It Started with a Journal

Wow, I haven't updated in nearly 2 weeks? That must be some kind of (recent) record for me. Partly it's because it's SO FRIGGING COLD that I don't want to do anything but be in bed. Partly it's because my mom's staying with me (kind of last minute) for the whole month, and we've been spending a lot of time eating out. But mostly it's because I was on vacation all last week, and updating LJ is more fun when I'm at work. >.>

I've been making... dun dun DUUUUUUUN... fanvids

I've been stretching my creative wings. Rather than writing fanfic, I have made... two fanvids! It's much harder than it looks, but also fun. Even making fairly basic vids like I have is super time consuming. O.o I had no idea. The two vids are Yi Jeong/Ga Eul (from Boys Over Flowers) based, so there's only a limited amount of footage I can work with -- both a curse and a blessing.

( If you're interested in watching them... )

Cool/fun cookbook/gift rec

If you need a cool coffee table book, or a fun gift for just about anyone (well, any adult), I recommend My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals / Portraits, Interviews, and Recipes. I've been wanting it awhile and now I finally have it! It's really cool -- basically, 50 well-known chefs play the "death row" game (though they don't call it that): If they could choose their last meal, what would it be? Some, of course, get super fancy and specific, but a surprising number, maybe even half, would go for something really simple and comforting -- scrambled eggs, rustic bread with cheese, etc. The last part of the book the chefs share recipes from their selections.

Icon making!

Every three years or so, I get a bee in my bonnet and want to make icons. I've been playing around with textures and what not, and as practice, made some from past/present fandom interests. :D They're just for me, I haven't really made any that are intended to be shared out on icon communities or anything like that, but I think they look pretty good!



A bit of TV

I've been watching a bit of TV... caught up on Merlin (OMG!) and have watched the first six episodes of Once Upon a Time (I blame drunk!akscully for this), which isn't GREAT TV or anything, but is fun enough to continue now that I'm out of TV I'm really interested in watching. Also I really like Jennifer Morrison (though Cameron > Emma).

My latest cookware obsession

CorningWare. That's right, the stuff our mothers (well, not mine, but you know) used to use. There was a whole thread about it on my foodies list at work, and now I really want to use it. But it should be noted, however, that I'm not talking about CorningWare as it exists today (at least, not 99% of it), but literally mean the stuff someone's mother used to use -- the vintage pieces from the 50s/60s. Know why? It turns out that that stuff was made from Pyroceram, a type of glass ceramic invented by a guy who was working on rocket nose cones (as part of a U.S. ballistic missile program). The beauty of glass ceramic, apparently, is its ability to resist thermal shock, which means you can cook with it on the stovetop, put it under the broiler, bake it, or freeze it (and all directly from one to the other, if you choose). You can use it like you would cast iron, except there's no seasoning involved, and unlike cast iron you can use it for tomato sauces/wet foods. You can even bake no-knead bread in it.

So what's wrong with the recent stuff? ( Probably more than you want to know. )

Because slitherhither asked... I compiled a list of my top 25 fave TV shows of all time. I was going to use a similar "tiered" structure that I used in this post, but decided that wasn't going to work if it was going to encompass such a breadth of good shows. I took a stab at actually ordering the list, which was very difficult, ESPECIALLY for the top 10, because frankly they could all be interchangeable in their slots, depending on how I feel on a particular day. The list is obviously liable to change as I get into new shows, watch more seasons of current shows, etc. The only criteria I used was "TV I love watching." It doesn't mean they've necessarily got any other acclaim or substance beyond that. I also left out shows that I loved as a kid (The Wonder Years, Quantum Leap), because it's been so long that I don't really know how they'd fit in the list or if they'd stand the test of time. All those qualifications stated...

( Here's the list! )

A coworker alerted me to an upcoming FX series, American Horror Story. It looks good, I'll have to keep an eye out. Not only does it star the wonderful Connie Britton, it's created by Glee creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk! Though it is obviously very different from Glee.

