Car Chronicles

Sigh.

It all started off with a routine oil change. Well, ok...maybe not so routine. I was at 5,000. But that's besides the point. So as with most places, you always need more than an oil change. Or so they tell you. Apparently, I needed transmission fluid, brake fluid and something else. Seeing as how I neglected my car (5,000 over for my oil change) and I never changed any of said fluids before, I thought what the heck. Why not.

So a couple hundred dollars later, my car is supposedly good as new. Supposedly being the operative word here. And it was fine...for a day! And then it started jerking and the gears just weren't engaging fast enough. Then, it started to rollback when I changed it from reverse to drive. So I'm thinking that perhaps I have a slow leak in my tires. Who knows.

Here I am checking the air and inflating my tires. They were flat. Go figure. Why would I expect this car repair place to check the air in my tires??? I mean, they're just rotating them!!



Playing with tires is a dirty job.

As it turns out, I don't have a slow leak, and it's back to the drawing board. Erwin (Jeannie's bf) is kind enough to help out. Apparently, my car is leaking transmission fluid. Great. They didn't screw the thingy on all the way. Basically, I have little to no transmission fluid! And my coolant is way low and! my braking fluid is low! (which they supposedly changed.) and! my power steering fluid is low! and! my oil is too high!!! What part of my car is actually working is still unknown.

Because I now think I am more competent than these "mechanics", I'm off to Kragen to buy my own coolant and power steering fluid. And with Jeannie's help, my coolant is shiny and new!



We even made a funnel. MacGyver would be proud.

So the moral of the story is...change your own stuff for your car. You're guess is just as good as those mechanics...excuse me, "mechanics".

KB24 4eva

As if we needed any more reason to luv Kobe Bryant...but for anyone who is still misinformed...here are 10 more. Sadly, I have to admit that I missed some of these Top 10 events...stupid school.

I heart Kobe, and so should you!

So hard to pick favorites! But...if I had to pick my Top 3, I'd have to go with #4, #8 and #5. But that's only if I had to.

One such misinformed person actually sent me the Top 10 Plays in the 2008 Finals for Paul Pierce. The nerve. I refuse to post such garbage and lies on my blog.

Foodie Snob?

Me?

Well...maybe just a tiny bit. I guess I exhibit some of the more common tell-tale signs...

1. At restaurants, I sometimes ask questions about the food/ingredients/preparation. Among other things, I often want to know...
- Is this wild salmon King salmon?
- Is this garlic butter sauce extremely buttery and heavy?
- Hmm...what's exactly in this sauce? Oh hmm...can I get it without the...umm...actually, I'll just get it on the side.

2. I don't think twice about buying slightly more expensive ingredients.
-$20 vanilla extract, San Marzano tomatoes, Parmigiano Reggiano (not Parmesan), fancy sea salts and the occasional organic produce and natural meats.

3. I'm obsessed with all things homemade or made by hand.
- I get really excited when I see handmade pasta/noodles/ice cream/gelato/artisnal cheese/anything handmade on any menu.

And of course, the list could go on, but I think this is sufficient.

So yes, I am a foodie snob. But, that doesn't mean I don't like the simpler things in life, like hot fudge sundaes or fried apple pies at McDonalds. I don't exclusively eat things that have to be pronounced in my work-in-progress Italian accent or require a sprinkling of fancy French sea salt. In fact, some of my very favorite foods that are near and dear to my tummy are the ones my mom makes. And we all know what a culinary genius she is decidely not (she once advised me to use olive oil in brownie mix! And I listened to her!) ...but she can do some pretty impressive and creative things with a crock pot.

So! I will be incorporating my local Hawaiian food back into my diet. Plantation food, some would say. Five ingredients or less. Like beef stew, miso pork, chop steak, hamburger string beans, fried rice, pork and beans and anything with spam or portugese sausage or vienna sausage.

But I'm still going to use my fancy vanilla extract...and make my own marinara sauce.

There Will Be a Parade

But why?

I guess the Clippers win so infrequently that when they do, a celebration is in order. I mean, if you had a 15-40-some record...I think you'd want a parade, too and probably a pinata. But perhaps, this win is somewhat justified such that they beat the Celtics. 93-91. Believe it, buddy.

And Clippers fan everywhere cheer. I'm sure even Lakers fans cheered. I did...once I recovered from the shock and disbelief. I can hardly wait to see this on Yahoo! Sports.

