Hi, friend! Thank goodness it’s Friday. No seriously. TGIF! Been a long week.
I just finished a video interview with a beauty brand which I use and love… I think it went OK! I should be finding out more next Monday, so until then, please keep your fingers and toes crossed for me.
Anywho, all this preparation for video calls lately has reminded me of just how stellar Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation truly is.
Most days I typically wear a sheer tinted moisturizer (Urban Decay Hydromaniac), but if I’m going to be on camera, then Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua is it!
Not only can I barely feel it on, ’cause lightweight is totally key, but it smoothes out my pores and evens out patchy-looking parts without appearing obvious. I’m wearing 50 Beige in this pic, which I set with a light dusting of MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden. A *chef’s kiss* worthy combo!
I think I mentioned earlier in the week that I’m learning how to make a Filipino dessert called leche flan. It’s like a creme brulee, but without the crunchy top, and it’s typically served at Filipino parties and celebrations.
Leche flan has two parts. First, you make a caramel on the stovetop.
Don’t ask me why, but for some reason, this part is completely terrifying to me! I think it’s the fact that you don’t have a lot of wiggle room with making caramel, so you have to heavily rely on your instincts to know when it’s time to take it off the heat. Otherwise it’ll burn, baby, burn.
Plus, that ish gets hella hot! I can see myself burning a hand or a wrist quite easily in a caramel-related incident.
OK, so the caramel goes into the bottom of your ramekin. Ideally neater than I did here.
The second part involves making custard out of egg yolks, evaporated milk, condensed milk and a little vanilla. Then you strain it at least two times…
The custard goes into the ramekins, and then you steam them on the stove or in an oven. When a knife goes into the middle and comes out clean, they’re done.
After cooling down, you loosen the edges and then flip the ramekin onto a plate. You’ve gotta get all the juicy bits, too!
The result is a creamy, silky caramel custard. YUM.
Let’s see, what else has been going on? One of my New Year’s resolutions was to learn how to cook a few vegan dishes, and this was one I made for lunch early on in the week.
It’s garlic fried rice with stir fried potatoes, zucchini and edamame in a homemade teriyaki sauce — which is just equal parts sugar, soy sauce and water, sprinkled with ground ginger powder. It was pretty good, but next time I make it, I’m going to add cashews to bump up the protein.
I’m finally calming down from the excitement of my earlier interview and now ready to get the weekend started, like, right meow. LOL!
What are your plans? Doing anything fun?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
No big fun for me, I think just sleep. Maybe espresso and danish tomorrow morning.
I would like to try to stay up for a bit tonight and watch the new Eddie Murphy and Jonah Hill movie on Netflix called You People. I love both of them and I’ve been watching the trailer over and over again. It looks so funny.
Fingers crossed for you! Any beauty brand would be fortunate to have you.
Thanks for the reminder about that Chanel foundation, that’s one that I really loved too and it fell off my radar.
Aww, thanks friend. I think the interview went OK, but I’ve learned to not get too excited until a contract is signed. So, we’ll see.
Thanks for letting me know about the movie! I’m going to try and watch it this weekend. 🙂
That flan looks delicious. I used to make this years ago and had it recently on a trip to Little Havana in Miami. Apparently it’s a Cuban thing as well.
Oh yum! I think it would be fun to travel the world trying different types of flan. If I’m ever in Miami, I’m definitely going to hunt the Cuban version down.
My fingers are crossed for you to get the job, Karen! That rice dish looks really good! I think it would be a good breakfast too with an egg on it! I’m supposed to go to a baby shower on Saturday, but the highs here in North Dakota won’t be above zero for the weekend and beyond so I’m not too excited about leaving the house. Other than that I’m going over some of the materials for my new job. It’s going to be more teaching than I thought so I’m reading through a Microbiology textbook to refresh my memory! Fun!
Oh yes, especially a runny egg, like sunny side up! YUM!
I’m excited for your new job. It’ll be challenging for a while, but soon enough you’ll get the hang of it. 🙂 Congrats again on this new chapter of your life.
Okay, fingers crossed for the job! (Also, super curious about which brand.🤔 But I know you can’t tell us yet!)
Your lunch looks delish- do you have a favorite garlic fried rice recipe? We’re getting our house ready to sell, which is so much more work than I imagined it would be, so my meals consist mostly of takeout, frozen things, and the answer to “what can I put in the slow cooker today in less than 10 minutes?”. 😄
Hi Suzanne,
Every Filipino family makes garlic fried rice a little differently. I like a lot of garlic! For a single serving like this one, I did about three cloves, finely minced. I put it in a non-stick pan along with some olive oil (you could use a neutral oil like canola, too), and then I warm the oil and the garlic up slowly so it doesn’t burn. Remove the garlic when it’s golden and set it on a plate lined with paper towels. Then, you take day old rice that’s cold and straight out the fridge. Trust me, this is important. You can’t use fresh rice; it won’t work. Anywho, pop the rice into the pan, and flatten it with a spatula. Leave it alone for a few minutes to crisp up at the bottom. (I’m a fan of the crispy texture.) Break it up, flatten it again, and then wait until it’s warmed through. Add the garlic back in along with salt and pepper. Some people like to season their rice with soy sauce, but I tend to leave it out because I like the taste of the garlic. Let me know if you try it!
Yum! Making rice today so I can make fried rice tomorrow!
Keeping my fingers crossed for you to get the job.
Your Leche Flan looks scrumptious! When Dear Daughter was in pre-school (sooo long ago!) one of the other mom’s brought a flan to one of the potlucks. I went back for seconds, it was perfectly sweet and so silky smooth. I still dream of Camerina’s flan.
I used to wear Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua, but stopped for some reason. I think maybe the fragrance started to bother me.
No plans for the weekend. Just hanging out with Dear Husband who was traveling for business the last two weekends. I guess we’ll continue to watch “Andor” on Disney+.
Hope everyone has a relaxing weekend!
Thank you! I was told that I’d hear back by next week. (You never know, though.) I feel like it went well… We’ll see. I’m trying to stay positive.
Enjoy the time with your hubby! How is your shoulder doing, by the way?
The flan reminds me of a crème caramel. I hope your interview went well. I still haven’t heard back about my final interview I had this week. 🤞
Interesting! I don’t think I’ve ever had a crème caramel. I just looked up a recipe and it has very similar components to leche flan. Cool. If I’m ever in a French restaurant and it’s on the menu, I’m definitely trying it.
It’s weird to be in an in-between place, isn’t it? Stay positive; I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you. 🙂
That vegan dish looks SO yummy. Just a note – if anyone is watching their sodium (I have to since a Sepsis infection beat up my kidneys), Coconut aminos makes a great substitute for soy sauce. It’s NOT low sodium but it’s less than half of what Soy Sauce contains and tastes quite similar. I make a vegan Hawaiian stew with it as an ingredient and my carnivore husband LOVES it.
I had a long workout class yesterday, but today is just for relaxing. Much needed after a long week.
I am sure the interview went amazing.
Good luck! I hope you get some great news today. And, if you don’t, it’s absolutely their loss. 🙂
Definitely frame Connor’s quote (and maybe put a note on the back about what it really says, in case you don’t remember in 15 years or so). 🙂 You will cherish those cute misspellings and drawings when she’s all grown up!