Thanksgiving Leftovers

While shuffling all of our Thanksgiving leftovers around in the fridge, I accidentally cracked half a dozen eggs and needed to figure out a good way to use them as soon as possible. Since we already had an excess of leftover desserts, I decided to make something savory and settled on fresh bucatini with our kitchenaid pasta extruder.

Homemade Bucatini

I made a sausage ragu with the leftover sausage and mirepoix from MH's cornbread stuffing and also made sure to include the last bit of leftover red wine.

Homemade Bucatini with a Sausage Ragu

Voila! Unfortunately, I forgot about the apples in MH's cornbread stuffing and as a result there were a few them sprinkled in the ragu here and there, but all in all, it turned out pretty well and made a great dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving!

MH and I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This year, we hosted our first joint family Thanksgiving and it was quite the doozy! With our two families coming together, we had 24 people at the house for dinner.

Unfortunately, since it was a jam packed cooking day, we didn't have time to take pictures along the way or get a chance to take a picture of the final spread before our guests started chowing down but this was our dinner menu...

Needless to say, there were plenty of leftovers and MH and I will be having bits and pieces of our Thanksgiving spread for the rest of the week!

Born To Be Wild IMAX 3D

MH and my visit to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an elephant and rhino orphanage at the edge of Nairobi, was one of my lifetime favorite trip activities.

Earlier this year, IMAX Born to be Wild 3D was released and you can still catch it in theaters today! The short documentary takes you to the Orangutan Foundation International to meet Dr. Birute Mary Galdika and some of the Indonesian Borneo orangutan orphans and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to meet Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick and some of the East African elephant orphans. If you love orangutans, elephants, or animals in general, I encourage you to see this film. For more information, check out the movie link: here.

For more information about the Orangutan Foundation International, Dr. Birute Mary Galdika, or the Indonesian Borneo orangutan orphans, check out the link: here.

For more information about the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick, or the East African elephant orphans, check out the link: here.

Making Mochi

I'm a big fan of mochi, so when I found out you can easily make it at home without having to use a rice pounding mallet and execute a carefully choreographed traditional dance routine, I figured it was worth a try.

Using mochiko, glutinous rice flour, eliminates the need to complete the labor-intensive rice pounding process, and you basically combine all of the ingredients together in a bowl, pour the mixture into a greased pan, bake, cool, cut, and voila!

I couldn't find potato starch at the store, so MH and I rolled our cut mochi in a rice flour and powdered sugar mixture. Our mochi absorbed the coating after a few hours and got a little gooey, but I'm not sure if it was because of the lack of potato starch or the humidity. Nevertheless, they turned out pretty well and the next time I make them I think I'm going to try to make a few different flavors.

Here is the recipe courtesy of AllRecipes.Com:

Ingredients

- 1 pound mochiko

- 2 1/2 cups white sugar

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 2 cups water

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1 (14 oz) can coconut milk

- 1/4 teaspoon red food color (optional)

- 1 1/2 cups potato starch

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan. Whisk together the rice, flour, sugar, and baking powder; set aside

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the water, vanilla, coconut milk and red food coloring. Blend in the rice flour mixture. Pour into the prepared pan.

3. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool completely.

4. Turn the pan of mochi out onto a clean surface that has been dusted with potato starch. Cut into bit size pieces using a plastic knife. The mochi does not stick as much to plastic knives.

Papaya King

MH and I happened to catch an episode of 'The Originals with Emeril' and his visit to Papaya King, one of New York's famous hot dog stands, caught our eye. They are known for being the first to combine freshly made fruit juices with frankfurters. Who could say no to that?!? Luckily, they recently opened a location in Hollywood, so we decided to give it a try.

We ordered a frankfurter with chili, a frankfurter with sauteed onions, a frankfurter with sauteed mushrooms and onions, curly fries, a papaya tropical drink, and a pina colada tropical drink.

Everything was affordable and tasty. However, we both thought that the bun to frankfurter ratio was a little off and wished there was a little less bread. My favorite part of the meal was the tropical drinks! I thought that the choice to have something other than soda at a hot dog joint was refreshing.

If you plan on going, keep in mind that the place is super tiny with only standing room and counter space to eat. Since it is in Hollywood, parking can also be a challenge, so watch the meter signs.

Financial Crisis For The Future of Ice Cream

I can't say I am surprised by Dippin' Dots recent Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing (WSJ article). Dippin' Dots prices itself alongside premium ice creams brands and clearly does not have the consumer base to support its business. However, my heart goes out to them and I wish they could pull out of their financial funk because I am one of their adoring fans! There is a Dippin' Dots store in Rancho Cucamunga that I like to visit any time MH and I are heading up or coming down the 15 and my road trips just won't be the same without it.

