Not Just Plain Quiche

The quiche I made for a Thanksgiving appetizer turned out well. It was so nice to cook on a cloudy, Fall day and contributing something to the special pre-dinner. I've had quiche so many times, but never once made it myself. There are variations to it, but all with the neccessary ingredients to make it taste and look like quiche:)

Just before going into the oven

Sometimes holidays such as Thanksgiving can bring nostalgia. Remebering Thanksgivings past, the memories, the company, the laughs and the happenings, all bound together. This year was new and refreshing, with a sense of calm, and comfort- making all the difference because I wasn't part of the hosting crew, and could enjoy all the hard work my sister and husband did in making a very special and thoughtful Thanksgiving meal.

I loved this recipe, not only because it was my first time trying it, but also because it had a variety of parts to it that made it more enjoyable to create. Mixing all of the ingredients together was fun, and seeing the texture come together was interesting, and making the dough in order for it to have a crust was a little time consuming, but also relaxing at the same time. I'm not used to rolling dough, and using flour and having it cling to my hands and clothes like it were sticky candy. I do want to get better at baking. I feel that I've become so comfortable with cooking, it's almost like there's no need to learn how to bake. But that's not true, I don't want to believe it either. I'm always up for an enticing challenge, and growing more comfortable in my skin which can feel like it has limits, but inside it denies that boxy category.

Pretty soon, I'll need to start making a (long) list of 2017 goals and challenges and ideas that I want to leap forward to do and create. And I think baking will be one of those items ready to make the mark. Of course, the race to finish my reading list/goal is still in the air, as well as a Winter chill and holiday cheer.The start of something new is about to come underway, It's coming quickly, but softly. It's not plain, or bland, but with lots of exotic and rich flavor. I'm excited for a new season to begin, a new year, and new ideas, goals, dreams and people. I hope you're excited as well, and join in with me!

Something Golden

The cold, brisk air is telling me that winter is coming soon. I wish Fall could last longer. The Fall I admire is the one where there are always sunny, and warm days with the trees glowing with golden and reddish leaves. There is always a bench to sit at and read a good book, or observe your surrondings. And it's always good weather for a long walk or a spontenous run. But sometimes unfortunately, Winter is the next season that carries over into the New Year- so maybe it's not all bad after all.

The flowers have fallen, just like the leaves

Hard to believe that it's already the middle of November. There are still so many things that I would like to accomplish, even this month alone. Still working on my reading regime as well as my Hindi- self taught lessons! If I could give myself a grade, I would say right now I deserve a B. I need and want to put in more time and effort as well as retaining the language. Although languages are time consuming and in full need of the regaining strength of perserverance, it always enjoyable and exciting to where it can lead you! I have a few phrases down, but by the end of the year, I am aiming to speak a couple of sentences well! I will have my list of things I want to do/accomplish before this year of 2016 is over, soon! And since it's still November, I want to write about my favorite saints, and even the ones that I want to have more devotion to. Wow, too many things....sometimes I wonder how will it be when I am a post grad with no job-yet, will I have enough things to do to keep me active, and busy and inspired? I would say most likely, since I always wanted more time to do them as a student. :)

This weekend I got to spend some nice, quality time with my sisters- a huge blessing in my life. I've tried counting my blessings when things seem to go array or when I'm down, and sometimes I don't know where to begin or even feel overwhelmed by it all. Being with my sisters is always a joy, and lifts me up since I know that they know me the best.

I would say we all look fairly different, but our chins are alike!

I love this time of day. You probably already know that by now since I have a good amount of sunset photos on here! But sometimes I really dislike it when I can't enjoy it  (I  just want to go on a nice long walk or run- or short, since it gets dark so fast) because I have to be somewhere. But thought I would take a picture of it anyway:)

The end of the year is quickly approaching. I am thinking about all that happened this year, and of course what will still happen for the rest of it. Processing what I learned, gained, hoped for and expereinced, my favorite moments and even my least favorite ones are all in there somewhere and brought me to where I am now, in this present moment, writing on Plum Tree, a blog that I never knew I would start or even keep up with. Cheers! And to many great moment to come!:)

Reading By The Minute

This week...hmm should I say eventful, busy, reflective, and even peaceful at times. I try to savor the little moments, like reading a book for 15 minutes, or even learning Hindi or going for run- since these things can be hard to do at times with the rest of my schedule somewhat packed and tight. I've learned that this is just the beginning, since there will always be busy times in life, it's just how you use the time (perhaps minutes) you've got.

