OakMonster’s Den

Today is the day I clean my den. Not because I want to, because you know I never REALLY want to, but I have to. My appointment with the tax lady is Thursday.

Today is the day I am done with Amoxicillin that has zapped the life out of me for the past week and a half.

Today is the day I get my life back.

While Olaina continues to struggle with her clinical depression, I felt like I shared her pain for the past week. That feeling that you don’t want to leave the bed or do anything at all. The antibiotics may be curing the sinus infection, but at the same time poisoning my life. I mean, I didn’t have energy to move about or do anything. I didn’t even have the energy to purposely be lazy. I trudged in to the office and made the best of each day, looking forward mostly to the naps I get on the commute in and out of town. My stomach was upset most of the time that I don’t want to eat; or if the mood strikes and I actually eat something, I would end up miserable afterward.

I’m off of it today. And I felt AWESOME.

It’s also a lingering effect of having spent yesterday in San Diego with Olaina and Justin. That tax appointment, it was actually for tomorrow. Brandon originally suggested that maybe we shouldn’t go to San Diego so I could get the paperworks done. Instead, I postponed the tax appointment.

Tax paperwork or hanging out with two coolest people on the planet? Gee. Tough choice.

And it was 100% worth it.

Brandon and I headed down earlier than usual so we could catch Jumper. We were hopeful that we wouldn’t have to evacuate the theater again. The Movie God couldn’t possibly be that cruel. But then again, after the movie was over, although entertaining, I kind of wish I didn’t have to pay that much to see it in theater. Excellent idea for the movie and well-executed for the most part, but they didn’t get to flush out the story. And Rachel Bilson is definitely more annoying on big screen. LOL.

But then again, the company was worth every penny.

Before the show, we had a superbly divine lunch at Urban Solace. Justin and Olaina manage to find all of these awesome places to eat. Urban Solace looked like it was going to be a snooty joint, but it wasn’t. The menu was simple home cooked foods with enough flares that it is extraordinary but not overly gourmet. Olaina wrote about our experience there but here’s my official thoughts.

And yep, after the movie, we went to the bar. My first beer in weeks! I was so happy. And I was lapsing my antibiotics a bit so I didn’t have the usual nausea. I thought the Guinness would’ve finished me, but it didn’t. Hooray for everyone!

On our way back in the car, Brandon pointed out an SUV with a white fluffy dog sticking his upper half of the body out the back window. We started to talk about dogs. And I started to bark at the truck pulling up next to us at the stop light.

Then Olaina started barking too.

Then I said, “Two bishes in dah back, yo!”

We all lost it.

We went back to Justin and Olaina’s place for a bit longer. Olaina wrote about that too.

(I know, I know. We’re overlapping left and right over here. We were having too much fun we forgot to call dibs on who gets to blog about what. Haha.)

On our drive back, Brandon and I both agreed that we are going to accomplish our goal for the weekend today. We started off a little late, but we did get to the mall for food (so I could decipher what was in the chicken and wild rice chowder at Paradise Cafe) and shopping. We also did get to the grocery store to stock up. I watched Alton Brown and Jamie Oliver and got inspired all over the place so dinner for the next few days would be blog worthy, I hope.

Brandon is putting new speakers in my car right now. And as soon as I finished up this entry, I am going to at least get my office sorted out so I can start in on tax paperwork.

It’s amazing how a neglected office of 2-ish weeks can turn into a total nightmare. An avalanche of paperwork threatened to flow off my desk, so I just put the damn tray on the floor. Now my chair is rolling over the overflow. Brilliant plan, Oaks.

Oh, and have I mentioned before that my office is essentially the pit of death, where all the clutter in the apartment goes to die? Oh yes. Any clutter left in the living room that I never got to, either Brandon or myself would just haphazardly toss into my office to get sorted out. And the past few weeks of me being out of commission, the office resembles a New Orleans household without the water damage.

But at least I have the energy to attack it.

I’ve never been so happy to do a chore.

