A Quickie

Sunday.

Pretty uneventful once again. My housemates and I decided to go see Salt as that was the only movie none of us had seen. I found it to be extremely predictable unlike my housemates who questioned the truthfulness of my statement. Either way, it was overall okay.

I also decided to do a little baking because if you've noticed, I've sort of had a muffin phase as of late. I wanted to try making lemon cranberry muffins and so I went to Sobey's and picked up the ingredients needed. Overall, it was simple recipe so I had no trouble following it. The batter was a little more "soupy" than I was used to, but this led to a fluffier cake-like muffin. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. The lemon really came through although the cranberries were especially tart. I'll definitely make these again.

Monday.

Nothing particularly different happened today. I woke up, went to class, had my meals, and then went to bed.

Tuesday.

Today was the HAPN end of term dinner. Lapin had volunteered me to go grocery shopping with her and a few other execs. We planned on having BBQ with just the usual burgers and hot dogs. We ended up finishing relatively quickly which gave us time to relax before setting up for the event. I headed home as it wasn't far from the house where the event was to be held. I started watching anime--OHSHC, an old favourite of mine--until it was time to head over. I wasn't feeling particularly well as the lunch I had contained rather a large amount of cream and seeing as I am partially lactose intolerant, it just wasn't sitting well.

Lapin basically forced me to come and I did. When I arrived, most of the preparations were finished and we fired up the grill. A surprising number of people came despite our RSVP list. I was scared that we wouldn't have enough food, but Lapin stated that they should have RSVP'd. Luckily, we had just enough as another package of burgers appeared. The execs decided to watch Jeopardy with me and we were quite excited when we got the correct answer.

After the program finished, we tidied up and went our separate ways. I watched some more anime and then went to bed.

Wednesday.

Last day of classes for the Spring '10 term! Overall, it proved to be a boring day. The course material was finished and so it was left to open review. The rest of the day was spent relaxing as tomorrow is the start of cram week.

Exams, here I come.

Summer Snow

Saturday.

I woke up a little later than expected after turning off my alarm and falling back asleep. I'm trying to get my system used to waking up consistently, but so far it seems sure to fail. When I finally awoke, I realized that the house was oddly quiet. I realized that MegaCreep was at StudentLife 101 and Jolin went to work. Having the house to myself seemed weird, but got me motivated to become productive and study. After showering, I cracked open my psychology textbook and began reading for my midterm of Tuesday. I was interrupted with the arrival of PadFeet. We caught up for a bit as I watched him play Red Dead.

We continued to catch up when my parents and younger brother came knocking. My brother, Bee, also has decided to come to Waterloo and was attending Student Life 101. The reason for their visit was to help me paint my dungeon room here in Waterloo. I was a little surprised as it was out of the blue, but I accepted their offer. We headed to Canadian Tire and chose the colour. The choices were narrowed down to 4 separate light shades. However, Bee wanted me to get either Snow Scape (grey) or Marianna's Aria (blue). I decided to go with the grey even though my room already appears to be a dungeon. My dad and I began putting on the first coat as soon as we got back and I was surprised that it seemed so white. I decided that I would need to allow it to dry to fully be able to discern whether it was too light.

Once the room was finished, I realized that the paint was extremely light compared to the colour sample. Luckily, my furniture is black which makes the overall theme a black and white room. Something seemed off and I made this known to my parents. My dresser, which is pretty old, was a different colour from the rest of the decor. I joked with my mom that it was an eyesore and threw off the chemistry of the room. My dad offered to get me a new one once the new term started. I thanked him as I've been wanting to change it for a while now.

Now, I know you're not supposed to stay in a room that was just painted, but I didn't want to sleep on the couches. I chose to stay in my room, despite my better judgement and even fell asleep. Hopefully, I'll be able to retain the information I read up on today.

Although the walls are sort of plain, the room seems less dungeony somehow. I can't wait to decorate it for the term coming.

This just might make school more bearable.

Man Up

Friday has come at last. However, it did not start off well. I awoke to heavy rain which seemed to lull me into a deeper sleep causing me to miss my morning class. Instead of getting ready, I decided to lounge around which proved to be a big mistake. I heard MegaCreep crawl into the bathroom and I knew that I would be waiting a long time.

