My, oh My! Mini Apple Pies!

Hi All! I am getting ready for my trek up north for the holiday today. That should be an adventure. Before all of that, I am doing some winter cleaning, and finishing up some baking. Here's a post of my mini apple pies recipe :)

Mini Apple Pies

While I made my own dough (which I will add in a later recipe), store bought dough will work just as well. :)
Here is a conversion chart from U.S. to metric units too.

Mini Apple Pies

Ingredients

• 1 package of store bought pie crusts - should have two dough rolls in it (room temperature)
• 1.5 - 2 apples (chopped/sliced/diced -whatever suits you)
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (add a few dashes more if disregarding the nutmeg) (or 1 teaspoon of cinnamon / 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg)
• 1/2 cup of sugar (or less depending on your tastes)
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of sugar for sprinkling on the pie tops

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees (F)
2. Grease a baking sheet with either butter, or baking spray (lightly)
3. Roll out your dough to 1/8 inch thick and using a 2.5-3 inch diameter cup (or cookie cutter) cut out 24+ circles.
4. Refrigerate the circles for 15 minutes
5. Mix together the cinnamon (or cinnamon/nutmeg), sugar, and cornstarch in a separate bowl.
6. Mix the dry ingredients with the apples. (You might have extra filling left over if you choose to make more pies later.)
7. Beat the egg and set aside
8. Add 2 teaspoons of filling to each bottom circle and lightly dab the egg wash to the edges of each bottom circle.
9. Cover with the top circle and pinch to seal.
10. Poke or slice four holes or slits in the top circle
11. Lightly cover the tops with egg wash.
12. Sprinkle the tops with sugar.
13. Bake 20 minutes

I hope my recipe made sense to you. If you made some, post a picture of your creations in the comments below :)

Merry Christmas (eve)!

Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Quick Updates! Happy Holidays :)

Christmas tree at Fashion Island

Hi All!

So sorry for another random hiatus! School and life have just been crazy these past two and a half months. I hope everyone has been well.  I am on winter break right now for the next 5 and a half weeks so that should be fun. I hope that gives me more time to blog. I miss it! This will be a quick update and the next post will be about my holiday baking adventures. :)

• Just finished my first complete year of grad school! YAY!
• I'll be attending Anime Los Angeles, next month and cosplaying as a Fairy Tail character. So expect a cosplay post as well, next month. :) 
• I'm starting to get back into gym life again, and would like some tips on proper lifting form, if anyone has it.
• Just finished another tutoring job at a different community college; that was an adventure.
• I've found a new passion for driving through the canyons of Southern CA (mostly Orange County). 
• I did my longest drive in my car yet (North OC to San Diego). 
• Still applying for research conferences: 
• I also went to a research conference in Chicago, IL during the week of November 17th. 
• That was great. I saw some of my old research labmates from undergrad and my former mentor. 
• I also saw some of my paternal family that I haven't seen in over 12 years for some and over 20 years for others.
• I've experienced the loss of one of my college friends during the San Bernardino attacks, and had a great support system to get me through that. 
• I also just celebrated my 26th birthday, last week.

That's about it for my update, I had some very good things occur and some very bad things occur in life these past two months.  Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope everyone has a great holiday season. :) Also, comment below and let me know how life has been for you recently. I hope well!

I tried out some pin curls, and failed haha

Snow in Chicago, IL 11/2015

Till Next Time!

-Hachi

October/Autumn Favorites!

Hi all! Happy October! This is one of my favorite months because it's almost Halloween! :D So I'll do a list of my October/Autumn favorites for this blog! :)

October Favorites:


Fashion: I love dressing fairly casual during this time of the year. My go-tos are bootcut jeans, long flowy skirts, cardigans (when it's actually cold in Southern California), and simplistic t-shirts/tanks. If I do wear a dress, it's usually with boots and leggings. :)

Typical Autumn clothing - stock photo

Makeup: Darker shades of blue and purple for my eye shadow, thin tipped liquid eyeliner pens, black brown eyebrow liner, and NW-45 powder foundation.  My go-to brands are Urban Decay for the eye shadows, Rimmel London for the eyebrow and eyeliners, and MAC for the powder foundation. (There is nothing wrong with drugstore makeup! ) Occasionally, I'll wear a darker berry lipstick/gloss and that will typically be from Maybelline,  Rimmel London, or Sephora brand.

Make up for darker skinned women - stock photo

Drink: Apple cider has probably got to be the best thing ever for the autumn months. Whether it's sparkling apple cider, alcoholic apple cider, or hot apple cider, that is my go to drink. While most people flock to the PSL (which I had only one so far since they came out, sadly it was very watery tasting and sort of lack luster.  Thanks alot Sbucks!), my love is apple cider.

