oh how i want you...

...in a before-sunset-before-sunrise-wicker-park kind of way.
sigh. :(



a vegetarian update: it's only been two days (?) since i said i would try out being vegetarian. i don't miss meat yet. but maybe this weekend when my mother makes something deliciously filipino.

so the TWENTY101 workshop went really well! raiya and i were able to serve the food on time this time (for the hors d'oeuvres party we threw last summer, we were late for an hour! and the center was so messy afterwards). pictures will be up soon, when angela finally figures out how to upload them.

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meat schmeat

i'm going to try to be vegetarian.
no i'm not doing it because of lent.
i'm doing it because of the feeling i get after eating meat.
i'll give myself a week.
and then two weeks.
and so on and on and on.
this will give me the opportunity to eat more vegetables and eat less fried foods.
i'll still allow myself fish though. as long as it's in sushi and not something filipino and fried like tilapia or bangus. or the one swimming in oil in a jar. ohbutyum. that was the best. and cornbeef. oh yum.

strike that. i am NOT allowing myself fish. apparently hardcore vegetarians hate it when people classify themselves as vegetarians but eat fish anyway. so for less than a week i will be living on bread alone (haha very biblical of me) and on vegetables and fruits and tofu.
i should also cut down on my cookie and chocolate cravings. sonofa. it's really bad this year. i go out of my way to buy chocolat now. augh. so today's triple chocolate chip cookie and 5 little bars of cadbury bars are the last.

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oh what a beeyootiful day!

it's -3 degrees but ohmy it's sooooooo beautiful outside. it's sunny and you can go without a coat. it feels like spring, but only because we've been having for the past few weeks -20 weather. tomorrow's even better: a high of 1 degree :)
just got back from catechism class/lunch. we ended up not teaching because the hall got booked and there was some indonesian karaoke thing going on while father mario was upstairs talking to the grade eights and their parents. so us teachers ended up promenading at promenade mall.
i ended up with three things from h&m which i am very happy about: a floaty, oversized white top, a thick grey/blue belt with a gold buckle and a gold necklace. all in all i spent less than $50.
afterwards, nat, rai and i drove to congee wong and indulged in greasy but yummy chinese food. now my stomach feels like crap.
but today was good and random. i thought random things can only happen on a weekday, but they can happen on weekends
i wanted to share just because i'm so pleased with them - $9.99 from $50. :)

i thought it was time to get grown up gloves. they're warmer and you can dial on your cell without pressing the wrong number and you can take out your ttc tokens with them. :D

ps. it's the eve of the much anticipated workshop. i am so nervous and excited at the same time. last night i was at party packagers (i can spend a hundred there, just like i can spend a hundred at shoppers) and bought napkins, plates and cutlery but stupidly forgot the cups. argh. and i can't buy styrofoam cups. they're just not really appealing.
pps: today totally makes up for the crappyass day i was having yesterday.

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suckage.

today was a suckity suckity day.
i hated every minute of it.
bah.
i'm tired of winter.

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because i don't want to wallow in self-pity

my brain is 63 years old in brain age.
according to brain age 2 i'm 80 fricking years old.
it's my j-o-b that's slowing down my brain. so slow that i can't even think deeply anymore. i'm forgetting words in french AND in english. my french grammar is deteriorating. and plus i can't enjoy the things my other friends are enjoying, i.e, sleeping in on a monday morning or staying at a library for the entire day and just do homework, or randomly meet up with friends.
but i'm not complaining. i can't hate it. because it brings in the money. there is france to look forward to.
so to keep myself from hating it (and strangling myself), i've revamped my cubicle by indulging in chic office trays and organizers and pen holders and by adding a touch of plant life (daisies). bah. and most of all...i jump at the chance to participate in little office get-togethers and to bake things for them.
so this week's project is my co-worker's baby shower. she's getting a girl :) eeeeeeeek. so exciting.

these are mocha almond squares. because the shower's color theme is pink, i tinted the glaze to make it pink. of course you'd see it had my camera captured it.
my mother loves them :) my brother thinks they taste like white chocolate brownies. which is ridiculous because they don't have white chocolate at all.
chain dolls :) that i dressed up with some scraps of gift wrapping paper.
i call them my little suzies.

voila, c'est tout. now i have to do homework. bah.
PS: isn't he adorable?
it's dark but you can still see his cuteness. teehee.

he's loving his new ikea bed. hehehe.

