A fun fact for today:
Approximately 2/3 of an apple's fiber is in it's skin.
Too bad there's so much pesticides in (most) store bought apple's skin! My parents like to cut them off because they don't like the idea of pesticides and weird stuff.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Sleepover with QY
I had a sleepover with my friend (Qian Yi) the day before yesterday to yesterday. It was so fun (as always)!
So first, before I went to Qian Yi's house, I went to my wushu class so my mom had to pick me up, right? During that time, my math tutor was already supposed to be at her house tutoring her brother (my mom referred him to her parents). Anyway, when my mom came to pick me up, the tutor called her saying that he went to the wrong house. He said a girl answered the door and he asked if Wei Pei was here (he didn't know how to pronounce Jie Wei's name). Qian Yi didn't know Jie Wei had tutoring, so she said he got to the wrong house (and there wasn't anyone in the house called Wei Pei anyway). So my mom had to describe the house and everything, so five minutes later, he came again and somehow everything worked out because by the time I came, they were tutoring and stuff. After I came, I told Qian Yi that he was my tutor, and she didn't know anything about this so she thought it was all a coincidence. Then I explained everything and it wasn't so exciting afterwards.
After the tutor left, Qian Yi and I decided to bake cappuccino brownies (it took us quite a long time to decide what type of brownies to make though). Qian Yi talked about this thing called "Mise en place" (I only know how to spell it because I just searched it up on Wikipedia). Mise en place is the term for putting everything in place. You know how in a lot of cooking shows, the person measures out all the ingredients ahead of time and puts them in little bowls so they don't have to take time to measure it while cooking? I think that's what Mise en place is. We decided to do that just for fun. :) At first, we decided to mix everything by hand, but it clearly didn't work out, so we used a hand mixer to beat it. After the whole brownie was finished, it was like a cake; it wasn't as moist and soft as brownies. Qian Yi's aunt, who's really good at baking, told us that we either over-mixed the batter or under-mixed it. I blame the hand mixer for over-mixing it! :P
For lunch, we went to a Korean restaurant called the Palace BBQ Buffet. It's cool because you can get raw meat (buffet-style) and fry it at your table. The bad thing is, after you hang out in there for too long, you start smelling like BBQ. After I went back to my house, my parents said my hair smelled like BBQ from up close, but somehow smelled like pee from far away.... (?)
So first, before I went to Qian Yi's house, I went to my wushu class so my mom had to pick me up, right? During that time, my math tutor was already supposed to be at her house tutoring her brother (my mom referred him to her parents). Anyway, when my mom came to pick me up, the tutor called her saying that he went to the wrong house. He said a girl answered the door and he asked if Wei Pei was here (he didn't know how to pronounce Jie Wei's name). Qian Yi didn't know Jie Wei had tutoring, so she said he got to the wrong house (and there wasn't anyone in the house called Wei Pei anyway). So my mom had to describe the house and everything, so five minutes later, he came again and somehow everything worked out because by the time I came, they were tutoring and stuff. After I came, I told Qian Yi that he was my tutor, and she didn't know anything about this so she thought it was all a coincidence. Then I explained everything and it wasn't so exciting afterwards.
After the tutor left, Qian Yi and I decided to bake cappuccino brownies (it took us quite a long time to decide what type of brownies to make though). Qian Yi talked about this thing called "Mise en place" (I only know how to spell it because I just searched it up on Wikipedia). Mise en place is the term for putting everything in place. You know how in a lot of cooking shows, the person measures out all the ingredients ahead of time and puts them in little bowls so they don't have to take time to measure it while cooking? I think that's what Mise en place is. We decided to do that just for fun. :) At first, we decided to mix everything by hand, but it clearly didn't work out, so we used a hand mixer to beat it. After the whole brownie was finished, it was like a cake; it wasn't as moist and soft as brownies. Qian Yi's aunt, who's really good at baking, told us that we either over-mixed the batter or under-mixed it. I blame the hand mixer for over-mixing it! :P
For lunch, we went to a Korean restaurant called the Palace BBQ Buffet. It's cool because you can get raw meat (buffet-style) and fry it at your table. The bad thing is, after you hang out in there for too long, you start smelling like BBQ. After I went back to my house, my parents said my hair smelled like BBQ from up close, but somehow smelled like pee from far away.... (?)
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Baking Cake
Ugh, baking cake is so hard! And I haven't even started baking yet! D:
My mom found a good recipe online of how to make Japanese "Christmas Cake" and she really wants to try making it. But all the ingredients are in grams or ounces, so when I convert it to cups, it ends up to be something like 0.44125 cups. (?) I just rounded it to 1/2 cup; I hope that's ok....
Then, when we went to Costo and they didn't have cake flour, so we went to Safeway. They didn't have cake flour either! That was before I left for All-State band. Then, I guess my parents found it somewhere (I don't even know where), because I saw it on the kitchen counter when I came back from All-State. So pretty much, it took them a few days to find it.
Yay, now I can start! :D Hold on, I just realized I don't have whipping cream. :(
I'll post a picture of the cake sometime later (if I end up making any)!
My mom found a good recipe online of how to make Japanese "Christmas Cake" and she really wants to try making it. But all the ingredients are in grams or ounces, so when I convert it to cups, it ends up to be something like 0.44125 cups. (?) I just rounded it to 1/2 cup; I hope that's ok....
Then, when we went to Costo and they didn't have cake flour, so we went to Safeway. They didn't have cake flour either! That was before I left for All-State band. Then, I guess my parents found it somewhere (I don't even know where), because I saw it on the kitchen counter when I came back from All-State. So pretty much, it took them a few days to find it.
