despite swelling, ate/ korean barbecue; sheer/ bloody-mindedness

wisdom teeth pulled; worse/ than chipmunk cheeks; now approach/ing Botox victim, ) -___- (

i am getting my/ wisdom teeth pulled tomorrow;/ SO TERRIFYING!!!!!! >____<

happy holidays/ ev'ryone! spend them with the/ people you love most, :) :) :)

the vienna teng/ concert tonight was utter/ fantabulousness.

i'm rather disa/ppointed in the rodarte for/ target collection.

I've been following the Mulleavy sisters since I first saw a spread on them in Vogue way back in....it must have been around 2005? It's been a kind of up and down with them; I've loved much of what they put out (although I wasn't so hot on their collection's recent rag-tagged-ness, but that's more a personal design issue than anything else) so when I first heard that they were going to make a capsule collection for good old Tar-jhay, I was pretty excited, even noting it on Google calendar, with email notifications for three days up to the fact so as to not forget, esp since the Anna Sui collection at the WC Target across the way from me was literally. picked. clean. a day after the collection dropped.

Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed. The pieces were rather blah, keeping with Rodarte's girly design, but with an overbearing saccharine taste that is absent from their higher-end line.

the vienna teng/ concert tonight was utter/ fantabulousness.

is it cheating if i make up words? not if i didn't do it solely for the purpose of fitting the haiku syllable requirements.

too cheap to buy a/ pastry bag so my meringues/ look like little turds, -_____-;;;

While surfing allrecipes.com for something to do with my leftover celery, I chanced upon the front page picture of brightly colored meringues. M and I had been talking about lemon meringue pie, although she hadn't made any nor had made any invitations to taste any (>___<, :p), so I scanned the recipe and got it stuck in my mind that I should made meringue cookies.

By hand.

Yes, I am crazy.

Long story short, the worst part of the meringue-making wasn't the beating the egg/sugar mixture by hand (which, while certainly difficult, provided me with ample exercise for my biceps, :p). In fact, mixing was fairly simple (although not quite easy, especially as it came towards the end and trying to get stiff peaks by hand....[THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!!! hur hur hur *gets slapped*])

No, the worst part of the whole deal was (refraining from the that's-what-she-said-jokes given that I 1) had no one to share them with, being alone in my apt, and 2) had no one to share them with, as neither B nor E consider me worthy of being on good speaking terms with, apparently [woe and angst and terrible emo poetry]) having to scoop the meringue into something so that I could squirt it onto the baking sheet to be put into the oven.

Everyone online wrote that electronic mixers are almost essentially REQUIRED to make proper meringues (YEAH, WELL I SHOWED THEM, HA!), but I really do beg to differ. The most important piece of equipment for making meringues is a proper pastry bag.

I'd seen one in Safeway when I popped in to get cream of tartare and parchment paper, but had brushed it off as a silly expense.....little did I know.....

The recipe, I hashed together from various sources and from various bits of advice gathered from the internets, but it goes something like this:

• 3 room-temperature egg whites
• 1/4 cream of tartare (although the original equation was 1/8 teaspoon CoT per egg white)
• 3/4 cup and 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar (adapted from the original suggestion of either 1 3/4 [WHICH WAS SOOOO MUCH SUGAR, so I decided not to use that suggestion] or 2 tablespoons per egg white [which, at 6 tablespoons of sugar, would definitely not have been enough])
• Clean, oil-free, dry bowl of any of the following: ceramic, glass, metal. NO PLASTIC.

-----

1. Mix eggs until foamy.
2. Add cream of tartare. Mix until forms soft peaks.
3. Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Mix until forms stiff peaks
4. Spoon into pastry bag
5. Squirt onto parchment-paper-lined baking sheet
6. Bake at 200 F for 1.5 hrs.
7. Turn off oven. Open oven door slightly. Leave in warm oven for another hour.

My problems made themselves quite clear starting at step 4. First I tried to make a parchment paper cone (or several), like I saw online, but the meringue mix proved itself too thick to properly settle to the bottom of the cone, so that it sat more at the top and squeezed itself right back out....the wrong end, -____-.

So next I tried the popular spoon-it-into-a-ziploc-baggie-cut-off-a-tiny-corner-and-use-that-as-a-pastry-bag idea.

It went from bad to worse. First, the spoon kept nudging the edges, so that even when I sealed the Ziploc, there was meringue outside the Ziploc seal.

The first few meringues turned out okay, but as I turned to refill the bag with more meringue mix, it started getting ALL OVER THE PLACE.

When I tried to squeeze the meringue out of the tip, it decided to ooze out the top instead, and all over my hands.

Then the tip decided to give under pressure and so I ended up getting squiggles all over the place.

Since I was trying to still maintain them in some sort of circular shape, then ended up being squiggles on top of each other, in a round-ish shape.