Two hours later and roughly forty five minutes prior to my math class, MegaCreep was still in there. Our house has a running gag where we try to guess what he's doing while in the washroom. Nonetheless, I didn't want to miss class and so for the first time, I knocked on the door and requested for him to pick up the pace. He kindly agreed and allowed me to get ready as he exited. I quickly showered, brushed my pearly whites, styled my poor excuse for a haircut, and then changed. As I left for class, I was almost positive that MegaCreep crawled back into the washroom. Seeing as the bus was coming in roughly 5 minutes, I would not have time to make or pick up lunch. Of course, I was annoyed. I ended up running to catch the bus which just happened to not see me. I waited another 10 minutes for the next one and it was then I knew that I wouldn't be able to eat until after class.

Math was boring as usual, but something was different. I had a major headache. I attributed it to the lack of sustenance. As soon as professor excused the class, I was out the door and running to Tim's. I browsed their rows of baked goods and decided on a blueberry muffin. It was good, but didn't really fill me up. As soon as I got home, I started munching on snacks which I'm sure I'll regret later.

I had some time to kill before meeting up with my friends for dinner and I decided to finish the anime I had started yesterday. Lapin seemed to be extremely distracted as she continued to send messaged to me on MSN. I replied during each of the breaks in the episodes. Our conversation led to me heading over to meet up before heading our to dinner. I was excited because Lapin saved me a slice of her cheesecake. It was surprisingly good for her first time, but I agreed that the texture was a bit off.

We left for the bus stop a little earlier than I expected and arrived at Spring Rolls even earlier. The hostess asked if it was dinner for two and we replied four. She confirmed our request in such a way that made it sound as though she was surprised which in turn surprised Lapin and I. Tank arrived not too long after we were seated although Ketchup ended up ditching. Our server took a while to get back to our table and so we chatted amongst ourselves as we waited. Once he came over, we ordered:

Me-Shanghai Noodles with BBQ Pork and Shrimp

Lapin-House Pad Thai

Tank-General Tsao Chicken

Before Tank had arrived, I asked whether it would be appropriate if I got a rather fruity and girly drink. Lapin teased that it wouldn't really surprise her. Of course, I didn't want to make our get together dinner a "girls night out" so I decided to order a beer with my meal to man it up.

Sadly, the meal wasn't that great and I was rather disappointed with Spring Rolls. The shanghai noodles were dredged in soy sauce making it hard to discern the other flavours. However, it was a night out with my friends and I was glad that we could finally catch up.

After dinner was finished, we decided to depart ways and not go out for drinks as we all had to catch up on studying. I caught the same bus as Lapin so we could chat a bit more and I'm almost positive everyone on the bus was eavesdropping on our conversation. We later agreed that it was because we were relatively loud. Lapin and I got off at the same stop and headed to our respective houses. Sadly, I forgot my sunglasses in her purse.

Now how will I look cool?

Bong Bong Bong

Thursday proved to be unproductive.

Lapin and I decided to get lunch before heading to the gym as per usual. We chose MeetPoint as we get a 10% discount because of our HAPN membership and we've never been. The inside was nice although I'm almost positive that the decor consisted of several bongs. I'm not exactly sure what they were trying to show, but it left me a bit skeptical as to the food that would be served. The last thing I would need is a trip to Highsville. Nonetheless, we ordered. I decided to get a sausage pide which is apparently a pizza made on flatbread while Lapin chose some kind of spiced beef sandwich. The pide was just a glorified pepperoni pizza which was a little disappointing. It had a few bold flavours, but they didn't seem to meld together into an extremely enjoyable experience. Lapin found her "sandwich", which miraculously turned into a wrap, satisfactory by her standards. We left a little disappointed as the place was highly recommended by Jolin. Apparently, Lapin and I have too high of a standard.

Either way, we decided to reschedule our gym session as Lapin left out her butter for her cheesecake. She was so flustered that I insisted that she go home. While at home, I decided to start a new anime which I found to be quite funny. The rest of the day was spent in such a manner.

