Perfect for Spring

The latest article I contributed to for R29 was a very creative one... we chose three very talented LA florists and asked each one to create a bouquet based on the scents of the particular fragrance they were given - either YSL's Manifesto, See by Chloé, or Terveer's Gardenia. All three florists were so different from one another aesthetically, which you can see from their final products and therefore it's hard for me to choose a favorite. Eric's bouquet from the Four Seasons Hotel was luxurious and over-the-top in all the right ways; Holly's, of Hollyflora, was moody while mixing nature with geometrical shapes; and Teri, of Clementine Floral Works, created a wreath that was rustic and simply beautiful.

Ok, Teri's was my favorite. Just because I'm a sucker for girly flowers and also because they let me shoot the wreath against the rustic door that hangs in their shop - it was brilliant.

Teri - Clementine Floral Works - See by Chloé

Holly - Hollyflora - Terveer's Gardenia

Eric - Four Seasons Hotel  - YSL's Manifesto

LA's Best Chinese Dishes

Sam Woo BBQ's  Peking Duck 

For this R29 article, I only had to shoot 4 of the 10 Chinese dishes... which were scattered all around Los Angeles... Monterey Park, Van Nuys, Pasadena, and Chinatown. OY. But luckily the restaurant in Pasadena was a chain and they also had one in Canoga Park which isn't too far from Van Nuys and so I went there instead. I am not a huge Chinese food (or seafood) fan so I wasn't sure what to do with all the food after shooting it (since I paid for it, I got to eat/keep it) and so I took it all to-go and made my dad try all of it. I'll keep his opinions to myself. But I did try the duck from Sam Woo which was my first time ever trying duck and now I know why I never tried duck before. BUT I'm sure if I was a duck fan, I would have loved it. 

Foo Chow's Deep Fried Crispy Eel

Kam Hong Garden's Pork and Leek Pancake

Yang Chow's Slippery Shrimp

Click here to check the article out!

OH HEY

It's been over a month since my last post! This is because 1) for a while I was not getting any assignments from R29 and 2) I got a new job that took up most of my time and I ended up quitting within a month! Yay for me!

But hey, I'm back. And here's a street style story that took foreverrrrrrrrr.

Tomboy Outfits

Here's the latest R29 article I contributed to!

Valentine's Day Desserts

My special someone flew in to see me on actual Valentine's Day and I went a little crazy (very) trying to figure out what desserts I wanted to make him for the holiday. I decided to make homemade ice cream for the first time with my new ice cream maker that I got for Christmas as well as a cake recipe that came from one of my favorite bloggers, Emily Schuman of Cupcakes and Cashmere.

Since I like to make things harder for myself, I found probably one of the most difficult ice cream recipes to make. My Valentine LOVES mint chocolate chip ice cream so I wanted to find a very rich and creamy one unlike the store bought kind he eats every night. This recipe definitely delivered. With egg yolks and actual mint leaves (aka no mint extract) added to the recipe, I knew it was going to be fantastic. AND IT WAS. It tasted exactly like Sweet Rose Creamery's mint ice cream - and when I first tried Sweet Rose's, I was blown away. The ice cream is refreshing and completely different from the artificially flavored kinds that most people are used to. Honestly, the first bite is always a bit weird because you're not used to it, but then you find yourself wanting to eat more and more because the aftertaste is that good. The fact that this was my first time making ice cream and that I was successful with such a difficult recipe, I believe I will be making many more batches in the future. 

 

 

Next up, I made this raspberry almond cake. I had a lot of trouble with this recipe and I was worried that I was going to hate the final product. I wasn't a fan of the raspberry jam I bought; I had never tried almond extract before and was iffy about the smell and the taste of it; and the directions for the frosting are definitely incorrect! I ended up using more milk (like 3 tbs) and it was just so sugary that I had to keep adding salt to balance it out. And then, after throwing a fit about hating basically every aspect of the cake, I remembered that my Valentine doesn't really like nuts... and I made an almond cake... yeah, I'm dumb. BUT. It was incredible. I don't know how it happened, but everything decided to come together after sitting in the fridge over night and the end result was insanely good; something I had never tasted before. I didn't feel like documenting the entire cake process because I was so fed up at that point, but I still have a few pictures.

So if you are into very unique flavors and desserts that you're not used to having, try these out! I was very pleased with the outcome of both, but more importantly, my Valentine finished eating all the ice cream and cake before leaving (with my help of course). Apparently he enjoyed it as well. 

Street Style, Gita

Street Style, Anna