Thursday, January 12, 2006

YOOSACKWEHIFF

I forget the actual acronym but it sounds like enough.

Been working lots of paid overtime.

Oh and the highlight of the moment is that Joan is visiting in Feb and insists on watching "Meet me in st. louis" when... we meet in st. louis. -_-

Alas... the things we do for friends...

Friday, January 06, 2006

Clams in Tomato Sauce

Recipe
Italian

2 Dozen Clams... any shellfish, really...
1 can of your favorite marinara sauce (Trader Joe's is awesome)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed.
2 shallots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
8 green stuffed olives (less or more depending on how much you like the stuff)
1/4 cup white cooking wine.
salt and pepper to taste

In the biggest/deepest sauce pan that you have, heat oil to medium heat. Saute shallots, garlic, olives, and capers until shallots and garlic brouwn. Add the clams , and cooking wine. When all the clams fully open, remove the clams and set aside. Add marinara sauce and stir. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in clams.

Serve with pasta or bread.

If you want an even more seafoody taste you can add clam juice.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Leading to this new theory

So there's this 40 year old guy at work with 3 kids. He's sitting at Happy Hour with my Coop and he's like...

"So who was that hot blonde chick you brought over to my house the other day? (in reference to his xmas party earlier)... noticed that tatoo she's got on her lower back... like a freaking BULLS EYE! My wife had one on her hip when she was younger... man... after three kids, it's a freaking BOUQUET."

Oh man... the people I know... This is a ridiculous contrast to say... talking about social issues at Kathy/Simon's party?

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Roth 401k

Roth 401k

Gah I'm becoming my parents. But in all seriousness to all you kids out there, it's all about the slowly but surely as early as possible.

And all you people my age who are millionaires... screw you :P

Monday, December 05, 2005

S.P.L. after Seven Swords

Man, if I didn't see S.P.L. after Seven Swords, it would have sucked. Despite the fact that Sammo Hung AND Donnie Yen were in it, it was just plain stupid. But alas, it's pretty good compared to other HK movies.

But DAMN.

Seven Swords so sucked it. Worst HK movie EVER. Based on a Korean series that was yet another repackaged version of Seven Samurai. Man. Tsui Hark is melodramatic like nobody's business. And to top it all off, the fighting sucked. SPL fights were pretty sweet, but not often enough. If you're gonna give me crappy ass storylines and crappy ass character development, you'd better fill it with ridiculous fights!

Ah wells.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

New White Flight

This article talks about how some schools are becoming increasingly Asian and how parents, White and Asian alike, are getting worried.

Schools with more emphasis on Sciences and Math
Schools with less emphasis on Sports, which, I have to admit, is pretty important.
Schools with seemingly more academic competitiveness amongst students.

I dunno I guess parents do have a right to be worried about it. White parents are worried that the schools a too academically competitive. Asian parents are worried that their kids get too used to Asians always being around and will totally freak out if they end up in a place like... St. Louis :P

I do think, however, that parents have as much responsibility to "train" their kids for the outside world as much as their everyday social environment. And in all seriousness: If you have a kid who spends all his/her time with Asian kids and he/she doesn't know how to act around... non-Asian people... I dunno what to say... there's something odd there.

Also, the "White is Dumb" thing is pretty stupid. But then again, these are high school kids.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Wash U

I got into Wash U! Well... Boeing got me into Wash U!

So yeah I'll be taking night classes and stuff... pretend I'm a young'un.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Shrimp Cocktail

Topic: Recipe
Type: Continental

From Alton Brown's Good Eats

The thing about shrimp cocktail is that you need shrimp that has no preservatives in it. Usually these are sold in 5 pound blocks.

If you don't have a seafood place to buy shrimp with no preservatives and stuff, the Tiger shrimp at Sam's is pretty good, but you'll find one or two shrimp that aren't that great. The trick is to rinse the shrimp while defrosting so that when the ice melts, the preservatives don't soak into the meat, but once the ice is off, finish the defrosting in a colander in the fridge.

Anyways:

1 lb tiger shrimp with the shell on. Sam's sells them already de-veined.
2 Tablespoons salt
1/4 cup sugar
4 cups water
Some olive oil

Dissolve salt and sugar into water and cool the water with ice or in the freezer.
Brine the shrimp with the liquid for 30 minutes. If the water doesn't cover all of it, add more.

Preheat the broiler. Pat the shrimp dry and toss in olive oil. Broil for about 60 seconds on each side.

Chill immediately and serve with cocktail sauce.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

My Uvula's freaking huge

Topic: Recipe
Cuisine: Chinese

Got the tonsils out.

