Tailgate party free printable invitation

Compliments of the team at Ellinée, get a free printable PDF you can customize with your own information, inviting your buddies to a tailgate party.

Sophie and Toffee Glitter

Today I'm going to share a little secret with my readers. This is probably one of the best kept secrets of a lot of handmade shops and crafters. I'm talking abut the glitter available at my favorite supply shop, Sophie and Toffee. My good friends at Sophie and Toffee recently sent me a bottle of their exclusive ultra fine glitter powder, and I can honestly say it's the best glitter I have ever used! It is so finely ground that it just dissolves right into the products I make for sassyNpunk and gives them a sparkling milky glow! Not only does sassyNpunk use this glitter to make our pendants and charms, but this is the exact same glitter Sophie and Toffee uses to make their cabochons and charms! Not only is this a great product, but the price is right too, only $4.75! Ultra fine glitter powder like this will cost you upto $15 - $25 in the US. Don't be fooled by the "ultra fine" label on glitters in your local craft store. The glitter from Sophie and Toffee is the real deal and will literally dissolve when used in your crafts! It's amazing!

Here are a few products I have made for sassyNpunk using Sophie and Toffee brand glitter. All of these are available to purchase at sassyNpunk Boutique.

Jewelpet Potion Charm

Bubble Gum Kiss Necklace

Milky Way Galaxy Ring

 If you would like to buy some Sophie and Toffee brand glitter, just pop over to their website @ www.sophieandtoffee.com and use coupon code SASSY10 to save 10% on your entire purchase!

Useful book: Sew Up a Home Makeover

I just got ahold of a copy of the new Lexie Barnes book, Sew Up a Home Makeover: 50 Simple Sewing Projects to Transform Your Space. It was fun to see my fabrics featured on a few items, including this cute butterfly chair and pillow. The book is full of instructions for customizing everything with fabric: a roller shade, sofa slipcover, upholstered headboard, duvet cover, reversible placemats, marshmallow floor pouf, switch plate cover, window curtains... and a mere 42 other things. It's really too bad Lexie was running low on ideas.

Bread Tutorial

Today Pankunchi, Shokupan and Koppepan are going to show us how to make some bread, 

and look cute while doing it!

 

 

Rex Ray wall decals at Blik

Friends, humans, countrymen, lend me your eyes! My friend Susie just sent over a link to these new wall decals at Blik, saying "You like Rex Ray, right?" Heck yes I do. While I feverishly try to think of a place to put these, you should go have a look if you like playful, retro graphics.

Every few months I hear someone say that wall decals aren't in anymore. Nonsense. What better way to put a cool image on your blank wall, for relatively little cash, that won't harm your paint job? Long live wall decals!

Beijing Food Trip - Part 2: Lamb Hotpot and Jiaozi

If you ask local Beijingners what dishes best represent the city, Shuanyangrou (Lamb Hotpot) would likely rank among the top. Before any lamb-shy readers get turned-off by the mere mentioning of the word, let me tell you that my wife normally doesn't eat lamb either. But this is not your regular gamey cut of mutton, as I'll explain below.

As this is a Beijing Food Trip, naturally one of our major goals was to visit one of the city's best Lamb Hotpot specialty restaurants at a reasonable price. Consulting local reviews on DianPing.com, we narrowed our list down to four candidates:
- Hongyuan: Our pick. Consistently gets excellent reviews from locals. Two of its branches are located in prime tourist areas -- one on the lakeside at Qianhai, and one just south of the Temple of Heaven.
- Jubaoyuan: Also gets excellent reviews, though its location at Niu Jie isn't the most convenient for casual tourists.
- Tianyishun: Its specialty Yangxiezi (lamb spines) gets rave reviews from locals, but it's located on the far west side of the city.
- Donglaishun: Famous as the grandfather of Lamb Hotpot chains, this 100-year-old Beijing institution seems to be avoided by local families and survives mostly on tourists and business dinners.



Food Review: HONGYUAN NANMEN SHUANROU (Houhai, Beijing)
Address: 1 Nanguanfang Hutong, Shichahai, Xicheng District, Beijing
Hours: 11:00-14:00, 17:00-24:00
Website/Map: From Dianping.com
Directions: It's on the western lakeshore of Qianhai, just south of the Yinding Bridge where Qianhai turns into Houhai. You can't miss the giant brass pot at the storefront.


