31 August 2010

Cottage #3-The Omnivore's Dilemma



Synopsis (taken from Michael Pollan's official site)
A Natural History of Four Meals

What should we have for dinner? The question has confronted us since man discovered fire, but according to Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Botany of Desire, how we answer it today, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, may well determine our very survival as a species. Should we eat a fast-food hamburger? Something organic? Or perhaps something we hunt, gather, or grow ourselves? The omnivore’s dilemma has returned with a vengeance, as the cornucopia of the modern American supermarket and fast-food outlet confronts us with a bewildering and treacherous food landscape. What’s at stake in our eating choices is not only our own and our children’s health, but the health of the environment that sustains life on earth.
The organization of the book is terrific. It is separated into 3 different food chains, in order from the longest to the shortest, Grain, Grass, and Forest. Pollan follows his dinner from production to plate along each of the chains. The book is sorta like a giant diary xD

I find it amazing that in Grass and Forest, every part of nature just works so in sync with each other. One organism's waste becomes another's food, eg. The cow's manure contains lavres which becomes food for the chickens, and in turn the chicken's droppings nourish the soil in which the cow's food, grass, grows.

Speaking of Forest, in which Pollan makes a dinner only from ingredients that he grew/gathered/hunted himself, I happened to have wild mushroom soup at the cottage.


from this,

to this ;D

Was quite delicious once I overcame my initial doubt for the safety of eating wild mushrooms.

Back to the book,
It also talks about nutritionism, which is the prioritizing of individual nutrients over the whole food. Evident in calcium fortified orange juices, cereal with extra fiber, non-fat yogurt, etc etc. Every processed food nowdays has some sorta nutrient to advertise. You also hear alot of people saying things like "I'm on a low-carb diet" instead of "I really should eat more vegetables".

(half a topic change again, here's a great article on Gala Darling that talks about dietings, calories, and fat)

...and so I lost my train of thought.
All in all, the book raises some interesting points about what we consume everyday. Dinner's not quite what it seems :]

29 August 2010

Cottage #2-the sceneeeeeeery

At various locations and time during the week.

Click on the image for lightbox~






















Cottage #1-the waaaaater

Unfortunately, not much swimming was done by me since the weather was awfully cooperating. But the few aquatic activities that I did do were lots of fun :]

Exhibit A: water tubing (monday).

I was originally gonna water ski, but seeing how only 2 of the 10 people that went before me managed to stand up, I decided to oft for the safer option.

The tube on the right is an "extreme tube", where you just lay on top of it and hold onto those handles for your dear life. (There are normal tubes where you sit in them, but psssssh normal)


Don't I have the most graceful form ;D

In my defense, it's a lot easier to balance, and therefore not fall off on the whips, if you lay like a crab. Also you should climb back up immediately if you're slipping off.

The boat driver, Ceaser (he's awesome haha) mistakenly thought I was athletic (I hear laughs from specific people), so he made HUGEEEEE turns which whipped me across the water like...I don't have a good similie here. As the result, my whole upper body was sore for the majority of the week.


Exhibit B: boating (tuesday)

It was nice: nice boat, nice weather, nice people etc etc.

Until my boat suddenly stopped XD
Luckily these LOVELY people passed by and agreed to tow us back to shore.

Much thanks & love to the two above!

After an emergency call to the management office, a different boat came by to diagnose the problem. Turns out we were out of gas. No biggie, we were recharged and safely arrived back on land.


Pretty sunset pictures coming later today or tmrw...we'll see :]

28 August 2010

"later"

^such a convenient word ;D

Back from a week of cottage~
Fun experiences, severe shoulder pain, lotsa photo taking...lots to blog about.
But should I? "later"
yeah probably later. Some pictures are transfered, posts are thought up. Only problem is that my thought pattern isn't meant to be written down (or typed up). Thoughts jump from one topic to another, often unrelated. Posts...I try to give them structure.

