Guest Post / A Star in Saipan

S told me that she and her co-workers were on the front page of the Saipan Tribune the other day. I looked all over the Internets for a copy of it, but it's not up. There's a picture of her supervisor online, but the one that ran on Page 1 isn't anywhere to be found.

But later on, she said the bellman at her hotel brought a little girl to their room because she came to their hotel seeking an autograph. That's so cute!

We've been talking every day, but the time difference is 14 hours, so it is hard to coordinate. But she has told me she is having a great experience, there are wonderful things and hard things to learn and hear about. I think there is a lot of stuff crammed into her trip. A month seems long, but in a lot of ways, it's short too.

While I'm away this weekend, I don't think I'll be able to talk to her much. I have to be honest, the past 3 weeks have been kind of hard. I don't take care of myself or anything around me unless she's with me. When we first became friends, I went from a C and D college student to a B and C (and occasional A) student and even made Dean's List once - I think that's a 3.5 or higher for one semester. Some of you nerds may not be impressed, but I haven't traditionally gotten good grades. The weird thing is, it's not even like she was a good student either. I think because I could envision a future together, it made me smarten up and work harder.

Since S has been gone, I realized I've been drinking more beer and sleeping fewer hours, and have allowed our bills and mail to pile up without barely opening any. Our plants are dying, and I've piled a bunch of clean laundry on one side of our bed and a bunch of dirty laundry on the other, so I sleep wherever there is space, whether that is the bed or the couch - depending on the day.

Anyway, this is to say that I don't plan to update this blog for the rest of her trip. Just look forward to her coming back and posting pictures and stories from her travels! She says she has a lot to share, but no energy to update from the Pacific Ocean.

Sorry this was so unfunny and slightly depressing...talk later!

Guest Post / Bok Sadai (#5 Style)

it's G here. hi. two weeks until S gets back.

the dish i never tasted before S was bok lahong (papaya salad), as well as its variants like bok sadai (green bean salad), and what we call "bok mango" - which is self-explanatory. But the term "bok" in khmer doesn't mean salad, it means the method by which you make these dishes, by crushing all the ingredients in a huge mortar and pestle thing.

i am something of a connoisseur. i can pick out my wife's bok dishes out of anyone's in the world. it's pretty unlike anything i grew up eating, so i set out to learn how to make it. after working on it for months, i have determined myself to be the #5 best bok-er in the world. yeah i said it.

so before she left, we done did this. check it:


these are the ingredient for making bok sadai: fish sauce, shrimp paste, garlic, lime, MSG, smoked fish, hot peppers, beer. (missing: green beans and sugar)


then you toast this smoked fish for a little while to bring out the flavor. it's still in the package here, we bought it in revere or maybe lowell. at this point, you should also drink your beer. if you need more, go ahead and get more.


cut up the green beans into little pieces like this. check out how fast my knife moves - it's a blur! i think this was the day i sliced off the tip of my finger.


BOK the smoked fish. break up the bones!


add the fish sauce, lime, shrimp paste, garlic, peppers, msg, and sugar. BOK that! my steez is to add a little at a time of fish sauce, lime, and sugar and taste along the way and add more of each accordingly. the flavor has to be a balance of salty, sweet, sour, and MSG-y. all those flavors should be strong too. you can only know if you know.


add the sadai and keep up the BOKing.


blacken some chicken. dark meat is highly preferred - but that's always preferred in my opinion.


typically, most people like to BOK the sadai to the point where it's more pasty than this. but my style is to keep them more whole, i like the texture that way.


eat with rice. holla.

Guest Post / Prince as Decorator

I spoke to S this morning and she said one week was down and we got three more to go before she gets back. I was shocked, because I swear she's been gone two weeks already. but no, it just seems that way. this sucks.

Anyway, I've had Prince on my mind for a couple days now, so I thought I should share a little bit of info on Prince - as it pertains to home design.