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Ok, so at this point, I tapped out for the night.

And Yahoo! Sports did not disappoint!

Some of my favorite lines...

- A Yahoo! writer in regards to the Celtics acquiring Marbury...
"To a man, the Boston Celtics say they'll welcome Stephon Marbury, and that's understanable. Lost to the Los Angeles Clippers and, really, who are you to discriminate?"

Ha. I luv this one.

- Baron Davis in regards to hoping to turn things around
"It's good to start getting everyone healthy. That's going to help us be a threat as the end of the season approaches."

Hmm...let's think about this. Start getting healthy...at the end of the season...hmm...

- Doc Rivers speaking the truth
"We were awful...we looked at their record, and not their personnel."

In his defense (and this will be the only time I do this...ever), but it's kinda hard not to notice a team with only 15 wins...especially when you have 13 losses. I'm just sayin.

And of course, would any Celtics game really be complete without a Paul Pierce...ahem..."injury"? Last night's injury of choice was a dislocated right thumb. Oddly enough, he did not require wheelchair assistance and continued to play. Shocking, I know. Maybe he took note that when Kobe dislocated his ring finger on his shooting arm, he just taped it up in the timeout. And took shots with his left hand.

Oh, but there's more. Pruitt (of the Celtics) was caught with a DUI early this morning following the loss to the Clippers. Can we say hurten?

I think there's probably a few more catharic ways to deal with a loss than drinking away your sorrows. Take a note from Rasheed. Toss a towel or two. So defiant. I like it. I'm gonna start practicing my towel toss.

You Know It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp

You ain't knowin.

Seems like no one is safe is these recessionary times.

Take for example this married Chinese businessman. In today's tough economic times, he decided that he could no longer support his wife and five (yes, five) mistresses. So in an effort to cut back, he decided to have...a beauty competition, where all but 1 mistress would be eliminated. Sounds like a typical VH1 show? Well, here's the twist: the mistresses don't know any of this! Although, I'm not really sure how you could not know...or at least be slightly suscipious. Especially if someone from a modeling agency was juding me and my fellow mistresses on...

1. appearance
2. singing abilities
3. drinking abilities

Hmm...well, from the looks of it, I probably wouldn't fare very well in this competition. Except for the drinking abilities. I think I got that one. Or I could at least practice it. But who's to say I'd even get that far? Especially with these ears. The first mistress to get eliminated was based on appearance alone. (Ouch. Guess you either got it or you don't.) Although, I think I would've taken the defeat a little, well...less violently.

This mistress tricked the other mistresses and the dude into going on a little road trip with her. And that's when she decided to drive off a cliff! So much for sightseeing. This murder-suicide attempt resulted in a suicide only, with the dude and his 4 remaining contestants surviving. But although he escaped with his life, his remaining 4 mistresses and wife all left him. So much for the competition.

In keeping with the competition theme, I hope everyone made room for the NBA All-Star Weekend! The only parts I was really interested in was Sunday's game and of course, the dunk contest...a favorite of mine. And this year was no different. In fact, I couldn't be happier! I, of course, voted for Nate Robinson... can you guess why? And no, it's not just for his dance moves or even his impressive dunk in the final round, although, both those things definitely helped his cause. Let't not forget, that he's only 5'9...and that might be even a little generous. That means he's only 6 inches taller than me! Well...6.5 be exact. Maybe there's hope for me, too. Just maybe.

And what does Kobe have to say of about sharing the floor with the Big Cactus?

“We are not going to go back to the room and watch ‘Steel Magnolias’ or something like that,” Bryant said. “You know what I’m saying, crying, all that stuff. We had a good time. That’s all.”

Heartless. I like him more and more everyday.

First Foods

After a long day of studying, is there anything better than this?



What is this, you ask? Well, let's take a closer look, shall we?



Hmm...looks like noodles...



But why is it so thick and brown...and what the heck are those gelatinous chunkies???

To answer the first question, yes there are better things, in fact, much better things to have after a long day of studying. To answer the second question, this is the "House Special Rice Noodle" from Ay-Chung. I have yet to know/understand what makes this "special". The only explanation I can come up with is the answer to question 3, which is that the gelatinous chunks are in fact beef intestines . Yes, intestines. And you thought organs used to digest food could not also be food? Well, you learn something new everyday.

