2010 I decided to pursue biology because my boyfriend at the time convinced me of it.
2011
I took a leap and chose to intern at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) in Cornell. I learned to say no and made major choices of my own for the first time.
2012
I deepened my love for plants starting with a visit to the Huntington Libraries in January, worked at the UCI Arboretum, took a horticultural sciences course, and another internship at BTI.
2013
I began to live life with more intentionality as I fulfilled a dream and lived in Ireland for a full year.
2014 I chose joy & dared to step out of my comfort zone more and more — including
moving across the country!
2015-2016
I settled into Boston life and lived the boring adult life for a while…
2017
I was thrown into the wilderness of reality after trying so hard to seek comfort, security, and steadiness. I scrambled to find my footing again.
2018
I started off the year by investing in me by finding myself through fashion; was offered, and subsequently took, my first leadership position at my volunteer gig; and began to find home among friends.
2019
My last sense of comfort departed as I grew restless and uneasy. I had 6-months of calm before the storm where I was thrown into another whirlwind of events — a new job, a new house, a nightmare, another new house — carpe diem was indeed the motto daily, but all with a new perspective on who I am…
Looking back, I can be proud of myself in the past decade. I have really challenged myself, pushed my limits, and constantly took leaps of faith — and I mean leaps — towards a bright and beautiful unknown. In return, I can confidently say I have grown in wisdom, in knowledge, and in beauty.
I look forward to the challenges, growth, and love waiting for me.
First, I managed to reconnect with a friend from almost 8 years ago who recently began a job in The Big Apple! As it turns out, he had already been planning a road trip up to Boston for the Fourth of July weekend (2-4 Jul). During his stay, we stumbled into a specialty hat store called Salmagundi where he found a hat that actually fits his typically-too-big head! He was floored — and fairly excited, it seemed. There we discovered that they had a tool they call a “hat size checker” — no, seriously, that’s what it’s called — to find hats within their stores that best fit heads of all circumferences. Outside of exploring the world of hats, him and his carload of friends ate their way through Boston’s best. There was time for a late dinner at The Daily Catch, a relaxing afternoon sampling some delicious gelato, and a quick brunch of dim sum at Hei La Moon. They even managed to get on the dinner list for the infamous Neptune Oyster on the Fourth of July!
Those are apparently hat size checkers. Weird.
Shortly after the my New York visitors stepped into Neptune Oyster, I departed for a last minute invitation to a Fourth of July homemade dinner. As it turns out, my friend — whom I had thought left for good for medical school — made an impulsive decision to return to Boston for the three day weekend. Her friend — and our host for the evening — made us some delicious Asian dishes, which we all delighted in as we celebrated American Independence Day.
Two weeks later was another blast from the past. About half a decade ago, I had made friends with a charming lad at a party. Shortly after we parted ways, he made the choice to join the Navy. We had subsequently reconnected online and, as it turns out, he decided to come visit Boston following his recent relocation in New York (the state)! He came, took me out, and showed me around “my own city” — full with a short trip to the New England Aquarium to catch some Pokémon on the new Pokémon Go app. All in all, it was a wonderful reconnection.
This is to be my new room, minus all the clutter — hopefully!The current resident’s cute table, a gift from his grandmother.
On a more personal note, I would like to announce that I have finally found a new apartment in Boston after 6 months of searching! Huzzah! It’s been a work in progress since last month, but I finally got to sign for it on a bright and beautiful Sunday this month (24 Jul)! I do so like my new roommate, as she is also a fellow botanist, and I really hope we can become friends. I’m so excited!
One of those strange signs you rarely — if ever — see.
Outside of friendly visits and apartment hunting, life seems to continue enjoy taking me on a roller coaster ride. After the positively exciting news of securing a new place for the next housing season, my “new” phone decided to take a dive straight into a toilet (28 Jul)! Really?! Now, this “new” phone is doomed to reside in silica gel before I turn it back on as to avoid frying the electronic parts within the phone. On the positive side, I have to say: it is quite nice to be without a phone. I find myself forced to be less stressed about situations because I only have the ability to plan anything when I’m near WiFi. It makes me contemplate living life without a phone permanently, but that would be slightly ridiculous considering the need for connections day to day at this stage of my life.
