Blogger Picture Uploading

Okay, so I'm going to start today's post with a bit of a rant. It is most certainly a petty rant, but a rant nonetheless. Whenever I upload photos to blogger (very nice and well thought out ones at that), there is always the one that comes out messed up (like the one below). The "regular sized pictures" are taken when I hold my phone horizontally, so it gives more like a wide screen picture; which I think appears better on the blog as opposed to vertically, which I think doesn't fit. So anyway, just thought I'd get that out there and also say that the photo below isn't supposed to look half as crappy as it does. Super short picture time today, seeing as how I didn't do much.

The only real food I've eaten today was a BK Veggie from Burger King. I asked the woman for everything on it except mayonnaise, and she gave me bun, Pattie, ketchup, lettuce and tomato. I thought everything meant everything. Where's the cheese? The Onions? The Pickles? Ehh. It's Burger King; I should stop complaining and eat my fast food, realizing that it's fast food.

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Today I accompanied Franiel to the bank in Glen Burnie. I didn't quite understand why we went to that specific bank, 25 minutes away, instead of the one up the street. No complaints from me though, as while Franny was in the bank, I walked over to one of my favorite stores; H-Mart!!

I didn't have too much time, so I couldn't buy real food food, but I did manage to pick up a bunch of snacks and what not. If you can't see from this properly angled picture, there are three boxes of Pocky, a box of Pepero, and a box of Pretz. The three Pocky's were strawberry, chocolate, and banana chocolate. The Pepero was almond chocolate, and the Pretz was salad flavor. All very good.

In a pulled back shot, you can also see that I purchased several types of gum, sesame candies (black and white), and a container shaped like a McFlurry cup filled with little biscuits with chocolate inside. I remember two semesters ago in Purchasing we took a trip to H-Mart, and I remember someone bought these before. I remember tasting one, but I didn't remember that each biscuit was stamped with a shape; cute I guess.

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But yup, besides all of that, today has been rather bland. I am thinking about lifting the block on commenting on the blog, only done originally because of a nasty comment someone left. Maybe I will; I don't know. What I also don't know is whether or not I'm ever going to get the poppy seeds to make the Lemon Poppy Seed cookies I've been wanting to do for the longest. More tomorrow.

SUPER LATE!

Why do I always always ALWAYS put off ding a vacation blog post. Its like some weird thing, like I wait until the third day after I get back, and then I don't even feel like doing it anymore. But not this time! Not this blogger!! Anyway, yes, I am back! It took me long enough, but I am here. Now I could go on and on about how nice the hotel was, and how they only sold snickers and Gatorade in the gift shop, but I'm not going to. This is a food blog, and I have a tendency to put my life happenings in here.... Okay well I'll make it like 20/ 80 food. I have to tell someone about my day lol. Super long picture time so bare with me here.

Before we got to the hotel, we got hungry. Very hungry. So we stopped at a Denny's on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere Virginia, and ordered some food. I got a tomato and onion omelet with a side of hash browns. I ended up forking all the tomatoes out of the omelet because
I didn't like the way they tasted; they were too wet.

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You can somewhat see the hash browns in this one, next to the burger I ordered. It was sorta dry, so I had to put ketchup and mustard on it. Plus, I really don't like a burger (or sub for that matter) with any other lettuce besides ice burg. I feel like i ran the burger in a field before I picked it back up to eat it. But still it was good.

After making our way to the hotel, I decided to take pictures of the bathroom! Exciting!!

The bedroom, the one on the right is where I slept!

So around 12 the first night, everybody was still hungry, but no restaurants were open at the time, so we went to a BP gas station and bought all this crap. I bought the nerds, Oreo cookies, vanilla wafers, strawberry milk, water, fruit roll, and hot fries!

The next evening we ate at Il Giardino in VA beach. The people were very friendly, but it seemed over staffed for some reason...and not necessarily in a good way. Like for every person in the restaurant there was a waiter. Awkward....

I ordered the foccacia with olive and red pepper oils. I don't understand why every restaurant doesn't do this! It's so much better than the regular oil alone. And with grated Parmesan cheese inside, are you kidding me?!

Of course every where I go that offers Caprese salad I have to order it (just to see how it holds up against other restaurants). This one was good, but instead of a balsamic reduction they just did the vinegar plain. I'm not complaining though, the heirloom tomatoes were very firm and good.

My last dish at Il Giardino was stuffed Manicotti, covered in Parmesan cheese in red sauce. It was a bit too thick for me, as I could barley taste anything but ricotta cheese. A little less cheese and a thinner noodle would have been perfect.

A few days later, I had breakfast at the Pocahontas breakfast restaurant down the street from the hotel. The dining room was packed with people, and I see why. I ordered the chocolate pancakes; buttermilk pancakes filled with chocolate chips, with chocolate chips on top drizzled in chocolate sauce. So much chocolate I didn't want to eat anymore for a week.

A closeup of the pancake.

