| M.V. May 2008. | |||
| 08:22am 13/05/2008 | |||
            Lots of eating, some home cooking, sleeping in during the cold rain, Mexican train domino playing, catching up with 2 D.C. friends, and enjoying the small amount of relaxation we all had. Come back when it'll definitely be warmer and sunnier! The weather last weekend felt like late fall. |
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| Read 11 - Post | |||
| Last Friday Nite: South End Art Gallery and Crashing a Head Doctor Party. | |||
| 05:23am 24/04/2008 | |||
    I was super dead tired after work last Friday. It was one of the most exhausting weeks ever! I just wanted to go home and immediately collapse on my bed, but the bf convinced me to go with him to represent the B household at a family friend's art gallery show in the South End. I nibbled on whores de vores(Yes. I know it's supposed to be hors d'oeuvre, but when I was small this was how I proudly mispronounced the words. I thought I was so cool at 6 yrs old. Little did I know til later..), met with and had a good chat with a Japanese artist living half of the year in Bali, and posed for a pic with the artist, David(who I've met many times at some events the Bs had at their houses). His wife, Peggy, is so nice and pretty. You can see her in the pic where I'm kind of hiding behind someone at the appetizer table up top. :)  Then we zipped from one part of the city(That is Kenmore Square up top. The Citgo sign is a can't miss landmark to where you are in Boston just like the Hancock and Prudential Towers.) to another to go crash.... A party for residents of Adult/Child Psychiatry at the Bs house. Kenny's dad hosts it just about every year. He invited us to the party b/c there'd be lots of food. He was right, of course. Some of the residents even brought their own hand made goods to add to the buffet table. I had a little fun messing with some of the future head doctors of the world by claiming to be the neighborhood pest kid who randomly goes to parties around the block since I was little. Then Mrs. B got so used to me that she actually invited me to some of her parties. Another story I told to another set of young docs was that I was the family weirdo who was locked up on the 3rd floor and only came out at parties with the black cat. They were all trying to figure out who I was and thought I was either a.)the daughter or b.)daughter-in-law. The correct answer was when Dr.B came waltzing into the kitchen where we all were..standing near the table laden with an international assortment of alcohol. Dr. B casually intro'ed me to his students as "Oh! I see you all have met my son's gf!" Then Dr. B walked back out with more drinks and all the docs gave me this "I can't believe you played mind games on me!" look. I giggled and ran away upstairs to play with some kitties. I was about to start another version of who I was to another cluster of people, but Kenny whisked me away to go watch tv. Yes, sometimes I like talking to strangers a little too much. Only when I try to weave imaginary make believe stories about myself and am curious to see if people would gobble it up. Sometimes they do! >:)  Now you see me.  Now you don't! |
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| Read 4 - Post | |||
| Dinner for the Bs and Much Needed Chill Out Nature Time. | |||
| 03:15am 21/04/2008 | |||
 The following dishes pictured are my revisions of recipes from some ethnic cuisines into one meal: -French:Prosciutto and Walnut-Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce and Champagne Cream -American:Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Romano, Asiago Cheese, and Chive Mashed Potato -Japanese:Grilled Asparagus and Shiitake Mushrooms with Ginger and Black Bean Vinagrette -Cambodian:Coconut Custard baked in Buttercup Squash Halves served with Vanilla Ice Cream   ( + 4 more )Excuse the blurry photos and my pale face. I was cooking up to the last min making everything from scratch for about 3 hours and didn't have time to put on some makeup so that I could look alive. What took so long was all the roasting, making the wine sauces, and the tedious prep work to making the chicken dish. Plating doesn't look so good b/c I was rushing the food while it was still hot to my respectable patrons, but they sure tasted delish. Not bad for making nearly all the courses for the 1st time. I may be shy and quiet sometimes, but I'm not afraid of the kitchen or cooking for a really awesome culinary expert like Mrs.B. She ended up liking the dinner so much that she asked me for the recipes and wanted to replicate what I made for her for her dinner party a few nites later. I re-made most of the meal for her. All she had to do was pound the chicken herself and roll up slices of prosciutto and stuffing into the meat. I saw her this past weekend and she told me that the dinner Monday nite was a hit. Maybe I'll help cater to her many elaborate evening soirees eventually. I can only hope and it would be a big compliment and honor if she ever asked me to do so. :) Mrs. B is one of the best cooks I know! The little purple flowers in a pot in my kitchen was a gift from the bf's parents in exchange for the meal I carefully planned for them.       ( + 8 more )This past weekend entailed some chill out time with friends and the bf after a couple of crazy physically exhaustive recent weeks for me. It looked like I was somewhere in New Hampshire. But nope! I was still right in the midst of the city where beautiful greenery and flowers can coexist with the concrete jungle that is Boston.  Also, Happy Cambodian New Year y'all! I make a good Khmer village peasant girl, don't I? |