Some delicious poached eggs with smoked salmon and arugula.
Then, as if to make up for it, life decided to give me the “cooking thumb” and — lo and behold! — I can poach eggs for breakfast (30 Jul)! This was followed up by the luck of finding a dream-come-true nightstand that matched the colour of my bed frame for only $10 at a local Goodwill. Funnily enough, my friend agreed to be daring enough to carry said nightstand 1.3 miles (2.1 km) to my house using only our strength and will — and, I tell ya, it was not easy carrying a solid wood nightstand in flip-flops, mostly walking backwards!
“Today I Learned”
The “hardness” of water and the minerals inside of it can affect the taste of a tea as you travel between regions with different types of water.
Okra is in the Malvaceae family, making it related to hibiscus, cotton, and cacao. Also, it is known in some areas as “lady-fingers”.
The Tethys Mosaic in one of the buildings of the Harvard Business School.
The innards of the seemingly-plain-from-the-outside Harvard Co-Op.
June: the mark of the end of an academic school year and the beginning of summer for all students; the time when some friends are lost and new ones are found. Though for me, this month became about losing and finding more than just friends.
It all began within the first two weeks of June when I — for the first time ever, believe it or not — lost my phone! How did I lose it? I forgot it on the bus in a moment of haste in an attempt to be on time for a tour I was leading. Sad times were had that Friday (10 Jun), especially over the lost of precious bits of sentimental and data-worthy information. Alas, there was nothing I could do, as the phone ended up in the worst possible neighborhood in Boston when it sounded off. Police — transit and city — could help me not as the Apple-sent location address was not “proof enough” to produce a warrant. Luckily for me, I found a used phone and managed to purchase it fairly quickly — literally, within the next day — just in time for a major event at the end of a short personal physical experiment: dragon boat racing.
The following few days were the dates of our time trials for the annual Boston Dragon Boat Festival as well as the festival itself. We were to do short races on the Saturday before the big event in order to place us into competitive categories so that were were competing against teams who were at and/or around the same level as us. Then, on Sunday, the day of the Festival, the weather decided to not play nice. Not only did we end up paddling through the water as usual, but we were also forced to fight against the wind as we were paddling against our competitors.
The hat I wore for our Beacon Hill photo shoot.
On a more personal note, I also “lost” a friend this month — to medical school. One of my friends, whom I was introduced to here in Boston, was graduating and decided to gather a group of us girls to dress up and go out for a day (18 Jun) for a photo shoot up on the famous cobbled streets of the Beacon Hill neighbourhood here in Boston. It was a great day of relaxation and frolicking freely, which I also haven’t done in ages. Shortly afterwards, we enjoyed a lovely brunch together at the Beacon Hill Hotel & Bistro where they had full-sized Lindor chocolate truffles instead of mints for us after the meal! Madness, delicious madness! Following a mad delicious breakfast, we found a mad delicious store called Fastachi, which specialises in gourmet nuts! It was — nuts! (Okay, I’ll stop with the puns.) But seriously, it was an amazing store filled with various nut mixes I have only barely begun to dream of and nut butters “up the wazoo” — as they say. A week later (25-26 Jun), said friend made the official move to medical school. Fair thee well and best of luck!
“Today” I Learned”
In Google Docs, when another user deletes something on a shared document from a separate account, you can’t “undo” it with the arrow function.
Apparently, spoke cards are a well-known practice/tradition among bikers. In Cambridge, some bikers are given red envelope spoke cards for good luck. Strange, but interesting.
I’ve often seen bags hanging off bike racks that are attached to bikes, sometimes on both sides like saddlebags on a horse; they seem to be fairly popular here in Boston. What I didn’t know is that they’re more formally known as panniers.
I don’t drink much, so I know know much about alcohol, but recently it’s been brought to my attention that there’s an “easy way” to ask for “the cheapest stuff you have”: by asking for a rail or well drink/beer.
Cheese curds are strange things to eat, they also have a strange nickname: squeakers.
