Sierra at Tahoe

Went to Sierra for a day trip with Ben, Flo, and Alan. Lots of fun. 8 hours round trip driving. 8 hours of boarding. Not bad~ I like Sierra better than NorthStar. :) Unfortunately it is a small mountain so it is fairly crowded, especially in the lifts for Tahoe King and Grandview Express.
West Bowl is my favorite place in Sierra. The wait is shorter and the runs more tailored to my level.

Hard Blue:
- Powderhorn (Upper + lower)
- DogWood

Fun Blue:
- Beaver (My favorite so far)
- Pyramid (Real fun if you can survive Powderhorn x_X)

Ok Blue:
- Marmot (I am sure this one is a real cool one if I didn't face plant on it)

Ok Green:
- Corckscrew (Twisties~ Need I say more? The only reason why I wouldn't go back to this one is that it there are way too many people on it, and I almost got run into a couple of times)

For the price and location I would definitely go back to this mountain again. :D
Can't wait to be better so I can tackle Powderhorn and Dogwood without braking so much. :X need to find my balance and be more fearless.

Other notes, tried the deluxe breakfast at McDees for the first time. Pretty good. :) Also, tried the double double for dinner. A double double is a cheeseburger with an extra patty. So worth it. (since it is the same price as the cheeseburger).

Other random cool things I learned today:
- Face planting with braces hurt more than usual. I cut my lips when I face planted in Marmot. Maybe this is why I am not stoked about that run as Ben. I was so relieved that I didn't lose any brackets. ;)
- A kids meal is so much more worth it than a hot dog combo for lunch
- Instant ramen as a snack is awesome. I am so bringing this in my future trips, especially since people at the lodge are pretty cool at providing hot water. Miam. :)
I felt like such a fob tho, eating instant ramen in the middle of the slopes. Hahaha
- Walkie talkies are damn useful to find people on the slopes, need to get one for future trips. Srpint sucks, since I get no reception in the mountain at all... nada...silch... If I had broken a leg somewhere, I would have been helpless. :x
- A McDee's cheeseburger has 300 calories 110 from fat. eeps. XD I had 3 of these... =.='
- A McMuffin has 300 calories 200 from fat. XD I dare not find out how many calories my deluxe breakfast had, with all those pancakes (or hot cakes as they are called) with the hashbrowns and crumpet. XD
- The 5 hour energy drink is actually pretty good. Tasted like concentrated Red Bull. Kept Ben and me awake after we drank it, but ended up with a headache after a few hours. Good thing I had some advils handy.
- Snowboarding with a camelback rocks! :) Get to drink and not slowdown. Carry snacks and other goodies. Give me better balance carving down the slopes... or so I think. Heh.

Can't chew stuff... :(

Decided to get braces this year. Partly, because my sister recommended that I do so. Partly because my current dental insurance is pretty good. So I started on Friday 13th, 2009. They put in eight spacers around my 2nd molars. Now I can't really chew anything hard. :( So I ended up eating ramen and instant noodles. I wonder if braces are gonna hurt even more. Oh boy... what did I get myself into.

春雨里洗過的太陽 - 王力宏

分開之后另一年的春天
記憶也像下雪一樣溶解
那些有你在身邊的影片
呼的一聲飛得老遠老遠

愛在夏天過完之后鎖在秋天
捱過冬天之后的我好了一些
雨后的天上 彩虹出現
撐出一片藍天

我在淋過一場大雨之后的晴朗
那是春雨里洗過的太陽
每個冬季帶來失落 傷得多深
然后忽然看懂云的形狀

If you listen to the rhythm of the pouring rain
那是春雨里洗過的太陽
每個冬季帶來失落 傷得多深
每個呼吸都是新的芬芳

（repeat）

流下的眼淚 留下了智慧
愛情會天亮也一定會黑
世界會等我 它問我冬天過去沒
我在淋過一場大雨之后的晴朗

那是春雨里洗過的太陽
每個冬季帶來失落 傷得多深
然后忽然看懂雨的形狀

If you listen to the rhythm of the pouring rain
那是春雨里洗過的太陽
每個冬季帶著失落 傷得多深
每個呼吸都是新的芬芳
春雨里洗過的太陽