I am kind of annoyed with Trader Joe's... or at least, with this one particular branch. I went one day to get some Kerrygold butter, but they were out of the salted kind. They said they were getting more the next day. I went back a few days later, and they were out of both salted AND unsalted! Um... if the demand is so high, STOCK UP, amirite? And was told again that they would get more "tomorrow." GRRRRRR. I found it at Safeway, except get this... an 8oz package costs $4.79 there (at TJ's it's $2.89)! That means for $10, I could get a whole extra one and then some, at TJ's. The problem is that there isn't a TJ that's super conveniently near me, so going to one is like a special trip that I have to make.

SO freaking tired. One of the bad things about a long weekend is that I get myself used to a schedule of sleeping late and waking up late, which then bites me in the ass come the next work morning. Ugghhh. And I had to get up extra early this morning in order to make potatoes au gratin in the Crock Pot.

I've had my first trashy_eats-inspired meal. One slice of white bread, slathered with peanut butter, folded over with a dill pickle spear in the middle. ( Photo! ) The first bite was kind of strange, because of the blend of flavors that my taste buds weren't used to, but strangely delicious after that. I've eaten it two days in a row now. Might as well, since I have white bread in the house due to making turkey meatballs (the most delicious turkey meatballs EVER!).

Rama Farms at the West Seattle farmers market has the best red-gold nectarines in the world. They're only available for 3 weeks. K. snagged a box of seconds and gave me 11 of them. She's so nice. Each one is treasured. They are so, so good, the perfect blend of tang and sweetness, with a juicy, firm flesh that's not mealy at all (mealy fruit is the worst).

Talking about Tom/Becky in my last post made me take a little trip down memory lane and I thought about all the ships I shipped when I was younger. I'm sure I am very alone in some of these, but I bet some of you shipped at least a couple of these. Admit it!

* Anne Shirley/Gilbert Blythe (Anne of Green Gables) - This one's a gimme. Right? Everyone shipped this.
* Tom Sawyer/Becky Thatcher (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)
* Smurfette/Handy Smurf (The Smurfs) - Don't look at me like that.
* Princess Aurora/Lance (Voltron) - I can't remember if this ship ever became canon.
* Mary Lennox/Dickon Sowerby (The Secret Garden) - I can't remember if I shipped Mary/Colin, a little bit... wait a minute, they were cousins, right? Then of course I didn't, because that would be very wrong. >.>
* Logan Bruno/Mary Anne Spier (The Baby-sitters Club) - My 10-year-old self was DEVASTATED when Logan and Mary Anne broke up. That's when I realized that there was no such thing as happily ever after.
* Kevin Arnold/Winnie Cooper (The Wonder Years) - I loved the whole nerdy-girl-turns-beautiful premise. Hey, I was 11 when it first aired!
* Rick Hunter/Linn Minmei - As a little girl I was totally into Minmei, because she was the girl I most wanted to be. Now, of course, I realize that she was a superficial little idiot and I should have shipped Rick/Lisa, but oh well.

Jaime feels that he is now mature and independent enough to have his own place. Therefore, he has obtained a share in a new development that was miraculously built overnight, and is now the proud owner of a new ( kitty condo! )

The weather deities heard my bitter tirade and things have slightly improved today. It's 64°F (which is still way too cold for summer, but better than 51°F), not raining, still cloudy, but here and there the sun is being allowed to peek out.

My shoulder is still bothering the heck out of me. I mean, in terms of injuries, it's fairly minor. It's not like it doesn't function. But when something just doesn't work/feel right, it's really disconcerting. I should be able to pick up a grocery bag or open a door or stretch my arm up without feeling a twinge of discomfort. Still going to physical therapy, but I have to say I'm kind of skeptical.

Oh no, ropo, what are you going to do?! Campbell Soup recalls SpaghettiOs

Speaking of R., she linked me to this awesome clip. Newsies meets Lady Gaga! Christian Bale and co. dance to "Bad Romance"! Etc. Maybe y'all aren't as big Newsies geeks as me.

TV Show Meme, Day 01 - A show that should never have been cancelled.

Like obtabius, who I gacked this from, I have to go with "Firefly." It was not only one of the most unique premises I've ever seen -- seriously, is there another show/movie/book about space cowboys? -- but so well done. The characters were rich and well developed, even though they only managed to put together a small number of episodes before being given the axe. Great cast, great writing, great direction. Unfortunately, it seems it was a bit too brilliant for the masses. (And definitely too brilliant for FOX.)

Sadly, my vacation has come to an end.

