rescuing a lost weekend

It’s been a great week, generally speaking. I have a ton of reading to get through, as usual, but more on that later. I saw Frida one last time this past Friday with a friend. I had a really nice time (though I was surprised that we go through the exhibit in an hour, I took 2 hours my first time there) and it was so good to meet up with her. And then I sat in Mount’s Hedwig lecture. I can’t remember how he did it during first year – but everything he said was so easy and obvious to me. I suppose that is a good thing – that I did some growing.

I worked till 9pm on Friday but didn’t get any work done because I was chatting with co-workers. One of the things I love about my job is that most people there are thoughtful and have interesting things to say (since we’re all nerds by default).

And then the lost weekend began – rather than prepping for my exam and doing readings for my other classes, i watched 3 seasons of Mad Men. Do I regret it? No, but I feel terrible. So I’ll have to do my best to catch up now. Sigh, just thinking about it all is depressing. One thing to keep me upbeat is my dinner at Canoe! i can’t wait!!

PS. The Australian Open is happening and i’m rooting for Roger, obviously.

PPS. Made plans for Reading Week, eeeeek

PPPS. I managed to write poems this week – oh, how i’ve missed it so!

 

 

what’s in my fridge; the breakfast edition

half a poppy-seed pound cake

9 swedish meatballs

a glass of OJ

2 pears

PS. for the avoidance of doubt, this does resemble my usual morning fare, except sub the meatballs for brie or something

cooking my own meals

I’ve re-appropreiated his NYC themed Q&A. Original found here.

What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in T?
Most recently: Yuki-no-hana. I’m a bit squeamish when it comes to raw food – but gah, best sashimi I’ve had so far!

In one sentence, what do you actually do all day?
Self-inflicted abuse of my senses:  eyes (reading and videos), ears (music and audiobooks), touch (writing calluses), smell (perfume), taste (food!)

What’s your drink?
coffee for most days, beer cider on summer afternoons

How often do you prepare your own meals?
no time to cook during the school year–but nearly everyday during the holidays

What’s your favorite medication?
ginger ale

What’s hanging above your sofa?
don’t have a sofa – but i just bought two giant posters. one is Raphael’s “School of Athens” and the other, predictably, is Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”

How much is too much to spend on a haircut?
i only get one hair cut per year-so i usually dole out $60. But if i had time for frequent trimmed, then $25

When’s bedtime?
when i’ve done the next couple days’ prep aka. 2am

Who is your mortal enemy?
my less proactive self

Times, Post, or Daily News?
I subscribe to the times.

Where do you go to be alone?
when i put on my earphones 

 

Leonardo de Vinci: Anatomy

I got up to Unit5 Part A.7 of Symb. Logic last night and simply got too bored to continue studying. So I whiled away the night (I slept at 3am!) by watching countless episodes of anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations”. Man, it’s always a mistake to watch food shows when you’ve only had a large veggie salad for dinner – but I persevered! I didn’t eat anything else, seeing it was so late in the night and there’s nothing I fancied in the house.

Whew! I’m literally starving…

Just  came back after eating a marshmallow sandwich because i didn’t have any toast spread left. It was surprisingly tasty. Hmm, looking at my agenda is going me headaches. The day after Tuesday’s midterm, I’m to meet up with my TA about the preliminary draft for my paper. Ugh, as you all know, I only have an outline. I suppose there’s another sleepless night! I’ll do a very detailed outline (with citations and everything) but there’s no way I’ll write 10 pages after that midterm.

During my procrastination this morning, I discovered touchpress apps! they are supposed to be fantastic! I bought the Da Vinci one – if it’s as good as it promises to be, I’ll probably get The Waste Land one too.

I need to get off the internet!! LATERZZZ

 

crunch

here is what I have ingested today:

– 4 slices of raison toast w/ margarine

– 2 mugs of coffee

– 1/3 of a chicken wrap

– 1 tall glass of orange juice w/ ginger ale

it’s a miracle i haven’t croaked yet. i’m feeling kind of strange. Tired, but really inspired by a ton of stuff. but i suppose the mountain of work facing me is a bit daunting. i just need to take things step by step. not everything is due now! In fact, save for a term test next week, everything is due in 2 weeks’ time. But i must be prepared – otherwise I won’t be sleeping 6 hours a day like I should be!

UPDATE: it’s half past 11pm. So far I have eaten – half a pineapple (i’m not exaggerating), some fried fish, red peppers, a glass of orange juice.

back in the saddle

I had to go to the library to renew my library card this morning. Like a fool, I forgot to bring IC with me, so the kind lady extended it till the end of Sept so I wouldn’t have to waste money on books.