As if three monster pancakes weren't enough (obviously they weren't) I also ordered an onion and cheese omelet. I decided against tomatoes this time as I didn't want a repeat of Denny's. It seemed like they cooked the egg, then stuffed it with melted cheese and sauteed onions. Then covered in a sharper cheddar cheese.

For my last breakfast at the beach, I went to the Maple Tree, a Swedish breakfast restaurant. The Swedish pancakes I ordered were very thin, almost like a crepe, and covered in raspberry butter, which I absolutely need to learn how to make; it was delicious.

Okay, so I didn't actually eat the above salad while I was on the trip, but I did however eat this last night. I thought to myself; I HAVE to blog about this. The salad was mixed micro greens, dried cranberries, dried cherries, strawberries, blueberries, blue cheese, green apple slices, and candied walnuts lightly covered in a sherry vinaigrette dressing.

What to put here now hmm? I feel accomplished that I covered my vacation, plus last night so I feel all caught up. Today I was really feeling like baking some lemon poppy seed cookies, but we have no poppy seeds so I need to go to the store. No one wants to drive me, so that seems impossible then. I guess the store is right up the street, but I hate the sun; if it was winter I would gladly go up there. But its 90 degrees outside, so no. I would also bake apple pie, but we only have one apple. And no, there is no chocolate in the house either. I'm stumped. More tomorrow.

First Day

It is rare that I have a moment where I find nothing to be critical about, but feeling the contrast of the warm beach air and the air conditioned hotel room through the balcony, all while hearing the ocean in the background; this is one of those moments. DisasterCow is going on break until Friday, August 28th. I need to enjoy my vacation;this is probably the first time this year where I could go away and not be concerned with escalating family problems, or some paper to do, or some other silly life problem.

On a less serene note, I am going to post a giant blog entry with lots of pictures and stuff on Thursday. But how am I posting this you ask? Franiel brought his laptop lol. Either way, I'll be back on Thursday! Ending with something funny, I just remembered that yesterday, before I left to come here,I accidentally left a bowl of milk in my bedroom from the honeycombs I had the night before. Oh Shi-Stuff.

"Stuff White People Like"

So yesterday, I went to Malachi's graduation. It was really nice, had a lot of clapping, and I even got a little "Dominic, stand up in the audience". It was nice. What wasn't nice was (I know you're probably wondering why I chose that title for the post; I'll explain in a bit) Franiel rushing everyone out of the building immediately after it was over. There were people there that I hadn't seen in over a year, and I was only able to give a passing nod as I was dragged into the elevator. We ended up eating at Olive Garden for lunch, which would have been really nice if Alex and Madina weren't playing under the table like we were at McDonald's. It's picture time now, so be very excited.

The one picture I managed to take at the graduation; all the other ones are movies, and then when I was done with the videos, I wanted to take some more pictures....but my phone was acting stupid as usual, so this is the only one I managed to take.

When we got to Olive Garden, I ordered the Lasagna Fritta as an appetizer. From what I could taste and see, they deep fried soft lasagna noodles filled with ricotta cheese and some kind of herb blend. Then they placed them in Alfredo sauce (I could taste the nutmeg), and made a line of red sauce across the top of them. Very good.

Olive Garden looses brownie points for bringing out the salad late though. The waitress brought it as well as the bread sticks after I had already finished my appetizer. I'm not complaining, just saying it was kinda weird.

Then there was the fettuccine Alfredo. It tasted okay, but the sauce didn't have any salt in it, and they don't put salt on the table there....Oh well!

After I got home after lunch, I changed my clothes and Ashley and I went to the mall (stopping at the bank first where the woman caught a severe attitude for no reason. hmmm.....). After buying a few things, she wanted to try this thing where this lady "threads" your eyebrows. I stood off to the side and watched.

From the mall, I bought the worlds largest magazine, a shirt, a new scarf, a thin hoodie that I thought had short sleeves but got home to be sadly mistaken, a $25 itunes card, razzles, and a hilarious book. If you can't see, the book is called "Stuff White People Like" and the whole thing is about funny things that white people would enjoy. Stuff like "Religions their parents don't belong to", "Yoga", and "Gifted Children". It was only $14, you should buy it.

This picture just about sums up my whole day lol.

Today I'm just really packing stuff, doing laundry, and I'll probably be baking some cookies sometime today. I'm not going to the mall today with Kiarra and April anymore because of a change of plans, plus even if I did go, I only have like $7 left lol. But it's fine, because I'M LEAVING TOMORROW! I'm so excited! 5 days at Virginia Beach! That's kinda what I bought the iTunes card for, I'm not sitting in a car for four hours listening to "Go! Deigo! Go!" or whatever other annoying movies Madlex bring along.

Also, because I left the garbage bag on the back porch last night, one because it was raining and two because it was 11pm, I now have to clean up the mess the damn squirrels and raccoons made. I get a knock on my door at 8:30 this morning followed by a lecture, while Ashley left TWO bags out back and they say nothing. Besides cleaning all that up, I'm watching Madlex again today; to keep them preoccupied I'll probably have them help me with the cookies or something....

