Tiana's Kitchen~Chinese America Twist! 蛋餅!

This is one of my favorite breakfast foods! It is found easily in Taiwan from "breakfast stores" 早餐店. My mom used to make this for my sisters and me when we were young. However, the skin normally used couldn't be found here, so she substituted with a tortilla. Now I can make my own "Dan Bing" 蛋餅 and I like to add some non-traditional things to it!


The ingredients are so simple:
1 egg
1 tortilla
any filling or sauce you would prefer


Step 1: Beat the egg (if you are adding salt or pepper, now is a good time!)
Step 2: Pour the egg into pre-heated pan. I add jalapenos at this point
Step 3: Add tortilla


Step 4: Flip it over and add any fillings (like cheese!)
Step 5: Roll it up
Step 6: Chop it to sections if you prefer!


The last photo is from my last trip to Taiwan. That 蛋餅 was made with just egg and then soy sauce and hot sauce are added on top. You can easily see the difference between the tortilla skin and the Dan Bing skin. Dan Bing skin is much thinner and a little bit transparent. Normally there is not fillings, but I like to experiment and add things inside ;)

Give this simple recipe a try!

The Neverending Meetup!

This meetup broke the record for the longest meetup ever, I think. It lasted for 13 hours from 12 noon to 1AM!

We started off at Pride, then headed to Espresso Royale for some food that was not expensive, fatty festival food, then went to Cake Eater, then went to a movie! Lolita broke off as time went on because of work or other obligations, so by the end of the night we didn't have all the girls we started out with ^^;

I was very reluctant to leave my friends (yes, even after 13 hours!) because this is the last meetup before I move this Thursday, plus I organized it! I am very happy and thankful to all the girls and guys that showed up to my meet, and I will miss them all ;_; I did get a lot of photos though, and included just a couple after the cut~



Group Shot! This is at the Pride festival. Teri and Lisa took photos in a beautiful garden of each of us. I will post some of those photos when I get them! For those of you who are curious, no, we did not run into the evangelist at Pride ;)


At Cake Eater

Later a small group of us went to see Johna Hex at a small theater close to my house. The theater was Atlantis-themed, and TOTALLY AWESOME!!



The balcony was roped off or we would have taken photos there! It was way late at night so the second floor was unused


Poseidon and I am guessing Cleito?


The ticket windows had these water sprites on them too! This is not a ticket window, but the sprite looks the same!

All in all, it was a lovely last meetup and I will miss my local lolitas so much! Let's hope the Taipei lolitas have epic meetups also!

Cinderella Solutions~Cleaning Silver

Last Christmas my sister got me one of the items off of my "Lolita Dream List", the BABY Ribbon Lace Up Ring. It is silver, and has unfortunately begun to tarnish. Today I am going to share how I managed to clean my ring and also my mom's VERY tarnished silver amulet necklace.


Before. Can you see the tarnishing the folds of the ribbon?

All you need is:
Baking Soda
Water
Soft Cloth


Mix up a thick paste using the ratio of 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water. I used 1TBS to 1tsp proportions

Using a soft cloth, buff the silver, and see how shiny it becomes! Very easy and extremely cheap.



Yay!

Countdown to Taiwan! And on Tolerance

There are 6 days left until I leave for Taiwan. Suddenly it feels like there is so much I have to do!!

Today was the last day of summer school, so I am FREEEEE!!!

My very last meetup with the MN Rufflebutts is going to be tomorrow. I am going to miss everybody!!

We are meeting at the local Gay Pride festival, where some controversy has been going down these last few weeks. At an event where tolerance is maxed out, there comes one man who wishes to pass out Bibles and tell the GLBTQ community that they are sinners and will go to hell. Wait, what?

Personally, I do not believe that this man is going about this the right way... We all have a right to our opinions, yes. Loring Park where Pride is held is a public place, yes. He has every right to be there and to exercise his right of free speech, however, is going to PRIDE really a good place to preach anti-gay scriptures?

The judge has already approved Brian Johnson's Bible-distributing goodness because of First Amendment rights. Do I agree with this? YES, I ACTUALLY DO

I believe that he has every right to say what he wants and to offer free Bibles to passerby as long as he is not disruptive. Pride is about tolerance. If we want people to tolerate our sexual orientation choices, we should be able to tolerate one man saying what he wants and giving out free Bibles so long as he is not spouting fighting words. He may not be going about expressing his opinion in the ideal circumstances, but I would like to think that he is not intentionally trying to start a fight, and is instead truly trying to help those of us whom he feels are "damned".

