Living this Life

I found something really cute that I want. I got to know about it when one of my work colleagues came in wearing one of them and got a lot of curiosity as to how on Earth she puts them on.

Earspirals! :D Have you heard about it? Apparently it originated from San Francisco... it's an earring you can't lose (whilst wearing it)!


Is that cute or what? That's one of the "Californian convertibles", ie you can change parts of it. There are some static ones as well. But I just think they're the greatest! They're not cheap though... -_-

Does anyone feel like buying me a present? :P

Still working on pictures of Tunisia... will be up as soon as I find time to sort it all out. :P I'm sure you're all dying to see them... not! Heh.

*grin* If you've read my Facebook status message yesterday, you will have seen the young animals comment and known that I was mixing up a honey+mustard marinade for half a lamb leg. I marinaded it overnight in the fridge and put it into the slow cooker today, and it was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth heavenly. *swoon*


I know, I know, I don't get points for presentation. Anyway, if you're interested, I followed the marinade recipe from here and then just made it a slow-cooker pot roast instead of a traditional roast. For the gravy, I added a dash of red wine and enough Bisto gravy granules to thicken up the gravy after cooking. Will be making again for sure!

PS: Yes, Ash got us new plates because I broke all but one of the old ones. :(

WE GOT IT! :D :D :D :D :D

Also linked DrivenMagazine on my severely unused links list on the side - show my boy some love! ;)

Cats can't see what's right under their nose, so if you're feeding one a treat right under its nose, the cat can smell the treat but can't see it, so it'll have to nose around to find the treat.

And generally, their vision - when transposed to the equivalent on the Snellen chart - is around 6/9. Or 6/12, I don't remember exactly. But yeah, humans generally have much better visual acuity than cats, despite the whole cats have extraordinary senses myth.

A bit drunk again today... we went to iMMO for food today (Wednesday and all), and it has proper italian decor with cream and dark brown leather seats, etc. We had a bottle of Italian red wine with our main and it was called Domiziano Villa Valpolicella Classico, and it was really nice to drink, smooth and fruity.


I know Richard Hammond did Should I Worry About... Alcohol? where he showed that people should eat whilst they're drinking and they're less likely to be drunk that way, but sharing a bottle of red between the two of us still proved to be too much, because after a glass each we're both a bit tipsy. With food.

It might have something to do with the fact that we're not really big wine drinkers. We can handle our vodka much better, but wine makes both of us silly quite quickly.

Also almost gave Ash a heart attack because I asked him to chose the wine since I'm not particularly fussy with my wine and I think he doesn't like white and isn't that keen on most rose, and then I pointed out after the waiter left that it said £13.95 under per 250ml glass. XD Turned out to be a typo at the end and it was £13.95 for the bottle. Haha! Sorry Ashy! :D


I had Penne Rusticana for my main, and it was a baked pasta dish with seasoned chicken, peppers and brocolli mixed with penne and baked in a creamy sauce with cheese on top. It was pretty good, I liked the peppers but not that keen on the creamy sauce itself. Tasted a bit bland, to be honest, and the cheese was a bit strong. But overall it's okay, and the service was pretty good.

Ash was initially quite disappointed with his main (Pollo Siliciana or something like that) because it looked tiny (sorry, guys, he dug into the food before I started deciding to take pictures, so there's no photo to show!)! I consoled him that he could have dessert and not all is lost, but he soon found out after that it was actually really filling.

We had dessert anyway. ;)


He had a huge apple crumble (laced with Amaretto) and ice cream whilst I had a slice of "honeycomb smash cheesecake" (which is cheesecake with honeycomb base and chocolate-covered honeycomb bits on the top). I liked the cheesecake, but you know what's bad?

I liked the apple crumble more!

