Party Weekend Recap

This weekend was a little action packed for me, Thursday was spent with 2 female friends walking and shopping around New York City. Somehow I have assumed the role of being a tour guide for friends and their relatives whenever someone goes to NYC for the first time. I won't complaint, much. Though on Thursday the weather was bitterly freezing cold with the high in the low 30s and strong gusty winds. I have to say that men and women have very different shopping style, we practically stopped in every stores to browse, on top of that the men's department in stores had shrunk and give ways to more female clothings, it's an epidemic really. Very soon, men will resolved to shop for everything online. By the way, is this the year for solid colored and argyle sweaters? What happened to all the other designs? After rubbing on the bronze bull near Wall Street, we happened to pass by their tree lighting ceremony on right when they were doing the countdown which was nice and left just before Billy Ray Cyrus was going to sing his new song and at Rockerfeller Plaza someone was proposal to his fiancee on the skating rink which she accepted and the crowd cheered. It was strange luck, but the cynic in me thought there's probably a marriage proposing schedule somewhere and it probably happen once every hour during X'mas time.

At night we went to have a Japanese seafood buffet that I often frequent if I'm ever in New York for dinner, incidentally they were playing Michale Jackson's Heal The World on repeat, I thought it might be their tactics to lower their customers appetite by reminding them about the less fortunate ones in other countries. We almost missed the last bus back to Philly which is at 11:00 pm at night.

Since I have 3 parties on Saturday and could only attend 2, I spent part of Friday with the Straizians teaching them how to make a tiramisu for a party that I couldn't attend. Apparently, they really like the tiramisu I made sometimes last year and wanted to have it again even if I can't be there. It was quite a simple dessert to make, though since it's reserved for the party, I didn't get to taste it and see how it came out but how bad could it be, right?

Saturday morning, the boyfriend and I scrambled to put the White Christmas Chocolate Tree together. We have to use the full refrigerator at his place and he was a great help. It was hard to temper the chocolate and I did a pretty poor job with the icing, but I think it did come out as the show piece I've expected. When I was carrying it out on the street, I got quite a few stares and comments (mostly mumbles).



After seeing some friends and a gift exchange game in the first gaysian party that yielded us some candles and soaps, we left for the burbs to another party where 100+ gay men attended. I have to admit that even I've made the white chocolate tree myself, I had no idea how to eat it, after all It's just a glorified chunk of chocolate. As for me, I didn't exactly make it for the taste, it was a show piece that I wanted to challenge myself to make and I wouldn't care if nobody eats it. But when someone was interested to try I went and picked up a sharp knife and gave it to the first guest brave enough to attempt on hacking it. A few other guests took turn stabbing that big loaf and it sorta turn out to be a party game of sorts. I spent some time helping the host in the kitchen ad grill some meat, had a few Bailey's on ice, met some people, had a decently nice time.

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Weekend Meme: The Party Mummy Meme

Today is a high traffic party traffic weekend. I got invited to the gay Asian Christmas party weeks ago. It's gonna be in a so-called Chinese tapas restaurant in Chinatown. I'm sure there are gonna be a lot of spring rolls and fried wontons.

Another one in the burbs is hosted by the local gay men's choir group. The boyfriend got invited to that one and I will be tagging along. There might be closed to 100 people attending, the party is catered and the host invested quite a lot on booze. Even it wasn't called for, I'm going to attempt making the above Whole Foods $250 chocolate X'mas tree out of white chocolate and peppermint candy cane pieces. Even though I will be making a much smaller tree, I think it'll still take me the whole day so wish me luck!

There was a third party hosted by my straight Asian friends, but I had to decline. I still helped them make a tiramisu yesterday though. I think I will become famous for my pastries. lol

Today's meme is brought to you from Sunday Stealing. Since it is such a party weekend, including the boyfriend's company party yesterday, I think it should be appropriate.

1. Name someone with the same birthday as you.
My young cousin, Daniel Radcliffe and Eriq LaSalle

2. Where was your first kiss?
13, during a camping trip with a boy classmate who dared me.

3. Have you ever hit someone of the opposite sex? If yes, why?
Yes, a classmate was getting on my nerves and I spanked her just like I would my male classmates. I studied in an all-guy school but they accepts girls the very last year. I didn't realize that was inappropriate until after I've done it, then my face got beet red.

4. Have you ever sung in front of a large number of people? When?
Yes, I was in choirs and singing competition.

5. What's the first thing you notice about your preferred sex?
Probably since I was 15, there was a guy that I had a crush on. Well, I did have a crush on a teacher when I was 13.

6. What really turns you off?
Foul smell.

7. What is your biggest mistake?
Mixing my professional life and personal life.

8. Have you ever hurt yourself on purpose?
Not really...

9. Say something totally random about yourself.
I think sometimes I can be a prude and I'd like to change that if I know how.

10. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity?
Not that I can remember.

11. Do you still watch kiddie movies or TV shows?
Yeah, me and the boyfriend do like a lot of cartoon and animations.

12. Are you comfortable with your height?
Yes, I like my height.

13. What is the most romantic thing someone of the preferred sex has done for you?
Saying the "I Love You"s is sweet, flowers are also appreciated. I'm easy that way.

14. When do you know it's love?
When I feel it. It's really the little things, like falling asleep in my arms when I'm typing on my blog with one hand.

15. What's something that really annoys you?
Non=stop chattering. Fire alarm in the next building that no one knows how to turn off the whole night through. Kids screaming in the yard right outside my window in that very building. Noise.

Have a great weekend.

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Too Funny Not To Repost

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Ultimate Sleeved Blanket Battle

via Gizmodo

We all laughed at the commercials as if anyone would buy a backward bathrobe made out of fleece, make the wearer all goofy cultish, like radioactive Mister Burns wandering in the woods. But then, people started buying them for X'mas sending it out as gag gifts. Haha, funny, you look like a dope. While the guy who "invented" it has sold 4 million of them as of February of this year and became a multi-millionaire, and made him gain the audacity to come up with the goofier product - Snuggies for Dogs. Seriously.



I had no idea how popular they were until I saw others imitation brands selling at home good stores. With so many variations, which one should you choose to give your loved ones for X'mas? Jason Chen at Gizmodo has compare and contrasted five different options and these are his takes?



Snuggie ($15)

According to Jason, nobody should ever buy one of these. Good to know, cos' if I were to buy one I would see it as a standard name brand. Jason further explain that it's made of very flimsy material, it's almost like wearing a hospital gown. Not long enough, plus it generates a lot of static. So it's a NO on the Snuggie.



Freedom Blanket ($30)

It's thicker and more comfortable than Snuggie. The store bought version is around 6 feet which is slightly longer than Snuggie, but might not be long enough for taller people. Still generates static like Snuggie.



Slanket ($38)

Most expensive of the major 3 and measuring 95 inches long, almost 8 feet. Made of soft and thick microfibers. Long sleeves, comes in 11 colors with a little less static shock.



Robe ($45~$110)

You might already have one. Usually no static electricity and comfortable, though it'd look a little odd wearing it backwards. Not long enough to cover your hands or feet.



Blankoat ($330)

It's a 10-feet long blanket made of Icelandic sheep wool. It's $330 and wool can be itchy!!! You might as well pay to turn up the heat or buy a full length blanket and be creative with s a few clothes pin.

To be honest, I do like wearing a robe in my apartment. It makes it less shocking to seat on my leather chair on a cold day. On some days I even wish that the rope can be longer to better cover up my legs so I might as well get a long Slanket, but still, I could huddle my blanket if I need to so what's the point? But if you see a need to get one, remember that Slanket is the one!

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"Ex-Gay" Got Spanked!

There are too many bullshit in the world and not enough people call them on it. Rachel's continued effort is much, much appreciated.





Rachel Maddow is unbelievably eloquent, she's great in my book. I'm digging that lesbo!

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That GaGa Is Everywhere

Maybe there wasn't any fierce divas coming out in a long while and when someone as peculiar as Lady GaGa pop up in the pop scene, everyone is onto her. Just on this little website, her name had already been mentioned several times. I'm surprised that more people didn't dressed up as her in the past Halloween but then she wear everything once and only once, so I guess it's hard to capture a specific look and I guess that's one of her draws.

A few Facebook friends had surrendered with posts like "I didn't think I like Lady GaGa, but..." and even though her music is shallow and nothing too unusual, it's still very catchy and her decision to side with the gays openly makes me like her just that much more. However, I wonder if she's over-exposed. Tons and tons of parodies and cover videos had popped up and every sites you click, you can see something relevant to Lady GaGa.

Here are a few I've seen just this week:

The Good


Just to show how similar each and every of her song is... a medley!

The Bad


Really, really bad!

The Funny



The Ugly


Right outside of a club that The Boyfriend and I frequent. Good thing we weren't anywhere near the vicinity of this mess.

Three of the four videos feature Asian singers, and god knows how many gays. I guess I'm right in the demographics. It also happens to be the go-to music of my downstairs neighbor, playing it in all hours on full bass, shaking up my walls and plates. I'm glad the queen wasn't frightened when they met, although I think her majesty has perfected the skill to force out a smile.

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Gross Asian Food Concepts

Following the gross theme, we have 3 YouTube video from a channel called Diagonal View from the United Kingdom, who either bought a bunch of popular stories and redone them professionally or maybe they do go around the world collecting odd news. Anyhow, they video vault is full of Ripley's Believe It or Not types, worth checking out.

