Sophisticated Adventure

Back to work already...Damn

2009-08-30T23:06:00.000-07:00

So I took the final week off of my vacation and made it a staycation. I had a lot of things that I wanted to do and get done but not enough time to do it so I thought by taking a week off, I should be able to catch up.

Well, let me tell you something. A week is not enough because there just seem to be more and more things to do! I am writing this at 11pm on Sunday night, my vacation is over and I'm going back to work tomorrow. Really. This is ridiculous. I had accomplished a lot of things over this past week and yet I still have lots to do. What the heck?

Let's do a recap of the past week, shall we?

Friday - After work, went to Richmond to get paint supplies from my dad; went to a designer sunglasses sale, didn't find one I like; went and bought paint from Home Depot

Saturday - Jason and I started painting my bedroom, after moving everything out into the living room; I didn't like the colour of the trim so we went back to Home Depot to get a different colour and bought the paint for the bathroom; painted the bathroom, after moving everything out into the kitchen; was going to a Couchsurfing BBQ, but skipped that in favour of making the final two recipes for the Whip-It-Up challenge

Sunday - Christiane, Jason and I went to the Spend-on-Trend show; Christiane and I then headed to Spanish Banks for some beach volleyball and BBQ; went to play the last league games at Urban Beach; wrote the final two blogs for the Whip-it-Up challenge

Monday - organized and cleaned the bedroom; set up interviews for work; decided on colours for the kitchen and living room; went into work to get ready for the interviews; met with Roeina for dessert at Moxie's to catch up on the past few months

Tuesday - went to Concord Pacific presentation centre to find out about Smart in Gastown for Roeina; went to work to sort out some stuff; went indoor rock climbing with Christiane; picked up kitchen paint; came home and painted the trims; taped for painting for tomorrow; cleaned and organized the bathroom

Wednesday - went into work for a couple of interviews; met up with Sally for lunch to catch up on the past few months; went for a Thai yoga massage with Barb at the new Flow Yoga Studio on Burrard and used the infrared sauna; went home and painted the kitchen with Jason

Thursday - went into work for more interviews; had my haircut and highlights; went to a networking event at the Edge restaurant with Roeina and Jenn; went to Favourites at Lonsdale Quay with Christiane for the fall preview; went for dinner at Goldfish with Theresa, Christiane, Megan and Tracy; went to the Opus Pool Party with Christiane and Megan; went and met up with Theresa and Tracy at the Cellar; met a couple of interesting guys whom we hung out and chatted until 4am

Friday - woke up late due to the late night; puttered around the house; won tickets to Steve Porter at Celebrities; caught up with all the PVRed shows; debated between going shopping and cleaning; went to Steve Porter at Celebrities; great Dj, not so great crowd - not what I expected Celebrities to like at all

Saturday -went to a clothing sale; went to a yard sale; went for dim sum in Richmond with my family to celebrate my dad's birthday; went to meet a girl from Craigslist to try on sunglasses - don't like it; went shopping with my brothers; ended up at Winner's where I scored a Samsonite Black Label Vintage collection laptop case/carry on for $130 - it retails at over $250; went to my dentist appointment to get my checkup and clean; went for a facial; went to my parents' for dinner and Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake; went home and vegged

Sunday - went consignment shopping over town, scored 11 items for $154; went home and worked on blog; went to see Julie & Julia with Laura; ate a lot of popcorn; went home and realized my week of staycation is over

Damn...where the heck did the time go? My living room is still a mess as I only put back the items I want to keep for the bedroom and bathroom so now everything is in my living room. I can't change the carpet yet as it turns out they are stapled and glued so this will be a bigger project than anticipated. I already have a long list of things to do for work tomorrow and an longer list for home!

*Sigh* I'm going to bed now to get a good night's sleep so that I can tackle the week. Thank goodness I'm going to Hawaii next week!

Consignment shopping rocks!

2009-08-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

Today was a very good day for shopping. After dragging myself out of the house, I debated between going to buy my living room colour paint and painting or going shopping. Some of you may be surprised to hear that it was actually a debate and I was actually tempted to paint!

In the end, I decided to check out some of the consignment stores around town and boy was I glad I did! I found some great bargains, all in all, 11 items for about $154!

So here's the run-down:
* Pink Kate Spade bag - $24.00
* Pink Kate Spade clutch - $21.00
* Blue Kenneth Cole blouse - $28.00
* Blue Sakura dress - $6.00
* Black hairband - $10.00
* Hairband with feathers - $10.00
* Hairclip with flower - $8.00
* La Senza bra & panty set - $25.00
* White capri pants - $5.00
* Blue flowered blouse - $5.00

All that from today's haul! If you were paying attention, you noticed that I didn't mention the red Samsonite luggage in the top right corner. That's because that's not from today's consignment spree; that was from Winner's yesterday. I found this red laptop carry-on case from Samsonite's Black Label Vintage Collection for $130! This retails for over $250! I LOVE this! I now have a multi-purpose carry-on bag for all my traveling needs. I can't wait to use it when I got to Honolulu next week. :)

Time flies

2009-08-28T21:35:00.000-07:00

Really, where the heck did the time go??? It's now Friday night, technically the last day of my vacation and my little home renovation project is nowhere near completion! *Sigh*

Oh well, at least I made good use of this week off, even though I went into work 4 days out of the 5 (will elaborate in another post). Right now, I am feeling out of sorts, cramp-y and not at all that great. To top that off, I'm heading out to Celebrities Night Club to hear Steve Porter spin. I would have probably stayed at home and be in bed by now if I did not win tickets on Twitter (Thanks clubZoneVan!). So I'll put my brave face on, check out this DJ, whom I've heard great reviews, and then crash into bed in a few hours. It will be a much earlier night than last night (again, this will be elaborated in another post).

