Perhaps I am too sensitive, but, girlies, I'm not oblivious.
I miss home and everyone associated with home. Or college and the people who mattered.
31 October, 2010
29 October, 2010
*923 - clothed couches
Mostly for Mr. A, because he likes it when I document my furniture-related activities in photographs for him.
New old couch #1:
Very cutely shaped, but disappointingly frumpy fabric design.
Watch as it is transformed! Images of me being silly on the newly clothed couch in an attempt to distract you from the wrinkliness of the new slipcover (please straighten yourself out ASAP, thanks).
(My goal was to create a stop motion-ish sequence of photos, but I don't think I took enough in-betweens, so it looks like a poor-quality gif, which it indeed is. I tried.)
New old couch #2:
Cute and fat, pleasant design, but sadly stained with age. Also a bitch to heave up three flights of stairs.
Transformation!
I believe my stop motion photo skills improved slightly on my second attempt.
Very pleased indeed, especially about the red couch! The "natural"-coloured one is just meh, but it's too late to return it because it's, well, already on the couch, and I'm far too lazy for that. Oh well. It's nice enough, and perhaps more so when it decides to stop being So Incredibly Wrinkly.
I have made my couches' new clothing sound like the biggest event of the week--and indeed, they are!! :D Well, besides Halloween in the office, which was quite epic (and I thought nothing could ever beat the hilarity of my diapered costume from last year), and perhaps tomorrow's actual Halloween party, which better be epic as well, or I will be very peeved.
New old couch #1:
Very cutely shaped, but disappointingly frumpy fabric design.
Watch as it is transformed! Images of me being silly on the newly clothed couch in an attempt to distract you from the wrinkliness of the new slipcover (please straighten yourself out ASAP, thanks).
(My goal was to create a stop motion-ish sequence of photos, but I don't think I took enough in-betweens, so it looks like a poor-quality gif, which it indeed is. I tried.)
New old couch #2:
Cute and fat, pleasant design, but sadly stained with age. Also a bitch to heave up three flights of stairs.
Transformation!
I believe my stop motion photo skills improved slightly on my second attempt.
Very pleased indeed, especially about the red couch! The "natural"-coloured one is just meh, but it's too late to return it because it's, well, already on the couch, and I'm far too lazy for that. Oh well. It's nice enough, and perhaps more so when it decides to stop being So Incredibly Wrinkly.
I have made my couches' new clothing sound like the biggest event of the week--and indeed, they are!! :D Well, besides Halloween in the office, which was quite epic (and I thought nothing could ever beat the hilarity of my diapered costume from last year), and perhaps tomorrow's actual Halloween party, which better be epic as well, or I will be very peeved.
*922 - purple as a ___
My outfit for the day.
Guess what I was for Halloween (costume #1)?
(Incidentally, those fleece-lined purple tights were a solid investment--they're going to keep me toasty in winter!)
Guess what I was for Halloween (costume #1)?
(Incidentally, those fleece-lined purple tights were a solid investment--they're going to keep me toasty in winter!)
27 October, 2010
*921 - cross-continent cravings
Missing (in no significant order) ...
- Roasted duck
- Cockles, preferably in either laksa or char kuay teow
- Satay in all available meat variations
- Chai tow kueh, white, not black please
- Kaya toast + soft boiled eggs + hot milk tea
- Chicken rice with a side of liver, no gizzards
- Hokkein mee, a default favorite
- Baby kailan
- Nasi lemak rice with good sambal
- Nasi bryani
- Roti prata (plain, egg, or cheese) with a heaping milo dino
- Chilli crab with fried mantou's to mop up the sauce
- Har cheong kai (fried prawn paste chicken)
- Muah chee cos it's fun and chewy
- Oyster omelette
- Ice kachang with attap seeds, no red beans
- $1 roadside icecream blocks held in a slice of colorful bread
- Generic "economy rice" food: I always get eggplant or lady's fingers or egg tofu
... and the fact that one can get a heaping plate of most of the above for just a couple of dollars! :) Shiok.
I can get some of that stuff here, but it's just not the same when you're eating homey food away from home.
Oh, Singaporeans--I would say that there's a foodie innately built into each one of us.
