1. I’m a procrastinator at heart. It’s a tough battle.
2. I can become very fixated on food when I’m hungry. Don’t get in my way.
3. I’ve never met a food type that I wouldn’t at least try once.
4. I’ve been playing violin for 17 years.
5. I started off playing piano when I was 8 and absolutely hated it. Then I switched to violin and was happier.
6. I have eight piercings in my ears. I don’t wear earrings much anymore.
7. I have contacts, but I only wear them on weekends.
8. My hair has been completely blue, purple and red at different points in my life.
9. I kill plants for a living. I like plants.
10. I’ve never owned a pet.
11. I’ve only ridden on a motorcycle once, and it wasn’t with mike.
12. I lived in the Berkeley Co-op system for the entire duration of my undergraduate career.
13. I’ve played at Davies Symphony Hall and in Miami with my community orchestra.
14. In high school, I’ve toured the eastern coast of Australia and New Zealand for a month, playing with a philharmonic group in portland. It was amazing.
15. I like to follow food blogs.
16. I know random weird things.
17. I have a habit of running people I know off the sidewalk. Their gravity trumps mine.
18. I enjoy minimalism, and like occasional pops of bright colors.
19. I don’t have a favorite cuisine.
20. In elementary school, I messed up in a spelling bee. The word was “balloon”.
21. I don’t like clowns.
22. I prefer walking to bicycling
23. I don’t like to drive, but will if I have to.
24. I once got lost in SF, pulled my car into a parking garage, and called for help. I was one block away from my destination.
25. Vanilla ice cream serves as a vehicle for my crushed pistachios.
Monthly Archives: January 2009
25 Random Things About Me
My friend Evaly did this on Facebook and I thought it was interesting so here I go!
- I’ve worked with the same group of 10 people over the past 4 years at 3 different jobs.
- I have a degree in genetics and plant biology and a career in web development.
- Jules and I have been together for 5 years!
- I’ve been playing soccer for over 20 years.
- I have bigger baseball trophies than soccer trophies, even though I only played for a few years.
- I was kicked off the track team in high school for skipping practice to play golf. (Probably because I admitted to it.)
- I love Jules’s red pumpkin curry.
- I felt more awkward in the Hapa club with my “peers” than I do living my every day life.
- Sea scout camp never sent me my merit badges.
- I’ve kept a written journal since elementary school.
- I do my best thinking in the shower.
- In high school I learned that your middle name is given and isn’t just your mom’s maiden name.
- In high school I loved math and hated english. In college it was the opposite.
- My college room mate gender pattern was: 1 guy -> 1 girl -> 2 guys -> 2 girls.
- I don’t like chocolate. Except reeses, those are delicious.
- Vanilla is my favorite flavor of ice cream.
- I had a turtle since junior high. He died this year.
- I played four years of varsity soccer and never got a jacket.
- I made a bet with a friend in high school to see who would get a Jeep (wrangler) and a motorcycle first. I won.
- When I play soccer I look angry because I have to squint all the time. I don’t wear contacts.
- I went to Illinois once to meet some people I met online. It was awesome.
- I don’t have a passport.
- I like potatoes with my ketchup.
- I moved in the middle of kindergarten. I still remember that day.
- I want to hike all 2600 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.
Cheesecake
This week, I got it in my head that I wanted to make cheesecake. I didn’t remember what recipe I used before, but this time, I followed Alton Brown’s Sour Cream Cheesecake recipe . The recipe calls for the use of a 9 inch cake pan. I had 4-4.5 inch springform pans. So what was I to do? Not only was I trying a new recipe, I was also attempting to modify it! And I don’t own an electric mixer. But chopsticks and spatulas have not failed me yet, so I was good to go.
While I stayed fairly true to ingredient amounts, I modified the oven time to account for my individual pans and reviewer comments on how the bake times were too short. I paced about nervously like a soccer mom with too much caffeine. I would turn on the oven lights every ten minutes or so, and violently shake the oven so I could see how much the cheesecake jiggled- much like what people do to the vending machines that refuse to relinquish their product. And the verdict always was: Still jiggly! Curses!
Back to more pacing for ten minutes before I would check again. Mike thought I was a bit loopy. The cheesecake was still very jiggly after 1.5 hours. I gave up and found that it set nicely after I turned off the oven. Whew. The end result turned out quite well.
AB Cheesecake Recipe, modified to produce four smaller cheesecakes:
Crust:
* 1 sleeve plus a few Honeymaid graham crackers
* 3/4 unsalted butter (3 oz) plus a lil
* 1 tablespoon sugar
Filling:
* 20 ounces cream cheese
* 1 1/4 cups sour cream
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 2 eggs
* 3 yolks
* 1/3 cup heavy cream
Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line individual pans with foil, and brush with butter. Fill two large pyrex pans with hot hot water (boiling would be better, but I just turned the tap to the hottest possible setting because I’m lazy) and place in oven to preheat.
Combine crumbled graham crackers, melted butter, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Press mixture into the bottom of each pan. Place remaining crumbs on foil and bake both the crust and the remaining mixture for 10 minutes. Cool. Reserve additional crumb mixture for sides.
Beat sour cream for 10 seconds. Add the cream cheese and cup of sugar and mix for 30 seconds or so. More if you have lumps.
In a separate container, combine vanilla, eggs/yolks and heavy cream in a small bowl. Slowly pour this mixture into the cream cheese mixture while stirring with a spatula. Once completely combined, pour into cooled crusts.
Lower oven temperature to 275 degrees F. Place cheesecakes into the preheated water baths in the oven for 1.5 hours. Open the oven door for a little bit (10 seconds). Turn the oven off, close door and leave cheesecake to set for one more hour. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and place in the refrigerator to completely cool. ( I admit that Mike and I ate one right away. It was 11pm, and we wanted cheesecake!
)
When ready to serve, take the remaining graham cracker mixture and press into the sides of the cake.





