Politics, schmolitics

Yes, usually, but this op-ed is really interesting. The bro suggested I read it.

The Rage Is Not About Health Care - NY Times, Frank Rich

Last first day of the quarter!

Tomorrow is, as the subject of this post says, the last first day of the quarter that I will ever have! Since this is the last quarter I will have as an undergraduate on this campus, no more first days!

I have lots of things to update about: the rest of break, food adventures, etc., but I will get to it another time soon. Forgive me if my posts become sporadic... the next three weeks are going to be pretty chaotic (although you may have noticed that that's when I become the most active, post-wise!).

Yums for today

Today, the Danners came for a visit. That means nommerfest!

Kimpop made by my halmoni. Filling of rice, blanched carrot, daikon, seasoned spinach, egg, meat. So delicious. Bet you that my halmoni makes it better than your halmoni.

Danners is a fan of desserts with apples, so we decided to take on a monster: apple crisp.

Guest baker: Danners!

It involves 5 pounds of apples (we used Pink Lady apples--crisp and tart). All of which we had to peel, core, and slice into large-ish wedges. Then toss in orange juice/zest, lemon juice/zest, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, for this delicious looking melange:

Spice-y!

Here is a picture of the dough mixing up together, a simple topping with cold butter mixed with oatmeal, flour, and sugar. (Hi, mixer!)

Here are the crisps ready to go into the oven...

Here is a crisp just out of the oven (after sitting in there for about an hour)...

Here is a crisp with a chunk taken out of it and its delicious juices...

Here is that very chunk of crisp on my plate, and currently in my belly.

It was really good... good choice of apple, and the recipe made a lot of topping. Yum. The apples themselves were a little too cinnamon-y for me, so next time, will cut down on the amount. All I really want with it now is vanilla ice cream... all of that juice in the dish would be perrrrrfect drizzled over ice cream. Hot apple crisp and vanilla ice cream... can't get more classic than that!

Now I have to go rebrush my teeth! Although there was just mention of going to get korean food... that made me hungry. Soondubu yes pls.

Oh, and I burned myself making quesadillas today... yum.... Wrist+hot pan=no good.

Il fait beau

Je fais mon travail dans le jardin. Je suis avec mon chat, Mimi, et une tasse de thé.

My spring break

My spring break:

Eat.

As you are well aware, I have been nomming away. Today I had a delicious turkey burger scramble from Café Vida in the Palisades... with a side of potatoes. Scrambled eggs, peppers, onions, spinach and loooots of cheddar cheese. Dinner, Momma Wood is making roast chicken with rosemary.

Sleep.

I took a nap today. I'm doing it about every other day. I can't get enough. I go to bed at 12, I wake up at at least 9 am.

Work.

I'm doing lab stuff and el em-gato stuff. Woooo. Tons of email... I might as well be on campus!

Doctor.

I've been seeing doctor after doctor after doctor for general checkups. I had my blood drawn today and I almost fainted. Sigh. Weak-sauce. I blame it on having had to fast this morning :)

Other than that: family, reading... not a lot of baking! I might make a batch of cookies tonight... we'll see.

Back to work!

Update @7:17pm-- winning combo: thesis + wine. And pita puffs.

In the wine world, I think I've tasted one of my favorites of all time: 2003 Rosenblum Zinfandel Rockpile Road Vineyard.

216, indeed!

From Ryan:

A very helpful point-by-point list of what was just passed by the House.

What to take...

I got into intermediate fiction writing for next quarter... 5 units... do I take? Not take?

Other classes I'll be taking:

-5 units: honors research

-5 units: Human Behavioral Bio (major requirement)

-3 units: Biotechnology (engineering requirement)

Other things I'll be doing:

-teaching cheese class

-fun

-starting applications

-job training?

Opinions...?

What to do.

So many noms.

Warning: so much food to come. Do not read if you are hungry or are mildly ambivalent about food.

The food adventure began on Sunday night. A bunch of people from the house headed out to Left Bank, a French restaurant near to campus, where we had a beautiful table set for 18 of us on the second floor of the restaurant, overlooking the rest of the dining room.

And now, on to my courses:

Salut, soupe à l'oignon! Delicious cheese melted/baked on top of a "crouton" soaked in a beef-based onion broth. So good, not too salty, even a little sweet from the onions. The cheese just dripped from my spoon, with each bite. Mmm. Definitely one of my favorites: French onion soup.

Bon soir, moules frites! Mussels in a white wine sauce, with shallots, and delicious fries. This is also one of my favorite classically French dishes. Dip the fries in the wine broth, and you can't go wrong. The mussels were nice and meaty. On top were little toasts, but I definitely preferred the perfect fries: not too salty, not too oily... parfait.

Et finalement, steak tartare. Raw, chopped beef, in mustard and some other goodness that I'm forgetting at the moment. As if it couldn't get raw enough, the yolk of a quail egg topped this beauty. By the time I got to this course, I was so stuffed and could hardly finish it. But, it was a nice way to finish. The mustard was great, but a little strong to end my meal.

Monday night, I was finished with finals. Naturally, I celebrated by...

Best hamburger ever: double-meat, single-cheese, grilled onions, extra-tomato, extra-lettuce.

Tuesday, nothing particularly special.

Wednesday, I drove home. And my arrival before 5pm only means one thing: Sushi Ike.

This was a beautiful baby abalone. It was pre-cooked and marinated for a looong time in a delicious, sweet/savory sauce. He put it back in the shell and served it sliced.

Oh, hai oysters! In delicious ponzu sauce (I've definitely posted about this before)... sour and pungent in a flavor packed bite, contrasting with the creamy sweet smoothness of the oysters. Mmmm.

Let's move on, shall we?

Today, I went to visit with my aunt, cousin and grandmother in Pasadena... and only one of the best dumpling places ever happens to be close by: Din Tai Fung Dumpling House!

Cute little dumpling about to be devoured.

This dumpling was a juicy pork/shrimp. Each person gets a little bowl of shredded ginger, in which you put vinegar. You put your soup dumpling (xiao long bao) in your soup spoon, bite into it and drink some of the soup, put in vinegared-ginger, and NOM.

This was only part of the meal: noodles in spicy sauce (yum), juicy pork dumplings (yum), fried noodles with shrimp (yum). It was all. so. good.

So, yay! I'm home! Lots of stuff to get done, including relaxing and more noms :) I got up early with my mom this morning to go to the gym-- ran on the treadmill... Needless to say, I'll be sleeping in tomorrow morning.

Do the D.A.N.C.E.

Yo, check it:

Hawa-- D.A.N.C.E.

Kleenex

Using anti-viral tissues when I'm not sick feels like a waste.

But they're so soft and like a blanket for my nose :)

One more day!

I have one more day until my spring break officially starts! My first and last final for the quarter is tomorrow afternoon... But in the meantime, lots of preparation for it. Lots of tea, lots of notes, lots of naps.

I wanted to post pictures from my meal on Friday night:

La Azteca, a Mexican restaurant...

Burrito Azteca... it was a beast. I got it with carnitas (shredded pork), and it's this monster. Inside: carnitas, rice, beans, lettuce, guacamole. Outside: melted cheese, sour cream, pico de gallo, olives.

I couldn't finish it. Adrian helped me out with that, finishing both his burrito and the large piece I gave him before I finished my portion!

The second picture is realllly gory, haha.

It went really well with a Coronita, which is a mini Corona. Mmmm.

Who thought it was a good idea to get Pinkberry afterwards? Oh right, that's just cause it was free. It was a promotion they were having, they were giving out free mini servings of their new mango flavor, with as many toppings as you wanted. I could also not finish this.

Saturday morning, we had new staff rollouts! We dressed them up ridiculously and headed to Mayfield Bakery, a classy joint where flamingo and Egyptian hats are not necessarily welcomed... People definitely got a kick out of it, though. Beware the freshly squeezed orange juice they will offer you... it's not free. Most definitely not.

I got their standard breakfast, which included the thickest, fattiest, most delicious bacon I've ever had. I had a bite of the French toast with caramelized banana.... that was also one of the best French toasts I've ever had. When I go back, I'm definitely going for that one. I also had a nice mint tisane, made from fresh mint leaves, and that's it. I noticed they had an elderflower soda (!!!) which I definitely plan on trying next time, too. Non-alcoholic St. Germain, indeed.

On a completely different note, I turned in my final draft of my creative writing story on Friday. It's the sort of thing where I want to leave it on my computer forever, so I can work on it perpetually. It's scary to have a printed version, knowing that it is what I intended to be a finished work. I don't feel like it would ever be finished to my complete liking; there are so many ways it can go! Anyway, if it's something that you're at all remotely interested in reading, send me some sort of message (email, phone, etc) and I'll send it your way!

Hello, daylight savings time! I woke up naturally at 8:30 (the old 7:30) and felt a lot better about the situation because it was so bright at such a "late" hour... I'm sure I'll appreciate it a lot more when I'm on an actual schedule of waking/going to class. This whole finals thing has kind of thrown me off, as I can stay on the old pre-daylight savings time if I wanted to.

It's also gorgeous outside. I opened my windows, and I find myself sitting here at my desk, just staring out the window. It's far too beautiful to be sitting in, studying for biochemistry. Spring break and spring quarter will be lovely... dresses and shorts and tank tops... hooray :)

Have a lovely Sunday!

Spring forward!

I cannot wait to add one hour to my clock on Sunday. I keep waking up SO early (7ish) because it's so bright and warm in my room. Yuck. When 8 am now will be the new 7 am, that is going to be fantastic. And, the sun will last longer!

In other news, I just had my last class of winter quarter this morning! Yay! Now I just have to study for its final, which is on Monday...

I'm in lab now. I can feel the end of PCR :)

Anyway, busy end of the quarter despite only having one final. I plan on driving home on Wednesday, so I have a full 9-ish days as home. Ah, it will be so nice.

It's a beautiful day today... enjoy!

Keith Barry does brain magic | Video on TED.com

Keith Barry does brain magic | Video on TED.com

Soooo cool!

Serious eateries.

I wish I had lots of cash moneys:

Baumé Restaurant

Modern French cuisine, 5-, 10-, 15-course menus, with wine pairings, s'il vous plaît.

The Village Pub

American cuisine, foie gras? yes please. Duck breast? yes please.

Hugs pls.

And kittens.

Kittens would be good.

Especially sleepy kittens. Those would be best.

Update @7:38pm: Maybe I just need a stuffed tiger.

To my new hero.

I never really saw myself as a feminist. I thought they were the man-haters, the ones raving about how things are never fair for women, how women are always put down by society. I guess I'm lucky enough where I've never experienced any of that, so I've seen no reason to hate men, rave about how things aren't fair for me or how society puts me down.

Then, I realized what kind of feminist I am. I'm the one who's proud to be who and what I am. I see a video like this, where society is literally being carried and advanced on the shoulders of women. I read an article like this, where a woman was abused by her husband, but she rose up to become the breadwinner for her family by starting her own business. Women like these are ones that make me realize how lucky I am to be where I am, but I am also enormously humbled by them. They overcome enormous obstacles and manage to flourish.

I realize that society would never function without women, whether it's in the Congo, or it's here in the United States. No matter the atrocities brought upon women, we can't be brought down.

Thanks, Nicholas Kristof.

Z is for zebra, zabaglione, and zzzzz.

Now that I think about it, I've really been taking the napping idea to heart. I think it is helping me study.

(If you don't remember me talking about it, the article is here.)

Speaking of, I'm winding down.....

Today's feasts.

This morning, I helped to clean up the aftermath of Café Night. They serve as sobering reminders of how much fun can result in so much disaster. Seriously though. Disaster. For details, ask me, but I'd like to not disgust the audience of this blog with the ridiculous antics of people who can't handle themselves.

After that update, let's move to food! Mmmm.

After the clean-up, a bunch of us from the house headed over to the Cantor for a guided tour of Rodin's work. And then food at Cool Café, for local and organic fare.

My chicken curry sandwich, with an Arnold Palmer (iced tea + pink lemonade). The sandwich had spinach in it, which was soooo good. The curry was super flavorful, and I actually liked the raisins thrown in. There was another dried fruit (dates?) thrown into the mix, and those were delicious, too.

And then I shared a hot dog with Mackenzie-- mustard and onions. Mmm. So simple and so delicious. Not very salty, which is always appreciated.

After all of that, I was stuffed. Positively. Waddled about. Beached whale status. So, what else to do but to come home and take a nap. Eating is exhausting.

Then, I woke up, did a bit of travail, and here I am, recovering from yet another meal. My brain sees 7:30 and knows my body should be hungry. I wasn't, really, after having finished a monster of a meal at 1:30ish. Nevertheless, I went downstairs to make my fried rice!

There it is!

I stir fried onions, bell peppers, and snap peas in olive oil. I had a bowl of microwavable brown rice that I heated then threw into the mix. The only seasoning I used was sriracha. Yum. Then, once I got that all onto a plate, I tossed an egg onto the pan. I meant for it to be sunny-side-up, but I think the pan was too hot, so the white cooked a bit too quickly, and the yolk remained really liquid-y. So, I flipped the egg over to sear the rawer side of the egg. Over-easy is just as good too! I plopped it on top of the rice, and the yolk broke, hence the delicious yellow evvvvverywhere. I added extra dashes of sriracha, and there was my delicious dinner.

Now I'm drinking some green tea to soothe my over-stuffed stomach. I'm also trying to avoid going back to sleep.

Here's to a productive Saturday night!

Happy Weekend!

It's the weekend, and it's so beautiful... the sun is out, it's nice and bright. A slight cool breeze rustling through the trees. It's going to be a great weekend.

P.S. I LOVE BLOOD ORANGES AHHHH SO GOOD

And to celebrate... an aweeesome video for you (see, I like doggies too!):

Clap your hands for clafouti!

I'm baking pear clafouti for our house meeting. It's in the oven now and will be about 5 minutes late for our meeting, which starts at 10. I've only made it with cherries before, but Trader Joe's was out of their yummy cherries. Per the expert's suggestion (my mom), I'm using d'anjou pears... on vera, n'est-ce pas?

This is my baking bag. It's filled with staples: flour, sugar, vanilla. Without zooming in to see the logo on the bag, I'm hoping that you can guess what store it comes from. Red handles.... there's only one.

When the clafouti comes out, I'll post another picture and give a little review. I always love some tart fruit to balance out the sweetness of the pancake-y goodness, so I'm hoping that the pear will still be delicious.

I took a bath this evening since it's pretty cold out and I have a cold (boo), but as soon as I was about to settle in, the light in the tub room went out, à la horror movie. Luckily, nothing bad happened. I got my lamp from my room and read the New Yorker, specifically an article where a journalist talked to a Michelin reviewer in New York. That was really really cool. I'd love to be a Michelin reviewer. Anyway, I hopped out when it became a bit too sauna-y for me.

It rained again today :) It was so loud early this morning that it woke me up.

Sigh, eyes are tired. Want bedtime kthx.

Update @10:46pm:

My clafouti! It came out in three petit dishes, and it was very yum. I loove when they look all puffy and perfect when they first come out of the oven. They sink a bit, but they still taste so fab. I definitely like it better when the fruit is more intense (cherries, apricots and the like) since it sticks out more flavor- and texture-wise from the clafouti itself. The recipe I use describes it as a pancake or a flan, and this is a perfect mix between the two. Flan-like because it's eggy and sweet, pancake-y because it's got flour in it to give it that consistency.

EDIT @11:31am: My dad called and let me know that I made an egregious error... He was the one to suggest pear, not my mom. Oops!

Ow.

Have you had the feeling where you chew a lot and then you get this weird pressure that builds up in your temples?

I've got that now.

Silly salad.

L.O.L.

Seriously. I LOL-ed.

Watch this pls:

Dangerousssss

I got an email from Anthropologie. They published their new catalogue for March online (which means I should be getting mine in the mail pretty soon), and they have beauuuutiful spring things-- dresses, cardigans... Hence the title of this post. That store can be so dangerous for me.

But look:

Pages 2 and 3 of the catalogue.

What an incredible shot. It's amazing to think that a place like that exists in the world! I hope they say where they did the shoot... (I've added a new label: oohpretty)

Also, I found this recipe for Roast Chicken with Fennel. So simple and it sounds so delicious... I can't wait to try it! I have a feeling I'm going to be living off of Bitten/The Minimalist recipes when I have to fend for myself. Yummm, I hope so!

Yesterday, I discovered the cactus garden, and I finally went to the mausoleum! The cactus garden reminds me so much of the Huntington (but theirs is 230498309x larger), and it was cool to meander through and touch some of the spines. Ouch! Some were fuzzy, others were extremely spiny... don't want to fall into those...

I also submitted a small grant... fingers crossed for $1500 more to add to my project...

It's a nice and grey day out... Enjoy :)

Update @5:34 pm-- A nice essay on reading books... confession of sorts: I Was a Teenage Illiterate

Update @5:45pm-- Ahhhh, beautiful aprons (check out "rollings of cinnamon" and "frosty tin marshmallows")... I'm so domestic. [found this on Outblush]

Update @5:55pm-- Sigh, I love blogs. I FOUND THIS: 99 THINGS TO EAT IN LA BEFORE YOU DIE. Come on a food adventure with me please!!!! Things to note/I must eat: goat's milk gelato, Langer's pastrami (TRIED AND TRUE), kalbi taco, pain au chocolat, Philippe's french dip (also TRIED AND TRUE), Mozza pizza, Beverly soon tofu (have to see why it's so good), pho.... omggggggggggggggg.