Anyhow, these 3 vids are all strange Asian food practices that's quite out there. We've seen square watermelons before. They are kept in metal boxes during its growth so when they grow up they come out square, so they can be equally divided and easily stored. But look at this Chinese guy trying to shape pears into Buddhas.



Make a regular pear into a Buddha shape and charge people 10 times the price. Even it's a gimmick, people will still buy them. I imagine this business will go well in South America, where people really want to see Jesus and Mary on everything. My question is: "Won't you go to hell for biting into Buddha/Jesus?"

Here's another one:



I like noodles, especially noodle soup. The slurping is the funnest part, so this idea didn't seem so outlandish to me. That is, before I started considering the hygiene part. No, you wouldn't want to bathe in a hot bowl of noodle soup and then eating its content, especially not when Little Bobby and Jane is swimming alongside with you doing you-know-what. Just say I have serious trust issues. But considering what goes in an actual bowl of noodle soup, you can't kill enough chickens and pigs to yield enough bones to make broth. This is but a fantasy, the broth is only coloring and smells, it's not even real broth and the noodles are only synthetics to make the bathers feels like they are in a bowl of soup. It's not real.

I find this to be the grossest:



There's a strange fascination going on between Japanese/Taiwanese and poop. I have no idea why anyone would think that poop is cute. It's not cute! And to have the nerve to open up a toilet themes restaurant? It boggles my mind that Modern Toilet was so popular that they now opened up 13 locations in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Drink from a urinal-shaped cup and eat in a toilet shaped bowl. To make it worst, serve brown diarrhea looking chili or poop shaped chocolate ice cream. Why would anyone in their right mind still go and get disgusted by the food, is this a new appetite-losing diet scheme?

I'm convinced that my people had lost some screws.

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Weekend Meme: "Grossest" Films Meme

I haven't seen a movie for quite a few months. Sure, the boyfriend and I had rented a few movies but nothing too memorable. I think the last movie I saw in theater was Zombieland, which was fun. The last movie I saw on TV was a zombie movie called Mulberry Street that I kinda liked, so you know what my movie trend is now. I'm not quite persuaded that I should see New Moon, Red Cliff or Ninja Assassin. No movies in theaters or coming up that I really wanted to see. Weird, because usually during holidays there would be some amazing movies coming up. Besides Nine (The Musical), since the cast is amazing, I'm hoping that it would be what Chicago could be or even better.

I saw this list at Advertising Is Good For You a few days ago which is a list of highest gross movies of this decade originated at Wikipedia.

As in all the other movie meme,

- Bold the movie if you’ve seen it.
- Put asterisks next to the movies you’ve seen and really liked.
- If you saw a film and hated it, cross it out.

Reasons on why you like/hate it would be appreciated.

***1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (New Line; 2003) $1,119,110,941
A great ending to a great trilogy. Liv Tyler was so pretty in it.

2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Disney; 2006) $1,066,179,725

3. The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.; 2008) $1,001,921,825

4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Warner Bros.; 2001) $974,733,550

5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Disney; 2007) $960,996,492

6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Warner Bros.; 2007) $938,212,738

7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Warner Bros.; 2009) $929,022,922

8. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (New Line; 2002) $925,282,504

9. Shrek 2 (DreamWorks; 2004) $919,838,758

10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Warner Bros.; 2005) $895,921,036

11. Spider-Man 3 (Columbia; 2007) $890,871,626

12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Warner Bros.; 2002) $878,643,482

13. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (20th Century Fox; 2009) $878,615,229

14. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (New Line; 2001) $870,761,744

15. Finding Nemo (Disney/Pixar; 2003) $864,625,978

16. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (20th Century Fox; 2005) $848,754,768

17. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Paramount; 2009) $833,229,011

***18. Spider-Man (Columbia; 2002) $821,708,551
I was super excited to see Spider-Man on the big screen for the very first time.

19. Shrek the Third (DreamWorks; 2007) $798,958,162
Overstayed its welcome a little bit.

20. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Warner Bros.; 2004) $795,634,069

21. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Paramount; 2008) $786,636,033

22. Spider-Man 2 (Columbia; 2004) $783,766,341

23. The Da Vinci Code (Sony/Columbia; 2006) $758,239,851
Not as good as it can be, I'm still not convinced by Tom Hanks as a middle aged action hero.

24. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Disney; 2005) $745,011,272

25. The Matrix Reloaded (Warner Bros.; 2003) $742,128,461

26. Transformers (DreamWorks/Paramount; 2007) $709,709,780

27. Ice Age: The Meltdown (20th Century Fox; 2006) $655,388,158

28. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Disney; 2003) $654,264,015

29. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (20th Century Fox; 2002) $649,398,328

30. Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks; 2008) $631,736,484
A little too formulated and unnecessary.

