新年快樂! Year of the Tiger!

It's that delicious time of year again...Chinese New Year! This year is the year of the tiger, which is the year of mom, Shiway, and Ryan! No New Year celebration is complete without the Asian potluck littered with New Year goodies.


Amongst the attendees were J.Y., his niece Vicki, and his adorable son, Quan. I've known him since he was born, and I'm pretty sure he's the world's best kid. Ever. As a baby, he never fussed or cried when he was over...as a toddler, he was mild-mannered and well-behaved. Now, as a 3rd grader, he is amazing at piano, eats all his veggies, loves math, and is extremely friendly and still the best-behaved kid I've ever met!

Hard to tell what is there...but I'm sure there's about 9 different animals. Between the Taiwanese sweet sausage (香腸), squid, honey duck, salmon (two kinds!), fish meatballs, bok choy, Chinese broccoli, Kobe beef sliders, tofu, yams, shrimp, rice sausage, noodles, and other-items-I'm-sure-I'm-forgetting, it was difficult to control my eating.


Everyone has to wear red. :) Ryan is an exception, because he has red hair.

Of course, you must have fruit and dessert afterward! Lucky oranges!

Washing it all down with some tea, there was papaya, pineapple, oranges, mango, coconut chocolate cake, muffins, truffles, and my all-time New Year's favorite....年糕 (nian gao)!!!!! Glutinous red bean cake (think mochi), deep-fried in a crunchy, sweet batter. SOOO good...and only made once a year. :)

Not pictured are Morinaga caramels and licorice and fruit gelatins. Needless to say, a food coma ensued.

Ignite Boulder 8 (Ign-eight!)

Last night was Ignite Boulder 8! I really enjoyed my time at the last two Ignites, but I have to say, I think this batch of speakers was the best one yet.

The pre-party at Boulder Draft House was tasty-delicious, complete with beers and appetizers. The place started to fill up pretty quickly. Michael made a game of getting in most of my pictures.

Byron and his brother, Malcom, were first time Igniters...Matt was lucky enough to snag a speaker spot this time around! We were all so excited to hear him talk.

The coveted venue...Boulder Theater....sell-out crowd of 830+! Andrew Hyde (beloved organizer) noted the fact that this is the LARGEST Ignite in the world! So proud of that fact.


This time around, there was a theme. A warm, fuzzy, endearing theme.

Many, many, MANY thanks to the volunteers who pull this awesome event together. See the guy with the mullet wig? Joel Gratz? He presented at the last Ignite about his website, coloradopowderforecast.com. He invited his former instructor, Erick, to attend, and lucky for me, Erick happens to be pretty high up at a company called Funovation. He saw my talk about busting engineering myths, and forwarded the video to his co-workers. Long story short, I now work for Funovation as an intern funovator, with enormous thanks to Joel and Erick!

One of my favorite Ignite presenters (he was at Ignite 6, my first Ignite...but has presented at many other ones, too!). Ryan Wanger was surprised by his own wife giving a presentation about the life of an Ignite Junkie. It was adorable!


Another HILARIOUS presentation by Tara Anderson. Apparently, she and her family were contestants on Family Feud (5-Day champions!), so she recapped some gut-busting lessons from her experience. This slide just about had me in tears from laughing so hard.


Intermission, and Matt was ready to show the crowd his presentation!

The packed theater...

The intermission was accompanied by music from the Low Flying Knobs marimba band. Ryan and Michael had a good time dancing!


Matt was up! His talk was, "There IS such a thing as bad music, and it will be the end of us all"...I loved this slide about MTV.

Obviously, in theme, music is Matt's passion.

Can't wait for Ignite 9!

Spaghetti Carbonara

Attempt at Food Blogging x2!

Back in 2008, I was lucky enough to spend three weeks in Rome for study abroad credit. One of my favorite dishes was Spaghetti Carbonara...honestly, you can't go wrong with noodles and bacon. There are lots of versions out there that add cream and/or peas, but the most traditional version is simply pancetta, eggs, and cheese.

Even with the artery-clogging egg yolks, parmesan, and fatty pork, I decided to use whole wheat pasta to give myself some sort of source of nutrition.


Sauteing the thick-cut Sunflower Market's bacon...

Mixing everything together in an aromatic, melted pile:

A few final touches, and it is ready to devour.


Spaghetti Carbonara
1 lb spaghetti
1/2 lb pancetta or bacon
4 eggs
1 T garlic
1 c Pecorino Romano, grated (or Parmesean)
2 T olive oil
2 T minced parsley
black pepper
extra grated Parmesean

Saute pancetta in olive oil over medium heat, until meat has rendered most of its fat. Add garlic, and cook until brown. Take pan off the heat.

Meanwhile, break eggs into a medium-sized bowl, and whisk until smooth. Add 1 c of grated cheese, and mix. Set aside.

While pancetta is cooking, cook pasta, reserving a cup of pasta water to thin the sauce if needed. Drain and toss immediately in the pan (after it is taken off the heat source), adding cheese and eggs and parsley. Quickly toss, until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth. The residual heat in the pasta should cook (but not scramble) the eggs and melt the cheese.

Top with ground black pepper, grated cheese, and more parsley.

I have a new love, and her name is Holga.

Lomography, where have you been all of my life? I've been loving my time with my toy Holga camera and 120 film. The assignment in my photo class is to take one photo every day with the Holga for a little over a month. Here are my favorites from my first roll of film, and the rest can be found on my Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifoundkristina/sets/72157623329389170/

Chicago, IL

For a quick weekend in January, I went to Chicago for a Society of Women Engineers Senator Face-to-Face meeting. The days were packed with meetings and agendas, so no pictures from those. However, there was a mall connected to our hotel with a LEGO store, and I most definitely have pictures from THAT adventure. :)

Former roommate (both freshman year and junior year), Suguna, is in Chicago studying at Northwestern Medical for her M.D./Ph.D. She joined me in my adventures, and was kind enough to host me for one night.

Freaking...awesome.
Dinosaurs + LEGOs = every kid's dream.

Wall...of...LEGOs...Architecture series, with famous skyscrapers and buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright!

It was great to see Suguna, and the SWE meetings were very productive. Exhausting weekend with a cumulative <10 hours of sleep over the span of 3 nights...but I think I have since recovered. :)

Ah, Homemade Sushi...

...how I love you. You are affordable, delicious, and customizable.