Easy Bake Lovin': Egg Tarts for the Lazy Baker

I'm really, really not the type of person to cook, grill, bake, or whatever. I would much rather eat. But every once in a while, my Inner Homemaker gets the best of me and urges me to make something from scratch. My sister made egg tarts in class and told me how easy it is to make them. I HAD NO IDEA they were so easy! I'm a huge fan! Yet another snack food that keeps me lacto-ovo vegetarian instead of full-on vegan.

The end result (above) look so cute, don't they? They turned out to taste good AND look good (I can't say the same about my Ugly-but-Yummy Buttercream Cupcakes.)

Time needed: a little under an hour. Effort needed: Really not much. At all. 

All we needed to buy were the tart tins, which are reusable.

And this is the recipe we used. :)

Looking Forward to Michelle Branch in Manila!

I've been pumped up since I heard about this concert in early April, and now that it's happening a week and a half, I've finally gotten the green light from my dad to get a Lower Box ticket for Michelle Branch and Jojo in Manila.

So I've decided to write this post, chronicling my personal history with my all-time favorite female singer, Michelle Branch. Let me tell you why she's my favorite: she got me through my pre-teen and early teen years. In 6th grade or so, I took guitar lessons one summer, to which the instructor compared me to Michelle Branch, and I was ecstatic. Of course, my strumming was horrible as I've got no sense of rhythm, but just getting that comparison, perhaps on the basis of the kind of guitar I had and my long dark hair, was probably the best compliment of my 12-year old life.

The Spirit Room was one of my most played albums a little while after it came out (released in 2001); I was in 5th grade, and just getting my first crush. I've always thought of myself as quirky, so the song 'You Get Me' described my perfect relationship, basically. And I don't know, but I still kind of see it that way.

Of course, anyone would know her more commercially successful songs, 'Everywhere', 'All You Wanted' and 'Goodbye to You'. Weirdly enough, the ones that resonated with me more off this album were 'Here With Me' and 'I'd Rather Be In Love'. I recently gave the album a re-listen; I still memorize every single song.

When Hotel Paper came out in 2003, I bought it immediately. Of course, as a 7th grader, at the cusp of semi-emotional-maturity (or whatever it is that makes you wanna grow up), I fell in love with it immediately. In fact, it wasn't until years later that I figure out 'Tuesday Morning' was about sex, hahaha. 'Are You Happy Now?' was released first, I think, but 'Game of Love' became a favorite of mine, after the more obscure tracks in the album, like 'Til I Get Over You' and 'Where Are You Now'; the latter became a favorite of my dad and mine, and we had that song on repeat in car rides going home. This is one of the fondest memories I have of my father and myself.

Hotel Paper was an album that stuck it out with me. 'Desperately' was there for me all throughout high school, when I was more or less hung up on one guy. 'One of These Days' found itself on repeat as often as 'It's You'. Seems like Michelle had me all figure out. Even when she formed The Wreckers with Jessica Harp, 'The Good Kind' was there for me during my "hardest" teenage boy-problems.

Even after 7th grade, when my taste in music shifted radically from mainstream pop to british pop and pop-punk, to alternative rock to indie, folk, and electronica, Michelle Branch was always the staple, and always will be, I firmly believe.

And I really cannot wait bring my 20-year old self to watch her live on June 7th, and just kind of send out positive vibes to her, telling her that, hey, I made it out alright. And, thank you.

Ironically, even Jojo got me through some tough times. :) 'Secret Love', anyone??

Why You Should Read

Just one of my "Unread Books" stacks.

You should be able to experience finishing the very last word of the very last sentence on the very last page of a really good book, knowing that the only thing you could do is put it down and hope to God that the next book you read is just as compelling, just as riveting, just as life-changing. In fact, you should be able to realize, first and foremost, that a good book can change your life; make you more cynical, make you more hopeful, make you more discerning, make you better, make you worse. You should be able to walk into a bookshop, and feel like you've come home. You should be able to stare at rows of shelves of beautiful hardbound books and fresh paperbacks, and feel the sadness that comes with the impossibility of knowing all of them, of being able to curl up in bed with each and every one of them, to wake up with your forehead pressed upon page 127 because you've fallen asleep reading. You should be able to know the pain of staring longingly from your work-desk at a stack of unread books; you should know the burden of waiting for the summer so that you can read them all, between long sips of lemonade, with the sand between your toes, and you couldn't be bothered to go into the water because you've drowned in a sea of words.

You should be able to unapologetically want things that you could have only heard of from a good book, to want the kind of love or excitement or fantasy that is true only of fiction, to need to take part in conversations that could only have come from the mind of a Bronte sister, to walk into situations that lead to tension that could only have come from Hemingway, to revolutions that only Flaubert could properly distance you from. You should be able to meet people and say that they truly are 'effervescent' or 'pulchritudinous' or 'impossible'; you should be able to meet people and say, with conviction, that they truly are beautiful.

