sprinkle's strawberry cupcake recipe

I was supposed to visit my besties today at Google but had to cancel last minute due to Tater drama. It was a very last minute decision to not go and I was super disappointed to have to reschedule, after all, I had already prepared for the trip. And by "prepared for the trip" I mean "made some delicious cupcakes." No guest should ever visit a person empty handed, in this girl's opinion.

A few weeks ago I shamefully stood in line for over an hour for something that did not result in a roller coaster ride or an iPhone 3G. It was for a Sprinkles Cupcake. Was it worth it? Yes. Would I stand in line that long ever again for a cupcake? No. But I mean, you can't live in SoCal and not try a Sprinkles cupcake at least once. It was my fault, I came two hours before closing and everyone else that thought "Hey, a cupcake would be a fun way to end the evening" was there along with me.

Imagine my delight when I found THE Sprinkles Cupcake strawberry recipe posted on Martha Stewart's website! Since it's strawberry season, and well, I am Strawberry, I just had to test it out. Results: absolutely delicious! And good thing is, you can use frozen strawberries and enjoy this delicious recipe all year long!

Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes

Ingredients
For Cupcakes:
2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt (or regular salt if you don't have coarse salt)
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg whites, room temperature

For frosting:
1/2 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
Pinch of coarse salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

HINT: Don't just set eggs on your counter, because, uh, eggs roll.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.

2. Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.

4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.

5. With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.

6. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

7. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not overmix or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.

I added two different pink sugar sprinkles just for looks, but these babies are delicious with or without any kind of decoration. Mine didn't rise very high because I used self-rising flour instead of all-purpose flour which the recipe called for (I didn't have any and didn't feel like going to the grocery store), but it didn't affect taste at all.

tater tot the toothless wonder

A while ago Tater Tot and Smokey the Bandit (the raccoon that comes and steals cat food from us every night) got into an epic battle which surely would have ended with Tater Tot in a pool of blood and Smokey sneaking off into the night with cat food in his hands had my dad not broken it up. Tater Tot is all bark and no bite. He talks the talk, but can't walk the walk, and I don't know if any of you have ever seen an angry raccoon, but they friggin' run the walk. That's how intense they are.

Needless to say, I urged my parents to take Tater to the Vet to get rabies shots but since Tater acted fine post-battle they sort of forgot about it. Today I decided I should take him just to get checked out and get an update on all of his vaccinations. Not to mention, yesterday I noticed that one of his teeth was missing and I had a flashback to a few months back when yanked a cat food can from his mouth and thought, "OH NO, I pulled out one of his teeth!" I didn't do a thorough inspection or anything, but I figured it would be worth bringing up to the veterinarian if I was going to be in there anyway.

One hour, 3 walks around the parking lot, and lots of whining at the female pomeranian in heat sitting in the waiting room (hence the walks outside), I was informed by the veterinarian that Tater Tot's gums are severely infected. I don't know how this could happen. He gets professionally groomed ALL the time and they always brush his teeth. Supposedly. I know it isn't their fault, but I am very disappointed that they never brought it up to me that his teeth are in such bad shape. Do you ever inspect your dog's pearly whites? Because I don't!

Well, after I stopped crying hysterically and found a hankerchief in my purse to semi-compose myself, the vet let me know that for sure his front teeth need to be extracted, possibly more, and the infected pieces of gums need to be removed. It's horrible, I know, but the first thought that flashed through my head was How much is this going to cost?

The first thing I asked, though, was "Well how is he going to eat?" I imagined Tater, toothless, drooling as he tried to nom on some leftover tamale casserole. And the waterworks started again. The vet tried to calm me down, and let me know that dogs don't really need their front teeth at all, and a lot of dogs lose their teeth and they eat just fine. So why even get the surgery, then? Well, turns out that if the infection isn't removed then it can spread into the bloodstream and then into the heart and then HE CAN DIE. Clearly, I really had no options in this. The vet told me she needed to go work out an estimate for the surgery, which of course meant it was going to cost a lot.

In total, it's going to be around $550 (give or take $50 depending on how many teeth they end up removing). So, faithful bloggers, I'm putting up a "Tater Tot the Toothless Wonder" donation button for the next three weeks. Ya, donation buttons can be lame, but y'know what? I'm moving to China and don't really have an disposable income at the moment, so desperate times call for desperate measures. No pressure.

superlatives make my stomach hurt

I know "superlatives" isn't exactly a word you see in your every day life, but every time I do see it I always think it says "superlaxatives". Isn't that weird? "Superlaxatives" isn't even something real, so why do I have such a mental block when it comes to that word? Maybe it's because I was co-in charge of my high school yearbook's superlatives my senior year and I have horrible memories tallying up votes for countless hours.

One of the coordinators for my grad program thought it would be a good idea to create a yearbook for this year's cohort, and of course you can't have a yearbook without having superlatives. The categories were mostly inside jokes (our creepy research professor won "biggest flirt") and I ended up winning "most likely to be stalked by a Chinese man". I guess they have a thing for redheads, which is convenient for me. I had my fingers crossed for "most likely to wrestle a panda bear", but a guy won that one.

temporarily cracked or permanently broken?

Andy asked me to be a guest blogger on her blog this weekend, and since it's titled Life Isn't So Terrible After All, I thought a discussion of relationships would be appropriate. You can also find this on her website.


Relationships are all about ebs and flows. No matter how hard we try, no one can be perfect 24/7, and because of this our relationships will suffer from time to time. It's important to recognize when these bumps in the road are happening, and to evaluate whether your bond with your significant other is temporarily cracked, or permanently broken. And there is a difference. A "hard time" does not necessarily indicate an "impossible time," and the most effective way to measure where you think your relationship is really headed (out of the darkness and into the light, or to splitsville) is to know yourself. Know what you want and need from a relationship. Know the things about yourself that require work in order to make you happy. Know your limits and where you are willing to make sacrifices and compromises, and where you will put your foot down.

And if things just aren't working with someone, and you've tried your best, know when it's time to let go. Being the one to make this decision is not easy by any means. Sure, it gives you the upper hand (whatever that means), and you get to be the "dumper" rather than the "dumped", but there is no denying that breaking up sucks no matter how you slice it. The problem with being the "dumper" in a relationship void of any obvious flaws like emotional/physical abuse or infidelity, is that oftentimes you feel like breaking up is your only option. It's difficult to quantify feeling unappreciated or unsupported, or to put a statistical number to how much effort you put into the relationship versus your lover. So when we find ourselves leaving a partner for these reasons, even if it is our choice, we can still feel rejected, unhappy, and confused.

