I hosted a game night/potluck at my place a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the afternoon prior was filled with the stress of running to auditions and then miserably failing them because I was out of breath from running—so I didn't have much time to do any real cooking (I was also not in a good mood afterwards to put any love into my food). So I picked up some baguettes, prosciutto, brie, and fig butter from Trader Joe's and threw this bruschetta together. Luckily, they turned out tasty and fancy in the end despite me making minimal effort.

Topped with arugula, a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, this is a perfect bite to accompany a glass of wine and board games on a cozy Saturday night in. It's sort of upscale/grown-up version of those Totino's Pizza Rolls or Bagel Bites, wouldn't you think? Although... because they require such minimal effort, I wouldn't say they're completely grown up (kind of like me :P).

Ingredients

I apologize for my eyeballing of ingredients and the fact that I'm not providing exact amounts for each item. My suggestion is just to try and balance the amount of bread you have with the amount of toppings you have. Since we're cooking and not baking, I'll let myself off the hook :)

• Stick of French Baguette, Italian, or Sourdough Bread
• Prosciutto
• Brie
• Trader Joe's Fig Butter (or, actual figs if you're feeling really grown up!)
• Arugula
• Black Pepper
• Balsamic Vingar
• Olive Oil

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375˚F (190 ˚C)

2. Cut the bread into half inch pieces and arrange them on a greased sheet pan. Place a thin slice of prosciutto on each slice of bread and toast in the oven for 5-10 minutes

3. Once the bread and prosciutto have finished toasting, set aside to cool and slice the brie into inch-wide pieces

4. Arrange the brie on top of the prosciutto and spread fig butter/jam on top

5. Add a few sprigs of arugula on top and lightly drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

6. Top it off with some freshly ground pepper (I avoided adding any additional salt since the prosciutto is quite salty already)

Enjoy! This is easy peasy and is 20392429243 times fancier than Bagel Bites. Time to impress your friends with little to no effort ;)

With the weather in San Francisco settling back into the "habitable" range, I was finally able to ditch my long coats and sweaters for a midi dress and a leather jacket. The dress and jacket are from Topshop's and ASOS's Petite lines, respectively, and worked wonders for my 5'3'' frame. When it comes to styling midi/maxi dresses and leather jackets for shorter girls, it can be a little tricky when dress's long length and the jacket's wide shoulders easily overwhelm a petite frame.

What I love about this dress in particular is that it's not your standard midi made with the same material from head to toe. I'm in love with the cutouts embellished with lace that allow me to show a little tummy and leg without being too revealing. In fact, I think this is a great piece to wear to a holiday party and would be unique enough to stand out amongst everyone else's. 

Apparel: Petite Print Velvet Midi Dress (Topshop) | Petite Leather Biker Jacket (ASOS) | Sock Boots (H&M)

A huge shout out to British brands like Topshop and ASOS for making clothes for girls lacking in the height department.

Accessories: Rings (Forever 21) | Earrings (Yessstyle)

Makeup: Lips (Pony Effect Blossom Lipstick in #02 - Spring Romance) | Brows (Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Dark Brown) | Eyeliner (Clio Kill Black Waterproof Pen Liner) | Under-eye Concealer (Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Custard)

Location: Evelyn and I chose an alleyway in the Mission filled with pretty pastel-colored houses for the photoshoot. Away from the chaos that is Valencia street, this alley provided a residential vibe but still gave us the victorian "San Francisco" city style we were looking for. We were amazed at how gentrified the Mission District had become, and how it is slowly becoming similar to Hayes Valley (with its overpriced clothing and snacks). We didn't have much to complain about though, after we got our Boba Guys.

