3/31/2005

First Swing in 2005 新春第一桿

It was so windy today, but still full of Spring breeze and sunshine. I took out my #7 club and went to driving range just 45 minutes before sunset (about 1 hour before the strong storm warning, too).

It's been about 4 months since my last golf swing and therefore I was wondering if my entry level skill becomes rusty but it turned out to be quite ok. It's an exercise that I want to continuously practice since it's a self challenge, just like YOGA. You are the only competitor to yourself (of course to some others, not quite), and hearing the "ping" sound along with a beautiful long trajectory makes people feel so wonderful.

I, Feel, Great!!

Happy Birthday, Vincent Van Gogh

Van Gogh is my favorite artist, his passion and saturated colorful paintings deeply touched me, especially I am kind of person who favors color so much (from my pen bag everybody can no doubt tell that). My favorite painting of his is the "Starry Night")



Though I don't have an opportunity to visit France and places where he drew the paintings yet, I can image his passion came out not only from those pretty towns but also his inner impulsive energy driven by the nature of sign of Aries (I am an Aries, too). Aries should be always look into the bright side; however, his spiritual focus on thoughts and broad imagination were probably what made him suffered from the mysticism problem (also what made him a master beyond others).


Anyways, I don't have the problem (at least, yet). Today is his birthday, so I share this great song with all my blog readers.

VINCENT
By Don Mclean

Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and gray
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul...
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land.

Now I understand
What you tried to say, to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free:
They would not listen; they did not know how -
Perhaps they'll listen now.

Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.

Now I understand
What you tried to say, to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free:
They would not listen; they did not know how --
Perhaps they'll listen now.

For they could not love you
But still, your love was true
And when no hope was left inside
On that starry, starry night
You took your life as lovers often do --
But I could've told you, Vincent:
This world was never meant
For one as beautiful as you.

Starry, Starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget
Like the strangers that you've met
The ragged men in ragged clothes
The silver thorn, a bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.

Now I think I know
What you tried to say, to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free:
They would not listen; they're not listening still --
Perhaps they never will.

3/30/2005

Terrible B2B Class

Not until I have to take midterm exam do I realize how merely I understand this class. The professor gave out too many materials and the verbose technical terms and acronyms are way beyond my head. Plus, there's no point about this IT class to me. I was easily distracted in the class, and I struggled to understand the slides in his lectures. Moreover, I found few connections between this class and real B2B world.

I am not saying this class is not good, I am saying that I am not a IT person. There were some parts in the class intrigued me, and it's once a week class, pretty relaxing. What I don't agree was just the professor gave an exam right after spring break, and my brain cannot stuff anything heavy like this...

3/29/2005

餓得很快

不知道是不是船上吃太多的關係,我們回來後一下子居然不能習慣,沒幾個小時就會餓,真的是恐怖喔~~

早 上吃完豐盛的養生餐後,過兩個小時 就餓了要吃午餐,然後四點又餓了開始吃晚餐,沒想到九點Tania說有咖哩,我就又吃了一大碗,外加辣雞翅數隻和一顆橘子一塊千層糖衣蛋糕...這樣的吃 法雖然和船上比起來有如小巫見大巫,但一想到減肥不但前功盡棄,還復胖好幾公斤,就有罪惡感哩!

而且不是只有我這樣喔,Tania 和 Frank都是一樣的,所以我們就一起吃個不停,昨晚吃完一碗飯後三個人都還各解決兩大碗泡菜豆腐湯和橘子,我還又吃了一碗草莓冰淇淋.如果把食物堆起來,恐怕很多人看到食慾都沒了吧??

問我值不值得??當然值得, 值得喔!

Beautiful Beautiful Spring is Coming to Town!

Great weather today!!

I enjoyed the sunshine and warm moist air in the afternoon, counting days I can begin to play golf. When passing by the swim pool in our apartment complex, I saw people were cleaning it...soon I can have BBQ by the outdoor pool and enjoy the pleasant days!!


If it were not because of the chill cold weather, I wouldn't have appreciated the Spring so much in this small town. Even seeing the trees burst to green sprouts made me so grateful. Really can't wait to see the whole town blossoming of pink flowers!!

Mandy's Logbook in Carribean


Now I posted some pictures in my new website for the cruising trip, and please take time to visit it:

加勒比海的奇蹟與冒險

I had so many new stories and special experience in this trip, so many to tell you that I have to create a new website to put all my memories in it.