31. The Incredibles (Disney/Pixar; 2004) $631,442,092

32. Hancock (Columbia; 2008) $624,386,746

33. Ratatouille (Disney/Pixar; 2007) $623,707,397

34. The Passion of the Christ (Newmarket; 2004) $611,899,420
Come on!

35. Mamma Mia! (Universal; 2008) $609,841,637
Pierce Brosnan, much like Richard Gere should never be casted in a musical.

36. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (DreamWorks; 2008) $603,900,344

37. Casino Royale (MGM/Columbia; 2006) $594,239,066

38. War of the Worlds (DreamWorks/Paramount; 2005) $591,745,540

39. Quantum of Solace (MGM/Columbia; 2008) $586,090,727

40. I Am Legend (Warner Bros.; 2007) $585,349,010

***41. Iron Man (Paramount; 2008) $585,133,287
I was super excited to see Iron Man realized on screen and brilliantly at that.

42. Night at the Museum (20th Century Fox; 2006) $574,480,450

43. King Kong (Universal; 2005) $550,517,357

44. Mission: Impossible II (Paramount; 2000) $546,388,105

45. The Day After Tomorrow (20th Century Fox; 2004) $544,272,402

46. Madagascar (DreamWorks; 2005) $532,680,671

47. The Simpsons Movie (20th Century Fox; 2007) $527,071,022

48. Monsters, Inc. (Disney/Pixar; 2001) $525,366,597

49. WALL-E (Disney/Pixar; 2008) $521,268,237

50. Meet the Fockers (Universal; 2004) $516,642,939
Ben Stiller is a bit tired in these comedy where he embarrasses himself.

Well, I can't say I hated many of them and of course, or else they won't be movies with the highest gross, but I'm surprised to find I didn't really LOVE many of them. I guess you don't have to be a superb film for people to buy tickets to go see. Kids films and fantasy series seems to be big sellers, interesting...

Anywho, have a great weekend!

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Taking It Out On The Chocolate

Yesterday when I was groceries shopping at Whole Foods ($6 for two mini baguette and a tomato), I was struck in awe by the presence of a X'Mas tree. Not any ol' X'Mas tree but a 17-tier (I counted) chocolate covered slivered almonds formed 3-foot X'Mas tree. The almonds gave it a very realistic look and each layers were sprinkled by powdered sugar. It looked very nice and the amount of chocolate involved was unfathomable. I circled the structure twice just to take it all in.

Ever since I've done my Mont Blanc chestnut cake, it has given me some confidence in myself that perhaps I'm good at baking and dessert making. So I think for X'Mas I'm taking on making a X'Mas tree with chocolate. It couldn't be that hard, it's just melting chocolate, roasting store bought almond slivers and submerge them into the melted chocolate, then form them into shape and stack it on top one another. I wonder how it would fare with rice crispies instead of almonds. Even though it'll look great with the textures of almonds.

Though I've been meaning to try William Sonoma's white chocolate peppermint bark and since I couldn't find the new Ghirardelli version, I think I'll make the X'mas tree in white chocolate and sprinkle broken pieces of peppermint striped candy cane into it as decorative ornaments. I also still have some silver dragées lying around, it might work with some thin red icing garlands.

Of course, I can't imagine doing a majestic 3-foot tree. Maybe a foot-tall miniature to accompany a black forest yule log or a row of cherry chocolate cupcakes with X'Mas tree-shaped whipped cream tops and star-shaped confetti sprinkles. Baking has got me excited for the holidays.

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NY's Loss

I guess by now everyone has heard that the NY Marriage Equality vote has gone south. If the most progressive states rejects gay marriage, I doubt that the rest of the country would jump on the boat. Despite the good will from GLBT friends and equal right groups alike and their encourage words saying that it was a good effort and it's time to regroup and learn from it, what I've learned seems to be that you can't put the rights of a minority group up to a vote. If it's up to others to decide your rights, it will never go the way you want. The truth is we lost, in one of the most liberal state in the country, and bombarding those naysaying politicians is very unlikely to make them change their minds.

Excuse me for repeating myself but if one thing I've learned about US politicians and politics is that there is nothing to be gained by solving a problem. Most of it is turned into an extended argument, so both sides can use resources to sway the politicians to go either way. The problem will be dragged as long as possible so the investment on their decisions are maximized, and even an issue was voted on, the decision can still be reversed so another cycle of bidding and swaying can start again. When everything can be bought, it is capitalism in its worst. I'd like to stand up and fight with my peers, but I am most discouraged by the futility. Call me a cynic, but I don't think GLBT equality will be seen in my lifetime.

