Sunday Dinner - Pizza From Scratch

Carmen, Kevin, Elyne and I always do "Sunday Dinner" together. We alternate hosting a dinner for each other at our respective apartments. It's a nice way to hang out with each other once in a while. We're all busy people, but this is a nice way to schedule in some time for each other to catch up. I'm actually surprised I haven't done a "Sunday Dinner" post yet. Oh well..this could be a good first one.

Let's go step-by-step with how we made our pizzas!!

1: Prepare the pizza dough! 

I had to borrow some sugar from the neighbor for the dough first.

 2: Prepare the ingredients!

Choppin' up them peppers and mushrooms and whatever else.

Scrambled egg is a GREAT pizza topping. 

 3: Prepare the crusts!

 4: Preheat the crusts a little bit!

Leaning Tower of Pizzas

 5: Spread sauce (which we heated to thicken) and add toppings!

We had assorted cheeses, pizza sauce, bbq sauce, jalapeños, spinach, caramelized onions, mushrooms, Italian sausage, chicken, and scrambled eggs.

 6: Heat up again and bake fully.

It was a lot of fun making 'em with friends and a lot of fun eating 'em. Typing up this post makes me wanna do it again. Definitely gonna have more of these in the future...maybe with other friends and my little cousins.

YUM! 

HORT 105 - Hot Pepper Lab

This semester, I'm taking a Horticulture class (HORT 105 - Intro to Veg Gardening). As you may guess, this is not part of my major. I've got plenty of credit hours to spare, so I'm taking this last year to take some classes that are really out there...just for kicks.

I've always wanted to learn more about vegetable gardening since... ONE) my mom harvests a garden full of veggies every year, TWO) I'm a huge veggie eater.... so why not learn more about this! 

We're currently learning about peppers, and so we had a pepper lab. 

The Lab

Taste a variety of peppers to test how much heat can you handle.

The Peppers

All pepper cultivars/varieties are a part of the Capsicum annuum species, which produce capsaicin oil. This is the substance that makes peppers hot!! Because the spiciness is from an oil, that's why water is not an ideal fix. If your mouth is on fire from eating a spicy pepper, drink some milk or eat some peanut butter because the fats/oils in those products will negate the capsaicin oil's hotness.

As you can see from the above picture, the capsaicin glands are near the ridges of the cut pepper, also where the seeds are. The hottest parts of a pepper are the inner ridges. The mildest are toward the bottom of the pepper. 

Scoville Units

Hotness is measured in Scoville units. What does this mean? It's the amount of sugar water needed until it's not hot anymore. 

Green Bell Pepper - 0 Scovilles

Anaheim - 500 to 2000 Scovilles <-- I died at this level.

Jalapeño - 3500 to 8000 Scovilles

Habanero - 200 thousand to 350 thousand

Bhut Jolokia - 1 million

Pure Capsaicin - 15 million <--Don't touch this!

[FAILED 365] Bike Co-Op

[[Today, I officially declare that I have failed my 365 (posting everyday for one year). I will restart some other day.]]

Well, it was my first day volunteering at the bike co-op, & it was pretty interesting. I really liked the environment there. It's a really friendly environment, and we're all just helping each other out and learning from one another.

I just menial shiz. I spent maybe 3 hours cutting spokes out of old rims, fixing flats, and getting rid of rims that were really untrued and/or rusty. Menial--but still fun!

I'm looking forward to volunteering here more in the future. 

[196] First BizCaz Practice // CSSA Moon Gala 2012

First BizCaz Practice
Forget the dumb icebreakers where we get to know each and blah blah blah.

Just kidding. We got in a circle and did a little icebreaker. Name, Major, City, and FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR! And when everyone said their name, we would all scream it in unison.

"Hi, my name is Henry..."
ALL: HENRY!!
"...and I'm a senior in Kines. I'm from Chicago, and I love vanilla ice cream and pralines 'n' cream."

Smiles.

It  was so fun! Anyways, after the icebreaker, Dan & I talked about BizCaz a little more. What it is, what we have planned, and how we're happy to have 'em here. As opposed to the AAA FS gen meeting, talking to a group is a lot less difficult when we're all sitting down on equal levels (except for Kenny there in the picture who is standing up for some reason), and we all know each other's names.

Then, we got up to stretch out for the next activity...