Check it out very often as I will post the stories day by day

Enjoy it!

3/27/2005



The Floating City - Carribean Princess docked in St. Maarten, Dutch Side (Left ship)

海上的移動城市 - 公主郵輪加勒比海號,
維京群島.聖馬汀, 荷蘭屬地

聖馬汀分屬法國和荷蘭轄管,我們的船停泊在荷蘭屬地


Adventure in Carribean

I had never imagined my spring break turned out to be the most exciting adventure in my lifetime, and it was so incredible that I could never forget it...

The plan of spring break started more than 3 months ago when I decided to go for a 7-day cruise in beautiful Carribean and Virgin Islands, and ended up with a series of unfortune events followed by the most wonderful cruise experience and a tired but content body.

All of my dietary and workout programs started from this semester was for this trip because I wanted to look good on board, and to be able to eat more without worrying too much about my weight. But how dareful I was to forget bringing my I-20 with me, the most important document to prove my identity of a student in the States. From the moment I was rejected on board the ship and left alone in the pier looking helplessly the ship setting out, my spring break had been completed changed, from the exciting expectation of luxurious enjoyemnt to the hopeless grief in addition to endless money spent to make up my mistake.

Sounds nothing more than another story of careless person destroying a planned trip, and it happens all the time, huh? Then you are refused to read my story...cuz you have no sympathy at all!!!!

OK, I just came back from the airport and you might have known that finally I still made the trip and was on board, spending 4 days happily on the cruise. But I am too tired to write my story now....please wait and then you can laugh at me by the time reading my navigator's logbook ~

3/16/2005

Urbana Free Library

我在香檳最喜歡去的地方,除了超級市場以外就是圖書館了 (Law library排名第一, Urbana Free Library排第二).

法圖是用來唸書的地方,市立圖書館就是純娛樂了. 免費的DVD和CD任我借,親切的服務和友善的網站讓我一再留連.雖然每每我在圖書館待的時間都不會超過15分鐘,可是我喜歡極了這裡.

之 所以不會在圖書館待很久的原因,是因為我可以先在網站上預約想要看的電影DVD,如果Urbana圖書館的存貨已經外借,他們會想辦法幫我和其他圖書館調 貨,然後用email通知我去取貨.方便的程度讓我感動不已 (免費的耶!!) 所以一年來我看了不下一百部電影,多半都是這裡來的.

今天去了一趟圖書館才發現整個大樓剛剛整修完畢,又多了很多新的設施,偌大的空間也很舒適,重點是以前從不知道雜誌也可以外借.今天我就借到了二月份剛下架的時尚雜誌 Glamour還有兩本暢銷書,真是開心哪!!

看看自己身邊吧!很多免費的寶藏很美好的 (Ex.每周三下午2~4點去Sam's Club,有好多試吃品喔!!)

排行程

我最開心的事情終於成真了!!

在好說歹說半騙半哄外加裝可憐,搞了半年之後,爸媽終於忍痛放下家中的兩隻狗,要來參加我的畢業典禮了...看來我一定要親自打電話去奶奶家道謝,順帶請他們好好照顧寶貝狗,不然我可真的會變成"人不如狗"了...

於 是我開始了自己一套非常精密的排行程活動. 說到排行程,我是把它當作一個大project來做的.去年暑假規劃的一個月大火車行程,就讓很多人嘖嘖稱奇,簡直是把Excel的功能發揮到極至. 本來嘛!! Excel是我吃飯的工具,當然要努力運用啊! 我把所有的班機時刻,轉機資訊,開車路程,觀光網站以及所有景點安排和預算全都規劃在我的檔案裡面. 需要的時候開一個檔案就包含了所有的資訊, 修改起來也非常方便. (不過這一招是來自於Tania的idea,去年要不是有她,我們的東岸行程不可能那麼順利的)

而且我對於跟Excel相關的事物都非常投入,總可以花個好多時間一做再做,什麼其他的事情都會丟著不管 (除了肚子餓以外), 研究精神看來只有做菜的時候才能相比.

還有一個多月,希望一切順利囉!!

I am just obsessed

我最近一直在想專心一意和沉迷的分界點到底在哪裡....