Maybe a nationwide commercial is needed to denounce all the rumors of homosexuality. We are not all child molesters, we are diverse and we contribute to the community as a whole. We are people who are looking for equal protection and rights. It's not even possible for heterosexual marriage to be destroyed by gay marriage, and if they start quoting Leviticus, be prepare to have their disobedient children and adulterer stoned, penises circumsized and pork chops eliminated. I think education is the key, too bad young liberals are not prone to become politicians while old conservatives are. It will be a few generations down before true equality will be achieved.

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Songs About Telephone

Beyonce and Lady Gaga had got together and produced two songs: Telephone and Video Phone, it's a bit strange and confusing. No doubt, they are getting ready for a commercial campaign for a cell phone service provider or a brand of cell phone, I'm not sure which one but I'm very convinced. A friend asked me lately why U.S. haven't utilized cellphone that has a camera so you can call someone and look at their faces while you talk like they do in Asia, I wonder if this will be the campaign song to introduce such commodity.

This is Beyonce ft. Lady Gaga's Video Phone



Excuse me but I always thought that while Lady Gaga is quite unique, I never thought that she is a looker, but she didn't look too bad in this video even though Beyonce took up 80% of amera time. The Vargas look for Beyonce made her skin look very light, I'm a bit surprised with the good make up. The song itself is good for a commercial perhaps, not anything exceptional and a bit too much moaning. I guess strippers will pick it up for their act easily. A parody is already out to make fun of it.

THIS... is Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce's Telephone



Not the official music video, it's not released yet. But it's also fit for a commercial. It's a little catchy gay dance floor music and there's already a remix out just for that purpose. Our people works fast. The song sounds better than Bad Romance, although repeat anything 10 times and I'll start to like it.

It gets me thinking that there are quite a few songs about telephone calls that I like. Like this classic by Blondie:



Macy Gray's Why Don't You Call Me Again seen here sung by a cute Japanese cover band called こ~P & Family Stone. I used to sing this song a whole lot in the privacy of my own shower.



Hong Kong songstress Faye Wong also have a couple song about phone calls but I do like this answering machine song the best. It was written after she divorced her husband of 4 years.



After The Beep

Leave a message, please leave a message
Please sigh after the long tone
Leave a message, please leave a message
Please cry after my voice ends

I'm not here, I'm not there
Please leave your secrets after the beep
Please bemuse yourself into the receiver after the beep
Please sigh into the air after the beep

I'm not here, where could I be? where do I want to be?
Please leave an interesting topic after the beep
Please share your emotional problems after the beep
Please don't mention that person's name after the beep

(The person you're looking for doesn't want to be found by anyone)
The person you're looking for is amusing herself
(I'm sorry, the one you're looking for isn't here, it's too late to say anything)
The person you're looking for doesn't need brothers or sisters
(You're looking for me but I'm of no concern, it's already too late)
The person you're looking for is also looking for herself
(Who wants to play a game of find the missing person with me?)

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2010 Marriage Protection Act

Finally, logic that I can follow.

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Thanksgiving Recap: A Photo Essay

A&Y is a nice Asian couple who I've met through a gay Asian friend, through mahjong we've become good friends. They have invited me to their wedding and every so often they'll cook some homey Chinese food that would make me feel like home. So when they asked me to make a Thanksgiving meal the second year round, I was just too happy to comply. So we spent most of Friday groceries shopping I baked and spent all day Saturday cooking.

The guest list fluctuates which made it very hard to gauge how many people I should be cooking for, at the end 24 people showed up. We served lunch, snacks at 4pm and then dinner a little close to 8pm. This is how snack looks like



The cake you see up front was the Mont Blanc chestnut cake I made. That's before dusting in some powdered sugar to truly make it blanc. I was afraid it will be too sweet but I guess it was ok. I'm very happy that it came out good since it is one of my favorite dessert. Though I have to admit that it's still not as good as the one in Mitsuwa. I can always sample the Mitsuwa one a few times more and then practice on my own. Anyway, having store-bought chestnut cream made my life a whole lot easier and now I just need to buy the right pastry bag tip. The other snack on the table include pineapple sausage skewers, melted brie guacamole and sundried tomato on toasts, apple pine nuts blue cheese on toast and little pineapple cakes.



A&Y are good people, especially the husband who's an accountant but do interior renovations as a side job on the weekends. He pretty much works 7 days a week, which is a big contrast to my life right now. He has a truly beautiful house where they bought, gutted the whole place and rebuilt the interior, they even dug their basement deeper into another livable second living room. They acquire what they have with hard work and dedication in lifestyle which I admire, so it's ok when a regular tablecloth and china were not present



The fruit of a 5-hours plus labor. Oxtail Soup, two lemon rosemary saffron roasted chickens, one 9-pound horseradish crusted beef tenderloin, pasta bolognese, baked jambalaya rice, green bean casserole, corn bread, sauces and gravy. Since we ate earlier, there were a lot of leftovers but they tried everything and I got a lot of compliments which made me happy. A lot of friends said I should start a catering business if not a pastry shop. Some told me I should become a private chef or just sell cakes online. At the end of the evening everyone grabbed a box and took home some leftovers. Maybe I should be selling box lunches in a cart. haha.

