Recipe for Disaster

I made these today and they were pretty much a disaster.

Check out their results.

Check out mine.

I don't know what happened.  The only changes I made were to halve the recipe and to substitute in whole wheat flour for white flour.  I also used kosher salt instead of regular salt, and instead of fresh chives I used dried thyme and oregano.  Okay, maybe I should have stuck to the recipe...

Maybe my yeast is dead or something.  I knew something wasn't quite right when I checked a couple hours later and the dough hadn't doubled, but I decided to roll it out and bake it anyway just for the hell of it.  And so I could blog about it later.

TGIF?

into the office before 8
conference call at 10
mtg at 11
farmer's market for agua fresca (i brought my own lunch but i didn't want to be anti social by staying in the office while everyone else went out to pick up lunch)
mtg at 2 in WeHo
DMV #1 (doesn't do drivers license renewal)
DMV #2
paulettes for macarons (except i made the mistake of parking 0.6 miles away, so i walked 1.2 miles for these suckers)
BM's house to drop off said macarons and birthday present
the nasty 405 to go home
quick dinner at home
nordstroms
men's warehouse
worked out
ate macaron
called it a night

tomorrow:
vege

Summer Produce

We get our produce from a variety of ethnic markets, friends/family trees, and also farmers market.  Once in a while we will sell our soul to Ralphs when they have a really good deal.  I do agree that farmers market produce can be superior in quality and taste, but we cook dinner nearly everyday and I make all our work lunches the weekend beforehand, so really, $3/lb for broccoli every week doesn't make sense to me when I can get it for $0.50/lb.  Once in a while we'll splurge and buy high quality potatoes for mashed potatoes.  Man, I never knew the merits of a really good potato.  Now I know.  Same goes for avocado/guac.

Torrance Farmer's Market

We currently are stocked with plums, peaches, nectarines, red grapes, bananas, and pears.  Yum!  With the exception of seeded watermelon, I much prefer stone fruits over melons when it comes to summer fruit fare.  I really enjoy how fruit tastes from the farmer's market and I like supporting local businesses, so I try to contribute whenever I can.  This time however, all our fruit came from Valu +, Costco, and Food 4 Less.  I don't want to turn into a fruit snob!  Since I eat fruit 2-3 times a day...I can't afford to be snobby or picky. :P

Although if I had all the money in the world I would eat gaviota strawberries as snacks all summer long.  They smell AND taste good!

Things I Have Eaten Before 10am

4 gummi bears
a banana
1/4 of a leftover greasy peanut butter cookie
a handful of dried fruit
5 ritz crackers
a few pieces of cashew pistachio almond clusters
3 mugs worth of tea

Breakfast of champions, indeed.

Newb

I'm no stranger to public transportation (have ridden the Metro, Metro Rail, BBB, and Culver City Bus extensively) but this commuter express thing is really make me feel like a newb:

First day of public transpo-ing it:
Parked at the opposite corner of the park n ride b/c I didn't know that the Commuter Express pick up is OUTSIDE of the station
Wandered around 7th/Fig b/c I couldn't find the Metro station.  Turns out it was the opposite corner from where I was standing
Got to work all sweaty
Wandered around the 7th/Metro Station b/c I couldn't find the Flower exit, so I went out on Hope
Comm Express was 15 min late
Got home all grumpy

Second day
Went to the wrong side of the park n ride AGAIN b/c I forgot that pick up is around the corner
Wandered around the 7th/Metro Station b/c I couldn't find the Flower exit, so I went out on Hope again
Missed my Commuter Express stop!  Jerry had to pick me up from the next stop 6 miles away, although ironically they are both equidistant from home.  Except my car was still at the park n ride.  So embarrassing.
Went home and cooked rib eye.  Cow cures all.

One of these days, I'm going to get it right.

Inching My Way to an Ideal Commute...

...One job at a time

Job #1
Lived in SGV
Worked in South LA/South Bay
Worst commute, no option to use public transpo b/c of nature of job

Job #2
Lived in South Bay
Worked in Mid-City/Bev Hills
Decent commute, bad parking situation (think having to take 30 min just to get to and from my car and the office for the better part of my stint there and it wasn't free either), no direct public transpo options that made sense

Job #3
Living in South Bay
Working in K-town/Downtown
Commute varies greatly from 30 minutes to over an hour, great FREE parking situation,  a few public transpo options (but I can't decide if I want to commit to a monthly pass, or carry dollar bills and coins at all times)

Job #4 TBD
Living in South Bay
Working in South Bay
One can dream, right?

