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[Jul. 8th, 2009|11:23 pm] |
seriously one of the best things my parents ever did for me was make me asian. chinese specifically. with no food allergies. love it. i should give them a mom/pop card every year with the message, "thanks for being asian and making me one too!" why the sudden surge of being giddy? WELL.....
just five minutes ago, i had a craving for moiji/mochi. so i got off my lazy bum and got out:
1/4th cup of glutenous rice flour (yes, i had that rice flour sitting in my closet)
3/16th cup water
1/16th cup sugar
microwaved the crap out of that for 1 minute and BAM instant goodness. didn't feel like opening up a whole can of red bean paste, so i just ate the dough straight up and i was supremely happy. where did i get the glutenous rice flour and the optional red bean paste you ask? WELL...
at the asian grocery store!!! to me, that place is like a FAO schwartz to a little kid. aisles and aisles of goodness. raw products upon raw products of endless possibilities to make awesomnesses.
want to make zhong zi? go pick up some sticky rice and bamboo leaves.
want to make dumplings? pick up some dumpling skins.
want to make onigiri (ok that's not chinese but whatever)? pick up sticky rice, dried seaweed and maybe some bonito flakes.
want to make tsong you bing (scallion pancakes)? flour, oil, scallions and salt
want to make taro and sweet potato chews (the only way i know how to say it is in taiwanese, and i suck at that)? to the produce aisle and starch aisle for some sweet potato and tapioca starch!!
want to make sushi? go get some salmon/tuna, sushi rice, seaweed, avacado and MAKE THAT SUSHI!!
want to make moon cakes? attempt to make moon cakes!!!!!
want to make beef ho/chow fun? buy the noodles, beef, sprouts, green onions and ask wayne for his mom's recipe!!!!!!!
so... i'm on this new diet. it's the "go to the gym again and eat vegetables and natural protein with the occasional protein shake" diet, mixed in with liberal amounts of chocolate (currently stressed at work) but it's not as filling as eating straight up junk food, so my mind's constantly fixated on ways to make and eat more food... can you tell?? |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 7th, 2009|11:05 pm] |
stuff to make in the near future:
ribs using a dry rub featured on good eats:
8 parts brown sugar
3 parts salt
1 part chili pepper
1/6th part cayenne pepper
1/6th part onion powder
1/6th part black pepper
1/6th part jalepeno seasoning
1/6th part old bay seasoning
1/6th part rubbed thyme
moon cake
using my brand new mold... but accidentally bought a moon cookie mold :(
five layer dip
refried beans
avocado
black olives
tomatoes
shredded cheese
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|12:42 am] |
the trainer assistant (real trainer, just not the designated trainer for us) has this super duper sweet tooth. i thought i was bad, but he's even got this huge coffee mug with hershey chocolate assortments imprinted on it. he keeps us well supplied with chocolate and candy, and for the picnic we had last week, he bought like... a costco crate of sweet tea and coke cans. much to my chagrin, i get so hungry throughout the day that i end up eating tons of candy. i joke around that you can tell my stress level by the number of times i go up to get more candy. monday and tuesday i had 8 fun size packets of m&ms because i couldn't manage to find anything i could use for work (and again, i stress i am not slacking off, but i couldn't find the prior art needed to write up rejection reports despite hours of searching). however, today i only had... three packets of peanut m&ms and a coke (for breakfast) because i was too busy typing to realize the status of my stomach. typing = getting work done :)
but i joked around that the trainer assistant must know a dentist or something... seems like dentistry is the choice medical profession for vietnamese people and lo and behold... his COUSIN is a dentist! i knew it all along. trying to generate business for family. jk jk.
tomorrow'll be a kit kat/snickers day i think.
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| i knew it was a good idea to find my roommates on craigslist! |
[Jun. 28th, 2009|11:40 pm] |
this particular 3-day weekend (i get every other friday off... by working almost all 9 hr days) i went into the office for two of the days. shocking? could be viewed as that i guess. in the government, they assign us to GS levels, with 10 steps within each level. kinda like... tae kwon do... you have white, white with one yellow stripe, white with two yellow stripes... and so on and so forth. our GS levels are 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15. it gives us an idea of our pay at each level and step, and the amount of production we have to output every biweek. we're like a regular sweat shop, except we sold our soul for more money. the GS level also tells us what we're allowed or not allowed to do. well, basically there's just one thing so far that i can tell that distinguishes the GS levels. if you're a certain level, you can go in to do voluntary overtime. so that's me, i did voluntary overtime. but it was unbelievable the number of people who were like, "what! what were you doing during the week days??" i mean, i guess it makes sense to automatically assume that i was slacking off or something, but man oh man, it sucks that i really absolutely wasn't... and i had nothing to show for it. so i come in on the weekends to get more time to try to get done what i couldn't. but seriously, i was NOT slacking off.
