When you drive down the main street in Westport, there is ALWAYS a cop car...

except on closer examination ...

it's a dummy. i swear westport is the weirdest place ...

So the other week I was at the starbucks in my building - real starbucks that is, not the fake ones in the microsoft cafeteria - and the barista told me about how if I used my starbucks card and registered it online I would get free 'modifiers'.

Firstly I'm glad that other companies have totally retarded terms that normal people don't understand - Modifiers? Like what the hell is that? I had to have the barista explain it to me. But most importantly, she meant things to add to your coffee like syrups or soy would be free. Yahoo! Since I get the most redonk drink - triple venti soy half the syrup cinnamon dolce latte, this promo actually is pretty worth it for me to put c couple bucks on my card to save some money. Sure, I'd save like 10x the money if I stopped drinking lattes all together but that's a different issue.

Update: of course the next day I lost my card. Sigh.


- Karen

(sent from my mobile device)

I feel so lazy, I have nothing of substance to really talk about other than everyone is getting married (yay pekkle! tho that makes me the old hag of barkada, but whatever) and I'm moving to my new office next week. Yeeeeehaw! Anyway...here's my attempt to not have a totally stale blog w/ my recent mini obsessions

Dorset cereals - the best tasting granola with the best looking packaging I've seen so far (ok, fine, it IS granola so its not like there is stiff competition but it's actually pretty nice). I've only tried the berries and cherries, but I'm hooked. I'm sure its full of sugar but who cares? It tastes great w/ yogurt in the morning.

Cadbury mini eggs. no, not the ones full of gooey crap. I'm talking the candy coated chocolates...I may or may not have stock piled like 20 bags of it but whatever...last year my 6 bags only lasted me thru the summer so I figured this year I better REALLY stock up. Yes, I know, that's totally ridiculous and kind of disgusting. Well fine then. I'm not sharing.

Anything involving broccoli. haha, seriously :) this isn't my fave (yet? ever?) since i haven't tried it, but I'm semi-obsessed with eating broccoli right now (not really sure why but I've been craving it ever since last week when we were at Black Bottle w/ their blasted broccoli). I'm going to try this recipe sometime this week: Garlicky Sesame-cured broccoli salad

So it finally happened after months and months of me mistreating my poor stella mccartney bag...the handle/strap is coming a bit loose so I have to find a good tailor (?) to fix it...

It does make me realize that I have been carrying the same bag for over a year and a half (gasp, I know, ghetto) so maybe its time I get a new one anyway? I've been looking around online (since I'm not allowed to shop until may), and seriously, its slim pickings! I mean, I am going to be carrying this bag every day to and from work so it better be good looking (and sturdy) - I've yet to see anything that I love that isn't stupid expensive.

Any good suggestions? Only a little over a month until I can shop again. whoo hoo!

So, rarely do I ever talk about technology unless it involves shopping or something, but for my new job (oh yeah, I started my new job) I've been playing around w/ a Blackberry Curve. Nasty looking humongous form-factor aside, THE EXPERIENCE IS A PIECE OF CRAP.

Seriously, whoever RIM's marketing team is, give them a raise because they have totally got people thinking that this thing is easy to use.

Let me tell you, it is not.

So far, other than charging the thing (and battery life IS good, I'll give it that), I've had a hell of a time setting it up - from "registering" it (a term the phone and web site tell you to look in their getting started guide to figure out how to do it - except no where in the guide do they even use the term 'register') to my fake out gmail set up.

The gmail set up is actually the worst thing because I 'thought' I did it right - Blackberry even sent me a nice little "Activation - Success! pat on the back message, but they lied. Jerks. At least with registering they kept on telling me I wasn't registered and in the end I knew I couldn't figure it out so I called for support.

Turns out, after looking at Gmail's help forums, the simple fields that Blackberry said I needed to fill out weren't sufficient - which is just stupid because how hard is it for Blackberry to make the configuration of this (and any other massively common mail provider) happen behind the scenes and not force users to go through the steps below?

Seriously. Pig-F'ers.

