June '21 Cooking Take-Ons

Back in 2018, I had decided to post any subsequent cooking experience on my IG account.

In October 2020, I posted on IG a pic of me holding my vintage handbag from ElekonChicBoutique (to see it, go there and CTRL + F "I was so").

A couple of months later, I started following a vintage store on IG that I had previously bought from. To my surprise, the store liked my handbag picture and followed me back. Shortly after, another vintage account liked the same picture.

These events dissuaded me from posting any more of my cooking experiences on IG. I'm not sad, because I didn't enjoy that much making these posts on IG. From now on, I'll take my cooking notes on the same sheets of paper that have the recipes written on them. (I had started in March 2020 to write on paper the recipes I had liked. It will probably become a slow cooker/simple food cookbook.)

As for this platform, around the end of each month, if I've made any new recipe(s), I'll mention it here. I tend to want to chronicle every little thing that happens during the process, but I'll try to be brief so that these blog posts are only meant to share the food I cooked and their recipe. How I cooked it or how I altered the recipe shall be written my cookbook-to-be.

First month to be featured is June 2021. All three recipes tried during that month come from the same website and were made using the slow cooker.

June 5th 2021 | Alfredo and Buffalo Pasta

[Recipe] (it's in French, but can be easily translated.)

I was impressed by the taste considering the few ingredients needed and the very easy steps.

Only I think there should have been more sauce because some of my portions didn't have enough and it was kinda dry with the rice. Also, I shall use sodium-reduced soya sauce next time (AND dilute it) because I thought it was way too salty.

June 13th 2021 | Alfredo & Cajun Chicken Pasta

[Recipe] (in French)

I thought it was weird to cut the chicken once it had cooked for 2.5 hours, but that's trivial; the dish was delicious. The taste of cajun is totally absent, maybe due to the spices I personally used.

Next time I make this recipe, I'll cut the chicken into smaller pieces and use 2 tbsp of butter instead of 4. It was a bit too greasy for my liking.

June 20th 2021 | Chicken Buffalo Pasta

[Recipe] (in French)

The presentation is bad; the dish looks dry as hell. That's because I put too much pasta (900 g) while the recipe asked for 2 cups. Idk, there was a lot of liquid in the slow cooker and I thought it could undertake my gigantic amount of pasta. Plus, I wanted to use the whole package of fettuccine.

Fortunately, the taste is good. It is just enough cheesy and Buffalo-y. I'll probably make this recipe again, obviously with less pasta this time.

Sporadic Life Update #3

Heeello

A little over three weeks ago, I handed out my last paper of the winter semester! As for my summer semester, it started last Monday. (I am enrolled in two courses.)

This post is only an update on some important stuff to me or just random things that I was able to photograph.

🎕 I tried a strengthening hair mask from a hair salon (and used it up).

I had gotten tired of trying DIY hair masks that kept deceiving me and thought it was time I invest a bit more in my hair since it's dear to me. I got this reconstructing hair mask by Wella Professionals.

A lady at the hair salon recommended me this mask after I explained I was looking for something that strengthens my hair.

I wasn't too enthusiastic about her suggestion, because I had never heard of the brand (plz don't throw rocks at me if it's well-known), but especially because the lady proudly told me it didn't have sulphates – and I become immensely suspicious when a brand claims to be bio, vegan, silicone/sulphates-free (i.e. a saint).

Alas, my choice was limited to the Wella hair mask or another one by Kerastase that was very costly. As someone who isn't used to buy professional hair products, I thought it'd be wiser to start "smaller" with a 23 $ CAD hair mask, which was Wella's.

Here are my general thoughts on the product.

• Smell: ★★★★★
  The smell is really nice. It doesn't linger for long after my hair has completely dried, but it isn't a reason to rate the mask lower.
  
  
• Quantity: ★★★★★
  I applied the mask religiously every week, from my hair ear-length to the tips. Considering I first used the mask on March 21st, and that the last day was on May 22nd, the mask lasted me two whole months! I thought it would last me a month tops. My hair was down to my upper knees when I used it (so it's pretty long), but I don't have thick hair, so I guess that helped.
  
  
• Results: ★★★★ ½
  This mask gives me all the results I wish for and for a fair price. I give it 4 stars and a half because I feel it's unrealistic to give something 5 stars out of 5?

In a nutshell, I am extremely satisfied with this hair mask. I'll probably buy it again next time I want to treat my hair.

🎕 I started using professional shampoo and conditioner.

After months of thinking about it on and off, I switched from drugstore brands to hair salons' for my shampoo and conditioner. (Though I may switch back in the future, I really have no idea.)

