Lists

I've been staring at the title of this post for what I swear to have been five minutes. It looks funny. Lists. Then I started repeating it out loud and it made the disconnect between the word and its meaning even more severe.

Too much caffeine, not enough sleep, and definitely not enough desire for sleep.

So this post is going to be exactly what it says in the title: lists. Why? Because I don't feel like sleeping just yet. I'm still trying to chase my mind ('cause it's still running... haha...?)

Television shows watched lately:

• Franklin and Bash
• The Nine Lives of Chloe King
• Mad Love
• Hiccups
• Cougar Town
• Life Unexpected
• Love in the Wild
• Make Me a Supermodel
• Project Runway
• The Other Truth - 真相
  
• So You Think You Can Dance

Facebook games addicted to:

• My Shops
• Green Farm
• Castle & Co
• DDTank

Food I am craving:

• Sushi
• President's Choice Chocolate Chip Cookies (Yes, the brand does matter)
• All Dress Chips
• Ketchup Chips
• Gingerale
• Pillsbury Mini Pizzas 
• Bread from out of the oven
• Warm Toast
• Cinnamon Buns
• Porkchop Bun from Phoenix
• Coconut Bun from T&T
• Chicken Noodle Soup
• Cookies and Cream Icecream from Breyers
• Dairy Queen soft serve ice cream
• McDonald's Oreo McFlurry
• Lava cookie from Red Lobster
• Sunny Side-up Eggs with Toast
• Hot dog with lots of ketchup, mustard and relish
• Pepperoni peeled one by one off a slice of pizza
• Soggy Fries
• Poutine from either Harvey's or KFC

Books I've read lately:

• Random books by Sherrilyn Kenyon 
• Mr. Maybe by Jane Green
• Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
• Love the One You're With, also by Emily Giffin
• Rules of Work by Templar
• A page of Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal (don't even get me started!!)
• Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy Series) by Richelle Mead
• Skimmed The Carlyes Series by Cecily von Ziegesar 
• Started Omnitopia Dawn by Diane Duane
• The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
• Wither by Lauren DeStefano 
• Bossypants by Tina Fey
• Starting Morganville Vampires series by Rachael Caine
• Tried to reread the Twilight Series 
• Rereading Ender's Game series (LOVE!)

The times when I've questioned my own sanity:

• too many to list out

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this time-waster as much as I did!

xoxo

Chicken Noodles

As I was in the kitchen today, cooking chicken noodle soup my mind started to wander. I love those times when you can just stare off and peacefully let you mind wander. Today it was just me and a rather lonely house.

I imagined the house flooded with water right around me, and how I wouldn't care. The water rising up until it got up to a little bit lower than my knees. The tiled floor replaced by a soft layer of sand that I can wiggle my toes in.

I kick around the water, splashing like a little kid. When I get tired, I sit on the edge of the wooden table in my kitchen that tries too hard to be fancy. Rest my bowl of chicken noodle soup on my knees and eat.

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Then I started to think about how as a kid, I had believed the numbers from one to ten were tiny little figures.

1 would a stern solider type figure that was too full of himself (yes, they had genders) for his own good. With his head looking out towards all the other numbers thinking it was more superior. I don't blame it though, since everyone keeps telling him he's the best.

2 was a handsome guy, who didn't know better. He was your average good guy who was too dumb for his own good, and too invested in his looks. He is one's only friend since they are the only ones that can stand the company of each other.

3 was an old man who I could never figure out, but only always looked on the group.

4 a lady. One of those you see in movies who seem to be always watching something or someone. She is quite the proper middle aged lady, and wears one of those large brimmed hats with flower on top of the ribbon. You can't help but think she always knows your dirty little secrets...

5 is a middle aged man who is a little too thick around his centre. His belly is only held up by the brown leather belt he wears with everything. Most of the time it's a checkered shirt with thin blue lines running horizontally and vertically. He is secretly in love with 4, but has never admitted it to anyone and  thinks it's too late to.

6 is an athlete. He is quite handsome, and I think he is more handsome and manly than 2 is, but no one will ever say it out loud since no one is supposed to be good looking and kind at the same time. He is indeed my favorite number, but I always feel like that doesn't need to be said since who wouldn't love 6?

7, or Isabelle as she would like to be called at times. She is a fussy young lady who you would image would read vogue. She often wears a tight pencil skirt that reveals her well-toned body. One of those woman you'd love to hate, but can't because she just looks too perfect. It makes you wonder how much work she puts in to look as good as she does. Isabelle is absolutely gorgeous, and her only flaw is that she knows it.

*** 6 and 7 are an item. They are one of those couples where girls think 6 is too good for 7, and guys think 7 is too hot to settle down. 6 is well mannered and polite to 7, although this makes people suspect his love for his other half. 7 pretends to be too full of herself and high maintenance, but secretly she is totally in love with 6, and wonders whether he is nice to her just like he is with everyone else.

