rants and raves

rant: skin care & technology

2012-01-31T22:06:00.000-06:00

as i've gotten older, i've become more diligent about taking care of my skin. okay, diligent isn't the right word...obsessed? militant? indulgent? as a teen i had acne and my mommy was awesome enough to send me to a dermatologist. treatment ranged from using dial soap to wash my face to antibiotics to salicylic acid gels. the best thing that came out of all that was the habit of washing my face twice daily no matter how tired or late i was.

over the years, i have tried many products, from grocery store products to doctor prescribed. I'm a believer in switching around and trying different products. i'm lucky to have a sister who is also obsessed with facial care so we're always sharing info and products.

in the past i have used some full systems and some times i mix and match. some systems/products i have tried are:

patricia wexler m.d.

acnescription
mmpi 20 skin regenerating serum
fastscription instant de-puff eye gel
dual action foaming cleanser
intensive night reversal & repair cream
intensive 3-in-1 eye cream: lifting, firming, anti-wrinkle formula

obagi nu-derm system

tri-luma

mioggi hex magic ultimate whitening resurfacer

cetaphil gentle face cleanser

cerava pm lotion

avene rétrinal+ 0.1 cream

avene cicalfate restorative skin cream

vichy aqualia thermal light fortifying & soothing 24hr hydrating care

philosophy miracle worker miraculous anti-aging eye cream
neostrata foaming glycolic wash

strivectin instant facial sculpting cream

strivectin overnight facial resurfacing serum

(at some point i will write about these products too. if you want my opinion about any of them let me know.)

the last system i finished was the obagi nu-derm and it was good. according to their website, "the obagi nu-derm system is an anti-aging therapy that penetrates below the skin’s surface to transform skin cell functions at the cellular level and correct the damage within... revealing healthy, younger-looking skin." my skin did look and feel healthier. the main reason i wanted to use obagi was to lighten/eliminate some of my freckles. don't get me wrong...i love my freckles. i just didn't like that more were appearing and some were joining forces to look more like age/sun spots. being a regular runner, not being outside was not an option. and even with spf 70+, the freckles were gaining. obagi did help with the freckles but my skin felt a little thinned out.

so most recently i've been using a glycolic face wash, cerava lotion and avene retrinal. and it's been great. but my skin has been acting wonky for whatever reason. so at my last visit to costco, i walked by all the beauty/skin care stuff and i see a line of products and noticed they have all be marked for clearance (when things end in $.97 at costco, that means they are marking them down to move the item.) so i used my trusty iphone to google what's up with this stuff and if it was a good price. and this is what i found.

the skin care line is somme institute. a couple basics about the company:

founded on a simple premise: "skin care companies should deliver the claims they promise."
there's over 7 years of testing, development and tracking
they developed a proprietary technology called MDT5 - molecular dispersion technology 5

so i googled and researched reviews and results and people have raved about it. so i've decided to try it out. usually, there's 5 steps, but most people did not like or were ambivalent about step 5 so i've decided to stick to my own sunscreen. if you are a fan of the product/line, check your local costco. here in austin, the prices are amazing:

step 1: nourishing cleanser - website $40, amazon $23.99, costco $9.97

step 2: transport - website $58, amazon $37.19, costco $19.97

step 3: serum - website $82, amazon $55.97, costco $27.97

step 4: a-bomb - website $70, amazon $31.99, costco $16.97

step 5: double defense - website $48, amazon $22.99, costco $9.97

Total kit: website $298, amazon $172.13, costco $91.85 (including 8.24% texas sales tax)

i've also invested in a sonic face brush. i wasn't willing to pay the $$$ for the clarisonic, nor did i think the battery operated ones, like olay, were worth while for me. i was lucky enough see a groupon goods deal for one priced at $59 including shipping. reviews from one user said they liked it better than their clarisonic. the main reason this won over the olay one was that it is rechargeable and it has a body brush head.

so here's goes nothing. i'll let you know how this all goes. wish me luck!

rave: jeffrey's

2012-01-30T14:15:00.000-06:00

b and i had date night yesterday. i had a groupon that was going to expire in a couple days so it was the perfect time to go to jeffrey's, especially since he's never been there even though he's lived in austin for almost 20 years.

jeffery's beginnings go back to 1975. founders ron & peggy weiss and jeffrey weinberger pooled their interests, talents and enthusiasm to open a neighborhood austin bistro. they were part of the first wave of new american cuisine. knowledgeable, friendly service is a hallmark of the restaurant. Some of the waitstaff have been there for more than 25 years!

for a sunday night, the restaurant was buzzing! the lovely hostess and our waitress both mentioned that business today and next two days are expected to be busier than usual since the groupon was expiring. (side note: it was very smart of them to offer two pricing when the groupon deal came up: $30 for $60 for friday & saturday or $35 for $75 for sunday-thursday. for $5 more customers got $15 more and the restaurant got a boost of diners on slower non-weekend nights.)

i made reservations for dinner at 8:30 but we arrived a little early, so we grabbed a seat at the bar and had some cocktails. they make great classic. the bartenders are fun, friendly and knowledgable...and make fabulous and tasty drinks.

french 81

junipero gin, lemon, prosecco, fernet

about 45 minuets later we were seated at our table and our lovely waitress, lisa (i think), came by and asked if we needed anything to drink. b ordered a glass of famaey malbec. it was a great malbec and apparently about $10 a bottle. she gave us some time to look over the menu. i already knew what i wanted to eat, so i enjoyed the view and people watching. soon some fresh rye bread was presented for us to enjoy. i've forgotten how much like rye bread...time to pick up some. we started with a salad to share. lisa even offered to split the salad without us asking! my favorite part was the roasted fennel...yum!

pear and arugula salad

for entrees i had to braised lamb with house-made paperdelle. the lamb was perfectly tender and the pasta...amazingly light and fluffy. only minor thing...a little salty for me and i would have like more meyer lemon. b had the porcini-rubbed filet mignon and it was cooked perfectly. he had no complaints. plate was clear.

braised lamb papardelle

braised lamb shoulder, house-made papardelle, boggy creek

farm kale, roasted yellow cherry tomatoes with meyer lemon

gremolata & lamb jus

porcini-rubbed filet mignon

pecan-grilled prime tenderloin on black trumpet mushroom

& sweet potato hash with grilled brussel sprout leaves &

roasted garlic sauce

for dessert, we ordered lychee-blueberry sorbet and b ordered vanilla crème brûlée. i did not get a photo of the brûlée since it was devoured immediately.

lychee & blueberry sorbet served with almond cookies

not pictured: vanilla bean crème brûlée

served with fresh berries & gingersnaps

to say the least, the meal was great. the service was amazing as always. i even got a great recipe for cooking rabbit from lisa our waitress!

i read back in november that jeffrey's had been sold to larry mcguire. eater austin interviewed him a little while back about his new project elizabeth st. cafe and they discussed a little about the renovation that will take place in march and how the place will change. in the interview, mcguire mentioned the name will stay jeffrey's and that they are planning to make it their flagship restaurant (he along with partner tom moorman also own lambert's, perla's and elizabeth st. cafe) and he will be the chef!

i'm happy i got to have a meal at jeffrey's before the changes and i'm looking forward to coming back once the place gets renovated. jeffrey's was one of the first *fancy* restaurants i ate at in austin when i was a poor college students. it was a big deal and i remember that the staff made it feel like a special occasion. i hope the tradition of spectacular customer service continues on when the new reincarnation opens.

rave: sriracha & lime kale chips

2012-01-19T01:02:00.001-06:00

I was out and about Austin today and was on the hunt for locally made pâté. That led me to the farmers market at the triangle. Unfortunatly, no pâté was found but I did get some lovely kale and rainbow chard from johnson's backyard garden.

So I decided to make some kale chips with the beautiful veggies. Luckily for me I found an exciting recipe from I breath...I'm hungry... They were addictive! And really yummy! Try it now since it is kale season!

Sriracha & Lime Kale Chips
1 bunch of kale, well washed
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon of sriracha
1 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce

Preheat oven to 350.
Remove kale stems and tear clean and dried leaves into chip size pieces. Place in a large bowl.
Take all wet ingredients and whisk together.
Pour sauce over kale.
Toss with hands (or tongs) and coat thoroughly.
Arrange kale on baking sheets in a single layer. I baked two trays at a time and it worked fine.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Once you are done baking all the kale turn the oven off and let it cool for 15 minutes.
Place all the kale chips on to one pan and return to cooling oven so the chips can dry out totally.
Once totally cooled, place chips in an air tight container or ziplock bag to store...that is if they are not all completely devoured.

rave: 70 degree weather = outdoor DIY

2012-01-06T17:36:00.001-06:00

austin has been blessed with some lovely spring-like weather the last couple days. today was no different...70 and clear blue skies. I've been meaning to do this for a while but just haven't gotten around to it. We had a scorcher of a summer. Who wants to paint outdoor furniture in the 100+ degree weather?!? well the beautiful weather has inspired me to get the outdoor furniture ready for using.

I inherited this set of furniture from my big sister. She purchased this for her condo when she lived in SoCal about 8 years ago. To say the least, they needed some tlc. So one chair down, a chair, bench and table left to go!

rave: pao de queijo

2012-01-04T21:54:00.001-06:00

last april, I had the privilege to spend a couple days in south beach, miami with some lovely ladies. while we were there we enjoyed lots of fun in the sun and the sights south beach had to offer. We also got to eat some super yummy food. The one thing we all raved about was the pao de queijo (brazilian cheese bread) that was served with one of our meals. It was so good we started looking for recipes right then.

When I got back I had every intention to make some. But some thing always came up and I never got around to it till now. I have to say it is a really simple recipe and I have no idea why I didn't make them sooner and more frequently.

For next time I will make then smaller and try to "roll" them rounder for appearance sake.

Pao de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)
Recipe from allrecipe.com
Ingredients
1/2 cup olive oil or butter (I used butter)
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup milk or soy milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups tapioca flour
2 teaspoons minced garlic (I used granulated garlic)
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 beaten eggs

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Pour olive oil, water, milk, and salt into a large saucepan, and place over high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat immediately, and stir in tapioca flour and garlic until smooth. Set aside to rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
Stir the cheese and egg into the tapioca mixture until well combined, the mixture will be chunky like cottage cheese. Drop rounded, 1/4 cup-sized balls of the mixture onto an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven until the tops are lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.

rave: bhldn

2012-01-02T10:46:00.000-06:00

if you're getting married or just love to look at wedding eye candy, you need to check out BHLDN.

BHLDN is a fairly new wedding/event/speciality line that is brought to you by the lovely people of anthropologie. everything has a one-of-a-kind feel, very much the traditional look with a slight twist to make items heirloom worthy.

it is also a wonderful place for diy-ers to get ideas if you are crafty. many of the items (especially in decor) provide a great springboard for those of us who do not have unlimited wedding budgets.

so take a poke around their website.

or if you are lucky enough to live in houston, tx you can visit their only brick and mortar location.

below are just some of my favorite things i've seen over the last couple months.

if i could have another wedding, i would LOVE to wear this dress.

rant: 2012

2012-01-01T15:19:00.000-06:00

happy new years!

i hope everyone had a wonderful, fun, & blessed last day of 2011

i apologize for ignoring my poor little blog for most of 2011.

i have no excuses. just ignored.

so for 2012 i will try to be better at sharing my random rants and raves.

if you're interested in more photos less words, please check out my posterous photo blog. That is where i've been posting my photos from instagram.

or if you use instagram, you can follow me at myw13.

here's to a spectacular, memorable, love-filled,

exciting, yummy and awesome 2012!

love,

rant: rest in peace steve jobs 1955-2011

2011-10-05T21:37:00.000-05:00

"The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented." —President Obama tonight on the passing of Steve Jobs

rest in peace mr. jobs. thank you for changing our lives with your innovation, vision, and relentless pursuit of perfection.

if you've never seen/heard/read steve job's 2005 commencement speech to the graduating class of standford, please do. I've posted the video and prepared text of the speech.

This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Source

rave: mini warbler performing to teenage dream

2011-06-06T18:45:00.000-05:00

omg...this is too freakin' cute :)

rave: thanks for 25 years oprah!

2011-05-25T11:27:00.001-05:00

Oprah, originally uploaded by Jerrod Maruyama.

brittnay can dance!