My buddy Norman, Nightlife Coord, and I doing some arm stretch-aroonies!

So, for the rest of the practice, Dan & I wanted to do a fun little activity to kind of grease the wheels on learning choreography. We wanted to introduce a few key concepts and moves that we'll be using during practice such as ball-changes, distributing one's weight, a grapevine, "grooving" with your hips, body rolls, isolations etc. We expanded the circle to take up the whole room while Dan & I taught from the center of the circle--each facing different directions so everyone can see us equally.

 We took turns improvising moves to teach and practice with everyone (Ex. Dan - Ball change, Henry - Body Roll). As we taught new moves, we strung 'em together with the old moves (Ex. Ball change then body roll then snap then spin then footwork etc blah blah). By the end of the practice, we had all learned an improvised dance combo & we all did it together to Beyoncé's "Love On Top".

Watching everyone dance was beautiful. We've got new models shakin' their hips with the old models shakin' their hips with us. It really got me excited to start up practices and after Dan finishes his piece, start teaching everyone my piece. From this day forward, these guys are my babies :3


CSSA Moon Gala 2012
In celebration of the Moon Festival, CSSA (Chinese Students & Scholars Association) puts on an annual show with music, dancing, acting, prizes. This was, by far, one of the best live shows I've seen--and it was almost completely in Mandarin, which I don't understand a lick of! Now that's sayin' something.

The performances were really, really good. The hosts were really, really good...like them TVB hosts you see on TV. Most importantly, every performer was really, really good. Jeez Lousie...watch this intro video for Pete's sake...

Do you see how good that was!? AMAZING! And noo.....it was not done by a professional advertising company but a college club. DAMN! It was all done by just students.

My favorite performance was this Chinese drama they did. Acting soo good!! They were happy, they were sad...they were crying...they were singing...video editing, funny, sad, happy. And they were hot! LOL. Gosh!! So good! S....oo......good.....soooo g.o.o.d.....so GOOD!

I can't load it to the right time, but check this video out...the Chinese drama they enacted starts at around 15:48...19:35 if you wanna see 'em start acting on stage....

SO GOOD! I would recommend watching the whole show!! Do it. Browse through all the videos on YouTube and watch the entire show.

Awesome.

So awesome!!

SOOOOO AWEEESOMMMMEEE!!!!

[195] CRCE Choreo

Ta - da! Tomorrow's the first day of BizCaz practice. I can't believe it's already been a week since our AAA Fashion Show general meeting.

Although tomorrow's practice is sort of just an icebreaker kind of day to get to know our models a little bit and introduce ourselves, it'll be a quick 7 days after that before we have actual dance practice and start learning choreography.

Since Dan is teaching first, we went out to CRCE (our gym) in the morning, and he taught me his piece. Really fun! I'm looking forward to seeing how he'll teach it and how the models will learn it....8 days from today.

Gah! Again, I'm so nervous but excited at the same time. Woo!! Let's go, let's get it! It's getting real-er & real-er. I'm a frickin' coord.

[194] Random #14

Fun Fact About Me:

I like runny eggs, and this consistency is poifect!


Eggs-cellent! <---don't tell me you didn't see this coming...

[193] Group Project---I Hate Group Projects!

Damnit! Another group project. There's really not a semester that I can escape these, huh?

I don't know how you guys feel about group projects, but my college experience with them has been frickin' awful!! The projects are usually worth a big chunk of your grade, yet the members are so incompetent. They're lazy and don't want to do any work but during meetings, they reassure you so much that they'll do their part and so you have confidence in them....by the time our project is almost done, they did do the work, but it's crap!

BLECH GROUP PROJECTS!

[192] Farmer's Market

I believe this is the first time I've been to a farmer's market. The one I went to was a very small one with maybe just two farms selling their stuff. On the weekends, there's another much larger one and I know in Chicago, there are really big ones too.

Oh well...this one was really cute, and I think it was a good first experience. As you may expect, since it was so small, there really wasn't anyone looking. This gave me a really great opportunity to talk to the farmers about their farms, where they come from, what they specialize in, and then they taught me a few things about their vegetables. 

I got some candied onions that smelled sooooo good! I can't wait to eat 'em. On the bus ride back, just being next to 'em was making my mouth water. 

  

[191] Random #13

This is cool. Can someone explain how he did this to me? I can't wrap my head around this little trick.

