Sushi Attempt #2

2 weeks ago, I first tried making sushi at home. While that wasn't too successful, I did get some ideas on how to improve. So with this in mind, attempt #2!

Result:
Sushi Rice
Right amount of vinegar (no more sourness). However, half of the rice got burnt and the water portion seem to flood out. Peeling off the burnt part, the rice was ok.

Sashimi
Bought White Tuna, Hamachi and Salmon. Hamachi is great! Mmmm...
The white tuna and salmon didn't look like how the restaurants do it - it looked a lot smaller then I liked.
Also, the salmon wasn't as good as the ones at the restaurant... I wonder if it's because how I am cutting it (supposedly if you cut against the grain in a certain angle, the salmon tastes that much better).

Sushi
This time it was alot better. After the rice was done, scoped it out into a bowl and let it sit a little bit to cool down BEFORE trying to handle it with my bare hands. Was able to make the shape pretty well after that.

Miso Soup
Again, the best part out of it all. Soft tofu, green onion in place. Simply delicious.

Will improve on more. Once I figure out how to find really tasty fish, then i should be set (all that fish, it was only $12!)

Xbox - Red Ringed...

So after getting FIFA 11 the other day, I have gone on an Xbox spurt (the ones where I play essentially hours and hours non stop). Been going great as I get home, procrastinate, and start playing on the Xbox...

So today, I was going to continue this. But after a forced update, my xbox decided to red ring :(. Even though I've been told the update and the red ring are not related... I still have my reservations. But end result, I am now without a Xbox to procrastinate with.

Sorta sad in a way - played it maybe less than 50 times since I got it 3 years ago, and it's gonna take $100 to fix (as luck would have it, it was 1 month past the 3 year warranty).

If only I played it more in the past... anyhow, guess I will just have to get a new one (since the new one comes out to around the same price it seems).

note to self:
lesson of the day - play on the xbox more.

Sushi Attempt #1

With my new knife, today I decided I would try to 'make' sushi. The thinking, buy some sashimi grade fish at Uwajimaya, slice them up, make miso soup, some sushi rice and drink some sake :). Not bad for a Friday night.

So after purchasing all the materials, went about making this happen.

Result:
Sushi Rice
Added too much vinegar, so the rice was sooo sour that I gave up eating it after half a bowl

Sashimi
Bought Tilapia, White Tuna, and Octopus. I have to say, Octopus is just amazing. Tako, tako, tako! However, I cut the Octopus pretty badly, so it didn't look pretty at all (same w/ the other two).. But next time, will make this look better.

Sushi
Plan was to make Nigiri (slap on a fish on some rice). But this was alot harder than I thought. Next time, will let the rice cool down first before trying to pick it up with my bare hands... lol.

Miso Soup
This was the best out of it all. Did buy the wrong tofu - bought firm instead of soft... so the texture was a bit off, and forgot the green onion. But this was still pretty decent.

Much to improve on, but this is a start :0).

Bday Weekend - Stop #3: Bumming at Home Attempt

Feeling pretty mellow after all the past few days' celebrations, to end the weekend, after 3 nights of drinking... today was rest day. A day where I had hoped to not do much, bum around and not have to think, and take naps often.

Though as it turned out, it wasn't too much a rest day at all. Ended up needing to scrap around for food, had to cook, and barely had enough naps.

In hindsight, I guess it was a silly thought that bdays would be an excuse to be freeeeeee. Oh well, c'est dommage.

Bday Weekend - Stop #2: Karoake at Gossip

The second venue of the day had me going for some booze + karaoke.

The tradition of celebrating w/ the trusty lobster still continued on, but didn't really need to have the drinking strategy in place these days.

Good times indeed. Felt just like the good ol' carefree days. Thx for organizing!

Bday Weekend - Stop #1: IMO and Trinity Combo

Another year, another weekend. Last week we happened to talk about the legendary IMO and Trinity combo - so this week it was put in motion. This one will likely be the last one since I am getting too old for this... lol.

Like the other IMO and Trinity nights, the night started out good. Drinks, food, chilling and relaxing atmosphere. But as the night wore on, instead of the usual IMO + Trinity aftermath, this time I ended up needing to take care of someone... instead of the other way around!

What a difference this time around... almost sad in a way - to have the classic combo be reduced to this... tsk tsk tsk...

Anyhow, it was a pretty fun night still - so onwards to the next few days...

PS. Once again did not go past the 3 drink limit. 10 months and counting!

Pouring Beer at Ocktoberfest

The last volunteer gig had me pouring beer to passerbys at the Fremont festival. Started out pretty weak, but as the day wore on, my pours was just perfect.

As an appreciation, they gave us drink tickets to sample some of the beer. German beer is yummy! Mmmmmm....

If only all volunteering events were like this :P

Another Todo Complete: xbox - blue cable.. CONNECT

Another todo is completed today. Got that xbox live gold thing, blue cable attached to the xbox. Anddddd we are off!

Sucky thing though is that my local profile couldn't get converted into the online one. Which meant I lost the very little achievements that I have :(.

Todo Complete: Air Conditioner - Purchased!

after 3 years of talking about getting an air conditioner, today this was completed.

yeeeeaahhh!

Volunteer Day - Sculpture Park Prisoner Labor

Woke up bright and early today to do the 2nd of 4 volunteering outings for Seattle Works. The last one (at Women's Jubilee Center) was all about cleaning and vacuuming... Even though they were simple tasks, it seemed pretty worthwhile to do because it felt like it would help the place and make it feel like an even nicer place to live in.

So today, in the hot sunny outdoors, we arrived at the sculpture park at the Seattle Arts Museum. The task of the day... weeding. We ended up weeding 3 areas, under the sunny cloudless sky for 3.5 hours+. Water breaks probably around every hour...

During this time, I can't help but feel like those prisoners in the movies, where they go to a field and hammer at white rocks (or in my case, go to a big field, and pull out weeds). The tools we were given were a pair of gloves... and that was it. The 12 or so of us weeeded out buckets and buckets of weeds with our hands - you'd think we'd get those small little shovels or what not to dig at the ground. Not only would we have been more efficient, it would also have been less tiring. The bigger issue I had was that we were weeding what seemingly looked like areas that were pretty obscure - didn't seem rewarding at all. Also, these weeds really would just grow back, so this is an endless task really.

The good part of the day started after 2pm, when it was bye-bye time and we hit a bar that served Sangria (sponsored by our awesome volunteer leaders :P).

To top off the night, an IMO night was called during our time in the fields, and it turned out pretty fun - a few of the folks that we volunteered w/ came out, and the usual crowd. Even amidst all this, the 3 drink limit was observed (as usual) :).