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The pad thai I made from scratch tonight. With firm tofu and chicken and real tamarind.
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It's been a crazy few weeks. I aced Korean which is good, though I feel like I've forgotten everything I learnt in the past two weeks. I hope classes on Tues jog it lose since I need to be assessed for the scholarship on Thurs. Every time I try to think in Korean though, I come up with Japanese.
The moment my final was finished (and I didn't manage to discuss anything I planned in Korean *sigh*), I packed up the last of my stuff, returned my keys, got my deposit and drove back to Wisconsin. Meanwhile, my dad was driving up from Illinois. He was recovering from a cold so we just chilled until Monday when my mother and bro arrived as well. Then it was a week of doing every single thing I could think of around Madison (except oddly, we never made it to any of the museums in town) from eating at the best places to going to the House on the Rock. We got a lot of exercise each day which made up for the copious amounts of cheese, beer, and beef we were devouring and caught up on watching many things. My bro and I finally finished our summer game of Civ. 4 (we defeated the final civilization in 3 turns, we were so overpowered by that point).
I also made a Game of Thrones feast since I was given the official cookbook for my birthday. I have immortalized it here on tumblr. The beef and bacon pie was a lot of work, and so was the mulled wine, but I may make it again and soon since it was amazing and surprisingly cheap if you have the spices handy.
Then my whole family left on Monday and I discovered I had a short paper due the monday after, got a debilitating migraine and have pretty much been down for the count from Tues-Thurs. Today being the first day I really felt recovered, I've been trying desperately to get a bunch of things done that I've meant to do all summer from sending out query letters for the evil overlord book (someday I will find an agent who will tell me that it's well written (which is what they all say), and that it is what they're looking for. It will be a joyous day.), organizing my bookmarks folder, queued 60+ images of Sauron-chan in my sauron tumblr so I don't have to worry about it for a couple of months, sealed the kitchen grout, went clothes shopping for the first time since last year, etc, etc. I may actually be able to sit down and write my little assignment due Monday now (and yes, classes don't start until Tues.).
The moment my final was finished (and I didn't manage to discuss anything I planned in Korean *sigh*), I packed up the last of my stuff, returned my keys, got my deposit and drove back to Wisconsin. Meanwhile, my dad was driving up from Illinois. He was recovering from a cold so we just chilled until Monday when my mother and bro arrived as well. Then it was a week of doing every single thing I could think of around Madison (except oddly, we never made it to any of the museums in town) from eating at the best places to going to the House on the Rock. We got a lot of exercise each day which made up for the copious amounts of cheese, beer, and beef we were devouring and caught up on watching many things. My bro and I finally finished our summer game of Civ. 4 (we defeated the final civilization in 3 turns, we were so overpowered by that point).
I also made a Game of Thrones feast since I was given the official cookbook for my birthday. I have immortalized it here on tumblr. The beef and bacon pie was a lot of work, and so was the mulled wine, but I may make it again and soon since it was amazing and surprisingly cheap if you have the spices handy.
Then my whole family left on Monday and I discovered I had a short paper due the monday after, got a debilitating migraine and have pretty much been down for the count from Tues-Thurs. Today being the first day I really felt recovered, I've been trying desperately to get a bunch of things done that I've meant to do all summer from sending out query letters for the evil overlord book (someday I will find an agent who will tell me that it's well written (which is what they all say), and that it is what they're looking for. It will be a joyous day.), organizing my bookmarks folder, queued 60+ images of Sauron-chan in my sauron tumblr so I don't have to worry about it for a couple of months, sealed the kitchen grout, went clothes shopping for the first time since last year, etc, etc. I may actually be able to sit down and write my little assignment due Monday now (and yes, classes don't start until Tues.).
So I had a chance to hit Mitsuwa two weekends ago and do a whirlwind shopping trip with a few friends before I had to go to work. While I was there, I picked up my favourite furikake and a new bento box. This will be my lunch tomorrow.
I can't seem to figure out how to get the rolls of rice looking more tidy and neat. The purple ones are the ones I dislike the most but I have to use up the furikake for them so I make it occasionally. The ones next to it are my favourite furikake; it's a sort of mushroom seaweed mix. Next to them is a small dish of artichoke and spinach hummus with flowers of carrots in it and a pita chip in the side. Those weird looking round things are barbecue flavoured spicy wheat crackers. They're surprisingly delicious. In the other section, there's another furikake under the sweet egg background. The flowers/trees are turkey peperoni and the stalks are seaweed obviously. Below there is an inari sushi and for desert, a rainbow ribbon cookie and mini apollo chocolates.
And this is what it looks like when it's all wrapped up in my bag with my chopsticks, ready for carrying.
I was very naughty this weekend and spent the whole time filling my kindle with fanfic instead of doing my homework. My criteria was that it had to be a fanfic I'd reread more than once. That it only comes to about 200 fics surprises me. Also, the only author who I consistently reread all the time is astolat. I also reread ten of her fics regularly compared to the three or less for all other authors. She is addictive.
I'm going to go do my homework now *sheepish*
I can't seem to figure out how to get the rolls of rice looking more tidy and neat. The purple ones are the ones I dislike the most but I have to use up the furikake for them so I make it occasionally. The ones next to it are my favourite furikake; it's a sort of mushroom seaweed mix. Next to them is a small dish of artichoke and spinach hummus with flowers of carrots in it and a pita chip in the side. Those weird looking round things are barbecue flavoured spicy wheat crackers. They're surprisingly delicious. In the other section, there's another furikake under the sweet egg background. The flowers/trees are turkey peperoni and the stalks are seaweed obviously. Below there is an inari sushi and for desert, a rainbow ribbon cookie and mini apollo chocolates.
And this is what it looks like when it's all wrapped up in my bag with my chopsticks, ready for carrying.
