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Friday, 01 January 2010

Ringing in 2010

I'm not going to make unrealistic resolutions for this new year (Going to the gym several times a month? Who was I kidding?). Instead, I'll list one goal and try my best to reach it by the end of the year or even earlier.

1. Create five original recipes. I'm always following recipes online and in cookbooks. I think it's time to come up with some of my own. I'll post them here when I am successful and hopefully you guys will try them out.

And there you have it. Stay tuned.

While cleaning out my drawers, I came across a bag of modeling clay I bought a few years ago and decided to transform the colorful blobs into food items. Seen above: pretzel, doughnut, cheeseburger, ice cream cone, caramel apple pop, and a slice of fruit tart. Oh, the ways I keep myself busy.

I made a dozen of these blueberry muffins last night. The recipe came from The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2010. The only problem I had with these was that the recipe called for boiling some of the blueberries into a jam and swirling it into each individual muffin tin. I didn't see how that added to the overall flavor of the muffin. Instead, it just made the muffins have a bruised color.

I made Chicken Lo Mein for dinner tonight. The recipe came from a cookbook that Costco distributed a few years ago. It's easy and quick, and best of all, it's delicious! My brother says this is his favorite dish that I've made.

I am so thrilled and relieved that 2009 is over. It was the worst year of my life, and I hope things take a turn for the better this year. I wish you all a new year filled with fun and happiness!

Wednesday, 30 December 2009

Fruit tart

White Chocolate Fruit Tart

I previously made this as mini tarts but that was too time consuming. Instead I decided to invest in a regular tart pan and cut my cooking time by over 50%. I worked with a limited amount of fruits; hence you see canned peaches and mandarin oranges above. All in all, it's a simple recipe with a delectable results. If I had to change my ways the next time, I would have whipped the cream prior to the addition of chocolate to make it lighter. Also, I want to buy baking beads so the crust doesn't shrink. Oh, and I would maybe decrease the amount of chocolate. It was a bit too sweet for some tasters.

Thursday, 19 November 2009

Mouse in the Hizzouse

As many of you heard, a mouse invaded our apartment a few weeks ago. The little fellow evaded demise until one morning, Connie opened a kitchen drawer and BAM! There it was. A little gray scruffy rodent. It darted away behind the drawer as Connie screamed for me to help. We took out everything in the drawer, basically all of her baking supplies.

There was mouse poop everywhere. Little black pseudo mini chocolate chip pellets.

I think both our minds were furiously repeating LYSOL LYSOL LYSOL LYSOL! GAHHHHHHHHHH. As Connie was about to throw away her plastic bag of real chocolate chips, she noticed a tear in the corner which the mouse had been using to scavenge the semi-sweets. Well, we weren't going to stand for it! Actually, I would have tolerated it for a bit longer while I contemplated which traps to purchase. On the other hand, Connie came back that same afternoon with poisonous bait. That's right. She was out to avenge her contaminated supplies *snaps*.

Anyway, fast forward two days and I come back to the apartment exhausted from a sadistic midterm, only to have a cardboard box shoved in my face with the dead mouse. Oh, was I thrilled to see that dead sucker. Seriously, I had been fearing that the mouse would have died in some hidden nook and we wouldn't be able to find it until a week later when the smell of its decaying flesh would violate our nostrils. But luckily (or not so luckily), the mouse died next to my shoes. It's fine though, because the problem was solved. And I even found a cardboard scrap nest behind the back of the drawer. Even loads more poop there. The important thing is that it's clean now after LYSOL and BLEACH!

The lesson to be learned here is that gratitude needs to be had by the fact that we were only dealing with one mouse and not an entire family. Oh, and don't ever eat anything that looks like mini chocolate pellets!

Sunday, 08 November 2009

Because I don't update enough

Allen has been pestering me, asking me why I never update my blog. And the short answer is because I'm too lazy. The long answer is because I have a million TV shows to watch, never ending assignments and midterms that remain on my to-do list much longer than they should, AAA stuff, work, and of course, my desire to sleep 7 hours a night. Oh yes, I am that person. I hop into bed between 12:30a-1:00a every night except for the nights leading up to a midterm. The fact that some people can function on less than 5 hours of sleep a night is incredulous.

I have managed to cut down my TV watch list from a million down to 3. And by a million I mean eight (more than that if I count the shows I watch randomly if an episode looks intriguing). Which is A LOT. I have narrowed the whole list down to three must watch shows: Desperate Housewives, How I Met Your Mother, and Modern Family. Desperate Housewives was a no-brainer since I have been following that show since the first season, watching it religiously every Sunday night. HIMYM has Neil Patrick Harris, whom I adore. And Modern Family makes me laugh without the help of any laugh tracks. I've read that the humor is similar to that of Arrested Development. Maybe I've binged a lot on TV shows since I watched virtually nothing pre-college. My point is, I'm restricting my TV time.

During this blog dry spell, I have baked several things, some of which I will share here.

Baked macaroni. It was super cheesy. Loved the Italian bread crumbs on top. Yum.

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting. I would have taken a picture of a better looking muffin, but they were all gone. They were so delicious!

I also made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies this weekend. SO GOOD.

I am very excited for the rain to come pouring down. I am prepared for it this time around, unlike that freak Tuesday a few weeks ago that left me drenched with sopping sneakers because my short legs didn't quite carry me over the puddles. I can't wait for my brand new rain boots to make their debut. Pictures to come.

The next entry will be dedicated to the mouse that invaded our apartment. Don't worry, there will be no photos.

Friday, 04 September 2009

Non-existent abs

I went to the RSF on Wednesday with Connie for Abs & Back, a group exercise for 25 excruciating minutes. Muscles that I didn't even know existed are still in agony. I was cringing throughout the whole ordeal, grunting and yelping with every twist, plank, and attempt to lift myself off the ground. After what seemed like forever, we were finally done. Connie went to put away the exercise balls, and I went to put away the mats. Except I didn't because I was just standing there for a very long time and then Connie just took the mats from me and told me she would put them away for me. HAHAHA. That was such fail on my end. What was the point of this entry? That if you're willing to exercise with me, you're gonna have to put up with complaints, inability to put away equipment in a timely fashion, and shorts that are inside out (I didn't even realize they were inside out until I felt the tag sticking out the back). On the plus side, you'll always feel better about your own physical abilities in just about every single aspect. I guarantee it!