Pumpkin Pie

New thing today, made pumpkin pie. I've never made it before. I used the Cooking Light Pumpkin Pie Recipe as husband & I are both being healthier.

It was surprisingly easy & tasty. The hardest part might have been finding and shopping for ingredients, especially the pre made Pillsbury dough and pumpkin spice. Alas you just roll out dough onto pie pan (that was new too had to get one), mix filler ingredients, pour out & bake. I've never cooked with just egg whites either and had to get that, which I did easy as well, like a pro straight out of the eggshells, no devices.

It came out tasting sweet and moist. It's not as pumpkin-y as I thought it would be. Also I'd probably like a harder crust vs just the edges being hard. Overall a success!

I may be a fan of pies making now :) I've never really been a cake person, so maybe I'm a pie person? New things! :)

Also I never had pumpkin spice in the cabinet before. I love this stuff. Smells amazing and wow! My favorite new discovery in making pumpkin pie!

Autumn Medley Fresh & Easy

New thing today, tried the autumn medley ready made mix from Fresh & Easy. Turned out very tasty. It had parsnips which I don't know really what they are but must have been good. Also had squash, butternut squash, onions & parsnips. Ready cut & seasoned, just bake for 30-40mins. Mmmmm! Yeay Fresh & Easy!

Rice & Seed Corn Tortilla Chips - Fresh & Easy

New thing today, tried the Rice & Seed Corn Tortilla chips from Fresh & Easy. We like the multigrain seed chips so thought we would try these out. Amazing delish!!! I am a huge fan. They taste better than the gourmet name brand stuff, and I just really like these. Yum, seedy & healthy :)

Aloha! Almond Bar Weight Watchers

New thing today, tried the Aloha Almond Bar, part of the Weight Watchers products. It was very small and I didn't think it would have any hunger diverting power, but it did. About 20 minutes after eating it I'm totally surprisingly satisfied. It was fairly tasty too. Sweet tropical fruit flavor, small hint of coconut and nutty tasting. I like the texture, firm yet soft chewy. Overall very yum and I wasn't expecting it to fill me up at all, but it did. 3 points. Flavor great and I would get this again. Go Weight Watchers!

Howloween Pooch Parade and Pet Expo - Simi Valley - 2013

New thing today, first time went to the Howloween Pooch Parade  Pet Expo - Simi Valley - 2013.

It had maybe 20-25 booths of dog related booths and services. There was a Haute Dog vendor there. They had a dog costume parade, frisbee throwing/catching competition, and demonstrations from the Sheriff's K9 squad, obedience school and therapy dog trainers.

Overall just a fun silly excuse to dress up dogs in costumes and watch people and dogs get in the Halloween spirit. Family fun :) Go next year! We will :)

Enjoy some photos.

This lady was dressed as a watering can, and her dogs were Chia Pets!

Hot Dogs!

Fire/Police Dogs

Skeleton

Hard labor cart drawing Beagle with his Pirate master!

GhostBusters!

Park Your Skateboard

New thing today, saw these on a college campus - skateboard parking and locking stations. Neat and nifty. They weren't around when I was in college. Oh how old I feel :)

New Moon - Twilight

New thing today, watched New Moon, movie #2 of the Twilight franchise. Wow this was awful :) I enjoyed the books. I found them entertaining and reminiscent of my high school teenage crush days. They are fluffy junk I enjoy. The movies on the other hand are pretty awful, but almost entertaining in the awfulness.

There are a lot of shirtless men (I mean boy) scenes which is a fun and nice change in movies. I don't really like Kristen Stewart but I think she improved and did better in this movie than the first. I don't get the lusting for Robert Pattison? Overall it's just sort of dull and soap opera bad/dramatic acting, but undramatic too. I don't know, but I find more feeling and soul in performances in older movies. It feels under-acted in movies these days where it feels almost like people are just reciting lines.

My favorite performances and cameos might be Bella's friend Jessica who is the lead girl in Pitch Perfect (Anna Kendrick). The other actress I liked is the one that plays Alice (Ashley Greene). All the others just feel blah and forced.

I like the introduction of other vampire characters and the vampire world. I also like the introduction of the tribal wolves world. The settings were interesting to me - foggy Forks and village in Italy. The scenery was more interesting than the story!

Anyway this was pretty terrible but better than the first movie. I will watch the entire franchise because I am hopelessly fascinated by it all. Who knows, I may end up liking it. For now, eh.

Battle Scallop

New thing today, comparing scallops.

Contender #1 - Deep Fried Scallops from Thousand Oaks Fish & Chips. They were surprisingly good. I thought it might turn our rubbery or tough, but it was soft, firm and scallopy. The scallop is the white ball with the bite taken out of it at the top of the photo. The bottom yellow ball with the bite is the hush puppy which I've had before. Never had deep fried scallops, and these were really good. I might almost like them more than the Fish there. The scallop was cooked well and juicy. Careful when you bite as sometimes it squirts or you get hot drip down your chin. Overall though, tasty! I would get that again.