I was very naughty this weekend and spent the whole time filling my kindle with fanfic instead of doing my homework. My criteria was that it had to be a fanfic I'd reread more than once. That it only comes to about 200 fics surprises me. Also, the only author who I consistently reread all the time is astolat. I also reread ten of her fics regularly compared to the three or less for all other authors. She is addictive.
I'm going to go do my homework now *sheepish*
As I expected would happen eventually, I caught a nasty cold at the hospital last Thursday or Friday, and spent the weekend at first convinced it was just allergies until it progressed into full out hacking up gobs of phlegm, loosing my voice completely, mild nausea, and running a low fever. Today is the first time it's shown even a sign of abating, though I'm still pretty hard up. I called out of work sick tomorrow since I'm sure they don't want me around patients hacking up gobs of phlegm.
Despite the sickness, it was my first weekend off in a month so Dad and I went to Cracker Barrel and our favourite Shoprite which has a selection of products that beats out every other store in NJ (except there's apparently another one run by the same manager which may be worth visiting, ne?). Don't believe me? It had 10 different kinds of peppers, including purple ones (which I've never in heard or or seen before). That's pretty typical of that store. We always pick up london broil steaks while we're there (cause they're cheap at this store for some reason), and whatever fresh veggies we want. They had tomatoes grown on a farm in NJ so of course they were delicious. I only had a mild sore throat at that point so we enjoyed ourselves and had a good time.
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ozmaz came over for a few hours and I showed her how amazing the first ep of Sherlock is, and some Castle before she had to go. Hopefully, I didn't give her my cold. Then, still under the impression that it was just allergies, I headed to my mum's to pick up the Kirk, where my mum rightfully pointed out that I had a slight fever. The cold got progressively worse from there, so my activities for Mon and Tues were pretty much limited to watching tv and playing Civ 4 with Kirk cause they required only minimal effort on my part. Though when I lost my voice, playing Civ. 4 got a little more complicated since Kirk and I needed to coordinate our campaigns. We have a civilization about a quarter the size of ours to conquer before we'll finish this game (we own nearly 2/3 of the massive board at this point). It should be fun. Since I wasn't up to cooking, Kirk made us an amazingly delicious tomato curry which I ate with as much rice as possible in the hopes of not throwing it up. I wish I'd been well enough to lick the pan, it was that good. And he made it spicy enough to clear up my sinuses for a bit to boot too. *huggles Kirk's curry* We reverted to Chinese food last night. I don't really feel up to cooking much this evening either, but all our fresh veggies are going to spoil if I don't so oh well.
Despite the sickness, it was my first weekend off in a month so Dad and I went to Cracker Barrel and our favourite Shoprite which has a selection of products that beats out every other store in NJ (except there's apparently another one run by the same manager which may be worth visiting, ne?). Don't believe me? It had 10 different kinds of peppers, including purple ones (which I've never in heard or or seen before). That's pretty typical of that store. We always pick up london broil steaks while we're there (cause they're cheap at this store for some reason), and whatever fresh veggies we want. They had tomatoes grown on a farm in NJ so of course they were delicious. I only had a mild sore throat at that point so we enjoyed ourselves and had a good time.
The next day,
ozmaz came over for a few hours and I showed her how amazing the first ep of Sherlock is, and some Castle before she had to go. Hopefully, I didn't give her my cold. Then, still under the impression that it was just allergies, I headed to my mum's to pick up the Kirk, where my mum rightfully pointed out that I had a slight fever. The cold got progressively worse from there, so my activities for Mon and Tues were pretty much limited to watching tv and playing Civ 4 with Kirk cause they required only minimal effort on my part. Though when I lost my voice, playing Civ. 4 got a little more complicated since Kirk and I needed to coordinate our campaigns. We have a civilization about a quarter the size of ours to conquer before we'll finish this game (we own nearly 2/3 of the massive board at this point). It should be fun. Since I wasn't up to cooking, Kirk made us an amazingly delicious tomato curry which I ate with as much rice as possible in the hopes of not throwing it up. I wish I'd been well enough to lick the pan, it was that good. And he made it spicy enough to clear up my sinuses for a bit to boot too. *huggles Kirk's curry* We reverted to Chinese food last night. I don't really feel up to cooking much this evening either, but all our fresh veggies are going to spoil if I don't so oh well.
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Since my little bro is home from uni this week due to his college's weird schedule, I made three bentos this week and was constrained by a few more veggies my brother wouldn't eat.
That's basic rice on the top. The hearts are also rice with a beet/salt furikake (my Dad and bro got three hearts each - I told them it was made with luv! *L*) Turkey salami separates parmigiana breaded cauliflower with a bit of cheddar on top. Next to it is a grape tomato and a mini seaweed furikake onigiri. In the cup is part of a red bean mochi for dessert. Next to it is my triumph - a pig in a blanket *L* The triumph being that I made the dough from scratch in my first ever bread making in my life. Before this, my experience was limited to what I saw in Yakitate Japan!. I had just enough time to make the dough, kneed it, let it sit, shape it, let it sit more, then bake it before class today. It tasted pretty good, much to my surprise *L* I'm also proud that this is the first bento I've made that was packed together enough not to shift when held vertically.
That's basic rice on the top. The hearts are also rice with a beet/salt furikake (my Dad and bro got three hearts each - I told them it was made with luv! *L*) Turkey salami separates parmigiana breaded cauliflower with a bit of cheddar on top. Next to it is a grape tomato and a mini seaweed furikake onigiri. In the cup is part of a red bean mochi for dessert. Next to it is my triumph - a pig in a blanket *L* The triumph being that I made the dough from scratch in my first ever bread making in my life. Before this, my experience was limited to what I saw in Yakitate Japan!. I had just enough time to make the dough, kneed it, let it sit, shape it, let it sit more, then bake it before class today. It tasted pretty good, much to my surprise *L* I'm also proud that this is the first bento I've made that was packed together enough not to shift when held vertically.
