The Cookie Baking Post.
Posted by terri | Filed under tabemono, tetsukuri
It is almost December 25th, and I’m afraid to say that I haven’t done the things that I had hoped to do for the holidays. Hunny and I took pictures for our Christmas Card but never got to put a card together. I’ve also gotten very little shopping down, which will probably result in me getting some last minutes gift cards…and online.
I did manage to get some baking done, though the only thing Christmasy about it was that it was for a Christmas Party for my day job. I think that it is quite an achievement since I hadn’t baked anything for a couple of years. Our house had gotten a new oven about 4 years ago, but I never got to use it for baking until Saturday night when I decided to make Rice Krispie Chocolate Chip Cookies. It took about 3 hours to get about 7 batches of cookies baked and ready. Though I had made them before, I was worried that they would turn out disastrous. I was afraid to even taste them, but thankfully Hunny gave me the thumbs up from the first bite. As with anything else I do, I took pictures!
Mixing it all up!
Fresh out of the oven!
Peanut Butter Chips for the last batch!
Thankfully, they were a hit rather than a miss at the Christmas picnic the following day. It has not inspired me to bake more or to try to make new desserts but it has encouraged me for this coming Christmas Day when I have to make Christmas turkey at my house along with some if not most of the fixings.
Happy Holidays!
At the top of the Wish List.
Posted by terri | Filed under kawaii
If someone were to ask me what I REALLY want for Christmas. I would respond with the following four words: “I want a kitty!”
I was fortunate to have grown up with several generations of cats in and near my household. Since I came back to Hawaii from Japan, I have been without a cat. Anytime I see a feral kitty, I would stop for a moment to look at it and admire its cuteness despite how mangy to the touch it might actually be. And of course, let’s not forget my countless trips to the Hawaiian Humane Society. I think my collection of HHS cats on my iPhoto could fill a warehouse.
So, what’s stopping me from getting a cat? Well, it used to be that I didn’t have the time or that I was barely home to take care of one. Seeing as I no longer go to school or work two jobs anymore, I can’t really say that anymore. What’s stopping me from getting a cat now is that my poor boyfriend is allergic, despite him being a big animal lover. And though we don’t live together right now, it’s most likely going to happen within the next year or so.
I joke with Hunny sometimes that him not being able to have a cat is the dealbreaker for our otherwise strong and happy union. As a response, he did give me a link to this website:
Allerca: Hypoallergenic Cats
Apparently, this company called Allerca has been genetically engineering hypoallergenic cats for over 2 years. According to their website, they breed cats that give off significantly less levels of a cat allergen that often give some people miserable symptoms such as watery eyes, congestion, runny notes and the like.
The cost? They start at $6950.
Methinks I’ll be making several more stops at the Hawaiian Humane Society to get my fill of fur.
De-Scrooged?
Posted by terri | Filed under heart, home, natsukashii, watashi
We are at last in December and with Thanksgiving done and gone, it is time for the Christmas spirit to come into full swing. For about 10 years or so now, December hasn’t filled me with any Christmas spirit for a variety of reasons. I am, however, hopeful that this year will be different.
Without going into too much detail, I want to say that life this year has definitely been more settled as opposed to the past 10 years, and I think it’s finally time to embrace the Christmas spirit. I’ve been thinking of ways that I could “de-scrooge” myself as I have normally been “bah humbug” about the entire holiday season. I came up with a couple of things, some of which I probably WON’T go through with.
Christmas Tree: The last time I had a Christmas tree in my house was in 1996. Every Christmas tree we got years prior were awesome, though our decorations were a bit ghetto fabulous. It definitely brought a spirit of Christmas that not even the most tricked out gift could. As much as I would love to welcome that wonderful, nostalgic scent into my home, it certainly is not practical enough for me to get one. I won’t have much presents to put under the tree and the electricity bill at my house runs high enough as it is. I admit, I feel a bit of the “mommy pangs” when I think about Christmas trees, because I think I can only justify getting one if I had a child to enjoy it. Not gonna happen this year.
