Greenhouse Project

Ever since Long and I moved to San Francisco, our plants have been suffering from the climate change. Granted we have tropical plants and such, Oakland did provide for a lot of warm heat and sunshine. San Francisco (at least the part where we live) is mostly foggy, misty, and cold.

During the move I’ve already lost one beautiful orchid plant. It really saddened me because it was turning a new leaf that was crushed in the process.

I decided to try and do something about the situation and make my own greenhouse.

I hope this works out for the better…

If you’re curious how I made my mini greenhouse keep reading.

First, I put together a bakers rack. I got this for a decent price at Home Depot.

Then I took a very large piece of tarp. I had to do some measuring before I began cutting out the pieces.

and some more measuring to make sure everything fit

Once that was done, I started cutting the tarp.

I then placed the tarp on top of the baker’s rack. If you look through the door, you can see Miss Dottie staring at me.

She really wants to come out and play!

When I had my two pieces aligned perfectly on top of the bakers rack, I began to cut a slit down the middle on one side. This will allow for ventilation.

At first I used clips thinking it would secure the tarp in place, but it just seemed wrong…

When all else fails, use staples!

Ta-da! the Finished Product!

I’m starting to put plants in there slowly to see how things go.

Came & Went

I’m going to make this post a quick one. Enjoy!

Loomis and I off to heal the world.

Waiting for our guide to show up.

A little posing in front of the center.

Soft Serve!

Never try shopping for boots while eating soft serve.

Brown boots = <3

Soup, crackers, whole grain sourdough bread, soup = BIG TIME <3

Coconut bread. see the yellow coconut swirls? YUM!

The family at Golden Gate Park

Should have been the 49ers…

[image source]

Good night!

It’s longer than the length of my forearm!

 

–That’s what she said.

Okay, I’ve been watching a little too much of the office!

ahem, back to business….

I attempted to categorize the photos based on the day and meal times, but I realize that I have no clue which photos belong to which day. In addition to that I don’t normally photograph EVERYTHING I eat.

Note to self: keep better track of your meals.

Since I don’t blog everyday and after every meal, I won’t remember what I ate the day before or the the day before that, so I’m going to have to write it down in my planner or something. Even though these photos are not exactly in order of consumption, I’m sure you’ll enjoy them.

I’ve also been having a sweet craving lately. Luckily we didn’t have any candy (particularly Red Vines) in the house. I would have devoured the whole package in one sitting. We do, however, have an abundance of cuties, so I’ve been nibbling on them instead.

Here’s a sight that hasn’t been on for a while—AB & J! I ate this while trying to organize my workout schedule. I’m trying to find solutions to make my life easier when I start school and find work again.

One night Long and I were extremely tired (I hadn’t come up with a weekly dinner menu yet) that we went searching for take-out. After much thought we headed to a burrito truck that served arms-length burritos. No, seriously it’s longer than the length of my forearm! (Is it just me or are my hands gigantor?)

We split the burrito in half and had chips along with diet cokes to complete the meal. Two people 1 huge burrito, 2 diet cokes, 2 bags of chips = $10.00. Not bad ay?

We also had a little “adult” fun with Guitar Hero.

Long setting up the instruments.

Smile honey!

While we were having fun with Guitar Hero, Miss Dottie was having a little fun of her own—in a box!

What is it with cats and boxes anyway?

I opted for a cup of tea with milk one morning because I ran out of coffee beans. Just got 2 pounds today, so I’m good to go for another 2 weeks or so.

I’m always on the lookout for a Navratan Korma comparable to Sabina’s, an Indian Restaurant that went out of business a few years back. I was browsing through old magazines and found one in Vegetarian Times. Although I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, it was very good. That’s big coming from my picky palate.

A little deep frying action going on with my Christmas Gift.

Sweet potatoes and russet potatoes

Closed the night with cookies and warmed milk

In my next post I’ll give a recap of my 10k training and my new favorite way to cross train that’s fun and exciting!

I’m a Rebel.

Check out this monstrous beauty! Can’t wait to use it to take even better photos and shoot full HD videos! Eeeek!!!

   

I must contain my excitement though…..

as right now I have to focus my studies before I focus my lenses.

