HoneyWalnutShrimp.
A long time ago my cousin introduced me to Honey Walnut Shrimp at a Chinese restaurant [Golden Harvest, Warren, MI]. We were at an authentic Chinese restaurant so I don’t know if this is an Americianized dish, but damn it was good. It’s battered fried shrimp with sweet walnuts and sweet creamy white sauce. I didn’t know where else to get this dish besides that restaurant. Now that I moved to Florida, I can’t find it anywhere. Maybe I didn’t look hard enough. Well, my friend sent me a link to a video of an Asian women making this dish. Turned out that she has her own channel on Youtube. I was really excited! So I decided to make this dish today.
Check out her videos: Lila’s Youtube Channel, AsianCookingmadeEasy
Honey Walnut Shrimp» click here for her video for this recipe. If not, here’s Lila’s recipe.
INGREDIENTS & STEPS: make sure you do the walnuts and sauce before the shrimp.
Sugar-coated walnuts: since I was just making this for myself, I used half of these measurements
1 cup halved walnuts
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp sugar
In a small saucepan, melt the butter on medium heat. Add walnuts and coat with the butter. Jack the heat up and stir constanting for like a minute. Lower the heat back to medium and add the sugar. Keep stirring until most of the sugar dissolved and coated the nuts. Set aside.
Sweet Creamy Sauce: I can eat alot of shrimp so I used full measurements here
3 Tbsp Mayonnaise [Hellmans]
1 Tbsp Honey
2 Tbsp Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 Tbsp lemon juice [I just squeezed half of a lemon]
Mix ingredients very well in a small bowl. Set aside.
Batter for Shrimp:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cup water
2-3 cups Peanut oil [I didn't have it, so I used Canola oil]
1 lb of cleaned, deshelled, de-veined, de-tailed shrimp [I got a bag of 16-20 per pound. I used ten shrimps instead of a whole pound since they were pretty big]
Mix together flour, salt, sugar, and water.
Line a big bowl/plate with paper towels to lay the shrimp in.
In a big pan, heat oil for frying. Medium-high to high heat. [In the video she used a wok. Mine was dirty and I was lazy to clean it. So I used a medium saucepan with about a cup and a half of oil.]
Put shrimp in batter and completely coat them.
When frying the shrimp, I found it easier to use a fork to stab & pick the shrimp up, letting excess batter drop off, and I slowly drop the shrimp in the oil, using my chopsticks to slide it off the fork. Don’t crowd the pan, shrimp will stick together.
Since I was using a smaller pan, I fried three to four at a time.
Shrimp takes like a minute or two to cook. Batter should be golden brown, shrimp pink.
Transfer cooked shrimp to lined bowl. Remove paper towel from underneath the shrimp. Add sauce & walnuts overtop while shrimp is still warm/hot. Toss together.
Best served with cooked rice. ^_^
I love shrimp. I ate like ten pieces with rice! I’m such a fatass. Lol.
Thank Lila for this recipe! =)
NexusOne.
EDIT »
So I’ve been using the Nexus One for the past 3 days now. I don’t like the camera as much anymore. My old phone, Nokia N79 takes awesome pictures. I was used to being spoiled by N79’s 5 megapixel digital camera with Carl Zeiss optics..dual LED flash. The Nexus1 camera is decent. I take a lot of pictures of myself with makeup & my nails for tutorials. The focus, lighting (flash), and color is all wrong. It’s decent, but doesn’t compare to my Nokia. Guess that’s why I loved Nokia camera phones so much. I even liked my N79 camera better than the Canon Powershot SD 630.
I don’t think you can play video games on it, someone asked. I haven’t tried. Google it maybe. Lol.
My MMS isn’t working. I can receive, but not send. Maybe it’s my network?
Enough of that. I still love the phone. ^^
_______________________
I’ve been wanting a new phone for a while. I know I know. If you know me, I always have a new phone. I get tired of one after a year. But…I was done with my Nokia N79 and I didn’t want to get a Blackberry…done with those too. For sure I wanted a touch screen phone. And I think the best one out there is the iPhone. Then I saw the Google phone…Nexus One. My eyes went big. I decided to get it for my birthday because it’s different. Since I’m a blogger, all I cared about was if the camera, functions, and internet were great & smooth running. So we ordered it on the 6th and it came in today. I’m already with Tmobile so it was real easy to upgrade to this phone. You can only purchased it through Google.
Next to the iPhone 3Gs
Unboxing:
I made this video playlist at myflashfetish.com
Here are a few pictures with the camera. Pretty nice one.
[Click to enlarge]
MINI Review»
I’m not a total nerd so there’s no specifics in the mini review. Lol. I’m pretty much an average joe…
The camera is great. There’s plenty of different settings like using 5MP to 1 MP, black and white, sepia, aqua, posterized, negative mode, etc. I haven’t used the video camera yet, but I’m sure its good.
