Fun Fun: The George Takei Happy Dance

George Takei is awesome. Pure awesome. I hope the Allegiance Musical comes to LA!

Shameless Plug: Gillette commercial starring Adrien Brody, Gael García Bernal & André 3000

These three men are the only men who can pull off facial hair in my book. HOT!!!

I am getting famouser and famouser

This was a post I did for studyshare.org a while back. It is on The Daily Korean (right column, down a bit). HUZZAH! Everyone shall know the awesome that is Melissa Chan (not the UCLA gymnast, singer, or al-jeezera reporter...but being these Melissa Chans or a combination of these Melissa Chans would be pretty awesome. Imagine Melissa Chan the gymnast, singer, al-jeezera reporter, graduate student, teacher, AND BLOGGER.)

 http://paper.li/TheTripologist/1327848095/2012/02/10
See it here

and I took a screenshot!!! I have no idea who those people are on the left, but I am right next to them. HAHAHAHAHAH

Places: Natural Cafe in SB

Natural Cafe in Santa Barbara is pretty delicious. It is no AMAZING place, but it is definitely tolerable. The top is a smoothie...it had berries in it. Berries are delicious. Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries. Did you ever notice that the p in raspberries is silent? Did I spell raspberries right? I blame the US education system. Oh, catholic school/public school, what have you done to my spelling abilities!?!

The bottom is a tamale (my sister says that in Spanish, one tamale is a tamal...and more than one tamale is tamale...WHAT!? Tamale is plural for a tamal!?!?!). I ate this tamal when I was very hungover sick last year, but I forgot about it until now. It was alright. The only really good thing about this place is that it is very veggie friendly. You can pretty much add tofu to anything...and I mean ANYTHING. With a name like Natural Cafe...yeah you better add tofu to my eggplant BIATCH! After watching a man hammer a goat to death on TV, I think vegetarianism is the way to go yo. 

WOAH WOAH. Does anyone know how to rotate photos on this blogger thing....I cannot figure it out for the life of me. So for now, my smoothie will be sideways.

Sorry for the poo poo pictures...these are from my phone.

SO thoroughly SCREWED.

I have become academia's bitch, but at least I am slightly productive in real life and not on this blog. SORRY YO! But during break, I promise.


On another note, ITS ALMOST THANKSGIVING! HUZZAH!!! Eat turkey for me because I am a vegetarian and the tofurkey turkey sucks.

Dream on

I was married to Adam Levine from Maroon 5, except he wasn't Adam Levine from Maroon 5.  I suppose he was and wasn't Adam Levine from Maroon 5 all at the same time.
...and then I woke up and realized that I was never married to Adam Levine from Maroon 5 or not Adam Levine from Maroon 5. Reality can be a cruel cruel cruel bitch.

Me: Intern

I'm an intern. hahahahah = happiness laughter!

chinadigitaltimes.net

go there, because knowing about China is good for you. Afterall, a majority of the things you use come from there.

Random Thoughts: Top Traffic Source

I want to be blog famous one day. Like Annietown.com. She is fab. Her book (which I have on my kindle, is pretty hilarious and awesome). In order to be blog famous, I rely on the people who read my sad poor little blog, and according to blogger.com my top source of traffic is NAVER.COM! HOORAY KOREA! 대한민국  짝짝 짝짝짝~ You know, like the clapping they have during the World Cup for soccer. I STILL HAVE MY REDS T-SHIRT, that I hug to sleep every night. So I just want to say Thankies! You guys are awesome!

Also to my other readers, you guys are awesome as well. I have just never been to Malaysia so I don't know any fun cultural references. BUT you guys are still awesome.
America. You know I love you.
Other places (except CHINA because I only have one view from CHINA, EH-HEM, CHINA), I love you guys too.

I'm in a I'm loving everyone and not hating anyone kind of mood today.

LOVE YOU. and THANK YOU. <3 har har har

Random Thoughts: What I really need.

