Going on a date is pretty great... so... how about 3 dates at the same time?

Hello everyone,

Last weekend, I went on my first triple date ever!  I've come a long way from disliking dates, ya? haha
It was Amulet, Emily, and I with our respective boys, and it was so much fun!

the couples

We went to Tofu Village (our favorite Korean restaurant so far in Houston) and introduced the Soondooboo Jjigae to our fellow daters.  There were, of course, other dishes there too, and the fish side dish was by far the most popular one with the boys  haha

As usual, we ate so much that we couldn't breathe.  This happens every single time we come here (last ones were documented here and here) and though I tell myself every time I visit that I will practice self restraint, that never seems to happen...

the whole crew

 After that, we went to visit this NU Ice place located in the same plaza.  I forget what the name was, but it had this amazing ice cream/snow cone hybrid that tasted absolutely amazing.  It was creamy like ice cream, but it came in sheets and sheets of really thin ice shavings piled on top of one another, so it was actually really light!  The best way to describe it (as I already have in Instagram), is that it's like ice cream and snow cone got together and had a baby!
David and I had green tea NU Ice with mango syrup and mango chunks (yes, so Asian, we know), and Amulet and Chris had coffee one with brownie chunks and some nuts.

The fact that we finished both of these plates--even though our tummys were already bursting from Tofu Village--tells you just how good these things were!

And there had to be more pictures  ;)

aww Emily and Sai are so cute  =p

bottom picture. look carefully and you'll find someone photobombing while taking the photo  haha

It was such a great night, and I look forward to more triple date-ness soon!!  =)
I hope you all are having a wonderful week so far, and thanks for dropping by!
--Janny

Flying with instruments

Hello everyone,

I love traveling, and though I know that many people usually don't like to travel via airplanes, I actually didn't mind flying at all; it was the fastest way to get me to where I wanted to go, and once I got on the plane, I immediately fell asleep anyway, so I never minded the 'discomfort' of being squeezed into the "teeny tiny living space."  However, all of this changed once I started to travel with my violin.

Traveling is an unavoidable part of being a musician in today's world, and more often than not, the medium we have to choose is the airplane.  I mean, when you only have a day in between concerts or festivals, and you have to go from New York to, say San Francisco, what other means of travel can you choose?

Yet there are so many (really, too many) horror stories about instrumentalists trying to travel by air.  I have personally experienced missing the flight I had paid for because they would not let me on board with my violin, countless other instrumentalists friends of mine have experienced the same, and there have also been heart breaking stories about extremely valuable instruments getting completely destroyed by the baggage handlers.

One of my teachers from undergrad-Greg Beaver of the Chiara String Quartet-started this petition to implement laws that are designed to protect musical instruments as we travel, and it would be so wonderful if you could take couple seconds to sign and support this cause.  This is an important cause for anyone who loves listening to live music, as well as for those of us who make a living bringing live music to audiences around the world.

click HERE to show your support!
Thanks so much, and happy Monday!
--Janny

Happy Mother's Day!!

Hello everyone!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

And of course, to my wonderful mommy.
I wish I was at home with her right now, but I can't wait to see her soon and give her a big hug  =D

I love you so much mommy!!  Thanks for passing down your smile and your happy personality to me, always being so caring, and always trying to help out in my cooking adventures through the phone...  I don't know if I have ever gone to H Mart without giving mommy a call to ask about how to cook something and what to get to cook it  =)

I hope all of the moms out there had a wonderful day today!!

--Janny

BBQ take II!

Hello everyone!

Last night, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, Texas style, at the best BBQ party ever.
Rick and Berk threw another one of their crazy BBQ parties (you can see the last one here) and once again, they did not disappoint!
It was the perfect day to have a BBQ too!  Perks of being in Texas -- while my friends up north are dealing with snow in May, we can frolic about in summer dresses!  Please let us enjoy this moment of 'haha! we have better weather than you!' as this will not last for very long. we'll be having 100 degree weather with 100% humidity soon enough...