Bento day today (this is what I tell myself rather than 'boring Japanese in the morning, late, but interesting class in the evening' day).
So today's bento has inari sushi as its main ingredient. I realized at the last minute I didn't have any sushi vinegar so I had to whip up some from the rice vinegar I had, which isn't hard, but is a pain. The star is made of tamagoyaki. I think my second attempt at it went better folding wise, but I liked the first one better since I added more sugar that time. The tri coloured chocolate covered thing is a rainbow ribbon cookie which I have been hiding from my Dad since Sunday *L* Next to it is corn fried yellow squash with ketchup in the centre. I wish I had a smaller container to put it in since the ketchup really isn't contained by the mini cupcake cup I'm using here.
While I was making it though, I realized I was really craving apples and the few that were in there now wouldn't satisfy me, so I put some more in under the inari. And since I was making furikake onigiri with the leftover rice (that wasn't sushified), I made a tiny onigiri out of it, blocking out the star, but for some reason, I think it looks better this way. I certainly got a lot of colour in there.
Very few people showed up for Bujinkan last night (scared away by the snow, I'd imagine). It reminded me of training years ago when we had less people in general. Since I didn't feel like training with the newbies, I grabbed one of the two green belts (C. grabbed the other, doing the same thing I was doing *L*) to train with. Our training was a bit crazy with lots of 'acting' on top of the actual moves. So for example, if you were passing someone by and you wanted to surprise them with a punch, you point off to the side with your non-punching hand and look in that direction, wait until they do so as well (you can speak too), then punch, cross step, then kick in the same spot. We did a lot of variations on that, but I have a hard time focusing when we have to act like that cause it feels very silly. (I've used these in real life to fake out friends and fight my little bro, but for some reason, I can't take them seriously while training.)
Since there were so few people, I got a lot of attention from Jack, which was a mixed bag for me since I mess up a lot more when Jack's watching. It's nice when you succeed while he's watching, but some days, I'd rather he didn't watch at all. (M. has the same problem, much to our mutual lamentation). I also got to practice an ankle lock that I had down on a person's left foot, and got horribly dyslexically confused about on the right one. We were doing a sort of strike with both your thumbs (in a fist) to right below the ribs on a person's sides (going low), then you dropped, cupped one hand around the back of the person's heel (of whichever foot was forward), and braced your other arm against their knee, then pulled on the ankle and pushed on the knee. The person topples right over. Jack's advice for me was that he wanted to see me whallop the guy (preferably in the balls), then get very far away. Sensible advice. Next we switched to the person trying to throw you, and you interrupt it very early to throw them. Various throws here, the one both my partner and I kept getting, then messing up, then getting again was the reverse arm lock throw. This resulted in a lot of tries of it on both our parts, so my wrist was aching quite badly from it after training, plus my knee is still aching from all the walking in NYC last week (stupid knee. stop being weak. it was only a few miles). I've got some fun bruises on the underside of my upper arm too from the throws. At the end of class, I was (finally) given my third and fourth dan certificates (yes, it's only been years since I got the 3rd one *L*). I can't say I do much with the certificates, but it's nice to have them.
So today's bento has inari sushi as its main ingredient. I realized at the last minute I didn't have any sushi vinegar so I had to whip up some from the rice vinegar I had, which isn't hard, but is a pain. The star is made of tamagoyaki. I think my second attempt at it went better folding wise, but I liked the first one better since I added more sugar that time. The tri coloured chocolate covered thing is a rainbow ribbon cookie which I have been hiding from my Dad since Sunday *L* Next to it is corn fried yellow squash with ketchup in the centre. I wish I had a smaller container to put it in since the ketchup really isn't contained by the mini cupcake cup I'm using here.
While I was making it though, I realized I was really craving apples and the few that were in there now wouldn't satisfy me, so I put some more in under the inari. And since I was making furikake onigiri with the leftover rice (that wasn't sushified), I made a tiny onigiri out of it, blocking out the star, but for some reason, I think it looks better this way. I certainly got a lot of colour in there.
Very few people showed up for Bujinkan last night (scared away by the snow, I'd imagine). It reminded me of training years ago when we had less people in general. Since I didn't feel like training with the newbies, I grabbed one of the two green belts (C. grabbed the other, doing the same thing I was doing *L*) to train with. Our training was a bit crazy with lots of 'acting' on top of the actual moves. So for example, if you were passing someone by and you wanted to surprise them with a punch, you point off to the side with your non-punching hand and look in that direction, wait until they do so as well (you can speak too), then punch, cross step, then kick in the same spot. We did a lot of variations on that, but I have a hard time focusing when we have to act like that cause it feels very silly. (I've used these in real life to fake out friends and fight my little bro, but for some reason, I can't take them seriously while training.)
Since there were so few people, I got a lot of attention from Jack, which was a mixed bag for me since I mess up a lot more when Jack's watching. It's nice when you succeed while he's watching, but some days, I'd rather he didn't watch at all. (M. has the same problem, much to our mutual lamentation). I also got to practice an ankle lock that I had down on a person's left foot, and got horribly dyslexically confused about on the right one. We were doing a sort of strike with both your thumbs (in a fist) to right below the ribs on a person's sides (going low), then you dropped, cupped one hand around the back of the person's heel (of whichever foot was forward), and braced your other arm against their knee, then pulled on the ankle and pushed on the knee. The person topples right over. Jack's advice for me was that he wanted to see me whallop the guy (preferably in the balls), then get very far away. Sensible advice. Next we switched to the person trying to throw you, and you interrupt it very early to throw them. Various throws here, the one both my partner and I kept getting, then messing up, then getting again was the reverse arm lock throw. This resulted in a lot of tries of it on both our parts, so my wrist was aching quite badly from it after training, plus my knee is still aching from all the walking in NYC last week (stupid knee. stop being weak. it was only a few miles). I've got some fun bruises on the underside of my upper arm too from the throws. At the end of class, I was (finally) given my third and fourth dan certificates (yes, it's only been years since I got the 3rd one *L*). I can't say I do much with the certificates, but it's nice to have them.