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| Read 24 - Post | |||
| Thurs Nite Out: Harvard Square Indian Dinner, Pizza, and North African Drink. | ||||
| 02:32am 11/04/2008 | ||||
    While Kenny and I waited for the Hamster to meet us, we watched the gathering of Tibetans protesting. How do you all feel about the Free Tibet and Olympic torch deal?   Guess which shoes belong to me and my sister. :)       The 3 of us had Indian at Tamarind Bay. I liked my drink a lot. It had a nice tarty kick from the tamarind in their special house cocktail. I recommend it. The Tamarind Bay Mojito.   Met Hamster's boyfriend at Pinocchio's across the street and chatted while he ate his 2 slices of pizza.           There aren't many pics of me and my sidekick b/c he usually makes the funniest faces(naturally too!) while I'm caught doing something dumb in a public setting. Here I was showing my sister what happens when I take a sip of coffee. You missed the "my eyes so big they popped out my eye socket" move. Maybe it's better you didn't see it or you'd choke on your drink too.   Last stop of the nite at Algiers where it's notorious for slow/bad service and mediocre food. I used to frequent it a lot. I'd go chill upstairs with a paper, book, or paper journal on Sunday nites before or after watching a movie solo on my Kalli Day(hanging out by myself aka alone time). The waitresses don't come around to check on you much which makes for the bad service. Then again, I liked that I had more privacy there than other places b/c they're not breathing down your neck every few mins. My usual order doesn't consist anything other than their signature mint coffee and tea. Tomorrow, I'm planning/shopping/starting the prep work on a 3 course (or more) menu for Sat nite for Dr. and Mrs. B-the bf's parents. I had made a home made card as a thank you for the Xmas gifts I received from them and in it another card which invited them to dinner at my place as a token of my appreciation for their generosity and kind spirit. I'm thinking Cambodian/French/Japanese cuisines fused together my way. Hope the dinner comes out alright. I want to respond to the comments from the last entry, but it's getting really late and I must get up in less than 3 hours. Good nite. |
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| Read 5 - Post | ||||
| First Friday Nite of April 2008:MuLan and West Side Lounge. | ||||
| 02:54am 05/04/2008 | ||||
Looking forward to my much needed vacation days next month. 4 days will be spent on the island-M.V. that is- and the other four days..I'm not sure what I plan to do, but my mind tells me to use it to do productive things.. like cleaning up my closet. Lots of clothes I can no longer fit into and odds and ends in my studio I should toss out, so that my tiny place will appear as spacious as it could virtually be. I love my place. I wouldn't trade it for the world. It's all about location and I love challenging myself to use the small space to do a variety of things at once. Sleepovers. Done. Dinner parties with 6 people and more. Accomplished. Fitting in a whole dining set with a t.v./desk/platform bed/3 bookcases/3 lamps/guitar/various framed art. Check. This place will morph as I do. The decor changes with the seasons and my moods of the moment. Anyway, why am I talking about home decor when I should be talking about what I did tonite? Tonite's after work activities include the following: Went to MuLan, a Taiwanese resto in Cambridge. Very close to Kendall Square. It seemed that everyone except Kenny and I were Chinese in there. The waitress assumed we must be of the same stock, b/c every time she came over to our table, she'd blurt out Taiwanese. Kenny and I would exchange quizzical looks while Kenny's friend, Jack(who understands Cantonese and Mandarin) responded for us.       Then went home to rest our tummies for a bit while we waited for some friends to finish their dinner in Chinatown. We all met up at West Side Lounge located b/t Porter and Harvard Square. One of my fave chill spots. Love their choice of music and it's not as boisterously loud as Cambridge Common or Christopher's.     My sister didn't notice that I was wearing 2 totally different kinds of earrings tonite til after the 7 of us walked out of West Side homeward bound in the cool, crisp, rain fresh air. Yeah, I know I look dorky. Keep it to yourselves. When am I ever normal first of all? That's right. Never! My sister's friend commented that he thinks I wear the weirdest outfits and asked me if my hat was home made. Yes, I'm anti-trendy and make a lot of fashion faux pas. I break every rule in the fashion book, but I don't care. I don't like conformity. Maybe it's an Aquarius thing, I suppose.   The books I switch around reading when not scouring the many online and paper sources for things to do around Boston every week. That's my i-Cat named Jiggles or Jigz for short on top of the tomes.  Oh gosh! I notice that I get awfully chatty on LJ whenever I come on here super late- like now. Must stop. Getting sleepy now. Another very jam packed weekend in store with a friend visiting from NYC. Gotta rest up, so I don't fall asleep on my energetic guest. Nite nite! |
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| Read 8 - Post | ||||
| End of March Already?!! | |||
| 06:16pm 28/03/2008 | |||