- Roasted duck
- Cockles, preferably in either laksa or char kuay teow
- Satay in all available meat variations
- Chai tow kueh, white, not black please
- Kaya toast + soft boiled eggs + hot milk tea
- Chicken rice with a side of liver, no gizzards
- Hokkein mee, a default favorite
- Baby kailan
- Nasi lemak rice with good sambal
- Nasi bryani
- Roti prata (plain, egg, or cheese) with a heaping milo dino
- Chilli crab with fried mantou's to mop up the sauce
- Har cheong kai (fried prawn paste chicken)
- Muah chee cos it's fun and chewy
- Oyster omelette
- Ice kachang with attap seeds, no red beans
- $1 roadside icecream blocks held in a slice of colorful bread
- Generic "economy rice" food: I always get eggplant or lady's fingers or egg tofu
... and the fact that one can get a heaping plate of most of the above for just a couple of dollars! :) Shiok.
I can get some of that stuff here, but it's just not the same when you're eating homey food away from home.
Oh, Singaporeans--I would say that there's a foodie innately built into each one of us.
26 October, 2010
*920 - another weekend with mr. a
This is how I pretend that pizza is good and healthy: cover with handful of fresh tomatoes. Alas, my bulging tummy tells the truth.
Just the way I like you. Blurrily close, mildly grizzly, silly smiley, with eyes and lashes far prettier than my own to boot (grumble).
And ... tadah!! TWO brand new old couches in my living room!! Pre-slipcovered, in their full ugly mismatched glory. As you can tell, I am Very Happy indeed :)
Just the way I like you. Blurrily close, mildly grizzly, silly smiley, with eyes and lashes far prettier than my own to boot (grumble).
And ... tadah!! TWO brand new old couches in my living room!! Pre-slipcovered, in their full ugly mismatched glory. As you can tell, I am Very Happy indeed :)
21 October, 2010
*918 - view
This is what I see when I take a step or two away from my desk at work:
Desaturated and marred by the very reflective glass window and the BlackBerry lens. The sky was bluer (in a crazy intense way), the leaves were redder, yellower, greener, the lake was ... deeper.
A nice moment--three huddled by the window, one standing upon his desk and peering over with us, all quiet and staring and thinking, " ... wow."
If you squint a little at the photo and imagine everything five tones richer and spread expansively before you--maybe you can imagine what it was that made us pause for that moment.
Desaturated and marred by the very reflective glass window and the BlackBerry lens. The sky was bluer (in a crazy intense way), the leaves were redder, yellower, greener, the lake was ... deeper.
A nice moment--three huddled by the window, one standing upon his desk and peering over with us, all quiet and staring and thinking, " ... wow."
If you squint a little at the photo and imagine everything five tones richer and spread expansively before you--maybe you can imagine what it was that made us pause for that moment.
17 October, 2010
*917 - it's always sunny on sundays
From what I remember, every Sunday in the past two months or so has been sunshiney and lovely. Even in the midst of gloomy, non-stop drizzly weekdays. Guess the rainclouds have been observing Sabbath too.
Another perfect Sunday. Refreshing sermon, satisfying post-church hunger with dimsum in Chinatown for the second week in a row, discovering a very close equivalent of the Singaporean teh bing in a little bakery, driving the girls home with the sunroof popped open (and abandoning the boys, who had to take the train back instead), and now basking in the wonderful reality of No Homework & No Prelims & No School-Related Commitments (although it does mean the absence of some school-related lovelies) ...
The simple pleasure of knowing that even though you are in a completely new city, that there are those one or two people who have known you since you were a pimply, braces-donning, gawky thirteen-year-old ("We went to the same high school and college and are now in the same city again" is our generic explanation), is comforting indeed.
Another perfect Sunday. Refreshing sermon, satisfying post-church hunger with dimsum in Chinatown for the second week in a row, discovering a very close equivalent of the Singaporean teh bing in a little bakery, driving the girls home with the sunroof popped open (and abandoning the boys, who had to take the train back instead), and now basking in the wonderful reality of No Homework & No Prelims & No School-Related Commitments (although it does mean the absence of some school-related lovelies) ...
