A good way to finish up the month

"U.S. House passes 'hate crime' bill that Bush opposed"

more w00t!

I try try try

to wake up early so I can make a decent serving of oatmeal and pack my lunch for the day. On special occasions or when my mornings are longer, I try to make a more elaborate breakfast... which I still don't eat because I want me my oatmeal!

Strawberry-chocolate chip pancakes with spinach-fontina chicken sausages
My lunch box filled with gas-producing foodies.

These days, all I need are my morning oatmeal and a satisfactory bowel movement.
No lie.

Cafe Durant

Man, check out these fish tacos..

Perfect "I'm happy for you, but I'm so sad now!" food
Along with the Mexican Plate C combo.
Still workin' on this one over a day later...

I miss L.A. :(

More on the plan

Plan B, that is!

ECP is now available OTC to 17-year-olds. [Reminds me of that one movie... you know, Airplane!]

Plan B "is intended to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex. It works by stopping ovulation and decreasing the chances that a fertilized egg will attach to the uterus. When used within 72 hours of unprotected sex, it can lower the risk of pregnancy by almost 90 percent..."

80's Workout Videos and Safe Sex!

I had no idea Jane Fonda is such a proponent of comprehensive sex education. Check out her Huffington Post blurb. She also links to very interesting articles and H.R. 1551 text.

H.R. 1551: "To provide for the reduction of adolescent pregnancy, HIV rates, and other sexually transmitted diseases..."

Yayz.

Warm weather and High Fidelity reminders

Push it out
Push it all out

I wanna beat ya, wanna hold ya, wanna hold ya to me
Down near hell, that's where I'll be

- "Push It Out" by The Beta Band

Buh..

Now, I don't know about you, but I think opposite marriage is just as big of a deal as same-sex.
...
Huh?

Oh, Carrie Prejean of San Diego, California...

Teeheeee

I didn't think Belgium could be so cool.

"The Vatican Friday deplored a Belgian parliamentary resolution condemning Pope Benedict for saying that the use of condoms could worsen the spread of AIDS... The resolution also asked the Belgian government to 'react strongly against any state or organization that in the future brings into doubt the benefit of using condoms to prevent transmission of the AIDS virus.'"

Ah, I love it!

More Foods en Mi Vida

During a serious dry spell in our refrigerator, I looked to this lovely roma (+ pepper + dried oregano + garlic salt) for sustenance.

When things perked up, so did the snacks! [Guac! in the back, basil hummus to the right]
The breakfasting benefited, too. Banana oatmeal (nom!) and banana-chocolate chip pancakes. [I substituted 2% for the buttermilk, which seems like a lame substitution, but I had to make do!]
The Friggin' Eggplant. >:(
I tried to do something with it, and it slapped me in the face. I suggest buying less aggressive varieties...
[Anyone have yummy eggplant preparation suggestions?]

As always, Food Is Good.

The Omnipotent Avocado

I'm obsessed with this fatty fruit. I plough through half of one pretty quickly and can leave towns in shambles if it's in guac form. That being said, I've also been obsessed with making guacamole. I get so impatient when I'm in Guac Mode, I practically have to threaten these little fellas to ripen faster. [Insert: Image of Kat angrily holding avocado at knifepoint]

Generous helpings of garlic and onion, please!
To add to this savory, I make the sweet:
Avocado + milk + sugar + some freezing time = a Filipino favorite

"The Avocado Advantage"
This article is a little dated but refreshing, nonetheless!

Okay, this headline just screams Kat

"Tasmania's wombat poo paper a hit"

"All the paper is made from the dung of a single animal called Nugget that lives in a wildlife park near Cradle Mountain, one of Tasmania's most popular tourist destinations.
Every day Nugget's droppings are collected by his keeper and sent off to the factory."

Oh, Nugget, working to sustain the economy! Now, if only our excrement could be so useful.

What about the plush alternative?

And say a word for Joanna Love
She ain't got nothing at all
'cause everyday she falls in love
And every night she falls and when she does

She said
Oh sweet nuthin'
You know she ain't got nothing at all
Oh sweet nuthin'
She ain't got nothing at all

-The Velvet Underground "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'"

Random on a pretty day!

Rat's-eye view of my kitchen :D

The Bay Area: smaller than one would assume!

