7.06.2009

Savvy just messaged me, she wants to go this weekend and see Blood: The Last Vampire which looks like fun. I'm excited. Nothing says hello weekend like campy horror movies. It has Jun Ji-hyun in it, who is a fantastic actress from South Korea.

I'll let you know how it goes.
God is smiling down upon us today, our hot weather is gone replaced with lovely overcast breeziness and the thermometer topping out at about 64 degrees right now. Kins says she is freezing, but that is only because she's a crazy transplant from the south and anything below 85 is cold to her. Also, she's a big baby, but don't tell her I said that.

I'm working from home right now, purely because it's easier for me to get this work done on my own system, then the laptop and touch pad of death in the office. Also I can work in my PJ's. Not that I'm in my PJ's...I am in fact naked dressed, but the idea of working in my PJ's is just as relaxing.

Two of the 'mates are sleeping, one is still gone off gallivanting about. Banana is supposed to be home today, she's been gone since Friday. I actually haven't been in the same room with her for more then five minutes since last Wednesday. It's most likely because she hates my guts with a passion, it seems I inspire that in people by just living. I find it hysterical. I haven't seen any of my 'mates for very long since last Wednesday, come to think about it. I kind of miss their happy faces...or something like that.


I've got a ton of Red Cross stuff this week, I'm trying to get as many hours in as I can before I go back to The Book Place in two weeks(ish), because once that happens I'll be working to jobs, and I just won't be able to arrange the blocks of time they need. Our chapter is in need of super help, so if you're in my area and you've got some spare time this summer, give them a call. Also, if you can give up some tasty..er...important red stuff, you should do that too.

HoTD:


So cool and cloudy!

Today is a day for books,

And piles of laundry.

I've been working from home, and I took the weekend off, so I haven't been eating myself to death with delicious food at RG. I will be back there tomorrow though, and I'm not sure what I'll be trying but I'm sure whatever it is will be super tasty.

7.04.2009

Have a safe and happy 4th of July Figments! And a special Happy Birthday to my bother, Buddy, who turns 16 today. Holy crap, where did all that time go? He is now legal to drive, and I am scared.

6.30.2009

Meal Number: 2

Selection: Him Ma Parn with Pineapple

Price: $9 for vegetarian or tofu/$10 for chicken, pork or beef/$12 for shrimp/$13 for seafood


It's time for meal number 2. The menu description for this is:

Cashew Nuts Stir-Fry, sauteed in sweet chili paste, onions, bell paper, water chestnuts, cashews, carrots, pineapple and green beans

It sounds nummy, and it's very popular (in fact, I think it's the best seller after Pad Thai) but I didn't pick it. I took my life into my own hands. I told the chef to surprise me during a dinner with my roommates who came to the restaurant and this is what she made me.

Again the portion size was fantastic, and it was served over a pile of perfectly cooked rice noodles (it's usually served over rice, but rice and I aren't friends, and the chef remembered, which is sweet), topped with veggies and chicken in a sauce.

The sauce wasn't spicy at all, it was very mild and sweet, and it complemented the veggies and pineapple perfectly. I know some people find cooked fruit, or just cooked pineapple to be a turn-off, but combined with the veggies and stir-fried nuts it was very well matched.

Again my veggies were cooked just how I like them, and the chicken wasn't completely lost in the flavor of the sauce.

I enjoyed this dish and I'd recommend it for anyone looking for an alternative to normal cashew chicken from a Chinese restaurant.

6.29.2009

As some of you Figments may know, 'Skyte Design, on occasion, takes up miscellaneous work for local small businesses that extend beyond just web design. Computer maintenance, logo design, ad design, computer networking, grant writing, I even dog-sat once. Why? Because I heart my clients with every gooshy ounce of my ventricles, and I want to provide good service for them. Thanks to these non-traditional web design requests, I find myself packing with me a deck of very strange skills. Need me to set you up with a local alcohol distributor? I can do that. Need some Dora the Explorer napkins on the cheap? For 200? I can do that too, with adequate sympathy.

Do these skills help me in real life? No. Do they look good on a resume? Absolutely not. But they pay, and lets face it boys and girls, I just wouldn't be nearly as witty if I was homeless.

So about two weeks ago I took up a position that I've dubbed Bookkeeper Interim of Awesomeness (Or BIA) at a local restaurant in Keizer called The Red Ginger. My job is to catch the restaurant up on it's bookkeeping since a reshuffling of ownership and to get their accounting system up and running so it's organized and efficient for them. Yeah, I laughed at first at the idea of me organizing something, but I'm fairly certain I can figure it out.

The Red Ginger opened about a year ago, and reopened (a long story) again about six months ago. They have fantastic food at very reasonable prices, and the atmosphere and service is amazing. Their food is organic, and nearly 75% of the ingredients are from local farms. No MSG, low sodium and they are vegan, vegetarian and gluten allergy/sensitivity and Celiac accommodating. The last is important to me, as Prana has celiac disease and I think it's completely awesome that they are aware of it and try to make food that their customers can enjoy again and again.