In my defense, this culinary adventure...well, hmm...bizarre foods adventure was not my idea. In fact, I have been here once before with Jeannie, but I guess I never really ate there. Yes, we did order, but no we did not eat, except for a few small tastes, which was more than enough to make us promise to never eat there again. Until last night.

Mike (Fab Fiver) had this burning desire for the above-pictured "noodles". Feeling like a good sport, I decided to have the same...until...

Server: "Do you eat intestines?"
me: (cringing) "Ohh...no...do those noodles have intestines? Umm...ok, then I'll have..."
(at this point, I'm feverishly skimming the menu...but everything looks equally bad.)
Server: (staring)
me: "Umm...you know what, I'll just stick with the house special".
(at this point, I formulated Plan B: navigate around the digestive organs. It helped that I was promised a second dinner.)

So the verdict? Just as bad the second time around. Texturally strange...very goopey and slimy. Tasted somewhat seafood-y with a slight and unpalatable smokiness and some random, unidentifiable spices. And the intestines? Well, let's just say I don't remember intestines looking like gray blobs. Even the addition of white pepper and pureed chiles were of no consolation.

So what exactly is "house special rice noodle"? Well, this Taiwanese specialty is also known as mien hsien, and is flavored with shoyu (salty), cinnamon, anise (unidentifiable spices), heaps of garlic (thought I tasted this), vinegar (oh definitely, smelled it before I saw it), bonito (seafoody/smoky taste) and chiles. Hmm...vinegar? bonito? That explains the pungent and smoky taste. And the thickness? That's from cornstarch. Or as one website puts it, "a big bowl of goo that hits your palate like a slap". Can't argue with that. My palate was tapped out after two bites. Yeah, tapped out.

But thank goodness for Carl's Jr.'s Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich.


Now this was yummy. And to be honest, I don't think it was because I just ate goo. It was actually good...Chik-Fil-A-esque. I really liked that green chile. And it was on wheat...so I guess it's not all bad.

As if I could not have any more "firsts" in food experiences...but I also had El Pollo Loco for the very first time on Thursday.



Clockwise from top: mac and cheese...or "cheese", steamed veggies, mashed potatos, rice and the pollo.

Now I know what you're thinking. How could I not have eaten at El Pollo Loco after 7 years of California?



Need I say more? This dude really turned me off from the Pollo. He wasn't even funny! And who is that happy grilling chicken? Really?

After Thursday's tasting, I can't say that I feel like I've been missing out on much. The chicken was pretty not bad, but everything else...including that watery avocado sauce was ok.

So here are this weeks "first foods" ranking:

1. Carl's Jr. Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich (no competition here)
2. A distant #2. So much so, that we'll call it #5. El Pollo Loco
3. A very distant #3. Let's call it infinity. Ay-Chung

"Radmanovic helps..."

Whoa. Now there's a headline you don't see everyday. Every other day. Or even every other month!

The entire headline read, "Radmanovic helps Bobcats top Clippers, 94-73"

And Lakers fans everywhere cheer. Well, I did anyway.

Radman, or the Big Ape, as I call him not only fell out of Phil's favor, but also among many Lakers fans such as myself. There were times I questioned if he even knew what team he played for. I mostly held my breath and closed my eyes whenever he took a shot. Sometimes he made it. Sometimes. But a lot of times not.

With any luck, this trade won't be like the Kwame Brown one. Like Vlade, I never got on board with Kwame, and was happy to see him traded away...but apparently this guy decided to get serious and practice a bit. And while he's still not great...he's not nearly as bad as he was with the Lakers.

So who did we get in exchange?



Adam Morrison. Check out the hair! And he's not even European. At least Pau and Sasha have an excuse. I wonder if he uses a headband, too. And that porn-stache...

Oh well.

Later Vlade.

Beet It!

It's beet season!

To honor this celebrated root vegetable, I made beet cupcakes and a roasted beet salad.

Now, I know what you're thinking...beet...cupcakes?? And yes, I had these same thoughts, but really, it's very similar to carrot cake or chocolate zucchini bread...but reddish-purple-ish. As much as I don't want to admit this, truth be told, I don't cook a lot with beets. But! I do love them! (As indicated by my tag line.) I enjoy their texture, colorfulness and sweetness. But let's be honest. They are quite messy...and by messy, I mean red. Very red.



My hand after peeling 8 beets...5 red, 3 golden. Good thing I'm washable.

But I'll do just about anything for cupcakes.