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Wowzers!! Is it just me or are the seconds,hours,days,weeks whizzing by you in the blink of an eye? I still don't know if my vacation time is getting approved for next month. Just taking a few days off each week here and there. Not going anywhere far. Just chillin' in my city and exploring on my own. Sometimes I miss those odd nite shift hours when I'd play when people would be workin'. Not anymore. This nite owl is no longer an insomniac..more like I can't get enough of sleep. I'm one of those people who wishes that there are more hours in the day, so I can do MORE things! So I just got home a few mins ago and thought I'd pop in a quick entry and come back later to update on a more detailed note and check up on the friendslist later this weekend. So many emails STILL to do/calls to make/dates to set.... At least I get this Saturday free. The next couple of weeks are booked up solid already. Can't wait for more adventures in the sun now that Spring is here. Here's a pic of me on March 1, 2008 wearing my "I love Nerds" tie at a party full of cool I.T. geeks. Random dude next to me has got a cool t shirt on too. I laughed when he walked by me as he pointed at my tie and gave me the thumbs up when we crossed paths.  Off to get ready for dinner at this cute little still unknown Italian joint I found recently with tough looking Latinos taking charge of the kitchen in the back, but man can they cook a decent pasta entree! Be back this weekend. Promise. |
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| Read 3 - Post | |||
| St. Patty's Day in a 3 Day Celebration. 1st Half. | ||||
| 06:59am 21/03/2008 | ||||
 Sat afternoon: lunch with Linh in Porter Square. She's making a silly "pig out face". I think it's amusing how she can look totally different from shot to shot even at the same event. I now recall how when the waitress who kept giving me looks like I'm naughty for drinking in the afternoon- that when she asked at the end of our meal, if we wanted desserts..   Sunday morning, Kenny, Sabrina, and Massly over for breakfast around 10 a.m. Nothing fancy. Just blueberry pancakes, my crepe like omelettes, toast, blueberry jam, strawberries, bananas, blueberry white tea, and orange juice. Yep, I'm in my blueberry mood still. Actually, I've now moved onto to apricot green tea now. But I alternate b/t that and the blueberry white tea. :)            Then we went to Davis Square to catch the annual St. Patty's Day mile run. It was a bit cold that day. Saw some people hyperventilating and throwing up and it was right in front of where I was standing at the finish line too. Niceeeeeeee. Of course, I didn't get shots of that. That's just grotty, dude! I was hoping my friend, Lauren, would be in the race like she said. Sadly, I didn't spot her out of the surprisingly big crowd that turned up. I saw a father and the only little kid running in the entire race and some yogamommas with their fancy baby strollers. I plan to do the run next year and hope some of my friends(Yes, that's you guys reading this.) will join me. Come on! It's only a mile. When I was in 6th grade I ran a mile at a ridiculous amount of speed for a 12 yr old girl. (I can't top that now in my old old age.:P) I was ecstatic b/c I actually whizzed right past all those big, tall, African American girls in my gym class and pulled through to make it to first place AND broke the record for fastest girl in the school record at that time. I also held the school record of one middle school (I attended out of 3 one year)-for the longest pullup ever. I should've been an Olympic athlete or something, but look at me now. Nothing, but a trouble making goof ball. :P I wish my parents had let me play sports more when I was a kid. I easily excelled in that over other school subjects. This should be a topic for another day. Got to get going now. Will finish off the rest of Sunday events later tonite. Plus what I did Monday nite. Hint: I was rocking out to non-Irish music somewhere in Cambridge. Too many things going on this weekend too. It's a wonder I even come on LJ to update at all. I'm so freaking behind on getting back to emails/phone calls/etc. I need a personal secretary. For serious. :( |
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| Read 8 - Post | ||||
| Drinking a Russian On an Irish Holiday. | |||
| 06:50pm 15/03/2008 | |||
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small transcription: (prelude: I spilled my drink on the table, and Linh was trying to document me being sloppy and a dork in real life. Yes, I'm that dorky in person.) me: Whoops! Retake! Retake! Linh: Where's that spill? me: I wiped it. Linh: Oh. me: I don't want that girl to take my drink away cuz she's already giving me looks. (sipping) Linh: This is Kallianne... me: slurrp... aahhhhhh!!! This was taken about 3 hours ago at Tavern on the Square in Porter Square. Lunch with my best friend, Linh. I ordered a White Russian on the whim b/c I didn't look at the drink menu and the waitress came at me like a bat on wheels. I had to order something. Quick! She kept making faces at me every time she came to our table as if to say that I'm crazy for drinking so early in the day. Hey! It was 7 p.m. in Dublin (while 3 p.m. here) and it is officially St. Patty's Day today. Really supposed to be on Monday, but the Roman Catholic Church changed the date this year to avoid conflict with Holy Monday that falls on 3/17. HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! |
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| Read 5 - Post | |||
| My First Video...Table Dancing. | |||
| 06:39pm 12/03/2008 | |||
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From last Friday nite. Proof that I dance everywhere I go..on the T..in the supermarket, walking down a busy street, and.. Did you know I change my voice pitch according to different settings and people? At work, I have this dead serious deep news reporter kind of voice and with friends and family, I become anime squeal-like. At home, I always sound sedate and sleepy. Gotta go! BBL! |
