WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

Haha, don't worry guys. I haven't killed anyone. I haven't ruined any lives. I haven't caused the inevitable destruction of the planet. No, I have made the decision to join AdSense in an attempt to make some extra cash with my blog. Seeing as I have almost no readers, I probably won't be making much at all, if not nothing. But I have no job and I'm poor so I need to try! Hopefully nobody minds too much. I am sorry for any disturbances.

I don't really know what else to say, so FAREWELL FOR NOOOOOOOW. :)

So Last Weekend...

I went to a grocery store. It is actually quite a rare sight to see a Daellya in a grocery store, despite the fact that one has recently posted a recipe which most likely uses ingredients found in such a location. In all seriousness, I am REALLY not used to doing things on my own. Although technically an adult by law, I still feel like a helpless little kid. Especially in a grocery store I've never heard of, in a part of my new city I've never been to.

Do you even know what they had there? They had dragon fruit! ...WHAT THE HELL IS A DRAGON FRUIT? Really, seriously. I walk into a grocery store expecting to see apples and oranges and pears and kumquats and all the standard grocery-store items. But instead there is a pile of pink spiky things! How do these things exist? How are there pink spiky fruits that I've never even heard of before?! Is this normal? Am I the only one? What is happening to me?! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE WORLD?!

That aside, has anyone actually tried one of these things? I'd be curious to know what it tastes like.

WTF?

Duvet

So today I'm going to be talking about a song I really like, but before I do that, I'll need to explain my tastes in music. I pretty much like all kinds of music. I go through phases of liking certain kinds of music more than others. For example, when I was in France I really got into French music and country music (the latter of the two because my friend would send me her country songs while I was gone). Now, I like classic rock a lot more than before because that's my boyfriend's style. Not saying that I copy other people's tastes, just that being around people with certain tastes influences me to listen to their style more...and I get really into it. Anyways, another "music quirk" I have is that I tend to like individual songs more than particular artists (obviously there are still many exceptions to this, though). If you look at my iPod, I have about as many artists as I do songs! Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. One last notable thing to mention is that I download my songs in waves. I hear lyrics to a song, save it as a draft on my phone, and after like 30 or 40 texts build up I go and download them all. Usually within this mass of songs, I find one that I can't stop listening to, and it becomes my temporary favourite song...for about a week or two. The song that I am going to show you is the first "temporary favourite" song I have ever had.

The song I am referring to is called "Duvet" by a U.K. group called Bôa. For some reason, I almost always prefer songs with male singers over female singers, but this is an exception. The singing in the song is very nicely done, and having a female singer suits it very well. The instrumentals in the song are also very complex and unique-sounding. The first time I heard this song was in the anime, "Serial Experiments Lain". It is used as the title song, and as soon as I heard it I knew I needed to download it. So anyways, take a listen. Maybe you'll like it too (and if you don't, then don't worry...I'll be talking about other songs in the future that are nothing like this one).

Spaghetti Carbonara

Hey guys. I know this is a little different from what may be expected here (although I haven't quite established what I'm all about yet), but I've decided to post one of my favourite simple recipes up here. I'm sure a lot of you already know how to make plain spaghetti with tomato sauce (or butter, depending on your preference), but have you tried to spice it up just a little? Well, here it is:

(F.Y.I.: I do this recipe by memory so exact measurements aren't really required.)

You will need:
- Large pot
- Small bowl
- Plate or bowl (to eat from...you may also use this for the bacon, but if you don't then you'll need another plate)
- Cutlery (you know, to eat with)
- Strainer
- Whisk or fork
- Spatula or tongs
- Spaghetti (make a circle with your index finger and your thumb, where your thumbnail lines up with the knuckle closest to your fingernail...this is about one serving)
- Olive oil or vegetable oil
- Bacon (as much or as little as you want, really)
- 1 or 2 eggs (this can also be enough for two people)
- Cream
- Parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper
- Various spices (I prefer to use basil, but really whatever suits your needs)