Here's what I have thought up:
Food: there were lots, both in quantity and quality.
Sunset: sooooo pretty! pretty to the point that I didn't photoshop them~
Other stuff...yeah.
Book: The Omnivore's Dilemma. I love how this book doesn't point you to any specific way of eating but more or less leaves you to figure the omnivore's dilemma out for yourself :]

On the topic of books, I decided to put up my reading list (along with movies). Public = commitment. I've got one down, planning to tackle Dan Brown before school starts. Suggestions are very welcomed *looks at Rui*

lastly,
(this has taken me around 2 hours to type with msn distractions)

Saw this on CP24.
In my words, being alone is quite adventurous :]

21 August 2010

时间被安排


Click through to the video for translations of the lyrics.
But preferably go learn mando and understand them yourself ;D

屋簷如悬崖 风铃如沧海 我等燕归来
时间被安排 演一场意外 你悄然走开
故事在城外 浓雾散不开 看不清对白
你听不出来 风声不存在 是我在感慨

梦醒来 是谁在窗台 把结局打开
那薄如蝉翼的未来 经不起谁来拆

我送你离开 千里之外 你无声黑白
沉默年代 或许不该 太遥远的相爱
我送你离开 天涯之外 你是否还在
琴声何来 生死难猜 用一生 去等待


闻泪声入林 寻梨花白 只得一行青苔
天在山之外 雨落花台 我两鬓斑白
闻泪声入林 寻梨花白 只得一行青苔
天在山之外 雨落花台 我等你来

一身琉璃白 透明着尘埃 你无瑕的爱 你从雨中来
诗化了悲哀 我淋湿现在

芙蓉水面采 船行影犹在 你却不回来
被岁月覆盖 你说的花开 过去成空白

梦醒来 是谁在窗台 把结局打开
那薄如蝉翼的未来 禁不起谁来拆

我送你离开 千里之外 你无声黑白
沉默年代 或许不该 太遥远的相爱
我送你离开 天涯之外 你是否还在
琴声何来 生死难猜 用一生

我送你离开 千里之外 你无声黑白
沉默年代 或许不该 太遥远的相爱
我送你离开 天涯之外 你是否还在 
琴声何来 生死难猜 用一生 去等待

19 August 2010

tree house





Or as close as one fits into my dream condo.

Click to Vectroave for the full story and more photos.
This is craaaazy innovative, hope I get to work with awesome designs like this *u*

18 August 2010

life....or 8 hours of it everyday

Day 1:
GWL3O1-01 (Co op)
GWL3OS-01
Lunch
TDM3M1-02 (Ind and Mech Design)
ENG3U3-01 (english)

Day2:
SCH3U1 - 01 (Chem)
BTA3O1-01 (Business)
Lunch
SPH3U1-02 (Physics)
MCR3U3-01 (Math)

Co-op on monday mornings? Math and physics on friday afternoons? @_@"
p3 lunches are good.
I'm with ryan for physics and math, all good there.
...I should do well.

17 August 2010

Kegerries

haters gonna hate.



Brogues from Aldo

I don't think they look manly worn, in the picture...yeah.

With this, comes a new goal of mine: to take good care of my leather goods. If an animal died for my indulgence, I wanna make it's afterlife a little easier to bear.
haha mostly cause I want a further stretch for my money. According to Put This On (note to future self: make husband read), I will not wear it consecutive days in a row, wipe it after coming home, and insert the plastic lining thing so it holds it's shape. The consecutive thing will be hard to follow for my boots @_@

Taking care~

16 August 2010

brunch: fridge clean up

Since I'm away for a week of vacation next week (missing both Janice's week back AND Grace's birthday T_T), I decided to start using up the scrap veggies laying around in the fridge.


Sorry for the bad photo, DSLR ran outta juice from attempt meteor shooting, so I had to use my compact. Tried my best in photoshop to fix it up.

