Simple Fare

Last night, I made a simple dinner of tofu, spinach, and rice. This has been my go-to meal recently since it's so easy and quick. I sliced up firm tofu and pan fried it in a little oil. I added a sauce of soy sauce, water, sesame oil, chili powder, scallions, and used cornstarch for the thickening agent. In another pan, I briskly sauteed the spinach with some chopped garlic and seasoned it with hondashi, a japanese seafood seasoning that my mom gave me. Delicious.

Unfortunately, tonight's meal was a little more lackluster. Ryan left for NYC this afternoon so I'm trying to clean out the fridge. I had some rice with leftover green beans and some strange kimchi flavored canned tuna that my mom gave me. I will spare you a picture. Henry seemed to enjoy stealing bites of tuna at every opportunity though. Naughty cat.

In other news, I taught a beginner yoga class at work today! We had a solid turnout - 11 people. Jon was there to help me demonstrate which was nice because it freed me up to go around and give a few adjustments. Overall, we went at a good pace and everyone seemed to enjoy it so I'm happy. Hopefully, they'll join the program once we start up again in July. To make sure I also got a good yoga workout today, I went to Daniel's yoga class at the Four Season's Yoga studio after work. He's really awesome - a great teacher who doesn't take things too seriously. For example, he puts on 80's music during our back bending and reads funny excerpts during final relaxation. I really enjoy his class except now I'm super tired and I just know I'm going to be sore tomorrow. What a great feeling.

Damn You, Monkey

When Monkey recommended I watch Blood+ the anime, I knew it was a bad idea. I had just emerged from my obsessive Ergo Proxy watching and knew it was best to take a break for a while, otherwise Ryan might leave me for ignoring him. Yet somehow I fooled myself into thinking I'd just check out one or two episodes on YouTube to see what it's like. I guess I just don't learn from past experiences. Starting Saturday, I reentered my cave, watching episodes every opportunity that I could. On Thursday, I finished the 50th and last episode with great satisfaction. Even Monkey (who has not finished the series yet) was amazed by my dedication.

I enjoyed Blood+ more than Ergo Proxy because it actually had a plot which was explainable and understandable, though equally outlandish. It's about a school girl named Saya who can't remember her life prior to a year ago. Turns out it's because she's a vampire queen who has been dedicating her life to killing her twin sister (another queen) and all her sister's minions. Only her blood can kill the descadents of her sister Diva. The best thing about this series is Haji, Saya's faithful chevalier. Monkey, Ferret, and I have all agreed that Haji is quite dreamy and it's sad to say but Ryan would have a thing or two to worry about if Haji was real. I guess Ryan's pretty cool but he'd have to step it up a bit to compete with a vampire knight from the 19th century.

Pasta Primavera

On Monday night, I made pasta primavera which turned out to be much easier than I anticipted. It was a nice light weekday meal with plenty left over for lunch the next day. I omitted the tomatoes since Ryan is adverse to fresh tomatoes.

Pasta Primavera
Courtesy of Food Network

3 carrots, peeled and cut into thin strips
2 medium zucchini or 1 large zucchini, cut into thin strips
2 yellow squash, cut into thin strips
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/4 cup olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs or herbes de Provence
1 pound farfalle (bowtie pasta)
15 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
On a large heavy baking sheet, toss all of the vegetables with the oil, salt, pepper, and dried herbs to coat. Transfer half of the vegetable mixture to another heavy large baking sheet and arrange evenly over the baking sheets. Bake until the carrots are tender and the vegetables begin to brown, stirring after the first 10 minutes, about 20 minutes total.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, tender but still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

Toss the pasta with the vegetable mixtures in a large bowl to combine. Toss with the cherry tomatoes and enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and serve immediately.

Flight of the Conchords

If you don't enjoy this show, then you have an abnormal sense of humor...or at least one I don't relate to, which can also be considered abnormal. It's a show on HBO about a New Zealand two-man band trying to make it big in NYC. The main characters, Bret and Jermaine, are awkward, dorky, and adorable. The show is very goofy, with the characters constantly breaking out into funny songs of all genres. I love how ridiculous everything is and I can't help but wish Murray was a real person and possibly miniature so I can carry him around in my pocket at all times.

