Bleurgh.

My throat hurts.

Work was fine.

I ate Little Chihuahua for dinner.

Om nom nom.

Love,
Henna

I Have Marshmallow Stuck In My Teeth

I slept through my alarm... which sucked. I wanted to wake up at 8:30 so I could enjoy the day... but noooooo, I woke up at 11:30. Dammit.

So with half the day gone, I attempted to plan dinner.

When in doubt, make fried rice because it's very easy. It really should be called "Whatever You Feel Like" rice.

Henna's Surprised Fried Rice

Serves 4 big people

6 cups cooked rice
Half of an eggplant
peas
mushrooms
red bell pepper
soy sauce
1/2 lb of ground beef
green onions
2 eggs

COOK IT. OM NOM NOM.

I burned my finger doing this... so typing reallllly reallllly hurts right now.

We went for a walk to The Ice Cream Bar in Cole Valley. I had their bourbon peanut butter ice cream with cherries and marshmallow fluff.

I think my favorite part was the fluff. They toasted it.

Well, my finger is crying, so I'm calling it a night.

Love,
Henna

Happy Birthday, Daddio!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I hope it was fantastic and I'm sorry I missed it. Buuut, I made bibimbop for dinner in your honor.

Today work = same old, same old :)

Heidi and Nate were both going to be back late (around nine) so I decided to make dinner. TO MY PINTEREST BOARD!

I decided to make Spice Roasted Carrots and Cheap Korean Beef. So off to Falletti I went. They have nice cashiers. Yes, yes they do.

But anyway... instead of regaling you with tales of my cooking... I prepared, chopped and mixed all of the ingredients beforehand so I could pop everything into the oven when everyone got home.

Prepping the carrots and browning the meat

Mmm... cook that meat

MONSTER FACE

Frying the eggs and admiring the cooked carrots

Almost finished with Poor Man's Bibimbop

Finished Poor Man's Bibimbop

So, as you can see, I made bibimbop. Well, I wasn't planning on it. But I cooked the rice and the meat and such... Heidi took one look and said, "Excellent! Bibimbop for dinner!" Since the recipe I used was called cheap korean beef, I figured the "Poor Man" prefix worked quite well in this situation. Anyway. Threw a fried egg on top, used some Sriracha and we were set to go.

I promise I'll make you some when I get home, Dad.

Love,
Henna

City Drivers Suck

Just kidding! Well, not really. I mean, probably 3/4 or 2/3 of city drivers suck. Or all of us have a little bit of really crappy city driver in us. I don't know. I've only been on the road for... oh... 3 hours total. But I guess I should give the backstory so you know that I know about really crappy drivers, okay? Okay.

Today was casual. I had the day off and I was deciding that I shouldn't just sit on my ass convincing my friend Justin to get a pinterest. (BUT HE DID. HA. HA.) I decided that I would bake. And not the fake baking you do in video games so you can up your health, but real baking on a stove.

I decided to use my new favorite brownie recipe: Bailey's Irish Brownies (mmmm). The only problem was using an unfamiliar kitchen with no Bailey's around. It's difficult to cook with alcohol when you can't buy any when you've run out.

ANYWAY. In case you're curious, here's the recipe (and I'll cue you in on my changes)

Bailey's Irish Brownies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
Heaping 1/3 cup bittersweet or dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup Baileys Irish Cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8-inch pan with aluminum foil and cover with non-stick spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt until combined. Set aside.
3. Place chocolate and butter in a large microwave-proof bowl and melt in 30 second spurts, stirring in between each interval until completely melted. Set aside to cool a bit. (Alternatively, melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler until melted. Set aside to cool.)
4. Once the chocolate mixture is warm (not hot!), add eggs one at a time, whisking constantly to incorporate. Whisk vigorously for about 10 seconds to incorporate fully. Add sugar, vanilla, and Bailey’s and whisk until combined. Add the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture, folding until just combined.
5. Pour batter into the prepared pan, using a spatula to smooth out the top. Bake at for about 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Let cool, and dust with powdered sugar if desired.

It's Irish-y, so I put the font in green, clever, yea? Or not... 

Anyway. I didn't have any Baileys to use for this, so I substituted some kind of coffee liquor, I guess? It ended up tasting fine. I also used kosher salt without doubling it, so I didn't add enough of that... Whatever. 

They looked and tasted lovely:

Doesn't that unattached corner make this shot so artsy?

Then Heidi came home and declared it was time for my first driving lesson. And I did learn something right off the bat. People absolutely suck (mostly). We drove to a mostly closed down shopping center so I could drive around the empty parking lot and practice. I do about three laps, then the security guard flags us down.

"Excuse me, but the property owner is here. I need you to leave because he could fire me." 

Grrr. So we drove to the Presidio. The Presidio used to be a military base until 1989 and became a national park in 1994. (Thanks Wikipedia!) It's absolutely gorgeous there, like an entirely new city.

I got in a car and drove around the area. It was quite nice. Speed limit no more than 25 mph and lots of curves. But it was fine until some... person... started to tailgate me. We get to a 15 mph zone because of weird curbs that you have to weave through and the car had the AUDACITY to honk at me. Not once, but THREE TIMES. I kept on concentrating on the road and Heidi's early advice, "Don't even pay them any attention. They're just big meanies." Well, she didn't say "meanies", but you get my drift. So after the third honk, Heidi turns around to... make faces at the car behind and told me to pull off into a cute little cul de sac. 

