I have a question for you guys: Have you ever picked up hitchhiker or given a ride to a stranger you met somewhere? No judgment here.

My DB and I flew to Vegas for the day yesterday since we have a long weekend. We took the first flight out in the morning and the last flight back in. I always wanted to do that. My parents and aunts were also in Las Vegas for the weekend, so it worked out perfectly. My dad picked us up from the airport and we spent the day eating and walking around.

We had dinner in Chinatown before leaving, and as my dad came to pick us up, he said, “We have plenty of time before your flight, right? We’re going to drive a girl to Circus Circus. She needs a ride.”

TIMEOUT.

What?!? My DB and I watched a movie the night before called Vile on Netflix about this situation. In the movie, a girl comes up to a bunch of teenagers at a gas station and asks for a ride back to her car because she ran out of gas. She seems like a cougar, so the boy driving happily gives her a lift despite his disapproving girlfriend. She ends up smoke bombing them in the car, kidnapping them, and then they all wake up locked in a house. Can you guess the ending? I’ll give you a hint: there are no survivors.

So naturally, I’m freaking out. My mom, my DB, and I bombarded my dad with questions. Who is this girl? Why are we giving her a ride? What is she doing by herself? Where did you find her?

You have to understand, my dad has the biggest heart out of anyone I know. Whenever he sees someone in distress, he’ll come to the rescue. He’s that guy. He’ll help all of our neighbors with any fix-it problem they have. He’ll pull over to help people push a car to a gas station when they’ve run out of gas. He’ll happily jump your car when your battery dies.

He saw a tiny, Asian girl standing in the middle of the dark parking lot in Chinatown with a rolling luggage and offered her a ride because that’s what he does. We all squeezed into the car and off we went.

It was extremely awkward at first. Why would this girl get in a car with a random stranger she doesn’t know? My dad doesn’t look that friendly. We found out that she was waiting for a taxi and that she was here on a meeting with a “client.” My dad immediately asked her what kind of business she was in, oblivious to the situation. My heart was about to beat out of my chest. “Meeting” a “client” in Vegas?!?! I’m pretty sure I died at this point.

She responded that she sold clothes and was meeting with the buyer to show her products (hence the luggage). This was her first time in the states. She graduated last year from a University in China and was here alone. She had an accent, but we were all surprised at how well her English was for a first timer in the US. You could tell that she didn’t understand everything we said or asked because she’d just laugh and nod at times. That totally works, by the way. If you don’t understand someone, just laugh and nod.

We dropped her off at Circus Circus and all was well. There was no secret gang waiting for us, no smoke bombs, and no surprises. I commend this girl for having so much bravery. She traveled to a country by herself, not knowing anyone, and trusted in complete strangers. You go, girl. But next time, don’t hop into a car with people you don’t know. You never know who you’re going to be with. My parents would kill me if I ever did that.

Have I told you guys how much I love flank steak? It’s wonderfully priced and you can do so much with it. It cooks fast, too! My kind of meat. This recipe is from Get Crocked and is basically a lazy person’s way of cooking an easy meat.

With these two months that I have off of work, I set a goal for myself: to learn how to knit. I’ve never been a knitter and have never tried, so I was really going in blind with this task. I didn’t have anyone to teach me, either. We all know that my DB isn’t very skilled in anything related to domesticity.

I’ve always wanted to learn how to knit since it’s useful and it’s something that I can do anywhere. Knitting is the perfect hobby for me to do while traveling, too. I can pack lightly with a ball of yarn and two sticks. Not only that, but imagine all the possibilities of knitting! I can make scarves, headbands, beanies, leg warmers…. the list is endless. What I’m really saying is that in the case of an apocalypse, I won’t be naked. That’s the most important part.

So off I went to the closest craft store to gather my materials. I went into the knitting/crocheting section and was completely overwhelmed. I mean, I’m usually at Joann’s on a regular basis for gift wrapping materials, specialty baking needs, scrapbook paper, and other odds and ends… but there are FOUR aisles of yarn in my Joann’s. FOUR. How did I miss these aisles before? It’s funny how you never notice something that’s right in front of you.

Of course, those four aisles of yarn kept me occupied for a good hour. I’m not ashamed. I went through every single row and every brand, touching and feeling the differences in all the fabrics while little ol’ ladies would zoom past me, grab their yarn, and leave in a second.

I wasn’t in a rush to make a decision. In order for me to learn, I have to start with the basics. I have to get to know my materials and understand the differences between them. It’s the same thing as baking. We all have brands and styles of pans that we love and adore, while there are others that we aren’t very fond of.

Example? Silicone pans. That’s just a big no-no for me, even though some swear by it. I’ll stick to my no-stick, steel pans, thank you very much.

After what seemed like two seconds to me in the store, I bought my yarn and bamboo needles. I went home to figure out what the heck I was going to do with them. A couple of YouTube videos later and I was on my way to knitting… something. I just started and went with it. A swatch? A baby sized placemat? What could I turn this rectangular shape into?

Once I finished learning how to knit with two separate needles, I went back to Joann’s for my next task: learn how to knit using a loom.

I couldn’t find any good tutorial online to figure out how to do it. I watched numerous videos and pieced them all together in order to create a scarf. Once I got the hang of it, I was in beast mode. The loom gives out way better results than knitting by hand!

So now, loom knitting has taken over my life. I. can’t. stop. It makes me feel productive when I’m not. I can watch five shows on Netflix and not feel so lazy because hey, I got an infinity scarf out of it.

That totally justifies sitting on the couch for the past four hours, doesn’t it?

I’m so addicted to this loom knitting thing that I’m even working on a tutorial post for you guys. Of course, my first tutorial post on this cooking blog would be about a craft. It just makes sense. As my high-school-volleyball-playing-self would say, “I do what I want.”

So just a heads up: If you don’t care about knitting, are offended by it, or can’t stand the sight of large needles, look away from my next post tomorrow.

I’m always looking for meat recipes since my DB is such a big carnivore. He loved this recipe– just meat and rice. I added more garlic to mine because we’re big garlic lovers, but even with the recipe unaltered, it’s a keeper. Flank steak cooks quite quickly, which is another reason why I love this recipe. Anything that takes less than 30 minutes in the kitchen to make gets extra bonus points from me. This mongolian beef recipe comes from Six Sisters’ Stuff.

Oh, as for the P.F. Chang’s copycat part, I have no idea if it tastes anything like it because I never eat at P.F. Chang’s. I went there once in high school and thought every dish was too salty and too expensive. I’d choose Panda Express over P.F. Chang’s any day.