May for me often starts with (American) Mother’s Day, also known — in my world — as Lilac Sunday. It’s the Arnold Arboretum‘s biggest event of the year where we invite the community in and around Boston, as well as visitors from all over the country — and sometimes all over the world — to celebrate the blooming of our infamous lilacs! As per the prior year, I volunteered to assist our staff members on this people-packed day and resumed my prior post at the t-shirts booth. It was great fun and I must confess it is one of my cherished experiences during spring.
My elder conversing with one of the staff members of FriendshipWorks.
The following Sunday (15 May) was also quite eventful for me as it was the first annual walk-a-thon hosted by a non-profit organisation close to my heart, FriendshipWorks. For the past (almost one full) year I’ve been visiting and communicating regularly with an elderly individual I had been paired up to go for walks and to foster a friendship as a preventative measure against social isolation in elderly individuals. To be honest, it wasn’t much of a walk for me, but it was quite a feat for his feet — and bones for that matter — I have to admit I’m quite proud of him for successfully walking the short distance we traversed (1.8 miles).
The middle of May marks the end of an academic school year — the year my “middle sister” graduates! As graduation was approaching, the Harvard Museum of Natural History got the remodelling of their Glass Flowers Exhibit in order just before commencement, well, commenced. Select staff members were invited to a private viewing of the newly remodelled exhibit the morning prior to its reopening on the 17th of May. I, of course, was absolutely thrilled to have been invited and made it a point to attend, despite the early event time (8am).
When I first walked in, my immediate response was one of awe at how welcoming and open the exhibit felt. Prior to the remodelling, the exhibits stood tall and proud, looming over visitors as they squeezed past the small aisles between the rows of artwork. Now, they seemed more welcoming and inviting, as if to hold out a leaf — if you will — to all those who step into the exhibit. Then, within the first few steps, the infamous water lily (Nymphaea odorata) model on the cover of the museum’s book on the glass flowers welcomes visitors upon entry. Newly on display are several models of bee pollinators and their respective flower of preference in horizontal displays scattered throughout the gallery. These pollinator models were organised and hand selected by museum staff and one of our prominent researchers at the Arboretum.
A beautiful, delicious breakfast of French toast.
After my visit into a “cave of wonders,” I met up with my middle sister for a morning breakfast. We had some lovely French toast at Algier’s Coffee House topped with some fruits and powdered sugar. A week later (24 May), I saw her for the last time, prior to her departure, to pass her bike on to me. Thus, I began my adventures biking. I do believe I rushed into the start of it: my first day on the bike, I biked 5.8 miles; my second day, 7.7 miles. Boy was I excited to be on a bike again, despite the dangers of biking in Boston. Strange to think I could even bike that much — though I was quite sore afterwards.
The outrigger canoe my dragon boat team was playing with.
Along with the onset of my biking adventures, I’ve recently (as of the middle of this month) also picked up practicing the curious athletic event known as dragonboat racing. It’s quite a workout for the arms, thus I’m rather fond of it. However, I’m definitely hesitant about the fact that we’re paddling through water. Alas, it can’t be helped and I’m having quite a blast. It was even more fun when our coach pulled out an outrigger canoe for one practice (29 May). It was quite intimidating to row on this contraption, as everything relied on the physics and movements of only my own movements.
Our little inflatable ninja friend requested the cheesecake himself, while, yes, protecting a box of lychee jellies.
After practice, one of my friends on visit in Boston met up with me and we meandered the streets of Cambridge. During this time, we stumbled upon a little friend left out in the cold — as Bostonians often do with unwanted belongings during moving season — and adopted him and his deflated friend next to him. Then, we took our new friend — and ourselves — out for some Japanese cheesecake. Oh, how mouthwatering!
“Today” I Learned
When you’re scanning something from a physical format into a digital format, the scanner sometimes asks you how many “dpi” you would like to scan to. I’ve usually just brushed it off as “just another one of those terms.” Turns out, it stands for “dots per inch” and it’s related to your printer resolution when you go to try printing the image/document later on.
