love the wang

Can I let you in on a little secret? Coming in closer…a little closer…just a little more….I LOVE TO EAT! What do you mean you already knew that!? Oh you can tell by my muffin top? WhyIOughtta (*&$(@&!!!

Okay, fine, muffin top noted, you ass.  I DO love to eat and the easiest way to fulfill my love of gorging is to, well, COOK!

Before I even finished paying the security deposit for my first solo apartment, I went out and bought two Le Creuset pieces, excited by the prospect of having MY OWN KITCHEN. Over the years, my kitchen gadgets have gotten increasingly more abundant: graters, peelers, blenders, processors, baking sheets, baking pans and a whole army of stuff that would make the William Sonoma’s stock rise very very high.  And if I do say so myself, my abilities have gently improved too! Which is a pretty darn good accomplishment considering……well (mom, please stop reading)…considering, my mom’s not a very good cook (I’m SORRY mom!) Growing up, my mom’s cooking repertoire was very minimal. Don’t get me wrong, she had some occasional gems, which we will totally cover in this section, but she had a very sensitive palette which caused her to season food, um, blandly (SORRY MOM!!!!) Truth of the matter was, I’m pretty sure she didn’t much like cooking anyhow, because once I left for college, she pretty much stop cooking altogether. I think it was just one of those obligatory I-gave-birth-to-her-I-have-feed-her sort of thing.

So unlike most home cooks who have some sort of female relative who gave them awesome family recipes, I had the food network and Martha Stewart (who, I will totally obsess over in another crazy blog…but only once you’ve known me a little, so I don’t scare you….that much.) Ina Garten, Martha Stewart, Giada DeLaurentis even Rachel Ray are all right in my comfort zone of cooking. Ina & Martha are my preferred choices because they both subscribe to a “simple but GOOD things” concept. Most of their foods have very simply ingredients, but they are ingredients that are true to their source and FRESH. I’m happy to make homemade strawberry jam for a shortbread recipe if I think it’s going to yield a greater result. Same goes for chocolate buttercream because store-bought frosting is never going to rival the taste that melted Valrhona can add to a frosting.

There are also cooks, ahem, CHEFS, in the world I greatly admire, like Thomas Keller and David Chang. Chefs whose cookbooks I’ve purchased but started hyperventilating halfway through reading the recipe for just the STOCK.  Those guys are chefs, and I’m simply a cook. So I glare at their cookbooks and drool like an idiot, than I take out my hard-earned cash and hit Marche Moderne for a little fix of the phenomenal that I just can’t reproduce in my kitchen.

Crap, I’m off topic. This is about cooking right? Okay, well, how about some pictures to get your interest back?

I love baking because well, I love the outcome of baking. But there’s never a recipe for like ONE person, so I end up feeding my neighbors. Thankfully, they’re awesome, so I’m happy to fatten them up.  Surely, you don’t think this lard ship is going down alone? (ps. these were Ina Garten’s Beatty’s chocolate cake recipe, use Valrhona for the chocolate in the frosting & don’t fear the butter- you’ll thank me.)

These were carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting from The Pioneer Woman’s Sigrid’s Carrot Cake recipe. I gave 12 to the neighbors and than ate the rest myself…for breakfast, lunch & dinner.

(please stop judging my poor photoshopping skills…I swore the color was right when I adjusted it….)

Please do not, under any allergic circumstances, skip the walnuts. They bring the whole cupcake together and make your palette SING.

What’s that, you ask? That’s my inner Asian in a bowl. It’s oxtail daikon noodle soup. And it’s easy as heck to make. I’m going to share the recipe even though I’m pretty sure the only person who reads my blog is Michelle and um, she doesn’t cook.

4 pieces of oxtail (find it at your local asian supermarket)

1 medium daikon root, peel & sliced about 1/4″- 1/2″ thick

2 carrots, peeled & sliced about 1/4″- 1/2″ thick

Salt & Pepper

quarter size grab of ramen noodles (I use a wheat noodle because I like the texture, but you can essentially use any sort of ramen or even linguine here.)

Here’s how you make it:

Season your oxtail generously with salt & pepper.

In a large pot (I prefer my le creuset sear the oxtail on medium high heat. Turn the pieces on all sides so it browns all the way around.

Once all the pieces are browned, add your chunks of carrots & daikon into the pot.

Add water to cover all the ingrediants, scaping the bottom of the pot to loosen any of the fat that’s stuck down there.

Bring the water up to a gentle simmer & pop the lid on.

