spear

Two easy & pretty good things I made recently:

Daikon & carrot stir fry via The Woks of Life: legit the first dish involving the two vegetables that Jeff liked. I also super like it and will be making it regularly!

Cheat matcha chocolate via Cooking Tree. 3 ingredients mixed together and voila soft truffle style chocolate! The resulting sweetness is perfectly balanced too. This turned out much better than a even simpler recipe, also by Cooking Tree, with just condensed milk and cocoa powder that I previously made. I chose the soft version, which is 1:3, and it was much too soft to handle. I had to eat it spoonful by spoonful.

tint

Part 2 of online shopping.

I previously mentioned that Korea Post has suspended delivery to Canada without continuing the thought that I ordered an eyeshadow palette (Holika Holika terrazzo shadow palette in dusty) that is now not making it's way over to me. It's quite upsetting but at least Jolse compensated with a $10 coupon even though it's not their fault. But the point of mentioning this now is that I've temporary solved the problem of what eyeshadow(s) to get. The colours in the palette can also be used for contouring, so I can put off that purchase for now...though it's likely that Sephora will have it's sale before this palette gets to me.

Actually let me back up. (the longer background is here)
I'm trying to rebuild a small colour make-up collection after throwing away most of my colour products since they were long expired. So the next category I'm trying to figure out is blush.

So far I found some well reviewed products in each "texture" type, but haven't decided on which colours to pick where, and how many is sufficient for someone that does not (but maybe will) wear blush on a daily basis.

• Liquid(y): Glossier cloud paint or Apieu juicy pang water blusher
• Dough(y): Mac glow play blush or Clinique cheek pop or Apieu juicy pang jelly blusher
• Powder: Burberry light glow blush or Hourglass ambient lighting blush or Innisfree my palette blusher
• Cream: I already own a Canmake cream blush in a lovely transparent red color 

As for colours, I'm thinking of:

• Brownish pink, matte
• Cool pink, matte
• Warmer pink, shimmer
• Lavender 
• Peach or coral...maybe?

Too many options "orz 

zip

Actually, a quick story of what happened to my trip to China that was suppose to happen in April:

So obviously I cancelled it.
First because the situation in China was bad, but now it's more like the situation in Canada is bad.

Lots of time was spent waiting for the automated phone system to call me back after leaving my number. For Chase it wasn't so bad, got an estimate of 2 hours, got called back a little sooner. Took a while for the agent to process my request, but ultimately refunded my points without much other trouble. For Delta it was more strenuous, and that's entirely because their automated system was buggy. It would call me back, but once it got to the point that I'm about to be transferred to an agent, the call would drop. Then I gotta call again and be placed in line. At one point the estimated wait time was 31 hours, which I presume is a bug 😅. So I actually had to stay on the line...for about 6 hours. But again there wasn't a problem once I reached the agent, and did get my full refund.

I was hoping for some good deals when rebooking my trip for October, thinking that airlines would drop prices since their business pretty much dried up. But that didn't turn out to be case, and I got lazy / didn't want to wait for deals to pop up, so I ended up just using the Chase portal again and using about 78k points for a round trip premium economy with China Southern. Not a great use of points but at least I still have all my Delta points to redeem in the future. I'm also really curious just how mediocre the food is with China Southern, given all the reviews are from non-asian people that didn't order the chinese option. Here's hoping it can't be as bad as Air Canada 😅😅

little

I totally understand my little cousin's post to her moment of "my daily joy is checking the tracking page of my packages" when she was in quarantine (she got a cold right when covid19 was getting serious in China).

All I want is my packages to arriveeeee ;o;
But alas Korea Post has suspended shipments to Canada ;o;
On the bright side, I finally bought, and received, a yoga mat. I'll at least occupy myself with some exercises while the building's gym is closed.

Regardless, this and the next post will be about things I want to buy. I anticipate two credit card changes before the pandemic is under control, so some planning is needed on how to achieve those initial spending bonuses.

Today is on jewelry:

Independent People

This is my third book review to Rui&Ben.

I *finally* finished reading this. It was very unpleasant "orz

The book is well written, I'll also agree that it's a good book. But I had the most unpleasant time reading it. Maybe because its overall pretty bleak? Maybe because I found every character very unlikable? All I know is that I forced myself to finish reading this because the person who wrote the forward liked it more then he liked The Brothers Karamazov and I needed to know why.

Perhaps I'm admitting this is a good book because it left a strong, albeit negative, impression on me. It's also ruined all my previous positive feelings towards sheep. I'll be thinking of this book whenever I come across the idea of sheep now. As stated in the forward, this book is very devoted to describing the activities that happen around sheeps. So perhaps I'm also admitting this is a good book because it is authentic to the lifestyle of its characters.