The rickety bus zoomed from Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong.
A passenger, too excited by her plastic bag brimming with rambutan, leapt for the fields.

Living and Reliving

Afternoon accomplishments in Luang Prabang

Late night indigestion in Vientiane

Hum

Tonight is one of my calmer nights for sure. To add to this calm: a touching stanza!

standing in the murky ditch beside the road
the pure and beaming faces of the lotus rise
alive with trembling, glimmering drops of dew,
as gentle and as fresh as we were, lying side by side,
cheeks upon our hands and lost in poems we loved.

-"No Songs Today, No Sepha" by Naowarat Pongpaiboon
(trans. Ajarn Kepner)

This blog made me think...

Well, Happy Friday, folks! While I was in the office, I came across this blog post, and it made me think of my Top 10 Processed Foods. The blogger makes a point that nearly everything is processed... even some of our fresh produce. However, for the sake of following the general assumption of the word "processed," I will try to stick to those processed guilty pleasures. You know, the ones that get your blood sugar riled, LDLs pumped, and body sluggish. >_<

1. Funyuns [retro packaging and all!]
2. Peanut Butter M&Ms
3. Sour Cream and Onion anything
4. Mini Twix
5. spiced chai concentrate [not alone, of course. hahah]
6. orange Gatorade [may be controversial, but I think you'd agree]
7. Pop Tarts of the chocolate variety
9. frozen chimichangas [you know, the ones from Costco]
10. cookie dough ice cream

[Note: These are truly once-in-a-blue-moon treats I lack consistent cravings for. I don't want to come off as a health food snob, though, 'cause we know that ain't true!]

One of my favorites..

Back in the day, Mike and I went to Berkeley's Thai temple brunch nearly every weekend. Then it got suuuper crowded and a bit discouraging. Nevertheless, we recently took another stab at this top-rated Berkeley haunt, and I gots me one of my favoritest yummies.Khanom phuuak!

If you're a fan of the good ol' tuber, somewhat bland things, and coconut milk, these are for you! ^_^

Ack, so many posts!

I know, I know. A ton of posts! But I really felt like I had to share this poem by Li-Young Lee.

Self-Help for Fellow Refugees

If your name suggests a country where bells
might have been used for entertainment

or to announce the entrances and exits of the seasons
or the birthdays of gods and demons,

it's probably best to dress in plain clothes
when you arrive in the United States,
and try not to talk too loud.

If you happen to have watched armed men
beat and drag your father
out the front door of your house
and into the back of an idling truck

before your mother jerked you from the threshold
and buried your face in her skirt folds,
try not to judge your mother too harshly.

Don't ask her what she thought she was doing
turning a child's eyes
away from history
and toward the place where all human aching starts.

And if you meet someone
in your adoprted country,
and think you see in the other's face
an open sky, some promise of new beginning,
it probably means you're standing too far.
--

Or if you think you read in the other, as in a book
whose first and last pages are missing,
the story of your own birthplace,
a country twice erased,
once by fire, once by forgetfulness,
it probably means you're standing too close.

In any case, try not to let another carry
the burden of your own nostalgia or hope.

And if you're one of those
whose left side of the face doesn't match
the right, it might be a clue

looking the other way was a habit
your predecessors found useful for survival.
Don't lament not being beautiful.

Get used to seeing while not seeing.
Get busy remembering while forgetting.
Dying to live while not wanting to go on.

Very likely, your ancestors decorated
their bells of every shape and size
with elabrate calendars
and diagrams of distant star systems,
but with no maps for scattered descendants.
--

And I bet you can't say what language
your father spoke when he shouted to your mother
from the back of the truck, "Let the boy see!"

Maybe it wasn't the language you used at home.
Maybe it was a forbidden language.
Or maybe there was too much screaming
and weeping and noise of guns in the streets.

It doesn't matter. What matters is this:
The kingdom of heaven is good.
But heaven on earth is better.

Thinking is good
But living is better.

Alone in your favorite chair
with a book you enjoy
is fine. But spooning
is even better.

by Li-Young Lee from Behind My Eyes

The Cloud Looms Over GSPP

My workspace during PP157. Sack o' brownies chillin' to the right.

Derek's workspace.
Derek's Murakami-inspired masterpiece.

Oh, school...

Well, wouldn't cha know?!

Kal Penn to the White House!

..White Castle... House.. White House... it all makes so much sense! :D

access, access!

