Weekend in Paso Robles

This summer has flown by and I just realized that I haven’t written since the end of July! Where did the time go? How did summer begin and then end so quickly? Even though the weather has not yet transitioned here in Los Angeles, I already feel the shift. It’s all around me: fall decorations out on display, winter clothes in the store windows, holiday movies on TV. There is a romanticized image that is portrayed on TV of what fall and winter should be like with perfect little families, in perfect little outfits, with perfect little love stories. With the onset of fall, I start to feel the anxiety, pressure, and stress of my year ending because my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years all happen within a 2-month time frame. It’s all coming up too soon and too fast. It’s a lot.

It’s the end of summer and endings always make me sad. Perhaps, I am lettings the endings have too much power over me. And I think I need to change that mindset. Embrace the moment, embrace the beginnings, embrace the journey and embrace all parts of the process. While I do try to do all of those things, I still need a reminder every now and then. It’s easy to get off track. Instead of thinking about the end of summer, I could think of it as the beginning of something else that doesn’t make me feel so sad. The beginning of fall/winter makes me think of back to school (even though I haven’t been in school in years), getting older because of my November birthday, lonely holidays, and the end of the year. But it’s so much more than that. I need to focus on how much I’ve grown this year and how I’m in such a better place than I was exactly a year ago. There’s more to look forward to in these remaining months and so much more to grow. A lot can still happen this year.

Over Labor Day Weekend, I went on a little road trip getaway to Paso Robles with some girlfriends. It was a nice way to transition into fall. I used to travel quite often in the past, either abroad or on local roadtrips. But since I’ve quit my job, all my trips have been centered around family and going back east to cook with my mom. I have not once, this year, taken a trip for myself for the sole purpose of having fun. When I got invited on this weekend trip to Paso Robles, I knew I had to go. I needed to get away. I needed some fun.

I love wine country and I’ve been to Santa Barbara wine country (Los Olivos, Santa Ynez) several times before, but I’ve never been as far up central coast as Paso Robles. We rented a cute little Airbnb apartment in the center of town. I brought groceries and homemade food ( salsa and porcini mushroom bolognese), so that we wouldn’t have to eat out for every meal.

The weekend started with a beautiful light art installation called Field of Light at Sensorio, which we explored at sunset. The next day, we made breakfast before venturing out to our first vineyard, Daou. Daou has the most amazing view! They don’t require reservations but if you don’t have a reservation, you will probably get stuck sitting at the tables without shade under the hot sun. Also, the tastings are a little pricey at $40 vs other vineyards which normally charge $15-$20. Because we didn’t have a reservation, we decided to buy a bottle of chardonnay and share it under the hot sun with panoramic views of the region. Afterwards, we briefly stopped by Tablas Creek Vineyard but we were a little disappointed because all the tasting were indoors and the wine was average.

The next day, we went to Tooth & Nail Winery before heading back home to Los Angeles. This winery is unique in that it is shaped like a castle with a moat. Yes, a bright aqua-colored moat. Don’t be fooled by the kitschy appearance though. The service was lovely and the wine was really good. We were still able to snag an outdoor spot (with shade) and table-side wine tasting service even without a reservation.

After this trip, I’ve realized that I prefer Los Olivos and Santa Ynez to Paso Robles. I think Los Olivos has better views and a cuter town center. Plus, it’s a little bit of a closer drive coming from Los Angeles. All in all, it was a fun little road trip and a great start to the month of September and the beginning of fall.

Dreams...

I had a challenging last week. Can I blame it on Mercury in Retrograde? Some things fell through, professionally and personally, and it made me feel sad, discouraged, and stressed. What am I doing with my life? Am I making the right decisions? What did I do wrong? Etc etc. While it’s human to feel these emotions and have these thoughts, I didn’t want to linger in that head space for too long. I needed to let go, shake it off, and move on.

