| cinnamon buns |
[03 Dec 2009|07:36pm] |
i made a tray of cinnamon buns last night (not the pioneer woman ones) and looking at them this morning was terrifying. both of us were afraid to dig into the tray full of type 2 diabetes. i ate a corner piece. it was pretty good. andrew refused because he ate like 16 cookies yesterday. i brought the rest into the office where it was consumed rather slowly but completely. i think they just look really intimidating.
working with a yeast dough was awesome, though! it kind of felt alive, especially since it transforms itself not only on its own but also in your hands. i tried to remember what ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) apropos taught me about kneading but it was too many years ago. i looked up a youtube video.
i think i'll open up that Peter Reinhart book now. i had a bunch of failed bread attempts with a bread machine a decade ago but the idea of using my hands sounds better now.
i never use a food processor to make pie dough and i only use the hand mixer to make meringue or whipped cream when i'm in a rush. i don't take out the machinery unless i really need it and i think i'm grownup enough now to try making bread with my hands. i have no idea why it was so intimidating in the first place.
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| weekend |
[30 Nov 2009|03:36pm] |
my weekend was full! i had a good one.
Friday:
- tried on a bridesmaid dress
- drinks with A & M at Diamond in Gastown. it's kind of like Salt but not as bright and it doesn't reek of cured meats. i would definitely go back but you gotta wait for a seat.
- Beatles Rock Band. i can watch the intro video every time! best video game intro ever.
Saturday:
- went to the taxidermy exhibit at the museum with blogmate marcia.
- made a double batch of Ultimate Veggie Burgers
- European Beer Party: i think i found my new favourite beer! Edelweiss Snowfresh. it's a Hefeweizen and only $3.50. comes in a small bottle. flavoured with "alpine herbs." i think i'm in love.
- saw Breakbot at Shine. i think i still don't like Shine. long, narrow, and always overstuffed. but good music! gubydal pointed out our old age by noticing all the kids who bring their cameras to clubs and take pictures all night to put on Facebook. i think this is something that our age group missed out on.
Sunday:
- C calls me to go for a trail run. i quickly inhale half a litre of water to cure the mild hangover and we went to UBC with her stinky dog for a pleasant jog.
- shopped for rhinestones to make sparkly headbands for C's daughter... and ourselves.
- ate more veggie burgers and kale with tahini garlic sauce.
- made chewy chocolate nut meringue cookies. i used macadamias instead of walnuts.
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| borscht |
[25 Nov 2009|08:31pm] |
i frankensteined some borscht recipes and made my own. it's pretty awesome so i'll share it. even the broth by itself was ace. it was based off this recipe in the NYtimes.
1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms (about 1 cup)
4 beets
1 garlic clove, peeled and thinly sliced
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and diced
1 large Russet potato, peeled and diced
2 cups shredded cabbage
2 teaspoons Better than Bouillon (i used veggie chicken flavour)
1 can chopped tomatoes, with juices
2 bay leaves
Freshly ground pepper
2 to 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, to taste
1 can of navy beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1. Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl and pour on boiling water to cover. Let sit 30 minutes, then strain through a cheesecloth-lined strainer set over a bowl. Squeeze the mushrooms over the strainer to extract any remaining flavourful liquid. Rinse the mushrooms thoroughly in several changes of water, and chop.
2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven, and add the onion and salt. Cook, stirring, until just tender, three to five minutes. Add the carrots, potatoes, cabbage, diced beets, the chopped dried mushrooms, the mushroom stock, canned tomatoes with juice, bouillon, vinegar, and 2-3 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 40 minutes. Towards the last 10 minutes add the navy beans and simmer until they're warm. Add the lemon juice, taste and adjust seasonings. Stir in parsley and serve.
Yield: Serves six to eight. Gets better overnight.
