Wednesday, March 31, 2010

~ New Bling Bling Rhinestone Charms and More~

Rhinestone charms are quite popular in my supplies shop so I got a few new ones when I was in Hong Kong. Be warned that this post is picture heavy :)

First, I found this gorgeous crown. It's expensive though and I only got a few. It's actually flat on top but the bottom curves out so it's 5mm thick. I love these!

I got a few more crowns. Different princesses like different crowns right?

This is a pretty unique charm. It looks like a heart shaped lock and the back is brushed metal. It's puffy!



The blingest cross I have ever seen.


Is this too boyish? Girls like cars too right?


Everyone loves stars!

A little comb.....

For the rocker girls!

For the dog lovers! This will go well with the puppy and bone charms I have in my shop already.

Mickey Mouse?

Hot red lips!

I also got some enamel charms because they are so darn cute! Look at these little dresses!


Mickey Mouse hands?


Little booties. These look like the ones I ordered from Endless.com before.

These charms are less bling, but still very cute. This is a real mirror on both sides. On one side there are rhinestones around the mirror.

Bling Bling Eiffel tower.

How about a little purse with colored rhinestones inside?


Lastly, the cutest, juiciest strawberry bells ever!

I will be listing these starting tonight. If there's anything you want right away, let me know and I will make a custom listing for you. There are still a bunch of girly enamel charms that I need to take pictures of next week. Those are even cuter!

Monday, March 29, 2010

~ Sabai Sabai in Germantown ~

According to the Sabai Sabai site, it's the very first Thai restaurant in Germantown. Well, I wouldn't bother to open another Thai restaurant because Sabai Sabai is tough to beat. It's a very cute place and the food was great! We got these Tod Mun Goong, which is "minced shrimp kneaded with chili paste, fried and served with cucumber sauce."


This was delicious! I love the sauce! They were very fresh. The texture was slightly crunchy on the outside and soft and bouncy on the inside.


My friend and I shared this Peppercorn Soft Shell Crab. I loved it! The sauce was sweet and spicy. On your first bite, you won't immediately feel the heat, but you will. It's a good heat though. Nothing like lip burning atomic buffalo wings.


It was too dark to take a good macro shot though.


My friend had the Sabai Sabai lamb chops and she said it was good. She ate it all! Look how cute the carrots were. I had the broccoli because I don't eat lamb and that was good.


I definitely have to go back again sometime. They have a huge selection of food including salads, soups, noodles, curry and "street food". The prices were average. It's $16.95 for the soft shell crab dish, which I think is fair. Another reason I have to go back is that they are two stores away from Coldstone creamery!


There's nothing like a good serving of strawberry ice cream to cool down that Thai food fire.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

~ Search with PicClick for Etsy ~

I was reading the Etsy forums today and found a thread about a new Etsy search website called PicClick. I just fell in love with it! Here's a screen shot of the site when I tried to search for something cute and yellow. Look how many listing I can see all at once! This is so much better than seeing 10 items on a page when I search on Etsy. There's no waiting time for reloading the page. Everything is there. I can see a 50 items in the time it takes to load 1 page of 10 search results on Etsy. I think it'll be great for looking for items for treasuries or just plain shopping.

Here's what the front page looks like. It shows the newest items. You can click on each category and it will narrow down the results, just like if you are browsing through categories in Etsy.
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You can also change the picture size by dragging on the slider as shown below.

I really like this tool and I hope you find it useful!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

~ Hot Pot Hong Kong Restaurant Style ~

It's so cold today! What happened to Spring? This weather reminds me of...well...hot pot! When I was in Hong Kong, we had hot pot often. There's a restaurant that has 1/2 off everything after 9pm so it's an awesome deal. And bottles of coke and soda are 3 for $10HKD. That's only like $1.25 here. Restaurants here charges like $2 for a glass of coke!

So here are some of the things you can order for hot pot. This is thinly sliced beef.


Squid...


This is one of the best hot pot ingredient ever. It's tofu skin wrapped into a loose cylinder. You just throw it into the pot and count to 3 and it's ready. Delicious!


These are like beef balls and shrimp balls and fish balls. The frozen ones you can get in Chinese grocery stores in America are all precooked. These are fresh. They are so fresh that the shrimp that's in the shrimp ball was probably still alive in the morning.


Of course, all kinds of veggies and mushrooms.