Beet cupcake with mascarpone-whipped cream frosting sprinkled with turbinado sugar (or raw sugar, as my mom insists on calling it) and topped with a brulee-ed beet slice.

I was initially concerned because these cupcakes have no butter. Yikes! Is there such a cupcake? And would such a cupcake be yummy? But surprisingly, it was quite yummy and not dry and somewhat spicy from the cinnamon. And speaking of cinnamon, I ran out. Sigh. But I did have cinnamon sticks...so...



Freshly ground cinnamon, courtesy of my microplane and right bicep.

On to the roasted beet salad. Personally, roasting is my fav cooking preparation for beets. It really adds depth to their normal sweetness. But, roasting beets is quite a long process...a couple hours on low heat at least. So I opted to first boil and then toss in a balsamic vinaigrette and roast until carmelized.



Roasted red and golden beet salad with orange segments and goat cheese with balsamic vinaigrette. So yummy!

While perusing beet recipes, I came across this pasta dish:



Penne with Italian-style chicken sausage and peas with San Marzano tomatoes and cream

And I also promised Steve (Finance) a batch of flaky scones.



I also promised that they would be pineapple. Sadly, that recipe was left at work, so he'll have to settle for blueberry-orange. Maybe he won't notice...

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O.M.G. K.B.B.

In non-beet news, today was a great day in sports! And by great, I mean totally and completely wonderful. First, the Celtics lose at home to the Spurs...and this game got a little scrappy, too! Like icing on the cake. But more importantly, the Lakers won...at Cleveland!!! 6-0 roadtrip! But alas, I was watching Ansari do our stats homework instead of the game. School is such a problem. But from what I read (and I'm trying to read as little as possible), Lamar had quite the performance, and poor Kobe has come down with the flu. But he still played. No wheelchair necessary. I wonder what Paul Pierce thinks about that? Hmm...

Anything You Can Do

I can do better. I can do anything better than you.

Or so Lebron would like you to think. Now, don't get me wrong, the rivalry and sh*t talking are some of my favorite aspects of competitive sports. But let me tell you what isn't: this whole issue of showboating. And who epitomizes this better than Lebron...oh excuse me, I mean King James. (cough, cough)

As my fellow Kobe fans will recall, (and I'm sure even non-Kobe fans took notice) he had a pretty monumental game on Monday night. Some would say historic. And rightly so. His 61 points is now the new Madison Square Garden record as the highest number of points. All in a day's work. His reaction? Obviously happy...said he did it in light of Bynum's injury, and even a little surprised when the KCAL9 reporter informed him of the new record. No chalk tossing here.

And Lebron? He finished his night with 52 points and a most talked about triple-double. A hard-fought one at that. Jump. Crash. Boom. Into the photographers. Check it out here. His reaction? In his own words, Lebron said that we "saw every aspect of [his] game...the scoring, the rebounding, the assists." Just for clarification purposes, I suppose. I mean, he might as well have said, "take that Kobe!"

I'm tired of hearing about how Lebron's triple-double outdid Kobe's recording setting performance. Let's be real: the reason why he hustled so bad for that last rebound was so that he could say he did it, and Kobe didn't. Yeah, really. And that camera crashing? Just an added bonus. Almost like a game to him.

Admittedly, Kobe can't compete with Lebron in the area of showboating. This dude has cross-over commercials with football, showcases his dance moves for an insurance commercial...I've seen this guy in a comic! And let's not forget his ubiquitous chalk toss. I mean, Holmes certainly hasn't. But isn't that what makes Kobe so awesome? He's business. And this is business, not personal...like in The Godfather. He's usually seems pretty serious, sort of keeps to himself, which I enjoy...and why not? Everyone already knows how wonderful he is. Certainly doesn't need chalk, football/insurance commercials or even a Lebron-style triple-double to prove it.

Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports

Poll Results

What was the top Garden performance?
Bernard King's 60 points
4%
Michael Jordan's 55 points
22%
Kobe Bryant's 61 points
41%
LeBron James 52-point triple-double
34%
59072 Total Votes

I can hardly wait for Sunday!

It Was The Best of Times...It Was The Worst of Times...

Not to sound overly dramatic...but it really is.

Bad news first. As you all know/should know, Andrew Bynum is out for 2-3 months with a torn MCL...whatever that is. I assume the "L" is for ligament. I tore a ligament in my right ankle in the 6th grade, and I was out of commission for a while as well. So I can relate. Sort of. Ok, ok not at all. I was actually happy to have an excuse not to play baseball/basketball/flag football in PE. And I think everyone else was, too. But it hurt! So that I understand.

