Texas Fourth Week Part 2

Thursday June 23
At lunchtime, I went to Joy Luck Delivery Chinese restaurant with S. This place was one of the few Chinese restaurants around College Station with really good reviews. I checked the menu out, and it looked pleasing, with an enticing lunch menu to boot. The place is really cheap too. $5.55 lunch specials? $6.50 seafood and combo meat? Yeah yeah! It comes with soup (egg drop or hot and sour) and a vegetable eggroll.

Egg drop soup - why so yellow?

The egg drop soup tasted so much like eggs, a little TOO much like eggs. It was okay.

I got the Yu shan shrimp, which is some sweet and sour gravy with shrimp, water chestnuts and mushrooms. This was good, a little salty if you ate all the sauce, and there a was a bit too much sauce. Good spiciness. Glad I didn't get the spicier Hunan shrimp. LOVED the eggroll. I must admit, though, I love a good Chinese eggroll, and this place was fried perfectly, crisp. Delicious cabbage and other veggie innards, with a sweet and sour dipping sauce.

Yushan shrimp with vegetable eggroll

This was enough for two meals. Very filling. Yup, those other Yelpers are right; this place is a good eat in College Station.

Afterward, I wandered around and went shopping around World Market. Man, this place has some awesome stuff! Their image is that of the exotic and eclectic from around the world. Check out the randomness below:

They have New Orleans King Cake Mix and Cafe Du Monde Beignet mix too! My two Louisiana friends here told me about these and maybe we'll make these one day!

Spotted dick = British dessert. Such a funny name.

I had so much fun going around World Market, eying things to put in my fantasy house in the future. They even have clearance shelves where I bought a bunch of chocolate and some cute, sturdy paper boxes for pastry and confection giving!

Friday June 24
The next day, I got out early again, and decided to go to the mall. Post Oak Mall is the closest one nearby, and houses JC Penny, Dillard's, Hot Topic, Aeropostale, A&M stores, shoes stores, a legit comic book store, and others. I walked through the entire place and enjoyed the store selection. The food court has Chick'fil'A, Taste of the Tropics (smoothies), Sonic, Toll House Cookies, Japanese, and Chinese. I got a mango smoothie from Taste of the Tropics. It tasted weird at first but it grows on you. Only $1.60 for a small too. Cheaper than McDonald's. The smell of Auntie Anne's pretzels was such a temptation, I forced myself to not buy one.

The Puppy Store only sells cute puppies, like these baby Chihuahas

Antoine Dodson: Bread Intruder Video and song:
http://youtu.be/y54yESyq6Io
http://youtu.be/hMtZfW2z9dw
Tribute to ma' sister!

I ended up buying boots, a raccoon beanie, and a moustache purse from Hot Topic, all on sale. The boots were only $10! Come on; tell me who can buy boots for only $10?


For dinner, we went to Layne's of College Station, a fried chicken finger place. Almost right next door is Raising Cane's chicken fingers, so these two have a rivalry. So, we came, we ate, we left.

What a deal! lol

I really didn't like it.

Maybe fried chicken fingers isn't my thing, but the chicken was dry, the black pepper sauce was weird but you get used to it. I like the thick and wavy shape of the fries, but they're just a little too thick and starchy for me to eat much of it. The Texas toast was yummy with its lathering of butter, but a bit salty. Meh, I don't think I'll come back every. The cole slaw was the one redeeming factor, but not amazing either. A bit much on the mayo.

I think we went dancing again this night. If it was Daisy Duke's or the Social Lounge or Luxe or something, it was really fun.

Sweet Eugene's Cafe - review

Add-on to Wednesday, June 22
Ash and I got back early, so I asked if she wanted to go work at a cafe with me. We took the bus and trekked to Sweet Eugene's Cafe. I can only start with:

Oh wow.

This cafe is huge and definitely has a character of its own. First walking in, I see slushie machines behind the counter mixing and chilling Butterfinger, vanilla, and chocolate smoothies. Farther down the counter is a display case with cute little donuts, muffins, and other pastries. A little farther down is the cashier with the menu, the drink machines out back, and more pastries (cakes, kolaches, muffins, quiches). On the left is the rest of the cafe. It extends into three open rooms with tables and chairs strewn about. There's this huge, antique coffee mill called the Behemoth or something like that. On the restroom doors, instead of W and M to designate gender, they have a picture of Audrey Hepburn and a picture of James Bond (I think)! Cute!

There are couches along walls. There are enclaves with dimmer lighting and bookshelves to make it feel like something from...the pirate ride at Disneyland! The atmosphere is really mind-blowing here.

