I’m stressed, and I have tons of work piled up, and I just want to wallow in self-pity, but somebody is just not letting me feel sorry for myself!!

First, Christina from Dinner at Christina’s sent me the most thoughtful and sweetest gift ever:

• Homemade banana bread with walnuts (!!)
  
• Salpica Habanero-Lime Salsa
  
• Green olives
  
• Trader Joe’s roasted plantain chips
  
• Trader Joe’s Greenwheat Freekeh
  
• A hot pink foldable tote bag

And the cutest card ever:

I love the leaping frog! That’s the kind of person I wanna be! Not a froggy person, but someone who is always overabounding with joy and passion! Yay!

And I had to laugh out loud at the foldable tote bag:
Dear Christina, you’re my groceraholic enabler!
And who can ever resist homemade banana bread made with love?
Here’s the first plate with some of the Trader Joe’s roasted plantain chips:
YUM!! I loved how the sweetness of the bread was so subtle, as if it was just naturally sweetened by the flavor of the bananas. And chock-full of crunchy walnuts amidst the dense aromatic cake…heaven!

I’m also obsessed with those plantain chips now. I MUST stock up when I get a chance to stop by Trader Joe’s!

My package from my parents also arrived:
HOLY COW!!!

• GREAT HARVEST BREAD!!!! (My favorite: Honey Whole Wheat!! Do my parents stalk my blog something? Just a couple posts ago I was lamenting how I missed Great Harvest bread!)
• toasted nori
  
• Sesame Glutinous rice bread
  
• purse
  
• black sesame seeds
  
• Korean indoor “shoes”

Who (what) is Dooney & Bourke? No matter, I love it!
I totally needed a new purse since the one I’m carrying now was a second-hand one from Aeropostale…
And oh my God, my favorite kind of Korean bread (sesame glutinous rice bread) and pure, organic black sesame seeds from Korea!

Also, check out the pretty Korean-style indoor “shoes”:
These will remind me of my mom, since she wears these all the time. They’ll keep my feet clean and warm, too, since the floors of my apartment is rather dirty, and I’m an Asian who is used to walking around barefooted.

Here’s the sweetest card with the letter that my dad pre-sent to me by email:
  With a recipe for black sesame seed porridge by my mom…
I loved this quote in t
he card:
Another gift I received from sweet Mimi:
How appropriate! A Christian cookbook…not only to nourish the body, but the soul and the mind! It’s not only stuffed with amazing recipes (with tons of cheeeeese), it’s also got tons of awesome quotes from the bible. Also, I suspect Mimi sent me this gift so that I can cook for her!

And then, a mystery gift:
 Nigella Lawson’s How to Eat.

I have no idea who sent me this. It has no card, no name, nothing. Whoever it is, I send you loads of excited gratitude, because I adore Nigella!! I love her philosophy for food, and her refusal to make any food “guilty food”.

And unrelated to my birthday, but at the most perfect timing came my giveaway wins…
 Katie Lee Joel’s A Comfort Table, sent by dear Faith from Thought For Food! Tee hee! LOVE the Hello Kitty sticker, so cute! >.<
I’ve marked a few recipes I want to try (with a few fixings of my own), so look out for those!

Also, I seem to get very very lucky with dearest Jenn from Slim-Shoppin:
Free coupon for Silk Soymilk!

Yup, I am a lucky, lucky girl! Another reason I’m so lucky— I live in Los Angeles! While our East-Coasters are freezing in rainy chilly weather, I’m still walking about impudently with flip-flops under the sun with my sunglasses. Plus, we probably have one of the most authentic Latino food in the United States!

A week ago, Mimi and I visited Grand Central Market again:
Oh, I just love the un-frilliness of it! So…modest, so plain, so bare and unvarnished…It just smells so…ordinarily pleasant! >.<
We were here for the cheap produce, of course, but primarily for the infamous pupusas in this food stall:
 Sorita’s Pupuseria!

Some of their more popular pupusas were written up on the sign…
And check out their extensive menu!
I can just hear the birds, chirping, Cheap, cheap, cheap! $__$

What I loved was how loud and crass and unfriendly everybody was. I know, it sounds weird…but strangely, it just brought nostalgic memories of Singapore’s hawker centers for me.
I also loved watching the lady form my pupusa in front of me!
I got a pupusa de camaron queso (shrimp and cheese) and a chicken tamale with a side of pickled cabbage, all for just $4.36!! That’s the tamale and pickled cabbage…
And the pupusa…
Check out that cheese!

I doused everything with tons and tons of Salvadorean hot sauce:
So. Freaking. GOOD! The pupusa was came to me fresh off the grill, with just the right amount of corn dough to the filling.
The dough was slightly crunchy on the outside, yet pleasantly chewy on the inside…
The tamale was awesome, too, though I wish it had more filling.

But I did enjoy the little green olives in there!
The pickled cabbage just intensified the melding of saliva and flavors in the mouth:
Amazing. Just, utterly, satisfyingly, amazing!
Another thing I love? No fancy seats. You just prop up against the counter and dig in with fellow pupusa-lovers!

I think I’ve teased you enough about my good fortune.
But just one last reminder about how lucky I am: I’m having a sort of celebratory birthday lunch out with Mimi and Kathryn tomorrow! YAY! Cannot wait!

Question of the day: What is one good luck you had this week?

Related posts:

1. All Thanks to Love, Friends, and Party-Poopers
2. I’m a walking, talking, eating, and pooping ice-cube
3. Thank You Letter to God
4. Luckiest Brat in the World
5. Gloriously Unproductive Day

Tagged as: cabbage, cheese, chicken, corn, mexican, shrimp