吃東西的時候,想到等等跑步要跑好久,累的不得了,就跟自己說油的炸的別吃了 吧! 那麼,晚餐也別吃了,不然肚子上的油又要變厚了...好吧好吧!雖然那麼想睡覺,可是早起可以去運動,還是掙扎的從溫暖的被窩中爬出來好了. 一天量八次體重,總以為哪一次會有奇蹟出現,那個磅秤會顯示出我真正重量...朋友打電話來找我去喝酒,不行,超過六點不能吃東西...朋友悻悻然的說, 哪有人晚上六點以前喝啤酒的啊?

不然還要我怎麼辦?我一直處於立志又破戒的狀態,每天都一直叨叨唸自己別吃別吃.可是肚子一餓就去弄個包子(還燙到手起水泡,笨!),不然就是人家邀吃飯,炸排骨就不管三七二十一給他用力吃下去.我這種人喔!就像皇上陳罡說的,不會瘦啦!

也難怪,我以為自己可認真了,可卻一點體重也沒降,雖然每個人看到我都安慰我說瘦了瘦了,那堅毅的磅秤就是屹立不搖啊!(什麼?說它不準??怎麼可能,那是Tanita的耶!!)

所以說有的人減肥減到走火入魔,我不過只是把減肥放在嘴上唸唸罷了...但我一定是太沉迷了,不夠專心一意,所以沒辦法把那念力傳到大腦吧!!

3/14/2005

到底在"書"什麼?

深夜12點半,再不去睡覺明早就起不來"甩油"了!

突然皇上四正. 愛新覺羅 (罡) 下旨要 日四又 格格(曼=我) 改名,因為大家都'書'了

我莫名其妙的開了MSN一看,怪怪!!香檳台灣人全都瘋了,大家都書了起來:

書光 是皇上 (我以為他中文很好 原來不是如此)

書賢 是Tom (他的中文原名)


書包 是沛涵 (因為Tom都說他車旁邊坐的漂亮妹妹是書包)


書僮 是 Emily (歸書賢管的都叫書僮)


哈書 是詹姆士 (他姓許 Hsu,美國教授不會發音每次都發成哈書)


書家 是家雁 (當然是家)


曼曼書 是我 (再不去睡會更慢瘦,輸的可慘了)


不書 是Larsen (誰叫他不服皇旨,不肯跟著"書",本來皇上賜名"書多",念在他貢獻許多"良"書的 ex. FHM...)


書途同歸 是Angela (應該是被大家"書"昏了)


九書齊名 是皇上最後能召喚到的幾名老臣,你說大家是不是雍正王朝都看瘋了?!

P.S.請原諒小鎮裡沒有夜間娛樂的無聊把戲,只能換換MSN暱稱耍耍掌權的威風

CC's Blossoming of Dreams

人有的時候會吸收一些和自己磁場不太一樣的的能量,然後把自己變的更強壯.不是抵抗力好不好的問題,而是不同的磁場反而特別吸引人吧!所謂異性相吸的原理是什麼我搞不太清楚,但我知道我的朋友常常和我有天壤之別,而讓我尊敬的很!

好久沒有聯絡的CC,在我眼裡是神奇的人物,寫詩作畫每每讓我驚嘆不已,好好的美國少奶奶不當,要回台灣咖啡廳打工,搞什麼文化行銷的高層次聽不懂的工作.我看只有我做菜的程度可以跟他的氣質相比.只是我的菜滿是油煙味,而她是走不食人間煙火的仙氣路線.

搞 個網站寫下我的心得感想,原來是她的提議,可是我老跟她說沒時間啊! 現在好不容易有了時間,寫的挺開心,一到她的新聞站台後就發現自己幼稚園程度的網站真是可笑的很. 可是我只要一到她的站台,心靈層次立刻增加,跟吃了密技丸戰鬥力增強一百倍一樣厲害. 難怪每次我都會在她的網站逗留到深夜.


如果想要提升自己的氣質,可以到CC的網站參觀一下,就知道精緻飲食文化和大牌檔的菜有什麼不同啦!

Blossoming of Dreams

所謂不能拿蘋果和香蕉比,也正如王文華說的,他寫的東西只能吸引 "同儕",暢銷書大賣的原因是因為目標市場跟故事書裡的人物背景相近. 我也是...

p.s. 王文華的墓誌銘

International Food Night 國際美食節

Great! My whole week effort was gone in one single dinner...