Everything functions pretty fast and smooth. I love how I can drag the status bar down to check text messages, emails, other notifications, and other applications that are open.
The animated backgrounds are sweet; it interacts with your touch.
A cute case came with it. Google needs to make accessories with this phone, like a screen protector.
The internet browser is great. 3G connection. To me it’s like the iPhone.
Plenty of choices for ringtones and notification tones (I’m big on that too).
The trackball is cool for when I don’t want to dirty my screen. The trackball functions like a Bberry.
The keyboard is pretty much like an iPhone too.
All contacts are synced up with my Gmail/Google Account. If you don’t have one, then you gotta get one. It’s pretty cool to me. Once you’re synced, any phone number/email you save on Gmail is automatically synced with your phone without a usb plug.
Of course, Apple kicks Droid’s ass when it comes to Apps and Music, but I’m not disappointed whatsoever.
The music player is great. The phone came with some free songs from Amanda Blank, Mos Def, etc. Music can be purchased on the phone through Amazon.com. I’m guessing Amazon with be like an iTunes Store for Droids. I think the sound quality and functioning is pretty great. I don’t use mp3 players on phone anyways because I don’t like to drain the batteries. This is why I have an iTouch.
I’m sure there’s going to be more Apps for Droids. I got some of the same apps Apple has like Fandango, Facebook, and free backgrounds. I installed the Wordpress app, which I was really geeked about. If you’re a Wordpresser, the app pretty much looks like “Quick Press” on your dashboard. Simple and easy.
Bottom note: I think I’m in love. ^_^
Other cool features I thought for this phone:
Videos: one two three four five
Resolution.
My sleeping schedule is out of wack again. I love sleep, but I’m a horrible sleeper until I can actually fall asleep. I stupidly have only been getting only two hours of sleep every night. Not good when I have to cut hair on my mannequin with fairly sharp shears almost everyday at school. I learned how to do a layered cut on long hair today. I swear, if we were just doing book work, I think I would have passed out on the tables. Lol. Being around 12 other girls helps too. Chit chat all the time. I bring up my sleeping ish again because it’s one of my biggest things I want to work on.
So let me get to it.
NEW YEARS RESOLUTION»
01. To be better at time management/prioritizing/stop procrastinating.
02. To eat & cook healthier. I love food so much. I eat pretty much what I want, when I want. But I know it’s all going to catch up with me as I get older.
03. Take my vitamins. I have them. I just forget all the time to take them. I take Women One-a-Day, fish oils, and biotin.
04. I want to get toned. I love my curves. I just want to get rid of jiggle. I’m sure this one is on everyone’s list, whether you’re skinny or not. I won’t be joining a gym though. I could just workout at home.
05. To clean & organize more. I’m not a messy person, but I clutter my living space a bit much.
06. To make my blog more interesting.
07. Be more in touch with my creative side. Nail designs, graphic design, makeup, etc.
Disturbing.
A friend posted a link to this on her Facebook. I find it very disturbing.
http://www.thatvideosite.com/video/school_dances_sure_have_changed
Don’t the parents know that they’re teaching their kids sexual moves?? Moves like this are mainly for women on hiphop videos. I admit, I did some “freak” dancing when I was young, but it was way more innocent than this, and I was in junior/high school! These kids look like they’re in in the first grade! The parents in the video even help the kids dance! I don’t understand their language, but it seems like they think its cute or funny. Bet they won’t when they’re girl gets pregnant or they’re boy impregnates a girl when they’re like 14.
Dancing like this isn’t cool; it’s trashy.
Sick.
IHeartPurple.
My New Year’s Eve was good. Just me, BF, and coop at home. We had some Cristal. One of the worst alcoholic beverages I’ve ever had. Never buy it. It’s sooooo overrated.
Well, I just wanted to share what’s on my nails today. The BF and I have been sick for the last four days with the flu and cold. I missed three days off school last week. Hope I’m not too far behind. We’re both still sick. :/ So my New Year’s resolution post will be up another day.
Even though I’m coughing non-stop, that still doesn’t stop me from doing my nails. I told you. I’m obsessed with my nails. No design this time. Just changed the shape of my nails. Square nails can become very annoying the length is long. I scratch everything.
I’m in the mood for purples. I have so many kinds of purple [and blue] nail polishes. Couldn’t decide what kind of purple to wear, so I just chose five that looked good together.
From Left to right [& the order I painted them on my nails]:
Essie in Sexy Divide
Sally Hansen HD Nail Color in Cyber
China Glaze in Stella
Rimmel London in Climax
NYC in Park Avenue
Left hand.
Right hand. As you can see, I started on the index finger on this hand. Make it a wearing this a tiny bit more fun.
Gothic.