Blackberry

To configure IMAP for your Blackberry, just follow these steps:

1. Enable IMAP in your Gmail account settings.
2. From your BlackBerry home screen, select the Blackberry Set-up icon, then choose Personal Email Set-up. (On older devices, just look for the Personal Email Set-up icon.)
3. Select Personal Email Set-up.
4. Accept Terms and Conditions.
5. On the Email Account Set-up page, enter your Gmail username (including '@gmail.com') but leave the password field blank. Select Next.
6. You'll see a screen that says 'We are unable to set up your email account.' Select 'I will provide the settings to add this email account,' then Next.
7. Select 'Internet Service Provider Email (POP/IMAP),' then Next.
8. Select 'I will provide the settings to add this email account,' then Next.
9. You'll see 'The BlackBerry Internet Service could not configure [your email] account.' Select 'Provide The Settings' to add email account.
10. Enter your Gmail username (including '@gmail.com') and your password, then Next.
11. Enter 'imap.gmail.com' as the email server, then Next.
12. Select OK.
13. Below your newly added email address, select Edit.
14. Select Advanced Settings at the bottom.
15. Make sure the port is set to '993' and 'Use SSL' is set to 'Yes.'
16. Select Save.

If your email set-up was successful, there should be a new-messages icon on your home screen labeled with the name of the account. Once you see this icon, follow these steps to ensure proper configuration:

1. Open the mailbox icon.
2. Open the menu by pressing the jog wheel or BlackBerry menu button, then select Options.
3. Select Email Reconciliations.
4. Confirm the following settings:
   • Delete On: Mailbox & Handheld
   • Wireless Reconcile: On
   • On Conflicts: Mailbox Wins
5. Select Save.

Source: Gmail help

Made this for a big ego's dinner party...i would definitely make this again - its super easy - both in prep and serving, and the ingredients were surprisingly easy to find (Tomatillos can be found at Whole Foods)

It's pretty heavy on the calories and fat so next time I'll probably try to lighten it up with lower fat cheese and lower fat cream.

Here he is, for those of you who are wondering what this 'bear' I twitter about looks like - he's my other new job...dog sitter of (what everyone seems to think) a bear. He does weigh in at 150lbs so its not that far off from far away to think that I've got a bear on a leash that I'm walking around Microsoft campus.

It's not too challenging of a job, he's got his moving doghouse (aka the Scion - see below - that's him in the back of the car) which he lounges in all day. He's got his water bowl, bed, snacks, lots of sun and gets regular walks. Life ain't too bad. For him.

there really isn't anything worse than being sick...i spent pretty much the last couple days feeling feverish or coughing up a lung :(

I don't remember being sick being sooooo boring - staying home from work was so painfully dull. I don't know if its because I'm not that interested in watching daytime television (was i ever?) - anyway, after hours of xbox (and T remarking that maybe I should find a hobby that doesn't involve repetitive stress injury from playing viva pinata) I opted to do something more creative and crafty.

Long story short this is one of the things i made this weekend. i hand sewed a bunny, or at least tried to.

From far away its looks pretty cute (beside a starbucks double shot so you can scale how big it is)

But closer up....not so cute and well .... kind of defective looking ...one of his ears comes out from the middle of his head, and as Joe remarked, he has a moustache more than he has a mouth :( I dont know how I managed to sew so crookedly but I did...and once I had done a few stitches I didn't want to tear them out because I didn't want to sew the entire thing all over again. Hand sewing takes forevvvver (and clearly I am not a patient person) Who knew 'a little' crooked would result in 'a lot' defective?

I made a couple other ones (sheep, monkey) and they look equally ....defective.... but nonetheless I'm still proud of my first efforts (and not playing more xbox)

Anyway, I think I know where I went wrong, I'm going to try again with my revised design and see how it goes...

Here's my public list for 2008. I think they're all pretty attainable so we'll see how it goes.

1. Read more books. I figured I could read at least 15 books +/-2. T thinks I should just commit to 12 and overachieve by reading more than that - I'm of the mind set that I should aim higher than what I know I can for sure hit. I've already finished two books this month so I think I'll be on track.
2. Exercise more. I haven't quite figured out what this means yet since I hate going to the gym. and I don't like to be outside when its cold. Maybe just yoga with Lu?
3. No shopping until may. This was just plain stupid, but I know I'll save a lot of money. So sad tho, I feel like I have no clothes or the right shoes. I also really need to learn to diversify on style - aka, stop buying only stupid expensive things.
4. Invest my money more wisely. And by this I mean, don't put all my money into shopping. he he, kidding, I mean expanding my portfolio.
5. Eat better. It's not that I don't eat well now, but I could be better at eating more veggies and fruit and stuff like that. I have a nagging feeling that milk/dairy isn't my only allergy so I want to figure out what that is too.
6. Go to ballet class regularly. 2008 is going to be an accident free year! I can just feel it! That means I can actually go to ballet class instead of limping around with nerve damage, a bruck up knee or a torn ankle.
7. Be more social/Be better at keeping in touch w/ friends. Self explanatory.

  oh and of course, the best  thing on my 43 things list - get abs. ha ha, as if that will ever happen.

