Murali & Sophia Marriage 4th July 2009

Congrats to the newly weds, Murali and Sophia.

Imperfection is Perfection

We are all born with special trades, and this differences make us all unique and special.
sad.... that some of us forget that, and feel this blessing is a curse, and keep clouding ourselves with lies that says we need other to be better.

Like what Yasmin Ahmad shares, we want only the perfect things in life, and we wait... but its the imperfections that we all have that makes us all perfect.



imperfection is perfection

never say never

There's some things we don't talk about
rather do without and just hold the smile
falling in and out of love ashamed and proud of
together all the while

You can never say never why we dont know when
time and time again younger now than we were before

Don't let me go. Don't let me go. Don't let me go

Picture you're the queen of everything
as far as the eye can see under your command
I will be your guardian when all is crumbling
steady your hand

You can never say never why we dont know when
time, time and time again younger now then we were before

We're pulling apart and coming together again and again
We're growing apart but we pull it together, pull it together, together again

wuwuwu... lagu the fray. salah 1 peneman utama sy. ketika suka & duka.
lirik die... kenapa sgt meaningful. superb. simple, but. wuuu~~~
tataw cmne nak gambarkan perasaan sy bile tibe2 dgr lagu nih...
dlm trans4mers hari tu. ahah. rase...mcm2 ade.
T_T

i miss u. i miss u. i miss u.
so much. very much. very bery much.
since? since u're far away.
but. i will never let u know that.
as long as i can hold on.

T_T

Pie!

So remember that pie I've been thinking about for weeks? I actually did make one this weekend. I went to the local strawberry farm on Saturday afternoon and bought a couple of quarts of Ontario strawberries and a few stalks of bright and vibrant rhubarb for my first ever strawberry rhubarb pie. I really enjoy rhubarb because it's so tart and I don't like super sweet fruit desserts, but had never actually cooked with it before so I was very excited to try this out!

I also decided to try a (sort of) new pie crust recipe. I've been reading Ratio by Michael Ruhlman which is all about cooking with ratios rather than measurements, and focuses on the basic ingredients that you need to make something. In the case of pie, they are flour, fat and water. The recipe I normally use involves egg and vinegar, but I've been thinking lately that my pie crusts have been a bit too "puffy" and the egg probably has something to do with it. So I figured I would try it with just the basics and just a dash of sugar to sweeten it a tad.

And the result? Man was this good. Tart and sweet, with a wonderfully flaky crust. I forgot just HOW good strawberries and rhubarb are together. There was just the right amount of fruit chunks and slightly thickened syrup. I barely even noticed the Splenda, which when executed badly can totally kill a dessert for me (I have an unnatural aversion to artificial sweeteners).

So in short...I will be making this pie again before strawberry season is over. You should too.

Pie Dough
3-2-1 pie crust ratio
15 ounces flour
5 ounces butter
5 ounces vegetable shortening (I use Tenderflake)
5 ounces ice-cold water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar (optional)

Filling
from Bon Appetit via smittenkitchen
3 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb
3 1/2 cups chopped strawberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar (I used Splenda so that my dad could have a slice)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

1. Cut out butter and shortening amounts, and freeze for about 1/2 hour Making sure the ingredients are cold is incredibly important when making pie crust. I try to store the tools I'm going to be using in the freezer while my butter and shortening are in there as well to keep everything cool.

2. Measure out flour, salt and sugar into a large bowl

3. Cut in (or grate in) butter and shortening into the flour

4. Add water a couple tablespoons at a time, until flour mixture starts to clump together. Form a ball with your hands (be careful not to overwork the dough or it will end up tough)

5. Divide into two discs, wrap with saran wrap and refrigerate for about 20 minutes or until ready to use (you can do this a day or so in advance as well)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit

6. Combine filling ingredients together in a bowl.

7. Roll out bottom of pie crust until it's about 1 inch wider than your pie plate and transfer to pie plate

8. Spoon in filing

9. Roll out second crust. Slice into 1/2 inch strips and weave into a lattice pattern on top of pie. Trim edges with a bit of overhang and fold up so that your strips stay in place. Crimp edges if desired (I usually do, mostly because I find that my crust doesn't really "stay" in place if i don't).