This is also the first fashion-related post I put up on this blog. Please look forward to more posts in the future! If you liked the outfit, please don't hesitate to hit that Pin button ;)

Photos: Evelyn Obamos

♥ Cindy

Hong Kong Egg Tarts are one of my favorite Dim Sum dessert items. Luckily, they are also one of the easiest desserts to make and require the fewest ingredients (most of which are common staples everyone has in their pantries). I used to make these all the time for potlucks—mostly because of how simple it is and how impressed people were to see a standard Chinese bakery item replicated at home. To simplify the recipe a bit, I made a shortbread crust instead of the widely-known flaky pastry crust seen in restaurants and bakeries. To spice things up a bit, I added honey to the filling to give the egg custard a more interesting flavor profile.

Although known as a more Chinese item nowadays, this dessert was preceded by the English Custard Tart and the Portuguese pastel de nata. These egg tarts are said to have first appeared in Guangzhou in the 1920s, and later introduced to Hong Kong in the 1940s and 1950s through cha chaan tengs—restaurants that offered affordable, eclectic western inspired menus.

Ingredients (makes 12):

Shortbread crust:

• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (or 1 stick) of butter, unsalted
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Custard Filling:

• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1 tbsp honey
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400˚F ( 200˚C)

- Shortbread Crust -

2. Add the flour, powdered sugar, and butter to a large bowl. Beat the egg with the vanilla extract and add to the flour mixture. Knead the dough until smooth and shape into a long log shape

3. Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces. Take out a standard muffin pan and line them with scalloped cupcake papers. Take a piece of the divided dough and place it into one of the cupcake papers. Shape the dough into the pan by spinning the cupcake paper and covering the edges uniformly. Try to avoid a shell that's too thin. Repeat with all 12. (Note that it may be easier to shape these shells at the four corners of the pan—and then place them towards the center when done)

- Custard Filling -

4. Dissolve the sugar and honey into the hot water and add the milk. Set aside to cool

5. Beat the 3 eggs and slowly whisk in the hot water/milk/sugar mixture. Add a pinch of salt and the vanilla extract.

- Assembling and baking the egg tart -

6. Carefully pour the egg mixture into each of the short bread shells, leaving a bit of space on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the egg mixture solidifies.

7. Place aside for 5 minutes to chill, remove the cupcake paper, and enjoy!

I bought the Glossier Phase 2 set in July this year with an intent to try it out and review it here but completely forgot to because—well, because of a lot of things, but mostly laziness. So this is going to be my first beauty-related post since July 8th. Ugh. How embarrassing!

I purchased the Glossier Phase 2 Set for $40 to mainly try out the "Generation G" lipstick and the "Boy Brow" brow mascara. I wasn't so enthusiastic about the "Stretch Concealer" because my under-eye dark circles are far worse than the average person's and it only takes the strongest and most full coverage concealers (Nars) to disguise them.

I received a slight discount (around $12) by buying this set instead of each individual item.

Above swatches: left - Generation G in crush, right - Boy Brow in brown

My first impression of Glossier products is that they are all very lightweight and sheer. So if you want something with more coverage and higher pigmentation, I wouldn't recommend these products. Since the Glossier brand focuses on a fresh-faced, glowy, natural look, their products are used to enhance the everyday face rather than to make a statement. If anything, these products create a great "no-makeup makeup" look.

Generation G: I found the Generation G lipstick to be very sheer on my lips and not very long lasting. Because it's intended to be "tinted lip balm"—and very moisturizing because of that—this product is not meant to be smudge-proof or kiss-proof. It was a little hard for me to get used to this because I'm very used to high-pigment Korean lip tints that last a day on my lips. Because my skin is also very washed out, I tend to go for darker, redder shades. However, I found the color, "Crush," to be absolutely beautiful and refreshing and think that it would be a great shade for spring (or even Valentine's day!). In fact, I think every Glossier product and their shades are better fit for spring/summer rather than autumn/winter.

Boy Brow: Although I had mixed feelings about the Generation G, I was impressed by the Boy Brow. I previously used the brow mascara by Benefit (which was all right, but didn't have a very pleasant smell to it) and one by Innisfree (which was the wrong shade for me). This shade of brown, however, really fit my brows and gave them more definition without making them look too overdone or fleek-y. On lazy days when I don't feel like doing my full brow routine with the Anastasia Brow Wiz, this is the perfect option.