ETA: After all that big talk about getting to my paperwork, I only cleared a bit of a path into the mess. I ended up doing laundry, making dinner, and doing dishes instead before I got sucked into CSI marathon on Spikes with episodes I haven’t seen before. But hey, at least I can walk through the room now and I am all caught up with unanswered emails. Slow progress is still progress!

In that order for the evening.

First, food.

Valentine’s Day voluntary potluck tradition at the office continues under my watch. I haven’t heard much discussion of who is bringing what this year, which usually mean that table in our tiny break room is going to be PACKED with stuff. It always happens that way.

All I know is Celeste is bringing a chocolate cream pie. And I just put my champagne brie fondue in the fridge.

I stopped at home to hunt down a fondue recipe before I went grocery shopping. Brandon, recovering from a mini strep throat (poor baby), on day 3 of his vacation week (bastard), went with me to the store.

Shopping hungry was never a good idea in the first place. But shopping hungry after not having really eaten anything much for 2 days was a really, REALLY bad idea.

“Let’s just get a rotisserie chicken” turned out to be a basket full of ingredients for 3 dinners–Von’s fantastic stompin’ steakhouse chilli in sourdough bowl, homemade Chef’s salad, and cheese quesadillas.

I made the quesadillas…which we effectively dunked into a little bowl of chilli. The Chef will have to make her salad another day.

Now, wine.

Only one cup of champagne–well, it’s the cheap spumante, but whatever–is used in the recipe for the aforementioned fondue. The rest of it has to go somewhere, right?

I WISH I could make it all go somewhere. But I can only handle a glass this night.

After the kind of day I had, this little glass is perfect to cap the day off. Crazy, crazy, crazy, I tell you! Well, our big summit is only around the corner. What else are a couple of marketing girls to do!

My boss lady is getting sicker by the second and that stubborn crazy lady won’t take the day off. I swear to god instead of a Valentine, I’m going to get her some chicken soup tomorrow.

You know, nothing says BFF like donning a biohazard mask to deliver fresh chicken noodle soup to her desk. [ETA: She’s out of the count today. Good for her. And for us!]

And finally, friends.

I have made a few new ones recently from all sorts of different places. First up is Lori, the travel specialist and sister-in-law to my friend Emily. Lori arranged our trip, got us a great deal, and it was so painless. I promise to plug her shamelessly here. So, if y’all want to travel in grand style or on a budget, give Lori a call. Okay?

Then at Emily’s wedding, we sat with Brenda who is currently traveling through California. A former teacher and a current traveling writer and consultant, she reminds me a lot of Olaina. She has a blog and a writing center. So check both out.

And finally, a brand new friend made contact over email a few days ago. He shared his thoughts on my Mother’s Day piece I wrote for Thai-Blogs. As it turns out, not only he is a Thai living in the U.S., but he has just started a blog on his life and food, his career and passion. He said that it’s destiny that bring people together. Sure enough, it is.

After all, his Thai nickname is House.

Yes. I am serious.

ETA: Stumbled upon the blog of the photographer who did our Big Gala for the past few years, Vernon.  I figured I’d add him here too.

Because Olaina loves me, last night she called me while in the major chain grocery store just to let me know that 6-pack of Guinness are on sale.

Because somehow I have become a wayward future alcoholic, my thought on the Guinness news was that I didn’t have any space in my fridge so perhaps I should start making room by drinking some beer in there.

Because I actually still love my liver and sanity, I did not follow through with that thought. After all, there is still 1/3 jar of Mai Tai chilling in the fridge. (Anyone wants to come over and help me with that?)

Because my bus buddy picked me up to carpool to town this morning, I did not get my routine morning nap so I was a bit cranky at work.

Because I was more antisocial than usual, I actually scared people off enough that I stayed the course and got 90% of my shit together. Thank god for that!

Because I didn’t want to cook tonight…originally anyway…I baked some chicken breast last night along side my lasagna to make Chicken Salad Contessa (a Waldorf chicken salad, more or less) for dinner today with the intention to take that to work for lunch for a few more days after that.

