Hard Habit to Break

I am going to kick my addiction to ice cream. I just realized how seriously addicted I am to this cold, creamy, sweet confection. I had ice cream every single day for the past week.
Banana split, strawberry cheesecake, peppermint and chocolate, hot fudge sundae, black walnut, pecan praline. Yes. Yes. I know.

One Stale Snack

In a house that isn't mine, but will be here for a while, I ventured out to look for something edible. I searched high and low and found a plastic sack of fortune cookies. "This could work in a pinch," I thought to myself as I am sorta hungry. Eagerly like a 5-year-old child reaching into a bag full of candy, I put my hands into the sack, did a little toss inside the sack and fished out one fortune cookie. I ripped the wrapper apart, snapped the cookie into half, pull out the fortune slip and popped one half of the cookie into my mouth. It was not crunchy. It was sorta soft and sweet. Yikes! Then, I looked down into my fortune slip. It reads: "Your dearest wish will come true."

I pray so.

Another first

I heard my first tornado siren today. Growing up in a city, the only sirens I have heard were of the police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks.
Initially, I wasn't even hearing the tornado siren. However, after I was alerted by someone that the tornado siren had came on, I thought it really sounded like a fire truck siren.

My other first. :)
A lot of firsts this week.

My First

I saw donkeys -- real life donkeys -- as I was driving down the road to the way home.
I have never laid eyes on a real donkey before. The only donkey I remember seeing was Donkey from Shrek.
These donkeys looked exactly like the one in Shrek. WOW.

The Things that Make Life Better

Frustrations are common in my bid to assist a dear dear special someone with his dissertation references. Graphs and diagrams, lots of citations, lots of frustrations with the margins, the indentations, the spacings between paragraphs and so on.

These are a few of my favorite things as I work out the kinks:
1) Christmas music - Yes, it is only September. But Christmas music sure lifts the spirits. Ahhh ... the spirit and joy of GIVING.
2) Frank Sinatra - Makes me want to dance. My feet do their little thing; I feel like I am swirling and spinning in a ballroom when in actual fact, the diagrams and polymer LEDs are spinning my head.
3) Vault Zero - Soda energy drink makes me energized without the sugar. I am probably killing myself drinking stuff like that.
4) Chewing gum - I am a self-professed chewing gum addict. But I have been going through packs of 15 sticks in about 2 days. My rationale: a) It will help brighten my teeth. b) I won't stuff Doritos chips in my mouth. c) I have some fantastic breath!
5) Love - Love makes you do crazy stuff almost willingly.

Furniture Shop

Looking for some good quality, USA-made, solid wood furniture?

Bradley Brand Furniture uses the finest lumber from "The Bradley" mill, which have been sawing hardwood timber from the Arkansas forests for over 100 years. Lifetime Warranty. Wholesale prices. Very good deals.

Interested parties, please shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment and contact information for me to get in touch with you.

Check out more photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37790&l=1544a&id=540564396

Let there be light

"Two days, Two nights, we were without light."

Hurricane Gustav soaked this little town in Southeast Arkansas.
Lots of fallen trees. Power lines were down. Transformers blew up.
We didn't have power, and life pretty much came to a standstill.

Can't cook.
Can't wash.
Can't read in the dark.
Can't charge my cell phone. (Note that I am not even mentioning Internet connection.)
Also only two gas stations in this little town are actually opened. Imagine the lines. Needless to say, my car was without gas for two days.

Candles.
Matches.
Flashlight.
Lots of patience.
For these two days and two nights, we were back to the basic - paper and pencil, lighting candles to work on crossword puzzles at night, opening the windows to cool the room. In times like these, I am just glad that I spent it with someone I love, someone whom brings light to my life even though it is dark outside.

Thoughts on a Sunday morning

A number of my friends have gotten married this year, and many more will be having their weddings in the next few months to come. Then there are some of my friends who are still searching for love, and there are some who wonder what is it that they not doing "quite right."
Regardless, I thought this is invaluable - a reminder for those who found love, and a beacon of light for those who are searching the answer to love.

Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoice in the right.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

In my kitchen

I love cream puffs -- the durian ones in Singapore and the good ol' frozen ones from Sams Club. Hence, after several weeks of procrastination, I finally got it together and made some cream puffs.

Contrary to my initial impression, making choux pastry wasn't intimidating. In fact, it was fun and different. It was good. My pastry didn't deflate, and according to Keith, it wasn't too eggy or too "styrofoamy." I made two different fillings for it -- French vanilla and lemon. It was good. I can definitely work on making the filling sinfully creamier and a little less lumpy.

I have been experimenting this summer. Of the more memorable ones, I roasted a duck. It was quite interesting. I didn't care too much for duck meat. I used to love duck meat, but now, I just don't really like it that much. The following day, I shredded the duck meat and made some duck gumbo out of it. Much better. Anything with lots of spice, lots of onions, lots of celery, lots of thick soupy gravy on top of rice is great!

Keith experimented with bread making. He is definitely much better at making bread than I am. We had a sage loaf, a Spanish paprika and cracked black pepper loaf, a somewhat sourdough-like loaf. His bread were delicious and added that extra perfect touch to our dinners!

Also, I made a regular sheet cake -- omitting oil and used apple sauce instead. On top, I used a lemon glazed-like icing. It was yummy! The glaze hardens and forms a nice shell-like covering on top of the cake.