You should take these books, properly and without regrets, distracted from real life; perhaps reading Garcia-Marquez, speeding on a railway in Tokyo, or Palahniuk, while seasick on a cruise ship to Santorini, or Calvino, in bed, wishing you were elsewhere. You should find that there are certain books that demand every available pocket of time, and certain books that you will force yourself to finish but will enjoy, regardless. You should find that there are books that you would force yourself to finish in a night, and books that will prove too painful to finish. There are books that leave an impression for days, and some that never really leave you; some of these, you'll wish you'd never read. You should be able to experience firsthand what being haunted really is, to see for yourself where dread is sown deep inside you, to know for sure the key differences among the words 'happiness', 'bliss', and 'delight', to find within yourself that your capacity to feel and think is bigger than you could have ever imagined, or could even have ever wanted.

Maybe the phrase isn't "should read". Should devour, maybe? You should be insatiable; you should devour these fairytales and romances, these mysteries, the fiction, the non-fiction, the semi-autobiographical, everything you could get your hands on. You should eat up all the poetry you could find, tear them into pieces, until they're raw again, barely couplets, barely meters. You should spit out the bare bones of a novel, and feel every feeling in the world at once, whether these feelings have names or not. You should take these points of comparison between what the world is, and what the world could be.

Useful Skill of the Day: Eyebrow Threading

Today, I was bored, frustrated with the sugaring wax I normally use (which works great in most circumstances, usually when I'm feeling more patient than usual), and I found myself learning to thread my eyebrows.

From 'Sesou', an organic product shop found in different malls around the metro.

Confession: I played around with my sister's nose strips and wasn't satisfied with the result so I somehow found myself in the "Beauty" part of YouTube, and found a video for using Elmer's Glue as a nose strip. I have no idea if it works….but.

Long story short, I stumbled upon a video for basic threading. Threading at salons is inexpensive but still takes up money. I'm frugal like that, but I prefer threading to any other way to shape eyebrows and get rid of stray hairs, because waxing easily irritates the skin, and I find shaving messy and it's not a good idea to shave the facial area (umm unless you're a man?). The biggest advantage to Threading (for me, anyway) is that it's a really clean process; it can remove even the finest hairs, but it HURTS.

Photo from here.

Anyway, all you need is normal sewing thread, and you're all set. It does take some time to get the hang of the technique, but the basic mechanism is really, very simple. I really just felt the need to blog about this because I CANNOT believe that it's such an easy process. I don't think I'll be getting my eyebrows threaded by professionals as often anymore.

Here's the video I learned from:

Why You Should Watch 'House of Lies'

I recently came across the new Showtime drama, House of Lies, which premiered in January. Fast forward two days later, I've just finished the 12th episode and season finale, which, I will tell you, is superb. Why did I start watching it? It's about management consultants (and not about lawyers or doctors, and that's kind of refreshing), Kristen Bell is in it (and I've loved her since Veronica Mars and her Sloth meltdown on Ellen), Ben Schwartz is in it (he is hilarious as a recurring guest star on my favorite comedy, Parks and Recreation), and, it's on Showtime, the network that airs my current favorite show, Shameless. All in all, it looked like something pretty good to get into. Now that I've finished the season, I think I've gained the right to start bugging people to watch it, and start counter-acting the bad reviews it's gotten. And here's why:

1. The casting for the entire show is perfect. I cannot imagine lead character Marty Kaan being played by anyone but Don Cheadle, and just when you thought Kristen Bell had fallen down a black hole of cheesy romantic comedies (see 'You Again', or 'When in Rome') , she does House of Lies and shows us she's still got acting chops. And guess what, her character here, Jeannie Van Der Hooven, might be even better than Veronica Mars. Ben Schwartz and Josh Lawson throw around some of the funniest, most bromantic banter I've seen on a television show. Even the supporting characters are great.
2. The characters are ruthless but not indestructible. In other words, they're believable. They don't pretend they've got some moral high ground to cling to, because they know exactly what their jobs require and they go ahead and do that, because they know bullshit and they know it well. But they're not one-dimensional either, and that's what makes this show really watchable.
3. The father-son relationship veers away from the cliche "dad's busy at work so he doesn't care about me at all" trope. This is one of my favorite aspects of the show. Don Cheadle's character, Marty Kaan is a single father to Roscoe, a 10-year old cross-dressing musical theatre geek. And, he accepts that; he doesn't say a word about the scarves, the skirts or the pink Tory Burch, nor does he stress out over it, and to me, that's gender-issues done right on television. That isn't to say Marty's always there for his son, but he's always ready to defend Roscoe to the hippie principal at his school. Despite him being a dick to most everyone he meets, Marty's a really great dad.
4. The drama is pitch-perfect. It's not too much, it's layered, it's compelling, and it's not black and white. It's smart, it's political, it's slick, but it shows its cracks, and that's why the show is so great beneath its flashy surface of random sex in bathroom stalls, 'travel hookup points', freeze-frame-breaking-the-4th-wall cinematography and ivy-league glamour.

