Funfetti vs. Chocolate

Bonjour! Good Day! Salaam! :)

Here are a few poems I've drawn out of my poetry journal (which I've kept since the 8th grade...My mom graciously bought it for me with its quirky yet interesting cover and spiral binding, and since then I've

written on-and-off into its pages) to share with you all--Hope you like them! (and by the way, most of the poems don't have titles...I guess you can come up with them on your own as you read ;) )

Date: 24 June 2010 at 6:00~ish pm

Shh.

If you look

Closely, so closely

That the fibers

Of the glass-like green leaves

Shatter, and

That the birds almost

Hold their breath to

Keep from sharing

Their song

With the unknown, then

You will see--All is still.

The sunlight barely moves,

But the trees are still

Chanting in harmonious pride.

Of what they had

Become today.

On this summer day.

Date: 20 June 2010 at 1:24 pm

Chirps, flights

and sways

of the birds

Captivate me. I wonder,

Is this all a Dream? Am I

Just wondering

If it exists?

Does the cool touch

of my bare

Feet on the wooden balcony

Really send through

My veins, and up

To my conscience?

The conscience

Is ever-moving,

I may never stop.

To look around.

To see if I'm

Awake.

Maybe this is a good thing,

Just maybe...

Date: 19 June 2010 at 10:36 am (I don't know why I write the specific time

when I've written these poems..)

I just felt a leaf

Brush past my finger.

The rain is pouring,

Giving the most of

Its whole to me.

"I don't know what I'm doing,

It's hard to explain."

But I am feeling comfort,

Here like

Nowhere else.

Home does not run away,

It does not turn its back.

It pulls me instead, and I

cannot leave.

My love is way beyond

Horizons, my words cannot

Express this.

I hope you'll know

How I feel, it

Is beyond imagination.

(Note: There are those quotations in the early part of this poem because I was quoting a song I was listening to on the radio while writing it...I can't remember what song it was, but I just remember thinking how perfec

tly those words fit into the rest of the poem!)

Date: 19 June 2010 at 10:50am

Those random nights

Are what get me

Out of bed.

Spontaneity is my drive.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Baking competition, Funfetti against

the fearless chocolate. My Sister's Keeper,

because we all are worth being sheltered and

loved, and "kept." The pictures that frame our

friendships.

Black/white, sepia, or comic, we all are together.

Weak at the knees, because the freeway was my first.

The steering wheel almost shook just as much.

My memories flutter and burst in love and happiness, the colors of

Funfetti and Chocolate rushing past and before my eyes! I want to do it

again. Altogether, and then with the better. Love, To S, M and P, I hope you agree.

(Note: I'm not sure I'd call this one a poem, but it was just a paragraph I wrote without stopping, the morning after a great night I spent with my closest friends! :D We had a cake competition where two of us made Funfetti cake and the rest of us made chocolate cake; we wanted to see which tasted better...And apparently the parents enjoyed the chocolate one more, but I still think my group's Funfetti was spectacular :) We also watched the movie My Sister's Keeper and took pictures together on my friend's laptop, hence my mentioning of "Black/white, sepia, or comic" (as in comic book style).) (...And "S, M, and P" are initials of my friend's names.)

I'd like to end this post by stating that the last poem here is my favorite, just because it make me think about one of the most fun times I've ever had in my life. :D

Bean out!

Yellow

Hello again!,

By now you have probably figured out that I'll be posting a piece of my artwork every now and then...I guess I've been doing it because so far my blogs have only been of writing and barely with any illustration; so I thought my blog-page would be more exciting with some images added! :)

So here's yet another piece I made in the last few years; it's titled © Chris Martin (obviously because it's of Chris Martin of Coldplay ;) ) and it's made out of watercolor and pencil. I found the image while searching for pictures having to do with the Coldplay hit called "Yellow," which is probably my favorite song from that band.

Any favorites out of the pieces I've posted so far?

Off to drink iced green tea....

Bean out.

Trois Jambes

Title of Piece: © Burberry magazine ad

Date Created: July 2009

Medium: Charcoal

Bonjour!

Voila un autre tableau que j'ai créé! :) J'ai trouvé l'image dans une publicité (d'une magazine) pour le Burberry, avec le mannequin connu qui s'appelle Agyness Deyn.

L'oeuvre est en fusain et papier, et juste au cas où vous ne comprenez pas pourquoi Agyness a trois jambes, c'est parce que la troisième est vraiment une écharpe ;) (Je dis cela puisqu'il y avait quelques fois où on pensait que le foulard était une jambe!).

Si vous voudriez voir touts mes autres tableaux, allez sur le site:

www.shirenesart.weebly.com

A bientôt!

Bean out. (Comment dit-on "Bean out." en francais??)

There Was a Vegetable Fiesta on my Balcony.

Last night, after my little brother and I came back home from our adventures to the library and Barnes & Noble, I randomly decided to make myself a healthy meal that consisted mostly of vegetables and olive oil. :)

...Maybe it was because of the articles I read in the Health and Yoga magazines at Barnes & Noble, the ones that urge readers to make healthy yet satisfying choices in everything you eat and do; I guess their words motivated me to stuff myself with bright colors of food, and in the end I felt a great sense of accomplishment and relaxation; not just out of eating the final product, but mostly out of the entire process of creating it.

