Mango Sour Cream Soup

Spring is always time for new experiments. For a person who spends a lot of time at home, what's better than exploring new recipes?

After attending a potluck last week, i have yet to manage to use up all my sour cream. Frankly, i don't know whats got into me when I purchased this in family-size - Granted it was probably on sale, this is simply too much "fat" to put into one dish at once.  Now i am juggling through recipe ideas to figure to a creative way to use them up, well, eventually. 

Never daunt on me mango and sour cream will be a good combination, but the mango in my fruit basket happened to be ripe, juicy and very ready to eat today.  Normally i would just eat the mango as fruit by itself, but it turned out incorporating the mango into a creamy soup isn't bad, either.

i like this soup, but it is a bit dense and very rich. Small bowl of this soup is more enough to get that fulfilling sensation.  Maybe i should go with light or low fat version of sour cream and then dilute it with more milk to get that lighter texture next time?

Also, this soup is meant to be served chilled, yet i have hard time convincing myself to drink cold soup.  I decided to microwave for a good one and half minute and well, i couldn't call it better, but warm soup is more normal in my opinion.

Ingredients:

• one big size mango, peeled and seeded
• 1.5 cups of milk ( i used 1%)
• ½ cup sour cream
• Juice and zest of 6 or 8 kumquat
• 1 sprig fresh basil, minced

Get all the ingredients in a blender and puree till smooth, then ready to eat!


**this receipt is adapted from Champagne Mango.**

Baking kind of afternoon

Initially i was going for a loaf of bread based on a recipe i found here, but it turned out i don't have that fancy kind of dutch oven, and unwilling to purchase one just for the sake of an impulsive baking session on a Saturday afternoon, i switched gear and went with a fast and easy lemon sponge pie. I get to prepare, bake, and eat them all within 2 hours. Yes, efficiency is the key ingredient in my cookbook.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup milk
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 9-inch pie crust, unbaked

Preparation:

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, lemon zest, lemon juice, milk, and egg yolks. Gently fold egg whites into mixture. Pour mixture into pastry-lined pie pan. Bake lemon sponge pie at 350° for 40 minutes, or until done.

Here comes the lesson I learned:
beating egg white with a pair of chopsticks are just morally wrong.
Do you know how long it takes to beat the white to "stiff peaks form"
After more than 30 minutes of intensive workout, my arm is sored, my neck is tense, and honestly, I just don't care about stiff peaks form at that point. I think it looks good enough and dump it in the mixture, but we all know well it would take another good 15-20 mins of good beating to get to that stage of perfection. I gave up voluntarily and told myself there will be no more baking until I steal an egg beater from my parents' house next time.

How does it taste, though?
texture was ok. For an inexperienced person like me, i wasn't sure what a sponge pie looks like, so i take what I can get, and it doesn't look bad, either. However, for some odd reason I forgot to add the sugar, and I didn't find out about this missing ingredient until half way through the baking. Since it is too late to fix anything, i sprinkle some brown sugar on the top to make it sparkles. All I can say is better luck next time because i will be sure to add the sweet.



all set up and ready to for their steamy bath at 350F.


you will be so much better with sugar. *sigh*

Spring is a great time to try new things

After that shocking morning snow on April 1st, i want to say that winter has officially ended. Today is the first day I can actually open my screen door and feeling that lovely spring breeze coming by. I can't wait to enjoy next 6 months of sunshine ( actually, only 3 months of spring, summer is more like a heat wave) here is Yak.

Spring symbolizes a new beginning. It is also great time to try out new things. Economy as bad as it is, there is no better time to shop, shop, and shop. Crazy sales has become my new best friend, and I get to buy more things, and try out new products more than ever.

Mary Kay Cosmetics
One of my co-workers hosted a skincare party a few weeks ago. Because my facial lotion is running low, there is no better time to attend this kind of party. After trying their entire line from cleanser to moisturiser, I ended up with their night gel solution, and anti-aging facial lotion.

Lotion is something I always use, but this lotion absorbs a lot faster than shiseido I am currently using. As soon as i put it on, lotion immediately disappeared. It makes me wonder if my skin is too dry, and therefore it is crying for a stronger dose?

The night solution is serum that is used right before lotion. It is a bottle of nutrients that provides all the vitamin needed for maintaining beautiful skin. It feels wonderfully to put it on right after my toner, and this will be a great addition to my current skincare routine at night.

of course, neither of those products is on sale, and i probably shouldn't be buying name brand that costs a fortune. What can I say? I am a sucker when it comes to skincare products.