International Food Night is the biggest event International Business Society (IBS) has in MBA program. As a previous Executive Vice President and performer in the BottomLine Concert (The acapella chord we have in MBA), I must present and see how well the new IBS board does this year.

This event is to invite all the international students (including American too) to cook special cuisines representing their countries and share the culture, costume with other students in the program. Last year I was the coordinator of the event so I was too busy to cook a dish. This year we have so many Taiwanese 1st year students so I don't have opportunity to cook either. Last time I was unable to try any of the dish, yet this year I am on diet and decided not to eat dinner before the Carribean cruise. But I failed eventually...

After completed the performance, my mentee Trevor gave me the coupons right before I left, so I decided to try just 5 dishes, everything a tiny little bit. But it turned out everything was great, and people were so generous to give me a good portion of everything. See how much I ate:

3 Thai dishes and Thai tea,
4 Korean dishes, (including BBQ, spicy chicken, Kimba - Korean sushi, and Korean rice cake)
5 Taiwanese dishes, (Spicy Tofu, chicken stir fried, beef stew, fried sticky rice, and rice noodle)
Japanese read bean cake and 5-ingredient rice,
German sausage,
Jorden chicken rice,
Ukrainian twisted dessert
3 Turkish dishes (all good but I don't know the name)
Uruguayan rissole (meat pie)
Argentina tea
2 Indonesian dishes (beef stew and stew beef, huh??) and 2 desserts (layer cake and curry pie),

So how can I lose weight??


Ask which one I like most?? Hmm...maybe the Indonesian layer cake cuz it tasted better than what I had before!!

There was still lots food I didn't have opportunity to try, gourmet from Mexico, United States, Peru, Venezuela, Italy, and China. But I couldn't eat anything more so I fled away before the event ended. It seems I have no choice but go to the cruise with a big big belly....

想 一想一個晚上吃那麼多種不同的食物真是可怕耶...不過可以在一個晚上就 吃到環球美食也真是值得的了.更何況,這些食物都是由各個國家的人親手製作,真正道地的喔!!! 台灣人爭氣的很,不但出菜種類眾多,而且還提供了各式旅遊資訊,現場揮毫寫毛筆送給大家中文名字當紀念,大排長龍的景象也是其他國家少見的呢!

國 際美食節最難的部分其實是集結那麼多國家的同學在忙碌的課業之餘煮菜,以及製作代表各國的旅遊簡介. 為了不讓自己的國家丟臉,大家都非常盡力的使出渾身解數,讓我感動的很哪!! 雖然我是拿了那麼多種不同的菜,但每一種我都只有吃一口,其他的就全都堆到男同學們的盤子裡啦!!

No Comment

I admit, I've been productive on this blog for the past few weeks except this week.

That was because, I had a midterm, I want to exercise more, I need to prepare for my Spring break cruising trip, and most important of all, No comment appears on my website!!

It means, nobody is reading this blah blah long and boring stuff. So why bother to write and post it everyday? Though I enjoy writing and reading my life like this, and maintaining this website inspires my thoughts a lot...nobody wants to give me a comment for two weeks!!

OK! OK! That's fine...I will still keep the articles rolling..at long as I don't bore you...enjoy being a silent reader!!

Million Dollar Baby

A great movie I've seen recently!

If I was not in the process of working out and keeping fit now, I might not have felt so strongly about this movie. Now I know how difficult it is to become a successful athlete and how much resolution you need to have to keep perserverant. Everybody sat around me was weeping in the theater, even my male friend sobbed in the end of the movie. I was sad, because Hilary Swank was such a sweet and strong girl, and Clint Eastwood was such a nice and father-like boss in the movie. The combination of the two characters touched me because they were like family, becoming each other's support and spirits in the their lives of boxing.

It makes me think of my dad, a completely devoted nice guy and the most important one in my life, far away from me now in Taiwan. If I didn't have a father like him, I wouldn't have been moved by this movie so deeply either. Whether he is beside me or not, he is always with me and I feel the strongest support from him of any decision I've made.