Hopefully tomorrow will prove more productive.

Knight Life

Wednesday proved to be a mess. Our plans for an Asian Invasion hang out session ran amok. We ended up moving the day to Friday so more on that later.

In the morning, my final biology assignment was due. I didn't intend to hand it in as I was extremely tired from the days prior, but being the keen student I am, I began the assignment anyways. I decided that I would hand in whatever I had done. Surprisingly, I managed to finish the assignment despite the small amount of time I had to complete it and without sacrificing any sleep.

As I handed in the assignment, we were told by a friend that there would not be a quiz in the tutorial this week. I asked GreenGiant and Jolin if they wanted to skip out as there was nothing left to do. GreenGiant asked us to stay for a bit just in case. I was a little annoyed as he was wasting my time. After five or so minutes, we asked again, but he was still skeptical. I decided to push him towards leaving by actually doing it. GreenGiant conformed and tagged along. Sadly, we had to hear him worry about whether a quiz would be given or not the whole way home.

When we finally got home, I went to my room to watch a movie and relax a little before dinner. I decided to watch Knight and Day which proved not to be that great. It was soon time for dinner, but having not pulled anything out to make, I decided to go out. Lapin kindly agreed to accompany me, but blamed me for ruining her congee later on. Apparently I owe her a case of "pei dahn."

I decided to get Korean even though I had it earlier this week. I even ordered the same dish, except this time Lapin suggested I get sashimi. I have to say, having it the second time made it even tastier. Personally, I think Lapin made the right choice in leading me to sashimi as the fish complemented the cold spicy noodles. I tried to devour the meal quickly as Lapin wanted to meet with her friends for bubble tea. She invited me to join her and I accepted as I knew both of them. I ordered the lychee bubble tea which turned out to be extremely sweet. I was a little disappointed that the tea didn't come through a little more.

Finally, Lapin and I had to attend our weekly HAPN meeting. Apparently, Turn Key lost our schedule and we were out a room. We requested another one and he gave us a key. Sadly, that room was occupied by a guy saying his friend returned the key early, but they had the room booked until 10. A little annoyed, we decided to have the meeting outside. The meeting was extremely under attended as most of the executives were not present as per usual. I find it a little upsetting that I, of a lower rank, show up for the meetings and do more for setting up and planning than most of those above me. Either way, I am glad this was the final meeting and the only thing left is the End of Term Dinner.

The meeting ended and I realized that I was extremely lethargic. I'd like to believe it was ightis, but my carbohydrate intake wasn't huge. I decided it was due to the large amount of food I ingested. Feeling too tired to walk with Lapin, I decided to wait for the bus. I almost fell asleep waiting, but managed to stay awake long enough to get home. I quickly scrounged up into bed and just before I caught some z's, I imagined Lapin's congee.

A solid brown block.

An Ohm-pen Private Lesson

Class was cut short because our TA was lecturing. He seemed a little nervous and went through his slides very quickly. I didn't complain as I headed out to get a little breakfast. This time, I chose to eat a fruit explosion muffin from Tim's. Not feeling any of their hot beverages and wanting to stay somewhat healthy, I opted to purchase a water from the science CnD. Lo and behold, MegaCreep was there and eying me down. A little startled, I entered, bought my water and left after a very short greeting. I finished my breakfast outside in the sun and headed back towards the lecture halls. Biology class was boring as ever. Lapin and I scrambled to find a place to have lunch as I ditched on our plans of going to MeetPoint as I didn't feel dressy enough. We decided on William's for some cafe food.

I had a hankering for french onion soup so I ordered just that. Lapin played it safe and got her chicken caesar wrap. I asked if she wanted to split a dessert with me and she agreed. Seeing as it was a warm day, I chose the key lime cheesecake. I realize cheesecake is a little on the heavier side, but the key lime was just screaming out to me. The overall meal was a little strange, but everything tasted fine.

As it is Tuesday, Lapin and I went for our routine gym session. It was a little bit on the lighter side of our workouts, but we knew we had yoga later on. We departed soon after only to meet up a few hours later.

