Bucket List

Berry picking~

Went beery picking for the first time ever! I believe it was August, 2010. We were celebrating my nephew’s birthday at Ardenwood farm park. And let me tell you, that place is really amazing! They have a corn field that you can pick corn from during certain days, as well as a whole bunch of animals to see,  farmers market, and lots of gardens. I think a couple were having their wedding ceremony that day as well. It’s a really gorgeous place! Admission is only about 5 dollars and they have LOADs of events that are really fun to go to throughout the year (ardenwood APPLE FESTIVAAL). But I went to pick blackberries! It wasn’t really the best time, because most of the ripe ones were picked(as you can see..theres a lot of red ones still. SUPER NOT RIPE), but it was fun nonetheless. Here are some picture proofs~

If you can see in the background, the row of bushes extends alllll the way back there. I travelled quite a bit to see how long the strip of bushes were, and I’d say it’s a good mile and a half, possibly more, of berry bushes. Picking berries is free, you just have to pay admission (:

I would also recommend wearing hardy gloves and clothing. These bushes are NASTY and have a lot of thorns. But it’s also really satisfying when you find that really big one :D

Grow my own mushrooms !!!

First off, it’s massive update time! I’ve gotten kinda lazy in making posts, and the things that I can cross off my bucket list is just piling up, up, and up!

Anyways, today, December 11th, 2010, I took a workshop on how to grow your own mushrooms at home. Grow. Mushrooms. at HOME.

If you know me, you know that I absolutely love mushrooms. Any and every kind (well..sans the poisonous ones (: ) So something like this is SO TOTALLY COOL. The workshop was at Emma Prush farm, hosted by my lovellyyyy Veggielution (: There was a $30 signup fee, and along with learning how to grow, care for, and prepare all the things needed to grow your own mushrooms, you get to go home with a bag of straw and mushroom spawn that you make yourself. Because of it’s relative ease and hardiness for beginners, we are growing oyster mushrooms! And they’re tasty P:

So here are pictures of the process, and it’ll act as my proof as well (:

This is straw (: It’ll be the food for the mushrooms. You have to chop it up and then you soak it in really hot water so that it becomes free of bugs, seeds, mold and bacteria. And then you lay it all out to dry~

Then theres the mushroom spawn! You can use spawn you make yourself, of spawn you buy from suppliers. We had a guy who brought in his own, and some from Fungi Perfecti in Washington state. It’s something like mushroom spores mixed with pressure cooked rye berries. Looks like this

After that, you start layering straw and then the spawn, straw, spawn, and onwards until you fill your container. You can use burlap sacks, laundry baskets, milk crates, and, in our case, grocer bags! After you fill it all up, you puncture in holes, and the mushrooms will grow from these holes (:

And tadaa! All done! after taking care of it for about 3 weeks, mushrooms will grow! I’ll update it with a picture of my mushrooms when they do, but for now heres the finished bag!

Tempering Chocolate, part one.

So. It’s been a while since I last completed any goals… But thats okay! I have my whole lifetime (: I also have a couple of new goals that I need to put up before I forget them.. X:

Edit: actually…I’m editing this goal. I make chocolate covered strawberries all the time, I just really want to refine my technique of tempering chocolate. So, thats what the goal is changed to! And this will be part one…

Anyways, on with this one! The art of making chocolate covered strawberries… It’s really not as easy as you may think. If you want really good chocolate, you have to temper it. And, well, tempering is a pain in the ass. BUT. If you properly temper your chocolate, you will end up with the crunchiest, smoothest, shiniest chocolate covered strawberries. And believe me.. When you sink your teeth in and hear that SNAP. You know, its goooooooood.

