February 11, 2018

New Year's Things


In January, during my second trip to Boston, I learned some very important things about travel:

1. Travel with people who have similar interests - an adventurer and a stay-by-the-pool-all-day kind of person won't get along very well.
2. If you can't do #1, designate time for space. A good one or two hours apart daily to do whatever each pleases should do the trick.

I think I had to learn these lessons the hard way (love you, Dad).

February 4, 2018

Pineapple Coconut Curry

Truth be told, a bowl of curry is not particularly pretty. But what curry lacks in aesthetics, it makes up for in flavor, and I have David Leibowitz to thank for this recipe.

January 28, 2018

Finlandia!

We were incredibly fortunate to visit so many places over the summer. After each port, one question we continued to ask each other was, "Which country has been your favorite so far?". Given our short stops, we could never make a fair assessment. How do you choose between Stockholm and Helsinki when you only spent 5 hours in Helsinki? If given the opportunity once again, there's no doubt I'd choose to visit both in a heartbeat.

January 24, 2018

Summer 2017 in New York City || VLOGs

To celebrate the first day of spring semester (and, let's face it, to reduce the stockpile of blogpost photos/videos that continue to accumulate!), I'm coming at you with an atypical Wednesday blogpost, sharing my New York City videos from the summer. 

January 21, 2018

From Russia With Love (Pt III)

Alexander Palace
Wet as a dog, happy as a clam is the motto for our third and last day in Saint Petersburg. 

As I mentioned in a previous blogpost, Russia's weather is rainy and cold for about 362 days of the year. The weather couldn't dampen our mood though, because our last day was packed with the most incredible sights. The palace and cathedrals we visited this day were my favorite out of the several we visited - SPB is home to more museums, palaces, and cathedrals one can visit in a lifetime, and I still can't believe we didn't even make a dent in their impressive list.

January 7, 2018

New Years Weekend: Snowed In

Just before Will and I headed off to our respective trips, our family came to stay with us over New Years. A little bit of snow, before the past week's blizzard, made for a great photo shoot opportunity after wrapping dumplings and baking confetti cookies. To make that food combination even more unexpected, we started off with a cheese board. These are just some things you have to get used to when you're born in the US but grow up in an Chinese home!

December 31, 2017

Sunday Dialogues: 2017 in review


There's a keepsake box in my room, with vintage travel stamps and photos of Paris, London, and New York printed on. It's about the size of those WB Mason boxes that school printer paper comes in (you remember those). In it, you'll find a tattered Minnie Mouse folder with letters from a Swedish pen pal, a glittery blue bow from a tap dance recital, a pale yellow baby blanket, a Memorial Sloan-Kettering lanyard. A CD player my dad bought me for my ninth birthday, sticker books with most of the stickers plastered on the covers, my first cell phone, a stack of birthday cards, a Chinese Coca-Cola bottle cap.

December 24, 2017

Brown Butter Coconut Caramel

This sauce. 

If you've never eaten anything with brown butter, you're in for a real treat - even if you're not a caramel fan (which I am not). Brown butter, or beurre noisette, is more than just melted butter. The word "brown" refers to the caramelization of the milk solids, giving the butter a nutty, malty, sweet flavor. (Read a bit about the Maillard reaction, here.) The addition of the coconut? A fun twist that adds a subtle taste of the tropics (literally!), which I'm sure can be appreciated by anyone who spends November-March in the cold.

Drizzle this caramel over a holiday pie, ice cream, or popcorn. Layer it in a cake, swirl it into a cheesecake, the options are endless. My Christmas gift to you!

December 3, 2017

From Russia With Love (Pt II)

If you missed Part I of my three-part series, you can find it here!

Day two of Russia happened to be one of the three sunny days that St. Petersburg gets every year. How lucky were we?

November 19, 2017

From Russia With Love (Pt I)


When I think of our time in St. Petersburg, I think of rain, intricate palaces, Easter eggs, stern customs officers, and our wonderful new friends we met through our tour group.

November 12, 2017

Ithaca Through the Seasons: Summer 2017

Adjusting to Ithaca was a task easier said than done. I missed my friends, routines, and environment at my old school. Starting over without knowing that I'd need to grow up and make my new school a home for myself was rough, but springtime in Ithaca brought more changes than just beautiful weather. Ithaca finally became home. Unfortunately, it was about time to leave!

November 5, 2017

Homemade Pasta

Homemade pasta with oven roasted tomatoes, homemade meatballs and tomato sauce, fresh basil and parsley

October 29, 2017

Sailing the Baltic Sea with Royal Caribbean


Today's the day! I'm so excited to finally share this video that I've been working on.

October 22, 2017

A Visual Walking Tour of Tallinn, Estonia

If you need some travel advice, Rick Steves is your guy. He's traveled everywhere. I first discovered him through his podcasts about Spain, and I knew to seek them once again when we were gearing up for Scandinavia and the Baltics.

October 15, 2017

Bits and Pieces

 Bits and pieces of the past month or so from my phone -  

September 17, 2017

Stockholm's Sights: Gamla Stan (Old Town) and Sveriges Kungahus (Royal Palace)

It's so easy to say that the grass is greener on the other side. 

There's no denying that Sweden, 
with its 202+ years of peace, beautiful Old Town, interior design, gender-equality, multi-lingual and well-dressed (in the "Oh, I just threw this on", unpretentious kind of way) citizens, 
merits its position as the world's 6th best country.

But wait: just edge your finger over your trackpad/mouse a little bit more. Who's the 7th?