Taking a Break

I'll be back in a few weeks.

Bento Lunch - Cross Cultural Minglement

Top container - Cajun blackened chicken from my Blackened Chicken with Fettuccine Alfredo recipe.
Second container - Steamed broccoli florets
Rice container - Fettuccine Alfredo
Soup container - Coconut Sticky Rice

I've been craving this for a while. I made a less fancy, bastardized version of my blackened chicken and fettuccine alfredo (from memory, and I omitted the tomato).

The Coconut Sticky Rice is a Thai dessert, typically served with mango, that I really like. It's like a heavy coconut-flavored rice pudding. To make it, you cook up some short-grain (also known as "sweet" or "glutenous") rice and cook it according to this recipe. Don't add the vinegar, sugar and stuff to it. After it's done cooking you add a sauce made from coconut milk and sugar and let it stand until the sauce is absorbed.

If you're not serving this with mango you can sprinkle a little cinnamon or cardamom on top. It's really good. I could get fat on this stuff.

I just realized my lunch is insanely carb-heavy. Better push myself extra hard tonight on the treadmill.

Mourning Heath Ledger

I found out about it yesterday afternoon, but didn't know what to say.

Death of Heath Ledger
Covering a Celebrity's Death

It's always tragic to know when someone who's near or at the peak of their game dies unexpectedly. You don't want to see rising stars fall, especially when you don't suspect that there might be something wrong.

I enjoyed Mr. Ledger's movies and looked forward to the challenging roles he would have played had he not died suddenly. I still look forward to seeing him in The Dark Knight. I think he will make an excellent Joker and I'm sad that we won't get to see him in the third installment of Nolan and Bale's Batman incarnation.

I recommend The Four Feathers, Brokeback Mountain, and Monster's Ball. I haven't yet seen Ned Kelly or The Brothers Grimm.

New Sidebar Link - Eating Single

One of my friends from high school has started a new blog on eating solo. I've added a link to it on my side bar.

It's called Eating Single. Go check it out.

Singing, "Ay, Oh, Ay, Oh, Ay, Oh, Ay"

I heard this song on the radio this morning for the first time. Lets you know how out-of-touch I am with what's going on with the world.

It was catchy and put me in a good mood. It's definitely something I'm going to need to download and add to my running/party playlists.

The song is Santana and Chris Kroeger's collaboration, Into The Night.

Bento Lunch - The Return of Mr. Bento!

It only took me almost a month to start bringing lunch to work! (one of my goals for the year)

Today I have:

Top container - two pieces of chicken satay, broken up to fit
2nd container - Bird's Eye Steamfresh mixed vegetables, seasoned with salt & pepper
Rice container - stir-fried noodles topped with peanut sauce
Soup container - almond jello

The stir-fried noodles and chicken satay were leftovers from last night - the recipe borrowed heavily from Ellie Krieger's recipe. I didn't feel the peanut sauce was spicy enough, but then again I omitted the curry paste. Shame on me. The noodles were just spaghetti noodles cooked to al dente, then stir fried with frozen vegetables in a wok. I was most disappointed with the frozen vegetable mix I used so I don't think I'll be trying that again the next time I make this dish. I'll probably just use fresh vegetables and stir fry those before adding the noodles.

I saw the Bird's Eye Steamfresh veggies at the supermarket, and was intrigued. I think they're probably slightly more expensive than regular frozen vegetables, but if it's easy and good to eat, I think I can justify the extra cost. You just throw the package in the microwave, bag and all, and nuke it for about five minutes. The specially designed bag steams the vegetables to perfection. I was really impressed when I pulled them out of the microwave this morning. Hopefully they're as impressive when I reheat them at lunchtime.

Almond jello is one of my favorite childhood desserts. It's a fairly Asian thing, and something my mom would only make on occasion, which is funny considering how easy and yummy it is.