so when i was moving up to the area, i contemplated the idea of... rooming with friends of friends. it didn't end up working out which is what i was actually secretly hoping for. i mean, what better way of making a completely new set of friends and lifestyle than forcing myself to room with completely random strangers? sure there's the chance of meeting complete psychos, especially through craigslist, but someone must've been watching out for me, because these two people are pretty cool. i'm like slowly infiltrating one roommate's circle of friends, and the other one... well i just went to her client's consignment sale today. there's a bunch of rich people neighborhoods around where i live, and that roommate nannies for one of them, and the wife recently decided she was going to do this purifying cleansing thing and decided to get rid of a whole bunch of stuff. i missed the furniture portion of the sale, but my roommate asked me if i wanted to go today for the last day of it. against my better judgement- because of my budgetary goal for this month- i decided to go check it out- plus i told myself i'd say yes to more things. i've never met upper class desperate housewives or met super chic supermodel women, but holy crap these women were dressed like they were permanently living in fashion week, and here i come in with an oversized washington capitals t-shirt i got at the ballpark and some jean shorts. but the lady's place was like a nordstrom rack with all the ridiculous clothes, and they focused their attention all on me. "ok try this, now this, this now, ok no take that off, hmm keep that to think about" for 2 hours straight. it was insane. at the end of it, i walked out of that house having spent $170 on clothes with them unbelievably happy for having spent 2 hours dressing me up like a barbie, flabbergasted that i really had no distinct style, and wondering what gym i went to or if i ran or whatever. HAHA. i told them i used to mow the lawn and rake leaves for my parents. yeah, that's a workout they'll pick up :D but that was a pretty interesting experience. i'm officially out of hangers now, and $300 over my monthly budget. i was so close too... only two more days.. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|12:41 am] |
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it's a strange thing... i can't whine about being out of shape to someone who is dissatisfied with their weight. i can't gripe about difficulties at work to someone who doesn't have any to go to. i can't "woe is me" to someone who just broke up with his/her gf/bf. and i like hot dogs so much more than cheeseburgers. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 18th, 2009|11:20 pm] |
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yeah this jogging thing? not working out so well. little thing called work keeps getting in the way.... |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 31st, 2009|08:02 pm] |
today i saw this guy running/jogging on the sidewalk and i remarked to judy, "i don't understand how people can just do that. they run and run and they like it. look at him!" and he was running great big strides and not even breaking a sweat. and then judy tells me that you can get to a point where you don't feel like dying when you run- it becomes just as normal as breathing. i'm skeptical. but she says she bets if i run three times a week for a month, i'll get to that point.
not that i'm in a bet with her or anything, but i'm curious to see what that feels like. so starting next month, i'll try to run three times a week... and not just for 0.6 miles. i'll try to run for real and see what this big hoopla is. that, or i'll just get a really nice farmer's tan.
i start... tomorrow! june 1st. i guess this means i can't stay at work until 8pm anymore...
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| (no subject) |
[May. 29th, 2009|10:49 pm] |
i believe i once declared that i'd stay completely open about anything happening in my life... and distinctly remembered scoffing at how other people always seem to want keep their new developing personal relationships under wraps until months later when it's finally traveled to the ends of the earth via all the various gossip channels... but over time, i've found that it's actually very difficult to want to share personal changes. it's like... if you're trying to get preggers to have a kid and you don't want to let people know too early just in case something happens. i imagine it's like that feeling- you don't want to jinx it.
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| ridikulus!! |
[May. 4th, 2009|08:39 pm] |
right, so we've established the fact that my parents are currently out of the country, and my mom has forwarded all of her calls to my phone. i've already said that both my grandpa and my uncle have called her phone, meaning called me looking for her. and that i've spoken to both of them telling them the situation. the timeline is that my uncle called on behalf of my grandpa because he's looking to speak with her. i tell him the situation, thinking he'll relay it back. but apparently not? because my grandpa then calls me and i talk to him explaining the situation in the exact same words (because my vocabulary is limited). i guess i didn't get through, because tonight another one of my uncles (my mom's got four brothers) calls me saying my grandpa's looking for her. gahahghdh. i call his number back and one of my cousins answers the phone... whom i haven't seen or spoken to in like... 8-10 years or something ridiculous like that. my mom's side isn't dysfunctional, we just don't stay in touch. so i'm telling him the situation blah blah blah and hopefully *crosses fingers* that'll be the end of this whole strange two weeks. maybe.... my mom planned all of this, so i'd talk to four relatives i don't really ever talk to. now if my other two uncles called me and/or i called back and ended up speaking to my other five cousins (i got one knocked out of the way two weekends ago when we hung out in dc) who i also haven't seen in like... 8-11 years (holy crap, ok really, we're not dysfunctional, we don't hang out), then i'd have had my own little family reunion right there. sweet, no funeral or wedding necessary.
