sometimes, the past comes back to haunt you

omigosh, on a whim, i was just looking at the old archived posts of this blog. can you believe that i've been writing in this blog since 2003?? i couldn't either...

i think i'm going to set up archiving for this blog. they're kind of fun to read through.. on a quickie glance-through, i had written a post obsessing about how david turned 27 and how old that made me feel. guess how old i am now? yup, that's right, i'm 27.

*sigh*

da dum dum dum da da

so i haven't written in here in a while. what've i been up to? well.. i've been making my way through my final semester of nursing school. even though it hasn't been terribly busy compared to the course load of other semesters, i still find ways to procrastinate and waste time, and end up being super-busy as i cram a ton of work into the course of a few days. some things never change...

my preceptorship has been an eye-opening experience. i still have so much that i need to learn, there are so many more skills that i need to acquire, and i definitely need to work faster. at this point, as a novice, i feel very far-removed from experienced nurses. sometimes i get caught up in making sure i make the grade and obsess about doing well in my tests. but as nik (appropriately) reminded me, it's not about getting the grade or passing boards, it's about doing right by your patients and having the information you need to know when your patients need it.

i definitely need to study/work harder. so for the next couple of weeks, i'll be working on knowing what i need to know to be a safe and effective nurse.. and hopefully i'll be able to pass the boards in the process.

another thing that i've been working on is my running. after the disneyland half, i set up a pretty ambitious goal of running 25 miles per week before the end of the year. so i've been tacking on the miles each week, and have been keeping a religious running schedule. up until last week, i had actually worked myself up to 21 miles a week. but.. unfortunately, between the rainy weather and getting the flu, i haven't been out to running much this week. now that i'm in the recovery stages of the flu, i plan to get back to running soon (maybe tomorrow). still have a week or so left!

also, if you haven't figured it out yet, i have a significant other. nik and i have been going out since february, so there've been a lot of trips up to the bay area on his part and lots of trips down to l.a. on my part. aside from the long-distance, things have been going wonderfully. the long-distance aspect of the relationship can be tough, but lots of phone calls, letters, and postcards, along with frequent visits do help.

so.. on to the primary reason for this post: I'M GRADUATING TOMORROW! it's been a tough year and half, but i made it out in one piece--mostly through support from nik, my family, friends, and classmates... i feel very lucky to have been surrounded such a good group of people throughout this time.

the title of this post? it goes to the tune of 'pomp and circumstance'.

mm.. yogurt-ey goodness

while i was visiting my grandma this summer, i discovered that canada is THE place for yogurt-ey goodness. pinkberry and the like are okay, but they don't hold anything over yogen fruz. which, i'm excited to announce is making its debut in the u.s.!

unlike pinkberry, which simply puts mix-ins on the side of the yogurt, yogen fruz actually mixes fresh frozen fruit into the yogurt.. which equals super-duper yummy yogurt. plus it's canadian and most canadian things are good (i.e., celine dion, etc.).

mm.. yogurt...

inspired!

running a race is always so inspiring. you have the hoards of runners, blaring music, the crowds cheering.. and the energy. there's just so much energy during a race that you don't have during a normal i'm-jogging-by-myself-for-kicks run. despite the fact that nik put together an awesome training schedule for me, i ended up slacking on my training about a month or so before the race. not ideal.

anyway, i still had a good time. even though the race started at 6 am, it was super-duper hot as the sun started rising. still, it was great to run through the parks, it was fun with the characters cheering you on and people running off the course to take pictures. the run through anaheim was torturous. we ran up and down streets as the sun rose, and it felt like it would never end. when we finally got to angel stadium, there was an awesome group of boy scouts and girl scouts who cheered for us on either side, and running into the stadium and around the field was a pretty neat experience.

good times. next time, more training. and there definitely will be a next time.. now i'm inspired. (see the castle in the background? awesome!)

THE LAST SEMESTER!

just when i thought it'd never end, i'm heading off into my last semester of nursing school. things are quiet so far, and i'm catching on some reading--i spent the last few days reading life of pi.. no school reading yet, thank you very much. anyway, i find myself trying to read more often these days, probably from nik's influence, and it's a good thing. i miss reading books.

i also got back from a road trip up to portland and seattle about a week ago. my brief vacations and short and precious, so i try to make the most of them.

a flock of birds flying along the oregon coast

crater lake

kwik-e update

ALMOST done with my next to the last semester. i still have a few random things that i need to work on here and there, but i'm pretty much there (thank goodness!). just one more semester to finish my degree, the nclex to take, and i'll be a nurse! i'll write more later, but i just wanted to update with a picture, because i recently went down to the l.a. kwik-e mart with nik and a few friends...

dood, i've never had to wait in line to get in a convenience store before, but i guess it was worth it, because i got to take a picture with apu! (and eat a terrifyingly sweet pink, sprinkilicious donut)

continued...

writing more, as promised. i'm always getting myself distracted with nonschool stuff when i'm supposed to be working on school stuff. but that's not really anything new...

anyhoo.. let's see, recent life-going-ons... finished yet another semester of the nursing program. although i finish at the end of this year, it still feels like aeons away since i still have to get through this summer and the fall. spring semester was crazy. with the completion of each project or exam, it felt like there was another project or exam to work on.. and the semester just went on and on like that, from deadline to deadline. and what about all that baking and knitting that i had done over the winter break? nope.. no time for that. i think i'll have to hone my baking and knitting skills after i pass the n-clex.

