Monthly Archives: March 2008

As previously promised, the name of the Chinese restaurant with the crazy spicy dishes is… *drum roll* Peking Palace. Wouldn’t you know it, for all their unforgettable foods, they have a rather forgettable name. Remember to ask for 2 glasses of water at the start. You’ll thank me later.

I took home their carry-out menu and realized one of their signature dishes “Sliced Fish with Tofu in Hot Sauce” doesn’t have any chili pepper icons next to it, indicating that it’s hot & spicy. Believe me, it deserves at least one. Some might argue it could have two chilis to indicate super spicy but I didn’t wanna come across as wussy. So there ya have it. Peking Palace.

Yeah. Not cool. They took 4 purses, a painting, a DVD player, a piece of luggage (filled with photos from my dad’s childhood). They busted 2 windows, left 2 doors open, and 4 lights on. They came upstairs. We slept through it.

Glass strewn about the floor is very hard to clean up.

I notified the police, canceled credit cards, temporarily suspended the cell phone, got a new drivers license. It’s hard to even remember what I had.

The same day, our neighbor brought over the 4 purses he found in his backyard. It had a piece of paper with our address on it so he was able to find us. They were, for the most part, cleaned out.

Glad no one got hurt – except now I lock the door to the study when I’m home alone.

My parents just got back from a trip to Taiwan. They visited three cities, Taipei, Tainan, and Kaohsiung and ate many traditional Taiwanese dishes. I’m going to live through their photos here, because short of flying there myself, you really can’t get this stuff at our local restaurants.

One of my favorites: Uh-ah zehn (Pardon my sucky Taiwanese phoneticizing, they’re guesses at best)

It’s an oyster pancake omelette. Besides an egg, oysters, and that red ketchupy sauce you see, it’s made with tapioca starch batter that’s pan fried, and sprouts and bai tsai (a leafy green). Tasty doesn’t begin to describe it. You can get variations of it in our local restaurants, but they’re really second rate replicas I’m afraid.

My favorite: Owah gue (translated: bowl (rice)cake)

The best way I can describe it is, it’s a rice flour batter that’s steamed in a bowl. Doesn’t sound like all that does it? Well, I can’t do it justice in any description because I have no clue how to make it. I only know that when I put it in my mouth, it causes my eyeballs to roll to the back of my head. On the side there is garlic paste. You must mix it into the sauce. It enhances the experience.

Ehn-tsen (pork sausages)

Traditional Taiwanese sausage. It has five-spice powder and they have the black pepper, garlic, and regular variety pictured here. I’ll take one of each, thank you!

The fruit.  Oh, the wonderful fruits in Taiwan.  Apples are still my favorite but if you go to Taiwan and they’re in season, seek out the rose (wax) apples. Liam bu.

And for kicks, how about something unusual? Everytime we visit, my uncle likes to squeam us out by ordering various animal part dishes. Funny thing is, he used to be more easily grossed out than we are now.

These are fried fish intestines. I don’t think you can clean the poop out of fish intestines, but let’s not think about that. My parents each tried a piece. My dad said it didn’t taste like anything in particular. Just fried, crispy, crunchy. I think that’s the secret to eating squeam foods. Fry it.

My shipment of goodies arrived! I tried using the eyelash curler this morning and it took a while to catch those lashes in the contraption, but I got it eventually. The trick is to look down and hold the curler at an angle. Also, crimp gently or you might pull out some lashes. :p It really does help open up the eyes like it’s supposed to. Also, I used to get mascara on my sunglasses because my lashes sweeped against the lens. This takes care of that because the lashes point up instead of out.

The other product I tried today is a thigh cream. I put it on my face as a make up primer. I’ll explain about the thigh cream later, but first, the basic purpose of a makeup primer is to smooth out your skin. According to the product description for the Smashbox Foundation primer, it smooths the surface of your skin for easier makeup application. It’s also supposed to help your makeup last longer through the day so it’s not melting by the end. The reason why I have the Monistat Soothing Care Chafing Relief Powder-Gel on my face instead of Smashbox is because it contains the same active ingredient (dimethicone) as an actual make up primer. So why pay $38 when you could pay $7 and get the same thing? Right. My sis told me about this little trick and I read some of the reviews for the thigh cream and realized a lot of women buy the thigh cream for their faces. Clever.

Verdict: I know it’s only been 4 hours but my makeup still looks fresh. My eyeshadow hasn’t sunken into the crease and my t-zone isn’t shiny. Loving it so far. I’ll update as the day continues.

8th hour: No shine still and the eye makeup is also relatively intact although I’m starting to see just the slightest signs of creasing on the right eye. No raccoon or smudging. Not bad for 8 hours.

10th hour: Ok, I could use a re-powdering now. Not shine city, but not dewy fresh either. Both eyes are showing signs of creasing, but for the most part, the color of the eyeshadow is still intact. We’re not talking total migration to the corners of the eyes like before. I have greasy lids, what can I say? Just so you have an idea, I didn’t wear liquid foundation, just mineral loose powder, eyeshadow, eyeliner, blush, and mascara. Nothing over the top. I’m at work, not out on the town. Also, I want to emphasize what a noticeable difference the eyelash curler makes. It softens the eyes and makes them sort of smile.