I truly hope that we as a community will be able to remain civil to this man, despite his opposing viewpoints. Actually, I think it would be quite fun if every single person just ignored him so he can soapbox to nobody. Of course, many people are pretty outraged, but if we could all grow thicker skin and not let the words cut us, I believe that this world will be a lot more peaceful :)

How many times have you, as a lolita, had someone make rude remarks at you? Did you go bat guano crazy and try to take out the offender with your parasol? No, you hold your head high and ignore them. Vermin are not worth your time. If one is able to have a civil conversation with opposing viewpoints, then an intellectual debate may be in order. However, if you feel your blood pressure rising, perhaps both parties should just agree to disagree ;D

The general public will always shun that which is different. Fear of the unknown is common, but that does not make it right. By proving that all of us "freaks" are still human, we can hopefully bring understanding and lessen the fear.

Hopefully Pride will still be a fun festival this year, and I will be back with an Event Report this weekend!

Here is a sneak peek at what I will be wearing:

Lolita 100 Meme #61-70

(61) ココだけの話、あそこはボッタクリやろ! と思う店はありますか?("Man, what a rip-off!!" Have you ever thought that about a store?)
Yes! But I love walking into Hot Topic anyway :D

(62) ネットショップは利用したことがありますか? ある方はその良い点・悪い点など、これからの方への助言をお願いします。(Do you shop online? If so, put the good & bad points here to advise others.)
Yes! Because there is no other choice...
Good point is that you do not need to travel to the store to see all the inventory!
Bad point is that you cannot try anything on and cannot see the quality or detail in person... Also, the shipping cost is killer!

(63) ちょっと秘密にしときたいけれど、私だけにコッソリな個人製作サイトさんを教えて下さい。(You can say if you want, but is there a Secret person/shop that you have ordered a dress solely for you from? [I guess commissioned/replicated])
no

(64) 絶対に手が届かない〜! でも、滅茶苦茶欲しい! あのブランドのあの商品ありますか?("I can never have that/see that happening!! But I will always want it!!" Is there a brand you think this of?)
Atelier Boz~

(65) 飽きちゃったお洋服はどうしますか?(What do you do with the clothes you don't want anymore?)
donate them :)
or sell them

(66) 一番最近に買ったアイテムは?（ロリィタ以外でも）(What is your most recent purchase? [Even non-lolita])
fabric... XD

(67) もう二度と手に入らないだろうけれど､忘れられないものはありますか?(Is there an item which you love that you can't buy/seem to find?)
My big list of Dream Prints! I have obtained one of my Dream Prints (it was my very first Dream Print too!) but of course the list can go on forever...

(68) ライヴなどの時だけロリィタの格好をすることをどう思いますか?(What do you think of people who only wear lolita to concerts?)
eh... seems a strange place to only wear lolita O.o

(69) すっぴんロリィタさんをどう思いますか?(what do you think of lolitas without makeup?)
awesome if they're clean

(70) アナタとまるっきり同じ格好のロリィタさんが! どうします?(Another lolita is wearing the same coordinate/clothes as you!! What do you do?)
YAY WE'RE TWINNING!

Mad Hatter's Tea Room

Yesterday I went on a LoliDate with Kay to a quaint little tea house in Anoka, MN. It was VERY cute and I wish I had gotten more photos! There were only 4 of us there, but it felt very cozy and magical!



This is our table. Unfortunately I ended up not getting a single outfit shot of anybody!! I wore my BABY cami, a blazer I made, and a handmade skirt!


My cup


Kay's Cup
Yes, all the cups were mismatching, as were the chairs, teapot, and decor! The atmosphere was sort of "shabby chic Mad Hatter"


The lunch plate. Mine is an egg salad croissant sandwich, and it was AMAZINGLY delicious! That is quite a big compliment from me, because actually... I hate egg salad... The other option was chicken salad, which was delicious according to Kay :) There were cranberries in it, which sounds odd to me but was apparently very good! I do not eat chicken, so I could not try it... ^^;
There is also a cranberry orange scone (VERY delicious), a cup of fruit, assorted cheeses, and a brownie. The brownie was the only thing I did not really like because it tasted like store-bought and was too sweet.