Once I got sick of getting it all over my hands, I just used the spoon and my fingers to blob them onto the baking sheet. I can't even begin to imagine what those would be described as.....

Once they were stuck in the oven and came out nicely tanned, they came off the parchment paper wonderfully.

.......they just looked like little turds is all.....

-_________-;;;;

(p.s. or at least most of them did......)

In any event, I know how to make meringue cookies now.....it's more a matter of getting them to look like meringue cookies that I will need to be working on, :)

they brought a box of/ chocolates but i took the/ bubblewrap instead, >:D

Today at work, we had our open enrollment meeting, and the associate brought a box of See's chocolate. Personally, I preferred the chocolate-covered pretzel-chex-dried-cranberry blobs that Teresa M's daughter made, so I grabbed handfuls of that and snatched up the bubblewrap liners that came with the See's candy box.

FTW! :p

i'm pretty sure i/ like watercress but i can't/ remember the taste, >___<

Just a bit of silliness.

Something I read recently mentioned watercress, and this thought popped into my head.

I know I've had it before, and I remember liking it, but even with the Googled images, I can't recall when I've eaten it or what it tastes like.....

my coworkers said/ it snowed last night but all i/ got was lots of rain, >___< , :p

pomelos are sweet/ but hard to eat without look/ing like a savage, :p

Can I just say that I love pomelos so much?!?!

I love pomelos so much!

For the uninitiated, pomelos are a type of citrus fruit vaguely reminiscent of a grapefruit, but without the bitterness or pucker-inducing tartness. Here's the wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomelo

I adore pomelos (especially now that I've rather gotten over my persimmon infatuation, haha). The first time I'd ever had a pomelo was during my senior year studying abroad in China, and it still took me half of my trip to try them. They looked so dry and I normally don't like citrus fruits that I was scared off before I even gave them a chance. Luckily, Nick C shared one with me, and I was HOOKED.

H.

O.

O.

K.

E.

D.

I had at least half of one every day from then on out and mourned the loss of them when I had to finally leave for home. I knew that they'd be sold in Asian supermarkets back at home, but being in B and then in SR, I'd be hard pressed to find them, especially since they're seasonal, largely available only in Asian supermarkets, and I didn't have access to a car.

Luckily, SR had an Asian supermarket nearby that I frequented, but unfortunately, they were so expensive ($1.99 per pound?!?!?! You've got to be kidding me!) I bought them anyway, getting so excited to finally slice open its waxy peel, prise through its porous pith, pull back its bitter casing, to reveal my sweet little citrus jewels inside! Unfortunately, all of the ones I bought each time (yes, I still went back to buy more, hoping my duds were a singular occasion) were SO. DRY. And with no flavor to speak of! Worse than eating dehydrated oranges! Oh, they were terrible. I was so upset.

Today, I saw them on sale while on a rather spontaneous trip to the O Chinatown. In fact, today, when I saw them on all the stalls, I was actually talking to my mum on the phone, incredulous that they were so prevalent, convinced they weren't supposed to come out/be in season until Chinese New Year (which is in February) at least. She said they'd probably be fine, but I was tentative nonetheless, so scarred was I by those dry pomelos. But I bought them anyway, because I am FEARLESS!!!! (or just desperately craving again the sweet clean taste of pomelos just enough to dip a toe into the water again).

I guess I should start from the beginning, for my own memory's sake, because lord knows I'll have forgotten this by next month, let alone the years later from which I'm intending to look back upon this journal.

Today, I slept in rather a bit (after having finally broken down on the phone yesterday to my mum regarding the B situation, and fearing it would turn into another C or T situation, :( . Mothers always know best, and she said I should get some rest, as I'd feel better in the morning. Tomorrow's always another new day, she said. How many times I've heard it, and yet it never fails to be true, :] I love my mum so much.)

When I finally woke up, I had intended to finish off the rest of my stew (rather, beef soup, as it wasn't nearly thick enough to be stew), but instead, ended up having to throw it out, as it had gone bad over the week. Hungry and aching for some good Chinese food, I decided to get ready and take the train to O Chinatown for some good Szechuan noodles (dan4 dan4 mian4) at our family's favorite Shanghainese restuarant. Really, it's just a hole-in-the-wall, but it's been there since Uncle D first took us there for breakfast when we visited while I was still in high school, lasted through my college years, through three boyfriends, and is still here for me today, to offer me good old comfort food (and fresh homemade noodles! Honestly, how could I resist? :p).

The weather was brisk, so on went the boots, on went the argyle sweater, and then my grey jacket, since it wasn't nearly cold enough for the good old winter coat, stuffed some magazines into my bag, and out the door I went. Train took 15 minutes to arrive! >__<* Weekend schedules can be such torment on my stomach, haha.