 

until next time…..

Edited to Add the following:

The camera is a Canon EOS Rebel T1i Digital SLR Camera with Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS lens.

Details:

15.1-megapixel Canon CMOS sensor,

DIGIC 4 image processor,

a 3.0-inch clear view LCD with anti-reflective and scratch-resistant coating,

Full HD video capture at resolutions up to 1920 x 1080

An HDMI port allows for quick connections to high definition TVs and monitors for easy viewing of your stills and video.

Recently in the life of a Vegetarian……

Steel cut oats topped with a slightly green banana, agave nectar and a little dollop of nutella.

Andyachi Surli (Egg and Mushroom Roll)

 

Seitan Kebabs

 

Loc Lac (Cambodian “beef” lettuce wraps). I tried something a little different by incorporating my own homemade seitan instead of buying the pre-packaged soy-based version. I also added alfalfa sprouts for some added health benefits.

Quick sloppy joe

 

mango with chili-salt dip

 

Sandwiches!

   

Pizza! Pizza!

When there’s no time to make pizza dough, there’s always naan “dough”

blueberry health smoothie ! while browsing through the week’s grocery sales.  

THE.BEST.EVER vegetarian bitter melon soup! Definitely a childhood favorite coming back to life!

 

          

dirty dog

 

really dirty dog

broken window..

broken taillight…

Miss Dottie’s not too happy about all this…

They’re back: Budgeting & Weekly Dinner Menu!

One of my beautiful orchids bloomed for me!! Over the weekend the other bud bloomed fully. I was very pleased to see such a magnificent sight when I came back Sunday night!

Since I have not blogged lately, I have also not posted about our food budgeting and weekly dinner menus. In the past two months we have stuck to our budget give and take a few weeks. Last week was one of those weeks where we did not make budget. To counteract that we’re carrying over the expense of last weeks deficit to this weeks budget of $80.00. Here’s what we’ve spent on so far:

When	What	Amount
Sat 7/3 & Sun 7/4	‘bucks, Jamba Juice, Di Lac (vegetarian food):	$23.50
Monday 7/5	Whole Foods (-2.15 in coupons):	$17.50
	$$$ Left for week:	$39.00

$39.00….that seems a bit daunting…..Hopefully this weekly dinner menu will keep us on track with the budget…

Now, here’s this week’s dinner menu:

When	What	Amount
Monday	Pizza	?
Tuesday	Green Beans (free) & Tomatoes ($0.79/lb = $1.23) with rice	$1.23
Wednesday	Stir fry w/ waterspinach Vegetables and rice
Thursday	Vermicelli noodles with vegetables and Bi chay
Friday	Tofurky dogs with mashed potatoes and spicy corn
Saturday	Chipotle (with coupon)

It is going to be a challenging week to get all of that from Tuesday to Saturday to be $39.00 and under, but I as said earlier, I am hopeful. I did something that I normally do not do and that is to include a column for the amount spent on those items needed for that day’s dinner. I’ll fill those in as the week progresses. For Monday’s it is unknown because that was basically from last weeks budget.

Now some people might ask “what about breakfast and lunch?” Well, that is actually already covered either from the pantry items and or last weeks shopping trips and also from the fact that we get vegetables whenever we visit family. All bought last week were: about 7 boxes of different cereals (all bought with coupons), bread, frozen vegetables. What was bought this week so far: milks (bought today at Whole Foods with coupons), energy bars (for when there is not time to eat), yogurt (on sale), a few fruits (some from family).

In the end all of the food consumed all manage to fit into the budget somehow and manage to come out of the $80.00 for the week from previous and current weeks.

Here’s Monday’s Lunch, snacks & dinner:

Sandwich: Multi grain wheat bread, bi chay, seitan, spinach, mayo, mustard, lettuce.

Bi chay is a filling that is put into Vietnamese sandwiches, spring rolls, salads and can also be eaten with noodles and rice. Recipes differ, but they mainly consist of tofu, Jicama, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, noodles, taro all deep or pan fried. Absolutely delicious!

granola cereal on top of blueberry soy yogurt from WholeSoy

Homemade pizza: There were two types of pizza’s, one made with just white flour and the other was a cornmeal dough. The toppings were the same for each. I also added Nutritional yeast and sriracha hot sauce.