We wonder what we did wrong to merit such treatment. Why couldn't he just call me every day? Why was it such a battle to get him to support my goals and achievements? What did I do to deserve such emotional neglect? The problem with these questions is they have no answers and the more you think about them, the harder it will be to get over a split with your loved one. There is no true closure when a relationship ends, because no matter how many "Why did this happen to us?" conversations you have with your EX, you never get the answers you want, and usually end up having more than when you started the conversation 3 hours ago (get off the phone, already!).

My advice? Recognize that this relationship is permanently broken, and no amount of conversational glue will put it back together. If you are in the position of "dumper" because you felt unappreciated and emotionally neglected, realize that your partner is not going to change just because you want them to. I am someone that truly believes people can and do change, but a person needs to want to change on their own, not because someone asked them to. If you ask a partner to change and they truly do not think in their heart that they need to change, then they'll stay the same, and maybe even resent you for thinking they need to change.

After a break-up, take time away from talking to your EX. It's easier said than done, but in the end, you cannot continue talking to a lover like nothing has changed when you two are no longer in a relationship. Friendships can often be fostered from failed romantic relationships, but these friendships DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT, happen over night. Spend at least a few weeks not talking to your EX, they are your EX after all and hence should no longer be a huge part of your life. Use this time to work on you, to spend time with friends you didn't get to see a lot because you were in a relationship, and to re-connect with people you haven't talked to in a while (Facebook is great for this).

Every dark cloud has a silver lining. One relationship in your life may be coming to an end, but this gives you a chance to be selfish for once in your life and focus all your energy on yourself rather than a lover, to do things your EX never wanted to do, and to meet new people. When you feel down and out and think you might have made the wrong decision, think of the reasons why you are where you are and try to remember that this is a positive change in your life, even though it might feel hard at times. And then eat a cupcake, they always help.

how to tell if your mother reads your blog

Sure, you could check your visitor stats, but seriously, who has time for that?

The easiest way to tell if your mother reads your blog is to make a post about Playboy Bunnies and then wait three days for this book to coincidentally be sent to you:

I'll let you know how it works out for me. I'm good at pretending to be flirtatious and outgoing (my license plate frame says "Let's get dirty in my 4x4", an impulse county fair purchase four years ago), but in reality I have no idea how to flirt. I think I have actually flirted with men in my life, but I'm never fully aware of when I'm doing it or if they realize I'm trying to flirt with them. In my non-expert opinion, flirting is 60% giggling and 40% touching the guy and saying things like "You're so funny!", perhaps the Bunnies will shed some light on this for me. I wonder if there's a chapter on boob jobs.

Sigh, this post makes me miss Martini even more than I did before. COME BACK!!!

put. down. the. lolcat.

I apologize to anyone who has been a victim of my late-night, not completely sober, LOLcat-ing recently. In my opinion, it's way more awesome than drunk dialing, but also slightly more bizarre. Especially to those people who don't know what LOLcats are. Anyway, I am sorry to those of you who received an image like this posted on your blog or Facebook wall over the weekend:

DRUNK LOLZING
IZ RELAVINT
2 MAI INTRSTS.

WHY SO SERIOUS

Despite having bought our Dark Knight tickets three days early, we still had to wait in line for 2 1/2 hours. It. was. totally. worth. it. Not only did I get to watch sexy Christian Bale with a shirt off for probably an hour of screen time, but the audience was awesome and a bunch of theater employees got really into it and dressed up like characters. This photograph was taken right before we battled to the death:

Clearly, I won. Batman always wins.

Did anyone else noticed Cilian Murphy's 10 second cameo? Is he going to be a major character in a future Batman installment? I hope so!

Also, I need some male input on this, Maggie Gyllenhal is fug, right? I mean, she looks like a troll, doesn't she? I just didn't see her fitting in as a love interest, but then again her predecessor Katie Holmes was in the same league, that is, the not-sexy-chick league. Who do you think would have made a better Rachel? I think Charlize Theron would have been a good pick, maybe Anne Hathaway. Yeah, Anne Hathaway for sure. She has that good girl quality that a Batman love interests need, but is still gorgeous. Or Rachel McAdams! Thoughts?

holy self-indulgent shopping spree, batman!

I am a woman. A 20-something year old, fashion forward, label hungry woman. Which means I'll pretty much use any excuse to go shopping. So, when I made plans with some friends to see Dark Knight tomorrow evening, my mind immediately began to race with all of the fun outfit possibilities. After kicking ass and taking names during my Chinese final this morning (I got an A, thank you), I hopped into my Jeep and raced to the mall, with visions of this shirt in my head:

Seriously, I could not believe they still had some left. I was panicky all day thinking they might have sold out, but they had it, and in a size S, too! It's a men's shirt, so it's still pretty big, but it doesn't matter because it's so cute and topical. I love topical clothing. Who am I kidding, I love all clothing, but I like my graphic tees to be somewhat socially relevant.

I convinced my friends to buy Dark Knight tickets early, which makes me way less anxious about what everyone is projecting will be a CRAZY opening weekend. 9:30 p.m. showing, baby. I'm so excited. I have this weird thing for comic book movies. I'm tempted to use the word "obsession", but I think that might be a little strong, especially since I have never so much as held a real-life comic book. Maybe I just have a thing for buff dudes in tights. Whatever it is, I always go to comic book movies opening weekend (Spiderman 1, 2, and 3 I went to midnight showings) because opening weekend audiences are always so pumped up and psyched to be there. Sometimes they even clap, which I sort of think is really lame, but whatever, it makes me feel more involved with the whole movie-going experience.

In the spirit of milking a sure-thing for as much money as possible, Domino's has introduced a Gotham City Pizza. Basically it's just a normal pepperoni pizza, but they throw around the word "cloak" in their advertisements and slapped on a Batman logo, and presto, you have a Dark Knight pizza. You know I'm ordering one both before and after--maybe during, will they deliver to a movie theater?--the movie. Ultimate nom-age.

let them (read: me) eat cake

I went to Disneyland with my mom and little sister yesterday and sometime between lunch and dinner they forced me to eat this:


By forced I mean they had to follow me through 4 different lands (Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Frontierland) until I finally found this adorable but overpriced squiggly concoction of grease and sugar, two minutes before the restaurant closed, no doubt. Okay, so what? you might ask. It's just funnel cake. Well, I "gave up" dessert last month in an effort to live a healthier lifestyle. I still allow myself to eat frozen yogurt, because a life without frozen yogurt is a life that's not worth living, if you ask me, but I have noticed significant changes in my appearances over the past dessert-free month. I have lost 6 pounds without making any other lifestyle changes and have honestly never felt physically better in my life.