The simple pleasure of knowing that even though you are in a completely new city, that there are those one or two people who have known you since you were a pimply, braces-donning, gawky thirteen-year-old ("We went to the same high school and college and are now in the same city again" is our generic explanation), is comforting indeed.
16 October, 2010
*916 - curry
Evelyn's recipe for thick, coconutty curry. Not to be followed closely.
1. Uncover curry base recipe. Use it as a vague reference, but abandon immediately.
2. Begin by sautee-ing onion, garlic, ginger in pot. I threw in a handful of fresh cilantro because I have a ridiculous amount that needs to be used up. Instead of "can of stewed tomatoes," I like to use fresh tomatoes--today's pick was five plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped.
3. Pour in a can of coconut milk after everything's nice and soft, a heap of curry powder (I used about 3 tablespoons worth), an enormous spoon of canned tomato puree (instead of tomato sauce, which I did not have), and a gentle sprinkle of sugar to balance out the sourness of the puree.
4. Bring to simmer. Now add meat or veggies of choice. Mine: chicken, eggplant, potato, okra.
5. Simmer for ages and ages until entire apartment smells heavenly (and until everything's cooked). Take unflattering and hurried picture because of hunger and NOMNOM immediately.
There you go! Evelyn's guide to absolutely delicious curry with surprisingly little hassle, much customization allowed, and almost infinite room for error.
1. Uncover curry base recipe. Use it as a vague reference, but abandon immediately.
2. Begin by sautee-ing onion, garlic, ginger in pot. I threw in a handful of fresh cilantro because I have a ridiculous amount that needs to be used up. Instead of "can of stewed tomatoes," I like to use fresh tomatoes--today's pick was five plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped.
3. Pour in a can of coconut milk after everything's nice and soft, a heap of curry powder (I used about 3 tablespoons worth), an enormous spoon of canned tomato puree (instead of tomato sauce, which I did not have), and a gentle sprinkle of sugar to balance out the sourness of the puree.
4. Bring to simmer. Now add meat or veggies of choice. Mine: chicken, eggplant, potato, okra.
5. Simmer for ages and ages until entire apartment smells heavenly (and until everything's cooked). Take unflattering and hurried picture because of hunger and NOMNOM immediately.
There you go! Evelyn's guide to absolutely delicious curry with surprisingly little hassle, much customization allowed, and almost infinite room for error.
15 October, 2010
*915 - seeking fashion advice
I'm not sure how people take fashion shots of their shoes--I suppose they have someone to help out. My attempt yielded a photo focused erroneously on the grain of my floor, highly grainy because of the dim lighting, with awkwardly placed feet and unconvincing composition.
Poorly taken self-timed photos aside, I bought these silly bronze-gold shoes on a whim. What with winter around the corner and all, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with yet another pair of open-toed heels ...
Poorly taken self-timed photos aside, I bought these silly bronze-gold shoes on a whim. What with winter around the corner and all, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with yet another pair of open-toed heels ...
14 October, 2010
*914 - seventy years
The loveliest little lady at a movement improvisation class today (looks sixty, moves like she's thirty, is actually seventy) told me after class: Look in the mirror. Enjoy your gorgeous young body. Be happy. Don't forget your youth. She moved beautifully and lightly and most mesmerizingly, and you could tell from her beautiful arches and long limbs that she was made to dance.
And it suddenly struck me that I do, indeed, take this body for granted. As much as I dislike it at times, it's lithe, it's not too creaky, it moves, it dances. When everything runs smoothly, you don't take any notice; when you do take notice, it's too late to treasure what has already passed.
An oddly enlightening moment.
And it suddenly struck me that I do, indeed, take this body for granted. As much as I dislike it at times, it's lithe, it's not too creaky, it moves, it dances. When everything runs smoothly, you don't take any notice; when you do take notice, it's too late to treasure what has already passed.
An oddly enlightening moment.
09 October, 2010
*912 - bread machine attempt #1
So, Armando/mum gave me an ancient (but functional) bread machine some time back, and today felt like the right day to finally test it out (i.e. I was bored, I was hungry, and I ran out of bread).