Apple Cider - stock photo

Meal: Something that I enjoy eating in the month of October/Autumn and pretty much all year long is Pho. Rare beef pho. It is probably the most amazing soup ever. I can even eat it in 100 degree weather. Crazy, I know. If anyone's turned off by the name, the beef actually gets "cooked" by the broth's heat. For me, I prefer rare beef pho to the well done beef pho because rare beef pho has a much softer texture.

Rare Beef Pho - stock photo

Movie: For the Halloween season, I love binge watching Harry Potter movies. I am still waiting on my Hogwarts letter, it's about 14 years late. :( I'm totally blaming the owl on that, by the way. Also, Slytherin represent! Woot woot! Anyway, I also enjoy watching Hocus Pocus, but Harry Potter is my all time favorite.  Side note: My favorite HP book is The Order of the Phoenix, which also happens to be my least favorite movie.  Oddly enough my least favorite book was The Half Blood Prince, but my least favorite movie is The Goblet of Fire.

Ron (left), Harry (middle), and Hermione (right) - stock photo

Nail Color: Any shade of blue or purple is also my go-to nail color for the autumn season. Last Halloween, I had Harley Quinn nails, but this year, I am looking for more of a simpler look.

Nail Polish - stock photo

Hope you enjoyed this blog post! Stay tuned for next week's blog! Also, leave you October or Autumn favorites in the comments below! :)

Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Hiatus is Over! Life Update

Hi all!

   I've had a very long hiatus from blogging! Pretty all summer I abstained from my blogging page. So sorry for that! I have been very busy and life gets in the way. Mostly all summer I just worked and did appointments. I didn't travel much at all during the summer, but I did move to a different county in Southern CA. It was a goodbye to the desert and hello to suburbia. I had a pretty successful move, but I also have been feeling a bit unmotivated since moving which accounts for part of the reason I haven't been posting much. Also, we had a family emergency back home ,which resulted in new living situations my family, as well and saying goodbye to my childhood home. :/ We still live in the same hometown though.
   Aside from the bad parts of the summer, I also had some good moments. This summer I went to San Diego Comic-Con as a volunteer for the third year in a row and even made a new friend. :) I also went to Long Beach Comic Con, and Touhou Con before the summer officially ended. I was able to have outing with a handful of my friends both from my hometown and from undergrad/graduate school.
   I have a couple of conventions coming up in the next few months and am looking forward to them. I have various cosplay ideas planned out and can't wait to show them. Until then, I will post photos of my two most recent cosplay projects below. :)
   Another great thing is that I have finally ended a one year writing hiatus on my novel and have so far added six new pages to it. I hope to continue this roll in both my novel and on my blog.  As a treat, I will be posting up at least one blog a week to get back into the swing of things and this can range from craft projects, restaurant reviews, cosplay creations, novel excerpts, recipes, product reviews, or almost anything that you request. It's my way of making up for my lack of attentiveness :)

   Without further ado, here are my cosplay photos from San Diego Comic-Con, and Touhou Con.

Harley Quinn -1950s style

Genderbent Shizuo from Durarara

If anyone has suggestions for future blogs, please let me know in the comments below! :)


Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Spring Cons and Gatherings, galore!

Hi all! This is a bunch of photos from all of the cons/gatherings I attended in the spring. I went to the Riverside Cosplay Gathering, Long Beach Comic Expo, WonderCon, and FanimeCon in the spring. As you can see, I've been pretty busy, and summer will be just as busy. Especially if I do end up going to Anime Expo. I will for sure be at San Diego Comic Con though as I am a volunteer there. One thing I love about anime/comic cons and gatherings is that I always either make new friends/acquaintances or run into my old friends from elementary school, high school, and college. Especially at FanimeCon, that's darn well a school reunion if I have ever seen one! Anyhoo! Without further ado, here are my cosplay photos! *warning, there will be a lot lol* :D

The best photo ever, and knuckles went turbo

Dawn and Misty!

Have a ball!

Cosplay Photoshoot - Dawn

Cosplay Photoshoot - Dawn

Obligatory low quality mirror shot of the full Yoruichi cosplay

Kaname Chidori - Full Metal Panic

Looking silly with my elementary school friend cosplaying as Kakuzu from Naruto

Peaceee

Future Cosplay!!! Nel from Bleach

Well I hope you enjoyed my cosplay spam! Enjoy your day! If you're a cosplayer, tell me what your favorite cosplay you have ever done was. Or! If you're not a cosplayer, but are interested in it, who would you dress up as?


Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Beginning of Summer Life Update

Hi all! It's summer vacation, finally! You know what that means! It's time for me to write some blogs! School and work got in my way the whole time so I am seriously lagging in the blog department. I will however be making plenty of blogs now set to post this week so I can make up for being late. This first semester of graduate school was something else. I made one really good friend and a handful of pretty neat acquaintances. I got pretty good grades (3.9gpa) this semester, and this is the highest I have ever gotten as both a cumulative and semester/quarter gpa. I am not sure why, but I feel a lot more motivated and encouraged to thrive at this school. That does not go to say that my alma mater was bad. I met plenty of amazing individuals there, and I keep them close to my heart. I think the primary thing to take out of that is that the way UC systems and CSU systems operate is very different. I came from a CSU family, starting out at a UC and getting my undergraduate degree there, and then going into graduate school at a CSU. The cool thing is, one of my childhood friends from elementary school also goes to the same CSU as me, so I see her periodically. I am also planning on moving soon! It'll feel good to get a new type of scenery outside of the Inland Empire. I have been here far too long, I think. I know this post is a little bit boring and lengthy, but I promise the rest will be more interesting. I would just say this is a beginning of summer life update. Stay tuned for more cosplay posts, fashion posts, travel posts, recipe posts, product reviews, and generally random ramblings. :)



Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Uh oh! Spaghetti-squashios! :o

Hi all! Once again school strikes and I get too busy to blog. At least, it's almost summer and I'll have more time. :) Today's blog is a recipe blog for Spaghetti Squash. It's a very simple recipe and would be great for tricking helping kids eat their veggies. It was my first time making it, and probably won't be my last. So without further ado, here's the recipe for spaghetti squash.

Spaghetti Squash:

Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash (2-4 lbs would be good for two adults to eat)
Pasta sauce (store bought or homemade) or toppings of your choice

Directions:
 1. Cut the spaghetti squash in half - lengthwise
 2. Scoop out all of the seeds.
 3. Preheat the oven to 375 F ( Gas Mark 5 / 190C)
 4. Put the squash cut side down on a baking sheet
 5. Bake for 45 minutes
 6. Using a fork, scoop out the squash width-wise to get the spaghetti shape
 7. Add whatever topping you desire (for me it was organic pasta sauce) and enjoy~

Here are some pictures of the process :)

Spaghetti Squash (recipe can sometimes be on the sticker)

Before you scoop the seeds

After scooping out the seeds

After baking

Fully baked after 45 mins

Scraping with a fork

End Product

That's all for today! Let me know in the comments if you have ever tried spaghetti squash and how you liked it :)

Till next time!

-Hachi

Comics, Cosplay, and Fun for all! :D

Hi Everyone! So sorry for the late blogs again..... I have been in midterm and presentation mode for the past month and things are finally slowing down! :) So with that said, I will post some photos of my last two events I attended: Long Beach Comic Expo and Riverside Cosplay Gathering. I am pretty sure I have said I am an all over Californian so I try to go to multiple events all over the place. I can't wait for my next convention adventure. :)

Me with some CSU Long Beach students cosplaying as Ash and Misty

Long Beach Comic Expo- This is still a fairly new convention for Long Beach. I believe this was the third year it has occurred. I went on the Saturday, which was the bigger day of the two day con. I cosplayed as Dawn from Pokemon, which was a cosplay I created through mostly upcycling. I took photos with kids, and did selfies with other Pokemon cosplayers. I met Agnus Oblong, the creator of The Oblongs, and got an autographed drawing from him. I also haggled for an hour with a comic book dealer to get the first issue of Black Panther, which I was able to haggle down about $25. That felt great. Most people I encounter at comic cons do not do research on the book before coming to purchase, which makes haggling harder. I also did my usual Captain America pick up. That is a must for me as Captain America is my favorite superhero. :) I went to a couple of panels, one for Cosplay/ Geek Fashion, and one for DC comic's new endeavor called Divergence. That's about all I have to say for LBCE, and I hope to be able to attend Long Beach Comic Con at the end of the summer. Here are some more pictures from that con! :)

A drawing by Agnus Oblong. He has some really weird drawings in his album too lol

PikaPool and PikaAsh

Marceline the Vampire Queen

Also, I did the Riverside Cosplay Gathering, which was at Fairmount Park in Downtown Riverside. I met new people, did a photoshoot (that'll be a separate post when all my picture are done being worked with.), took pictures, just had some good fun. :) A lot of areas have cosplay gatherings : the Bay Area, the Central Valley, Orange County, the LA area. You just have to look for them and I recommend them all to find like minded people and immerse yourself into a community that is very loving and supportive.I might also say, that inconjunction with my Hachi and Life facebook page, I also have a cosplay page so feel free to follow! :) https://www.facebook.com/sunflowercosplay
Here are some pictures from the Riverside Cosplay Gathering:

Ash, Dawn, Knuckles (went turbo), Misty, Ash, and Sabrina.