Tongue and Uvula's swollen like nobody's business.

So anyways mom made me steamed egg which I absolutely love:

3 eggs
1 14oz can of chicken broth
1 shake of white pepper
1 green onion

In large bowl, beat the eggs, add the chicken broth, add pepper and green onion.

Steam for 10 minutes in a pot over water that is just boiling. The way to see if it's just boiling is, after you have the water in a rolling boil, change the heat to low, and gradually increase the heat until just starts to boil again. The shallower the pot, the better so that it's easy to get out unless you have one of those nifty lifter thingers. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Rather than a large bowl, you can spoon the mixture into ramekins and steam for 7 minutes.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

JOAN

I have this friend named Joan. She's doing Teach for American now with 6th graders. She is also known as "Manisha's roommate." We both agree that if the other and Manisha were drowning, we would save Manisha.

Joan enjoys good food and likes Ice wine from Ithaca.

Joan went to UPenn.

Joan is from nearby Philadelphia.

Joan is Korean.

Joan enjoys different cultures.

Joan likes nature.

Joan likes long drives with the windows down.

Hanging out with Joan is cool.

Joan is somewhat of a romantic.



Joan doesn't like getting mentioned in blogs.

*Edit
Joan's AIM (10:08:06 PM): by the way allan
Joan's AIM (10:08:09 PM): you forgot to mention
Joan's AIM (10:08:30 PM): "when i first met joan, i thought to myself, 'she's not as hot as i thought she would be.' and then felt the need to tell her so."

Monday, October 24, 2005

Awesome Vietnamese at Lemon Grass

Topic: Restaurant
Cuisine: Vietnamese

It rocked. It was awesome... but I think we were really hungry too. :P

The pho was big on the cinnamon

The spring rolls were actually tasty

and the "chicken salad" was amazing.

But again... we were really hungry

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Visitors and seeing more of St. Louis

So Vince and Byron came in and we spent an unusually large amount of time totally wasting money on carny games. Bastard light game at Ameristar... *shakes fist*

Ate lots. Drank lots of beer... and got to hear of Titi's taking Byron to the Vault without his being able to appreciate the... uh... view ;P

And holy crap, the City Museum in St. Louis is like the coolest thing ever. It is like the ultimate playground that we all dreamed of making an obstacle course of. You come to st. louis.... you're going there. No arguments.

You know it's funny how things change so much and it's definitely an awesome thing to get to talk with people and talk about the things that are going on in our lives. After college we've all dispersed around the country/world and have been experiencing all these different things that have been morphing us into whatever we'll become. Things have changed so much for all of us in the past couple months, let alone in the time it's been since many of us have graduated...mind boggling.

Don't be a stranger. :P

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Garlic Cheese Bread

Because bread sizes differ you can't really put a measurement on the cheeses and oil. Eyeball it. If you have too much of oil or cheese, toss it in with a pasta dish.

1 french baguette sliced crosswise. If you can find any other hard crusted bread, that works as well. The thing is in st. louis that's the only hard crusted bread I can buy. If you like soft crusted breads... *shakes head* ah wells... Anna likes soft bread.

Parmesan, Gouda, and/or Asiago cheeses,shredded. All work on their own and they all work together. A good 8 ounces should do

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped.
1 teaspoon italian herbs

Heat oil in small saucepan on medium heat and brown garlic in oil. Remove from heat and add the italian herbs. This is so that the herbs won't get burnt.

Turn on Broiler.

Arrange bread on a non-stick pan sheet and spoon oil, with the garlic and herbs, onto the bread. One small spoonful for 2 slices of bread should do.

Sprinkle cheese on bread.

Put into broiler from 30 seconds to 1 minute. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn.