If you haven't seen the show, here's a taste of what you're missing. If you have seen the show, take it as a reminder that TV hasn't gone down the tubes completely.

While we're on the subject of TV, I must say I was quite relieved that Stephanie won Top Chef last night. I was fearful to the last minute that Lisa would win, in which case I'd be forced to punch Ryan repeatedly to relieve my anger, but luckily she was proven to be the subpar chef that I've always known her to be. My FIRST choice from the dvr list was actually So You Think You Can Dance, but unfortunately, Ryan fat fingered the remote and accidentally deleted it. I considered calling off the engagement but he looked sufficiently remorseful that I forgave him. But just barely.

Week Thus Far

Mon - Went to yoga class after work. Tried forearm stand. Barely able to hold it for ten sec. Must work on Dolphin. Came home and played guitar. Managed to lay around and accomplish no house chores.

Tues - Went to wine tasting at Bristol Farms. Ate strange brown Norwegian goat cheese that was sweet but not tangy. Had delicious but runny creme brulee. Rest of food was forgettable. Drank six glasses of wine. Came home and passed out.

Wed - Went to yoga class after work. Sweated like a mad woman. Did handstand against wall. Still too chicken to kick up on my own. Meet coworker friend Julie to watch Bleach anime movie. Overall enjoyable but not particularly impressed. Julie insisted series was much better.

Thurs - Came home. Played guitar and ate ramen. Currently watching NBA finals.

Adventures in LA

This weekend, Ryan and I attended my cousin Justine's wedding in LA. I'm too tired to describe the event in words so I'll just post some misc pictures accompanied by some captions.

Reception dinner at a chinese restaurant in Cerritos:



My beautiful mom:



Take home centerpiece (Ryan won because his birthday was closest to date):



Cake:



Little man:



Before:



After:



Misc pic of Henry:

Ergo Proxy

Spurred by my strange love of anime and Monkey's intriguing post, I decided to test the waters on Saturday night and search for Ergo Proxy episodes on YouTube. Dammit...someone had the nerve to post all 23 episodes... After casually watching a couple, I was hooked. Ryan recognized that look of crazed obsession in my eye and wisely left on a business trip to NYC the next morning. Entranced, I proceeded to spend my entire Sunday laying on my couch watching ALL 23 episodes. Getting up only to use the restroom and bring food to the couch, I knocked out hours after hours of Ergo Proxy. My only saving grace was the yoga class I managed to attend in the late afternoon.

As Monkey mentioned, the plot was vague. It was very philosophical, yes unneccesarily so, but after experiencing the frustration known as Evangelion, this series was a walk in the part on that front. The dark goth style was cool and I enjoyed the characters. I do wish Vincent was less of a wimp and more of a badass, like his alter ego Ergo Proxy. All in all, it was lots of fun and I'd highly recommend it. Plus I've proven you can finish watching it in a day!

Curse of the Golden Flower

Once again, the Chinese prove they can make depressing movies with the best of them. Created by the director of Hero, an equally depressing movie starring Jet Li kicking major ass, this movie takes you on a wild ride of betrayal (oo), scandal (ah), and more twists and turns than a bull ride (not sure where that one came from).

The movie takes place in Imperial China and begins with the Emperor returning after three years on the frontier. For the past ten days, the Imperial Doctor has been secretly poisoning the Empress on orders of the Emperor (men!). There are three princes - the eldest from the Emperor's first wife who died and the other two from the current Empress. It's soon revealed that the Empress has been having an affair with the eldest prince while the Emperor has been away. Unfortunately for her, the eldest prince has recently begun spreading his manliness with the Doctor's daughter and decides to end the affair. Suspicious that she is being poisoned, the Empress orders the Doctor's wife to spy on him, and thus she learns the truth.

This is only the tip of the iceberg so to avoid ruining the remaining delicious surprises, I'll stop there and just say that everyone dies in the end and the movie ends with no real resolution. At least with Hero, I felt like there was a conclusion, i.e. Jet Li kills everyone and then gets killed. Even though the ending left much to be desired, the visuals in this movie were stunning. The costumes and stage sets were so beautiful that it's worth watching just from an artistic point of view.

Rating: 3.5/5