8 is a fat man who keeps trying to hit on 7, and plainly, people are just grossed out by him.

9 is a well dressed, but toned down middle age man. He is clearly rich, but keeps to himself even though he appears to be friendly enough. He is not too full of himself to say hi to the others, but it always seems like it's more of an acknowledgement than a greeting. Many think he used to be, or is still in finance.

I would stop at 9, because then it just seems weird and I can't wrap my head around the idea of 10. It just was an ending to the line of numbers. And yes, they were always in a line, and never out of place.

Adventures with the Durian Fruit

It always amused me, the variety of products Asian supermarkets always have to offer. That particular day however, what caught my eye was a Durian. Sometimes, I wonder if Durian is just an Asian think, but after too many hours of watching Hong Kong television drama, I decided that I'll just categorize it as such in my head. I somehow convinced my dad to pick one out. He then taught me how to pick a Durian.

First of all, look at the shape of the fruit. If it is completely round, choose another one, as the "lumpy" ones, or as he says Chinese people called it, "monkey head" shaped ones had more meat. And obviously, decide how much you would like to consume. It is advised to choose a smaller one for first time tasters, as the taste of the fruit does not appeal to everyone.

Next, look at the spikes of the fruit. The longer they are, the more moist the Durian is going to be, and vice versa.

Finally,  (I cannot believe I asked this question last) is: "How do you know when the fruit is ripe?" The answer is to look at its colouring. Durians are know to turn yellow when they are ripe.

The one we bought that day was a frozen one, to prevent the fruit from being over-ripe and spoiled during its transportation. Many would either be drawn to this very section of the supermarket having smelled the Durian, or be repelled.


The opening process:
I was told that once the Durian is ripe, there is soft spot at the center bottom of the fruit. You are then able, from this point, the puncture a hole to its tough exterior and it will just pop open. However, when we bought the fruit, it was frozen, and it did no such thing. This caused me quite a bit of anxiety, as I was desperately anticipating the consumption of the fruit. 

However, later on that night, we did manage to thaw it, and open that sucker up. It was a tasty mean indeed.

This is my dad opening the fruit up while I waited patiently.

This is how it looks like opened.

Long Awaited Photos

I apologize for the time it took to upload these pictures from the meal. The holidays, despite how it hasn't officially started since I still have the History of Costume Exam to worry about, has driven me bonkers. I no longer can distinguish the day of the week, and sometimes not even the time of day. So here are the photos from the dinner:

Here is the dinner, starting at the top and going clockwise: Honey Garlic Chicken Wings, Mashed Potatoes made with Garlic Butter, Cream of Mushroom Cauliflower with Cheese, and Ribs. Oh, and the bottle is Alize's Passion Mango.

Here is how it looks like with the new phone app that baby got. Um, he can comment as to what the phone app is called and the lens used. LOL. Sorry for that.

Here I am presenting the bottle in all its glory. As well, the phone app is used with a different lens. I prefer this one, mostly because of the cooler overtone. I don't know, what do you think?

Same app used, different pose. Ready to get the drinkin' on!

The lens used is the same as the orange tinted photo on top. Looks like someone couldn't wait to get a drink and hogged the whole bottle.

Unfortunately for me, I have the genes that contributes to the "Asian Glow." This is how I looked like near the end of the meal.

Quick Summary

So today was an awesome day.
Made dinner for baby, with ribs (did not turn out as good as I hoped), honey garlic wings, mashed potatoes with garlic butter, and cauliflower in a cream of mushroom and cheese sauce.
Was really full and statisfied.
Why these fragmented sentences? Well, because we tried the Passion and Mango Alize.
It was awesome, but it does not result in a good blog entry, plus my Mac is malfunctioning again.
You know what that meannnss! Time for a new Mac. Now I just have to wait for the new one to come out, then I'm all set. Might  well get the new "iPhone 4G" or what they sometimes call the "iPhone HD" LOL! Right now I'm plenty interested in what Apple comes up with, after the whole iPad mishap
Currently my favorite rumored design is this one:

Click the image above for more views.
So after a great ordeal of eating and drink.. and lots of laughing, we decided it was a good idea to play Call of Duty. It was fun, and interesting. Haha. All I got from those games were that the dogs were a real pain in the butt!

Pictures of the actual evening will be posted up here when baby has time to upload them. They were taken on his phone using this new camera app. It is absolutely amazing!

Also, if anyone, and I do mean anyone, knows how to fix this problem with my Macbook, it is much appreciated. The problem is, I would type a bit then it backtracks by itself. So I would end up typing words in the middle of words which turns out to be jibberish. It is really bothering me, especially when I'm somewhat still buzzed and have to update my blog. It would sometimes highlight all the text somehow by itself as well. Someone help me!!!