As it was last time, the BBQ was full of meat--complete with Rick going around offering a plate of bacon to everyone--, lots of beer, lots of food in general, and of course, lots of chillin.
Sorry for the lack of photos... When the first thing you get offered when you get there is a jello shot, some things get forgotten along the way  haha

Jello shot!

the deceptively spicy and amazing pulled pork

haha  my goof  ;)

 One thing that was quite different from last time was the fact that there were so many puppies there this time around!  And of course, that just makes everything so much more enjoyable!
 And where do you find happiest puppies?  At the BBQ of course!  with lots of people willing to feed them scraps of meat!
Poor-lucky- Houdini's belly was so big by the end  haha

And though Houdini was not too interested in these 9 and 10 month old puppies, they were quite interested in one another, much to everyone's amusement.  =)

AHHH I can't wait to see my puppy soon!!!!   Only 2 more weeks or so until I get to hold my McKinley man again!!

Anyway, there were a couple of us who attended Interlochen together during our high school years, so we decided to take the 'Inty love' photo.  Only when I got home, did I realize that every single time I've been involved in the 'Inty love' photo, it's always been the same four people!!
so I thought I'd group the three photos together:  first taken during the first week or so of school, second taken sometime in the middle of the school year, and the last one taken last night  =)
Totally not planned, we promise.  but we make a pretty cute Inty group, don't you think?  haha

The Interlocheners!  and Toby in the last photo  =)

My favorite part of this may be the fact that it shows all sorts of different stages of Conrad's beard growth  haha   ;)  I can't remember how many times I've walked by Conrad this year without realizing it was him because he had gone from the second photo stage to completely clean-shaven!! 

We came home having thoroughly enjoyed and stuffed ourselves, and then passed out on the bed pretty much right away.  Why is it so tiring being outdoors even when you do nothing but stand around, eat, and chill?  I don't understand...

Anyway, it was such a great evening; thanks Rick and Berk for hosting another incredible BBQ!  ;)
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you are all having a fantastic week!
--Janny

Trader Joe's Spinach & Kale Greek Yogurt Dip recipe, Jamulet Version

Hello everyone,
The dip I made for Amulet's birthday (here) is now all gone,
and here is the promised recipe!

Trader Joe’s Spinach & Kale Greek Yogurt Dip Recipe, Jamulet Version

Ingredients

2 Cups Non-Fat Greek Yogurt

3 Tbs Mayo

2 Tbs Agave or Honey

1 Tbs Corn Starch

1 tsp Garlic

1 tsp Onion Powder

½ tsp Salt

½ tsp Garlic Salt

½ tsp Dill Weed

Everything in the next section finely chopped

1 Cup Spinach

1 Cup Kale (stem removed)

1/3 Cup Red Peppers

1/3 Cup Carrots

1/3 Cup Water Chestnuts

4 Stalks Green Onions

Put everything in a large bowl, and mix mix mix!

Chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving with some chips or crackers.

This dip is seriously THE BEST, and we think that it actually tastes even better than the original!
probably because it has our love and sweat mixed in it...?  haha
Anyway, we hope you enjoy this yummy dip as much as we do!
--Janny

Picnic time!

Hello everyone!

We've been having some unbelievably perfect weather here in Houston!
It's just hot enough to wear shorts and t-shirts, but there's a bit of a cool breeze that makes for a perfect  lounging weather under a tree.  So that's exactly what we did!

Friends, dogs, games, yummy finger food, and mimosas.  A perfect afternoon in the park!

Mimosas in the park!  Cheers!

Diamond.  Amanda's adorable little puppy  =)

and of course, Houdini.  The little charmer.  And also a superdog, as you can see.

so much food!!  and I've never tasted a better BLT sandwich in ma life.  yup.

 After we've had our fill, we went about making sure that our four-legged companions had enough to eat as well.  They were the ones running around chasing other dogs and random human beings, so we figured they needed the calories more than we did.  Don't worry, we only fed them healthy things. like avocados. haha

We also had the pleasure of entertaining this adorable little guy.  with his awesome backpack!  Sadly, he was  claimed a couple of minutes later by his owner, who picked him up and carried him away by the bag  haha

life with dogs = no sleep.  As soon as David laid down, the dogs found him to be the most interesting human being on the planet.

hipster roomy.  should be a poster child for Central Market's Kettle Corn!

After lounging around and goofing off a bit longer, we decided to play some frisbee, which was really great! until we threw it into the pond-esq body of water...  we vowed to get another free frisbee during orientation week next year, and moved on to play some cards, under the watchful eye of Houdini.

Amanda and Chris sat on one side of the table, while David, Amulet, and I took up the other, and I swear, the positioning had something to do with the outcome of the game.  Amanda and Chris dominated every single round!  It's ok though,,,  we got some snow cones to make us feel a little better...  haha

 

If you ever visit Houston, we would highly recommend taking a stroll around Hermann Park!  It's quite large, and you'll be able to find whatever it is you are looking for in a park there.  Including a little red choo choo train!