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une jumelle japonaise/francaise!

muahaha. i found a twin...she's asian and she lives in...argh. paris. argh. she doesn't know that i exist. her hair is as short as mine!
so which one's me? yeah. i'm gay.

except awesome japanese/french girls don't have laundry baskets lurking in the background...that is such a give away.
teehee. i'll be back to normal tomorrow, promise.

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a survey, finalement.

I should be getting on with Britannicus as I have three more acts to go, but I just cannot resist surveys. french ones, at that.

* Attrapez le livre le plus proche, allez à la page 18 et écrivez la 4ème ligne :

"...he'll go to sleep, my God he should, eight martinis before dinner and enough wine to wash an elephant" - breakfast at tiffany's, truman capote

*Sans vérifier, quelle heure est-il ?

je pense...22 et demi?

*Après vérification ?

muahaha, je suis correcte...22:32, pour être exacte.

*Avant de répondre à ce questionnaire, que regardiez-vous ?

Un blog d'une fille très féerique (j'ai envie de ses robes. Augh. les h&m's en France sont meilleurs) et qui vit à Paris.

*Avez vous déjà pensé à vivre à l’étranger?

Oui, j'y pense toujours. C'est seulement une question de fondes…je veux vivre en FRANCE.

*Quel bruit entendez-vous à part celui de l’ordinateur ?

Le tremblement de mon cell et le bruit de CNN en bas.

*Quand êtes vous sorti la dernière fois? Qu’avez-vous fait ?

Je suis allée dîner au restaurant avec mes amis…c'est l'anniversaire de mike :)

*Avez-vous rêvé cette nuit ?

Non…j'étais trop fatiguée. Mais j'aime les rêves où je sais voler, faire de patinage et nager.

*Quand avez-vous ri la dernière fois ?

il y a une-demi heure…dans la voiture de A.

*Qu’y a-t-il sur les murs de la pièce où vous êtes ?

absolument rien. j'ai un cadre d'audrey hepburn et un 45 de moon river par henry mancini, mais ils sont encore adossés à mon lit.

*Si vous deveniez multimillionnaire dans la nuit, quelle est la première chose que vous achèteriez ?

Tu sais…un billet d'avion. Et puis des robes. Muahaha. Jk.

*Quel est le dernier film que vous ayez vu ?

The last picture show en dvd. c'est triste.

*Avez-vous vu quelque chose d’étrange aujourd’hui?

Oui…les crabes panés…c'est pas très étrange, mais je préfère mes crabes à la cocque.

*Que pensez-vous de ce questionnaire ?

Je l'aime :)

*Aimez-vous danser ?

Oui oui. Je danse toute seule parce que ma danse est effrayante et choquante. Hehe.

*Quelle est la dernière chose que vous ayez regardée à la télévision ?

Barefoot contessa, seulement les dernières minutes.

*Quel serait le prénom de votre fille si vous en aviez une ?

Je veux au moins 6 enfants: nathalie, nicole, audrey, mireille, madeleine, chloe…j'oublie les autres. Et oui, je suis sérieuse.

*Quel serait le prénom de votre garçon si vous en aviez un ?

matthew…parce que je vais le surnommer matt, michael, madison…les noms de mes garçons ne sont pas uniques.

*Que portez-vous ?

Bah, une serviette. Je suis trop paresseuse...

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nothing, nothing at all.

aujourd'hui c'est family day mais les parents sont en train de partir pour un service funèbre.
jason m'a enseigné à utiliser le macro-mode de mon appareil photo. pas mal, non?