The bento isn't very Japanese today. The pasta salad has fried yellow squash, diced pimento olives, chick peas, and grated parmesan cheese with a creamy vinaigrette sauce. The 'flowers' are made of turkey pepperoni and more olives. The side cup is pear, shaped into balls and topped with cinnamon.
Jack wasn't at training last night, but he wanted us to work on punching, so we ended up doing every single boxing punch/attack in existence, and in various combinations. Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed it, and was shocked to see that everything I learnt while kickboxing in Japan was still very fresh. My cross still packs a very mean punch, and the only thing I need to work on is elbowing (which I'd never learnt before). All that punching for the first hour kept my adrenaline up and the endorphins really boosted my mood so I didn't really mind how hard my partner was punching (he tried not to, but he wasn't very good at it). The last twenty minutes or so, we did a few moves using those boxing punches, all of which involved ducking and a bit of weaving, bujinkan style. It was all a lot of fun, and I'm pleased that other than a few sore back muscles, I barely felt any of it. That shows I was using good form.
New bento for this evening's History of India class. It took a lot less time to make, but one of my ideas fell flat when some mushrooms I froze, spoiled. I was going to use them with the small teriyaki buffalo burger (made when I made bigger burgers on Sunday) as vegetarian buns, but oh well. The rice is chinese stir fried rice, vegetarian style. It's tasty but doesn't provide as much colour contrast methinks. Anything yellow is cheese, orange is carrot, and the white garnish is radish. The sticks in the centre are apple, and on the side are edamame (yum). Desert is the white thing next to the hamburger - it's actually a mini vanilla cupcake (made on friday and frozen). On top of the buffalo burger is okonomiyaki sauce. I'm unsure how the burger is going to taste cold, so we shall see.
New bento for this evening's History of India class. It took a lot less time to make, but one of my ideas fell flat when some mushrooms I froze, spoiled. I was going to use them with the small teriyaki buffalo burger (made when I made bigger burgers on Sunday) as vegetarian buns, but oh well. The rice is chinese stir fried rice, vegetarian style. It's tasty but doesn't provide as much colour contrast methinks. Anything yellow is cheese, orange is carrot, and the white garnish is radish. The sticks in the centre are apple, and on the side are edamame (yum). Desert is the white thing next to the hamburger - it's actually a mini vanilla cupcake (made on friday and frozen). On top of the buffalo burger is okonomiyaki sauce. I'm unsure how the burger is going to taste cold, so we shall see.
Bujinkan this week was kind of meh for me. On Monday, I trained with a woman who used to come regularly but hasn't been there for months due to her job. This invariably meant that her level had gone down, so she was really really frustrated during training. I did my best to be patient and explain things, but it didn't seem to be getting through. Then on Weds. both M. and C. abandoned me *fake tear* so it was up to me to train with the newbie girl. She's not horrible for a beginner, though she needs to really learn to pay attention and observe what Jack and her partner are doing. (I had to remind myself that, yes, I did need to see things several times when I first started training before I got them.) So actually, she's doing really well. It was just kinda tedious demonstrating over and over. So much so that I managed to give myself a repetitive stress injury on my left wrist from repeatedly blocking with it (I can't decide if it's just from the repetition, if I moved the wrist too much when I did it, if I didn't stretch it enough, or all of the above). Luckily, I have ace bandages for pretty much everything and threw on the wrist one when I got home and have been wearing it all today. Hopefully, it's a pulled muscle and not a ligament and it will heal before monday. She also managed to kick me in the big toe and smack my fingers with a hung bo (right where Jack had already smacked them), thus reminding me of the real reason you don't want to train with newbies - you get hurt.
I need to work on my hung bo movements in front of a mirror. I'm raising my shoulder when I strike for some reason. Will try to remedy this at the gym tomorrow if I can remember to bring my hung bo.
This evening I had a one-hour, $1 class called Fitness Anywhere which was totally worth the money, though possibly not worth almost freezing to death waiting for the bus afterwards (NJ weather is out to get me today - I was stuck in traffic from two different accidents and late for class because of it in the morning due to the snow, then it dropped into the 20s this evening and I had to hop three different buses just to get back to my car without freezing in the intervals.) The class was taught by a personal trainer and he went through a bunch of exercises you could do on your own, teaching us proper form and how to adjust their difficulty to suit our tastes. There were a couple of exercises there that I really liked (no one ever taught me the proper way to do a squat before, for example) that I'll incorporate into my exercise routine. I also feel vindicated that he said the best way to exercise is to do it one day, then take the next day off etc, so my M-W-F schedule is just about perfect.
Am still really excited about how my bento turned out, and my mind keeps going crazy thinking of all the cool things I can try. I'm actually disappointed that I'll only be making one a week, and if the postgrad thing works out, I'll totally be making bento all the time for lunch. It's just so much easier to prep. and plan out several bentos in advance rather than make just one (or two in this case since I make one for Dad... Unfortunately, Dad doesn't like plain, white rice so I feel a bit guilty forcing it upon him. I have no idea when *I* started liking plain, white rice, but I blame Japan:P)
Now I must go and study for my Japanese lesson test, and finish catching up on my annual Bleach reading.
I need to work on my hung bo movements in front of a mirror. I'm raising my shoulder when I strike for some reason. Will try to remedy this at the gym tomorrow if I can remember to bring my hung bo.
