You say Couch Po-tay-toe and I say Couch Po-ta-toe...

In my temporary housing, I had a tv. I haven't had one since I lived in San Diego, back in 2009.

It's funny when you tell people that you don't have a tv. Sometimes it's a real conversation stopper. I have found that not having one really made it difficult to keep up with pop culture. I never knew what movies were playing and who graced tabloid magazines, but it's not like I didn't watch shows. I went to the library and borrowed DVDs and then I discovered hulu.

Anyway, when I had a tv, I found myself watching it quite a bit and keeping it on in the background when I did other things. The thing that amuses me the most are the commercials. I hardly ever saw any commercials in Boston (a I was sans tv) and the ones that stuck in my head from So Cal are the "Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!" commercials. ("Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal!" Even though I used to think that they said "PuXXy Cow..." ahem...)

Breast implants

So, here I am, living in Santa Barbara, the US capital of breast implants (literally, all 3 companies that make them are here!) and what commercials do I see?

A TON of them about liposuction, Botox, and one that made me chuckle while still surprising me:  trojanvibrations.com (since this is a family friendly-ish blog, please feel free to look it up on youtube...). And this was during prime time!

Maybe I'm just REALLY  behind the times, but when did cosmetic and plastic surgery commercials become so prevalent? Or is this just a regional thing?

I still don't have access to local tv, so I suppose I'll have to wait until I decide to do it and find out!

Book worm nerd alert!

I've neglected this blog for a good part of half a year now. I have a few "drafts" that probably won't get published, but I've been a little "busy", I guess.

Being a part of the real world (post grad school) has given me a chance to start reading for leisure again. I've always been a reader, and honestly, wished something like "goodreads" was available when I was younger, so I could have kept track of all the books I've devoured over the years.

I'll have to settle on hoping that I kept track this year and didn't miss one. So... what's the tally for 2012? A whopping 24 books! (Thank you Santa Barbara Public Library...)

Just in case inquiring minds want to know what the list contains (in no particular order):
1. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
2. Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
3. Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
4. Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay
5. Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay
6. Dexter is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay
7. Double Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
8. City of Thieves by David Benioff
9. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
10. What the Other Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
11. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
12. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
13. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
14. Gap Creek by Robert Morgan
15. Heartbreaking work of Staggering Genius by David Eggers
16. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
17. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
18. Rant by Chuck Palaniuk
19. Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julia Powell
20. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James (and let the judging begin!) - almost didn't include this one, but what the heck!
21. Savages by Don Winslow
22. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
23. In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami (no relation to Haruki as far as I know...)
24.  Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

And there you have it. Aside from the Dexter series, I'd say it's a nice mix. Most of these books were recommendations from my virtual book club in Boston and some were me piggybacking off of Jase's books, others were recommendations of other friends, and some were flat out my picks.

The library is a great place to get ideas of what to read, but I definitely miss the brick and mortar stores like Borders and Barnes and Noble (the closest one to me is about 30 miles south... big surprise!) There will never be anything like browsing through displays of books and finding those eye catching covers. Hopefully BN won't also disappear!!

For 2013, I've already finished 4 books, (no, 2 of the books aren't the rest of the Fifty Shades series... although 1 is... haha), but that list won't be revealed for a while.

♪Watch out J. Lo, K. Vo in da house!

Before there was J. Lo and academy award winners/ nominess Jamie Foxx and Jim Carrey, there was a show on a little network called In Living Color. This show was awesome!

Some of my favorite skits were Homey the Clown ("Homey don't play that!") and Men on Film - "Hated IT!" I also loved the fly girls.

I have always loved dancing and although I have never been any good at it, it never stopped me from trying.

Lately, my inner fly girl has been coming out after I started taking classes at Rhythm Dance & Fitness with Tamarr. I'm not gonna lie... this class is hard. In every 8 counts there are at least 5-6 "ands" and he just keeps adding on to the routine and speeding up the tempo. Even though I'm counting every move, I'm getting about 70% of the moves (up from 50% on my first class!). Recently I've been taping myself doing the dances, so I can practice them. If you want a sample of what I'm attempting, here you go. =)

Sorry, none of my personal attempts will be posted. Not now, but I can't say never. All I can say is that I promise you that I will not quit my day job to pursue this! But my inner fly girl is having one heck of a time!

P.S. There is talk of a new In Living Color. That will be interesting...

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~Author Unknown

Back in the day when I was young I’m not a kid anymore…


I remember when I was really, really young, I loved those Read Along books, you know, the ones that started off like this: “you will know when it’s time to turn the page when you hear the chimes ring like this… ♪ ♫ring ♪ ♫” (Ok, this may be before your time...)

I had the best memory. After a dozen or so times of “reading along” with the cassette tape, I began to recite the book. One time, my aunt was staying over with us and she thought I was already reading at 3 years old!

Luckily, my love of reading never died. In my early years, I read a lot of Beverly Cleary books, wanting to keep up with Ramona’s angst and Judy Blume’s Superfudge’s shenanigans. Then later on, I moved onto Christopher Pike as I approached the “tween” stage. Keeping with the drama/ horror genre, I began reading Dean Koontz and Stephen King.

