ahhh cute!

as seen on CuteOverload. Reminds me of our dogs and cats... yes this is what they do sometimes. Too cute, too cute!

big snow

We had a lot of snow this past weekend and it was just crazy! Well at least the dogs love it. :)

angel tree

This holiday season, caffe d'bolla is giving a slice of Heaven to our four footed friends! caffe d'bolla is hosting an angel tree to support the needs of the animals at No More Homeless Pets.

Frisky felines and playful pups need food, toys, blankets, and most, a home. Caffe d'bolla will reward the fulfilling of gifts on the angel tree with free lattes, fresh-roasted coffee, and gift cards.

Caffe d'bolla continues to be dedicated in helping homeless pets and is donating time, effort, money, and tasty drinks for a 'Good Cause for Paws'. Come help bring plenty of wags and purrs this holiday season!

Fulfill a wish today!

ebay is fun

I've started selling on ebay! Before this past week all we had sold on ebay was our old LaMarzocco espresso machine, but this past week I'd sold a few Von Dutch hats. It's fun.

I've also got some good connections with some designer bags and accessories, so I may start working with them and sell cool bags on ebay. We'll see.

thanksgiving funness

I haven't been blogging much. Bad me. I guess I'm just lazy sometimes, but today I loaded some photos in my camera and realized that I had to blog about our Thanksgiving Day this year!


We went to Utah's Hogle Zoo this Thanksgiving! There was a program called "feast with the beast" where the zookeepers gave the animals Thanksgiving treats! Ok we missed all of the feedings, but we had a great time! John's favorite was still the wolves, and we hiked up high behind the fences and watched the wolves up close!

I really enjoyed watching the tiger, the lion, and the giraffe, and oh the red panda was just so cute. And there's this wild boar looking little creature that was pushing his food dish, stirring his food around, and ignored his friends' stares... too cute, too cute! (OK I'm going to find the actual name of this fun animal.)

We didn't make ham like we usually did, but we did make festive udon noodles and other side dishes. Yummy. So visiting the zoo and making noodles can be the new Thanksgiving tradition?

heart in the coffee

I put my heart in the coffee! I love pouring these hearts in my macchiatos and lattes. It makes me happy to see happiness on people's face when they see the little heart in the cup.

homemade udon

We were going to test different udon soup recipes and were excited about making homemade udon. The problem was that it would have taken 3+ hours to make the udon noodles, so we decided to make the simplified version of it... so instead of continuous kneading and "stumping," we knead the dough some and then rolled it out to cut into pieces.

Anyhow, the soup was yummy. I boiled bonito flakes, drain it, and added pork, spices and miso. The noodles, however, was a bit soft and not as chewy as udon should be.

I'm going to make some real udon noodles soon!

negotiating

We're talking with some property agents about a potential property that we're interested in for another project right now. We actually met with the property owner today and he was a calm and nice guy. There are some points we still need to make sure we address and accomplish, and then we'll know if this is THE property for this project.

dashi maki tamago

Dashi means "soup stock", Maki means "roll", and Tamago means "eggs" in Japanese; and therefore dashi maki tamago literally means "soup stock rolled eggs," or "soup flavored thick Japanese omelette rolls". Sometimes people call these tamagoyaki, where yaki refers to food that's grilled.

Anyhow, John and I love tamagoyaki, and while we were in Japan last time we got two tamagoyaki pans... and yes there are pans that are designed to make these yummy tamago. We got one for the restaurant project, and the other for home use. They are slightly different... the square and copper one is used in commercial settings while the rectangular and teflon one is used in homes.

I have this wonderful recipe that makes the best dashi maki tamago ever. It's better than any tamago I've had in Japanese restaurants.