This evening I had a one-hour, $1 class called Fitness Anywhere which was totally worth the money, though possibly not worth almost freezing to death waiting for the bus afterwards (NJ weather is out to get me today - I was stuck in traffic from two different accidents and late for class because of it in the morning due to the snow, then it dropped into the 20s this evening and I had to hop three different buses just to get back to my car without freezing in the intervals.) The class was taught by a personal trainer and he went through a bunch of exercises you could do on your own, teaching us proper form and how to adjust their difficulty to suit our tastes. There were a couple of exercises there that I really liked (no one ever taught me the proper way to do a squat before, for example) that I'll incorporate into my exercise routine. I also feel vindicated that he said the best way to exercise is to do it one day, then take the next day off etc, so my M-W-F schedule is just about perfect.
Am still really excited about how my bento turned out, and my mind keeps going crazy thinking of all the cool things I can try. I'm actually disappointed that I'll only be making one a week, and if the postgrad thing works out, I'll totally be making bento all the time for lunch. It's just so much easier to prep. and plan out several bentos in advance rather than make just one (or two in this case since I make one for Dad... Unfortunately, Dad doesn't like plain, white rice so I feel a bit guilty forcing it upon him. I have no idea when *I* started liking plain, white rice, but I blame Japan:P)
Now I must go and study for my Japanese lesson test, and finish catching up on my annual Bleach reading.
I made my first bento ever today. I had a lot of fun thinking of different combos of things I could put in without making the ingredients too expensive or having to search for things you can only find in Japan. I also tried my hand at making tamagoyaki for the first time and it turned out tasty, but wow is it a pain to make. You can look at it here. The stars and triangles, plus the white sticks next to the apples are sweet and sour carrots and radishes (soaked in vinigar mostly), which contrast well with the apple sticks. The moon is made of tamagoyaki and there's more of it hidden under the apples. Underneath the moon and star are shitake mushrooms in oyster sauce, and the rice in the seaweed wrapper has mushroom/fall flavouring mixed in (that's what the packaging for the flavouring said *shrugs*). And that's half of a red bean mochi in the cupcake wrapper for dessert.
It may have taken me a few hours to make and put it all together, but I don't begrudge the time since it's going to be a joy to eat that during my India history class this evening. Yum.
It may have taken me a few hours to make and put it all together, but I don't begrudge the time since it's going to be a joy to eat that during my India history class this evening. Yum.
I had a really good work out in the gym today. They even opened up their multi-purpose room so I could practice my kata while looking in a mirror (good thing to, since I was raising my shoulder while punching right handed for some reason). Getting to the gym and my classes was kinda awful though since it was raining steadily all day, so the buses were ridiculously full. Rutgers students have some of the worst bus etiquette I've ever encountered too. It's almost as difficult to get off the bus when you need to since no one moves out of the way.
I tried my hand at a gourmet style burger today for dinner. Buffalo meat with salt, garlic, paprika, pepper and finely chopped onions mixed in. I then hollowed them out and put cheese inside. It made for some very thick patties, but that's what therandom cooking video I watched on youtube recipe told me to do. Then I seared them on each side for a few minutes each at high heat, reduced to low heat and covered them and let them cook on each side for several minutes. They ended up just slightly pink in the middle and were delicious. Dad said it was probably the best burger he'd ever had (the cheese inside was really tasty). Our side was artichokes which we dipped in butter with lemon juice, and desert was some partially low fat chocolate chip cookies I'd made an hour before (halve the butter and add a 1/3 cup of apple sauce instead (in this case, cinnamon apple sauce)). Much to my surprise the cookies were a lot tastier than the standard recipe though they did have to cook a minute or two longer. Dad and I watched Leverage then Finding Nemo cause he'd never seen it and it's my favourite pixar film.
Japanese class was rather boring today with the teacher going over kanji I already learned. While I can always stand to review how to write various kanji, I know it will only take ten minutes before the kanji quiz for me to do so. I occupied myself instead with teaching myself the non-standard readings of the various kanji (the ones they mention but don't require you to know) since I figure I might as well get something out of this.
I tried my hand at a gourmet style burger today for dinner. Buffalo meat with salt, garlic, paprika, pepper and finely chopped onions mixed in. I then hollowed them out and put cheese inside. It made for some very thick patties, but that's what the
Japanese class was rather boring today with the teacher going over kanji I already learned. While I can always stand to review how to write various kanji, I know it will only take ten minutes before the kanji quiz for me to do so. I occupied myself instead with teaching myself the non-standard readings of the various kanji (the ones they mention but don't require you to know) since I figure I might as well get something out of this.
[Poll #1441864]
I used up most of our pots and pans and all of our knives today to cook, in no particular order, buffalo burgers, macaroni and cheese (for my lunch tomorrow), banana bread, and the creamed new potatoes my dad remembers my grandmother making. Using a very old cookbook since my dad couldn't remember anything about it other than that the sauce was creamy, I actually recreated it perfectly (probably because that was a similar recipe to what my grandmother used). I'm very proud of myself. Also it was quite tasty.
I've wasted the day away reading Star Trek 09 fic, but at least I've worked on Uric a bit.
I used up most of our pots and pans and all of our knives today to cook, in no particular order, buffalo burgers, macaroni and cheese (for my lunch tomorrow), banana bread, and the creamed new potatoes my dad remembers my grandmother making. Using a very old cookbook since my dad couldn't remember anything about it other than that the sauce was creamy, I actually recreated it perfectly (probably because that was a similar recipe to what my grandmother used). I'm very proud of myself. Also it was quite tasty.
I've wasted the day away reading Star Trek 09 fic, but at least I've worked on Uric a bit.