So my intentions to keep this blog updated has be left by the wayside but I still have two more days and as you can see from above, there are already at least two posts on the way.

So wish me luck and hope that I will survive this night without a breakdown. Damn, I'm getting old!

Whip-It-Up: Week 8

2009-08-23T23:45:00.000-07:00

Here we are, at the end of the Whip-It-Up challenge. I can’t believe it’s been 8 weeks and I am so psyched that I completed it! Woohoo!

The final week’s theme is Take-Out and the first things that came to mind are Chinese food, pizza, sushi and other ethnic cuisine. I debated between the various foods and after eliminating pizza and sushi, I decided on Indian, Chinese or Thai.

I did a search for the various cuisines and found a pretty delicious one for Sweet & Sour Pork. This is one of the most common Chinese foods, one that everyone knows. So here it is!

Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless pork loin
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 medium green pepper, cut into 1" pieces
1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges
1 (15 1/4-oz). can pineapple chunks in juice
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 tbsps. cornstarch
2 tbsps. soy sauce

Directions:
* Partially freeze pork. Cut across the grain into 2 1/2 × 2 1/4-inch strips; set aside.
* Preheat a wok or large skillet over high heat; add oil.
* Stir-fry green pepper and onion in hot oil for 2-3 minutes or till crisp-tender.
* Remove from wok. Add more oil, if necessary. Add half the pork to wok; stir-fry until browned. Remove pork; stir-fry the remaining pork. * Return all pork to wok; keep warm.
* Drain pineapple, reserving juice. In a small saucepan combine the juice, brown sugar, vinegar, cornstarch and soy sauce. Bring to a boil; cook about 1 minute or till thickened, stirring constantly.
* Return green pepper and onion to wok. Stir in pineapple and the thickened pineapple juice mixture.
* Cook and stir until heated through. Serve with rice, if desired.

I have a feeling I bought the wrong kind of pork loin but it still works! The sauce was surprisingly easy to make and it turned out really well.

This recipe was easier than I thought it will be so I was stoked. It was delicious and definitely tasted like sweet & sour pork! I would definitely make the sauce again and the next time, I think I will try it with beef.

So this brings us to the end of the Whip-It-Up challenge. I can’t believe that 8 weeks have gone by and I’m done! I am very glad that I decided to do this. This experience has made me more curious about cooking in general and I realized that I actually like it! I’m looking forward to trying more complicated and intricate recipes in the future.

Who knows? There may be more food blogging coming up, so stay tuned!

Whip-It-Up: Week 7

2009-08-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

Boy, have I been procrastinating on updating my blog! It’s been a very busy and packed couple of weeks. I promised I will bring everyone up to day, especially since I have a week’s vacation next week so yay!

First things first. I had to skip last’s week’s Whip-It-Up challenge because I had a beach volleyball tournament all day on Saturday. ThereforeI had to make it up this week.

Week 7’s theme is a recipe from your favourite chef. Well, since I just started cooking this year, I don’t exactly have a favourite chef! So my plan was to pick a recipe from a famous chef. There are many chefs to pick from but I managed to pick one: Thomas Keller!

I’ve always been a fan of Thomas Keller, especially when I found out he was the consultant for the Disney, Ratatouille. So onto to find a Thomas Keller recipe that I can make without too much apprehension: what do I find? This totally cool video which made me so psyched! I am so making this without any doubts!

Here it is: Late night BLT Sandwich with fried egg and cheese AKA the greatest sandwich in the world!

3 to 4 thick slices bacon
2 slices Monterey jack cheese
2 slices pain de campagne (rustic country loaf) toasted
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
4 slices tomato
2 leaves butter lettuce
1 teaspoon butter
1 egg

* Cook the bacon until crisp, drain on paper towels and set aside
* Place the slices of cheese on one slice of toasted bread and place in a toaster over or under a broiler to melt the cheese
* Spread the other slice of toast with the mayonnaise, top with the cooked bacon, the sliced tomato and the lettuce
* In a nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Fry the egg, turning over briefly when the bottom is set. (keep the yolk runny!)
* Slide the finished egg on top of the lettuce.
* Top with the other slice of toast, melted cheese side down.
* Place the sandwich on a plate and slice in half, letting the yolk run down the sandwich.

Once again, I decided to adjust the recipe a little by adding a mushroom and using a Scandinavian Hearty Bread as opposed to a rustic country loaf. This is one of those recipes that can be altered to your heart’s content and anyone can make it!

This recipe was super easy to make and it was sooooooooo delicious! It was definitely one of the best sandwiches I have ever made and I will definitely be making this again…especially since I have a whole loaf of bread left!

Only one more recipe left in this challenge! Wow!

Whip-It-Up: Week 6

2009-08-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

Here we are at week 6 of the Whip-It-Up. Wow, only two more weeks to go! I'm really happy with what I've done so far and the biggest and best thing about this challenge is that it made me want to cook and make recipes that I've never done before. :)

Ok, onto week 6. This week's theme is appetizers. I've decided to do smoked salmon canapés. With the help of Google (how did we ever live without Google?!), I found this recipe that I quite like.

It is a very easy recipe with only a few steps and ingredients. I didn't mince the onions as I'm not a fan of onions and I got rye crackers instead of bread because I didn't want it too heavy.

I did two versions; one with the crackers as the base, the other with cucumber as the base. Both versions were very pretty and tasted delicious!