However, the universe is a strange thing, and when one thing in your life is going awesome, it is a known fact that something else in your life has to suffer, which is why I absolutely needed that funnel cake yesterday. It actually ended up not being delicious at all, the strawberry topping was insanely sweet and tasted more like strawberry room spray than a strawberry from the earth. But it seemed like an absolute necessity at the time, and actually did provide me with about 15 seconds of pure joy. Which is a lesson we can all learn from: funnel cake, as tempting and necessary as it may seem, will not solve any of your problems. At least not in any long-term sense.

Similar logic kept me from irrationally chopping off my hair, thank gawd. As I was dialing the number to the salon I realized, sure, it would be a big change and make me feel in control of me during a time in my life where I feel particularly not in control, but then I realized I would wake up the next day and recognize that nothing in my life had really changed. Only now I also hated my short hair cut.

breaking up...is sometimes easy

If you live in the Playboy Mansion and happen to be named Hugh Hefner, that is. Can you imagine an environment MORE conducive to getting over a break-up? Because I can't.

How am I supposed to have any faith in love if the bunnies can't even stay together? Incidentally, Kendra was my least favorite Hefner girlfriend, so I'm glad she got the boot (and you all know that's really the issue, not her so called "empire"). It's all about Bridget, UOP alumni unite!

woof woof, chow chow

Way back in April (it's nearly August, people!), I wrote about Martha Stewart's Chow Chow named Paw Paw passing away. The story particularly touched me because I had recently lost a dog, too, and knew the sadness that comes after losing a pet. While I didn't lose any sleep over Martha's loss, I am happy to see that she is going to get a puppy soon! And, to top it off, they're from the same bloodline as Paw Paw! Isn't that precious?

Okay, but seriously, how cute are Chow Chow puppies? They're just like pomeranians, only huge. I've heard they make great guard dogs, too, something which Tater Tot is admittedly not great at being. I mean, he barks, but he also weighs 7 pounds so any intruder could just drop kick him with minimal effort then continue stealing all my great stuff.

happy bastille day!

I have been fortunate enough to actually be in France (and Paris, at that) for several Bastille Day celebrations, and us Americans can talk all the smack we want about the French, but they friggin' know how to throw a party. Fireworks, wine, cheese, pastries...sounds like heaven to me. Check out my favorite cupcake artist Cakespy's Frenchy creation in honor of the holiday:

The Eiffel tower AND cupcakes? Awesome x infinity. If you're friends with me in real life and I have your e-mail address, you've probably been bombarded recently with a slew of SomeEcards because I pretty much think they are the funniest thing ever right now in my life. They're mostly totally random and sarcastic and have crazy pictures that usually don't have anything to do with the text.

To be fair, I don't care about the Fourth of July, either. Ya, I said it.

"are you here to make friends? cause i'm not here to make friends"

This is the best video ever. In the world. I'm not exaggerating.

If you go on to a reality TV show where a prize is involved, you are required to say "I'm not here to make friends" at least once. You'll probably even say it twice, or three dozen times if you're on Flavor of Love (this is flavor of love, not flavor of friendship).

I shared this video with some old high school friends, and one of them came up with a great idea. There should be a reality show where the only goal is to make friends, and if you don't make enough friends, they kick you off. And, at the end, the prize money would be fake, and the judges would say, "Your reward for winning is...all your new friends!" and then they'd punch you in the nuts for being such a moron and going on reality TV.

MY MIND HAS BEEN BLOWN

I have spent 23 years of my life thinking I was an Ox. I was born in 1985 and have been told that was my Chinese astrological sign since we celebrated the Chinese New Year back in preschool. Well, three days ago in my Chinese language class my life was turned upside down when I found out that I'm really a rat. I feel like I have been living a lie the past two decades. I can't believe I never put it together myself. Chinese New Year is in February (or the end of January), so clearly January 2nd counts as the year previous. So, according to the Chinese I was born in 1984, which makes this my year, since 2008 is the year of the rat. No wonder things have been looking up. It's all about the rat, baby.

Interestingly, both of my parents are also rats. My family is just filled with good luck!

In other less exciting news, I broke up with Rod. It was one of those things that was going to happen sooner or later (read: I am moving to China for who knows how long), so well, it happened. Maybe I'll talk about it in more detail some day, but today is not that day.

truer words have never been spoken

"After that it got pretty late, and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again. I... I realized what a terrific person she was, and... and how much fun it was just knowing her; and I... I, I thought of that old joke, y'know, the, this... this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs."
Woody Allen as Alvy Singer, Annie Hall

I'm hesitant about posting youtube links since my last youtube video of a MadTV Keeping Up With The Kardashians parody has since been removed, but this is my favorite scene from my favorite movie of all time, so I'm going to post it anyway. Plus, the above quote is so much better when you actually hear Woody Allen saying it.



For now, I'm okay without the eggs. They're too high in cholesterol, anyway.

happy fireworks day!

I hope everyone is going to have a fun and safe holiday! What are your plans? I'm meeting up with some friends from high school in San Diego for an all day BBQ and celebrating extravaganza. I had to make an emergency Forever21 run last night to purchase something patriotic for the event. If you're throwing a party or going to one, remember that everyone loves cupcakes! The ones above are from my personal Guru, aka Martha Stewart. I really like the white frosting and fresh berries look, it is very sophisticated yet playful because it's a cupcake! Even if you don't have cupcake plans for your Fourth of July, make sure to have a great day and enjoy lots of fireworks, like these cupcakes from Cupcake Project did.

four is a horrible number

Four is pretty much one of the unluckiest numbers ever, according to Chinese beliefs. But, I'm bored and Frank posted this so I will, too, since I never do memes. Maybe you'll learn a few things about me, who knows, anything is possible with a meme.

Four jobs I've had:
1. Greeter at two different restaurants
2. Resident Assistant...something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy
3. Property management assistant (I have my California real estate license!)
4. Columnist for a regional music and art monthly publication

Four movies I can watch over and over again:
1. Old School
2. The Big Lebowski
3. Sixteen Candles
4. Superbad

Four places I've lived:
1. Stockton, California
2. Madrid, Spain
3. Pau, France
4. Irvine, California

Four authors I could read over and over:
1. David Sedaris
2. J.D. Salinger
3. John Steinbeck
4. Anthony Bourdain

Four TV shows I love:
1. Family Guy
2. Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?
3. Top Chef
4. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations

Four places I've vacationed:
1. Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
2.Kauai and Oahu, Hawaii
3. Paris, France
4. Mykonos, Greece

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
2. Lean cuisine pizza
3. Salad with cilantro, avocado, and fresh lemon juice
4. Yogurt and honey

Four sites I visit daily:
1. All the ones listed in my "favorite sites"
2. Facebook
3. All four of my e-mail accounts
4. iGoogle

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Laughing on the couch with Rod
2. Home with Tater Tot
3. Under the Eiffel Tower
4. Hanging out in San Francisco

best banana bread ever

This is the only recipe I carry on me at all times. Seriously, I have it folded up in my wallet. It might seem weird, but trust me, it has come in handy so many times when I'm at home for a weekend or staying with a friend for a few days. People always buy too many bananas. I don't care who you are or how many people are in your family or how much potassium you have to eat on a daily basis, you will buy too many bananas and they will turn brown and mooshy and inedible, and you will throw them away. Not anymore! Print out this recipe or jot it down on a scrap piece of paper and keep it with you at all times. Trust me, you will use it. More than once. I feel like Mom buys too many bananas solely because she knows that it breaks my heart to see them end up in the trash and wants me to make banana bread.