There was some sort of Christmas parade that was getting started when I came out the station, but hungry I was, and there were so many people lined up on the curb that I really had no interest and made my way over to the restaurant (about five blocks down), ordered my food, and scarfed down half the huge bowl of noodles, like so. It was, of course, delicious. Had to take the other half home as leftovers though, haha, -___- ;;;

Ended up walking the streets, bought some veggies for the week, some chestnuts (hoping to boil or roast them! mmm, delicious~), and wandered around several blocks trying to find N Bakery. Mum called, and of course, we chatted a bit again, and she asked Dad if he knew where N Bakery might be (esp since all the streets in O Chinatown look so similar to each other! So easy to end up going in circles!) He said 9th and F, so I headed over there, still talking to Mum. Turns out the 9th and F bakery is the one I don't like, so I told her so, and we continued trying to figure it out. In any event, she had to get off the phone soon, so she told me to ask someone for directions.

After I did, turns out N Bakery is on 8th and F! Missed it by one street! And it was so close to my original starting point too! I'd just ended up turning right and not left! hahahaha. Anyway, went in, bought some pastries and started heading back to the train station, when I chanced upon one last store, towards the edge of Chinatown, and bought two pomelos for $0.99 each. WHOOHOO, SCORE!!!

As I came back to the train station, I caught the tail end of the parade, so I watched a bit, then hurried to the station, as I knew all the people who were watching till the very end would doubtless also have to head home afterwards.

Came home, finished the rest of the noodles for dinner, and since the noodles were such a strong taste in my mouth, decided to open up a pomelo, just to see, crossing my fingers and hoping for a good one.

Sliced open the rind. Hmm, light pink pith....interesting. Hopefully, a good sign?

Pushed through the pith and hit a pomelo section. Had to work a bit at it to get one out, but it squirted some juice at me, so hopefully that's a good sign....although I worried that it might be too juicy, and thus, not what I was looking for.

Pulled out a section, hmm, that's pink too. Looks a little like a grapefruit.....

Worried that it'd taste like a grapefruit too, I tentatively took a bite, and mmmmmmmmmmmm.......

.....heaven.

I finished off a quarter of the pomelo and set the remainder in a plastic bag to keep it from dehydrating.

Pulled up some episodes to watch, like so.....

Watching, watching, watching.

hmmm, well, I guess I could have a little bit more pomelo.....

Opened the bag, prised out a section.....

By the time mum called again in the evening, well.....

I told her, mildly embarrassed, that I'd started out with the intention to eat only a quarter of the pomelo, but.....

.....well, there was only one lonely section of the entire thing left.....

-____-

WHITHER MY RESTRAINT?!!?!?!?!? (hahaha)

But my mum--lovely, lovely mum--said, "Oh good, you're eating enough fruit. Keep it up, :)"

Did I say how much I love my mum? (hahaha)

The thing about eating pomelos (or at least how I eat pomelos, -__- ;;) is that unlike pears or persimmons, which I tend to cut up very nicely into a bowl or plate, or even apples, which I take nice, clean bites out of, is that I end up eating them like a savage.

Not in that I don't show any restraint while eating it (which I don't, -___-;;), but that it's hard to extract the sections, and the pulp is so juicy that I just end up using my teeth to scrape the pulp from the section peel (or whatever the technical name is for that membrane/cell wall thing that separates each into sections). And between picking out seeds and getting juice all over my hands and pulling apart the peel and ripping into the rind, well.....

......well, all I can conclude is that I plan to never eat a pomelo in polite company (or even, for the matter, in front of people not my family [even though my friends have seen me eating like a savage before, this is taken to a completely different level....]); it's too embarrassing!!!! >__<* (not to mention I'd feel compelled to share, and well....)

In any event, pomelos will be my post-persimmon obsession, :p

I may very well go back to O Chinatown next week and pick a few more up, ;)

(p.s. So many fall fruits have the letter p in their names: pears, plums, persimmons, pomelos. Even apples!)

eating the breakfast/ of champions: oatmeal and/ Lays potato chips, :D

Although today is Tuesday, Heather is out on vacations, and so are our bagel/donuts.

*shock*

You mean to say that....that I have to feed myself?!??!?! On a Tuesday?!?!?!? Inconceivable!!!

So of course, I take my usual healthy/unhealthy route: oatmeal with half a pack of sugar (although I have decided that tomorrow, I will bring cinnamon, and see if that perks things up a bit) and a fun-size bag of Lays potato chips that were hanging around in my desk drawer from a week ago when Maria gave them to me.

Today was pretty busy with adjustments all over the place (although luckily, the phones were a little more forgiving today), trying to catch up and make up for time lost during the Thanksgiving holiday break, and then L being gone yesterday from a bad back injury, :(

And on top of that, looking for two cents in a 600-line file. Oh, my poor eyesight.

J and I finally figured out that it was due to some rounding errors in the R system, so that's what I'll be up to tomorrow~