After a day of cooking I didn't get particularly hungry when it was time to eat, but it was very satisfying at the end.


Kiss the cook?

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Weekend Meme: A Thanksgiving Meme

So thanksgiving went pretty well. Early afternoon, I went to a vegetarian meal prepared by my excolleague and had a great time talking trash about some other excolleagues. The food was exceptional with fake sausage stuffing, green bean casserole, mash potatoes and biscuits. They even roasted a turkey breast for the meat eaters.

In the early evening, I went to another gathering composed by mostly people right out of college. Had a pretty decent meal, the photo above was the pumpkin cheesecake that I made. With sour cream frosting and candied pecans. Personally I'm not a pumpkin/sweet potato person and I think there are ten ways that I could have made it better but I did get quite a bit complete with a few people saying that's the best cheesecake they've ever had. Though I know they were just being polite. We also played a new word game called Snatch and I pretty much spanked everyone... HARD. I doubt that they'd want to play with me ever again. lol.

Today I have another thanksgiving celebration that I'm in charge of cooking. The list of 12 guests had grown to 17 and still growing. It's a bit daunting and I'm wired to make sure I've got everything. Hope it will go well.

Today's Meme is brought to you from Joy of Desserts. Yes, even though I cook everything else, I get most joy by making desserts. I know Thanksgiving has passed but since I still have a party to go to and cook for, I guess it's alright.

There are only two easy rules:
1. Post these rules when you participate in this meme.
2. Link to the people you tag as well as the person who tagged you.

Here we go:

1. Which do you like better: hosting Thanksgiving at your home, or going elsewhere?
I can't host at my home since it's so small. So it had to be elsewhere.

2. Do you buy a fresh or frozen turkey? Organic? Free-range?
I'm a big believer in fresh ingredients, the fresher it is, the better it tastes. Unless it's free, then frozen is fine too. Though a fresh turkey is about 4 times as expensive than a frozen one.

3. Do you make stuffing or dressing? What kind?
I don't like stuffing a turkey because the risk of salmonella, so I usually would bake it separately, which makes it a dressing, right? I like to make a mushroom, rice, sausage and sage dressing but this year I'll go creole and make something Jambalaya like.

4. Sweet potato pie or Pumpkin pie?
Neither. Apple pie would be my choice or banana cream even though it's not too festive.

5. Are leftovers a blessing or a curse?
I've never been in a situation where I have leftovers for days, so it had always been a blessing for me to have food.

6. What side dishes are a must-have in your family?
I like to change it around so there's no must haves. Though everyone loves mash potatoes.

7. What do you wish you had that might make Thanksgiving easier?
A bigger kitchen with more gadgets. My current kitchen is a half-kitchen, I barely have enough counter space for stuff, but that'll have to wait until I move for it to improve.

8. If/when you go to someone else’s house for the holiday, do you usually bring a dish? If so, what is it?
Oh yes, it's only polite. I usually would like to bring dessert whenever possible. It gets my creative juice flowing.

9. What do you wish one of your guests would bring to your house?
Flowers or beverage.

10. What do you wish one of your guests would NOT bring to your house?
Attitude, that's never attractive.

11. Do you stick with a particular menu from year to year, or do you mix it up?
I like to change it up according to what I feel like eating at the time.

12. Is Thanksgiving a religious or secular holiday in your home?
It has some religious elements to it, but I think it's above and beyond that.

13. Share one Thanksgiving tradition.
I dislike the tradition of going around the table and say what you have to be thankful for, it's so forced. I think the cooking thing has starting to become a habit and tradition for me.

14. Share one Thanksgiving memory.
Learning how to make a freeform caramel apple pie from a friend one year in my friend DC's huge kitchen, it was nice.

15. Name five things you’re thankful for.
If I must:
1. The boyfriend 2. My health 3. My friends 4. All the freedom I'm having 5. My TV, computer and internet.

Have a great weekend!

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Happy Tanks-giving!!!

It's Oprah's Tanks-giving Special!

The obscenely rich woman has gone insane (That's probably why she's ending her show) giving away tanks to her audiences:


You get a tank and you get a tank, everybody is getting a mother-f#(king tank!

And here's the Tanks-giving parade that follows:



Hiyo! Tank you! Was it too soon?

Happy Tanks-giving!

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How Do You Fix a Problem like Sarah Palin?

