| Lika's FMA responses - PITA style (lol) |
[Jul. 18th, 2009|10:31 pm] |
This'll bring back memories. ha ha...
Lika - Since I'm so bloody behind on replies anyway, I thought I'd stick them in one place and gush with you in one GINORMOUS (okay, not that big) blog entry.
Alright, here goes:
( One Giant Response for Lika-chan )
P.S. Forgot to mention in my last post, GEOCITIES IS CLOSING!!! Plans of website domination through use and abuse of free geocities accounts have been thwarted forever. ha ha.. It's been a fun ride and I went in and grabbed most of the files. Don't think I'll repost any of that stuff since most of it is complete and utter crap. ha ha.. The writing is so embarassing. The good thing is that it's forcing me to look more seriously at domain and web hosting. May move my webspace over there and maybe some of the websites with the newer stuff. |
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| HOOOOOOOOT.... |
[Jul. 18th, 2009|10:05 pm] |
Wanna throw myself into a giant pile of snow right now. Maybe tunnel me to the center and never come out again until night.... yugh yugh yugh... To the weather's credit, it's dry heat and it's only been stifling ever since I came home from shoe shopping. I swapped my worn-out, hole-y, black privos for... new black privos. *cough* I almost bought another pair of shoes b/c I'm looking for some casual shoes I can wear on the weekend that aren't the privos (saving those for walking to and from work). Problem is I also bought 2 pairs of dress shoes a few weeks ago. *sigh* I do this all the time. Don't buy shoes for about a year and then go nuts. This is not good for my wallet.
So yes, other than crappy stifling house, the weather isn't too bad. I walked to our brand new, highly convenient train station and took the train to Kensington. I had actually went shoe shopping yesterday at a mall and a stand alone store, but didn't have any luck. I knew there was a decent store in Kensington so I thought I'd give that place a try. I haven't been to Kensington for awhile now and I thought I could stop by the Heartland Cafe for some coffee and some pie. yum yum...
Anyway, got the privos and found out that Heartland Cafe was closed!!! Devastation. I guess the owner of the building (who is also the owner of Teatro?) did not renew their lease so he could make his own little cafe.. Sucks. So I decided to try a new cafe called Gratitude Cafe that I passed by earlier. I guess it's a vegan restaurant and all the titles of the dishes start with 'I am...', and when you order and when they bring your order, they'll repeat the order as 'You are...'. I got 'I am inspiration', a banana and peanut butter crepe, and when the lady put it on my table, she said, 'You are an inspiration...' 0_o A little weird and the funny thing is that she had already turned around and walked away before I processed what she said. LOL. The crepe was delicious and really really pretty. They also served their water in these large, glass bottles. Not your average, run-of-the-mill glass bottles, but pretty, differently shaped ones. Thought that was cool. Service kinda sucked but it wasn't like the staff weren't friendly. It's hard to explain. They seemed like nice people, but they didn't really talk to you except to take your order, bring your dish, take your dish and take your money. The rest of the time they kinda stuck around the kitchen. *shrugs* It was an interesting experience all the same.
Crepes are probably one of my favourite things to eat. I actually made some tonight when I got home. Savoury this time. Grilled prawn, zucchini, green onions, mango and swiss cheese. mmmmmmm... I'm starting to really enjoy BBQ... after I got over my fear of the thing blowing up in my face. ha ha...
Hmmm... I guess that's it. Oh wait, yes, I forgot - Actually, one of the reasons I went out to the cafe was also to draw people - my sketchbook assignment. The teacher told us not to be creepy, but I couldn't do it. LOL! I did a really rough drawing of a guy and I practically slammed my sketchbook closed. Ha ha ha... Seriously. Couldn't do it. Don't know how ppl do it. An invisibility cloak would have been useful at that point....
Also, YAAAAAY FOR PATTY BEING BACK IN TOWN!! Seeing her tomorrow at the Sun & Salsa Festival. Woo hoo! |
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| quick recipe blurb |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|08:35 am] |
Made a quick salad over the weekend (one of many meals I had over the weekend now dubbed the glutton weekend) it had 1) lettuce, 2) mango and 3) diced swiss cheese. It was good. I'm wondering if I should add stuff to it next time - something salty like prosciutto or bacon.
P.S. I bought some processed cheese slices awhile back. mmmmm... I forgot how damn good they are. ha ha..
Edit (2:21 pm):
I am slowly dying of boredom!! Could this day go any slower?? I hate documentation...