I became concerned that I wasn't finishing as many books as I wanted this Fall. Yes, I have a pretty busy schedule, but it wasn't impossible. I also had a difficult time actually sticking to a book. I have an easy time finding some but once I flip some pages, I no longer feel that this book is for me. But I recently did stick to a book, till the end and made time to do so. I figured I didn't have to rush home with all the traffic. I could sit on a nice, inviting bench and read for about 10 or 15 minutes. I don't have to rush from activity to activity, instead I can slowly transition which will lead to less heart pounding, minute ticking in my head and just lead to more peace all around. I found that by reading on this nice bench at school, I was able to observe more- to enjoy my surrondings, not rush through life without appreciating all the things that are around me. I was able to watch passerbys and hear some of their conversations (such as the Presidency), and live in the moment, catch my breath. I noticed how much reading I could do in that short yet productive amount of time! It's all about being innovative with what you have, whether that be tangible or intagible goods.

The cherries behind me. I wouldn't have notcied them if I walked right by them and didn't stop and sit on that bench.

I saw this tree, and I my mind immediatley thought of these long branches, and so many of them- of all of the ideas and inspirations that our minds can imagine. This was inspiring to me, and so I decided to stop at this nice bench:)

I am excited to share the books I have finished this Fall. At this point, I still have at least 5 to finish before December 21st, which is the first day of Winter. There are also still many things I would like to do and accomplish, and crazy to think that this year of 2016 is fastly approaching to an end. Some of these include finishing the sewing project that is soon to be done! I also want to get back into knitting again, keep up with my language studies, organize my tutoring materials/notes, and try out more new recipes to post on Plum Tree, as well as my own cookbook archive:)

While on my run, had to capture this beautiful pink undertone sky!

Nice snack while tutoring! I gave my student a cupcake for an early birthday (homemade by my mom from wedding reception), and I got two in return! Ha

It's November! Which means Family, Turkey and Cooking! Had to get some new recipes from this cooking food magaize:)

Coming up: I am planning to make a Turkish dish, just want enough people to enjoy it, and Friday night can leave people to scatter. Also, favorite books from 2016, favorite words from all the languages I have and am studying and some creative projects!! Till next time..

Indian Recipe and Autumn List

I wanted to share most of my Autumn List on here as well as a new Indian dish I made. The main dish was called Murgh Tamatari and the side dish I made was called Kele ka Raita. Basically chicken, with some nice spices, and tomatoes, in order to have a nice and tasty sauce to go with the chicken. It took me about an hour and a half in all, mostly for the chicken to cook fully since that takes time. As for the Kele ka Raita, it's a nice yogurt dish, with bananas and a few spices. As my sister put it, it tastes better than it looks. To put you at ease, it doesn't look too exotic and foreign, so nothing to be afraid of.

As for my Autumn List, some things include going to Starbucks and Barnes and Noble more often. It's always nice to go to bookstores and coffee shops during this time of year. I also love to see the colors change during Autumn, and love taking pictures of the changing colors of leaves and the trees. I want to get into baking! I do have some recipes that I want to try out, just need to make some extra time and inspiration for that. That's what goas are for I guess. I want to learn how to code, like mentioned in a previous post, or any kind of tech/computer lingo would be nice. Dress up for Halloween this year. Sometimes I get kind of lazy and unmotivated, but it's nice to get into the spirit and do something different for a change. Learn Hindi. I want to finish at least 8 books this Fall season, and the nice thing is that I know finding a book to read is never hard for me. I want to contribute something to Thanksgiving this year, whether that be rolls, Pumpkin Pie or a nice side dish. I think it would also be good to make a 2-3 year plan for myself, all the things I want to do and accomplish in that amount of time, and also something cool to look back on as well! So there were a few of my goals for this Autumn. I'm excited to see how much I can accomplsih in these few months!

Enjoying the nice grass on campus!