It was recently renewed for Season 2; I'm guessing House of Lies comes back next January, so it's a great time to catch up!

L-R: Josh Lawson, Don Cheadle, Ben Schwartz, Kristen Bell

5 Movies That Have Shaped My Perception of Love

The subtitles are worth it, promise.

Love Me If You Dare (Jeux d'enfants) - Sometimes, other people won't understand your love.
If you've watched this movie, like, you know, REALLY watched it, you'll know about the ending. You'll know about the amazing monologue by Guillame Canet as his character is driving like a madman in the rain. You'll know about the beautiful cinematography, as shown through the Adam & Eve scene near the beginning. And, you'll know about the game that makes up the premise of this movie, translated as "Children's Games"; centering on childhood friends whose love grows complicated and at times perverted throughout the years, this movie is definitely my favorite romantic film, and has taught me that although love is universal, the ways which you and your partner show it don't have to be. Watch Marion Cotillard in my favorite role of hers. Also, the fact that she and Canet are together in real life just makes me extremely happy.

Garden State - Sometimes, it comes at the wrong time, and it doesn't have to be big.
This movie's just really quiet, for some reason. It's really understated, really subtle. And it's extremely realist. There really aren't any grand gestures. It's really just two characters (Zach Braff and Natalie Portman) who fall quietly in love with each other over the span of four days, despite the chaos of real life. I mean, sometimes, when you're trying to find yourself, someone comes along who just kind of messes it up, and makes you wonder if it's the real thing. My favorite quote from this movie is: "It's like you feel homesick for a place that doesn't even exist. […] Maybe that's what family really is: a group of people that miss the same imaginary place." And oh gosh, please get a copy of the entire Garden State soundtrack. It is amaaaaazing.

He's Just Not That Into You - Sometimes, you're the rule, not the exception.
As much as I want to add another Indie movie to this list, that's not going to happen. Why? Because I love Rom-Coms. They're safe, they're bubbly and, for the most part, the actors in them are attractive. I hate ScarJo, but I loved the rest of the cast: Ginnifer Goodwin, Justin Long, Bradley Cooper, etc etc. The great thing about this one is that you have very real people in them, in various stages of their relationships. My favorite, of course, is the Ginnifer-Justin arc, and what I've learned from it is that "You're the rule, not the exception…until you actually find someone to whom you are the exception."

"If you're not willing to sound stupid,
you don't deserve to be in love."

A Lot Like Love - Sometimes, it takes a while.
Even though I don't find him particularly attractive, I'm a big Ashton Kutcher defender, mainly because he doesn't seem to take himself too seriously, and he can get really adorable and goofy. What makes this movie different from other Rom-Coms is that it takes 7 years for Ashton and Amanda Peet to get together, and moreover, it takes them just as long to realize that they're actually in love. You've got Ashton on guitar trying to sing Bon Jovi, you've got that great New Year's Eve scene, and you've got the great soundtrack featuring Aqualung's Brighter Than Sunshine, and you've got a non-cliche storyline where the 'life changes' that the characters go through are pretty interesting.

Win A Date With Tad Hamilton - Always, you should love someone for the right reasons.
One other thing I learned from this movie was in a line from Michelle Hahn's character: "Well, love you get over in two months, big love you get over in two years, and great love, well great love…it changes your life. So which one is it?" But more importantly, "You can't love someone for what they stand for or seem to be. You have to love them for their details, for the little things that are true of them and only them." In this movie, look out for dorky, self-deprecating Topher Grace, a cute closing scene with Kate Bosworth, and that wonderful "She has six smiles" monologue. Everybody's Tad Hamilton to somebody.

Hungry in Hong Kong: Woodlands Vegetarian Restaurant

I don't think I'll ever blog about food if it isn't good, unless it's so horrible it makes me wanna spit out an angry blogpost. That's not the case, though, because my first food blog is about Woodlands Vegetarian Indian Restaurant. And it's amazing.

There are two very important things you need to know in order to put this blogpost into context. First, I'm vegetarian, and my sisters are vegetarian. Second, my favorite, FAVORITE cuisine in the universe is Indian. So putting the two together is basically a party in my mouth. Or as I like to call it: Diwali in my mouth.

Well, it's not like it's difficult to find vegetarian Indian food. No doubt about that. But I've never actually been to an Indian restaurant that served no-meat dishes exclusively. I've always said, about Indian food, that what's so great about it is you don't need meat for any Indian dish to be tasty, because it just naturally and wonderfully is.

I get excited at the prospect of eating even mediocre Indian food. Woodlands Vegetarian Restaurant is definitely not mediocre. Oh god, it was perfection.

Here is a Visual Aid:

What we ordered: North Indian Thali, South Indian Thali, Pappadums, and Masala Dosa. I had Sweet Lassi to go with my meal.

The food is super tasty, inexpensive and totally more than worth the trip to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Woodlands is located at 62 Mody Rd Upper Ground fl, 16 & 17 Wing On Plaza.