ilubmoney

For our lunch today, I was determined to make pho ga (Vietnamese chicken noodle soup). Since I had never made it before, I decided to go to my mom first to ask for advice and maybe a recipe.

When I got to LA last weekend and asked her about it, she raved about these seasoning packets that just needed water, chicken, and maybe some onions and ginger. "It tastes really good and is convenient!" she exclaimed. I wasn't impressed, and I missed it when she made everything from scratch instead of from seasoning packets. I get that time is money and that she's got a large family to feed, but I missed the love in her food.

So instead of using her pho seasoning packets, I used this recipe. It was pretty straightforward, just time-consuming... it took me about 2 hours altogether to make. But it was so worth it.  Towards the end, I kept tasting the broth and noticed that something was missing.  I worried that I had put too much ginger and/or fish sauce and that I completely missed an ingredient.  I added some cinnamon.  Nope, that wasn't it.  It needed  a sweeter flavor.  I added a small piece of rock sugar to see if that would help.  Nope, that wasn't it, either.

Albert came over to help me taste test.  It was then that I realized I forgot to add the whole cloves.  So we added that, let it simmer for 10-15 minutes... the taste was closer, but still wasn't quite right and lacked the sweetness that wasn't from sugar.

"Did you add garlic?"

LIGHTBULB.

Garlic wasn't even in the recipe, but it desperately needed to be.  I added whole cloves of garlic to the broth while Albert chopped up some garlic, sauteed them in a little sesame oil (OMG SO FRAGRANT), and added that to the broth.  It was JUST what the soup needed!

Anyway, the whole point of the story is this: don't use seasoning packets when you've got the time and resources to do better.  Seasoning packets don't give you control over how you want to flavor your dishes, and they don't give you insight on the complexity and art of cooking.  I came away with 3 days' worth of delicious pho and a greater appreciation for well-made pho.

When you cooked for loved ones, it's worth the extra time and effort anyway. :)

My sister Teresa visited me over the weekend, and it was fun-filled enough to where I think I need to chronicle it (both as just a pleasant memory and also as a reference for ideas on where to take out-of-town guests while they're here).

Warning: image-heavy post ahead.

( Saturday and the Death Cab Concert... )

( Sunday and San Francisco... )

( Monday and the English tea shop... )

It was such a great weekend. I'm glad to have this time now to catch up on things I need to do this week, including making this update. :) More photos on Facebook if you happen to have me friended there.

I think it's about time for a general updates post. Don't think I've done a public one in awhile.

Also, I'm guessing that the appeal of Twitter is that it's not as labor-intensive as blogging. I don't "tweet," but I do regular Facebook status updates.

Work
Some of you know that my school-based internship suffered from the recent round of budget cuts, and as a result, the counseling intern program in my district was cut. However, due to an unbelievable stroke of luck, I was able to secure a new internship in another school district close by. I'm still looking for other part-time work, though, especially to fill in the summer hours. It doesn't help that Kaplan recently decided to close their Score! centers, so tutoring hours have been slashed significantly. I've chosen to transfer to their new in-home tutoring program, but without the guarantee of hours, I have to keep looking for other part-time work.

Quite frankly, I'm feeling burnt-out from having to continually job-hunt almost every year. Girl's got bills to pay, though.

Personal
* Friends know about this already, but I recently started dating someone new. I'm not ready to write about Albert in a public entry just yet, but I can say that I am really happy. I've updated my LJ privately on a regular, daily basis, but since I started dating him, even those private entries have slowed down quite a bit. I laugh a lot more than I used to.
* I've been eating out quite a bit. In fact, I think I should probably Yelp more so I can track how often I'm trying new restaurants as part of my New Year's resolutions. I'm pretty sure I've exceeded 1 new restaurant every 2 weeks. Seems like it's more like (at least) 4-5 new restaurants each month for the past two months. I think I should adjust my goals to cooking new dishes once every 1-2 weeks.

Funny business
On a semi-related note, here are some links that made me laugh:
Luigi finally confronts Mario
How much do YOU love noodles?
Pete Johansson - Epileptic Girlfriend