Kansas City exceeds my expectation

Never in the million times I would picture myself in Kansas City, but it turned out to be an adorable city full of a good mix of historical and modern buildings. Being a crazy photographer that i am, two hour break from work means 200 plus of new photos on my camera. Now I am back home. Contented.

Aside from beautiful architecture, one thing worth mentioning is how demography differs when you transfer from one airport to the next.

Seattle
after being there for countless visits, i still consider this a decent size of airport. Not only is this the airport i am most familiar with, but also it is the place that is in sync with the rest of Asian population in Seattle. Actually, there is a good mix of all races here in SeaTac.

Denver
also another International Airport. It was built in 1995 with the modern design that i like. This is a semi-busy airport with shops and cafe on each floor. Not a bad place to wait around for a short flight transfer. It could be the timing of my visit, but this is the airport filled with mostly business travelers.

Kansas City
Small airport. I had to walk all the way to the end of hallway to get a cup of Starbuck. Did I mention their Vanilla Latte is overpriced in this airport? Kansas has alot more black but almost no Asian. After living in the Northwest for so long, it is about time i see an equal mix of black and white for a change.

Phoenix
Transferring flight from Kansas to Phoenix is a big transition. First of all, it is warmth this time of year. It is nice to enjoy sunshine and sip on my Coffee Frappucino in the 70's during winter. Also, Asian popular is back. Never knew there are this many Asian living in Phoenix.

As flight departs from the airport, i can still see unless buildings miles after miles. As a big city Phoenix is, maybe I should give it a shot and plan on my next trip around this area.

Opening Ceremony

If I already expect this to be spectacular, the whole opening ceremony is beyond believable. Not only is this creative on a large scale, but also it is quite educational. With help of host who deliberates the story behind each performance, I felt as if i have learned about major Chinese culture all over again.

This might sound shallow if i say it, but what moves me is not the educational aspect. Rather, it is their incredible choreography ties in with precision of movement, all on a massive scope that literally takes my breath away.

If teamwork is tough, think about difficulty coordinating a huge group of 2008. That is 2008 drummers, 2008 Tai Chi Masters, 2008 dancers all moving in unity to deliver this stunning presentation on the stage. This is the kind of coordination beyond imaginable, even so in a 1.3 billion country, possessing unlimited labor resource like China.

What may seem an hour performance, there is no doubt that months of preparation and countless rehearsal must have invested in this event. I applaud to those who made this opening ceremony possible, as well as athletes who are out there of presenting their country next two weeks.

so this is how it feels like to be in pain

We all try to stay safe, but accident happens once in a while.
When accident happens, at least we can hope for is to have one great story to brag about. Unfortunately, most accidents happen for stupid reasons, and I believe mine can top that list today.

so I already had this sore spot on my lower back after a long nap last Friday. After a few days without fully getting better, I figure i could twist and unwind that sore muscle a little.

Unwind too much, maybe?


When I was stretching in the bathroom this morning, i hit a spot that stuck gold and really made it worse. While I yawn like this every single day, i have never managed to cause this much damage.

How did this happen I am not sure completely sure, but now I know for a fact that I move around like a grandma. To add salt in my wounds, I had to use to my heating pad to in the middle of summer to smooth away the pain. As annoying as this might sound, somehow i felt "smoothing" somewhat after this steamy treatment.

Give me more heat, please...

there is such thing as too many cakes

After many nonproductive weekends, i finally decide to invite a friend to come over and baked something this Saturday. Baking is usually a hassle, cleaning all the dishes afterward isn't helping much, either. However, i love cakes and it just feels like one of those weekends to have a steaming hot cake fresh out of oven.

Since it is made out of a cake mix, it is almost impossible to screw up. After a short yet unsettling anticipation, cake is ready to serve.

What i did not think of is what to do with leftover. When a cake just came out of oven, it never once occurred to me that a whole cake is probably too much for two girls to swallow.

It all became obvious afterward that I should have thought about my neighbors earlier. Now that the cake has been sitting on my counter for 48 hours, and the last time I checked there is still a big portion left inside the pan. Finishing the whole cake while fresh has almost became mission impossible - looks like this is going to be a long week with carrot cake challenge ahead of me.

To make the problem worse, I also baked some lemon cupcakes on the side. Since oven was already hot and ready to go, i figure how convenient it is to top it off with a side dish.

Another miscalculation....


Lesson of the day:

"love your neighbors: when it says 12 serving on the box, it probably means that".