As an adult, I ran out of “favorite” authors. Since I’ve never had a favorite book, I didn’t even have a “go to” response when someone asked me about it a few weeks ago. Now, I at least have realized I like stories. Whether they are non-fiction or fiction, they must move at a steady pace and have good character development.

Since finishing school and settling back down in the “real world”, I’ve been able to do a much better job of finding time to enjoy a good book. Part of this stemmed from not having a TV (much less cable) and taking my time getting the internet up and running. There are a few independent book stores around here, and being Santa Barbara, there is no Barnes & Noble within 30 miles.

Santa Barbara Public Library

Truth be told, as much as I love books, all the moving back and forth across the country has discouraged me from buying too many. After all, those are the heaviest boxes to lift! Thus, I have been a frequent visitor of the Santa Barbara Public Library. This system is ridiculous in that it covers over 60 miles. Luckily there are 3 branches relatively close to where I live and work.

I feel like libraries are considered old relics in these e-reader days and even more so after Borders closed its doors. Admittedly, I rarely went to the public library when I lived in San Diego, but it was one of the first places I became acquainted with when I moved to Boston (and subsequently Santa Barbara).

To my delight/ surprise, I found out you could also borrow DVDs in addition to books. They may not have the latest season, but they have the earlier ones, so if there was a time to catch up on a show you were meaning to watch, they have a somewhat decent selection to choose from. And on top of that, they are slowly but surely adopting to the e-reader craze and have offerings for them too! (I still haven’t decided which one I want, so I still go for the old school version with paper and ink.)

In any case, I'll be kickin' it old school at the libraries for as long as there is one around. Hmm.... perhaps I fit in to this retiree neighborhood better than I thought. (shudder!)

Happiness is...

Enjoying a bowl of fresh berries...
Trying some new recipes...


Homemade carnitas

Reading a few good books...
Catching up on some good tv...
and finishing a couple of picture books!

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"Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!" - Muhammed Ali

Thanks to livingsocial, I have been introduced to kickboxing at Paragon in Santa Barbara.

I've always wanted to do some type of martial art or boxing, so why not kickboxing?

I've taken many a cardio kickboxing classes at the gym. They were fun and kept my mind sharp by changing combos every 3 or 4 counts of 8; however, I never felt like I knew what the heck I was doing. Were my punches right? How was my form?

Well, let me tell you... it was awful. Heck, it still  is.

After my first class, I was able to get a one on one basics course for kickboxing... Guess what?! I don't jump rope correctly (see it done right by Rocky himself!). On a more positive note, my punches weren't as far off as I thought and my kicks weren't half bad, if I don't say so myself!

The actual classes were pretty fun. A great way to exercise and relieve stress. This is one thing I may revisit when I feel like I can afford $180 a month on membership...

“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude.” ― Julia Child

One thing I have always been good at is eating.

Bittermelon Soup

 Even as a child I was never really picky. In fact, I always had faith that my mom was feeding me with only things that were good for me. So even when I would be eating her beef stew with (ick) cooked carrots, I would eat the carrots first so that the rest of my meal could be enjoyed. Or when she made her meat stuffed bittermelon soup... I would eat the bittermelon (which is SO appropriately named!), and promptly eat something else to get the taste out of my mouth.

Weird right? It never occurred to me to just NOT eat it.

{Side story}: Last year I was in India with a group of friends/ classmates from BU. There were four of us, a Spaniard, a Persian, a half-Polish, half Indian and finally myself. Our Spaniard friend would dutifully make sure he always finished everything that was remained on our family styled dishes. For he, like the rest of us, was told "there are starving children in Africa!" (which is why I tried to never waste food as a child or an adult)

As he took one of his last bites, he said something to the effect of: "I've been there, and there are no starving children in Africa?!" {End side story}

The thing is, I've never really learned to cook. I always tended to stick with easy recipes to maximize success as I found that every time I improvised, whatever I was making didn't taste… right.

First of all, my sense of smell is, well, non-existent. Also, I have a hard time figuring out what to add if something needs additional flavor. Does it need salt? Sugar? Thyme? What?!

Also, when I've decided to brave it and make something, I would often get less than stellar feedback. 

Well, as a means of trying to appreciate all the good stuff I have been fed over the years by some conspicuous person who does not want to ever be mentioned on the web, I have decided to dust off the apron (of which he who must not be mentioned "HWSNBM" bought me not too long ago...) and give it a shot. 

Nem Nuong Cuon

My beautiful cousin got married last year, and when we were there, my family was making Nem Nuong Cuon (Spring Rolls with Pork Meatballs). As I was helping them in the kitchen, I thought, I can make this. So wa-lah!

Necessities: Spring Roll Wrapper, meat of your choice, some veggies (in our case, I bought a bunch of "Asian greens" from our local farmer's market), and the dipping sauce. 

The following week, I made chao (rice porridge) from the fried rice that had a little too much water, and turned into a rice sludge.

Chao

To this dish that already contained two types of mushrooms, baby corn, and green beans, I added 2 cans of chicken broth, some Maggi soy sauce, fish sauce, white pepper and a seafood mixture of mussels, baby scallops, shrimp, and calamari. 

Turned out to be the perfect dinner on one of Santa Barbara's many chilly and rainy nights. 

I actually, (finally) got some good* feedback on these. 

*good as in 

Me: How is it? 

HWSNBM in monotone: "Good"

I'll take it!