Today, I’m stepped out of my comfort zone of Boston to return to Southern California for the weekend for the first wedding I will be attending as an adult! Of course I flew to California, as taking a bus would be slightly ridiculous. The sad part is: I flew past dinner(time). Thankfully, I had arrived at airport with my tummy full of food after a large brunch. Then, my plot to overcome the difficulty of dinner on a plane — without spending money and eating airplane food — resided in my backpack until the plan was to be revealed!
My successful bowl of ramen with a napkin included!So, shortly after my return from SoCal over the winter break, I was reading on meals to pack for plane rides — don’t ask me what article, I don’t remember. Most of them were fairly basic: sandwiches, salads, granola bars, trail mix, etc. However, one suggestion caught my eye: ramen. Logically thinking about this, it made sense as it’s a dry food and they always have hot water for tea on an airplane. Thus, this time around, I figured I’d try it and bought a ramen bowl for my flight — not a Cup Noodle one as the Styrofoam is rather flimsy. Turns out, you really canhave ramen on the plane! I had just opened the bowl, taken out the seasoning packets and asked the flight attendant to fill the water up to the line — and brought my pair of plastic chopsticks, or a fork if you prefer, as to get through security safely — and all was hunky dory for my airplane “dinner.”
After dinner, I — along with everyone else on the plane — was offered “Shut Eye Service.” I didn’t know such a thing existed! Apparently, on JetBlue flights, if you’re flying during a time period people typically go to sleep, they offer this service to all passengers. It involves an attendant going up (or down) the aisle asking if people want a hot towel. What for? I have no idea yet, my guess is something to help relax and get some sleep in prior to landing as they shut down all the lights on the plane.
Successful flight unlocked!
The groom throwing the garter to all the single “men.” A view of the gorgeous reception hall! Saturday, 30 April
So, I’m in Southern California for a wedding and I’m staying at a friend’s place I haven’t talked to in a very long time. As it turns out, I woke up this morning to prepare for my other friend’s wedding and my host-friend invites me to her own wedding in August! Strange, but sure!
Upon arriving at the wedding I had been invited to, we watched a beautiful service in an asymmetrical church — which sort of drove me crazy — full of multiple symbolisms representing the union of these two individuals. My friend was dolled up beyond recognition, especially as I had never really seen her face caked with make-up. However, everything went beautifully for the actual ceremony.
Afterwards, my beau and I arrived a bit early at the reception hall a little ways down the road only to find that the mother and family of the bride were frantically running around trying to get everything set up. Thus, I stepped in to help what little I could; it was great fun. Once the guests poured in, the real wedding fun began.
The bride and groom participated in a number of games and activities as per usual wedding traditions — or so I’ve been told. Some of them were quite fun like The Shoe Game. Others of them were more typical, like the groom throwing the wedding garter after taking it off the bride. Then, there were traditional activities like the “money dance,” which extended from the groom’s Mexican heritage. It was all-in-all quite fun, though I wish I knew more people as it got quite lonely just knowing my beau and a fellow swing dancer.
A panoramic of the plaza I used to regular for a specialty dish at Phở Vinam. Dresses at the David’s Bridal my friend and I went to.Sunday & Monday, 1-2 May
The next two days after the wedding was a series of adventures. The day immediately following the wedding, my host-friend invited me to go to a David’s Bridal with her to look at some wedding dresses she had been eyeing that were on offer/sale. We went to the store for her appointment with a wishlist she had created on their website ahead of time. We were in and out in less than an hour; that’s some dedicated wedding dress shopping! Afterwards, we had some fun browsing a local Goodwill store where I found a cute dress she suggested I wear to her wedding.
Following a day of shopping with a bride-to-be, my beau took me on a journey into my past. We drove an hour or two out east into the desert to visit a restaurant where I had once ate regularly with a previous beau. For years my current beau had been trying to figure out what my favourite Vietnamese dish was and why we have a hard time finding it elsewhere. As it turns out, the Vietnamese place I used to regular calls said dish “phở áp chảo,” which could translate to “sauteed” or “pan fried” pho noodles. The problem with it is: I don’t particularly like it done with the standard skinny pho noodles, but with the nice, thick rice noodles. In addition to this complication, many restaurants do not make it crispy on the bottom, but just stir fry it like the way Asian restaurants typically make stir fry noodles and/or chow mein. Alas, it was still worth the drive an hour or two out so I can have it again.
