Getting in those Veggies!

I can't tell you when I started cooking. The first time was probably my parents let me "help" with making breakfast on Saturday morning. I do have a lot of memories of asking my mom to stir batter, because I wanted to lick the bowl when it was all done. Since then, I have always made do when it came to food. Good enough to consume, but nothing to write home about.

Recently, I have wanted to go beyond that. I have wanted to make food that looks pretty and tastes fantastic. I blame that on all the cooking shows that I have watched over the years. Recently, I tried making Mei Fun. It didn't come out right because of several things that I did wrong. But, I'm going to post it up anyway. 

First off, anyone who knows me, knows that I don't like to chop anything. I am that person who goes to the frozen food section and buys all the vegetables already cut and ready to go. But, I am starting to make exceptions to that rule. Fresh ingredients will always trump frozen ones.

Very happy I investing in a cutting board

So as you can see, I was doing a lot of chopping when I did this. The only thing I did not get fresh was the bean sprouts that I used, since I already had some in the cabinet. I do have to give credit where credit is due. I got all of these vegetables from ALDI (with exception of the green onions and carrots which were already in my fridge). I would say that I spent around $3.00 for what you see on the table, carrots and green onions included. Amazing, right?!

This was named DesyFun, since Mei Fun it is not :P

The final product did not come out exactly as I had envisioned, but it still tasted good. And it was something different than what I normally cook. I am pretty sure that I used the wrong type of noodle and I put way too much in the wok at one time. But it is a vast improvement on the first time that I tried to make mei fun. Perhaps the 3rd time will be the charm.

Trying to get that touchable skin

A theme that I seem to be continuing is that I love making my own DIY hair and skin products. I can't tell you what is so fun about, but I find myself doing it over and over again. I also love how amazingly cheap it is compared to buying thing from the store. First thing I have tried out is an easy bath soak.

I am not sure how much milk bath sells for, but I am going to guess that it is more than making it at home. All you need it powdered milk and Epsom salt. Pour these two in your bath while it is running and bathe as normal. (Of course I recommend just soaking for a while, because why not.) For those of you not familiar with Epsom Salt, you can find it in the pharmacy section.

Baby oil is a real gem for me, because it is fairly simple step to add into the hygiene routine. The moment I am done with a shower or bath, I put this on. Once my skin has absorbed it, it feels pretty fantastic. And after doing it for several days in a row, I am pretty amazed at the results. I used to use baby oil all the time, because I went to college in a dry climate and it wreaked havoc on my skin. I am not sure why I stopped.

I was introduced to baby oil gel later on. It is used pretty much like lotion. It is not my most favorite product in the world, but it's not bad. Personally, I stick with the oil and only use the gel when I run out of that.

Just wanted to share these two easy things. Probably will be posting more DIY things in the near future.

Christmas Gifts!

Christmas was not all that long ago and I must say that I got some really nifty gifts this year. While I was very appreciative of everything that I was given, there were a few that stuck out as extra special.

My sister got me these face masks in really fun scents. I like them because they are very unique and they work really well. The first one I am going to try is the one on the left: Earl Grey Tea and Macaron. It just sounds fun. I do believe these mask are all from the My Beauty Diary line

Another gift from my sister. I think the packaging is pretty cool and it smells really good. So if you couldn't tell, one side has lotion for normal skin and the other side has lotion for your dry areas, like knees, elbows and heels.

These were from my mother. I told her that I wanted to learn how to cook some authentic Japanese food. So she got me a boat load of cookbooks. The book on the very bottom is entirely Vegan. If you ever want to understand any and everything there is to know about cooking Japanese food, I would suggest the book on the left: Japanese Cooking A Simple Art. It goes pretty in depth about every aspect of the Japanese kitchen and meal.

Last but not least, this book. I think it was a combination of watching shows like "The Mentalist", "Lie to Me", "Elementary", and "Sherlock" that made me want to sharpen my powers of perception. And what better place to start than by learning how to read body language. A friend of mine suggested this book, so I put in on my Christmas list.

So, this year I am going to be well read, well fed and sharpening my powers of deduction.