It's baffling to me how some people can support Sarah Palin, the woman that can't cite a single news source, the woman who can hit a bunch of talking point and buzzwords but don't have a concrete plan on anything. Scary, really. Apparently, she's selling a good image. Her book is the No. 1 bestseller, even though her book tour avoided all the big liberal cities and just concentrates within the heartland.

According to this f**cked up chart by none other than Fox News:



Sarah Palin is the front runner as the GOP presidential candidate come 2012. (Seriously, what's up with pie charts that doesn't add up to 100%?) Albeit, I doubt that she would win, I also didn't think George W. would win his first or second term of presidency. When you see her supporters, you'd know that they are pretty much brainwashed and they don't have to know her political views to support her. I'm sure Fox News can make her look like the American Mother Theresa.



Considering Carrie Prejean who diddled herself and sent the tape and pictures to her boyfriend and then wrote a book where she condemned pornography and encourage young girls to cherish their bodies because their bodies are for worshiping the lord and not to look sexy. All this while she is a beauty contestant wearing bikinis for the world to see. Various congressmen and senators, who condemns homosexuality voting against gay rights and HIV fundings but suck dicks and molest pages on the side. (Does "bachelor" Republican senator Lindsey Graham looks like the next scandal waiting to happen or is it just me?) Sarah Palin who's traditional values are hanging from her mouth but has a teenage daughter who gave birth to a bastard child. How can people still eat this up and not see the hypocrisy in it? Are you telling me that having a half-black president is really that scary?


Regrettably that's also my reading habit.

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Oh! My friends who had decided to BBQ had changed their mind and now I'm in charge of cooking a Thanksgiving meal for 12. Add to the cakes I'm making, I think it's a bit more than I can chew, so the next few days posting might be sparse.

Have a great Thanksgiving, y'all!

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Cooking Expectations

This month had gone by pretty fast and Thanksgiving is coming up soon. Being in a "foreign" land with no family around, it can get pretty lonely during a celebration holiday where everyone left to be with family. Good thing I know how to cook. Last year, I've been invited by my Straizian friends to cook for friends and Mahjong buddies alike. This year, I got invited by a former colleague to attend her early afternoon dinner, an early evening gathering with a gay Asian friend and a few of the single "orphans" in the city. Then Saturday, it's all day Straizian Thanksgiving BBQ and Mahjong.

I've learned my lesson last year that cooking for 20 by myself is no easy task, it takes hours of preparation and then hours more of cooking. I'm thankful that this year I just need to make one dish for each party. For my excolleague's party, I've got assigned a vegetable dish. She and her family and friends are pretty much all vegetarians, even though she will accommodate me and another guest by having a turkey breast waiting. The whole menu is already set up and I got assigned with bringing a vegetable side dish with the rule of no reds, no mushroom, no asparagus and no brussels sprouts. I find it highly amusing that some vegetarians would be picky about what kind of vegetables they would eat as if they haven't denied themselves enough. At the same time, I feel like I'm not being trusted to make anything fancier since the Turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, desserts and any big dishes had already been assigned. To counter that, I'm going to make a zucchini & squash fettucine. Pretty much just shredding the squash and zucchini down to the shape of fettucine, saute them with garlic onion and pesto. It quite flavorful and it's one of my staples when I'm on my low carb diet. If I'm Rachel Ray who loves to make up words, I might call it Squasta.


Note to self: Get a shredder!

For the evening party, I've resigned myself to make a cheesecake. Since last time I made a caramel, banana cheesecake with moderate success. I'm thinking about making another even though I've lost my recipe along with my old computer. I only need to decide what flavor I want to make. A simple raspberry might be good, or Oreo, or maybe a pumpkin cheesecake. The boyfriend will probably appreciate the leftovers.

I have been wanted to make a Mont Blanc cake for years but always thought the skill level required is beyond me. I like to bake but I'm certainly no cake decorator and every cooking or baking I ever did are all self-taught. So for the Straizian party on Saturday, I will try to attempt the challenge that is Mont Blanc. How difficult could it be, right? It's just genoise, chestnut mousse, whipped cream and marrons glacés. Maybe infuse the whipped cream with a bit of rum and fold in some chestnut meat and decorate the cake with some chocolate designs. Something manageable and nothing too fancy. It's one of my favorite pastries growing up, somehow French pastries got very popular in Asia and it took hold.


Something like this but less tart like and more birthday cake like

I've been to the farmer's markets yesterday and it was quite insane. A lot of stressed individuals filling up the aisle fighting for poultry and produce. Though since it's a turkey holiday, the steaks are half-priced. Even the supermarkets were mobbed and you can hardly find a bag of sugar left. Hope I can find a can of chestnut puree somewhere.

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Congressional Recess Blues

A wannabe politician had told me that politics is the art form of communication for achieving goals. I'm here to call it bullshit. The minimum wage raised a quarter after 10 years of not increasing, while companies used their bailout money to give their top executive millions in bonuses. I don't remember the senate or the congress has done anything to improve my quality of life.