And here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
6 eggs, beaten
4 fl oz (125cc) dashi stock (Japanese dashi is the best, but I used my own creation)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sake (optional)
1 tbsp mirin (optional, but it's just so much yummier when you use it.)
1 tbsp vegetable oil for frying

And the techniques on how to properly make a tamagoyaki/dashi maki tamagois a whole new other subject. It somehow tastes better if you make these in a proper pan, but if you'd like to make scrambled eggs with the recipe I think it'll still be yummy.

coffee is fun

We're back from Seattle. I'm really glad we decided to go this year... met with the cool coffee guys, visited the new Vivace, watched the latte art competitions and learned with the other roasters and baristas. And I'm particularly excited about meeting Deferio and learned his latte art passion and superb skills.

We also got some new cups and saucers for John's press pot coffee. It'll be wonderful to have people try them.

Coffee is awesome.

cinnamon honey butter

We were at the store and I said, "ahhh... we should make some cinnamon honey butter some time so we can put it on the toast." And then John said, "over there!"

I turned and found this cinnamon honey butter topping that's made by a local company called Treasure Foods. I only tried it on toast, and it was yummy. I noticed that if you put the cinnamon honey butter on the bread before you toast it, it actually taste better than if you put the cinnamon honey butter on the bread after it's toasted.

I shall try it on pancakes and waffles some time as well.

rodizio

John and I took my little sister to Rodizio Grill for lunch today, just so we can "celebrate" her birthday early.

The food was all right, but the meal serving guys were very polite and pleasant. Oh, and my favorite was the grilled pineapples! They were the yummiest ever.

And we had a good time.

i need to be knitting

I was flipping through my Japanese crafty books and came to a realization that I should be knitting.

I'm going to make cool scarflettes, and I'm going to start tonight.

and naicha was a puppy

John found some photos of Naicha and the rest of the gang on our home computer, and this one was taken when Naicha was about 6 months old, on the grassy area (covered with snow) in front of the house. Ahh she was BIG then! If you've seen her recently, you know she still looks/acts like a puppy! At 140 lbs. she's the biggest "puppy" I've ever seen.

hooded nuki

As it's getting colder here in Salt Lake, we're pulling out our hoodies to wear. And as always, I like to try to put the hoodies on the dogs.

All the dogs seem to be interested in sniffing the hoodies, but only Nuki would have it on for a short period of time.

almond milk

I've never had almond milk. I don't know how you milk an almond, but almond milk does exist and some people really like it.

The other day I made an almond milk caffe latte for a lady, and found that the texture of almond milk is actually closer to regular milk than soy milk or rice milk, and I could actually pour a little latte art in the lady's cup!

i want cupcakes!

For some odd reason I'm craving cupcakes. I don't even quite know the exact difference between a cupcake and a muffin, but I just want some cupcakes! I think I'm going to try to make some off the recipes I read about on Not Martha.

Oh oh oh I want cupcakes!

hit and run bastards

My little sister was involved in a hit and run accident yesterday afternoon. She was walking across from the southwest corner of 5400 South and Redwood road to the southeast corner and some guy turned left on westbound 5400 South into Redwood and hit her!

She was knocked onto the ground the driver of the white sedan didn't even hit the break. An old couple saw what happened and called the police. I was later told that because my sister was carrying a big wooden drawing board, the car actually knocked on the board and pushed her onto the ground. She had some bruises and scratches and she's now sore all over, but overall she's not in any immediate pain.

I was surprised that the police didn't call me when they arrived at the scene. My sister is 17 and still a minor. I called the PD to get the case number and I'm expecting a call from the officer in charge today.

I drove my sister to the ER last night because she complained about the numbness on her right wrist and her joints were really sore. The doc checked her out and did't think anything was broken, so that was good. For some reason she's still feeling really sore this morning I let her stay at home instead of going to school.