Yoga began at five and being forgetful as I am, I was late. I bolted out the door and ran to campus. As I entered the PAC and headed to studio 1, I was afraid that I'd be disrupting the class. Sadly, as I entered the studio, I only found Lapin, the yoga instructor, and another executive sitting there. The class had not started and the turn out was low. Seeing as we were all there, we began the session.

Yoga is a lot harder than it looks and with each stretch, I could feel myself loosening, but at the same time tensing due to the strain of holding each one. I suppose the lack of using the muscles which were being stretched didn't help and my arms began to quake. A little embarrassed, I finished the session. We thanked the instructor for her time and left.

Lapin and I talked about the poor turn out as we headed for dinner. She opted for subway as she had a class soon after. While in line, we bumped into Tank and her boyfriend, S. We chatted and ate dinner together trying to arrange plans for a more official hang out. Soon, it was time to depart and I headed home.

Namaste.

Pressure

Monday, back to Waterloo. A little upsetting as math assignments are always due at noon. Of course, I didn't have much time to work on it over the weekend and so I ended up scrambling up the answers and handing it just in time. To add some more pressure, our BIOL 241 lab exam was later tonight. I suppose I was lucky that I had bits of free time where I read over the 20 or so labs performed this term. I knew that our lab coordinator was very picky about details and made her answers extremely tricky. I met up with Lapin and A in order to study. Lapin was being a mega keener and even made her own study questions. -_-

Soon, it was time to write it and we wished each other good luck. It was over as soon as it started. The 55 multiple choice questions were tricky as suspected, but decipherable. Let's hope that I see through the smoke and fog and get a good grade.

Congrats "Little" Bro

Saturday was my younger brother and cousin's congratulatory dinner for graduating high school and getting accepted into University. It seems they've come such a long way and I'm glad that I got to watch them grow up into fine young adults. Wishing them all the best.

Bon Appetit!

Despite having a horrid haircut, I was very excited for Auberge. Sadly, I caught the stragglers of rush hour on the way home which left me little time to prepare. I quickly ironed the outfit that Lapin and I chose and threw it on. I was still happy with my choice. As I placed the finishing touches on my outfit, Lapin bombarded me with texts asking if arrangements were made to meet her and Spiderman. Sadly, Spiderman isn't the quickest answerer of texts and so we were all lost. I finally agreed to meet them at Scarborough Town Centre after being "rushed" by Lapin. My mom threw me some money and then I was out the door and booking it on the highway.

I arrived at Spiderman's place instead, switched over to his car, and then off to get Lapin. I had never seen Lapin's place and as we neared her residence, I knew she would have a house as such: Mega Asian. Lapin, with her need to get everything done early attitude, was of course waiting outside leaving us no opportunity to see the inside of her house. After that, we were on the highway and off to Auberge.

Sadly, none of us knew where the exact location of the restaurant was and so a U-turn was required to actually reach it. We spotted it and made a quick left turn into the establishment following the parking signs which turned out to be underground. After parking, we walked up a very sketchy stair well that led above ground just outside the restaurant.

We were seated shortly after and met Rob, our server for the evening. We ordered drinks, Lapin and Spiderman getting virgin raspberry mojitos and a white wine for myself. Both Lapin and I knew what we were going to order as we checked over the menu in biology class in our zealous excitement. We allowed Spiderman to mull over the options and waited for Rob to return. Spiderman, not being confident in his french, pointed to the items he wanted where Lapin and I tried our hand at it. Sadly, I was a little nervous speaking french to a complete stranger and fumbled a few things. Ah well, c'est la vie.

Our orders seemed to take long to prepare and even the bread came extremely late. On top of that, our table was the last to get our bread and appetizers and Lapin and I mused it was due to our young age. However, it was well worth the wait.

To start, we were given french bread with whole olives and an artichoke spread. The simple combination of flavours made it rather tasty although the pits of the olives were left in. I'm still wondering if there is a polite way to remove the pit from your mouth discretely.

Next, we were given black truffle quiches, compliments of the chef. Merci beaucoup.

Finally, our three course meal began to arrive. We each tried a different appetizer.