Lifeguard training went surprisingly well. Our twelve laps were multiplied to fifteen due to a smaller pool, but the shorter intervals served me well and I wasn't even that tired after them. We spent the next hour or so practising various rescues and procedures and my wisdom tooth didn't bother me at all (though I had taken an advil on top of my usual tylenol as a precaution). Afterwards, we switched to CPR training which was slightly boring until you had to practice it. We're basically doing a repeat of today tomorrow, which is good even if I'm rather tired this evening from the whole thing. (Have been given tomorrow off from work so will at least be rested.) Cold does seem to be a bit better today too. *fingers crossed*
Submitted my application to Rutgers today. Feeling annoyed by how many places demand copies of your transcripts (even my work wants one!) since it's so hard to get one out of the University of Leeds. I think I'm going to go back and just submit a request for ten of them to both my universities and get it over with (for at least a year or two). Tried to contact Boston University but everyone seems to be on leave. Bah.
I made a delicious meal of stir fried rice out of the left over rice from my stir fry on Sunday. I've never made stir fried rice successfully before but this was great with spring and normal onions plus portabella mushrooms. I was ravenous after lifeguarding class so I devoured more than my fair share. Desert was an impromptu smoothie of mango, strawberry, banana, yogurt, milk and a bit of sugar. It was delicious (though the mango was swallowed by the other flavours).
Submitted my application to Rutgers today. Feeling annoyed by how many places demand copies of your transcripts (even my work wants one!) since it's so hard to get one out of the University of Leeds. I think I'm going to go back and just submit a request for ten of them to both my universities and get it over with (for at least a year or two). Tried to contact Boston University but everyone seems to be on leave. Bah.
I made a delicious meal of stir fried rice out of the left over rice from my stir fry on Sunday. I've never made stir fried rice successfully before but this was great with spring and normal onions plus portabella mushrooms. I was ravenous after lifeguarding class so I devoured more than my fair share. Desert was an impromptu smoothie of mango, strawberry, banana, yogurt, milk and a bit of sugar. It was delicious (though the mango was swallowed by the other flavours).
Lifeguard training went surprisingly well. Our twelve laps were multiplied to fifteen due to a smaller pool, but the shorter intervals served me well and I wasn't even that tired after them. We spent the next hour or so practising various rescues and procedures and my wisdom tooth didn't bother me at all (though I had taken an advil on top of my usual tylenol as a precaution). Afterwards, we switched to CPR training which was slightly boring until you had to practice it. We're basically doing a repeat of today tomorrow, which is good even if I'm rather tired this evening from the whole thing. (Have been given tomorrow off from work so will at least be rested.) Cold does seem to be a bit better today too. *fingers crossed*
Submitted my application to Rutgers today. Feeling annoyed by how many places demand copies of your transcripts (even my work wants one!) since it's so hard to get one out of the University of Leeds. I think I'm going to go back and just submit a request for ten of them to both my universities and get it over with (for at least a year or two). Tried to contact Boston University but everyone seems to be on leave. Bah.
I made a delicious meal of stir fried rice out of the left over rice from my stir fry on Sunday. I've never made stir fried rice successfully before but this was great with spring and normal onions plus portabella mushrooms. I was ravenous after lifeguarding class so I devoured more than my fair share. Desert was an impromptu smoothie of mango, strawberry, banana, yogurt, milk and a bit of sugar. It was delicious (though the mango was swallowed by the other flavours).
Submitted my application to Rutgers today. Feeling annoyed by how many places demand copies of your transcripts (even my work wants one!) since it's so hard to get one out of the University of Leeds. I think I'm going to go back and just submit a request for ten of them to both my universities and get it over with (for at least a year or two). Tried to contact Boston University but everyone seems to be on leave. Bah.
I made a delicious meal of stir fried rice out of the left over rice from my stir fry on Sunday. I've never made stir fried rice successfully before but this was great with spring and normal onions plus portabella mushrooms. I was ravenous after lifeguarding class so I devoured more than my fair share. Desert was an impromptu smoothie of mango, strawberry, banana, yogurt, milk and a bit of sugar. It was delicious (though the mango was swallowed by the other flavours).
I went to the dentist again today, and spent a lot of time talking to him about my teeth since he freaked me out last time with all this talk of cavities with little explanation. Turns out, he was including the wisdom teeth in that craziness which pretty obviously have caries and was panicking me needlessly for what are only a few cavities on the back molars. I also need my upper right wisdom tooth pulled since it's growing into my cheek. I'm sure that will be fun. The cavity filled today was easier than the last one, but it hurts more now that the numbness has worn off. I ended up eating a soft pork bun from a local Chinese market for lunch and picked up some really cheap shitake mushrooms and bean sprouts for an oyster sauce stir fry (with cabbage and noodles) that tasted delicious. I used to eat shitake mushrooms all the time in Japan because they were cheaper and easier than buying meat, so it was nice to be able to throw them into a dish again. I have enough shitake left over to make another dish over the weekend, though I'm not sure what that dish will be.
Meanwhile, in order to fulfil my first aid and CPR requirements for my new job, the director asked me to learn those as part of a lifeguarding course. I like this idea well enough since it means I'd get to spend my summer mornings by the pool. But I suspect the training will take over my life for the next week or two. Job is going well. They need a lot of documents from me for everything so I've been searching through all my old records for various pieces of paper proving various things.
Bujinkan last night was fun. I got to train with J. for the first time in ages. He's Jack's uke, and very high level, which I enjoy because he actually corrects me and insists on perfection. You don't really get that from training with someone below your level (and then you get the people who think they're high level who aren't...). We once again worked with weapons from the beginning using a short sword, and for a few minutes, a gun, then hand to hand, then back to the short sword. It was all about being stabbed, or punched from behind, and reacting with a movement that sort of either curves your shoulder away from the punch, or moves your body and creates space for the short sword to be in (very hard to do), then blocking with the elbow as you turn and taking the space, then perhaps blocking a kick or a punch. One thing Jack was very happy with was once you twisted around you caught the sword wrist in your own hand, then brace your arm against their forearm, you can walk under it or around or even throw them without them being able to fight back. If you don't brace the arm, they can respond. It's sort of like putting the pressure on the arm bar, and then moving into the position for said arm bar. Interesting.
