Author Archives: Michael

Mama What’s Cookin’: Chinese Dumplings

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Stuck inside today because of the rain here in northern china, and what else does one do inside all day? Cook!

 

I made Chinese chicken and cabbage dumplings. (With sweet and spicy soy sauce.)


 

The trick is to first fry the dumplings in some oil for a minute or two , this will prevent them from sticking when you steam them.

 

An easy way to steam the dumplings is to keep them in the same frying pan and pour a cup of water into the pan while hot and place a lid over them. Let it steam until the water is all gone.


 

An alternative step is to then pour some more oil in the pan and fry the other sides of the dumplings to get a crispy exterior.

 

And finally-Enjoy!

Pinning: An Art

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Pinterest.com, the new up-and-coming social media site promising to take your reach to infinity and beyond.

Pins from Connecting Four's Pinterest Boards

When done correctly, Pinning can be a powerful tool. (Not to mention, you stumble upon some pretty amazing work. Above are compiled some of my favorite pins from our boards.)

 

Here are some tips on Pinning…
 

1. Start with just a few boards, and make them great. Don’t create thirty boards with few pins and little draw for an audience. Give yourself enough range when thinking of the board theme, so you can make sure you have enough pins. Yet, make your board specific enough to capture a viewer.

2. Stay “on topic” within your boards. Related to the first point, but just another reminder to stay within the board’s theme.

3. Make sure your board cover is representative of the board’s content. This is the first impression of the board, make sure it is something that will bring an audience to the board.

4. Be yourself. Pin what you like, that is the whole idea of pinterest. Showing yourself through your boards will make your boards unique.

 

Here, our Pinterest profile has just a few boards, but with specific themes (and fully populated boards).

How To: Become a pro on Instagram

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I am constantly amazed by the creativity that shows up on my Instagram feed: the textured action shots , surreal scenes, and incredible landscapes.

In a way, Instagram on the iphone has become a strain of the popular analogue “toy cameras” produced by Lomography.

The trick to this hobby is to use a wide range of apps (not solely instagram) on your phone to get your image just right.

Michael Headrick's Instagrams

To get the most out of your iphone (or android smart phone), here are some apps to really open up this world of photography:

Great photo editing iphone apps.
1. D-Series 2. Art Studio 3. Filter Mania 2 4. Instagram 5. PuddingCam 6. Pixlr-o-matic

D-Series and PuddingCam are both camera applications that have a wide range of filters, and include their own options like image size, resolution, coloring, exposure, and more.

Filter Mania 2 is a bit of a cheesy app. They have many filters for photo processing, but most of them are almost cartoon-ish. However, they can be modified with the luminosity and opacity functions on the app.

My favorite are Pixlr-o-matic and of course, Instagram. Pixlr-o-matic has more freedom, but doesn’t have the strong social media aspect that Instagram has created.

Lastly, Art Studio is an interesting app. The main function is for painting and drawing, but has the capability to load images and gives freedom like blending options. This is an almost photoshop-like app, which you can use to layer images and do more detailed work.

Here are some examples and tips:

These three images were created using a variety of Instagram, Pixlr-o-matic, and Filter Mania 2.

You can add more a more graphic design look with Filter Mania 2, in the top image (the opaque circles and added colors).

Use these textures give your photos a bit of depth and some color interest factor.


The three above were created with Instagram and ArtStudio. All three are layered images.

This adds an interesting aspect to any image. The different layering and blending options utilizes the light and contrast in multiple images to give it a truly unique look.

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Lastly: Use Instagram to add the finishing touches (color, contrast and blur) and share with the world!

Sunset at 3am

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The countless carefree summer evenings, always comfortably residing in the back of our mind.

(nikkithy, instagram)
The artist places focus on the seaside sunset and dark ocean clouds, steering away from pure photography and stepping into the realm of art. The geometric alteration and vintage color scheme transcend a representation of this moment to communicate an emotion.

Here I tried the same technique.

By the way, check out Nikkity’s web store and blog here.

The Learning Process and a T-Shirt

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You know, this image isn’t about growing. It isn’t about changing. Nothing too deep.
This is just my attempt to make something better.
The process of refinement.
The voyage toward new possibilities.
Starting with the realization that you always have room to grow, to change, and to think deeper.

Resurrected Ideas (But maybe just for these 5 minutes)

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I felt a mixture of nostalgia and embarrassment as I went through my middle school sketchbook yesterday.  But in some ways these forgotten ideas and simple sketches have the power of suggestion for the future.

 

It is powerful to review the old and make revisions.

But it’s also powerful to realize, maybe some things in the past should be left there.

Summer Food

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Since coming to China, I’ve been eating like crazy.

Here are some foods you MUST try:

Korean:

Korean BBQ Pork.  Not quite barbecue at all, more like deep fried heaven. With a side of sweet and sour sause.

 

Kimchi. My favorite korean vegetable. The spicier, the better!

 

Korean appetizers. An assortment of all the best, and you don’t even have to pay for them, Korean service win.

Chinese:

Chinese “Zongzi”. Bamboo leaf rice dumpling. Filled with all kinds of surprises.

 

Soup Dumplings “Xiaolongbao”. Traditional dumpling with a twist. Caution: the soup you are about to drink is extremely hot!

Western.

Pastries. Who doesn’t love brownies, cheesecake and eclares.

 

Blended Coffee Drink at Coffee Factory. Best cold coffee drink I’ve tasted in a while. Maybe the best ever.

 

Cappuccino. Frothy goodness. Add a pack of sugar for the perfect balance of espresso and sweet.

Blog Meeting

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Today was a big day for the blog. Since I am currently in China, we are right now having some regroup chats and making strategies for the future. Our goal is to really stay true to our main purpose of staying connected.

This means chatting, talking, living, and thinking with the view of our siblings and staying in-touch. I want to keep going over ideas with each other and making sure that this is not in an individualistic approach. Below are some instagram photos from today… inspiration for the future.