It has been a long time. I am busy gearing up for school, which technically started today, but I start on Monday. I met one of the Chinese teachers today, and she was with another Chinese teacher (because you know Chinese people travel in flocks, like fluffy sheep) having tea. After talking briefly about a Chinese class I probably wouldn't be able to get into because it is full, I realized what I really need in life is a tea drinking buddy.

Now, I love tea (and drinking), but I hate going out to drink tea all the time. The ideal situation would be that I would be tied to a ridiculously rich man who was never home but still supported my culinary/clothing/luxury items habit, and I would have tons of free time. So basically, I would be a Chinese concubine (or a qinfu hahahahah) because I don't actually want to get married. Since the laogong (literally: old man) wouldn't be home, I would have a friend come over to my house for tea and snacks on a daily basis. If I didn't have any delicious tea that day and my (gay, straight, male, female, transgender, transvestite, asexual, bisexual, or whatever floats your boat yo because I love everyone, but hate everyone at the same time) friend didn't have proper tea at their house (which would preferably within a 30minute drive or my glorious castle) we would go out to Larchmont or Pasadena to buy more delicious things to eat and drink.

ANY TAKERS YO??? Old man and tea friend positions are open! The position of ME unfortunately is not open for auditions because no one is qualified enough to be me except me.

Some may ask, "Don't you have friends?" Yes. Yes, I do, but they are all far far away right now. Or mayber, I am the one far far away.

Video: Learning Cantonese HAR HAR HAR

HAR HAR HAR. 死了。。。安啦 RELAX. 放心，沒問題。

For the non-cantonese speakers, he's basically saying the phrase " 死了" is equivalent to "Oh shit", and encouraging people to use the phrase "安啦" (which means relax, and has Taiwanese origins), as a response. Learn cantonese. It is fun.

On a different note, he talks reallllllllllly fast.

Places: Solvang

I am moving to Santa Barbara soon! So I will be in and out of LA and SB. Friendie, British Cousin, and I went to my dorm/apt, and then we headed off to Solvang (NOTE: NEVER EVER TAKE THE 154 IF YOU CANNOT DRIVE THROUGH MOUNTAINS). It was interesting. I can honestly say, I've never seen anything like this. It was kitsch, funny, and fun allllllll at the same time. We stopped by the Danish Mill Bakery for an apple boat. FREAKING DELICIOUS. So oily, flaky, crunchy, crispy, and sweet. I can eat 100000000000000000000 of them if someone could pump my stomach immediately after. Go for the danish. DANISH. If you can make me a danish as delicious as this, I will marry you.

Places: The Counter in Pasadena

Went to The Counter in Pasadena with British cousin and friendies. We split the fries/ sweet potato fries. I appreciated their shoe stringy like quality. I had the veggie burger bowl (I love bowls, taco bowls from CHIPOTLE AKA THE BEST AND MOST WONDERFUL FAST FOOD EVER). For the set price you get to choose what you want from each list (if you want extras, they list the price added on the side). I had the organic greens, veggie patty, sharp provolone, olives, jalapenos, sun dried tomato vinaigrette, and pickles. The ingredients were FRESH, and the only worry we had was if the combinations we picked would work together or not. IT WORKED. Service was friendly, but I felt like I had to be really friendly back. All in all super duper duper duper. BECAUSE BOWLS ARE THE WAY TO GO. GO. GO.
 

Recipes: Vegetarian Dim Sum

I really like dim sum, but being a vegetarian, there are not many options. The only restaurant I know of that serves all veggie dim sum is Fine Garden in Rosemead. At regular dim sum places they have veggie things, but most of them are sweet pineapple, custard, or taro buns that are baked or steamed. You also get funny looks at regular dim sum places...after all, they are probably thinking "Why don't you eat meat? It is so DELICIOUS?" But who am I to read minds. It's an invasion of privacy.

SOOOO....I made vegetarian dim sum at home. Note: These are not vegan friendly, but the egg white can be left out to be made vegan friendly. Actually, I only added the egg white because Mama Chan said so, and I don't think it was necessary.