10. Bake for about 20 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking until edges are golden and filling is bubbling (This particular recipe said to bake for almost 2 hours. I only baked for about an hour)

Random Pie Crust Tips:
1. Use plenty of flour

2. Turn the dough at a 90 degree angle once or twice to make sure your dough isn't sticking to your surface

3. Don't freak out - it will get easier every time you make a pie

4. When you're ready to transfer the bottom crust to your pie plate, fold into quarters and place in your pie plate so that the bottom point is in the middle, and unfold

Coraline

I am currently into Neil Gaiman's writing. Simply by following his twitty, it finally convinced me that he's really one of the authors I would probably like. I should have read his books the day I knew about him. But it took me years to appreciate him. It's never too late though. So let me start with this book which turned into a movie.

Coraline is about a young girl who walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life - only much better. But when her adventure turns dangerous, and her counterfeit parents try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home - and save her family.

An engaging story for me watch, the way I got infatuated on most of Tim Burton's films. Now, I am obsessed of having the book & DVD of Coraline and the only cure is attainment. I am looking forward to a popcorn and cola day for this exciting story.

My excitement begins tonight...

hugs,
joanie xxx

I have blog stalkers! Yay!

I got a first MyDailyQuestion (which was a comment, really) from a rando and that makes me SO happy! I'll continue to bring on the wit and aim to inform, humor, and entertain anyone and everyone willing to read. Do me a favor, if you would, and click "Follow Blog" at the top left if you are, in fact, reading my blog. Pretty pretty please?

So my IRL (in real life) friends know that I just started a new job. It's a government job as a clinical dietitian in a few rural clinics here in Oklahoma. So far, so good...I'm REALLY enjoying it. I have an office...4 walls, a door, and a computer all for me. RD's reading: you know how rare such a thing is in our profession...I'm soaking it up. I'm consulting with mostly diabetics... with a sprinkle of hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and weight loss thrown in there. While I love diabetes and find the disease process fascinating...there's so much to know. And so much to teach.

I had patients just yesterday tell me a few things that left me wanting to pummel my head into the concrete wall bordering my co-worker's office. Let me recall some here..

- peaches that come in "light syrup" are in their natural juices - WRONG!
- blending butter with peanut butter makes it healthier - WRONG!
- "You can't make a pie crust without lard...the protein flavor can't be replaced" - Just plain nasty
- "Four hot dogs, minus the buns, is the best night-time snack to keep my morning sugars low" - People do this?
- Me: "Did you have a night-time snack?"; "Client: No, just a Sonic ice cream cone." - Oh dear.
- Client: "I can't eat crackers, those make my sugars go sky high"; Me: "How many are you eating before bed?"; Client: "One sleeve." - ....uh huh...I'll bet crackers do make your sugars go sky high when you eat 6 servings
- "I don't drink my calories, only Dr. Pepper and only like three cans a day." - dropped jaw with a drooling stare of unamusement

And my last client of the day was so motivated, she was going straight to Walmart for flaxseed supplements. There is hope, even in Oklahoma...let the laydown of the law begin.

With Compliments...? Thoughts on Freebies

The Twittering classes are working themselves into a frothy hubbub. Journos are striking low blows. Battles lines are being drawn and codes of ethics are being drafted quicker than an emergency UN resolution.

It’s all about the freebies.

It seems that the issue is coming to a head and is rapidly gaining some serious press attention: Is it right for bloggers to accept freebies (anything from sample packets to slap-up meals) in return for write ups? If so, what provisos should be laid down? And if it’s not, why not?

