H-1B filing Starts tomorrow!

I don't know what will happen to this year's quota. A lot of people said this year is going to be easy since the economy has not recovered yet, many companies still lay people off, more restrictions and audit on H1B, and so on. But who knows. Anything can happen. Just like few years ago. I experienced it once where I did not get the lottery. It felt awful to be the only one among my friends not to be selected on the lottery. Jealous? of course. But, inside me, I know God is in control. I don't know the future, but He knows. He holds my future. He knows clearly.

Looking back, I did not regret at all. I am grateful that I did not get the H1B 2 years ago. I am happy that I did not work at PwC as an auditor. Maybe I like tax better. I am thankful that I could go to Beijing to learn Mandarin and make new friends. I am happy that I could finish my Master full-time without going to work at the same time. I am happy I have already passed my CPA and finished all my Master's classes. And I am so blessed that because of H1-B issues, I got detoured to SanDisk where I met my future husband.

God knows His perfect timing.

Aloha Hawaii

We love hawaii!! Not only it's relaxing, but it offers breathtaking views of the beach, good hawaiian food & luau, and my favourite activity is none other than snorkeling, whale & dolphin watching. Their spam musubi is really good.. They also have spam+ cheese musubi, something that I've never think about to add cheese..and since I love cheese, when I make musubi now, I always add that to my musubi.. I know it adds extra calories.. but oh well.. We love the hotel too.. they upgraded our room to ocean view room.. Nice!

The amazing view from the hotel balcony

At paradise cove luau

One of my favourite food: Puka Dog - hawaiian style hot dog

This is the cheese musubi I'm talking about..

Our 2nd bible reading

We read the whole chapter 12, but these verses struck me:
Mark 12:28-33 (NIV version)

The Greatest Commandment

²⁸One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

²⁹"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' ³¹The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

³²"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. ³³To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Bimbimbap

Last week, I also made korean bimbimbap. it's mixed rice with vegetables. I don't know why but this week's theme is korean food. Usually I'm comfortable in cooking chinese and indonesian food. The bimbimbap recipe can be found here. It's easy to make, healthy and yummy, so you might want to try it out :)

Before adding the sunny side up egg

For the rice, instead of purely white rice, I mixed 2 cups of white rice and 1 cup of korean mixed grain rice that contains barley, brown rice, red bean, black bean, etc etc. It has more fiber and healthier. One thing though, I did not use ground beef per her recipe, but I made bulgogi instead. My sister gave me the recipe a long time ago from her friend, but I did not have the chance to try it until today.

Topped with sunny-side up egg before it get mixed around

Here's the recipe for bulgogi:
1 lb thin sliced bulgogi beef
3 Tb soy sauce
3 Tb sugar
1 Tb minced garlic
1 1/2 Tb cooking wine (white, sherry or mirin)
1 Tb orange juice or apple juice
1/2 ts ground sesame seed
1/2 ts black pepper
2 Tb green onions, chopped
1 Tb sesame oil

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl to make the marinade. Add the beef slices to the bowl and thoroughly coat.Let it sit in the fridge over night or at least 6 hours. On high heat, cook meat on a skillet or frying pan (no oil necessary) until meat is brown.

Korean Tofu Soup

I really like korean food especially their soft tofu soup and bulgogi. I also like kimbab (korean style sushi) while I was in beijing. Check it out here! My favorite Korean restaurant in the bay area is so gong dong tofu house at Milpitas. Their tofu soup is very rich, a lot of tofu, perfect flavor for my tastebud. They also give a lot of good appetizers such as tofu salad, seaweed, fish cake, kimchi, soft tofu. Anyway, the point here is, since eating out at Korean restaurant is kind of pricey, I decided to try cooking one for myself.

I got the recipe from here. I also added enoki mushroom. I think it's really delicious, almost the same taste as the one in Korean restaurant, even my hubby says so. Hehehe.

Reading the Bible

A few weeks after we got married and came back to the US, we have been reading the bible together. Then, we prayed for each other. But then, we stopped doing it because we prefer to browse internet or watch movie than read the bible. I remind myself that we should start again tomorrow and the next day, but, we never did :( It seems that our time did not fit, even though we were right next to each other -- I was too busy chatting/facebooking/watching Netflix and richard was taking a break after a long day at work. So I continually made excuses to God. Sorry God!

So yesterday, I made up my mind to start again. The first is always the hardest. Once it becomes a habit, it will be much easier and enjoyable. We continued on our reading at Mark 11. He read the odd verses and I read the even verses. To be honest, I really enjoyed reading the bible together with hubby. We connect more spiritually and to God. When we exchange prayer requests, I feel more intimate that not only he shares his feeling and thoughts and burdens, but I'm privileged to pray for him. I pray that God will give us the passion to know Him more and strengthen our marriage, to love each other, just like God has loved us first.

Some scripture that we read that I want to share with you:
Mark 11:24-25
²⁴Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ²⁵And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

Getting Away: Half Moon Bay

We received one free night valued up to $400 from hotels.com. So I thought I want to maximize its value and staying at one of the best hotels in the bay area. I heard from some people and also based on reviews that Ritz Carlton at Half Moon Bay is amazing! It's pricey but it offers great service, great view, great food :). I decided to get away on weekend after my final exam. The valet service is very expensive for $45 one night, however, the resort fee includes shuttle to and from Downtown Half Moon Bay. Thinking that the valet cost is too much and not worth it, we parked our car at downtown, and call hotel shuttle service to pick us up before we check in. Hehehe.. Smart rite?


Anyway, truly the scenery was very breathtaking. The weather forecast was supposedly raining, but thankfully it was so sunny that day. The view was beautiful... the blue sky, long and unending coastline, the sandy beach, the blue ocean, the wave, the green golf coarse, the hotel and the firepit..

Once we checked in, we reserved two bikes for free, and biked along the coastal trail. We stopped often to take pictures :)

It's sunset

I thank God for the opportunity to spend quality time with hubby.

Bye bye School!!

My final exam is over a few hours ago, and with this, today marked my super last day at school, unless, I decide to go for PhD, which is very unlikely. Yup, I am so happy and excited. But at the same time, I am also afraid that I won't use my time wisely. I don't want to let those hours just pass by for 10 hours of sleeping, 12 hours on and off browsing the internet, watching tv series for almost a day non stop, but instead, I try to maximize my time so I can live to the fullest. I have been wanting to learn how to bake different types of cakes, cooking different types of food, enhancing my piano skills, volunteering, learning programming (since my hubby insists), learn adobe photoshop, exercising regularly..... and many more.. i also would love to deepen my relationship with God since I have no more reason to not have enough time.

Between now and September (supposedly when I will start working at Deloitte), I will apply for OPT, H1-B, my family will come and visit us in May, commencement, travelling.. Yuhuuu...
Life is good!! This weekend is half moon bay gateaway at Ritz Carlton. Next week is Aloha timee... Hawaiiiii...........

Long Weekend @ LA

Eat, eat and eat!! That's all we did... and windowshopping to some malls, hollywood, rodeo drive and night sightseeing at Griffith Observatory. It was a perfect president's long weekend holiday with hubby. We also met Ci irene + ko herman, as well as my lil sis's friend, Erica :)

Below are some of the delicious food that we ate there.

Daikokuya Ramen, Simpang Asia & Janty Noodle

Forgiveness

From K-Love:
If you have a difficulty to forgive someone, pray more to God, pray for that person, pray for yourself. Sooner or later, through your prayer, not necessarily God will change that person, but God will definitely change you, He will change your heart.

Blessings!