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augh. i'm still on act 1, scene 1 for britannicus. augh.
i am sooooooooooooooooooooooooo screwed.
i will be camping out at the library pretty soon.
i cannot wait to leave the realm of academia.
but onto better and funner and non-boring, non-lethal things...

yay for mike's dinner tomorrow! :)
workshop/brunch on sunday!

now back to the boring matter at hand...
(i don't think my friends like to study with me anymore because we just end up talking our heads off. haha. it's not my fault that i have so many interesting things to say. muahaha jk)

boyfriend i miss you.
and that is all is all is all.

ps: sigh my mother. i've never heard anyone get so excited over the nba all-star games. she's shrieking and clapping away. haha.

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banana fana

i was quite productive today and now i'm struggling to stay that way. i still have two plays to read (not as boring as before. i prefer racine to corneille, but i'd rather not read them at all) and a film analysis to write. all before tuesday. augh. kill me.
i saw the last picture show for my film class and it was so depressing. i know that a movie has affected me when i bawl my eyes out and can't stop even way after the credits are done. but with this one, even though there were no tears involved, it left me with this sad and empty feeling.
anyhoo, so far today i've attended my inclass driving course (augh, from 10am t 2pm), did pilates and yoga and baked some...banana bread. hence the blog title. hehe.
it is proven that a few minutes in daylight can help prevent depression. baking or cooking or doing something really domestic (yes, even cleaning) can do the same for me.
so here are some banana muffins i made today, with two variations. i used a different recipe and i didn't like it at all. i find it too dry. i'm sticking to allrecipes.com next time. their recipe gave me a better and more moist bread.

this was from before. i topped it with bananas too.
and while it was still warm i topped it with vanilla ice cream. it's not just brownies that can get this kind of treatment! hehe. you can probably even use something caramel-y in flavor.

these are the ones i made today: banana muffin topped with white chocolate chips and banana muffins with nutella inside and on top.
i love nutella! i used it instead of icing. just take a big glop and slather it on top. it works like ready made duncan hines/betty crocker icing.
this was taken in rome...it was a creperie place just beside the vatican museum. look at that lovely display of nutella (well you'd be able to see it better if my camera wasn't crap. argh. or if i had zoomed it. argh.). the italians (and i) love their nutella.
for a sweet fix, just take vanilla ice cream and a dollop of nutella and swirl them around. it's much better than chocolate ice cream.

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pre-workshop tasting.

weeeeeee. so next sunday i have another project. i'm preparing a brunch for the twenty101 workshop that raiya and i are organizing. i tried two of the items in the menu today to see how it will turn out and tested it on my family. i must say that they turned out pretty well :) i made bacon-wrapped eggs and breakfast sausages in a blanket (aka tracy turnblad...my brother wants me to name them after the hairspray heroine), and potatoes (which i just boiled, sliced up and broiled in the oven. i seasoned it with olive oil and lots of garlic).

things i learned:

• set cooking time for bacon-wrapped eggs at a lower temperature and not to cook them for so long. runny eggs are so much better. they're also waaay better when served warm.
• for the workshop, i will definitely prep everything and stick them all in the oven 20 minutes before guests are expected to arrive.
  
• i shouldn't boil potatoes for such a long time
• never stick pillsbury crescent rolls and biscuits in the freezer. but i didn't do that. my dad did.
  

ps: excuse the crappy photos. my 4.0 pixel camera suckity sucks.

can you tell?i really like the two-tiered serving stand. heehee. it saves a lot of space. there's actually a third level for this one.

the original recipe can be found here, courtesy of mark (thank you thank you!). i used pillsbury biscuits instead. next time when i have it, i will add goat cheese and a bit of parsley or chives for some green.
teehee my concoction. haha. jk. since there's hotdogs/sausages in a blanket, why can't we have breakfast sausages too? i think this would be perfect for breakfast on the go. no mess. :)

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happy love day

Today is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap.
eternal sunshine.

today is the day of
* illicit affairs, as my dad calls it
* bouquet-ladened guys
* extra happy girls
* public displays of affection. too much of it.
augh. it's just another day, and tomorrow these couples will be resuming their regular fighting (yowza)...but sometimes you just can't help but get sucked into it.
yeah yeah. i'm just jealous. but it's only natural. i am a girl after all.