And then came the time in every driver's life where they must learn to parallel park. So I tried, tried, and tried again. We were a little nervous that the people living on this little street would come out and tell us to shoo, but by golly, we were going to park correctly. I finally did (after the fifth try or so) and we saw a man come out from the house we were parking in front of.

Man: Great job! You've totally got the basics down. I remember my first time trying to parallel park, oh man. It sucked. have a thirteen-year-old daughter so I'm going to be in this situation in a few years. But don't worry, you're doing awesome so far. You're welcome to come back and practice driving here whenever you want!

Heidi and I decided I should try to park one more time before calling it quits. And then the man's wife came out to watch as well. My mind was all "CRAP, AUDIENCES ARE TERRIBLE". But I was able to repeat my performance and the couple applauded and invited us back for driving practice.

So, I guess I'm saying that the only nice drivers I met today were technically pedestrians who understood our lesson plight because of their thirteen-year-old child. What a weird world.

We had an amazing mushroom risotto for dinner, with the aroma of apricot-pluot jam floating around the kitchen. After dinner, I decided to introduce Heidi and Nate to Sherlock (BBC). They enjoyed it. Yessir, they enjoyed it.

It's off to bed after that accomplishment!

Love,

Henna

The DMV Sucks

I think there's a theme developing here... but anyway.

I spent 3 hours in the DMV today. Y'know, I used to think all that "DMV sucks" talk was just an exaggeration. Holy snickers. It's totally not. I scheduled an appointment for 10:30 and got there half an hour early in case, y'know, everyone was right about the DMV.

THEY WERE. Mostly. It took me the longest waiting in line for my picture and then I suddenly realized that in 49 states, you need to take a written test to get a permit.


What the actual hell. This is why I like NH. Live free or die (read in thick, american redneck accent, please). So I took the test. And failed.


OH BOY DID I FAIL THAT TEST. I mean, I got ten wrong out of 36. Let's do some math here, kiddos.

26/36 = 72.22% OH COME ON. THAT'S A C. OR SOMETHING. I DUNNO, I DON'T GO TO SCHOOL ANYMORE.

But seriously, only ten wrong (6 wrong or better to pass) isn't bad for someone who never read the manual, amiright?

So I skimmed the manual and then took it again. ONE WRONG. THAT's RIGHT. EAT IT UP EVERYONE.

And that's the story of how--at 18 years of age--I finally got my learner's permit.


Heidi and Nate tested a chicken fingers recipe for dinner. Mmm, was it good....

And we watched Thor. WHICH WAS SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT. For serious. Ugh. I was so sad. But at least I like Loki, right?

Well, tomorrow is another day off. I might bake some Bailey's brownies. MMMMMMM.


Love,
Henna

MUNI Sucks.

MUNI is the name of the San Francisco bus system. And it sucks.

Why does it suck? Because I left the house this morning with five minutes to catch the bus. Of course, I'm a block away and see it drive away, but that doesn't bother me. Why not? Because another bus will be along shortly.

WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG. I was there for another half hour. I was getting a bit anxious. You see, it takes about... ooooh... 40 minutes for me to get into work. A bus came at 9:35. I started work at 10.

SEE THE PROBLEM?

The 71 Haight Noriega LTD finally decided to arrive. And I got to my stop at 9:49. Not enough time for the last 15 minutes of the trip.

Crrraaaaap.
But the 10 Townsend was chugging on by. I hopped on and clocked in at 10:02. Not bad, eh? ...damn, rereading this makes me realize this isn't a very interesting story.


After work, we went to a gourmet pizza food truck. When I say truck, I really mean it. This thing is inside a MONSTROSITY. It's called Del Popolo and it was totally awesome. We ate five pizzas between the four of us. We had a margherita pizza and another two yummy kinds, but since the menu changes whenever they feel like it, I don't know what I had exactly.

Anyway. Then we came home and I wrestled with a terrible internet connection...

Love,
Henna

Sunday Funday

Today was the end of your weekend. My weekend will hopefully start... well... Thursday? I love weekday weekends because all the fun places are EMPTY. SCORE.

So today. Sunday Funday. Totally routine, got up early and headed in at a reasonable hour. Then I got off work, got home and propped up my feet.

AND HAD A DINNER THAT WAS BOMB. My Auntie cooked it and Heidi's friend Scout came to visit. We prepared skewers with marinated beef and thai sausage, ate asian chicken salad and some fabulous bread. The capper was the Prosecco dessert with peaches, blueberries, lemon zest, and raspberries. Totally delicious.

Many topics were covered, some were normal, most were not.


Anyway. My 3 AM bedtime of last night is making this entry mercifully brief. But hey, at least I posted.

Love,
Henna

(HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DADDY!!)

DRUMMM

I got back at 3 this morning. Bleurggh.


Here, let me explain/start from the beginning.

Work went lovely yesterday. Since I am now able to serve alcohol (BRAVA 18) I don't need someone hovering around me while I work register. It was marvelous.
Oh, and I can now mix mimosas, you're welcome world. An older gentleman resisting temptation to say an old cooooot. told me I looked like Michelle Williams. I had no idea who she was. I DO NOW. DON'T WORRY. I JUST DON'T SEE THE RESEMBLANCE.

Anyhow. After work, I went to a gig with Nate in Berkeley. At the Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center. WOOO. The headliner was a band called Antioquia. But my favorite band of the evening was Major Powers & The LO-FI Symphony.

And it lasted until 2. We were not expecting that. BUT I WENT TO BERKELEY FOR THE FIRST TIME!

HOORAH!

Love,
Henna

Antioquia performing