New semester, same pathetic diet

Yes, after a winter break filled with deliciously genuine Chinese food and homecooked meals, I have no shame relapsing back into my lazy eating habits...

(This post also doubles as an online rebuttal to all of Chuck's food posts.)

Here are some of my favorites:

Three Cheese Tortellini from Costco
You can get a double pack for seven bucks, stick it in the freezer, and it'll last forever. Well, more like three weeks when you eat it for every other meal. Buy a jar of your favorite $3 pasta sauce, and you are totally set. Takes 7 minutes to cook, and even less time to devour.

Cereal
Perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or anything in between.

Frozen Pizza
Bake at 400 degrees in the oven for 15 minutes and satisfy those pizza cravings without having to leave the convenience of your apartment or dealing with weird pizza delivery people.

Toast and Peanut Butter
The peanut butter will fill you up, and the toast will give you that toasty goodness that is oh-so-satisfying.

Saltines and Peanut Butter
A variation of the above, but with the added benefit of getting rid of those saltines that you took home after the staff meeting.

Lasagna
A family size Stouffer's lasagna costs about ten bucks. Let it bake for three hours, cut into 8-10 servings, and store them in individual tupperware containers in the freezer. Then microwave each serving for five minutes to defrost. The perfect food stash for finals.

Grilled Cheese Sandwich
One of my all-time favorites. If you have a toaster oven, you can make one by putting a slice of cheese on a slice of bread, then toasting the entire assembly together. Make two slices and combine to make a sandwich. If you don't have a toaster oven (perhaps because your parents stole yours back after theirs caught on fire), then you can make one in a frying pan. Take two slices of bread and butter one side each. Place your slice of cheese in between so that it's contacting the non-buttered sides. Then pan-fry it over low heat until the bread is browned and the cheese is melty. A 5 minute recipe to yumminess!

Here is a fancy version of my frying pan grilled cheese sandwich, made with Jewish rye and pepper jack:



w00t

I'm back and kicking (literally)

I think the 10 days of walking, followed by the 10-hour flight home during most of which I sat in the same position, followed by the time zone change which I was not fully prepared for, have done something crazy to my leg muscles. Now I can't sit still for more than a few minutes without moving something or it will move itself. I also get involuntary full-body twitches when I'm trying to fall asleep.

Shanghai was, need I say, an amazing experience. The fact that it was overcast/rainy the entire time was the only thing keeping it from being gorgeous.





That, and the fact that it was dusty as fuck. After the rain, all the dust went on the ground and it became muddy as fuck. I think it must be from all the construction. They're doing a lot of renovation in order to get ready for the 2010 World Expo. This blue guy is Haibao, the mascot:



The night scenery, though, was more than spectacular. Because there was so much moisture in the air, my attempts to use the "nighttime" scene mode on my camera always resulted in little round blobs of light as the flash reflected off of the water droplets. So whenever I could find somewhere to rest my camera stably, I set my ISO to 80 or 100 and reduced the exposure to -1. (I don't really know why this works, it's just something that has worked for me in the past.)



Then of course there was the food! The previous time I went to China, we were on a tour, and for some reason they only took us to places that served food that wasn't much better than Panda Express. This time, thanks to the guidance of my aunt (who had been living in Shanghai for the past four years, although no longer) and the ubiquitous nature of street food vendors, I think I gained at least a couple pounds from stuffing my face.









That last picture was taken at the deli in a supermarket. Pretty awesome, even though I didn't actually eat any of the stuff there.

Anyhoo, now I'm back and I need to get back to FEA-ing and designing stuffs. I don't really feel like doing any work though. This trip has really gotten me into non-engineering mode. In fact, for the past few days I've been thinking about writing a short story. About what, I'm not sure yet.

I think I'll start working tomorrow.