I always find the most interesting videos when I’m doing my usual makeup-tutorial-stalking on Youtube. Today I was watching some videos from one of my fav channels, pixiwoo [two sisters who are incredible, very experienced, makeup artists]. I think they’re so gorgeous. Well, the first video I watched today was the Raquel Welch video by Nicola. Then I watched Samantha’s video on Modern Goth Makeup. I loved that video. Not only was the look very sick [in a great way], but it also lead me to other video.
Sam’s modern goth makeup video was a tribute to the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. I don’t follow the news or watch television that much to hear about it [plus it happened in the UK in 2007].
Sophie Lancaster and her boyfriend were beaten up by a group of drunk teenagers for their gothic appearances. Sophie sacrificed her life to save her boyfriend by protecting him. She died in the hospital. Her boyfriend lived. If you haven’t watched it, click this or just watch it here. Very very sad.
Discrimination»
Watch the video on youtube for the words at the end and side text.
Here’s a link to the full story & pictures: click
A British makeup brand commissioned the short film: Illamasqua
It’s painful to me when I see teens/kids leave someone out of the fun just because of the way they looked or because they weren’t in the “in crowd”. It’s like they’re punishing them for no good reason. They weren’t pretty enough. They weren’t skinny enough. They don’t have [stuff to represent money] enough. So stupid. Sure we’ve all been there. I’ve made fun of someone, but usually it’s within my group of friends as a joke. It’s fine to joke around. But to do it to gain status, to be “cool” or just to be mean is wrong. People still do it, even in adulthood. For all you people that think looks, popularity, and money matters….IT DOESN’T. In the end, all that stuff doesn’t matter. [I think I'm starting to blab. I'm a terrible writer.]
This video is heartbreaking; it had me in tears. Some people never reach the maturity level to understand what respect means. And because of it, someone lost their daughter…their girlfriend…their friend. What those teens did to Sophie was beyond cruel. It was pure evil.
*sigh…shakes head.
Prayers to the family & friends.
__________
Like Samantha, a lot of people on Youtube did tribute videos for the cause by doing makeup tutorials on Gothic Makeup. I’m too lazy to do a video so I just took pictures. :] There’s a part of me that is “goth”. I just keep it locked up inside.
Somewhat gothic, right? :] I would never wear this in public, or do I think its that pretty on me [maybe on someone else] but it was fun to do.
Now this is more me. I’m just throwing these pics in here because it’s another look I did today. ^^
TopTenScents
Here are my favorite scents. They’re not all beauty related. Scents that makes me close my eyes for better appreciation. Lol.
01. Cool by Ralph Lauren. There’s only two perfumes that I wear. This one is my second favorite perfume. I don’t wear perfume all the time. Only ones that I really, really like.
02. Viva la Juicy by Juicy Couture. I never bought a full bottle of this. I don’t know why when it is my favorite perfume. I used to like the other perfume by Juicy until I picked up the roller of this perfume at Sephora. It smells good on me (every perfume/cologne smells a little different on everyone]
03. Shea Butter Extra Gentle Soap – Verbena by L’occitane. This is my favorite body soap in the whole world! I love L’occitane. My bf’s mom got me a gift package from there last year for my birthday. I loved it! I used up the liquid soaps and creams, but I kept the bar [picture shown]. When I went to L.A 6 months ago, the place we stayed at had this bar soap. I love it so much that I don’t want to use the only bar I have. I like picking it up & smelling it from time to time. I’m a little weird. I need to buy some more!
04. A bowl of pho. It’s a Vietnamese beef noodle meal in a soup bowl. Yummy. I would like a bowl right now. I don’t know of any Vietnamese restaurants here in Naples, Fl. I’m picky about mine too. My Aunt in MI has her own restaurant. I love the pho there. Only place I would eat it, pretty much. Mmm…the scent of charred onion, star anise, corriander, clove, beef…etc. My mouth is watering thinking about it. I miss it. I may have to make it myself. Never have. I also like the smell of thit kho. Shoo, all Vietnamese food is pretty fragrant.
05. Gucci Pour Homme II cologne.
06. Garlic and onions sauteing in a skillet. That smells usually says it’s gonna be a good meal. :P I rarely cook without the two. It also reminds me of my Dad cooking when I was younger. I would hear the sizzle and knew the smell would follow.
07. Just baked chocolate chip cookies. The smell of cookies brings me joy. Pure joy. Orgasm in my mouth. Lol. I love cookies.
08. Coffee. I love coffee. I don’t drink it like an addicted. I enjoy the taste of it. Coffee doesn’t help me stay awake anyways.
09. Basil and cilantro. My favorite herbs to cook with. It’s amazing to me how a sprinkle of a few chopped up leaves can transform your meal.
10. Vanilla. It’s hard not to like vanilla. For me at least. I like it in candles, home fragrances, cupcakes, ice cream, extracts, etc.
Hello, my name is Vana. An artsy fartsy-status updating-sexy beast. Lol. Scratch that last part. Thank you for visiting this blog; it's my baby. Created to simply share my passions and thoughts. ^-^