With the recent few reported hit and run cases in SLC, the city is trying to educate the community and drivers about the seriousness of hit and run. I hope the police is still investigating the accidents and get the bastards that hit and run.

long stem art

I've studied some latte art designs from Sammy and I've always been intrigued by the beautiful long stems on the rosettas he pours... so I've been playing with the designs myself. I'm still working on it, and I like how this looks. :)

sushi day

It's John's birthday today and we're going to close the shop early at 6 p.m. so we can go to Takashi's for dinner. Takashi's is sort of becoming our celebration spot... it's not that we don't like to try somewhere else, it's just that when you're going to spend $200 for something special, it's gotta be good, and Takashi's always good.

Oh, on another note, I took my virtual pet puppy Baozi to the agility show and he won first price, and that means he's very healthy and happy. I'm so glad. Ah I'm easily entertained!

moon cakes

The Chinese/Taiwanese Mid-Autumn Festival is on the 15th of August every Lunar year. Moon cakes are a must on this day... they are round or square pastries with sweet fillings.

And this year the Mid-Autumn Festival fell on October 6th, which was yesterday, and I was fortunate to find some fresh-made moon cakes from a local restaurant Cafe Ahn Hong. I got 3 small ones that were filled with azuki (desert small red beans) paste.

Even the dogs wanted them very much.

booo

I was going to go but I was not chosen. Boooooo.

i'm sick

I'm sick. I've been under the weather since Friday night. It was not a fun weekend for me... I napped through the whole sunday. I think I got John a bit sick, too. But we still come to the caffe today because it's still funner to be at the caffe than to lie around doing nothing at home.

Ahh with that being said, I poured a soft heart in a customer's macchiato this morning, and I added two tiny antenas and made it into a lovely butterfly! I'm so proud of myself.

I tend to whine a bunch when I'm not feeling well... so if you see me, talk to me, or email me and I responded with some short and rude sentences, please forgive me. *sniffles*

communication

The other night I was watching House, where House was the first person who could communicate with an autisitic boy. He said, "You have to talk his language." I totally agree with him. I've noticed that when I could know how people react to things or learn, it's easier for me to talk to them... I guess that's when I "speak their language."

When I taught ESL at the Horizonte High School I didn't have a teaching certificate, and being a public school, the school usually coulnd't employ me, but I told them I was getting my M.Ed and I could understand the need of second-language-learners and their strength, and therefore I could teach them better. I spoke their language, I suppose. And yes I was hired and taught for two years.

Anyhow, it just got me thinking after the show, and boy, House rocks.

bags

I made a couple of bags the other day, and with the help of my sister's computer drawing pad and Corel Painter, I designed a label that will go on every item I make.



The bunny on the black/grey bag was satin-stiched, and the polka-dot stripes on the green-ish one was sewn onto the fabric with feather stiches.

ikea cup

I found these Ikea cups and saucers yesterday and I was excited. I've been looking for 6oz cups for capps in the caffe, and it's hard to find a good deal for these. These are made in Portugal by SPAL for Ikea. There were 7 cups and 8 saucers at the second-hand shop... I bought 7 sets.

And of course there's something I'd always do with new cups I find... I've been drinking everything in these!

tulip-y heart

I think it's amazing that Sammy can create and pour the most incredible latte art, and when he staretd pouring the heart on top of a tulip in the cup last year... every one went crazy.

I thought I'd give it a try... the first attemp was a bit funky. I think I "stretched" the milk a bit too much. The second one was still not that cool, but I think it's kind of cute.

I'll keep practicing.

and the obsession goes on

I can't help it! At least I'm not carrying these in my purse.


Green-1970; Red-1971.

the old and cool thermos

Once I found an 1974 Thermos and it was so lovely that I started looking for the old and cool Theormos. The other day I found this retro looking 1963 one. (I paid $1.00 for it!) The stopper inside has a little crack and as determined as I am, I had John ask the Thermos company if they still make the part (#722).

The company wrote back and said they no longer make part #722. I was sad, but later found a not-so-retro-and-coo thermos with a perfect stopper #722. I was delighted. Of course I switched the two stoppers and now I have a perfect 43-year-old retro thermos that looks like new!

