Category Archives: wp 4 iPhone

wp 4 iPhone

Compulsions

How far will you go to indulge your compulsions? I admit that I’m a creature of habit. I will go out of my way to go to a place where I’ve had previous success. I suppose this really isn’t that peculiar or extraordinary. But I’m the type of person who is seriously considering buying another japanese brand car just so I can keep going to my mechanic. This week, for example, I deliberated for quite some time as to whether I should return to weho for my biannual smog check or go someplace more local. Searching on yelp just made the whole process longer and made me more indecisive. Ultimately, I ended up in weho, the whole process was both painless and successful, and my compulsion for such things is even stronger. And, yes, I just publicly admitted that I’m obsessed with where to get a smog check.

Peep jousting

We have way too much free time…

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our night with ml + kcl started with a lovely dinner at nook bistro and ended with all of us guffawing as we watched and then ate year-old peeps and called each other nerds. Ahhhh, good times. Did i mention i also shot video?

Typical

Ray at Balconi usually provides small, round cookies to accompany his coffee. Today, i got a sample of the pecan bar. M has always wanted to try this but we either get the apricot shortbread or nothing at all. In typical fashion, the pecan bar is excellent (dare i even say better than the apricot shortbread?) and i have been keeping m from deliciousness.

Tweet trouble

You know it’s bad when you think you can’t work without a coffee and something sweet. I think that’s called addiction. I don’t even like sweets but something happened last summer. My bionic leg programming now has me craving sweets. Trouble…

Din tai fung

Today we bought 100 frozen xiao long bao and brought them home. We just steamed 10 of them in our new bamboo steamer. Heaven…

empty bamboo steamer

dintaifung xiao long bao instructions

The next question is: what kind of vinegar do they use? A quick search revealed this:

[1] “You are going to look for the Gold Plum brand chinkiang vinegar from Nanjing. Tall glass bottle (the glass is clear, so look for a black bottle) with a yellow label and the Gold Plum brand name on the neck.

[2] I recently needed some Chinkiang vinegar, and not finding my favorite brands, I went for what I thought was Gold Plum Brand, which is always dependable. Seeing the price at 99 cents, I thought it was a bargain. I grabbed it in a rush, and it wasn’t until I got home when I found it was not Gold Plum Brand, but another with a similar yellow bottle. It’s the one on the right in the photo, Gold Plum is on the left. The brand on the right is not very good. When I returned to 99 Ranch Market, I noticed that the two brands are stocked right next to each other.

Surprise!

I was rummaging through the dresser in the downstairs bedroom today. What should i do with the envelope atherton lin used to send me my calendar? The envelope is handmade: they pasted a piece of paper to firm cardboard to protect the contents. It worked, for the most part. I laid some heavy medical books on it for a week while we were out of town to make it as flat as possible. They wrote heir address on the envelope. At least i think it’s their address. It could be a studio or an office addy. This is curious to me because they don’t publish anything but an email address on their web site. I imagined myself buzzing their flat the next time i’m in london…do i ask for jeremy and jamie or mr atherton and mr lin? My reception will depend heavily on my salutation. I continue to mull this over when i notice there’s something else in the envelope. I squeeze it open thus releasing whatever may be pinched in the corners. I peer inside and discover they have included 3 bookmarks, one of which has a personal greeting written in pencil. They wish me a happy new year. I lay the bookmarks out on the dresser and smile, thinking: nice people still exist.