some home cookin’ X

Ah! It’s crazy I haven’t posted a home cookin’ post since December 2017. I’m super behind and haven’t been taking as many photographs. I’ve recently gotten back into the game though, so hopefully you can see the new dishes I’ve cooked by 2021…haha. There have been so many times in my life in which I’ve turned to cooking and baking as a way to get creative, but also to relax. I have some new dishes I tried this year, so I’m excited to show you all. Hope you enjoy!

This Vietnamese pancake is called bánh xèo. My version was pretty simple. Perhaps I’ll try this one again, but with more filling. I used shrimp, red peppers and green onions this time. I actually have enough photographs to make a DIY on this, so that may be a future post!

This is just a simple BLT–bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. I think the bread slices are from a larger Italian loaf and the cheese is Colby.

This was a dish of leftovers of sorts. On the plate: roasted chicken, sauteed bok choy and skillet potatoes. I love potatoes so much!

Just a simple spaghetti with meat sauce. This spaghetti is whole grain and the meat is ground beef. It was super easy and delicious. I was too lazy to make meatballs from scratch, so this was an easy alternative.

This is fried rice. I make this often, so I’m not sure if this is with kimchi, but looking at the color, I think it is. I had mixed in whatever I had in the fridge which were eggs, corn, pees, carrots and kimchi. The spicy kimchi definitely adds a kick!

flavorful

Vietnamese dish called bun cha. So flavorful. So refreshing. So filling.

light pink magnolias

I walked by these beauties as I was crossing the street. Still mesmerized, I crossed back and took a photograph. A moment in time I’m happy I had.

egg clouds | street art

To stay on the topic of the day, eggs, here’s a cool mural I saw.

Ohio, 2019

sunny side up flower

Every time I see this flower photograph, I think of the sunny side up eggs, but super mini.

pink flowers

I’m not sure which flowers these are. I think they kind of look like they belong in the dahlia family.

healing after healing

I nudged my head onto your chest. You held me tightly as the cold breeze from the beach water made us wonder what season was it again? I didn’t know what to think. I wanted relief from the past few months of us continuing a pattern we never wanted to create and getting into situations we always tried to avoid, yet, they came anyway.

I surrendered that day. We held each other tightly and didn’t say anything for a long time. The coolness blushed my face and watered my eyes. I felt so raw standing in front of the open body of water that constantly moved in and out. Day in and day out. Healing after healing.

I had a whole life back at home and no idea what I wanted. I saw a family pass by with their tiny dog. A mother and a teenage daughter and son. They were a unit as they walked quietly by; each taking a turn to look out ahead on the sunset we’re all about to experience.

gentle

Summer is very much here and the humidity has been creeping up around me that the irritable emotion is just waiting for a chance to shine. But I don’t want to let it. I’d rather cool down inside and out. It’s so easy to let one negative domino fall thereby making this effect of a bunch of other negative scenarios come into existence. Isn’t it true that even the smallest atom of things can tip the scales from one end of the spectrum to the next?

So I take photographs of nature in hopes that it conveys the message that life is gentle sometimes; perhaps even most of the time if we let it. It’s best to learn early on, I suppose, that not everything negative in life has to be a catastrophic event. It isn’t. And doesn’t have to be.

golden gate bridge

Why, hello, there! Fascinating to learn more about the Golden Gate Bridge.

being young and dating

Tonight, I read an old journal entry about a boy I was dating at the time. Flipping to the beginning pages were memories of hand holding, date nights at pizza parlors and walking around in the city to a few pages later in which I write a list of our similarities and differences. Apparently we both really liked films and blogging but were on opposite sides when it came to our choice of fruit and tv shows we preferred watching. Then came the eventual pages of miscommunication and wondering what he was thinking, but I was too afraid to come off as needy. He made the first move and asked me out. I made the first move and held his hand. He liked my confidence and I liked his spontaneity. That made me wonder. And feel alive.

dreaming reality

I awoke from a dream that I was lost in this hugely vast land of familiarity but complete strangeness. I was walking on one of those moving platforms you see in the airports that help you accelerate your speed to your gate. I was walking carefully, so I wouldn’t fall, yet the incline started to increase. I held onto the handle as it did so and it ended up okay. I made it to the other side without any issues. I then look out ahead and there’s this amusement park-like space with rides and bright lights. I am drawn to it, yet, I do not have a purpose to go there. For some reason, I call you. We haven’t talked in a while. I haven’t actively thought of you, yet, here you are. In my dream.

We talk like no time has passed at all. We talk like we are close and as if you know me on a deeper level like best friends do. You reassure me that we’ll see each other soon. Why do I even need your validation?

Maybe because in the most practical sense, I can believe as much as I can about what my reality is, but having someone else validate it or having data backing it up, makes it all the more real. Makes it less a hope and more a truth. Or maybe I just wanted to remember you for who you could be in my life.

little rewards

we put in the time to sleep early, wake up early and drive over there to see this. it was our little reward that we so desperately needed in that time in our lives. it’s interesting to think about and wonder how many moments in our lives we create by just putting in a little effort; by wanting that small glimpse of what amazing could look like. it’s hope. hope that it’ll all be good someday.