For the past few weeks, we have been going to the Sunnyvale Farmers’ Market. We are drawn there for the varieties of apples from Prevedelli Farms. This week, we bought Mutsu, Fuji, Bellflower and My Jewel. There was also a vendor there from Orange County that carries fresh Gold Fingers bananas.  Yes! bananas from California…a pleasant surprise. I love the satin looks of the skin. It’s so precious to be able to access locally grown fruits.

Fall is just around the corner. It’s soup season!

Today, I stopped by Ranch 99 and bought a black chicken (silkie) to make this herbal soup. My mom often made herbal soups as we were growing up. She has a recipe of herbs that she uses on a regular basis.

The herbs she uses are:
Dang Shen
Yu Zu
Huai Shan
Huang Qi
Guo Qi Zi (Chinese Wolfberries)

I added red dates, dried scallops and sea cucumber for this soup.

This page has good information about each herb.

My mom told me that these herbs are mild and suitable for more frequent consumption. These herbs are supposed to strengthen your body. I remember she made them at least once/twice a month.

To make the soup, you actually put the chicken along with herbs and all the ingredients plus water in a ceramic pot that has a lid. Then, you put the ceramic pot in a bigger pot and steam for about 2 hours.

Yippee it is Friday!

Got a day off today. It is nice to have the luxury of making my thrift store shopping on Friday.

Started early and went to Happy Dragon in Los Gatos downtown. The storekeepers are so nice there. When I got there five people were in line already. I chatted with a lady who has been going to that thrift store for 30 years. She told me she hated the malls and would try her best to avoid them. Same here.

After that, I went hiking in Montalvo Arts Center and met Ethan for lunch. It’s still pretty hot today, but it was nice to hike in the redwoods. You can see a picture of our hike here.

After lunch hike, I headed toward Echo Shop of St Andrews Church in Saratoga downtown. They were two ladies there who were very helpful and friendly. I found my wooden shelf there.

On my way home, I decided to make a final stop at Thrift Box in Willow Glen. Embarrass to say that I left the store with a bag full of treasures! The lady at the cashier was very happy with my purchase though. She said “Oh this is great. We like it when people buy a lot!” It is always nice to visit this store. It is mostly run by volunteers and they keep the store very clean and organized. The volunteers are always friendly and helpful.

Happy Friday & long Labor Day weekend!

It reaches 99 F in San Jose today. Spent most of the day in the office with AC. When I got home…our house is quite toasty.

We decided to create minimum heat from cooking…

This weekend is also the Slow Food Nation event in SF. In celebration of Summer and Slow Food, we decided to make some home cooking with some local ingredients.

The salad mixed is from Happy Boy Farms from the Sunday’s Campbell Farmer Market. We also mixed in two green tomatoes from our garden. Ethan made the spiced tofu with fresh basils (from our garden). The halibut is from Race Street Fish & Poultry Market. I followed/modified a recipe from The Gourmet Cookbook by Ruth Reichl with Buddha’s Hand Citron Vodka from Hanger One.

Toast to Summer!

It’s time to take the clouds down
Put them in the ocean to float
Let them sit in the sun to dry
Renew their energies
Purify their shells
When they look puffy and happy again
Ask the children to come and kiss them goodbye
Then put them back to the sky
Now
Look up the sky
It is filled with happy clouds
Grinning down upon us

Mostly inspired by my friend Shannon’s blog.

Other inspiration:
Recently, bid farewell to Twitter and focus mainly on Flickr now. Have been very happy to meet some very talented and inspiring friends there. What connects us: background, aesthetic and interest such as cooking, thrifting and so on.

This post is dedicated to our encounters and sharing.

Alicia Lim
Alicia’s photos of still life and street scenes, mostly taken in Malaysia and other neighboring South East Asia countries through her travels, are captivating and poetic. Her images often reminded me of some of my favorite movies by Hong Kong Director Wong Kar-Wai. They speak to me like a story… feeling from fleeting moments… provocative. Alicia and I share the same cultural background. It is funny that we never got to meet each other in our home country, but instead on Flickr.

Below are some of my favorite images from Alicia:

Title: On my way
This particular image reminds me of “Days of Being Wild：阿非正专”

 
Title: manicure

Title: Ticking Away

 
Title: Joy.Rain.U  欢乐。雨。你
This image reminds me of “In the mood for love: 花样年华”

redcipolla
An artful chef with talent in photography. Steven put a lot of attention in capturing and presenting his masterful cooking. Steven’s photos resemble Dutch still life paintings. I love the way he brings in plant materials into his composition which gives the overall image a certain rawness and earthiness. Besides making me drool at all the dishes he makes, I also enjoy his travel photos. Steven and I also share the same cultural background. It is such a small world indeed. Click here to see some of Steven’s images.

Title: Raw Ingredients

Title: Winter Baking

Title: What’s Around me now…

Grace Light
My most recent connection on Flickr is with Grace Light. I was first drawn to a photo (a repurposed tin planter) posted by Grace in a Flickr group called “The Unpretentious Garden.” After exchanging comments on our photos, I realized that we are both collectors of antique and vintage items, enjoy gardening and love the idea of repurposing. Grace is a talented professional photo  stylist. She also has a blog (Poetic Home) that talks about vintage inspirations/treasures and antique ideas/DIY tips. Besides that, she is also a member of the Etsy Vintage Street Team. Below is a photo by Grace and an antique fan that I dream to have someday.