it couldn't get...

any cuter.

suburban sunday

this past Sunday, i mulched the flowerbed behind our patio, trimmed the hedges in front of the house, finished retouching the lemon wreath i made last year, and made lemon-coconut cupcakes. i couldn't be more suburban unless i finished the afternoon off by sitting on my porch with a glass of fresh lemonade or sweet tea. there's always next week.

last week, we finally brought renji to the groomers for a much needed haircut. unfortunately, it was required that he be completely shaved. so now he is literally only half the dog that he once was. or less even. instead of a white poof ball of a dog, he now sorta resembles santa's little helper. also here's some good advice, beware the yahoo image search and don't search for "santa's little helper" on it.

friday night/saturday night celebrated some of our good friends birthdays (birthday twins! triplets including peter).. with dinner on friday at Americas and a night out on saturday at Hue. (note to all: Hue is no longer the place to be on Saturday night... unless you like cougars.)

we went to see 300. the hubby has been awaiting to see this since it came out, i on the other hand didn't think too much of it. i'd have to say that i highly recommend it. ph34r t3h ab parade! i found the way it was filmed awesome to the max (not in the sarcastic way), and gerald butler as leonidas was remarkable. i was fully entertained throughout the film. ofcourse i never read the comic, but i did happen to take more than one greek history class in college. after returning home, i think i wikipedia'd for approximately 3.5 hours, starting with the battle of thermopylae.

adventure saturday.

since mr. rocks had a preplanned all day saturday trip with the boys, i in turn, had planned a super happy fun day with omgbff [dru]. dru was determined to use his newly bought kite. so our first stop was eleanor tinsely park for some kite flying.

after the park we picked up the cousin and headed to reliant park for the rodeo and awesomely bad fried foods. here we witnessed an angry man apparently angrily looking for his missing sisters.

afterwards we had to crash for a bit before an exciting dinner at dumpling king. where we witnessed a man doing the Heimlich on another. and then off to Venue, where we ran into a friend, his girlfriend, and his girlfriends parents (whom all left 30 minutes later, only to see the parents had returned 20 minutes after that) curious.

Gastronomy

lately i have had the constant urge to make cupcakes... i finally started the quest to ultimate cup-caking on saturday. using ingredients i had on hand, i attempted a chocolate/hazelnut cupcake. it ended up being a dark chocolate cupcake, filled with nutella topped with a butter cream frangelico frosting.
i think that they turned out pretty well, and the family loved them.

earlier in the week, there were mentionings of bo luc lac (aka shaking beef) a vietnamese dish i was introduced to while in Austin. after having a terrible version of it during my birthday, and hearing that d was making it, i decided to take a stab at this dish myself. it ended up 10x better than Mai's, but i should have used a more tender cut of beef.

dog days

with the beautiful weather we've been having, renji (and me) have been completely spoiled. saturday was no exception.. as we took him for a long stroll to the neighborhood park. also check out the hot green boots jeannie sent me from japan last year. i [heart] them even if people think they look slightly peter pan.

look ma! no legs!!


sniffing for the perfect spot for a land mine


check out that hawt dog over there!

timeless | ageless | aggravating

in a world where physical appearance means a heck of a lot, where looking young is high on the list of goals in peoples lives. and with the numerous products and medical treatments that people go through to achieve this goal. here i am, on the opposite spectrum. i strive to look older.. than what i appear. i'd be satisfied with anywhere in the 20s, as opposed to in the tweens. seriously, i've gotten carded for a rated r movie before. and that's 18!! numerous people always tell me, oh you're so lucky to look young. and i'm sure i will be when i'm 40. but at the moment it's kind of a drag. i don't even know what face attributes i have that cause for this age confusion. i don't think that i have a baby face, maybe my face just looks kiddish? is it my petite stature? or my somewhat high pitch voice? (is it really that high pitch??) when i look to what american conventional beauty is, i know that i could never be in that category. and only because of the fact that the idea of conventional beauty is not a 15 year old girl. (albeit not asian either). although it's not that, that bothers me. it's the treatment of not being taken seriously. i can't even count the times people have come or called the house and asked for my mommy or daddy. Or the times i've gone into a store and was practically ignored by the shop employees. once i actually received some assistance at pier one while i was looking at furniture, only to be redirected to their air fresheners.. which were apparently all the rage with kids for their dorm rooms. i can only imagine when the time comes for an actual child, and people will look at me in disdain, whispering 'another teen pregnancy' under their breath. sigh_

i just hate being mistaken for a child.

*edit_ i'm not angry. just had to vent.. and i know. it's the curse that's a blessing. also this does not apply to people i know. because if you know me and still think of me as a kid thats understandable. it's for people who base that opinion solely based on looks alone.

the cakescapade

[not actual surprise cake (somebody else's geek cake)]

so today is the IT BOSS' Birthday... but since he had a previous engagement for lunch.. IT fun coordinator (that's me) decided upon doing the whole surprise cake thing in the afternoon.

2:34pm_ mission begins. sneaked out to pick up the cake, plates, and forks at Krogers.
2:51pm_ pulled back into the parking lot, sneaked the cake into the building.. which included peering around corners, hand signals, coming to a complete stand still in the middle of the hall when we heard voices.. only to realize what could we do if it was him anyways. (ie. not drop the cake and run)
2:56pm_ cake is set in the IT fun area, but noticed BOSS' office light was off.. where is the BOSS?
3:00pm_ checked out the parking lot, no BOSS car to be found.
3:02pm_ confirmed BOSS has left the building. mission FOILED.

at least the cake fit in the IT mini fridge.

where's the food II

a cook is me.
last night. pork chops.

INGREDIENTS

olive oil
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
4 pork loin chops, 1 inch thick
salt to and black pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste
2 roma tomatoes, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 teaspoons balsamic vinega
r 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

DIRECTIONS

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion and cook until golden brown. Set aside. Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in the skillet. Season pork chops with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and place in the skillet. Cook to desired doneness. Set aside and keep warm. Heat remaining oil in the skillet. Return onions to skillet, and stir in tomatoes, garlic, and basil. Cook and stir about 3 minutes, until tomatoes are tender. Mix in balsamic vinegar, and season with salt and pepper. Top chops with the onion and tomato mixture, and sprinkle with feta cheese to serve.

past foods: garlic eggplant, bruschetta