2011-04-19T18:31:00.001-05:00

brittnay s. pierce that is! I <3 heather morris' character. and i love it when she dances...she's amazing! it's always fun to watch glee and see britt transform the moment they start performing. she exudes confidence when she moves.

rant: asian + alcohol = red faces

2011-02-02T20:25:00.000-06:00

my BiL brought home some yummy cheese and salami from hubble and hudson tonight, which worked out perfectly because my sister and i wanted to try a bottle of sparkling wine we picked up at costco today. so before dinner we noshed and enjoyed the yumminess.

just now my mommy was trying to cap the bubbly and i told her no need because we'll finish it tonight. she mentioned that whenever my BiL drinks alcohol he gets all flushed. i said yes, most asians have that reaction and hence the name asian flush. my smart-ass self had to add, thanks to paupau (her mom), my sister and i don't have that issue. she use to give us shot glasses of guinness when we were kids.

my mom the proceeded to tell me i'm terrible...and i'm forever grateful to my paupau that i don't look like i just ran a marathon or have to pop a pepcid ac every time i drink.

rave: poufs

2011-01-24T14:34:00.000-06:00

no living room ever seems to have enough seating...or there's always that person(s) who like to sit on the floor. (guilty!) or everyone just wants something to put their feet up on and the ottoman is just not big enough. so apparently the interior design worlds answer to such problem are...poufs. i skimming my google reader and came across this post from apartmenttherapy.com and i have to say i kinda <3 these two options...especially the livingstones...

maybe it's time for a diy project...

Smarin Livingstones

Anthropologie Mushroom Pouf

images from apartmenttherapy.com

rant: random thoughts for the day

2011-01-23T17:19:00.001-06:00

i want a fennec fox as a pet
i want to play with a big pile of puppies
i'm craving something, but have no idea what
i've neglected my blog
i really should run since i have a half marathon in 1 week
my next dog will be a shiba inu
not working a 9 to 5 job has turned my brain to mush
my feet are very cold
i'm kinda obsessed with bruno mars right now...

rave: you must watch this video...be prepared to cry.

2010-12-28T02:48:00.002-06:00

so i was driving around houston today and this song started playing on the radio and i totally got goosebumps. i used shazam on my phone found it. it's a song by train called "marry me" from their latest album, save me san francisco: golden gate edition. when i got home later, i started googling for the official video but there wasn't one, but i ran across this video that a husband, who has cancer, made for his wife as a birthday card.

Forever can never be long enough for me
Feel like I've had long enough with you
Forget the world now we won't let them see
But there's one thing left to do

Now that the weight has lifted
Love has surely shifted my way
Marry Me
Today and every day
Marry Me
If I ever get the nerve to say
Hello in this cafe
Say you will
Mm-hmm
Say you will
Mm-hmm

Together can never be close enough for me
Feel like I am close enough to you
You wear white and I'll wear out the words I love you
And you're beautiful
Now that the wait is over
And love and has finally shown her my way
Marry me
Today and every day
Marry me
If I ever get the nerve to say hello in this cafe
Say you will
Mm-hmm
Say you will
Mm-hmm

Promise me
You'll always be
Happy by my side
I promise to
Sing to you
When all the music dies

And marry me
Today and everyday
Marry me
If I ever get the nerve to say hello in this cafe
Say you will
Mm-hmm
Say you will
Marry me
Mm-hmm
~Train | Save Me San Francisco: Golden Gate Edition

absolutely beautiful...

rants: 100 books to read

2010-11-21T21:40:00.000-06:00

photo via flickr by chotda

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here*. I saw this on one of my friend's Facebook notes and thought it would be interesting to see how many I've read. To be very honest, most of these books I read in high school as they were required reading. So, I don't know how fair that is. A few I have gone back and read as an adult and I really enjoyed re-reading them so maybe I will try to re-read them all. The list was also a great reminder of some books I've always wanted to read but never have.

So here is what you do:

Copy this into your BLOG/NOTES IN FACEBOOK.

Bold those books you've read in their entirety.

Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt.

Tag other book nerds.

Tag me as well so I can see your responses.

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien

3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

4. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling

5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

6. The Bible

7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte

8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell

9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman

10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott

12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy

13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller

14. Complete Works of Shakespeare

15. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier

16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien

17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks

18. Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger

19. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

20. Middlemarch – George Eliot

21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell

22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald

23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens

24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy

25. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh

27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis

34. Emma – Jane Austen

35. Persuasion – Jane Austen

36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis

37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere

39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne

41. Animal Farm – George Orwell

42. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving

45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins

46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery

47. Far From the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy

48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood

49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding

50. Atonement – Ian McEwan

51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel

52. Dune – Frank Herbert

53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons

54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen

55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth

56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon

60. Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov

63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt

64. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas

66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac

67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy

68. Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding

69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie

70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville

71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens

72. Dracula – Bram Stoker

73. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett

74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson

75. Ulysses – James Joyce

76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath

77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome

78. Germinal – Emile Zola

79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray

80. Possession – AS Byatt

81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell

83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker

84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro

85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry

87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White

88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom

89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton

91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks

94. Watership Down – Richard Adams

95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole

96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute

97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare

99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl

100. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

*I have seen several posts/blogs stating that no one can find where the BBC stated that they thought most people have only read 6 of the 100 books.

rave: just the way you are - bruno mars

2010-10-15T00:54:00.003-05:00

bruno mars performed this morning on the ellen show and it was so so sweet. i love the official video too but it was cool to see him perform live and serenade ellen at the end. :)

rave: a little man

2010-09-15T10:45:00.000-05:00

b and i have a tendency to find strays in our neighborhood. i believe this is our 5th find. most of the time, they have tags or the owners come looking for them within the day. but yesterday, as b left for work, he saw "little man" running in the streets. so he called me and i went out after him. it took me and a couple neighbors a bit of time but i finally caught him and he let me put a leash on him and take him home. after a bath and some food and water, he conked out. so signs have gone up and postings online for lost pets have been posted. for now, i have a temporary "new child". my "real child" (luca) is off visiting grandma and grandpa so he's in the dark. but i'm pretty sure he's gonna be pissed if little man is still here when he come home in 10 days. so, lets hope little man's family shows up :)

*UPDATE: much belated, but i'm happy to say little man was reunited with his family. he had quite an adventure before it happened though. so after the signs had been up for a week, no one called for him. b&i had to go out of town for the weekend so my wonderful neighbors volunteered to watch him. they have two dogs so it would be fine. i let them know he's a pretty good escape artist and should probably keep him gated when they leave the house. so apparently during the weekend a big storm came through atx and little man got freaked out. he proceeded to jump over the baby gate, out the doggie door, dug a huge hole under the fence and ESCAPED! my neighbor called as soon as they got home but they had no luck finding him. i was so sad! poor puppy out in the rain. 2 days later i was poking around on the town lake animal shelter site and i see him! i immediately called them and let them know the situation since after 7 days, dogs turned in are put on the adoptable list. they lady there promised to keep me updated about his availability. amazingly 5 days later, i get a phone call, and this man called asking about little man, he'd seen our sign at the neighborhood library. he and his family live across a major road about 1.5 - 2 miles away and were shocked to see a sign of their lost dog. i told him the crazy story of where their dog is and to call town lake immediately. he was so grateful and in the background you could hear his little girl screaming for joy :)

rave: hello thunderkittys

2010-07-01T16:34:00.001-05:00

Hello Thunderkittys, originally uploaded by Seven_Hundred.

what happens when you blend two 80's popular cartoon characters? hello thunderkitties! i totally <3 them!!!

rave: nephew sitting - day 3

2010-06-26T23:25:00.001-05:00

saturday started....early.

we thought the boys would have been tired after a very full friday, but apparently np2 had other plans. this boy normally is an early riser. he's usually singing and talking in bed at around 8am-ish. and he'll be content doing that for a while. for some reason this morning, he decided he would wake up at 7:30 am then scream for grandma around 7:45 am. i followed at 8:15 and grumpily, np1 joined us at 9:00. he was NOT thrilled. he's the deep sleeper...the one who loves to sleep in...just like his mommy. he made sure to let his little brother know that he was not happy about being up early and that he "needed his rest and wanted to sleep more on saturday since he has very busy weekdays."

so after a quick breakfast and lots of coffee for me and grandma, the boys hunted for their surprise. today they each received a mini lego set. np1 received two super cool racing motorcycles and np2 received a toy story set that consisted of the green army men. my, legos sure have come a long way! np1 was very nice and helpful. he first put together his brother's toy then his own. they happily played together for a bit.

for lunch we decided head to the mall. the boys have recently discovered sonics. i will admit not the healthiest thing i've eaten on my visit, but it's been a while since i've had tots and strawberry limeade...yum! the boys each had grilled cheese with apples with some popcorn chicken and mommy and i shared a grilled chicken wrap and all the boys leftovers. :P

since it was crazy hot and humid i was grateful for the air conditioned play area that was there. the boys got to run around and play for a while...np1 even ran into a friend from discovery camp!

after a quick stop at the candy store, we headed home so naps and homework could be done. grandpa soon arrived to provide additional parental presences. then me and the boys went swimming while grandma made dinner. we played and splashed and hunted for treasures and fought pirates till everyone was hungry. dinner was eaten and the a quick round of mcqueen board game and toy story alien kerplunk it was time for bible stories, teeth brushing, face washing, nose blowing, 100 hugs and kisses, story time and finally bed time!

once we had the little people in bed, my mommy and i moved on to the task of feeding their pet african frogs.

these two frogs are crazy. the bigger one eats ALL the food. the little one...well...i think he's a short bus frog. he won't even eat food if it is right in front of him. instead he'll bite the bigger one and pick a fight. we were both yelling at them and taping the tank. i have to say i felt a little like a crazy person yelling at the frogs and trying to make one eat. sadly little frog did not get any pellets today. according to mommy, the little on hasn't eaten a single pellet of food since they brought them home. so i wonder what he's been eating...and how long they will survive.

everyone is now having sweet dreams and no bedbugs biting...so it's my turn. 'night!

rave: nephew sitting - day 2

2010-06-25T23:09:00.002-05:00

it's friday!!!

wait...that means something totally different when you're nephew-sitting. that means there is only one more day till they are home all day for 2 whole days...uh oh. :P time to come up with some creative ways to keep two boys amused the entire weekend. also, that meant thoughts..r.un..n.in..g had to go back to the land of sugar to wait for her own two nieces.

the boys once again had excitement filled days. np1 went to discovery camp at john cooper school in the morning. they made a flower necklace from paper and they played in the real school gym. np2 had play ball at the rec center in the morning. it was fun to watch 4 little boys get super excited about throwing, hitting and kicking balls around. they were all so excited that they couldn't even stay on their shapes half the time.

after some lunch, a nap, and a trip through the carpool line, the boys did a treasure hunt for their surprise. (they each get a present from mommy and daddy everyday while the parents are gone...lucky boys!) the each received a bakugan...so a grand scale battle ensued.

we ate dinner early so the boys could go for a drive...

the adults chased after the boys. np1 took his driving very seriously. he stayed on the left and kept both hands on the steering wheel at all time. np2 on the other hand was cruising. he had his shades on, drove with one hand on the wheel the other arm resting on the door. he'd also weave around...testing out his tires..haha!

after "driving around" we headed to orange leaf for some frozen yogurt and made a quick trip to HEB for some milk and eggs. i had much difficulty managing the race car shopping carts. there were many close calls and back-up-and-try-agains. but with my mommy guiding up front we got out of the store undamaged...and with what we needed.

so day 2 ends with two exhausted boys...with one who sleeps in funny positions sleeping in one of the strangest ones to date.

still not sure how he was getting enough air...

rave: nephew sitting - day 1

2010-06-24T23:50:00.025-05:00

so while my sister and brother-in-law are at a "meeting" (aka - vacation without the kiddos) i'm in houston nephew-sitting with my mommy and an assortment of adults. we firmly believing in the 3 adults to 2 children method.

day 1 consisted of summer camp for both boys in the AM, then swimming lessons in the afternoon. both boys are learning some great swimming techniques from ms. jackie. their swimming lessons are so much more humane than the ones my daddy gave me. he believed in the "sink or swim" method of tossing me in to the pool without any instruction and seeing what happens. in the end it all worked out...i'm a decent swimmer...haha!

BIG thanks to thoughts..r.un..n.in..g for taking some time to come up and help entertain the boys...they LOVE you :) Swimming lessons

Life is a bowl...

