Origami Shelter

Something of more substance than my last post..

I saw this come up on my Google Reader! Since I've been playing around with some origami, I found this design to be intriguing.

Many origami designs can be pressed, flatly before you make it come to life. This design uses that principle to help people in disaster situations by allowing large quantities of it to be shipped around, efficiently!

This picture came from here. Please click for more interesting
images! 

We're Making Loud Music

Oh Michelle Branch, how I miss thee!!!

That is all.

Humpback Rock

On my last day in Charlottesville, my good friend and I went to Humpback Rock for a quick hike before going home. It's located about 40 min away from Charlottesville on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The parkway itself has some nice views of the Shennendoah. Here is some info on the hike if anyone's interested in going. It was a pretty steep one mile hike uphill and we had to stop a few times before getting there. Though I think going down was worse for me.

The trail is well shaded and since we went in the morning, it was nice and cool.

There were a lot of cute families on the hike and we also a dad taking his two (2 or 3 or 4 year old) sons on the hike. I saw them and was thinking.. Ah, if these kids can do it, so can I! But then a few yards up the trail, one of the kids started crying and the dad carried him all the way up the mountain.

We also saw a group of volunteers fixing up the stairs along the way! Sounds like it'd be pretty cool to join them.

There were 3 or 4 milli or centi ? pedes on the way!

looked like a rusty piece of metal at first! 

at the top.. first you see the sky between these rocks

then you climb the rocks and the land below slowly appears

the view! 

a mysterious tree with striped bark. 

meadow by parking lot 

don't forget to click on the photo for a larger view!

Fan Qie Chao Dan

Tomato and Eggs! Deeeeeeeeeelicious. Good with rice too. I made this for dinner with my good friend today and ours was not quite as soupy as we wanted it to. Apparently after asking my mom, she said that you need to add half a cup of water and then put a lid on the pan to let it steam in the pan a bit. Ah well, still good!

Xiao Hua Juan

These are basically green onion rolls from last week as well. Not too hard to make, and easy to store in the freezer to heat up again!

the dough is mixed up in a bread machine.. I missed this part kind of

roll out the dough, sprinkle green onion over some salt and oil

roll it up! press in the ends

chop it up! 

press the middle with a chopstick and pinch the bottom together.
it's supposed to look like a flower, hence the "hua juan" (flower..swirls)

and, sorry I did not take pictures of them, but afterwards you steam these little thangs and they are ready to eat!

Luo Buo Gao Making

This is way overdue..My mom and I made this last week and I have just uploaded the pictures. Luo bou gao is this cake made with radish (luo buo) I posted about eating it for breakfast earlier. But here are pictures of it at certain steps in making it. The process of making food is both interesting and important to understand, especially if we are to eat healthily!

the radish, in slivers + onions + garlic + bacon bits + mushrooms
all stir fried up 

adding tapioca powder and mixing

into the rice cooker! 

after taking it out of the rice cooker and pan frying it

Cinder Block Necklace!!!

This necklace was on Archinect.com

The block has been casted out of concrete and sets for a month (like how concrete in actual construction projects needs to set for a month) before you can wear it!

cuuuuuuute. but expensive for such a tiny thing.. maybe buying my own concrete and making my own mold would be cheaper (but also probably harder and less pro). anyone up for this project with me?