That’s a lie. It’s not a waste, but it’s just money that I can’t spend.

Anyway, i got the RSC edition of Shakespeare’s plays. I am very very excited about that. I wasn’t too excited about it when I had to lug it and the Norton Anthology of Shakespeare (3000+ pages!) home (my right shoulder might still be aching). Ohhh, and i finally tracked down a copy of Laurence Olivier’s autobiography. GAH- cannot contain myself.

I’m doing good with one of my resolutions: be generous with friends. For the past year, I had to work on every single Saturday and this Saturday will be my last (my schedule changed). So I am buying breakfast for everyone. Granted, it’s only McD breakfast (it’s convenient – I’m not about to go anywhere else at 8:30am in the morning), but I think it shows my sincerity anyway.

On Friday, I am meeting up with a dear chum who is normally out of town. I have to teach at 7pm, so after a bit of juggling, we decided to do late lunch (involving more pastries than real food – I’m not sure how I feel about that, but she’s set on going to Pusateri’s).

I think this is a big improvement. I am usually so stingy with my time. I plan things so meticulously so that I don’t have to go out everyday (the travel time sucks). I like to stack things – is this terrible of me? Perhaps. But I am always scrambling from one thing to another.

It’s only a few more days before books and papers take over my life again. To avoid bingeing and being a fatty in general, I though I’d start charting my eating habits again. I’ll be doing this on the MyFitness app, but I’ll detail yesterday’s and today’s to get a head start:

TUESDAY

breakfast: Coffee

lunch: 2 microwave dinners (only like 250g each, so = bird food)

dinner: rice, steamed broccoli, one boiled egg, a slice of ham

WEDNESDAY

breakfast: Coffee

lunch: rice, eggplant and pork stirfry

dinner: ditto

snack: watermelon

I know, I know – it’s a tragedy! But at least the only way is up! And now that I have a somewhat solid schedule, I can return to my workout plan.

lacing up

going on an artificial-sugar-free diet until my birthday.  wish me luck!

PS – this does not include the sugar for my coffee. I am ambitious, not suicidal.

food it

yeah… I couldn’t think of a decent title. Any suggestions?

These photos are pretty self-explanatory. All photos are my own (even my neglect to rotate them).

Tomato Egg drop noodle soup

garlic and jalapeno

add greens

done!

just missing the 221B

creamy goodness with blueberry sauce on top!

winding down with a grilled chicken salad. weird sauce on top, forget what it was.

GUAC and SHAKE

Simple Guacamole:

ingredients

chop everything up finely (I strain my tomatoes – that’s the leftover liquid in the back)

core these babies

mix it all up with salt and pepper (and lemon juice) to taste!

Very Berry Pineapple Fro-Yo Shake

main ingredients

the strawberries were a last minute decision. why not go all out?

dump everything in the mixer (except for the frozen yogurt – i don’t like mine too smooth)

all ready!

PS. I’ve decided to do weekly food experiment posts instead of publishing an entry every time I make something.

food experiments

I’ve been meaning to write-up an entry on my recent cooking experiments. So here:

BBQ Baked Chicken Ribs

These little darlings are delicious! I didn’t people ate chicken ribs – it simply isn’t offered at restaurants (except KFC, but they call it differently). I like to foil line my pans so I don’t have to scrub them to death later. I drizzle some EVO on the bottom, season the ribs, cover pan with foil and bake for 15min … and DONE!

SO EASY! I made a simply cucumber and tomato salad to balance out the protein.

all juicy and whatnot

a little veg never goes wrong

complete!

Salt and Pepper Rub Pork Sirloin

My Dad loves meat – so whenever he sees it on sale, he buys it and packs it in our freezer. I, of course, am handed the task of thinking up ways to cook the damn things. The problem is they are never pre-cut. In this case, I’m left with this giant slab of pork sirloin:

massive – i think it was 7lbs at least

Anyway, I left it to thaw for a couple hours and then rubbed a bunch of spices all over it (I’m always highly suspicious of “seasoned” raw meat) and left it to sit for a while more. I lined the pan as is my usual practice but didn’t use any EVO – pork is pretty fatty as a meat, so I didn’t see the need to make it any worse.

Making sure to turn the meat over at the half way point so it cooks evenly:

still pink – but nearly done

then:

all natural pork juicy goodness

next up: Simple Guacamole and Very Berry Pineapple Fro-Yo Shake

*All of the above images are my own.