We may be inching, but we're getting somewhere:

"Two weeks ago, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow 17-year-olds to buy the emergency contraceptive pill Plan B without a prescription and to consider allowing such purchases by younger girls as well. Previously, the agency had set 18 as the cutoff age, meaning younger girls had to consult a doctor to get the pill."

Now if only Plan B were more affordable... ::nudge nudge::

[wow, this blog is going in a lot of different directions these days... hmmm]

:')

Healthiest Nation in One Generation

The American Public Health Association launched a viral video campaign that spreads awareness on the role public health plays in ensuring a healthy America and the necessity of investment in public health programs. It's a short, make-ya-feel-good clip... please watch!

Rain rain rain

I finished a nice order of red bean milk from Tapioca Express. Milk blended with red beans ::drool:: I had it with mini boba, but I would have liked it just fine without the chewy bits.

I hope I don't tire of red beans anytime soon. There are just so many possibilities! (red bean trinket from the fantastic G-Chan)

--
I'm not the biggest fan of studying in libraries, mostly because I get fidgety and weird or farty and hungry (the combinations are very interchangeable). I also think I have a thing for white noise that can potentially cover up the mumbling I do when I'm writing a paper. ("Furthermore, Villa attempts ::espresso machine:: to explain the ::laughter:: ack, no, Villa attempts to ::Lady Gaga:: #$#@$").

However, the library is fat with interesting odds and ends and is a necessity for those papers. The main stacks in Berkeley's Doe Library are intimidating foolios that don't kid around. You can crank levers to separate and join the heaaavy stacks, which is fine and dandy... you would think!

How sterile-looking, right?

But when I have to comb through the collections to find something that'll fit into my papers, I fear that in my pursuit, I just might get squished.

The end of Dance MagIK?!
[Yup, got my share of stares for staging the photo :p]

The Lastest Share from Prof O'Hare

"The research, presented in late March at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers, locates hot spots based on the frequency and draw of cultural happenings: film and television screenings, concerts, fashion shows, gallery and theater openings. The buzziest areas in New York, it finds, are around Lincoln and Rockefeller Centers, and down Broadway from Times Square into SoHo. In Los Angeles the cool stuff happens in Beverly Hills and Hollywood, along the Sunset Strip, not in trendy Silver Lake or Echo Park."
-"Mapping the Cultural Buzz: How Cool Is That?" full NY Times article

Last Thursday, PP157 discussed the arts as a means of stimulating the national economy. This bled over into a discussion about local arts development and whether or not the creation of a museum or gallery in an impoverished neighborhood would boost the local economy as a result of building the community's cultural capital. Can the arts effectively do this? Are their other industries that have boosted SES better? ::gagrealestategag:: [I won't get started on that...]

I bring this up only because of the article's reference to Echo Park. Seriously... "trendy... Echo Park"? Dear me, if you referenced Echo Park six years ago, you would have been laughed at and slapped with a wet noodle.. or drenched with Echo Park lake water.

w00t

Aren't you a bucket of surprises, Vermont? Yes you are, yes you are! =D

Preah Vihear

It's not my place to agree with the Thai or Khmer side and when I was abroad, I definitely got an earful from both (very aggravated) camps. The situation has been intense for some time now, but the photograph in this article is a little relieving... even just for the split second one can jokingly come up with a witty caption.

Reconciliation, folks. It's a toughy, but a good sort of toughy, for sure.

An overdue memorial..

Sparky's untimely death at sea marked the end of an era. Now, I'd like to introduce you to...

Sparky II

Though II doesn't vibrate in the jolting fashion Ol' Sparky did, its quieter keys allow for stealthier texting. Sparky, you are missed.

Monday Morning for Mutts

--

Blasting DnB in the office. Perhaps a different genre will calm me better...

What nice weather we're having

While waiting for office hours on Wednesday, I gorged a Healthy Heavenly Foods spam musubi.
(still made with the sweetened rice, though :/)

I, the Perpetual Sucker for These Sorts of Delights.
I also tried the apples and cinnamon version of Jamba Juice's oatmeal. Again, oatmeal texture and brown sugar = poifect.

--
I had such a relaxing day with my friends yesterday. Good bonding, nice environments [Go, botanical gardens!], massive snacking, and the relief in knowing great people.
Good times keep rolling, got to escape now
Good times keep rolling, dance to escape now

"Hey! It's a bottle of French vodka!"
"Kat, don't pick it up.. Oh, oh jeez Kat, put that down!"