School days, B&N nights, and a new language

On my last night of summer I went to Barnes &Noble. Something about going there at night opens up my mind more to the books and materials around me. I feel more inspired for some reason, maybe because I consider myself a night owl. Also, on a week night there are less people, so it's easier to browse and hear the calm, laid back music better. I wanted this post to also be about my Autumn list, a bucket/goals lists this Fall. I havven't fully finished my thoughts on that one, and want to make it good and meaningful, not rushed or forced, since you can always tell when something is rushed or forced. But, I will say that the two things that I did at B&N that night will most likely be on my Autumn list:)

This item will not just be on my to do list for this season of everything pumpkin, plaid and fall sweaters;I also put it on my 24 list that has to do with accomplishing 24 things in my 24th year, so technically I have another 9 months to go if all else fails. So obviously, it must be something important or should I say daring and maybe even an ounce of extremeness. This goal of mine is to learn how to code. Yes, I know, coding. I would not consider myself a sciency, mathematics, computer geek person, or even someone who considers themselves good at it, but I feel that it wold be useful to learn, even just a little. But like I said, I am always up for a good chanlleng and feel that I am determined to get down at least the basics, the jargon and the language. I'm aiming at learning Java or Javascript.

 So that night, I found the technology section and started reading a few compiter sciency books about Java. There was one in partciular that I found to be interesting, engaging and even should I say enjoyable to read? Unheard of, but I admit it to be true. I think this is a good challenge for my artsy, wavy, colorful mind.

The other thing that will most likely be on this Autumn list, that I just made up only a few days ago, is something that I also looked around for at B&N, but was dissappointed to find out that they don't carry any, at least none that I saw. But thank goodness for libraries because I checked out a book on it today! By this point, you're probably anxious to know what this second thing might be, Well, this goes back to my wavy mind, going all over the place at times. So here it goes.. I want to learn Hindi. Yes, the Hindi language. I am interested in knowing how to speak, read, write, the whole shabang. I have been thinking about learning this language for sometime. I guess not a lot,a lot of time if you were to count, but a good enough amount of time for me. I researched to find that Hindi is the 4th most spoken language in the world. I also researched to find that in my language binder, (where I keep all of my foreign language materials), I wrote a list back in 2014 regarding languages I would like to learn some day. I think it is far too long looking back now, but still thought it was interesting seeing again. As you can see, I did put Hindi on the list. :)

 Language is my passion, and Chinese has been on my learning plate for a good amount of time, almost three years. Of course I wont give it up for good, but feel that I am itching for more, to learn more in something else. I have had a good amount of Indian friends throughout my schooling, more than Chinese. I feel that there is a lot of relevance in learning a language such as Hindi. I don't think it's going to be easy, I'm not doing it because of that. If it was, I don't think it would be very interesting for me. I want to be able to watch more bollywood films, dive more into the culture, the food, the music which I really like. To understand things more from that side of the world. I feel that it's so important as a citizen of this country to understand and seek various perspectives. When you learn a language, you can reach so many more people, who either have that same interest or know it themselves. I want to be where that action is at.


So, as I was saying that I couldn't find any Hindi language books becasue there were none, I came across a book that I remember seeing in Anthropologie about a year ago. The book is called Lost in Translation, the point being that some words in various languages aren't always easy to translate. I thought it was super cute the first time I saw it, and wanted to capture some of my favorite words and explanations ones here.

I found this book to be enjoyable as well as very interesting, and even though I couldn't find my Hindi book, I was still inspired by this one. :) Now that school has officially started, and the first being probably the worst and craziest day for parking (I couldn't find anything, zero), luckily a familar face saved the day and showed me a place near campus that worked for a while. The onset of new classes, knowledge, people, expereinces, endevours, schedules and interets is well underway. I had a full day at school, but got to end it with a nice, end of evening glow, just barely missing the final touches of a rich, majestic sunset, 

First day of school!

The workload is well underway, but I feel that my mind, my pen and my feet can all keep up with it in the end. I guess I better enjoy every last minute of it, whether it's reading about globalization, briskly walking with many things and books in my tired hands, but with a prance in my feet and a tune in my ears to let me know that everything is going to be okay, or going to Starbucks and being admist the student life, soaking and drinking in the warm latte that was afforadable only this time and to not get too used to it. Another year. Another journey. Here we go.

105 days of Summer

A qiuck shot while walking to Santa Cruz beach. Love those flowers, and the radiant sunshine!

Berkely wall art

A yellow building in Gloria, Rio

Summer is coming to a close, and it's always bittersweet looking back on it. I've counted the days off of required reading, studying for tests and waking up and getting dressed on time for a full day, or rather, rushing to get out of the door. But those days have been behind me for a while, though they are on the horizo to be here soon once again, very soon. 105 days. One hundred and five days of Summer. It feels like a long time, and granted it was. I feel that I soaked up every day, as best as I could. Although Fall is my favorite season, I think Summer is my favorite time of year. I wanted to reflect on this Summer of 2016, of all that happened and that I wanted to accomplsih and do. Overall, I feel pretty proud of myself and glad I could squeeze some things in last minute.

