27 Years!

A little over 27 year ago, my Uncle Popp who is a US Citizen, applied for the green card for  my parents and I.  The green card is an identification card that shows that you are a permanent resident.  It didn't take long for us to receive the green card, only 3 short months.  After we received our green cards, my parents finalized their business in Taiwan, packed us up and off we flew to Los Angeles, which was our first stop.  The flight from Taiwan to LA took about 14-16 hours, 6,888 miles!  I don't remember much about the flight.  I just remember when we arrived in LA, I looked out the window of the plane and all I saw was a sea of lights.  I remember thinking how pretty it was.  A pretty good introduction of the US for a little girl.  I think we were in LA for maybe a day or two before taking another flight to Atlanta, where my mom's family lives.  But our final destination was Waldorf, Maryland.  We lived there for about 3 years before making the decision of moving down to Atlanta permanently. 

I still can't believe it's been 27 years already!!!

Garlic Lime Marinade

My husband and I were down in West Palm Beach a couple of weekends ago visiting our dear friends, Mr. Sam and his wife Rachel.  Why do I call him Mr. Sam you ask?  When Mr. Sam first met my husband's nieces and nephews, they were getting confused as to why he was also called Sam since I'm Sam to them.  So we came up with Mr. Sam to make it easier for the little kiddos. 

Mr. Sam is a great cook, I especially love his hummus.  He made us dinner that weekend out by the pool of his condo.  He made this marinade that tasted and smelled so good that I just had to steal the recipe.  I couldn't decide what to make for dinner so decided to try Mr. Sam's marinade.  I'm so glad I did!  The chicken turned out beautifully.  YUM YUM YUM!  Mr. Sam grilled his but I pan seared mine.

After I finished searing the chicken, I took a pat of butter into the same pan and took the remaining marinade and cooked it down for additional flavoring/glaze on top of the chicken.  I served the chicken with a side of sauteed broccoli and rice.  I made 3 1/2 pieces of chicken breast and 3 small heads of broccoli.  I made enough that we both had leftovers for lunch the next day!

Mr. Sam's Garlic Lime Marinade

Chicken breast
4 cloves of garlic (more or less depending on your taste) minced
Juice of 1-2 limes
Olive Oil
Salt

Combine all the ingredients into a bowl and whisk.  Place chicken into the bowl and marinate for about 30 minutes.  Heat your skillet on medium low heat.  Add olive oil to heated pan.  I cooked my chicken for about 3-4 minutes or until brown on both sides.  Once all the chicken are cooked, place it on a plate to let it "rest".  Put about 1 tablespoon of butter into the hot pan and let the butter melt while deglazing the pan.  Once the butter has melted, pour the remaining marinade in.  Reduce the marinade by about half.  When the glaze is finished, slice the chicken breast and drizzle glaze on top and enjoy!

Creamy Garlic Pasta

I'm always browsing Pinterest, looking for ideas and came across this recipe and thought it looked good enough to try.  I was looking at the ingredients and knew I had it all in my fridge and pantry.  I made it that same night and the results were delicious! It was super easy to make and taste really really good.  It's also a really heavy dish so I skipped most of the heavy cream that it calls for.  And the next time I make it, I would eliminate the heavy cream altogether.

Nail Art

I have never been a big fan of nail art.  Usually I just like the nude or light pink colors for my fingernails.  But this summer, the bright colors have caught my eyes.  A few months ago, I was looking through Pinterest and came upon a nail art that I absolutely LOVED! I'm a HUGH fan of cupcakes and saw a cupcake nail art.  I was so excited! 

How cute is this?!

My cousin owns two nail salons in the Atlanta area, me and a few of my girlfriends had already made an appointment to get our nails done for our ladies get together.  I started texting my cousin about the nail art and she set me up with a nail tech that is actually a cake decorator and is really good at nail art.  I could not wait!  Our scheduled ladies day finally arrived this past Saturday.  I really liked the blue that is in the picture above but I couldn't find that exact color but found this instead.

essie's Mint Candy Apple

This is the color that I chose for my toe nails but wasnt' sure if I'd like it on my fingers.  I consulted with my tech and we decided to do the base of my cupcake with the mint candy apple.  I'm glad I did because the nail art turned out really well and I love it!