I don't really follow a recipe, although I know there is one in one of my Asian cookbooks. Basically you combine Knox gelatin with water and milk (the recipes I've seen use "real" milk, although in my experience I've only add dry milk to make enough for the amount of water that I used), sugar, and almond extract. Then you put it in the refrigerator to set. (There are more exact recipes floating around on the net if you do a search)

I completely spaced it at the grocery store and forgot to get fruit cocktail (you know they sell a tropical fruit cocktail at Ralph's too, but without nata de coco, which is the whole point of getting tropical fruit cocktail), so I guess this was a trial run. I'm sure I'll get better at it the more often I make lunch for myself. Does it count that I brought a banana and an orange for myself today?

Book Review - If Love is a Game, These are the Rules

Most self-help books aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Most of them are filled with some of the most unloving language possible, blaming the other sex for your relationship problems, immature coping techniques, etc. Most I think create more drama than they resolve.

I'm most probably not the most emotionally mature 24 year old on the planet, and the past month has certainly not been a good one for me in terms of maturity. However, at least I see that flaw on me and I know it's something I can work on.

I first read major portions of If Love is a Game, These are the Rules in Barnes and Noble about a year ago. This book is without a doubt the most honest, truly open book on fixing ourselves and by extension our relationships. How do we authentically get the love we truly want and deserve? How do we build a sense of our own self-worth? How do we maintain love once we've found it? This book will teach you that and more.

It's worth more than its weight in gold-pressed latinum. Worth much more than all the other books on who wants who, who's right, who's wrong, who needs to change to make you happy. Go out and get it. Even if you're in a solid relationship, the insights in this book are invaluable.

Hershey Hunt

Chocolate Syrup is one of the things I have trouble finding in the grocery store.

There just doesn't seem to be a logical place for it.

I was at Ralph's today looking for some of that Hershey's good stuff, but the only stuff I could find was the gigantic bottle near the ice cream that would top enough sundaes for a busload of 6-year-olds.

If you're wondering what a semi-healthy girl like me is doing looking for Chocolate Syrup instead of mini dark chocolate bars or fruit or some other "more healthy" option, here's why. Studies have shown that chocolate milk works just as well as more-expensive high-tech sports drinks.

I went to the aisle where the peanut butter was. I went up and down the ice cream aisle.

Something tells me chocolate syrup is next to the marshmallows, which is next to the jell-o, which is in the baking aisle.

I'll test my theory the next time I go grocery shopping.

Divided

I want to be in a relationship but I don't want to be with someone who doesn't want me, someone who doesn't, for want of a better term, suck.
I want to be single but I hate waking up in the morning to myself in the cold. I hate not having anyone to share my life with.
I feel like I'm missing a huge part of why I'm single and yet other people's advice seriously annoys me. I'm convinced that every theory on why single people are single is full of enough cow manure you could swim in it.
I feel like I have a lot going on for me but I can't enjoy it because I can't get this stupid last puzzle piece into place. It's an empty satisfaction without someone to share it with.
I don't know my soul mate yet I don't want to go out and meet new people. I'm tired of meeting new people because they always end up so disappointing.
I hate spending nights in my apartment alone. Shouldn't I be doing something more fun or social?
I end up not turning people down because I don't have anything else on my agenda. So I spend time with people who I know aren't going to turn into something significant for me because I have no better alternative.
They say the best way to meet a new significant other is to meet friends of friends, but I'm sick of doing all the social things my friends want to do because they never reciprocate and want to do the things I do. Maybe I need to find better friends, but I don't know how to go about doing that. No one I know is into all the diverse things I'm into, so I end up having a set of friends to read books with, a set of friends to go to happy hour with, a set of friends to play board games with, etc. Are there no more three dimensional people out there?

Maybe I'm just boring. But I don't know how to make myself more interesting.

I just don't know why everything has to be on everyone else's terms. It's not fair at all. (What the fuck is up with all the men who don't want girlfriends? It really hurts, you know!) Why can't something be on my terms for once?

