Lunch at Pine Forest Vegetarian

Hello!  Today Tink and I went to try the lunch buffet at Pine Forest Vegetarian Restaurant in Houston's Chinatown.  It was my first vegetarian buffet I've been to and I was impressed.  They had a wide variety of vegetarian Chinese dishes like: fried rice, noddles, various vegetables like eggplant and green beans, mixed veggie dishes, dumplings, soup, fruit, vegetarian sushi rolls, and faux meats.

Here is my second plate with various items from the buffet.  My favorite thing is in the top right corner - they are like fried sweet potato balls. 

This restaurant has a full menu, as well as lunch specials, and the lunch buffet to choose from.  It is very clean looking and the staff is friendly and attentive.  I will definitely be back! 

Keeping busy...

Hello!  I have been so busy lately with working, studying, and exams that I don't have much time to blog.  I also have been busy carving birds! It is a craft I have been doing for a while but actually got serious about doing it 2 years ago.  These wooden birds are modeled off of birds I've see in the wild.  The wild birds serve as inspiration and also creates a memento of the place it was seen.

My newest bird is a Palm Warbler that I saw in Florida when visiting my parents last month.  

Anyway, soon I will be on winter vacation and will have more time to blog!  I hope you are having a nice holiday season and are having fun Christmas decorating and shopping.  Most importantly I hope you have the chance to spend time with your friends and loved ones - because that is what the holidays are all about! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year filled with joy and happiness with your loved ones!

I am so thankful for so many things:  my family, friends, good health, happiness, and to live in a wonderful country.   I am also thankful for all the little things in life that make life so much more enjoyable: electricity, gas, clean water, abundance of good food, the internet, cell phones... there is so much to be thankful for.

My first vegan Thanksgiving!  Tink and I went to Quan Yin restaurant in Houston Chinatown.  It was really good!  (...its making my mouth water again.)

Be kind to your fellow human beings and living creatures on this planet. I hope you have a safe and productive Black Friday as well!

...now Im off to Macy's!  ;)

Lunch at Nordstom Bistro

Nordstrom is great!  They have a wide variety of high quality merchandise, wonderful fashion, and great customer service.  My favorite thing about Nordstrom is their Bistro.  The food is always fresh, delicious, and intriguing.  My friends and I always eat at the Nordstom Bistro in the Houston Galleria.  Today I went with Tink.  The dining experience was wonderful as always and its really nice to come get something substantial to eat in the middle of shopping.

Tink had the Soup du Jour - Chicken Pot Pie.  He said it was the best soup he has every tried. It was loaded with vegetables, chicken, and the "crust" which was almost like a dumpling.

My Vine-ripe Vegetable Salad (with no cheese).  It was really good as always.  I really like the heats-of-palm and the dressing is mouth watering.

Versace Men's Fashion Show Swimwear

I am a huge fan of Versace.  One of my most favorite things is the Versace mens fashion show swimwear.  These are the pieces of swimwear that are shown during the Spring/Summer Versace fashion shows every year (Versace makes additional pieces that are not part of the fashion shows such as their monogram collection).  The fashion show swimwear always goes along with the rest of the collection so every year it is very different than the last - in terms of pattern, cut, style, etc.   It is my Spring tradition to buy a new Versace swimsuit and I wanted to share my collection so far...

 S/S 2004:  Moroccan Inspired Collection

This was the only swimsuit for the S/S 2004 Versace collection.

This was the first Versace swimsuit I bought when I was 18 years old from the now closed Chevy Chase, Maryland Versace boutique.  It is still my most favorite piece of clothing mostly due to sentimental value and the amount of time I wore them.  This same exact pair was used in a photo shoot for a magazine.

 S/S 2005:  Chaos Couture Collection

 This was 1 of 4 swimsuits in the S/S 2005 Versace collection.

This was a very difficult swimsuit to acquire.  It took months to locate it and I finally received it for Christmas 2005.  The second bikini in this collection was seen at the Houston, TX boutique the next year and they were still full price.

 S/S 2006:  Miami Beach Inspired Collection

This was 1 of 7 swimsuits in the S/S 2006 Versace collection.

I really like this swimsuit because of the cut and the metal piece on the side - it shows some skin and gives you a interesting tan line.

