Comrade Eden's Blog!

Eden will now also be blogging the trip side-by-side with me (because we are huge dorks). Visit her at: Eden's Escapade to the Equator. Our respective blogs will no doubt be filled with vitriol towards the other person as the time wears on. Hah!

It's really funny so I recommend you read it :P

Backpack meets shallow city girls

I can never sleep before impending travel. Also, my right leg is in pain due to the muscle atrophying from the last 10 days of complete disrespect for any sort of healthful eating or activity, I think. (The impending travel is referring to my return to Chicago--not yet leaving for South America).

Conversation with Eden, the travel buddy:

    Eden:  There is a guy in Ecuador named 'party boy' who
           will be hanging out with us a couple days
    Panda: (Laugh) What? Uhmm, doood, we will look like
           such crap.
    Eden:  Um. Yes.
    Panda: Plus I'll be super fatty since I have just been
           stuffing my pie-hole non-stop this past week as
           I've been using the "I'll just lose the weight
           there" excuse.
    Eden:  SAME!
    Panda: One tapeworm away from our goal weight! 
    Eden:  Seriously. Are you even bringing make-up?
    Panda: I guess now I'll have to!

Into the backpacking bag now goes the make-up bag: Burt's Bees, eyebrow pencil, mascara, eyeliner, foundation, blush, and one shade of eyeshadow. Totally reasonable.

Fret not Boyfriend if you just read this. "Party Boy" sounds like a total douche anyway! Teehee.

Christmas's all around us...

"Love Actually" is one of those Christmas movies I watch every year even though it's not a particularly good movie, and I can't stand the look of Underbite Girl (Kiera). Nonetheless, it's somehow become my "Miracle on 34th St".

"I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toesssss... Christmas's all around us, and so the feeling growwwwsssss..."

Now that that's over, time to dismantle all that holiday cheer. It's kind of sad, no? I sure do like Christmas decorations.

In case you haven't noticed, I am starting to use Google's Picasa Web Albums service. Flickr is a lot prettier, but Google--bless your taking-over-the-world soul--is already part of my flesh and blood! Plus, the Picasa program is actually really fantastic. Highly recommended, 5 stars! Everyone should start uploading photo albums--that means YOU, MOTHER!

So, once I'm on the road, I will hopefully be able to share my travels and photos with with relative ease.

Insert here!

My Pops gave me this Chinese book of the top natural phenoms the Middle Kingdom in anticipation of my eventual pilgrimage back to the motherland. It's all in Chinese and being illiterate, I just flipped through gawking at the photos of the lovely natural sites--very lovely indeed.

Of course, I wonder what the editors were thinking when they juxtaposed these two little photos... Hmmm! Curious photos, no?


UPDATE: Everyone I've interrogated or shown this to has been unfazed by the images. They're like, "it's not really sexual". HELLO? ARE YOU BLIND?

Mobile: Cost of Living

Holy crap! 8 pieces of dry cleaning for $18 (including 4 sweaters)! Its $8 a sweater in chicago.

Cream of [Insert] without the calories

I've made variations on this a few times now, all to great success. This is such an easy recipe and will satisfy all creamy-soup cravings without hurting the scale.

These proportions make 2-4 servings depending on how much soup you like!

Ingredients:

• 3c. of your veggie of choice, cubed (potato, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.)
• 1/2c. of chopped onions (and shredded carrots opt.)
• 1-2c. of broth (depending on how thick you like soups; I prefer using 1c.)
• 1-1 1/2c. of skim milk
• 2tbsp. flour
• salt/pepper
• other spices you like
• olive oil for sauteeing
• shredded cheddar/mozz (optional)

Directions:

1. Sautee onions in large pot for a few minutes. I also like to add shredded carrots for colour and additional vitamins, but it's not really necessary.
2. Add your veggie of choice, broth, spices, salt and pepper. Don't worry if broth doesn't immerse all veggies--there should be enough to just barely cover everything if you use 1c. of broth and more if you use more. Bring to boil then lower and simmer. Simmering times varies depending on vegetable. If using potato, it might take 30+ minutes for everything to become tender. With broccoli, 10 minutes if more than enough.
3. In another bowl, prepare milk & flour mixture. Add to the pot once veggies are tender. Stir and continue cooking until soup thickens.
4. Once done, you can use a blender to liquify the soup even more if you don't like chunks. I prefer cutting the veggies small enough so that they kind of disintegrate on their own while still keeping some chunkiness.
   