[190] Random #12

HAHAHAHAHA.... I can't believe this was the random from my Tumblr.....soooo funnny (yet awful).

I especially like the pencil roll towards the bottom of the stairs in the second .GIF

[189] AAA Family Olympiad - Prestigious Predators

AAA Family Olympiad--just an annual competition between AAA families. 

One of the funnest events that I've never seen before was called Necking The Orange. Basically, members would have to pass an orange down the line of teammates using only your necks! If the orange dropped, you have to pick it up with your elbow and the teammates would receive it with their neck.

Another really fun moment was during a four-legged race, where three team members' ankles were tied together like so...

...my team members had the brilliant idea to take someone small in the middle, two big guys on the ends, and then just carrying the little one and hauling ass towards the end line. We were TOO FAST!! TOO FUNNY!!

In the end though, we didn't win anything, but the family had tons of fun & took beautiful family pictures.

[188] AAA Family 2012-2013 - Prestigious Predators

AAA Family ... read all about what it is here.

Anyways, I think today was when we all met up and the bigs meet their littles. Surprisingly, I signed up to be a big this year. Big year for Henry.

What a small world though! Guess who is my little? TIMMY! That was basically just me talking to myself in my head, but you guys probably don't know him like I do.

I already knew Timmy (or at least knew who he was for years and years now) and vice versa because although he's three years younger, we both went to the same high school and grade school AND he's the little brother of my classmate Kevin, who I've been in the same class since Kindergarten. COINCIDENCE!

Another coincidence! Both Timmy and I just kinda met up with the group but while they had family dinner, both he and I had to go to work.

Third coincidence!! Another family member is Jenny, who is the little sister of my sister's friend/classmate since Kindergarten.

Final coincidence!! We have another family member named Henry!!

Whooo!!! This is so exciting! I was so pumped up!!

I love coincidental, "it's a small world", six degrees of separation type stuff!!

P.S. Our family names are themed after movies and we're Prestigious Predators, a mix between The Prestige and Predators. Har har har. I think it's funny.

[187] Red Lobster // Target

Red Lobstuh - Endless Shramp

Today, I went to Red Lobster for Endless Shrimp with Anna, Teresa, and Paul. I don't think anyone know any of 'em besides Teresa. Y'all should know Teresa, right? I don't want to do introductions so bleh...whatever...Anna, Teresa, and Paul. Oh wait!! Here's Teresa!

Anyways, we decided to have a boys vs. girls eat-off. Paul and I vs. Teresa and Anna. I don't want to go into the details (because I don't really remember the score specifically), but I do remember us completely losing--as a duo and individually. 

Target

AND HERE'S PAUL!

LOL! This was so funny!! When we first entered, Paul and I were trying to figure out how these work during which everyone ditched us. Originally, Paul and I had our own (I think) but his may have died, so he hopped into the cart of mine. 

Paul and I drove around Target in this little thing looking for the others, and it was so much fun!!! Surprisingly, no Target employees stopped us. We thought we were gonna get stopped indefinitely at one point when we were trying to get through a narrow toy aisle with a worker there. Nope. He politely squeezed past us and we cruised slowly through. (He should've yelled at us). As we continued searching the store, we finally found Teresa. She was soooo embarrassed......so we followed her. LOL!

Unfortunately, the thing ran out of juice fast, so Paul ditched me as I trudged toward the front of the store to recharge my baby...at like 0.5 miles per hour....I finally got there like 15 minutes later. I didn't think it would make it, but luckily it did. Bleh...I wasn't buying anything, so I sat in the cart as it charged planning some AAA BizCaz stuff until everyone else was ready to leave. 

[186] AAA Fashion Show General Meeting 2012-2013

Here's basically how it went...

"BLABBER BLABBER BLABBER"
[pause]
[gets nervous]
[nervousness escalates]
[throws beanie down and exclaims "F**K! I hate public speaking"]
[laughs]
[regains composure]
[smiles]
"BLABBER BLABBER BLABBER"


Then, we danced.

Whoo! Go BizCaz! Business Casual!!

[185] Nervous -- Tomorrow is Fashion Show Gen Meeting

Okay, so tomorrow is the AAA Fashion Show General Meeting and I gotta talk in front of a bunch of people and then showcase a dance.

Why?

ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!
I'm AAA's Business Casual (BizCaz) Scene Coordinator!!!