1. First you're gonna want to take a large pot, fill it with water, and get it boiling. I also recommend that you pour a little bit of oil into the water to add flavour to the spaghetti. Also, it smells awesome.
2. While you are waiting for the water to boil, take the small bowl and crack the one or two eggs into it. Whisk the eggs and add a bit of cream. Not too much cream is necessary...there should still be more egg than cream in the mixture. Add in your salt, pepper, and various spices. Set this bowl aside for later. Also, put your strainer in the sink.
3. We are now going to deal with the bacon. I'm usually just lazy and microwave it, which isn't that hard. (Note: only microwave the bacon if it is pre-cooked. D: ) So basically, cut the bacon pieces into little squares before you microwave it (as it will be hot after and you don't want to burn your fingers or let it cool down while you waste time cutting it up). So once the bacon is cut up, just leave it on a plate for now. Don't microwave it yet, because it only takes about 30 seconds and again we don't want it to get cold while the spaghetti is cooking.
4. Put the spaghetti in the pot. The pasta should probably take about ten minutes to cook. Every so often, take a spatula or tongs or something and grab a piece. If it falls apart easily when you pinch it, it's probably done. If it still feels hard or doesn't come apart right away, it's gonna need more time. Right before you intend on taking your pasta out, nuke your bacon for about 30 seconds.
5. Once your pasta is ready, take the pot and SLOWLY and CAREFULLY pour the water into the strainer which is in the sink. Be very careful to keep your face out of the steam. Now this part needs to happen FAST. Your sauce contains raw eggs, and you probably noticed that we didn't cook them. We are relying on the heat of the spaghetti to cook them and make them safe to eat. So as soon as your spaghetti is in the strainer, transfer it to a plate or bowl and put the egg mix on it IMMEDIATELY. Mix it and toss it to make sure it all gets heated up. Then add your bacon and continue tossing it. Finally, you can add some parmesan cheese on top if you want.
6. CONGRATULATIONS, you have made spaghetti carbonara. Enjoy!!! :D

YUMMMMMMMMMMMM. :)

So I Guess I'm Back...

Hey guys, or no one, as the case may be. It's been QUITE a while since my first post, and I decided that I wanted to pick up where I left off with my blog. I have some updates and I figured I should make a quick list to fill you in:

- Just before my first post I went to prom with my boyfriend and a group of friends, which I meant to make its own post about, but I never got around to it. So to sum it up, the location was cool, very grungy looking (in a good way) but the DJ was crap and after the initial wave of enthusiasm, NOBODY DANCED. So my friend Evelyne and I proceeded to make an attempt to dance like this:



...while everybody else stood around and talked. Pictures of our weird dance skills follow:

Anyways, it was fun despite the horribly crappy music (which wasn't even horrible Top 40 music, it was just stupid beats and stuff that nobody had even heard of). Also, here's a picture of me with my boyfriend:

- The next update is that SOMEHOW I actually managed to graduate, and I am now attending University. Hooray for me! That's pretty exciting, but it's pretty sad to be away from my friends, family, and the boyfriend. On a lighter note however, I did realise that my friend and I were both going to be attending the same university (I thought I was the only one I knew that would be going here), and we pulled some strings and now we're roommates! Pretty lucky. (Random factoid: she's the one shaking her head in the background of the first dance picture.) I've been warned that having a friend for a roommate can be pretty difficult, but so far I'd say we're doing pretty well. In fact, here is a video of our shenanigans:

(For whatever reason, the right side of this video is cut off so if you want you can see it properly here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrcZLg_ZlI0) I would LOVE it if any of you internet people out there who come across my blog would vote on your favourite clip in our video (my personal favourites are "I'ma Bird." and "Hey. Hey There, Hey."). I plan on making more youtube videos and trying to be an active youtube member in the future so I would love your support.

- I suppose the final thing I have to talk about is I dyed my hair purple and blue. This is kind of a big step for me because I am REALLY not outgoing and I don't usually like to draw attention to myself. Kind of ironic that I'm writing a blog...well at least it's on the internet and not in public. Hehe. So I guess here's a pic of the new hair, which has actually faded quite a bit since I took this picture but meh:

So yeah, the colour is just at the front, with the purple on top and the blue underneath. I like how it turned out, and it was fun to experiment and go a little outside my comfort zone.

All in all, it's been quite an adventure and I plan on updating more frequently with random factoids, news about my life, music recommendations, good T.V. shows and movies...really ANYTHING that strikes my fancy. I'll probably even try to draw random crap that might pass as entertaining. :P

See ya! :D