I messed up the recipe a tad (such a silly mistake that I don't even want to discuss it) but it managed to produce a fairly decent loaf in the end, except that the top chunk fell apart when sliced. What amused me to no end was the cutely cylindrical loaf that it produced--this means the possibility of having ROUND slices of bread! ROUND sandwiches! Most hilarious (to me!) :D
Behold: Cylindrical cinnamon cranberry bread with sunflower seeds :)
I messed up the recipe a tad (such a silly mistake that I don't even want to discuss it) but it managed to produce a fairly decent loaf in the end, except that the top chunk fell apart when sliced. What amused me to no end was the cutely cylindrical loaf that it produced--this means the possibility of having ROUND slices of bread! ROUND sandwiches! Most hilarious (to me!) :D
Behold: Cylindrical cinnamon cranberry bread with sunflower seeds :)
07 October, 2010
*911 - somebody call ...
The fully-anticipated winter pudginess has commenced.
The problem is that it's barely winter. (Only 56 degrees now--winter officially begins at first snowfall, by my books.)
I don't know how to go on a diet, and I don't know how to how to get a cardio work out when (1) I hate gyms, (2) I don't have access to a swimming pool, (3) it's too cold out to go for a run, and (4) I can only take a dance/yoga class perhaps once a week, if at all.
-
Also, I've suddenly been hit by a panic attack, realising that Halloween is in a couple of weeks and I have not given my costume a thought. Last year's baby outfit was epic and unbeatable, what with the adult-sized diapers and baby bottles filled with alcohol. Hm.
The problem is that it's barely winter. (Only 56 degrees now--winter officially begins at first snowfall, by my books.)
I don't know how to go on a diet, and I don't know how to how to get a cardio work out when (1) I hate gyms, (2) I don't have access to a swimming pool, (3) it's too cold out to go for a run, and (4) I can only take a dance/yoga class perhaps once a week, if at all.
-
Also, I've suddenly been hit by a panic attack, realising that Halloween is in a couple of weeks and I have not given my costume a thought. Last year's baby outfit was epic and unbeatable, what with the adult-sized diapers and baby bottles filled with alcohol. Hm.
06 October, 2010
*909 - amazing amazon
Tuesday.
10.30 pm: My tap water tastes funky. It's time to get a water filter.
11.03 pm: Make purchase. Amazon says, "Thanks for your order, Evelyn!"
Soon after: Zzz.
Wednesday.
8 am: Wake up. Off to work.
9 pm: Return from work. New water filter is sitting at my doorstep.
Wow.
10.30 pm: My tap water tastes funky. It's time to get a water filter.
11.03 pm: Make purchase. Amazon says, "Thanks for your order, Evelyn!"
Soon after: Zzz.
Wednesday.
8 am: Wake up. Off to work.
9 pm: Return from work. New water filter is sitting at my doorstep.
Wow.
03 October, 2010
*908 - banana + chocolate: a recipe
Oh yes, and in response to the request for my banana muffin recipe ... here it is! :)
When baking, I usually follow recipes to a T, because baking (unlike cooking) is very much a science where every ingredient, in just the right proportions and temperatures and pH's, has to react perfectly. That said, this banana muffin recipe is more forgiving than most--add in a handful of fresh blueberries for a burst of color, or a handful of chopped apple to add a bit of fall in your muffins, or a handful of chopped strawberries for a bit of tang.
And one note about baking with bananas: make sure to use tremendously overripe bananas for the best flavor. Merely ripe is not enough--the bananas should preferably be totally blackened. Note of caution: warn everyone who lives with you NOT to dispose of your rotting bananas (lesson learnt from many an occasion where roomies / roomies' visiting mom's threw out my precious bananas, blackened to perfection.)
Okay, enough prattle.
Banana Muffins (makes two trays)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- a generous shake of cinnamon/clove/nutmeg
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (I like to reduce this a tad, but it's a matter of personal taste)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 1/2 cups mashed banana (about 5 large bananas, maybe)
- a splash of vanilla essence
(1) Mix flour, baking soda, salt, spices
(2) Separately, cream butter, sugar
(3) Separately, mix eggs, mashed banana, vanilla
(4) Fold in everything together at once, stirring until BARELY combined
(5) Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 Fahrenheit
When cool, frost with favorite chocolate frosting or ganache. I prefer something with little to no sugar, for a bold, dark, rich, adult, chocolatey taste that complements the banana flavor, rather than overpowering it with sugary sweetness.