For all the attention the issue has been getting, one could be forgiven for thinking that the food blogosphere is awash with cleverly disguised puff pieces masquerading as restaurant reviews and greedy amateur food writers hounding PRs for anything, so long as it’s free.

Not that I can see. The suggestion that your average food blogger would pen a sycophantic review in return for some gratis nom and half a bottle of wine is deeply denigrating. Full disclosure seems to be the consensus with very little, if any, dissent.

Honesty and transparency are crucial for a writer to maintain their integrity. The second your word becomes suspect or is revealed to have been bought, that integrity disappears and, in the words of Bill Hicks ‘every word you say is like a turd falling…into my drink’.

Perhaps a little harsh, but it would be foolish not to quote the man on this issue seen as he spoke so vociferously about it.

Sometimes the lure of pound or dollar signs becomes too great, or is a necessity (Exhibit A: Marco Pierre White with one divorce too many). Others have no such scruples about whoring out their name (call to the stand Gordon Ramsay and the arch worshipper of Mamon, Anthony Worral Thompson).

But from what I can see food bloggers are an honest bunch. We resemble the beloved Saint Delia in this respect – a woman of strict moral standing who has refused to endorse any product for monetary re-imbursement.

Our word is important. It is all we have. When it becomes suspect we lose any respect and with it any power it carries.

So where is the clamour coming from?

It’s coming from the one place that is set to lose out: print media.

The insinuation is that accepting a tidy little freebie in return for a positive report is something new, something that brings with it a new set of moral codes.

It isn’t.

The press and PR have been strolling hand in hand for decades, scratching backs and trading favours since Gutenberg first lifted the cloth on his invention. So why the furore?

It’s about access.

Before the Internet, before email, before Twitter, before blogs there was journalism. It was a closed shop on a pedestal high, high above the world in which we mere mortals lived. A notoriously hard industry to break into and one that had a monopoly on the written word. Food writing, but a miniscule part of the trade, was even more of a hidden avenue.

But things have changed. The Internet and, more specifically, Web 2.0 with its user generated and led content has brought with it a democratisation of the written word. Print journalism has finally woken up to this.

It’s not so much about their place on the pedestal being taken over, it’s about the pedestal rapidly crashing to the ground.

This isn’t necessarily new. Both Harden’s and Zagat guides have been utilising user-generated content for years to compile more democratic, balanced and realistic restaurant reviews (whether or not they can fell Michelin remains to be seen, but I suspect we are witnessing the final throes of that revered institution).

What the Internet has done, though, is give a voice to all those who want it. Naturally, there are good and bad blogs. Good and bad food writers. And the web is awash with dull lists of what people cooked for their friends, Hank and Maureen, last weekend.

But this is a product of the fledgling nature of the phenomenon. Some will fall by the wayside, others will flourish – it’s not unusual for the top food blogs to get over a million visits a month, the sort of hit rate some magazine editors would eat their own children for.

This wheat/chaff sorting is happening already and as the word on the screen becomes as respected and as powerful as the word on the page, it will happen more rapidly.

Last year I did an internship (perhaps stage is the more appropriate word as we talking in culinary terms) at a well-known food magazine. Two weeks, unpaid. Even my expenses went unpaid, the ‘economic downturn’ given as an excuse only weeks after I submitted my claim.

I’d held this form of magazine journalism in high regard, put it on a pedestal. Magazine offices were places where exciting things happen everyday, where people who love food get giddy about all the things I get giddy about. As a result I was struck, rabbit-headlight like, for much of my time there. Slightly shy and in awe of those around me. Those who were doing exactly what I wanted to do.

Except they weren’t. The daily grind was dull. The reality was that I was already doing what I wanted to do by writing off my own back, finding my own stories, working freelance and publishing online. I just didn’t realise it at the time.

On my final day the editor took time to talk to me about what I wanted to do and how to achieve it. ‘Something’s not really been published unless it’s in print,’ they said.

At the time, I agreed. Having had a couple of pieces published, there really was a thrill in seeing one’s name in a by-line. It was a buzz. But the reality is very different, and I’m only just coming to realise this.