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| low impact |
[23 Nov 2009|02:04pm] |
my shins have been bothering me for the last month or so. i hope i am not giving myself a stress fracture. i think i'll lay off the running for now.
actually, i wasn't going to talk about my shins. this is more about my diet and how it's changing.
these days i've been calling myself "vegan except for eggs and shoes." but everyone brings cheese to a potluck so i still have to carry around lactase enzymes to avoid exploding or starving. i know i could just pre-eat or bring my own meal, but it's a social thing as well, and also i am incredibly lazy.
while it's not up to other people to define (*cough cough* soema), i still have to describe my diet to other people and it's gotten a little complicated. (i DO define other people's diets by my own rules, however. like, if you tell me you're vegetarian, i will not serve you fish. i think that's quite fair).
here are the issues:
( ... )
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| transparency |
[16 Nov 2009|08:46pm] |
saturday night at the birthday party i was talking to someone i had just met.
she asked me, "are you an artist? you just... exude artist. everything about you."
i think i said yes. i wasn't sure what to say. no one has ever said that to me before. nor do i really call myself an artist much. except at work.
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| new this year |
[16 Nov 2009|06:21pm] |
new things i've tried this year:
- mattress rafting
- wheel pottery (to be continued but definitely not at trout lake)
- shooting RAW
- backcountry snowboarding
new things i'd like to try next year:
- backcountry overnighters
- melodica
- apartment composting
- indexhibit
your turn!
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| bllooaragrggghhh |
[15 Nov 2009|04:36pm] |
i am sick. i haven't eaten anything all day. i barfed all night. i think i have a stomach bug. i didn't even see daylight today. i slept in until 2pm (ok, i did stay up until 5am before coming home to barf and realizing how sick i was) but it's so grey today it's like i missed the entire day already.
now i hope i didn't make anyone sick last night. there was a lot of sharing of food and drinks.
after i complained of stomach cramps my friend gave me a can of her Blue Sky Jamaican Ginger Ale. CHANGED MY LIFE! it's no Fentiman's, but it's so tasty. i'm never going back to the regular stuff again.
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| more food |
[14 Nov 2009|09:03am] |
also for my birthday some friends made dinner and it was fantastic!
- mexican casserole with refried beans (one side without cheese, just for me!)
- and andrew made vegan chocolate rum pudding cake!
then we came home and there was a surprise PINEAPPLE TREE from FOODNESS (awesome convenience store in our building) waiting for me in a pot! i promptly put googly eyes on it. because you can't trust plants, you have to be able to look them in the eye.
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| birthday breakfast |
[13 Nov 2009|02:21pm] |
this morning i woke up to the smell of roasting potatoes.
i love andrew!!
he is buying me RAM for my birthday. :) this is the last birthday i have in my 20's. after this i will officially be super old.
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| people pt. 2 |
[12 Nov 2009|07:59am] |
maybe! maybe the more racially homogeneous a clique is, the less likely they are to be welcoming. that's what my own limited ethnographic observations came up with, anyway.
yes, i could very well be projecting my love for racial explanations for everything, but it makes so much sense in my head.
again, i was the only non-white person at the birthday party last night. everyone there is super cool. the birthday boy is especially cool. he's one of those "easy" people. i dig the friendship. i'm not going anywhere with that. i just like being friends with him.
aside: i don't know what high school is like these days, but when we were in high school most cliques were mostly racially aligned. not entirely. but mostly. i was in the loser "other" category of people who were not white, philippino (or philippino/chinese), or hong kong chinese. are kids still like that these days? tv still tells us that there's no black people in New York or Philadelphia. (maybe just one or two). that hasn't changed much in the last 10-15 years. i think a lot of us are still seated in mostly racially homogeneous cliques and i wonder if kids are still doing the same. they probably are.
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| people |
[11 Nov 2009|10:46pm] |
why are some people so hard to be friends with, and some people are so easy?
sometimes i wonder why i bother with some people.
not any of you, of course. wouldn't that be passive aggressive!
why do i bother? maybe life is just too hard for some people, or i am too unbearable, or a bit of both. i like to think that it's more of the former but you never know.
i wonder if it really is a trait of vancouverites. i've mostly been lucky to avoid having to figure that out since i've lived here all my life, but everyone from the outside says we're cliquey snobs in this city. i never wanted to believe that but now it just disappoints me because i think it's true.
regardless, i keep meeting amazing people that are totally awesome.