When I’m feeling anxious or stressed, I have a hard time sleeping. I replay events in my head and over-analyze things unnecessarily, recreating the feelings of negative emotions. Earlier last week, I had one of those dreams where everything went wrong and then it ended with someone saying to me, “Davy, I’m so disappointed in you.” We can analyze that in so many different ways. For example, my mother is not the most supportive mom in regards to my endeavors. I have never heard her say she’s proud of me (until one time recently when I got mad at her). It’s not part of her language or culture, but that’s another long story. However, I can definitely remember her telling me several times about how disappointed she is in me. And if she didn’t say it blatantly, her disapproval was always obvious in her tone and choice of words. Anyway, I was feeling stressed and insecure and it was manifesting in my dream that night.

My friend suggested I try Insight Timer, a free app for meditation and sleep. It’s amazing. I’m not able to stay awake for the entire meditation but I believe you still absorb the positive words while you drift off into sleep. After using Insight Timer a few times, I had the most comforting dream by the end of last week. I was in a small plane with a guy I used to date. I don’t think there is any significance with that particular person because he was never anyone I was serious with. He was that guy I had fun with briefly, which I guess has a different type of significance. My mother never wanted me to have fun growing up—”You had fun last week, you don’t need to have fun again this week.” As if having too much fun is a bad thing that needed to be controlled and restrained. In this dream, we were about to jump out of the plane to skydive. I was scared and nervous. He comforted me and said, “It’s okay, just hold my hand.” So I held his hand and then we jumped out of the plane together. I was shocked because it didn’t feel as scary as I had anticipated. The view was beautiful. I felt light and free. But when we started to get closer to the ground, I panicked because I didn’t know what to do. He reassured me that I had nothing to worry about. He instructed me to deploy the parachute and then we pulled it together. We landed softly and smoothly on our feet in a field where there were people out picnicking and kids playing. It was a beautiful sunny day. I felt relieved and at peace. I was impressed with myself for being brave enough to go through with skydiving, and I was also so grateful that I survived! It didn’t matter how scared I was, I still let go and jumped out of the plane. I still landed on my feet. Those feelings stayed with me when I woke up the next morning. I felt calm, comforted, and hopeful that regardless of what happened last week, things will all work out.

As I was still thinking about the dream again this week, I was reminded of a motorcycle accident I was in 11 years ago. My guy friend showed up at my doorstep to pick me up for dinner on a motorcycle. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go on it because I had never been on one before in the USA but he persuaded me. I conceded because I felt that I needed to say yes to more experiences in my life at that time. I had trouble putting on my helmet so he helped me put it on but I didn’t realize he didn’t buckle it. We didn’t have to ride very far for me to feel unsafe with him. I told him he was going too fast and he disagreed. In less than 2 miles, at an intersection, he hit a moving car making a left turn in front of us. My body flew off the bike and hit another moving car, my helmet flew off my head, and my body fell lifelessly onto the concrete pavement. I have no memory of the impact because I was unconscious and didn’t wake up until the paramedics came to the scene. Fortunately, I didn’t have any major injuries. However, I did suffer from a concussion, had a contusion on my head the size of a golf ball (in my memory, it felt like the size of a baseball), purple bruises and scrapes all over my body, and a sprained wrist and hand. My last thought that night before the accident was, “Oh shit, are we going to make it?” Even though we had the right of way, I felt like my friend was at fault because he was going too fast and could have avoided the accident. He also didn’t listen to me when I told him I was nervous and wanted him to slow down. I trusted him and he failed me that night. My injuries could have been worse. I could have died.

I’m grateful that I survived that crash. But I wonder if, in a way, I have trouble giving up control as a result of that incident. Because when I gave up control in that situation, I got myself into a really bad accident. Do I subconsciously equate control with surviving and letting go with death? In my dream last week, I finally let go, gave up control, jumped out of a plane, and had a beautiful new experience and a smooth landing.