Now... to prepare for that midterm! >_<

Reaching Content

I haven't been this me in so long.

Types of Bad Kissers

Hahaha!

Super amused by the Too-Much-Tongue. puhahah

and The 8 Phases of Dating

Good news this morning =)

Oh, Iowa, you send me!

Once while I was baking,

I saw the sun hitting my papasan and needed to photograph it.
I don't think the same comforting effect comes through in the photograph, though.

Many a friend have fallen off this lovely chair... heheh

Something from the vault... just cuz

Bun bo from Bun Bo restaurant in Saigon (HCMC)
Not to be mistaken with pho, bun bo is from the province of Hue in central Vietnam and has thicker noodles and a slightly different broth composition. Nom!

Simple, take me away!

Spuh-ringing breaking

My break was filled with all sorts of _______ (I suggest you fill in the blank). As turbulent, uplifting, and outlook-changing as it was, I still had to take pictures of my food. [Could you expect anything less?]

My dad brought me to a guerrilla family reunion on my first full day back in Los Angeles. I say guerrilla because it was sprung upon me like no other family gathering.
"Dad, I'm not ready to see anyone!"
"Hahahahaha."
"Really now? Laughing?"

This was one of my plates from some buffet in Alhambra. If you draw your attention to the top right, you will see a steamed bun that was filled, to my happy surprise, with red bean!

I went down to LA principally to support Equal Action (www.equalaction.org, folks!)

What a successful rally! The police assisted everyone by closing off the streets in Chinatown up to City Hall. =)
Yayyyyyy!

When I came back from LA, I took my friend to the Oakland DMV for her driving test. While needing to kill time, she and I stopped by a Jamba Juice, and I had had had to try their oatmeal.

I had my doubts. After all, Starbucks didn't exactly hit the spot.
But Jamba Juice's slow-cooked oatmeal (with steel-cut oats, I might add!) was awesome. I don't care too much for the super sweet fruit topping, but the brown sugar and oatmeal consistency are soo pleasant. [I also got that one pureed thing with granola and fruit... tasty, but I focused on its less assuming companion.]

Then Maria came up to Berkeley, and it was imperative to take her NorCal-loving self to Cheeseboard.

asparagus, shiitake mushrooms, bunch o' cheeses, herbs
I think she enjoyed.
The truck driver, too!

She also bought me my first avocado boba, which was pretty nutty in flavor, and you know how I enjoy my nuts! Now, I tend to like my old person boba flavors (taro, red bean), none of that hip, top 40 stuff ([insert super sweet or super fruity flavor]). The avocado hit the spot.
I can dig.

I ate a bunch of great food in Miami (Brazilian, Mediterranean, Subway [hahah]), but didn't take any photos! Blargh! Pero, comida de Miami = extra yum!

The Kitchen... Runnin' Low!

On my last grocery list, I wrote, "New vegetable to try out." A couple of weeks ago, while Tom and I were waddling through the produce section of Trader Joe's, I decided to pick up a bag of brussel sprouts. I had only had them at restaurants prior, so I decided to cook 'em for myself.

I really think there's something to the power of suggestion when you're growing up as a child and surrounded by ewws and yucks. I don't think brussel sprouts were ubiquitous in my neighborhood, so I don't remember anyone ever being all "Ew! You eat brussel sprouts?! You have sprout kooties!" I just remember being laughed at for bringing tilapia and dried seaweed to school.

Ergo, I never understood TV shows when they portrayed children absolutely mortified of these little fellas. I'm still mortified of ketchup. Can I get a televised amen?!

No? Egh.

I simmered the sprouts in chicken broth and tossed them with grilled onions and bacon. The combinations worked!

For Tom's birthday, I decided to make him some roasted banana brownies.

Army of bananas. Buttered and brown sugared.
The bites! It was a little difficult to get a banana bit in every bite (ho ho, say that three times fast!... hahaha.. ok, no), but they were yummers.

Food is glorious. ^_^

When in need of a good lol

"You two always put up with me. Thank you!"

"No, we just want you to be a normal person for once and not Kathleen!"

Let's celebrate!

Happy STIs & Family Planning Awareness Month! =D