S/S 2007:  Dan Flavin Inspired Collection

1 of 2 swimsuits in the S/S 2007 Versace collection. 

Unfortunately I could not find either one.  I was told that Versace didn't make them or that the US buyer didn't buy them for the US Versace boutiques.  I was also in Hong Kong that year and none of the 3 Hong Kong Versace boutiques had them either.  :(

S/S 2008 and S/S 2009:  No Swimwear for both seasons!!!!!  These two seasons were both under the creative direction of ex-Cloak designer Alexandre Plokhov.  

 S/S 2010:  Middle Eastern / North African Inspired Collection

1 of 4 swimsuits in the S/S 2010 Versace collection.

Sand-wave pattern square cut swimsuit.  

Very comfortable and a nice change from the swim briefs and swim shorts.

S/S 2011:  80's Inspired Collection

1 of the 8 swimsuits in the S/S 2011 Versace collection.

Unfortunately the mens buyer for the US Versace boutiques did not buy any swimwear this season! 

I felt really lucky that I found this swimsuit at the Versace boutique on Paradise Island, Bahamas.

S/S 2012:  Classic Versace Gladiator 

1 of 4 swimsuits in the 2012 Versace collection.

I wonder what pieces they will make and buy for the US for 2012?

Fashion is beautiful, wonderful, and mysterious.  Like many things in life, if it isn't understood it is hard to appreciate.  I have been asked hundreds of times "why do you like Versace?  and "why do you need Versace swimwear?"  and the truth is because it symbolizes my life in a way that I cannot completely describe.  It is partly because of my love for the ocean and growing up close to the beach my entire life - swimwear is part of the daily wardrobe.  I chose Versace because I find it unique, rare, and beautiful - which I hope is symbolic of myself.  Having an interest in something and having a collection makes life simply more enjoyable.

Lunch at Ruggles Green

Ruggles Green is one of my favorite restaurants in Houston, TX. They have two beautiful restaurants in the city with a menu full of original, delicious, organic, and healthy foods.

With the cool weather lately I was craving something warm and fulfilling. They have a wide variety of vegan options for me, as well as vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free options. Today I chose an item from the Specials Menu - the Vegetarian Pasta with no chesse and my bf, Tink, got their famous Fish Tacos.

Here is my Vegetarian Pasta. It was one of the best things I've had at Ruggles (tied with the Local Vegetable Platter). It was piping hot, full of flavor, and all the vegetables were super fresh and delicious.

...and here are their famous Fish Tacos. Whenever I go to Ruggle's Green I see tons of people order this. The other day I ate at the City Center location and saw a table of 4 girls who all got this. The sauce it comes with is nice and spicy!

I highly recommend trying this restaurant! It is wonderful in so many ways.

If you would like more information on Ruggles Green including there menu and locations please click this link: RugglesGreen.com

Martha Stewart Garden Tools

Colder weather is here!! I think Fall is one of the most important times of year in the garden. This is the time of year where you need to prepare the garden for the harsh winter and plan for next year. I have lots of plans for the garden and having some good gardening tools makes the job a lot easier. I have been wanting to buy the entire set of Martha Stewart Gardening tools sold on Homedepot.com since they came out last year! I finally bought them and they look really good - a nice motivation to start getting some work done!

Softgrip Tools (left to right): Trowel, Weeder, Cultivator, Transplanter

Top: Swivel Head Bypass Grass Shears

Bottom (left to right): Precision Bypass Pruner, Comfort Bypass Pruner, Looped Handle Pruner, Folding Pruning Saw

Happy Halloween!

Hello friends! I hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween this year! I can't believe its already here...

Black Vulture - Coragyps atratus

The Black Vulture is one of the symbolic birds of Halloween along with Crows and Owls. Vultures are associated with Halloween because they feed on the dead, are grim looking, and are considered back luck in some cultures. In reality vultures are fascinating creatures and play an important role in the natural world.

Carnivorous Plants - Bradenton, FL

Whenever I come to visit my parents in Florida I walk along the equestrian trails in search for wildflowers. This day I was looking for carnivorous plants such as Butterworts - Pinguicula pumila, Sundew - Drosera brevifolia, and various Bladderworts - Utricularia species. There was a lot of wildflowers blooming during this visit and I was lucky to find lots of Bladderwort blooms!