There are a lot more ingredients like seafood, clams, fish and a lot of other stuff. But, I think I lost some pictures :( Besides the ingredients, you also need to pick a soup base. They have super spicy one, chicken broth, pork bone soup, drunken chicken soup and chinese herbal soup. When the soup is boiling, it's time to add the food!


Then it's just a waiting game.


Besides awesome hot pot, there's also awesome dessert! This is my favorite red bean .... soup. Super delicious!


I really miss wish I could've hot pot today. But, I had good spicy Thai food instead. Pictures to come soon!

Friday, March 26, 2010

~ Unique Polymer Clay Flowers ~

I have been selling polymer clay flowers in my supplies shop for a while. I love them because they are so cute and pretty! I just love the details each blossom has.
Polymer Clay Flowers Beads - Tea Party Set

During my trip to Hong Kong in 2008, I saw this rose bouquet and I was in awe. It has the most gorgeous glossy finish! I am no expert in polymer clay beads, but I have never seen any flowers like this. I got 2, but I couldn't figure what I want to make out of it. So, when I opened up my supplies shop, I put them up for sale, hoping they'll find a happy home.
Unique Iridescent Pink Rose Polymer Clay Bouquet Bead

This past month in Hong Kong, I went to look for more of these flowers because I think these are really unique. They don't have that rose bouquet anymore, but I found lots of other awesome flowers! Isn't black roses so alluring and mysterious? Look how glossy it is!
Unique Iridescent Black Roses Polymer Clay Bouquet Bead

I also found these little glossy pink roses. They are only 7mm wide, but so cute! They will look so good if they are woven into crystal charms or used as bridal hair pins.
Little Unique Iridescent Pink Polymer Clay Rose Beads
Little Unique Iridescent Pink Polymer Clay Rose Beads

I also love these matte plum color flowers. I have no idea what kind of flowers they are supposed to be, but they are gorgeous. These are a lot more sophisticated then most polymer clay flowers.
Sophisticated Ashen Plum Polymer Clay Flower Bead

I have just finished listing them in my shop. You can click on the pictures to go to the listing. I hope you like these as much as I do. Which one is your favorite?

Thursday, March 25, 2010

~ Momo is Back ~

While I was vacationing in Hong Kong, Momo was vacationing with Obi and his 4 human sisters. When I got back, I was told that Obi and the girls don't want Momo to leave. Since my house was a mess and I was a mess with the jet lag, I let Momo stay for another few days. He ended up being away from me for 6 weeks. Look how shaggy he got in 6 weeks!

I don't think he was happy to come home. I worked at home just so I could stay with him that day, but he was being mopey. I didn't really want to stay in the chair next to me while I worked. He kept wanting to go back into the crate. When I took him outside to play, he was being aloof.

Then, he just went back inside. I called to him and he just looked at me.

Then he came out a lil bit and went back inside.

I thought he was mad at me. He slept the whole day in the crate and didn't eat his regular food. He ate treats though. I think he misses Obi and the girls. Thankfully, the next day, he was pretty much back to his playful self. Going to groom him soon! More pictures to come!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

~ Super Easy Mapo Tofu ~

I cheat a lot when I cook. I buy the Lee Kum Gee from the local Chinese grocery store, the ingredients and just mix it in the pot. One of the sauces I like is Mapo tofu. All you need are a little less than a pound of ground pork and a carton of tofu and a packet of the sauce.


You can use firm or soft tofu. To me, when they are cut into little bites and drenched in a strong tasting sauce, it really doesn't matter what kind of tofu you use. I use firm because I felt like it. Soft is definitely softer and silkier, but it falls apart so easily. It makes the dish more watery because pieces of the tofu will be crushed as you cook it.


The steps are fairly simple so I am just going to list them here.
  1. Cut the tofu in little cubes
  2. Heat up the wok or pan
  3. Put a little bit of oil in
  4. Throw in the pork and mix it around every 30 secs or so.
  5. When the pork is almost cooked, throw in the tofu.
  6. Then throw in the sauce.
  7. Mix it for a little bit. Make sure all the pork looks brown (cooked).
  8. Put it in a bowl. Put a serving spoon in.
Simple right?? It doesn't take long at all. You can marinate the pork for a few minutes if you want. I feel like it adds to the taste a little bit. But, that's not necessary. The Lee Kum Kee sauce is pretty strong already. It's not that spicy though. It's only like $0.80! You can also buy it as a jar if you use it often.

Look, I made a 3 course meal tonight with soup! All in 75 minutes! I think I am getting the hang of this housewife business :D
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