I went with Paul Mitchell by the lady's recommendation at the hair salon. I had told her that my hair was prone to grease and that my scalp had started to itch (again). For info, my scalp usually itches one day after washing my hair, which is the same time that it starts to get greasy (already!).

The shampoo is clear and smells very nice – just like lemon pie. As for the conditioner, it looks like custard but smells like sunscreen. I don't dislike it, but it's the first time I use a hair product that carries such a scent. However, it goes away pretty rapidly once my hair has dried – at least in my case.

I tried to show the consistency and colour of the conditioner (╥▽╥)

I can't say I'm in love with the conditioner. It makes my hair, from the ears to the tips feel a bit waxy and thicker. Though I prefer this over greasy hair, the wax-like texture makes my hair subject to tangles.

Since using Paul Mitchell, my scalp itches less and my hair sheds less. It's a difference big enough so that I noticed it. However, I've been using the products since April, and because my hair sheds less during the summer, my observation could be due to the season's change instead of switching to Paul Mitchell.

🎕 I had my hair trimmed.

My last trim was in September 2020.

Every time after a trim, I vow the next one will be once my hair is under knee-length. Well, once again, I broke my promise. Last weekend, I impulse-asked my mom to trim a good chunk of my hair. I don't know how much exactly (see picture below), but my longest tips went from touching my upper knees to going back to a solid mid-thigh length.

..

Both pics above are before the trim; only difference is that the one on the right is brighter to see better (and I don't know what's up with the vertical white streak in the middle of my hair!).

What my mom has cut!

..

After the trim. Disliked the first pic on the left, so I took one myself.(We had already taken so many pictures and had to put an end to the photoshoot.)

I miss my longer hair, but the trim was a necessary evil. And I must admit, it's nice to have thicker ends.

🎕 I bought hair accessories.

I found these cute hair ties at Simons.

A white lace hair bow and a simple knot made out of burgundy satin

I saw a video on IG with a girl wearing an accessory similar to the one on the right, and the ribbons hanging on both sides of her bun made the hairstyle look so pretty. I'm not sure if I can make the same with mine since the hair tie is pretty tight, but maybe once it becomes looser with use.

Edit Sept. 19th 2021: Here are pictures of me wearing the white scrunchie. It's my favourite and goes well with everything. ♡

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I also bought my first hair fork! It is from 60th Street on Etsy.

Front of the fork

Back of the fork

Here is the fork's listing for anyone interested. You can also read the review I posted – it should be just under the listing's picture. I'm really satisfied with the fork. It's very solid and holds my hair in place all day long.

The only problem – and that's not the seller's fault – is that I can't make a nice-looking bun with the fork. Every time I try to, I always find an issue with it (too tight/loose) which prompts me to remove the hair fork. And yes, I did watch YouTube videos on how to make a bun with a hair fork. I'm a lost cause.

The bun pictured below is the best I could do with my non-existent talent in hairstyling.

This is the same pic I posted in my Etsy review (despite countless tries,

I only have pics of the one nice bun I managed to do lmao).

I think I just rolled my hair on itself, then rolled it into a bun and pricked the fork into it. Unfortunately, the hair fork was getting hidden by my hair which was slowly getting loser. I had to remove the fork pretty rapidly because the bun would have eventually collapsed. A shame since it didn't look too bad.

Another shot of the bun; you can see my hair creeping over the fork even more.

I was left with a dilemma: either I do pretty buns that don't last long, either I do ugly buns that stay on. I chose the latter, so I've been constrained to wear the fork when my hair has become greasy or when I do cleaning (so only when I'm at home). It's not absolutely bad cuz I get to wear it at least, but its primary use wasn't intended for that. TT

🎕 Miscellaneous (I couldn't categorize these things.)

Saigon chicken soup from our favourite Vietnamese restaurant. Mmm.

Weeks ago, I bought a ravishing and high-quality full slip to wear under my see-through dresses...

... and the day after, I tried it on with a dress and the dress' zipper caught a part of the slip's mesh. It had to be ripped off, FML.

🎕 After more than a year of staying at my parent's house, I'm now back at my apartment in Montreal.

I'll work at the office on some days (hybrid schedule), so I will probably restart posting on my OOTDs page.

Lovely (cork?) board that my parents put up

Among the new improvements in my apartment (thank you 👫), my parents installed a portable aircon so that I'm not repetitively hit by heat strokes this summer. It's been working since I've returned to Montreal, and my quality of life has improved so much... much more energy to cook and clean during the day (and basically just move) and better sleeping.

Last Sunday, I cooked General Tso's Chicken in my slow-cooker.

I shall talk about this dish more in detail in another blog post.

Oh, and finally, I got my first Covid shot last Saturday.

:D

Budding Pop Mini Haul From Taobao

I just submitted another homework for school earlier today and despite being supposed to commence another one, I'm taking this Saturday night off to catch up with some of my fun purchases on my blog.