Spending all day outside is an incredibly tiring business, even if you don't do anything at all!  and all of us, including this little lady, were pretty pooped when we got home.  She would not get up once she got into this position  haha!   dogs are pretty much the greatest in the world, no?  ;)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!
Thanks for stopping by~
--Janny

some girl time

Hello everyone,

You know how once you start a new relationship, you inevitably end up spending all of your free time with your significant other?  And it's really great because that's when you really begin to get to know the person you are dating, and it's definitely a good sign that you guys don't get sick of one another even though you spend so much time together.  However, once in awhile, it's important to take some time off and spend some quality time with your girlfriends.
"Oh, but we don't just hang out with one another, we hang out in groups too!"
No, no.  I'm talking about some 'girl time', as in just girls.  some time when you can do all the 'girly' things together and talk about all the stuff that can only be talked about when you put just the girls together.  Even if you aren't the girliest of girls--trust me, I was the biggest tomboy in my neighborhood growing up--, and even if you don't talk about the 'girly' things --like boys... or,,, perfume?  I don't even know because like I said, I'm not the girliest of girls-- the chemistry is just different when you don't have testosterone in the mix.

So these last two weeks, Amulet and I took some time off from our boys and spent some quality time together.  Not that we needed to be away from our boys or anything, and we didn't necessarily plan these things initially as a 'girls night out' kind of outings, but that's kind of what it turned out to be, and it was really nice!

one of the first things we did, was to get our haircuts together last week.
We went to this place.
Somebody please tell us how to pronounce this name?  the only thing we can make out by ourselves is rather politically inappropriate..  haha

Anyway, we really liked the place;  the ladies were really nice, I was fascinated by their way of speaking--it was very soft, and had this gentle, rolling way about it--,and we were overall happy with our haircuts  =)

Amulet's short hair, and my trimmed, blow-dried, and straightened hair

Then, a couple of days ago, we spent ALL day at the mall.
This mall, Galleria, in Houston is HUGE!!
We got so lost (several times) trying to locate the stores we wanted to visit (Nordstrom and Macy's), got taken hostage by one of the kiosk sellers (he shook my hand and literally would not let go!  frightening), got free facials together (where Amulet looked like a Victorian era baby with her hair net thing), and overall, just had a really nice girl time together.

I thought I did a pretty spectacular job in terms of resisting temptation at the mall, especially since we went to the TOMS section, and I've been wanting a pair for so long!!! but my willpower just crumbled when I saw this cheetah print blouse.  AAHH  I mean, look at them.  There was no way I could say no.  Especially since it's my animal! (Once a couple friends and I were having a conversation about what kind of an animal we were like, and everyone unanimously voted that cheetah was my animal when it came to be my turn. Though I would have preferred it to be wolf, cheetah has stuck, and it's grown on me  haha)

Anyway, it was a great day running all over the Galleria with the roomy, and we both came back with a glow that can only come from having some quality 'girl time'.


Then yesterday, I got to go on a lunch date with this lovely lady!
Yvonne and I met way in the beginning of the year when she was assigned to train me at my new job as a record tech at school, and it's always a treat to be around someone who is so genuinely sincere and sweet.  We went for lunch at Hungry's Cafe, which was uber exciting since I had wanted to try it out since beginning of the year! Their 'thing' is that they only use fresh, local produce, and I'm always up for supporting local farms and businesses!  ;)

We each got wraps for our lunch, and I experienced my first 'wedge salad'.  The wrap was quite delicious, and though I wasn't too impressed by the salad --glorified iceberg lettuce--  I really enjoyed how fresh the veggies were in my wrap.

And or course, I really loved the company.  Yvonne is a bit of an essential oils guru, and though I don't know much about them yet, I'm beginning to learn more and more about their benefits and uses from her.  I've never been a huge fan of taking drugs and medications to treat symptoms and illnesses, so if there's an alternative, more holistic way of approaching 'treating' an illness, I'm all ears!  I've only just begun to use the oils, so I don't really know much about them, but I have to say, so far, it has done wonders in helping with my frequent indigestion and different rashes!  I'll let you know how I like them as I use them more in the future!  Do any of you use essential oils?  How do you like them?

As always, thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend!
--Janny