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| Read 4 - Post | |||
| Sneak Peek of Weds Nite Dinner This Week. Hamster and Friends. | ||||
| 12:35am 07/03/2008 | ||||
 While I wait for the rest of the pix to finish uploading(This is gonna take a couple of hours.), here's a quick snapshot of the latest event out of 5 things I've done since my last LJ entry. This week, I invited the Hamster(aka youngest sis out of us 3 siblings-all girls. I'm the oldest. Can you see the 6 yr difference b/t us? If you think I'm the younger one. Awww shucks! Thanks in advance!) as one of my dinner guests. On the table in front of us is one of the 3 things I made for Weds nite's dinner. Loc lac or better known in Southeast Asian cuisine- more specifically in Cambodia/Vietnam- as cubed, slightly caramelized beef laid out on a bed of lettuce, tomato, onion, and egg which is also served with a side of a lime/pepper sauce. More to document about the dinner soon as the photos come up. Also, I'd like to exclaim a big "Whoa! Holy torpedos, Batman!" I'm flattered that my last entry sparked a good amount of comments. I am known to leave stories as replies and b/c I'm one of those people who when I start something, I finish it all the way to the end..a part of me says that if I respond to one comment, I might as well respond back to comments from Nov/Dec 2007. Yikes! Wicked behind on my LJ friendly neighbor duties. Sorry! So sorry. Just know that if you leave me comments, I will get around to reading them eventually, but am not good at replying back promptly. If you are a local friend, you will most likely see/talk to me in person and get my feedback that way. Back in the day, I used to update/come on LJ almost daily. Now real life is getting busier and busier by the minute, that I don't even know what's going on with my LJ buddies. :( Not to fret my pets! I've requested time off for the next month from work, so hopefully I can use some of that vacation time to catch up on LJ. Til then, I'd like to thank everyone and anyone(even you random strangers-blog passersby) who kindly leave their two cents. All your questions will be answered once I find the time to breathe between all the hosting, cooking, entertaining, grocery shopping, event attending, working overtime that I've been caught up doing the past couple of weeks. For now, I bid you good nite in the only other 4 languages I know: oyasuminasai, reahtrey soursdei, buenos noches, bonne nuit! One of my favorite hobbies when I am staying up really late at nite on the weekends is to read up on historical linguistics and etymology. Especially in the Asian languages. |
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| Read 6 - Post | ||||
| Food and Friends are among my Top Passions. | ||||
| 02:36am 26/02/2008 | ||||
I started taking photos of food a couple of years ago, b/c a couple of my friends are camera shy and don't like to see their mugs on my blog for the world to see. Well, too bad. B/c this post is all about you guys and a little smidgin of food. Here are some pics from the latest events the past couple of weeks.  Valentine's Day at Athan's Bakery in Washington Square with Sabrina and the Apsara doll she surprised me with as a belated birthday gift. We are posing next to the doll doing one of the basic Khmer classical dance poses. I'm so glad she moved to Boston. She's become a really great friend in such a short period of time. I love the commonalities of our childhoods of cultural clashing/identity, maintaining our Khmer heritage while incorporating American ideals, our love for indie films/music/trying new things/food/experiences. Everyone who's ever met Sabrina is really lucky to have crossed paths with her. She is one of the rare kind/genuine/thoughtful people out there. We, Southern girls, stick together! Yee Haw!  Sabrina and I in the kitchen of the Elephant Walk restaurant in Porter Square one fine Saturday morning. Here we are with our glasses of white wine posing with the 3 ladies(out of 15 people in our cooking class) who made the Pate Chaud, while Sab and I are taking a break from making the Kompong Chhnang(Provincial) Beef salad. More about the Elephant Walk cooking class experience later. It was a very memorable and fun day. Sab and I actually had some one on one time with the owner/chef Longtiene De Monteiro and she concluded our conversation with asking us for our emails and numbers so that she could invite us over to her house for dinner some day. We plan to take up another cooking class with her over the summer. She told us that we were the very 1st Cambodian students ever to attend her cooking classes. She didn't realize that we were Khmer first of all, til we went up to sampah her and said "Chum riep suor, Om srey!" She was a bit taken aback. :)  Last Weds nite, I had some friends over for Linh's birthday dinner (on her actual birthday too) at my place. I woke up at 3 am to start prepping up the 6 course meal I planned in my head while at the same time attempting to tidy up my hurricane of a messy studio. I succeeded in folding all the laundry, but it was still in piles on the bed- which you can see behind Jason and Chie. I went to work, rushed home earlier than usual. Went grocery shopping for last min items, cooked some more. Set up the table and food...and everything went smooth sailing from there. Thank God! We were all super tired from our long work days, but everyone seemed quite happy and content with the food and company. Linh was showing us a funny picture from her camera while we all cracked up badly. She is probably going to kill me for posting this pic, but I like it. It captured the mood of that nite. Lots of goofy stories and quips flying back and forth. I like that all my friends have a good sense of humor. :)     This past Sat nite, at Sunset Grill & Tap. Victor's Birthday. Seth happened to be there at the same time in the other room and came over to say hi to us. When we left, we all said bye to him interrupting his moment with 3 of his friends philosophizing about life and love. Sorry to bust in on your deep convos! We hope to see you soon! Quote of the nite while I was dispensing advice to a friend, another friend interrupted with: "Hey Oprah! Can we take a commercial break, please?"  