In life, all the little moments impact us. All the big moments impact us as well. Some more heavily than others. Sometimes we ignore how situations, people, circumstances, and things make us feel. Maybe it’s connected to something that has happened to us in the past or maybe not. Those feelings inevitably manifest somehow—in our dreams, in our relationships, in our health. I would like to think that the Universe gives us signs to follow and guide us through life. We just have to pay closer attention. Other times, I search for meaning in things that I just can’t shake off for some reason and yet still find no answer. Because you won’t know why things happen, until they have happened. I have to trust that all things will happen for me in time. This is not an excuse for me to be lazy or to give up. It’s a reason to keep going, to keep moving forward, and maybe to switch things up. Who knows? But at the very least, this rant was cathartic :)

Kitchen Gadgets: The Pressure Cooker

Kitchen gadgets sometimes scare me. I own a slower cooker, which for me is fancy, but it doesn’t have all of the functions that the newer gadgets have, like the Instant Pot. I keep hearing a lot about the Instant Pot. I’ve only used my sister’s Instant Pot once but I used the slower cooker function because I was so overwhelmed by all the unfamiliar buttons. Recently, I was gifted my own Ninja Foodi Deluxe and got more of a chance to really test out the pressure cooker.

I used both the pressure cooker and the air crisp functions and I was very impressed! I made a tomato onion garlic rice with lemon herb chicken thighs and balsamic and honey glazed brussel sprouts. I made up the recipe on a whim so I don’t have all of the measurements. But here is what I did:

• Fill the bottom layer with rice, canned fire-roasted tomatoes, and chicken broth. Saute diced sweet yellow onions and garlic and set aside to add to rice later.

• Marinate chicken thigh with lemon juice, thyme, garlic, salt, and pepper. Place a lower metal rack into the pressure cooker. Line the chicken thighs on the rack above the rice.

• Set to Pressure Cook option and set time to 4 minutes

• Trim 1 lb of brussel sprouts and cut into halves. Toss with 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 2 tsp honey, 3/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper

• When pressure cooker time goes off at 4 minutes, remove chicken thighs and set aside

• Add brussel sprouts. Set pressure cooker to Air Crisp option and cook for 5 minutes

• Meanwhile, coat chicken thighs with olive oil. Then add top rack over the brussel sprouts. Add the chicken thighs back into the pressure cooker, onto the top layer

• Keep pressure cooker on Air Crisp option and cook for another 10 minutes

All the juices from both the chicken and the marinated brussel sprouts drip onto the rice during this process, making the rice extra flavorful and delicious. When the air crisping completes, remove items from the pressure cooker. Add the sauteed onions and garlic to the tomato rice and then mix. The brussel sprouts should be perfectly crispy as well as the chicken and the rice.

Personally, I was very impressed at how easy it was to make this full meal. I was also really happy about how my brussel sprouts turned out. Whenever I roast them in the oven, they come out soggy. But these came out crispy like the ones you order at a restaurant. I think my chicken came out a little bland but I just need to experiment with different marinades and seasoning to keep it moist and flavorful. I might try making BBQ chicken next. My rice was absolutely delicious though!

I can’t wait to test out more of the functions. It not only pressure cook and air crisp, but it can also dehydrate, roast, broil, bake, saute, and steam. I look forward to roasting more veggies, such as cauliflower. I also want to try dehydrating lemon, orange, and lime slices for cocktails. Let me know what you like to make with your pressure cooker! Would love some more ideas!

Fun Facts

Hi friends!  It has been awhile since I shared some info about myself so I thought I would divulge some fun facts:

• My parents survived the genocide in Cambodia

• I was born in a refugee camp in the Philippines before coming to the USA when I was a month old

• Raised by a single mother ‍

• I am an immigrant and an American and proud of it

• Grew up in Boston but don’t really follow any of the sports teams

• I’m an introvert, Scorpio, and a lefty!