I was following her train on logic saying that so far the democrats had done very little to improve the disaster that was George W. Bush until she went bat shit crazy. Apparently the Foxx is way scarier than the Woolf. The NY Senate had postponed their vote on their marriage equality bill indefinitely, the senate hearing on Don't Ask, Don't Tell has been postponed indefinitely. There seems to be no account on how a congresswomen can say to alter reality or how much work they have to get done. There's no deadline to meet or IQ/history test to pass. At least to be a lawyer you have to pass a bar exam, there's no such thing in the way of being a politician or even the president of the U.S. I find that extremely curious.

Now in recess, our fear-mongering congressmen preach their own doomsday theory to the people of NYC in an empty room over Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.(starts at 3:30 mark)



Regrettably, I don't believe that our political system works. Even though the above examples seem to be a bit extreme, they are actual members of congress and by and large it is made up with people who don't have bright ideas and don't have courage to follow through when they have one. While on the way they have smear campaign against one another that doesn't impire confident on themselves, the truth is you will never get 435 people to agree on any single item. Even if the item is as plain as the sky is blue. They will not be having constructive meaningful conversations but they will argue based on their own or sponsored biases. Important issues are postponed indefinitely and then argued until the end of days. Votes are cast to make things into law and then voted again to have the whole thing reversed. What is the point?

Back in the days when people are still decent, the system might have made a difference. The motive of being a politician these days are mucked, more so than it ever was, excuse me if I don't have faith.

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Weekend Meme: Free Association Meme

I didn't think I needed anything and I certainly don't have any extra money to spend but reading some Black Friday deals on Yahoo had me wishing to get some stuff. A 32" LCD HDTV at Best Buy for $300. Though I have never heard of the Dynex brand (Ooh, Walmart is selling a 32" Emerson for $248) and my 24" Sony has been with me for the past 10 years and still working very well, maybe I can become a 2-television household? Walmart is selling a PS3 with a Batman game and a Batman movie for $300. Video game is a dangerous realm for me, an extreme time waster. Target has a 32GB iPod touch for $278 which I wanted one for a while but didn't want to spend on myself. All sounds very nice, but I'm not looking forward to go line up around midnight with large appliances without a car. And still, I don't really want to spend $1,000 with tax. Now, if my Straizian friends are driving down to Delaware, then it's a slightly different story.

I've seen these free association things online and I thought it could be kinda fun. So I'm compiled this list from 3 different sources to try my hand at it. Play along if you have time.

(P.S. I know it might be hard to achieve free association if you've read my answers but you can copy the list erase my answers, rearrange the words and let it sit for a while.)

1. Grace :: Hospital
2. Shower :: Psycho
3. Alice :: Persona (Video game)
4. Purple :: Tori Amos
5. First time :: Boston
6. 3 :: Trinity
7. Car :: Gasoline
8. Pregnant :: Unwed
9. Climax :: Fountain
10. Discretion :: Secret
11. Vex :: Steam
12. Relapse :: Addiction
13. Twinkle :: Eyes
14. Personal :: Love
15. Optimistic moment :: Sky
16. Cage :: Porno
17. Superwoman :: Alicia Keys
18. Face :: Eyebrows
19. Vapor :: Temperature
20. Grocery store :: Produce
21. Track :: Horse
22. Snake :: Venom
23. Assignment :: Manufacture
24. Blockbuster :: Video Store
25. Bombastic :: Shaggy
26. Adventure :: Brendan Fraser
27. Color :: White
28. Aged :: Gouda
29. Grip :: Pliers
30. Food :: Pasta
31. State :: California
32. Fragrance :: Lavender
33. Red hot :: AIDS (Music Campaign)
34. Traction :: Race car
35. Official :: Soccer
36. Counselor :: HIV
37. Crawls :: Crab
38. Apartment :: Modern Living
39. Lively :: People of Color
40. Shortcut :: Mini Cooper

Have a great weekend.

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Ron Mueck

A few years ago, I went to see the Bodies exhibition when they came to Philadelphia at the Franklin Institute. I found using of actual dead bodies to demonstrate the different side of the human body highly creepy. I was distracted by that bit of information while I was going through the show. That's what I was reminded of, when a friend of mine sent me the following video in Powerpoint form.



Ron Mueck is an Australian sculptor who excels in hyperrealist sculpting. Earlier in his career, he has worked as a puppeteer and model maker for children's television show side by side the likes of Jim Henson. What you saw in the video are sculptures created by with the utilization of silicone, fiberglass, resin, paint and at times actual human hair.

I could have swore that some of his pieces were real people if it wasn't for the scale discrepancy. The nudity are shocking and the emotions expressed haunt. Wish I can go to his exhibit to see the details.

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