Girl Crush: Xiao Wen Ju

There's so many models in the world. I already have a couple favorites--Soo Joo Park & Gemma Ward--but I didn't really know any Chiense models. So recently, I've been trying to "discover" some!

So, has anyone heard of Xiao Wen Ju? She's super adorable--both in personality and face. She's known for her smile and for sticking out her tongue :P hehe. Xiao Wen Ju has such beautiful, wide-set eyes <3 kyaaaaaah

She's totally cool in my books! Do you have a favorite asian model?

Fun at Din Tai Fung and Xiao Long Bao!

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a wonderful week! I know some of you college students are nearing the end of the semester. How busy and hectic, but also exciting! Horray! Today, I went to celebrate my roommate's birthday with Xiao Long Bao (aka, amazing soup dumplings)! It's really popular in LA, and it's understandable: how can anyone dislike soup dumplings? hehe. 

I really enjoy eating with my friends. It's such a nice way to relax and hang out. I think eating should be a more social experience, rather than just a quick grab and go. Sadly because our society's so fast paced, it's hard for these type of things to happen regularly. I don't mean to always go out to eat, but also to just cook for each other and enjoy each other's company while having good food to munch on~

I hope these pictures make your mouth water; they surely do for me :Q

Jasmine tea and plate settings

Dipping sauce (Chinese vinegar) with ginger slices and hot peppers 

Juicy pork dumplings

Chicken fried rice

Shrimp & pork shao mai

Happy (late) Chinese New Year~

Hi guys! Hope y'all doing well! If you didn't know, Chinese New Year was on the 31st! Chinese New Year is a huge thing in China; instead of winter break in December like the States, China has their breaks during the Chinese New Year...for an entire month! How cool~

Chinese New Year is super festive and revolves around spending time with family, eating good food, getting new clothes, and receiving red envelopes. Sadly, nothing like that happened to me. I couldn't go back home to celebrate with my family. If I had all the money in the world, I'd take the plane to go back, but unfortunately, all I can do is video chat with them and wish them a great new year from my school apartment.

Luckily, however, my church friends and I celebrated the New Year together last night. We had steamed fish, dumplings, niu rou mian (beef noodles), and lots of other foods. I forgot to take pictures though.

Last night I also made nian gao, a traditional dish for the new year. Nian (年) means year, and gao (糕) means cake. 年糕 sounds like "年年高生," so giving/preparing 年糕 is wishing a prosperous new year filled with promotions and happiness.

Here's a picture of the 年糕, enjoy~

Also, I've just received the giveaway prize I won in December: nail stickers~ I'm very excited to try them, as they are super cute! I'll make another post about them soon (right now I don't have white nail polish, and the end results will be clearer with a white background). 

For this post, I wanna know: Have you ever celebrated Chinese New Year? If so, how? Did you try any interesting Chinese foods?