A bud breaks out from the trunk of a tree! Spring is here!!!
It’s April. You’d think spring had decided to stay for good. As it turns out, winter was not willing to let go yet. During the first Sunday of the month (3 Apr), winter weather decided to pay us another visit. Thankfully, it didn’t continue to snow for very long into the month.
My attempt at homemade, freezer-friendly “Egg McMuffins.”
The weather was at least kind enough for me to easily meet up with many people to try many different foods — as well as make some of my own. For the first time in my life — yes, seriously — I had a pulled pork sandwich at Rifrullo Café. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t quite like it; it was too salty. On the other hand, I completely fell in love with these “fairytale sushi rolls” in a Japanese Fusion restaurant in Cambridge known as Thelonious Monkfish — which I find a hilarious name because I know to whom it references. At home, I had a little fun experimenting with some breakfast foods and I settled on homemade breakfast sandwiches for now. We’ll see how it goes. So far, it’s a great hit simply because they’re freezer-friendly.
Meanwhile, in my professional life, new beginnings began to bloom. For one, I was invited to be part of my alma mater’s new student orientation. Of course I said yes, attended, and enjoyed a lovely dinner while talking about my experience as an undergraduate student there. Oh those youngsters…they don’t know half of what they’re getting themselves into. Anyhow, on my side of the fence, I’ve been exploring various career paths in preparation for my departure from my current job. I attended a scientific writing event focusing on pitching ideas to an editor — maybe not the thing for me. There was also a date where I got to sit down and talk to a peer working in a different niche of the same field. We had a lovely chat and it was great to be able to share my passion for plant biology with someone who also understood the uneasiness to proceed into a PhD program. Then, just for fun, I attended an event that called itself “Speed Networking,” hosted by the local chapter of the Association for Women in Sciences. It quite actually quite a fun event!
“Today” I Learned
Sterilite under bed storage containers can survive the autoclave.
There are rare sapphires in the world that change colour under different lighting. They’re called color-change sapphires. Crazy!
This lovely cupcake ferris wheel — that I now want — my friends and I saw when we wandered into Sweet Bakery late one night.
The lovely set-up we had going for making fruit kabobs!
Friday, 25 Mar
Meals — or food in general — are the central part to most, if not every, celebration. To kick off the Easter weekend, my lady love, her beau, and I took a trip to one of her favourite places of all time: Medieval Times. Today’s visit was particularly amusing. We got a server/serf who sang to us what the regularly servers simply tell us in normal speech about what will happen and what we’ll see. I asked him after his solo and — as it turns out — he had actually written the song himself! Then, during the dinner service, he had little “fun names” for the various items we were to consume: dragon’s blood soup (tomato bisque), half a baby dragon (half a small chicken), a large French fry (half a baked potato) and gifts from the children of the court (apple pie/crumble). Through song with rhyme and whimsy, he made our meal seem so mythically delightful. He was amazing! It’s by far the best visit to Medieval Times I’ve ever had during the handful of times I’ve been.
What comes before food?! SHOPPING! The first thing we did in the morning — after we put the chicken in the rotisserie — was just that. Between my lady love and myself, we managed to do some SHOCKINGLY productive shopping today.
After the early morning exercise of running around large grocery stores, the food preparations began. First things first, dipped strawberries. Turns out, it wasn’t as easy as we thought. The Pinterest recipe told us to microwave the candies and then just “simply” dip the strawberries in. Turns out that was easier said than done as the candies were only melted enough to be a paste and unwilling to stay on strawberries. Thankfully, I had melted chocolates using a double broiler set up before and used that knowledge to melt the candies over a stove top into a more liquid state. Then were the candies liquid enough to — actually — simply dip the strawberries into. Oh the joys of cooking!
Our colourful dyed, edible Easter eggs.
