In Hawaii

Aside from the old lady sitting to my left who smelled faintly of dirty diapers, my flight to Honolulu was uneventful. Read the book I purchased on the flight.

The anger (well, not really angry, more disappointed, frustrated, and annoyed) started when I got my luggage. When I pulled my suitcase off the conveyor belt I smelled umeshu. Uh-oh. The bottom of the suitcase was sticky on the outside. Double uh-oh. When I got my rental car, I opened up my suitcase in the trunk. Triple uh-oh. TSA decided that they needed to check my luggage because, you know, a jar of plums in liquid really looks suspicious. They did an awesome job of repackaging everything, too. And when I say awesome, I mean really terrible. Don’t they have better things to do, like, oh, I don’t know, not failing real security tests?! America’s #1 defense in our nation’s airports. Checking for bottles of alcohol.

Temporary suspension of bitterness….

So I ate lunch at Angelo Pietro with Pikko. I got the spicy beef and eggplant spaghetti. Delicious. :o~ Pikko ordered a raw potato salad and wow, I didn’t know raw potatoes could taste so yummy! Too bad there isn’t an Angelo Pietro restaurant in Torrance. I would totally eat there. A lot.

Back to bitterness…

After lunch, we went to my rental car so I can give the leaky jars of plum wine to Pikko to take home. It was then that I found out that the large bottle that was supposed to go to her was completely empty. I opened up the poor repacking job and saw glass shards mixed in with the plums. OK. That made me a bit more angry. I think I would have been cooler if the alcohol was the only thing that was lost. But the plums, too?! That was a lot of plums! The smaller jar that was supposed to go to Pikko’s brother was still intact. At least I manage to get some alcohol to them.

Sigh.

Did laundry already. I had to wash the new bag I bought for this trip. The tag inside said do not wash. Great. I hope it’s not ruined.

My Next Fattening Dessert…

From the LA Times.

Boudin Bakery’s brownies

Total time: About 1 hour

Servings: 24

Note: Adapted from Boudin Bakery.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, plus extra for greasing the dish.

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate

5 eggs

3 cups sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups (6.38 ounces) flour

2 1/2 cups toasted, chopped pecans or walnuts

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish.

2. In a medium, heavy-bottom saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. In a stand mixer using a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat together the eggs, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the melted chocolate, then the salt and flour just until combined. Gently fold in the nuts.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the center of the oven until puffed and almost set, about 45 minutes. A toothpick inserted will be slightly moist. Remove and cool slightly before serving.

Each serving: 336 calories; 4 grams protein; 38 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 21 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 64 mg. cholesterol; 113 mg. sodium.

Booked a Trip to Hawaii~

One of the things I wanted to do after MW: Wii finished was travel. My original plan was to go to Washington, D.C. I’ve never been there so I thought it might be fun. Maybe I could visit Kaoru if she’s still in D.C.

Instead, I decided to go to Hawaii. Specifically to the island of Oahu where I have 2 friends that I communicate with on a regular basis. I booked my flight on Alaska Airlines over Orbitz. Initially I wasn’t going to rent a car, but I ended up reserving a convertible when images of driving around the island floated around in my head. Totally sold.

One of the people I’m visiting has a brother that works for Sheraton Waikiki and I can get a discount to a room through him. The hotel is right on the beach. On. The. Beach. Sold again. >.>

It should be totally fun. I just need to wax my bikini line and I’ll be ready. Can’t wait. :3

It’s Over!

Well, the game has been submitted to Nintendo over the weekend. I was on call the entire weekend starting on Friday. Woohoo! :D

The sucky part is that I threw out my back on Saturday night so all enjoyment for Sunday and Monday went out the window with that. Poop.

Is It Finally Over?

After weeks and months of crunching, I think it’s finally over. Well, it’s not officially over until Nintendo approves the game, but I think it’s pretty darn close.

I’m on call this weekend, starting with today. Four days of being lazy! Sweet, huh?

What wasn’t sweet was the fact that I had no A/C. The heat wave of the week rarely touched me and I had no clue as to how hot it was. Now I do. It’s hot. Bleh. I woke up after my short nap at around 3 PM to hear my G5 making a huge noise as it tried to keep cool. Shut my desktop down so it won’t cook itself to death and abandoned room.

I spent the rest of the day in the living room on my Macbook. Finished a book, too. I’m not sure if I’m going to buy book 2 in the series. It wasn’t a bad book. Enjoyable, but slightly predictable. I bought it only because the author of the book was there.

Tomorrow I’m going down to UC Irvine to practice with the band for their gig on Sunday. I believe there is a free admission to Disneyland involved, too. Fun. :)