jacket decision matrix

 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Considerations:

• Leaning towards off-white
• Minimal hardware
• Front panels drape nicely when open
• Lighter fabric

? ?

development

She is such a good speaker and speaks for such a good cause:

reliable meals

Been meaning to make a roundup of stuff I cook when I'm short on time since a lot of friends seem shocked when I say I cook most meals. The definition of meals has loosened up a lot in second semester, but at least the cooking is still happening. 

In the first place of reliable meals is miso noodle soup. It's basically instant noodle but healthy. The procedure goes:

1. Boil water, this is the critical path. Add egg in at the start. Water's boiled once you hear the egg clinker on the pot's bottom).
2. Wash veggies (usually spinach).
3. Chop up add-ins, usually ginger, veggies, tofu, ham if feeling extra fancy.
4. By the time chopping is done, water's probably boiled. Spoon some out to mix with miso, add in everything. Thin noodles cook in < 5min, so its the optimal choice. If there's extra time, I'd sear the tofu and ham. 

An honorable mention goes to vinegar veggies (the non-winter equivalent of roasted veggies) for being the most versatile thing to have in the fridge. It's a mix of onion, egg, some sort of squash or eggplant, and some sort of leafy veggie. Stir fried and finished with a drizzle of vinegar. Fastest way to eat this is with toasted bread slices. Also good to top noodles, and used to make fried rice. 

peach

Kensington bites: pie from Wanda's and soup from Urban Herbivour. Still too cold for a lunchtime trip there though.

foodies

I think it's just the positive temperatures, but tonight somehow feels like a summer night where you sit by the camp fire until it's embers then lie down and watch the stars.

So much better than studying hydro.

meltwater

It's finally getting warmer, hurray!

To follow up to a previous post about feeling lost, I think that every year at around the dawn of spring I end up asking myself two question:

1. Am I suited to be a keener?
2. Do I want to be keen?

The answer to (1) seems to flip between yes and no depending on motivation level, though my inherent laziness tugs it towards no. The answer to (2) I haven't been able to figure out, though I've arrived at a satisfactory intermittent for now. Going to stop aiming for top 3 rank, since it's clearly making me miserable and I wasn't even that happy being first (it was more of a "oh, yay. okay moving on").
New standards are minimally above class average, practically try to keep a 4.0, and ideally a single digit rank. Efforts shall be diverted to extracurriculars (YNCN is going to be a sink of energy, but I think it's worthwhile) and exploring non-academic/professionally related things. We'll see how it goes.

a year

Whee anniversary dinner at Scaddabush. It's a newly opened restaurant (the downtown location) and I was lured by the promise of daily made mozzarella and divine meatballs.

Thumbs up for cool mismatched plates good ambiance:

 Bonus points for kraft paper and grease pencil that you can doodle with. They're channeling the Italian grandmother's kitchen, with generous portions to boot.

The food is much better than the chain western restaurants (eg. Pickle Barrel) which I attribute to the fresh ingredients they say they use. A breakdown of what we ordered:

• Charity bread is a cool concept, all profits from this item goes towards Sick Kids Hospital. Taste wise it's a strong garlic bread. 
• The osso bucco bites were absolutely delicious. The pork is tender on the inside while crunchy on the outside and pairs well with the pappardelle crips. The portion is big enough for a stand alone meal of my own.
• The mozzarella is indeed made to order and there's a big window into the kitchen where you can watch them stretch the cheese. 
• The meatball is also delicious, well seasoned and the texture is like a fluffier burger patty. Love the fresh basil and fried garlic in the spaghetti as well.
• The mango sorbet (opps typo on image) is the most intense mango tasting thing I've had that's not an actual mango. Also a huge portion, which makes it a better deal than most ice cream shops.
• The zeppole is like soft timbits with a creamier nutella dipping sauce. Our waiter (who was great, friendly, enthusiastic, and knowledge about the restaurant) for free for our anniversary (y)

Overall a good atmosphere, good food, and good value, the combination of which is hard to find amongst downtown western restaurants (usually it's pick 2 out of 3). Do check it out if you're in the area.

#8

This week has been unnaturally cold and chill (in the lack of work sense).

Want the weather to be agreeable to this outfit:

Desperately craving my loafers and fresh fruit :(

Speaking of loafers (and this sentiment extends to boots), why are all the nice ones not come in women's sizes? Would love a pair of the Alden tassel loafers in cordovan. Curse my small feet, can't fit into men's sizes.

spring/summer 14

I have more fun planning what to buy (and inevitably spending too much time on ffa) than actually making the purchase haha.