The Stretch Concealer in Light was, as expected, disappointing. It provided very minimal coverage for my under-eyes and didn't do much to conceal the dark circles. Its consistency is quite creamy and blend-able, with a slight brightening effect. I would recommend this to those who don't have a very bad under eye problem, but want to enhance that area with brightening/highlighting. For those like me who have blue-toned, super obvious dark eye circles, I want to recommend a high coverage concealer such as the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer, or a less-pricey K-beauty dupe for the Nars: The SAEM Cover Perfection Tip Concealer.

One thing about Glossier I was impressed with was the cheerful, millennial-pink packaging they provided which was so up my alley. I was also overjoyed that they included some super fun stickers in the package. Their branding is definitely on.point as you can see with their social media marketing. Even though their products aren't super effective and convincing enough to buy again, I can definitely see the hype about purchasing their products to achieve that glowy, effortless, no-makeup look they've made so popular in their ad campaigns.

I also really identify with the quote on the box: "Skin first, makeup second." I haven't tried any of their skincare, but if you have, please let me know how their products worked out for you :)

Video and photos by the always aesthetically-on-top-of-it Evelyn Obamos.

Like almost every other millennial, I’ve tried my hardest this year to create a down-to-the-pixel version of myself on social media. Far from accurate, of course, this contrived version of “Cindy Zhang” stemmed from working at a social media company focused on showing users beautiful images and from watching the talented friends around me live their lives to the fullest on Instagram. I felt a pressure to do the same by showing off the most artistic and wittiest parts of me on the internet. As 2017 comes to an end, I want to be more sincere and tear down that image temporarily—if you don’t mind—and walk you through an honest rewind of the year for me.

The latter half of 2017 was—to say the least—mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting.

Mentally because expectations at work were not low, and working on an app that is used by millions of people is not easy. I came to understand that everything I built was fragile: poor code written on top of poor code. As that poor code festered in the repository, I woke up to crashes and a swarm of bugs created by that poor code. What was the most mentally straining however, was not things breaking but how I reacted to things breaking. I found my coworker constantly telling me to -breathe- during stressful situations that I handled with shaking hands at the keyboard—trying to fix a NullPointerException in order to make the next release so that the press article scheduled to go out at 10AM was accurate. But maybe I didn’t have to freak out that much. Maybe code is just code and the world won't end if Pinterest crashes for a few users.

I’m physically exhausted from actively choosing not to take care of myself. I had hit my all time low weight of 84 pounds in the second half of this year, which even at the short height of 5’3”, is a little bit alarming and enough to make my mother worried. I’ve struggled with my weight since sixth grade, so this is not the least bit new to me; but I feel like this year my body has taken the worst blow in the last twelve years or so.

I’m emotionally exhausted because I cut ties with many friends this year and saw several relationships come to an end. This may have a lot to do with the fact that 2017 was the first full year I spent away from San Diego, where most of my close friends reside. It might also have to do with the fact that I’ve changed quite a lot in the past year, and no longer identify with the many surface-level friends I’ve made in college. Losing friends, unfortunately, didn’t stop at losing friends. A relationship coming to an end somehow brought all things associated with that relationship to an end. This made me create a new set of boundaries on my life to restrain me to what I was allowed to touch and see on the internet, and even songs I was allowed to sing and listen to. Relationships going sour made me quite paranoid at what people back home were saying about me, and whether they were laughing at me behind my back. Because their perception of me is only as good as someone else’s, I felt like I had no control over their opinion of me if they’ve already sided with someone who thought negatively of me.

Anyways, this was my first serious relationship ever, so excuse me if I let my introvert tendencies slip into something that required so much communication.

OKAY, let’s take a break from all this. Yes I am exhausted, but I’ve also grown a lot in 2017, and after taking a lot of hits from this year, I can confidently say that I’ve grown in these 2 areas: music and engineering.