Yes, the greedy person that I am, I stole part of his dessert too! XD

I gave them a non-compulsory tip at the end because whilst it is not yet standard to tip at restaurants here, they did offer a good service and I can't really fault them for anything plus they didn't kick us out of the restaurant even though we were the last two people there and they were obviously dying to close up. :P

So it was a nice close to the night, we left the restaurant at quarter to 11 and stumbled our way back to the room. It was freezing outside... it's winter already and it's only October! Apparently it was snowing in London too!

Lancome has just came out with the world's first vibrating mascara.

Like, what? Are women around the world surveyed and they found that women would prefer it if their mascara wands vibrated?

Soon we'll find that it's like electric toothbrushes, with a tagline like "coats more eyelashes than traditional mascara!" and "recommended by makeup artists in Hollywood!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXBL6bzAR4

Funniest thing evah! Kept bursting into laughter at 8am today even though I was trying to be quiet because Ash is sleeping. XD

Makes me want to hasten my efforts on getting a (or two) kitteh though. :'(

The right side of my head is pounding away and feeling really heavy, but regardless - I went to the cultural market (again) today!


Lincoln has this thing for markets. Other than our annual Christmas market (that everyone in Lincoln is in love with), every so often, we will have a cultural market where people set up stalls in the middle of the high street selling all sorts of things from different countries and cultures. There are stuff like Transylvanian glassware, Parisian leather bags and belts, bonsai trees, traditional handcrafted woodware, frost-resistant garden gnomes/animals and hand-painted pictures. What I'm really interested in though in these markets are the food.

Glorious, glorious food. No surprise there! :D

There are traditional English hog roast (and on the side of the stall, a large whole hog being turned and slow-roasted on a spit), Danish pancakes (which are tiny pancakes less than 2" in diameter), German sauerkraut and bratwurst, alternative meats burger stall, French crepes (which I had had two days in a row... oops!), fresh croissants and sweet brioches, Spanish paella (I've heard loads about this from Ash; it looks like stewed meat and veg and then rice is cooked with the stew to absorb all the moisture and flavours, but I won't know until I try!), French baguette au fromage, Indian curry, Portuguese egg tart and meats (such as chorizo and other stuff I don't know the name of), pick-'n'-mix biscuits and nuts, gourmet coffee with various names, cheeses from all over the world and olives, caramel roasted nuts, chilli prawns, and sweet tarts of all kinds!

It's like a funfair without the rides - it's so awesome! The best part is all of these goodies are made fresh in front of you - you can be certain the pastries you buy are at most a few hours old. I want to try everything, but even with my crazy habits of stuffing myself still I cannot manage to have a bit of everything. ;_; Too bad they are only here for 3 days!

On Friday Ash and I went to walk around the market after lunch to browse, and I bought some tarts for us (chocolate and almond for Ash, strawberry and peach for me) and we both got crepes for dessert. ^^ I had one with maple syrup, which was yum, and Ash had his with maple syrup and banana after much coercing from yours truly. They weren't cheap, but the guy who made them was very generous with the portions!

I went again yesterday even though Ash had already went off home for his go-karting session with his family so I figured I may as well enjoy having lunch at the market since it's just outside where I work. Went up to the hog roast stall and got a hog roast sandwich with onion and sage stuffing (and you can opt for applesauce too), and it was really juicy and tender. ^^ After that, I had apple and cinnamon crepe, which was delish, but I think I prefer the maple syrup one I had the day before. Also bought some Portugese egg tarts because Nicky R had been raving about it whilst we were stuck outdoors Friday morning due to the fire alarm going off at the workplace three times within the hour and Fire & Rescue unit had to come around twice to check things out. I don't like egg tarts as a general rule (too cold and stodgy and sticky), but these were heavenly! XD I've been proven wrong!

You won't believe what I did today morning though. I forgone the usual McD's double sausage and egg muffin for a trip to the alternative meats stall for a burger! XD


"So what's good?"

"Everything is," he said, laughing. "People usually go for kangaroo or ostrich, but I personally prefer wild boar."

