Grooveshark vs. Pandora

Both are my favorite ways to listen to music. Pandora is great because it is such a no-brainer. You can easily create your own station by easily key in a singer or a song, and just leave the rest to Pandora. Pandora will figure out your taste in music and play hours of music non-stop. You can of course use Pandora directly on your computer, iDevices or Android devices. 

However, if you're out of the country, Pandora won't work any more, not even in Canada or Mexico. Grooveshark becomes a life-saver then. It works just as great overseas. By keying in "Katy Perry", you will get all songs of Katy Perry, instead of a random mix of singers. If you're a more targeted listener, Grooveshark.com might be a better choice for you. However, Grooveshark app only works on Android not iPhones or iPads.  

Ways to watch the Chinese New Year Celebration

Hey the Year of the Dragon is just 20 hours away. Traditionally, CCTV hosts a big TV celebration, inviting the most popular stars to perform. Families across the country all watch together. I've religiously followed the tradition for over 20 years. The Internet has made watching the show so easy in the US as well.

Here are a couple ways that can get you quickly connected to the Big Party.

1. Go to www.cctv.com, and watch online directly
2. Download PPS app on your iPad or iPhone, and watch live stream directly

I would strongly recommend PPS, because the streaming speed is so fast that you won't experience any hiccups at all.

More snow falls

And one more day of no school. It feels that I'm having a mid-quarter break. From Jan.12 to Jan. 22, I had only one day of class. I'm not complaining, just assuming that I'm having an early Chinese New Year celebration.

The snow is really coming down right now. Everything is covered in white now and the city is so quite. It cracks me up when I saw some people bring out their skis and do cross-country skiing in the neighborhood. Totally brilliant!

Eat Healthy

My darling husband gave me a Cuisinart food processor for Christmas. Who would know that this unconventional gift has become one of my favorites!! What's an all-mighty addition to my kitchen!! It can chop, it can slide, it can blend... It has brought out the chef-gene inside of me. Have I ever mentioned that both my grandfather and uncle are chefs? :)  It also inpired me of one of my new year resolutions - cooking and eating more healthy. My latest attempt was pesto sauce following a simple recipe I found on Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 3 cups packed fresh basil leaves
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional)
• 
  

Directions

Combine basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, and nuts in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Blend to a smooth paste. Add parsley if desired. 


Wow, my pesto sauce smelt sooooo good! Kudos to my food processor and my husband!


Here is my lunch - Crab meat pesto pasta. Really yummy!

Attached a File to Email Using Gmail on iPhone or iPad

Wow, I haven't blogged for quite a while. I always use being busy as an excuse, but not today. It's snowing wildly in Seattle and I'm having a snow day off from school. After sleeping in till 10:00am, watching an espisode of 康熙来了through PPS App (which is awesome btw) on my iPad, I was contemplating between reading or playing with my iPhone. Not surprisingly, iPhone won! I just figured out a new trick on my phone - adding a picture to reply email using Gmail on iPhone. Here are the steps:
1. go to Photo folder
2. click on the picture you want to add
3. press the picture until you see "copy"
4. copy the picture
5. tap on the email you draft, click on "paste"

Ta-da! Send!

Repeat the same process if you want to attach multiple pictures.