It's an 8oz tiny little Thermos so I've been carrying it in my purse, with nothing in it.

flower puppy

Ahhh... as seen on Cute Overload!

'Mind you, this is some flowers we're talking about. OMG.

scary library

A regular came in yesterday and told us that there was an explosion at the Main Libary across street and everyone in the building was evacuated. Apparently someone set off a homemade bomb by the fireplace on the 3rd floor (supposedly near the self-help section!) Fortunately no one was hurt.

The FBI came to the caffe and the businesses around the area and ask questions. The authorities are still looking for the suspect at this time.

It's colder today because of a rain storm (and it snowed on the mountains already!) and that also means more homeless people are occupying the warm and comfy libary, and on top of that the explosion took place. The libary is a bit scary this weekend.

competition

John sent out the application forms for the latte art competition for me today. The panels will choose 20 people among the applicants to go to the competition, so I'm not sure if I'd be selected yet. I'm sort of nervous, because I've never had formal training on latte art... I'm self-taught by studying clips of some cool people, and in this little city of Salt Lake it's hard to find someone who's as passionate about this art as I am to "jam" with me, or to guide me in perfecting my steaming or pouring techniques.

I usually only go into competitions knowing that I'm definitely going to win. I'm not quite confident about this one yet. I'm practicing anyhow, so I can continue to improve myself, and if I get to go to the competition, I will be more prepared by then.

The more I see the wonderful art some baristas pour, the more humble I become. There are many things I still need to learn, and there are many more art I need to pour...

At least it's a ton of fun!

games

There's a cool fun site called i-am-bored.com where you can find tons of interesting things to read and laugh at, or to play. I've found several interesting games on the site, and right now I'm playing Jail Break and Image Labeler. Very addictive.

stamp book

I finally received one of the stamp carving books I ordered from Japan, and I just found out it's already my favorite! I think there'll be a lot of stamp carving this weekend.

pretty green

I was getting stuff from a drive-thru and saw these green plants of some sorts. These plants looked like flowers in shape, but I was pretty sure they were leaves. I still don't know what they were, but they were surely green and pretty!

labor day weekend

We had a good weekend... hung out with the dogs and cats, and checked out some cars that we may trade in our 4Runner for. We're looking for a '04-'05 Toyota Rav-4, and preferably a stick. I know it sounds crazy, but I can't drive an Auto-shift car because I don't know what to do with the "extra foot." We're still looking.

One thing that was really sad this past weekend was Steve Irwin's death. He was a great man, trying to help the animals and bring awareness to the warefare of the animals to people. I'm saddened by his sudden death, but like many have said, as least he died doing what he loved doing.

where do they go?

Every once in a while there's the long holiday weekend and almost everyone is talking about their plans and that they are "going out of town." That usually means business will slow down a little, the traffic will be smooth, and that many places will be closed.

And then I start to think, when everyone is "out of town," where exactly do they go? Shouldn't there be people coming into town as well since they just went out of their own town?

and the president was in town

President Bush is in town to speak at the American Legion Convention here in Salt Lake. While he arrived in town last night the traffic was just a bit crazy, but this morning while we were entering downtown this morning.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson demanded that President Bush to "speak the truth" yesterday at a rally. Tons of people showed up either to support/criticize Rocky or President Bush. I didn't hear the whole speech because I was at the store, but I heard it was quite intensive. One of our regular customers at the shop works at the Mayor's office, and he said the phones were just rining off the hook.

And I just learned now that President Bush is done with his speech at the convention, the numbers of angry calls to the Mayor's office has gone down significantly.

please don't waste water

I've noticed many times that the lawns that belong to the city are ultra green and pretty in the summer. While the city is encouraging its people to conserve water, whoever takes care of the lawns is watering the lawns too much, and for too long.

Sometimes the sprklers are on even when it's raining outside. I realize that most of the sprinklers are on timer, but making sure that someone turns off the watering system when it's raining should not be that difficult.

