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?

What Happens When I'm stuck in Rside with the Little Bro AKA: Boredom

Does anyone ever think that Lady Gaga says this crap just to see how many people believe her? Like that Grammy-egg catastrophe, where she claimed to have stayed in the egg for three days. Do you think that maybe she said that just so she and her friends can get together and mock anyone who believed her?

I'm horrible...

...at blogging. Sorry, I promise I'll be better during the summer, so long as I can find the usb cable for my camera

Because I feel like it...

Happy March, people!

Eating Healthy: Breakfast

No matter how much you work out, you may be physically fit but you can still be unhealthy if you don't watch what you eat. I'm not talking about dieting, simply making better decisions about the things that you consume.
Everybody knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so I have taken to trying meals that are health-conscious but will fill me up with nothing but an additional apple until lunch time. I've been reading a few blogs and websites and this is what I've come up with. But note, I only eat this on days when I don't have class, bc there is something about school that makes your stomach 'talk,' it's probably to take advantage of the high potential for embarrassment.

My Breakfast (3-4x a week)
1/2 c Vanilla Yogurt
3/4 c Uncooked Oats (yes, uncooked)
2 Dried Apricot Halves, sliced
3 Dried Plums, sliced
5-6 Nuts of choice (I go for cashews, brazils and almonds)
1/2 Banana, sliced

Throw in a bowl, mix and enjoy! It may not look too appetizing but it is tasty and will keep your stomach content for a good 4-5 hours.

People in my CSUN Evo Class are Dumbasses

Dear Dumbasses,

1. Equilibrium means that shit stays the same, not that they are equal. If it meant that, then they would just say that they were 'equal,' NOT that they were in equilibrium.

2. This is college, if you don't understand something, ask a question, use that overpriced book you bought or go to office hours. Don't complain about lack of examples, if you need them this would be another chance to crack open that pricey book  or head to the internet.

3. If you spent the time you waste whining on this magic thing designed to get you A's called "studying" you wouldn't have to whine about every little unimportant detail.

4. Don't assume that the young-ish looking asian girl is a naive undergrad and try "explain" how college works. I'm a grad student with a degree in Chemistry from UCSD, I already effing know how college works

The MAC List

So, for those of you who don't know, I only recently embraced the whole being a girl thing-apparently the more comfortable I am with who I am, the more this side of me appears. So I've only spent the last year or so dabbling in the wonder that is makeup, toying with affordable products to get a feel for what does and does not look good on me before I move on to the 'good' stuff. So I think I've graduated up to the higher end of the makeup spectrum and have set my sights on expanding my MAC collection.

So after tons of YouTube/Internet research, I have come up with the following Wishlist

Eyeshadows:
Love Lace Thank you CCO
Club Xmas Present to myself
Satellite Dreams
Amber Lights
Embark
Swiss Chocolate
Mulch
Brule
Carbon or Black Tide
Arena
Satin Taupe
Contrast

Sketch

Twinks

Humid

Blush
Peach

Lips
Something Purple (undecided)

Misc
Eyeshadow Palette

....Now if only that paycheck would come in :)

Working on My Fitness

If you follow me on Twitter, then you already know the news...I've joined a gym! After some discussion, the fambam decided that for us to lose weight, it would be better to do so as a unit (gym buddies and all that) so right after New Year's we made some calls and decided to take advantage of all the good Resolution deals. Now, for those of you that have known me for a while, you already know of my love of 24hr Fitness, but the deal at Bally's totally blew them out of the water so I am now driving my butt to Northridge at 5:30am (you read that right, it said 'am'), 5 days a week to work out.

I do have some goals, after all goals (realistic ones) can help keep you on track.

1. The most important of which is to Get Healthy!!! I don't have any weight related medical issues (thanking God for that everyday), but things like my exertion-triggered asthma will benefit.

2. I want to be able to run a 5K by summer. It's more the ability to rather than the desire to run a race with a bajillion other people. But who knows, if I can get myself there, the 5K Breast Cancer Run/Walk that is held at La Jolla every year would be something I might enjoy.

3. Lastly, the most common workout goal of all- Losing weight. I'm not meant to be a Skinny Minnie, my body's just not built that way, but I would like to be able to go into a store and KNOW that they carry my size. Also, I love 50s/60s styles and the online stores that sell them only have certain sizes. So the official goal is to drop enough weight and tone up to where I can finally buy a dress from ModCloth AND to wear shorts by Summer.

It's Late January, nearly February and I'm thinking my goals are realistic and my drive is strong enough. Hopefully this post will hold me accountable and add more fuel to my workout fire.

Girl Scout Dupes

So, I'm sure that everyone is familiar with the Yahoo News story on home recipes for Girl Scout Cookies. I got a little curious and I'm about to start school, so I thought a little stress-relief baking was in order. I tried three different cookies- Trefoils, Tagalongs and Lemonades. The first two I was familiar with but the third...not so much. Regardless, it looked simple enough that I wanted to have a go. I don't have any cookie cutters so I went the way of cookie logs that could be sliced. Here's what happened:

Trefoils
The original recipe looked too simple and flavorless so I subbed in dark brown sugar to give a little more flavor to the cookie. My first (and only) attempt at shortbread was back in high school and it was a disaster, so I was a bit weary for these.

Plain

                                                                                     Dipped in extra chocolate

Issues:
~The baking time on these is off, it took more like 15-18 minutes than the 10-12 the site said it would.
~They're lacking just a bit in the flavor department, I would add 1 tsp vanilla and adjust the flour to compensate for the extra moisture.

Tagalongs
I've made Tagalong dupes before using a Sodium Free/Light Ritz Cracker instead of a cookie base. Those were always good and you can hardly tell the difference. Nevertheless I wanted to try these out because I am a sucker for all things peanut butter.
 
                                  The best of the bunch...hands down.
Issues:
~I would definitely used either 1/2 tsp LESS sugar or 1/2 tsp MORE peanut butter for the filling. The actual recipe gave me a filling that was a little dry and tough to work with.
~ You definitely need to bake them longer, I threw them in for almost three as long as the recipe calls for to get them to the crunchy cookie state they were supposed to achieve. I suspect this is because I went straight from freezer to slices to oven. If you let them come to RT, they shouldn't take as long to bake.
~ Dipping these things in chocolate and then shaking the excess off takes forever and makes your arm hurt....worth it though.

Lemonades
I was curious...that's it really. Oh, and I added 1 tsp of lemon juice to the dough since the only other flavoring was lemon rind. Also, I coated them in powdered sugar just to make them look different from the Trefoils.

Issues:
~Needs more lemon juice, at least 3/4 of a tsp more.

Pretty successful afternoon I'd say. But for anyone who thinks this might take away any monetary support from the Girl Scouts as a company, it won't. The recipes are simple but the time it takes to prep the dough, shape the cookies and bake them are too much of a hassle to go through in lieu of picking up a box from your friendly neighborhood Girl Scout. If after making these you have an attack of conscience, I suggest making a donation to a local troop. Happy baking!