5. Lastly, add as much or as little cheese as you want and serve!

Seriously, this is such a great cream-of recipe and so healthy & easy! I will make some right now.

List: Books 2007

Books I've read or reread, 2007 edition. The list is pretty short since I've not read much this year though that seems to be changing.

* denotes it's highly recommended (which isn't to suggest that the ones without *s are no good--they are.)
strikethrough denotes I couldn't finish it (these are probably no good)

1. Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
   
2. Memories of my Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
   
3. Neuromancer by William Gibson (perhaps unfair since I took an 8 month break and couldn't get back into it)
   
4. The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch
   
5. My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl
   
6. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut *
7. Elizabeth Costello by John M. Coetzee
8. The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
9. Harry potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (re-read)
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
11. Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamonby Jorge Amado
12. The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson
13. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez *
14. Possession by A.S. Byatt
15. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami *
16. Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima
17. Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster by Dana Thomas *
18. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
19. The Subtle Knife by Phillip Pullman
20. The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman
21. For the Relief of Unbearable Urges by Nathan Englander
    

The Great Escape

While Chicago was suffering a white-out, I was enjoying the pleasant winter-desert air. Arizona certainly is one of my favourite states. From the mountains up in Flagstaff to the arid deserts of Tucson, there is so much variety! There is also some of the most amazing natural scenery in the US including Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon, Sedona's red rock mountains... etc. Anyway, this brief trip was spent in the Phoenix area, which is pretty boring but its proximity to nature hikes and the awesome beds of the JW Marriott Resort & Spa made the trip totally worthwhile. The parentals should really move from Dallas-suburbia to Phoenix-suburbia if you ask me.

So what did I do while away? Mostly I gorged (In-n-Out for lunch, surf and turf for dinner). Also did some hiking, hit some golf balls, and watched Law and Order: SVU (heh heh).




Clockwise starting Top-L: View of urban-suburban sprawl (boo) from the top of Camelback Mountain in Phoenix (hike & climb was pretty tiring but so satisfying! My butt's still sore!), Me defacing nature, view of a white Chicago on the way back, and Saguaro cacti!

Also really wanted to make the drive to Sedona (only 2hrs) but it's a little chilly at that elevation and I only had a sweatshirt. Ah well... here is someone else's photo of Sedona's juniper trees & red rocks for you to enjoy:

Mobile: burgers, fries x2

Yay. Phx has in-n-out!

South America Itinerary (More or Less)

Start in Guayaquil, Ecuador... and work my way south!

I shall be going with the ever delightful Mz. Simmah from Jan. 3-Feb. 7, and then I will be flyin' solo unless my dad decides to join me for a potential detour to Patagonia.

That Easter Island trip is looking less and less likely. That LAN airlines really does have a monopoly on that route..

TOTAL ESTIMATED COST (minus Galapagos and Easter Island): $3,000!
That's freakin' cheap for a whole 2 months! It will probably end up costing even less than that to be quite frank. Just think--$5 steaks in Argentina. We're talkin' about big, honkin' steaks too!

Flight Info

DEPARTING:                     ARRIVING:
Flight  ORD       01/03/2008   MEM       01/03/2008
4426    Chicago   09:55AM      Memphis   11:40AM

Flight  MEM       01/03/2008   MIA       01/03/2008
4508    Memphis   01:00PM      Miami     04:25PM

Flight  MIA       01/03/2008   GYE       01/03/2008
933     Miami     05:20PM      Guayaquil 09:35PM


DEPARTING:                     ARRIVING:
Flight  SCL       02/26/2008   MIA       02/27/2008
912     Santiago  10:40PM      Miami     5:05AM

Flight  MIA       02/27/2008   ORD       02/27/2008
1487    Miami     6:45AM       Chicago   9:05AM

Only fear is missing the flight from Miami to Guayaquil and being forced to stay overnight at the airport.

I also wanted to visit Easter Island, but those round-trip tickets are over $1000 from Santiago! Ugh.

Sore arms, bad tv

Got my first Hep A vaccination and a Typhoid vaccination today. Heading in on Friday to get my Yellow Fever vaccination. My poor, poor sore arm.

Given that I have no job, I watch a lot of Law & Order. I mean, at any given hour, there is always some version of Law & Order on the television. Sadly, I've seen pretty much all the syndicated Law & Order: SVUs and the old Law & Orders they play on USA, TNT, and other such stations. Anyway, this leaves only Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Boy, does that show suck. That's all.