We struggled between picking Hongyuan vs. Jubaoyuan, and judging from local reviews, it's probably hard to go wrong with either. But Hongyuan offers more than just great food -- it's a dinner on the lovely lakeshore of Qianhai, followed by an after-dinner stroll among Houhai's live music bars and tea cafes. It's a no-brainer.



As with most good restaurants in Beijing, Hongyuan is notorious for long line-ups and we decided to come early for dinner after spending an afternoon at the Forbidden City. The restaurant is housed inside a traditional Siheyuan courtyard, where each table either shares one large communal brass hotpot or gets personal-size Cloisonne Blue hotpots. Of course, both types are traditionally shaped with the long chimneys that have become the symbol of hotpot restaurants in Beijing.



Here's my big problem though: this is a Lamb Hotpot restaurant, and my wife doesn't normally eat lamb. Baby lamb racks are okay, but anything older and more gamey turns her off just by smell alone. Any goat or mutton and she wouldn't even come near me until I rinse.



So I took the conservative route and ordered a premium platter of the freshest, never-frozen slices of beef and lamb. The choice cuts inside this Four Delicacies Platter (Sixian Pinpan, RMB 58) included (clockwise from front-left) premium tender beef, sliced beef shank, lamb neck fillet, and hand-sliced fresh lamb. I had always wanted to try lamb neck fillet, known locally as Yang Shang Nao (literally Lamb's Upper Brain, but it's actually the soft muscle at the back of the neck), and was ready to set aside the beef for my lamb-shy wife and finish all the lamb myself.

True to its legendary reputation, the neck fillet was definitely the softest cut of lamb I've ever had. It wasn't quite melt-in-the-mouth-Wagyu soft, but it was non-oily and remarkably sweet in addition to extremely tender. In fact the entire platter was excellent, but that's hardly a surprise given the restaurant's consistent popularity. The big surprise here was ...



... my wife started eating lamb! She couldn't even tell the lamb from the beef as the characteristic gamey taste, the big turn-off for her palate, was entirely absent. To my astonishment half the lamb was gone within minutes, with much ending up in her hotpot! We ended up just sharing the entire platter of lamb and beef, which was all good.



To complement all the meat above we also ordered a Mushrooms Platter (Xianjun Pinpan, RMB 28), which our waitress worried we couldn't possibly finish. It was a healthy heap of Shiitake, Enoki, Yun'er (Cloud Ears), and Buna-Shimeji mushrooms, which are among our favourites in any hotpot meal. We did finish the platter at the end, though it took a while.



But the true essence of a great Hotpot meal lies inside the dipping sauce. Every respectable Hotpot restaurant in Beijing has its own so-called secret formula, which typically consists of sesame paste, fermented tofu, cilantro and chives, among other secret seasonings.

The sauce (RMB 5 per bowl) here was deliciously thick and lent an excellent rich flavour to the flash-boiled lamb, though the portion could have been a little more generous.



Last but not least, don't miss the free sweet-vinegared garlic cloves which come in small appetizer plates! It does take a little time to peel off the skin, but the delicious morsel inside is just the perfect palate-cleanser between mouthfuls of full-flavored lamb and rich sesame paste.

This was probably the most satisfying meal of lamb ever for myself, and an extremely rare and enjoyable one for my wife. I would encourage any reader visiting Beijing, especially those who usually dislike lamb for its gamey taste, to give this place serious consideration. Not only will you get an authentically Beijing dinner in a picturesque lakeside setting, but you may also acquire a whole new appreciation of lamb, just like my wife did.

Bill for Two Persons

Four Delicacies Platter	RMB 58
Mushrooms Platter	RMB 28
Soup Stock x 2	RMB 10 x 2
Dipping Sauce x 2	RMB 5 x 2
Harbin Beer x 2	RMB 8 x 2
Table Settings x 2	RMB 1 x 2
TOTAL	RMB 134 (CAD$20.3)

Another Northern Chinese delicacy on our radar was something every Chinese housewife makes, especially on the Eve of the Chinese New Year. No matter what you call it ... Gyoza, Kyoja, or Shui Gow ... it's a piece of mouth-watering stuffing inside a flour dough. In this part of China it is known ubiquitously as Jiaozi and, though it's often available at little informal eateries, most Beijingners would agree that mom makes the best. As I do not have a Beijingner mom, I'll just have to settle for the most famous Jiaozi chain in the region.