Here is the first one (made with white flour) looked like cooking in the toaster oven

Here is the cornmeal dough pizza waiting to be put into the toaster oven while we eat the first one…     Sweet and sour mangoes are the best closer for the night!

Here are some random photos from last week and the weekend:

My chaotic desk was finally organized before the weekend started.

Good night!

My version Mi Quang Chay, Doggy pictures & Bikes, Bikes Bikes!

I seriously need to stop on this banana n chocolate on bread obsession ….…

It’s just oh SoOo good!

Mi Quang Chay.

I came up with my own meatless version of the traditional Vietnamese Mi Quang.

The trademark color of this noodle soup is credited to Tumeric. I like mine a little spicy, so I added a certain type of chili spice powder.

And the beautiful star anise among other ingredients…

toppings + Sriracha & Hoisin sauce

.

…….

…………

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Random:

other than banana and chocolate, BAnana & AB makes me happy too.

Cute little apricots

coffee & tea

<3 <3 Long N Leng <3 <3

~~~Love Sunny Days~~~

@Biryani House in Berkeley, CA

***Chai***

***Channa Masala***

*** Aloo Palak***

***Vegetable Korma***

This was the definite star of the show today. Rich, creamy and full of spice. As I mentioned many times before, I am saddened by the fact that my favorite Indian restaurant, Sabina closed down. Ever since then I have yet to find a good vegetable korma. Biryani house has by far come the closest. In fact, the only reason why I come here is because of their Vegetable Korma. I just wish they would add some cashews though…

Long akA“Bob The Builder”:

When Long found an old bike frame from the public market about 2 months ago, he had an idea to build himself a bike (from scratch). That’s when he decided to sell his SUPER nice 2010 Specialized Allez bike throwback version. I told him he was crazy and not to sell it. It was a great bike! and I knew he loved it. I still do not know why he sold it….

I would include a picture of it, but he deleted pictures of it after posting on Craigslist (I just found this out right at this moment ). But here it is from the web. It looked exactly like this, all shiny and pristine!

[image source:]

After selling the bike, he had been trying to….actually I’m going to have him write his own words on this. It’s hard for me to describe and convey the pride that he must be feeling….

So first off…I really did like my Specialized Allez, especially since it was the throwback version. You had the beauty of the vintage look, but with all new components and parts. However, since I bike to work every day, and since my ride to work is all completely flat ground, I realized I never used the gears. Such a waste as the gears shift like a hot knife slicing through butter.

Anywho, so one day, I was roaming around the public market, I came across this Bianchi Celeste frame. All the vendor had was the frame, nothing else. No seat, no crank, no pedals, no wheels, even no handle bars. I was able to haggle the price down to $30 – a steal as these Bianchi frames run for much more. Well after I got the frame, that was about two months ago, I had been planning on building it up for my summer project.

Summer came two weeks ago, and I’ve basically spent most of my free time tinkering with it. I’ve never built an entire bike from scratch so this was a learning process. Finding the right parts for a cheap price was a little struggle, but surprisingly, the most difficult part of the entire process were the brakes. About a week ago I had actually finished putting the entire bike together, except for the brakes. I could and did take the bike around the neighborhood, but with no brakes I couldn’t stop. I spent about two days trying to put the brakes on myself, realizing I didn’t really have the right tools, so I called a quits and took it into a bike shop. So in theory, I didn’t build the whole bike myself – Mike’s Bikes in Berkeley put the brakes on for me!

After taking it on it’s first official ride with brakes yesterday (see pics below), I felt pretty happy about the entire process, however, now that it is all done I would have to say I will probably never build another bike from scratch again. Although, I wouldn’t mind building a bike for someone else. I think I’mma keep this bike for a real long time as it’s super light, super fast, and just my style.

He loves his bike! lol

My bike Adventure

It’s my turn to write about my little bike adventure. Below is a picture of me with my fourth bike. I first started off with a mountain bike, which was extremely heavy. I would not recommend for anyone to buy a mountain bike if you’re going to ride it solely in the city. I learned this the hard way. So, after much disappointment and struggle with the weight of the bike, I then switched to an older Trek Hybrid.