12th hour: I don’t usually wear makeup for this long, so it’s already an A in my books, but for what it’s worth, the right eye has creased.  Left eye is still ok.  I probably just need to apply this thigh cream more evenly.  Or my right eye is greasier than the left.

This past week, I went online shopping – all face and skin products. I got a number of face washes, creams, and toners to try, and for fun, an eyelash curler. Goodness knows I haven’t the foggiest idea how to use that eyeball smashing contraption but it can’t be that hard right?

The wind is howling pretty loudly outside, but it’s sunny and Spring!! Vernal Equinox. What could be better? Well, let’s see…

• Chocolate
• A trip to Sephora – speaking of, I’m looking for a good facial mask, if anyone has any recommendations.
• Peanuts – my renewed favorite food
• Winning the NCAA No Sabe Nada Pool – and all the bragging rights that come with it.

Just kidding. The above are great but it’s hard to beat the arrival of Spring.  Except maybe that winning bracket (which I submitted last night after much research and deliberation).

Since February, I’ve been sorting through my seed packets every weekend trying to decide what I want to grow this year. I’m planning sorrel, cilantro, basil, mint, and some flowers. Sorrel and mint will be easy because they’re perennials. Never eaten sorrel before, and have no clue how to prepare it. I thought it was some sort of lettuce when I bought the seed packet three years ago. Not even sure they’ll sprout at this point. Cilantro didn’t do so well last year. They went from sickly sparse leaves straight to flower. I think I have to use a different pot so the soil doesn’t get sick of cilantro.

Last year’s garden wasn’t very fruitful. I didn’t have the heart to uproot my strawberry weeds growing in all the pots even though they don’t bear fruit. This goes back about two or three years ago when I planted strawberries. They took so long to sprout that I planted more and more in practically every pot. Eventually they all sprouted. Then I learned that despite their delicate fruits, strawberry plants are hardy perennials. They remain green in snow and ice and since real estate in my pots and containers is limited, I’m going to toughen up and clean them out this year. I’ll keep one.

I want my portulaca’s to come back this year too. Last year, they got crowded out by the crabgrass. There was more crabgrass in the overhanging box than actual flowers! How on earth crabgrass seeds made it up so high, I have no idea. Crabgrass is so persistent, no matter how I plucked and weeded, they flourished! Plus, with crabgrass you have to pluck them early. If you let it grow even a bit larger than sproutling, trying to uproot the plant will take out a sizable clump of soil right with it.

I didn’t wear green today. Completely forgot. Y’know how it goes, when you remember special days one or two days before, but then the day of, you forget. There’s gotta be a name for this phenomenon. I do it all the time, particularly for birthdays.

I spent all Sunday watching TV, napping, knitting, and doing some chores around the house. I didn’t even turn on the computer!! Or drink coffee. Yay for naps!

FYI – I haven’t had microwaved head of cabbage yet! Ha!

The housemates are going on vacation soon so I’ll be running the ship for the next week or so. My goal is to not surprise them with a messy house upon their return. The bummer part of it is having to eat by myself. I like having others around while I’m eating. Food tastes better with that social element. This coming from The Antisocial One. Blah. Maybe I’ll call someone and slurp and chew over the phone. Now there’s an idea. Any volunteers?

John Christensen, one of the authors of FISH!, gave his FISH! Philosophy presentation today at work. The philosophy can be summed up as four practices, or actions, to use in your life: 1. Be there 2. Play 3. Make their day 4. Choose your attitude

He started off by citing a 2007 Gallup Poll, which showed that 59% of Americans say they are disengaged from their work. Of those, 14% say they even go so far as to sabotage their work. These statistics show a big problem because we spend so much of our time at work that it takes up most of our lives. So we try to separate work from life and in reality, you can’t. Work is a big chunk of our lives and whether we are at work or not, we’re still making choices which shape our life.

Elaborating on the four practices:

1. Be there: Be present in the moment. Listen for what’s being said. Take a breath before responding.

2. Play: Having fun engages people and sparks energy. You have to define the playing field depending on your coworkers, but what it boils down to is building trust. When you can laugh and joke and not be afraid to speak up or admit mistakes, that’s a good place to be.

3. Make their day: Serve the people (customers). Make people happy. Let others in on your fun.

4. Choose your attitude: Choose to choose. You have the choice in everything you do. It’s how we react and the choices we make that makes up our life.

One memorable anecdote he shared was Southwest Airlines implementing this philosophy. He showed a clip of this lady who recounted her job interview. She pretty much had no work experience, limited computer skills, and no knowledge of the industry. They hired her anyway and now she’s in charge of a multi-million dollar account. The point they were making was to “hire for attitude.” This lady had a positive attitude and it showed. All those other skills, teachable.

Everyone in the auditorium was drawn into his presentation. He’s a very engaging speaker and the simplicity of the ideas makes it very inspiring for people to want to adopt this. For sure, I think these are all things to be mindful of daily. I mean we all get frazzled, grumpy, or preoccupied sometimes with everything that goes on around us so this definitely takes a bit of conscientiousness. I asked him during the presentation which practice he felt was the toughest to do and he said he felt the hardest, but also key step, is “Be there.” It’s easy to be doing one thing and thinking of something else. I personally think #4 is the most important, and for me, the most inspiring. You make of it what you want. The message is empowering and I like that.

The point to all this is, when you encourage these practices at work, morale increases, so productivity increases. And that’s the bottom line.

He signed books for everybody afterwards.