Toppings for our scones! Preserves, lemon curd, and clotted cream


Sugar for our Black Currant Tea. This was my first time having Black Currant tea, and it tasted pretty good! It tasted even better with sugar! I am usually pretty against sugar in tea, but in this case, it was a good idea :)

The service was lovely. There were two older ladies there running the tea room and shop selling teatime things. They were pretty good about refilling our tea, and even gave us an extra cup of clotted cream because we finished all the cream that originally came with our scones!

The price was fairly reasonable for a tea service. It came out to $11.73 per person plus tips. I would definitely like to go there again if only it were not so far away! Anoka is a good 1 hour drive from my house!

In the future, if I open a cafe/boutique (dream job?) I would like it to have this type of atmosphere :D

Lolita on the Go! Part 2

Part 2 of the Lolita on the Go! short series!

Traveling By Car 開車

Hang Your Petticoat If you have the room in the car, hang up all the petticoats! This helps to keep them fluffy as opposed to being stuffed in a suitcase for hours on end. If there is really no room, be sure to hang them as soon as you get to your destination. Perhaps a bit of spray starch wouldn't hurt either ;)
如果車子裡空間夠的話，把澎裙掛起來避免澎裙不澎。如果真的沒辦法掛起來，一到目的地立刻把烹群掛起來。能噴點澱粉最好，讓澎裙更澎。

Bring Some Entertainment Taking turns driving and bringing some music, books, or video games to entertain yourselves on the road will keep tempers cool and make the trip go faster. Stopping occasionally at convenience stores to stretch will do everybody some good, too. You might be surprised how much things vary from state to state!
帶一些書，音樂，電動玩具，之類的娛樂品。大家輪流開車可以讓旅程變者短一點


Traveling by Plane 飛機

Know Your Limitations checked luggage weight, checked luggage dimensions, carry-on liquids, gels, and aerosols, and carry-on size are all very important to know! You don't want to have anything confiscated at security and be needing to buy replacement foundation, suitcases, etc. at the airport! Check with your airline for restrictions and fees for over-size or overweight luggage

Don't Wear Complicated Clothing/Accessories! You don't want to be the one holding up the line because you have to take off all your metal rings, necklaces, earrings, etc. or spend 5 minutes lacing yourself in and out of your belted and laced boots! Wear comfortable and easily removed footwear and outerwear. Cardigans, jackets, etc. have to be put through the X-Ray too!

Arrive Early You should be checked in early (and some airlines let you check in online up to 24 hours in advance) and know where your gate is and when boarding time begins. Generally, you should be ON the plane 30 minutes before departure for international flights, or 15 minutes before departure for domestic flights.

Lolita On the Go!

Conventions, vacations, or moving house, there are many reasons one may need to pack up the frills and get on the road (or air!). Lolita is not one of the easiest fashions to pack up due to the sheer volume of the skirts, petticoats, ruffles, fragile accessories, and more!
旅行，搬家，聚會，有各種原因讓公主們必須打包上路。洛莉塔服可是算比較難整理得服裝。澎裙，洋裝，各個都站很大的位子!

Having recently taken a road trip to NakamaCon and planning to move to Taiwan in two weeks, I have compiled a list of tips for packing and travel without having to give up your style
我個人最近和朋友開了六個鐘頭去聚會，而且下個月出要搬去台灣，所以彙編了一些打包和旅行要注意得小秘訣

First of all, I would like to link to Ramble Rori's "Traveling Lolita" series here,

General Packing Tips:

Invest in a Lightweight Suitcase 選個輕的手提箱 Sure the Hello Kitty suitcase may be cute, but the ones I have seen at our local Sanrio store tend to weigh significantly more than standard suitcases. Not only will a lighter suitcase be easier to lift and carry around, but you can pack more stuff inside! Airlines have gotten stricter with weight limits and raised the overweight fee. You don't want to arrive at the airport only to find that you must pay an extra $50 because your bag was too heavy for check-in! It is better to get a plain, lightweight but sturdy suitcase, and personalize it with cute luggage tags, luggage patches, charms, or anything else you can think of!
可愛的手提箱雖然好看，可是最重要得是重量。航空公司對重量限制越來越嚴，超重就會被罰錢阿!買可又清又紮實的手提箱可以個性化。

Vacuum Seal Have a lot of clothes to pack? Use a vacuum seal storage bag to save on space. If you are only going away for a few days (such as for a convention) this is probably not necessary, but I know that I will be needing these in order to pack all my clothes into a suitcase when I move!