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i heart martha stewart.

i want to be martha stewart.
so i decided to make white chocolate brownies for my co-workers. i individually wrapped them with parchment paper and printed out little labels with an ingredients list. and because i'm such a brown noser i'm giving my boss three brownies in a cute chinese takeout box.
i tried making little envelopes out of doilies but they didn't really work out so i just made hearts out of them and sealed the flaps of the parchment with little stickers (25% at carlton's :) )

white chocolate brownies with walnuts.

all 19 of them for work.

suckity-sucks. no fine-tipped marker.
martha stewart would never be this unprepared!

i also made garlic pasta for tomorrow's v-day potluck. i wanted to do feta puffs, but this one is simpler to do.

garlic, olive oil, parsley, bacon & parmesan cheese.

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augh mothereffer.

i'm so tired of this bs that is work.
i'm bored out of my mind.
augh. augh. augh. my friend is going to be flying off to australia to live there. and my other friend is going to london for reading week. i want to go to paris for reading week. or just stay at home for reading week. instead of being cranky and hungry at work.
for one day i just want to trade places with someone who has all the time in the world to do anything. for once i would like to wake up at 10:30 in the morning and pad around my house with my pjs on and eat nutella out of the jar and have coffee like water. for reading week to actually be reading week. and have those random hang outs with A again. or work at st. cinn for one night and count cash and fill up the slushie machines and clean the poofer and serve cinnamon buns and ask the customer if they would like icing on that and then they would go "yes i want some ice-nin". sigh.
being twenty two is fun but i want to be a kid again. except i'm not going back to high school. i'll skip to university.

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this is 2 become 1.
beware of shaky quality. good times.

augh canadian weather. i love you canada, but this wind chill of -30 is just killer.

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fahlala.

augh. cnn is on 24-7 at home. haven 't been able to watch a bit of food network. my parents are so interested in american politics. ack.
voila, mes filles, the pho-toes from yesterday. one hour with you girls is not enough at all. :(
please note that these pictures were taken by an old filipino waitress at richtree that had extremely shaky hands. she was really cute though and had to know what our nationalities were. haha.

yeah, im trying not to laugh at her hands.
this is a way better one!
yay! twins! my cookie partner! :)

today was an awesome catechism class. i heart my students.

RIP: the polaroid camera. :( polaroid announced today that it will no longer be making its signature camera and film.

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oh yes it was spicy.

spice girls was awesome, and i must say that mel b. was the hottest, followed by posh, who was however really stiff everytime she sang. i've been to a number of concerts, and this is by far the best concert i've been to ever.
it was nice to see boys at the concert who knew every song.
and it was even nicer when a girl behind us gave me four batteries for my camera. it's a good thing too because my batteries ran out even before the concert started.
my camera sucks by the way. we weren't that far. the camera just gives you that illusion.

pre-pre-concert dinner

gak. $30 shirt. this won't be put to waste though. i'm wearing it for casual tomorrow at work. snicker snicker.

light sabers. haha. angela says they look like something else. really silly pics. we had to wait for an hour and a half before the show started.

pre-concert dinner. it was the best gravy. to those who will be watching the concert, this is cheaper than their bags of popcorn. so don't be lazy and get up and buy fries instead.

slow filling up!

more pics (and videos!) to come. i'm just feeling really lazy right now.
i shoveled snow and now i'm sore all over.

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snow day!

woohoo it snowed lots today and got out early for work. i scored a deal on two tops (same top, different colors - one black and one silvery/creamy) club monaco, which were originally $139 but were on sale for...$29.99. i am becoming the master of deals. hehe. i am slowly collecting spring clothes for the great family trip. the other day i was able to get a black, cropped bell sleeve coat (perfect for a fall day) for $7.50.

i feel like crap. and my eye bags look like crap and can hold a crapful. haha. argh.
the sky is so orange and i am quite blue inside.

ps: i love you.
pps: i would really really like to have an old school polaroid again. just like arthur. who tragically died while in rome and his last picture ever was st. peter's. it was a good death i suppose.

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