but it was funny, last semester as i was just walking down the halls at regional, and i was thinking to myself, "i can't believe how much i've learned in the past few semesters." really, it's true. i can't hardly believe it, but i'm really almost there (even though it feels like a long ways away).

i've been up to other things other than school too, but i'll write more about that later...

oh! and i'm running the disney 1/2 marathon in september with anny, kent, and joanna. getting my body into running shape again sucks. i was running all through fall of last year, but it just went down the drains after winter and spring. working my way up to 13.1 miles sure isn't fun.

penguin.. eddy penguin, signing off.

dreams

lately, i've been having weird dreams with people from my past. it's just weird.. i haven't seen some people in ages, yet they keep coming up in my dreams. isn't that odd?

okay.. now i guess i shouldn't be writing just now. i actually have an assignment due today, which isn't done yet and (in typical amy fashion) i'm working on it right now.

i'll write more later.

apple banana muffcakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 apples - peeled, cored and shredded

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour 24 muffin cups, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and buttermilk. Beat in the flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Fold in the mashed bananas and shredded apples. Fill each muffin cup half full.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool.

(adapted from allrecipes.com)

ha, so i should be studying for a med-surg midterm tomorrow, but was having a muffin craving, so what better time to bake? i've made this recipe many times before and it's not bad. as always, i substitute vegetable oil for shortening and substitute yogurt for buttermilk. somehow, i think that they end up being healthier this way... i also reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup white and 1/2 brown. unintentionally, i also used 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 cup wheat flour (since we ran out of all purpose). so all in all, these muffcakes ended up being pretty healthy considering the ingredients. i call them muffcakes because the recipe calls them cupcakes, but i honestly think that they're more muffin-like than cupcake-like, but maybe that's just me.


anyway, hope that everyone that i haven't kept up with is doing well. drop me a line if i haven't heard from you in a while!

happy (chinese) new year

so today is chinese new year's eve. no resolutions yet. but i'm sitting here in front of my computer, wearing my running clothes, so hopefully i'll go for a run. it's been a busy past couple of weeks. a lot of things have been going on, and i certainly haven't had time for baking in a while (although my mom still wants more zuchini bread). =P i've been doing a lot school-wise, those three clinical days a week have been interesting. personal life-wise.. it's good, and there's been some stuff going on lately.

i'll write more later. but if i keep procrastinating, i'm not going to run. so i'd better go.

chocolate chip cookies 2

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

(from allrecipes.com)

so is it that obvious that i love allrecipes.com? i was kinda hesitant to try a new chocolate chip cookie recipe. after all, the other one was an obvious winner, so why redo an already good thing? but during my small group this week, one of the members brought these awesome, soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies, and i thought that maybe it's time for a change. you know, the recipe says chewy, but they aren't really. i'm not sure if it's the way i'm shaping them or what it is, but they're just not coming out soft and chewy. my cookies are always fat and round. still, the recipe's a good one, uses less butter than the other recipe, and (according to my older brother) they're softer than the other cookies (although i think that may have to do with the fact that he ate these cookies right after they came out of the oven).

so the older brother deemed them better than the other cookie since they 1) have less butter and 2) are softer. i'm not sure about that, but anyway...

(as an aside, i made these terrible oatmeal cookies about a week ago. my mom wanted me to try this recipe on the back of the oatmeal container. we didn't have shortening, so i tried to substitute using butter and vegetable oil.. *sigh* another case of a substitution gone very, very wrong. the cookies looked okay.. in fact, i'd say they looked good. but they were rock solid. i guess that's what happens when you get rid of fat. i'm not sharing this one though...)

cranberry oatmeal cookies

• 1 1/2 cups sweetened dried cranberries
• 1 cup orange juice
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped white chocolate

1. In a small bowl, soak dried cranberries in orange juice to soften, about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg. Combine the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Drain cranberries and stir into the dough along with white chocolate making sure not to over-mix and make tough cookies. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

(from allrecipes.com)

for christmas, matthew gave me a bag of white chocolate chips and dried cranberries (it's obvious he wants something =P). so i felt obligated to bake something using these ingredients. so i searched on allrecipes.com for a recipe using these two ingredients, and this recipe came up. i normally don't use a recipe which hasn't been reviewed too much and which doesn't have a picture, but there weren't many options for recipes using white chocolate chips and cranberries, so i decided to give it a go. i must say, the dough was DRY before i added the cranberries to the mix and it was kind of scary looking. but the cranberries (which had been soaking in oj) added plenty of moisture when i added them. it actually made the dough really WET, which looked scary too.

anyway, after baking the cookies up, the thing about these cookies is that they look FUNNY. they look kind of pale, doughy, and raw on the top even though the dough is cooked through, and the shape that they take on is irregular. i tried different ways of shaping the dough, but i can't seem to make these cookies pretty. thankfully, i gotta say that they taste great. it's a good recipe, and the very sweet white chocolate perfectly offsets the tart cranberry. oh well, it's all the same in your stomach, no matter what it looks like...