What Happened to Summer?

The weather has been really weird this week in LA and it's somewhat matching my mood.

There's drizzles in the morning (I even had to use windshield wipers!).  Since I work indoors all day I can't tell what it's like during the day but from my window it's been looking pretty dreary.  When I come home it's just plain chilly since the South Bay is about 5 degrees cooler than the rest of LA.  Poor Seattle.  I can't imagine how the folks cope and I can't even begin to commiserate with said residents!

I've been really lethargic this week.   It's not due to poor sleep or lack of nourishing meals, as I've had a steady supply of both.  I'm not sick or catching anything either.  I just feel like all the energy has been sucked out of me!  Anyone else feel this way?  I know I'm not alone!

Anyways, one more day of work, and then a weekend of fun starts, courtesy of my bridal party.  I'm declaring my bridal shower/bach party to be my official start of summer, weather be damned!

99 Days

I can't believe we're at double digits now!  The next few months are going to fly by quicker than I realize.

We've been hard at work with various wedding projects.   I'm excited to unveil them all!

First up- our invites.  Stay tuned! :)

Fobby Films

I've had some free time to watch movies and lately I've been on a Chinese movie streak.

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I very much enjoyed this movie.  Heartwarming but not too cheesy.  Jerry was not engaged at all.  His loss.  In fact, he went upstairs to go to sleep in the middle of it.  I'd watch it again.  I cried at the end cus I'm a sap.

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Jerry enjoyed this movie.  Daniel Wu, as hot as he is, did not save this movie for me.  It's your typical slapstickish HK humor.  I love Daniel Wu.

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I appreciated the beauty and art of this film.  Maggie's costumes were GORGEOUS, her wardrobe was to die for.  And she's great at under-acting just like my other favorite under-actress Julianna Margulies.  And I really like Tony too.  Not as much as Daniel.  But in a different way.  :)  Jerry did not like this movie at all, he was quite bored. 

Next on my list:

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In addition to Asian films, I've also watched:

 

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I really enjoyed this film.  It was Jerry's second time, he wanted me to watch it so much that he was willing to watch it again.  Crazy.  He only does that with Top Gun.

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I've been a reader of Vogue since HS so I enjoyed this behind the scenes look.  Jerry was probably bored, I wasn't sure if he was paying any attention.  I really want Anna Wintour's dress wardrobe.  I love the prints and patterns and they look so classy!  

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This was a fun and mindless movie to watch while assembling wedding invitations.  Very typical romantic comedy and recycled story lines.  Thank goodness I didn't pay $10 to watch it in a movie theater though.  Speaking of which, I haven't seen a movie in the theater since August 2009.  Judging from the list I have going now, I seem to watch Asian movies about 5 years after they get released and American movies a couple years after.  So I guess I'll be watching Avatar sometime in 2011. 

Time to request 2046 from the library.  I want to compile some DVDs for our upcoming long flights.  I also want to watch LOST from the beginning...but it's probably not the most appropriate thing to watch en route to Fiji, huh?  :P  

Me in Threes

I need a distraction.  Our invitations are sitting right next to me but I'm waiting for Jerry to come home so we can open them together!  So here goes:

3 Monikers
Jeannie
J

Phuong

3 Places I Have Been
Germany
China
Australia

  

3 Favorite Drinks

Taro smoothie from T's Boba

Jarritos grapefruit flavor soft drink
Sweet tea

 

3 Jobs I Have Had
Community organizer
Rat cage cleaner

Health educator

3 TV Shows I Watch
The Good Wife
How I Met Your Mother
Modern Family

 

3 Places I Would Like To Visit
Korea
Peru
South Africa

3 Things I Would Like To Achieve
Riding a bike more comfortably in public
Sidestroke
Driving manually

3 Places I Have Lived
San Gabriel Valley
West LA
South Bay

3 Fave Dishes
Claypot catfish
Seafood crispy chow mein
Beef noodle soup

 

3 Things I Am Looking Forward To
Working on my DIY projects

Learning how to cook new dishes
Going cherry picking

Well, that killed a good 25 minutes. :P