It must be fate...

This week two of my favorite bloggers whom I follow religiously (Deb and Emily), to the point where it may be considered stalking, posted recipes that embrace the classic, All-American combination of grilled cheese and tomato soup with warm (literally) arms. Growing up with a Chinese mother, I was accustomed to porridge or chicken soup as comfort food- not cheesy, fried white bread and canned soup. So I have a shameful confession- I've never eaten a grilled cheese sandwich with a tomato soup. And I'm well-awared that I have brought shame to the cheese and tomato gods but for some reason I never had the two together. This weekend, though, I plan on changing that and hopefully by Monday I will report back to you as a cheese+bread+tomato covent.

Green Party

Because Singapore is a tropical country that is only 1° North of the Equator, it's pretty much a (developed) tropical island. The streets are abundant with flowers, fruit trees, and plenty of trees. To honor the greenery that I am constantly exposed to, I decided to make an easy green-themed dinner for my family this weekend. I wanted the food to be 90% green, avoiding any mushy, green alien mystery food.

Keeping it light, the meal started with a very simple tossed salad with Romaine, Hass avocados, and julienned onions. I used Giada's refreshing orange vinaigrette to keep the whole dish tropical and fresh with a refreshing bite to it.

One of my favorite bloggers- Cupcakes and Cashmere- posted photos of a brilliantly colored pea pesto that she lathered onto thick slices of baguette. As soon as I spotted it, I was sold. As I'm part of that small percentage of the world that actually likes peas, I thought that the idea of updating the classic basil-pine nut-parmesan pesto with peas would be a fantastic idea. I used fresh peas that I forced my sister hand shelled and boy was it worth it. The sweetness of the peas really played off with the saltiness of the pecorino romano that I swapped for the parmesan. I drizzled the final product with some extra EVOO and garnished with a basil leaf.

The main course of the meal was a yogurt-marinated chicken breast doused in dried thyme and oregano, then girdled until tender. I topped it again with EVOO and one of my favorite obsessions- Maldon sea salt flakes. Juicy, pleasantly herby, and slightly tangy, the chicken was the perfect finale to the meal.

Playing with Instagram

This past summer I got the app Instagram after seeing one of my favorite "foodies" post about it. I have to say out of the 33 apps I have on my iPhone, this one (besides Echofon because I am a Tweetaholic) this is my favorite. The effects are insanely fun to play with and you can quickly learn what'll look best for what type of photo; Poprocket and Toaster work well for photos with many warm colors but the one I often use (and featured here) is Nashville. Check out the Instagram blog for a great collection of photos!

To A New Beginning

Hi everyone! I've owned this blog page for over a year now and I often get started by posting several posts on a specific angle- all fashion, a cookbook challenge, favorite photos- but I very often lose interest in that topic. I've always been the type of person that needs variety; while there are certain traditions that I seek comfort in (my morning cappuccino), for the majority of the my life I rely on diversity to keep me sane. So, without further hesitation, I've decided to make this blog truly reflect who I am rather than who I feel like being in the moment. This'll be a personal scrapbook of my interests and obsessions. My only two promises is that I stick to it and I am always 100% honest to who I am and what I believe.

---Katie