Off-Isle Lu Rou Fan

Today I had Lu Rou Fan in this restaurant named Cafe 88 in Charlottesville! It was a pretty normal Lu Rou Fan, but had a huuuge portion. The rest of the restaurant felt pretty Taiwanese too.

I also started to learn to drive manually today. It was very difficult, especially in a sloped parking lot. I made lots of "RRRRR" noises. I will try again tomorrow and perhaps I will improve! 

Spider Webs and Space.. and Architecture?

There's this absolutely awesome spider web on the corners of my window frame in my room. It just amazes me how a spider could create something that's structural, but also functional. Withstands wind and rain to some degree and catches a meal.

Apparently there was an experiment on spiders spinning webs without gravity. Basically they failed to spin it correctly in space, so the researchers think that gravity may have something to do with it, or that the spiders just freaked out and weren't able to do their thing.

I'm just imagining.. building a house in space. How would we deal with it? How would it change our construction methods/materials now that gravity doesn't play a role. There isn't an up or down, nor is there air or dirt, rain or earthquakes. There are other things like radiation.. would we still need waterproofing?

Then again, maybe "buildings" in space are equivalent to spacecrafts! And that is not exactly my department of study. Building in "different" environments fascinates me.. but maybe this is slightly extreme!

Breakfast Sandwich Day 2

WOO second day without oatmeal. This time, I decided to add more! I heard from one of my friends from school that adding avocado to bagels was good, so I wanted to try. But turns out that the avocado I had wasn't ripe enough, so I had crunchy avocado chunks instead. The avocado taste isn't extremely strong, especially buried under all these layers, so I really should try again!

Here are the layers from top to bottom:

-Everything bagel I think?
-scrambled (but in one piece) eggs + corn
-two strips of turkey bacon, folded over in order to fit
-diced avocado
-honey almond smear from Einstein Bagel Bros.

Candy from the Island, specifically the Muji store

I brought back these marshmallows from Taiwan. They're from the store Muji, this Japanese store. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THAT STORE AND WANTED TO BUY EVERYTHING FROM IT. They sell stuff that's designed simplistically, but also beautifully. Luckily for my wallet, I did not buy anything except for these marshmallows.

I was REALLY really really tempted to buy these notebooks made from recycled paper, but I have too many. The paper was sooo soft and smooth like a baby's bottom, I rubbed it against my face. Not that I have ever rubbed my face against a baby's bottom and risked getting pooped on.

So now there are a few notebooks in the Taichung Muji with my facial oils on it.. teehee.

But anyway, these strawberry marshmallows are amazing! They're super soft and seemed to be stuffed and fluffed up with air. You can actually hear the tiny air bubbles while you chew.  I am sad they only have Muji in NYC.. but I will enjoy the online store!

Breakfast Bagel Intermission!!

For the past two days, I've been eating breakfast bagels because I've been waking up before the oatmeal cooker gets up! And also because we bought bagels.

So my friend and I at school have a thing for breakfast bagels.. and we go eat them every once in a while. BUT it's quite nice to make your own!

Layers from top to bottom:

-I believe it is an.. everything bagel
-scrambled, but in one piece egg + corn + green onion
-smoked salmon cream cheese spread from Einstein Bros.
-other bagel half

Many Failed Yodas

Been trying to make this origami yoda for my good friend for quite a while, I have.  Many failed attempts, there are. Because of my jet-lag, this morning at three and continued working on it and finally finished!  Tough and it seems that there are many little subtleties that could make it perfect, it was.  The most difficult part to figure out, the hand was. I do some more origami want to!

The diagram and instructional videos, this is where I got.

Many failed yodas here, there are.  

Most complete and best crafted, these two are.  

Orange Yoda

Speak like yoda want to, hmm?  

Steel Cut Oats Adventures

When we returned, we found that my dad had replaced the Country Choice Multigrain Oatmeal with Country Choice Steel Cut Oatmeal. That stuff that you have to cook for half an hour and is very chewy.

My mom: How long do you have to cook this?
Me: Half an hour..
My mom: We're going to starve to death!
Me: yeah, or else the oats are going to be very hard
My mom: We're going to have indigestion!
Me: ... some dangerous oatmeal this is.

-Country Choice Steel Cut Oatmeal

-Some kind of O's cereal

-cinnamon

-Some kind of square cereal

-honey

.. I may be jetlagged..