This morning we were driving into downtown and I noticed the excessive water on the city lawns and more just going down the drain. That doesn't look too good to me, and it gets me thinking about our yards. Maybe the city can help watering our lawns using the excessive water that's not going into the city grass any more.

57" on the center

One of the blogs I read often is Not Martha, which offers great information and ideas, and today I read about how to hang artwork without and not screw it up. Interesting.

strawberry milkshake whopper

OMG I saw the new Strawberry Milkshake Whoppers at the store yesterday and of course I bought a box. The original Whoppers of course are good, and boy the strawberry ones are yummy, too! Now if only I can remember to take a picture of the box before I finish it up...

see ya mom!

My mom is on her way back to Taiwan tonight. I was a bit teary when we parted, and so was she. I love my mom a lot I'm grateful for all that she does for me.

See you later, maybe next year, Mom!

chocolate lucky charms

I was organizing the kitchen at the store and found a box of Chocolate Lucky Charms. I bought it a while ago but somehow forgot to have any.

So I tried it. It was actually quite good... however it's a bit sweet for my taste. The leftover cereal milk tastes just like super yummy chocolate milk, which is a plus.

funky tomatoes

Dana gave me some tomatoes she grows in her garden. They were all of different kinds, and the one that intersted me the most was the peach tomatoes. It looks yellow-ish and has fuzzy skin like a peach, but when you bite it open you will see a tomato inside! That's just pure craziness.

And I really want to start my own garden! I think I'm going to grow Japanese cucumbers and eggplants first.

wasatch mountain fire

We were driving into downtown Salt Lake today and saw some smoke or thick fog near the east mountains. I later on learned that it was a big mountain fire that's possibly spreading! I hope it's under control by now.

crafty room

I'm still organizing and sorting things out in my crafty room. I saw this fun picture from Bust Magazine, and it's almost like my crafty room scene, except that mine is more cluttered and with big dogs on the floors with the cats. Oh, and my tongue is not blue.

yama is thinking

When Yama is not sniffing or licking anyone or anything, he's thinking.

slcc could be cool

My sister took a placement test and registered for the international student orientation at the Salt Lake Community College. She is going to start taking some language and art classes this semester at the college.

I hope she'll do well.

birthday sushi

We went to see Kevin at Ichiban last night for my birthday, since we had to be at the caffe on Saturday. Kevin was still super nice to us as usual, and he made wonderful sushi and other dishes. He even bowed to me and said, "Happy Birthday!" *blush* Ahh so Japanese.

I took some pictures of the meal, but of course there were ones that were just so wonderful and yummy I forgot to take pictures of. By the time I remembered and wanted to take pictures the food would have already been in my tummy.

And the funnest ones he made us were the futomaki. It was supposed to be a traditional big roll, and Kevin actually made us a super giant futomaki. I even placed a pair of chopsticks next to the futomaki pieces to show how big they were!

Thanks Kevin!

happy-ish birthday

It's my birthday today! Thanks for all the wonderful birthday wishes and gifts to all of my friends and family here and overseas. Among the little gifts, it's interesting to note that my dad gave me a big piece of white jade, carved into a wonderful symbol of abundance, and a precious rock carved into a symbol of happiness; my sister drew me a funny comic and gave me $60.

I do have come to realize that birthdays just don't seem as important (to others) any more once you're over 21.

Anyhow, happy birthday to me!

erasers

Remember the bunny I carved out of an Artgum? I've been wanting to carve more stamps, but the erasers are just a bit too much here, so I asked my mom to bring me some plain-o' erasers from Taiwan for me to carve. She brought me a whole bag-ful! I'm going to be carving a lot of fun stamps!

it's not the dog

Seriously, it's not the dog.

NO ON PROP SB861!!
THOSE WHO KNOW MW KNOW I WOULD NOT HURT A FLY!!

LAKOTA ~ VA BEACH VA

My Name is Monster, but a Monster I'm NOT!!








cowboy







Layla is sorry too































































Roxy