Attack on Titan, Pokemon, and Panty & Stocking with a Garter Belt.

Till Next Time! (hopefully in less than a month !! -_-;;; )

-Hachi

Gotta Go Fast! Gotta Go Far! I Got a Car!

Hi all! My apologies for the lack of blogging these past few weeks. I've been pretty busy for the most part. I have some updates for you, but I'll do two separate ones. Today's post is about my new car! Yes, I finally have one! Doesn't mean I'll never take the bus again though. I like talking with some of the drivers . Also, I go long distances weekly between work and school so it'd be better for me to save gas by taking the bus and trolley when travelling shorter distances. So a little bit about my car, and then some pictures! :) My car is a 2013 Kia Rio LX hatchback with a black exterior, beige interior. Some of my friends on one of the forums I have been a member of since high school told me I should call it "The Hachiback" haha. I was thinking of calling it "Ri-chan" even though Kia is a Korean car and not a Japanese car. Lol I would like to add some color to it, probably a lighter shade of blue to accent and over the years make the interior black and blue instead of solely beige. Without further ado, I'll add some pictures!

Hatchback side

Passenger Side

Driver's Side

Only my Photogrid has the picture of the front side lol

Ps.  If you have any street legal mod tips, please let me know in the comments below!



 Till next time!

 Hachi

Cosplay Project Haul - Yoruichi Shihouin

Hi All! :) This is my first blog post of 2015! Happy New Year to you all, even though I said that on my Facebook page on New Year's Day. Today was a decent day for me. I went around to the shopping centers in search for cosplay materials. Currently, I am working on Yoruichi Shihouin (四楓院 夜一) from Bleach and Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop for Winter/Spring. I might add more projects if time allows though. So my first stop was Michael's. I didn't find anything I was looking for there, which came to be a bit of a disappointment. Afterwards, I went to JoAnn Fabrics, and found my safe haven. I was able to gather some cream white fabric, some soft'n flexible sew on Velcro, some purple ribbon, and some white thread. I had a good deal too. I bought the fabric at 3.695YRD for 28.78$ at 7.79$/YRD. Originally, this would have cost 48$ so I saved a little over 20$ on my fabric. Something that is AMAZING for cosplayers! I am thrifty and cosplay on the cheap, but I still make it look nice. That is key.:) I used a 50% off one regular priced item on Beep'n Go, which brought my Velcro down from 3.99$ to 2$. My ribbon was 3$ and my thread was 3.49. I also got my wig in the mail today! It is a little lighter than Yoruichi's hair, and a bit shorter, so either I will get extensions to add to the length, or just hope people get who I am cosplaying as, which they should from her outfit.

A small review on the hair: it was only 10.97$ on Amazon, yet this is one of the better quality wigs I have had in a long time. When I got my Mirajane wig from Cosplay Magic for almost 60$, it was falling apart completely from the moment I took it out of the package, a lot of hair came out and it was shaped awkwardly for the head. This hair, I have only seen two strands fall out, which I expected, but it wasn't tangled or matted up at all. Also, it was easy to run my fingers through and it is able to withstand heat. So far so good, 8/10.

I will do a blog post about my Faye Valentine cosplay once I start prepping for it. I am using an app recommended to me by my friend Taylor (you can find her cosplay page by clicking on her name) called Cosplanner. I recommend it. It saves paper, helps you keep track of percentages done, and of amount for the purchases. I will include a picture of how it looks. :) Without further ado, here are my purchases and viewing of the wig!

All of the purchases, including the wig

Fabric

Ribbon

 Velcro

Thread

This actually has nothing to do with anything, but I wanted to show how my TV stand is organized.

Cosplanner

This is the look I am doing for her cosplay, instead of the orange one.

The wig, and yes I did add purple eyeshadow to my eyebrows so it'd match the color lol Eyebrows on fleek! jk

The wig from the back. See why it seems a bit too short?

That's all for now! As stated earlier, this was only some purchases for Yoruichi's cosplay, when I start Faye's, I'll make a new one, and I'll keep you posted on my crafting process. Do any of you cosplay? We have such a wonderful community, a family full of diversity, if I have ever seen one. I will also reiterate that "cosplay is not consent" so please respect us, and we will respect you back.

Till next time!

-Hachi