Food Review: TIANJIN BAIJIAOYUAN (Xidan, Beijing)
Address: 12 Xinwenhua Jie Jia, Xicheng District, Beijing
Hours: 10:00-14:30, 17:30-22:00
Website/Map: From Dianping.com
Directions:
directions: Exit Xidan subway station and walk south along Xuanwumen Nei Street for about 400m and turn right on Xinwenhua Street. Tianjin Baijiaoyuan is on the left hand side.

I have to clarify that I learned my Chinese culinary customs in the South of China where Jiaozi, or locally known there as Shuijiao, looked and tasted entirely different. I've always known Jiaozi as the bite-sized shrimp-and-bamboo-shoot dumpling with yellow, paper-thin skin and bathing in a savory broth, and have always been curious about the white, thick-skinned Jiaozi north of the Yangtze River. In this first trip to the North I was determined to find a trusted, authentic restaurant specializing in Jiaozi, just to satisfy my curiosity.


So we targeted Tianjin Baijiaoyuan, a franchised chain originating from Beijing's neighbor to the southeast. On Dianping.com it had the highest reviews from the locals among Jiaozi specialty restaurants ... and it's conveniently located at Xidan.

The first item we ordered was a pompously named Tianxia Diyijiao, or Best Dumpling Under Heaven. Affordably priced at RMB 10, it turned out to be a miserable attempt to emulate the Cantonese Shui Gow in a Northerner's menu. The mini-dumplings had fillings of minced pork/shrimp and were served in a southern-style clear broth marred by excessive MSG. That made us even more anticipative of the authentic northern Jiaozi to come.



Baijiaoyuan currently boasts 229 different flavors of dumplings, and we had the toughest time narrowing our selection down to six. Minimum order for each flavor is 2 Liang, or roughly 100g, meaning that we probably ordered enough dumplings to feed a family of four. Some of the flavors were the among the most traditional, while some were clearly not so traditional but still tasted great. Our favorites, in order of preference, were:
1) Pine Nut and Duck Egg Yolk (excellent, though slightly heavy after a few)
2) Three Delicacies (can't go wrong with tradition!)
4) Lamb and Cilantro (also excellent, especially if you love lamb)
3) Minced Mackerel (surprisingly good and less fishy than I imagined)
5) Duck and Shiitake Mushrooms (somewhat average)
6) Sablefish and Masago (unbearably fishy ... the sablefish was definitely spoiled)



What's this heinous creature in a bamboo steamer? Well it was our dessert! This was certainly not a real sea cucumber (costing only RMB 8!), but a sweet red-bean-paste filling wrapped inside a purple glutinous rice flour envelope. I guess it's probably fitting to call this a mutated Jiaozi.

It's a decent place for a casual and authentic meal if you're craving dumplings as much as I was, though we should have ordered half as much instead of stuffing myself to the neck (and still wasting a half dish at the end). If you ask about my preference of Chinese dumplings, I still like the Cantonese version in Hong Kong's street-side noodle houses better.

Bill for Two Persons

Jiaozi (Sablefish and Masago)
Jiaozi (Pine Nuts and Duck Egg Yolk)
Jiaozi (Duck and Shiitake Mushrooms)
Jiaozi (Lamb and Cilantro)
Jiaozi (Three Delicacies)
Jiaozi (Minced Mackerel)	Subtotal RMB 100
Best Dumpling Under Heaven	RMB 10
Sea Cucumber Dessert	RMB 8
Fresh-squeezed Corn Juice	RMB 12
TOTAL	RMB 130 (CAD$19.7)

Beijing Food Trip - Part 2: Lamb Hotpot and Jiaozi

If you ask local Beijingners what dishes best represent the city, Shuanyangrou (Lamb Hotpot) would likely rank among the top. Before any lamb-shy readers get turned-off by the mere mentioning of the word, let me tell you that my wife normally doesn't eat lamb either. But this is not your regular gamey cut of mutton, as I'll explain below.

