Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Filler post

Well, I suppose I spent enough time away from this blog. Part of it is because my interest in writing anything waxes and wanes, and part of it is just pure laziness. Actually, I would say it's 90% pure laziness. Also, a big part of why I am not so keen on updating so frequently is the fact that I don't care if anyone reads this anymore... a far cry from my old blogging days where I needed constant validation/comments from other readers, subscriptions, etc. And reading back on my old blog...I shudder to think that I was once that stupid to air all my dirty laundry and self-inflicted drama on the Internet. With age comes wisdom I guess.

So a more adult, conservative version of the old Ee writes this blog now. I originally started this blog again as a way to maintain my writing skills, which I noticed deteriorated over the span of my college years what with word and grammar check. As you can tell, I have done a very "good" job of keeping up this blog haha. It is still fun to write in here once in every while, especially on a hot Tuesday afternoon where I am bored out of my skull.

 So here are some pics I took when I visited Munich in March:


Arriving at the Munich train station
 The Monopteros, a hillside Roman temple at the English Garden


 Having a beer at the Chinese Tower beergarden
 A shot of the Chinese Tower
 Roman architecture around the city

 The Rathaus at Marienplatz

More shots of the Rathaus with the Glockenspiel:
 
I was lucky enough to see the glockenspiel chime..it was amazing for how old it is and how it is still working today.
Beautiful, beautiful produce,food at the Viktualienmarkt, the farmers market:



I also visited the Assamkirche, a tiny church nestled among modern buildings. It was...interesting. I have never seen the Roccoco style in life before and it was beautiful but yet an assault to the eyes.



I also visited the Pinakotheken Modern..museum of modern art.
And what is travel without food? Bavarian blood and liver sausage.

I think I just hit my threshold of tolerance of writing for today. Hope you enjoyed this post! (whoever you may be)

Drunken chicken my version

REALLY BACKDATED POST:

The weather in Atlanta has been so cold lately (or at least cold by my standards haha). Some nights the weather has dropped to freezing point and the bf has woken up to ice on his car windshield. I've been stubbornly trying to abstain from wearing socks (I don't like having my feet covered, I know, I'm weird) but it got to the point where I finally caved in and started putting them on around the house.

This cold weather got me all nostalgic about the soups my mom and grandma used to make when I was younger. You know, all the the Chinese soupy stuff; pigs ear soup, silke chicken soup, etc. I never appreciated any of the flavors or the amount of time they took into preparing them for us kids. I took all of that for granted and even went "Ewww, not THIS again?" Looking back now, I wish I could have showed a little more appreciation then.

Now that I am older and living away from home, I realize how precious those memories are. And I never realized how deliciously soothing those soup recipes are! Especially in cold weather. Among my favorite was drunken chicken. I'll be honest, I don't know if this is the traditional way of cooking it but I made up the recipe based on my memory of the flavors.

Ingredients:
  • Chicken drumsticks (I used 2 for my recipe)
  • Sesame oil
  • A can of chicken broth
  • Whiskey (however much you want to put in, I was very liberal with the amount :p)
  • Goji berries
  • Dried shitake mushrooms (soak it in water till they soften, save the liquid)
  • Enoki mushrooms
Steps:

Heat up the chicken broth, chicken drumsticks and simmer till the chicken is fully cooked. Add a few drops of sesame oil. Add the whiskey in as you go till you achieve the flavor to your liking. Halfway through cooking, drop in the shitake mushrooms.

The soup will reduce as you boil it..and here is the other 'secret' flavor enhancer: Don't add water to it, add the liquid that you have saved from soaking your shitake earlier! It really gives the soup a deep earthy flavor.