lackadaisiac

!!

Google Chrome doesn’t seem to be properly handling my photos’ color profiles recently. I don’t know if this was introduced in a recent beta build or if I just now noticed it. They look fine in the other browsers I’ve tried, so I’m not really sure what’s up. Anyway…

I got a TON of cleaning and reorganizing done at my place this weekend. I’ve been absolutely jubilant about it (and I’m not even done—imagine). I even got around to cleaning and re-seasoning my cast iron skillet, so I decided to go ahead and make something to commemorate the occasion. My first shot at Korean japchae! With green beans, spinach, bean sprouts, carrots, onions, burdock, and bulgogi-marinated tofu. I ended up with a lot of this. Come over and have some, internet.

#yeahitsfoodagainshutup

I forgot to recharge my DSLR’s battery the other day, so I regrettably had to compromise with a cell phone snap (which I made look as nice as I possibly could). I’ve felt slightly under the weather these past couple of days—not sure if I’m trying to catch what my roommate’s had or if I just ate something questionable—so this fit my craving for something satisfying and healthy and light. Red chard, celery, quinoa, cilantro… yummyyy.

It’s my own recipe, but it’s such a short list of ingredients that I’d almost feel silly typing it up. Still, I’ll share if anyone wants it. Better yet, come visit me, and I’ll cook for you.

Gonna have some echinacea tea while finishing up the evening’s tasks. I have a speech tomorrow that must be practiced. Wish me luck! Once it’s done, I can rest relatively easily for the next few days, assuming I manage to abort this vague yuckiness before it gets any worse…

I think my hair might actually be the color I want it now! Of course, now it’s too late in the day to capture it properly. Oh well.

(Check out all the stuff behind me in the studio. Including my lamp that is being borrowed until further notice. Can you see my Artemis clippy plush hanging on the neck?)

Koreafood!

For some reason I’ve been craving Korean food pretty badly for the past week or two, so I’ve been on a bit of a cooking spree… and of course, because it’s me, you get pictures of my food. Hooray! Korean food is probably less known than Japanese or even Vietnamese fare, so consider this your bit of education for the day.

Yesterday: ddeokbokki! Rice cakes in a sweet-spicy sauce with various mix-ins. I just wanted a quick and simple batch, so I just did mine with onions and Napa cabbage. It’s awesome stuff and really simple once you get the timing right on the ddeok (they’re easy to overcook). But it’s extremely filling, so I was trudging around in a bit of an unfortunate state for much of the evening after that…

And today’s lunch was bibimbap, which is basically just rice topped with mixed vegetables and gochujang (hot pepper paste). Mine had brown rice, steamed spinach, shiitake mushrooms, sauteed mung bean sprouts, and raw alfalfa and broccoli sprouts. You just pile everything on and mix it up before digging in, and it’s good hot or cold… so I made extra (this one’s for tomorrow). I think I’m gonna start making bibimbap more often. Good for using up veggies that are taking up fridge space!

Should I start a separate blog for my food posts? Maybe this isn’t fun for anyone but me. But it is fun for me.

And that’s it for now (though I have some tofu for soondubu jjigae in my fridge, so I might make that soon—haha—if it’s still fresh). I gotta get back to cleaning!! I’ll have the pleasure of a sweet and gorgeous friend’s company for this weekend, so expect me to be scarce at best, but I’ll be back around by late Sunday or Monday to continue thrilling you guys with these totally amazing posts.

Hit up our most beloved downtown bar with Brian (roomie) on Thursday, to celebrate living to see another one! Ah, camera phone photography.

I had oolong tea. He had Long Island Iced Tea. Tea parties! Just delightful!

It’s already Saturday? Lord. Internet, my days, I don’t know where they go. Perhaps someday I’ll drop my hand between two couch cushions and pull out months of my life that somehow slipped away.

Before I moved to where I am now, I used to rent a condo in a golf community just a few miles outside of town. This was the view at sunset from my back porch, over the water and hills and trees.

I didn’t know that I still had any photos like this. Takes me back. I miss my little yard and the grazing deer and the breakfast nook in the kitchen overlooking my pretty rose bushes. And the naps I took on the old sofa beneath the sun streaming through the skylights. Perhaps I have such affection for simple things because I realize that they kept me going in those harrowing years.

Things I forgot that I saved.

We were beset by a bout of freezing rain early this morning here, and as of this moment there’s still some cold drizzle happening intermittently. I had class today, but being accustomed to a) my usual haunt of the tech building and b) school starting on normal days of the week (what is this starting-on-a-Wednesday crap?), I neglected to remember that I needed an ID sticker to attend classes from today forward. And to get an ID sticker, you need to be current on tuition… and to pay tuition, you need money. So, them’s the breaks. I’m rather glad to have an excuse to stay home and stay warm, though I hate that I’ve knocked out two absences back to back in such a short timeframe. Well, what can you do.

Rainy days like this are nice. A cold gray sky out, the drop-dappled window screens, the encasing pitter-patter, and my warm condo. Bliss!