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MessyCaos
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Name: Ariel
Birthday: 5/25/1984
Gender: Female
Interests: apple cider, pineapple squares and these green bean pastry thing
Expertise: My current expertise is multi-tasking (I can do 10 things at a time, thanks to my job) and being picky
Industry: Engineering
Message: message me
Member Since:
10/10/2002
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| I was recently inspired by Mr. Florence to make this Spanish rice dish called Paella.. I figured if I succeeded in making rissotto and arroz con pollo, I really shouldn't have any problems with paella. Here is my saffron-free version of spanish paella with shrimp, chicken, littleneck clams, and andouille sausage:
Maybe one day when I'm rich enough, I'll spend an extra 16 bucks on a teaspoon of saffron (3-4 thin strands?) to complete this dish. But for now, I think the saffron-free version will do.
My uncle's family (aka Jean) came to visit my new house yesterday afternoon (or should i say.. it was more like a house inspection than a visit? haha..). Since we were having company, I took the opportunity to bake some cookies. I like to tell my guests that I made something to welcome their visit... but sometimes it's just reallly me looking for an excuse to bake (and have someone eat them for/with me). Here is a fairly crappy picture of thumbprint cookies with home-made strawberry/rasberry (not shown), orange/apricot, and mixed berry jam:
(it's unfortunate that my photographer skill is much worse than my cooking/baking skills) .
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| I figured that now i'm on vacation in Malaysia and my time is no longer billable, i might as well update my Xanga. (the fact that i can't sleep since 5AM also helps..) Since my life normally isn't very exciting, i'll blog about some driving rules i picked up while observing the local traffic in Penang.
here are some of the top road rules to follow for visitors to Penang, Malaysia:
- Never look back.
- Traffic lanes are for references only.
- As stated in (2), it's generally acceptable to turn a 2-lane road into 3 lanes during traffic hours.
- As stated in (2) and (3), you can also drive on the shoulder if your car is small enough to fit.
- You can occasionally drive on the median, too.
- Running yellow light is a common practice. Running red light can also be done as long as you know how to avoid oncoming traffic.
- Do not expect to park with one simple turn. Expect to make 3-5 maneuvers.
- If you can't parallel park in confined spaces (e.g. no more than 6 inches between other parked cars), stay home.
- Do not yield.... if you want to get anywhere, that is.
- Local dogs follow the same road rules.
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| On Friday night, I went to watch the opening of High School Musical 3: Senior Year -- the theatrical sequel to the Disney Channel original movie High School Musical (HSM) & HSM 2.
This is after watching some overplayed previews on TV and reading the Nov 08 of issue of Maxim, which made the following comments on HSM3:
With apologies to the Jonas Brothers, this is the tween event of the year. We suggest you take advantage by buying some new shirts at the suddenly deserted mall.
checks: audience gets tortured; incomprehensible language spoken
I figured I would have a chance liking this movie if the Maxim editors didn't.
With the exceptions of having to endure through some lame opening scenes --- Vanessa Hudgens randomly standing up from the middle of the crowd and singing to Zac Efron during the last crucial moments of the basketball game?--- I thought the movie was money and time well spent. The songs and dances were well choreographed and reminded me of Grease, except that HSM3 really seems a generation younger (even though both films supposedly take place in High School Senior Year). John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John were 24 and freaking 30!! when they starred as some HS kids in Grease, as compared to Zac, now age 21, and Vanessa, now 20. Additionally, while HSM3 made me feel out of place among other 15-yr olds in the audience, Grease never really reminded me of High School (because I didn't attend HS in the '70s). It was more like watching a musical/love story between John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (who have always been relatively old to me).
One thing that I do agree with Maxim is that HSM3 (or Zac Efron) is much more awesome than the overrated Jonas Brothers. It was quite fun (or amusing?) to hear the little girls' screams followed by the same imitated screams from their little male friends in the theater at the sight of Zac Efron.
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| I went to the Virginia Wine Festival last Sunday with hubby and Anne, a former colleague at Micron and supervisor. (Her relative status downgraded from a feared boss, to a friend's girlfriend, then to just a regular friend in my relationship hierarchy.) I thought the ticket was slightly on the expensive side, but I was part compelled to go and part curious since I've never been to a formal wine tasting event (it's just sounds so refined) . Since this year's festival was also conveniently located in Manassas about 10 minutes away from my current home, I/we decided to get out of our normal weekend grocery shopping-stay at home routine and spice things up a bit.
Normally if I have a choice between wine and cocktail, I'd go for the cocktail and ask the bartender to go light on the alcohol. (really don't have an appreciation for fine wine) But surprisingly I came across several types of wines at the festival that I not only would cook with.. but actually drink. Most notably is the bottle of rasberry beret (5% residual sugar, 12% alcohol content) from Villa Appalaccia Winery. I also took home a lesson that #1 I don't have any appreciation for red wines and #2 I can't drink anything with less than 0.7% sugar content. Overall a very interesting and fun experience, definitely recommended for drinkers and non-drinkers alike if you have a bit of money to spare (and you can stand getting some yucky grass on your shoes).
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| Jean's new makeup entry has inspired me to start blogging again on xanga. Once I logged back on, I realized that I had ditched Xanga for more than a year. The entire interface of the website has changed and I have no idea where anything is anymore. I also realized that my original background picture of Wong Leehom saved in an cyber UVA storage space is now gone after my UVA account expired. How unfortunate.
Life has been quite normal and not particularly exciting. The highlight of my recent life is the introduction of a new espresso machine to my home. Please welcome the Saeco Incando Delux Super Automatic:
My interest in home espresso machines started when I got a shift job in Micron that required me to stay awake during weird hours. As my tastebuds became increasingly picky (and me becoming unbelievably lazy), the old 60 dollar Capresso just doesn't do the job anymore. And when this model went on sale in Costco for a price much more reasonable than many 1-3k Jura Capresso models in Williams Sonoma, I couldn't resist the urge of clicking on the add-to-cart button.. (and painfully took out my wallet).
For those of you who aren't very familiar with super automatics, they are the espresso machines for lazy people. It's been known to produce consistently good coffee (good enough for most people unless you're a real coffee aficionado, but still worse than what a true barista can make w/ a manual machine... with some work of course) at the tuch of a button. You fill up the water tank and the coffee bean storage, and the machine grinds, tamps and brews a perfect cup of espresso right into your cup. If you're willing to shell out another 2 grand, it can also froth milk for you. That means no messing with the coffee grounds and no daily cleaning. So far I've been fairly happy with the purchase with some minor complains on the outdated manual. This beautiful piece of art has been consistent and gives a nice crema on every cup of coffee. I'm still working on my frothin skills to achieve that so-called microfoam in my milk instead of a mix between microfoam and dishwashing bubbles.
Before you think I'm crazy to spend [$$$] on a coffee machine, I really just have different priorities than most 24-yr olds. I don't buy i-phones, i-pods, expensive computers and cars. I just spend that same money on something else. But please don't tell my dad.. and any other family member for that matter.
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