Branded memories

Yesterday was a turbulent day. Oakland and Berkeley were a little chilly. I had a few gonna-puke-soon moments in the office and while in line for Cheeseboard (feta, roma tomatoes, onions). Oh, and the ELECTION!

Memory 1:

I was walking out of the Preservation Park complex just when the sun had set. I had my cell phone strapped to my ear; I was giving a mouthful to my brother.
"Kamille, are you sure you voted 'no' on Prop 4?"
"Yes. I was just kidding earlier."
"Are you sure?!?!"
After this back-and-forth exchange for another five minutes...
"He won Pennsylvania."
"What?! No way! Are you sure?"
"Yeah, they just reported that he did."
"I can't believe he won Pennsylvania!"
At that very instant, a man walking next to me on 12th Street and MLK, who had overheard this, asked, "Who won Pennsylvania?"
"Obama!"
"HELL YEAH! It's in the bag now!"
We were about two more elated screams away from just hugging each other at the intersection.

Memory 2:

Mike and I consumed our four slices of Cheeseboard pizza in front of the TV. Red, blue, red, blue! I was still sickly (still am!), so Mike brought out our comforter, and I pleasantly situated myself on the couch. A good ten minutes later, I saw Alex through our door window.
"I couldn't watch the election alone!"
His arrival... Mike's interest... everything made me feel so proud of our age group, our civic-mindedness, and our refusal of apathy.
We both plopped ourselves down on the couch, chatted about recent and upcoming events and literally, within the five seconds we turned away from the TV to talk about Oracle, "Barack Obama Elected 44th President of the United States" runs on the television. I checked my watch. "7:59?" I thought out loud. "Come on NBC, gotta be that slanted?!" But no, no mistakes. He won. A beautiful silence invaded the living room.

Memory 3:

I pulled myself out of bed this morning so I could attend my Philippine diaspora literature class. I hadn't heard any news on Prop 8. I arrived to an empty class, but a couple of students arrived minutes later.
"Hey, have any of you guys heard the latest on Prop 8?"
"Uh, it passed."
"What?! *bleep*!"
"We can't win everything."

Ain't that the truth.

Again... 2008 has been the year.

Supah sick!

And by "supah sick!", I mean, "terribly unwell"... as opposed to "really, really cool!"

Best indicator of my illness: a text I sent to Derek yesterday.

"I finished a paper at 8- I need to get shot in the face. I usually like keeping these things to people i'm comfy with, but when you're _____, everyone's comfy. We have so few girls, imma be at __ status while dancing, so females are a plus. I might just ____ ___ with them hah. Would they ___? I also just generally cover close friends."

Look, even I don't know what I was talking about. >_<
---
One of my brothers called to tell me that he voted this morning. He made my AM very satisfying and inspirational, which gave me the motivation to get my mucusface (eh?) to class.
I am loving the civic ownership and empowerment that's going on today. Even though I'm sick as a kat ::lame rim shot::, I am more than optimistic about the evening results.

Foods of the day

I wanted to get a second helping of pumpkin soup from Whole Foods today, but this lady laid a fury on the pot. You shoulda seen her! Pumpkin soup splatters, ladle throwing, the whole shabang. Needless to say, I did not get my pumpkin soup. Instead, I went to Vegi Food, the Chinese vegetarian restaurant on Vine/Shattuck.

This is their "Gluten puff with mushroom" dish. Um. Not good. I like plain things, but you really couldn't get more plain than this.

Is this really what a gluten puff is? Maybe I'm ignorant to the world of gluten, but this doesn't really look puffed now, does it?
To get passed this awful order, I decided to use the leftover pumpkin puree in the fridge and make anything. A little bit of milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg made this liquefied pumpkin pie thing. Tina said she liked it.. poor thing, always the guinea Tina...
So then I decided to take a crack at that almond milk. I bought a pound of raw almonds from Whole Foods and used about a cup for the milk. After two or three minutes of blanching, I peeled each one with apprehension.

Check out the almonds!

With some water, brown sugar, and cinnamon, I blended the almonds into something that surprisingly does look like cow's milk! It was mighty pulpy, so I strained out the almond shtuff and put the remaining liquid into a nifty mason jar.An evening with no work, and this is what I do.

Such an emotional day

My head cold made me super sensitive to everything today! Well, for one thing, my PH180 lecture dealt with domestic violence and double standards, so that shot me out into an emotional whirl. But then, my Thai 101A lecture on the overthrow of the monarchy in 1932 made me equally distraught. FTW? I also took a nap in the Social Welfare lounge, again. Don't judge me! I'm just a serial napper.

Me on a motorcycle with my cousin, Clark, in Marungko, Angat. My facial expression represents how I was feeling for most of the day: freaked out, overwhelmed, scared poopless!