Next: rainbow fruit kabobs. They were loads of fun to make, though slightly time-consuming (and effective in getting everyone to eat their fruits). Whilst I was preoccupied with this task, my lady love was uncertain how to boil eggs for deviled eggs. Well, I had never made them and I don’t remember the last time I made boiled eggs, so don’t ask me. Who did we turn to, but — the one and only — mother.
While the filling for the deviled eggs was being mixed soon after, I completed my skewers of kabobs and began to dye the eggs for coloured deviled eggs — which turned out to be quite the amusement later on. As it turns out the cool colours (i.e. green, blue, and purple) took longer to soak through the eggs than the hot colour ( i.e. pink). The blue and purple took particularly long; I wonder why…
The various assortments of Easter “eggs” my lady love’s family has passed down for generations.
Now the best part was definitely looking at the collection of Easter eggs my lady love’s beau had hid for the kids. Supposedly, all the Easter eggs used are part of a collection that stemmed from the days when her grandmother hosted Easter decades ago. Thus, there were traditional looking-eggs in various colours and colour schemes. Then, there’s fairly abnormally shaped eggs that look like animals or balls from various sports and what not. It was absolutely amusing. (Lucky me, she let me keep one.) As for filling the eggs, she puts a good chunk of her coins in a little tray over the year. These coins are then put into the Easter eggs for the kids, along with little random little toys she buys. Ingenious!
“Today” I Learned
Ham is almost always “cooked”, it’s never “raw”. In other words, it’s cured pork.
Mmmmm… Easter. I’m excited. This will be my second Easter with my lady love — and her family. We had a blast spending time together last Easter and last Thanksgiving, so we planned for me to return to her place this Easter! Today was my flight out to Baltimore. After my long bus ride over last Thanksgiving, I’m pretty determined to not take a bus to Baltimore again — if I can help it.
This advertisement by Potbelly is “awesome sauce”!
I was traveling JetBlue — oh my is JetBlue amazing — and in the JetBlue terminal, while waiting for my flight out, I saw a sign that caught my eye. I loved it so much I had to stop and take a picture for my “big sis” because she loves avocados to no end, despite having grown up on the East Coast. As it turns out, it was a sign for a popular East Coast chain deli/sandwich shop called Potbelly promoting adding avocados to their sandwiches. Ah if only I could obtain and send her the whole flyer itself!
My lady love’s adorable kitties!
After an hour or two’s flight, my lady love picked me up on the other side and quickly dropped me off at her house with her two adorable kitties before heading out to class. My, my how I’ve missed watching these two kitties go about their strange interactions. It’s funny to think that I miss living with them, considering I’ve never really lived with cats other than the few times I’ve stayed with my lady love. It’s oddly calming to just watch them roam about the house doing their thing.
Thurs, 24 Mar
Today was quite an adventure.
I had originally planned to go out to Washington, District of Columbia (D.C.) all day today and perchance spend some time with a friend who is temporarily living in the area. However, I woke up terribly groggy and not in the mood to go anywhere or do anything. I was pretty set on staying at home for the rest of the day and just relaxing, instead of stressing out over traveling around the national’s capital on my own worrying about pickpockets and whatnot.
Much to my surprise, my lovely lady friend came home earlier than I had expected her to. Originally, she was due to stay at work late to build up hours so she could spend with me tomorrow. As it turns out, her colleagues had urged her to go to D.C. with me for the day soon as they saw the weather report not looking very good for the rest of my stay in Baltimore. So, she took their advice, came home, and we drove out to the D.C. metro stop closest to us and took it into the city.
The Washington, DC Metro Map & “SmartTrip” card! Cute!!
As soon as I stepped on that metro, I felt rather energised. In contrast with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) trains, these trains ran smoothly and quickly without too much screeching and noise of wear and rust on the tracks. Once in the city, I felt like I was in a different place: a place to explore, a place to get lost, and — most importantly — a place to have fun.