Edit (2:24 pm):
Weeeeee! ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) tomodachi totally posted some Orlando Blom photos on her latest entry and I'm freakin' giddy. *sighs dreamily* |
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| *head desk* |
[Jun. 25th, 2009|07:43 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  a little sad | ] |
Soooo.. I probably didn't get the job. They were talking about how they need people right away and I need to give a month's notice to my company. One of the ladies mentioned that they would also be hiring people around September 1. *big, big, BIG sigh*
Plus, there's the tried-tested-and-true "I feel so stupid" feeling after an interview didn't happen and that usually means I didn't get the job. It's true! Usually if I'm not smashing my head against something promptly after the interview, it means no job for Ali. The head smashing came much afterwards..
Also, why oh why did I not take the opportunity to ask what their QA processes were? WHY????
Alright, I'm gonna go wallow a bit in self-pity and then maybe do some drawing homework to make me feel better.
....
*big, big, big, big, big sigh* |
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| T-minus 2 hours |
[Jun. 25th, 2009|01:41 pm] |
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So a face-to-face interview in T-minus 2 hours. OMG OMG OMG OMG... *buries head under sand* |
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| AAAAAAAAAHHHH... |
[Jun. 19th, 2009|01:36 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  freaking out! | ] |
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG O... M... G....
*smothers self*
Edit (2:20 pm)
OMG... IT'S OVER. I think I'm going to die from the euphoria. Job hunting is the most nerve wracking thing in the whole wide world. I'm going to try to relax now. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 18th, 2009|06:45 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  anxious | ] |
I have a phone interview tomorrow. I'm so nervous.
I'm so nervous that part of me wants to jump in the car and drive in one direction until the gas runs out.
Edit (12:03 am):
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG... |
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| ITCH-AY.... |
[Jun. 15th, 2009|08:02 am] |
7 frickin' mosquito bites!! 5 on my frickin' legs and two on my frickin' left arm. It's taking all my will power not to take steel wool to my legs and scratch until I'm completely and utterly satisfied.
This is what I get for being too lazy to drive back for mosquito repellant. This means war, nonetheless. I'm gonna up my mosquito slaying training and wreak havoc on the general mosquito populace. Possibly looking into breeding bats and other insect eating creatures... Mosquitoes. Must. Die.
P.S. I was traumatized further this weekend by finding out that a piece of food at some point in time rolled underneath my bed.. I found it on Friday. Let's just say what I found made me go nuts with the vacuum cleaner and the lysol. O_O I am NEVER... EVER bringing food to my bedroom again. EVER...
EVER..
ever.. (ok, I'm done) |
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| Hummus |
[Jun. 7th, 2009|05:51 pm] |
Hummus
(http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=6016)
1 x garlic bulb
1 tbsp olive oil
2 x 15 oz cans chickpeas, drained (reserve ¼ cup liquid)
1 tbsp tahini
1 x lemon, juice only
paprika and chopped parsley to garnish
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Cut the top off of garlic bulb. Drizzle with olive oil and place on a baking tray. Roast for about 1 – 1 ½ hours or until tender. Allow to cool and squeeze out garlic.
- In a blender or food processor puree chickpeas with roasted garlic, tahini, lemon juice and reserved chickpea liquid. Season to taste with salt. Place in a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use. Garnish with paprika and chopped parsley. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and serve with warm pita bread.
P.S. Can add 1/2 cup of roasted red pepper. |
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| Blog vomit |
[Jun. 3rd, 2009|09:28 am] |
There's a good chance that this is going to be one loooong entry. I'm not sure yet, because even though a lot has happened, I do have a tendency to give up towards the end. We shall see how it goes. I shall use the all powerful heading to separate topics and a little easier to read.
So YAY! Non-random entry. Tho, those are fun as well.
Injured again...
So a couple of weeks ago, our team (Watch your Shins!) did a double header. It was cold, it was windy, dark clouds were looming everywhere... it was great. So on my first shift, less than 10 minutes into the game, I go after this girl with the ball. I turn around to go after her, see Johnson in my way, but it's too late... I run into him. Now, this isn't the first time, I've crashed into a teammate. Not focusing on the time Tom had a muscle cramp and decided the best way to stay up was to grab my shoulder and slam me into the ground - Johnson and I crashed into each other last season. I looked to the side just to see Johnson running towards me. He ran into me, I flew sideways and rolled on the gymnasium floor today. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago, I run into Johnson, I fly backwards, land funny, roll my ankle and limp off the field.