2010-06-15T20:44:00.001-05:00

Cherries were $1.49/lb at sprouts today. Couldn't pass them up!

rave: i heart glee!

2010-06-11T11:23:00.006-05:00

i cannot wait for season 2!

rant: random plant sprouted

2010-03-06T19:03:00.002-06:00

rant: random plant sprouted, originally uploaded by mywong13.

i think this might be the peony bulb i planted last year. if it is i'll be very happy when the blooms appear. they are one of my favorite flowers.

rave: dinner!

2010-03-05T21:34:00.002-06:00

Dinner, originally uploaded by mywong13.

my chirashi bowl at sushi zushi...yum....

can't wait to have another one :)

rant: random thought of the day

2010-03-04T11:51:00.002-06:00

do you think Sarah Jessica Parker minds sharing her famous initials with Shiloh Jolie Pitt? will the original SJP trademark the initials? who will be the bigger fashion icon? hmmmmm....

these were the random thought i had before my coffee kicked in.

rant: dream and ye shall find...

2010-03-03T12:31:00.000-06:00

every night i read in bed before falling asleep. it helps me wind down and gets my brain to stop thinking so much. recently, with the cooler-than-usual weather in TX, while reading in bed, my arms and hands get cold. naturally, i just keep switching arms. one arm holds book, other arm gets tucked under the blanket...switch. so that goes on for a while until i'm sleepy or my arms get tired. this method has worked well so far with the current book since it is not the size/weight of a brick (hardcover, less than 1 pound). but with the last book and book before that (both paperback each weighing over 2 pound...one closer to 3 pounds), there have been moments where cold arms/fingers have caused the books to slip out of my grip and fall on my face. i have on more than one occassion wished for something to just cover my arms/hands while i read in bed. i know what you guys are thinking:

long sleeves - i do wear long sleeves to sleep...they just slid towards my armpits when i hold a book up, exposing said appdenages to the elements
gloves - i've tried, but the lack of finger texture and dexterity makes it hard to turn pages
snuggie - do not even say it. i have refused from day one and will continue to. it's just wrong. but even if i did, same problem as long sleeves...slippage
heating - we turn it on, but not very high since it dries out nasal passages and causes nose bleeds. besides our eskie would be very unhappy if we took away the one season that he loves.

so as i scanned twitter this a.m., and i see this tweet from clotilde of the blog chocolate & zucchini:

clotildenet: a duvet with sleeves + gloves for reading in bed: http://bit.ly/ccUMsF (of course the index finger is free for page turning) (30 minutes ago from Tweetie)

happiness in bed has a fabulous solution!

maybe this will be my next "home improvement" investment...after floor to ceiling shelving, wall artwork, and paiting my kitchen cabinets. better yet, i wonder if my mommy could create one from an old duvet cover...

rant: omg so wrong yet so cute

2010-02-20T14:40:00.001-06:00

rant: omg so wrong yet so cute, originally uploaded by mywong13.

rave: happy new year! happy valentine's day!

2010-02-14T10:56:00.000-06:00

it's the year of the tiger

All the birds in Houston came to Chinatown

2010-02-13T18:29:00.001-06:00

All the birds in Houston came to Chinatown, originally uploaded by mywong13.

rave: bugs at the health museum

2010-02-13T12:52:00.001-06:00

rave: bugs at the health museum, originally uploaded by mywong13.

rant: r.i.p. McQ

2010-02-11T11:53:00.002-06:00

designer lee alexander mcqueen was found dead this morning in his london home. the fashion world has loss one of its greats today. if you've ever worn his one of his creations, especially his men's suits then you know what an amazing designer and tailor he was. his men's suits were are amazing, worthy of a prince (charles).

if you haven't read cathy horyn's profile of mcqueen in the nyt's t magazine from september 2009, it's a good read. my thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones.

My brand new rug has been claimed by Luca already.

2010-02-09T22:54:00.001-06:00

My brand new rug has been claimed by Luca already., originally uploaded by mywong13.

sugar and spice cookies

2010-02-07T13:23:00.001-06:00

sugar and spice cookies, originally uploaded by mywong13.

rave: my wood floors arrived! Now they must acclimate :)

2010-01-20T09:58:00.001-06:00

rave: my wood floors arrived! Now they must acclimate :), originally uploaded by mywong13.

rave: amazing version of "empire state if mind" by PS22 Chorus from NYC

2010-01-16T11:20:00.001-06:00

These kids can sing! what amazing talent. check out their blog for more amazing video of these kids singing.

rant: barley obsessed

2010-01-13T13:53:00.000-06:00

lately, i've been drawn to recipes with barley. maybe it is because of the recent cold snap and my desires to make/eat soups. i will say i have always liked eating barley, but never have i cooked with it till recently. not sure why. so last week after making mushroom barley soup i started searching for other recipes. and there are lots out there. i usually associate barley with beef and mushroom soups. but i found other soups, salads, and even breakfast dishes. but the most intriguing one i ran across was barley risotto with beans and greens on smittenkitchen.com (one of favorite food blogs!) risotto...made with barley...instead of arborio rice? i love risotto. i always order it if it's on the menu. so i was very intrigued. so last night when b had to work late i decided to make some. (not serving him any kind of dead animal would create a grumpy and hungry hubby. so only on night where i'm cooking for myself can i get away with a veggie and carb only meal.)

side note: i also learned there are many health benefits to eating barley. it is good for:
Barley's Fiber for Regularity, Lower Cholesterol, & Intestinal Protection
Protection Against Atherosclerosis
Significant Cardiovascular Benefits for Postmenopausal Women
Prevent Heart Failure with a Whole Grains Breakfast
Barley and Other Whole Grains Substantially Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Cereal and Fruit Fiber Protective against Postmenopausal Breast Cancer
Can Help Prevent Gallstones
Whole Grains and Fish Highly Protective against Childhood Asthma
Promote Optimal Health with Barley's Fiber and Selenium
Barley's Copper Can Benefit Arthritis Sufferers
Development and Repair of Body Tissue
source

in theory, i figured the barley would be a great arborio rice sub based just on texture. but i was worried that the creamy, starchy goodness would be missing. well, i was wrong. it was so good! (so yummy i just had some leftovers for lunch too.) not overly starchy and creamy but still very rich. the barley provided an al dente bite that i miss from some rice-based risottos. should have known better than to doubt deb about her recipe. i followed her recipe exactly except that i added mushrooms with the onions since they were needing to be consumed and i had to use kale instead of escarole because that is what i had. i will be making this again and maybe even fidgeting with the ingredients some...

Barley Risotto with Beans and Greens

From smittenkitchen.com

Adapted generously from Food and Wine

Be sure to use a low or no sodium broth; as the broth reduces and concentrates in flavor, a regular broth will yield a too-salty dish. I’ve learned the hard way many times! Only have a full salt broth or bouillon around? Swap some of the volume with water.

And do play around with this dish — try different broths, such as beef or mushroom. Skip the beans, swap a cooked vegetable. Use your favorite greens and adjust the cooking time accordingly. Add a clove of garlic, use shallots or leeks instead of onion. Use romano instead of parmesan, dollop in some crème fraîche at the end; use red wine or skip the wine. I know it can sometimes be overwhelming to have too many options but the possibilities here are really endless, and a little extra tinkering could make a staple out of this dish for you.

Serves 3 to 4 (most recipes would say 4; maybe we were just really hungry?)

5 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken stock

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1/2 cup white wine (optional)

1 cup pearled barley (7 ounces)

1 cup beans, canned or precooked (white would be great; I used some Red Nightfall Beans mostly because they were languishing in my cabinet)

3 cups chopped escarole

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Salt and freshly ground pepper

In a medium saucepan, bring the chicken stock to a simmer over moderately high heat. Reduce the heat to low and keep warm.

In a large, deep skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and thyme and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, about 6 minutes. Add the barley and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the wine if using and cook, stirring until absorbed, about one minute. Add 1 cup of the warm stock and cook, stirring, until nearly absorbed. Continue adding the stock 1/2 cup at a time in six additions — you’ll have a cup of stock left in the pot — stirring until it is nearly absorbed between additions. Most barley risottos are done when the barley is al dente and suspended in a thick, creamy sauce, about 35 minutes, however, I like to take this one a little “soupier” adding another half to one cup of stock. (This gives the beans something to drink up, and you a margin of error if you grains continue to absorb the stock once you think they are done.) Stir it in until the risotto is on the loose side, then add the beans and let them cook for a minute. Add the escarole and let it wilt and then cook for an additional minute. Stir in the 1/2 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano and the butter and season with salt and pepper. Serve at once, passing more cheese at the table.

Do ahead: Although it’s not generally ideal to reheat rice risottos, I actually enjoyed this barley one reheated. Keep the flame low, splash in some more broth if it seems thick and slowly warm the dish, stirring. Top with extra cheese.

rave: origami swans in a tree at town lake

2010-01-11T16:46:00.001-06:00

rave: mushroom barley soup via epicurious.com

2010-01-06T11:26:00.001-06:00

with the weather getting colder and colder here in atx, i am craving soup more and more. and to be honest, i'm getting tired of the canned variety. so out to the trusty www i went in search of soup. soup that is hearty but healthy, full of flavor and depth but doesn't require an 8 hour cook time and something that is relatively easy. i will admit that i do "cheat" most of the time i make soups. by the time i get home from work/running/groceries i usually only have about 1 hour to get food on the table before it's really late for dinner or the beast inside b is gnawing at my leg. so i usually buy the pre-chopped and portioned kits from central market to make soup.

but last night i decided to try this mushroom barley soup recipe that i found a couple weeks back on epicurious.com; mainly because i had a ton of different types of mushrooms in my fridge. i was drawn to the recipe because it was a mushroom barley soup that did not have any heavy cream in it. and you could technically make it vegan/vegetarian if you skip the butter and use olive/grape seed oil. also, it was relatively quick and easy. i did make some changes to the original recipe and have a couple more changes i would do next time. so this would be my recipe. enjoy!

Mushroom Barley Soup
Adapted from: Bon Appétit - December 1995 by Tony Litwinko: Glendale, California
Yield: Serves 8

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter (or 3-4 tablespoons of olive/grape seed oil)
1.5 pounds of any type(s) of mushrooms, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (i used creminis, shiitake, white and king trumpet)
2 large carrots, chopped
2 large celery stalks, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup pearl barley, rinsed
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
8 cups canned vegetable broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 sprig of fresh sage
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Dash of paprika (optional)
1 bunch of kale leaves chopped (or 1 bag of baby spinach)

Melt butter till foamy in heavy large Dutch oven/large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and season with a little bit of salt and pepper. Sauté and sweat out the mushrooms for about 10 minutes. Add carrots, celery, onion and bay leaves. Sauté until vegetables begin to brown and most liquid is gone, about 8-10 minutes. Add barley and stir in for 1-2 minutes.

Add flour to pot and stir 3 minutes. Gradually mix in broth. Bring soup to boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium and Mix in sage, parsley, paprika and dill. Simmer until barley is tender and soup is beginning to thicken, about 20-25 minutes. Turn heat off and stir in chopped kale leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley on top.

Serve.

other reviews mentioned adding sherry to the soup or deglazing after sautéing the veggies before stirring in barley. i can see how the flavors would work and add depth, but i didn't have any sherry on hand to try...so next time maybe. or if you do try, let me know!

rave: awesome remix of top 25 songs of 2009

2010-01-05T23:10:00.002-06:00

rave: emma watson + burberry = <3

2010-01-05T22:17:00.000-06:00

love the new burberry campaign! so glad they are using emma watson as the face of burberry. i think she brings a fresh and young feel to a brand that was feeling a little old and dowdy a couple years ago. and i really <3 the large white leather purse with the black flora/plaid canvas...and the trench in the same material.

rave: luca watching baby ducks at sunset.

2010-01-01T17:43:00.002-06:00

rave: merry christmas!

2009-12-24T09:46:00.004-06:00

may your holidays be filled with lots of laughter, joy and love.
merry christmas and happy new year from our family to yours!

love,
brian, mindy & luca

rant: puma kitty

2009-12-16T12:08:00.003-06:00

just something cute :)

rave: kendra scott jewelry sample sale!