I'm happy to be back amongst all my things, of course, but I will miss the mild weather (it was 75°F when I left) and general sunniness (it's cloudy here and my house is extra dark). Vitamin D, my new best pal. As always after a long absence I'm kind of at a loss where to start... so I'll just blab away with no real plan.

I'm eating delicious fudge from Fynt (really, his mom) to fortify myself.

1) Some time after my last post, I was rear ended. Again. I know, I can't even use exclamations or act surprised at all by this point. It was still 2009. I knew it wasn't going to let me go easily. Basically, I needed to make a turn out of a parking lot but had to cross several lanes, so I was having to wait for a lot of traffic. The asshole behind me decided that in revenge for making him wait 30 seconds, he was going to deliberately hit my car (he was in some crappy old car that had seen better days) and zoom away. Because my mom gets hysterical about these sorts of things, I did not chase after him, and because it took me a few seconds to even realize what had happened, I didn't get his plate. Now my parents' new car has a badly scuffed bumper. (And remember, it's only new because my mom was in that serious car accident that totaled their old car a few months ago, for which she is still getting physical therapy.)

2) Right before I left, one of my aunts was hospitalized due to needing gall bladder surgery. She's back home and is recovering OK. I know, 2010 isn't shaping up to being any better than 2009 so far.

3) My flight home was good. The flight was at 3:30, they were going to board at 3, and I got there at 2:40. I noticed that my battery was critically low, which was a problem because after I landed I needed to a) get in touch with K., who was picking me up, and b) get in touch with S., who I was picking up after K. and I had dinner. I found one of those charging stations (BLESS those things), and decided to charge my phone until 3:15. I figured that that would give them 15 minutes to start boarding, and besides I'd just read in the paper about how airlines were failing at on-time flights since the recent flight scares. At 3:14 I unplugged my phone and went to use the restroom. When I came out, I heard my name being called over the loudspeaker and that it was my FINAL CALL. I was like WTF and went over to the gate. Their digital clock read 3:16. They had somehow boarded everyone else in 16 minutes!! I was the last person on the plane. We left early, we got some good wind, and then some expected turbulence didn't happen, all of which got me back home half an hour early. Which is always nice.

4) In case you enjoy them as much as S. does: Williams-Sonoma peppermint bark is on sale right now. $10 for a tin that usually costs (a ridiculous, imho) $26.50. It's really good peppermint bark. I'm going to bake some into brownies. :D I think it's out of most stores, so you probably can't get that price w/o ordering them online and paying for shipping. Surprisingly, W-S didn't charge tax, even though they do have brick-and-mortar stores here. I just don't get how the tax thing works.

5) My physical therapist thinks I should continue treatment for another 4 weeks or so. That's fine w/ me as long as the other insurance company pays for it, which they should, hopefully without incident. Sigh. I'd also like to start massage therapy, because while I was in CA I got like 3 of them and it seemed to help a lot.

6) While on vacation I saw Sherlock Holmes and Avatar. While neither make my best or favorite movies lists, they were fun. I'm considering seeing Avatar again at the Pacific Science Center's IMAX theater because I can get tickets for $3.50. Any Seattlites interested in joining me? First to express interest gets it, because I can only get 2 tix per show.

7) If you've never had caramel-flavored Bugles, they are sooooo good. Basically they're like caramel popcorn, salty and sweet and delicious.

8) Watched Dexter seasons 2, 3, AND 4. Wow @ 4's ending. Just wow. So well done. I thought the show was good after season 1, but now it's definitely up there with the exceptional ones.

9) Given all the things I bought and received over break, it didn't all fit into the suitcase I brought. I had to use my mom's larger suitcase to take home (and paid the extra fee, grr).

10) Discovered after years of avoiding wearing earrings (because my ears would get all itchy and aggravated) that I can only wear gold earrings. I always thought that my ears got all inflamed and angry because I wasn't used to wearing earrings, period... but then discovered that they don't get that way with gold. So there's something in regular earrings and even sterling silver that affects me negatively. Sigh @ that, but yay that I can comfortably wear earrings again.