And now to the good news! Kobe scored 61 points at last nights Lakers-Knicks game. The most points ever (ever!!) at Madison Square Garden. And I couldn't be happier! In an interview, Kobe said that he felt that this game might be a slump game due to Bynum's injury, so he knew he had to do something big. What a team player! I actually didn't get a chance to watch this game...but with good reason: Maryn and I had cookies and rice krispy treats to make. Cookies and basketball is always a conundrum for me.

In class today, I was reminded of my favorite Superbowl commercial...as seen here. Poor Diane...or whatever that chick's name is. Truth is, I've never really understood flowers in a box. I mean, not to sound princess-y, but what's the point if you have to one, unpack your own flowers and two, arrange your own flowers? I may appreciate it more if I was more crafty...but I unfortunately have nearly non-existent flower arranging skills.

But perhaps most interestingly, my co-worker received a "special delivery" in her flowers in a box a couple years ago. Apparently, the person who packed her flowers was obviously bitter and disenfranchised because he decided to leave her a note of his own. Oh yes. Something like I hope you have an f-ing Valentine's day. And some other un-niceties. Hilarious. Well, she didn't think so. But it really was.

Super Duper Bowl!

"They (Cards) need to Hail Mary this sh*t", says Jeannie sometime before things got interesting. Very interesting.

But where to begin? Initially, I thought the Steelers' #92 100-yard (yeah, 100-yard) interception return for the touchdown was for sure going to be the highlight of the game. And dude can this guy run. I especially liked it how he completely lost his form as resorted to skipping as he approached the end zone. And then just lay there. And then was given oxygen. Poor guy.

Then, perhaps most exciting at this point, was the Cards safety...from a penalty?? Huh?!

Speaking of penalties, this game was littered with them. Which was fine by me. Lots of holdings, face masks, unsportsman conduct, roughing the holder and of course, personal fouls. 1st and 27? Hurten. While the Cards lost over 100 yards in penalties (those personals are costly), I believe the award for best personal foul goes to #92 (sorry I don't know his name). But let me tell you, #92 means business. He totally roughed up a Card. Pushed him. Punched him. Held him down. Then as he poor guy gets up, #92 shoves him to the ground. Seems like I'm not the only one watching UFC.

But before I get too excited about #92, the real play came at the very end from Holmes (MVP). On the Steelers' 1st and goal attempt, the ball slipped through his fingers. Literally! But a completely different story on 2nd and goal. I didn't even see him catch the ball because there were 3 Cards all over him. Amazing.

And of course there were the commercials. I wasn't too amused with most...but I did enjoy this one featuring Polamalu. Who knew he had such a tiny voice?

But what would the Superbowl be without food? Here's what we had:



Beef and Black Bean Chili (recipe courtesy of Bobby Flay) topped with avocado and lime crema and served alongside tomatillo and cheddar cornbread. And being from Hawaii, it was of course eaten with rice...and I added portugese sausage to the chili. Because what's chili without portugese sausage? It was pretty labor intensive, especially considering I had to somehow manufacture my own chili powder...but it was yummy. Although, next time, I will purchase my ancho chili powder, already powdered.

Last night, or rather early this morning, I watched Federer and Nadal compete for the Australian Open. Federer put up a pretty good fight, in my opinion. I mean, sure he double-faulted at the end, but...it happens.

But apparently, Roger is having a hard time coming to terms with the loss. Wait. "Hard time" is an aggregious understatement. He's a mess. Sigh.

From Yahoo! Sports...

“God, it’s killing me,” Federer said, crying, as he tried at first to accept the runner-up plate. He returned to congratulate Nadal within minutes, saying: “You deserved it. You played a fantastic final.”

After collecting the trophy from Laver, on the court named for the Australian great, Nadal put his arm around Federer.

“To receive this trophy from Rod Laver is a dream for me,” he said. “Rod, thanks very much. It was an amazing two weeks for me.”

Nadal seemed pained by Federer’s anguish.

“Roger, sorry for today. I really know how you feel right now,” Nadal said. “Remember, you’re a great champion, you’re one of the best in history. You’re going to improve on the 14 of Sampras.”

Nadal goes on to say that "today, there was a lot of emotion on the court". No kidding. Apparently, off the court as well. Sigh. I miss football already.