Nothing makes me more inclined to putter around in the kitchen

...than the fact that I really should be doing something else...but hey, a girl's gotta eat, right?!

And if one has to eat, why not have some roasted asparagus and prosciutto topped with a poached egg and hollandaise as well as some mushrooms, spinach and garlic sautéed in butter and olive oil? :p

Couldn't come up with a CATchy title

Have never really been a big Hello Kitty fan because I prefer smartmouthed characters and...well...Hello Kitty doesn't even have a mouth. :p

And yet, these Crocs were just too cute and well-executed to resist, so I finally ordered them when they went on sale.

As for the soda, I spotted it in a small store a few days ago and just had to give it a try. It's raspberry-flavored and tasted perfectly okay.

My not-so-balanced diet

I only ate half of the chocolate mousse, so that makes it 1.5 --- and not 2 --- desserts.

The cheese and spinach pancakes would probably have tasted better if they were hot. Only ate one.

Took the IKEA bus from the city for the first time. One woman kept giving a family the evil eye because a little kid was laughing...sheesh, and I thought I was a misanthrope.

Packing?

Well, more like I cleared my suitcase of the stuff I normally store there. Plus, I did throw some items in, namely a belated present and two items my mom asked me to bring. You see, my mom --- who is a travel agent --- left behind a huge bag of stuff here after her last visit, but still managed to get charged about USD300 for overweight baggage.

Anyway, will be leaving for Manila in a week and am mostly messing with my luggage to distract me from what I actually should be doing. Even managed to 'clean' my room a bit, which mostly means that I moved piles of stuff around. I did also throw away a bunch of receipts though...can you imagine how much space that saved?! :p

If snacking were a crime

...they'd have to put me away for life.

Macaron mission accomplished. I tried vanilla and caramel yesterday, and had intended to just buy chocolate and raspberry today. However, the caramel was sooo good, I couldn't resist!

Now you know why I limited myself to half a cinnamon roll and half a semla after dinner. :p

I also managed to squeeze in some junk food from the Philippines, namely Oishi Spicy.

No interest in trying passionfruit and licorice, but the salesperson helpfully/deviously mentioned that they have new flavors that she just hasn't gotten around to putting on display yet: citrus, lime and pistachio.

No need to worry too much about my new addiction though. Tomorrow will be my last day in that neck of the woods.

Two steps back

Yesterday, I swore off carbs for my South Beachy diet. I don't think I've ever felt hungrier even though portion control wasn't required. Snacking on cheese did zip to still my hunger. And I just couldn't stop thinking about food!

It wasn't even a full day since I woke up past noon, but I reached for my cotton candy as soon as the clock struck midnight.

Today, I need to get a lot of studying done. Therefore, I need my sugar!

Just call me Grabbing Goblin*

As if I didn't already have way too much to read, I felt compelled to grab a copy of all the free reading material I came by at the hospital.

[*Want to know who the Grabbing Goblin is? Clickety-click here!]

Marketing dream

I'm a sucker for seasonal/limited-time-only products and other ploys.

Gooey chocolate cake + gingerbread = winter...or so they tell me.

'Tis the season

...or not. It's a good thing I have oodles of Christmas wrapper left over from last year because the stores here apparently haven't started selling them yet.

If you know me well enough, you can probably figure out why I'm wrapping Christmas presents in October.

Cuppycakes!

Managed to satisfy cupcake cravings...for now. Tried the carrot and red velvet cupcakes. Thought the carrot one was yum-o, but would have preferred less nuts. The red velvet was just okay.

Got by with just milk and no sugar in my coffee...yay me! Oh, okay...yay coffee!

P.S. The flash on this phone sucks eggs.

[Photo taken at 1824.]

I could be wrong about this, but...

I have a sneaking suspicion that it just might be time to get the winter stuff out.

[Photo taken on my way to school this morning.]

Are all sugars created equal?

I consume way too much sugar, but since I don't have the will to cut back, I though I'd look into other solutions starting with my coffee, which brings us to...

The Sugar Cube Faceoff
Reigning Champion White Sugar Cube: 1700 kJ/100g
Contender Brown Sugar Cube: 1680 kJ/100g

I may actually consume enough sugar cubes for that to make a difference, but even I have to admit that this experiment is pretty much a dud. Back to the drawing board!

Photo backlog # 2: What I'm reading

It was the movie that got me interested in the Shopaholic series. What can I say, me likey Hugh Dancy...nevermind that this series has 'guilty pleasure' written all over it given the archaic gender roles and formulaic writing.

Bought and read all the books while I was in the Philippines last summer and signed up to be alerted when this one was released.

Am not done yet, but it's a fun read so far although I think the characterization of Minnie seems off age-wise.

Surprise South Beach Mashed "Potatoes"

Substituted real butter and low-fat milk. Taste was acceptable, but the smell gives the cauliflower away.

Eina logic

Missed Ben&Jerry's Free Cone Day on April 27. Didn't find about it until 2100 the same day.

THEREFORE, I had to buy half a liter of the newest flavor two days later.

That I most likely would not have bothered to make the trip into the city nor to brave the crowd at the store for the sake of a free ice cream cone is irrelevant. The fact remains that I missed Free Cone Day dang it!

The missing piece no more

Worked on the niece's 1000-pc puzzle again and this time, there really were 1000 pieces.

Now I can finally let this go. :p

Finally!

My laundry hampers are empty for the first time in a long time. It will be somewhat tragic to dump that first piece of dirty laundry into one of them.

How could I refuse chocolate at 80% off?

As much as I wish that I could chalk it up to will power, the answer lies in the expiration date. I was at the store on the 30th and these had officially expired on the 29th. Although, seeing as there's bound to be some time allowance, maybe it was will power after all.

I actually bought a box last week when they were still at 75% off. It was the perfect way to justify chocolate eating because:
1) chocolate being on sale is a rare phenomonen that one must take advantage of; and
2) I didn't have to pace myself because I had to beat the expiration date --- and I succeeded!

Am now kinda wishing that I'd bought a box yesterday and that I were eating it right now. About an hour ago, I had to relinquish my KitKat stash to trick-or-treaters that popped up unexpectedly lest they take the "trick" in "trick or treat" too seriously.

[Photo taken at 1525 on 091030.]

Time for a confession

The leek soup project was supposed to last 48 hours. I started at around noon yesterday, but pulled the plug by 2100. Before that, I even managed to cheat at about 1700 by eating a banana walnut muffin.

In my defense, I did drink up all of the soup. I must not have added enough water though because there was only enough soup to last a day.

Still have about half of the boiled leeks in the refrigerator. Am thinking of dipping them in some batter and then frying them...my apologies to the author of "French Women Don't Get Fat".

Baked the WeightWatchers Cheese&Tomato Muffin seen above when I got back from the movie.

Cute things come in small packages

Couldn't resist buying these 100 mL packages of EVOO and balsamic vinegar at the supermarket yesterday.