Remenbering the sacred days of June feels like a long time ago, the beginning and onset of Summer, and looking back on all that happened. It started out with my trip to Rio de Janerio, Brazil. My first trip to South America, and better yet, my first trip out of the country! What a great expereince for two long but short weeks, with classmates and peers. I would say the theme of the trip was self discovery and interpersonal reflections, sometimes happening in my hotel room, sometimes while riding the metro, or even while eating a delicious Brazilian meal and people watching on the streets. I felt I learned so much about myself in a crash course style. My 24th birthday was celebrated during the trip, embracing a new age and new people around me. It was a personal birthday, another one with out close family members, or even well known and kinder spirited friends, but it was still special, in its own way I guess. Sometimes birthdays are a nice and perfect time for reflection, and I feel I got a good amount of that.

Some summers, such as this one had simple moments that had great value and that were precious to me. Day trips, eating out, good and quality time spent with sisters and my mom, but also a balance of business and schedules but also close to more than enough of free time and leisure, making lists of ideas, thoughts, reflections, goals, and reading like the book worm I am. I guess all of the things introverts like to do:). Anyone out there agree with me?

Not just being able to go abroad to Rio, but also to be able to go to my sister's wedding, in San Salvador, El Salvador in mid August felt like a dream. A place I had heard about a good amount and now I finally could experince it myself, and be that loving support for my sister and brother-in-law. To see the different yet beautiful world of El Salvador, to take in the humidity, the loud thunder and huge raindrops and more than delicious food that even still makes my mouth water. Paposas, can't get enough of them! And to celebrate the happiness of my close friend and sister, and to see her marry the love of her life. I don't speak Spanish but I could still take everything in just as well, enjoying the moment.

How much I love them, and love this pic!

I think some great goals that I had for myself this summer included become a literacy volunteer at the library, which I have already done training for and will soon help an adult with reading and writing! Another goal of mine was to finish 12 books! This kind of seemed like a lofty goal at first but then a feasible challenge that was more enjoyable than daunting. I did finish 12 books, and am excited to share them with you soon! A place I wanted go to was also crossed off the list, going to a cafe in Berkeley. Of course, I would be happy with any cafe in Berkeley, but I decided to go to not just any cafe, but one that had special memories to it, like going back in time and remembering them all again. Cafe Roma is the name, and I had fond times with other liked minded girls, and being able to spend some time in Berkeley made me miss those days, going on 4 years ago. Being able to experince the creative urbaness and chaotic artistry of this city was a nice change. I like cafes since they bring that creative energy back to life and also can slow down time although time seems to go by pretty quickly also. 

Some other pictures that I think highlights this summer, going to Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, bookstores, the library, cafes (not sure how many times Starbucks was used this summer), long runs and walks and taking in all my surrondings and the nice cool summer air with the glowing orange sunset and bright, dancing moon smiling back at me, reading on the front porch with the majestic dusk sky stealing my attention from the pages of my book to its beauty. Sleeping in and late night reads, calming me and putting me into a deep sleep. Studying Chinese. Studying Arabic, but also wondering about other languages too, and perhaps being interested in too many things at once?!! Finding books at the library too easily and clothes at conseinment stores too quickly. Walks and bike rides at Sycamore Grove. Having good discussions with good people and thankful for them. Having a powerful and real yearning to meet good friends and to make the most of Autumn and this time of year. Getting more and more into cooking and trying out new and exotic dishes. Finding new songs that inspire me and bring me back to good moments every time and re- listening to already known ones. Taking a dance exercise class, and wanting to try to fit into my schedule again, though it seems unlikely. Re- learning how to sew with my mom, and enjoying the process. Tutoring my students and enjoying every minute, and also grateful that I have this opportunity to teach them and help them not just with Enlgish but a lot more. Trying a fig and a moon cake for the first time. The moon cake is in honor of the Chinese celebration of Mid- Autumn Festival. And also starting this blog, Plum Tree. So glad I did!

Half Moon Bay

A full moon! Happy Mid- Autumn Festival

The nice view from one of my student's window

An outfit I seemed to wear a few days in a row this summer! Ha

A nice lunch with my Mom, quality time can never seem to add up to enough!

Overall, I feel very grateful for this summer of 2016! So much has happened, been learned, accomplished and enjoyed, Memories, memories, good good memories. As my Uncle would say, "This is good, this is very good." And so it is.