I think I’m becoming a neat freak… Yay!
My principle is: if I’m not using it, I shouldn’t have it.
Best applied to pots/pans/dishes… I only keep a few, which makes me wash them on a regular basis ;)
Of course, what I really need now is to declutter my schedule.
by Haruki Murakami
Good book. Reminds me a lot of Catcher in the Rye (which is a good thing, considering how that’s one of my fav novels).
I watched the film adaptation right after finishing it, hoping to grasp some kind of closure, because the ending was pretty open-ended. Personally, the film was terrible and was nowhere close to capturing the real emotions drawn from the book. :P
Will be reading more from this author. But next on my list is The Great Gasby~
I’m applying for an art college here in the city, so it’s time for another portfolio!
This means more painting, more sketching, more art-making. :)
Hopefully a lot more art-making if I get accepted!
Had a block of tofu that I didn’t know what to do with, so I looked up some recipes online.
Tofu Parmigiana
This one honestly tastes like lasagna…!
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
5 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons dried oregano, divided
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 (12 ounce) package firm tofu
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 clove garlic, minced
4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese1. In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs, 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon oregano, salt, and black pepper.
2. Slice tofu into 1/4 inch thick slices, and place in bowl of cold water. One at a time, press tofu slices into crumb mixture, turning to coat all sides.
3. Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook tofu slices until crisp on one side. Drizzle with a bit more olive oil, turn, and brown on the other side.
4. Combine tomato sauce, basil, garlic, and remaining oregano. Place a thin layer of sauce in an 8 inch square baking pan. Arrange tofu slices in the pan. Spoon remaining sauce over tofu. Top with shredded mozzarella and remaining 3 tablespoons Parmesan.
5. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 20 minutes.
Coconut Tofu Curry
2 bunches green onions
1 (14 ounce) can light coconut milk
1/4 cup soy sauce, divided
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 teaspoons chile paste
1 pound firm tofu, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
4 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
4 ounces fresh mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
4 cups chopped bok choyDirections
1. Remove white parts of green onions, and finely chop. Chop greens into 2 inch pieces.
2. In a large heavy skillet over medium heat, mix coconut milk, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, brown sugar, curry powder, ginger, and chile paste. Bring to a boil.
3. Stir tofu, tomatoes, yellow pepper, mushrooms, and finely chopped green onions into the skillet. Cover, and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mix in basil and bok choy. Season with salt and remaining soy sauce. Continue cooking 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender but crisp. Garnish with remaining green onion.
Signed up for ballroom dance lessons! First class is tomorrow. Time to take out my 2 left feet for a spin ahahah.
If I’m to go meatless, I’ll have to find my protein sources elsewhere… I found a webpage (http://www.exrx.net/Nutrition/Protein.html) that explains how you can get protein from beans/peas/nuts, eggs, and grain-like products.
I’m making it a habit to eat an egg each day, and eat more beans (in combination with grains). Additionally, I’m trying to get more vitamin C, especially before consuming iron because I learned that you need vitamin C to actually absorb iron, which is something more abundant in meat than other types of food.
If anyone is also thinking of becoming a vegetarian… good luck! And don’t forget to eat properly! :)
Everything gets a little funky when you’ve pulled an all-nigher for a deadline. You push yourself to go so far, to go so fast and then when it’s all over, the details start to come back… sort of in a photographic experience. Like how you watch a movie and happen to pause it at an interesting shot that you’d otherwise miss in real time.
But anyway, I was on my computer when I looked to the telephone to my right. It’s a pretty standard phone, but that’s the thing. It’s presence is so quiet, so still, so comfortable, and peaceful. With one cord tethered to the wall and another cord made of spirals dangling off the table like a seaside necklace strung up in a jewelry shop. Gravity orchestrates the rhythm of the coils and tenderly gathers them in an imaginary cup.
Same with my comb beside it. It’s resting on it’s backside with the bristles like a perfectly trimmed patch of grass and budding flowers, standing as tall as they will ever be and not needing to go any higher.
With life being so busy these days and especially since I’m doing my summer abroad course right now, everything has been so temporal and impersonal. From my position, the world seems so big and I seem so small. I’ve also been trying to do so many things because I know my time here is short. That’s why it’s nice to notice these objects… in comparison, they exist in this delicate suspension within this perfect timeless space. It reminds me of the inescapable property of reality, while at the same time it’s almost surreal.
Maybe my coffee’s just spiked.
Pulled an all-nighter for a project and had a presentation this morning. Didn’t get the chance to shower, comb my hair, or anything of the sort… so I stepped out with my zits, grease, shadows and all.
I look awful but I’m kind of loving it.
Today, I don’t feel like hiding. :)
I signed up for a summer abroad program in England, and I just arrived a couple of days ago. Currently staying in Oxford, but will be seeing London, Edinburgh, and some parts of Italy later! :D
Reasons:
1) To eat healthier.