I loved the paintings on the walls. Whoever the artist is, she is wonderful. About $200 for the two that I liked, "Fairy" and a dancer one in the bathroom. I want to buy it and bring it home somehow...(Sorry no picture. I figured I'd be infringing on copyright if I took a picture).

The apple cinnamon muffin here was...absolutely ungodly amazing. I have never eaten a muffin with quite such chewy fluffy soft pillowy texture as this one. The apple muffin. Get it. Like, no joke. If you are in College Station, drag your butt here and get this. It's only $1.80 or close to that, and probably good to eat in two portions.

Apple Cinnamon Muffin - to DIE for

The blueberry scone is delicious as well. Huge and filling, about $1.90. Again, warning, FILLING. Great to have a good scone place around here, just too bad it's so freakin' far away from the apartment and that the buses don't run on weekends.

Blueberry scone - looks better at a different angle

Sweet Eugene's also has breakfast, lunch, and dessert crepes. Not too bad pricing either ($4 for simple, $7 for lunch). I want to come here and try a sweet and a savory crepe some time.

Basically, if you're in College Station, don't leave without going here. They even have a variety of java smoothies, fruit smoothies, and typical cafe drinks, which you can all order through their drive-through window! Oh, and two free wi-fi networks, both of which don't need a complicated password like in Berkeley! This place is awesome!!!

Sweet Eugene's House of Java
1702 George Bush Dr E
Ste 100
College Station, TX 77840
sweeteugenes.net/

Dancer's Thoughts on a Sunday Morn

Just watching "So You Think You Can Dance, Season 8" now. I need to catch up on all the episodes since this season started. I had started with the "Top 20 Perform" Episode, and it was gorgeous. The talent of all the dancers was ebullient throughout the show. Their passion, eloquence, and adaptability to various genres of dance were simply...astounding. Such beauty was absolutely breath-taking. It inspired me to get back to dancing. That was Friday, when I went into lab, and we waited for vessels. Since the guy who brings us our vessels never called TN back, I put on SYTYCD and we watched the "Top 20 Perform." TN actually seems discerning and somewhat knowledgeable about dance, such that he made intelligent comments about the dancers during the show. It's not like I'm used to with other people who watch shows like this, who basically say things like, "Oh, that person looks funny. That person is just okay. Wow! That person is amazing! They're so good!" TN actually noted some technical and expressive points of the competitors.

After watching the LA Auditions and Vegas Callbacks, I have to pay tribute to three women. Patty Anne Miller and the sisters Sasha and Natalia Mallory. Patty is a stunning popper. Till that moment, I had only seen male poppers that were so good at what they do. Patty showed that females can pop and lock it just as good as the boys. Actually, even better I'd say. Opening her audition piece, her movements were perfect increments of pops that it looked as though the video was constantly going, stopping, going, stopping, every millisecond. I was blown away. She can control discrete parts of her body with unparalleled ability. Please check out her audition piece:

Next up, the deadly duo, Sasha and Natalia Mallory. These two girls are more than just good dancers, they actually are two sides of the same coin, peanut butter and jelly, and all those other twin cliches out there! They are adorable; their sisterly interaction seems to brim with trust, love, and mutual understanding that allows them to be like the little kids they act like with one another. I mean, maybe they aren't as buddy-buddy as they are on TV, but, you must remember, I can only speak from a third-person point-of-view.

Their dances together are beautifully choreographed. Both dances seemed redolent of Africa. I believe it is beautiful and artistic to embed vestiges of one's heritage into dance. They move together fluidly and complement each others' movements. I must admit that Sasha may outshine her sister with speed and strength, but Natalia is very powerful in her own regard. Both girls definitely deserve applause for their hard work. I would love to see them continue into dance fame with more duets.

I cannot wait until I get that "care package" from home. My Mommy is sending me some Ataulfo mangoes (those addicting and amazing yellow ones), so I asked her to also send me my bear claw dance shoes.

Bear Claw Jazz Lyrical Shoes

Then, I'll be able to dance more naturally in the aerobic room here at the apartment. On Friday, I had gone in and did some dancing. With my socks, I was able to do a quad pirouette on my right, do my leaps, etc. But it'd be much better when I have my shoes. Can't wait!

Texas: Fourth Week Part 1

Monday, June 20, 2011
I already posted it, but I decided to cook this day. I had made the kale bread pudding.

Tuesday June 21, 2011
Thanks to a 365 deal (kind of like Groupon, but specific for College Station), we got tickets to go see a Brazos Bombers Baseball game. The field was 6 minutes away from the apartment. The deal was $5 for a ticket and a Bombers baseball cap. We were pretty excited, so at 6:30, we got together and drove to the baseball park. NH was nice enough to drive some of us there even though he wasn't going.