At first, we couldn’t think of many things to do as she had already been to D.C. several times. So we started our day — or should I say afternoon — in D.C. off with a visit to the Tidal Basin to see the infamous cherry blossoms. It started as simple walk around the hustle and bustle of the promotional tents where they were selling gifts and memorabilia. We were thinking about buying some ourselves when we sighted people paddle boating around the basin. We thought it might be a fun idea — and she had never done it — so we waited in line for a seemingly long time — it actually took a little less than an hour. I have to say, it was totally worth the wait and for a surprisingly small amount of money ($16 for a 2 passenger boat for one hour). We had great craic just trying to figure out how to steer the paddle boat with and/or against the current — and to avoid people.
After a fun hour of paddling around, we treated ourselves to some memorabilia at the tents and found out the tidal basin is associated with the U.S. National Parks Service. They had a map of the whole area and all the cherry blossom trees planted along the basin, each labelled by cultivar name.
Seriously, Old Bay Seasoning in a Filet-O-Fish tartar sauce makes all the difference!
Then, we decided to spend some time wandering around D.C. At one point, we decided to pop into a McDonald’s along our route of…getting lost. I was rather hungry and the Filet-O-Fish sandwich with Old Bay Seasoningtartar sauce, a D.C./Baltimore special, sounded like a wonderful idea at the moment. I have to say this is probably thebestFilet-O-Fish I’ve ever had. The funniest part was the fact that I was more amused by the Old Bay sticker — which I ended up putting on my D.C. Metro card — than the actual, though scrumptious, sandwich itself.
An “old-fashioned” red popcorn cart!
Incidentally, in our subsequent meandering, we crossed paths with some elegant promotional avocados tied to sun umbrellas on a patio. As it turns out — you guessed it — it was a Potbelly! I debated asking them for one of the avocado signs, curious if they had extras laying around. However, I couldn’t muster up enough courage to do so, thus my lady love led the charge, walked into the store — with me trailing behind — and asked them for one. At first, the cashiers thought we meant an actual avocado and just gave us a strange look that said, “What a strange request, but, eh, sure we could give you a whole avocado.” When they finally realised what we were actually asking for, they were rather befuddled by the request and looked around for some extra promotional signs and items. Thankfully, they had some advertisement posters laying around to encourage people to add avocados to a sandwich and gave us 3-5 blank copies. Huzzah for the courage of my lady love!
What an adventure of a day, what a great date day with my valiant lady love. Sometimes I wish days like this could last forever.
Some crocuses here are in bloom! Aren’t they gorgeous?!
Thursday, 3 Mar
It’s been a while since I’ve been out and about to socialise with people. So I figured I’d attend an event at a local financial literacy “café” called Society of Grownups. Little did I know, today was the day I would try my first cannoli from Mike’s Pastry.
What’s Mike’s Pastry? Only the most popular pastry shop everyone raves about! However, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth so I never really found the need to go find one and/or go in to buy something. Today, that changed — sort of. I figured I try one, since trying new things is nice every so often.
What did I think? Eh. I just tasted a lot of sugar and cream — like whipped cream, which I’m not very fond of. Though, it was quite interesting to think about how the filling was made from ricotta cheese. I would’ve thought it’d be too sweet to be cheese, but I guess ricotta is different?
Saturday, 5 Mar
OH MY GOSH. Laundry is such a big deal in Boston. It’s awesome that we have laundry right outside our back door in the “basement,” but recently the washer decided to fail on me right after I had already put in liquid detergent. (Thus, I ended up hand washing all of my clothes for that load.) Oh the memories it brought back of my time in Dublin because I didn’t want to spend almost $5 to just wash and then another $5 to dry every load of my laundry.
Some delicious sage marbled cheese and butterfly crackers. Yum yum!
Anyhow, today was the day I discovered our new washing machine: a larger capacity, top load washer. I didn’t think much of it, as it was “just another top load washer.” Boy was I wrong…as it turns out, the washing machine lid locked the door once you started the machine! (Why, why would you need a top loader lid to lock?!)
So, when I put in my laundry today, I was “pleasantly” — not really — surprised when I discovered that I had accidentally forgotten to put ALL my socks I the wash (they have their own laundry basket). So, I stood there for 5-15 minutes fighting with the washing machine, trying to pry the lid open just enough for me to squeeze my socks in — onebyone. Oh my…
On another note: I am now officially addicted to cheese and crackers — specifically butter crackers shaped like butterflies.