2) To diminish animal slaughter.
3) To confront the absurd realization that I eat animals (not necessarily for my survival, but for my own enjoyment for the most part).
4) To get myself consistently questioning what’s in my food, where it comes from, how it’s associated with certain activities, etc.
5) To help unclog consumerist and capitalist systems.
I think it was the last reason that finally pushed my interest in vegetarianism into a working goal. I never knew that eating meat did so much damage. Not just to animal welfare, but to humans, global economies, and essentially our daily lives!
- Warning: rant! -
Because the demand for meat is so high, the meat industry has to resort to extreme measures to keep up with it. This includes the unnatural production of meat (entailing hormones, poor-quality feed, procedures that makes the meat more fat and less protein, etc.). Then there’s the horrible living conditions for the animals, where producers are fixated on fattening as many animals as they can and as quickly as they can, and thus care less about the environmental damage from these factory farms. So much resource is concentrated on producing meat… it requires a lot of- often treeless- land, food, water, energy, etc. I mean, the meat that comes out in the end doesn’t even come close to providing as much as the food or water that took to make it… so what’s really the benefit of eating meat when overall, it’s a waste of money, time, resources, and likely not even that healthy?
Factory workers are often treated horribly not only because of the dangerous work environment but also largely due to the intense pressure to make more and more meat products.
Then there’s also that reoccurring question, “How are we going to feed our planet’s growing population?” Well… there is evidence that suggests we have the means of making enough food for everyone… It’s just that we choose to direct too much of our efforts in making meat for a particular fraction of people.
All in all, I am not attempting to avoid meat entirely… but I will cut down significantly to maybe one or two servings per month. Which, mind you, is probably not too different to how some of our parents lived!
Ahahah, sorry about the rant… but I guess I’m just passionate about this!
I’m seriously thinking of a career change, which of course freaks me out because if not architecture, what should I pursue?!
I’m looking into other fields of design (e.g animation, special effects, web design, fashion, etc.) but it sort of feels like I’m groping in the dark…
I wasn’t sure how long I had to cook the fish so the egg mixture slowly became scrambled eggs ahahah. I love cooking with breadcrumbs… everything comes out much crispier. :)
Large egg 1 1
Milk 2 tsp. 10 mL
Fine dry bread crumbs 3/4 cup 175 mL
Finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese 3 tbsp. 50 mL
Chopped fresh parsley 3 tbsp. 50 mL
(or 2 1/4 tsp., 11 mL, flakes)
Salt 1/4 tsp. 1 mL
All-purpose flour 3 tbsp. 50 mL
Snapper fillets, skin and any small 1 1/2 lbs. 680 g
bones removed, cut into 6 pieces
Canola oil 1 1/2 tbsp. 25 mL
Beat egg and milk with fork in shallow dish.
Combine next 4 ingredients in separate shallow dish.
Measure flour onto sheet of waxed paper. Dredge fish in flour. Dip into egg mixture. Press into crumb mixture until coated.
Heat canola oil in large non-stick frying pan on medium. Add fish. Cook for about 3 minutes per side until fish is golden and flakes easily when tested with fork. Serves 6.
Hmmm, the icing turned out a bit too grey… which may have turned some people off ahahah. It just goes to show how much food colouring goes into store-bought cupcakes! My roommate at the time said it kind of looked like diarrhea. She is no longer my roommate…
...due to other reasons. :P
(Nonetheless, she thought it tasted great)
My bangs, once again, were getting too long.
I usually just grow them out or go to salon to get them fixed but today, I thought, “Heck, why don’t I just cut them myself?! What’s the worse it can happen?” So I grabbed a pair of scissors and began snipping off my hair bit by bit, with this (Girl-with-the-Dragon-Tattoo-do) as my fallback plan, ahahah. In the end, I think it turned out rather well… in fact, better than my usual salon! :P
Phew! I admit that I’m a tinsy bit relieved that I didn’t have to use my fallback plan.
I’m glad that I’m not the only one trying to do this… otherwise, it would be really hard to find (affordable) sustainable food/products!
Went grocery shopping today for basics (milk, cereal, apples, spinach, etc.) and found myself buying almost completely organic. I’m not sure when this became a habit (I think it’s also partly due to my incentive to eat healthier) but this definitely means I’m closer to completing this goal! :)
Sigh… if only I could do this in a way that was more wallet-friendly… but I guess it’s only fair. I mean, things are usually cheap for us at the expense of others… in this case, also at the expense of our planet?
The last time I went home I stayed in the basement. Every morning, the sun arriving from the other side of my screen would seep in through the cracks and softly gloss the floor.
We’re going to the basketball game tonight with some friends. Wooo, spending my Valentine’s Day next to a bunch of loud, sweaty people… how can it get any more romantic? (It’s only because Jeremy Lin is playing… and we’ve got wine afterwards, ahahah. :P)
For better or for worse, we’ve been operating on a very casual level for some time now.