There is a freedom on the Internet and successful writers here can be seen by hundreds, thousands, more people than those in print. Many journalists – the good ones at least – know this and are embracing the medium.

What the debate about freebies really comes down to is part of a larger discussion about the future, nature and value of print journalism.

Don’t get me wrong. I love print. Newspapers are an integral, and deeply enjoyable, part of my life. Likewise magazines. The very nature of print journalism is a near guarantor of its quality – providing you look in the right places, of course. There is something wonderful, tangible about print. Sunday papers are one of my favourite things in the world.

But to assume that just because someone only publishes online they can’t be as good as a print counterpart is just wrong. And to assume that just because someone has been offered a free meal they will happily shelve their own opinions and scruples is not just wrong, it’s also deeply patronising.

Freebies and the media go together, and always have done, like children and chocolate. Only now, food bloggers are getting a share of the chocolate and the old guard don’t like it.

5 english tv shows i love the most

hurm... taw x. org ade bnykkk sgt nak tulis. tp kan. tak tertulis. ade mase...
tp tah. cam. tunda. then. biar. then last2 camtuh je. nanti la kot~
anyway. just wanna share and remind myself... [nanti da nyanyok...]
these are my top 5 fav tv shows [drama / series] for now... since few years ago.

no 1 - will always be CSI.
CSI las vegas + CSI miami + CSI NY

seriously, kagum gile dgn facilities die org yg super duper canggih.
and... mmg gempak ah setiap 1 episod, camne die org merungkaikan kes2.
and and. bnykkk angle yg berbeza utk setiap episod.
i'm wondering... berapa kos utk 1 episod + berapa lama die org shoot?
grrr... and semua actor + actress pon mmg cam CSI btol~!
and plg skeee skrip2 die org yg mmg superb~!!!!!
cam its short, simple, but sharp and meaningful!


no 2 - grey's anatomy
sweetheart of my soul.

ya allah hye... 1st time tgk da tngkp jatuh cintan tergolek2. ahah~
and mmg gileeee jatuh dlm lombong dgn mc dreamy~!!! - patrick dempsey.
i laughed along with this story + cry a lot. hahahaha...
hurm... it's about their life as a doctor and, the hardest part,
= to save their own life. ahah~ and from this series, i met the fray~!!!
cett...ckp cam jmpe face2face. agaga~~~ yup. i love uuu the fray~!!!

no 3 - house MD
the... unpredictable crazy dr.

at first, mmg x suke cite nih... rase Dr tuh cam extra rude. but actually.
rite now, i adore him. ahah...like hello. if die rude + proud pon, at least...
he's always right. and lgpon, tuh mmg diri die. ahah... n kalo tgk btol2.
he's not that bad. seriously. wheee~ ske ske ske.


no 4 - numb3rs
math - we used it in everyday life~!

erm... thanks to AXN 4 introducing me to this series. ahah~
1st - mmg dah cinta math, automatically la skeee cite nih kan. ahah...
plg suke time die bg contoh kaitan sesuatu kes dgn nombor tuh~!
cammm... ok. gile gem~! and and. ke-genius-an die tuh. i like~
pun cam best sbb die gabung dgn FBI. so, best~!


no 5 - scrubs
long time no see~

yup. lame daaa tak tgk. ahah...cam da x de kot?
well. love it. sbb ade mcm2 jenis DR leh tgk jgk. ahah~
and kegilaan mereka. since majority still mude2 lg.
alaaa... da mmg obvious ske cite2 camnih. kan? so termsk la.
and. it's funny~! ahaha.


others;

• desperate housewives
• heroes
• oprah winfrey
  
• supernatural
• keeping up with the kardashian
• the biggest loser
• america's next top model
• kimora lee
  
• malcolm in the middle
• popular [since primary school kot..?]
• angel
• charmed

tu je. kot? yg lain...biase2 je. hee =]