Scrap Veggie Soup (with rice)
serves 3-4
This is just a general template adapted from Spring Vegetable Soup by Jamie Oliver, but just throw in whatever you have leftover.
Aromatic veggies (standard is onion, celery, and carrots. I used one of each)
Leafy veggies (I used 4 leaves of napa cabbage and a handful of spinach)
Other veggies (tomatoes, amount depending on your personal preference, I used 1 large tomato)
Grain (original recipe called for beans, I used cooked rice. Pasta and other lentils would work as well)
Chicken stock

Chop up the aromatic veggies into bite size pieces, leafy veggies (except spinach) into strips, tomatoes into quarters or eighth.
Heat some oil and cook the aromatic veggies until almost done (carrots are soft and onions are a little brown).
While the aromatic veggies are cooking, heat the stock until boiling. Pour onto the veggies once then are done.
Add in the tomatoes, leafy veggies (except spinach), and grain (except cooked rice).Cook for an additional 5-10minutes.
Turn off the heat and add in the spinach and cooked rice. Wait a few minutes, season and serve.
one pot dishes are love <3

...
...
...
I planned to make a post about the meteor shower, but with no pictures and only one sighting by me (company saw many more ;_;), decided not to (plus laziness).

That is....jupiter with a 1min shutter speed and no tripod ;D

12 August 2010

Noblesse

alternative title: Good Job~ Good Job~ (joke from the latest chapter)



Title: Noblesse (just found out that it's a web comic)
Author/Artist: Son Jae-Ho/Lee Gwang-Su
Summary (via mangaupdates.com):
A vampire wakes up from a 820 year slumber in contemporary South Korea. As the being adapts to his surroundings, he accidentally enrolls at a school...

My take:
thanks kenn for the format inspiration~

It's about vampires.
With a lot of typical elements of vampire stories: the crazy power and not to mention good looking vampire, the faithful servant, the mysterious organization, the crazy researcher etc etc.
However, Noblesse compiles all the typical elements into something much MUCH better. It pieces them together into fluid fighting scenes, interesting enough background story, pretty FULL COLOURED drawings, and no annoying/wimpy/backbone-less characters ;D
Rai is also completely adorably clueless about modern life <3
All in all, a good light hearted read.

11 August 2010

Chocolate Cake, the best yet.



That, is absolutely delicious.
Most chocolate cakes I've made are either too sweet or too dense, but the sweetness of this cake is just right, texture is just right, and so darn easy to make.

I feel the need to spread the recipe, which I adapted from smitten kitchen (whose photos are a gazillion times better looking than mine "orz)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup minus a bit firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk (I didn't have any, so I just used bit less than 1 cup milk and juice of half a lime)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder (SK has this adjustment for natural cocoa, I forgot and just went with this amount of leavening below and didn't have a problem with it)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325F and grease a loaf pan.
Cream butter with the sugars in a large mixing bowl, I did mine by hand, hopefully you won't have to.
Add the egg, mix, add the buttermilk and vanilla. Beat the mixture reeeeeally well, you can afford to overmix right up to this point.
Sift in the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder/soda), mix ONLY until blended. Any further will make the cake too dense.
Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for an hour. Start checking the cake for doneness at around the 50 minute mark. It's good once the tester comes out clean. Don't over bake, dry cakes = baaaad cakes.
Cool, dust with powdered sugar (optional) & enjoy :]

Below is the incredibly hard pound cake that I baked a week ago. I remember making a post about it, but can't find it. Did I talk about this?

It's a biscottcake! (biscotti + cake). Despite it being like a log to saw through, it was gooood. Can't find the recipe though, sadd ;_;

Lastly and totally unrelated, I got the Revlon Illuminance Creme EyeShadow Quad in not Just Nudes. Likey very much, it's pigmented and lasts long (through the chocolate cake baking session on my hands). Swatches: flash (my veins look scary...), without flash.