I immediately fell in love it’s lighter weight, but the bike was still not the right for me—it was too big. Then I got an old crickity hybrid Fuji that I was reluctant to give up. Although it made noise when I moved me bum and sounded like it was going to break any moment, I thought It was amazing! It rode perfectly. That is until Long did some tweaking on it and made it even lighter. Without my knowledge he switched it from a regular 7 rear gear with a total of 21 speeds to a 1 rear gear capable of going only 1 speed. He didn’t tell me, so when I took it to school one day, I was pleasantly surprised at how much faster I was going. It felt light as a feather. When I got back home, I asked him if he did anything to my bike, he replied, “whoa you noticed?” His surprise was due to the fact that I noticed the slight change in it’s weight. I guess I really knew the bike. Just thinking back on it, I’m missing it…. I hope that whoever has it now is taking good care of it….

Now, you might ask if I loved the bike so much, why did I sell it? Well, as the saying, “moving on to bigger and better things” goes, that’s exactly what I did. Well, except for the bigger part. haha. I did not realize the full potential of a woman’s bike until I took this beauty (KHS Flight 220) for a ride. All the other three bikes were men’s bikes. This KHS was made for a woman. Me, being a woman, found it extremely comfortable. Makes sense, it was made for my body. lol The frame was the lightest I have ever felt. The seat—OMG—the seat was PERFECTION! All of the other bikes had seats that were a little uncomfortable, but this one was very nice.

I part with some more random pictures of me with the pups!

Lulla! Always so happy. I absolutely <3 her.

Goofy Goofy Loomis always happy too! I didn’t realize how small (yet mostly 60 lbs of muscle) he was for a Labrador mix. So cute!

Sewing projects and more Orchids!

I’ve finally managed to have a day to just stay home and start my sewing projects. So, I set up a make shift ironing board, out on our dining room table, caused a mess and came up with three shirts. The first shirt was too small. Possibly will give it away, but have to find someone small enough to fit it. I have one person in mind, but am not sure if that’s her style. I really like the material too…

I was at least able to come out good with two shirts. 2 out of 3 isn’t bad. I didn’t get any good pictures of the front, but it’s just a basic V-cut. This shirt is perfect to wear on a super hot day or at the beach on top of a bikini top. You can tell that I’m loving it on this hot day.

My third shirt would have to be my favorite. The material is super nice. It’a stretchy and allows for great aeration. I’m not sure what type of the fabric it is. I initially bought it for another project, but fell in love with the feel of it too much. I at least know that it’s not full cotton. Probably mixed with polyester or something. This pic is the unfinished product. I have not yet finished the hem and the sleeves. I’m not sure if I want to leave it without sleeves or to add sleeves to make it look like a Tee….Hmmmm.

I love how it hugs my body and does not feel like it’s too tight. My body is weird. If I don’t wear form fitting clothes, then I’ll look 5-10 pounds heavier.

Anyway, here is the almost finished product.

  

More beautiful orchids about $3.00 each. What a steal!

For the humidity “tray” I used a candle holder, filled a bit with lukewarm water and rocks (stolen from my turtle tank). Worked out perfectly!

First post of the Summer!

Hmmm…where do I start? Do I begin where I just left off or do I begin with something entirely different? Decisions, decisions…. I guess I’ll just wing it and start off with books!

Last Friday, Long and I took off to my fave crepe shop, Crepes a go-go. Parking was very difficult to find, but it was well worth it when I saw that my fave crepe maker was there! I saw him through the window. Well before I get into the food, I first I wanted to show what I found in the Health section of Half Priced Books. It’s JAY! This was not what I was looking for, so I did not buy it (sorry Jay!).

Here’s what I bought: YOU On A Diet by Dr. Oz. He has a cool show out called, “The Dr. Oz Show.” After seeing the first episode by accident, I’ve been hooked. It’s comparable to the show, “The Doctors,” however I find “The Dr. Oz Show” much more straight to the point. He speaks in a language that I’m more used to. On “The Doctors” they tend to speak to the viewers as if they knew nothing scientific or biological AND they tend to focus on superficial things, such as cosmetic surgery. I have nothing wrong with cosmetic surgery, it’s just something that I don’t think is as important as other health concerns. Another reason why I like “The Dr. Oz Show” other than the type of language used is the fact that most of his Rx advice deals with nutrition. Finally a doctor or a medical professional who does not resort to the use of drugs to cure a condition. One particular episode dealing with a cowboy who was addicted to meat intrigued me. Never before have I heard of a doctor, let alone on national television, prescribe a Vegan diet to someone who had an eating disorder. Watch the first episode here Rocco, Vegan Cowboy