2009-12-01T09:39:00.004-06:00

LOVE kendra scott jewelry!

love her sample sales even more! fabulous deals for amazing, stunning pieces. her jewelry is always eye-catching. i get lots of compliments when i wear them. best of all, the sample sale prices are a fraction on what you'd pay at boutiques all over the world. they also make wonderful christmas gifts :)

so stop by her showroom at 3601 S. Congress Avenue, Suite B201 on Thursday 12/3 from 10am to 7pm, Friday 12/4 10am to 6pm, or Saturday 12/5 11am to 3pm.

and bring a food donation for the capital area food bank and receive $5 off your purchase!

so make plans to be there and be ready to hunt for some great deals!

rave: thanksgiving

2009-11-30T12:57:00.005-06:00

thanksgiving turkey courtesy of mommy!

mmmm...turkey....

in fact, i am eating some of that yummy turkey right now for lunch. and secretly, i prefer the leftovers...tastier :)

enough turkey talk...

I cannot believe thanksgiving has come and gone. it seems like everyone is heading full steam towards christmas. i will be the first to admit that i love holidays...all of them, no matter how small. but i will admit, thanksgiving and christmas are always the most fun. always around this time of year, family and friends from far and near always gather. as i get older, i realize that seeing the people we love who live in other cities, states and countries gets harder and harder. so i'm thankful for holidays and events that bring us all together. sure it's chaotic, crazy, loud and sometimes just nuts, but that's how it's suppose to be. i'm truly blessed to have an amazing family and wonderful friends.

This thanksgiving, my side of the family almost had a complete family reunion...unfortunately we were missing 2 family members. (although, we did skype in my cousin in hawaii.) so to say the least, the house was very full...but it was great! it was really great to have my cousin from purdue and his mom from hong kong join us for all the fun and festivities. as always, there was some serious food...crab towers and abalone from my aunt, a 20lb turkey and all the fixings by my mom, pau pau made her chinese sticky rice, my uncle grilled up some galbi, and i provided extra desserts. ( i say extra because my mom already had a huge apple pie and a pecan pie)

i love fall desserts. i always look forward to the first cold front and thanksgiving so i can make my all time favorite cookies, ginger spice cookies. so this year for thanksgiving, i made a batch of the lovely cookies and decided to throw in a cake too. currently, my favorite blog for recipes is smittenkitchen.com. everything i've tried from deb's blog has been amazing. and this time it was no different. i made the gramercy tavern's gingerbread that i found on the blog for the family thanksgiving meal. ginger is a favorite among the family, so the cake sounded perfect. and the fact that the cake requires Guinness beer, made it even better. (Guinness is my pau pau's favorite beer...i learned to appreciate it from her!) i was nervous making the cake for such a big meal since i've never made it before, but as always the recipe was flawless! The house smelled of fall and the holidays as the cake baked. and the cake was a huge hit...it was spicy, chewy and yummy! i will admit, it did taste better the second day, not as sugary sweet. i cannot attest for how it taste the third day as the cake was completely devoured by then. This is one recipe i will be making over and over again. (also, the cake was cut into and eaten before i remembered to take a photo of it...so the below photo and recipe is courtesy of smittenkitchen.com. i will try to remember to take a photo of the next one before it is consumed.)

Gramercy Tavern's Gingerbread from Claudia Fleming

1 cup oatmeal stout or Guinness Stout

1 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Pinch of ground cardamom

3 large eggs

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

Confectioners sugar for dusting

Accompaniment: Unsweetened whipped cream
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Generously butter bundt pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess. (She is not kidding about this. I used a nonstick pan with a butter/flour spray and still lost a chunk of cake. I will be more generous next time.)

Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove from heat. Whisk in baking soda, then cool to room temperature.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl. Whisk together eggs and sugars. Whisk in oil, then molasses mixture. Add to flour mixture and whisk until just combined.

Pour batter into bundt pan and rap pan sharply on counter to eliminate air bubbles. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool completely.

Serve cake, dusted with confectioners sugar, with whipped cream.

Do ahead: This gingerbread is better if made a day ahead. It will keep 3 days, covered, at room temperature. I am sure it will keep well-wrapped in the freezer even longer.

so i hope you and yours had a wonderful, blessed and fulfilling thanksgiving holiday. may the rest of this year and the new year to come be full of hope, peace and joy.

Happy Halloween from Brian and Mindy

2009-10-31T18:00:00.002-05:00

Happy Halloween from Brian and Mindy, originally uploaded by mywong13.

rave: 3 years

2009-10-21T13:48:00.005-05:00

happy anniversary b!

thank you for

encouraging me to train for my first half marathon

(and not being grumpy about my alarm going off at 5:30 a.m. for my morning runs.)

allowing me to take up *most* of the closet(s)

eating all my cooking/baking creations - good and not so good

taking luca on walks

indulging my costco, target and purse addictions

watching cheesy girlie shows like gossip girl and vampire diaries with me

washing the dishes

appreciating food, esp late night sushi, as much as i do

putting up with all my craziness!

i love you lots...here's to many more happy anniversaries!

and look what i received at my office today! lucky i didn't get tackled by co-workers making the quarter mile walk back to my office.

the man knows the way to my heart...my sweet tooth.

Thanks baby :) can't wait to eat them...

i may sneak one or two before i get home. shhhh!

rant: smurfy kitty?

2009-10-08T13:30:00.006-05:00

they are quite cute. and i do like like smurfs and hello kitty...
thanks for sharing hellokittyhell.com!

rave: favorite band + all time classic song = AMAZING

2009-10-07T22:05:00.007-05:00

U2 is one of my favorite bands that i have never seen live. this youtube video of them covering can't help falling in love has renewed my passion to catch them the next time they are in town. i know this was done back in 1993 and the song has been covered by everyone, but truly this is one of the best renditions i have heard. amazing vocals by bono...just simply amazing.

UPDATE!

*photo courtesy of U2.com

i am going to see U2 live the next time they are in town...which is on monday at the new cowboys stadium! i totally forgot that they are coming to texas next week. they are currently on their 360° tour and from the pictures and reviews, the show looks amazing! and to make it even better, muse will be opening for them.

can. not. wait.

rant: fashion ≠ lots of $$$

2009-10-01T12:15:00.007-05:00

i'm always surprised when people are shocked to hear where i shop and the cost. the reaction is always, "really?!?" and "it's so hard to find stuff when there's so much stuff in the store".

i will be the first to admit i love fashion. but i'm also cheap. it's genetic...my mom and my sister are both bargain shoppers too. (sidebar: i will admit i love designer purses. that is where i tend to spend my $$. but even with that, i prefer outlet stores to neimans, saks, or boutiques.) my general feeling is that with a little leg work (or googling) and some patients, you will always find a better deal then just walking into a top name brand store or online store (i know, instant gratification is nice, but i think having money in my bank account and knowing i spent a heck of a lot less is worth more.) also knowing what you are paying for and if it is worth the price will go a long way. two of my favorite places to find a good deal is forever 21 and target. and what i discovered today even shocked me. Look at the two bracelets below:

they look about the same to me...maybe just slightly different but that could be because of the angle the photo is taken at. below are the two screen captures from two different online stores showing the price difference.

$135 vs $12.80?!?!? are you kidding me??? i would like to go out on a limb and say both were "imported" from the same factory in asia somewhere. so why the enormous price difference? keep in mind, the $135 is not even from a boutique...it's a mainstream store found in most malls across america. okay so the $135 says Swarowski crystal and the $12.80 says rhinestone. would you know if they really put in Swarowski crystals? can you tell by looking? do you really care if the price difference is $122.20? i don't :) so go forth and shop smart!

rave: hey, soul sister

2009-09-28T22:27:00.002-05:00

Heeey heeeey heeeeey

Your lipstick stains on the front lobe of my left side brains
I knew I wouldn't forget you
And so I went and let you blow my mind
Your sweet moving
The smell of you in every single dream I dream
I knew when we collided you're the one I have decided
Who's one of my kind

Hey soul sister, ain't that mister mister on the radio, stereo
The way you move ain't fair you know
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight

Heeey heeeey heeeey

Just in time, I'm so glad you have a one track mind le me
You gave my life direction
A game show love connection, we can't deny
I'm so obsessed
My heart is bound to beat right out my untrimmed chest
I believe in you, like a virgin, you're Madonna
And I'm always gonna wanna blow your mind

Hey soul sister, ain't that mister mister on the radio, stereo
The way you move ain't fair you know
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight

Well you can cut a rug
Watching you is the only drug I need
So gangster, I'm so thug
You're the only one I'm dreaming of
You see I can be myself now finally
In fact there's nothing I cant be
I want the world to see you'll be with me

Hey soul sister, ain't that mister mister on the radio, stereo
The way you move ain't fair you know
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight
Heeey heeeey heeeeey (tonight)
Heeey heeeey heeeeey (tonight)

~ train from the album save me, san francisco

rave: her diamonds

2009-09-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

Oh what the hell she says

I just can't win for losing

And she lays back down

Man there's so many times

I don't know what I’m doin'

Like I don't know now

By the light of the moon

She rubs her eyes

Says it's funny how the night

Can make you blind

I can just imagine

And I don't know what I’m supposed to do

But if she feels bad then I do too

So I let her be

And she says oooh

I can't take no more

Her tears like diamonds on the floor

And her diamonds bring me down

Cuz I can't help her now

She’s down in it

She tried her best and now she can't win it's
Hard to see them on the ground
Her diamonds falling down

She sits down and stares into the distance

And it takes all night

And I know I could break her concentration

But it don't feel right

By the light of the moon

She rubs her eyes

Sits down on the bed and starts to cry

And there's something less about her

And I don't know what I’m supposed to do

So I sit down and I cry too

And don't let her see

And she says oooh

I can't take no more

Her tears like diamonds on the floor

And her diamonds bring me down

Cuz I can't help her now

She’s down in it

She tried her best and now she can't win it's
Hard to see them on the ground
Her diamonds falling down

She shuts out the night

Tries to close her eyes

If she can find daylight

She’ll be all right

Just not tonight

And she says oooh

I can't take no more

Her tears like diamonds on the floor

And her diamonds bring me down

Cuz I can't help her now

She’s down in it

She tried her best and now she can't win it's

Hard to see them on the ground

Her diamonds falling down

~ rob thomas from the album cradlesong

i was lucky enough to have the opportunity to meet and hear rob thomas play a short set up at the mix 94.7 studios a little while back. he played an acoustic set for about 40 people and it was amazing! austin was his last stop of the day after an early flight to texas and several other stops in. he was very generous with his time and even took questions from the guest. i've always like his and matchbox twenty's music but hearing him live, acoustically and in such an intimate venue was totally a once in a lifetime experience. (and he's really funny and a great story teller.) he's about to kick off his tour for cradlesong. hopefully i'll get to catch him when he swings by atx again.

rave: 13.1 miles in disneyland

2009-09-15T14:27:00.001-05:00

So after several months of training in the texas heat (austin had 68 consecutive days of 100+ degree weather) , my first half marathon is done. it was a lot of fun and i am really glad i got to run this with my sister and brother-in-law. i have to say, i'm happy with my time. but i do think we could have actually finished faster if we a: didn't have to start at the back with the walkers/3:00 pace group. we did quite a bit of dodging and weaving the first couple miles. (my sister and i also realized all that side to side motion made our hip joints hurt.) b: we did take a bathroom break in the beginning. but hey it was the one and only non port-a-potty bathroom on the whole run.

I have to say, the Disneyland Half Marathon was a lot of fun! if i was not so concerned about the time, i think i would have taken lots of photos. All the characters come out for the run when you run through California Adventures and Disneyland. You also run through the back parts of the parks. the best was runing through Angel's Stadium. very cool! i'd probably do this one again someday. maybe i'll have the energy to do the disney coast to coast challenge. princess half marathon march 2010, anyone? maybe i'll even dress up!

next up:
October 24, 2009 livestrong challenge austin 5K
November 1, 2009 susan g. komen race for the cure austin 5K
January 10, 2010 usa fit sugar land half marathon
and maybe
February 14, 2010 austin half marathon

happy running :)

ps: the rest of my socal trip was awesome too. but i'll save that for another day. glad i got to see everyone in socal!

rave: she is love

2009-07-13T14:46:00.004-05:00

I’ve been beaten down

I’ve been kicked around

But she takes it all for me

And I lost my faith in my darkest days

But she makes me want to believe

They call her love, love, love, love, love

She is love, and she is all I need

She’s all I need

Well I had my ways

They were all in vain

But she waited patiently

It was all the same

All my pride and shame

But she put me on my feet

They call her love, love, love, love, love

She is love, and she is all I need

~ parachute from the album losing sleep

rave: dog surfing!