I would definitely make this recipe again, especially if I'm having a dinner or cocktail party. :)

Next week it's a recipe from a famous chef. That should be interesting!

Increased interest in physical activities

2009-08-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

Laura and I went to the Marble Slab for some ice cream. And let me tell you, this is not just ice cream, it's make-your-own creation with your own flavour of ice cream AND your choice of mixin. There were so many kinds of flavours and toppings that it's hard to choose!

Laura made a fast decision with a white chocolate raspberry Swirl in a waffle cone with dark chocolate. I ended up with a Swiss chocolate ice cream with Butterfinger, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and chocolate fudge in a waffle cone with Oreo cookie crumbs. Oh wow, it was delicious and huge! I think next time, I should share one with someone. :/

We walked down to English Bay to catch up on boy stories and while we were there, a Capoeira group was performing! We went to check them out and they were great! They made me want to take classes, which is something I wanted to do last year but never did. I made a note of their website and checked it out when I got home.

While searching for Capoeira classes, I remembered that Coal Harbour Community Centre had them last summer. They do! But since I missed the summer classes, I'm hoping that they have them in the Fall. From there, I checked out the Roundhouse Community Centre and found out they have fencing and kickboxing classes and I got excited. I've always wanted to try both, so two more things to check out in the Fall.

Hopefully, this increased interest in physical activities continues as I would love to get back into shape and be more fit.

Whip-It-Up: Week 5

2009-08-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Here we are at week 5 of Whip-It-Up. Can you believe it? I’m over half-way done the 8-week challenge! Woo-hoo! :D

So for week 5, the theme is “Spicy”. The first thing that came to my mind was curry, but then I had a spicy meatball at Deuce Bungalow during the Granville Showcase last Saturday and it was like a light bulb went off in my head. I’m going to make spicy meatballs!

Next step was to look for a recipe, so off to Google and I found one here. The recipe has a lot of ingredients, but I think it’s manageable.

As usual I did some substitutions to the ingredients so here there are:
* No sugar
* Oats instead of breadcrumbs
* No flour
* Added chorizo sausages

The changes were not that drastic so I don’t think it will affect the recipe. I want to add chorizo sausages because Nick, a chef from work, suggested it and said it would add more flavour. We’ll see!

The preparation for the sauce and meatballs were straight forward. From all the mincing in this recipe, I should have bought that Good Grip Mini-Chopper I saw in the Bay! That’s the next item on my shopping list. :)

This is also the first time I used the new wet and dry measuring cups that Theresa bought for me! It’s so exciting that I actually can make proper and exact measurements! I can’t wait to make that tuxedo cake again!

Ok back to the meatballs. Everything was going along swimmingly well until the part where I had to puree the sauce in the blender. Well, apparently either there was too much sauce or I was not strong enough. The top popped off and I burned myself! Doh!

After I cleaned up and ran my hands in cold water, I moved onto the meatballs. Once again, the lack of cookware is popping up again. I ended up using the pot to cook the meatball as I don’t have a large pan. It actually wasn’t too bad and worked pretty well.

The end results? Delicious spicy meatballs! Honestly, these were tasty and with just the right kick of spiciness, especially since with the extra meat, which probably took the original level of spiciness down. If you like it more spicy, just add more chilies and cayenne etc. This recipe was quite easy to follow and I would definitely make it again in the future.

I am really enjoying this challenge, more than I had expected. I’m learning more about myself in that I can cook and that I enjoy cooking more that I thought I would! I think I would continue to cook after the challenge is over and that is a good thing. :)

Next week’s theme is appetizers, which means a lot of possibilities. So until then, enjoy the sunshine and keep cool.

Heat Wave

2009-07-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

If you live in Vancouver, the "HOT" topic last week was the weather. We had an unbelievable heat wave, with temperatures hitting mid 30s (Celsius), which for Vancouver is just not normal! For us Vancouverites, hitting mid 20s is high so can you imagine mid 30s? Wow!

Now I was born in Singapore, where temperatures in the 30s are normal, so I loved the heat, especially since it was a dry heat, not humid. However, you know it is DEFINITELY too hot when I succumb to the heat, which I did on Thursday. It was crazy because I was fine and loving the heat all week when on Thursday, I felt out-of-sync and like I was going to pass out, so I went home. For the rest of the day and the next day, I had no energy and I had to fight to stay cool. I finally felt better by Friday afternoon.

So the lesson learned here: I need to drink more water and stay cool.

Rant!

2009-07-26T22:21:00.000-07:00

You have been warned, this is a rant. So if you don't want to read it, move on! :)

Ok, so I've joined this 4's team on Sundays at Urban Beach. First of all, I thought it was 6's so when I found out it was 4's, I was excited. Then I found out that they're in Pool "A", which is competitive so I was doubly excited. I couldn't wait to play and hopefully improve my skills.

Now, after 3 weeks, I am annoyed because I have yet to play with a full team yet. The last two weeks, the other girl didn't show up!!! Not only does that mean we are short a player, we had to play down 4 points right away.

Let me tell you, playing with only 3 players in a 4's game is difficult! First, there is a lot more open space to cover. Then, because there is more space to cover, it's more difficult to get good passes, good sets, good hits, good rallies, etc, etc. It's a vicious cycle because it's a domino effect. Once we get down on ourselves, it's hell to get it back up.

I was hoping so hard that we will actually get a full team tonight, but alas, it's not meant to be. Not only did the girl not show up, one of the guys didn't either!!!!!! So now we only had TWO players. TWO!!! For a 4's league. WTF??? It is SOOOOO annoying and frustrating and I am bloody pissed off. I did not sign up for this nor did I pay to play on a half-ass team. I want to play and play well, not all this people not showing up crap.

Next week is the long weekend, so no volleyball. Hopefully, in the next two weeks, we can find a full team. Otherwise, you may see another rant. Blah!

Whip-It-Up: Week 3

2009-07-25T14:28:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, I made and posted Week 4 for Whip-It-Up before Week 3, but it works! :)

Week 3's theme was Regional Favourites. I wasn't sure what I should do and my friend, Aileen, suggested Salt Spring mussels. Well, I love mussels, so I thought, why not?

I found a recipe online that seemed relatively easy and tasty. I went and shopped for all the ingredients I need but for some reason, I can't find creme fraiche! So I asked Nick, a chef at work, where he thought I could buy some and he suggested a couple of places to go. He also suggested I go to The Lobster Man, a store on Granville Island that specializes in seafood to get the mussels.

The Lobster Man was a cool store!!! They have all these bins with various oysters, clams and mussels, kinda like those bulk bins at gorcery stores. They have quite a few variety of oystersa and I really wanted to get some but I would have to shuck them myself and I wasn't ready for that yet! While I was there, I decided to add some clams to my mussels cause I love clams too. It's the first of a number of changes I made to the recipe.

So what were the other changes? Let's see:
* I didn't get parsley as I figure they were more a decorative thing and not essential
* I couldn't find creme fraiche and Cory, another chef from work, said I can use a mixture of sour cream and cream cheese as a substitute (who knew!!)
* I didn't use celery because I don't like it!
* I didn't get fresh thyme, I used dry thyme instead

I did get white wine, but since I didn't want to use an expensive wine, I got one that was recommended by the salesperson at The Kitsilano Wine Cellar. It's called Painted Turtle andit only costed $6.50. Perfect! (I also bought a Pinot Gris and a Sangiovese! Mmmm...)

Ok, getting sidetracked. Back to cooking...The recipe was actually quite easy to follow, the only issue was that it didn't specify how much bay leave to use, it just said "half"! Half? Half of what? Half a leaf? Half a bag? Geez...I'm just going to use a few leaves.

With that issue solved, I moved on from that and started my prep. I put the mussels and clams into bowls of cold water to clean them and started cutting the onion, etc. Surprising, the prep work is minimal, the most work was cleaning and debearding the mussels. Much easier than baking! lol

Cooking the mussels and clams were also simple. The recipe was very easy and it only took me about 30min of cooking before I was ready to eat!

First I brown the butter, then add the onions, wait for them to become clear, then add the mussels and clams. Then I add the wine, then the herbs, then finally the mixture of sour cream and cream cheese. 20 minutes later, I was done.

The finished meal was amazing! The sauce/soup tasted delicious and the mussels and clams tender and juicy. I am soooo proud of myself! I actually cooked mussels and clams, something I didn't I could do easily at home. Now that I've done it, I know I can do it, I am definitely making them again.

Now I'm getting ready to go to Carla's for the BBQ and I'm bringing a steak!

Whip-It-Up: Week 4

2009-07-23T23:30:00.000-07:00

Week 4's theme was Healthy Options. This theme is quite timely as Jason just started his cleanse. The cleanse he is doing is one where he is allowed only veggies and meat! This is an interesting "diet", I think it would be fun to try it one day. I will write a post about my thoughts on this cleanse another time.

Ok, back to Whip-It-Up. For some reason the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the theme was Lettuce Wraps. Consider the fact that not only do I think this will be a easy recipe, it will be a healthy and delicious one too! So, onto the Internet to search for a good recipe and I found one here.

The list of ingredients was short and simple, the directions the same. This definitely makes the questions of whether the recipe was easy to follow an easy one to answer!

The only glitch came when I realized I don't own a wok so it make stir-frying a little different! But I managed with the biggest saucepan I have and it turned out fine.

The wraps were easy to modify too. Since Jason can't eat carbs, I didn't add the noodles to the stir-fry, instead I cooked the noodles after and added to my wraps separately. Since I love mushrooms, I sautéed some and added them as well.

The wraps were tasty AND surprising filling too. I would definitely make them again. Now that I know what to do, I would probably just get a bunch of ingredients I like and put them together instead of following a recipe.

Until next week when we tackle the theme of Spicy!

Sports

2009-07-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

This summer, I've decided to get back into sports again after a 3-year absence. For those of you who don't know, in 2006, while I was planning my year-long trip, I fell out of love with sports. I stop watching, lost the desire to play and generally felt like I was closing the sport chapter of my life story and moving onto other things.

All through my trip, I've played some sports here and there, whenever the opportunity came up, but it was never a big part. I actually took up running (or in reality, jogging!) when I was in Australia. I felt this impulse to go for a run by the river in Melbourne, so I did. It was nice and I guess my body felt it needed to do something to keep active while traveling. Of course, I haven't been on a run since I got back to Vancouver! :/

When I came back to Vancouver in 2008, I didn't feel like I was really back, I felt like I was still traveling. (Now that I think about it, I still don't feel like I'm back! :/) That year was a year of adjusting; trying to figure out if I should stay in Vancouver or move to a different city, what I want to do, work wise, etc etc. In fact that year went by in such a blur that I still wonder where it went! Needless to say, sports were not high on my priority list.

Now, halfway through 2009, I felt the urge to play sports again. There was this restless feeling in my body that started a month ago. Summer is in full swing and I really want to be active again. When I left in 2007, my friends all found players to fill my spot and so now, I don't really have a team to play with. The most difficult part about playing sports for me is finding a team to play as most teams have been together for years.

