Tip Tuesdays are here!    I've started a new weekly video series on my YouTube Channel where I share some of my favorite kitchen and home tips and tricks. Sometimes they will be simple tips, some you can use every week, and others that are just interesting to know.  I'll aim to make each video quick (so less than 2 minutes each) and as always ~ simple & fun!  

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite fashion finds.  I love pastel colors because they remind me of spring - plus my kitchen tile backsplash has an array of happy green colors.  :)

This year though, I've been noticing more pastel greens to be the newest color trend, so when I saw this bright green dress at Nordstrom, I immediately fell in love with it.   It's a dress by Frenchi in a color called Green Placid.  

Just for fun, I made a video on one of my favorite Chinese New Year traditions:  

The gift giving and receiving of Red Envelopes (pockets) which contain cash.  The Red Envelopes known as 紅包 (Hóng bāo) in Mandarin are found in different sizes for fitting cash and usually come in red and gold colors.

Some interesting common practices with this tradition:

• coins are rarely used since it's easy to tell how much is inside
• usually new crisp dollar bills are given
• any dollar amount with the # 4 in it should be avoided (as 4 in Mandarin sounds like the word "death")
• the # 8 in Mandarin sounds like the word "luck", so it's lucky to get an amount with 8 in it 
• married people usually give these to unmarried people
• Red Envelopes can also be used as gifts for other special occasions (example: weddings)

So you've slaved away and made yourself a delicious soup stock and now you have a whole stockpot leftover.  What to do?  
Well, if you have a big family to feed and they love soup, they might be able to drink a bowl or two, but in real life, you'll likely have tons of leftovers.  

If you know you'll be using the soup stock within a few days, it's perfectly fine to put it in the refrigerator.  If not, I like to freeze mine in ice cube trays.  : )

Why Ice Cube Trays?  3 Good Reasons . . .

Reason #1:  Longer Storage Time.  Freezing the broth gives me more time to use it in future recipes, either for cooking with rice, making a tasty soup, or even using a bit of it for stir frys instead of water.

Reason # 2:  Handy Portions.  Let's say I want to make an Asian vegetable stir fry, or another recipe that calls for a bit of chicken broth . . . the cubes are small enough where I could just defrost 1-3 pieces for quick use.

Reason # 3:  Save Your Freezer Space.  After the cubes are frozen, I like to transfer them into a plastic ziplock bag.  This way it fits better in my freezer and I can refreeze another batch of soup stock.  

Looking to buy new hot pot equipment?  If you love cooking Asian hot pot at home, you'll need a portable tabletop burner.  Either a butane gas burner or an electric skillet.  I've used both and my preference is the electric skillet. The ones I use at home are the Zojirushi brand.  I've got an older model of this one and the newer model Gourmet d'Expert Electric Skillet (EP-PBC10).  Yes, I have two! Comes in handy when you have a big group of mouths to feed.  ; )

The reason why I prefer the electric skillet over the gas burner is because of the butane cans.  Each butane can usually lasts me around an hour or so (depending on how high you've used the flame) and that's not enough time to eat a whole meal (hey, I eat slow).  This means I need to change cans mid-eating.  Even though it only takes a few minutes, I'd prefer not to.