Anyways. Today I went out to play volleyball. And on the way back home, I decided to buy some strawberries, since they were on sale at Luckys. And I thought about the Guittard chocolate I had just sitting around. My parents were also not yet home to complain about me making a mess, so onward I ventured. I normally use dark chocolate for whatever I make, but this time I had semi sweet. still good. Melt the chocolate to 115 degrees… use the seed method to cool it to 80 degrees. Heat it back up to 88 degrees, dip dry strawberries, let cool. AND BAM. DAMN GOOD. Well… Kinda. I only had about a third a bag of chocolate, and 2 squares of ghirardhelli. So…I combined them. A bit unorthodox, but hey! It worked! After covering the strawberries, I left it out to set. And I tried some last night. Omnomnomnom. Part one? Check !

Mmmm…smooth, luscious chocolate..

Part two will be a remake or the time I tried making truffles. It was good, but not the way I wanted it to come out…

Make my own fruit leather.

I’ve been wanting this very specific type of fruit leather for the longest time. Its the type thats rolled up, like fruit roll-ups. Only of course, theres no high fructose corn syrup or whatever. Just straight up pureed fruit, and a bit of honey if needed. Only problem is that in these past couple of years, I’ve never been able to find them .___. I’ve definitely found other types of fruit leather, most of which are still yummy, but..it’s just not the same!

And so, my cousin bought me a dehydrator a month or two ago, which came with liquid drying sheet thingies. Hello, fruit leather <3

First goal completed ;D

05.24.10

This is actually my second batch…too lazy to take photos the first time. I’ll put up a photo of the finished product eventually~ Anyhow, time to make mooore <3

Finding Bellameru

Eat 1000 different fruits . build homes for the homeless . write a book . skydive . scuba dive . donate hair . give blood . get a tattoo . get another ear piercing . write and illustrate a children’s book . make my own jewelry . take part in painting a giant mural . build a treehouse . have my own garden . start a community garden . run a 7 minute mile . start running again . Run around Lake Elizabeth without stopping . get a job . Donate $1,000,000 to charity . go white water rafting . enter a ballroom competition . learn to ride a bicycle again . be vegetarian for a year . have a conversation with a stranger on BART . learn flower arranging . learn pottery . Try all Marco Polo ice cream flavors . puppet show . Finish the “Rulebook to life” with Darky . Go see a broadway play . get into theater again . Adopt a kid . Adopt a pet . plant a tree** . giant papercraft project . learn to crochet . climb a giant tree . visit a rainforest . go spelunking in kentucky . go diamond mining in crater of diamonds state park, Arkansas . Lotus . get better at spinning caramel . read 100 books in one year . participate in a marathon . be BAT and CPR certified for life . get belay certified . Visit VN again . Be trilingual (english, vietnamese, ? ) . Own all studio ghibli films . Swim with bioluminescent plankton in Puerto Rico . make GOOD chocolate covered strawberries . successfully make a baked alaska . Buy a tablet . go berry picking . grow mushrooms . meet jackie chan . Gackt . make “the dress” . try all the apples at ardenwood’s apple festival . get married at Tilden . Spend a day cloud watching with Darky . Build an igloo . build a snowman . build a LEGIT sand castle . learn sign language . See turtles lay eggs . Meet a wood pecker . Make air gear stickers . Make those shirts with Andrew . Visit all the states . Go on a transcontinental trip across the US via Train . Motorcycle .  go rollerblading again . Learn how to ice skate backwards . Stratosphere coaster in vegas . MAGIC MOUNTAIN . Mall of America rollercoaster . hot air balloon rides . Replay FF9 . keep a dream diary . Make my own christmas cards . Turn one of my dreams into a picture book or video or both . milk a cow . shear a sheep . write with my left hand . illustrate a mini manga . go crabbing . go clamming . make my own fruit leather . make a korean drama with andrew + ?? . learn canning . go rappelling . become a master of the grill . successfully make macarons . roll around in a giant field of grass . travel to hong kong . have my own tea party (complete with petit fours and all) . audition for a play . be in a play . make my own ring . photo clothesline . buy a polaroid camera . swim with jellyfish . hike mission peak . watch a korean drama until the end . go green ! . buy my own ice cream maker . build a swing . finish watching FO .