08 August 2010

Taste of the Danforth

yummmm yum yum.
Since summer is almost over, I might as well make the most of what's left by attending as much events as possible. Good choice ;D

Headed down with Grace despite the weather stating it would rain all day. Luckily it was mostly drizzles and there were a lot of cafes to take shelter in. Unluckily I forgot my camera, so enjoy the crappy cell cam quality yayyy. (non rotated, too lazy to fire up PS for these)


Yogurt and lemon gelato
The lemon was sour in a really nice way&the yogurt was creeeeeamy <3


Some pastry whose name I forgot D:
ehhh this was okay. Wasn't the freshest.


Loukoumade? Think thats the name.
It's just like a funnel cake, but in the shape of a timbit XD very oily and very good.


CHICKEN! BEST THING EVER.
sooooooooo damn good. Trying to figure out whats in the marinade: lemon juice, s&p, and some sorta spice @_@


Pulled pork sandwich.
Also yummmm. Too bad in coleslaw is covering the meat in the pic ._.
Was messy to eat, but very worth the mess XD

random pics of pretty buildings:

stained glass <3


pretty rbc building *u*

Very fun day indeed, caught up some more with Grace too. I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people; which is why I get pretty upset when someone leaves, since I know I'll probably never talk to them again @_@ Gotta work on connection skills haha.
Conversation flows best over a cup of gelato/tea~

06 August 2010

In and Outs #5: camp finale

OUT
Itzzzz oveeeeer. No more waking up early, no more commuting for 30km round-trip, no more dealing with unreasonable kids. Actually, the kids are angels individually, but due to some bizarre social phenomenal, they are hell grouped together. Eating lunch with 2-3 of them, wonderful; trying to get the whole group to line up, not so much.

Guess I'll focus on the camp office experience, which is something new. So during the afternoon of certain days, I would disappear from my group (Oxygen) and go help up at the camp's supply office.
Challenge #1: my supervisors there are Karen and Koren, took a while to figure out which is which haha.
Challenge #2: entertaining oneself. Work in the office comes in bursts, I managed to finish a book (The Universe on a T-shirt) and a sudoku (my first ever).
Otherwise it's allll good. Most of the work that I did was organizing supplies. New deliveries needed to be counted into sets and bagged, and stock had to be searched. I can now appear pro by having "inventory management" on my CV haha. Other tasks included relaying messages between people and assisting with late drop-off/early pick-up.

Overoverall, an worthwhile two weeks~

IN
Relaxaaaaation.
though maybe not. Don't really feel like lazying the rest of summer away. Volunteer does crazy things to me, things like motivation during the summer.
Things still left to do:
  • lots of books on reading list, I ended up reading completely different books.
  • physics 11, 5 chapters in >D
  • gaming, jrpgs are toooo looooong. I lose motivation like...one location before the end xD Will def finish up FFX though.
  • anime catching up. dunno, not in the mood. Did finish Durarara!! though, shizuuuuu <3
Things that have been done: drawing, organizing, exercising (walking up and down, up and down, up and down the OSC).

i'm goooooooood.

05 August 2010

waaaaant!!


fall 2010 collection

This will serve as motivation for the last day of camp.

The blue eyeshadow palette very much reminds me of Van Gugh's Starry Sky.
Beautiful ;D

04 August 2010

aurora

The northern lights may dip down to the GTA (yesterday)night

didn't see it ._. I would have stayed up for the whole night but that would mean absolute death at camp.
Any of you lucky enough to see a glimpse?

Was on the phone with Grace talking about it, "shouldn't Alex see it? He lives in Aurora!"
there there, at least we're entering a period of intense solar activity ;D

Instead of would be spectacular pictures, here's a related song.