That should have been news delivered long ago...this was last year's news, but I thought it may have been more appropriate now (5 months later). Okay, hmm... I think I want to go over a really long story on why I decided to apply to be scene coord and what my roles and goals are. Yes! I think I will. This is gonna be one of those TL;DR (too long; didn't read) posts, but I don't care. I'm doing it more for myself so I can remember in the future and/or for those who do care to read.

Why I Decided to Become Scene Coord?
Since high school, I always really enjoyed dancing in my living room or bathroom but also learning dances in school for the Asian American Club's annual showcase. Enter college, I've still been doing both--dancing for fun on my own and learning dances at school as part of an extracurricular organization. Throughout all these years, I've always been pretty nervous when it came to the actual showcase. I was never much of a performer, but I did the show because I loved learning, practicing, dancing, and just having fun. Although, I did really enjoy the adrenaline of just coming off stage and having completed your performance. Whether the audience thinks it's good or not, you know that you've been practicing for months now--and it's a great rewarding feeling. These shows have come to mean a lot to me.

Last year was especially a big year for me. I have worked harder than ever dedicating a lot of extra time and energy into practicing for the show. In addition, I wanted to go outside my comfort zone and even auditioned for lead role for Tango in Formal Scene and lead role for BizCaz Scene---and I got them! This was big (at least for me)! I never imagined that I would even want to be the lead. For lead, I would have to act a little, be in front all the time, do all the dances, and actually perform. But in the end, I think it went really well besides some slip ups and imperfections, but I had a lot of fun and I'm glad I did it.

Later in the year, I also challenged myself to try choreographing and teach a AAA Dance Clinic, then finally applying to a scene coord. I felt like this was the next step, and it was definitely something that interested me. The only thing stopping me was me. Before, I never imagined myself as someone making the plans, leading a group, and being in front of everyone teaching and talking. I see myself more as a student--learning everyday and excited to learn and grow, ya know? But I've been selling myself short. I have been a role model to my little cousins, planned and coordinated a health fair for Boys and Girls Club of Chicago, senior apprentice for an ASM health and fitness program, program coordinator's assistant and 3rd grade health teacher and teacher's assistant and P.E. teacher for a summer school program, assistant instructor for a teen fitness program, and logistics coordinator for an IT law firm. I was lead role, I led a clinic, and I was ready for this. I really enjoyed everything that I did, I have a lot of passion for the show, and it would be a great honor to have my own creative contribution for it. So, I decided to go for it--and I got it! Yaay!!

What is My Role as a Scene Coord?
First and foremost, I would have to choreograph pieces for the show, teach the dances, arrange formations, cut music and organize all the dancers. Most importantly, I think a big part is being there for the dancers: doing everything you can for them--facilitate their learning, their growth, and a fun environment. I'm there for them when they have questions, want extra practice, and talking to them about the school and classes and everything too.

My Goal as Scene Coord?
Firstly, I really want the dancers (or we call them "models" since our show is called a "fashion show") to really have fun every week when they come for practices. I want the group to be sort of like a family...I like to get to know my models and have them know me. Earlier in the semester, when I lead practices, I like to get there early and when models enter, we sit in a circle and we just chat about things. It sucks I can't do that anymore though, because BizCaz is after Formal Scene. Anyways, when I teach, I always start with a really fun warm-up (we've been doing The Wobble), and I try to teach the dances just as if I were teaching a friend.

My goals for the actual show are very simple. As far as the storyline goes, I did not want a love story. Also, I wanted the story (whatever it may be) to actually make sense to the audience. In previous years, sometimes the story line is very ambiguous to the those who don't know it. I think we can do a good show that the audience enjoys and understands.

.
..
...
....
.....
....
...
..
.

Okay, so as I was saying in the beginning, tomorrow is the AAA Fashion Show General Meeting. My co-coord and I have to stand up and introduce BizCaz to everyone and then at the end, we demo a little dance.

I'm still not particularly good at standing in front of a big group and talking---especially not when I'm standing up and everyone is sitting down looking up at me. Too much pressure. I'm expecting myself to be pretty awkward when talking about BizCaz....like this...

/stands in front of everyone. "Hiii..." /freezes.

And then we gotta dance too! Well, that, I'm a little less nervous about. I'll be dancing with Dan, my co-coord, and Marz too. Let's do our thang, mangg!