Let's end with a photo from Fred Tougs that perfectly matches the book:

closet overview #3

Since covid19 will likely prevent me from going out until spring is properly here, I've rounded up my  winter clothing stats:

A few things not captured in the overview above:

• I wore my winter coats and boots pretty evenly, yay!
• I made a conscious effort to wear my C&J boots more, buts it's still at $17/wear ;o; 
• Also made a conscious effort to wear my Jallade pants more, primarily because I bought it a tad too small and was thinking of reselling it. The trick was planning outfits for it that involved thinner tops. It worked really well when I spent some time brainstorming a list of 5 outfits and picking one per week to wear.
• Despite not wearing jeans for work, it still ended up being the item with the most wear counts. It's cost per wear is $0.33 now, very happy.
• A light purge is in order perhaps after summer. There's several everyday items that I wear less than 5 times a season. Can trim down my sweaters and skirts.

I also haven't bought any new clothing yet, whoo! But in terms of what I'm planning to buy so far:

1. Uncle Studio cotton bloomer pants
2. Babaton pleated blouse (this is def my fav brand out of Aritzia's sub-brands)
3. Loafers: probably the bow one from Meguire unless I go on a business trip to New York, in that case a pair from Meermin. Loafers are def my default S/S shoe, so it'll be good to have a second pair.
4. A white summer dress, probably one of these

Hopefully by the end of summer, I'll be using a spiffy little web app that Jeff makes. 

fissure

I discovered a new breakfast option (because even I am tired of the same oatmeal flavour...): multigrain porridge!

I learned the trick of soaking and freezing the whole grains beforehand to shorten cooking time from The Woks of Life. The best part of this technique is I can cook just a portion of the frozen grains each time.

My porridge includes:

• Spelt
• Farro
• Pot barley
• Wheat berries
• Whole toasted buckwheat
• Brown rice
• White rice
• Millet
• Chinese dried dates
• Gogi berries

...

Unrelated but I'm so happy San Cosme Tortas opened an airport location! Too bad I have no travel in the near future to take advantage of that. Good thing I recently went to their original location:

skincare routine: 2020 winter retrospective

(previous update)

I've been very happy with my overall winter routine and also the new additions. In general, my skin didn't feel dry during the cold weather which I think is a first. I had several larger breakouts that led to scaring, but it's pretty inevitable so just gotta deal with it.

Changes to my routine includes:

• Started to use The Ordinary's 10% mandelic acid + HA as my acid step. This may be tied with the Dr. Wu mandelic acid as my favourite? Both has the best texture compared to others I've used (Cosrx AHA and Mizon AHA). I do appreciate the HA addition as well, will repurchase for next winter if I don't make a Stratia haul.
• Finished the Komeyu rice oil and switched to The Ordinary's argan oil, because I was stupid and thought I grabbed rosehip seed oil which is what I intended to buy. But honestly I don't see much difference between the different facial oils, so I'll just use this up and switch back to rosehip seed.
• Started using Purito's green level buffet serum. Again I like this even though I don't see immediate or visible results, in fact I bought a second bottle despite this. The texture is easy to spread and it absorbs very fast. Maybe I should pay more attention to see if it actually reduces any inflammatory spots. 
• Started using Laneige cream skin refiner. This delivers instant results of a punch of hydration and moisture. My skin was noticeably tight feeling the one day I skipped using this. Although it's pricier than my other products, I use very little each time so the overall value is still good. 
• Started using The Ordinary's 10% niacinamide + zinc. Well this is my second bottle, and the larger size as well. Not sure if I see any visible effects, but again I'll trust the research behind niacinamide. Previously, and also when I started using this bottle, I always mixed this with another serum since I've read so much about the goopy texture of this. However I tried using this alone one day and found that it actually absorbs quite well and fast. I also read something cautioning the use of niacinamide with acids, and other things praising it's synergy with retinol, so I only use this on days when I use retinol. 
• Started using The Ordinary's 0.2% retinol in squalene. This is the real MVP of this winter, the squalene is insanely moisturizing that I don't even use Laneige cream skin on days that I use this. On the retinol side, I am quite cautious and started with the lowest percentage, and used it towards the end of my routine. It's also not an effect that I'll see anytime soon, so I'll just have faith and purchase a higher concentration for next winter. 

For summer 2020, my goal is to use less products. Cleansing steps aside, use only BHA as my only active and only when the need arises, still use oil mixed with toner, a serum and a moisturizer. 

gauze

I can't deny that my preference for fragrances has shifted towards more transparent or lightly textured scents. Initially I was a huge fan of Penhaligon's Sohan, but now such a rich rose (and my other rich roses) is nearly bearable. I am super thankful that I didn't bring for many full bottles.

I've also started to pick out 2 to 3 scents, usually around a theme, for a weekly wardrobe. It helps to have super limited choice on days where I don't particularly feel like wearing a fragrance. Previously the weekly rotation has been lighter woods, which changed to modern "chypres", and now it's to lighter vetivers (Essential Parfums mon vetiver, and Commodity vetiver).

I'm trying hard to like modern "chypres", which I keep putting in quotations since its a stretch to categorize some of them as chypres (looking at you Diptyque eau capitale). Below is my second impressions of Zoologist's Nightingale and Parfum MDCI's chypre palatine:

Nightingale is more fruity in the opening, where the fruit notes whiff in and out of a standard citrusy chypre top notes, whereas Chypre Palatine is consistently more creamy and slightly powdery than the standard, but with still the kick of moss. None are coy. Though now influenced by Fragrantica’s description, I do smell some fruitiness wrapped up in the other notes of Chypre Palatine. I don’t recall noticing the first time wearing Nightingale, but there’s a note of flower petals coated in sugar, but with a very light texture. It’s very surprising since it’s such a comfortable note, whereas chypres are definitely aggressive feeling to me. Nightingale continues this theme of lightly textured sweet fruits, while Chypre Palatine goes a more aromatic route. Interestingly I once again noticed something new in Nightingale, a strong whiff of a woody note. Otherwise the two continue down their aforementioned trajectory along the Chypre path. I do enjoy both, but will only buy a full bottle if I decide to start a chypre collection. My true love will always be Hasu no Hana, or more realistically Clinique Aromatic Elixir 😅

My second impression is considerably less favourable than my first for nightingale, I didn't smell the beautiful openings and base notes. The longevity was also surprisingly short, just 4 hours-ish? Not sure why there is such a big discrepancy. I feel slightly more favourable towards chypre palatine since it's performance is really good (lasted until the next morning), and feel its creaminess is suitable for the cooler weather.

stir

I've stopped taking photos of every new/major dish I make. The lighting during dinner time just makes me sad. A theme is using some spices / condiments that I infrequently reach for but nevertheless have in my stash:

• Palestinian spinach & chickpea stew (featuring allspice): I felt this was pretty meh but Jeff surprisingly likes it. I don't get at all but I won't question such blessing. 
• Kashmiri rajma masala (featuring black cardamom): I liked this one much more, such a meaty / umami feel. Will make again, although the kidney beans I got had pretty thick skin that I felt ruins the texture. But shelling out for good beans (pun sort of intended) is not a step I want to take right now. 
• Pesto pizza rolls (featuring pesto): I've made this before, and both the previous and this time I crammed way too much cheese in here 😅
Otherwise I don't think this is particularly unhealthy. It also works well with 50% whole wheat flour.

Lastly but certainly not the least, I made some fermented goodies:

This has got to be the most stock photo-like photo I've taken

The little jars are chayote kimchi per Maangchi, and the big jar is preserved lemon. I've been thinking of making kimchi for literal years and somehow my first stab at it is with chayote haha. It turned out pretty well, not as sour as I like tho. I left the red jar alone to see how long it'll take to turn properly sour, will check in another month.

consistent

I'm so, sooo glad that I did my masters right after undergrad (and did not pursue a PhD). Studying for the PPE right now and it hurts. Studying is sooooooo painful now 😭 it makes me 怀疑人生 or at least question how the hell did I make it through all the schooling.

I channeled my best legal impression by writing the sentence below for a report, but luckily it got edited out so I can post a screenshot:

but oh boy I can't wait for this exam to be over with. It's kinda weird, I've never studied with the goal of passing, it's always been to get the best possible grade. So I don't have a good benchmark for how much can I not know in order to just pass. This uncertainty is very stressful...

...

I've been watching more and more fashion/beauty youtubers that speak in Mandarin. It's a win win: they are super informative, I won't sound like a dumbass when shopping in China, and I can somewhat keep up with the current Chinese slang.

mean something

Peachy delivers yet again:

Poor Economics

I finished Poor Economics a while ago. It's a good and well written book, but I feel rather ambivalent about it. It's good in that it

• presents a balanced view point (like Evicted)
• has good summaries at the end of each chapter but also a good conclusions chapter
• conclusions contain relatively practical recommendations

Maybe I feel a bit jaded reading this? Or that I read too several books on the same topic in the near past? I was surprised (and feel bad) about my apathetic reaction. However I'm also glad I read it because the previous books has been an US centric pov whereas this one is from an international development pov. Reminds me of capstone, especially all the emphasis they placed on community consultation. I didn't really understand during the course, thinking that this is an engineering capstone why are we focusing so much energy on community consultation. But I'm appreciating it now. 

...

Also read Palaces for People a longer while ago and didn't think enough of it to make a separate post. It's also not bad, but its preaching to the choir for me. It did made me recognize how big of a role the public library played in my elementary to high school days. In fact, the day I recall as I've worked the hardest in a single day is when I was studying for my grade 12 with a bunch of friends at the basement level of the library. I think we all met up in the morning and stayed until dinner time. It's nice when something brings up a distant memory heh.