• I am an INFJ on the Meyers Briggs test, which makes up 1% of the population

• I love love love to travel but hate to fly

• I have 2 sisters. I’m the middle child. My stepfather and 3 stepbrothers are from France. We are basically the Asian Brady Bunch

• I get scared all the time. Lots of things worry me, scare me, and stress me out. But I try to do all of those things anyway

• I love the desert

• I have twin star tattoos on my left wrist in memory of my maternal grandparents ⭐️⭐️

• I quit my corporate job in fashion to pursue my passion project of creating a cookbook of my mom’s recipes and it has been a really hard but amazing journey

• I love love love Excel, is that strange?

• I am def no princess.  I am a woman warrior like my mom

Ok, I just shared a lot about myself! Now tell me something unique about you! ️

Summer Recipes

Love being back home in my own kitchen after almost a 2 month hiatus. Now I can get back to my cookbook and also get back to trying some new recipes. Prior to leaving for the east coast, I was on a jackfruit kick. I made Jackfruit “Carnitas” Tacos and Taco Bowl. I had been wanting to do something else with it that would require BBQ sauce because who doesn’t love BBQ sauce? After researching some ideas, I was inspired by The Veg Life blog to create a Hawaiian Jackfruit & Pineapple Kabob.

This was exactly the type of jackfruit recipe that I was looking for because it includes one of my favorite things to eat: pineapples! It’s so simple to make. Just cut up red and green bell peppers, red onions, and pineapples into thick slices. Marinate the jackfruit chunks (unripe from a can) in your favorite bbq sauce. Then stack them all up on a skewer and grill. I don’t have a grill, so I sauteed everything on a frying pan and then placed them all on a skewer afterwards for presentation. I cooked my jackfruit separately so that I could give them a nice char. I also made fire-roasted tomato rice to serve with it and smothered additional bbq sauce over my cooked skewers. I highly suggest the fire-roasted tomato rice. I used canned fire-roasted diced tomatoes and cooked the rice in that with chicken broth (you can use water if you want to keep the entire recipe vegan). I also sauteed fried garlic and onions separately to mix into the cooked rice and topped it with chopped cilantro.

While I was in NYC this summer, I also made Tomato & Roasted Corn salad and Yucca Pizza Crust. The Tomato & Roasted Corn salad is a pretty basic recipe but it’s delicious and so refreshing. Mix tomatoes, roasted corn, red onions, and shredded basil, sprinkle salt and pepper, and then top with EVOO and balsamic vinegar. I love both tomatoes and corn so I can easily devour this salad. The Yucca Pizza Crust I have made before and have included the recipe in a previous post. This time I made a BBQ Cauliflower Yucca Crust Pizza (pictured above in the back), which is a great alternative to BBQ Chicken Pizza, and a Margherita Pizza (pictured above in the front) with pineapple and mushrooms. I got carried away and added too much cheese though so the pizza slices were harder to pick up. It’s just sometimes challenging to hold back on the cheese, ya know? Mmmm…

An old favorite recipe of mine, which I think can be made all year round, is tomato confit. You can find my recipe in a previous post. It’s really easy to make and you can do so much with it. I personally like to mix it with pasta (noodle-y pasta is my preference) or smother it over my fried eggs in the morning for breakfast. But you can also serve it on a crostini as an appetizer, use it in a sandwich or on toast as a spread, and drizzle over grilled meats or fish. The aroma after you take the tomato confit out of the oven is amazing. Try it!

Which summer recipes would you recommend? I could always use some more ideas!

Back from NYC!

I can’t believe I skipped the entire month of June without writing a blog post! Where did the time go?! After returning from a month long trip to Boston to test out recipes with my mom, I was in LA for a week before I had to fly back out to the east coast again to NYC to see family. Family from Boston, NYC, and Paris with 4 toddlers in tow. It has been an exhausting last 2 months! You have no idea how happy I am to be home! I love my space. I love my alone time. I love my home. I love LA.