When I got home, I instinctively grabbed the last red bell pepper from the bottom drawer in the fridge, along with three succulent-looking, deep green zucchinis (I remember my first experience of cooked zucchinis that my mom used to make all the time, with the shine of olive oil having been decorated all over it and with hints of herbs scattered around...Mmmm, delicious). I then thought of taking a few white mushrooms too, but I just let that idea leap out of my mind because they weren't as exciting to look at as the almost blinding red of the pepper and as the nature-y hues of the zucchini.

And after gently handling the vegetables under running cold water and with bits of soap, and after rolling them in a towel to dry (and while doing all of this I felt like I was treating them like babies, as if holding of pressing the vegetables too hard under the towel was going to destroy them!), I took a knife and made my attempt to chop the vegetables like a pro...My cutting skills aren't too bad in general, so cutting the zucchini into fourths wasn't so difficult; but when it came to the red bell pepper, it was almost impossible for me to do one chop and get a clean cut--instead, trying to chop them was only making the attempted pieces turn into fraying fragments looking like a disease on the vegetable..so obviously I stopped trying to chop the pepper and just made long, deep incisions (boy, now I sound like I'm talking about a surgical procedure!).

So then I finally had nice, long strands of red juicy goodness lying out before me, next to the green hues of the strands of zucchini, all encompassed by the contrasting whiteness (save for a few food stains) of the cutting board. :)

I laid the pieces out on a cookie sheet and brushed them with about a tablespoon and a half of extra virgin olive oil; and with a little spontaneity in me, I decided to toss (well maybe not toss, because that would have made the task very messy!) a few pieces of goat cheese on some of the pieces (of both vegetables)...I didn't want to take the risk of possibly having the food taste terrible because of the goat cheese, so that's why I didn't put the cheese on the whole set.

And with the preheating to 350 degrees and the timer set to 10 minutes (which I later added 5 min to just to see what happens; so really the timer was to 15 min), I slid the beautifully prepared vegetable fiesta into the fiery sauna (not literally fiery, because obviously that would have been very dangerous..). And I spent that amount of time cooking a turkey dog on the stove; as I also stepped out on the balcony and gently plucked five basil leaves from a basil plant my dad recently bought, and chopped them after rinsing in cool water.

After what seemed like an eternity (mostly because I was starving, which was why I found myself munching on walnuts while waiting for the vegetables to get ready), the alarm of the oven went off and I practically sprinted to the kitchen as if to the rescue of my "babies!"

And when I took the cookie sheet out of the oven and set it on the counter, the most amazing smell began to surround me! and It smelled like pizza because of the goat cheese and zucchini together, so much so that I was afraid my brother would rush to the kitchen to see if I actually made pizza (his favorite food)! Also, to make the setting look even more appealing, I put the pepper and zucchini pieces on a clean plate, and then sprinkled the ensemble with my chopped basil...And the smell just kept getting better!

And you may ask, what was the turkey dog for? Well I thought from the beginning that if I only ate vegetables for dinner, I wouldn't feel so full that I'd eat another feast half an hour later; so I thought the turkey dog was a great and low-calorie way to throw an anchor in my stomach to keep me full, along with the vegetables.

So after the basil procedure (again, sounding very surgical for some reason...I apologize :P), I cut the turkey dog into little pieces and served it on a separate plate, since I was afraid that the prettiness of the vegetables lying together would be ruined by the random dog.

And with all of this prepared, I sat on the balcony in the 80 degree weather, with my Glamour magazine open, and the two plates of deliciousness spread before me waiting for me to devour them. I ended up enjoying every bite, and as it turns out, the goat cheese with the red bell pepper tasted amazing!

So I guess in the end it must have been alright for me to take the noble risk of throwing on the goat cheese on the vegetables, instead of just on a few pieces of them...

...So the vegetable fiesta would have been filled with even more life and excitement than before!

I hope this blog didn't bore you to sleep, because I just realized that I spent about an hour writing about myself cooking two colored things and eating it with a fake hot dog and cheese. But at the same time, I hope this blog has inspired you to be more inventive than you may have found yourself to be, and to take small risks in order to make your creations flourish.

Munching on more walnuts...

Bean out.

A Billion Fans in the House, but I Don't Care :)

Attention.

The Seattle area is currently going through a ginormous heat wave that will show no mercy to people until the upcoming Monday...

Which is why today I am taking off to...

THE BEACH!! :D

I'm so excited! It's been awhile since I have actually driven to a specific destination by the water, for the sole purpose of waddling my feet under moist sand, or for relaxing in the intense warmth of the sun as I read a favorite book of mine (this time I'm taking a library copy of Emma by Jane Austen, which I've been renewing over and over because I've been too lazy to read it at home). Today will also be my first time in a year that I'll wear a swimming suit...And as many female readers can probably understand, I have mixed feelings about that.