Some people can take or leave banana bread. I, on the other hand, absolutely love it, and have hence perfected this recipe after many trials, errors, and taste testings. I've had this recipe for a while and don't remember where I found it, but I've altered it to be a slightly healthier by using mostly egg whites instead of the whole egg, and opting for fat-free milk. Plus, it has like 3 bananas in it. That's good for you, right?

Best Banana Bread Ever



Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
7 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
3 bananas
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cups fat free milk
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl. Beat well at medium speed of mixer.

2. Combine bananas, oats, and milk. Add to sugar mixture from step one, beat well.

3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, level with knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and stir with a whisk.

4. Add to sugar mixture and beat until moist.

5. Put in 9x5 loaf pan coated with spray. Alternatively, you could use a mini-loaf pan or a mini-muffin tin, or both. I used both because I doubled the recipe and had a ton of batter. We had a LOT of over-ripe bananas.

6. Bake large loaf for approximately 1 hour and ten minutes, or until golden brown. The mini-loaf pan will take approximately 40 minutes, but I would continue to check on the bread every few minutes after 30 minutes passes, as baking times differ from stove to stove. Mini-muffin banana bread takes about the same amount of time (40 minutes).





This is the first time I made this recipe using a mini-muffin tin and I loved the results. If you're not going to eat this right away after cooling, make sure to wrap them in plastic wrap and throw them in the fridge. This recipe yields very moist and light banana bread, but if you find after a day or two (if it lasts that long!) that it has gotten somewhat dry, just wrap it in a moist paper towel and pop it in the microwave for 15 seconds. It brings back the moisture and makes it nice and warm.

Twin loves this recipe so much that once when she was feeling pretty homesick in college I FedExed her a loaf overnight for $32. A lot of money, I know, but it was worth it!

wanted: prince charming

Twin isn't getting married anytime soon, but I found her the perfect cake today from the fabulous bakery Pink Cake Box. Sadly, they're all the way in New Jersey, but since Twin is single, I think we have some time to find a local bakery that would be able to make something similar in time for the (eventual) wedding.



Oh, and for her bridal shower? A glass slipper cake, of course!



My favorite cake was an adorable cat and pizza novelty cake:



Substitute the cats with Pomeranians, and you're speaking my language. I think this cake would make a super cute birthday cake for someone that loves their pets and pizza...just like me! This, uh, was a cake made FOR the pets, though. In the product description from Pink Cake Box, the baker writes, "A couple recently approached us and asked if we could make a cake for their cats. They were planning to have a pizza party celebrating their cats birthday and wanted a cake to match the theme." I swear to G, if I ever even pretend to want to spend 300 dollars on a cake for Tater Tot, someone punch me in the face. That is straight up not normal. I don't care how much you consider your animals to be "a part of your family," there is no way they need a cake that costs several hundred dollars that they can't even eat.

strawberry, to the rescue!

So I have no idea what is going on with these Targets in the SoCal area, but I've only been living here for two weeks and my two most amazing moments thus far have occurred in Target stores. Maybe it's just chance, these things could have happened anywhere, but by freak accident happened at Target. Maybe it has to do with probability, I spend most of my free time in Target so of course I'm going to have most of my non-school experiences there. Maybe it's like that whole salmonella outbreak with tomatoes where restaurants stopped selling them and then they were super expensive in grocery stores and then reports came out that officials aren't even sure if it really was tomatoes that were the cause of the outbreaks and I don't really know where I'm going with that example but it was really annoying to not be able to find tomatoes anywhere. Who knows what it is, but last week I met a celebrity in the school-supply aisle, and this week I became a hero in cosmetics.

I was wandering aimlessly from section to section, as I tend to do in Target, before landing in the exercise aisle and trying out a few different free weights. I spent a few minutes there, trying to convince myself how much I need and will use a pair of pink 3 pounders. I was just about to put the weights in my cart but then got distracted when a woman, frantic, ran up to the Target associate a few feet away from me and started shrieking about losing her son. The associate acted very calm and proceeded through a series of questions and actions that much have been stressed during her training period because she had the system down pat, let me tell ya. Anyway, within 30 seconds the employee had been able to calm the mother down enough to get a physical description of her son, the child's last known location, and then the associate whipped out her walkie talkie and radioed everyone in the store that a "code yellow" was in process. I understand what it feels like to lose a child (dog, in my case) so the situation wasn't funny, per se, but I was sort of amused by the whole "code yellow" schpeal. I mean, I didn't laugh or anything, but I definitely could have laughed. If I wasn't four feet away from the distressed mom.

Suddenly a storm of red and khaki figures were descending on the scene from all angles, and after a quick pow wow they all went running off in different directions in search of the missing child. Normally, if someone's child were missing, I would chip in with the search, but there were so many people already looking I figured I would just get in the way. So I continued with my shopping, making sure to glance down each aisle as I passed, just in case I saw the boy.

Ten minutes had passed and I was on the opposite side of the store, debating which SPF would best suit my every day needs (see yesterday's post re: sunburn) when I heard a faint rumble rumble squeak rumble coming towards me. I looked up from the oil-free SPF 45 and toward the noise and saw a little boy, all by himself, riding a tricycle. He didn't look lost or scared, but I had a feeling it was the lost kid from earlier, so I leaned down and in my most non-threatening voice I said Hi little boy, I think your mommy is looking for you. His hand shot up from the tricycle immediately and grabbed mine, and, bending down closer to the tricycle, I pulled him on the bike to the nearest Target employee who was able to get him back to his mom. In other words, I saved the day. Unfortunately, there was far less fanfare and confetti than I would have liked, but it still felt pretty good.

the sun burn cometh

I am the only person I know who could go outside for 30 minutes wearing SPF 15 and get sunburned. Not only did I take preventative measures to spare myself from the harmful effects of too much sun, but I was also mostly in the shade. Three months from now when I've been without a glimpse of sunshine for weeks in smog-covered China, I'll be praying for blue skies and yellow sunbeams. For now, though, I'm gonna go ahead and raise a recently manicured middle finger in the sun's general direction. Tomorrow, I'll be using SPF 30.

