Tea Soup

So, I've decided to try or do, one new thing a day. That'll be a running theme in my blog. We'll see how this works.

Anyway today's new thing is tea soup - or - Top Chef Ramen. Joking around with a coworker on how to get creative with my mish-mash meal of Watermelon, Chicken and Ramen, I decide to try something different. The inspiration came from "cooking" my Ramen noodles next to the teas at work. I remembered an old dish we used to have in Malaysia called Bakkutteh. Basically it's a soup made with tea as an ingredient. I decide to spice up my Ramen with some black tea.

After heating up the noodles in the hot water/microwave, I steep the tea for a few minutes, then drain most of the water and add the beef seasoning. I know most people like their Ramen as soup, but I like my Ramen dry with just noodles.

Anyway it turned out pretty tasty. The aroma was good and the taste had a little extra special flavor, not super tea like but still good. I looked up a few recipes and there are quite a few tea based soups. It sounds bizarre, but actually it makes a lot of sense to put tea into soups.

Anyway that's my new thing of today. Black Tea Ramen soup :)

Tram tours

Today we had the weirdest Universal Studios studio tram tour ever. We live in SoCal and have Universal Studios Annual Passes. We had relatives in town & decided to go. We have been on, between all of us, probably over 50 tram tours.

In our car, we saw someone pull the emergency cord. They dropped their cellphone outside the tram. They couldn't get out to get it but the guide said someone would pick it up & have it for them at the end of the ride. As we rode away I watched the phone almost get run over by the tram. Interesting and odd.

Then the ride got annoying. The emergency cord was pulled twice after that because someone had to go to the bathroom, really? Finally our annoyed guide had us stop in the middle of Wisteria lane so someone could pee. So the guy runs back to the tram after he's done using one if the active/real houses on the lot. Then we see a mom holding the hand of her kid walking out to the house too. Really? They decide to go after the other person & not at the same time? So we were holding up all the trams, and had to leave them behind. Very annoyed.

Then we saw new buildings, castle like, on the backlot set. That was cool. The guide said he couldn't say what movie it was but he hinted the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Neat.

So out of our whole tram experiences, this was most definitely the most odd and interesting. Never seen any of the 3 things above happen before, and they all happen on the same tour. Go figure.

Won't you be my neighbor?

It's odd, but in the past few months of living in our condo, we've had some bad things happen but I've had my faith renewed and restored by meeting some very nice people, our neighbors. Not every neighbor is a gem. There are some young college kids across the way that smoke outside and talk loudly, so that can get annoying. There's another family down the way that has their TV on loud sometimes and we have some non-friendly non-chatty neighbors, but overall people have been very nice and it seems like the kind of neighborhood everyone looks out for each other.

We met our downstairs neighbor one week after living in our new place. She leaves a nice note on our door, saying her bathroom is leaking water and she believes it's coming from our place and could we check it out and get it fixed. This was very upsetting and not good news as we were still stressed from the move and settling in. I got defensive about the leak and also very worried about the extent of the cost of fixing, repairing and who was really obligated to pay for the repair.

Anyway a plumber came in, verified it was our leak causing her drip and he fixed it with very little pain or cost. I was thrilled I was just overreacting. Our neighbor was a darling, a sweetheart, and was like "so sorry to bother you guys with this leak, especially just moving in new. I'll take you out to dinner once this is all done". We were like "we're sorry you have to deal with a leak in your bathroom, we should take you out". She could have been so much more annoying, snippy and threatening about the leak, but she wasn't, she was perfectly nice about it. We had such a nice time getting it all figured out, that after it was done we took her out to dinner, and had a good time getting to know her and hanging out. She's still really cool and we hang out once in awhile.

Now just recently, we met 3 more neighbors and here's how. In our new condo, we have a shared garage. It's separate from our house, and it's a 4 car garage with 2 doors. So we have one car parked there and we share with 3 other neighbors. It's small but overall manageable arrangement.

So we recently went on a weekend trip and got home late on a Sunday night. On Monday morning as we're pulling the car out of the garage, I notice that my husband's red mountain bike was missing/stolen. His passenger automatic window was also not working which makes me suspect that whoever stole his bike also tried to break into the car but was unsuccessful. Anyway this was very upsetting least to say. I felt vulnerable, vandalized and lost my faith in people.

So we decided to leave a note to our 3 other garage neighbors. The note said we had our bike stolen from our shared garage, we're going to report it, asking for info, please check/safeguard your things, and please be sure to make sure the garage is closed when you're leaving for the day, and hope none of your stuff was stolen and a generally overall friendly but sad letter. Anyway we ended up talking to all 3 of our neighbors. They were all very nice and very sympathetic about what happened. They reported back immediately that they didn't see anything and they weren't missing anything, but they will be much more cautious from now on. We also got to know each other a little more through some friendly short chatter.