Bag Your Cosmetics and Jewelry Prevent makeup accidents in the suitcase by using a cosmetics/jewelry case. Feeling crafty? Make a Jewelry Wrap yourself! The wrap is my favorite style of jewelry organizer because it has a special place for everything. Here is a tutorial for a different type of jewelry holder which is a pouch with some wedge pockets on the inside

Save the Brand for your destination! As mentioned by Ramble Rori, you don't want any accidents happening to your expensive clothing. You may also want to consider wearing civies while traveling for comfort. If you want to wear lolita (and I did), wear something without a petticoat. Sitting for 6 hours in a car would be very uncomfortable with a petti, not to mention it would flatten it out quite a bit

Wear Something Versatile Air conditioning, stuffy cars, crazy weather, you never know what you will need to be prepared! Dressing in layers makes it easy to add or remove layers depending on the temperature. Lolita has many items with detachable sleeves, which makes the task even easier! I will personally be traveling from cooler to warmer weather, so it would be in my best interest to start out with a bolero or cardigan which can be removed when I arrive in Taiwan

Keep Accessories to a Minimum You don't need to go all out while traveling - save the extra large sweets rings, head eating bows, fluffy wigs, and other elaborate accessories for your destination. They will only become a hassle along the way.

Put Liquids in Plastic Or better yet, get a toiletries bag to prevent makeup remover, lotions, etc. from ruining your clothes. A toiletries bag should be waterproof (from the inside), compact, and preferably have organizing pockets. If you are flying and plan to have liquids, gels, or aerosols in your carry on, make sure everything is in a container smaller than 3oz/100ml, no more than 500ml total, and in a 1qt/1liter clear, resealable bag. You may NOT have a container larger than 3oz/100ml, even if its contents are obviously less than 3oz/100ml. I work at the airport and often have travelers coming into our store to replenish their supplies of lotion, foundation, etc. because it was confiscated at security.

In the next series I will give different tips sets for travel by car or by plane!

International Lolita Day 2010!

I am sure everybody is well aware already, but June 5, 2010 is International Lolita Day! I suppose this means that I should say, "Happy LoliDay!" since it is 1AM already!

What are you doing to celebrate LoliDay? Personally, I have to work, and there is no meetup happening here in MN. But that does not mean I cannot celebrate it by myself! Even though I will be unable to wear lolita for most of the day, I am very happy to simply celebrate it in my mind.

New to LoliDay? Wondering what it is all about? Please let me give you some quick insight to what this wonderful pseudo-holiday is all about!

The inspirational post that sparked the idea was made by one kittyhot on the international livejournal egl community, which led to it becoming officially announced in 2005.

International Lolita Day occurs TWICE a year. It is the first Saturday of June, and the first Saturday of December. The purpose of having it occur two times a year was so that lolitas could show off both summer and winter wardrobes.

Oftentimes lolitas will host meetups in order to celebrate. For the past few years I have been busy on LoliDay, though last year for June LoliDay I did get together with one other lolita for some tea at a local teahouse. It was small, personal, and a lot of fun!

What are some other ideas for celebrating by yourself? Let's brainstorm!

Dressing Up OK, so this one sounds obvious, but dressing up in your very best lolita outfit complete with hair, makeup, accessories, etc. is a good way to get in the mood! And this was the whole reason LoliDay even started - to have a day for dressing up with no meetup, tea party, event, or any other reason than "because I like it"

Taking Time for Yourself If you are unable to dress up (like me this year) due to other obligations or lack of clothing, you can still get in the lolita spirit! Take a little extra time to indulge in small things. Wake up to sunlight streaming through the window. Get dressed slowly and brush your hair until it shines. Wash your face and let the warm towel sit on your eyes for a few minutes. Treat yourself to a cup of hot cocoa or a truffle! Add rose petals to your bath water. Burn some candles or incense to fill the air with wonderful fragrances! Creating a relaxing atmosphere can make many problems seem to melt away.

Go On An Adventure Arm yourself with a camera and take a walk! Are there bike trails you have yet to explore? Fields of flowers nearby you never stopped to smell? Or perhaps you would prefer to explore kitschy shops that carry a mind-boggling assortment of cute trinkets and antique-looking furniture. Stopping to notice the magic around you brings a breath of fresh air into your daily routine. Maybe you will discover some treasure trove of beauty you never realized was there?