Johnson: 2, Ali: 0
(Damn you Johnson... *shakes fist*)
Anyway, the clincher was I hobbled off the field, sat out for a few minutes and then promptly played that soccer game and the next one. Needless to say, by the end of the day, I was limping badly. So badly that I could barely get up and down the stairs, I thought I was going to die (seriously) trying to get in the tub to shower and I took the day off work the following day. ha ha..
My walking is back to normal but it took about a week or so to get there. There was some serious quasimodo action going on there for awhile and SWELLING. Hoooly cow! My left foot was always bigger than my right foot but duuuude, I couldn't see any of the bones on my feet for days. Just one bloated bag of skin. 0_o
Had the (world's oldest!) doctor check it out and got an x-ray. There are no fractures. So yeah, I've been lazy lately just b/c I had to stop playing soccer and I quit dance for this semester. *sigh* On the bright side, I'll be back in action next week, in a slightly more limited capacity. I actually played a little yesterday b/c one of the girls looked a little injured and other than some soreness in my ankle this morning, it wasn't too bad. I'll just have to wrap it up before a game for a little while.
The Great Turtle Race
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/greatturtlerace-map/
Yeah, baaby! Seabiscuit came in 2nd!! The turtle race wasn't done in real time as we found out later. So you could have viewed the results if you changed the date on your computer a.k.a. psychic ability. XD It was a lot of fun, tho. I was borderline obsessive (or maybe _just_ obsessive) with how much fun I was having with this.
Calgary Expo
So, I haven't been to a comic expo or an anime festival for the longest time. The last anime festival..........was years ago. During university. Probably towards the beginning. I went to the first comic book expo in 2006, but I haven't had a chance to go ever since. When I went, I had nothing to sign autographs with and well, I just wanted to see two people: Humberto Ramos (I have his comics! I should have brought them...) and Kirby Morrow (sexiest... voice... LOL!). Humberto Ramos drew a little spiderman on my name tag and Kirby signed it as well. Saw some ppl dressed up as ghostbusters, took pictures w/ some stormtroopers, Udon Crew was there. It was good times and I bought my mom a little yoda figurine.
This year I decided to go because recently I started watching these people called Imaginism Studios on deviantArt. I loooove their art. So what happens at the Calgary Comic Expo?? It takes every fibre of my being not to go into fangirl. I swear, I should have been dubbed 'creepy girl who won't stop smiling'. I bought an ocean-themed artbook from there. I love it. I also bought the expo artbook this year and got a whole bunch of autographs. There were some really great artists. I got starstruck, really. I saw Jo Chen. She was really nice and her stuff was amaaazing. I think I practically idolize her. ha ha..
Oh and I saw Adama (zee daddy one) there. XD That was pretty damn cool. His hair is all grown out. ha ha..
Anyway, here's a link dump of some of the people I saw and their amazing art.
Imaginism Studio - GO HERE! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! - http://www.imaginismstudios.com/
Jo Chen - She's famous for a lot of stuff. I remember her doing covers for the Buffy comics - http://jo-chen.com/main-data/jo.html
Sean "Cheeks" Galloway - http://gotcheeks.blogspot.com/
The Anthology Project - amaaazing art - http://www.theanthologyproject.com/
Joy Ang - what got me looking at the anthology - http://www.joyang.ca/
There's actually more, but I'll have to look for them. :D I'm definitely going next year. :D
Animal Crossing
Still playing. Still borderline possessive. I don't think I'll ever stop playing this game. O_O
Oh, and also got to play Punch Out! on the wii. Lots of fun. Gained one muscle on my right arm. ha ha... only the one.
OK... so I sorta died there towards the end. ha ha.. All done. Probably a mess and I'll have to edit but I shall do that later. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 25th, 2009|11:59 pm] |
I realise I have a lot to catch up on in terms of posting.. b/c things I thought I posted were actually .... my imagination. ha ha.. Anyway, just thought I'd get this thought off of my chest - the nicorette inhalers.... am I going insane or do they look like tampons? 0_o
OK.. yes, random, I know, but I've seen the commercial twice now and same conclusion.
P.S. Dammit, Lika! I finally catch up on your posts and you write mooooore. ha ha... Replies / spam to come soon (*crosses fingers*)
P.P.S. mmmmmm... blueberries... |
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| AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!! |
[May. 15th, 2009|01:40 pm] |
I know you warned me, Lika-chan, but it was too late!! I was ensnared!!