2009-06-25T15:53:00.002-05:00

Boston Surfing, originally uploaded by Sarah Dear.

a boston terrier surfing in Imperial Beach at the largest surfing competition for dogs.

rave: good reads on nytimes.com

2009-06-10T12:00:00.005-05:00

came across several very interesting articles on nytimes.com today. (thank goodness for the rss feed!) they were on topics that are near and dear to my heart...food and shopping. and they all touch on human impact on our environment. if you're looking for some quick reads about fruit foraging, consuming fish with or without guilt, knowing where your seafood comes from, and malls of the future, check out these articles.

i think it is important think about where our goods and food are coming from and what/who it affects. growing and sharing fruits and veggies is something i am familiar with. my parents and grandmother have always had gardens that produce a variety of yummy edibles. i still get a supply of fruit from their garden every time i visit. i mean, if i can get starfruits, guavas and papayas free why not? and sharing/trading is a past time among their church members. every sunday people bring their extras to share with other families. some trade vegetables. some trade fruits. some trade home made edible goods. this sharing and trading of what you have plenty of is now catching on in communities across the country. in reality it is just a flashback to an older time. i think in our quest to make life more convenient, easier and faster paced, we've forgotten that the way people did things "back in the day" wasn't so bad...it was actually good.

i know i could be more mindful of where my food comes from and where i purchase things. i am trying and learning. as a seafood and sushi lover it is hard to hear that we are depleting the ocean of its inhabitants. i do agree that we should be more careful of what, how, and how much we take from the ocean and be sure that we give back. what i've realized is that most fish mongers, butchers and employees at the grocery store/farmers market love that you ask questions. education is half the battle. and i want to know and learn so my children and my children's children and their children will also know, taste and love the things i love to eat today.

rant: mission impossible - don't bite off more than you can chew

2009-06-03T15:35:00.002-05:00

Mission Impossible - don't bite off more than you can chew, originally uploaded by juliealicea1947.

just a bit freaky...but a great shot either way. click the photo to find out who lives...

glad this wasn't in my backyard...

rant: um, i have no words...

2009-06-03T12:30:00.002-05:00

that's just awkward...

picture courtesy of AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com

rant: twilight obsession

2009-05-11T14:42:00.003-05:00

okay...i'll admit it. i am totally obsessed with the twilight series by stephenie meyer.

in the beginning, i was one of those who was like "whatever" when all the hoopla started with the series. to me, it was like the whole harry potter hype. (i never understood that one either.) so, i didn't fall into the trap of wanting to read the books. i wasn't excited when the movie came out. i didn't even have any desires to watch it. (not really a fan of vampires.) then one night b brought it home from the redbox. (he's obsessed withe redbox.) so i stayed up and watched it while doing some work on my computer. and that did it. i got totally sucked in. i needed to know what happened...not just the movie version, since we all know things get left out of movies. i needed to read the books...all of them...and find out what happens to bella, edward and jacob. to say the least, i was bitten.

so 10 days and 2,379 pages later, i finished all four books. i don't think i've ever read that many pages in so few days and thoroughly enjoyed all of it. i couldn't get enough...i mean, it was bad. i would read for hours and it would not be enough. i was addicted. i wanted to read it all the time...at work, after work, before bed. and when i wasn't reading it, i was trying to figure out when i could get my next "fix". now that i'm done, i want to read them again and can't wait for midnight sun to come out. (no, i have not read the leaked version. i have refrained and will hold out for the published one.)

to be very honest, i didn't think i'd like the first book, twilight, much less the whole series. i was so sure that i wasn't going to like it, i purchased it digitally for my iphone via the kindle app. i am a huge fan of owning books. i like to physically have them, the feel the weight in my hands, to turn the pages, to display them on shelves. i obviously didn't feel that the series was worth buying physically at that time. boy was i wrong! the only good thing is that as soon as i was done with book one, i was immediately able to purchase the other three and start reading. also, having them located on my iphone made for easier transport and easily hide-able!

stephenie meyer has a way of drawing you into the story. her characters have a mystery to them even as the details unfold. she has a way of telling their stories with out giving away the story. i really could not believe what a page turner the series is. it is amazing that twilight was her first published book...and it all started off as a dream she had.

so now i have joined the throngs of tweens and adults who are obsessed. but at least i'm not alone. i found out this weekend my sister has also been bitten. we bonded over the obsession...she just started book 4...and she started reading the series 5 days ago. can't wait to see new moon the movie in november! i think we'll have a sister's night out...

rant: chocolate chart for dogs

2009-04-27T15:00:00.003-05:00

all dog owners should know that chocolate is bad for dogs and should do everything to keep it out of reach. chocolate contains theobromine which can cause dogs to vomit, have seizures and even die. but sometimes our four-legged pals get resourceful and down right tricky and get into some. the big question, is how much is too much?

i will be perfectly honest and my pup has gotten into his fair share over his 8+ years. every time i panic and try to induce vomiting (if i catch him in time) because i worry that he'll die. (to be very honest, with both times nothing happened. just a tad bit hyper...and an expensive vet bill.) but national geographics' website has a very helpful interactive chart. this chocolate chart helps you see about how much of different types of chocolate ingested by said pup may cause what kind of reaction since different types of chocolate contain different amounts of cocoa/theobromine. very useful to have on hand...all dog owners should bookmark that chart for future reference.

rave: $10 off $30 bath and body works coupon

2009-04-27T11:46:00.005-05:00

here's a great coupon for bath and bodyworks just in time for mother's day. and if use the wexler products, all their eye creams are $10 off too.

if you have not tried the wexler face products, i highly recommend you do if you are looking for a new skin care regiment. i've been using it for over a year now and have seen a dramatic improvement in my skin. my skin is clear, smooth, and healthy. i no longer break-out every month and my skin just feels and looks better. what i love most about this line is that there is an adult acne line. it helps with acne and has the anti-aging element. i looked for a really long time to find a product out there that has both, but usually it's one or the other. and it's great because you can mix and match after trying the starter kits.

i admit it is pricier than the target/grocery store face care line, but the investment is worth it. products last a long time...i purchase new face wash every 10 months or so and moisturizers and creams about 12 months+. and i'll admit it, i'm vain...i don't want wrinkles. so i'm willing to make the investment. but also, it is cheaper than most department store/major cosmetic lines face products. so, it's middle of the road, but it really worked for me.

rant: funk

2009-04-23T17:58:00.002-05:00

i've been in a funk all day. not sure why...just feeling very...off. can't put my finger on it either. wish i could then maybe i would know how to get out of said funk. it's weird. i don't want to be at work, i don't want to go somewhere else, and i don't even want to go home. i just want to be somewhere else. it's like i want to run away...but with no where to go. my stomach has been weird all day...not hungry but wanting to eat. feeling anxious but for absolutely no reason. to be very honest, it was a really laid back day. no stress, no crazies, no impossible questions or task. just a day at the office.

weird huh?

so now what? what do i do? maybe i should just sleep it off...but i think i'm to anxious to sleep. a glass of wine? go for run? none of those things seem right. i'm starting to think this is a vicious cycle...let's hope this all goes away by tomorrow morning. i am going to resort to what works best...vegging out in front of the tv and turning my brain off.

rant: happy earth day!

2009-04-22T10:23:00.003-05:00

happy earth day! over the years, b and i have become more aware of how my actions impact our environment. my parents have always good about recycling and using what we have (that was mainly because we were thrifty!) they are also big on growing their own food. my parent's backyard is like a jungle...fruits galore! my mommy also compost, she also does it b/c it is good for her garden. in our daily lives we know there are many more things i can do, but here's a couple things we try to do consistently.

even when buying coffee, i bring my own travel mug. it decreases trash and keeps my coffee hot longer (my favorite is the contigo autoseal mug...coffee stays hot for 6+ hours!).
polycarbonate/aluminum water bottles...especially at work since they only provide Styrofoam cups.
packing lunch in reusable containers and using non-disposable utensils.
reusable shopping bags when going to the grocery store.
instead of buying trash bags, we use the supply of plastic bags we get when shopping at target. they are just big enough for our under sink trash can
we shop in bulk
this one belongs to b...he installed an reverse osmosis water filtration system so we could stop using our Britta filters.
reuse file folders at work
trade supplies in the company
recycle junk mail, envelopes, magazines and packaging.
b rides the bus to work - i'd love to but public transportation in austin is not so great.
shop local. i like visiting the farmer's market when i can

so what do you do to help keep our earth green? are you taking part in any earth day activities?

chocolate and zucchini's blog is doing something awesome (and really easy) with flip & tumble for Ripple Africa. here's the deal: for every person who leaves a comment* at the bottom of today's post on the c&z blog, flip & tumble will fund the planting of a tree in one of the community nurseries that Ripple Africa is working to build, and c&z will match that donation! So just go to the comment box, type "Plant trees for me!" (and whatever you want to add) and two trees will be planted. there's also a give-a-way on that post so go check it out and help plant trees in africa!

rave: guess who's headlining at ACL this year?

2009-04-20T16:59:00.003-05:00

cartoon was leaked on the official ACL lineup page ...do you know who it is? now i think i have to get tickets...rumor has it headliners are Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, and Beastie Boys. now as long as they finish the "renovations" to the park...

rant: noah's ark landed in hong kong?

2009-04-16T15:18:00.005-05:00

okay...so technically it did not land in hong kong. the city's three billionaire kwok brothers built the world's first life size replica of noah's ark. they even built it to the biblical specifications. as stated on wall street journal's article, "The message in its 450-foot-long hull, its rooftop luxury hotel and 67 pairs of fiberglass animals: "The financial tsunami will be over," says Spencer Lu, the Kwoks' project director at Noah's Ark, which is opening soon. The land-bound ark wasn't built in response to the current global turmoil; it has been in the planning for 17 years. But the financial storm provides a nice marketing hook for the Kwoks' ambitious project, which will probably need to lure visitors from beyond Hong Kong's city limits to be an economic success." the kwok brother's also tried to install a permanent rainbow but apparently the science became too difficult.

the project reflects thomas kwok's christian faith. in the 1990s, he set up a church in the top floor of the sun hung kai's central plaza office complex. the noah's ark project was initially conceived as a theme park with rides, until Mr. Kwok decided the project should be something more. the construction on the ark's foundations started 2004. the kwoks' version of the ark, which sits on 270,000 square feet of space and was developed in conjunction with five christian organizations, houses a restaurant, exhibition hall (important: which will have a full presentation of the gospel) and children's museum in addition to the noah's resort hotel.

i find it impressive this group of businessmen and pastors have completed the project and especially in hong kong. with hong kong being part of communist china now, i am very surprised that the government approved the project, which i partially a christian education theme park. maybe in this time of economic turmoil, the citizens of hong kong, china and asia will discover god's grace.

b & i have been discussing a trip to asia/hk soon. we'll have to make a stop to see noah's ark and the 67 pairs of fiberglass animals. looks pretty darn cool to me!

click here for the complete article and more images of recreated arks. for more photos, check out flickr.com's tags.

courtesy of pawnation.com and wsj.com

rant: possibly dinner tonight?

2009-04-13T10:44:00.003-05:00

feeling like i need to consume more veggies after this weekend of marathon eating/baking (more to come on that). so i think i'm going to make a salad for dinner. skipping the carbs is fine by me, but will i find b gnawing on my arm a couple hours after dinner? we shall see...

