Post-24

Thanks for the birthday wishes, blogging buddies!

We had a delicious dinner at Buca di Beppo, complete with tiramisu and a "Buca-sized cupcake" (pictured below). If you've never been to a Buca di Beppo, you absolutely must. It's a family-style Italian restaurant, so don't go unless there is at least 4 of you. I think the biggest group I ever had at Buca was 20-something people, about 1/3 of my floor in the residence hall first year of college for the end-of-the-year dinner.

This is what they mean by "Buca-sized" cupcake. Pretty big.

The most amusing part of the evening had to be when they came to sing "Happy Birthday" to "Janine." Well, I've heard some interesting butchering of my name but that was a new one. Also, they've started singing a new birthday song there -- the lyrics consisted of references to spaghetti and meatballs -- and NONE OF THEM knew how to sing it, much less the diners. So it was an awkward 30 seconds of humming along with the waiters, who were bumbling along with the written lyrics since they hadn't learned it yet.

Afterward, we hit up The Hip Kitty, a jazz lounge and fondue bar in Claremont, where a band we knew was jamming.

Thanks for coming out despite the pouring rain! If I hadn't gotten out that night, I'd have crazy cabin fever right now from the nonstop rain. And don't think I'm just being a whiny Californian, because there's no rain like Taiwan rain in April (where it basically poured nonstop for 3 weeks and I was in a Californian's nightmare).

Sun, come back soon, please!

Let the Holiday Parties Begin!

Tomorrow is Clement's office holiday party. Saturday is the holiday party for my Toastmasters club, the Master Motivators, which is my little project these last few weeks. One more TM holiday party is coming on the 15th, and this is all before the holidays actually begin!

I spent two days teaching myself how to use Adobe Illustrator to make this flier! Names and addresses, obviously, edited out to protect the innocent. Illustrator is fun, by the way, and I think my Ad-Sense money is going to go toward a Bamboo Tablet/Pen. =D

How many holiday parties are you attending this month?

Vanilla Extract Project

After sitting on this idea for several months, I finally decided to start my Vanilla Extract Project a.k.a. homemade vanilla extract. I read a lot of variations on the recipe so I just kind of... meshed them together. Here's my version!

Step 1: Round up your supplies.

Supplies (left to right, clockwise):

• Measuring cup - actually, this was just for making pouring easier. I didn't measure the exact amount that went into each bottle but they held about half a cup of liquid.
• Funnel - unless you're extremely patient and have excellent hand-eye coordination, you need this for pouring. I am not.
• Alcohol - I used vodka but I read that rum and gin were also popular choices. I chose Belvedere because a State guy once swore by it while making fun of Grey Goose. (And we all know those SDSU kids know their alcohol. =P)
• Vanilla Beans - I got Rodelle vanilla beans from Costco, which come in these 2-pack fancy glass containers of 5 each. (10 beans, for I believe $12.something.) These beans were okay but I liked the organic ones I got from the food co-op better, so next time I will probably not get the Costco ones again.
• Vinegar/Oil bottles - I got mine at Michael's crafts... Sorry I don't remember the exact price but they are definitely reasonable, plus it comes with the cork.
• Cutting board and knife - self-explanatory.

Step 2: Cut your vanilla beans length-wise.

(I had no idea this was vanilla looked like before I did my first vanilla project... I bet you never knew vanilla beans were really just the little tiny black specks in your vanilla ice cream. Vanilla not looking so bland anymore, is it?)

Step 3: Use one vanilla bean per bottle and carefully pour the vodka in each one. Pour slow! You don't want to spill a bunch of vodka like I did. =(

Step 4: Cork your bottles tightly and store in a cool, dark place out of sunlight. The proportion I used is 1/2 cup vodka to 1 vanilla bean, so according to the websites I read, this will be ready to use in about 8 weeks.

The vodka started changing color less than 5 minutes after I finished corking them all. You can see a slight yellowish tinge in these pictures. Since the liquid is less in these bottles, it will be stronger extract. For a weaker extract, use 1 cup of liquid or just half of a bean. It will be a very dark brown when it's ready to use.

Have you ever made vanilla extract? How was it?

Happy Friday!

(via icanread)

I'm looking forward to dinner tonight with my bff (the "b" temporarily standing for "bride"), the Village Venture (Arts & Crafts Faire in the Claremont Village), and giving a speech at Master Motivators, my Toastmasters club!

What are you guys up to this weekend?

The Force is strong with this one

My favorite part of this photo has to be the intense concentration on President Obama's face as he wields this elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.

(via punditkitchen, a division of icanhascheezburger aka lolcats)

Sound Advice

(via icanread)