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 30th, 2009|11:09 pm] |
seriously, the best way to drink chilled water (omigosh, i was almost done typing "chocolate" before i realized it) is right after you brush your teeth with minty toothpaste. it amplifies the coldness and you feel it going all the way down your throat. it's great.
i'm in this spendy mood now... it's incredibly bad, since i have the day off tomorrow. why, i remember the first friday i had off way back in february, i spent $600 in three days! i spent an hour this morning sitting in my pjs looking at snowboard pants and jackets. luckily i didn't pull the trigger. but for real, i think i need to go shopping tomorrow to buy some more dressier clothes- i'm starting to feel self-concious about wearing the same things every two weeks, plus it's warming up, i suppose i need to find some more non-sweaterish attire, though with the rising outside temps comes the lowering of the inside air conditioning. brrr. BUT with the aid of joyce, i have now bought five different wedges from endless.com to try out and then return 3-4. i think i just really like packages in the mail too.
my parents are out of town and my mom fwded her phone calls to my phone saying, "oh don't worry, you won't be getting any calls, except maybe the dentist reminding your brother he's got an appointment". they've been gone 2 days now. how many calls have i gotten related to potentially important matters or people? FOUR. what the deuce?!?! one from my uncle who i had to call back and play it off like i can speak fluently in a different language. two from my grandpa looking for my mom, whom i had to yell back to saying she wasn't here... because he's hard of hearing, and then i get another one tonight from my dad's friend, and he leaves a message all confused-like saying he thought this was my dad's number but somehow it's got my voicemail msg greeting. i'm tempted to just ignore it and wait for my parents to call him back when they come home... just because they're kinda strange about not liking to tell people where they're at, so if this friend of my dad asks... i don't know what i should say.
i didn't realize how fast time flies by once a full-time job takes over adult lives. all of a sudden the new wolverine movie's out marking the beginning of the "summer blockbuster" big screens, and i'm sitting here like, "WHaT?!? i thought it was only february!!" but instead it's the eve of may and soon it'll be june when people get married and then july when people get married and then august when people get married and... oh crap, i need to buy that bridesmaid dress sometime soon (sorry sorry!!!). and that dress to wear for the june and july wedding too. but i've got potential shoe wear!!
i do believe this job is potentially taking over my mind... the other night i had a dream that i had found this awesome relevant prior art (patent, application publication, etc) i could use to do my job and i got to work all excited.... and then realized i had done no such thing. i think when you start having reality dreams about work, you're supposed to start getting concerned. BUT i bought four dollars worth of lotto tickets today (the VA megamillions is at $220!!) so i'll be quitting my job come monday :-D |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 15th, 2009|07:00 pm] |
i like it best when i go into the public restroom and see that all the toilet seats are lifted up after the cleaning staff have just finished doing what they do. not because the seats are more sanitized... but because when i squat, the hole is bigger!!! whoo hoo!