Write Snail Mail The lost art of handwritten letters! Break out the cute stationery, fancy pens (or gel pens!), stickers, and perhaps some small trinket to send to a friend? I like to include Valentines in all the letters I send. Of course it is nowhere near Valentine's Day, but it is something sweet to brighten a friend's day! I bought a pack of sticker-puzzle Valentines for 25 cents and have been mailing them out with letters I write to people I have not seen in a long time. Snail mail has a sort of personal touch that is lost through the internet. Even though e-mail and social networking sites are convenient and quick, snail mail will always feel more genuine and thoughtful



In other news, I am trying to edit the blog template since I have been alerted to the fact that the comments no longer work. Please bear with me while I try to fix everything!

Event Report~NakamaCon!

I am back from NakamaCon! We went for 4 days (May 28-31). The hotel was quite a bit smaller than we had all expected, though this was NakamaCon's first year, so I suppose a smaller con is good. It feels more cozy and personal that way anyway!

The first night we were there it felt so dead... like we had gotten there on the wrong day and the con was over or something... very odd, but the hotel room was nice! The beds were sleep number beds. I am glad that I did not have to spend a bunch of money to find that sleep number mattresses are not worth it. While it is fun to be able to adjust the softness or firmness of your bed, it will also auto-adjust to "support" you as you move around in your sleep so in the end it basically just changes firmness throughout the night. Multiple people complained of aches or numbness in the morning. I will stick to my memory foam topper, thanks!

Saturday and Sunday were much more eventful. There were always panels going on that were actually quite interesting! The tea party was all right too. I did not attend any furry or anime panels, but I will give a quick summary and photos from the parts of the con I did attend!

I have no photos from the day we arrived, because there was really nothing to take a photo of ^^;

Saturday May 29:

I wore my Alice dress to attend the Alice in Wonderland tea party! There were adorable little cakes made from scratch by the con head's friends/family



The tea was oversold, but there was more than enough food to go around so they just set up some extra tables and it still all worked out fine. Then there was a charity auction, which unfortunately did not have much related stuff (some Alice in Wonderland window clings and a lot of Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom stuff)

I also tried on a corset by Scoundrelle's Keep and ended up buying it on Sunday!


I also got a pair of white spats with pink buttons from her. I think I want to do a steampunk lolita coordinate now... :D

After the tea party Kay and I attended the Lolita Panel. It was not as bad as the one other lolita panel I have been to, but it was still rather misinformed... She was pretty good about emphasizing the fact that lolita fashion is NOT sexual, has nothing to do with the novel, and is about childhood innocence, elegance, etc. However, her example images were pretty hit or miss. And she used a lot of visual kei bands and photos for some reason? And recommended eBay as a place to shop. We left after she started playing Rozen Maiden as an example of lolita fashion.

I am thinking that I want to run a lolita fashion panel one day... when I come back from Taiwan in a year or three, I will do it!! Unless one of our MN Rufflebutts does it first ;D

Sunday May 30

It was my birthday on this day! I bought a pair of Carousel Earrings because my clothing brand is Carousel Cafe! They are so cute and the horses actually turn! I did not get a photo though ^^;

It was also my first attempt at Gothic Lolita! I have been a lolita for about 3 years, but never tried Gothic ^^; The closest I ever did was my Pirate lolita coord...


How was it? I made that OP and finished it at 1AM the day we left for Wisconsin v_v; Procrastination!

NakamaCon was already starting to die down by Sunday. I did all my shopping today and bought charms as gifts for my sisters and my sister's fiance. There were two Dealer's Rooms and three Artist Alleys. The layout was a bit confusing at first, but actually I think I quite like how it was split up. Only downside was the fact that one of the Artist Alley areas was in the back of the attached restaurant so it was difficult to find at first.

Overall, NakamaCon was a fun experience and very nice for a small con in its first year. It will not be happening again, but TeslaCon, which is also run by Eric, the con head, sounds like it will be a blast! It is this November in Madison, WI. I really wish I could go because we were talking to Eric about it and he was SO into it and has three years planned out already. It is incredibly detailed, and sounds like it will be a weekend long adventure, much like a murder mystery party, but steampunk. I would like to see lolita emphasized more (Eric did say that he really wants to include lolita fashion into TeslaCon, though at the moment it is steampunk orientated and NakamaCon felt more furry and anime orientated), but it was still a blast and I do have high hopes for TeslaCon!