I also bought this book, The Trans Fat Solution: Cooking and Shopping to Eliminate the Deadliest Fat from Your Diet. I wish I had this book when I was doing my research paper on Trans Fat last semester. It’s very helpful. Before we headed off to Half Priced Books, we ate at Crepes a go-go. I ordered the usual, Nutella and Banana Crepe. SOOO GOOOD!

Saturday, June 19th

Vegetarian salad bowl from Chipotle. Did anyone ever notice the huge difference in caloric information for their entree were on their information sheet? For instance, they would give an item somewhere between 180-680 calories. Although I did not like the way they displayed their caloric information, I LOVED this salad bowl. So Delish!

Random eats! (miss this!)

breakfast one morning was a bagel topped with A.B. and banana slices. In the background you’ll notice the “Weekly Food Diary.” This is what I use to plan our meals for the week. Yep still planning meals and still sticking to the Budge!

Had Yao Hawn one night with brown rice

Had collard greens with white rice, red lentils, roasted sweet potatoes and a salad another night.

Fruit and a “bagel pizza” for lunch on one day. The bagel pizza had: nutritional yeast, tomatoes, tomato sauce, zucchini, Gimme Lean Sausage, and goat cheese.

Just a little view of how my finals week looked like on a daily basis. Papers, books and salads galore!

Bibimbap! I finally made my own version. Will provide recipe later!

Fiber muffins!

Banh Cheo another night! This is my other fave crepe. Here it is without the herbs and toppings.

It’s been a while….

Dear blog:

It’s amazing how fast time passes. I did not realize that almost a full 2 months has gone by since I placed a post. On some occasions I do come by and check to see what’s up with AFCAV and to read some of my fave blogs. On those occasions I tell myself, “I should write a blog post,” but never end up writing one. I always felt that I had nothing interesting to write about. Then I realize that no one really has anything to write about on a blog. It is others (readers/viewers) who decide if a topic is interesting or not. Funny. Of course, that’s not the main reason that I have been absent from posting. I won’t go into details, (need to keep some things confidential) however, I do want to mention that finding/trying to figure myself out after the surgery is/was very difficult. And that trying to resort to living life the way the “old” me did proved to be one of the things that made my unhappy with myself and certain aspects of my life.

I’ve essentially gone through what I refer to as being unbalanced. Being unbalanced in the sense of not just with food, but with my emotions, views, goals, wants, and needs. Just recently, probably about a month ago, I realized that certain things in life I have been doing have not been for myself. Not to say that I do not indulge in myself (everyone one has—no matter how unselfish he/she claims to be). I am referring to the things that every person should do for herself, such as be healthy. I always said to myself that I did things for my health, but in truth, it was more of me trying to convince myself that I took care of my health for ME.

I was doing certain things to please the people around me more than to please myself. Quite frankly, I am tired of being the one who gets the low end of the stick and gets to be the belly of the joke. I mean I am not that huge of a dork that I should be at the bottom. I feel that I am generally a person who is easy to get along with. I don’t judge (or try not to). I try to tell myself maybe someone has a reason for behaving a certain way. Meaning that I give people the benefit of the doubt without jumping to conclusions, yet the favor is normally not returned to me.

In the end I realize that should have some more self respect by doing things for myself and not to please others. I should respect myself enough to not just be someone’s punching bag (sometimes literally). I should also have enough respect for myself to tell my thoughts without worrying of the consequences.

*******************

Well, so much about writing a post concerning the topic of food. Maybe next time. Some of you may be confused as to why I wrote this, that’s ok. Just wait for the next post. This was just a venting session that I just had to put forth. I feel much better now.