the blog named X

I love tiramisu but always thought it was a bit inconvenient to transport from place to place. After craving it for weeks and weeks, I finally decided to search through my bookmarks to find the tiramisu cupcake recipe I had saved. The first time I made it, an angel food cake base was used. This time around I opted for a different cake base. I followed Martha Stewart's Recipe hoping that she would not steer me wrong. 

I remember that episode on Friends when Monica tries to recreate Phoebe's grandmother's cookie recipe who claims to have gotten it from her grandmother, "Nestlay Toulouse". Hahahaha, I love that episode.

ANYway, I was eating my cereal, Post Grape-Nuts and discovered a cookie recipe in the back of the box. The only reason I even bought the cereal was it said FREE COOKIE INSIDE! Which I naturally ate before even opening the cereal packet.

• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tbsp. honey
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup Post Grape-Nuts cereal

The most untouched/unused place in my bedr00m is my large built-in bookcase. I just don't know what to do with it. Most of its shelves are not tall enough to accommodate certain things, like binders! Or the Harry Potter hardcovers. Even though I didn't move into this room until 2005, the shelves are still filled with colorful childhood books, like Polly Pocket and The Boxcar Children (love them!!!) because they're the only short books that fit.

Unfortunately, I bought some more stuff from TJMaxx when I returned my blanket but if it weren't for that, I wouldn't have been willing to do a big cleaning.

Striped Boatneck Tee Size Small Price: $8.80 Essential Cuffed Shorts in Navy Size X-Small Price: $12.80 Also wearing American Apparel belt, American Apparel tights, Debbie's American Eagle shoes

Essential Cuffed Shorts in Beige Size X-Small Price: $12.80 Also wearing American Apparel button up, Zara sweater, F21 belt, American Apparel tights, Debbie's shoes :)

High-Low Button Up w/Sash Size Medium Price: $19.80 Also wearing American Apparel belt, Essential Cuffed Shorts in Navy (same as above)

Floral Striped Dress Size Small Price: $14.50 Also wearing Mom's pearls and Marc Fisher Pumps

Closeup of the fabric of dress

Box Pleated 3/4 Sleeve Dress Size Small Price: $18.50 Also wearing American Apparel belt,  and Marc Fisher Pumps

These are actually not the only things I bought. I got other stuff that were either boring or ugly and which I am planning to return. Well, hope you enjoyed! -Shirley

Another lazy day. Woke up, stayed in bed for an hour playing on my phone, then saw Carmen's tweet about having nothing to do. East Sider having nothing to do + East Sider having nothing to do? = FUN ON THE EAST SIDE.

What a relaxing day! We got tea, then wings, then we went to our favorite neighborhood money-sucking store, TJ Maxx. Long story short, I went in with the mission to buy a pair of boots, but somehow, I came out with summer sandals, a ton of other items, and no boots. But! It was also good because if I hadn't bought those items, I would've never cleaned my room. It's really embarrassing but my desk has been unrecognizable since classes started. So these days, cleaning my room means clearing a path from the door to the desk so I could sit at the computer for 6 hours in a row and ignore the wads of tissues in front of me.

Okay...I'm really not that dirty. But it was pretty messy so all of this took a little more than an hour to do, and I threw two bags of garbage out. I always prefer to do a deep cleaning of my room before I start laying out new stuff because I want to see my new items in all its potential glory.



The bed is the main focus of most bedrooms. Excited to give my zebra throw a new home, I happily spread my new throw blanket out and... it was awful!!


Okay, the picture is not half bad. Maybe it's just me, but the print spread out in in real life made me really nauseous. I haven't thrown up since I was 8, and I wanted to throw up on the blanket. You can't tell by the photo, but it was glaring. The white was too bright, the black was too saturated, and the pattern was too small for this bed. I also thought it made my bed look really tacky. Against this lighting, it was harsh even when crumpled up. It was like a zebra threw up in my room.

Since it’s President’s Day, classes were not in session today. I woke up early afternoon craving pancakes but 10 minutes later and some sniffles (almost done recovering from a week-long cold) confirmed what I really wanted was a bowl of congee.

I’d never bothered learning how to make congee even though it was a breakfast staple growing up. I only made my first and only plain congee last year when I was in the mood for something bland. But this time, I wanted something with more flavor. My dad’s a really good cook and I still like watching him do his thing in the kitchen. One of his culinary tips is to cook the spices/herbs first to bring out the flavor, buttttt I don’t think that’s a secret. For us, that usually means it’s either the scallions, garlic, or ginger. So I used ginger. Why? I don't know, cultural instinct? :)


I sliced about 2 inches and put it in the pot as soon as I turned on the fire so the water had time to soak it in. I also added a few dashes of salt to the water for taste. To save time, I did my prep work while the rice was boiling.




I was too lazy to leave the house so I only worked with what was in the refrigerator. What I have here are baby carrots, cilantro, and because I did not have any scallions, I used onions. As soon as I finished cutting them up, I transferred them all to the pot.