Watch an episode of CSI (or anything tv show that’s about an hour long.) If your pot decides to simmer over within that hour, turn the heat down a bit.

When you return after an hour, you will find some gross looking brown foam-like pieces floating in your soup. Don’t fear it, just skim it out- it’s just fatty goodness that exerted from the marrow of the oxtail.

Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Add the dry noodles to your soup. Following the instuctions on the package, let it cook till tender.

Scoop to bowl, serve & SLURP!

i hate the feeling of falling in love. the way everything falls out of perspective.

Oh yes ladies & gents. Je n’aime pas l’amour. It’s true i’m a romantic at heart about a lot of things: life, food, art. And yes, I love the look of whispering sunlight streaming through unmanicured foliage onto a whispy brunette evoking romanticism, BUT the actually ACT of falling love? not so much.

Make way, cynical woman coming through.

Love makes feelings SO exaggerated. Pain feels 10x more painful, joy feels like confined sunshine. My girlfriends will tell you that that’s what makes LOVE so WONDERFUL, but than again, they were always fairly sensible in their selection of men. I, on the other hand, am a seasoned asshole magnet. Ladies, if my mom weren’t reading this, I’d give you stories that would make Carrie Bradshaw’s man troubles look like 4th grade recess.

It’s actually progressed to the point where I literally judge my own attraction when I find a person that peaks my interest. it goes something like this in my head: Wow, he’s cute and really nice. Gosh, he’s super personable too. Dude, I think he likes me *giggle-giggle*. OK, but seriously jenny, if YOU’RE attracted to him, he’s probably an asshole. Really? but he seems so nice! You’re drunk on Sprite, let’s go home. ABORT MISSION.

Oh yeah, I pull the rip-cord before I even jump OUT of the plane.

We can make all sorts of judgements at this point about my troubled attitude on love. my love-drunk girlfriends will say “you’re so hardened by your previous experiences that you don’t give people a chance.” Okay, that might be true, but it’s honesty hard for me to swallow that psycho-analysis because we each have different experiences in love and it would be a one-upping contest on who dated the bigger asshole.

Here, a anecdote: My girlfriend Desiree is the most determined person i know in every aspect of life. In school, she got awesome grades. Out of school, she committed to a graduate degree, a great job, her faith and her family. OH, and LOVE. Desiree loves love. She dated, and dated, and dated, and dated, and dated. I would see her once a month for a birthday or dinner or get together, and I would be meeting her new “i think this is the one.” At one particular dinner, I think I forgot her “this is the one”s name and almost called him by last months “the is the one”s name. I finally (jokingly) told her, not to tell me her date’s name until she was walking down the aisle. Well, she ended up finding a great one. She loves him, we love him and he doesn’t mind when she eats half the entree off his plate (he actually looks her quite lovingly, which is disgustingly adorable.)

The moral of that story was that she committed herself to FINDING love and finding a mate. I can’t even commit myself to stop eating fruit roll-ups. Plus, I got tired just telling her story, much less live it. I told a friend in recent conversation that I never saw myself married, even though I can see myself maybe being a mother. i’m not sure what kind of fucked up psyche that is except to say i really enjoy my bachelorettehood (why doesn’t that sound as cool as “bachelorhood” ?)

From the outside, y’all can judge and say it’s sad I spend saturday nights on the couch with the dogs. On the inside though? It’s FUN. I have really cute dogs, watch a lot of amazing indie films and have learned to bake every sugary confection known to mankind. AND I only dress to impress other women (okay, and gays because i really want a gay boyfriend, but that’s another post.) which means I actually get to wear CLOTHES. (100% spandex tub tops are not Clothes, neither are booty-shorts.)

So yes, you heard it hear first, I don’t like falling in love. On the bright side, stick with this blog a couple more years and it’ll probably about my experiences as a cougar. Things could get really interesting then.

This blog thing has thus been a slight failure. So like all things I feel discontent with in my life, I’ve decided to haphazardly scribble down a course of action in my “all the crap i want to buy/do/make” notebook and acquire a plan for attack. All this, of course, after I 1. do my laundry 2. organize my closet 3. vacuum the apartment and 4. wash the dogs (everything that was on my “to tackle” list, like last month…) My name is Jenny Wang, and I make lists and plans without actually doing them. They make me feel like I’m actually accomplishing something when I’m really marinating on the couch with the DVR remote in my hand. My name is Jenny Wang, and I am trying hard to change.