Utricularia subulata - the most common bladderwort species around the neighborhood and along the trails. It is tiny! The stems are almost invisible and the flowers are smaller than pea.

Utricularia simulans - this was my first time seeing this species. It has a larger flower and has a bit more orange color in the flowers than U. subulata. It also had a fimbriate sepal which is quite pretty.

Sundew - Drosera brevifolia, this is another common species around the neighborhood. They are only about the size of a nickel. Drosera capillaris is also found here and grow around the same size. They can be distinguished by the flower stems - D. brevifolia is glandular (has the sticky droplets) and D. capillaris is smooth.

I also found a big surprise...

A Pine Lily - Lilium catesbaei!!

I found three of these lilies blooming when the trail started to become wooded with Oaks.

Cloudless Sulphur - Caterpillar and Chrysalis

A few years ago I bought a Candlestick Bush - Senna alata, from the Houston Museum of Natural Science plant sale. This plant as well as other Senna are host plants for the Cloudless Sulphur - Phoebis sennae, a beautiful neon yellow species of butterfly. My Senna grew pretty large (too big for my balcony) so I gave it to my parents who have plenty of space for it. The Senna thrived and has been the food plant for many Cloudless Sulphur caterpillars.

The caterpillars seem to prefer the flowers and small seed pods.

This one is quite big. Its munching on one of the seedpods now.

Can you see the chrysalis? It is hanging from the stem and looks just like a leaf.

Golden Nectar Smoothie

My parents house have a lots of fruit trees and at the beginning of this month they harvested a big bunch of bananas. My Mom and I wondered what to do with all the bananas and decided to make some smoothies - I had been wanting to make this Golden Nectar Smoothie from MarthaStewart.com for a while.

The remainder of the bananas. Very ripe and prefect for all sorts of banana recipes.

Here is the Golden Nectar Smoothie! It was really good. I especially like the addition of ginger. It ads a nice kick to the smooth sweet smoothie.

Kayaking - Miguel Bay, FL

Florida has so many wonderful outdoor activities and while on vacation here I have been doing as many as possible! Yesterday, I had a really nice kayaking trip with my Dad to Miguel Bay - a small bay at the southern portion of Tampa Bay. It was cool, the water was calm and clear, and it was nice and sunny. We saw an abundance of wildlife in the beautiful habitat of mangrove swamps and seagrass beds.

Here I am going through small islands of mangroves. Mangroves provide very important habitat for countless marine organisms such as fish, birds, and in some places crocodiles.

The Red Mangrove - Rhizophora mangle, is identified by its long prop roots and its propagules that resembles a long seed pot.

The beginning of a propagule - soon it will look like a long thick green bean which detaches and floats in the sea until it finds a suitable place to attach, grow roots, and become a new tree.

The low tide exposes oyster beds.

Barnacles grow on dead mangrove branches.

Turtle Grass - Thalassia testudinum

Shoal Grass - Halodule wrightii (bottom, left) and Manatee Grass - Syringodium filiforme (top, right).

Horseshoe Crab - Limulus polyphemus

Hermit Crab shell changing station.

Sea Stars - Echinaster graminicola, most common sea star around tampa bay.

Sea Star - Echinaster graminicola.  This sea star can be distinguished from its sibling species that also lives in the area Echinaster spinulosus.  E. spinulosus has blue/gray coloration between the spines where E.graminicola is reddish brown. It is slightly more spiny than E. graminicola, and I've also noticed that E. spinulosus tube feet are yellow, where E. graminicola are orange. E. graminicola is usually found in shallower water as well.

Variegated Sea Urchin - Lytechinus variegatus

Tulip Snail - Fasciolaria tulipa

Lightning Whelk - Busycon contrarium, a young one.

This is hard to see but its a very large Florida Horse Conch - Pleuroploca gigantea, eating a Lightning Whelk - Busycon contrarium.

Comorants - Phalacrocorax, resting in the mangrove trees.

White Ibis - Eudocimus albus

Tricolored Heron - Egretta tricolor

Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias

Sandwich Tern, Laughing Gull, American Oystercatcher, and in the back a Reddish Egret. (left to right)

Woodstork - Mycteria americana

What a wonderful day it was! I cant wait to go back and explore some more!