Yam Neua (Thai-Style Beef Salad)

Serves 2
INGREDIENTS
Salad
8-10 oz. beef (I used rib-eye, which worked just fine)
1 small head of green leaf lettuce
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 Roma tomato, thinly sliced (optional)
1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
salt and freshly ground pepper
Dressing
1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 small red chili, seeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp water
RECIPE
1. Season your meat with salt and pepper and sear it on the stove (or a grill) for 3-4 minutes on each side. Remove it from heat and let sit for 10 minutes before slicing it thinly (it should still be pretty pink in the middle).
2. While your meat is restin’, make the dressin’. Combine fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, chili, and 2 tbsp water in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and keep warm.
3. Toss all the veggies together, top with beef slices and warm dressing. Serve immediately.

recipie and photo from la fille de la ville

rave: easter bunny bao

2009-04-10T13:59:00.003-05:00

Easter bunny bao (steamed buns), originally uploaded by maki.

must try and make these... (recipie can be found at justhungry.com)
would it be wrong to fill them with bbq pork?

rave: the man who can't be moved

2009-04-10T13:05:00.003-05:00

going back to the corner where i first saw you

gonna camp in my sleeping bag, i'm not gonna move

got some words on cardboard, got your picture in my hand

saying if you see this girl can you tell her where i am

some try to hand me money, they don't understand

i'm not broke i'm just a broken hearted man

i know it makes no sense, but what else can i do

how can i move on when i've been in love with you

'cause if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me

and your heart starts to wonder where on this earth i could be

thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet

and you'd see me waiting for you on the corner of the street

so i'm not moving

i'm not moving

policeman says son you can't stay here

i said there's someone i'm waiting for if it's a day, a month, a year

gotta stand my ground even if it rains or snows

if she changes her mind this is the first place she will go

'cause if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me

and your heart starts to wonder where on this earth i could be

thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet

and you see me waiting for you on the corner of the street

so i'm not moving

i'm not moving

people talk about the guy

who's waiting on a girl, oh whoa

there are no holes in his shoes

but a big hole in his world

maybe i'll get famous as the man who can't be moved

and maybe you won't mean to but you'll see me on the news

and you'll come running to the corner

'cause you'll know it's just for you

i'm the man who can't be moved

'cause if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me

and your heart starts to wonder where on this earth i could be

thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we meet

oh, you see me waiting for you on a corner of the street

so i'm not moving

('cause if one day you wake up, find that you're missing me)

i'm not moving

(and your heart starts to wonder where on this earth i could be)

i'm not moving

(thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet)

i'm not moving

(oh, you see me waiting for you on a corner of the street)

going back to the corner where i first saw you

gonna camp in my sleeping bag, i'm not gonna move

~by the script - self titled album

rave: I <3 peeps!

2009-04-09T14:29:00.001-05:00

rave: I , originally uploaded by mywong13.

rave: flopsy bunny

2009-04-09T14:24:00.001-05:00

Flopsy Bunny :), originally uploaded by markfftang.

too freakin' cute. can't wait for the bunnies to start showing up in the yard...

rave: kitty bling!

2009-03-30T12:08:00.004-05:00

after working all weekend and having to wake up at 4 a.m. on sunday to setup for the statesman cap 10k presented by guaranty bank, i totally vegged out on the couch sunday afternoon. as i sat like pile of mush in front of the tv, b came home from a day of basketball shoe shopping and golf and handed me a little gold bag. and said, just a little something i found while shopping :)

the man sure does know how to make this girl smile! something sparkly AND hello kitty?!?! what more can i ask for?

rant: location, location, location...

2009-03-26T13:51:00.004-05:00

dan meth has put together some pretty cool pop culture charts. like the one above...ever wanted to see where all our favorite sitcom locations were? NYC was so popular it needed it's own map! check out the rest of dan's website too...pretty spiffy.

rave: rockets vs timberwolves

2009-03-24T15:45:00.000-05:00

Thanks to a wonderful contact (thanks Scott!), b and I were able to
attend the rocket's home game against the t-wolves this past Friday.
We were able to enjoy the game in the rocket's suite where we had
yummy snacks and beverages (silver oak cab!!) they also displayed a
signed mcgrady jersey and yao's shoe. And a big shoe it is!! Compare
b's head and the shoe. Nuts I say! We had a great time...especially
since the rockets won.

rave: 30% off nine west, bandolino, anne klein, and easy spirit shoes

2009-03-16T13:29:00.004-05:00

The Nine West Retail, Easy Spirit Retail, Bandolino and AK Anne Klein Friends & Family event will run from Thursday, March 19 – Sunday, March 22. All you have to do is print the coupon and bring it to the nearest Nine West, Easy Spirit, Bandolino or AK Anne Klein Specialty Store or shop online! Enter code NWFREND3 (ninewest.com), ESFREND3 (easyspirit.com) and BDFREND3 (bandolino.com) when shopping online! Enjoy!

courtesy of nitro:licious

rave: boston market coupon

2009-03-11T14:44:00.004-05:00

here's a boston market coupon for $3 off any order $6 or more from edealinfo.com. there is also another coupon for $2 off $10 from the boston market page. i have not visited a boston market in ages...there are a couple in the austin area. but just in case anyone was interested...

rave: my peeps!

2009-03-06T11:18:00.004-06:00

yes, i'm am speaking about those sugar coated marshmallow objects that delights easter eggs and baskets. personally i like them...they are even better if you poke a couple holes in the packaging and then wait a couple weeks to consume. they are also fun to stick in a microwave.

so let's combine that wonderful childhood memory plus another great memory...dioramas. remember those? science projects of the solar system, ecosystems, and such? I remember having to do a diorama book report...just don't remember the book...

anyways, the washington post hosted a peeps diorama contest last 2 years. it was so popular, they are doing it again!

here are the basics. official guidelines found here.

1. Think of a scene.
2. Buy the appropriate number of Peeps.

3. Make your diorama using a shoebox or comparable item of reasonable size.

4. Take photos of your completed diorama from several angles. Send no more than two of your best photos as high-resolution JPEG attachments to peeps@washpost.com.
5. Photo submissions are due by 11:59 p.m. March 15, but keep your masterpieces intact. In the ensuing weeks, we'll pick five finalists and send a courier to pick up those dioramas to be photographed professionally and judged in person. We will run photos of our semifinalists and winners on Easter Sunday, April 12.
6. The grand prize winner -- as voted by Style staffers -- will receive a $100 AmEx gift card and eternal bragging rights. Four runners-up will receive $50 each.
for complete contest rules, visit www.washingtonpost.com/postcontests.

here are two of my favorites from last years semifinalist...

love the gold peep for CP3O

the peepson's

visit last year's online gallery at www.washingtonpost.com/peeps, which features 37 semifinalists from the 800 submissions we received last year. they are pretty amazing. anyone up to the challenge?

rant: why is being cheap only chic during a recession?

2009-03-04T12:11:00.009-06:00

on ccn.com's living section, there was an article today about how cheap is now chic since we are in a recession and it's just not cool to flaunt that you have disposable income...even if you do have some. like buying a ferrari now would be a big no-no. why can't being cheap always be chic? i admit it...i like nice things...some ridiculously expensive and frivolous things. there is one certain thing/brand i have paid a crazy amount of money for at...i hate to say it...full retail. but that was a rare occasion. for most things, it is bargains, sales, outlets and online.

i am cheap and i am proud to admit it. i have no shame admitting that i have always shopped the clearance racks first, i love tj maxx and marshall's, outlet malls are better than real malls (really! why would i pay $100+ for a pair of pants at banana republic when i can get almost exactly the same pair for less than $50 regularly at the outlet...or for the really frugal, the clearance rack for less than $30.) and then there's target, costco and sam's. (both costco and sam's sell name brand clothing, purses and such...i got joe's jeans at sam's for under $50!) I will even go as far as hunting online for the best deals with coupon code discounts and free shipping thrown in.

when i find a good buy and i know i scored a deal, i wear it proudly as a badge of honor and am willing to share that news with whoever will listen. like this great skirt i purchased at forever21.com for $28 when i saw a designer one just like it for over $300. or for my nephew's birthday present...i really wanted to get him a remote controlled dino. but all the cool ones were over $100. i though that was a little much since he may not even play with it. but by chance while at costco i found d-rex and he was selling for $35. i was so happy...not only did auntie mindy get a great toy, it was a steal! i called my sister immediately to share the great news because i knew she'd appreciate it.

i believe it's a persons right to spend their money as they see fit. who am i to judge what you think is a good deal? people may think i'm crazy because i like nice purses. but i also think paying $100+ for a pair of jeans is nuts. but that is me. everyone has different "must haves". but bargain hunting, cheapness, frugality, or just smart shopping shouldn't be chic just because we are in a recession.

Maybe it's because of how i was raised...bargaining is not just acceptable, it is expected. both my parents and my sister are big on finding great deals...we are proud of our bargain finding abilities and share our finds willingly. my paupau is the queen of cheap...cheap in the good, now chic way. i never thought trying the get the most bang for your buck was exceptional...it is just how i live. i mean, why pay more for something when you can get it at least half off if you put a little effort and/or wait a week or two? i mean, if you really need it/want it that badly, isn't a little work to get it worth it?

rave: sephora.com 15% off code

2009-03-03T11:16:00.004-06:00

use this sephora.com coupon code to get 15% off your entire order. excludes gift cards.

coupon code: J89LM.

no known expiration date listed at dealcatcher.com so use it quickly. if you spend $50 total, ground shipping is also free! combined my order with my sister's to get free shipping...yah!

rave: livestrong goes guerrilla marketing

2009-03-02T10:01:00.007-06:00

lance armstrong and livestrong has turned to guerrilla marketing...graffiti chalk art. i think this is way cool. one of the best marketing ideas out there. it's amazingly beautiful, creative, not permanent, interactive and really gets people's attention. The above artist, James Jean made this masterpiece in venice beach, ca. his mural attracted 600+ passersby to take up a piece of yellow chalk and join in. click here to read more about the event and see the more photos of his amazing work. Also, livestrong used yellow chalk at the ToC also. here are some photos on flickr of people's yellow chalk art.

as a marketing professional, i totally admire it. not only is the artwork impressive, but the number of impressions made in one afternoon for the cost/time investment is amazing! advertisers/marketers would pay big bucks to have 600+ engaged participants on any given day...even week. i have to say i've even used the idea and some other crazy guerrilla marketing schemes. (see below) good news: people noticed. bad news: people noticed and the downtown business district association in austin was not so thrilled...they sent us a cease and desist order. oh well, at least i did not go to jail.

rant: 1 reason not to eat at luby's

2009-02-28T17:24:00.003-06:00

i'm a luby's fan. one of my family's favorite place to eat when we first moved to the states. my paupau and mommy love the liver, daddy always gets fish of some kind. i really didn't care for protiens so i always demanded fried okra and mac and cheese :) there use to be a luby's buffet here in atx...inside barton creek mall. b and i use to frequent it. but lately, i have not visited...not only due to lack of convient locations, but also the not so healthy aspect of the food. but this is another reason not to visit. most of their locations are pretty old and not kept up too well. i am glad that no one was seriously injured...i hope the city finds out why.

rave: so cute i could eat

2009-02-27T14:35:00.004-06:00

okay...so they wouldn't taste all that great, but how freakin' cute are they? bugga bugs on etsy sells the pattern to make this set for $6. She has all sorts of patterns...fruits, veggies, cup cakes, tea set, pancakes, ice cream, waffles and even a happy meal :) she also has patterns for non food related things too like noah's ark and the animals.

i'm tempted to buy the take out pattern and enlarge it (pattern comes in a pdf) to make a take out box pillow. my mom would just laugh at me for paying for the pattern...she'd probably be able to make it with her eyes closed.

rant: new instant coffee by starbucks?!?

2009-02-19T10:23:00.005-06:00

Just read an article on nytimes.com about starbucks entering the instant coffee market. Due to hard economic times, companies are needing to change their market stragegy and positioning...understood. Sometime those changes are risky and sometimes risk pays off...understood. instant coffee accounts for 40% of all coffee sold globally, making it a $17 billion business. of course, starbucks would like to get a piece of that...understood. what i am confused about the way they are going to start selling it...why start selling inside their coffee shops ( in seattle and chicago only on launch day March 3 and then they will start moving it out to other markets.)? wasn't the whole point of going to starbucks is to get a fancy drink made for you? wasn't it more about the experience and the luxury of going then just coffee? this could go 2 ways...really well and starbucks will gain new customers during these hard times or it will totally backfire and people and loyal coffee fiends will turn their backs on those tempting white and green cups.

americans are not big on instant coffee. it is definitly more popular and acceptable in europe and asia. americans equate instant coffee to senior citizens. i for one am a huge fan of instant coffee. i drink it every day at work. this is usually b/c i am too lazy to make drip coffee at home...okay i rather sleep a little more. so i have vinacafe 99% of my mornings. and i have to say, its better than that brown water that is served up here at the office...much better...even smells better. my co-w0rkers agree. and at the price of 24 packs fo $2.99 ($.13 per cup), i can't complain...especially when i drink 2! so switching to the new starbucks brand, via, wouldn't be a huge deal...except for the price tag...12 packs for $9.95 (about $.83/8oz cup). still i think i'm willing to try it. will it become my only instant coffee? not likely. but then again...they will be selling it at costco and target in late spring...and you all know how much i LOVE those places.

rave: Winter Minestrone Soup

2009-02-16T21:37:00.003-06:00

Winter Minestrone Soup, originally uploaded by mywong13.

i saw this recipe on epicurious.com a while back but couldn't find all the veggies last time i was at central market. today, i found everything easily so i decided to make a large vat of soup for dinner served with some awesome rosemary sourdough bread. I had to admit, the soup has a bit of chopping to it, but totally worth it. the flavor was very yummy and simple. you can taste all the ingredients. so make sure they are fresh and good. i was a little confused about the Parmigiano-Reggiano rind for the soup but it really does give the stock great flavor. below is the recipe. "*" is where i made some changes to original. now i have enough soup for 3 more meals :)

from: epicurious.com
"Patience is the key to this soul-satisfying soup chock-full of winter greens. Its depth of flavor comes from cooking the soffritto—a mixture of pancetta, onion, celery, carrots, and the ribs from the chard—for a good 45 minutes and from browning the tomato paste. The result is so savory that there's no need for broth; water, canned tomatoes, and a parmesan rind work beautifully. And because this soup must cook slowly, don't worry about prepping all your vegetables before you begin—you can simply chop as you go."

