If I were to describe Taipei in a few words, I’d say it’s pretty much one giant mall/food court surrounded by amazingly beautiful hills. I’ve never seen so many places to shop and eat. (And I live in NYC!) Their night markets are world famous. People are packed like sardines in these shopping districts into the wee hours, even on work days. Every night my mom and I would shop, eat, shop, eat, shop, eat……….

pin it!

pin it!

pin it!
This is a belt. It says “I am Lame” LOOOVE it!!!

My dad has wanted to renovate our family home as long as I can remember. It was small and charming, but the kitchen was in the front, and while it’s nice to be able to see kids scampering out front, it was a bit of an eyesore when we were preparing food or eating.

At first the plan was just to renovate the kitchen, which was in dire need of a facelift. And then we wanted to move the kitchen to the side of the house. And then we wanted to move the kitchen to the back of the house.

Fast forward 7 years and my parents finally decided to keep the kitchen in roughly the same area, add a brand new garage in front of the kitchen, and turn the old garage into a new living room. Unlike most extensions that get added onto the back of the house, we decided to add onto the front. I figured it’s not often you get to reinvent the façade of a house, so it better be nice.

I’m not a expert at designing traditional house exteriors, so I spent weeks looking at thousands of images online and in books. I even drove through San Mateo, Hillsborough, Berkeley, and Pacific Heights with my camera, taking pictures of beautiful houses. I’m sure I looked like a stalker. Or one of those undercover agents on “Cheaters.”

I was in California from October – December ’09 working on what turned out to be a SUPER HUGE MEGA renovation.

pin it!
This is the state the house was in when my parents called me for help. At that point my dad had already gutted the entire house, putting in new plumbing, electrical, sewer lines, and lots of other things that I don’t know the terminology for. The shape of the house changed, so the whole roof is new. My parents endured two massive floods when they were hit by unexpected rain storms, pending the completion of the new roof.

pin it!
The entire house was behind a green construction fence for many, many months. During this entire process, my parents were still living IN the house.

pin it!
Both bathrooms in the house were demolished with plans to turn them into one larger bathroom. The kitchen was gutted, and a makeshift “kitchen” was set up in the back yard. It consisted of a sink with no hot water, a plywood countertop, and a propane camping stove. My dad parked our trusty 1980’s RV in our side yard, and they called it home for over 6 months. The RV is surprisingly spacious and comfortable for 2 people. When I came home, I stayed in my childhood room and because there was no front door and no garage door yet, the whole house was like an ice box. We probably had raccoons cruising the premises at night.

pin it!
Not many of you have seen the old house. Unfortunately, we never took decent pictures of it before we tore it down. Thank goodness for Google street view. The old house was kind of an L shape. Now it’s more like a big rectangle.

pin it!
We need landscaping really badly, but besides that, i’m REALLY happy with how it came out.

My roommate and I decided to make dumplings. It just so happens that the creation of said dumplings fell right around the time of Chinese New Year, a happy accident that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy with tradition.

According to an unverified online source, dumplings signify family reunion during the New Year. I’m just going to also assume that they symbolize prosperity, because lets be honest, Chinese people are all about prosperity.

This was my first time making dumplings, and I will definitely be making more. They’re so adorable, sculptural, freezable, and giftable (not a word, but it should be).

pin it!
Going to go ahead and start with the glamor shots. Oooooo….

pin it!
Ahhhh…..

pin it!
The uniformity and repetition reminds me of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

To my mother’s surprise, I actually CAN cook. I absorbed a lot of skills from semi-watching her over the years and think I have pretty good instincts when it comes to cooking. These are some of most photo-worthy creations. I’ve recently been inspired to cook more frequently, so many more photos to come…

pin it!
Pasta with roasted cauliflower and tomatoes.

pin it!
Chicken curry with grapes on couscous.

pin it!
Lemon, thyme, mushroom pasta.