Oh, it can't be that bad. *clickity-click* HOLY- GYAH!
**dies**
ha ha ha... |
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| Strange weather we have over here.... |
[May. 15th, 2009|12:30 pm] |
So today started off really warm. I was doing my once-in-a-blue-moon laundry and my bedroom was getting pretty warm. I get the first load of laundry in and I start making lunch. Next thing I know... it's FRICKIN' SNOWING!!! It was seriously sunny and blue skies and everything, and then I turn around and not a patch of blue sky as far as the eye can see and tiny little bits of hail consistently falling from the sky. Good times all around. Anyway, I may have to change out of the tank top and skirt (w/c was all that remained after my once-in-a-blue-moon gathering of dirty laundry) when I do go out.
Also, what really got me excited was this recipe/idea. ...now if I start with the beginning, it sort of goes along the lines as this -
I normally read this one blog 'are you gonna eat that?' (http://ugonnaeatthat.com/), a local food critic blog (and much much more. lol). Really great reads and a really good place to check if you want to try new restaurants. I actually found it when I was dying for some Taiwanese beef noodles (most likely after talking with Auj no doubt. Damn you, Auj Podge...) and trying to find a decent Taiwanese restaurant. There is one in Chinatown but I still haven't had the chance to check it out.
From that link there's a cooking blog called 'Chinese Soul Food' (http://chinesesoulfood.squarespace.com/). One of the first recipes? Tomatos and eggs - my mom's favourite. Another recipe? Zha jiang mien (炸酱麵), another one of my mom's favourites. So I like to check it out from time to time. The latest entry? It's about putting red bean paste (紅豆沙) into a flat bread called tsao bing (燒餅). The 燒餅 is basically a type of small flat bread that's covered in sesame seeds. I think the closest equivalent could be puff pastry.... only not so puffy. ha ha..
I have to say, it's a frickin' fantastic idea. It took a long while to put together. The 燒餅 was sold out at one point and my mom forgot to find it for me a couple of times. When I went to find the red bean paste, it was unfortunately located on the top shelf....at the back of the top shelf ... and this, in turn, lead to a semi-traumatising moment of being spoken to in Mandarin while this lady's husband was reaching for a package with me. OK, so it wasn't traumatising, the family was really very very nice but the Mandarin sent me into a mind-reeling panic.. if that makes sense. (If not, then just focus on the word panic). I also have to admit that my navigation skills in T&T are complete and utter crap.
Soooo, I just managed to add the red bean paste to the 燒餅 today.
Result: SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO good. mmmmmmmmmmm.... It was really yummy, so it's definitely worth a go. If you want to see the original blog article, it's here: http://chinesesoulfood.squarespace.com/chinese-soul-food/2009/3/3/my-nutella.html
Though, I doubt nutella will ever (ever!) be replaced, this is a really good snack! |
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| The Great Turtle Race |
[Apr. 16th, 2009|08:46 pm] |
So, in order to study the migration patterns and natural behaviours of the great leatherback turtle (the best species of turtle in the whole wide world!), some scientists strapped sophisticated satellite tracking devices onto the backs of 11 leatherbacks. The best part? Being able to track them online. You learn about their movement patterns and you can watch them slowly make their way to the breeding grounds. I think at the end of it you learn who traveled the farthest, who swam the deepest, who swam through the coldest waters, etc.
Seriously.. the office poll possibilities are endless! ha ha... I was sharing this with my friends via e-mail initially, but I have to share the Great Turtle Race love with my f-list. XD
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/greatturtlerace-map/
Definitely worthy a clicky-clicky. XD
...
GO SEABISCUIT!! |
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| Wha-- wha-- what?! |
[Apr. 13th, 2009|11:25 pm] |
So, instead of reading the documentation that I conveniently can't find right now, I ended up rewatching bits and pieces of my childhood anime, Shurato / Shulato. So, of course, I decide to check out the wikipedia article... which was really small when I first looked it up. The character descriptions seem to be a bit... on the passionate side as opposed to unbiased, but ah well, can't ask for too much with an anime series that was created some odd 17 years ago.
So what's getting me all "wha-- wha-- what?!". Well, apparently, according to this wikipedia article, there's going to be a live action movie........ O_O O_O O_O O_O Now, I can't find any information on it, so I'm really skeptical (esp since filming is supposedly supposed to start this year and there's not so much as a peep of this on the internet) ... but it's blowing my mind. There's just no way...
