013

Pusheen had a way better summer :P

Guess who's back??

That's right, me! I'm back and ready to blog again!

Due to my test and unexpected family issues, I've been on bit of hiatus for the past two weeks. Sorry for the hold-up, I swear I haven't abandoned you all!

Since I'm at the airport now and not really in any mood to blog about food, I guess I kinda wanted to write a short thing about my first summer away from school.