MOVED!

As of March, I'll be blogging officially at mango on an apple.  Change your bookmarks, update your links...See you there!!!

25 things - the food edition

What a great way to waste away Sunday afternoon of the long weekend...

I think the premise is 25 Foods/Meals that are memorable?  Not sure, but here I go!

1. Grandma (mom's mom)'s wontons are the best I've ever had anywhere, and even my mom can't quite duplicate them.  I used to ask for them whenever I went back to visit.  Grandma will now claim she doesn't know how to make them, nor did she ever make them in her life...very sad.
2. Grandma (dad's mom)'s "healthy congee" was my favourite growing up.  Dad's mom's actually not that dazzling in the kitchen but this is the one thing she couldn't mess up.
3. Tempura on the street corner near my apartment in Taiwan.  They sell out by 9pm daily, while the rest of the vendors tend to stay there till about midnight with their food carts.
4. Rice noodle soup on another street corner by my apartment in Taiwan.  With a side of pork cheeks doused in garlicky sauce, it's heavenly.
5. Vermicelli noodles in Ximending in Taipei with Iggy, eaten standing up outside the shop because they're too famous to seat their patrons.
6. Deep dish pizza at Uno's in Chicago.  It was a deceiving little bastard that I couldn't conquer in one sitting.
7. Cheesecake with strawberry topping from Save-on-Foods.
8. Chocolate mousse cake my mom made for my 18th birthday party.  Every other cake has paled in comparison, including the more recent ones my mom made.
9. Steak frites at Pastis with Alex - he was incredibly sick, and I was incredibly full from eating all day.  We wanted to kick ourselves for not being able to indulge as much as we should've.
10. The warm platter at Zwolf Apostelkeller in Vienna.  Best meal on our backpacking trip.  Best German/Austrian food ever.
11. Lobster meals by the sea with my dad.  He takes me there every time I'm in Taiwan, regardless of what's actually in season, just so we can both satisfy our lobster cravings.
12. Some type of melon (don't know the English translation for it) we had in the Pescadores Islands in Taiwan.  They are supposed to be a vegetable but they were so full of flavour and so juicy that even though I never liked them before, I became a convert.
13. Barbeques in my grandma's front yard (we closed the gate).  It was always a fun gathering of family and friends, lots of good food, and full of silly conversations until the wee hours.
14. Candies my grandpa gave me after dinner.  He'd give me one after dinner every time we were over, without fail.  My grandpa's the best.
15. Chocolat chaud at Angelina's in Paris.  That's what heaven tastes like.
16. Scrambled eggs from the Queen's Head in England.  The chefs would add two parts eggs, one part heavy cream, and one part butter.
17. Sprinkles "black-on-white" cupcakes.  Never was there a store-bought cupcake known to be so moist and chocolatey, with the lightest buttercream that had the best balance of butter and sugar.
18. Full breakfast at Campus Hi-Fi in London.  Definitely my favourite greasy spoon breakfast. 
19. Sushi from Sushi Marche - spicy tuna (genius use of green onions) and kamikaze rolls (genius use of lemon peel).  
20. Frrrozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity3.
21. Grilled artichoke hearts at Mercatto.
22. Truffle frites from V Bar at Hotel Valencia on Santana Row in San Jose.
23. Stir-fry potatoes with rice vinegar that my mom makes.  Sounds weird, but so delicious.
24. "Chinese spaghetti" (nothing like the Italian version, don't worry) that my mom makes.  I just can't do what she does.
25. Our last meal at the Queen's Head.  Finally treated with some food respect as a paying customer.

roots

so, it is officially february and has been for a few days, and i'm sad to announce that i'm a bit behind my overly-optimistic schedule (are we surprised, really)...

however, here's an update and an exciting announcement (for me at least):

- video for 2009 department meeting was a hit, and it's being shown to the president and ceo of the whole company worldwide tomorrow!  i feel like a rock star.  it's complete, but i need to export it in a smaller format to be embedded into our country manager's blog, as well as post it onto our department's wiki site.

- flash project for my fantastic eyebrow guru is almost complete - i have all the frames built, just need to string it all together.  i will be showing her the work so far hopefully early next week and then from there plan to upload and push it live next weekend (in time for valentine's day)!  it's been interesting...it was my first time working in flash (kids, when i was making websites, flash didn't even exist, so don't balk at me and my blissful ignorance).

- third project, 52 restaurants in 52 weeks, came to an abrupt halt on monday.  one of our founders is extremely annoyed with some of us that the work has stalled (esp. the actual restaurant reviews), that he has stopped speaking to the rest of us.  i'm a little bit relieved but also a bit sad as i had already started toying with the design.  it's not uploaded yet, so if you go to the link, there's nothing to look at...but still!  oh yeah, and the whole friend-not-speaking-to-friend thing is so not cool.

- fourth project, and my announcement - we're moving!!  er, not physically.  this lil' blog is moving into a bigger home!!  i have been getting back to my roots (my so-called web design roots, that is) and bought a domain and have started some work.  as of tonight, wordpress is installed and a mock-up is drawn for the layout, so i will be working furiously away to get that live as soon as possible.  i love blogging, and hope to make my blog/the site much more fun to visit...while gaining some serious readership so i don't feel like i'm boring the same people over and over again.

righties, that's it.  as much as i'd love to stay here and chat and install new fonts onto my computer (yet another obsession of mine once i get into the photoshopping mood), i must get to bed.  i have failed to show up at the gym way too often due to sleeping late!!