I need to start working seriously on my book again and taking notes on stuff for my phd application research (I ended up ordering the books since trips into NYC for obscure books are no longer feasible), but it's probably not going to happen for another week since I have the lifeguarding thing, several dentist appointments, a fingerprinting appointment and bujinkan to consider. Gah. Life is getting too busy.
Meanwhile, in order to fulfil my first aid and CPR requirements for my new job, the director asked me to learn those as part of a lifeguarding course. I like this idea well enough since it means I'd get to spend my summer mornings by the pool. But I suspect the training will take over my life for the next week or two. Job is going well. They need a lot of documents from me for everything so I've been searching through all my old records for various pieces of paper proving various things.
Bujinkan last night was fun. I got to train with J. for the first time in ages. He's Jack's uke, and very high level, which I enjoy because he actually corrects me and insists on perfection. You don't really get that from training with someone below your level (and then you get the people who think they're high level who aren't...). We once again worked with weapons from the beginning using a short sword, and for a few minutes, a gun, then hand to hand, then back to the short sword. It was all about being stabbed, or punched from behind, and reacting with a movement that sort of either curves your shoulder away from the punch, or moves your body and creates space for the short sword to be in (very hard to do), then blocking with the elbow as you turn and taking the space, then perhaps blocking a kick or a punch. One thing Jack was very happy with was once you twisted around you caught the sword wrist in your own hand, then brace your arm against their forearm, you can walk under it or around or even throw them without them being able to fight back. If you don't brace the arm, they can respond. It's sort of like putting the pressure on the arm bar, and then moving into the position for said arm bar. Interesting.
I need to start working seriously on my book again and taking notes on stuff for my phd application research (I ended up ordering the books since trips into NYC for obscure books are no longer feasible), but it's probably not going to happen for another week since I have the lifeguarding thing, several dentist appointments, a fingerprinting appointment and bujinkan to consider. Gah. Life is getting too busy.
I went to the dentist again today, and spent a lot of time talking to him about my teeth since he freaked me out last time with all this talk of cavities with little explanation. Turns out, he was including the wisdom teeth in that craziness which pretty obviously have caries and was panicking me needlessly for what are only a few cavities on the back molars. I also need my upper right wisdom tooth pulled since it's growing into my cheek. I'm sure that will be fun. The cavity filled today was easier than the last one, but it hurts more now that the numbness has worn off. I ended up eating a soft pork bun from a local Chinese market for lunch and picked up some really cheap shitake mushrooms and bean sprouts for an oyster sauce stir fry (with cabbage and noodles) that tasted delicious. I used to eat shitake mushrooms all the time in Japan because they were cheaper and easier than buying meat, so it was nice to be able to throw them into a dish again. I have enough shitake left over to make another dish over the weekend, though I'm not sure what that dish will be.
Meanwhile, in order to fulfil my first aid and CPR requirements for my new job, the director asked me to learn those as part of a lifeguarding course. I like this idea well enough since it means I'd get to spend my summer mornings by the pool. But I suspect the training will take over my life for the next week or two. Job is going well. They need a lot of documents from me for everything so I've been searching through all my old records for various pieces of paper proving various things.
Bujinkan last night was fun. I got to train with J. for the first time in ages. He's Jack's uke, and very high level, which I enjoy because he actually corrects me and insists on perfection. You don't really get that from training with someone below your level (and then you get the people who think they're high level who aren't...). We once again worked with weapons from the beginning using a short sword, and for a few minutes, a gun, then hand to hand, then back to the short sword. It was all about being stabbed, or punched from behind, and reacting with a movement that sort of either curves your shoulder away from the punch, or moves your body and creates space for the short sword to be in (very hard to do), then blocking with the elbow as you turn and taking the space, then perhaps blocking a kick or a punch. One thing Jack was very happy with was once you twisted around you caught the sword wrist in your own hand, then brace your arm against their forearm, you can walk under it or around or even throw them without them being able to fight back. If you don't brace the arm, they can respond. It's sort of like putting the pressure on the arm bar, and then moving into the position for said arm bar. Interesting.
I need to start working seriously on my book again and taking notes on stuff for my phd application research (I ended up ordering the books since trips into NYC for obscure books are no longer feasible), but it's probably not going to happen for another week since I have the lifeguarding thing, several dentist appointments, a fingerprinting appointment and bujinkan to consider. Gah. Life is getting too busy.
Meanwhile, in order to fulfil my first aid and CPR requirements for my new job, the director asked me to learn those as part of a lifeguarding course. I like this idea well enough since it means I'd get to spend my summer mornings by the pool. But I suspect the training will take over my life for the next week or two. Job is going well. They need a lot of documents from me for everything so I've been searching through all my old records for various pieces of paper proving various things.
Bujinkan last night was fun. I got to train with J. for the first time in ages. He's Jack's uke, and very high level, which I enjoy because he actually corrects me and insists on perfection. You don't really get that from training with someone below your level (and then you get the people who think they're high level who aren't...). We once again worked with weapons from the beginning using a short sword, and for a few minutes, a gun, then hand to hand, then back to the short sword. It was all about being stabbed, or punched from behind, and reacting with a movement that sort of either curves your shoulder away from the punch, or moves your body and creates space for the short sword to be in (very hard to do), then blocking with the elbow as you turn and taking the space, then perhaps blocking a kick or a punch. One thing Jack was very happy with was once you twisted around you caught the sword wrist in your own hand, then brace your arm against their forearm, you can walk under it or around or even throw them without them being able to fight back. If you don't brace the arm, they can respond. It's sort of like putting the pressure on the arm bar, and then moving into the position for said arm bar. Interesting.