The next day, Sunday around noon, I invited Annie, Des, and Kenny over for a 4 course lunch I made from scratch. It was the first time Des had seen my place and the first time Annie saw my place actually clean. Every time she had stopped by before, there were always mountains of clothes everywhere with no place to walk. See, sometimes when I'm not too busy working too much or running around doing other things, I can clean up pretty nicely. Do I get a prize for my housekeeping skills? I know I need to work on chaining myself to my abode occasionally to tidy up thoroughly. I'm not a gross kind of messy, just a need to put things away and dust and vacuum kind of messy. I didn't get to take any decent photos from Linh's birthday dinner, b/c I was cooking and moving things around for the entrees to make room on the table. But I did get some shots of Sunday's lunch.( See what I cooked up Sunday for lunch. ) Quote of that day: Do people really have OCD or are they just really REALLY clean? Annie and Des cracked up really hard over that one for several minutes. Des liked my dumb question so much that he added it to his favorite quotes of all time on his Facebook page. I'm honored to be at the top of your "Dumbest Things Said" list. :P I didn't realize how ridiculous I sounded til the next day at work while thinking about it over lunch. Needless to say, I cracked up by myself while my coworkers thought I was experiencing hallucinations or dementia or just thought I'm that token weird girl at the office. I hope to have more friends come over my place for meals. I need to fill up my calendar with different sets to come every week. Ok who wants to come over this weekend? I'm taking reservations and menu requests! Hurry before the $19.99 offer expires tomorrow at midnite! :P |
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| Read 19 - Post | ||||
| Chinese New Year 2008. | ||||
| 03:56am 18/02/2008 | ||||
  Sidenote: I wonder what would happen if I wear my newest find(t shirt pictured above) from the 1 dollar reject t shirt rack from TJMaxx on the T tomorrow and watch what happens when all the boys get on from the Kendall/MIT stop. Two days ago, I almost asked one guy standing in front of me on the train if he got his winter hat--in the shape of a penguin sitting on top of his head--from a Linux convention. Instead I closed my beak shut and hummed the Chilly Willy theme song to myself, while bopping my head side to side. ( and as usual a couple more photos here. ) 1st time at Myers and Chang in the South End that Thursday nite. Both local celebrity chefs and real life couple were there. Chris Myers was aloof and lost in thought, while Joanne Chang was standing right in front of me at the bar(where all the food prep action was going on. Best seats in the house, in my opinion-if you enjoy watching food being cooked.) Joanne came over to talk to us probably from guessing that we were food critics b/c I took out my shiny new camera (still exploring and familiarizing myself with all its cool new features) while conversing with Kenny comparing the diner's version of Tiger Tears versus Floating Rock's version. I prefer FR's rendition of course, b/c that's the real Cambodian way! M+C's dish had more green leaves over meat ratio, but I applaud their efforts to come as close as they can to FR's thinly sliced beef salad appetizer. They got the toasted rice down, but didn't know the secret trick of incorporating it into the sauce to make the dish more uniform. A bit expensive, but an enjoyable experience overall. Liked the decor and ambience. Ms. Chang coming over to talk to us-not just once, but three times made an impression of how down-to-earth and friendly she is. I'd come back, but first there are so many other new eateries to sample in Boston. Have to checkmark them off my increasingly growing list. While everyone else are presently enjoying this nice 3 day holiday Presidents' Day weekend, I'm stuck working the 3rd shift doing overtime. I worked a double on Friday- doing the normal shift. Then coming back in 5 hours later for the 2nd dose of medical madness. Well, at least this straight 7 day work week is almost over. Another 2.5 hours to go. Then at noon, I'm meeting a friend for brunch and a "catch up with our lives" face time session. I'd like to spend a lot more time getting to know each and every one of my friends here. B/c I realized at one of my recent cooking parties(we had a do-it-yourself okonomiyaki and takoyaki party-a future entry to be devoted to that event in itself soon.) that everyone in my current circle of friends will eventually move back to the West Coast. I guess I have to follow you all once no one's left here. I've always wanted to live there anyway, before I come back to the Bean for good. We'll see, I suppose. SF 2010 or bust, maybe? |
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| Read 6 - Post | ||||
| First Weekend of Feb 2008 Preview and How I Lost Weight. | ||||
| 06:08pm 05/02/2008 | ||||