神秘北极圈 阿拉斯加的山巅
谁的脸 出现海角的天边
忽然的瞬间 在那遥远的地点
我看见 恋人幸福的光点

灵魂在招唤
唱着古老 陌生熟悉的歌谣
天空在微笑 我的世界缤纷闪耀

爱是一道光 如此美妙
指引我们 想要的未来
魔力北极光 奇幻的预言
赶快去找不思议的爱
爱是一道光 如此美妙
照亮我们 勇气的未来
魔力北极光 传说的预言
原来就是 恋人的眼光

沉默一眨眼 一万年外的光年
我相信 未来其实并不远
哭泣的眼泪 是喜悦的赞美
是因为 有你能展翅高飞

灵魂在招唤
唱着古老 陌生熟悉的歌谣
天空在微笑 我的世界缤纷闪耀

爱是一道光 如此美妙
指引我们 想要的未来
魔力北极光 奇幻的预言
赶快去找不思议的爱
爱是一道光 如此美妙
照亮我们 勇气的未来
魔力北极光 传说的预言
原来就是 恋人的眼光

红橙黄绿蓝 五彩的欧若拉
爱就在心中 相信就会存在
红橙黄绿蓝 美丽的欧若拉
爱就在心中 相信就是永远

爱是一道光 如此美妙
指引我们 想要的未来
魔力北极光 奇幻的预言
赶快去找不思议的爱
爱是一道光 如此美妙
照亮我们 勇气的未来
魔力北极光 传说的预言
原来就是 恋人的眼光

红橙黄绿蓝 五彩的欧若拉
爱就在心中 相信就会存在
红橙黄绿蓝 美丽的欧若拉
爱就在心中 相信就是永远

02 August 2010

距離就像打滑和那飄移

so hard to choose a title @_@ too many good lines haha. Jay's lyrics are always the best <3



周杰倫- 自導自演 歌詞

巷口甩尾甩開了過去的熟悉
照後鏡的妳比腦海清晰
妳我距離就像打滑和那飄移
差很遠但看似很接近
車燈閃了一下代表我還在意
被我看見妳上他的車這麼不小心
喇叭按了二聲代表我會離去
妳放心我理解這遊戲

呼嘯而過的引擎聲
是妳最討厭的旋律
穿梭在城市中 變成一首幻想曲
一邊瘋狂紀錄一邊璀璨的忘記(忘記忘記忘記忘記)

妳發脾氣甩上車門香味留在車裡
對不起要走可以關門別太大力
用點心妳說不是用來吃的點心
冰淇淋溶化了謊言在妳身邊的美麗

沒有了雨雨刷還是不停左右
就像回憶開始對我揮了揮手
儀錶板轉動在猜我會不會懂
速度再快也追不回承諾
車窗搖下聽妳聽妳完美藉口
音樂開大讓我讓我假裝感動
貼心的妳不用自導自演心痛
我看不懂我會更難過

巷口甩尾甩開了過去的熟悉
照後鏡的妳比腦海清晰
妳我距離就像打滑和那飄移
差很遠但看似很接近
車燈閃了一下代表我還在意
被我看見妳上他的車這麼不小心(不小心)
喇叭按了二聲代表我會離去
妳放心我理解這遊戲

呼嘯而過的引擎聲
是妳最討厭的旋律
穿梭在城市中 變成一首幻想曲
一邊瘋狂紀錄一邊璀璨的忘記(忘記忘記忘記忘記)

妳發脾氣甩上車門香味留在車裡
對不起要走可以關門別太大力
用點心妳說不是用來吃的點心
冰淇淋溶化了謊言在妳身邊的美麗

沒有了雨雨刷還是不停左右
就像回憶開始對我揮了揮手
儀錶板轉動在猜我會不會懂
速度再快也追不回承諾
車窗搖下聽妳聽妳完美藉口
音樂開大讓我讓我假裝感動
貼心的妳不用自導自演心痛
我看不懂我會更難過

沒有了雨雨刷還是不停左右
就像回憶開始對我揮了揮手
儀錶板轉動在猜我會不會懂
速度再快也追不回承諾
車窗搖下聽妳聽妳完美藉口
音樂開大讓我讓我假裝感動
貼心的妳不用自導自演心痛
我看不懂我會更難過