Because I was shopping hungry, while I was in the grocery store this evening to pick up the jar of mayonnaise to make said salad and other items, I was hit by the incredible urge to make a pot roast and so I bought all the ingredients.

Because for some odd reasons, I thought pot roast is made with pork and not beef, I bought a cut of pork loin roast instead of, say, a rump roast.

Because there is no such thing as a pork pot roast cooked in a crock pot to be found anywhere, I had a hard time finding the recipe of the pot roast I have envisioned–the tender slow cooked meat with veggies and gravy–not to mention one that Brandon can just plunk everything into the crock pot tomorrow morning unsupervised.

Because Brandon works 4-10 schedule and Tuesday is also a holiday for him, he takes 3 days of vacation time and get a week off. Hence, he is put in charge of the crock pot dinner tomorrow.

Because I couldn’t find said easy pork loin roast recipe until I settled for this recipe meant for a beef roast, I was in the kitchen browning the roast, chopping up veggies, and deglazing the pan at 9:15 p.m.

Because I didn’t want to do any more dishes after my pre-cook dinner productions, I drank the last of my leftover wine straight from the bottle. (Well, there was barely about a glass left in that bottle after I used a cup of it to deglaze the pot roast.)

And finally, because my husband loves me, he’s going to come in to curl up with me until I fall asleep so that this crazy Monday can be over.

Then I can start anew tomorrow, hoping for an easier day.

P.S. Because it’s unfair for a 21-year-old to have a cancer scare, please send your good mojo to Bua, my twin sister from another life. She will be in surgery around 4 p.m. ICT (Bangkok Time)–that’s 2 hours from now.

This is the first night this week that I have stayed up past 9:30 p.m. by the way.   Been going to be that early and yet still couldn’t drag myself out of bed in the morning.

But then again, I have found myself waking up in the middle of the night:

a) going to the bathroom…as a backlash of my attempt to drink more water
b) grinding my teeth
c) imaging that someone else was in the bedroom, possibly as a result of…
d) dreaming way the fuck too much

And no, working out and trying to get healthy (i.e. drinking more water, eating less junk and more fruit) doesn’t seem to actually do anything.  Maybe I’m detoxing.  Or something.

But I am looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday morning and to receiving the rest of my shopping spree in the mail.

I FINALLY bought my Christmas presents, Carole King and Elton John songbooks, and then I splurged on Once soundtrack CD and this t-shirt.  And finally, because I found an outstanding online deal, I finally made my dream purchase.

…plus the ice cream maker attachment

*Squeal*

Okay. It was unnecessarily showy for an easy touch down. But can you blame him…or us? [Picture by Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times.]

USC beats Illinois to a pulp 49-17 and won our 94th Rose Bowl Championship.

All because of this little man.

USC hasn’t lost a game since Joshua started to “watch” the game with his mom J.C. Heh.

Fight on, y’all!

ETA: Well…now that the Trojan talk is out of the way…

We had a great New Year celebration at my place last night. The original plan was for Nora came up and spent the night, which she did. The unexpected was that James and Aurora called just as I was going to start cooking to accept our invitation to dinner which I extended many days ago. LOL. But that’s okay. The more, the merrier!

I managed to serve dinner somewhat on time and we all were very well fed. Lots of booze between me and Nora (shots of Limoncello, a bottle of white wine, a few beers and a flute a piece of blood orange mimosa), and a cordial serving of champagne for Aurora. Oh, and there were these too…

The girls watched Ratatouille before and right after dinner and then Stardust (which is fast becoming our most favorite film) after that. The boys sort of watched the movies as well when they weren’t too busy looking at funny stuff on the internet. We paused Stardust just before the final showdown to countdown and welcomed 2008.

Oh, and the hot water situation has been entirely solved. For a few days after the return of hot water, we didn’t have any cold water. Haha. That seems to be taken care of now.