Friday, September 30, 2005

Future Aspirations

HengzhiZhong (9:30:53 PM): i am not that perverted
FrknCrzyAzn (9:31:38 PM): yeah you are
FrknCrzyAzn (9:31:40 PM): don't lie :P
FrknCrzyAzn (9:31:49 PM): speaking of which
FrknCrzyAzn (9:31:58 PM): I saw my future, today
FrknCrzyAzn (9:32:03 PM): so one of my coworkers
FrknCrzyAzn (9:32:05 PM): he's pretty old
FrknCrzyAzn (9:32:15 PM): and like they moved him down to a different area
FrknCrzyAzn (9:32:19 PM): and I was visiting him
FrknCrzyAzn (9:32:24 PM): and a hot girl walked by
FrknCrzyAzn (9:32:31 PM): and he had a devilish grin on his face
FrknCrzyAzn (9:32:41 PM): and he was like "yeah I like my spot... nice view."
FrknCrzyAzn (9:32:48 PM): holy crap that is so going to be me
FrknCrzyAzn (9:32:55 PM): cept hopefully I'll have an office and stuff.
HengzhiZhong (9:33:22 PM): you don't need to become that OLD to see that future
HengzhiZhong (9:33:29 PM): just give a few years
HengzhiZhong (9:33:32 PM): 5 at most
FrknCrzyAzn (9:36:05 PM): ehehehe
FrknCrzyAzn (9:36:07 PM): but yeah
FrknCrzyAzn (9:36:10 PM): that'll be me
FrknCrzyAzn (9:36:13 PM): but with an office
FrknCrzyAzn (9:36:18 PM): I have ambition :-D
HengzhiZhong (9:37:03 PM): make sure your office gets the view
HengzhiZhong (9:37:18 PM): maybe you should install a HUGE fan or something by the door
FrknCrzyAzn (9:38:45 PM): dude
FrknCrzyAzn (9:38:47 PM): GENIUS
HengzhiZhong (9:39:02 PM): *sighs
HengzhiZhong (9:39:09 PM): you are not very bright, are you
HengzhiZhong (9:39:21 PM): what do you need an office for, if you can't get a HUGE ass fan
FrknCrzyAzn (9:40:17 PM): indeed

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Asian BBQ Chicken Skewers

Topic: Recipe
Cuisine: Chinese

Quick. Easy.

Chicken Thighs cut into strips
Skewers
Chinese BBQ (Sa Ca) Sauce


Hoisin Sauce



Marinate Chicken thighs in a 2:1 ratio of the Hoisin Sauce and Sa Ca sauce. There's no need for pre-mixing. Just eyeball some spoonfuls of Hoisin Sauce to the degree where you think all the chicken thighs would be just covered, then spoon in half the amount of sa ca sauce.

Let marinate for at least 2 hours.

Skewer and grill.

I didn't really have a good picture of the chicken skewers individually but they're the ones... in the middle right.


Saturday, September 24, 2005

Big Trouble

Dude this is the new movie to watch on weekend afternoons on Comedy central.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

San Francisco and the Sis

Went to visit Carol (the sister) at San Francisco over the weekend and it was a quality weekend. She lives in the Marina(?) *map with arrow pointed at spot* area in San Fran and we biked across the Golden Gate to Sausalito *map* and had ice cream. *pic of blueberry cheesecake ice cream*

Example of me being me: I've been to Sausalito before and all I wanted to do was to have the exact same ice cream at the exact same ice cream place there. Didn't have to do ANYTHING else. And we didn't. We continued on to Tiburon *map*, bummed at a cafe *pic*, and road the ferry back to one of the piers.

*map of route taken*

Ate some decent food.

Met up with Manisha (*think awesome ass windows from pic post*) and had brunch...QUALITY SCONES... took her to Chinatown into butcher shops... (sorry, Manisha) and later cooked for Sis's friends. The friends were cool people.

But yeah got to spend time with the sis whom I don't see very much anymore so it was a pretty awesome time. Though I'm still freaking tired and my week is chock full of stuff... but alas.

Oh yeah kept forgetting to take pictures and I'm really too lazy to grab maps but you can picture it all in your minds.

Friday, September 09, 2005

Salsa

Topic: Recipe
Cuisine: Mexican

Made with Jim's tomatoes.

2 cups chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 jalapeno pepper... to know if you're buying a hot one give it a smell... you should be able to smell the spiciness.
1 lime
tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt. if using regular salt go with a half teaspoon.
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
A small bunch of chopped cilatro leaves.
1 clove garlic.

Mix... let sit for half hour.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Pic Time

So... I wouldn't mind living here:

, but I live here

I used to live here

and before, here.

But when I think about it... this is STILL FREAKING AWESOME.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Damned sequels

I forget if I bitched about sequels lately but I'll bitch again. The Transporter was a pretty sweet movie. The eurotechnoesque hong kong movie with white people was amusing and violent. Obviously someone felt that a sequel was fitting but someone went up and said...

HEY. YUEN BIAO INFLUENCED THIS MOVIE A LOT SO LET'S MAKE THIS EVEN MORE LIKE A HONG KONG MOVIE! LET'S TURN THE COOL FRENCH DETECTIVE DUDE INTO A BUMBLING LOSER GUY REMINISCENT OF JACKIE CHAN'S UNCO!

Oh and they were obviously running out of budget towards the end of the movie with the shitty ass plane crash.

There was the everpresent lame ass melodramatic music.

Gah it was bad. Just plain bad. Not even in the so bad it's great sense. GRARG.