what bakes in thy kitchen?

there's nothing quite as pleasing as feasting on fresh-baked bibingka. not just any bibingka, but my favorite - my mom's recipe. the pillsbury doughboy finally showed up after a long hiatus from the kitchen, spreading his giggles of joy and baking enthusiasm to this otherwise non-cooking household. the result: small crunchy flecks of coconut flakes oozing sweetness on top of a soft and delicious sticky rice flour cake.

the other school

don't hate...but i finally broke in my specialized baby on the grounds of cal's arch rival, stanfurd.

[cue in the boos and hisses]

yeah, i know. but i was stranded in palo alto, waiting for chris while he was at work and i wanted to exercise, so i had to do something. plus i finally had my helmet (thanks, jo!). it even matches the bicycle's color scheme, pale gray & red. it was fun. nice wide flat paths. since it was the weekend, there were a few students walking and riding around, but it was not abuzz with activity. perfect to meander around the cement trails. the campus is adequate, with pleasant looking architecture and nice athletic fields if you play rugby or run track, but it feels like any other private college campus in a pleasant neighborhood. it lacks the spirit of independence and vibrancy of cal - the grittiness, the complex blend of decay and progression, and intellect and disillusion. or maybe i'm just biased. [go bears!] it was quite chilly, though. my hands were freezing.

on a side note, i bought chris a berkeley hoodie, and now he wears it everywhere!

now that's olympic...

from sfgate.com:

"after his dominating win in the 500-meter event, long-track speedskater joey cheek of greensboro, n.m., announced he was donating his $25,000 in winnings from the u.s. olympic committee to a charity that benefits children orphaned by war in the darfur region of sudan.

with an exquisite sense of the moment, cheek also called upon his personal sponsors (nike, oakley, adt, qwest) and major olympic sponsors to match his donation. nike quickly announced it would donate $30,000 to the charity, right to play, pioneered in 1994 by norwegian speedskater johann olav koss.

At least one chronicle reader was struck by cheek's humanity and generosity and said in an e-mail he wanted to donate $1,000 to right to play.

cheek was back in action saturday night in the 1,000-meter event at oval lingotto, where he won the silver medal while teammate shani davis took the gold."

a valentine for thought

after marilyn monroe's death, former husband joe dimaggio (1914-1999) continued to send flowers to her grave every day for the rest of his life.
the first time i heard about this i thought that small action revealed so much without even saying a single word.
she passed away in 1962...that's about flowers 365 days a year, for 37 years. even though they divorced and she remarried (not sure if he remarried) and they went on with their lives, they remained close friends and she held a place in his heart. forever.

lies i told my dog

what a horrible person...i've lied to myself, lied to others, and misled my dog. deception is my middle name. when i first adopted chewy, the rescue organization classified him as a pomeranian mix. and he most certainly had the trademark pomeranian characteristics. so given the intelligence available to me at the time (and what little i knew of his history), i believed he was majority part-pomeranian and told others accordingly, even though his coat is different and his stature and weight is almost three times the breed standard. recently discovered evidence strongly suggests his roots lie elsewhere. unlike a certain leader of the free world who can not admit he is wrong (hey, i couldn't help it:P), i cannot ignore this information and "stay the course". so although chewy is not mostly pomeranian as i originally believed, i must confess that he's probably a german mittel spitz, a breed not recognized by the akc but recognized by the ukc (i think). although the pomeranian evolved from the same group of nordic herding dogs, the toy spitz and pomeranian are separate breeds. check this:

german spitzes

also try this link. still another, spitz world. what do you think?



despite the identity confusion, poor chewy took it all in stride. as long as people still want to come up and pet him and compliment him on what a happy and handsome boy he is, he's content.

pomeranian or not, mommy still loves him.
(although sometime in the future he will get a wolf sable pomeranian as a sibling, hehhe)

training day

last sunday eric, johanna, and i went running around alameda. we ran an 11-12 mile loop around central and east alameda and bay farm island (harbor bay pkwy). i have never ventured to that neck of the woods before, but i plan to return. great running and biking path. a highlight was seeing the raiders training facility, riveting views of the sf city skyline & bay bridge, and seeing all the nicer houses. i was looking for liv's work, since i'm sure we were close by, but did not see it. this sunday is the half-marathon.