25 things - from facebook

Instead of posting this on facebook, I thought I'd do it here. IMHO I think facebook notes are a bit too attention-grabbing for my introverted self ;)

Rules: You are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I can't pretend to like someone I cannot stand, so I have stopped trying.

2. I hate small talk. At some point, I think I lost that ability to be keen about other people's lives and carry a conversation. I distinctly remember being a very big brown-nosing conversationalist with teachers, but I really don't know what happened to that version of me.

3. Despite what you may think, I'm very conscious of the fact that sometimes I tend to dominate conversations and they end up being about me too much. I'm trying, really!

4. There are days when I sincerely believe that if I don't eat chocolate right then and there, I will actually lose my will to live.

5. I'm afraid of all insects and bugs, and I inadvertently go into hysterics when confronted with cockroaches, ladybugs, slugs, or grass snakes too close to me (i.e. jumping up and attempting to flee the scene, literally). I know because I've encountered the aforementioned four types of bugs and that's what happened. The list may be longer, but let's hope I never find out.

6. My irrational fear of something as cute as ladybugs comes from the time when the city of London released millions upon millions of ladybugs to "help the crops" and half of the population ended up on my kitchen wall in my apartment. They fell (that's how they "land") on top of my head during dinner, onto my freshly baked cookies, etc. They made me really sad. And they looked evil.

7. I will read and re-read my favourite books over and over, and I will pick them up and start reading from random pages.

8. I get really dizzy when I'm rock-climbing, but it usually goes away near the end of the session. I think I might have vertigo due to heights, so I close my eyes when I get to the top.

9. I don't know what to do with other people's babies. When people bring their babies in to work and everyone's cooing and asking to hold the babies, I keep my arms crossed (subconsciously). I think it's weird to pass around babies, and I would only do it if there wasn't a crowd gathering and I knew both of the parents well enough. Perhaps I'm also a bit shy about the fact that I have no maternal instincts to want to hold, rock, coo, or sing to other people's babies.

10. I love big dogs, but that's not always been the case. When I was little and terrified of everything, I don't think I enjoyed any type of dogs very much. I also hear my mom's dog knocked me over once in a while when I was a toddler. Oh, and I still don't love it when dogs lick, but I will accept them for who they are and what their instincts tell them to do.

11. I love to eat. I don't think I have ever really missed a meal due to my biological clockwork that demands food at typical meal times.

12. While I love buying shoes and handbags, there are some things I just don't can't bring myself to buy. I am not really able to indulge on expensive clothing (just can't justify it), other than coats, and I don't know how to buy accessories. I'm the least accessorized girl I know.

13. I hate the way my voice sounds.

14. I have absolutely no [conscious] knowledge of the fact that I grind my teeth like mad at night. 

15. For the past few years, at the beginning of every year, I tell myself, "dude, you're (insert age) this year, seriously, get a grip and actually lose the weight you've been meaning to lose." Then I go and gain some more weight.

16. Although I keep saying I want to be (insert occupation) when I grow up, I am held back from actually quitting my "normal-person-office-job" because of my upbringing and the beliefs instilled in me.

17. I am an incredibly tense person. I don't know how to relax my body and I find myself clenching my fists or tightening my shoulders even during massages, manicures, and other relaxing activities.

18. One of my favourite things about myself is that I work to avoid gender stereotypes. I know more about cars, computers, gadgets, and sports than most girls I know. I gave up in the tools and machinery section though - getting to know the kitchen was more alluring ;)

19. I have a very sharp sense of smell, and a lot of smells trigger distinct memories for me.

20. I love school. I loved it even when I didn't speak English. If I could, I would stay in school and work through different majors that interest me.

21. Despite popular belief, I do not want, or plan on having, a fancy wedding.  I maintain that the max number of guests would top out at 50.  Yes, I am willing to forego fancy registries, big pouffy dresses, floral arrangements, etc. etc.  I'm not quite ready to let go of a beautiful cake, and something couture, but that can be easily arranged.

23. I wore makeup consistently to work everyday last year and can count the number of days I didn't with my hands.  That was one of my resolutions last year, and I'm quite proud of achieving it.  I didn't extend the resolution into 2009.

24. I have never tried any illegal substances.  My motto there is go big or go home.

25. I used to believe my mom was a witch riding away on a broomstick while I slept at night.  She was that magical and scary to me.

Now...I will tag Kasia, Allie, and Spends2Much...and my sister, wherever her blog is...but I think she's already done this.

  

one down, three to go

four days before the month is over, and one of my projects is finally done.  i will share, in time, a bit of it - it's a video compilation of our department's year in review, done in iMovie.  it was my first time playing with the application and i'm definitely impressed.  it's a good tool to get your feet wet, but it's not super precise and full of tricks that it becomes too intimidating.  by the end i started feeling a little limited by the functions available, but overall, it's better than some of the online apps for making videos, and it's done straight out of materials you have on your computer that you can pull up easily (i.e. it links to iPhoto and iTunes so you can lay soundtracks efficiently from your own library).

the other three projects...well, my goal remains that they be wrapped up by february 1st so i can breathe a little.  i'm currently curled up in bed with my mac working furiously in Flash on one of them.  the contractors are in to re-do my floors (YAY WE GET HARDWOOD FLOORING!  FOR (ALMOST) FREE!  THANKS FLOODERS!) so i have no place to squat but in bed.  i actually quite like this holed-up-ness.  i'm not wasting my time in front of the idiot box tonight, and i'm forced to work comfortably from my bed with a cup of tea, and a magazine at the ready.

speaking of magazines - i am getting my hands on the newest martha stewart living!  it has such a pretty cover and i'm totally judging the book by its cover.