Yield: Makes 8 servings
Active Time: 45 min
Total Time: 2 hr
ingredients
1/3 pound sliced pancetta, chopped
3 medium red onions, chopped
4 celery ribs, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 bunch Swiss chard
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice
*1 quart of vegetable stock and 2 quarts of hot water (3 quart hot water)
5 cups coarsely chopped cored Savoy cabbage (6 ounces)
5 cups coarsely chopped escarole (1/2 pound)
1 piece Parmigiano-Reggiano rind (about 3 by 1 1/2 inches)
1 (19-ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
3 bay leaves

Accompaniments: extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling; cooked ditalini pasta tossed with oil (optional); grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

preparation

Cook pancetta, onions, celery, and carrots in oil in a wide 7-to 9-quart heavy pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, while preparing chard.

Cut out stems from chard and chop stems, reserving leaves. Stir chard stems into pancetta mixture with garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, and
3/4 teaspoon pepper and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are very tender and begin to stick to bottom of pot, about 45 minutes total. (Set aside chard leaves.)

Push vegetables to one side of pot. Add tomato paste to cleared area and cook, stirring constantly, until it starts to caramelize, about 2 minutes. Stir paste into vegetables and cook, stirring,
2 minutes. (Paste may stick to pot, but don’t let it burn.)

Stir in tomatoes with their juice, breaking them up with a spoon, then add hot water (3 quarts), scraping up any brown bits from
bottom of pot.

Bring to a simmer. Stir in cabbage, escarole, bay leaves and Parmigiano-Reggiano rind. Simmer, covered, until greens are tender, about 40 minutes.

Coarsely chop chard leaves and stir into soup along with beans. Simmer, partially covered, 10 minutes. Discard rind. Season soup with salt and pepper. If using ditalini, stir in just before serving.

notes:
Soup, without pasta, can be made 2 days ahead and chilled.

rave: happy valentine's day!

2009-02-13T16:40:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

rant: ever wonder where the characters from sesame street came from?

2009-02-10T16:19:00.003-06:00

Like a lot of people, I grew up on Sesame Street and the Muppets. But did you ever stop to wonder where they came from?

Many Muppets came from humble origins; Kermit once was made of a coat and ping-pong balls.

Some of the characters we know and love were recycled from other TV shows and commercials Jim Henson worked on, while others were invented by using whatever materials were around.
Be prepared for a little nostalgia, and I hope I didn't leave out your favorite -- not all of the characters have interesting background stories (sorry, Big Bird).

1. Cookie Monster: Jim Henson drew some monsters eating various snacks for a General Foods commercial in 1966. The commercial was never used, but Henson recycled one of the monsters (the "Wheel-Stealer") for an IBM training video in 1967 and again for a Fritos commercial in 1969. By that time, he had started working on Sesame Street and decided this monster would have a home there.

2. Elmo: The way it's described by a Sesame Street writer, apparently this extra red puppet was just lying around. People would try to do something with him, but nothing really panned out. In 1984, puppeteer Kevin Clash picked up the red puppet and started doing the voice and the personality and it clicked -- thus, Elmo was born.

3. Telly Monster was originally the Television Monster when he debuted in 1979. He was obsessed with TV and his eves would whirl around as if hypnotized whenever he was in front of a set. After a while, producers started worrying about his influence on youngsters, so they changed him to make him the chronic worrier he is now.

4. Count von Count made his first appearance in 1972 and was made out of an Anything Muppet pattern -- a blank Muppet head that could have features added to it to make various characters. He used to be more sinister -- he was able to hypnotize and stun people and he laughed in typical scary-villain-type fashion after completing a count of something and thunder and lightning would occur. He was quickly made more appealing to little kids, though. He is apparently quite the ladies' man -- he has been linked to Countess von Backward, who loves to count backward; Countess Dahling von Dahling and Lady Two.

5. Kermit was "born" in 1955 and first showed up on "Sam and Friends," a five-minute puppet show by Jim Henson. The first Kermit was made out of Henson's mom's coat and some ping pong balls. At the time, he was more lizard-like than frog-like. By the time he showed up on Sesame Street in 1969, though, he had made the transition to frog. There are rumors that he got the name Kermit from a childhood friend of Henson's or a puppeteer from the early days of the Muppets, but Henson always refuted both of those rumors.

6. Real Swedish Chef Lars "Kuprik" Bäckman claims he was the inspiration for the Swedish Chef. He was on "Good Morning America," he says, and caught Jim Henson's eye. Henson supposedly bought the rights to the show's recording and created the Swedish Chef (who DOES have a real name, but it's not understandable). One of the Muppet writers, Jerry Juhl, says that in all of the years of working with Jim Henson on the Swedish Chef, he never heard that the character was based on a real person.

7. Animal: The Who's Keith Moon may have inspired everyone's favorite member of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. This is speculation, but people who support the theory will point out that Jim Henson named one of the Fraggle Rock characters "Wembley," which is the town where Moon was born.

8. Miss Piggy is apparently from Iowa. She started as a minor character on "The Muppet Show," but anyone who knows Miss Piggy can see that she wouldn't settle for anything "minor." Her first TV appearance was actually on an Herb Alpert special. It wasn't until 1976, when "The Muppet Show" premiered, that she became the glamorous blonde with a penchant for frog that we know and love today. Frank Oz once said that Miss Piggy grew up in Iowa; her dad died when she was young and her mother was mean. She had to enter beauty contests to make money.

9. Rowlf the Dog, surprise, surprise, was first made in 1962 for a series of Purina Dog Chow commercials. He went on to claim fame as Jimmy Dean's sidekick on The Jimmy Dean Show and was on every single episode from 1963 to 1966. Jimmy Dean said Rowlf got about 2,000 letters from fans every week. He was considered for Sesame Street but ended up becoming a regular on "The Muppet Show" in 1976.

10. Oscar the Grouch is performed by the same guy who does Big Bird, Carroll Spinney. Spinney said he based Oscar's cranky voice on a particular New York cab driver he once had the pleasure of riding with. He was originally an alarming shade of orange. In Pakistan, his name is Akhtar and he lives in an oil barrel. In Turkey, he is Kirpik and lives in a basket. And in Israel, it's not Oscar at all -- it's his cousin, Moishe Oofnik, who lives in an old car.

11. Gonzo: What exactly is Gonzo? Nobody knows. Even Jim Henson had no particular species in mind. Over the course of "The Muppet Show," "Muppet Babies" and various Muppet movies, Gonzo has been referred to as a "Whatever", a "Weirdo" and an alien. Whatever he is, he first appeared on the scene in 1970's The Great Santa Claus Switch. His name was Snarl the Cigar Box Frackle. In 1974, he showed up on a TV special for Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. He became Gonzo the Great by the first season of The Muppet Show and developed his thing for Camilla the Chicken almost accidentally: During one episode where chickens were auditioning for the show, puppeteer Dave Goelz ad-libbed, "Don't call us, we'll call you... nice legs, though!" It was decided then and there that Gonzo would have a bizarre romantic interest in chickens.

12. You have to love Statler and Waldorf. I couldn't find much on their particular inspiration, but I can tell you that they've been around since the 1975 "Muppet Show" pilot. They are named after popular New York City hotels (the Statler Hotel was renamed the Hotel Pennsylvania in 1992.) Guess what Waldorf's wife name is? Yep... Astoria (she looks startlingly like Statler.) FYI, Waldorf is the one with the mustache and white hair. Statler has the grey hair. Apparently Waldorf has had a pacemaker for more than 30 years.

13. Beaker: I always thought of Beaker and his buddy Bunsen Honeydew as characters that came along later in the Muppet timeline, but they have been around since the "The Muppet Show." Although Beaker usually says things along the lines of, "Mee-mee-mee-mee!", he has had a few actual lines: "Sadly temporary," "Bye-Bye" and "Make-up ready!" Despite being word-challenged, he manages to do a pretty convincing Little Richard impression and, surprisingly, had mad beatbox skills. Beaker is one of the only Muppets that was never recycled from some other purpose -- he was created solely for "The Muppet Show."

14. Fozzie Bear. Poor Fozzie. He's the perpetual target of Statler and Waldorf because of his horrible jokes and puns. It actually created a bit of a problem during the first season of The Muppet Show, because when Fozzie got heckled, he got very upset and sometimes cried. Viewers didn't feel sympathy; they felt embarrassed. The problem was solved by making Fozzie an optimist so that even when he got heckled he was good-natured about it. It's often thought that he was named after Frank Oz, who was his puppeteer, but Frank said it's just a variant of "fuzzy bear." Yet another story says he was named for his builder, Faz Fazakas. Wocka wocka!!

15. Bert and Ernie are the Muppet version of Felix and Oscar ("The Odd Couple," for you young'uns). Lots of people think Bert and Ernie were named for some minor characters in It's A Wonderful Life, but according to the Henson company, that's just a rumor. Jim Henson always maintained that it was just a coincidence -- the names just went well together and seemed to fit the characters. Jerry Juhl, one of the head writers, corroborated this and said that Jim Henson had no memory for details like that and would have never remembered the name of the cop and the taxi cab driver in the old Jimmy Stewart movie. Other rumors to clear up: Bert and Ernie aren't gay and neither one of them are dead. Now that we've got that straightened out, here are a few more tidbits: the original Ernie used to have a gravelly voice similar to Rowlf the Dog's. Frank Oz was Bert's puppeteer and hated him at the beginning. He thought Bert was ridiculously boring, but then realized that he could have a lot of fun with being boring. Jim Henson once said, "I remember trying Bert and Frank tried Ernie for a while. I can't imagine doing Bert now, because Bert has become so much of a part of Frank."

16. Grover: Everyone's favorite "cute, furry little monster" made his TV debut on the "Ed Sullivan Show" in 1967. At the time, he was known as "Gleep" and was a monster in Santa's Workshop. He then appeared on the first season of Sesame Street, but sported green fur and a reddish-orange nose. He didn't have a name then, but by the second season he transformed into the Grover we know today, more or less -- electric blue fur and a pink nose. The original green Grover was reincarnated as Grover's Mommy for a few episodes. In Latin America and Puerto Rico Grover is known as Archibaldo, in Spain he is Coco, in Portugal he is Gualter and in Norway he is Gunnar.

17. Sweetums is one of a handful of full-body Muppets. He showed up in 1971 on the TV special "The Frog Prince." This is where he got his name -- when Sir Robin the Brave is about to defeat the ogre, a witch shows up and changes him into a frog (who later becomes Robin, Kermit's nephew). Apparently smitten with the ogre, the witch tells her darling "Sweetums" that he can have the frog for breakfast. Bigger fame awaited Sweetums, though -- in 1975, he appeared on Cher's variety show to do a duet with her to "That Old Black Magic". He officially joined "The Muppet Show" cast in 1976.

