food: family visit

I had an awesome time this weekend when some family came to visit! We had tons of great food (both home-cooked and at restaurants) and fun at a swim meet, the botanical gardens, and just general chilling around the home~

This is homemade Dou Pi, a specialty from Wuhan, China. I haven't had some in years and it's basically my familys' favorite thing to eat when we go back. The top layer is an egg and rice flour batter, inside can be any kind of meat and veggie mixture with sticky rice. We've gone for edamame beans, some pickled veggies, corn, tofu, and ground pork. Dad did a pretty great job for his first try at this! Now he just has to make some Re Gan Mian, Wuhan's specialty noodles! THAT'S what I'm really craving~

 

These three pasta dishes are from Mirko's, where you can choose your pasta noodle, sauce, and protein.  The first picture is my dish, spinach papardelle (very wide, long noodle) with Sorrentino sauce, which is fresh diced tomatoes, basil, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and fresh mozzarella. It was absolutely delicious, very simple and refreshing.

The second dish is gnocchi with Norma sauce, which is eggplant, tomato, basil, and fresh ricotta cheese. I built this dish for my brother, who was running late to lunch.

The third dish is their Lasagna Verde which is spinach lasagna sheets layered with meat sauce, mozzarella, parmigiano, and béchamel. This was the dish my mom ordered and she loved it. 

I wish I had gotten a taste of everyone else's, but I was too engrossed with my own dish <3 I didn't get pictures of four other dishes /: but I know they enjoyed it all~

my ravioli <3

the posole

the frittata

and homemade meatloaf!

On the last day we ate lunch with our visiting family, we went to The Last Resort, a really popular restaurant in downtown that has AMAZING food. I can say we all loved our dishes because all our plates were CLEAN.

And as if the entrees weren't enough, we got FOUR slices of cake. My brothers and I love our desserts and it was awesome to learn that our uncle and cousin are exactly the same with desserts as us. The Last Resort has AMAZING desserts as well.

Dulce de Leche, the best one

Bailey's chocolate

German chocolate

Mounds cheesecake

And that concludes the lovely food we had! (or at least, the ones I had pictures of!)

Thanks for reading~

PS: Where did you last eat out? What did you have?

my bath routine

I absolutely love taking baths, even though it sounds slightly ridiculous in the summer heat. Of course, I take baths less in the summer (of course I shower tons), but when the winter comes, I would take one almost every week <3

While I let the bath fill, I exfoliate my face with the Clean & Clear deep action exfoliating scrub to prep for a clay mask. It cleans away the dirt and opens up the pores so it makes it easier for the clay mask to pull out the dirt that's settled deep into my face. I use the Tea Tree Whisper oil control mask from a brand called LiLi mi, I got while I was in China (I need to get more of it soon!). I put it all over my face, concentrating more on the nose and forehead where I get blackheads. I leave it on for the duration of my bath (probably 20-40 minutes). And because it's such a powerful mask, it can leave my skin a little dry so I use the Laneige Water Sleeping pack after I get out of the bath. It's a very moisturizing over-night mask; just apply, leave, wash off in the morning. It feels extremely cool and refreshing on the skin (almost out of this too! T:)

After the bath has filled up, I get about a handful and a half of oats (I just so happen to have some organic oats from Earth Fare) and put it in a mesh bag. I like to take Oatmeal baths because I have dry and sensitive skin, and my eczema also acts up from time to time, so it's just lovely to relax in this. The mesh bag prevents the oats from getting into the drain and clogging. Just let let the oats warm up a little, then gently squeeze the bag and it let's out this cloudy, milky color. Move the bag all around the tub to disperse the silky feel. It smells really nice and calming, very natural.

I always have a snack and a glass of water when I relax in the bath, plus some entertainment: YouTube videos on my iPad! I have about 50 videos left on my Watch Later playlist =__=;

Not my favorite bar, but it's all right!

see? milky!~

After about 30 minutes, I let out the water and turn on the shower. I take some of the oats out to gently wash my face after taking off the mask. I also use the rest of the oats, leaving them in the bag, and using it to lightly scrub my body. If you squeeze the oats, it lets out a milky liquid and that liquid is very moisturizing. I use it all over my face and body.

I always start with shampoo. I'm currently using the Dove nourishing oil care nutritive therapy shampoo. After I wash that out, I apply Aussie 3 minute miracle deep conditioner. They are both fantastic hair-cleaning products. You only need the tiniest bit of shampoo to work up a lather and the deep conditioner is super moisturizing (I actually use this as my daily conditioner since my hair is so dry). While I leave it in, I scrub my body with the Tree Hut Shea Sugar Scrub in Coconut Lime on my body. The scent is really lovely, coconut-y and citrus-y <3 the scrub itself is all right, it does the job well enough. I'm mostly in love with the scent X3

Once I'm done scrubbing, it's time to rinse out the leave-in conditioner and get out of the shower.

I currently have sunburn on my face, so I use the Solarcaine Pain Relieving Gel all over my face. It's really refreshing, cool and tingle-y. I've actually gone through a couple bottles of this, it's good for little cuts sand healing scabs because of the aloe in it. If I have any big bumps coming through on my face, I will use the Neutrogena All-in-1 Acne Control as a sort of Spot treatment because it contains salicylic acid. My go-to moisturizer is the yes to tomatoes daily balancing moisturizer. It's a 98% natural product and it feels very nice on the skin, it's honestly my favorite moisturizer. And finally, I use the Blistex Lip Conditioner on my lips as a night-time treatment. My lips get dry very easily, my lip balm comes off so easily during the day so this product is great since it doesn't get rubbed off whilst I sleep.

And my bed-side staples are the St. Ives Oatmeal & Shea Butter Body Lotion and the Dove Hair Therapy Nourishing Oil Care Anti-frizz serum. Again, oatmeal is fantastic for dry skin and St. Ives is a natural brand. I've used so many bottles of this body moisturizer. It gives a really light feeling, it's fast absorbing and the smell is really clean (if you haven't noticed, I'm a fan of simple scents ^^). I use it all over my body and it just feels refreshing and nourishing. Since I have very dry hair, I get split ends like crazy and very frizzy hair (even though my hair is naturally very straight) so I use an oil to hydrate my hair. This oil is extremely light-weight, you only need 2-3 pumps. It not only moisturizes, but makes my hair dry faster. It's also very good at taming fly-aways when my hair is dry.

          

I feel so invigorated after taking baths, they cure me of back pains, headaches, and stress, sometimes inspiring me. That's why I love them <3

Thanks for reading~

PS: Do you like baths or showers more? What are some of your favorite products to use when you treat yourself?