Our baseballs caps

We got there, got our hats, and went in. We saw the Cookie Monster walking around and took a picture with him. Waiting in the bleachers, we watched as the Bomber mascot strolled around, playing it cool with the kids and adults. It was cute. Some of us bought some baseball food and ate as the game started.

It was quite boring.

Yes, sorry, baseball fans. Baseball is boring. And both teams, the Bombers and the Dallas Copperheads kinda suck. The Copperheads barely got any straight hits. It was a forced excitement whenever some batter actually hit the ball right and when they sometimes got runs in. The only fun part was watching the random prize games in between pitches. They had two little kids race to the some people, rushedly put on adult business clothes, then drag the huge hand luggage case back to the start. The girl won even though the boy tried so hard. Haha. Another game, a dad and his daughter raced with shopping carts, picking up paper bags off the floor and raced back. The dad was winning so he pulled out his cellphone and pretended his wife was calling him, which the announcer joked was his wife yelling at him that he didn't pick up the right groceries. So the dad's little daughter won. So cute.

We started seeing lightning a lot in the distance, so we left early (plus the fact we were all bored) at the 7th inning.

Moral of this story? Baseball's only fun for the mini-games, the tailgate food, and probably only fun if you're drunk, which is why we see all the adults drinking beer and stuff there.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011
EB told us about a comedian she met at Blockbuster. This comedian told EB to check out the comic night at Schotzi's, which the comedian would be at. At ten, they went, and I joined half an hour later. I'm really glad I came later. The first act was the comedian that EB met. This lady was not making good jokes, and because people weren't laughing, she was getting belligerent. At the end of her skit, she forced everyone to laugh before she would get off:

Comedian: "Any one of you guys gonna buy me a drink? No, seriously. I mean it, who's gonna buy me a drink. I've been up here this whole time. Buy me a drink now...I'm not leaving this stage until you all laugh. 1, 2, 3, laugh. Come on. I said LAUGH."
Awkward, forced laughter ensues. Comedian gets off stage...


The ensuing comedians were slightly better, but all really sexual and vulgar. The one Asian guy had some funny ones. A Caucasian, a recent graduate from A&M, had even better ones, and less vulgar. Slightly nerdy. A good long poem about semi-frat domination ("Hey, y'see that girl? Slipped a roofie in her drink...Hope she gets a good night of sleep!")

Otherwise, I didn't really enjoy the comedy night. I would have rather gone to karaoke again. Maybe this Wednesday, and if we can stay up long enough, stay until 2 am to try and win that $50 prize.

Third Week Part 2

Thursday, June 16
Aha, bad memory. All I can remember from this day is what I have from pictures, and that's of dinner. LOL, totally me.

So, at dinnertime, I got some of us to go to Crazy Cajuns, just past the Schlotzsky's. It's a Cajun/Creole place. Lots of space inside, with lots of booths, very down country down college kind of thing. Lady comes up, kinda old, but that kind of active "How may I help ya, honey's?" kind of waitress lady. I like her spunk. Anyhoo, the place serves us the classic N'aw'leans (=New Orleans) kind of food: jambalaya, red beans and rice, boudin (sausage), gumbo, and po'boys.

A bottle of spicy Creole seasoning in a Corona bottle.

Awesome meat selection: crawfish, shrimp, chicken, boudin...and GATOR! I HAD to try this one. So I ordered the kids fried gator platter: fried gator pieces, french fries with some seasoning on it, and 2 hush puppies ($6.99 ish).

Fried Gator Kids Platter

It came with tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, and/or gator sauce. Gator sauce was nasty. I ate it with tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, and ketchup, alternatively. The gator meat was delicious and a wonderful texture. Not too soft like stewed chicken, not too tough like steak, not dry like turkey. Very yummy. The flavor of the batter was good, or it could have been the taste of gator itself. Definitely try you tastbuds at alligator when you get the chance.

My friends got the etoufee, gumbo, red beans and rice, and shrimp basket. The etoufee was wayyy too salty and didn't seem to have a lot of crawfish. You're better off getting the one from Herbert's Cajun. Shacks always serve authenticity and taste better. Gumbo was very liquidy, but I didn't try it.

They serve various po'boys, which I want to go back and try. They also have a 2 foot po'boy challenge. I told the lady she should invite that "Man vs Food" guy to try the challenge. That'd be pretty cool. But, as I said, I want to try a po'boy. My Louisiana friends here tell me a lot about New Orleans. I want to go so bad. We've talked about taking a weekend trip there. It'd be soooo awesome. Sounds like a party all the time!