So that is all the goodness I can afford for tonight. I'll update more when I'm more clear headed. And that being said, please forgive me for all my errors like spelling mistakes or grammar, or just pure nonsense for tonight. I promise you a better entry.

Oh, and more to come, more reviews on Playstation 3 games! Keep checking back and I'll keep you posted! Good night y'all!

A Day of Gaming.

Today, I woke up later than usual: after 12pm. It felt awfully late in my opinion, and I'm sort've not proud of waking up that late. However, when I woke up, it dawned on me that I had absolutely nothing planned for that day. So I called to check up on baby to see how he was doing, and then just laid there in bed.

So I decided to eat brunch, composed of miso soup and udon. Then I needed to have something else to nibble on so I made so spicy fries from McCain. Yummmm!

So after brunch, I decided to take baby's advice and play more on the PS3. I was exploring a bit, and downloaded a bunch of free stuff. Who can reject free stuff right? I finally tried connecting the PSP via the usb cable. Connected it and everything, so I thought, might as well "juice up" the PSP a bit hahaha I wanted to use a matching theme for both the psp and the ps3 =D I wanted to surprise sommmeeonnne heehehehehe. I feel really silly now, but here is a picture of the current psp theme. I hope you love it baby! LOL!

 The awesome Loco Roco2 theme on the psp!

I played a bunch of games today, some of which includes:

Fairytale Wars: Surprisingly bloody! The graphics are really cute, and is sooo deceiving as to what the game is before you actually play it. One would think it is a kiddy game, with cute characters running around. In fact, it is the bloodiest demo I downloaded today. The demo only comes in one level called "The White Room," which describes the level perfectly. It is all white, which further emphasizes the bloodiness of the overall game. Your mission is within the allotted time, kill as many cute creatures with deadly weapons coming your way. The chainsaw so far is my favorite weapon. This is a great stress and time killing game.

 Quite bloody no? Although the blood does look an awful lot like plasticine ketchup


The Fat Princess: Another cutesy-game I downloaded today. This reminded me of an old-school game on the Playstation called team buddies. It's like capture the flag, except, the flag is replaced by a princess, in whom you can feed cake to until she becomes extremely fat. That way, it takes more people to carry her out of your castle's dungeon. You can upgrade and obtain different occupations such as archers, magicians, these people with axes, as well as medics (in medival terms). It is quite an amusing game. Online play is rather amusing as well, and is the more favored mode to the play in, as not only is it multiplayer friendly, but interactive with those whom are addicted to the game as well. The line that amused me the most when I was prompted to change teams, suggesting that it is possible if the team sucked. Another amazing feature is the ability to vote during the intermission between games, allowing players to chose which map they would rather play on for the next round. This is a recommended game for those casual gamers out there who wants to interact with other players online and just have a good time. 

The startoff came map/ interface.

An overfed princess in all her glory.

Dirt 2: A rally race game that consists of: you know it, dirt. A dirty game with tons of driving and customization. An actual racing game that I fell in love with, despite the limited qualities of it being a demo. The views from first person (both views of just the road, as well as a bonus view of your dashboard with a customizable hula girl), to third person (seeing the wreckage your car has turned into), is truly amazing I find. The controls were not what I expected however, and took a while to figure out, and despite that, I still constantly accidentally pressed  the instant reply button, which did not amuse me because it reminded me of my constant failure to turn the curves perfectly. But I guess to blame, was my bad controlling of the car, by the end of two laps, my bumper already came off my car. Other than that, this is a worthwhile game to play, especially for those who love racing games and love customization even more.

Bayonetta: I first played this demo at the Sony store at the mall. Thinking there was more to the demo, I decided to download it for another run. The game play was as straight forward, yet innovative as I remembered. The introduction was even done with great innovation, with clear controls on the side for you to try out with "dummies" that spawns over and over again for you to try out different moves. The game environment reminded me a lot of that in Final Fantasy, with bosses that reminded me of those in God of War III in terms of both moves and size (which at many case is ginormous!). The main character however, is not the kind of sexy I would've preferred, and reminded me more of a librarian with gunstrapped legs more than anything. The witch hunter I faced, I thought would've been a much sexier main character with Princess Leia hair that was in the shade of really pale blonde, and a really rather sexy voice. The game play was good despite this criticism. My favorite part of the demo was challenging another witch hunter, and walking on the walls, ceiling... and... you start losing track of which way truly is "up." The demo made me wanting more, a came I would definitely consider buying.

The main character flying like a butterfly

The Sexy Librarian strapped with huge guns

Okay, so that was about my day, and of course, Call of Duty, but then again, its awesome-ness needs no explanation. More on my non-fashion centered days later!