Christmas Baking: I definitely take joy in baking and creating stuff in the kitchen, but my success rate has never been good and so I find that I have not been doing it much lately. I think Christmas time is as good enough a time as ever to start again. I’m thinking of cookies and other desserts that I can try my hand at to give out at Christmas time. And if Hunny volunteers to do the dishes, I can be even further motivated!
Christmas Party: I mentioned back in July or so that I wanted to do some kind of housewarming party to celebrate the closing of the “sale” on the house. I’ve made the house a little more inviting with the removal of a lot of clutter and the addition of a new TV, but I have to admit that I am still a little shy about bringing people into my house as I still feel it’s a bit messy and dare I say it, perpetually 汚い? Well, we shall see… I won’t rule it for this holiday season…
Photo Christmas Card: This tops the “most likely to do” list. It was actually Hunny’s idea that we do one this year. We haven’t discussed execution, but we don’t anticipate it being a huge production as I have seen with other people I know. And I think being the geeks that we are, we probably will do it with iPhoto.
So my hope is that I will at least do one or two things to for the holiday season. My iTunes library has been rechecked with Christmas songs, and so I’m ready to get this season started…
Ramen Wars.
Posted by terri | Filed under tabemono
With all the indulgence of this Thanksgiving not too far from our memory, it seems inappropriate to make a post about ramen, of all things. Let’s just say that this is what happens when you don’t blog right away when you mean to. So here goes…
I have a rather unique thing with ramen compared to any other dish out there. When I lived in Japan, going to an authentic ramen shop was always a treat because of the pride that I knew the restaurant put in their dishes. Coming back to Hawaii, I held very low expectations for ramen as it seemed that all the restaurants get their noodles from the same supplier (that being Sun Noodle) and they ended up tasting the same and very less than ordinary. Ramen has to be really good for me to like it; I wouldn’t settle for subpar ramen as I do for other things. I think just to please others or to be part of the group, I would “endure” a bowl of ramen from places like Ezogiku or Daiichi.
These past several weeks, I had the opportunity to go to not just one but two ramen establishments on the island that have a reputation for being authentic. That being said, I went in with the expectation that some extraordinary ramen was out there to be had. The first one I tried out was ごまいち (Gomaichi) on Keeaumoku Street across from Wal-Mart upon the recommendation of many of my co-workers. I felt that my co-workers could appreciate a really good bowl of ramen, and so I decided to give it a shot with my friend Kent. I ordered the Char Siu Tan Tan Men which is apparently one of their best selling items. I have to say that it was quite magnificent. There was a kick to that broth and richness unlike anything I had before. The noodles were also quite different and well prepared. And where usually I find ramen overfilling with its mediocre soup, I managed to down almost every drop of what was in my bowl. Definitely good stuff. I can see that a lot of other people think so too. When they opened up for dinner, the small place quickly filled up; it even appeared that many Japanese speaking residents (or dare I say tourists?) frequent the place. Hey, so it’s got to be REALLY good.
And then a couple of days ago, I went to another ramen restaurant upon the suggestion of my sister. My sister, who had never been to or even heard of ごまいち, had said that Yotteko-ya in the McCully Shopping Center had the best ramen. I ordered their signature dish, the Paitan Chashu Ramen. The noodles were fairly good, but the soup just seemed bland to me despite it looking good with its unique looking texture. Perhaps with my expectations were set a bit too high, I ended up leaving the place a bit disappointed.
So the winner for me was obviously ごまいち (Gomaichi), and upon telling my sister this, she is anxious to try it out. To any readers (or lurkers) I may have that reside on our lovely island, I definitely recommend that you check it out at least once to try their Tan Tan Men. Gomaichi is located on 631 Keeaumoku Street on the other side of Makaloa Street from the old Tower Records store (or new Walgreens, if you actually visit that place.) I think they have parking on Makaloa Street, but otherwise, you can go during a trip to Ala Moana and just walk through Nordstrom’s to get to the Kapiolani Boulevard exit where the restaurant is only a block away. It is a cash-only establishment, and prices start at about $9 up. For some variety, I would definitely recommend ordering vegetables in addition to ordering the ramen because you otherwise just get meat and noodles in soup.
