Orchid SOS

My orchids aren't doing very well. They look sad and droopy and dark green. I want them to be healthy and flower so I did a bit of research on the 'net. I found out that you should use sphagnum moss to fertilize the plants and help them get healthy again. I bought some of what I thought was sphagnum moss but it turns out that I bought the wrong kind. :( I bought sphagnum peat moss. The difference is that the peat moss is the decomposed version of sphagnum moss and isn't as effective. *sigh* Well, nevertheless, I put the sphagnum peat moss on the orchids and hope they do better. I'll check on them again in about a month and compare how they are now.

Pasta for Ladies .. of the Night

So I've got some anchovies that I'm trying to figure out how to cook up for dinner. Ming doesn't really care for them so I've got to figure out how to incorporate them into dinner where you really can't tell they're there. During my search I came across pasta puttanesca. I've heard of it before and it incorporates the anchovies in the pasta sauce ... sounds good to me. I read about its history and found out that it was served by ladies of the night in order to tempt men to come to them:

"This sauce is named for ladies of the night. They would place pots of it in their windows to tempt men into the bordellos. "

Whoa ... I'm going to be making an illicit sauce? I would never have guessed that something as simple as pasta sauce would have such a colorful history

Sudoku Mania

I got sucked into doing sudoku. I've been going up to the city to do work for a customer every now and then and it's a long train ride. I normally read the paper but eventually I finish the paper and it's still awhile to go before I get to my destination. I started doing a sudoku puzzle and I finished my first one yesterday. I understand why people are so addicted to this now; it's seemingly easy but it does take a bit of work at it. I've ended up going electronic and now I'm doing the puzzles on the computer (much easier than pen and paper since its ultimately easier to read on the computer than in a tiny little box on the paper.)

Call me crazy but I just joined the masses in loving this game. Well maybe not love but definitely hooked and once you start a puzzle, it's hard to stop until you finish

Scratch and Sniff Stamps

China has released some stamps where, if you scratch it, it smells like Sweet and Sour Pork. These stamps are to commemorate Chinese New Year, this year being the year of the pig. I wonder if scratching it will make people hungry for dinner ^_~

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Celebrating Tet

I'm not Vietnamese but I'm going to celebrate Tet at Tamarine Restaurant. I've been wanting to try Tamarine for a long time, especially since people have been giving it really good reviews. I've eaten at its sister restaurant, Bong Su, in SF and really enjoyed it. I can only imagine that Tamarine will be just as good as Bong Su.

I normally celebrate Chinese New Year so Tet will be a different experience. I'm looking forward to it since the restaurant will have different decorations and entrees out for Tet. They're even going to have a lion dance -- in downtown Palo Alto! O.o

Review: Kite Runner

I stayed up late last night (gasp, on a school/worknight) and read The Kite Runner. It is an excellent book and I recommend that everyone read it. It is about a boy who grows up as the son of the richest man in town (or among the richest). It takes place in Afghanistan prior to any of the upheavel. During the boy's childhood he grows up when the monarchy is still in power and it gives great insight as to what Afghanistan used to be like. Gradually there is a coup and social upheavel, causing the boy and his father to flee to America. As an adult, the boy is summoned back to Afghanistan and he sees how it has changed and how life has become unbearable when under the rule of the Taliban.

More than anything else, this book helped open my eyes to what life was like in the middle east. All we've ever heard is that its a war zone (since that is what its been like for the past 25 years) but it wasn't always that way. It used to be beautiful and "normal." Towns were prosperous and while not as "advanced" as the states, the towns had their own charm.

I also learned a bit about Afghan culture and how different it is compared to Asian culture. It was refreshing to hear the intricacies of their culture and how they also value the concept of family.

I stayed up very late to finish this book but it was a total page turner. If you haven't read it yet, it is a must read.

Happy New Year

Happy new year and welcome to 2007! What did I do to celebrate the new year? I played wiiiii!!! Since getting married earlier this year Ming and I decided to be ultra social and lay low. We spent the evening at home and played wii all night. Yup, we're a ton of fun. O.o

I love the wii. It's a lot of fun to play and since Ming has cleaned the house, we've got ample space to play it. I'm most addicted to Tennis (wii sports) and Zelda. I haven't really played other games yet since I'm trying to become a pro on Tennis and get further than just a wooden sword.

Hope that everyone had a good new years and didn't get too drunk. ^_~

How Unique Are You?

My full name (with my maiden name):

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 176 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

My new full name (married name):

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 49 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I guess I'm more unique (and less chance of being mistaken) now that I'm married :)

Modern Mediocore Chocolate at Inflated Prices

I recently was made aware of a chocolate maker called Noka They have a very minimalist, sleek, and modern appeal to them. Their packaging is exactly what would appeal to the urban, minimalist.



I came across an article which does an in-depth review of Noka chocolate. Noka is sold at premium stores such as Dean & Deluca and Neiman Marcus. This chocolate, on average, goes for $300/lb. Yes, there really are 3 digits to the left of the decimal point. In France you can expect to see chocolates for $100/lb but $300?! Damn, that had better be some really good chocolate to warrant that kind of price tag.

It turns out that Noka is a chocolate which has basically been re-branded (from a company called Bonnat). Noka is a company which repackages chocolate made by another company and they charge a 1300% markup. O.o While the chocolate is decent, it is no where worth that much money (particularly since you can buy the chocolate directly from Bonnat). Noka is the most expensive chocolate that you can buy but I'd rather save my money and buy chocolate from Vosges or Amedei instead. At least those companies are actual chocolatiers and make their own truffles, etc. instead of simply taking the chocolate and melting them down into another mold.