Music

I learned how to play the guitar!!! This still seems a little bit crazy to me because in the beginning I had a lot of insecurities holding me back and could come up with a million reasons why I didn’t need to learn guitar. The first being that everyone my age already knew how to play it, and I was too much of a late bloomer to even bother. A girl singing with a guitar is also far from original and seems like a musical cliche, doesn’t it?

When I started out, my fingers did not comply and I found it almost impossible to produce the simplest sound. Because I had been studying classical violin since 4th grade, it was mind-boggling to me to move my fingers in ways that were frowned upon in my violin training but were standard techniques for guitar. I had a hard time convincing my stubborn fingers to change their behavior and admitting that I was playing a guitar and not just a bigger violin.

There was a huge learning curve, but the solution to that learning curve was the same solution to everything else in music—more practice and more listening. I made it a goal to practice every single night, even if I was busy and it was far beyond my bedtime. Eventually it became a nightly routine—like brushing my teeth! I figured with even just a small amount of practice every day, I would gradually get better.

After listening to my favorite acoustic guitar jams at work and practicing nightly, everything about the guitar turned out to be incredibly intuitive, and it opened up an entirely different world of music to me. Technically, it allowed me to visualize chords clearly and made me appreciate how easy it was to transition between consecutive chords of the same quality (even sliding into them to say the least! That’s unheard of on a piano!). Creatively, it allowed me to develop a different approach to songwriting from the one I become comfortable with on the piano. Can we also talk about how beautiful the acoustic guitar sounds? It sounds so incredibly... sad... like, in a good way. I love it.

But no means am I any good at guitar yet. I’m just more familiar with basic functions and I still have a lot to improve on in 2018.

I started doing gigs by myself! I probably should’ve started doing this sooner but always found myself in musical situations where I was only contributing a small portion to the full picture. I’ve constantly been surrounded by talented musicians and so I’ve become reliant on them to take care of me as a struggling musician. After doing a few shows by myself, I developed the skill of quick error recovery, meaning: not giving a shit when I sing/play the wrong note and moving on. I learned that in order to be a good performer, you need to put all your emotion and skill on the current note you’re playing (maybe a bit of thought on upcoming notes as well), and not linger on past mistakes you’ve made.

Engineering

The engineers at Pinterest are some of the most hardworking people I know, and I’m happy to say that I’ve learned a huge amount from them this year. There are a few who have been amazingly helpful in explaining difficult concepts to me and held my hand when I ran into challenges. I am incredibly grateful to those people and I’m confident to say that I’m a better engineer today because of them.

Pinterest Lens was my biggest project within my first six months at Pinterest. It was a huge technical challenge and I spent many long nights trying to build the smallest parts of it on Android. Luckily, I was able to finish the front end in preparation for a press event, and even did a tech talk around it in March. Doing an interview with Mercury News was another new and exciting step forward this year—mainly because I’ve been daunted by the idea of public speaking my whole life. Luckily, the PR people at Pinterest are, like the engineers, total beasts and helped me a tremendous amount in tackling these interviews and improving my public speaking skills.

I also ended up writing my first blog post for the Pinterest Engineering blog about Pincodes, which was technically challenging mostly due to dealing with a third-party library and working with external engineers. This was yet another project that made me realize that being a good product engineer does not mean just being a good programmer. It’s crucial for engineers to be good at communicating and to bring up concerns about what is technically feasible or not during meetings—which was, again, tough for an introvert like me. I'm still trying very hard these days to develop a good sense of the product and voice opinions from a perspective different than the PM’s or the designer’s, and to not hate the sound of my voice as I'm speaking up meetings.

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I wanted to end this year on a good note. So even though my reaction to 2017 was not the most positive, I want to remind myself that a lot went right this year and I should be fortunate that I have the opportunity to improve as a musician, engineer, friend, and daughter. Growing is by no means painless and it would be worse to be blind to stress and to overlook the problems that I have the ability to solve. I’m fortunate that I was able to come face to face with many challenges this year and—for the most part—overcome them.