it's kind of sad, really

Twin sent me this from cuteoverload.com today, it would be funnier if it wasn't actually sort of true:



For real, though, Chinese people do eat dog. I guess in some cities guys bike around with these carts that have puppies tied to the back, which people buy then cook. SICK. How about I just buy a bunch and have a whole apartment filled with cute puppies. Then when they turn into not-so-cute dogs, I can release them into the wild and buy a new batch. I'm totally kidding. My apartment is strictly no pets.

well, at least someone will care about this blog when i'm in china

I guess in the back of my mind I was aware of it, but I didn't fully appreciate the extent of Chinese censorship until last night. Every Tuesday night all us graduate students have to meet for "highly encouraged" informational sessions from 7-9 P.M., because we're not insanely busy or anything. Last night the first 45 minutes were spent by some guy talking about his experience working as a ministry in Hong Kong which couldn't have been more boring to me. I mean, religion is cool and all, but I have no intentions of "spreading the word" in China, so I don't really care about effective and safe ways to do so.

On the plus side, there was an alumnus there to share her experiences on living, working, and studying in China, and that was really interesting. She mostly talked about the shock of Chinese toilets (they're squat toilets, as in you have to squat over them because there isn't really a toilet at all, it's just a hole in the ground), but she also briefly mentioned issues with communicating home and the Chinese government tracking literally everything you do and write. Immediately, visions of uniform clad men with menacing eye patches and swords attached to their belts kicking in my door and yanking me away from my desk as I write yet another intriguing installment in the life of Strawberry popped into my head. I mean, this actually happens, people. It seems amusing now, since it's so far removed from my sphere of reality, but there is an ever so slight chance that it might happen. And by that I mean it's actually possible. Here in the good ol' U S of A, the worst that could happen from writing scandalous material in your blog is that you get fired from your job and end up making 40k a month by blogging full time (Dooce is my hero).

It's all very unlikely, though, especially since they're mainly concerned with people discussing socially sensitive issues like religion and politics, which just so happen to be the areas I am least interested in writing about in China! Lucky me. However, I will have to self-censor some of my content from time to time, I'm sure. So this is just a warning beforehand, because if I were to write about the government censoring my blog content while I was in China, it would probably be immediately removed from my website. I know very little about the internet so I'm not even sure how that's possible, but China is constantly monitoring it's citizens, especially foreigners that are living there, and I have read several articles in the past hour or so talking about people whose e-mails were mysteriously deleted or had posts suddenly go missing. Also, to be even creepier, they totally go through the real mail. Their technology is so sensitive that you can't even detect that they opened the envelope, but things will be blacked out or cut away from your letters.

In a way, it's kind of flattering. It's nice to know that someone cares enough about my life to check up on why I'm Googling "johnny depp naked" and getting InTouch magazine and easy mac shipped to me bi-monthly. Let's just hope those don't become politically sensitive activities.

it's tuesday and i'll cry if i want to

I tend to avoid things that give me a headache. There are plenty of things I put myself through on a daily basis that I find uncomfortable, like wearing heels for example, but the pain of a headache is something I usually try to avoid altogether. In fifth grade when I went to see Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, I walked out of the theater because watching the alternating high and low speed transitions made my brain hurt. After about 30 seconds of Tom Leykis's grainy voice spouting misogynistic propaganda to penis-driven young males and insecure females, the beginning pounding of a migraine forces me to change the station. If only I had a choice when it comes to Chinese.

Of course, I do have a choice. I could just not go to China. However, that's not really an option. I want to go to Shanghai and teach English more than anything I've ever wanted to do before, but learning the language is like putting my head through a vise while simultaneously listening to recordings of the word "Ma" being said in all four tones. I have never tried to learn something before that literally gave me a headache when I studied it. Today in class, after a series of encouraging words, my professor offhandedly commented that I needed to practice my Pinyin and I nearly broke down into tears. Of course I know that I need to practice my Pinyin, to date I've only had 9 hours of formal instruction in Chinese, but after being asked to distinguish being "zh" "ch" and "sh" for thirty minutes my brain had reached maximum capacity. I am definitely making progress, but like any sort of language learning, it is taking time, especially since I have to learn how to read and write characters as well. Luckily, my class is super small (four people including me), so I was able to pull each person aside today and warn them of the inevitable waterworks that will occur sometime between now and the last class in 4 weeks.

To help in my Chinese language endeavors, I filled my Netflix queue with a bunch of Chinese and Taiwanese films and will be watching them over the next month to somewhat immerse myself in the verbal part of the language. It's pretty cool that this school is in southern California because there is a huge Chinese population, and so many stores and businesses have Chinese characters in their signs. So far I can really only recognize 5 characters, two of which are in my name, but when I do see a character I recognize it feels so rewarding. Approximately 3,000 are required to be able to read a mainland Chinese newspaper, so looks like I have 2,995 to go.

nobody likes you when you're 23

That's right. That's Travis Barker, the drummer of Blink 182. And even though it goes against the lyrics of one of his better known songs (I'm 23), he totally liked me. I even got to put my head on his shoulder! Swoon.

I spent the weekend with Rod, relaxing for a few days at his home in the Los Angeles area. Even though it was about 15 degrees hotter than it is here in Irvine, it was great to get off campus, out of my dorm room (yes, I am sharing a room with someone else and sleeping on a twin bed), and ignore my graduate studies for a couple of days. Oh, and meet up with some celebs.

As a way of avoiding overheating in the 109 degree weather, Rod and I spent the day shopping and sightseeing around town. I love Target so when I saw the big red bullseye we decided to go in and hang out for a bit. After trying on a bunch of clothes I didn't really want or need, Rod wanted to make his way over to the car accessory area to check out a bunch of stuff he didn't really want or need. On the way down the aisles I spotted a super sweet Hello Kitty lunch pail that I had to talk myself out of immediately grabbing from the shelf. While looking at it, though, I heard a guy talking to his son about a Pirates of the Caribbean lunch pail, telling the little boy it would be better to wait until school started to get an even better one.

I can't ever eavesdrop on a conversation without looking at the people talking, so I casually turned my head over my shoulder and saw a very tattooed man with two adorable kids. This guy looks familiar, I thought. Right away in my head I was screaming "TRAVIS BARKER! TRAVIS BARKER!" but Rod had also seen the man and didn't seem phased at all, so I figured it was probably just a case of mistaken identity. After all, he was wearing a hat, and plenty of people in LA are covered in tattoos. But still, I turned to Rod and whispered, "OMG, I think that's the drummer from Blink 182." Rod was just as skeptical as me, but urged me to get a closer look at the man to verify if it was Travis or not. And so my not-so-inconspicuous trailing of Travis Barker through Target began. I pretended to not be following him, but it was pretty obvious that I was navigating through the aisles a few steps behind him, quickly looking away if he ever turned in my direction.

