my favorite treats as a kid were usually some kind of asian treat, like pocky or yan yan biscuits. yan yan has some biscuit sticks and a little portion of dipping sauce (chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla). i usually go for the vanilla sticks with chocolate dipping sauce. the strawberry one is sort of gross and the vanilla dip one has chocolate biscuits instead. i got some yan-yan yesterday and noticed they started putting “fun lines” on the biscuits. the first one i pulled out is shown in the picture. there were a few other “fun lines” that were really amusing to me, such as:

• cat       say meow
• snail       snail mail?
• starfish       star + fish
• rabbit       eat more carrots

i think the starfish line is my favorite.

three years is about a long enough wait to get your eyes checked, so i finally got mine done. really, i might have waited longer if not for my increasingly bad vision and not being able to see as well at night. i went to sears optical for my exam and glasses and saw perhaps the best optometrist i’ve ever had. she explained everything to me about my eyes, what kinds of conditions i had (i knew i was nearsighted, but she also told me i had an astigmatism, which i did not know), what i could do to help prevent worsening eyesight, and even let me try out some contact lens. i had never tried contacts before due to irrational fears (the contact will get stuck behind my head!). they were actually quite comfortable, but i decided not to get contacts. i got some totally neat frames with some clip on sunglasses (which i will make sure these do not get a tumble in the dryer like my last ones). they are similar to my current ones, but a little smaller and squarer. yay!

i was sort of amazed that none of my previous eye doctors told me i had an astigmastism. they pretty much did not tell me anything. my last eye doctor annoyed the hell of me. while sitting in the chair with that crazy eye-checking optometry mask in front of me and looking at the different lenses, he actually would just pass his hand in front of the eye that was being tested, not change anything, and ask which looked better (1… or 2?). i could tell that you didn’t change the lens at all, lame eye doctor man!

i also got one of those dilation tests, which fucked up my vision for awhile. i couldn’t wear my glasses while i looked for new frames and they were nice enough to turn down the lighting for me. i couldn’t read anything for awhile, but it was clear if i just looked straight ahead. i checked my phone before i left the store and found i could hardly see it. dilation tests = sad. at least i have no other eye problems.

aside from fun eye things, i got jury duty summons … again. i forgot about the “one day, one trial” thing. if you don’t get on a trial, you can get summoned every year. only trial people get out of it for three years! oy.

this year on march 26th i’m going to participate in a walk sponsored by the escondido humane society, “paws in the park”. they are raising money for their humane society. i love animals (especially puppies, as you all should know by now!), so i thought it would be a good event to go to. dogs are welcome to walk in the park as well so maya and i will go and try and raise some funds for the animals and other puppies who are without homes!

help out a good cause and sponsor maya and i in this event. we are trying to raise $100 for the humane society. thank you!

I took a bunch of photos of food to write about and so now I’m backed up in things I’ve been meaning to post about, which then equals in one big post about food. Yay!

Wild Herb Stuffing Soda
My friend, Julia, gave me the holiday soda sampler pack from the Jones Soda Company. It contained 5 soda flavors, including: Cranberry, Pumpkin Pie, Turkey with Gravy, Wild Herb Stuffing, and Brussel Sprouts. I tried the “Wild Herb Stuffing” soda, thinking that they were just funny named sodas… and that they didn’t really try to duplicate the flavors. Well, I don’t know what the hell this soda tasted like except that it was gross. It would have been better if they just made it lemon-lime flavor with a funny holiday name instead.

It Only Looks Like Christmas Bundt Cake
This is only half of a bundt cake I made, because I forgot to take a photo of it when it was whole. It was really delicious and my first attempt at making my own butter cream frosting. I used this recipe from AllRecipes.com, with some slight changes (used butter instead of maragine and used less sugar). I also added a little spice to the cake mix (it was a yellow cake mix with pudding added) with some cinnamon, nutmeg and a little brown sugar. It kind of looks like a Christmas cake with the colors I used.