It's really tempting to throw my cell phone into the Pacific and not replace it. I'm tired of hoping that guys might call me (regardless of whether or not they want me). Let's face it, the only people who call me who really want to talk to me are my parents, and only because they want to keep track of me and dictate how I should live my life.

I'm going to end up being a spinster because I'm so craved for emotional affection that I'll scare off anyone who's seriously interested. Anyone I don't scare off will be the controlling nightmare freaks that I don't want to be with anyway.

Sample

I realize this is of a private nature, but I also think there are a lot of women who don't take their reproductive health seriously enough. So maybe, in an off chance, my writing about my experience will help someone be less nervous about the whole thing, or inspire someone to start taking better care of themselves. Or, more likely, I'll satisfy someone's (probably a guy's) curiosity.

I went to the OBGYN today for a follow-up Pap on a colposcopy. I was supposed to have it done months ago but I was being really lazy.

Every time I go into the office there's a nurse who takes my blood pressure and my weight (102/70 and 144 lbs today). Then she asks me to give a urine sample. They have a little bathroom so it's not like I'm out in the hall or anything. There's a cupboard that you put the cup in that's connected to the other side so when you're done with the bathroom they can pull the cup out without having to go in. It's kind of elegant but threw me for a loop the first time I went there.

I get a little annoyed about having to give a urine sample. Partly because they use it for a pregnancy test which costs an additional $20 after insurance (which I already know will be negative and it's something I could do at home for less), and partly because I feel like urine samples are for drug tests and I'm definitely not *on* anything. Before I started going to this clinic I never had to give urine samples when I went to the OBGYN. Then again, I always went to the campus clinic before I hit the "real world".

The mischievous side of me wants to start writing "TreeTop" or "Mott's" or "Lemon-Lime" on the cup instead of my name, but I don't think it's very nice of me to take my frustration out on the nurse who is just executing a policy that she probably didn't even come up with.

After the urine sample the nurse leads me to an examination room with a table that has a gown and a drape on it. Theoretically you're supposed to strip, put the gown on (opening in front - it's like a paper bathrobe), crack the door, then sit on the table and put the drape over your legs. I *think* the doctor is only supposed to do breast exams once every three years, so in an off year I'm not sure what the gown is for if you only have to take your pants and underwear off.

The doctor comes in, asks some questions about when your last period was and if you have any questions or concerns. Then they have you put your feet in these "stirrups" and you lay back for the exam. It's really the most undignified position you can be in, but things will go a lot better if you let your knees fall to the sides and relax. A sense of humor helps, too. The exam room I was in today had a little poster on the ceiling that said, "Relax" and had a photo of a monkey making a funny face. The doctor inserts a speculum and collects the sample for the Pap smear. There's a plastic brush that the doctor brushes/rubs over the cervix. It's never hurt me but can feel kind of weird or uncomfortable. After the Pap the doctor does a pelvic examination. The doctor lubes two fingers of one hand, inserts it, and puts the other hand on top of your tummy to check out things like the size of your ovaries and your uterus. Sometimes this doesn't hurt at all, sometimes it really hurts. Sometimes it hurt so much you're walking around funny for the rest of the day. Actually, that only happened to me once.

After that you're pretty much done. The doctor leaves, and you can put your clothes back on and take for the hills. Sometimes the doctor will have you come back to their office to talk about any concerns or when they would like to see you again.

You should get a phone call or a note from the office in a few weeks (no longer than three) to find out what the results of your Pap are. If you get an abnormal result you'll probably have to go in for a colposcopy, which can be pretty scary but it didn't hurt at all like the horror stories I've read on the internet. So if I have to have one of those done again I'll probably blog the experience.

If I haven't convinced you that women need to do this once a year, I even have an extra-helpful reason: women who get Pap smears tend to clear HPV infections, and there seems to be a correlation. So if for no other reason (you can even request other STD/STI screenings at the clinic), you should get that done.

So there you have it. A sample girl-parts check-up.