So far, it’s been a good 2008.

Hello from the empty void that is Downtown Los Angeles the day after Christmas!

We had a fantastic Christmas dinner last night. I made my first prime rib ever! Using Tyler Florence’s Ultimate Holiday Table as a starting point, I made the horseradish garlic crusted prime rib with wild mushroom sauce, candied carrots and creamed pearl onions. Instead of the potato cake, we had regular mashed potatoes, putting some traditional dish into the otherwise quite “fancy” dinner.

We fed Shane and his dad, Big Erik and K9 Steve. Poor Steve was on patrol last night, so I packed him a to-go box. But he did have a few minutes to eat, so he actually sat down for a meal at our place.

Good times.

The “Naught” part of Christmas? Hot water.

That’s right, kids. Our hot water went out again. This time, in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. We ran into our landlady, “What am I going to do?! It’s 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve!”

So Brandon and I spent most of Christmas morning boiling water for our bath. This morning, we were up around 5 to do the same.

To add insults to injury, Brandon dropped a drinking glass at Christmas dinner. He swept the kitchen but didn’t quite got everything. And guess who ended up with a shard in her foot at party’s end?

I saw a piece of glass and tried to tweeze it out. It was this itsy bitsy puncture but bled like a geyser. Figured I had half a bottle of wine up to this point. I thought I got most of it and the rest of it should probably work itself out over night. Oh, was I wrong about that.

I took my first gingerly step out of bed this morning. It felt fine so I put my weight on the foot.

I felt the sharp pain all the way in my ears. And I started bleeding again. There was still something inside my foot. At this rate, I was going to go to urgent care and have my foot taken care of. But then, I caught a glimmer of the glass.

Ah. Fuck it. I can do this.

I hunkered down and put the tweezer to it. I got a hold of something and I started the slow, agonizing pull.

A 5-millimeter long, as thick as an acupuncture needle shard of glass came out.

Ouch is right.

Other than that, I think we had a pretty good Christmas.

ETA: Still no hot water when I got home  I went over to James and Aurora after dinner to use their shower.  A girl has to wash her hair!  Besides, I didn’t want to risk getting a cold.  I have been sneezing my head off all day today.

For a long ass day and even a longer bus ride–damn the Spice Girls causing all the jam in Downtown LA during rush hour–all I need are some Bs.

Brandon.

Beer.

Bacon (Applewood Smoked) and Brown Butter tortellinis.

Much more going on in my head.  But I’m not going to get into that today.  Like I said, Long. Ass. Day.

The obvious joy of the Trojans spanking the fucla bruins and that we are heading to the Rose Bowl was only the beginning.

What did I do immediately after the game? Well, aside from posting the last item. I hopped in the car and headed out to Nhien’s at G-dale for girls night in, celebrating our friendship and my birthday. For once, I got to show up and do nothing. Haha! Amy brought the booze. Nhien provided noshables. Eva made pasta. The main event, the Italian rolled meatloaf by Celeste.

Did I mention that Amy brought the booze?

We started watching Knocked Up but when we paused for dessert, we got into a conversation and we never went back.

And of course, whatever happens at girls night stays at girls night. Except for that very tame picture Amy took of us.

Sunday morning was lazy as well as the afternoon. Brandon and I visited our friends Paul and Lupe for a spell. (Well, actually we were borrowing their carpet steam cleaner.) And we got to play with “the kids”, Molly and Cassie. Now that Molly has grown up a bit, she mellowed out and isn’t so obnoxious any more. Cassie, on the other hand, seems to be getting a bit slow. But then again, what’s a small dog to do against a playful Rodweiler, eh?

Monday came the big news. As I made myself download my bank statements and go over the finance, I suddenly realize that we will be able to actually start saving for the house by this time next year. I mean, like, HOORAY!!!!!!

The vicious cycle we look forward to, being out of debt long enough just to get back into the biggest one of our lives…and owning a house.

Life is pretty good right now, I must say.

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Originally uploaded by theoakmonster.