Noka is very cool to look at but I'll take a bar of some other chocolate (by a chocolatier who actually makes their confections) any day.

It's Christmas Charlie Brown

Urban Outfitters is selling a replica of the sad Charlie Brown Christmas tree. It's so sad .. but really cute. We aren't going to have a Christmas tree this year but, if we did get one, this is the one I'd get. ^_^

We Have a New Bond

I saw Casino Royale last night, finally, and I really enjoyed the movie. It was a really long movie but had a lot of good scenes and the script was well written. I'm not a Bond fan by any means but I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It definitely surpassed my expectations.

I joined in with the masses when we all groaned upon hearing Daniel Craig would be the famous 007. He doesn't seem handsome enough to follow in Pierce Brosnan's footsteps. I should actually say that statement past tense. After seeing Daniel Craig's performance I was very impressed. He has a certain charm that grows on you and he portrayed Bond very well. He is in very good shape; his body was really buff! The stunts he did in Bond took my breath away and there were scenes where you could see just how hard his (ample) muscles were straining. O.o

All and all, it was a good evening and I'll rent/buy the movie when it comes out.

Start them Young

We've all had to worry about children who misbehave. Sometimes you just grin and bear it (and administer a bit of discipline.) How do you deal with children who lie? Better yet, how do you deal with parents who lie because their parents taught them to lie. O.o Yes, you heard right. I had the misfortune of finding that my cousin has been taught to lie by the parents. *ouch* Is it any wonder that children these days are much worse off then we were as a kid? When we grew up our parents had values and morales and always taught us to do the right thing. Somewhere along the lines todays parents forgot these lessons, and instead, do a 180 and teach their kids all the things that we were told never to do.

Well, now that I know kids these days are so terribly misbehaved, I'll just need to remember to never volunteer to babysit these kids.

Breakfast of Champions

This is what I had for breakfast today:

See's Candy and Milo (kind of like a malty hot chocolate)

Tis the Season

It's holiday time! I've been busy trying to figure out how to do x-mas shopping with the hectic workload ... how do busy people do it?

I've also gotten into the holiday decorating mode this year so I want to add some x-mas decorations around the house ... My mission: find a wreath to hang on the front door. I don't feel like going through all of the hassle of a tree this year but maybe next year :)

Happy Turkey Day

Happy turkey day everyone! Eat lots, be merry and give thanks to the oodles and oodles of turkey ^_^

The Devil Wears Prada

I finished reading The Devil Wears Prada and although I didn't have really high expectations for the book, I was still left feeling disappointed. Everyone in Europe seems to adore the movie so I thought I'd give the book a shot. Normally the book is always better than the movie so if the movie is good, the book is generally ten times better. Unfortunately, the book wasn't as good of a read as I had hoped. It definitely doesn't keep you hooked like the Da Vinci Code or any of John Grisham's books. Rather, it is through and through a chic lit book. I don't have any problem reading a chic lit book but I was expecting this particular one to have a bit more substance. The book is written from a first person point of view and .. the girl isn't very likeable. She catalogues her life working for as an assistant for some big magazine company and the book is all about how she slaves for a high and mighty fashion editor. The book didn't have any dull spots but, rather, just seemed boring. I love reading about fashion and the book was more focused on dropping descriptions about the fashion labels than it was about developing a complex and intersting story line.

I hope the movie turns out to be better than this book, that'd be a first, because all of Europe can't be wrong ... can it?

Love to Amazon

I love Amazon. I signed up for a trial of their Amazon Prime program. This basically let you get free 2nd day delivery of any items you ordered for 3 months. If you don't cancel within the 3 month trial period then you pay $79/year to continue the program. As with all trial offers, you will automatically get charged the $79 unless you cancel before the trial period expires.

I've been really caught up in work and before I knew it my 3 month period was over and I got charged the $79. *doh* I promptly cancelled the Amazon Prime membership since it was cool to have but not something that I really need. Today I received an e-mail that confirmed my Amazon Prime cancellation AND the CS rep also said they'd refund me the $79 since I hadn't taken advantage of it (meaning I hadn't ordered any items since they'd charged my credit card.) That is so cool! Amazon refunded my money even though it was my own error (I should have been more on top of things) and I didn't even ask for them to do this. Wow.

Amazon has made me a very happy customer and one who'll gladly keep ordering from again.

Jet setters

From dictionary.com:

jet set n. - An international social set made up of wealthy people who travel from one fashionable place to another.


Wealthy people huh? I don't think that I'm considered a wealthy person but I am a jet setter ... this weekend Ming and I are off to Boston. We're going to see all of his old college fraternity brothers and it'll be really cold there (high of 45). *brrr* I guess the only way to stay warm is to stay in Copley Place and go shopping. ^_^

Toys for All

Earlier I had posted that Ming got to buy the TV that he'd been itching to buy. The TV arrived and he's diligently been testing it out with 360 games. Since he got his TV it's only fair that I get something in return too ... so I bought a purse. It isn't just any purse, it's a purse I've been looking for for the past year. I finally found a purse that had all my requirements (roomy, leather, tote style) and I stumbled upon it here:



So now that each of us has some new toy to play with .. how do you find a suitable x-mas gift? O.o

New Toy

Ming got a new toy at the end of last week. In fact, I even went to buy him the new toy.



It hasn't arrived home yet but when it does, I have a feeling we're going to be glued to the couch for awhile. ^_^ The store will have to call us when it does arrive but I'm looking forward to it because it means that everything will be so much bigger and crisper.