Daily Write - Existence in Silence

In the silence, vastness spreads out before me.
When all is quiet and still, I can sense it.
Beyond the reach of the edges of my fingertips,
That is where it sits.
Beckoning to me in a tongue only understood
Deep within the recesses of the soul

This great expanse
That unfurls in the silence, feels empty.
And yet it is more. 
Much much more.
It is great and far and limitless.
It is colossal and open and free.

And it calls to me.
Calls to the essence of my being.
In the silence.

Daily Write - Rage

It burns. This once unnoticed ember that grew into an all consuming flame while my eyes were closed. This subconscious spark that was awakened in the recesses of my brain that I tried my best to ignore. It burns and it rages, beating against every defense I have put up around it. Despite everything I have done, it only grows larger, hotter, brighter. Pushing and pushing with fingers I cannot run from.

I don't want to fight it any more, I want to give in. I want to let go and let it have me. Even though it threatens to turn my very essence into ash and my soul to soot, I want to be consumed by it. No more suppressing, no more pushing it down, no more white knuckled grip on logical sanity and calm. I want to burn. I want to break, erupt, explode, destroy. I want everything to crumble and splinter.

And when nothing is left of me but ash and embers, I want to be left alone.

NaNoWriMo Day 7

I have officially made it through the first week of NaNoWriMo. Started with gusto, but the past two days have been pretty tough. It feels like I have lost that sweet spot that I had the first couple of days this event started. The smooth and quick writing, the flow of ideas, everything was coming to me with such ease. Then suddenly it feels like I am pushing a boulder along as the story just slogs onto the pages. And of course I want to edit the heck out of everything that I'm writing. I have been keeping a pretty good job of sitting on my hands, but the enjoyment factor of doing this has dwindled over the past day or so.

There are things that I want to do with my characters, development wise. I just haven't hammered out how I am supposed to be doing it. There is character that I want everyone to hate. There is a character that I want everyone to feel sorry for. There is a character that I want to pull on everyone's heart strings. And yet I feel like I am not making any of that happen. I feel like I am striving at an idea, but I'm not hitting it full on the head. And that frustrates me more than anything.

The story also feels like it is getting too long, surprising as that may sound. Like it is taking forever to get to the actual point of why this story is being told in the first place. I know, that is an editing call as well. And maybe it isn't too long, but just the fact that I am not excited about writing this part, but later parts of the story. Don't get me wrong, this part is enjoyable to write, but it is not the meat of the novel. I am still dabbling with the beginning.

So I guess this is where the real work is going to start. This is where I dig my heels in and show that I can write this novel in 30 days. This Saturday is going to be where people write all day. I think I am going to use it see if I can't get some of that beginning inspiration back and dig into my novel even more. At least I can get a nice word count padding if nothing else comes of it.

NaNoWriMo Day 1

Well, National Novel Writing Month has gone charging off for another year. I tell you, it feels really good to be a part of it. Especially since I had to skip it last year. My story got off to a pretty strong start and the online midnight write in. There are a lot of gaps in the plot that I have yet to figure out. But I'm sure it will all sort itself out when I get around to that part of the story. Or I will just leave the holes there and wait for the editing process to figure out what to do with them.

My characters are coming out a little bit different than I had planned for them to be when I first started outlining. The male MC is a bit more jovial than I wanted him to be. I was looking for him to be more distant and detached due to emotional injury. Basically, I wanted him dark, broody and broken. Right now he isn't quite reading that way. He comes across pretty normal actually. And he sounds younger than I want him to be. I wasn't quite aiming for fresh faced youth. I wanted to write someone a little more life weary. I am wondering if the coldness and unavailability I'm looking for will present itself in other ways as the story progresses. If not, then it kind of throws a wrench into the whole thing.

A plethora of minor characters came flooding in without my permission. Most of which I had not planned for. For instance, sisters of my female MC. The original plan was for her to be an only child. So yeah, these minor/secondary characters just sort of happened while I was typing. I don't know how many of them will actually stay, since muddying a story with too many characters is something that I want to avoid. But for now, I like most of them. However, giving them names is a pain.

So far, so good with keep up with the word count. Hopefully I can keep ahead like this for most of the month and get some cushion for the holidays. I think this is the first time that I have started with a lead this early in the month. But also, the other years I did this, I had a lot of things on my plate that I was juggling. Now, not so much.

That is about it so far. My word count is ahead. I like where my story is headed so far and I have gotten to talk with several local WriMos. Things have started off really well.