Anyways, I enjoy watching movies. I enjoy repeatly watching the same movie too. If it was an old movie, I have different feeling now from watching it before in Taiwan with Chinese subtitle. Watching in the theater is also different from watching it at home. I mean, when I was in the theater, there's no subtitle, so I have to concentrate on the faces and expression of the actors to understand when they tried to express. But if I am home watching DVD with subtitles (I always pretend that I am deaf, cuz the subtitles are designed for people with hearing impediments), I focuses more on how they used the words and couldn't help staring at the subtitles (which is bad for my listening, I know). The same movie always gives me different feeling and inspiration each time. Besides, I have good short-term memories but I forget easily (is it kind of disease?? But the good thing is I don't keep bad memory for a long time either), so every time the movie becomes a whole new experience to me. Isn't it fun?

3/12/2005

IMPE

IMPE 是我們學校健身房的簡稱.對於熱愛運動的人來說,這個學校大如足球場的運動中心真是天堂. 奧林匹亞級的室內溫水泳池,戶外網球場和在夏天時人潮洶湧的戶外泳池,無數的璧球(squash & raquetball都有)網球羽球籃球場,數不清的健身室還有設備齊全的淋浴間,加上最近剛完成翻新增建的新左翼大樓,可能沒有一家私人俱樂部可以比得 上吧! 可惜我一直都沒有時間可以好好的來這裡健身一下,每學期就傻傻的被學校扣了500大洋的學費給別人來用,實在是不划算極了!

當然 我不常來是有原因的.我住的社區附設的小型健身房已經足夠我使用,戶外池畔在夏天還可以BBQ和泡SPA,而且學校裡平日停車要付費,我當然不會捨近求 遠,給自 己找麻煩囉!況且,學校的健身設施都要登記排隊,社區裡的健身房不但人少,而且電視還可以我隨便轉台,運動完立刻回家沐浴梳洗,實在也是夠方便的了!

前幾天開車經過學校健身房,才突然發現新的左翼大樓已經落成開放使用,透過明亮的大玻璃,我看到數十人宛如天竺鼠跑籠子裡的圈圈般認真的黏在跑步機上努力的運動,才突然驚覺這個地方不來真是可惜了我的學費.於是,趁著期中考剛結束的週末,我決定每天早起來運動.

一 早梳洗完畢後就到隔壁鄰居家car pool一起去健身,幾個人有了伴運動起來也特別起勁.尤其在學校裡看到大家都那麼的苗條 (中西部的人其實胖的居多,會願意來健身房運動的當然是比較瘦的),加上每個人都起勁的很,自然有了激勵的效果,讓我每次都待個兩小時才心甘情願的回家.

雖然認真的跑了兩天,可是我的同學今天就給我偷懶了,說什麼功課多做不完不去了(不過是一早爬不起來的藉口吧!?),所以我只好又一個人到社區健身房運動,結束了為期兩天的IMPE之旅.

3/07/2005

聰明小曼糊塗心



嘿! 休士頓真是個好地方(只限春暖花開的好三月),有我美麗的高貴嬸婆,有我木訥體人的好叔公,三天的行程實在太短,不夠我好好的深入遊玩一番.依依不捨的情結下,果然吧!趕不上飛機了!

說來也好笑,明明就有大把的時間,我們叔姪兩人卻糊裡糊塗的在中國城裡四處閒逛,一下在超市買雜貨乾糧,一下到麵包店紅豆餅肉包,然後又興致沖沖的在人擠人的燒臘店排隊買燒鴨乳豬 (沒錯,這些東西香檳都沒有!!我有合情合理的緣由要買) .最後發現時間已經不夠了,還要到老北平愛的’老地方’吃碗香辣紅燒牛肉麵!!也活該我倆趕不上飛機囉!! (錯!是我趕不上!) 其實說我倆糊塗也不是,因為我們明明都清楚搭飛機的時間,也知道要提早到達.況且,一早我們就已經計畫好要在3:00左右到機場,誰知道搞到七晚八晚才從中國城出發,真是活該!

3:48的飛機我們居然搞到3:25才到機場,想也知道是趕不上飛機的.一路上叔公盡了全力的飛奔,他65歲的一個人(平常在公司被人尊稱為Dr. Chiang的一個學者),滿頭大汗的在Tollway(因為趕時間就不走Freeway)上奔馳,穿過三個貴到嚇死人的收費站(每個要$1.25大洋,想想我們O’hare機場一次80cents還真是便宜多了),就算趕不上我也感激涕零沒話說了.