i'm a squatter. works the legs and you just don't know who else has been on the seat, am i right? but sometimes it just feels easier to do stuff when the seat is up, because like i said, the hole is bigger, and the distance between me and the toilet is 1- 1.5 inches lower, and i'm just happier. but if the seat's already down, i'll never put it up first. my motto in there is "get in, get done, get out" with as little time in the stall as possible. so i'm always super happy when i see that the cleaning staff have just come through. but then after i'm done and i'm about to leave... i get self conscious and worry if there'll be someone else who comes into the bathroom and takes my stall right after me, sees the seat up, and wonders if i'm a transvestite (remember mrs. doubtfire). so i always go and put the seat down after i'm done. call me weird, but that's what i do. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 15th, 2009|01:01 am] |
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seriously, i don't know why i never go to bed early anymore. all of a sudden it's 1am and i'll be hurting tomorrow again. getting into work at 8am to leave my desk at 6pm to go to the gym and finally get home at 8pm. friggin ridiculous. i need to try to start getting in at 7am so i can leave earlier. i find i work better in the morning anyway... kinda shut down in the afternoon. and we got our first biweekly reports today and i'm operating at less than 20% of expectancy right now!!! one-sixth. what's that, like 17 per cent? not even. cripes. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 11th, 2009|12:00 am] |
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i am so happy i have made a new friend who thinks about food just as frequently as i do and is training for a sprint triathalon so she needs to go swimming and biking and her name is sara lee EXACTLY the name my mom wanted me to be until her coworker made her stop and yes things are looking up. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 9th, 2009|11:50 pm] |
so i understand how certain people view the world differently... mostly because of the experiences they've gone through. if they once were a server in a restaurant, they'll think harder during tipping time after a meal. grocery bagger? they'll think about how to place their cart purchases onto the checkout conveyer belt - frozen/wet foods together, produce together, meats separate, boxes waaay far away. engineers look at machines and devices and try to figure out how they work (at least i do) and artists... i guess they look at the world in shades and artistic dimensions? i don't really know. anyway, now that i've become a... seasoned 2 month patent examiner, occasionally i'll catch myself wondering what art unit (technology department) the... life fitness lat pulldown went to and what other patents must have been searched.
today i went to mcdees for dinner and went through the drive-through to pick up my no. 11 filet-o-fish combo (the only thing i can really order there) and holy cow, their drink dispensing machine is amaaaazing! you've gotta go check it out!! the machine suctions down a cup into this rotating cup holder which then moves it under the soda fountain machine where a regulated amount of ice dumps in, and then it automatically moves it underneath the soda spigot where the employee just pushes the drink selection! craaazy!! i got to watch it in action for three drinks. it made my day. and i wondered who got to examine the super-cool machine and i got jealous. i think tomorrow i'll try to find that patent. and maybe i'll go to mcdees again just to watch it work again. amazing. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 8th, 2009|11:17 pm] |
you know how people are like, "diets don't work bc people always fall into relapse"? well, i've fallen into relapse. no exercising at all this week!!! and i love the new-found time i suddenly have on my hands. it's great. but seriously, i pay $20/mo for that condensed work gym... i'm going to start back up as soon as... next week starts. maybe i need to start going during the day instead of after work. or in the morning. or something.
tommy's free during the night again. hope i'm not making an error on judgement here. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 30th, 2009|11:10 pm] |
first day of real work today... thought i'd commemorate it. i can now come in whenever i want and leave whenever i want... as long as i'm here for the core 9:30am-3:00pm hours. pretty sweet deal... except i still found myself getting to work by 7:30 today... and in fact leaving 30 minutes later than usual. just... wasn't... ready... to give... up...
i've discovered that this job is almost like... writing an english paper. you gather all your sources together and then figure out how to piece it all together to slam the applicant back a few steps. it makes me giddy thinking about it. i like writing papers like that. what sucks about it is the amount of "think broadly" and bs-ing that may need to be done in order to successfully push the paper out of my sight. i'm not too well versed in that kind of writing. i need concrete, solid evidence to make me feel like i've done a good job... so the jury's still out on whether or not i'm keen on this profession. of course, i'm still on my first application! we'll see how i feel at the end of the week yeah?
one of my friends is trying to get me to write on tabulas again. i've got an account- made it years ago but i'm still fond of this alias... and the color scheme. trying to think of a new name for if i ever switch back to tabulas but... maybe you shouldn't hear my first idea. it sorta popped into my head but i can see how it might sound inappropriate. however, while running on the treadmill today another name popped in... "orangefudgesicle" it's a handful... and kinda dumb but i was trying to think of anything and everything good in life during those 25 minutes. (honestly, i can't think of how people can run for 2 hours and 5 minutes!! :D ) mmm... orange creamsicles and chocolate fudgesicles... when mimi was in town she recommended i buy these green bean ice cream bars from the asian grocery store... and it's got these yellow chewy things embedded in them too. i held off and refrained from eating them for 3 weeks, but now i've just been eating them like crazy. i should really just figure out how to freeze my own.
it's interesting talking to different people here at work. i'll be walking along minding my own business and then some guy in front of me'll turn around and ask... "hey, you're at the gym a lot right?" "oh.. uh... yeah i guess so?" "huh, i'll say hi next time i see you in there". that happened today. or like... certain people in my lab like to bake stuff and bring it in... mostly cupcakes and brownies and things... and since i'm nonstop hungry, i'm always eye-ing the sealed tupperwares right after they appear at the front of the room, wondering when it's an appropriate time to crack them open and snag a couple. actually, three- i eat two and then take one to my friend in another lab who hooks me up with food when his labmates bring them in. so i'm sitting there eating my second cupcake and my coworker across the room is iming me oinking noises and i'm just like, meh whatever- i'm hungry. and he says, "i don't know how you eat so much... you're little." excuse me?? i'm like a giant! like i said, it's interesting talking to very different people at work. they've all got these different perspectives. i like to prove them wrong.
anyway, i'll keep thinking of a good alias name.