25 Things About Me

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose at least 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

Another form of chain mail, but hey I am bored so why not. :P

25. I speak French, Spanish, English, Mandarin fluently. I can manage Taiwanese and I am totally hopeless when it comes to my German and Japanese.
24. I love ramen. If I were to chose one dish to last me the rest of my life that would be it.
23. I like sweet things, and got the cavities to prove it. Bubble tea, candy are my kryptonite.
22. I love books. I love reading fiction and mangas.
21. I listen to Chinese songs that are cheesy,;so cheesy that they are embarrassing even to my closest friends.
20. I want to sky dive, except it is too damn expensive and I am too chicken. :P
19. I can't dance to save my life, but love to bop my head to the rhythm anyways.
18. I do a major move (city/continent) every 7 years (on average).
17. I love playing computer games.
16. I wanted to grow up and be an artist. :P
15. Friends are really important to me.
14. The opinion and suggestions from my family matter to me.
13. I wished I could travel for a living and visit fun places.
12. I want to have lots of gadgets, but can't justify buying them.
11. I want to have a garage in my future house so I can have a workshop.
10. I like dark chocolate more than milk chocolate. I absolutely hate white chocolate.
09. I love rain and the smell of it.
08. I want to be able to snowboard and surf all I want without worries.
07. I miss my motorcycle, I need to ride it more often.
06. I dislike dusty places.
05. I am allergic to cats, but I love to play with them.
04. I like cooking things once in a while
03. I am addicted to web comics.
02. I am a Virgo.
01. I love Sarah. <3

Small reminder about runs in NorthStar

Just came back from an awesome trip. A few notes:
- Ax Handle is the best blue run
- never ever Take the East Ridge run -> flat :( ( even if Cat's Face is a crazy nice run)

Sometimes I overthink things

Xkcd said it best with this post. KISS works. The simple (and elegant) solution tends to be the correct one.

Cooking niku-jaga (Japanese braised beef and potatoes)

So, I finally got the itch to cook again. I get it once in a while, when I see a dish I want to eat. :) Today I tried out niku-jaga, a Japanese dish. I saw this recipe when I went to the Nijiya Japanese Market in San Mateo. They had this rack with lots of recipes and this one seemed delicious and easy enough that I decided to get it. :)

Ingredients:
200g of sliced beef (the fattier the better ^^)
2 potatoes (~400g)
1 onion (~200g)
1/2 table spoon of cooking oil
2 cups of dashi stock or water
3 table spoon of sake
3 table spoon of sugar
2 table spoon of mirin
3 table spoon of soy sauce

Directions:

1. Peel and cut potatoes into slightly larger than bite size ( each potato into 8 sizes is a good benchmark).
2. Skin onions and remove the heart. Then cut the onion in half slices.
3. Slice the beef in bite sizes.
4. Heat the oil in a pan and then take it out of the heat.
5. Coat the slices of beef with the oil.

6. Put the pan back to medium heat and stir fry the beef. Make sure the pieces don't stick to each other with chopsticks.
7. When the beef changes color, add onions and potatoes and stir fry.

8. Add dashi stock (or water) , basically enough to cover everything.
9. Bring everything to a boil and remove any scums that floats to the surface.
10. Add the sake, sugar, mirin and soy sauce in that order.

11. Bring everything to a boil, reduce the heat slightly and cover it.
12. When the liquid is reduced to one third, and flip everything (so that everything is coated).
13. Tilt the pan to a size and reduce all the sauce.
14. Spread everything on a pan to cool.
15. Serve with rice. :)

Cooking wasn't too hard, eating it was even easier. ^^ A few comments, mirin sauce is a sweet cooking sauce used in teriyaki. It has a nice taste to it, make sure not to add too much, or it will over power everything. Dashi stock is the base flavor in miso soup. :) I substituted sake with Chinese cooking rice wine and it turned out not bad.