A message from a 5-year-old

xoxo .i loveyou.i love unicorns.
dddddddddddaaaaaaarrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.dddddddddaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrriiiiiiiaaaaa. love daria

31 days of beauty

From the blog:

Griottes, palette culinaire

In lieu of Valentine's Day I baked peanut butter caramel corn with cashews. I was kind of worried, never really baked anything like this before, but it turned out to be a success so I'm happy.

Late in the afternoon yesterday I was in so much agony, stuck in traffic on the highway from work to class. I drank a cup of tea before the drive. I swear, I know from past experiences how quickly tea passes through one's systems, yet I gulped that caffeinated tea down. I knew I wouldn't be able to make it to school without a stop to the bathroom. Once I exited I made a left turn into Pathmark. Did you know Pathmark has bathrooms for shoppers? I was so happy when I saw the black and white porcelain toilet.

Once in a while I see an elderly person pushing a cart of soda cans and bottles to recycle. And whenever I do, I feel a pang of sadness. They probably worked hard their entire life.. I wonder at their age, what makes them rummage through garbage cans in cold winter days like today.


>> beautiful voice!!

Story of the day

Yesterday I was contemplating how I'd have liked to study to become a school nurse, preferably grade school (the younger the kids are, the cuter they are!)

Then.. something happened. One student had a raging nosebleed, seriously torrential. I quickly grabbed some gloves and tissues and tried to stop it, but... it would not stop. He was freaking out, and I tried to calm him down whilst trying to stop the blood from flowing. Some of the blood went into his mouth and he instinctively spat, and it went all over my jacket. My desire to become a school nurse? Gone.

----

The other night, I had a really really strange dream. I dreamt that I got married to a friend of mine from college. The scene suddenly changed and we were in this palace. I was still me and he was still himself.. except we transformed into horses. Sadly, I was a fugly horse, he was a very cute horse. He was a subservient husband and gave me all the power to our kingdom. Unfortunately, seemed like I didn't know how to handle all this power and was hated or feared by my people. Great, not only was I an ugly horse, but I was also a terrible ruler. Thanks dreams.

Lol.

If you know me, you'd know that I am inspired by beauty. As for cooking or baking, I am inspired by the tasty level of a dish. Though I do limit myself by specific ingredients which I like ~ For example I love avocado, corn, shrimp, tofu, spinach... etc. Thus, if I were looking through recipes, I have the tendency to lean towards making a dish which encompasses one or more of my favorite ingredients.

So, it's almost Valentine's Day. I love all these Hallmark holidays, fall straight into their pretty little traps. I like to bake themed goods on Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter.. This Valentine's Day I have three things which I'd like to make---

a) Here's my heart gingerbread man cookies

Snapped a picture of this from a baking magazine that I didn't want to buy (lol)

b) peanut butter caramel corn with cashews (the recipe for this can be found here: peanut-butter-caramel-corn-with-cashews I like this recipe because boys usually likes nuts, unless they're allergic which is totally understandable if they will despise such gift.


c) I really like this one, the packaging, the presentation, so great!!
You can actually skip all the hard work and order these cookies at Pink Olive for $24.00
Totally worth it! Though I bet a girl would appreciate receiving such gift much more than a boy lol, the cuteness factor here is totally catering towards females ;P



But to be realistic and calculate the time that must be devoted to baking, I can probably only bake one of the three.. now which one am I leaning towards? :o)

兔年快乐！(Happy New Year of the Rabbit)

I was born in the year of the rabbit, glad too because it's one of my favorite zodiac animals, besides a man's best friend - the dog :o)

Wish you love, luck and prosperity!!!

-- This is a little off topic but I just wanted to comment on how beautiful it was today when it was rainy and cold, and the fog was hovering over the island. For me when it's foggy, it creates an atmosphere of quietness, mystery, and wonder. I considered stopping in the middle of the road to capture it.. but alas probably would not have been the best idea since I was driving on the highway.