With love again,
The Bakerina
When baking, I usually follow recipes to a T, because baking (unlike cooking) is very much a science where every ingredient, in just the right proportions and temperatures and pH's, has to react perfectly. That said, this banana muffin recipe is more forgiving than most--add in a handful of fresh blueberries for a burst of color, or a handful of chopped apple to add a bit of fall in your muffins, or a handful of chopped strawberries for a bit of tang.
And one note about baking with bananas: make sure to use tremendously overripe bananas for the best flavor. Merely ripe is not enough--the bananas should preferably be totally blackened. Note of caution: warn everyone who lives with you NOT to dispose of your rotting bananas (lesson learnt from many an occasion where roomies / roomies' visiting mom's threw out my precious bananas, blackened to perfection.)
Okay, enough prattle.
Banana Muffins (makes two trays)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- a generous shake of cinnamon/clove/nutmeg
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (I like to reduce this a tad, but it's a matter of personal taste)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 1/2 cups mashed banana (about 5 large bananas, maybe)
- a splash of vanilla essence
(1) Mix flour, baking soda, salt, spices
(2) Separately, cream butter, sugar
(3) Separately, mix eggs, mashed banana, vanilla
(4) Fold in everything together at once, stirring until BARELY combined
(5) Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 Fahrenheit
When cool, frost with favorite chocolate frosting or ganache. I prefer something with little to no sugar, for a bold, dark, rich, adult, chocolatey taste that complements the banana flavor, rather than overpowering it with sugary sweetness.
With love again,
The Bakerina
*907 - surprise!
On Friday night, in the midst of my therapy session (a.k.a. solo shopping after work), I receive a call from the boy, which went something along the lines of ...
Boy: Hey, what are you up to?
Evelyn: Shopping, etc, new dress, blah blah, drizzling now, going to drive home, etc, etc, what about you?
Boy: Guess!
Evelyn: OMG YOU ARE IN BOSTON (thoroughly in jest)
Boy: ... actually, I'm an hour away.
Evelyn: *bowled over with the accuracy of her joking remark*
Boy: *bowled over by the fact that I was able to guess his well-kept secret*
Although it did sound very much like I had known all along, it was perhaps the biggest and loveliest surprise ever! Ever! :)
Two fabulous weekends in a row. One in Ithaca, one in Boston. Tomorrow's Monday blues are going to be blue indeed, heh.
If only Boston wasn't six hours away from Ithaca. Well, I have no right to complain; we are, at least, on the same continent, in the same time zone, and fairly reachable by car (until it begins snowing)!
To end rather irrelevantly, beach photos from several weeks ago when the boy was over, when it was warm enough for one to frolic about in one's bikini with wild abandon and slurp upon icecream / bubble tea by the shore.
Seashell-hunting!
Pebble-hunting, and belly hair.
Boy: Hey, what are you up to?
Evelyn: Shopping, etc, new dress, blah blah, drizzling now, going to drive home, etc, etc, what about you?
Boy: Guess!
Evelyn: OMG YOU ARE IN BOSTON (thoroughly in jest)
Boy: ... actually, I'm an hour away.
Evelyn: *bowled over with the accuracy of her joking remark*
Boy: *bowled over by the fact that I was able to guess his well-kept secret*
Although it did sound very much like I had known all along, it was perhaps the biggest and loveliest surprise ever! Ever! :)
Two fabulous weekends in a row. One in Ithaca, one in Boston. Tomorrow's Monday blues are going to be blue indeed, heh.
If only Boston wasn't six hours away from Ithaca. Well, I have no right to complain; we are, at least, on the same continent, in the same time zone, and fairly reachable by car (until it begins snowing)!
To end rather irrelevantly, beach photos from several weeks ago when the boy was over, when it was warm enough for one to frolic about in one's bikini with wild abandon and slurp upon icecream / bubble tea by the shore.
Seashell-hunting!
Pebble-hunting, and belly hair.
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