Not sure when is the next chance I’ll get to go to Gomaichi to eat, especially with all this ingestion of turkey and other bad food with lots of leftovers to be had. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving and am actually looking forward to the holidays. I hope there will be more entries in the coming weeks, and that the mention of food will be to a minimum.
Working It Out.
Posted by terri | Filed under chub chub, digital life, tunes
It’s been over month since I got my new iPod Nano, and so I guess it’s about time I write about how that’s working out as well as how I have been “working out.” As I mentioned, I got the Nano with the intent of taking it with me when I take a walk around my neighborhood or wherever else my legs take me (while sparing my iPhone.) It has been rather successful as I have been putting some exercise into my day. It was a little scary that a man that got stabbed to death near my house on my walking route, but nonetheless, I’ve been trying to go whenever I have an evening alone. My energy levels have been pretty good lately and I think taking regular walks has mitigated my stress levels a little bit. Unfortunately I just haven’t been entirely motivated to do it everyday, but I guess I can celebrate the baby steps.
And in the spirit of trying to improve my wellness, I recently obtained a Wii Fit. It was actually a gift from a friend who remembers me from a time when I wasn’t so pudgy. I guess you could call it a “Wow, you got fat” gift, which I can definitely appreciate. I think it’s a rather fun motivator for fitness, though it can be useless if you do everything half-assed. I do wish it had better aerobic exercises, but it’s fairly good for the yoga and strength training exercises, not to mention for being a very expensive scale.
The Wii Fit, like with any “fitness program,” helps you set goals. Without much motivation, I really have difficulty achieving goals, but I suppose I should give this one a shot. I think it’s a matter of really taking advantage of the fact that I have a set work schedule, and that I need to stick to a routine. I guess it’s a matter of being motivated and not so easily distracted by the million other things I want to do. (And most of them involve sitting on my ass at the computer.)
Ha, well let’s see how THAT goes.
If anything, I’ve been able to listen to some fun music and some interesting podcasts while taking my Nano out for my walks. I’ve been tweaking with my playlists and I came up with these 10 songs that I think are the best for moving to. (I’m afraid to say that I haven’t used the Genius feature as much as I would have liked.)
- “Just Dance” - Lady GaGa
- “Little of Your Time” - Maroon 5
- “Gotta Get Thru This” - Daniel Bedingfield
- “What You Waiting For” - Gwen Stefani
- “My Sharona” - The Knack
- “Shake It” - Metro Station
- “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” - Daft Punk
- “Technologic” - Daft Punk
- “Step By Step” - New Kids on the Block
- “Fascinated” - Company B
And so the question for you is, do you have a favorite song you like to move to?
Sam…wha?
Posted by terri | Filed under digital life, home, shiny
As I had reported earlier, I finally purchased a new TV for my living room. I have to say that I am quite surprised that I went with a Samsung. For as long as I can remember, my household has always been a Sony one whether it be a TV, VCR, or stereo system. And if we didn’t get Sony, we would get Toshiba or Panasonic. If someone had told me years ago that a Samsung TV would be the centerpiece of my living room, I would have thought they were crazy!
I can be the first to admit that I never thought highly of Korean products. This was not due to my own personal experience, but I guess in the generation that I grew up, it was always about the Japanese electronics. And then, I dated a guy who, as an American, lived in Korea but had very few nice things to say about Korean made products. And on top of that, my mom was born in Japan right before World War II, so you can imagine her attitudes toward anything Korean might have very well rubbed off on me. To make a long story short, I steered clear of Korean-made products despite seeing its growing popularity in the marketplace.
Upon looking for a new TV, I realized Korean and Chinese brands would come up in my search. That was when I had to remind myself that there was once a time when Japanese products were considered inferior. I remember this coming to my attention when I saw a sequel of Back to the Future where Doc thought a circuit was faulty because it was made in Japan to which Marty reponds, “What are you talking about? All the best stuff is made in Japan.” It seems that we have to expect that any country can make huge strides over the course of several years, just like those before it.