Vegetarian Dim Sum

Shu Mai wrappers (The one I use has a pink and clear plastic cover that sports a happy looking panda)

Shark fin melon (steamed and squeezed to be a dry as possible, can also be left out, but it gives it a nice texture)

Chinese celery stems (can be replaced with cilantro leaves AND stems, washed and chopped)

Vegetarian meat paste (chinese markets have this, if you can't find it replace it with tofu and some seasoning for flavor)

Vege shrimp (diced)

A large spoonful of cornstarch (about 1-2 tablespoons depending on how watery you ingredients look)

1 egg white

Mix everything together, minus the Shu Mai wrappers. Season with salt and white pepper to taste. If it is reallllllly watery, then strain out the excess fluid ( Save it, it makes for a great soup flavoring). Wrap it up and brush it with oil if you want it to look nice, and steam it for about 20-30 minutes. Honestly, it doesn't matter how you wrap it, but it looks nice with an open top so people can see whats inside like regular shu mai.

HAR HAR HAR. Good luck. Took me ages to perfect the recipe. Enjoy it!

xoxo

BDAY

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

This video made my day, sent in by Best Friendies in Hotlanta. 

People: My dad is on Business Week

Dad and the company he works at is on Business Week!

Random thoughts: Sisters & Designer Eyewear

So I have a wonderful sister. She went back to Berkeley today, because she is a good student (better than I will ever be) and kind of amazing. She'll be back next in LA next Friday.
We have a lot of things in common, and we have lots of things we don't have in common, like our personalities. I am a "clown", as Mama Chan puts it, and my sister has a "tight face". I suppose this means that I laugh and enjoy making people laugh, while my sister is much more serious. Something we DO have in common is that we like nice things, but we can't afford most nice things. We splurge on designer perfumes, and buy designer eyewear ON SALE. Sales are awesome, and I think that the entire sisterhood of women can agree on. I got my Vivienne Westwood aviators at duty free for 50% off, and my sissy got Chloe sunglasses at Off Saks. Sadly, our styles are different (and waistlines SAD FACE FOR ME) so she wears OXFORDS, and I wear TOMS.

PS: TOMS ARE CUTE. I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE BITCHES WHO THINK IT MAKES MY LEGS LOOK SHORT. (end rant)

LOVE YOU

Places: Extraordinary Desserts in Balboa Park, San Diego

I had a Danish Parisenne or something. It had a complicated name. It was pretty delicious. It had the sugar crystals on top that you could crunch and munch on, but not enough PINEAPPLE! WHY!?! WHY WERE YOU STINGY ON THE PINEAPPLE?!?! It had vanilla custard on the inside, which was good. The Extraordinary house coffee was pretty yummy. It is in San Diego, but that is veryyyyyy fall from LA. My ass hurts from all the sitting and driving.

http://www.extraordinarydesserts.com/

Places: Fine Garden in San Gabriel Valley/ LA

In the SGV area, there are a lot of Chinese vegetarian restaurants, but this one is by far my favorite because there are two AWESOME things: almond tea (top) and vegetarian dimsum (素点心). There is almost no such thing as vegetarian dimsum, but this place has it. The almond tea is super duper too. They basically put a puff pastry on top of almond tea and bake it. Puff pastry and almond tea, nothing can go wrong.There are only two words that can describe this place: 好帮。 The only down side is that it is PRICEY. A bit for Chinese food.

http://www.finegardenveggie.com/


EAT IT. IT IS DELICIOUS.

Video: Moves Like Jagger

FINALLYYYYYY!!!! This video has three things that I very much enjoy: Maroon 5, LA, and British accents.
Can you move like Jagger? I hope so. I like to believe I have moves like Jagger despite the fact that people have mentioned otherwise.  <3

Gardening

Perfect LA weather gives you wonderful summer flowers. Sadly, the edibles in the garden are not growing so well. The zucchini flowers keep falling off without making fruit. It is in a sad state. The tomatoes are not getting  bigger either. SO SAD.

Also, I recently started becoming interested in growing chili, there are five different varieties in my backyard. Hopefully at the end of August, I will be able to make some really delicious chili powder.

I am also super duper into Glee right now.