A few times he caught me staring at his tattoos, so I decided to take a moment, grab my Treo, and try to find some recent pictures of the drummer on the internet. Well, my phone was going incredibly slow and was of absolutely no help, but I persisted. Rod kept pushing me to go ask him if he was, indeed, who I thought he was, but I was so embarrassed and worried that it really might NOT be him, and how weird would I sound? Oh, um, excuse me, your tattoos look like the tattoos of this band member guy, are you him?

After finally giving up on my Treo plan, I looked around for the man and couldn't find him, and had almost resigned myself to the thought that I had missed a golden celeb sighting opportunity when I noticed a girl around my age taking a picture with someone who was standing in line to pay, and my suspicions were finally confirmed!

Did I run up to him, embrace him tightly, and pledge my ever dying love for him? I wish. I didn't even want to go up to him, I was so nervous. I insisted to Rod that I didn't want to bug the drummer since he was clearly there trying to be low key and buy toys for his kids, but in truth I was too scarred to talk to the guy. Rod wouldn't take no for an answer (thank goodness!) and made me ask for a picture. Travis was so incredibly nice to me. I admitted to him that I had thought he was from Blink 182 but wasn't really sure, and that I had been following him around the store for a while (he laughed at that). I also got to tell him what a huge Blink 182 fan I was which he told me was "awesome", and he assured me it was "no problem at all!" to ask for a photo even though he was there with his family. After I bought a tank top and a pair of shoes, I passed by Travis one more time as he was packing up two carts full of things for his children and I told him thank you again for taking a picture with me, he told me "Oh no! It's totally cool. Have a great weekend!" And I totally did.

sex in irvine

Ya, that title is misleadingly provocative. What I mean is I finally saw the Sex and the City movie with my roommates on Thursday night. You all know everything there is to know about it, so I won't bore you with a review of a movie that came out a month ago, but I did want to briefly mention that I liked it a lot. At first I thought it was going to be super lame because of how everything in the first twenty minutes was panning out, but over all I thought it was a perfect end to six great seasons of a show any woman can relate to. And of course, it made me think about love and relationships, and what it really means to be with someone through thick and thin.

I read an article a few months ago titled "Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough", which I promptly forwarded to all of my best girl friends. I found the article through Martini, a happily single and fabulous girl about town who was somewhat skeptical about the whole idea of settling, but I felt strangely inspired and invigorated after reading the piece. Long story short, the author argues that women are often ingrained to have unrealistic expectations when it comes to relationships, particularly that they should never "settle for anything less than butterflies," to quote Carrie Bradshaw. The point is, the butterflies eventually fade from any relationship, and sometimes settling isn't so much lowering your standards, as it is learning how to compromise, which is something everyone has to do if they want to be in a happy, loving relationship.

Of course, there are deal breakers in any relationship. My deal breakers are extremely lax; for example, unless you punch me around or refuse to ever spend money, I would probably be willing to have you as a boyfriend (if I were single). The article is pretty long, but I definitely think it's worth the read. Since I know most people won't read it, I'd just like to add the section I think best exemplifies her argument: "My advice is this: Settle! That’s right. Don’t worry about passion or intense connection. Don’t nix a guy based on his annoying habit of yelling “Bravo!” in movie theaters. Overlook his halitosis or abysmal sense of aesthetics. Because if you want to have the infrastructure in place to have a family, settling is the way to go. Based on my observations, in fact, settling will probably make you happier in the long run, since many of those who marry with great expectations become more disillusioned with each passing year. (It’s hard to maintain that level of zing when the conversation morphs into discussions about who’s changing the diapers or balancing the checkbook.) ... I don’t mean to say that settling is ideal. I’m simply saying that it might have gotten an undeservedly bad rap."

In other words, don't be so damn picky. You're not going to find your soul mate because your soul mate doesn't exist. To paraphrase Chris Rock, you won't find someone who loves Jerry Seinfeld and the Wu Tang Clan, and if you do, it won't be the right time. So love the one you're with, or if you're not with someone, learn to be open minded when it comes to relationship expectations. There's a difference between a person not being everything you wish they would be and being a bad partner, y'know? Luckily, my boyfriend is pretty damn near perfect. But if he doesn't start shaving more often, he's getting the boot! Err, well, I guess I can let that one slide, as long as we can compromise that I don't have to shave every day either. Now that's something I could learn to live with.

what's the chinese word for "impossible"?

My cross cultural textbook that I was required to read before I went to France in 2006 made the profound statement somewhere around page 58 that "Expectations are premature disappointments." Yeah, that might sound a little pessimistic, but think about it. How many times have you expected something from someone and had them let you down? Or had a picture in your head about how an event or place would be, and then experienced something completely different? I don't think of that phrase as pessimistic, I think of it as realistic. A nicer way to put it I guess would be to say "Expect the unexpected."

When traveling or doing something where you are put into a position far outside your comfort zone, it is better to have overall goals rather than expectations. Like, I don't expect to learn Chinese over the next four weeks, but my goal is to be able to write my Chinese name with ease (and not need to look at an image of the characters) and to know at least 30 characters and 10 phrases. So far I already "know" a handful, the real test is being able to retain it all.

The image above is my Chinese name. The first character is my surname, "Ma", which is a common surname in China and most similar to my American family name. The two other characters are "Li Kou" pronounced "Lee Koh" which semi sounds like my real name (which was the point, kind of). Li means beauty and Kou means red and also young lady. I really wanted something with the word red in it, and I think this name sounds really pretty when you say it out loud. My super awesome Chinese friend came up with it (and 10 other options) for me. He's a filmmaker and just got accepted into USC's film school, hopefully one day he becomes famous and gives me a job writing screenplays for his Oscar winning movies. They'll be all about cupcakes and pomeranians and other fabulous things.

a real valley girl

Even though I'm from the valley (the central valley), I don't think that's really what everyone means when they talk about "valley girls." Yet, I feel so connected to the southern California state of mind, and by that I mean I am completely superficial. Well, finally my location has caught up with my attitude and I am officially a valley girl for 6 whole weeks while I'm doing the summer school portion of my graduate studies. I have class pretty much all day Monday - Friday, which sucks, but it's going to be exciting being in school again and learning all sorts of new things. For example, tonight I learned that when you receive or give a business card in China you must use both hands to hold it, and if someone is giving you a business card you have to look at it for several seconds before putting it away in your purse.