As this is a Beijing Food Trip, naturally one of our major goals was to visit one of the city's best Lamb Hotpot specialty restaurants at a reasonable price. Consulting local reviews on DianPing.com, we narrowed our list down to four candidates:
- Hongyuan: Our pick. Consistently gets excellent reviews from locals. Two of its branches are located in prime tourist areas -- one on the lakeside at Qianhai, and one just south of the Temple of Heaven.
- Jubaoyuan: Also gets excellent reviews, though its location at Niu Jie isn't the most convenient for casual tourists.
- Tianyishun: Its specialty Yangxiezi (lamb spines) gets rave reviews from locals, but it's located on the far west side of the city.
- Donglaishun: Famous as the grandfather of Lamb Hotpot chains, this 100-year-old Beijing institution seems to be avoided by local families and survives mostly on tourists and business dinners.



Food Review: HONGYUAN NANMEN SHUANROU (Houhai, Beijing)
Address: 1 Nanguanfang Hutong, Shichahai, Xicheng District, Beijing
Hours: 11:00-14:00, 17:00-24:00
Website/Map: From Dianping.com
Directions: It's on the western lakeshore of Qianhai, just south of the Yinding Bridge where Qianhai turns into Houhai. You can't miss the giant brass pot at the storefront.


We struggled between picking Hongyuan vs. Jubaoyuan, and judging from local reviews, it's probably hard to go wrong with either. But Hongyuan offers more than just great food -- it's a dinner on the lovely lakeshore of Qianhai, followed by an after-dinner stroll among Houhai's live music bars and tea cafes. It's a no-brainer.



As with most good restaurants in Beijing, Hongyuan is notorious for long line-ups and we decided to come early for dinner after spending an afternoon at the Forbidden City. The restaurant is housed inside a traditional Siheyuan courtyard, where each table either shares one large communal brass hotpot or gets personal-size Cloisonne Blue hotpots. Of course, both types are traditionally shaped with the long chimneys that have become the symbol of hotpot restaurants in Beijing.



Here's my big problem though: this is a Lamb Hotpot restaurant, and my wife doesn't normally eat lamb. Baby lamb racks are okay, but anything older and more gamey turns her off just by smell alone. Any goat or mutton and she wouldn't even come near me until I rinse.



So I took the conservative route and ordered a premium platter of the freshest, never-frozen slices of beef and lamb. The choice cuts inside this Four Delicacies Platter (Sixian Pinpan, RMB 58) included (clockwise from front-left) premium tender beef, sliced beef shank, lamb neck fillet, and hand-sliced fresh lamb. I had always wanted to try lamb neck fillet, known locally as Yang Shang Nao (literally Lamb's Upper Brain, but it's actually the soft muscle at the back of the neck), and was ready to set aside the beef for my lamb-shy wife and finish all the lamb myself.

True to its legendary reputation, the neck fillet was definitely the softest cut of lamb I've ever had. It wasn't quite melt-in-the-mouth-Wagyu soft, but it was non-oily and remarkably sweet in addition to extremely tender. In fact the entire platter was excellent, but that's hardly a surprise given the restaurant's consistent popularity. The big surprise here was ...



... my wife started eating lamb! She couldn't even tell the lamb from the beef as the characteristic gamey taste, the big turn-off for her palate, was entirely absent. To my astonishment half the lamb was gone within minutes, with much ending up in her hotpot! We ended up just sharing the entire platter of lamb and beef, which was all good.



To complement all the meat above we also ordered a Mushrooms Platter (Xianjun Pinpan, RMB 28), which our waitress worried we couldn't possibly finish. It was a healthy heap of Shiitake, Enoki, Yun'er (Cloud Ears), and Buna-Shimeji mushrooms, which are among our favourites in any hotpot meal. We did finish the platter at the end, though it took a while.



But the true essence of a great Hotpot meal lies inside the dipping sauce. Every respectable Hotpot restaurant in Beijing has its own so-called secret formula, which typically consists of sesame paste, fermented tofu, cilantro and chives, among other secret seasonings.

The sauce (RMB 5 per bowl) here was deliciously thick and lent an excellent rich flavour to the flash-boiled lamb, though the portion could have been a little more generous.



Last but not least, don't miss the free sweet-vinegared garlic cloves which come in small appetizer plates! It does take a little time to peel off the skin, but the delicious morsel inside is just the perfect palate-cleanser between mouthfuls of full-flavored lamb and rich sesame paste.