I need to start working seriously on my book again and taking notes on stuff for my phd application research (I ended up ordering the books since trips into NYC for obscure books are no longer feasible), but it's probably not going to happen for another week since I have the lifeguarding thing, several dentist appointments, a fingerprinting appointment and bujinkan to consider. Gah. Life is getting too busy.
On Monday, I went for a walk and accidentally (my usual walk takes me by the fire station) ended up watching my town's memorial day parade. It looked very tame compared to festivals I've seen in Japan, but was interesting from an anthropological standpoint (why do we have so many girl scout troops?). Meanwhile, I caught up with a bunch of anime and shows (mostly Being Human and Mushi-shi), manga (My Girl - Korean manga which is basically the Korean version of Hana Montana), and comics (Jack of Fables, House of Mystery & Dresden Files Stormfront). Then I ignored all that to try to finish the final Percy Jackson book, but I'm only half way through as of now.
Today was my first day of work and while it was a long day, I actually wasn't as knackered as I thought I would be. My back hurts from holding a crying toddler for an hour though.
The other day, I made buffalo stroganoff for dinner which tastes a lot like beef stroganoff, only with buffalo;), and apple crisp for desert. I'm actually getting a bit sick of apple crisp but it's dad's favourite desert so he automatically asks for me to make it whenever I suggest other deserts (like brownies *pout*).
Today was my first day of work and while it was a long day, I actually wasn't as knackered as I thought I would be. My back hurts from holding a crying toddler for an hour though.
The other day, I made buffalo stroganoff for dinner which tastes a lot like beef stroganoff, only with buffalo;), and apple crisp for desert. I'm actually getting a bit sick of apple crisp but it's dad's favourite desert so he automatically asks for me to make it whenever I suggest other deserts (like brownies *pout*).
On Monday, I went for a walk and accidentally (my usual walk takes me by the fire station) ended up watching my town's memorial day parade. It looked very tame compared to festivals I've seen in Japan, but was interesting from an anthropological standpoint (why do we have so many girl scout troops?). Meanwhile, I caught up with a bunch of anime and shows (mostly Being Human and Mushi-shi), manga (My Girl - Korean manga which is basically the Korean version of Hana Montana), and comics (Jack of Fables, House of Mystery & Dresden Files Stormfront). Then I ignored all that to try to finish the final Percy Jackson book, but I'm only half way through as of now.
Today was my first day of work and while it was a long day, I actually wasn't as knackered as I thought I would be. My back hurts from holding a crying toddler for an hour though.
The other day, I made buffalo stroganoff for dinner which tastes a lot like beef stroganoff, only with buffalo;), and apple crisp for desert. I'm actually getting a bit sick of apple crisp but it's dad's favourite desert so he automatically asks for me to make it whenever I suggest other deserts (like brownies *pout*).
Today was my first day of work and while it was a long day, I actually wasn't as knackered as I thought I would be. My back hurts from holding a crying toddler for an hour though.
The other day, I made buffalo stroganoff for dinner which tastes a lot like beef stroganoff, only with buffalo;), and apple crisp for desert. I'm actually getting a bit sick of apple crisp but it's dad's favourite desert so he automatically asks for me to make it whenever I suggest other deserts (like brownies *pout*).
I made spaghetti squash for the first time this evening. I haven't eaten it since I was a kid, but I enjoyed making it and covering it in garlic, butter, pepper, and parmesan cheese.
Of course, I now have a mild case of hives on my hands, and since the only unusual thing I ate this evening was the spaghetti squash, I appear to be allergic to it. (There are other possibilities, but since the only time I've ever gotten hives before is from ingesting something, I suspect it's the squash. Either that, or I've developed a new allergy to strawberries, which would be a tragedy of epic proportions.)
Dad had his visit to the specialist dentist on Saturday and they can't fix his tooth until Thursday so we visited the supermarket after the appointment and bought tons of soft food for him to eat. It's been interesting to try to make up new meals he can eat.
Of course, I now have a mild case of hives on my hands, and since the only unusual thing I ate this evening was the spaghetti squash, I appear to be allergic to it. (There are other possibilities, but since the only time I've ever gotten hives before is from ingesting something, I suspect it's the squash. Either that, or I've developed a new allergy to strawberries, which would be a tragedy of epic proportions.)
Dad had his visit to the specialist dentist on Saturday and they can't fix his tooth until Thursday so we visited the supermarket after the appointment and bought tons of soft food for him to eat. It's been interesting to try to make up new meals he can eat.
I made spaghetti squash for the first time this evening. I haven't eaten it since I was a kid, but I enjoyed making it and covering it in garlic, butter, pepper, and parmesan cheese.
Of course, I now have a mild case of hives on my hands, and since the only unusual thing I ate this evening was the spaghetti squash, I appear to be allergic to it. (There are other possibilities, but since the only time I've ever gotten hives before is from ingesting something, I suspect it's the squash. Either that, or I've developed a new allergy to strawberries, which would be a tragedy of epic proportions.)
Dad had his visit to the specialist dentist on Saturday and they can't fix his tooth until Thursday so we visited the supermarket after the appointment and bought tons of soft food for him to eat. It's been interesting to try to make up new meals he can eat.
Of course, I now have a mild case of hives on my hands, and since the only unusual thing I ate this evening was the spaghetti squash, I appear to be allergic to it. (There are other possibilities, but since the only time I've ever gotten hives before is from ingesting something, I suspect it's the squash. Either that, or I've developed a new allergy to strawberries, which would be a tragedy of epic proportions.)
Dad had his visit to the specialist dentist on Saturday and they can't fix his tooth until Thursday so we visited the supermarket after the appointment and bought tons of soft food for him to eat. It's been interesting to try to make up new meals he can eat.
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