--Lapin's Salade de Saison--

Organic leaves with a lavender peach vinagrette.

--Spiderman's Brandade due Morue--

A platter of cod brandade, smoked salmon, capers, radish, olive oil, and french bread.

--My Veloute aux Petit Pois--

A chilled green pea soup with poached shellfish and lemon crème fraîche.

It was rather tasty even though it doesn't sound like it. It had an interesting flavour that I've never encountered and it was definitely refreshing.

Soon after, our main course was served. Spiderman and I both chose to get the tuna while Lapin chose to the tried and true beef.

--Medaillon de Beouf--

Extremely tender and velvety. These angus beef medallions were too good. I'm so glad Lapin let me have a bite.

--Thon à la Provençale--

This tuna was amazing. Poached and lightly seared on the outside while leaving the middle raw. It was served with spicy chick peas which had a sort of thai flair. Spiderman and I both were pleasantly surprised as we've never had tuna like this. If you're wondering why I chose white wine as a drink, it was to pair with the fish. I'm still trying to train my palette to distinguish enhanced flavours using wine.

Finally, it was time for dessert. We all chose to get the lemon cake as none of us were really in the mood for mousse.

--Voila, Cake au Citron--

We were intrigued by the "fruit" that came atop of the cake and asked the waiter what it was. Apparently, it is an orange candy made from the rind cooked in simple syrup. I got to try making these one day as they were very good.

On top of this fabulous meal, the pâtissier decided to spoil us with more goodies. A chocolate cake ball with caramel was served last. This was so delicious. The chewy dark chocolate cake with the sweet and gooey caramel was just a bite of heaven.

After the delicious meal, our little group was not ready to go home. We all decided to head over to Spiderman's place to play a little pool and hang out. Some riské photos were taken.

Merci Auberge du Pommier pour le repas délicieux.

Preparations for Hair Disaster

Friday had finally arrived. I woke up in time for all my classes despite wanting to sleep in. I have a good feeling about today as Lapin, Spiderman, and I were to attend Summerlicious at Auberge du Pommier. My excitement made the day go by slowly as I continuously glanced at the clock. Finally, when classes were done, I rushed home in order to pack. As if on cue, my father arrived just as I finished and we were off.

While driving home, I realized my hair was getting a little long and so I asked if we had time to get a hair cut. My father said if we went somewhere closer to home and not downtown, we could make it as it was around rush hour. We decided to head to Market Village to try out the hair stylist my dad went to last time. After a very relaxing and feel good scrub down of my hair, I sat down and pointed out the style I wanted from my GQ magazine. If you have seen the cover with Jake Gyllenhaal, you'll know the cut I'm talking about. Its a simple look, short on the sides, a rough chop in the top--also short--and gelled to appear moving to one side. It was foolish of me to believe that a simple cut like that could be done anywhere. The stylist said that since I have asian hair that it couldn't be done exactly the same and I agreed. He said he'd try to do it, but a little different. Sadly, I suppose the asian "a little different" is a lot.

He took off a tiny portion off the top and trimmed the sides to make it seem very straight. Apparently, chinese hair dressers haven't heard of clipper guards and merely use combs. I didn't get the #2 length I was used to and instead got an estimated measure of what he thought it should be. Not only that, but the stylist cut horizontally making my hair seem extremely blunt on the top. Being used to going downtown and having it textured by a slanted cut rather than blunt ends, I could tell this was not going to end well. After he completely finished, I allowed him to style my hair to see how it should be. Alas, it was no where close to the picture. My brother and I later joked that it looked like Ted Mosby's hair from How I Met Your Mother. -_-

I don't think I need to say that I won't be going back anytime soon.

Low Fat Nothings

Thursday turned out to be a whole lot of nothing.

Lapin left me after classes to head home as she doesn't have class on Friday. She kindly agreed to head over to get a muffin with me at Tim's. I was having difficulty deciding, so she decided on a low fat cranberry muffin for me. It turned out to be the right choice.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing.

Can't wait for Auberge tomorrow.