Anyway, I wanted to share an anecdote from the other day as a way of illustrating that I have more in common with Cher from Clueless than simply owning a white jeep and having tons of clothes. My cousin's step son was over at my house for a while on Friday and we got to talking and he shared with me that he is joining the navy. What was my first reaction? "AWESOME! Now for the rest of your life whenever you attend a formal event you get to wear your cool uniform!" Of course there are a million other (and better) reasons for joining the navy, but that was the first thing that popped into my head and regrettably left my mouth. Not to be outdone by my total airheadedness, he quickly replied, "Oh, yeah, that was pretty much what sealed the deal for me."

In other news, I have three roommates who are all very different but all seem really cool (so far). They're all going to be in Shanghai, but will not be teaching at the same school as me. A lot of people in this program are super religious, which I don't have anything against but it's definitely not the type of person I am. Someone sort of put me on the spot tonight asking me if I would be willing to go to the same church as this other girl who doesn't have a car and I had to answer that I don't go to church. Not everyone is like that though, and I know that at least one of my roommates isn't an avid church goer.

OH, and finally, David Sedaris came out with a new book! It's called When You Are Engulfed In Flames. Knowing him, it's totally amazing. I just uploaded it to my Kindle and plan on reading as much of it as I can tonight, so I'll give an informed opinion on its merits once I'm done.

one man's trash

...is another (wo)man's 600 bucks! I always talk mad smack about yard sales (because seriously, it sucks having one), HOWEVER, it was pretty awesome walking away from six hours of sitting around telling people how much things cost with tons of cash in my wallet. I'm having the second installment of my yard sale extravaganza tomorrow. My parents have been super enthusiastic about this whole project and my dad keeps taking stuff out of storage to add to the sale. Hopefully I make a few more hundred tomorrow, that would totally rule. I seriously had no idea I would make this much money from stuff I don't want/need anymore.

itunes lies

ITunes has a new commercial out that plays every 20 minutes featuring sexy, sexy Chris Martin singing Viva la Vida from Coldplay's new CD. As a general rule, I love any kind of Apple commercial. I don't know what kind of people they have in their marketing department, but they're seriously geniuses. That whole Mac guy VS. PC man thing? Classic. Well, that aside, the Coldplay commercial is a total lie. At the end of Chris Martin's little jig, a black screen appears with the words "exclusively on iTunes." Really? Is that why I tried to order it today and was informed that it would not be available for download until the CD release on July 17th? Thanks, bitches, for totally bursting my lanky-white-British-musician loving bubble.

new banner

To be fair, I'm actually not IN China yet, but I got the idea for a clever cartoon-y looking image of a Chinese food take-out box filled with strawberries the other day and have been wanting to change my banner for a while so I decided just to make the leap. That and the fact that I spent three hours taking pictures of strawberries in take-out boxes, cutting them out in Photoshop, then learning how to make them look like a cartoon. I hope everyone likes it, because I promise I am not changing my banner for a long while. Slight adjustments, maybe, but I really like this image and I worked very hard on it, so it's here to stay.

it's only wednesday?

Things I am looking forward to this week: Friday (dinner with Bebe downtown then ogling over the hunkiness of Edward Norton in The Hulk), tonight's Top Chef finale, moving to SoCal on Sunday, shopping for clothes for China, mani/pedis, depositing graduation gift checks.

Things I am dreading about this week: Friday (hosting a huge yard sale in order to get rid of a bunch of stuff and make some mad money for China), Saturday (yard sale continues), packing for SoCal, leaving Tater Tot, waiting in line at the DMV.

I'm super psyched for tonight's Top Chef finale. I don't really care who wins, as long as it's not Lisa. Okay, so I guess I kind of care who wins, but seriously, she is such a whiny bitch I can barely stand watching her. My mom and I had a Top Chef party tonight which wasn't so much a party as it was me cooking a new and adventurous meal for my parents. I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned it, but Rod is Persian and of course introduced me to the wonder that is Persian cuisine. I absolutely love it but have only cooked it once and it was a total fail, I halved the entire recipe except for the salt and so the dish was total sodium overdose, gross.

Well, this was a Top Chef party and the whole point of Top Chef is to push your boundaries, so I gave Persian food another go and this time is was actually quite delicous! I made zereshk polo which is basmati rice with barberries and I even successfully managed to cook it with tadig and everything! Tadig is this hard layer of sort of fried rice that forms on the bottom of the pan after cooking the rice and it is so freaking delish. I also made chicken sautéed with onions in a lemon and saffron sauce and a very simple, fresh salad with avocado, cilantro, lemon juice, and olive oil. I would include the recipe for the rice, but it was seriously over 10 steps long and also took over an hour to prepare, so just enjoy the gorgeous picture of my first edible Persian meal.

a HUGE test of will power

I am not even joking, there is a giant vat of cream cheese frosting in the fridge here.  What is wrong with these people?  Are they moonlighting as Keebler elves or something?  I don't get it.

a test of will power

My mom's best friend and her husband went out of town for a few days and their housesitter bailed on them last minute so Strawberry to the rescue!  I offered (for a price) to watch their house and cute mini poodles for them, not knowing that their home is the personification of temptation.  I walk into the kitchen, set down my housesitting gear (laptop, gossip mags, toiletries, pillow & blanket), and immediately spot two home made pies and two plates of freshly baked cookies.  And it didn't stop there, the fridge is stocked with tons of delicious not diet drinks like IBC rootbeer and pure pomegranate juice, and they have about six boxes of the best cereal selection ever.  Good thing I came prepared with my not-so-appetizing 240 calorie Lean Cuisine pasta meal for dinner.  Also, I got on the scale this morning to make this whole "losing 10 pounds" thing more official, and I weighed 4 pounds less than I thought I did!  Total score.  That's almost as good as finding $20 in the back pocket of some jeans you haven't worn in a while.  Actually, who am I kidding, weighing four pounds less than you thought you did is way better than finding any amount of cash.

what was i thinking?

I already regret giving up sweets. It's only been an hour and I'm going through withdrawals. Must. have. chocolate.

Speaking of food, I don't know what my dad eats when he's watching TV, but the remote is always greasy when he leaves and I take the remote to switch channels. It must be his way of marking his territory, y'know, wiping his Swiss cheese nom-ing fingers all over the place. It also might be his way of hinting that I need to stop camping out on the couch and actually 1. go do something during the day or 2. hang out in my own room instead of taking over the family room.

strike on sweets: take two

Way back in April I made a post about giving up sweets for a while, then I promptly forgot about my mid-year resolution and continued eating dessert like every day was my birthday. Thankfully, I'm somewhat exaggerating or else I would be a total lard-o by now, but either way I completely did not follow through with my goal of avoiding all things sugary and delicious. Well, the time has come. I have managed to give up both soda AND alcohol completely, the next step naturally seems like it would be dessert, so that is my new summer resolution: no dessert until China. Luckily China is not a country known for having irresistible chocolate and pastry concoctions (like, say, France), so I'm hoping to make this a semi-permanent change.