This was probably the most satisfying meal of lamb ever for myself, and an extremely rare and enjoyable one for my wife. I would encourage any reader visiting Beijing, especially those who usually dislike lamb for its gamey taste, to give this place serious consideration. Not only will you get an authentically Beijing dinner in a picturesque lakeside setting, but you may also acquire a whole new appreciation of lamb, just like my wife did.

Bill for Two Persons

Four Delicacies Platter	RMB 58
Mushrooms Platter	RMB 28
Soup Stock x 2	RMB 10 x 2
Dipping Sauce x 2	RMB 5 x 2
Harbin Beer x 2	RMB 8 x 2
Table Settings x 2	RMB 1 x 2
TOTAL	RMB 134 (CAD$20.3)

Another Northern Chinese delicacy on our radar was something every Chinese housewife makes, especially on the Eve of the Chinese New Year. No matter what you call it ... Gyoza, Kyoja, or Shui Gow ... it's a piece of mouth-watering stuffing inside a flour dough. In this part of China it is known ubiquitously as Jiaozi and, though it's often available at little informal eateries, most Beijingners would agree that mom makes the best. As I do not have a Beijingner mom, I'll just have to settle for the most famous Jiaozi chain in the region.



Food Review: TIANJIN BAIJIAOYUAN (Xidan, Beijing)
Address: 12 Xinwenhua Jie Jia, Xicheng District, Beijing
Hours: 10:00-14:30, 17:30-22:00
Website/Map: From Dianping.com
Directions:
directions: Exit Xidan subway station and walk south along Xuanwumen Nei Street for about 400m and turn right on Xinwenhua Street. Tianjin Baijiaoyuan is on the left hand side.

I have to clarify that I learned my Chinese culinary customs in the South of China where Jiaozi, or locally known there as Shuijiao, looked and tasted entirely different. I've always known Jiaozi as the bite-sized shrimp-and-bamboo-shoot dumpling with yellow, paper-thin skin and bathing in a savory broth, and have always been curious about the white, thick-skinned Jiaozi north of the Yangtze River. In this first trip to the North I was determined to find a trusted, authentic restaurant specializing in Jiaozi, just to satisfy my curiosity.


So we targeted Tianjin Baijiaoyuan, a franchised chain originating from Beijing's neighbor to the southeast. On Dianping.com it had the highest reviews from the locals among Jiaozi specialty restaurants ... and it's conveniently located at Xidan.

The first item we ordered was a pompously named Tianxia Diyijiao, or Best Dumpling Under Heaven. Affordably priced at RMB 10, it turned out to be a miserable attempt to emulate the Cantonese Shui Gow in a Northerner's menu. The mini-dumplings had fillings of minced pork/shrimp and were served in a southern-style clear broth marred by excessive MSG. That made us even more anticipative of the authentic northern Jiaozi to come.



Baijiaoyuan currently boasts 229 different flavors of dumplings, and we had the toughest time narrowing our selection down to six. Minimum order for each flavor is 2 Liang, or roughly 100g, meaning that we probably ordered enough dumplings to feed a family of four. Some of the flavors were the among the most traditional, while some were clearly not so traditional but still tasted great. Our favorites, in order of preference, were:
1) Pine Nut and Duck Egg Yolk (excellent, though slightly heavy after a few)
2) Three Delicacies (can't go wrong with tradition!)
4) Lamb and Cilantro (also excellent, especially if you love lamb)
3) Minced Mackerel (surprisingly good and less fishy than I imagined)
5) Duck and Shiitake Mushrooms (somewhat average)
6) Sablefish and Masago (unbearably fishy ... the sablefish was definitely spoiled)



What's this heinous creature in a bamboo steamer? Well it was our dessert! This was certainly not a real sea cucumber (costing only RMB 8!), but a sweet red-bean-paste filling wrapped inside a purple glutinous rice flour envelope. I guess it's probably fitting to call this a mutated Jiaozi.

It's a decent place for a casual and authentic meal if you're craving dumplings as much as I was, though we should have ordered half as much instead of stuffing myself to the neck (and still wasting a half dish at the end). If you ask about my preference of Chinese dumplings, I still like the Cantonese version in Hong Kong's street-side noodle houses better.