11) Read Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry. It was beautifully written, and was interesting (definitely kept me turning the page), but was ultimately disappointing. Not because it wasn't The Time-Traveler's Wife (as Jade says, "She already wrote that book, see."), but because the plot and other elements of HFS was just kind of ... not well thought out. It's a much, much simpler book in terms of ambition. Maybe after TTTW she just needed something very different in both plot and execution. Just wish it was a cleaner book than it is ... and not, you know, in terms of sex/language.

12) I may be going to Esalen in April.

I can finally reveal this month's Daring Bakers challenge: a Chocolate Valentino cake. It had 3, and only 3, ingredients: chocolate, butter, and eggs. You might guess it was a pretty rich dessert. <g> It's probably one of the very rare times I've ever enjoyed batter (I might as well confess -- I don't like cookie dough either!). More details here. I got a great shot of melty chocolate goodness.

( I've now seen Dollhouse ep 3. )

All sets of Buffy except S1 have officially sold, which means that I can stop feeling that twinge of guilt for buying a whole other Buffy set just because I want to save shelf space. It actually went a lot faster than I thought it would; I wouldn't have guessed that Buffy sets were still so desirable.

I've started HYD the Korean version. ( Cut because only akscully cares! )

It's been two weeks since I made any kind of 'real' post, so here we go!

First, I've been making a lot of food. I haven't even posted it all yet. My food blog has the skinny. One thing I did want to share here, though, which is that this cake:



... was tossed in the garbage. :( It was my Daring Bakers challenge for November, and too incredibly sweet for, well, anyone. It's a shame too, because it came out well otherwise. The browned butter in the frosting really made for an amazing flavor. I knew when I first read the recipe that it had way too much sugar in it and I probably wouldn't like it (and this from someone who definitely has a sweet tooth!). I hesitated to lessen the amount of sugar, however, because that affects the liquid content and other factors of the cake, and I'm not yet comfortable enough with making cakes that I thought I could change amounts and still have it come out well. I suppose I might as well have, since it's going uneaten either way.

I had a very quiet Thanksgiving. It's just not the same when you live hundreds of miles from family and close friends. My cousin and I went to have hot pot, which was nice and comforting in its own way.

It's a little over two weeks until my winter vacation starts, thank God. I'm going to be in LA for 3 weeks. I'm so burned out, I can't wait to get out of here. All I need to do is get Talis to the vet after the 6th for a health certificate, and I'm set for everything else. I think. Speaking of Talis ... a few weeks ago I had a scare because I felt a little bump on his back by his tail. I took him to the vet and she said that she wasn't concerned because a) he's eating and behaving normally; b) the bump was really small; and c) it's common for dogs to start growing warts and skin imperfections as they get older. However, I needed to keep an eye on it. I think it's grown bigger. :( Not by much, but still, bigger is not good. Here's hoping it's just some kind of cyst or something.

I just got The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, but I wasn't allowed to read it until a few days ago (for reasons I will disclose later -- mysterious, ain't I?), so last night I settled into bed with it and it made me so happy, even though my stomach was growling after reading a few recipes. I just love the way it's written. It makes me want to take a trip to San Francisco just to eat there. I hope I get to, at least once in my life!

Also I wanted to thank jade_okelani for her birthday gift. See, Jade believes in the "birthday month," in which the month of your birthday is your whole birthday month. I said that no, one's birthday should only really be celebrated for the actual day of birth, not the whole month. However, she's converted me. Her gift was a month's worth of little notes and/or homemade jewelry, which I opened one per day, and they always brought a smile to my face. At the end of the 30 days (why couldn't I have been born in a month with 31 days? Oh well, at least I'm not a poor February baby), the 'real' present was revealed, which was this awesome scrapbooked picture frame, which not only has many pictures of us on various escapades, but also has little mementos of things that we collected while on those escapades. It is awesome. Yesterday was the last day of my "birth month" so now it's over and I'm sad. Still, I got to enjoy my entire "birthday month" so thank you Jade!

I've started to watch True Blood at the behest of a friend. All I have to say is, people who like the show but diss Twilight are total hypocrites. (If that's you, sorry, but it's true.) They are practically the same thing other than the locations and the ages of the protagonists. I don't hate either, but am not enamored of either. TB's been fairly entertaining so far, but far below the bar HBO has set for their many excellent TV shows. And the vampire lore so far doesn't hold a candle to the Buffy/Angel verses.