After checking out all sorts of reviews and specs and then finally checking things out for myself in person, it became a toss up between a Samsung and a Sony Bravia model. I went with the Samsung because it seemed to have more value for the money, and I was namely impressed with its ability to scale standard definition TV. I bought it at the Aiea Best Buy, a place that Hunny and I normally complain about because of their high prices, but I figured since they were selling the Samsung LN40A530 at the retail price and offered a good protection plan for it, they seemed to be the way to go. They also had a deal where I could get a $100 off a Blu-Ray player, so I dove in and got that too. I really got it as a upscaling DVD player especially since Blu-Ray discs are so expensive. Yet of course, out of curiosity, I treated myself to one: Iron Man is indeed a very cool movie!
So far, it’s been pretty awesome. I think that ‘housewarming party’ I’ve been itching for might actually be a reality sometime soon. Stay tuned!
Finally upgraded!
Posted by terri | Filed under digital life, shiny, video
After much deliberation over which model to get, and whether or not getting a new TV was even a smart idea, I took the plunge and finally purchased a new LCD TV. I got a Samsung LN40A530, which is kind of on the low end of Samsung’s TVs, but it is a current model and it is a Full HD TV. It is a 40-inch widescreen TV, and in the store, it seemed kind of small but it was an entirely different story when I brought it home. This thing is a monster in my house!
I made a really quick video of the unboxing. I shall follow up with another entry later on:
Update: I realized that Flickr will only accept videos up to 90 seconds, so I had to re-upload and repost. As for the time lapse effect, that was just a feature in my P&S camera. In retrospect, I would have picked a different angle, but oh well, it turned out okay. Thankfully we weren’t doing anything embarrassing during the time lapse…hee hee.
Worth the weight?
Posted by terri | Filed under chub chub, natsukashii, watashi
I spent my day off alone today, so I figure I might as well do something productive that I can do myself and that of course was cleaning my house, namely my old room. I am ashamed to say that my old room has not seen a cleaning in more than 10 years. It has mostly been used for storage of all my stuff. Up until lately, I’ve been kind of a pack rat, but in my recent housecleaning frenzy, I’ve learned to get rid of stuff — not keeping things just for the littlest sentimental value. You can imagine that it in 10 years, a lot of stuff accumulates and rummaging through it becomes this wonderful trip down memory lane. And though there are so many things I could write about for the sake of nostalgia, I think it’s more appropriate to write about what I realize I need to do for my future.
Read the rest of this entry…
Homework before TV.
Posted by terri | Filed under home, shiny
Even with all this talk of the economy going to the crapper and the crumbling confidence in our markets, I am still thinking of making a big purchase. As I have reported via Twitter, I was deciding between buying a digital SLR camera or a TV for my living room. As much as I would like to get both, I can only choose one.
The scale has tipped toward the television only because it is the most utilitarian solution. If I get the TV, I can give the TV away to someone I know who needs one (desperately.) The TV I currently have in my living room is a 19″ CRT TV which we got from Japan when we lived there. It’s come from Japan, to our house here, to my sister’s and then back here. As to why I want to replace the TV, I think it’s to make my living room a little more inviting. Prior to my housecleaning frenzy, my living room was far from worthy of having a “nice TV.” My house is still far from being picture perfect with needing the carpet cleaned (or replaced, rather) along with a paint job, but I think having a bigger TV will not be out of place in it. Another big motivation is that of being able to play multiplayer games on a bigger screen; a 19″ screen just won’t do when you’re playing Mario Kart or Mario Party on a Wii.
Read the rest of this entry…
A new member of the family.
Posted by terri | Filed under geektech, shiny, tunes
What a pleasant surprise on a day off that I had to spend sick at home:
I got my iPod Nano delivered 3 days earlier than expected!
Aloha!
- Hello from the island of O`ahu in the beautiful state of Hawaii. I am terri, a local girl who looks 13, but is actually going on 30. This blog is about my personal development as I deal with life after college, being single but happily attached, and finding and taking opportunities that come along in life.
- Check out my photo blog at visually.aspiraling.
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- : Hanging out at Koko Marina. Headed to Makapuu soon for 4th of July. http://twitpic.com/9blbm
- : Waking up rested after a fun-filled day yesterday. It's so nice to just chillax in front of Chloe for a bit.
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