The chef there has a nearly psychotic need to feed everyone, all the time, constantly, with no end. Don't get me wrong, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside that someone want to make sure I eat sixteen meals a day, but a girl can only eat so much before her intestines rupture.

Every day I go, every day she wants to feed me. I feel horribly guilty if I say no, so I have her make me small stuff. That however, didn't work long, because she decided the small stuff wasn't enough, and started making me more, and bringing it to me herself to the office demanding I eat. How do you say no to that? You can't, that's how.

So, I decided to use this to my advantage. I decided that I would try everything on their menu, and then review the dishes. I've never eaten anything bad there (and that's saying a lot, because...well, I've probably eaten the equivalent to an elephant in weight worth of food from that place). The cook thinks it's hilarious, but I think she's laughing at the fact that I've gained a thousand pounds in two weeks, rather then that I'm blogging about her food.

Meal Number: 1

Selection: Pra Ram Peanut with Shrimp

Price: $9 for vegetarian or tofu/$10 for chicken, pork or beef/$11 for shrimp/$13 for seafood


So in doing the bookkeeping I've been entering in the daily sales of the restaurant, which catalogs the percentages of items sold. This dish has sold quite a bit, and is very popular with the Regulars that frequent the restaurant. I decided to give it a shot, the menu says:

Grilled meat stir-fried with veggies and topped with a homemade peanut sauce

I am a sucker for Red Gingers peanut sauce, it is fantastic, and I would swim in it, if I could. I see this dish mostly with chicken, but I had a hankering for shrimp so I got it with the shrimp instead.

The plate presentation was great, lots of fresh veggies which included green beans, snow peas, carrots, green and yellow pepper, broccoli, bok choy, onion, celery, baby corn and water chestnuts. There was also some fresh basil leaves stir fried with the veggies. Topping them was a good portion of shrimp and the yummy peanut sauce.

The veggies were cooked perfectly, they weren't limp or soggy and they weren't charred, which made me a happy girl. Shrimp were also cooked perfectly and weren't like chewing on a balloon when you ate them.

You can get rice to go with this dish, but I dislike rice (sorry rice lovers) so I didn't have any. That was fine though, because I was so stuffed I wouldn't have been able to eat the rice anyway.

Very delicious and I can see why people order it so consistently. The price is also reasonable. It's not as inexpensive as eating at some other Thai restaurants in town, but the quality and ambiance of the restaurant and food are worth the extra dollar or so and change.

Give it a go! Up next? Him Ma Parn.

4.10.2009

I would like to state the following:

Differential Calculus is no fun when you've got pneumonia.

'kaythxbye

4.03.2009

3.28.2009

No More Kings released their first single called 'Obey The Groove' from their new album 'No More Kings and The Flying Boombox' today. I'm having these boys' babies, I swear it.

You can download it for free from their website, so take a listen, and you'll see why I <3 them so much. After all, how can you hate boys that sing about zombies and the Karate Kid?

3.26.2009

I desperately want Chinese food for dinner. It would be super yummy in my tummy. Actually I just want to be naked with a plate of 600 egg rolls and a bib. However, because I'm trying (like a good girl) to not spend money where I don't need to, I am going to cook dinner at home tonight.

The Collective has wipe off boards all over it. In the living room, on peoples bedroom doors. Two of them are in the kitchen. One is a 'Buy Me' board (which usually has clever things like cabana boys and puppies written on it) and the other is the 'Sam N' Ella's Diner Menu' which lists the next three days dinners. I do this so:

A) The roommates know what I'm cooking for dinner if I'm cooking.

B) We have some sort of plan and we know if we need to put stuff on the 'Buy Me' board.

C) People can plan on cooking and can let everyone know they're cooking, what and when.

Sometimes we follow the menu, sometimes we move them around, sometimes they vanish forever (potato soup, anyone?). Usually though, if I have the stuff to make something and I feel up to it, I'll make it. Secretly I like to cook, please don't tell anyone, it'll ruin my street cred.

Today's menu has absolutely no ingredients in the house for it. So I'm going to move stuff around and make Chicken and Vegetable Soup for dinner. As you know, Figs, my idea of cooking is pretty much throwing stuff in a pot and hoping it doesn't taste like the sole of a pig farmers shoe. Usually it doesn't, and even if it does, they'll eat it and they'll like it.

I've got a ton of veggies that need to be used up - carrots, celery, potatoes, corn, green beans, mushrooms, broccoli. So what's a better way to use them then to make a huge pot of soup on a rainy cold day? I mean, other then letting them rot and throwing them at passing cars.
Working on some layouts before Spring Break comes to a close. I've promised Han a new layout for her blog and then I have a couple of business sites that need to get finished up.

Yay.

3.25.2009

I am staring at paperwork and every time I look away it breeds.