If someone asks me, "What's your favorite book?," I'll probably look a bit embarrassed before answering. Sometimes I feel like I need to come up with a really impressive answer, but that's not me. I love books, but I'm not the best reader. The closest I can come to reading deeply into a literary masterpiece is with Of Mice and Men, and that book is tiny. If I have to be honest, I love JK Rowling's Prisoner of Azkaban. The Nightingale. Number the Stars. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Skinnybones. Childhood favorites.
If you're like me, you might be a big fan of Hans Christian (HC) Andersen, who authored many of our childhood classics: The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Princess and the Pea, Thumbelina, The Emperor's New Clothes. But do you know what this Danish author has to do with Disney's Frozen? Scroll to the bottom to find out.
April 8, 2018
April 1, 2018
March 25, 2018
Mecklenburg's Best: An Afternoon in Wismar and Schwerin
March 18, 2018
March 11, 2018
The German Riviera: Warnemünde at Sunset
March 7, 2018
The Curonian Spit (Klaipeda and Nida, Lithuania)
Aren't sand dunes just big piles of sand? I think they are...But they're more special than they seem.
March 4, 2018
Boston on a Budget
February 25, 2018
February 21, 2018
My Favorite Things about Cruising
Sneaky capture of our Ukranian buddy, Sergei. He's one of the funniest guys we met! |
There are clear pros and cons to both: cruising is great, because you get to see a variety of places in one short trip and you get more opportunities to interact with people from all over the world (crew members and other guests). At the same time, the short few hours you spend at port each day isn't suffice. You can't adequately capture "the essence" of a place, and if you get sea sick, the bumpy waves of the Baltic Sea might not be very enjoyable.
With a trip to a single place, you're more likely to explore life as a local. You develop new routines, like going to the same bakery every morning, where the servers come to know your order. Staying put enables you to maximize the opportunities in the city, too - a city like St. Petersburg has museums and palaces to keep you entertained for years. On the other hand, depending on where you stay - a hostel, a private hotel room, an uber private apartment - the level of interaction with locals and other travelers might not be very high.
February 18, 2018
The Sourdough Chronicles I
When they commuted to New York City everyday for work, my parents would always come home with treats - chicken and rice from The Halal Guys, cheese danishes and apple turnovers from Zaro's Bakery, Irish soda bread on St. Patrick's Day, cookies from office meetings (aren't my parents the coolest!?). It was no surprise when Dad brought back a plethora of food and souvenirs from a trip to San Francisco, but we didn't expect a giant sourdough turtle from Boudin.
February 11, 2018
New Year's Things
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
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 17, 2017
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?
Day two of Russia happened to be one of the three sunny days that St. Petersburg gets every year. How lucky were we?
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