Almond Tamale
I went to the Farmer’s Market and picked up some really excellent chicken tamales from a local vendor. I also decided to try one of the dessert/sweet ones and selected the Almond flavored one. It wasn’t as good as I was hoping it would be – the idea of it sounds better than eating it. I think it was lacking something, like maybe it would have been better with a filling inside of it. It was very dry and not pleasant to eat. I’ll be sticking with the chicken ones from now on.

Rocky
July 1988 – January 13, 2006

Our dog, Rocky, was put to rest today. He was getting quite old and the signs of age were really showing. As sad as it is for me, I knew it was time for him to move on from this life.

Rocky was my birthday present for my 10th birthday. He always indulged me in my games, such as when I used to pretend he and I were spies in the jungle in our backyard, looking in on the neighbors. One summer, my friend Sarah and I painted an old wheelbarrow and called it the “Peacemobile”. I would get Rocky to jump inside and I would give him rides around the yard in the wheelbarrow. He seemed to love it, always sitting patiently and wagging his tail while I drove him around.

Rocky loved to chase the birds that flew over our yard. He even liked to play with bees, continuing to bark at them even after they had stung him. He was once obessesed with our next door neighbor’s rabbit (who had a fatal demise after coming too close to the fence once day). He would only howl at the passing train and only if he knew he wasn’t being watched. I used to let him into the house on Saturday mornings so he could watch cartoons with me. He would take naps with me outside in our hammock.

Rocky’s been a wonderful companion and friend throughout the years. Rocky, I miss you, old friend. Rest in peace.

last week i trekked across the country back to massachusetts for one of my college roommate’s weddings (the last of the roomies to marry!). we flew into manchester, nh which is way nicer than flying into boston. flying into boston and getting your rental car and trying to get around is stressful and a hassle. in manchester, we didn’t even have to go on a shuttle bus to get to the rental cars – they were across the street from the airport. there about 15 gates total so it’s not a very large airport either. it’s easy to get in and out of! i thought it was awesome.

the wedding itself was on new year’s eve. it started to snow a little before brandon and i left to go to the church (and pick up georgy beforehand at the T station). we got a little lost on the way to pick up georgy and i blame the lack of signage in the general new england area. i don’t know why they have such an aversion to signage, but it’s annoying. the wedding was very nice despite me not knowing about things (like, after readings or prayers or something, you’re supposed to say stuff! crazy). the reception was also nice, filled with an array of desserts and delicious treats and an open bar. brandon and i stayed just after midnight and retreated upstairs. all in all it was a good wedding/reception and i got to see a few of my old friends.

we also went out to see my grandparents (and ate some very tasty seafood). we also took the commuter rail into boston one day and wandered around the city. i showed brandon around BU and we went to an old BU haunt for some pizza with georgy and rick. then we wandered around the boston commons and around one of the cemetaries before parting ways with geogry and rick at newbury comics. brandon and i then went through fanueil hall and quincy market and then had some delicious pasta in the north end, topped off with some cannolis and a few other tasty treats. when we came back from the train, we actually gave the lady in the parking booth a couple of cannolis – she gave us a discount on our parking even though we didn’t have our train ticket with us anymore. she was so excited to get them! i was amused.

our last day of fun was spent in manchester, mostly for some shopping. nh has no sales tax! awww yeah. we took full advantage of that and bought some cool things for ourselves. one of the places we went was “the mall of new hampshire”. it was literally called, “the mall”. i also found this to be very amusing.

it was a pretty awesome trip. i even finished a book during the trip (“to kill a mockingbird” – brandon got it for me for my birthday) and i got to eat whole fried calms (mmmm). it was very cold with a little snow. there was a nor’easter when i was there, but we were far enough north of it that there was no snow where we stayed. when i came back home, the next day was about 85 degrees – completely different from the chilly 30 in ma. i just about longed for the cold that day. one more wedding to go to this year (brandon’s brother!) and then i should be done with weddings for awhile. phew.