Many people don't realize Prince is a talented designer. But you know who knows? Carlos Boozer. Back in 2006, Carlos Boozer - who plays in the NBA for the Utah Jazz - was renting his LA mansion to Prince for $70,000 a month.

What he didn't know was that the place was nice, but not nice enough for Prince. He ended up painting purple stripes all over it, the numbers 3121 on the outside - which was the name of his newest album at the time - and his symbol on the walls. Best of all, he repiped the whole plumbing system to build a beauty salon on the first floor.

Carlos Boozer ended up suing Prince for more than $11 million.

I don't know what happened, but i assume nothing, because Prince is Prince, and Carlos Boozer is just Carlos Boozer.


(sorry babe! i don't have anything else to write about here...)

Guest Post / Crafty & Drunk

another guest post from Grouchy G

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with so much wine in the house. what should i do?

S is away. she would know what to do.

think man. think.

OH! i could try drinking some of it!

the weapon in the war against wine.

what of this cork?

i guess every bottle has one of these.

what can I do with these? oh...

laptop stands to keep them from overheating!

Guest Post / The Legendary 4 Onion Cha

hi readers! every now and then I'll be featuring entries from guest bloggers.

today is my first guest post from my husband, also known as Grouchy G. (everyone seems to love that new nickname for him. except him!) since i'm away for 4 weeks, he'll be handling updating duties for me. don't mess up honey!

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a few weeks ago, i had a dream in which i invented a new dish called "Four Onion Cha" - with onions, leeks, scallions, and shallots all fried together with pork. I couldn't stop thinking about it and so on S's last weekend here before her trip, I brought that dream into reality.

I'm lazy, so here is a very poor rendition of that recipe in pictures. It tasted better than I dreamed it to taste! word!

you all know how to stirfry with a wok, so do this:

sweat this much scallions:


add this much leeks:


throw a little bit of sugar and dark soy in there. when the leeks start to kinda wilt on the edges, throw this much onions:


and this much shallots:


more dark soy, more sugar and a healthy dose of regular (light) soy. remove all that vegetables to a dish, add several cloves of crushed garlic (more oil if you need of coruse) then this much pork:


that should have been marinated for at least 30 mins in wine, dark soy, sugar, corn starch, and crushed garlic.

then hit it with a cornstarch/water mixture. once that thickens, drizzle the sesame oil. toss it a couple times, turn off the heat and lay out that pork and sauce on top of the 4 onions.


holla. eat with chili oil and beer. that picture looks less good than it tasted.

happy burfday to me

I celebrated my b-day twice this year. Over the weekend, my family surprised me with a white chocolate rasberry cheescake and my niece and nephews sang me a song. It was one of the best birthday gifts.


here is Kameron eating my cake...


here he is after he got caught...


here he is singing me the happy birthday song!


here's my grandma snoring me a happy birthday song...


here are the kids bringing me to the mall to buy me a present. (but i ended up buying them a present!)



Today, is my actual birthday. I haven't really had time to think about it because I am prepairing for my month long trip to Japan, Saipan, Guam and American Samoa. I wish it was for vacation but it's for work!

Today g and I took a day off work. We went out for lunch at Korean garden, run some errands, and bought cake from eldo's cake house.

My friend Sham sent us a package of chai tea, and i've just been so busy with work i haven't had time to sit back and relax and enjoy it. i was so glad to finally get a chance to relax and eat cake and drink the yummy chai latte made with soy milk.

here's me really happy!!!

hinamatsuri

today is a really important day celebrating girls. girlhood. girl power. in japan.

it is a day for the household to put out dolls and celebrate the future happy life for their daughters.

i had the privilege of being invited to a party by my friend kallianne. it was hosted at her partner's parents' home - dr and mrs burns. also there was kenny and his sister amelia, and our other friend sabrina. i met some talented artists and ate some wonderful food. G would have come with me, but we thought the party was only for girls! after seeing the food, he was sooo jealous! LOL! he just ate a burrito for dinner.

here is the pictures. i don't need to talk no mo.