I feel really behind on work that I need to do for myself. Just because I have a flexible schedule, doesn’t mean I don’t have work. Just because not all the work I do involves a paycheck, doesn’t mean it’s any less important. Just because my work doesn’t immediately produce an output doesn’t mean it’s not working towards something. Sometimes, I feel like it’s hard for people to understand that. And I just don’t want to constantly have to explain myself or remind people that. Even though the east coast was productive, I feel like I lost a little bit of the momentum I have worked hard to build to get myself motivated and committed to my journey.

Anyways, I am happy to be back home. Happy to return to my routine. Happy to get back to my schedule. Happy to be in my own kitchen cooking again on my terms. I don’t think I will be going anywhere for awhile. Here are a few shots from my trip.

Back in Boston!

One of the best things about being an entrepreneur is having a flexible schedule. I can meet a friend for lunch or spend the morning hiking and then work till midnight afterwards. My working hours don’t have to be within the construct of a rigid schedule. However, there are disadvantages to this lifestyle. Projects and work load are not always consistent. While I can run errands during the work week, I do spend most of my weekends working. I have to pay for my own health insurance. I’m still working out the kinks to a steady stream of income. I must deal with the emotional highs and lows of feeling like both a success and a failure. This is best demonstrated in the below chart created by Derek Halpern. But ya know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way. I do not regret my decision.

I was able to buy a one way ticket home to Boston to spend some time testing out some recipes with my mom. While it has been nice to get out of town, it’s cold over here still. It has been raining everyday. I’ve been here for about a week so far and have already been able to test out 4 Cambodian recipes (pineapple sweet and sour soup, meatloaf, marinated beef salad, and Cambodian omelet) with my mom and make 4 new recipes of mine for her to try (vegetarian curry, vegetarian bolognese, pork carnitas tacos, and sticky toffee pudding). I still have about 4-6 more recipes to test out with her while I’m here. I should probably start thinking about when I’m going to return home to LA. Hmmm…

I got a chance to get out into the city this past Friday to try a new restaurant (Row34) in the Seaport area one night and it was delish. Sometimes you just need a break from the parents and work! I’m also going to NYC this weekend and staying for a few days afterwards to see my sister and my niece.

Here are some pics from my trip so far.

Sweet Corn & Tapioca Pudding

When I think of Cambodian food, I don’t normally think of dessert. When I do finally have Cambodian dessert, I’m surprised how much I like it and wonder why I never think to make it. Dessert provides a nice ending to any meal, but it hasn’t been a priority for me in the making of this cookbook. I tend to have more of a savory palate than a sweet one. I tackled the hardest savory recipes first and I’ve saved dessert for last.

This week, I made Sweet Corn & Tapioca Pudding. It was actually quite simple to make. When I posted it on Instagram last week, I was surprised by the response from my followers asking for the recipe. This dessert seemed to get more feedback than any of my savory recipes! You asked for it and here it is. Enjoy!

Sweet Corn Pudding (Serves 4-6 )

Ingredients: 

• 3 ears of sweet corn, husks removed 

• 1 can of coconut milk 

• ¼ cup of tiny tapioca balls 

• ½ cup of sugar 

• 1 cup of water 

• pinch of salt 

Directions: 

Presoak ¼ cup of tapioca balls in a small bowl filled with cold water for 10 minutes.  Mix halfway through because the balls tend to stick together.  Drain any residual leftover water. 

In the meantime, using a knife, shave shallow layers of the raw ears of corn.  I shave about 2-3 layers of one section of the corn at a time.  However, my mom prefers smaller bits of corn.   She shaves more layers and scrapes the last couple of layers of corn from the cob. 

In a small pot over medium heat, add 1 can of coconut milk, corn shavings, and a pinch of salt.  Cook for about 10 minutes.   

Pour in the tapioca balls.   Cook for 5 minutes, stirring so that the balls and corn don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.   

Lower heat.  Pour ½ cup of sugar and 1 cup of water into the pot and stir thoroughly.  Cook for 10 more minutes.   

Try the pudding to see if it is sweet enough for your taste. I prefer it to be mildly sweet but you can add more sugar if you like.

Garnish with mint.  Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold.