Adios 2011

This year has been a big one, for many reasons:

I am no longer the quiet Asian girl in the corner, I'm the annoying talkative one. I've pulled in a lot of confidence over the year, which is a +++ in my book.

I finally have an employable skill!!! EMT classes, though brutal when incorporated in my schedule, were amazing and I loved the knowledge I gleaned.

I love coaching Academic Decathlon. There are good days and bad days, but I've never had something where anyone was dependent solely on me, let alone a whole group of kids.

...If this is how 2011 went, I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store.

Whattaya know...

Last Semester's To Do:

Pass my EMT course though it severely cuts into my CSUN study time...CHECK

Successfully organize my AcaDeca team, though I still don't know what I'm doing...CHECK

Unexpectedly pull straight As in a semester where classes really count...CHECK

Realize that Genetics is for me...CHECK, CHECK, CHECK


It's been a busy five months, but all that hard work actually paid off.

Win: Quinoa Chocolate Cake with Cooked Icing and Strawberry filling

So I was doing a little bit of research, trying to find a flourless chocolate cake recipe that did not involve ground almonds/almond flour and for different ways to use quinoa and this is what I came across. Essentially, this is a flourless chocolate cake that uses quinoa (an alternative grain, alright for celiacs) as the main ingredient. Also, this is one of the few recipes that calls for cooked quinoa instead of quinoa flour, which is what I was looking for. The results, which you can see below, churned out a super dense chocolate cake similar in texture to a moist pound cake that is extremely rich and tasty. You only need a small piece to satisfy your choclate craving. All I can say is yummy...

Here are the links for the cake and the icing should you decide to try and recreate this.

The cooked icing

Mmm, quinoa

The strawberry filling

The wet ingredients + quinoa

The finished cake

Tagalog Word of the Day: Latik

Latik- that crunchy stuff on top of some filipino desserts (usually the gummy, otherwise textureless ones)

Pronunced as 'la-teek' NOT 'lah-tick'. The second will get you laughed at by a filipino mom (I speak from experience)

On the Subject of Leggings...

After spending way too much time being exposed to people who where leggings day in and day out, this is what my mind has come up with. Under NO circumstances should you wear leggings as your only form of "pants" if all of the following criteria are not met.

1. Leggings must be fully opaque. I have no desire to see what kind/color underwear you have on, so please spare me the visual. If your leggings are almost but not quite opaque, buy a pair of cheap-o leggings to wear under your nicer ones.


2. Your top must cover at least half of your backside. This is what long tanks and tees have been destined for, so if your shirt stops before it covers your butt then put on a pair of jeans.

3. Jeggings (jean-leggings) are only acceptable when the material resembles that which jeans are made of. If all you have are cotton leggings that are died to simple resemble jeans, please don't go there.

....and that's all I have to say about that.

As if I need more examples...

So there is a new guy at work (henceforth referred to as NG) and this is one of our first conversations:

Me: So you just transferred from the Sherman Oaks store?
NG: Yeah, have you been here long?

Me:  I just started, I'm trying to save up a little spending money before schools starts again.

NG: Cool, so what high school do you go to?

Me: Actually, I go to CSUN.

NG: Oh, are you a freshman or something?

Me: No, I'm a grad student.

NG: *looks shocked* How old are you?

Me: I'm 23, why how old do I look?

NG: Like 17, 18. A lot younger than 23.

Me: I get that a lot.

Okay world, I get it, I look young.

Sh** Nikko Says

We were out to dinner for my Dad's birthday and my brother Gerald came back to the table with fried calamari on his plate. Here is a summary of the exchange that followed.

Nikko: Is that octopus?

Gerald: *scoff* No, it's squid.

Nikko: But there are tentacles, I thought only octopus have tentacles.

Gerald: No, squid have them too.

Nikko: Yeah, but not shaped like that. I thought the suction things were only on the triangle at the end.

Gerald: What?

Nikko: Or is that only in Mario?