[184] AAA Ice Cream Social

"How To Get Ice Cream

1. introduce yourself to someone new
2. talk bout your favorite movie
3. come to us with your buddy
4. introduce your new friend to us & their favorite movie
5. receive your ice cream

Want another scoop? Repeat steps 1 - 5"

This was really fun! The ice cream wasn't that good. They ran out of vanilla fast, and I don't really like strawberry or chocolate. I believe I still had a few scoops. LOL. But it was really fun meeting some of the new freshman and the new sophomores and juniors who are just joining AAA. I got to meet a few WY-ers who I've saw in last year's AAC show and comment on their performances and of course, invite them to join the AAA Fashion Show, so they can showcase their talent and dance with us here at the U of I too. 

 

[183] Bowl-n Appétit

After returning this weekend from Chicago, I cooked stuff and used my bowl for the first time.

Spinach, egg, cabbage, ketchup, chilli pepper sauce thing. Not the best dinner...but HEY! I GOT TO USE MY BOWL!

[182] Take Me Out Hotties

No, I do not want an attractive person to ask me on a date...although if one comes along and takes that kind of initiative....we'll see. Winky face.

Anyways, Jeff, his brother, Kim, and I all went to a restaurant in Pilsen - Chicago called Take Me Out. They're known for these kickin' ass wings called Hotties that are somehow made to look like lollipops. It's probably very easy to do, but I'm stumped. I'm a doof when it comes to this cooking magic awesome-ness though. 

Do you see its semblance to a lollipop?

It's marinated in an Asian sauce similar to Buffalo Wild Wing's Asian Zing sauce and also came with poiple rice. 

[181] Hometown Bound//Hannibal Buress (HB//HB)

Kinda last minute decided to go back home with Jeff.

CHICAGO HERE I COME!

Along the whole way, Jeff and I were listening to random stand-up comedians on his smart phone. Sooo funny! I never thought that would be so awesome. Imagine 2.5 hours of listening to stand-up. It was sure as heck more entertaining than listening to overplayed radio music for 2.5 hours.

My favorite comedian we listened to -- Hannibal Buress

[180] AAA BBQ

It hasn't been too long song the first general AAA meeting, so new members are still generally new to the club and errone. Throughout the year, we have plenty of events for members to meet and greet and get to know everyone.

Today, we have the AAA BQQ where members can mingle in long lines for food...

Or mingle in a friendly game of volleyball in our Illini Grove sand volleyball pit...

Or if you're a buttmunch like me, you could just get your food and book it.
Haha....just kidding...well, I got food and mingled for like 20 minutes. But then I had to go to work. I didn't really meet anyone new though... OH WAIT! I did!! His name is Ken and he's really good at dance isolations and he was interested in dancing, so I suggested he join AAA Fashion Show....MORE ABOUT AAA FASHION SHOW IN LATER POSTS....though if you've been keeping up with this blog or talk to me personally, you probably already know all about it.

[179] Random #11

WARNING: Zombie content.

Zombie Experiment NYC

Purpose: To see if zombie could live among us.

Results: Watch to find out.

Conclusion: No.

Additional Notes: I'm glad I don't live in NYC.

[178] Random #10

I love things like this that challenge what's commonly accepted and helps us think a little outside the box. This comic does it in a very clever and cute way.

Aww...give the guy a chance.

[177] Random #9

Quick addition test to make sure you're still sharp on your elementary math. I thought this was a really fun test to race with my little cousins. Go ahead. You should try these too! Race with someone, or test yourself!

[176] Random #8

"Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife, Lisa, and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.

Shame, who had been listening quietly, piped up, "I know why."

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation. He said, "People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life--like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?"

The six-year-old continued, "Well, dogs already know how to do that so they don't have to stay as long."

[175] Random #7

This is probably one of the coolest pictures ever for many, many reasons.

• This looks like magic...levitating girl
• You can see this as static (non-moving) where she's just holding herself up. In which case, she's super strong and super impressive. 
• You can also see this as dynamic (moving) where she's spinning around the pole. In which case, she's still super strong because she's still holding herself up with one arm AND it looks super fun.
• She looks like a dancer.
• She looks very graceful and look at that calm composure.
• She's Asian and pretty.
• It's a clear, good quality photo.
• The sign has an arrow pointing to her as if it were saying "Check her out! She's so cool!"