T got the pictures of his camera and onto flickr...now just have to pick out the good ones...

Here's one at the hotel on new years eve day ...  the pool before the party...

and

then later that night ... happy new year!

Thank god this airport fast food place in Cabo is telling me where to find Jesus. Go to the back room and turn right.

Phew. I was worried for a sec.

hehehe, Jeff sent this to me from MSNBC ... you know, in case all this pain I'm going through with paperwork the 'right way' doesn't pan out 

Dating show to try pairing citizens, immigrants

Reality contest aims to create love connection, help secure citizenship

 

PHOENIX - A Los Angeles company is touting a new reality game show called “Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen” that aims to create televised matrimony between legal citizens and immigrants who have temporary visas.

 

The show’s backers at Morusa Media hope to make a sort of love match between reality TV and a national obsession with immigration. But the producers make no promise that a marriage will occur or lead to U.S. citizenship.

 

Show creator Adrian Martinez said that Morusa Media has not yet found a network to produce or air the show, but he is currently in talks with one cable TV network and already has signed up contestants for six episodes

 

More at MSNBC

1. I ate nothing but chinese food growing up. In fact, of my 18 years at home with my family, probably less than 10% were eaten with a fork and knife - most were eaten with chopsticks and accompanied with a bowl of rice.  Very rarely do I actually FEEL like eating chinese food (except in Toronto where the food is awesome), much less cooking it. I'm pretty chinese fooded out even so many years later.
2. There isn't a lot of challenge to chinese food cooking to me - I'm very familiar with the ingredients - whereas things like parsnips, fennel, pumpkins, celery root - these are all things I've never cooked with before and I'm totally fascinated with how to prepare them, what goes well with them, etc.
3. High standards coupled with laziness - truthfully the dishes I would want to eat/make are WAY too labour intensive for it to be worth my time (sharksfin soup for example) that I'd rather just go out to order it (though I'm a snob and think Seattle chinese food blows) - or better yet, go home to Toronto to eat it or have my mom make it :)
4. I hate chinese vegetables. Not that it should stop me from cooking chinese food, but I think bok choy, choy sum and pretty much every other chinese green is totally nasty.

So there you have it, can cook chinese food but probably won't.

Bon Appetit's November issue is full of thanksgiving goodness - I want to roast a turkey every day! Anyway, since I'm unsure of who is going to be doing the cooking at T's fam's place for thanksgiving, I didn't want to lose out on trying out some of the recipes.

I love fennel, though I usually use it raw in salads and I've never actually 'cooked' it before, so I tried this - Roasted fennel with olives and garlic - and seriously, its awesome... if you're looking for a good (and easy to make) side for thanksgiving, this is totally worth it. Finding fennel sometimes can be a pain the ass, since the only place I've consistently found fennel is at Whole foods and its so much more expensive there than if you can find it at Safeway and Trader Joes (though they only sporadically carry it so its good to have WF as your backup).

I really wanted to try the Brussels Sprout Hash with Carmelized Shallots but I couldn't stomach the idea of the entire apartment smelling like stinky gym shoes all evening while they cooked (plus, not everyone likes brussel sprouts) or the Butternut Squash Gratin with Goat Cheese and Hazelnuts too but T isn't as crazy about butternut squash as I am. The fennel went over well with all so I'm happy. I'll have to try those other ones another time.

1. Mixtura (Peruvian, have been there before but definitely want to go back)

2. The Oceanaire Seafood room (because Brian from top chef is there!)

3. Andaluca (because I always drive by it but have never been)

4. Market street (because maybe Ballard isn't actually that far away and I should stop avoiding it)

5. 35th Street Bistro (because they listed Paella on their menu)

Until only last year had I ever ate pumpkin - it always struck me as being kinda gross - probably because the only time I really ever saw pumpkins was when I was a kid carving them at school and I can't imagine eating anything that had been molested by dirty kid hands.

Anyway, last week T was in San Francisco for work and called me one night so I could keep him company while he ate his dinner. He described this fantastic pumpkin soup that he was drinking and it sounded interesting to try to duplicate.

I ended up using this recipe on Epicurious (which btw, is where I get most of my recipes, that site is the awesomest ever) and it turned out great. Based on the comments I had modified the recipe slightly using more chicken broth than water to make sure it wasn't bland, as well as more carrots and onions. Highly recommend this recipe, its great for fall.