Bill for Two Persons

Jiaozi (Sablefish and Masago)
Jiaozi (Pine Nuts and Duck Egg Yolk)
Jiaozi (Duck and Shiitake Mushrooms)
Jiaozi (Lamb and Cilantro)
Jiaozi (Three Delicacies)
Jiaozi (Minced Mackerel)	Subtotal RMB 100
Best Dumpling Under Heaven	RMB 10
Sea Cucumber Dessert	RMB 8
Fresh-squeezed Corn Juice	RMB 12
TOTAL	RMB 130 (CAD$19.7)

Tumblr Tuesday with Maru

It's Tuesday, and you know what that means! It's time for another edition of Tumblr Tuesday! This week is dedicated to the unbelievably adorable cat, Maru!!! I'm sure if you are on Tumblr you have seen animations and videos of this feline cutie... most likely stuck in a box =^_^= This little kitty is not only an athlete but also a business cat. Besides being mentioned in Entertainment Weekly and Time Magazine, Maru also has 2 published books: I am Maru and Maru Desu! You can get your daily dose of Maru comedy via www.MeowMeowMaru.Tumblr.com or visit the official Maru website.

 

 

Get your copy of I am Maru now!

Giveaway: The Key to Taking Pictures Like a Professional Photographer

Maybe you splurged on a digital SLR camera, imagining yourself taking dreamy photos like a pro. Except that you haven't quite gotten around to learning how, so your camera is permanently stuck on the auto setting. You know you can do better... but how? If that's you, Katie Evans' new e-book, The Key to Taking Pictures Like a Professional Photographer, will help you show that camera who's boss.

Katie writes in a conversational style that's friendly and accessible, and won't make you throw yourself off a bridge when you read about f-stops and shutter speeds. Topics include types of lenses, exposure, settings, lighting, how to get subjects to relax and act like normal people, composing pictures, and fixing up your photos using software. Some of my favorite tips are:
• How to get your subject's eyes to look sparkly instead of dull
• How to make a DIY clip for your camera's flash to minimize the harsh edges you usually get
• How to make a so-so photo great with a few editing tricks

Win a free copy
Katie is giving away five free e-books, each a $35 value. Want one? Leave a comment here with your email address or other way of contacting you. And mention something interesting you'd like to photograph. (I'm betting 70% of the answers will be kids, but we'll see.) Five winners will be selected, contacted, and announced in this post. Giveaway closes at midnight CT on Friday, Sept. 30th.

Get a discount
Interested in purchasing a book? Enter the code ORANGE at checkout and get $5 off the e-book, now through Oct. 7th.

Update: The giveaway is now closed. Congrats to lucky random winners Robyn, Britt, Jolkipalki, Rachel, and Jessica! They've been contacted and will be soon be taking better pictures.

Sideshow by the Sea Giveaway!

 

 I've found my new love, and it's called Sideshow by the Sea! This accessory company is run by the crazy beautiful, Kristen Leanne. Kristen has graced the covers and pages of countless magazines and music videos, and she is just as nice as she is pretty. 

In fact, she is so wonderful she has offered to give one sassyNpunk reader a $30 shopping spree in her store! Pretty neat, huh? . . .

but beware, this jewelry is not for the faint of heart, so enter this giveaway if you dare!

Everyone can submit up to 9 entries. Each entry must be made as a separate comment to this post. Please leave your name and contact email in each entry. The more entries you submit, the better your chances are of winning. Do NOT submit all of your entries in one comment or it will only be counted as one entry!!

To enter: 

1. - Follow the sassyNpunk blog using Google Friend Connect
(If you do not see the Google Friend Connect box in the right side bar, try refreshing the page. Sometimes it doesn't load properly)

 2. - Like sassyNpunk on Facebook

 3. - Like Sideshow by the Sea on Facebook

4. - Follow sassyNpunk on Twitter

5. - Follow Sideshow by the Sea on Twitter

6.- Follow sassyNpunk on Tumblr  

7.- Follow Sideshow by the Sea on Tumblr

8.- Follow the sassyNpunk blog on Blog Lovin

9.- Post about this giveaway on Twitter, Facebook, or any personal website you use.
(include links if possible)

Yes, we will check to see if you actually follow sassyNpunk and Sideshow by the Sea online. All entries must be made by October 9th. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator.