ilubmoney

Maybe I stopped posting entries because I'm just too happy and just not emo enough to write anything.  :)

However, I will mention that I learned how to knit and started knitting scarves recently.  I completed my first one just last Friday, a guacamole-colored scarf:


I'm making them for Christmas gifts to close friends and family this year, so I figured I better start early since it's a lot of scarves.  The green one took me 5 days to knit, but that was while I was able to put in several hours a day, something I won't be able to do so much after Labor Day.  I'm now working on a fancier pattern with a more expensive wool and a handsome, charcoal color for Albert's scarf:

More photos on Facebook, but nothing you really need to see unless it's a completed project. :)

Edit: Nevermind, I'll be posting any completed/in-progress knitting projects on Ravelry for interested parties. :)

Phuong, what have you been up to?

Glad you asked!  I know I just did a general update not too long ago, but my posting rate has been significantly low, so I figure maybe I have more to update about.  It's just easier to update Facebook statuses than post.  Let's see!

Been checking out a lot of fun, random events this summer!  I'll add any relevant photos that I have.

July 2nd - Went to check out California Academy of Science's Nightlife.  It's pretty much how you would expect things to go if you were to combine a museum + a club.  It's just kind of cool to see how the museum atmosphere transforms when you add a DJ and booze and still be able to check out the planetarium show, the albino alligator, and the mini rainforest.  $10 per person.

July 3rd - Went to Hakone Gardens with Albert.  It was a perfect day to go, and there were a lot of sweet moments together in the garden.  Photo album on Facebook if you're on there.  If you're in the Saratoga area, it's only $5 to go in.



July 4th - Went to the Palo Alto Chili Cookoff with Brent.  $5 for 5 tastings, but we only got through 4 tastings because the lines were so long.  The best thing about the cookoff was the gourmet chocolate brownie funnel cake!  Later, I went to a Skyline Vista with friends to watch about 6 different firework shows; the fireworks looked tiny from where we stood, but it's a good way to scout for fireworks sites for next year. :)  I did miss being in San Diego with my family, though. :(



July 5th - It was Albert's birthday, so for his birthday, I made him Korean tofu soup and we watched a Korean drama (Stairway to Heaven) together.  Bought him a new basketball for his birthday. :)

July 9th - Met my new therapist.  She seems pretty nice, similar to my last therapist. :)

July 11th to 13th - My sister Teresa visited me.  Photos and details in that post.  Summary: Death Cab for Cutie concert, King Tut exhibit, House of Prime Rib, Santana Row and Lisa's Tea Treasures (way cute tea shop!).

July 15th - Visited an old friend (Thai!) from Beijing in Berkeley and got caught up on the latest Worldlink alumni gossip.

July 17th - Attended Kelly's birthday party.  Fun evening with new friends and possibilities.  I really hope we eventually get that poker night happening.

July 18th - Went to the free chocolate tasting and demo at Williams-Sonoma in SF with Albert.  Spent the day window-shopping before we had dinner.  Fulfilled years-long mission of trying a DELICIOUS baked alaska from Harris's Steakhouse.  Went to the excellent Final Fantasy concert in Davies Symphony Hall.







Other activities that have been ongoing throughout the month:

• Gym time has been sporadic at best.  It's been hard to get back into the 3-4x a week routine I had going in June, so I'm resetting my goal back to 2-3x a week.  
• Cooking activities are also slowing down significantly.  On my to-make list are Vietnamese truffles, chili dogs with homemade chili, and pork & cabbage dumplings.
• Both gym and cooking time have been impacted by my erratic work schedule at Kaplan this month.  It's finally settling down now, so now that I've got that taken care of, I'm hoping to make gym and cooking more of a priority.
• There's some drama lately that's going on with my housemates.  I'm largely uninvolved in it, but the tension around the house last week was palpable.
• I play a lot of Scrabble now on Facebook with my uncle and with Albert.  Albert and I make bets with ours.  He lost our last game by only 1 point, so he's to make me a homecooked meal now, hehehe.  Looking forward to his beef noodle soup!
• I'm now reading Reviving Ophelia.  I'm just a chapter into it now, but a lot of the introduction speaks to me, and I think often about my sister Cathy who is now well into puberty.  It makes me wonder if I ought to worry about her more than I do now.

Upcoming activities?  Hiking and wine-tasting Wednesday morning, and possibly going to the FREE Offspring concert in SF this Friday. 

Thank you, FunCheapSF!  Outside of the Bay Area, how do people find out about fun events?  I don't know what I'd do without Craigslist and FunCheapSF.  The latter was how I found out about the chili cookoff, the free chocolate demo, and the free Offspring concert.  Other cool things on there that I couldn't/can't make it to: Berkeley Kite Festival, NBC's filming of a car crash scene at a farmer's market for "Trauma," and tons of free movie nights and music nights at different parks/venues throughout the bay.

My sister Teresa visited me over the weekend, and it was fun-filled enough to where I think I need to chronicle it (both as just a pleasant memory and also as a reference for ideas on where to take out-of-town guests while they're here).

Warning: image-heavy post ahead.

( Saturday and the Death Cab Concert... )

( Sunday and San Francisco... )

( Monday and the English tea shop... )

It was such a great weekend. I'm glad to have this time now to catch up on things I need to do this week, including making this update. :) More photos on Facebook if you happen to have me friended there.

Written on our kitchen whiteboard awhile ago. I have a roommate--who shall remain nameless--who tends to enjoy leaving notes and long emails when wanting or needing to address household issues. This was one such note.



I wanted to add, "So is passive-aggression," but it just seemed too... I dunno. Such things are not my style, not my style. :P

In honor of dementia's birthday, I told her I would eat a cake in her honor. Any cake of her choosing. She chose pineapple upside-down cake.

I knew I probably wasn't going to be able to find this cake easily at a bakery, so I decided to make one.



What is that bright yellow splooge in the middle of the cake, you ask? I discovered later that I might've taken the cake out a little early from the oven. Yeah, it's undercooked in the photo. But I put it back in the oven and ate it later. Yum!



And yes, I made two. I cheated with classic yellow cake batter from the box, so I had enough to make two.

Happy birthday, Demmie!

This is sort of a follow-up post to the skincare entry. As part of my New Year's resolutions this year, I vowed to assemble a basic makeup kit and learn how to use it. And I have this week!

Kim took me shopping at Valley Fair the other week and helped me pick out the basics from Sephora, Mac, and Bare Escentuals. Here's a list of what I bought.

( Makeup Kit List, for interested parties )

Yes, it was an expensive shopping trip, but I thought it was worth it.

I'm all about the all-natural makeup. My skin's been great lately, so what I'm really looking for out of makeup is to enhance my natural features and just even the color out. I haven't done a lot of experimenting with the shadows yet, but I plan to do more of that soon. Here are the results of today's makeup experiment.

( photos )

I feel like Jenny when she first discovered makeup:

I just came back from a free early screening, and without giving away any spoilers for those who haven't read the graphic novel, I will say this:

Do not see this movie if you have not read the graphic novel. You will be confused.

If you have read the graphic novel, and you want to see the movie, come fully aware that, like Alan Moore and so many others have said, this comic was not meant to be adapted on film. That being said, take it for what it is.

I am glad to have seen a free screening of Watchmen, though. Thanks, Chad, for the tip! I would not have wanted to pay full price for this. Matinee... maybe. Rental, probably, but only if you get to see this in HD.

Added note- At the screening, they were passing out a number of free stuff. One of them was this little number:



What? Uh, yeah. Why do I have this? It's tough times, and I love free stuff. What can I say.

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Edit @ 3/4 8:49am - I agree with Spill's audio review on Watchmen. For the few (or two) of you who care, you can find that review here.

Will introduced me to this site, TED.com, that features "talks by the world's leading thinkers and doers." I loved two of the videos I saw and wanted to share them with you.

The one he told me about is the first video featured below in which Jennifer 8. Lee--yes, that's the number 8 as her middle name--talks about the development of Chinese American food and the cultural significance of Chinese food on an international scale.



This second one was the result of a very short link-surf from the first video. I'm fairly new to the general concept of foie gras, so listening to Dan Barber's story about ethical foie gras was both educational and inspiring.

I think this could be due to my monthly hormones spiking recently, but the makeup/dressing up thing still won't let up. I've been doing some dress/shoe shopping online for a wedding that's still MONTHS away, and I came across this cute dress:



"I gotta have it," I thought. It's $190 at Nordstrom. And me feeling the need to bargain hunt as usual, I found it on eBay for $99. Size 6. I don't even know what size dress I wear, seriously, but I think I'll fit a 6. Anyway, the dress suits my style and pear-shaped body type perfectly. I was hoping to find a dress with more color, but my neutral-colored, modern sensibilities couldn't pass it up. So I splurged and bought it. I figure I can punch it up with the right accessories.

</girlishness for the day>

Oh, also, I wanted to mention that I saw Gran Torino and Frost/Nixon last week. Gran Torino got rave reviews, but the acting from the Asian actors was SOOO bad that it seriously detracted from the movie for me. DID NOT LIKE GRAN TORINO. (Still better than Love Guru, though!) Did like Frost/Nixon though! Frank Langella played a great Nixon, and my only thing about the movie was that I wasn't convinced of Frost's sudden conviction to give a challenging interview about halfway through the interviews.

Now I just need to see The Reader, and I'll think I'll officially be able to say I've seen all the Oscar films for 2008. That'll be one New Year's resolution done. :)

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Edit 1/17 at 6:17pm - The dress arrived! It's big on me and needs to be altered a bit, but it's fabulous! Now time to find me some bling. xD

Christmas has been very pleasant so far. Photos to come. Here's a preview photo:



More photos are already uploaded if you check out my Facebook account.

Just got back from Tahoe earlier this morning (Monday morning). I went skiing on Sunday and covered lift tickets (bunny slopes only), equipment rental, and lessons for $85 at Sierra. Didn't take a lot of photos because it was too cold, but I'm so glad I went. The lessons were well worth it, and I wish I spent more time getting back up on the lifts towards the end. My calves are sore today.

It was kind of odd, but one of the lens on my glasses fell off when I tried to wipe it later that evening. Nothing had been bent, broken, or loose on the frame, so I'm guessing that the cold temperatures made my lens contract. I couldn't pop the lens back into the frame because--and I'm guessing again--the heat from my hands and sweater might've made it expand again. Nothing that an eyewear kit couldn't fix (thanks, MF!).

More photos to come in the coming week! Heading to LA tomorrow and will be back Sunday night.

I've been hit with a cold lately and have been trying to stick to soupy foods for the last few days. This includes pho, miso soup, and ramen. The sodium's probably bad for me. I've also been drinking lots of tea. The hot bowls of pho (and there HAVE been more than one this week... MMM) are just awesomely comforting, even when I'm not sick.



What are some your favorite foods/drinks to have when you're down with a cold?

I think I have a special shoe fetish for red shoes. They're happy, like bright yellow shoes, but also sultry, like... well, red shoes.

Today I went shopping with my little sisters, and I found this adorable pair of red pumps for $15. Good sense told me that I would not have many an occasion to wear them, that they would not be very practical (and would probably be painful in a minimum of walking), and that I should save money after a harsh weekend in Reno. But true love knows no reason, and I can't resist a reasonably priced pair of shoes that not only looked fabulous but were also very walkable.



(I loved the shoes so much that I also bought a dark blue shirt-dress to wear with it.)

It got me thinking: are there any other Halloween costumes besides Dorothy in which I would be able to take advantage of my red pumps? A friend suggested Little Red Riding Hood, and I considered Wenda of "Where's Waldo?" fame as well, even though neither really use the red shoes.

Did I mention before that one of the students I had in Beijing was a model? Teachers in the staff room referred to her as a supermodel, and she does land on the cover of a magazine from time to time. Also, I remember a camera following her around the school one time, for a TV show, and she's done some international work. Her name is Qiao Qi, but we knew her at the time as "Alice," her English name. She eventually changed it to "Mia" after I left, but I always felt Qiao Qi was the best name for her, and it's hard for me to know her by anything other than "Alice."

I keep her blog feed on my friends list, and she updates it very rarely. When she does, it's in Chinese (and Lord knows I didn't keep up with my Chinese studies after 2006), but she always posts new photos up of her work and where she's been. I remember Alice being insanely tall and skinny (like, did-she-eat-enough-skinny). And graceful. She's got these long arms and legs like nobody's business, just slender, long arms and legs full of grace. And I remember her being very sweet, thoughtful, and she was a fast learner because she used English often for work, and during the international jobs, she said she sometimes had to translate for the models and photographers. She's about 20 now, I think.



This photo of Alice in Chaoyang Park (in an Easter egg hunt?) brings a smile to my face. A lot of her modeling work makes full use of her pouty lips, but she's prettiest when she smiles widely like that.

Seeing Alice's recent photoshoots and magazine spreads makes me look back at that time with rose-colored glasses. I miss being out and about, and I feel so empty and stuck right now.

I sold my desk on CraigsList today for $30 (originally posted $40, but I felt sorry for them as they were having trouble with transportation, so I knocked $10 off the deal). While making the post, though, I decided to play with the desk photo(s) and made this using Photoshop and a gif animator:



It opens and closes! I'm ridiculously proud of myself because they were two photos that didn't fit *quite* right with each other, and I'm kind of excited about what else I could do from having watched the funny Photoshop tutorials from a couple weeks ago.

This kind of makes me think of Dominic. He's the only Photoshop fanatic I know; I don't know if he'd feel proud of me (doubtful he'd care), but he'd enjoy the tutorials. Wish I could share them with him just because it'd be nice to have someone specific other than me enjoy them.

Back to paper-writing! Some packing and selling done today (including some purchasing of CP's stuff for cheap), but not enough paper-writing.

I think I may now be addicted to butter mochi.


(photo ganked from Google Images)

My roommate made some last night and let me try some. The only thing that stopped me from asking for more is that I finished off whatever was left in the pan. SO DELICIOUS.

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Edit 4/30/08: This is bad. It's so craveable that I'm still thinking about it today. I hope she makes some more this weekend! :)

Dinner tonight:



A slightly brighter photo here.

Ingredients:
- Steamed zucchini, asparagus, and carrots, very lightly salted
- Canned corn with a little Sriracha sauce on top, both for the spicy kick and to emulate "worms"
- Hard-boiled eggs with carrot and zucchini pieces to make the faces
- Ramen noodles (chicken-flavored)

And it was all unintentionally vegetarian! I think going for color really encourages me to put more veggies into my diet.

Are you sick of the food-related posts yet? :P

P.S. Hopefully, my next roommate will be a photographer, so I can post better photos of these meals!

As per last week's post, I'm starting up bento boxing (bento box making?). I bought this really cute box at Lucky's yesterday with 3 compartments. It was designed to hold sandwiches and cold snacks, but I've never been much of a sandwich person, so I decided to put something else in instead.

My bento box today:
Snack box - Apples & oranges
Sides box - Sauteed zucchini and mushrooms with sun-dried tomatoes
Main box - Rice-a-roni (Mexican)

It's not cute, but it's gonna be yummy and colorful. And I did attempt to make it cute; I cut the zucchini into hearts and stars, but sauteeing them made them less cute.

Photos to come later. Right now, my rice-a-roni is being cooked.

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Edit: Photos!

( Bento! )

Not that cute for my first attempt, but the colors were pretty and it was VERY tasty, so... *high fives self*!

I think my next attempt will be a "bird's nest" ramen box. Planned:
- Ramen noodles for the nest part
- Two hard boiled egg "chicks", pictured in the last bento post
- A side dish of corn
- A small snack/dessert of gummy worms? :P Or vienna sausages cut into the shape of worms (I love sausages with my ramen)
- If I don't do the gummy worms, then the snack/dessert will be banana chips and walnuts

I'll be doing some baking on Thursday afternoon anyway, so I'll probably attempt this for my Thursday night dinner break between classes.

I've been thinking about going into making bento boxes, 'specially on a regular basis. It'll be a great hobby, because:

1) I'll be more nutritionally aware of and involved in what I'm eating, which hopefully will mean a healthier diet!
2) There's something psychologically comforting about food that's visually good-looking.
3) I'll get satisfaction from knowing that I can prepare something beautiful and appetizing.
4) I can start a photo blog strictly on bento boxes (which I think would be a way fun blog to do!)
5) I can show off to people at work or school. That's always fun! :P

So I'm thinking about accruing bento supplies. I'm not sure what this will involve quite yet as there's more to the art than just the cute little bento boxes, but I'd imagine that there are utensil holders, sauce containers, molds, mini cookie cutters, etc. It's intricate, time-consuming work, so I'd probably just want to try it once a week once I get started.

BUT JUST LOOK AT HOW CUTE MY MEALS CAN BE OMG

(I probably won't make them as fancy as mmmbento does, but I'll be darned if I don't try a few times!)

Also, I'd imagine it could have very therapeutic applications for kids. Imagine being a kid and earning your own awesome bento box after working so hard on x issue! Yes, very awesome indeed.

In the meantime, I'm gonna try to make one of these guys:



Site note: my birthday's in about a month, so if you were wondering about birthday gifts, bento-related items are a plus this year. :)

All the potato suggestions sounded delicious, and I plan to try them all eventually. I ended up going with zyzyly's made-up suggestion with stuffed potatoes tonight based on the idea that it would look pretty with my steak. I forgot to add the milk and instead added ricotta cheese to the spinach stuffing. Added basil and parsley. Also, instead of 10 minutes in the oven, I put the stuffed potatoes in for 20-30 minutes because my roommate was telling me a good story. It turned out really crispy, aromatic, and tasty, more fun to eat than the steak.

I breaded the steak and pan seared it before braising it in the oven. Lots of mistakes here, but it was a good learning experience and still ended up tasting okay. First, I burnt one side of the first steak. Oops, left it too long. The second one turned out perfectly golden brown as a result. (See, I learn from my mistakes!) Second, I didn't have vegetable stock available, so I used chicken stock and added chopped veggies in the hopes that their flavors would combine. 'Course, this just made my pork steaks taste like chicken later, but no matter! They were still good. I'll use just water next time.

Here's the finished result:

( I love food photos! )