18. Rizzo the Rat might sound familiar to you, especially if you've seen "Midnight Cowboy" -- he is named for Dustin Hoffman's character, Ratso Rizzo. He was created after puppeteer Steve Whitmire was inspired by rat puppets made from bottles. He first showed up on "The Muppet Show" as one of a group of rats following Christopher Reeve around -- he's easy to spot because he hams it up more than any of the other rats. He occasionally performs with Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

19. Pepe the King Prawn's full name is Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales. I heart Pepe. He was a chef in Madrid before going Hollywood on "Muppets Tonight" in 1996. He was paired with Seymour the Elephant (Pepe was originally going to be a mouse) on the show, but Seymour never developed quite the same following and was only in two episodes. He rarely gets names right -- some of his mispronunciations include "muffins" instead of Muppets, "Kermin" instead of Kermit and "Scooper" instead of Scooter. He's quite full of himself -- in addition to thinking that he's quite the ladies' man, he also fully expects to win several Oscars.

20. Herry Monster from Sesame Street was the Big Bad Wolf in his original incarnation, which you can kind of tell by looking at his fur. It's pretty wolf-like (if wolves were blue, I mean). He became a Sesame monster in 1970 to replace the Beautiful Day Monster, who looked kind of like Sam the Eagle and existed to cause destruction wherever he went, thus ruining the beautiful day people had been having before he showed up. Herry used to have a furry nose but got upgraded to his non-furry, purple nose in 1971.

So who was your favorite?

article courtesy of mental_floss

rave: obama me!

2009-01-15T21:03:00.003-06:00

with the inauguration only days away, i thought this was a pretty cool website where you can create your own obama poster. have fun! obamicon.me

rave: too cute to eat

2009-01-08T21:33:00.001-06:00

rave: too cute to eat, originally uploaded by mywong13.

rant: tom sachs + hello kitty + obama = :)

2009-01-05T18:17:00.001-06:00

I so need this shirt...

rave: last day of 2008

2008-12-31T10:10:00.004-06:00

"Another fresh new year is here...

Another year to live!

To banish worry, doubt, and fear.

To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me

To live with zest...

To daily grow and try to be

My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity

Once more to right some wrongs,

To pray for peace, to plant a tree,

And sing more joyful songs!"

By: William Arthur Ward

Happy New Years!

rave: merry christmas

2008-12-25T11:03:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

May this holiday season be filled with

Peace, Joy & Love.

Love,

Brian, Mindy & Luca

rave: true meaning of christmas...hope

2008-12-23T12:22:00.002-06:00

Life of Reilly
There are some games where cheering for the other side feels better than winning.
by Rick Reilly

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name. "I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!" And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?" And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!
"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'" It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us." And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player. The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."
And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.

courtesy of espn.com

rave: great music + cofee = saves lives all at the same time

2008-12-01T11:19:00.005-06:00

I’m sure you’ve seen RED special edition products that, when bought, the manufacturers donate a percentage of the profits to the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa.

Now, there’s more to (RED), and more ways to help! Their new weekly digital music magazine, (RED)WIRE, launches today. With each issue, you’ll receive exclusive music from artists around the world, and people living with HIV in Africa will receive the medicine they need.

“Sign up now and get two free issues.”:http://www.joinredwire.com/

How it works:Every Wednesday, you’ll receive your new music via the (RED)WIRE player – which also places each song automatically in your iTunes. All music is yours forever, since they are unprotected digital files. You’ll be able to play them on your computer, iPod as well as burn them to CD or DVD.

It’s all only $5 per month (that’s about what you’d pay for iTunes music anyway in a month!) and half your membership fee goes to buy medicine to keep people living with HIV in Africa alive.

What you’ll receive:

You get an exclusive song from a major artist.
A song by a showcased artist.
A fun or inspiring piece that’s not music—a short video of someone telling a story, a slideshow of great photography, someone reading something they love.
And frequent updates from Africa—a window into the culture of the people getting the medicine.

“Check out (RED)WIRE here!”: http://www.joinredwire.com/

“Shop PRODUCT(RED)”: http://www.joinred.com/Shop.aspx

ALSO don't forget to stop by starbucks today. This holiday season, they are offering a trio of delicious (STARBUCKS)RED EXCLUSIVE beverages*. When you buy any one of them at participating stores in the US and Canada, Starbucks gives 5 cents directly to the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa.

Beginning in 2009, Starbucks will offer customers new ways to do something good every day – so watch this space for more delicious opportunities!

*(STARBUCKS) RED EXCLUSIVE Holiday beverages are Espresso Truffle, Peppermint Mocha Twist and Gingersnap Latte. They are available at participating stores in the US and Canada between November 27th 2008 and January 2nd 2009.

rave: world AIDS day 2008

2008-12-01T10:26:00.002-06:00

Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise - Lead - Empower - Deliver.

December 1 is World AIDS Day; a time to celebrate the many lives saved by HIV prevention and treatment programs. It also serves as a reminder that we all must do more—as individuals, communities, and as world citizens—to fight the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Around the world, 33 million people are living with HIV with nearly 7,500 new infections occurring each day. An estimated 3 million people are now receiving antiretroviral treatment in low and middle-income countries.

In the United States, CDC estimates that about 1.1 million people are living with HIV. These numbers will most likely increase over time, as antiretroviral drug treatments extend the lives of those with HIV and more people become HIV infected. As expected, as the number of people living with HIV grows, so does the opportunity for those with HIV to pass on the virus to others.
Protecting Health
CDC currently estimates that approximately one in five persons living with HIV in the United States is unaware of his or her infection and may be unknowingly transmitting the virus to others. Since anyone can be at risk for HIV, CDC recommends that adults and adolescents between the ages of 13 and 64 years of age be routinely screened for HIV infection in healthcare settings. Pregnant women in the U.S. should be screened for HIV infection as part of their routine prenatal testing.

Once tested, individuals can take steps to protect their health or, if infected, they can gain access to health-sustaining treatments and care, and help prevent the spread of the disease to others.
On this World AIDS Day 2008, we all need to commit to expanding the reach of effective prevention efforts to those at risk and those living with HIV in order to stop the further spread of HIV in the United States.

What Can You Do?
Wherever your work, or whatever you do, you can join CDC and its partners in supporting World AIDS Day. Your support will help end the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Individuals can:

Get tested for HIV. To find a testing site center near you, visit hivtest.org or, on your cell phone, text your zip code to Know IT (566948).
Participate in the Facing AIDS campaign. Take a picture of yourself wearing a red ribbon and add the photo to the "World AIDS Day 08" Flickr group*, your social network profiles, Twitter, blog, and/or Web site before December 1. Leave it up for at least a week.
Stand up against stigma, racism, and other forms of discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS.
Donate time and money to HIV/AIDS organizations.

Organizations are encouraged to:

Promote World AIDS Day in your organization. Useful materials are available at hivtest.org
Encourage employees to get involved in World AIDS Day.
Educate staff about HIV/AIDS.
Develop HIV/AIDS policies for the workplace.

World AIDS Day Resources:

Podcasts and Online Videos

World AIDS Day 2008 Public Service Announcement ( 52 seconds)Produced by Discovery Health, the video features Dr. Julie Gerberding and Kenneth Cole
Saving Lives Creating Hope ( 15:00 mins)Produced by Warner Brothers, this video provides an overview of the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
HIV/AIDS Advances in Hope ( 8:11 mins)Produced in partnership with Discovery Health and amfAR, this video focuses on the history of HIV/AIDS from 1981 through 2008.

Web Sites

Key Resources from CDC
HIVtest.org
AIDS.gov
World AIDS Campaign
World AIDS Day (Department of Health & Human Services)

More Information

World AIDS Day Media Statement By Dr. Kevin Fenton, Director of CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
CDC HIV Testing DatabaseLocate an HIV testing site near you
CDC HIV/AIDSCDC's Web site for HIV/AIDS in the United States
CDC Global HIV/AIDSCDC's Global AIDS Program
CDC Business and Labor Responds to AIDSCDC's HIV/AIDS resource for businesses and labor organizations
CDC National Prevention Information Network (NPIN)The US reference, referral, and distribution service for information on HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and tuberculosis (TB)

for more information about World AIDS Day 2008, please visit the official World AIDS Campaign website.

information courtesy of the CDC.gov website.

rave: MAC + hello kitty = me very happy

2008-11-24T11:28:00.002-06:00

since last year's MAC's barbie collection, i really wanted them to do a hello kitty collection. and guess what? they are! it will launch february of next year (yay!) i cannot wait! i really like MAC's makeup and really think their products are top notch so i will be shelling out some dollars for these limited edition items.

some basic details:

there will be 2 lines - the colour collection and the kouture collection
will have everything from makeup to makeup bags to dolls to cosmetic brushes
kouture line will have swarovski crystals on the packaging
shades range from pinks and turquoises to lavenders and greens
will be in all doors, currently about 581 department and specialty stores in north america including nordstrom, bloomingdale’s and macy’s, as well as MAC’s 138 freestanding stores and at maccosmetics.com.
internationally, the items will be in 1,307 doors in 69 countries, including 296 MAC freestanding stores outside north america.
hello kitty kouture will be available at MAC stores and maccosmetics.com only.
at the maximum, the collection will be available for eight weeks.

now if louis vuitton would follow in MAC's footsteps....

information courtesy of teamsugar.com

rave: nkotb

2008-11-23T22:05:00.002-06:00

NKOTB Medley AMA Live
by yardie4lifever2

ah, the memories...

totally wish i went to the concert earlier this year.

rant: no more john & marlena?

2008-11-21T20:44:00.005-06:00

nbc has fired the actors that play john and marlena. i know that most people don't watch soaps anymore...i don't either...but i did watch days of our lives religiously in the past. but how does firing two of the most beloved characters help viewership? the execs are saying they did so to keep the show on for 18 more months. great...but no one will be watching. is that really a good thing?

courtesy of yahoo! tv blog

rave: obama <3's mac

2008-11-20T09:52:00.003-06:00

our president-elect is an apple guy!

if you'd like your apple products to show obama some support, check out these wallpapers.

courtesey of smalldog.com's blog.

rant: not enough...

2008-11-19T11:21:00.001-06:00

rants and raves

rant: skin care & technology

rave: jeffrey's

rave: sriracha & lime kale chips

rave: 70 degree weather = outdoor DIY

rave: pao de queijo

rave: bhldn

rant: 2012

rant: rest in peace steve jobs 1955-2011

rave: mini warbler performing to teenage dream

rave: thanks for 25 years oprah!

brittnay can dance!

rant: asian + alcohol = red faces

rave: poufs

rant: random thoughts for the day

rave: you must watch this video...be prepared to cry.

rants: 100 books to read

rave: just the way you are - bruno mars

rave: a little man

rave: hello thunderkittys

rave: nephew sitting - day 3

rave: nephew sitting - day 2

rave: nephew sitting - day 1

Life is a bowl...

rave: i *heart* glee!

rant: random plant sprouted

rave: dinner!

rant: random thought of the day

rant: dream and ye shall find...

rant: omg so wrong yet so cute

rave: happy new year! happy valentine's day!

All the birds in Houston came to Chinatown

rave: bugs at the health museum

rant: r.i.p. McQ

My brand new rug has been claimed by Luca already.

sugar and spice cookies

rave: my wood floors arrived! Now they must acclimate :)

rave: amazing version of "empire state if mind" by PS22 Chorus from NYC

rant: barley obsessed

rave: origami swans in a tree at town lake

rave: mushroom barley soup via epicurious.com

rave: awesome remix of top 25 songs of 2009

rave: emma watson + burberry = <3

rave: luca watching baby ducks at sunset.

rave: merry christmas!

rant: puma kitty

rave: kendra scott jewelry sample sale!

rave: thanksgiving

Happy Halloween from Brian and Mindy

rave: 3 years

rant: smurfy kitty?

rave: favorite band + all time classic song = AMAZING

rant: fashion ≠ lots of $$$

rave: hey, soul sister

rave: her diamonds

rave: 13.1 miles in disneyland

rave: she is love

rave: dog surfing!

rave: good reads on nytimes.com

rant: mission impossible - don't bite off more than you can chew

rant: um, i have no words...

rant: twilight obsession

rant: chocolate chart for dogs

rave: $10 off $30 bath and body works coupon

rant: funk

rant: happy earth day!

rave: guess who's headlining at ACL this year?

rant: noah's ark landed in hong kong?

rant: possibly dinner tonight?

rave: easter bunny bao

rave: the man who can't be moved

rave: I <3 peeps!

rave: flopsy bunny

rave: kitty bling!

rant: location, location, location...

rave: rockets vs timberwolves

rave: 30% off nine west, bandolino, anne klein, and easy spirit shoes

rave: boston market coupon

rave: my peeps!

rant: why is being cheap only chic during a recession?

rave: i heart glee!

rant: new instant coffee by starbucks?!?