*shine shine now!*

So, yesterday I didn't do much. I had a really good bagel in the morning, but other than that I just sat around the house. I did bake some challah bread and I watched Ashley make her egg drop soup. I had some; it was good. Super short post....because I haven't done anything today ha ha. Pitcha Tiiiiiime :D (I think I'll make this a regular thing).

The water boiling for Ashley's Egg Drop Soup (her own recipe too). I have got to stop taking these "artsy" photos lol. There was no reason for me to photograph water...

The soup, being cooked. It was so good. It was really simple to make too. Very, very good. I wont blurt out her secret recipe, not only because she wouldn't want me to, but because she knows how I make my "French Devils Torte"

My dinner! We ordered Chinese food, so I just thought I'd plate it so it would look nice enough to put on here. Six pieces of Maki Sushi, some Lo-Mien noodles, soy sauce and the lamest fortune I ever got in a fortune cookie....

Someone should keep a tab of the amount of times I do this camera angle with my food xD. The fortune cookie said something about how it's okay to fail even if you really wanted to succeed. Wtffers?

My Challah bread proofing. I was really bored that morning, and after fixing Ashley's computer I just felt like throwing something together to feel accomplished. (How bad is that? I need to bake things to feel needed around the house now that my semester is over and I'm on break...)

The finished bread! I really like the way turned out, Ashley and I did the 6 braids instead of 2 or 3, which was a bit more time consuming, but obviously worth it. Also, I did an egg wash before I baked it, and I'm very curious as to what would have happened if I did pure egg yolks instead of the whites too....o.O (next time lol)

Blahhh. Today I'm watching two sick little gremlins lol. Okay, it's just Madlex but I'm REALLY not trying to get sick; I'm leaving Sunday and before that, Malachi's graduation is tomorrow so I'm going to that. OH! Have you seen my new banner?? I really like it.

Saturday i think i might go to the mall or something; i need to see who can go.....But as for now, I'm here eating ramen noodles as I already made them lunch and don't feel like cooking anymore. I'm also going to bake some cookies tonight, maybe I'll gift them to someone tomorrow at the graduation. I guess I'll post more tomorrow, about the graduation, and if I go out to eat or something after. Goodbye, or as Kai Lan would say "Zai Jian!!" (I'm sick of this showwww).

More tomorrow ;D

SOPHMORE YEAR AT BIC; HALF WAY OVER!!!!!!!

So yes, today was my last day of my third semmester at BIC. You couldnt possibly imagine my excitment. But, enough about that, and on to the more important information. I wil be blogging more often over the break, as I wont be so preoccupied by school and what not. So I go back September 8th, which is one day short of three weeks from today (20 days lol). I should really do more stuff about food....this kinda is a food blog......uhh anyway! Picture time :D !!

(Below is a frying pan)

This morning, Alex told me he wasn't feeling so well, and my mother told me that he had a bit of a cough last night. So I asked him if there was anything I could do. He said no, but I offered to make breakfast instead.

I thought it would be fun to make shapes out of the pancakes, so I did a circle, then a mickey mouse one. (On top)

So today I also had my last lunch at Au Bon Pain for a while. Since I don't have any more academic classes until November, I won't be at the Commerce building for a while. Au Bon Pain is across the street, so its the fastest place to get to to get lunch. Great food....sometimes..... Anyway, today I had a peach tea, Asiago bread sticks, a delicious salad, and a "tulip" for dessert.

I was actually surprised to come in today and find a new salad, one that was similar to Cesar salad but with better croutons, Gorgonzola cheese, sherry vinaigrette dressing, almonds and apple...... okay maybe it wasn't so much like a Cesar salad ha ha.

My meal concluded with a new item at Au Bon Pain called a "tulip". What looked like a souffle at first (but much firmer of course), turned out to be something that tasted like a brownie. When opened, it also had a red cherry filling that was a bit sour but worked well with the brownie. I'm assuming they just baked these in a muffin tin with the papers on, as they were firm enough to keep shape.

Any way, my day is sort of coming to a close, I plan to clean up tomorrow (shocking image below). Okay, maybe "shocking" was too dramatic a word, but its still gross, and the mess has been accumulating since I had all these finals to take and final papers to type and hand in and stuff. So yeah, that's my day tomorrow, but I will definitely try to eat or bake something remotely interesting so I can write about that tomorrow.

OHH!! One last thing, I'm going to the beach on Sunday for five days, so I'll be sure to order plenty of amazing room service, and document all of the food I eat while I'm there. More tomorrow, FOR REALLSS this time lol.

NO MORE HIATUSES!!!!

I've been über busy with school, and papers and finishing up the semmester that recently I have had no chance to blog!! (along with escalating family issue that have been resolved) So I'm going to start again, now that all the papers are turned in for the semmester. Blurrggg. More tomorrow, with loads of pictures.