In the photos below are all the people who attended this year's birthday party plus the person taking the photo who probably wants to remain incognito, Aimee who showed up about an hour after the pix were snapped. Then a few hours after Aimee-my little sister(the Hamster) and her 2 friends.  Take 1.  Take 2. These visuals also pretty much sum up how my weekend went. Full of laughs, goofball friends, family, and plenty of food(as usual). I will be putting up my version of the very fun weekend with words shortly. ________________________________________ For now, as requested by many girls who have wondered how I lost weight, here is what I did. My secret to my weight loss is no secret at all. They are all common sense things everyone knows. -Work up a sweat at least an hour a day. If I do something that doesn't make me sweat, it means I'm not burning any fat. I do a lot of running, jump roping, hot power(not bikram) yoga, and free weight lifting(using barbells and dumbbells in my bare hands. I don't use machines. They restrict movement). Find a fun activity to do for at least 30 mins to an hour a day. It could be a group contact sport-basketball/football, taking a hip hop dance class, taking long brisk speed walks in your neighborhood, or going to a gym. -I cut my meal portions in half. Less meat. More fruits and vegetables. Just b/c you see all those food photos doesn't mean that I eat all of that up. Mostly they are plates shared among big groups of friends or the bf takes it all for leftovers. I eat to taste not to get full. It is possible to lose weight while enjoying food that you love. Remember moderation is very important. -I drink only plain water and tea- no sugar/milk added. This helps to flush out your body of waste products and the contents of your stomach. Your stomach can hold an average of 10 meals at a time. If you are not going to the bathroom daily, you need to "unclog" yourself. Try black tea, lots of fruits, veggies, or prune juice and be prepared to be in the bathroom the first time for about 2 hours. You will be surprised how light you feel after unclogging yourself. Water really is the best liquid for your body. You will notice the weight comes off slowly, but gradually. Losing 1-2 lbs a week is best. Losing more than that per week means you will be losing muscle mass too. That is bad news. Most people will lose a lot of pounds some weeks and then put it right back on a few months later. Just think about what you're good at and how you achieved it. Key words are- Hard work. Discipline. Consistency. No fad, crash diets for a few months. No going back to old ways. I made a permanent lifestyle change. A lot less sugar, salt, and fat in everything I eat. Simple as that. It will take about 6 months to see big changes. Once you do, it will motivate you to keep going and work even harder- just as it did for me. I strongly suggest hiring a personal trainer at your gym and a nutritionist(if your gym offers one.) or joining Weight Watchers if you are too lazy to buy a low fat-low carb cookbook and test out the recipes yourself for your daily meals. If you are clueless about what kind of exercises to do based on your weight goal/body type/injuries/fitness level, a very good personal trainer can do wonders for your self-esteem, really help motivate you to push harder, and make you more confident to work out on your own. Also, if you have health insurance, it will most likely reimburse you for part of the yearly gym membership. They want you to stay healthy- not get sick. What a great incentive, eh? Look into your health plan and see which gyms they will pay for. Hope that helps! :) |
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| Read 14 - Post | ||||
| Top 10 Signs You Know You Lost A Lot of Weight by Kalli. | ||||
| 07:50am 02/02/2008 | ||||
1.when pressing the sturdy plastic spatula on the porkchop in the frying pan, you broke the spatula in half. 2.when your co-workers used to marvel at your weight loss, but are now worried that you're shrinking too fast. 3.when a co-worker didn't see you standing around the corner and loudly sang then burped like a king bullfrog and only after you emitted giggles, did the co-worker leap and run away real fast in the other direction from embarrassment. 4.when you are doing dead lifts at the gym and your gym pants's drawstrings come undone and you end up mooning half of the gym goers behind you. 5.when your pants are falling down while grocery shopping at shaw's and your bf thinks you're waddling b/c you want to be cute. no, it's b/c my pants are now too large for my waist. they fell down to my shoes. they were supposed to be capri pants, but looked like real pants to people who didn't see how low the waist went under the winter coat. halfway down my butt. the crazy things that happen that only kenny sees. linh is the other friend who always sees the more embarrassing things that occur only when she and i hang out. i can imagine the stories she can tell if i ever have a toast if i ever get hitched. please don't tell anyone about our "adventures"! for instance, the time that we went to francis kim's housewarming party 4 yrs ago. i had to leave due to an "emergency" and you followed me to the drug store around the corner and i was looking at depends diapers...do you remember why? don't answer! 6.when the your male co-workers no longer have to refill the poland spring 44 lb water gallons for you anymore when they're empty and you need to make your tea. you do it yourself. i'm the only female who can change it by myself in my dept so far.. 7.when the office flirt saw you change the water gallon, he stopped flirting with you, b/c he's scared that you'd be able to beat him up now. now he asks me to change the poland spring water gallons for him. 8.when you outpace your 6 ft tall bf's long legs while walking around the city. now he has to keep up with your short lil legs stumped out from your 5'5 frame. 