If you are in the Atlanta area and would like to be pampered and have awesome nail art done, check out Sugarcoat.  I went to the Virginia Highlands location and my nail tech was Christian.  She's so sweet and soft spoken but so talented. 

Virginia Highlands Location

My favorite is the Signature treatment.  During the pedicure, your legs are rubbed down with their own blend of sugar scrub then moisturized with Sugarcoat foot creme.  During your manicure, you are also treated with the hands and arms massage then moisturized with the most delicious smelling lotion called Cake "Milk Made" hand creme (which you can purchase at either location).  I kid you not, every time I use this lotion, I always find myself smelling my arms.  People probably think I'm weird or crazy for sniffing my arm but if you use Cake, you would be doing the same thing!

Hong Kong

I was born in Taiwan and came to the States when I was 7.  My husband was born in the States and his parents are from Hong Kong.  When we were first married, we always talked about taking a trip to both Hong Kong and Taiwan since I have never been to Hong Kong and he's never been to Taiwan.  We talked for several years of wanting to take this trip but the timing was never right or couldn't take the time off.  We finally managed it this year and we were both able to take close to a month off work.  So off we went in late March.  First stop, Hong Kong!

At the Harbour

On the Star Ferry

Once we crossed over the Harbour, our first visit was Victoria Peak.  You take the Peak Tram up 1,300 feet above sea level! The experience was pretty unforgettable.  Once we arrived at the Peak, the view across the Harbour was breath taking.  We spent probably the entire day there, it was so beautiful. 

On the Peak Tower overlooking the Harbour

Gorgeous night view



The next day, we went back to Hong Kong Island and took the bus up to Stanley which is located on the Southeastern point of Hong Kong Island.

Repulse Bay

On our third day, we visited Tian Tan Buddha right next to the Po Lin Monastery where we enjoyed a delicious vegetarian lunch.  This Buddha was the world's tallest outdoor bronze seated Buddha prior to 2007.
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The Buddha behind us  

Climbing the 240 steps up but it felt more like a million steps!

On our last day, we went in search for the best of the best Dim Sum.  You have not had authentic Dim Sum until you've eaten here! 

When we finally found the place, the wait was 2 hours long!  2 hours!! We put our name down and went in search for some bubble tea.  Once we got our bubble tea, we headed back to the restaurant.  We were only gone for about 20 + minutes.  And so lucky that we did because all the names that were ahead of us on the list were not around when the host started calling numbers.  I think we waited for about another 15 minutes before our number was called.  While we were waiting for our number to be called, we already picked out what we wanted.  In Hong Kong, (apparently, it's not all of Hong Kong.  It had just been the ones that we went to) you write down your food order, like when you order Sushi on the slip of paper and not order off of the heated carts that's being pushed around.  We waited another 5 minutes before our food started arriving.  I have to say, we didn't take much pictures cause we were too hungry and just could not wait to dig in!

Our tower of food

While walking around, you see lots and lots of bakeries.  Yummy freshly baked breads and desserts. 

Angry Birds were everywhere!!

This last picture is for the car lover...

I call this the Batman Car

Stay tuned for our trip to Taiwan...

The Channonballs?

I bet you're wondering how the name "Channonballs" came about.  Before I married my husband, we hung out with his older sister a lot.  During the 6 years of us dating, his sister had 4 kids and they go by the name Fungasaurs.  So I got to thinking...when we get married, we have to come up with a cool name too.  With my husband's last name being Chan, I wanted, no needed to incorporate the name.  I starting brainstorming in my head constantly.  Chanasaurs? No, doesn't sound right.  Chansaurs? Chan something!  Ugh!  This is so hard!  Finally, one day I thought Channon?  No, the Channons sounds funny.  I wanted something strong and kept playing around and thought Chanballs? No, Channonballs!  I told my husband about the name and he loved it!  And the name has been used ever since we were married back in 2008 and the rest, you can say, is history.