I do remember mentioning the following statement in an old blog bio (that is now deleted), but I love Budding Pop so much... (♥ω♥ ) ~✿ I discovered this lil bud through someone on WeChat and it's been my favourite character ever since. His expressions are so cute in the WeChat stickers!

I do own a white tee with two Budding Pops on it that I bought in May 2016. I only wear it as a pyjama because I realized – too late – that the two rounded heads looked like boobs, which put emphasis on the bust area. And I don't want to give the impression that I'm wearing this ~suggestive~ design on purpose.

Edit June 13th 2021: After years of feeling embarrassed with the design on this shirt, I am no longer ashamed of wearing it in public. :') First time was on June 10th (see OOTDs).

Anyway, I've been wanting to find Budding Pop stuff similar to Sanrio's for a long time. I found these items back in December 2019 on Taobao. Finally, I had managed to find Budding Pop products that weren't plush toys or other items not particularly cute to me.

I bought the items using the ShipForMe service from Yoybuy. Everything went pretty smoothly. I received my parcel towards the end of January 2021.

Budding Pop 2021 calendar

长草颜团子 2021年-团子的时光童话台历 限量款日历

The box of the calendar. If Budding Pop existed in real life, he'd be smaller

than a pencil (I refer to him as a guy.) Ugh, wouldn't he be cute?!?!

Even the back of the box looks nice.

I'm a bit confused because I ordered the calendar and the small package on top from two different shops. I think it's Yoybuy that combined the two items when they got them at the warehouse? Not sure, though nothing was wrong with my order, so it's alright.

You can open the next three pictures in a new tab to see the details better.

I really can't pick a favourite month! The art and colours are simply perfect.

This calendar is so well-made. ;_; Entirely worth my money. The only thing I'm sad about is that I bought this calendar specifically for my desk at work, but I still work from home right now. The calendar is thus still in its box. Though even beyond the year 2021, I'll use it as decoration. I can't throw out something so unique and adorable.

There were even stickers – nicely wrapped – that came with it. The people who designed this Budding Pop calendar put a lot of effort into every detail. ;_;

The rings are for holding the calendar pages together.

I've always seen 长草颜文字 on WeChat, but here it's 长草颜团子.

This isn't the first time I see the latter, so I'm not sure what's the official name in Chinese.

Budding Pop washi tapes

卡通和纸胶带长草颜文字可爱超萌学生手帐diy素材工具套装贴纸画

I had seen these Budding Pop characters as stickers on AliExpress (that were sold out), but I hadn't seen them on washi tapes. That's why I bought them upon seeing them on Taobao.

The washi tapes came in bundles of two or four boxes. I ordered a bundle of two boxes.

Looks good (▨∀▨)b

Got this ruler as a freebie

The material of the ruler is like semi-rigid thin plastic. Quite bendable but not tearable.

And I don't know whether the girl is a character in a manga or anime, but I like her clothes.

I shall share more of my purchases, at the end of May or in June, but in the meantime, this blog post is all I have time for. ;_; (I'm aware I may have overused this smiley in this post.)

Byeee.

Sporadic Life Update #2

Meh. I haven't been writing on here for nearly two months; not by choice. I don't like leaving my blog forgotten and falling behind with my hauls, but my work involves lots of writing and so does schoolwork, so I end up feeling too lazy to put effort into writing here.

I had planned for my next blog post to be a stationery haul from AliExpress, but I haven't received all of the stuff yet and I reckon it'll be one big haul to set up. So this blog post will only be a brief, sporadic update on my life these past two months. It is to be expected that I'll jump from one topic to another without a clear structure.

My hair is growing, shedding, fairytailing...

Last summer, I was hoping my hair would reach knee-length by December 2020, but it didn't happen. Pretty sure it's cuz I got a good trim back in September (I couldn't anymore with the fairytale ends), and I guess that I had overestimated the time it'd take to grow to my knees.

I haven't taken pictures of my hair since forever. Oddly, around last fall, it started to get greasy faster than usual. I tried reducing the amount of Moroccanoil I use and applied it first on the ends of my hair, then onto my roots. There wasn't an improvement. So, I haven't really been in the mood to take pictures of my hair. While I'm thinking about it, the brush may be the reason why my hair gets easily greasy since I always use the same one – whether my hair is clean or dirty – though I always operated like this without bad outcomes in the past.