Anyway, we do live in a nice neighborhood where this sort of thing doesn't happen and people feel safe, and so we concluded it must be some teenage kids off for the summer totally causing trouble. Odd thing is the thief stole my husband's mountain bike and left mine, which is I guess, not a total loss. One of the neighbors was like, if I see a kid riding around on a red mountain bike I'll quiz him, tackle him if need be and take the bike back for you. Very sweet.

Anyway, I'm not a silver lining person, but I can't help seeing it now. Two unfortunate incidents, brought us closer to the people around us. We're very lucky because overall our neighbors are nice. After something as bad as a inter-condo leak and a theft, they were all kind and sympathetic and wanting to help and make things better. Of course no one likes when things go wrong, but in a weird way, it's made me get to know my neighbors and made me like them a lot. No one was intrusive, pushy or obnoxious. They were all descent and unexpectedly nice. I expect the worst of people and things sometimes, and it's nice to be wrong in those cases.

And the last thing is, one of our neighbors is an older retired teacher, super friendly, chatty and just a nice guy. He's one of those people you feel lightened after just saying hi. It's just cool being around someone who is sincerely, that cool. He's totally our "Mr. Rogers" and yes we live in his neighborhood.

So anyway, I toast to my new neighbors. I hope we always have descent and nice people living next to us. I thank the universe for having known them. I hope one day we won't need a leak or a theft to knock on their doors and get to know them.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Library

Actually a few funny things have happened on the way to, or in the library. Here are two goofy stories.

We saw a boy about 5 or 6 hysterical and overly distraught, wanting to stay in the library and read. Right? Ya, very cute and amazing to see. Dad was being kind, patient and creative in trying to go home saying "I have to go home to your mother, I can leave you here but she will miss you very much and it's cold at night. You should probably come home with us". But as we left, boy was still bargaining and crying with his father, for more time in the library. Wow.

Anyway today I was in line behind a lady, and an older man with crazy fluffy white hair came up behind her (obviously her husband or brother), snuck up and surprised her. She turned around startled and annoyed but laughing to herself. He saw me behind her, smiled and then looked at her and said "Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there something wrong with the earth's gravitational field?". Holy S this dude just did the perfect impression of Doc Brown in Back to the Future. We all got a good chuckle out of it. Thanks Doc :)

Half a donut

Who puts sprinkles on only half a donut? Honestly!

Goodwill

So there are a lot of interesting things you can find at your local thrift store. The below item being one of them. No doubt a carnival prize or bizarre body pillow.

It's just neat to see what people give away and find some great deals on usable items. We saw a very nice but slightly scratched up black acoustic guitar for $10. We almost got it. I like to buy single fancy crystal drink glasses without pairs. Part of me likes the idea of adopting a lonely glass & so my guests, if we ever have any, have their very own unique wine or drink glass not to be mixed up with all the others. We've bought good condition clothes with some of my best & favorite pieces are from thrift stores.

We also feel it's a bit like recycling and being good to the planet if we buy used. The deals are usually exceptional, but it's harder to find quality items.

Anyway Sherman Way in the San Fernando Valley CA has some great antique stores, thrift shops & specialty item stores we really enjoyed walking through. Chinatown LA is fun for atmosphere & food. Farmer's Markets & Festivals ate especially cool for crafts & art items. So once in awhile, get outside the mall, and visit the gritty thrift store to find something truly unique.

New Orleans

I've fallen in love with a place I've never been before. It's had a very special allure & calling to me for as long as I can remember. It's the city of Nawleens, and I'm planning my visit for 2011.

Originally I planned to go in 2006 for my 25th birthday. We were planning out the dates & getting ready to book hotels, when Katrina hit. Instead of New Orleans I went to the Grand Canyon and had a good time.

Now in 2011 I turn 30, and even with the oil spill in the background, nothing is going to stop me from going. Been doing a lot of research, reading up mostly and watching shows & movies centering around New Orleans. The more I delve, the more I am falling in love.

Perhaps part of my affection for the place doesn't necessarily have to do with the food, music & architecture, but more to do with it's spirit. It's a little gritty, dark, roguish, colorful, fun-loving, artistic, lively and soulful. Most of all, it's recovering with a fighting spirit.

We've all been beat down in our lives, especially now with the recession. Personally we've been laid off, working menial jobs, had our bodies and our spirits broken more than usual these past few years. I feel like I've taken a pretty rough beating, and in some ways I still feel broken. But we go on and we try to live with passion and soul.

I feel akin to New Orleans in that struggle, to regain what was lost, although its not really possible. Sometimes I feel like we must just stay true to ourselves and bear the scar and carry on. It can be so hard to forget the glory and ease of the past. It's difficult to have hope, but life evolves through struggles and we must remake ourselves into something better then our former selves.

It's a little much I know, but I feel like I need to go and see this place which has captured my imagination and soul.

Traces

Sometimes I wonder what anthropologists will say about our society, 100 or even 1000 years from now. What will we leave behind? What will our footprints say about us? Will our culture disappear? Something like Atlantis, where computers and technology will be an ancient mystery. Or will we just slowly fade from history like the glory of Rome. Just curious.