"Hmm. Well, I've had ostrich and wild boar meat before, so let's try the kangaroo!"


So yep, I got a kangaroo burger. XD How did everyone's favourite marsupial taste?

Weird. It had the texture and colour similar to beef, but it tasted slightly... fishy? I don't know if that's the right word, but there's an odd aftertaste. Not sure I'd go for it again if I'm honest. Maybe I'm just not used to it. But that's another thing crossed off the BBC's 50 Things to Eat Before You Die list. I think I have around 15 more items to go (stuff like guinea pig, reindeer, Australian meat pie, Moreton Bay Bugs, alligator, caviar, and haggis... might be able to get haggis since it's Scottish, if I'm not mistaken).

After that, I browsed for dessert again and got myself not one, but two tarts. XD No, not prostitutes, idiots (why are they called tarts, anyway?). Voila!


Don't they look delicious?

Mmm. The best one I've had is the peach tart. ^^ Would definitely get again.

I had a fantastic Sunday with Ash. Wonderfully scrumptious breakfast in bed, a very eventful live F1 feed to follow (with more cock-ups from the Ferrari team), going out shopping for food at M&S, watching Death Race at the cinema (it was fantastic!), cooking dinner and cuddling up in front of the TV with one two bottles of wine.

<3!

We went to Sunderland for the weekend to visit Brother #3 who just arrived in the UK on Saturday, and it was pretty fun. Ash drove us there with a little help from GPS and my appalling navi skills when we hit Sunderland city centre to actually get to the B&B we were booked in on the seafront. The B&B had really good reviews on TripAdvisor.com, so thinking that that many people can't all be wrong, I rung them up yesterday to book a room for the night. He said I could have the double en-suite for £42 and breakfast for two. On their website, that price is actually for a standard twin/double room (without en-suite), so we got a pretty good deal overall.

We arrived (after getting lost because the GPS led us into the back alley somewhere) and parked up in front of the B&B and was rewarded with the awesomest, almost staggeringly powerful view of the North Sea. For a moment there, it really did take my breath away.

As we were checking in, we were also pleasantly surprised that we were not only given a double en-suite room, but a double en-suite room with a four-poster bed (I personally have yet to know what is so important about four poster beds that people charge you more for sleeping in one) and an extra single bed and a view of the sea from the bedroom. We apparently did get quite a discount then, as a "four poster bedrom with seaview" is priced at £52/night.


And we got a seaview. And what a nice one too, with the benefit of a panoramic window!


The room itself was pretty nice, very cosy-looking and roomy, with amenities like bath and face towels and TV with remote. They not only have tea/coffee-making facilities, they even have a fridge and a microwave in the room!

Went to visit my brother after that in a taxi, but after much problems, we finally got to where he is staying and hung out for the day. We went out shopping for stuff and then ate at Wetherspoons and watched The Dark Knight. My poor brother had to pay for it all because I only had £8ish in my bank, which I felt really guilty about. :( But I did reimbursed him the next day for all our spendings, so that's okay then. :P But this means we haven't had the chance to drag him out to introduce him to pub-life, but I'm sure his seniors are doing a pretty good job of that as we speak...

The next morning, we woke up to the smell of breakfast wafting upstairs and was hungry long before 9am, our pre-arranged time for breakfast. We stuffed ourselves silly when we went to the kitchen with cereal+milk, orange juice, a full cooked breakfast and toast and then went off to meet my brother again before we left because Ash wanted to show off his precious baby. That is, his car. And for me to pay my brother back what he spent the day before, because I was supposed to be the one treating.

We did take some photos of the three of us today, but the two men were complaining about how they look horrible (Ash goes, "My hair is a mess!" and my brother goes, "I look fat!") in the photos so I'm not allowed to post it up or send it around. :( I am having zit problems (three appearing in one day, ugh!), and I wasn't complaining about that. Hmph. And men think we women are the whingers. :P

OMG I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*disbelief*

If pizza is an edible plate, Yorkshire pudding is an edible bowl.