Lectured Success

I awoke for my morning biology class only to find that I was the only one headed there from my house. I suppose the guys were up late playing SCII. Class was rather boring and I didn't show much interest in the topic the professor was ranting about. I decided I would begin editing Lapin's philosophy paper instead. I sat in class reading over her work and adding small notes fixing some grammatical points. The class ended not too long after and it was then that I headed home forgetting that I wanted to pick up breakfast.

At home, I munched on some cookies and sipped on a boathouse smoothie--strawberry-banana. There doesn't seem to be much to do, so I decided to play some online games to entertain myself until my next class. I found my cousin, N, to be on and we started up the game we were playing last night. It was soon time for class, math class to be exact, and I left in a bit of rush.

The midterms were being handed back today and I am happy to say that I received an 85%. I thought I would do slightly better, but I am nonetheless satisfied with my mark. I'm glad to see that the my labour bore fruits. The rest of class was simple and most of the students seemed to be in a pleasant mood as the average of this test was quite high meaning most of the students did well. Since I was no exception, I soaked in and contributed to the atmosphere. Math class ended with an evaluation of the professor and I rated her extremely well. She has a way of making math interesting and interactive which I found to be a breath of fresh air from the style of learning I was accustomed to.

Today ended off with another giant waste of time as our mandatory biology tutorial proved to be a bust. Not only did the quiz not work--it is online--but the computer I was using would not turn on. Seems that the mouse and keyboard ran out of batteries or had their wires disconnected.

Seeing as I woke up for class, I believe I will leave this post as it is now.

Blog to you tomorrow. I'm off to catch some Z's.

Mistaken Identity

On Tuesday, Lapin and I headed to the gym as per our schedule. Sadly, I missed my Psychology class so I ended up taking the bus later than expected. I ran into Lapin on the bus to school and we talked about our usual failures of the morning. Class was boring as usual, but we paid greater attention to the lesson than usual. Perhaps this was due to our lack of having to decide where to eat lunch. When class was finished, we headed over to the plaza and while there, we saw our friend from HAPN, DC, walking as well. He was further ahead so we didn't bother him. Lapin and I entered one of our usual spots for lunch, Iron Chef, and were seated by the wall. Soon after, DC dialed-up Lapin and hinted that he saw us in the plaza. He further went on to hint that Lapin and I were spending a lot of time together. Finally, he blatantly exclaimed that he believed that Lapin and I were an item. We both cracked up laughing at this because Lapin is currently in a relationship with a guy who is in my psychology class.

At any rate, Lapin and I both noticed that we have been spending a lot more time together since we first met, but that is to be expected as we are gym buddies, lab partners, and have a course together. Not only that, but the summer term causes our friends to be scarce as they are enjoying their vacation.

Back to lunch. I ordered the unagi don while Lapin got california and unagi rolls. The food was good, although I remember the unagi don being better the first time I had it. Lapin enjoyed her maki rolls and even let me have one of her California. We paid for our meal and were off to the gym after that.

The gym was nothing new. The treadmills were completely full and having tried my hand at running and reading, which failed, I opted that we use the elliptical machines. Overall, our workout was normal, if not under par, but we were both tired. We departed ways soon after.

A shower was definitely in order.

Would You Rather...

Monday was the start of my week without any pending midterms or assignments. Since Lapin, Spiderman, and I are headed to Summerlicious on Friday at Auberge du Pommier, I needed an outfit to wear. I didn't find any of the clothes I had at Waterloo to be appropriate for the type of restaurant it is. After our morning classes, Lapin and I hopped onto the bus to head over to Fairview Park Mall.

Both of us were hungry as it was nearly lunch time and we decided that we would eat before attempting to shop. I had a hankering for a salad, but ended up getting a souvlaki platter at Opa. The portion size was huge and I barely managed to finished it. I found the greek potatoes to be a little on the salty side so I refrained from eating them. After scarfing down lunch, we headed over to the stores stopping in almost all them in search of something business casual. Fairview really only proved to have one contender: Mexx.