Friday June 17
No vessels today, cuz the lab technician misplaced his phone and then accidentally drove over it. Haha, baaddd mistake. I started a MatLab program to automate solving for flow, pressure, volume, and radius of a lymphangion with input flow. The lymphangion is modeled as an electric circuit, and these equations are related and used to solve for those parameters previously listed.

Dinnertime, I FINALLY got G to come with us! Usually, the poor kid is held hostage by his work or his professor (who talks incessantly) and he comes back late. So this predicament and failure to receive my messages on time has prevented him from joining us for our nearly daily dinners. But, after three weeks of trying, I finally got him to come to dinner!

Rooftop patio seating. Nice, but humidity not.

Ah-ha. :)

G eating with us! Huggeee chicken strips crushing some fries underneath.

So, we went to the Corner Grill, which has weekday $5 specials. They have fish taco Fridays, so we went. You can see my full review on Yelp.

Grilled tilapia fish tacos with chips and salsa. All so tasty and fresh.

Sum up: fish tacos = amazing when grilled. Fish tasted fresh and juicy, AND you get a whole filet in each taco! Didn't like the tortillas themselves and the green lettuce could have been subbed for something better, but overall very fresh and tasty and filling.

Then, we tried to go to a dance club in Houston. It looked super awesome online, this place called Hush, but it was horrible. No one really dancing; some DJs and rappers on stage doing what my friend called old Louisiana rap and which I totally was not grooving with, a bunch of drunk guys scouting women to grind on...blah. Very disappointed. Wasted $10 on it. Sucky club. Don't ever go.

But the good thing, was that it said "Dressy attire enforced." So we went to Kohl's beforehand and I got myself (in an amazingly quick shopping sprint) these cuuteee shoes:

Mud heels. Only $19!!! Love Kohl's!

Hung out in Houston with Lal's friend. Oh, and I had bought some banana pudding at a pit stop (Waller County BBQ) during the drive. Yum, but very very sweet. 2 am snack plus breakfast the next day. We slept in, and poor Lal had to drive us back in the morning, then she had to drive to Dallas for Father's Day. She's strong, that one!

Saturday, June 18
Today was a home-day. Laundry, chatting, reading. Got a crunchwrap supreme for 99 cents...yum. I guess that's it for that day. We all needed resting from the night before.

Well, that sums up week 3!!!

Cooking Kale Mid Internship

Yesterday was quite exciting. While baking in the apartment kitchen, we found that some nice guy put all his cookware, spices, and oil in the cabinets for free but respectful use. I was ecstatic and thanked to the air this fella for his generosity.

Undeniably, I cooked today, being as I was, super excited to eat homemade cooked food. Granted, I ate a couple of homemade meals, but lunch sandwiches don't count.

With my trusty kale, sausages leftover from IHOP, bread, buttermilk, and minimal utensils, I headed to the kitchen!

What ensued was none other than this lovely, hearty, tasty Kale and Sausage Bread Pudding - for One. Enjoy, because I sure did.

Kale and Sausage Bead Pudding (serves 1)
Ingredients
2 sausage links, chopped
2 large kale leaves, torn into small pieces
2 slices bread chopped into 1/2 or 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
1 egg
1 TBS Newman's Southwest Salad Dressing
Pinches of garlic and onion powder
Salt and black pepper, to taste
Any other seasoning, to taste

Directions
1. Heat oven to 400 F. Drizzle olive oil and some dried seasonings over bread cubes and mix around. Bake on a sheet in the oven until hard. Remove.
2. As bread is baking, heat sausage in medium skillet over med-high. Once slightly brown and releasing some oil and juices, toss in kale, with a little bit of water. Cook a little. Cover, let steam, and occasionally stir. Cook until kale is wilted and starting to crisp. Add some garlic and onion powder, a teaspoon or two of water, and mix around.
3. Beat egg and buttermilk together with southwest salad dressing.
4. Combine breadcrumbs, sausage-kale mix, and egg mix in a large bowl. Pour into a little pyrex glass bowl or other small baking pan.
5. Bake in oven for 30-40 min, until egg is set and bread is crisp on top.
6. Let cool 5-10 min. Dig in!

Note: This is quite filling. If you triple the ingredients, it can serve four.

I do believe I am in love with kale now. Boiled, raw, and especially cooked stovetop - they're all delicious. I've heard kale chips are amazing. I'll have to try that soon.

My Frappe

Help make my frappe drink famous on Starbucks!

Please go here to vote for me!

The drink is a mix of the light coffee, chai flavor, raspberries, with cinnamon and ginger on top. Healthy but refreshing and still tasty!

Wait...do you win anything for this...?