Wednesday, 9 Mar
Now, it’s been a while since I’ve begun job hunting. It’s been quite a struggle for me. However, I’ve been invited to visit a leading researcher’s lab once or twice now. Today — after a month and a half of going back and forth to meet the other lab members — I got to meet Dr. Ann Graybiel. After meeting her and talking with her, her lab manager told me that they would like to hire me. How exciting! Now, all we have to do — according to the lab manager — is to wait for human resources to give an okay.
The card game known as Cards Against Humanity.
Friday, 11 Mar Cards Against Humanity: a popular game among people my age. All of my friends raved about it and tell me to play it — yet, never invite me to do so. Today, I finally got to experience it first hand. Boy was I in for a surprise.
It was a board game night with classic and popular board games, such as Cranium and Pictionary — none of that new fandangled things board game nerds love and no one knows how to play.
Pictonary was especially interesting because it was THE family game between the two sisters whom had invited me. They had a whole system going on how to “short-hand” draw things to help move the process along. It was so intense they had to play on separate teams just so they wouldn’t conquer the game. It was great craic; it’s always funny to see what people can draw and what people are thinking when they see strange, quickly sketched scribbles.
We ended the night with Cards Against Humanity. It really shows how awkward my mind works — and how racist, sexist, biased, ruthless, and rough people are and/or can be. It’s strange, but definitely interesting. I’m not sure I would ever own a set myself, but I have to say: it’s definitely an experience — and I would definitely play again if invited to do so.
Friday, 18 Mar
Time has proven me naïve to the luxuries Southern California had to offer with its cultural diversity. In Southern California, there was a popular Louisianan crab boil-type place called Boiling Crab. It was amazing. We ate seafood boiled by the pound in a delicious blend of spices — with our bare hands!
Recently, I found a place near my house, with the same concept and I’ve been wanting to give it a shot. Today was my lucky day — or so I thought — as my “big sister” had decided it was the place to go for our dinner this month.
Rating: letdown. Not only was the seasoning not well-soaked into the seafood, but they also gave us rather flimsy plastic, food prep gloves gloves to eat with; the type people put on for making fresh deli sandwiches, when they don’t use latex. You’re kidding me right?
It was a great experience, but it was definitely not worth the money — especially after being spoiled by the delicious, diverse Southern Californian cuisine I’ve grown so accustomed to. Alas, the deliciousness of the diverse varieties of food in the multicultural region is no more. Sad times.
“Today” I Learned
Most maple syrup producers probably don’t make a living on maple syrup. One maple tree might produce 20 gallons of tree sap in a season, equating to a half gallon of syrup total. The average price received by farmers for maple syrup in 2014 was $36.40 per gallon. So…highly unlikely.
Maple tree sap is transformation into maple syrup via (essentially) evaporation accelerated with heat.
Maple syrup grade standards are determined by using a spectrophotometer to measure percent of light transmission, then applying flavor descriptors based on color.
The differences in color come in a large part from the sugar content of the sap (sap, not syrup): As spring warms up, sugar content goes down and it takes longer to cook late-season sap into syrup, giving it a darker color.
The 33rd president of the United States Harry S. Truman didn’t really have a middle name. S was just S, nothing more. Apparently, it’s a common practice for Scots-Irish folk.
I very much apologise for my absence these past few months. Things have been pretty rough on my end with a bit of job — and apartment — hunting as well as preparations for my departure from my first real job after college, which ended a few weeks ago. Now with more spare time on my hands, I aim to return to blog writing — when I can — while I’m still job hunting and looking for my next step — and cleaning up my daily routine/my messy cave I call “my bedroom.”
I hope you had/are having a holiday season and took the time to relax and treat yourself to something special — aside from all the crazy, stressful holiday preparations, shopping, cooking, etc. you’ve put yourself through thus far.
Here is my gift to you — if you can call it that — a(n attempt at a) series of 12 blog posts to catch you up with my life thus far, highlighting the few most memorable moments of the past…9 months (?) I’ve missed in blogging time.
Diverse Shades of Green 