Here's a random pic of my hair I took last November:

It touches the ground when I crouch. Of course, since that picture was taken, my hair has grown longer... My plan is to grow it slightly below the knees so I can trim the extra and still have knee-length hair. When that moment will come, I also plan on trimming the ends more regularly since my main goal will have shifted from growing my hair to growing healthy blunt ends. I'm excited. o(^∀^*)o

Oh, and my hair is shedding; been like this since December. I didn't experience shedding during the fall season like I usually do, so I thought that I was saved for the year, but the shedding just came later. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ My hair sheds the most when I'm in the shower or when I brush it after it has dried, but also while I'm simply sitting at the computer. I don't see a MAJOR difference in my hair thickness if I check my whole head, so I try not to get too stressed about it.

Take a look at this cool homemade lint roller:

I got the idea last summer. (I eventually saw that these kinds of lint rollers already existed on the internet.) 

I learned through my mom to use regular lint rollers to collect little fabric scraps on the floor. We came to realize it could also be used to pick up hair on the floor. Then later, I thought it'd be amazing if I could use the lint roller with a longer handle to avoid crouching.

My parents found my idea eccentric at first, but they nonetheless found a painting handle for me and managed to fit a lint roller on its extremity. Turns out this lint roller is SO PRACTICAL. I save so much time and frustration now, especially when I want to pick up individual strands of hair scattered everywhere around. Also, it's very gratifying to roll over my hair and see the adhesive roller grab everything. o(≧▽≦)o My mom even ended up making one for her because she finds it catches hair on the carpet way better than the vacuum.

I do have to change the sheet on the lint roller regularly. I do it a couple of times a week, it really depends on how I wear my hair during the day (obviously there is more hair on the floor when I wear it loose.) I haven't counted how many days a sheet lasts on average, but I went through a whole lint roller from summer through February, so it's not the thing that will empty your pockets the most.

Mmm... Food

I ate more delicious food but I only had these pictures stored on my phone.

It was my second time eating scallops and it confirmed my dislike for them.

The mushroom risotto was excellent though, just a bit too salty.

Cadbury Mini Eggs donut from Tim Hortons. My first time eating it. Delicious.

Unsure why the mini eggs show brown spots; still ate them.

My Christmas Holidays 2020

Last weekend, I finished my last two exams of the Fall 2020 semester. (◉ω◉) oink

Now I have until next Monday to do anything but school-related. I'm taking a bit of free time to post here what I did—or should I say what I ate—during my holidays. I feel like I should keep it a blogging tradition to talk briefly about how I spent my Christmas holidays each year. I didn't do it for the year 2018 and ended up regretting it later.

Christmas Eve — December 24th

Table set up by my mom

A couple of days before, my sister had gone to Costco to buy our Christmas Eve meal. ~(･▽･)~ It was notably to give my mom a cooking break.

(In case you're curious, for my family, I had decided to order Vietnamese food from one of our favourite restaurants once the holidays would be over.)

We ate soup dumplings for our entry. My sister had eaten them before and wanted us to try them.

They were delicious; what a nice way to start the meal.

The soup dumplings are made by bibigo. I don't know this company, but it's written "Share Korean Flavor" on the package, so I guess that they make Korean frozen specialties.

Each dumpling carries a good amount of broth in it.

Taste-wise, this is exactly how I wanted my dumplings to taste like when I used to make them. I tried some recipes in the past but never found one that tasted like the dumplings made by Chinese people, either at the restaurant or homemade. Similar to my fail with making egg tarts, I grew tired of trying recipes and kinda gave up making dumplings.

Also, the bibigo dumplings are unbelievably easy to prepare. Just need to cut a corner of the tray and pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes! In that short timespan, the dumplings go completely frozen to very hot with liquidy broth. I was impressed.

The main dish doesn't look very appetizing here... but it was good.

Carbonara shrimp pasta (Costco) with Ceasar salad (by my mom). Dislike peas but still ate them.

Flavours from left to right: Crème brûlée, dulce de leche,

pistachio, red velvet, orange and chocolate

Why do companies keep making orange-flavoured sweets? (ಠ  ಠ) As expected, the orange macaron tasted bad.

This was my second time eating French macarons, and I'm not sure why people—at least those on the internet—go crazy over them. The taste is bland, almost like cardboard to me. I'm really thankful to my sister who bought them, but if I have to be honest, French macarons aren't worth the money.

Christmas — December 25th and after

Our Christmas meal: Chicken and mashed potatoes, by my mom.

Food was amazing. I love mashed potatoes.

The day after Christmas: My parents made donuts. ヾ(･ω･｡)ｼ

I believe I was around 12 years old when I last ate donuts made by them.

I chose the chonkiest one. It was good.

I had planned to catch up with my readings during the holidays, but I didn't open a single textbook. Sadly, neither did I have the occasion to resume a sewing project started in September. My holidays consisted mostly of taking pictures and writing my last two blog posts of 2020. Some days, I also felt like doing nothing in particular.