Not so traumatic Trauma

It's not the events, but the after-events that truly make my night.

"Rambutan"

You rebellious cousin, you
dyed, permed, spiked
rough around the simple edges
grimy and nestled with mites
a tug
a squeeze
a squish won't do

one must dig a solid nail
wrench the strength of your
thick red leathery self

but inside
a pearly conundrum
glistening and sweet
politely neat
tear away that skin
to unveil a sheen of
delight and comfort

pillowed by an
unmistakable soft white
a pleasure so young
and genuine

'til you reach the
tenacious hull of its
immortal seed

-anon

P.S.
As cheesy as this sounds, I now associate this song with our shared memories.

if you're lost you can look--and you will find me
time after time
if you fall I will catch you--I will be waiting
time after time

A force of habit

Have you ever thought about your morning/evening bathroom rituals? Like me, I'm quite sure people do the same 2-5 things, whether those include brushing teeth, putting on/removing make-up/hair shtuff, flossing, etc. In addition to my bathroom rituals, I try to eat certain things everyday that ensure some amount of nutritional value. For instance,

I try to eat a quarter cup of mixed raw nuts. This doesn't bode well if you don't drink a lot of water, though. [Insert: fart mania during lecture]

Every so often, I'll break my food rituals with other yummies.

An example of one of those times, which usually happens during celebratory, stressed, relieved or indulgent moments.

Then again... when am I ever not celebratory, stressed, relieved or indulgent? Might as well have my egg custard and eat it, too!

When readings don't want to be read...

you blog!.. or plog.

I'm trying to get the hang of this new camera. It's not the easiest to work with when the flash is off, but it did produce this photo. Look at Ol' Sparky, the cutie!
I spent a good amount of time trying to take a picture of the fly that flew into my coffee this morning in the office. As you can see, I prefer my coffee with cream... as did the fly.
Umm. Yeah.
Oatmeal! I've finally progressed from the on-the-go packets to this =D. This, of course, requires more time and patience in the morning; but, I think I'm willing to sacrifice the extra 10-15 minutes for breakfast goodness.
Wednesday evenings.

First day of the semester!

I'm in class... waiting for Derek to arrive... so we can giggle in the back of the room.

Crazy DAISY weekend

The last two evenings have been so off the wall they're across room and partially on the ceiling. As such, I've included the most settling photograph.Thanks for washing my dishes, Mr. Oye.

I also tried this new chocolate chip coffee bread recipe. It included sour cream, which kept up a nice amount of moisture. However, I still don't understand the electric stove in this apartment..
So.. difficult.. to.. work.. with!
AND I made banana Nutella swirl muffins with pecans and walnuts.

[Also tinkering with this new camera..]

For a Sunday dinner, Tom made awesome steak.

Meals of devotion ^_^

Dog, rat, and kat

A little while ago, I stumbled across this youtube video. Well, three million+ people also stumbled across it, but it's one of the more memorable ones I've seen... possibly because I'm a sucker for rats.



So yesterday when Mike, David, Alex, and I ventured through San Francisco to find anything to do, I stumbled upon this.

It's hard to say whether or not it was the same rat, but he sure was a cutie.

We capped off the evening with ramen and a red bean gelato crepe (YUMMY!)

Moyashi ramen.

Time to bake!

Dinners and friends

On Sunday evening, we celebrated our Team Kickass family with an apartment-cooked meal. We had prosciutto-wrapped chicken breast stuffed with pine nuts, spinach, parmigiano, garlic and ricotta and caprese polenta as a starter. Thank you, Corrie, for the idea!
Alex also brought over a bottle of Red Bicyclette, which we failed to appreciate. Then on Tuesday, we celebrated Alex's return to a life of crime.

Spinach-mango-dried cranberry-pine nut salad, polenta with yummies, and a side of roma tomatoes and fresh mozzarella
And (undercooked) salmon. Oy.

Looking forward to the semester! Yeeeee!!

After a good hour of "ballin'" it up,

I'm having cravings for lok lak, a dish primarily served in Siem Reap composed of marinated slices of beef or pork. This is a photo of my lok lak with Keroppi eyes-like rice. The mixed fruit shake had a dragon fruit base but was super thick because of all the condensed milk.

From The Red Piano in Siem Reap, Cambodia
My photography skills- kinda lame. The dish- GREAT =D

You know you have an incredible friend

when you can enjoy each other's company for 17+ hours and still have something to talk about.

"Bread pudding."
"You didn't even have to think about that one, huh?"

"Momma!"

When I was younger, Kimler and I would peruse the daily comics with no favorites in mind. But for one Mother's Day, Kimler decided to clip one of Patrick McDonnell's Mutts strips to give to our mom. In it, a kitten was confusingly screaming, "Momma!" to anything and everything. While the comic may not be the funniest, if you're a sucker for cutely drawn animals... well, damn, it'll get ya.

I've finally settled into my new apartment but failed to stock my fridge and pantry with yummies. I'm hungry! As a result, this is what I look at...

Devastatingly tasty pancakes from Bon Cafe in Vientiane, Laos
with iced Lao coffee as a refreshment ^_^

They were so buttery and moist! As you can see, Mike had the blueberry, and I had the butter with butter. I'm pretty cautious when I see pancakes offered on a menu because I've mostly encountered dry, saliva-absorbing sponges. These, however, were poifect.

Thanks, Mariam!

"Yellow Rage"

Courtesy of Huy Tran, the conscious bystander.

You change the spelling of your name because you think people will have a difficult time pronouncing it. Let them have a difficult time.

2009!

A new year with new experiences, good times, and fooood!