還好還好,叔公幫我買的機票是可以改行程的,於是我順利的改搭下一班飛機,仍舊可以接上原定從芝加哥飛往香檳的班機.等待的兩個小時中,我就把機場貴賓室網咖用,一邊上網一邊吃喝好不愉快! 不但沒有浪費時間,還得到舒適的享受(所以說辦一張Priority Pass真是很重要哩!)

休士頓行程安排在期中考前三天,我也還真是有夠大膽的. 本以為每天在叔公家可以努力唸書,誰知道光是吃喝玩樂上美容教室都來不及,怎麼有機會溫書?看來,回到香檳後又是一番苦戰囉!!

3/06/2005

Sweetwater Beauty Bootcamp! 甜水鎮美容改造班

我有一個神奇的嬸婆. 說她是"婆"還真是委屈她了.其實嬸婆和媽媽年紀相仿,年輕的時候是著名的芭蕾舞家,現在則在知名品牌Ralph Lauren擔任Fashion Consultant. 想當然爾,她對於美和時尚有一番獨到的見解. 好不容易來到德州拜訪她的我,當然要好好的請教一番囉!

一早起床,先喝一杯排毒養生果汁,加上一顆功效有如如人蔘的番薯,然後出門到Country Club健身. 一小時的Pilates呼吸吐息之後,緊接著慢跑和做瘦身儀器,再洗個舒服的熱水澡,一個早上就過去了.

一 天要喝三千CC由金字塔能量活水機吐出來的優質宇宙能量磁化水 (聽起來夠炫夠神奇吧?), 吃一把有機的無農藥自家產青菜,還要研究美姿美儀, 練習把脖子拉長,延伸背部線條的美體操. 最後再把頭髮修剪一下,畫上濃濃長長的睫毛, 就會流露出一種自然美女的高雅氣質. 我看再住下去,我就會健康的像個仙女一樣了!!

這 個城市名叫 Sugar Land, 這個小鎮叫做 Sweetwater (真是甜蜜蜜!),處處林立著五百萬美金以上,令人炫目不已的豪宅.週末時 Country Club 的 golf course parking lot 就像個名車大賞般, 擠滿了背著名牌球袋的球客. 貴太太們相約一塊打網球吃下午茶, 還有一整家子人提著大包小包進到有半個IMPE(我們學校的健身房)大的Gym運動; 排隊打璧球的,大汗淋漓剛鬥完牛的,熱熱鬧鬧的滿滿一屋子人,真是讓人見識到這種豪華生活的健康大不易啊!!

Waterfall in Williams Tower, Houston
Posted by Hello

Texas Starndard

德州的特色,數十年如一日,"大!!"

所以人家常說,''Texas Standard" or "Texas Size"來形容大份量,大體積的事物.十年前第一次來德州的時候就被大的驚人的牧場和無敵12線道的高速公路嚇得兩腳發軟,沒想到十年後再訪德州,還是有一模一樣的感覺,數大但不甚美啊!!

China Town越蓋越大,簡直可以和LA Montery Park比美了!包容當然是應有盡有,物美價廉,舉凡台灣的世運麵包店,阿宗麵線,世界書局或是各色南北小吃,蚵仔煎.香菇肉羹.肉圓.薑母鴨,叫的出名字的都吃得到,看得我恨不得到香檳開家小吃店了!

逛了Houston 最大最豪華的 Galleria Mall,滿足鄉下人進城的採購慾後,我開心的和遠從 Austin 前來招待我的 Kuo 學長一塊到 Cheesecake Factory 大快朵頤.不知道是不是心理作用,本來就屬於大份量的這家餐廳,到了德州似乎份量又變得更多了.吃得我們兩眼發直,服務生來問我們三次要不要打包,似乎知 道每桌客人都會帶走似的.

壯觀的人造大瀑布就在高樓Williams Tower 的旁邊,很難想像這種人工造景的瀑布居然也有氣勢逼人的魄力,水花飛濺,真是清涼暢快無比啊! 附帶一提的是,我遠從30 度零下低溫的香檳飛過來真是值得,溫暖宜人的空氣和77度和煦的陽光照耀下,很難不讓人心情舒暢,忘卻一切煩憂啊!

如果說有什麼讓人不滿意的地方,大概就是所有大城市都有的恐怖交通了吧! 尖峰時段的車陣,把我們塞得動彈不得,一段20分鐘的車程足足開了一個半小時才到.我相信Kuo學長一定累趴了,一整天都在開車真是辛苦啊!!