9.when you playfully punch your bf in the arm, it used to make him laugh. now when you do it, he cries and cowers in the corner and says "stop! no more!" 10.when your always overly critical asian parents who never thought that your straight a report cards still weren't good enough have been picking on you about your weight for the past couple of years and while losing the weight a couple months ago- they would keep asking you how much you weigh. this week, during a monthly phone chat with the parents, they asked my weight and when i told them- they actually said "stop right there! don't lose any more!" was i hearing things?! no more "keep working on it." or "you still need to lose more weight!" whew! now that my parents can't carp on my weight, they will find something else to lecture me about. ________________________________________ this is the year i'm really working on improving myself in all aspects- physically, socially, educationally. i will keep perfecting myself until my parents can't find a single thing to say about me. that would be awesome, but impossible..but doable. asian love is tough love. but still it is love in the end. speaking of love, i'm very grateful for all the friends i've met through lj and have become my real pals. thanks for being yourselves. so behind on lj stuff... i must force myself to update this sunday(super bowl day and my birthday. GO PATS!) or else...come over my place and personally kick my butt. you have my full permission. whoops! time to hit the gym! laters! |
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| Read 12 - Post | ||||
| Jack's Birthday, Kids, and Big Jan Update Forthcoming! | |||
| 09:12am 24/01/2008 | |||
      One of the many things I've attended this past 3 day weekend was Jack's birthday with his friends and friends' kids. We had dimsum and Chinese cream cake and Kenny's self made ice box cake(thin chocolate cookie rounds and lots of home made whipped cream. This is the only time I've ever seen Kenny make something besides salads and hamburgers!). The little girl, Layla(sp?), I'm holding is half Japanese/half Caucasian and is one of the cutest little girls I've ever seen. Max, the Singaporean/Chinese/Indonesian kid is so shy every time I try to talk to him. He always runs to his mom and hides behind her legs. I love kids, but am not sure I want my own...even if I do get married..yet... I have to have an entry dedicated to the things *I* used to do when I was little and you'd understand why. Just imagine a little female version of Dennis the Menace. Yes, I was *that* bad. I plan to update on the past 2-3 weekends later tonite. All in one big entry. This means, of course, the usual truckload of photos and I must remember to put them all under the lj-cut. Got sick again recently, but this time around I decided to take meds and kick the cold in the butt. So far, so good. Day 4 with just the sniffles lingering. I book up too many things to do every week and need to slow down and have more "me time". I just can't hang like the old days. I have no idea how I used to go out with friends all day and all nite long, then come in to work the graveyard shift, take little naps and do it all over again. I didn't get sick much either. It must be my recent 40 lb weight loss(actually I've given myself a physical makeover with diet/exercise/clothes since April 2007 and still going strong). When you lose a lot of weight, you are more susceptible to cold weather. I'm already the most bundled up girl on the train. I don't know what else to put on top of my already existing layers. Maybe dress as the Michelin Man or put on a Snowman suit? I guess I should just run around the T stop a couple of rounds before I get onto the T and run up and down the stairs(not escalators) at my T stop to keep myself warm. More to say very soon. |
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| Read 13 - Post | |||
| Rounding Out 2007 with People Who'll Always Be There for Me-My Friends. | ||||
| 01:06am 11/01/2008 | ||||
For now, here are 2 of the many events from Dec 2007. I was Linh's date to Bergie's Secret Santa/Xmas party. I don't celebrate Xmas[I consider myself a casual Buddhist(I don't go to the temple/pagoda often), but am not super religious and accept/respect all other religions], but I do like Xmas's concept of gift giving- if it's unexpected, very thoughtful, and the recipient is deserving. Since I was a last minute date and was too late to enter the Secret Santa draw of names, I came instead bearing Mediterranean couscous and lentil salad as my gift to the party, while Linh made spring rolls, peanut dipping sauce, and meat puff pastries/pies. Her spring rolls were a huge hit. Was good to see Sheldon, Vivian, Judy, and Cindy among many unfamiliar faces (to me). Great to see everyone happy and doing so well. :) ( all photos under cut ) A few days after Xmas, a double date turned into a huge group gathering at Gitlo's Dim Sum Bakery in Allston. Modern Hong Kong style dim sum and a few specialty sweet treats. The owner, Kenny, is so gregarious and pleasant. The restaurant is very new. Less than a month old. But already they've got the Boston board on Chowhound.com buzzing already. Kenny and I discovered Gitlo a week before the chowhound mention, one nite when we were on our way to a new Tibetan restaurant a few doors down called Mount Everest(also very satisfying, but another