This will definitely be more difficult than giving up soda and alcohol, because I love sweets way more than any beverage, so keep your fingers crossed for me. I also feel somewhat obligated to go on a summer diet, since pretty much every female blogger I know is dieting right now. I think it's dumb how everyone suddenly feels the need to slim down when the weather gets warm. From February to August you can't pick up a magazine without it having some kind of feature about getting bikini-ready. Are people really eating that much in the winter months that they have to detox in May and June? I don't get it. That being said, I'm totally going on a diet. I'm such a conformist. I'm not going to take measurements or anything like that, but I suppose I'll check in occasionally for accountability reasons. My goal is to lose 10 pounds by the end of August. Ready...go!

trouble at the OK corral

A couple months ago I mentioned that my family has a opossum that comes to our house every once in a while to eat cat food that we have sitting in the front if the house. Well, it somehow slipped my mind to share that we also have a raccoon that frequents our yard in search of cat food and small animals to harass like Tater Tot (who he enjoys bullying by standing up on his hind legs and hitting the glass door, as seen in the grainy cell phone picture to the right). Smokey the Bandit (as my dad has since named him) will eat pretty much anything and lately my parents have gotten into the habit of getting "Raccoon Bags" from restaurants rather than "Doggy Bags". Over the past several weeks Smokey has enjoyed a variety of food, including, but not limited to: cake, focaccia bread, pasta with marinara, burritos, banana bread, oreo cupcakes, pork chops, and most recently, my dad's prized koi fish.

Six years ago when we moved into this house my dad bought four koi fish for a pond in the front of the house that he built for my mom. We never gave them names or anything because I'm usually the one who names pets and I didn't really care about the koi fish too much, but they were a pretty big deal to my dad since he bought them when they were barely 6 inches long and watched as they grew to nearly three feet long over the next six years. While I was in Mexico with my mom, my dad called us somewhat upset and told us that Smokey the Bandit had gotten into the pond, eaten half of the largest fish, then left the body on the side of the house. He told us he was going to put some kind of netting over the pond so Smokey couldn't get in, but when we came home from Mexico we found that Smokey had eaten ALL of the koi. As a side note, my dad drove to Cabo San Lucas in his truck to surprise my mom for her birthday, so he was a little pressed for time and clearly didn't make Smokey-proofing the pond a priority.

On Friday of last week my dad took us out to a koi pond supplier in the country and we bought 5 new, baby koi fish. Koi fish are expensive, and for large koi like the ones Smokey consumed you will easily spend several hundred dollars per fish. We opted for the $10 dollar fish. This time I decided they needed names so they felt like true members of the family, so I named them after Disney characters: Cinderella, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Jack Sparrow, and TJ, the initial's of my mom and dad (my dad's idea). I bet you're wondering, did my dad learn from his mistake in the past and put some kind of protective barrier between the pond and the outside world? No. Not more than three days later all the fish were gone once again. So, my dad insists that he is going to makeover the pond and dig it deeper so Smokey won't be able to get to the fish. At this point, the pond is only about two feet deep, and according to some koi site I found on Google they should be at least six feet deep. How embarrassing is it going to be to have to go back to that koi pond supplier and tell him the raccoon ate our fish again? I guess he probably won't care since every time a raccoon eats someone's fish he makes money by selling them a new one.

back to the future

Okay, I am FINALLY back from Mexico and have fixed my internet connection after six long, boring days. Lots has happened in the nearly three weeks since I last posted, but I'm going to try to take it all in stride and not overwhelm you (or me) with 29 new posts at once.

Perhaps the most exciting thing that happened during my blog absence (save my awesome new domain name which I LOVE) is I finally received my internship placement for my year in China and I will be living in Shanghai!!! All of my Chinese friends told me to try my best to get a job in Shanghai because it is such an amazing city. According to people who have been there it's like walking into the future. I mean, look at the place!


Totally makes you think of Bladerunner, right? Just looking at pictures of the city makes me anxious. I know I'm going to have an amazing time, but I also know that it is going to be a huge transition, especially considering the 15 million people that live there. Woah. Luckily, I already "met" a girl who will be going to school with me in Southern California through Facebook and she is also going to be teaching at the same high school with me in Shanghai. AND she drives a Jeep Wrangler. We're totally going to be best friends, just watch.

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm excited about going but it still doesn't feel real yet. Honestly, I don't think it will fully sink in until I board the plane for my flight over there at the end of August. Well, maybe when I start to pack it will hit me, but for now it doesn't even seem like my life is going to change at all. I know that it will though.

Another question that people inevitably ask is: Wow, 10 months? What are you and Rod going to do? I don't know if it was denial or what, but neither of us ever considered the fact that we might have to actually do something with me being on the other side of the world until we were asked the question 40 different times. The short answer is we're not going to officially "do" anything. We're going to keep things how they are right now and see how it works out with me being 100 million miles away (seriously, that's how far it is). We're not stupid, we both know that it is going to be very difficult, but we're also optimistic that we will be able to maintain a happy and healthy relationship despite the extreme distance. I'm hoping a webcam will be a good investment in this uber-long distance relationship experiment. Perhaps seeing each other in real time will make the distance seem less extreme. And hopefully he will come visit me.

new name, same blog

I've been trying my best to minimize my internet time while I'm here in Cabo, but I.just.can't.stay.away. I have been toying around with the idea of a new domain name for a while, but could never really come up with anything that made me think "Heck yes!". Well, insomnia can be a funny thing, sometimes it leads to flipping through the channels endlessly, or maybe eating that entire package of cookie dough that's been sitting in your fridge, but other times it can produce some great brainstorming sessions.

So while I've been relaxing on the beach every day for the past week drinking pineapple smoothies with cute little umbrellas in them, I've also been tossing and turning in bed at night wondering What will I name my blog? Well, I finally came up with an idea that I really like (for now, ha) and in the next few days I will be switching all of my content from ThePinkReview.com to...wait for it...StrawberrySays.com!!! Cute, right? As you can see, I've made a new StrawberrySays layout, although that will probably be tweaked and refined in the next few weeks. Lovely readers, make a note of this change because ThePinkReview.com will soon be a dead link and I would hate for you to not be able to find me! And don't forget to change the links to my site if I happen to be in your blogroll.