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 22nd, 2009|11:46 pm] |
i signed up to get these periodic updates of newsletters pertaining to DC one of which is a DCfoodies column. early this past week i get an article written about pulled pork prepared in a slow cooker. basically the guy bought a 6lb pork shoulder, put a spice rub on it and threw it into the slow cooker for 8 hours and the juices mixed with the spices and made a nice bbq sauce. i read it at work and it made me salivate on the spot- which is completely what i shouldn't be reacting with considering my... ideals. but this weekend i go home for family and a wedding and i'm telling my mom about this awesome recipe and she opens the cabinets and pulls out this ancient vintage crock pot that looks exactly like this:
THAT is what's sitting in my room right now. friggin ridiculous right. pescitarianism aside... i'm really REALLY excited for any excuse to make this pulled pork. and... i'm a little embarassed to unveil this crock pot to my roommates. i think they're going to laugh at me.
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 22nd, 2009|12:10 am] |
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on the road that leads to my apartment there's this traffic light that randomly turns red... even though it's just a light for a crosswalk that no one ever utilizes. nevertheless, it still faithfully changes signals and makes people stop and wait for it to turn back to green. and sometimes late at night (i consider 11pm late hah!) i'll be driving home and it'll turn red and i sit and wait and think about why i'm waiting. i understand rules and regulations are in existance for the safety of the public and that though some feel qualified to determine what exactly is "safe", i understand that it's just better to have a system in place for everyone to follow regardless. but this traffic signal is just incredibly ridiculous. it isn't even an intersection- just a crosswalk! so really, if there are no pedestrians (esp at 11pm) then cars shouldn't have to sit and wait for the 30sec signal. i agree drivers should slow to a stop and evaluate the situation, but afterward, they should be able to just... go. but we as a society have all been "trained" so-to-speak to follow the rules and stop when there's a red light. i find that very fascinating. they say that traffic security cameras are installed to make people stop running red lights, but then we have this situation here where there really is no safety issue at hand, and people always stop and wait for the green light- at least all the cars i've ever seen, me included. or maybe people only "run the red light" when there's no one else around to see them and judge them for it? i think the psychology of humans is extremely interesting... maybe i should have taken a few classes back in college. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 18th, 2009|12:00 am] |
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ahaha so everybody's either dating... or getting married. i wonder- should i go find someone and start dating too?? |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 15th, 2009|09:55 pm] |
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recently, i went and bought six 1lb boxes of steel cut oatmeal from amazon.com- they were having a special sale on mcmann's irish oatmeal (apparently the best out there) and i was intrigued. ok, and i also read on this forum that people put protein powder into their steel cut oatmeal. so the 6 pounds of oatmeal ship in and i got a chance to cook it and it's... the bomb diggity. it's more interesting to eat than the quick rolled oats or the old fashioned oats (i bought a small canister of it at the store and now i don't want to eat anymore- maybe i'll make cookies with it) and apparently it's more nutritious and filling. cook it in the awesome rice cooker, squeeze a little honey and yum yum yum. judy says bananas are good with it too. i'd have to concur- i tried an overripe banana with a bowl of the old fashioned oats. but i must absolutely warn against putting chocolate protein powder into any sort of oatmeal. chocolate oatmeal is just... way too strange. chocolate oatmeal??? it was even worse to swallow than putting it in water. my quest of getting rid of 5lbs of powder continues... i've yet to try milk but i hear that's bearable.
do i sound like a health nut? omigosh i'm completely the anti-thesis. when nobody's looking, i scarf down green tea icecream bars from the local asian store, and stuff my cheeks with the chocolate kex ballerina and raspberry kex singoalla ikea cookies that my parents left with me back when they helped me buy my bed. i'm running out of the junkfood they left for me though- looks like i'll have to start eating nothing but rice, pasta and vegetables. and raisin bran cereal. ohmigosh i'm slowly turning into my healthnut vietnamese friends. next thing you know, i'll be running half marathons too.
 the awesome rice cooker.
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