3/04/2005

VIVA!! U of I !! 香檳萬歲!!

I am on my way heading for Houston, Texas to visit my grand auntie and grand uncle.

To my surprise, I can access to school's wireless in the airport. It's our school's airport, and I am proud of it! Every time I arrive this airport, the familiar feeling comes back (feel like home), and I can see the banner with "Welcome to University of Illinois" when I walked out of the gate. Really small (only 2 gates, and 17 flights in and out everyday) but cool airport!!

I am proud of my school's unbeaten baseketball team, the No. 1 team in the States and we will fight with Purdue for the 2nd last game tonight. Whip them Illini !!! (Newly update on 03/13/05: We lost the last game before the off-season, sad!)

The C-U (Champaign-Urbana) Bus is cool, too. Whenever there's event, all the buses in town change the electronic billboard in front of the bus (It was supposed to show the bus route # only) and reflect the event in a humorous way...Very creative!!

For example, all the buses changed the board to "Go Illini !! Whip the Wildcat!!" the day we fought with Northweasten, and we did whip them heavily (84-48). On the Valentine's day, the buses would wish everyone a "Happy Valentine's Day", isn't it cool??

OK, time to board....

3/02/2005

Student ID


今天我終於知道這小小的一張
學生證對我的生活有多麼的重要了...

預約看醫生,卻發現沒帶學生證; 想去退學雜費,沒有學生證. 好吧!只好坐公車回家拿....居然沒有學生證,不能搭免費的公車!! 更慘的是,我根本就是一整個錢包都沒帶 (爲什麼這樣我還在學校混了一整天都沒發現??),所以連公車錢都付不出來!!

走 路回家??門都沒有!! 今天不曉得爲什麼大雪狂下,冷到只有二十五度 (-4 C),走到家我就凍成Ice Age裡面的那隻松鼠了!! 於是, 我只好厚著臉皮跟司機說,我忘了帶錢包,可不可以明天再給你看學生證.哈哈 好糗!!還好司機人挺灑脫,笑笑的就讓我上了車...慘!!

還 好,在學校的保健室外被我逮到那個開我罰單的可恨停車管理員,我 氣沖沖的我的計時器只超過一分鐘,怎麼可以開我一張高達十塊美金的罰單 (而且我放著藥沒拿就衝出來耶).他人倒挺好,看了看錶就把我那張罰單收走,還告訴我下次如果因為領藥超時,可以申退的...真是個好人 :) 省了十塊錢.

一開心我就去書店買了一本 low fat 的美麗食譜, 裡面的菜式真是低卡又美觀,讓人心動不已.有機會一定要來做做看....

bread pudding
Posted by Hello

3/01/2005

Yorkshire Bread Pudding 約克夏布丁

Yes, I am on diet. Yes, I decide not to eat dinner. But, I couldn't help to cook...

I looked into my fridge and found some great ingredients for making a bread pudding.

I should have put some raisin (which I don't eat), pecans (Tania doesn't eat), and cinnamon (Neal doesn't eat) into my pudding but I lacked of these ingredients, plus it was too troublesome to add something people don't eat. So I decided to make a plain bread pudding and it turned out very very tasty :)

List of "beneficiaries": Apt 3076, Apt 3069, Apt ?? (what is Larsen and Rex's apt number) , Warriors in Apt 2066,(above from U. Comm) and Harryanto from Hessel on the Park.

Great, I only had one very small bite of this 8'' big pudding. Haha...I am not the one who's gonna be FAT!!

約 克夏布丁是英國約克夏郡的傳統美食之一. 這美味的麵包布丁其實原本是配著烤牛肉吃鹹的(有點像美國人配烤火雞吃的stuffing). 不過在台灣我最愛的勞瑞斯牛肋排餐廳 Lawry's The Prime Rib 把這道菜做成了甜點,當我第一次吃到時就對它的美味產生深深的感動.這烤麵包布丁原本應該要放whiskey sauce,可是我把它改良成了白酒醬,吃來既不會太濃烈又帶著一股清香.雖然剛烤出來賣相超佳,可是我居然忘了照相,就立刻把它切一切分送出去,真是太 遺憾了 (希望Tania有成功的把她們家的那兩塊照下來)

雖然在減肥,可是忍不住還是要做菜的結果,當然就倒楣到我的同學啦!!