So I did the easiest thing and that was to check out Urban Rec's website to see if they have any teams looking for a sub or player. While on there, I found out that they have a flag football league at UBC and they accept individual players! Yes! That was exactly what I was looking for plus I've always wanted to play flag football. So I signed up and as you know from my previous posts here and here, it has been super fun, the team is great and we're 5 and 0! We all get along and we gelled really quickly so it is fantastic!

After the success of finding a team for flag football, my next task was to find a beach volleyball team. As you read in my previous post, I found a team that was looking for a female player for the Whistler tournament AND a team for league play. Whistler was fun and I am glad to be playing volleyball again. :)

The beach volleyball team I play with is actually coed 4's in the "A" pool at Urban Beach. I was quite excited because I much prefer playing 4's to 6's AND this would be the first time I've played with a team that is in the competitive "A" pool! The only down side is that we're playing at Urban Beach, which I've nicknamed "Pseudo Beach" for it's in the middle of an industrial area and it's basically a layer of rough sand over concrete! But it is still beach volleyball so I can't complain too much. I've played for the past two weeks and both times, the second girl didn't show up!!! So not only are we only playing with 3 players, we have to start each game down by 4 points! :( Let me tell you, playing with only 3 players is hard, I don't care how good you are because there is more open court for the other time take advantage and more difficult to set up good plays. Of course, it could simply be the fact that we are playing in the "A" pool or that I haven't played in years but I don't think so, I am not that bad!!! :P Sure hope this mystery girl shows up this Sunday!

So now, I am playing flag football every Tuesday until the end of August and pseudo-beach volleyball on Sundays. It's not too much and I actually would like to play one more night, preferably at Jericho or Spanish Banks so I'll keep checking to see if anyone is looking for a sub or something.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying my return to sports and I hope to get better, fitter and healthier by the end of the summer. :)

Whip-It-Up: Falling behind!

2009-07-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm behind on the Whip-It-Up challenge and it's only just started! :/ So I have to do 2 recipes this week to catch up.

This challenge really is making me cook more than I have ever in my entire life! I mean, I actually baked a cake! It is pretty fun but it also makes me realize that I am unprepared to be a cook, since I am lacking in some essential kitchen equipment, such as a measuring cup, pans and woks, etc.

I think I may have to think about investing in some essential kitchen equipment. Does anyone know of any good but inexpensive places to buy kitchen stuff?

Summer!!!

2009-07-20T09:46:00.000-07:00

The weather hit high 20s this week. I think it even hit 30 this past weekend, which is awesome in my opinion as it means summer is officially here!

I have heard so many comments about the heat and here I am, happy as a clam. I guess being from Singapore, which is next to the Equator, I'm used to high temperatures. In fact, Singapore is probably worse since it's hot AND humid.

I love it. I love the sun and the heat. The only complain I have about the weather is that I don't feel like working! :/ Sure wish I could take the summer off like I did back in school! Either that or win the lottery. :D

Procastination

2009-07-19T23:26:00.000-07:00

Ok, I admit it. I am a big time procrastinator. I thought that maybe I kicked the habit but I was wrong. It has been a week since I posted and I could have posted a lot of things over the weekend but I was feeling lazy.

So I promised, this week, there will be a surplus of posts, especially since I still have to make 2 recipes!

Wish me luck!

Whip-It-Up: Week 2

2009-07-14T23:59:00.000-07:00

If you have been following this blog, you may have noticed that I didn't post a recipe last week for Whip-It-Up. The reason was because of my volleyball-filled weekend as mentioned in my previous post. So I used my free pass and now have to make 2 recipes this week.

Week 2's theme was "Guilty Pleasures". I had a craving for cake for the last month, specifically the cake I had from Urban Fare last year. They called it a tuxedo cake so of course I had to find a recipe for it. I found a few different cakes, all called tuxedo cakes, so I picked one that sounded yummy. It's called a Tuxedo Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting and Chocolate Glaze. Take a look and tell me you're not drooling like I was!

I had actually bought all the ingredients last week but due to the fully packed weekend that I didn't know I had since I didn't know I was playing in Whistler until Thursday. I finally found the time to make the cake on Monday, after borrowing a few pieces of equipment from Jason (baking pans and mixer!) The recipe itself isn't difficult; the difficult part was measuring as I totally forgot I don't have a measuring cup!!! :/

I had previously measure what a cup is, so I have a very educated guess on the amount needed for all the ingredients for this cake. But I have to admit that not having a measuring cup is probably not helping make this baking process any easier. I was making a 2-layer cake but ended up with a lot of more batter!

I had thought that it won't take that long to make this recipe but what I forgot was that I had to wait for the cake to cool before I can put the frosting on and THEN I have to wait some more before putting the glaze on. Not only that, I can't make the glaze until I'm ready to put it on the cake. So I ended up making the cake and frosting but leaving the glaze till the next day.

After football, I came home and made the glaze. Again, because I didn't have a measuring cup, the glace seemed to turn out a little thinner than I thought it would be. It definitely had no problems running down the sides of the cake. It was also very sweet and not as chocolate-ty as I thought it would be, so I think I put too much syrup and not enough chocolate.

As you can see with the photos, I ended up with two round layers and one rectangular layer so I make one 2-layer round cake and I cut the rectangular layer in half and made one 2-layer rectangular cake. All my friends and possibly even my staff at work will get some sweet treats this week. :) They may not look exactly like the cake shown with the recipe, but they still look pretty darn good!

All in all, this was really fun and the cakes turned out pretty good for my first attempt at baking a cake! It was very sweet and not for the faint-of-heart. I definitely will make this recipe again. It was easy to follow and was not as difficult as I thought it might be, especially if I have the proper equipment and use the exact measurements!

Now I have to decide on a second recipe this week for week 3. The theme is "Regional Favourites". If you have any suggestions, feel free to pass them on!

Achy achy body

2009-07-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's almost 10:30pm on Sunday and I am one achy gal!

I woke up at 5:30am on Saturday and drove up to Whistler after grabbing a hot chocolate to give myself some energy. It is quite amazing how many people were around at 6am on Davie Street and even more amazing, the coffee shops were open!

The drive up to Whistler is one I have not done in years and I have to say, driving up in the early morning is the best as there were barely anyone on the road plus the constructions were not happening and it was smooth sailing until about 15minutes south of Whistler Village then it was slow going due to construction.

I arrived at 7:45am and I was the only there besides the staff. A little surprising, since the tournament was supposed to start at 8am! I hung around, waiting for people to show up and checking to see who I'm playing with. I met Rob, whose team I'm playing on on Sunday nights at Urban Beach, caught up with Nat, Connie, Herb, Kevin and Chris.

I waited at the court I was supposed to play at but still no team. It seemed a little strange so I went over to the organizers and asked if my team shown up yet. It turns out they were moved to a different court! So I went over and met Blake and the rest of the team.

It was definitely an awesome day for volleyball. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and a breeze was blowing every so often. We actually won 6 games and lost 2 games but it was mostly for fun and it was great to get back to playing volleyball again.

After the tournament, I went to hang out at the pool with Nat, Connie, Herb, Kevin and Chris. It was nice to have a dip in the cool water after the hot day and to soak our achy muscles in the hot tub.

So I decided not to stay overnight in Whistler as I wanted to go to Carla's BBQ and also because I wanted to go to the fun 4-on-4 beach tourney at Spanish Banks on Sunday. The drive back to Vancouver was actually pretty good as I had the convertible top down and it was beautiful weather. It was definitely busier than coming up, with more traffic and delays but it was still good.

I went to Carla's and enjoy a BBQ with the girls and Rhonda even drove up from Seattle, yay! I was so tired that I only stayed for an hour and I went home to get some sleep. We'll hang out more next time!

Along came Sunday and I got ready for the 4-on-4 fun tourney by getting the venti double chocolate chip frappe from Starbucks. Goodness gracious but that is one huge drink!

I got there just after 11am and it was a pretty nice day, but a little windy. As the day went on, the sun disappeared behind clouds and the wind picked up. We didn't really start playing until almost 2pm because we were waiting for more people and also for a second net. It was really fun to get back into beach volleyball again AND we won all our games! I'm glad I decided to come...

Until Sunday night when I went to play my first league game in three years! The team I join is actually in the 'A' division and the second girl didn't show up!!! So we ended up playing 3-on-4! After playing all day on Saturday up in Whistler and then again on Sunday, I was dying on the court! Guess I'm definitely older now and my body protesting! Well, I learned my lesson - no more playing 2 days in a row. :/

So now I'm heading to bed and I am going to sleep well tonight!

Busy weekend coming up!

2009-07-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

It's Friday and I'm trying to organize everything cause I found out last night that I'm going be playing in the Whistler Grass Tournament on Saturday. So I had figure out whether I'm driving up on Friday night or Saturday morning, in my car or borrow my brother's car, stay over or not, man! It's a lot of figuring out!

I also had to figure out when I'm going to make my tuxedo cake, since I am now going to be in Whistler all day Saturday, hoping to go to Carla's BBQ on Saturday night and playing beach volleyball all day Sunday AND Sunday night! I may have to use my "free pass" and make TWO recipes next week and skip this week.

I went to Urban Fare with Jason to pick up some last minute items for the tuxedo cake plus water for tomorrow. We walked by the bulk Callebaut chocolate section and I debated about getting some instead of using the 100% cocoa chocolate bar I got from Paris.

As we walked to the checkouts, I said to Jason "So I guess I shouldn't use the chocolates I got from Paris for baking, eh?" As soon as I said it, I thought to myself "Wow! I sound like such a jet-setter!". And it totally showed that I am so NOT a baker! So I went back and got the bulk Callebaut chocolate. :D

Now it's time for bed since I have to get up early to drive up to Whistler in time for the 8am start to the tournament! Gosh, I sure hope I get up in time!

Couple of pretty packed days

2009-07-09T23:25:00.000-07:00

Whew! It has been a pretty packed fun couple of days.

Yesterday was my day off and I had lunch with Laura at Granville Island where she had her lunch attacked by a seagull! I gave myself a bruise because it made me jumped! It was definitely a funny experience. :)

After the seagull attack, I went off to do a few errands and grocery shopping for ingredients for my second recipe for the Whip-It-Up challenge and I have decided to make a Tuxedo cake as I have been craving a good cake for a while. This will definitely qualify as "guilty pleasures"! I didn't really look too closely at the recipe yet, just the ingredients list, so I don't know how difficult it will be but we will fin out!

Once I got home and put everything away, I realized that I was late to pick up Karen to go to a Miss Sixty VIP event with cocktails and special sales! Darn! So I hurried and we got to the store in time for some white wine sangria and a look at some of the clothes. There were some interesting items but nothing that caught my eye or fit my budget! Karen did find some stuff she wanted to try on so she decided to stay while I had to leave to pick up Nathalie to go to Anton's for our Breast Cancer Organizing Committee windup dinner.

For those of you who have not been to Anton's, be forewarned, the portions are insanely huge! The menu is also quite extensive; it took us a long time to finally decide on our choices.

I chose the chicken, mushrooms and pine nuts risotto and I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. I've heard that Anton's was known for its huge portions, not for the high quality of the pasta but this was a very good risotto and we all know how hard it is to make good risotto.

Nathalie had the house special stuff pasta, Carla had the Bombay penne and Tricia had the seafood linguine. All were delicious so I think we will definitely go back again. There are many other dishes we would like to try!

After finishing maybe 1/5 of our meal, we waved the white flag and called it quits. We had the rest of our meals packed up and now we had enough leftover pasta to last us for a couple of days at least!

From there, it was onto the Lamplighter Pub for Erik's birthday drinks. I have never been to Lamplighter before so it was interesting to check out a new place. They had a live band, a pretty nice interior and it was not what I had expected. Another pleasant surprise!

Once I found Erik and his friends, I asked him what he was drinking so that I can buy him a birthday drink. Then I decided that a shot was a better idea so I went off to get two tequila shots. Sorry Erik, but I started a trend as a muff diver shot showed up shortly after and then 3 of his friends bought him a vodka shot and two jaeger shots all in a row! :D It was a fun night chatting and listening to the band and playing pool. I called it a night around midnight as I have to work in the morning.

Today, work was BUSY. It was so busy at lunchtime that we had people waiting for tables and everyone was running around. I worked straight through till 5pm and couldn't wait to get some food as I hadn't eaten all day.

Theresa picked me up and we went back to my place for some pizza and "So you think you can dance" not to mention catching up on the last couple of weeks. We also went to say hi to my neighbour, Tara, who has a pug, George, whom Theresa was hoping to meet as she loves pugs.

All in all, it's been a fun-filled couple of days and it looks like this weekend is going to be a sports-filled weekend as I'm now going up to Whistler for the grass volleyball tournament on Saturday and then to Spanish Banks for a fun beach volleyball tourney and to Urban Beach to play my first league game in about 2 years. I am looking forward to getting back into sports again and it should be a fun weekend. :)

3 and 0 Baby!

2009-07-07T23:38:00.000-07:00

Wow! So we are now 3 and 0 baby! Undefeated! It was fantastic! *Victory dance* We won both games of our double-header, the first game was close, with us winning by a touchdown and the second with more breathing room, with us winning by over 4 touchdowns! Our team of individuals is really playing well as a team. Yay!

Tonight, I survived playing two flag football games in the rain on 7 hours of sleep and double shifts. I worked till midnight last night and had to be back at work again at 8:30am. I wasn't as sharp mentally as I could have been and the rain definitely did not help as it made everything dark and gloomy and my cleats wet and heavy.

But all things considering, I played pretty well, with a catch and run plus a hand off. I think I played much better on defense this time, with a couple of good defensive plays that almost resulted in interceptions and one quarterback rush that ended with me diving on the wet field!

The hot bath felt awesome and now I'm ready for a good night's sleep in my comfy bed. Thank goodness I have the day off tomorrow! =)

Getting back into organized sports

2009-07-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've played any organized sports. Not since before I left for my trip actually. That's almost 2.5 years ago! This summer, I made a conscious effort to be more active and to start playing sports again. With that in mind, I signed up for Urban Rec's coed flag football league as an individual.

The reasons for this are as follows:

1) I've never play flag football but always wanted to

2) I used to play beach volleyball and love it but when I went traveling, I lost my spot on the teams I play on and so signing up as an individual was a lot easier than trying to find a team

3) I pride myself as a pretty good athlete and wanted to see if I can play a sport that that predominately male oriented

So I commit myself to 8 weeks of football every Tuesday a UBC. Last week was my first game and let me just say it did not start off well.

First of all, I got lost. I went to the arena instead of the stadium and the people I asked didn't really know where the stadium was! It is quite interesting to note that I ALWAYS get lost at UBC. I don't know whether it's because I went to SFU and it's the rivalry but I don't like UBC. I never have and never will!

After wandering around for 15min, I finally found the stadium. By then I was warmed up, having jogged and walked around campus. I found the team I was playing and jumped right in.

It was really fun! Our quarterback, Erik, knew what he was doing and did a great job there. I had a chance to play both offence and defense and I definitely preferred to play offence. :D

I went 2-for-4, making 2 catches and scoring one touchdown, not bad for my first game! Bear with me while I do a little touchdown dance!

It was a thrilling game as we exchanged touchdowns back and forth and we actually won with a last-play touchdown! Woohoo! Oh yeah!

For a team with a bunch of strangers, we gelled quite quickly. I am definitely looking forward to tomorrow for a double-header. It should be fun!

Next sport, beach volleyball. I've always wanted to get back into beach volleyball again, but since all my friends who play have teams already and with me being out of the loop for over 2 years, trying to find a team will take a lot of energy that I just wasn't ready to tackle. Thank goodness for the Urban Rec's Facebook page where people can post to look for teams or players. I found a team that is looking for a female player on Sunday nights so I jumped at the chance to join the team.

I wasn't able to play yesterday as I had already committed myself to work but definitely from this Sunday onwards. I am definitely looking forward to getting back into beach volleyball as that has always been one of my favourite things to do in Vancouver during the summer. It is fun and you get to be on the beach in the summer and it is a great workout.

Looks like it's turning out to be a pretty active summer. Now if I can motivate myself to start going to yoga again, it will be perfect! :D

I can't believe it's July!

2009-07-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness! It's July! 2009 is half over, where on earth did the time go? I've been back in Vancouver for over 1.5 years and I STILL do not feel like I should be here. Does that mean that I'm not supposed to be here?

One of the reasons why I decided to set up a blog again was to give myself a place to talk about things that I needed feedback/opinions from, whether from friends or total strangers. Think of it as online therapy! For me, things just seem clearer once I talked about it or lay it all out as opposed to keeping it all in my head.

While getting this blog set up and sorting out information on my various social media sites, I came across the first blog I started over on MSN Live back in 2006. I quite enjoyed what I wrote and I like to keep it. Over the next little while, I will be reposting the entries from there to here so that everything is on one blog.

It would be fun to go back in time, even though it won't stop the present from marching on. Maybe along the way I can figure out why I still feel unsettled and restless.

Whip-It-Up: Week 1

2009-07-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

Today was an interesting day. I woke up at 7am and couldn't go back to sleep. So I got up and read a little Bill Bryson, added some photos to my previous posts and got ready for the day. I ran a bunch of errands, went shopping, had brunch and did the 1st recipe for Whip-It-Up.

I have to say, I was a little nervous as I've never really cooked before. I've made eggs and bacon and other breakfast items. I've made lots of salads (and I'm good at that), cooked the occasional pasta and pan-fried some beef and chicken before but I have never followed a recipe and made a meal.

With a little help from Jason, (he did the chopping of the onion, garlic and parsley plus the clean up!) I went for it. I have to admit, cooking wasn't too bad! During the process, I was a little stressed out by the mess in the kitchen but once I saw the finished product, I was stoked! It look great and it tasted pretty darn good, if I may say so myself. I was particularly proud of the chicken, as I was afraid I may have overcooked it but it was quite tasty. :)

The recipe was easy to follow, but I definitely would change some stuff to suit my taste. Also, the recipe for Easy Tomato Sauce resulted in way more sauce than indicated so I will definitely take that into account for next time.

I would definitely make this again in the future and now I know how to make breaded chicken! :) Now I have to think about what to make for next week...

Whip-It-Up: Recipe #1

2009-07-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

So...I had written the blog and was going to copy it for spell check when it just disappeared! :( All that typing and poof! Grrreeaatt...

Alright, let's try this again.

This is the first week of the Whip-It-Up challenge and after browsing through the cookbook I bought in Portland, “The Get ‘Em Girls’ Guide to the Power of Cuisine: Perfect Recipes for Spicing up Your Love Life”(what a great title!), I settled on the following recipe: Effortless Chicken Parmesan and Angel Hair Pasta. I decided to post the recipe first. Tomorrow I will make it and post the results and photos.

So here is the recipe!

Effortless Chicken Parmesan and Angel Hair Pasta

* 1 box 16oz angel hair pasta, uncooked (I couldn’t find angel hair pasta in the dry pasta aisle so I got the fresh pasta)
* olive oil for frying
* 1.5 chicken breast tenders
* 0.25 teaspoon salt
* 0.25 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 2 cups of Italian style bread crumbs
* 1.5 shredded Parmesan cheese
* 1.5 teaspoon dried thyme
* 1 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
* 0.5 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1.5 cups Easy Tomato Sauce (see below)
* 0.5 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat.
2) Heat 0.5 inch of olive oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Season the chicken tenders with salt & pepper. Place flour in a shallow dish. Beat eggs in a second dish.
3) In a third dish, combine the bread crumbs, 1 cup of the Parmesan, the thyme, parsley and red pepper flakes. Coat chicken in flour then egg then bread crumb mixture. In batches, cook chicken until deeply golden on each side, 4 to 5 minutes, and transfer to a 8 x 8 inch baking dish.
4) Pour a little of the Easy Tomato Sauce on the chicken tenders and bake for 10 minutes or until cooked through.
5) Meanwhile, add the pasta and prepare according to the package directions for al dente. Drain.
6) Remove the chicken from the oven and top with the Mozzarella and the remaining Parmesan. Place back in the oven to melt the cheese and remove. Coat the hot cooked pasta lightly with sauce, top with chicken and serve.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Easy Tomato Sauce

* 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
* 1 small onion chopped
* 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and chopped (optional)
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 cups canned crushed tomatoes, undrained
* 1 29oz can or 2 15oz cans tomato sauce
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 teaspoon dried thyme
* 0.5 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend
* 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
* salt & ground black pepper

1) Place the olive oil, onions, green pepper (if using) and garlic in a large saucepan and cooked over medium low heat, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.
2) Add the tomatoes and the tomato sauce and bring to a light boil.
3) Add the oregano, thyme, Italian seasoning, sugar (if using) and salt & pepper to your taste. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
4) Use immediately or cool completely and store in an air-tight jar. Sauce will keep for up to 3 days. Makes about 4 cups.

So there you have it. You will have to wait until tomorrow for photos and feedback on the recipe. Right now, I’m off to bed. :)

2nd time around

2009-07-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

So I tried this blogging thing back at the end of 2006 when I was preparing to leave for my 1-year around-the-world trip. However, with me being a procrastinator, it didn't work out so well and that blog was neglected and left to collect dust.

Now that it's the middle of June 2009, I decided to give it another try, along with Twitter, another social media tool.

I HAD to start a blog as I decided to take the Whip-It-Up challenge. I have to make a recipe that I have not done before and blog about it. Not only is this a challenge on the blogging front, it is a challenge on the cooking front as all my friends know, I am not a cook.

Hopefully this challenge will allow me to embrace my domestic side (cooking) and creative side (writing). Wish me luck! =)