Yay, now I can start! :D Hold on, I just realized I don't have whipping cream. :(
I'll post a picture of the cake sometime later (if I end up making any)!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
2011 California All-State Band
Last Thursday to Sunday, I went to Fresno for All-State band. All-State is for middle-schoolers and high-schoolers, and you have to try out to get in. You have to send in a recording of whatever is required that year, then the judges pick people.
It was really fun, but it would've been so much more fun if more of my friends tried out! My only friend from school was Jocelyn, and I'm so glad she was there! If not, I would've been so clueless the whole time....
Everyday, we had to walk a lot from the hotel to the practice place, from the practice place to the lunch place, then back to the practice place, then back to the hotel, etc. On the last day, along with walking to and from the hotel to practice, we had to drop off our instruments at the performance place, back to the lunch place, back to the hotel to change into concert dress, back to the performance place to take the group picture, to an exhibit (where music stores have a booth where they sell stuff), to the dinner place, back to the performance place, then finally back to the hotel. Almost every place had stairs too. On that day, my roommates decided to wear these really uncomfortable high heels, and by the end of the day, their feet were swollen and blistered REALLY bad. :( One of them had really small feet and short toes, so when her toes swelled up, it was like her foot was going to explode or something. I wore these flats type of shoes, and my feet still hurt a lot.
I think I should stop talking about gross feet now. :P
All band people should try out for All-State though, it's a really good experience! :D And it's fun!
It was really fun, but it would've been so much more fun if more of my friends tried out! My only friend from school was Jocelyn, and I'm so glad she was there! If not, I would've been so clueless the whole time....
Everyday, we had to walk a lot from the hotel to the practice place, from the practice place to the lunch place, then back to the practice place, then back to the hotel, etc. On the last day, along with walking to and from the hotel to practice, we had to drop off our instruments at the performance place, back to the lunch place, back to the hotel to change into concert dress, back to the performance place to take the group picture, to an exhibit (where music stores have a booth where they sell stuff), to the dinner place, back to the performance place, then finally back to the hotel. Almost every place had stairs too. On that day, my roommates decided to wear these really uncomfortable high heels, and by the end of the day, their feet were swollen and blistered REALLY bad. :( One of them had really small feet and short toes, so when her toes swelled up, it was like her foot was going to explode or something. I wore these flats type of shoes, and my feet still hurt a lot.
I think I should stop talking about gross feet now. :P
All band people should try out for All-State though, it's a really good experience! :D And it's fun!
USOMC
Last week, I went to a piano competition called the USOMC, which stands for U.S. Open Music Competition. On Wednesday, I played Shostakovich Prelude in d minor, Op.34 #24 in the Treasury of Contemporary (where everyone plays contemporary pieces). I had to go last! :O I saw two other Miller students there. :) I ended up getting 3rd place in that competition; I was happy. :D
On Thursday, I had to go first, which is weird because I went last the other day. The names are pretty long, but pretty much, I play a Beethoven sonata and a Rachmaninoff elegie. I totally messed up on Beethoven, so I didn't get anything. The person right after me was soooo good!!! He made me look really bad. :P I couldn't listen to anyone else after that though; I had to leave early because I had to go to Fresno for All-State Band right after that and check-in at the hotel (in Fresno) by 4:00 pm. (The competition was at 9:00 am at Oakland.) I ended up arriving at Fresno at like, 3:50, which is really late because the check-in thing is open from 2-4.
On Thursday, I had to go first, which is weird because I went last the other day. The names are pretty long, but pretty much, I play a Beethoven sonata and a Rachmaninoff elegie. I totally messed up on Beethoven, so I didn't get anything. The person right after me was soooo good!!! He made me look really bad. :P I couldn't listen to anyone else after that though; I had to leave early because I had to go to Fresno for All-State Band right after that and check-in at the hotel (in Fresno) by 4:00 pm. (The competition was at 9:00 am at Oakland.) I ended up arriving at Fresno at like, 3:50, which is really late because the check-in thing is open from 2-4.
Posting Pictures
Why is it so hard to post pictures? In Hong Kong, my dad helped me post the pictures. :P But now, when I try to put a picture on this post, after I browse it (or whatever it's called) and press the "Upload Image" button, it doesn't appear anywhere. Sighs... :(
First Post in a long time (!!!)
Sigh, I haven't written in this blog for about a year!!! I've been busy with piano, wushu, and other extracurricular activities. I'm glad I wrote it this blog for so long before though; I was just reading the stuff I wrote before and it's like I'm talking to myself! It's so cool! :)
My brother said WordPress is more professional than Blogspot (which is what this is), so I was trying to make one just right now. It definitely seems more professional; I didn't even know how to publish a post! Every time I pressed the "publish" button, it would go to a separate thing that either allowed me to edit the post or delete the post, and I was like, "I don't want to edit or delete, I just want to publish it, GOSH!" They have tutorials on learning how to blog and use WordPress, but I didn't feel like reading it. In my opinion, it's not user-friendly at all. So I kind of gave up on WordPress. At least for now.
Sigh, it feels good to be blogging again! Especially with a user-friendly blogging site (*cough* WordPress *cough*). :P
My brother said WordPress is more professional than Blogspot (which is what this is), so I was trying to make one just right now. It definitely seems more professional; I didn't even know how to publish a post! Every time I pressed the "publish" button, it would go to a separate thing that either allowed me to edit the post or delete the post, and I was like, "I don't want to edit or delete, I just want to publish it, GOSH!" They have tutorials on learning how to blog and use WordPress, but I didn't feel like reading it. In my opinion, it's not user-friendly at all. So I kind of gave up on WordPress. At least for now.
Sigh, it feels good to be blogging again! Especially with a user-friendly blogging site (*cough* WordPress *cough*). :P
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