Lapin and I both agreed upon a grey pinstripe dress pant accompanied with a solid purple dress shirt. I tried the outfit on and decided it was decent. I did like the grey dress pants, although I wasn't crazy about the shirt. I suppose I enjoy the neutral tones for plain dress shirts because I find that shirts that have a certain pop draw too much attention. Although getting looks is a good thing, you don't want it to be for the wrong reasons. I decided that I would put the outfit on hold until I could make a decision.

Lapin was getting a little restless and I decided that I would not get the outfit from Mexx. Although it did look alright, I couldn't see myself wearing it other than that occasion. I asked Lapin if she would accompany me to Conestoga Mall and to my surprise, she agreed. We hopped onto the next iExpress and made our way over. While on the bus, to kill the time, we played "Would You Rather..." I really enjoy this game as some of the silliest choices can come along. At first, Lapin and I stayed to the more common choices and as we drew closer to the mall, the choices became a little more erratic. I suppose the highlight of our game was the final choice. The question posed was as such: "Would you rather be a woman with a man's private part or a man with breasts? Giant ones." Just the thought of these two possibilities, more so the man than the woman, tossed us into a fit of laughter. Lapin found it hard to walk as we both were in stitches.

After we calmed ourselves down and allowed the people tossing us strange glances pass us by, we headed into H&M where we found the outfit I am going to wear on Friday. Lapin found a striped dress shirt that she thoroughly enjoyed although I found it to be "nothing special." We paired it together with beige dress pants and voila. Although the look is rather simple, it screams summer. There is a simple and subtle brightness to the whole outfit that I think will work nicely with the atmosphere of the restaurant. Having decided on my attire for Friday, we perused H&M further. I picked up a few more items including a new black messenger bag which I am currently using as my school/book bag.

Having finished digging through the racks of clothes, I headed up to the cash register to pay. I believe the lady standing behind the counter though that Lapin and I were an item. I was skeptical on spending so much money on clothing having ordered from asos.com not too long ago. Lapin argued that she'd rather see me buying clothes than my usual items of interest that will not be disclosed due to its nerdy disposition. I agreed with her as I understand how nerdy my hobby seems.

With everything settled and our Waterloo group eagerly awaiting Friday's arrival, there is only one thing that needs answering.

Would you rather...

Lapin's Dinner

I woke up early on Saturday in order to head to the grocery store. I needed to get supplies in order to prepare Lapin's congratulatory dinner. She had succeeded in getting a co-op placement with Suncor and as such I was to cook her a nice dinner. She had chosen a recipe out of the cookbook I had purchased a while back and it seemed easy enough. The menu was rather simple, although it lacked a binding theme:

Because it is summer, I decided to try out a refreshing drink to go along with dinner: a mint iced green tea. I brewed the tea and added it into a pitcher and added fresh mint leaves and sugar. After a few ice cubes were added, it was off the fridge where it would continue to cool. Hence, the iced portion of the name. The aroma was just intoxicating. The subtle hint of mint seemed to cool the body as it enveloped the senses and it did just that as Lapin and I sipped away at it during dinner.

Dinner started with a very-berry balsamic spinach salad. Although Lapin despises vegetables, I take it upon myself to show her that not all of them are bad and can be rather tasty. I chose this spinach salad because I really enjoyed it when my cousin, Pisa, had made it for me when I visited her in Guelph. Although I was unsure of the exact recipe for the dressing, I took a stab at it. Overall, the salad came out extremely well. The craisins and strawberries helped offset the spinach flavour by adding a fruitiness to it. This was further enhanced by the dressing that simply complimented both the spinach and the berries. Lapin and I were both quite surprised that she enjoyed it.

Next came the main, a roast chicken with country sage stuffing and roast vegetables. I had bought a whole chicken that morning and spent a good 10 minutes trying to find the courage to de-giblet the bird. After removing all the giblets, I cleaned the bird and got to work on preparing the stuffing. It was simple enough and after Norman, the name I had given the chicken, was stuffed, it was off to the sauna for him/her. I couldn't serve the chicken alone and refused to bring potatoes into the mix as they're really starchy and the summer heat wouldn't make that any better. I went with a medley of broccoli, zucchini, and eggplant. Alas, the vegetables were left in the oven a little too long and ended up a little more crisp than I had intended them to be. After the veggies and chicken were finished, I tossed in two garlic and parmesan dinner roles. Again, having lost track of time, they came out a bit crisper than intended. Although not burnt, they had an extra crisp crust. Aside from the vegetables and dinner roll, it was a success. The chicken was moist and flavourful and although crunchy, the bread was really tasty. The veggies were a tad cold from sitting out, but I still enjoyed them. Lapin on the other hand squirmed as she ingested the zucchini and eggplant.