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| dinner tonight |
[09 Nov 2009|09:06pm] |
1. inari pockets stuffed with brown/red/wild rice blend
2. sliced egg-tofu rounds with green onion ginger sauce. i heated some canola oil before adding it to the finely chopped mound. it sizzled when i poured it in and it reminded me of when my mom would make steamed rock cod with ribbons of green onions and ginger.
3. kamut fusilli with cashew thai basil sesame oil pesto
4. now i'm going to make some guinness chocolate cake
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| bike trip |
[07 Nov 2009|03:06pm] |
so today we attempted to outfit ourselves and our bikes for our Cuba bike trip. a new wheel and tire for andrew, and a new tire for me. plus a rear rack, panniers, and a handlebar bag for my camera(s).
andrew also got himself a pair of Keen cycling sandals after seeing mine. too bad they're the ugliest fucking things i've ever seen. they look terrible on both of us. but we're definitely bringing flip flops. i'm looking forward to not wearing socks for 3 weeks.
i also found a super padded pair of bike shorts! on the label were these symbols:
sheep
polar bear
cactus
fan
music note (an eighth)
skunk (crossed out)
i think these translate to:
soft
warm
keeps you cool (or dry?)
breathable
not noisy (andrew thinks maybe it means it'll muffle your farts)
not stinky
---
in other news, i want to be Lady Gaga because she doesn't wear pants. i don't like wearing pants. or socks. i guess she wears tights sometimes. but it sure beats pants. hey, maybe i'll be Lady Gaga for halloween next year. kermit the frog jacket or hussein chalayan bubble dress rip-off? either way, i'd have to be a lot more comfortable with my body. not quite Leeloo from Fifth Element confident, but almost there. i just hate wearing pants.
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| breakfast |
[05 Nov 2009|04:23pm] |
i discovered the best way to prevent the bottom of my toast from getting soggy: putting it in a bowl instead of a plate! so now i've been eating my toast in a bowl every morning.
i've also been digging cooked apples with my oatmeal. i chop up an apple and fry it with some earth balance, cinnamon, nutmeg, a clove, and brown sugar.
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| all inclusives |
[03 Nov 2009|04:14pm] |
so we've booked our flights to Cuba! and we decided to stay at a cheap all-inclusive in Varadero for a night or two since we get in super late on the first day.
i've never booked an all-inclusive before and andrew just booked the cheapest one he could find. turns out the reviews aren't stellar but we won't be camping there for too long so it doesn't matter too much. on average it got a 3 out of 5.
many of the complaints focused on the fact that the menu didn't change every day. this is something i've totally never thought could be a complaint because when i'm abroad i've never eaten at the same place more than once unless i really loved it.
but it makes sense. i guess i just feel naive for being shocked at the culture.
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| nothing new |
[29 Oct 2009|11:41am] |
i feel like i'm reaching a standstill in my life where i'm not meeting anyone new, not learning anything new, and not doing anything new.
and i know exactly why. it's because i've been at the same job for a few years, i've had the same partner for a few years, and i've had the same friends and hobbies for a few years.
hmm not sure what i want to do next. i'll think about it.
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| pho |
[22 Oct 2009|11:25pm] |
currently boiling a pot of soup for pho.
i studded an onion with cloves which turned out to be a dumb idea because sometimes the floating onion halves will do backflips and the cloves will point straight up into the air, out of the soup.
they seem to be pointing mostly downwards now but i'm not thrilled with babysitting the broth. i think they're behaving for now.
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| google analytics |
[22 Oct 2009|04:43pm] |
i signed up me and marcia's blog for google analytics and it's sooo interesting even though i don't understand all of it.
this week we've had 131 visits, half of which were direct visits and the other half were referrals.
and 2% was people typing shit into google and ending up at our blog:
manatee crochet pattern
ssion
"pink leopard goat coat"
beans and manatees
i wanna be a manatee
looks like at least one person was actually looking for us.
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| cheese |
[20 Oct 2009|10:27pm] |
i would do anything right now to be able to digest a trough of homemade mac and cheese.
i've been pretty good about avoiding dairy products (and thus, internal organ distress) and i think most of them taste like feet anyway but sometimes i just really want some cheese.
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