post for another day.) when we looked at the colorful photos of Gitlo's food offerings and description. A lil more than a week from that 1st time was when Kenny and I brought our friends there. I think they liked it. Bonnie's gotta go there and tell me if it gets her stamp of approval. I'm not Chinese(Well, only 1/4) so I don't know what "modern HK style dim sum" is supposed to taste/look like. But it was very subtle. Not much soy sauce, delicately wrapped and steamed. Cheaply priced and portioned just enough-especially great for people who are dieters or want a small snack before a big meal. ( more photos ) If anyone who reads this goes to Gitlo- please tell Kenny and the young talented chef-his cousin-(the baby faced guy in white chef coat pictured above) that I said hello. They are such nice people and I love supporting small indie businesses. I want them to do well. I do remember my promise to get back to a bunch of people's emails/lj comments, and other things. Got so much going on in my life right now. Let me get settled first and you'll no doubt hear from me in time. ________________________________________ I need friends for the following activities. This is what I've been doing lately when you think I'm mia when not at work. If interested, please list which activity you'd like to join and I'll get back to you. 1. museum hopping 2. indie music/new band concerts/gig listening 3. movie watching 4. hot yoga 5. one nite a week detox potluck party 6. guitar playing/jamming 7. kay ray oh kay!!!!!! 8. not afraid to be a goofball while walking around the city for hours exploring new eateries/places going up so fast around Boston. |
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| Read 18 - Post | ||||
| Happy New Year! | ||||
| 10:48am 31/12/2007 | ||||
 Here's to 2008. Wishing everyone a healthy, happy, prosperous, and an even better new year. Love, Kisses, and Hugs to you all. P.S. Still totally behind on LJ responses and catching up to everyone's updates. Maybe after this week's hectic activities blow over, I'll be able keep up. Plus lots more updating on what I've been doing the last few weeks of Dec. |
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| Read 6 - Post | ||||
| The Nor'easter Collage of 2007. | ||||
| 02:06am 20/12/2007 | ||||
Another huge backlog of things to post from just last week alone. This week and the next..oh just the thought of all the photos to go through in the future... I'm only working one day this week(Tues) and the rest of my vacation_days_that_I_have_to_use_up_b/c_ I also want to thank everyone for all the love I get on here(aka your comments). I get around to reading them a couple days later, but still haven't had time to respond in kind with equally thoughtful prose. I don't like to respond with just a "yeah" or another one worder. I know I like to leave stories. Sorry. I'll try to keep it short once I get back to everyone this week. Plus catch up on everyone else's LJ updates. Promise. Here's a collage of the latest result from the snow storm (or Nor'Easter as we call it here) taken from last Friday nite-Dec 14th. Happy Winter y'all!             |
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| Read 20 - Post | ||||
| This Is What I Do When I Get A Day Off. | ||||
| 08:49am 13/12/2007 | ||||
Last nite was a nice break for my tummy from ingesting so much salad and pesto based pasta the past few days. I made my first French dinner! I think Kenny was pleased. He must've been in a silly euphoric full tummy state b/c after the meal, he asked me to make some silly poses in the kitchen. I think I look like a Japanese housewife in my "Paris" apron. Yep, it has little Eiffel Towers all over it. I'm hoping that we can go to Europe next year. Can't wait to taste how food is authentically done there and then take notes of the real recipes and cook them back at my little studio. People have told me that pizza and pasta in the U.S. are totally oversauced, overcooked, and too large of a portion, while in Italy everything is made just so. Just enough sauce and small plates that'll fill you if you take your time to enjoy eating leisurely while chatting with a friend. After my trip to Japan two winters ago, that was when I realized what pigs Americans are. Our meal sizes are just too big and too much. No wonder we're the fattest country in the world. It is basic human instinct to eat whatever is in front of you, b/c back in the caveman days, you don't know when your next meal will be..til you can catch whatever animal, hunt it, and cook it.. Walk more, take public transportation, bike, run, skateboard, do something active for at least an hour a day to compensate for all that sitting around in the car during traffic and then more sitting at the office! Now onto the food photos. :) Steak with Red Wine Shallot Sauce, Avocado Vichyssoise, Fresh Salad tossed with home made French style dressing, and Sparkling Apple Cranberry juice. Dessert would've been premium Vanilla Ice Cream with crumbled Peanut Butter cookies on top, but we were both too stuffed with enough leftovers saved for lunch today. Yay!             |
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| Read 14 - Post | ||||
| Debbie Downer Freaking Cracks Me Up! | |||
| 02:02am 11/12/2007 | |||
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Especially during the first skit the character ever appeared in(which is the one shown below). Almost everyone on set couldn't keep a straight face. |
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| Read 4 - Post | |||
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digitaldewi |
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