Crispy oven-baked Yorkshire pudding filled with stir-fried lean ground beef and chopped vegetables (carrot, red bell pepper, mushroom, spring onion) cooked in beef and ale sauce. *licks*

Hee. ^^ I got paid, can you tell? :P

Something I've always wondered...

I've taken up to installing PostPet again (third time now!), thanks to Samantha. My cat has got no friends at the moment though and is feeling kinda lonely. :( meow@carbonation.org if you have PostPet! And if you don't, ask and you shall receive. ^^

Oh, in case you're wondering, mine had always been a cat. First time was during the PostPet fever back in god knows when (1997?), after that was a few years back (less than six years ago, but no definite date) when Tiffany and I wanted to play around with virtual pets again. Today though, right after installing it and loading it up, my first thought was, "Oh. My. God. It's so grainy!"


In fact, I think it's probably so old now that Sony doesn't even bother running maintenance on it anymore. But it was so cute though when everyone's got one and the pets just started journalling as well (mine was just a horny little cat!). ^^ I think it was one of the kawaii things that the Japanese devised up to introduce email to children - and what an encouragement to reply to emails too, especially for lazy shites like me! - a bit like Windows Bob (which was a failure, but I liked it because it was so cute!). What's cuter than having a virtual pet that you not only feed, pet, play with, take care of, but it delivers your mail whilst out visiting other people's virtual pets (you can feed a visiting pet too if it's hungry), write a journal entry on the visit (and it'll tell you whether it's been smacked by your heavy-handed friend!) and collect "treasures" on its way home?

Unfortunately, the teenagers took it up because us aZns are lovers of Hello Kitty and cute shit like that, and infected our friends too. :P It only really started going downhill when Sony tried to make money out of it by coming up with shit like PostPet World, and after that limiting it to only Japanese, which sucks for the rest of us who don't read Japanese.

Wonder how long this renewed fascination is going to last. :P But yeesh, I have a cat who is a picky eater. He just shook his head and refused to eat a biscotti even though he's "Absolutely famished"!

*bribes with catnip*

Lele shared this eBay user's "Left for Others" feedback page with me.

How mind-boggling. Roffle. Funniest thing I've seen in a while.

Finally reading Da Vinci Code and feeling a little bit ticked off even at the beginning. It's funny, isn't it, that after all that hype and after how I even managed to bullshit my way through a good few discussions about the book that I've never read, I'm finally getting around to it?

Anyway. What I'm feeling ticked off about is how the character Silas is an albino, and how he's been portrayed like a superhuman (but I'm only at Chapter 22, so this may change). Personal and spiritual strength aside, abinos have very poor eyesight that cannot be corrected with spectacles (even though visual aids like magnifiers and typoscope may make things easier for them, just like for people who suffer from partial blindness due to sight-threatening disease) because of the lack of pigmentation causes eyesight developmental problems and glare problems in well-lighted situations (sunny days, etc) that's akin to overexposure of camera films. Most true albinos have nystagmus, a condition where the eyes is constantly visibly shaking in their sockets as if the eyes are instinctively trying to search for a target or some direction of gaze to make their sight clearer. So not only you have overexposed film, you're having movement blur as well thrown in for the count. Some nystagmus sufferers have poor recognition of people's faces due to their decreased visual function.

Silas is said to have white hair and pink irides, which means that he definitely doesn't have just a mild case of albinism (some albinos have blue irides, which indicate they have some melanin, not the complete absence of it). Why does Dan Brown then portrayed Silas as this man who is so accurate with his gun when... well, have you tried trying to aim at something, anything, if your eyes are constantly flicking side by side (or up and down) to a fast beat? I understand that some nystagmus sufferers can actually shoot a gun and hit the target with practice, but it tends to take them a little longer to aim due to the "beat" and they may need special scopes or peep sights. I know that Silas has so far (by Chapter 22, like I stated)  only shot the curator in his stomach, which is quite a big target I suppose. But he was also aiming for his head, which is smaller and more difficult to get right because of the bony skull. Like, hello?