The weekend continued

Since the last post was getting a bit long, I decided to split the day into two.
After the cafe lunch, we headed to eat some more. (If you haven't noticed already, we do eat quite alot! haha) We decided to try something new again! We went to Ruelo Patisserie at the Times Square Plaza for some french pastries. I've for the longest time wanted to try some macaroons. I was surprised with how good it tasted, although, baby did say it was a tad expensive for its size. What do you expect though, it is french. 

 Here is one of them, the Earl Grey flavored macaroon.

This is the Rose Lychee Raspberry flavored one, this one baby liked more because of its more fruity taste. He has such a sweet tooth.

 Here they are together, before we consumed them. You can see the size comparison between the pastries and the hand. I guess it was quite petite for around almost three dollars each.

We brought the pastries with us to the theatre next, the theatre where I called "The One That Looks Like A Spaceship," to watch the infamous "Clash of the Titans" It was surprisingly good, despite how we didn't watch it in 3-D. It was my idea, since I sort've gave up on the whole 3-D movie thing, considering how they don't have an awful lot of stuff flying out at you throughout the movie. Maybe I will reconsider when they further develop the three-dimensional thing.
 
So for dinner, yes, I am skipping right onto dinner, since we didn't really do much in between except for a car ride from the uppermost of town to almost downtown. Where we decided to go for dinner was Joey at Don Mills. The Don Mills Mall is still relatively new, and I have to admit, is rather refreshing because its a tad different from every other mall around the area. Shopping does get a bit redundant when every mall looks the same. So back to Joey, it was an absolutely long wait. We were estimated to have to wait an hour and fourty minutes for a table, and we were starved by that time. However, the atmosphere did keep me busy for a while, and besides, they had complimentary wine and appetizers which I appreciated a lot. They even had a selection between red and white wine. I normally don't drink wine, more of a kool-aid drinker, but I decided to go for a white wine they offered. It was called Fish Hoek, which apparently comes from South America. It was surprisingly good, however, not as good when paired with the spicy flat-bread they offered.

When we were actually seated (which was faster than they estimated, which was around an hour), and we decided we were starved and wanted to go for the quarter chicken and ribs. However, they were all sold out of the rotisserie chicken, so we had to go with just half a rack of ribs, or wait another half an hour for more chicken to be roasted. The ribs however were really good, and came off the bones well.

Here are pictures of us wasting time while we wait for our food.

Me being bored and decided to be the subject of baby's camera.

Baby deciding to be silly as well, he was probably starved and bored.

One of the pages in the liquor book. It was interesting.

We decided to use their suggestion, using their scope-o-matic. =)

It was a long day, but overall, a very satisfying day. Thinking back to it makes me smile.

The weekend

So finally the break has started, and I am already officially bored. I borrowed baby's PS3 so I wouldn't be so bored, so I played Little Big Planet and Call of Duty. Then I got motion sickness and quit. It's starting to become a looonnnggg day, then looonnnggg week. This is why I decided to backtrack, and reminisce back to the weekend.

Saturday:
Couldn't sleep much lately, since I have insomnia, so I decided to try to sleep in. Took a long hot shower, and then baby broke out the good news (sarcastic) to me, that I had a major spelling mistake on one of my blogs, so I rushed to go fix it.

After the blog ordeal we decided it was too much work already for a weekend's day, so  we decided to go grab brunch. For once, we went to a new place called Cafe Peninsula. 

For those who live in the GTA, it is located in one of the many corners of First Markham place. It is tucked away in its little corner beside the Firefly Restaurant. It is a great little place, I'm surprised I never noticed it before. The price was relatively inexpensive, but the food was awesome. I had Grouper Fried Fillet with Terriyaki Sauce on Rice, and baby had Cutlet Pork Chop with Egg on Rice. Together, we shared Fried Squid Balls. The food overall was amazing! I can't emphasize it enough! The food came in Taiwanese style metal containers.

The ceiling of the cafe. The interior was quite nice for a cafe to be honest.

More of the interior, the seating area.

The Coca-Cola stand that reminded me of the weekend at Niagara Falls.

Here's the comparison. =) (Sorry got a bit sidetracked)

Here's the meal that I had, the fish with the terryiaki sauce.

The pork chops that baby had, looked yummy.

Almost forgot! We got free dessert with the meal! We were pleased we got dessert, but disappointed that it didn't taste very good, or rather, the lack of taste. It was a crepe-like thing with some kind of jam.

Overall, the food was awesome, I would definitely recommend this place for those who would like to grab a meal but looking for something out of the ordinary.

Tomorrow I will continue the review of my weekend.

Opening the Lid

Here, I am going to start my new blogging life.
Blogspot looks a whole lot better (function and aesthetic wise) than xanga.
Now all I need is just to get comfy in my new home =)

To conclude my first entry here, I included a plate of truffles I made during this holiday.
My first attempt! So proud of myself!