Currently Obsessed With

The Violent Femmes' Good Feeling. Check it.

No Sugar Update

For anyone who's interested, I have yet to succumb to temptation. Not when Olivia and my mom ate Straw-annas (A strawberry and banana sundae) from Andy's. Not when a mango flan (with a mango reduction sauce and fresh strawberries) was ordered after dinner at Quatro in the South Loop last Saturday. And not even today, when I walked into a local Jamba Juice and almost ordered a sweet pastry out of sheer hunger (totally forgetting about my no sugar policy).

Now how much do I kick ass?

Alma Balloon - June 2007 to September 2007

I received some very bad news from Frank today. I knew it was inevitable, but I didn't know how much it would hurt until now....

Here's his email:

"A sad end to a valiant friend. Plus, you were right, my insistence in touching the nearly departed - in this case trying to take the tape from the sucker off- directly contributed to her final demise. the bootleg Cat in the Hat will be auctioned off to her favorite charity.

tell her story...remember her."

Alma Balloon, may she be remembered for being bright and pink. And may Frank always feel guilty for killing her! (I told you to stop touching her!)

If any of you are interested, you can find Alma Balloon's story in my first Alma Balloon post.

Condolences can be left in my comments page.

Midwestern Guys

Last Saturday I met up with some friends in Lincoln Park's John Barleycorn. There are two J.B.s in Lincoln Park, I was at the one on Belden Ave. - this is an important piece of information as some of my friends went to the one on Clybourn and then even to the one in Wrigleyville before heading over my way, but I digress...

It was very refreshing to walk into a bar and be surrounded by my Midwestern boys, it is like coming home. (Ok it is coming home.) I was reminded of the time when my friend (who moved to L.A.) came home to visit last Christmas. We had just walked into some bar in Downtown Naperville when she let out a hugh sigh of pleasure and exclaimed, "Oooh Midwestern guys! I miss Midwestern guys!" I had smiled at her oddly and nodded my head. "Yes, they are a good lot," I told her. She laughed and tried to explain to me that L.A. guys are very different from Midwestern guys. I didn't understand the difference until I went out there.

L.A. boys, in general, are prettier than Midwestern boys. They have style, they have grace...you know, VOGUE. The guys here look like they just came from a fraternity party or from watching a Cubs/Bears game.

Unlike L.A. guys, there are no worries that Midwestern guys might be gay (ok, there's always a degree of uncertainty, but you can usually tell which ones are gay or straight) or that they may be too pretentious to talk to (there are guys like this here, but the ones that I have met who are pretentious have either lived in L.A. for a bit or are from L.A. - one in particular was actually an E-list actor, he was in the Disney movie Motorcrossed, but that is a whole other post...).

Thankfully, most Midwestern guys are more down to earth....even if I am in danger of having my head butted or challenged to do a keg stand.

No Sugar: Day 4

It feels like I've been on the no sugar diet for much longer than 4 days. It's only been 4 days?! Come on! I felt very strong and powerful last night when Olivia and my mom ate some strawberry sundaes in front of me. I didn't succumb to my sugar demon. I kick ass!
Today, I think I'm going through a bit of withdrawal. No sallow skin or shaking yet though so I think I'm still good...for now...

No Sugar: Day 1

This whole no sugar thing is already getting to be a bit inconvenient. I made French Toast today (because I had leftover French bread that I didn't want to go to waste) and let me tell you, without syrup or jam, French Toast tastes more like eggs and bread than dessert in guise of a meal. Thankfully I'm like the MacGyver of food and cut up some fresh peaches to eat with my Toast de Francais. Parfait! It was quite delicious. Next time, I may even try cooking the peaches up a bit to bring out their natural sugar.

Can I Do It?

So I've decided on a little will power experiment - to cut sugar out of my diet for one month, starting tomorrow. I'm not gonna lie, it's gonna be hard: no candy, no gum, no ice cream, no cookies - just thinking about it makes me want to delete this post and forget about the whole experiment. But no, I'm going to try my hardest!.

Why you say? Just because I want to see if I can. Wish me luck!

To Be Read

In an effort to remember all the books I've heard about but have yet to check out, I've made a "To Be Read" list on librarything.com. Check it!

The Yee Family BBQ

With 40 plus guests (mostly family and hangers-on) attending one of our famous Yee bbqs, I thought we were bound to get a little bit out of control. (Un)Fortunately there was no drunken midnight swims in the pool or cake throwing extravaganzas at this party. Here is what did happen though:
*20 lbs. of potatoes peeled by Olivia and I for my dad's famous New England Clam Chowder (we're a pretty famous lot...and by the way, the chowder was very well received).
*$5 won and then promptly lost in two rounds of Let 'Em Ride Poker, Family Tournament Edition (it's true, we Chinese like to gamble. Emphasis on the like).
*A side game of mahjong, though there was no exchanging of currency. (Guys, why is that? Maybe we should do a Mahjong tournament next time.)
*50 lbs. of bbq chicken wings, 50 lbs. of Korean bbq beef and 30 steaks eaten. Oh yeah, and bowls upon bowls of the chowder as well.
*Bottles of suntan lotion and Off Sprays shared
*And a million mosquito bites scratched and soothed