I guess I'm just easily annoyed by books that over-exaggerate things. I know, I know, it's only fiction and I should chill out. I'm sure the distinctive white hair and pink eyes makes a good visual for a book for a misunderstood villain (the "evil albino" stereotype), but seriously. It would've flown a whole lot better had the man just bleached his hair and worn coloured contacts for the intimidating effect. And I would've been less ticked off. Do your fucking research, Dan Brown!

*steps down from the soapbox*

Wanted to make shepherd's pie but then I realised that I have no potatoes. Cripes. Ended up with spiced mince stew and steamed vegetables with cheese melted on top.

No photos because I'm not in the mood to play around with the camera today. Heh. Maybe another time.

Just something simple (and probably not very original) I came up with while going through my available foodstuff. Despite what the title says, this is not vegetarian (I suppose you can change it, but I don't think you're that keen on following my half-witted recipe ideas). I would probably use this as a side-dish or some kind of entrée, though I think it's a bit large to be an entrée. I'm not sure.

Ingredients
1 cup couscous, uncooked
200g canned ham, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
5 closed-cup common mushrooms, chopped
5 bell peppers, whole (doesn't matter what colour they are)
Ground black pepper

Method

1. Cook couscous as directed on package. That usually involves cooking it in boiling water, kinda like rice, but a lot quicker! I cheated with a microwave though. :P
2. Meanwhile, in a saucepan or wok, stir-fry chopped ham, onion and mushroom. I didn't use any oil at all because the ham is already oily enough to grease the pan as I cook it. It is also salty enough for me to skip the salt. Add a little ground black pepper to taste. Add couscous when cooked and mix until distributed evenly. Remove from heat.
3. Slice off the top of the bell peppers but don't throw them away. Carefully cut around the insides of the peppers to remove the seeded parts without puncturing the pepper casing. Test if the pepper casings can stand on their own. If not, carefully slice a small area at the bottom - again without puncturing through the casing - to allow the pepper casing to stand on its own.
4. Fill the peppers with the couscous mixture and replace pepper tops. You might have leftover couscous mixture, but that's fine. They taste pretty good on their own, or you can just make another pepper casing to fill with.
5. Wrap the filled peppers in tinfoil, heat the oven up to 150°C, and arrange the wrapped peppers in the oven to roast until desired softness. Overcooked peppers will take on a yellowish tinge, which ruins presentation, but you probably won't want to serve green bell peppers raw (red and yellow are all right).
   
6. Unwrap and serve.

Serves 5

Estimated Nutritional Values (per serving)
Energy 216.68kcal
Protein 14.1g
Carbohydrate 35.84g
Fat 1.42g

I did debate whether to add cheese to the mixture, but then I decided to skip it since there was already a decent amount of salt content and I'm trying to eat healthier (sort of, even though canned ham is probably not the healthiest choice of all). In the end, I'm quite glad that I didn't add the cheese - it already taste pretty decent cheese-free.

My flatmate walked in while I was in the middle of making this, and she was so intrigued by it. Heh. I'm not sure why, but my flatmates are so perpetually fascinated with what I'm cooking, it's weird. I quite enjoyed making it, for what its worth. I've been quite stressed out and depressed lately, so I needed to do something that takes my mind off things. Been wondering if I should start baking again. Have a few things thought and lined up, like stuffed cheesy tomatoes (I thought I had pictures of these when I first made them two years ago, but I can't find them!), sausage bread rolls and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies or chewy brownie cookies or cinnamon rolls. :P I know, how disgustingly fattening.

Testing out Deepest Sender. ^_^ I also just upgraded Firefox to 2.0.0.2.

Edit: OMG, it works!