Edit: 2009.04.14 - Here's another WTF.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGMT99i00M4
Scary nature. O_O And the octopus was so cute! It was all, hey, look at this here, cool wrench. I take it and suck on it and GYAAOUEHR;AKLDJFALSDJFNGA!@$%##$!!!
... crazy... |
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| I challenge you all... |
[Apr. 6th, 2009|06:53 pm] |
...to do this wordle! It's VERY amusing. I made mine and sent it to my e-mail...but unfortunately, it never made it to my gmail. Don't ask me how... O_O I hope I didn't send it to a client. ha ha.. ... ha... (Actually, now that I think about it, another important e-mail never made it to my gmail. O_O I'll have to check. d'oh!)
http://www.worldle.net
Edit (2009.04.07): Ah HA! I wasn't stupid. Apparently, my e-mail did not comply with some standards.. What standards? I will never know... XD
( Wordle! ) |
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| Another Miso Recipe |
[Apr. 4th, 2009|02:38 pm] |
This time, the recipe is from 101 cookbooks. The Miso-Walnut dressing is amazing. My only problem was that I halved the recipe but not the garlic. mmmmmm... garlic. A bit overpowering, so I would probably half it in the end, but still... mmmm... garlic.
Walnut Miso Noodles Recipe
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/walnut-miso-noodles-recipe.html
4 ounces whole wheat spaghetti or linguini (or soba)
1 small bunch of asparagus, sliced thinly (1/4-inch thick)
Dressing:
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium clove garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons mellow white miso paste
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar I used rice vinegar and it worked really well. XD I would probably add more too, but do this according to taste
1 teaspoon honey
2 big pinches salt (or to taste)
1/4 cup+ warm water
Topping ideas: sliced green onions, chopped chard stems and leaves that have been cooked for a minute or two in a skillet with a bit of olive oil and salt (see photo), chopped fresh chives, toasted walnuts
- To make the dressing, use a food processor, blender or hand blender to puree the walnuts, olive oil, garlic, miso paste, vinegar, and honey. Add the warm water a bit at a time until the dressing is the consistency of a heavy cream. Taste and add salt if you think it needs it.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt generously and cook the pasta per package instructions, being careful to not overcook. About 10 seconds before you are going to drain the noodles, add the asparagus to the pot.
- Now drain and toss with about 1/2 the walnut-miso dressing. Here, I actually doused it in cold water. I love cold soba, so it was a bit of a habit. ha ha.. It was good. Could treat it as a pasta salad.
- Add as much or as little dressing as you like to the noodles and toss well. Arrange in two bowls or on a platter - I finished off this version topped with sliced green onions, a bit of sauteed slivered rainbow chard leaves & chopped stems, a few toasted walnuts, and some chives.
Serves 1 - 2.
Notes: I did not gradually add the water because apparently, I forgot how to read. ha ha.. It still worked out quite well. This recipe is really good and you don't necessarily need asparagus (btw, mmmm...). Just whatever is seasonal. Again, the dressing was amazing. Would be lovely for dipping as well. *drools* |
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| miso soup |
[Apr. 4th, 2009|12:06 pm] |
Miso Soup
2 tbsp miso - add more to taste (original recipe called for 4, but I found this too salty. This is probably dependent on what miso you bought)
4 cups water
Additional ingredients:
tofu
wakame (seaweed)
chopped green onion (to sprinkle at the end)
The amount really depends on how much tofu, seaweed and onion you would like in your soup. :D
- In a pot, boil water and add the miso.
- Stir until miso is completely disolved.
- Add tofu and wakame seaweed. Boil for another minute and the soup is ready to serve.
- Serve soup in a bowl and sprinkle green onions on top.
There it is. Super duper easy. Took me less than 10 minutes to make... I know, because I was in a hurry. ha ha.. There was also the mention of adding about 1/2 tbsp of dashi which is some sort of fish soup base. *long pause* but I didn't have it, so yeah. Maybe next time. |
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| Alice in Wonderland! |
[Apr. 4th, 2009|01:44 am] |
The Alberta Ballet is doing 'Alice in Wonderland' right now and I saw it on Thursday night. It was AMAZING. Super, duper delightful and it was so much fun to watch. *gush, gush, gush* I would even consider watching it again if they ever do it again.
WHAT?! NOOO TEA! |
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