Here's the updates from previous list (winter 13):

• Gap legging cords / trousers: bought and bought (trousers as in Uniqlo ponte pants, which are amazing and eliminated the need for me to ever consider buying sweatpants again *shudder*). Plus an extra corduroy pant from J.Crew in maroon, first non-neutral pair of pants. This also means that I have more than enough pairs of pants and shall not buy anything else (unless it's legit work trousers, but yet to find a flattering pair).
• Uniqlo ocbd: tried on and didn't fit too well. All of my shirts billow at the back too much, guess it's to the tailors.
• Frye Jillian oxfords: skipped as I got a pair of loafers and there's a lot of shoes I need replacement for in s/s.
• Talula shrunken exeter blazer: on hold for now. Black blazer is still needed, just not urgently (even though it would be nice to have for club interview tomorrow...).

Overall I feel I have a pretty complete closet in terms of f/w clothes. Need to replace my thicker grey cardigan, but that's not going to be on the horizon for half a year, also thinking of splurging on one so need corresponding research. In other news, I did buy a backup of my thinner grey cardigan from Uniqlo. Its such a staple item and do not want to go through the pains of finding a replacement.

Onto s/s.

Pretty determined to buy:

• Sam Edelman Trina sandals.  A blogger I follow swears by it, so I have high hopes. Really like the simple aesthetics but also the slight golden heel. Also need to replace my wedges so hopefully Nordstorms open up in Eaton by this summer.
• Pleated skirt in a lightweight fabric in a somewhat pastel colour (probably lavender). This is also to replace a current skirt I own (but is of taobao quality). Going to be a pain to find, I'm so picky :( 
• Short length, zipped jacket that can also be layered under a thicker coat for winter. Probably in a biker style. The search has been pretty futile since most biker styled jackets have too much hardware. Currently looking at a bunch of options from Aritzia (maybe this?), leaning towards white because it makes the hardware less visible, but white outwear is problematic outside of summer months (or is it?). Also I may have to come to terms that I don't look good in a biker style jacket.
• An opaque white tank that drapes nicely. So hard to find opaque white tops, having same problem with silk blouses :( Might settle for the Everlane Ryan tank since I'm enjoying the tee.

Would like to buy depending on cash flow:

• IOU madras shorts. Such a summer-y fabric & pattern and also replacing my current pair of teal shorts. I remember a time in highschool, probably grade 9 or 10 when absolutely everyone wore plaid shorts during the summer. This is going to be a better version of that. The company also has a cool concept that tracks the item through its stages of manufacturing so I would like to support that.
• Scarf from Kiriko. Also a company with a cool concept (reusing vintage Japanese fabrics) that I found via Kinfolk. I have an abundance of scarfs, but one more lightweight one can't hurt ah ha... In my defense most of my current scarfs are heavy winter ones. Etsy isn't helping with beautiful linen and cotton-silk blend ones. 
• Flats (perhaps from Golden Ponies, or d'orsay ones). Even though I currently think loafers are the best type of shoes ever, a pair of nude flats is also really versatile. This is also to replace my years-old, falling apart H&M pair (which now serves more as slippers). 
• Weekender bag or a similar sized travel bag (like the GR1). There's a lot of fancy options out there, but the weight of leather offsets any aesthetic perks, so probably sticking with heavy-duty canvas. Likely to pick up the Everlane weekender if nothing better pops up (looks nice and relatively cheap).

Toying with the idea of acquiring:

• Moccasins.They're like loafers hehe, plus it could work out for survey camp? Though I ought to get rainboots for that.
• Espadrilles, yay more summer shoes. 
• A shirt dress, or just more summer dresses.
• Millions of things for the kitchen (madoline, ice cream maker, better quality ingredients, and spring tea!).

drop

Currently feeling rather lost in multiple aspects of life. Lost is a feeling I really dislike feeling, probably one that makes me feel the most panick-y.

(Today ended on a good note though, dinner and card games with friends. Card games are always the best times.)

Granted I didn't have the whole identity crisis during my teenage years, nor did I have to think very hard about what major to pick in university. So I guess I get my share of the anxiety as I approach the twenty. Totally do not feel that old. Adulthood is still that mythical land where suddenly everything makes sense to you.
It's rather sad when I realized today that the people I can say that know me completely (or as completely as it goes) are not the ones that knows currently what's going on in my life. Here is probably when one of you chime in and said this wouldn't be a problem if I went to loo haha. Plus the fact that I really dislike talking to others about my uncertainties before I figure them out (so then I don't need to talk to them anymore), here I am mulling over it before I sleep.

Here's a Winnie-the-pooh saying (I think): it'll be alright in the end, if it's not alright its not the end.

(Also feeling crappy cause marks this semester is going to be crappy. Knowing that marks don't matter long term wise somehow makes me feel worse for currently feeling bad.)