However, my day took a turn for the better when I had an awesome lunch with some taiko buddies. My hour-long, mad text exchange with Derek culminated in a delightful lunch and feel-good conversations. [Pictures of the spread if Derek sends them to me!]
I am so appreciative of the people I am surrounded by; I feel like it's my responsibility to make the effort to be a reliable friend and voice my appreciation when I can. *Shout out to the Bay Area/LA peepz!* Regardless of my lack of sleep, ailing immune system, and frenetic days, this semester, without a doubt, has been BOMB.

I am so WEAK

My immune system is making me pay for all this sleep deprivation.

So, I'm in the psychology library... guerrilla blogging...

BLOG BLOG BLOG!

T minus 12 Hours!

I am going to take a nap. I will then continue my paper. In the meantime, enjoy this plate of walnut brownies.

Unappealing, yes. Indelectable, no.

Wow, nothing gets me bloggin' like a paper!

I'd like to introduce you to Ol' Sparky, my ever so reliable cell phone. Despite people's tireless suggestions to get a new phone, I can't help but be attached to this little guy. Plus, new phones are expensive, and they do so many complicated things. What next?! Espresso-maker phones? Pft. Go, Sparky!*

A box of yummy from Nude Sushi. Rainbow, Cherry Blossom, Deluxe California, and something or other yummy rolls. Friday night treat before the Wilde House shindig.

And my recent love, Starbucks's Pumpkin Spice Latte (iced, please!). I've had around five of these this week; no good for the wallet or tummy, but oh so good for the holiday-loving soul.

*When I lost my last cell phone, a classmate of mine from PP101 went out of her way to find a phone from the Lost and Found bin at the club she worked at. What a deary... I've had him ever since!*

PH180 Paper Due in T minus 24 Hours!

Cafe Gratitude: delicious, inspiring, healthy... but, in my opinion, unfortunately reserved for a specific socioeconomic demographic. When I had the chance to go to the one in San Francisco, I was taken aback by the selection of raw food dishes and almond milk smoothies. I definitely appreciated my meal; if only these sorts of things could be more affordable and accessible... something I should look into.

My dad's reaction: "All we're eating is grass!" This is from the man who, for years, has preached 'cheese, steak, and butter!' as my ultimate life source.

I think the spread is (from left to right): I am Abundant (sampler of yummies), I am Cool (mint cacao almond shake), and I am _____ (Mike, do you remember?). The shake was soooo good. I want to start making my own almond milk from scratch. I found some recipes online... time to experiment!

My sister loved this place; it was perfect for her, of course, because she's a vegan. The fam bam and our new friends from USF went here after my dad and sister got back from the Shumei garden in Santa Cruz. They picked the yummiest, cutest strawberries imaginable! Look at how shiny they are! They lasted pretty long, too, and were perfect for snacking and salads. Mike and I had around thirteen crates to share with the house. =)

A day of pumpkins

I had a really, really, really great day with Mike. Although my day began at 8:00am with a TeenNOW call and then actually started at 3:30pm when I got up from bed, it ended up going well because Mike and I got groceries!
[Are we getting old? Is our definition of fun slowly transitioning from movies and bowling to prunes and the phonograph?! I like prunes.]

Anyway, we stopped by Whole Foods to get our bestest Berkeley resident some chicken noodle soup sans the soda on the side ::rim shot:: and made our way to Safeway to get a bunch of ingredients for this pumpkin muffin recipe I tried out this evening. Afterward, we stopped by Cheeseboard for a SCRUMPTULESCENT slice of pear, caramelized onion, and walnut pizza. I also got a cheesy bun to top it all off. The band of the evening was heartwarming, and the rainy weather was - dare I say it? - nice.

I almost forgot the pumpkin soup from Whole Foods! A tad spicy with a great texture.

My pumpkin muffin doesn't look very appetizing in this shot, but I think Mike modeled it pretty well. I'll be making more of these for the 'ber month holidays!

Rainy day!

I could not get enough of this little character when we were in Ayutthaya, Thailand. "mr bun, Fresh from the Oven!" Brilliance, sheer brilliance. I always love places that specialize in only one or two things (e.g. Beard Papa's [Why didn't they name it Bearded Papa's? Hmph.], this one mochi spot in L.A.'s Little Tokyo, Cheeseboard [at least on a daily basis]). So Mr. Bun offers a pretty small selection of donut-like things, but each of them is yum to the max. Yeah, I said it, yum to the max. =)

When Evan saw the bag, he said it looked like a donut with a pube on it. ::sigh::

For an afternoon snack in Nakhon Sawan, Bank's family made a yummy banana-coconut milk dish. Simple and perfect. We also got bananas on the side. om nom nom