the rain brush and tween

Played around with the animation from Photoshop. Very easy to use especially for someone who's seen the feature when it was still in ImageReady. Props for the awesome picture by Martin H (which I tweaked to get the cartoony effect) and the PhotoshopLab tutorial on making a rain brush. Here's the low-Q test version.

mmm....steaky

for the dc summer restaurant week, we decided to check up three highly-rated restaurants in the area. (actually, we made reservations for at least 8 restaurants the day the restaurant week menu was posted online. good move considering so many other restaurants were already fully booked. again, the list came out that afternoon!) three course meal for $35.10? i am so game.

first of three was J&G Steakhouse, number 4 in the washingtonian's 100 best restaurants. it's at the W Hotel, just across the street from the White House. the ambiance was classy yet laid back. the server was attentive and very patient as we had to wait for another person to show up before he could take our orders, as expected from a good restaurant.

so...the food. here's what i ordered:
appetizer: sweet pea soup, parmesan
main course: grilled 6 oz. petite filet with mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach
dessert (my favorite) course: warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream (they also had a ice cream/sorbet trio and you can choose from very interesting flavors like poppy seed and sour cream...but cake and i have a great relationship so i always choose that)

the sweet pea soup was comforting...like, pea soup, nothing too special, but good nonetheless.

the steak. aaaaaaah, cooked to medium doneness, it melts in your mouth that well-seasoned piece of filet. not overwhelmingly peppery or salty. whatever it is and how much they put on it makes the beef shine. then they grill it to perfection. the sides: the spinach is not greasy nor stringy nor salty at all. the mashed potatoes are a little too buttery for my taste, and they might've used sweet cream butter because towards the end it definitely reminded me of those butter cookies. yummy but not what to expect with mashed potatoes.

dessert time! i forgot about the "warm" part on the chocolate cake description, so imagine my surprise when there is molten center. mmmm........gooey chocolate. definitely high quality chocolate was used and the ice cream made it better.

overall, this is the place to go for steak. duh, it's a steakhouse. they offered other dishes for restaurant week (seared halibut and parmesan crusted chicken...and i did taste some of the fish...too salty for me, but i only got a teensy bite), but here you order red meat. i will definitely go back and the free dessert coupon they handed out after the meal is just another incentive to do so.

not disappointed.

overdue

lots of stuff happening in summer 2010.

• am now employed and still volunteering
• DC restaurant week (stay tuned for reviews of J&G Steakhouse, The Oval Room and Cafe du Parc)
• new favorites: grooveshark and stumbleupon
• waiting for crumbs and sprinkles to hit the DC area
• new project: digitizing hundreds of old family photos

details of the above coming soon

anything to make you smile...

it may be a three year old song, but it's still on rotation in my ipod. i think the words are bittersweet, but the music is more optimistic, so i don't feel so sad about the break-up.

"No One's Gonna Love You"
Band of Horses

It's looking like a limb torn off
Or altogether just taken apart
We're reeling through an endless fall
We are the ever-living ghost of what once was

But no one is ever gonna love you more than I do
No one's gonna love you more than I do

And anything to make you smile
It is my better side of you to admire
But they should never take so long
Just to be over then back to another one

But no one is ever gonna love you more than I do
No one's gonna love you more than I do

But someone,
They could have warned you
When things start splitting at the seams and now
The whole thing's tumbling down
Things start splitting at the seams and now
If things start splitting at the seams and now,
It's tumbling down
Hard.

Anything to make you smile
You are the ever-living ghost of what once was
I never want to hear you say
That you'd be better off
Or you liked it that way

But no one is ever gonna love you more than I do
No one's gonna love you more than I do

But someone
They should have warned you
When things start splitting at the seams and now
The whole thing's tumbling down
Things start splitting at the seams and now
If things start splitting at the seams and now,
It's tumbling down
Hard

cupcakes

as mentioned in a previous blog, i had leftover icing from making this chocolate totoro cake. in order to not waste that awesome white chocolate buttercream, i decided to make cupcakes. 

since there was leftover batter, i used mini-muffin pans to make cupcakes with a "surprise" - a peanut butter cup or hershey kiss in the middle. 

i recommend taking them off the pan right after the oven and cooling them upside down. 

sidetracked

a lot of stuff happened within the past week (like me getting a job!), so needless to say i've been sidetracked with the first week's challenge. however, i did finish two of the three criteria, and i've been working on the second week's set. also, i've added bonus points for activities completed that are not part of the challenge. each activity is awarded a half point once completed.

summary (total: 4 points, 1.5 bonus point):

• Intellectual Pursuit: 2 points for finishing Ethan Frome (no bonus points for not finishing The Lamplighter. frankly, the book has not sparked my interest.)
• Food: no points yet, but i'm working on making cupcakes tomorrow.
• Design Knowledge: 2 points 

Bonus points for trying the Big Poppa at Ray's Hell Burger, making a cheese-stuffed burger topped with sweet bbq sauce and bacon, and watching an English independent film called Son of Rambow. 

Second week challenge, same difficulty level as last week's but spread out over more criteria:

• Intellectual Pursuit: read The Annotated Alice: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (2 points)
• Design Knowledge: read Indie Publishing to get tips for better book layouts (1 point)
• Music: listen to Army Navy's first album (1 point)
• Food: try my hand on baking focaccia bread (1 point)

icing anyone?

still haven't found a unique way of using leftover white chocolate buttercream icing with a blue tint. the only thing i can think of right now is mini-cupcakes or something like a whoopie pie. hmmm...

one book down...

i finished Ethan Frome about two days ago. totally overestimated the time it would take to read the whole book. it has a straightforward plot, and quite a tragic ending. i don't know much about Edith Wharton nor her writing style. because of that, i may not be aware of what is hidden between the lines if there ever were any.

i'm starting a new book - The Lamplighter by Anthony O'Neill. i got it at a library book sale a month ago. no prior research. i have never heard of the book or the author, but that just made the book buying experience exciting. ok....maaaaaaaybe i'm exaggerating, but all proceeds go to back to the library, which i am always glad to support.

first week's challenge

for week one, i will start off with the minimum: 3 categories, 5 points

• Intellectual Pursuit: read Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (2 points)
• Food: make use of all leftover icing (1 point)
• Design Knowledge: improve 3D modeling skills (2 points)

now wish me luck as i go and start thumbing through this week's chosen book.

the busy unemployed

to date i have been unemployed for five months and three days. that's a long time to go without a steady income. (by the way, i am not counting the two and a half months i spent working freelance.) it is not like i haven't been looking for jobs, sending resumes, revising resumes and portfolio, creating an online portfolio, and writing countless cover letters. i also started volunteering as a designer at a community design non-profit group, and taking on small graphic design projects for friends and family.

but it doesn't feel like enough.

so from now on, i will challenge myself to complete tasks in certain categories that can contribute to my well-being...not to mention tasks that will keep me from going insane waiting for a job offer. the categories are as follows:

• Food: cooking, going to a new restaurant
• Intellectual Pursuit: reading a work of fiction or non-fiction, learning a language, polishing up skills/facts learned before, writing
• Design Knowledge: improving design skills, creating a work of art, learning a craft
• Travel: visiting sites around the city, taking lots of pictures
• Music: listening to a new artist (full album or at least six songs), attending concerts
• Film: watching a movie (independent or otherwise)
• Physical Wellness: exercising, eating healthy

each week i'll pick three categories and achieve at least five points. points are designated according to the amount of time it will take to finish a task. new categories will be added and point requirements may change as time goes by.

ready.

ONE family