A Visit To The Motherland

Work has me traveling the world, and a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting the motherland, China. Since our work kept us in Beijing for over a week, we had the opportunity to go on a weekend sightseeing extravaganza. With the help of our local office, we were able to arrange a private tour guide and driver which were both key for our action packed weekend since there are hoards of people in China and rules seem to be optional when you are on the road.

On Saturday, we visited the Temple of Heaven, Tian'anmen Square-Forbidden City, Lama Temple, Hutongs at the Shichachi Lake, and National Silk Market.

Temple of Heaven

Beijing Roast Duck

Tian'anmen Square - Forbidden City

Silk Worms

On Sunday, we visited the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, Olympic Stadium (Bird's Nest and Water Cube), and Summer Palace. The Great Wall is truly amazing sight to be seen. The wall seems to go on forever and ever and the burnt orange hues of the changing leaves made the view even more breathtaking.

Mutianyu Great Wall

After our time in Beijing, we took a quick trip to Shanghai and I was able to visit the Bund Center. Unfortunately, since our time there was so short and I started coming down with a cold, I wasn't able to see anything else before I had to jump on my plane to head back home.

Bund Center Shanghai

That should be it for my international travel for this year. I can't wait to see where I am assigned to go next year!

Weekend In The Mountains

Over the weekend, we went to Mammoth Mountains to celebrate a family friend's 60th birthday! Since we were in the area, MH planned a quick day trip to Mono Lake and Yosemite.

Mono Lake is known for it's "tufa towers," calcium-carbonate spires across the lake shore. Apparently, the best time to visit Mono Lake is at day break, to catch the morning light. When we arrived at 6:30 AM, we pulled into a full parking lot and found a number of visitors with the cameras and tri-pods already set up along the shore.

Mono Lake

After we snapped a few pictures we continued on our journey to Yosemite. To give me the quick tour, MH first stopped at the Tunnel View point to show me the grand view.

Yosemite

Then, we made our way down the Yosemite Valley to the Visitor Center and did a short hike on the Lower Yosemite Fall Trail. It was a beautiful day to be outside and as we strolled along the trail we spotted a couple deer snacking on the brush. After our hike, we enjoyed a nice picnic lunch and then headed back to Mammoth.

When we get into shape we will have to return to hike half dome. Any one else interested?

OpenWorld 2011

Just after we returned from Hawaii, I headed off to San Francisco to attend Oracle's annual conference, OpenWorld. Being a first time visitor to a conference like this, I wasn't prepared for the magnitude of the event. However, I should have known when I started looking into hotels and everything was either sold out or cost a small fortune, like $600/night to stay at the Holiday Inn.

Shout out to Ickity for letting me stay with her during a heavy loaded school week. Even though you were crazy busy, it was still good to see you and spend time with you in between the chaos.

The conference as a whole was a great experience and very informational but I'll spare you the details on that aspect of it. What is more exciting about the conference is that they had Sting and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers perform at their appreciation event on the second to last day of the conference at Treasure Island.

Sting! (the little speck in the middle of the stage)

In addition to having a full blown stage set up for the musical performances, they also had complimentary carnival games, ferris wheel rides, food stands, and beverages. It was a VERY impressive event. Fingers crossed I get to go back next year. Maybe Metallica will be headlining ;)

A Trip To Paradise

While our honeymoon was a once in a lifetime type adventure, we wouldn't necessarily describe our trip to Africa as romantic or relaxing. There is something about the constant application of bug spray and waking up before the sun that seems to kill the idea of romance and the feeling of being well rested. Thankfully, we had the opportunity to go with Oahu with my family at the end of September to get the R&R that we needed.

Sunset @ Waikiki Beach

While we were there, we caught a rerun of Man v. Food that featured the Mac Daddy Pancake Challenge at Mac 24-7 in the Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio Hotel. The challenge is to eat four pounds of pancakes in 90 minutes without leaving the table before you're finished. Since the restaurant wasn't too far from our hotel we decided to give it a go and ordered the hot and wild blueberry pancakes.

Mac 24-7 Hot & Wild Blueberry Pancakes

It is difficult to fully comprehend the true size of the pancakes in the picture. With four of us eating, we came no where close to finishing it, and were only able to eat about half!

On the recommendation of a girl friend, we also tried Mana Bu's, Hawaii's Masubi Headquarters. We picked up a few different masubi's one morning and they were a perfect afternoon snack for a day at the beach. On top of our little masubi pyramid is their fresh strawberry mochi. Although it cost more than any of the masubis, I do admit that it was quite tasty, and I wouldn't mind having another.

Treats from Mana Bu's

Last but not least, we found this awesome beach just north of Haleiwa where we got to watch a group of Hawaiian green sea turtles snacking on the vegetation just off of the shore. Unfortunately, none of them were out on the sand sun bathing. However, every now and then you could see their heads pop up for air or one of their fins sticking out of the surf as they balanced themselves in the waves.

Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle

It's always such a treat to visit the Hawaiian islands. Till next time Hawaii, I'll miss you!