Alas! My breakfast.

Homemade cinnamon roll French toasts topped/filled with whipped cream, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and banana slices, drizzled with Kahlua and sprinkled with almond slices.

I soooo heart Gaffey Street Diner.

I miss being a night owl.

With my work schedule and daily life, I can’t really stay up till midnight and head to work.  I mean, given that I get to sleep on my way in to work, but I’d still be tired there.  Sometimes, my body seems to function well with a little sleep as long as I nap hard during my commute or sleep really well at night.  But those nights are few and far between.

I love working on the computer later at night versus earlier in the evening.  For one thing, I seem to write better when the house is dark and Brandon is in bed.  I mean, Brandon is usually playing his game, so he doesn’t bother me or anything but it’s a shift in the space when he goes to bed.  I guess he feels the same about me when I go to bed.

See why we are so compatible? 

As much of a social animal as I am, deep down I too am a hermit.  But I can only hermit for a few days before I get the cabin fever.  I mean, I’ve been home for two days I’m already get the jitters.  Brandon on the other hand can go without people for a good long time.  But I digress.

Last night I wasn’t up so late.  I did so much during the day–taking boxes of books to the post office to mail out to the troops for Operation Paperback, carrying groceries and doing loads of laundry–that by dinner time, my back seized up.  I have this issue with my back muscles tensing up when I’m stressed out, but yesterday was more because of heavy lifting, I’m sure.

I mean, my back doesn’t hurt per se, but it was so tensed I could barely breathe or move.  Major discomfort.  Brandon handed me an anti-inflammatory to take after dinner.  My back soon relaxed.  Maybe it’s the pill.  Maybe it’s the certain parts of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.  But sure enough, after the movie is done, I fell fast asleep.

But tonight, even filled with turkey and wine and bliss from USC’s victory over ASU, I just didn’t feel tired.

So, I stayed up to research ideas for Christmas gifts.  I started in on a few little things already and eying a bunch more.  I think we will make family photo book for Brandon’s side of the family.  It’ll be something I’d gladly work on during the break.  I also ordered my special set of greeting cards from Moo.com which will go out to my family.

While working at it, about an hour ago, a fight broke out somewhere down in my alley way.  It started with a loud tire screech.  I heard some mumbled conversations.  And then this lady started screaming bloody murder.  I couldn’t really make out what she was saying and from my window, I couldn’t see the action.  Then there were more voices, guy’s angry voices, and bottle shattering.  I assumed that was some bottles from that “thoonk” noise, you know what I mean…right?   Some more screaming, yelling and more crashing of things.  I was getting worse.  I went to the phone and was getting ready to dial the local police when I heard sirens…but I think that was the siren from the local firehouse and not the cops.  Nonetheless, the commotion faded away very quickly.

And if I was in bed, I probably miss all of that.

We have had a window fan going in our bedroom since the summer.  It’s not only provide the cool breeze we need, but also cut down on the voices from our neighbors, both the casual yappers on the balcony and the “F-Bombers” downstairs in their garages.  Now it is a white noise we can’t live without.

The thermostat was set to a certain degree, and when it got cooler a few nights ago, the fan turned itself off.  Both of us woke up almost instantly to the lack of noise.  I wonder how we’re going to do this when it gets a lot cooler this winter.  Well, *IF* it ever gets cooler.

The apartment is still warm from the oven.  And it still smells mildly like the turkey gravy out there.

I got a 5-lb. turkey breast from the store and I brined it with my friend Candice’s recipe. It’s so frickin’ delicious!  And we had mashed potatoes, Stove-Top stuffing and gravy.  That’s it.  And that’s all.  Green beans casserole?  That’s my favorite, but I’ll be the only one eating that so it’s not really worth the effort.  We still have a LOT of homemade bacon mac & cheese I made the other night to get through.  I don’t need any more leftover in my fridge right now.

Well, I guess I rambled on long enough.  It’s been a while since I have a late night rant.  So, there you guys go.