Let’s address a bit though, some reasons for my blogging failure.

1. Condescending bitches at work who judge and cause me to be insecure about what I write. Then I realize, I am who I am, I’ve never backed down from an opinion and I, pretty much, never will.  The people who really know me, I believe, wouldn’t take offense to my ridiculous sense of humor and crass language, so c’est la vie. Nothing has ever been accomplished without risk, and this wouldn’t be the first time I offend someone, so I’m just gonna write it as I see it.

2. I never really wanted to reveal who I was because I work in a public place and fearful of stalkers. I’m a bartender. I see some customers like EVERY WEEKEND, and they think they know me. Explain to me how this conversation is revealing:

“hi! how are you!”

“you know man, just chilling.”

“so, what can i get you to drink?”

“two jack and cokes”

“ok, $14. thanks!”

Yeah man, we’re like totally friends and that Ed Hardy shirt looks awesome on you. Let’s be real about something, I have very few true friends in this world and I’m damn proud of it. I don’t need like 800 friends of facebook to feel secure and/or attractive. So if you are my customer, it’s cool. I have nothing against you, I’ll shoot the shit and be polite and make a stiff drink so you can lose yourself on a weekend night. Heck, I’ll even help you get laid! But we’re not really friends. I’m sorry, please don’t stop tipping.

3. I’m whiny. I’m trying not to be, but I am. And like every other post is some ransom depressing self discovery instead of something cool I’m doing that someone wants to read about. So here’s to an attempt to tone down the whininess and talk more about pictures I’m taking, crafts I’m making, places I’m going or things I’m cooking.

4. When I first got my apartment, I bought this dining table :

Super cute right? I thought so too, and I was like ‘when I’m not eating on it, I can totally use it as a workspace.’ YEAH, round tables aren’t optimal desks. Lesson learned the hard way. So I was pretty much without a proper desk or designated workspace and hence, no proper environment for inspiration…oh yeah, and since I eat EVERY meal on the couch ANYway, this cute, round, mid-century inspired, Danish knock-off was completely obsolete. So once I get rid of this round space-suck, I’m getting a proper rectangular desk/table and hopefully be able to sit down at this every morning with a cup of tea, like a normal, productive human. (At least, that’s what I’m telling myself. My name is Jenny Wang and I have stupid ambitions.) P.S. Anyone who wants this desk is welcome to come and get it. FREE. Thanks.

5. I write in really embedded run-on sentences that people probably get dizzy reading. I’m sorry, I have word vomit and I feel the need to express all of it.

6. I had no structure. In the upcoming weeks, I’m going to blogs a little more about categories I love and aspire to cover: my dogs (sorry, I’m a proud crazy dog lady,) baseball (and hot men who play them,) FOOD, crafts, more work related stuff, fashion (cause I love me some expensive ass shoes,) photography, and well…MORE.

I’m going to end this post with 2 images I created for a class I recently took at UCI. The images are about who I want to come off as versus who I am behind closed doors….and that’s all I’ll say for now…SO here’s to a hopeful new start on the blog.

(P.S. Can anyone teach me widget so I can edit this damn webpage?)

the other day i was asking someone about their knowledge of widget when they asked me “do you have a blog?” i said “yes!’ and someone in the background snickered. that’s when you know it’s time to leave your environment. it has come to my attention that there are people reading this who know me in person and are reading this to hate. i say “in person” because to say they know me personally is a stretch.

if you are someone that listens, just so you can get information to judge other people, if you are someone that cannot deal with their insecurities and must manifest it in passive-aggressive behavior, if you are someone that does not have the guts to put your own thoughts out there and live with the consequences AND if you are someone that SEEKS out things to hate: LEAVE. go to some other blog, find some other sucker. this is a public domain, but you are not welcomed here. this is a place for friends who i don’t get to see everyday to keep in touch with me. it’s not for my vanity. and it’s not for your negativity.

go spend your time doing something worthwhile. accomplish something for yourself and care less about what i have to say. believe me, my opinion only matters to the people i love anyhow and if you’re someone i mentioned above, you are not one of them.

i had the privilege of attending the nuptials of  of Mr. & Mrs. David Wilde this weekend. i’ve known giang (& the rest of the ladies) for over a decade… (that sounds really really ridiculous, but true.) as i’ve move out of my hometown since i was 18, i find that these celebrations of milestones in the lives of friends i don’t always get to see become a rare treat for me. sure, SOME of us couldn’t last until the end of the party, but a few of us outlasted the DJ and woke up the next morning without feelings in 2 of their toes– but it was well worth it to see giang smile SO big. Giang, i love you (as well as the rest of the ladies.) and David, you just married into the “misfitz”: welcome.