And as I'm typing this blog, I'm distracted almost every five seconds by the billion fans that my mom turned on in the house...Though I honestly think the fans are barely doing any good since the house is already as hot as ever! XD

But anyway, I hope you have just as much excitement as I do for the sunny weather this season, or for the summer in general; if you have plans to look forward to this time of year, such as a long-time planned vacation or just your next opportunity to make a berry sorbet (which is actually what I did with my brother yesterday--healthy and extremely satisfying at the same time!), please share because there's nothing I'd love more than to share excitement and joy with other people!

Soaking up the sun... (at 6pm that is, which is when I'm meeting my friend at the beach)

Bean out.

Wonder

Hello all!

Here's another favorite of mine out of the pieces of artwork I've done over the years.

It's titled ©"Wonder" and I created it out of marker.

If you have any comments or feedback, let me know! :)

To see all my other pieces, visit

www.shirenesart.weebly.com

;)

Bean out.

A Huge Bowl of Healthy and Simply Sweet! :)

I have been wanting to write this blog for weeks, but every time I felt the energy and motivation I was either too busy or too tired to grab my laptop keys and fly away with my words.

But now, I finally have nothing to do but relax, and to share with you another of my million-a-day discoveries. :)

As I was sitting on the balcony just about an hour ago, in the wind and subtle heat of the 70-something degree weather (I'm actually still sitting there right now...Mother Nature seems to not want me to get back inside the house; and neither does Carlos Santana, who I am listening to as I'm typing), I was practically stuffing my face with one of my favorite food creations--I have no name for it yet, but it's basically plain yogurt with sliced banana, flaxseed meal, and oats. And seriously, it tastes better than it sounds! ;D

During the past few months, I've been mixing plain yogurt with oats and with different kinds of fruit. The first mix I made and became obsessed with (and what also became one of my legendary late-night snacks that I've had no guilt eating in front of the TV with my eyes half open) was of yogurt, sliced apple, cinnamon and oats. Before, I used to not add the oats and would just enjoy the pure sweetness of the apple complimented by the cinnamon, and wistfully blanketed by the white mass of..dairy (don't know what else to call it...). But one night, after randomly throwing in about 1/4 cup of the oats into my bowl of perfection, that original mix of perfection suddenly became even more perfect (if that even makes sense...)! From then on, I haven't been able to eat one of my yogurt recipes without adjoining it with the grainy goodness.

Maybe it's because of my enjoyment of eating things that have a lot texture (crunchy, munchy, you name it), instead of things that are all-the-way smooth and creamy...Which makes sense now that I think about it, because I've found myself throwing in almond meal whenever the box of oats wasn't around!

Anyways, I hope you will somehow find the inspiration to make one of these, what I guess I could call, "meals" (I've eaten them for snacks usually, but lately they've become my definition of "lunch," like earlier today). If or when you do make it, I should tell you that they are all incredibly easy to make, as they are very satisfying to the tummy as well as to the senses ;) , particularly if you are someone who has yearned to eat something that is healthy and nourishing for the body, as well as fun to imagine yourself savoring late in the night (I'm starting to feel that I mention late-night eating a lot in this blog...It's probably because of my notion that such an activity is considered mysterious and sneaky, when someone eats what they wouldn't want to be caught with by another person)...And you wouldn't have to worry about that scenario I just mentioned in the parentheses, because what you would be eating isn't something guilty to be caught with! Instead, it's like the perfect gal/guy you'd love to take home to show to your parents!

...Wow I take food too seriously, maybe I should just arrange a wedding ceremony between myself and my yogurt-banana/apple/blueberry/etc-oat-slash-almond-meal-and-some-flaxseed-meal-too treat right after I finish writing!

Well, I guess all that I can leave you with now at the end of this blog, is some ideas I've tried and loved that you can love too!

Bon appetit!

Quickly and ravenously fill a bowl with...

-1 c plain yogurt (I always buy the 1% milkfat yogurt from Trader Joe's; it has a thin consistency but still tastes rich!)

-1/4 c oats or almond meal (Even though I personally get more of a kick out of the almond meal, I throw in the oats many more times just because it has fewer calories...So the choice is yours of whether to care about the calories or the enjoyment :) I guess I should eat the almond meal more now that I think about it...)

-2 tbsp flaxseed meal (A much easier way of getting your serving of omega-3 than to munch on many walnuts..)

...And then add one of these options to the mix...

-sliced banana and coconut shreds (This one is probably my favorite :D , so much so that I've sometimes poured too much of the coconut into my bowl, more than what a human could possibly eat!)

-sliced apple and cinnamon

-blueberries (Though I haven't tried this with the almond/flaxseed meal, I'm sure it would taste delicious anyway!)

-sliced strawberries (I actually hesitated to type this one because whenever I tried it, the strawberries' tanginess clashed with the taste of the oats)

-sliced banana

-nectarine (see explanation for blueberries)

Basically, you can add any fruit or berry in order to turn the yogurt mixture into a large bowl of pure heaven! If you end up not liking the mix, you can always have the yogurt without all the grains and things, and just have the yogurt and fruit together instead--that is just as healthy and as simply sweet! :)

If you have any ideas as to what else can be added (or even what can be taken out of the recipe), don't hesitate to let me know!

Bean out.