Finally, to end off the night, a traditional strawberry shortcake. The cake portion was more like a scone and not like the normal every day fluffy spongey cake. I hand whipped the cream which took quite some time as my arm grew weary. After assembling the cake, it was almost a shame to think that we'd have to eat it. I was extremely proud of how it turned out and the only thing left to do was to see how it tasted. Both Lapin and I were surprised by the biscuit like quality of the cake. A little disappointed by this set back we continued to eat. Surprisingly, I found that it got better as I ate more. I believe my palette became more accustomed to the expectations of a biscuit and subtle hints of sweetness came roaring by. I even got seconds which turned out to be a bad decision as I was already stuffed.

Dinner had come to an end and Lapin left happy with her dinner.

I, on the other hand, was left with the dishes.

b(u) + ri(to) = Gas

Last Friday marked the end of my midterms. That day, I had finished writing my math midterm and I'm glad to say that I believe I aced it. I suppose the scare from the previous one really took it's tole on me and I studied diligently and often. Hopefully, when the tests are marked, my efforts will show.

After the midterm, my friends from class showed me a "shortcut" to get from campus to Lester. This shortcut apparently consisted of cutting through WCRI, a rather sketchy part of our off campus housing. I was amazed to find that they knew about this path and even more that they were willing to take it. I suppose the worst part was a giant hill that needed to be climbed. I swear, that hill must be at a 90 degree angle as everyone had difficulty. What's even worse is it had been raining that morning and so the moist earth made it quite slippery. My friends, being professional shortcut takers by now, made it up the hill rather effortlessly. I on the other hand, tripped a bit and had to use my hands to cushion the fall. I made it up the hill, but at a price. With my hands covered in mud, we arrived on Lester and separated ways to head to our respective houses.

As I walked home, Lapin called me, wondering how I had done. I informed her and she was quite glad that she wouldn't be receiving emo abuse from me. She joked at the possibility that I could still have done poorly and that my initial excitement was a little foolish. I agreed, but I was so glad that I understood all the questions and even managed to finish them.

When I arrived home, I realized that I was quite hungry. I suppose all that thinking really used up all my energy. I called Lapin up and asked if she wanted to head out to dinner with me. She agreed and suggested we go to the new Burrito Boys on King. At first, I was a little skeptical and not in the mood, but went along anyways. We perused their menu and ordered. I got a halibut burito with everything and Lapin ordered a steak burrito (minus most of the veggies). We asked about the franchise and the girl at the counter was kind enough to explain. I found it quite interesting and I believe she liked telling us.

As we waited for our burritos, we chatted a bit about school and life in general. It seems that we're quite boring and our typical behaviours allowed the other to tease. Soon, our burritos were ready and we dug in. Although they were tasty, I found that there was a lot going on and my palette was having a hard time differentiating the flavours; it all seem to combine into a mash of things. Nonetheless, I finished it and was very happy to have a full stomach.

After dinner, we both headed back to my place to chill for a bit. Sadly, chill is probably a poor choice of words. The heat wave that had struck Ontario was still around and it didn't help that my house doesn't have AC. We entered and instantly, the air became more humid and warm. Lapin described it as a sauna and I agreed. We went up to my room and turned on the fan which didn't seem to do much. We chatted for a while longer and called it a night. Lapin rushed home and I sat around with my hands around my stomach.

Perhaps the burritos were getting the better of both of us.

Back From the 'Loo

It's been a long while since I've last blogged. Midterms here at Waterloo have been taking up all my time and I've been finding it hard to find the time. At any rate, this post will be the beginning of the return from my hiatus.

Consider this my return from the 'loo.