the couple did an amazing job merging Vietnamese & western traditions in their ceremony.

 the ladies watching Giang get into her second dress for the receptions…that and enjoying the free booze.

gorgeous bride..but still with a lot of sass

proving that we’ll always be dorks..

enjoying each other’s company…

….escaping from their adorable kids

requirements of being a good +1? being the plate holder while your date eats.

swooning at the first dance. (…just like high school, except we were watching rom-coms and had less attractive clothes/hair..)

everyone get down.

no really…you have to outlast the DJ…it’s like a gameshow with no prize.

it’s been 15 (+?) years, but 1. there’s still a latta love between all of us and 2. we still look damn good

it’s been a long week…

last wednesday, i took photographs of my co-worker sara at the previously mentioned location in Back Bay in Newport Beach. (i’d like to think i’m a good photographer, but the reality is she’s just really pretty…)

Sara found a gigantic spider while we were shooting by the bank of the water…we named it charlotte because it was suspended in this crazy web i assume it made itself…either way, charlotte was a BIG spidy….

The fuzzy green grass evokes a “where the wild things are” feeling for me…

Than came halloween…which i spent working-working-and-working. i dresses as my true self, a ninja…and my dogs barked at me. the guy behind me on the left? he’s dressed as me for halloween…yes, very funny, yuk it up!

I did more photo stuff on Sunday, but nothing really turned out the way i wanted…so we’ll just keep those unposted.

Than today, Monday, as i came home i got inspired by the way everything looked in the fog…so i picked up the camera once more…

the colors are a bit odd on ALL the pics cause i’m having some issue with in-depth photoshop functions. i’m probably going to need to take a class…so just don’t judge.

before i hastily run off to class, i want to share this post on self talk from Shutter Sisters: http://shuttersisters.com/home/2009/10/27/self-talk.html

it’s one of my new favorite blogs in terms of finding inspiration from other’s people work.

my mantra? “today is a battle i will win”

i spent sunday afternoon scouting a location to shoot an upcoming project for my adv. photo class. i finally found it in back bay. it’s kind of amazing that i’ve lived here for so long but never really explored back bay. i have driven by it like a million times, but never stopped to explore on foot. it’s gorgeous…and it will be made even more beautiful with my friend BJ in all his beer-gut, tattooedness frolicking in the shots.

i’m old. i know this because i’ve been going to weddings, engagement parties, bachelorette parties, bridal showers, baby showers, toddler’s birthdays…etc. (apparently, i’m also broke.) i have a specific catagory in my mail sort reserved for invitations and i’m adding “professional party attendee” to my list of hobbies on facebook.

this weekend, i went to the nuptuals of Jessica & Derek. i went to college with Jess and she was pretty much the life of the party everywhere we went. we all took a minute to mourn the fact that it would no longer be appropriate to send Jess to the front of the line to flirt with the bouncer when we needed to get into a hotspot.

the wedding wasn’t huge or extravegant, but it was fill with this genuine feel of love. it was intimate in a way that everyone felt free to just dance and sing and completely be themselves because we were all amongst friends. plus, you know when asian grandma’s on the dancefloor cutting a rug, it’s a party. of all the weddings i’ve gone to, it was, the most fun.  

from left, it’s natasha, michelle, alice, desiree and me (i’m the one farting the flower.) they’re the reason for all the fun, i think. i never had any siblings, but if i did, i would want them to be just like these girls: uninhibited, funny, supportive and always always inappropiate. they are in this life, part of who i consider family. they are better versions of me, people whose qualities i aim to acquire. and when the storm clouds roll in, they are the ones with umbrellas that not only shield themselves, but me. and i love them.

so to answer michelle:

Acne one shouldered dress : september vogue showed it in a colbolt blue, which in my opinion was more interesting than the black. but the sculptural element of the one shoulder kinda screamed at me. so i’m pretty in love with it…good thing there are three weddings coming up this fall

just for kicks, the rest of the tweets are as follows:

Prada cut out pumps (can’t find them in my size..this is going to be a problem..)

Proenza Schouler Bag  this bag is a pipe dream as it is vastly over-priced for my everyday use, but alas it’s a beautifully sculped, gorgeous italian leather pipe dream… (couldn’t find a usable picture so just click the link lazy!)