Contender #2 - Home Cooked Scallops, flash frozen package from Costco (I love Costco). The home cook in me didn't do so great at cooking these. I used very little oil to be healthier, and the scallops stuck to the bottom of the pan. So I used more oil, and cooked them a short 5 minutes to avoid over cooking. These turned out super yum, soft and buttery almost. I think I may have undercooked them though, as they were too soft and raw, but they sure were tasty! Next time I will use more oil in the pan and cook them for... 8 minutes or so? Plus they're super low on Weight Watchers points, 2 pts every 3 ozs!

The Winner? I would have to say #2, home cooked scallops. There is so much more potential with these. They were super tasty undercooked. They were cheaper than the deep fried ones, quick to cook and defrost and healthier too. 

Although kudos to Thousand Oaks Fish & Chips. This place is EXCELLENT and I will be going back and getting the deep fried scallops, on the craving days :) 

That was fun! I'll have to do more comparison battle blog posts :) 

What Does the Fox Say?

New thing today, my sister introduced me to the music video What Does the Fox Say?. Apparently it's a thing? It's really sad funny and gets stuck in your head. Enjoy this silly video and song.

Sexy & Calba Rolls - Omega Sushi

New thing today, tried new sushi rolls. Due to tracking what I eat and being healthy, I was planning ahead when we decided to have sushi one night. I researched ahead and tried to find the healthier un-fried sushi. I found two and they turned out pretty good. 

I tried the Sexy Roll below. It's tuna, whitefish and salmon wrapped in cucumber and topped with onion and roe. It was alright. Filling and fairly tasty but it was pretty good for a healthy roll. Very juicy. 

I also tried a Calba roll. It had crab and avocado on the inside, rice and tuna on the outside with a ponze sauce and onion. It was very tasty.

I love sushi and I love that it's fairly healthy too. 

Poo-Pourri Commercial

New thing today, saw this gem of a commercial for Poo-Pourri, and yes it's a real product? It came on randomly when we were watching a video, and we didn't skip this ad (first time), we actually sat through and watched it. Hilarious and intriguing. I might try it. LOL :) enjoy!

Monster Hunter Legion by Larry Correia

New thing today, finished Monster Hunter Legion by Larry Correia. It's the 4th in the Monster Hunter series. I LOVE this series. It's about monster hunters and sounds cheesy but I actually really love how its written and am a fan of the author and another series called the Grimnoir Chronicles he writes. Ok maybe I like a little cheese.

Anyway the book was excellent! Since we had a trip to Vegas planned, I wanted a few books to read for relaxing by the poolside. This book was luckily SET in Vegas, and monsters and hell break loose and people are battling. There are some great bad guys and supernatural creatures. It's a simple plot but just a fun story of monster hunting. SPOILER! I love dragons, and lets just say, there's a dragon in this story, and I love how the dragon is in this story. Very cool!

I highly highly highly highly recommend this book series to anyone who might be interested. He writes well I think. The first book in the series, Monster Hunter International, has these as the first line.

"On one otherwise normal Tuesday evening I had the chance to live the American dream. I was able to throw my incompetent jackass of a boss from a fourteenth-story window."

Larry Correia is one of my favorite authors and I wait on edge for his new books to come out. On average I devour his books within a few days of starting them.

Synopsis of the Monster Hunter series.

Monster Hunter International - I really loved this book. It introduces the world, the main characters and the monsters and rules of the world. Love it. Just love it.

Monster Hunter Vendetta - Also good. As a sequel its quite good. There are some sections that feel like a ton of action, maybe too much for me, but I couldn't put this down. There's a giant showdown and ancient evil and all that stuff and more layers to the world and characters. Enjoyable.

Monster Hunter Alpha - not my favorite book and a bit of a disappointment. It still had a lot of kickass monster hunting scenes and an interesting divergent shift in point of view and perspective, but I wanted more of a connection to books 1 & 2. This one was more of a side tangent adventure, which adds color to the world, but I prefer the story lines and characters in books 1 & 2. 

Monster Hunter Legion - good! Continues back more from books 1 & 2, told from Owen's point of view. I also love how it does a good job of building the world, teasing and continuing the storyline from the first 2 books. It peppers in some story from the Alpha book, but overall continues from Owen's point of view.

Tanya: Princess of the Elves - this looks like a side story set during Monster Hunters International that is available online. I only learned about this recently but will probably have to read it sometime. I recommend you read it AFTER the elves have been introduced in the books, as I think it might make more sense.

I hope Larry Correia continues to write, build and expand these world, stories and characters. I love your books. Thank you Larry Correia!

Also just found out he has some KickStarter campaign for Monster Hunter International Challenge Coins. Woooo! Might have to support that! Also if you're interested he has a CafePress Apparel & Merchandise store of stuff from this universe.

Daiso Japan in Northridge

New thing today, went to the grand opening of Daiso Japan. Never heard of it before or been to one before, but apparently it's a discount asian store with everything $1.50 unless priced differently. I LOVED IT! They had the cutest stuff, and Asian themed authentic as well. Little portions, cute little things, and it's just got a ton of neat stuff. I got some headphones, a credit card holder and a sunglass case for $1.50 each. It's just plain cute! Plus they have a lot of really creative different useful things you don't really see anywhere else. They had these great Japanese Taiko drummers out front, and a raffle for some cool prizes. It's one of my new favorite stores and I will be going whenever I can. 

Grand Opening Promotion

A&W Seafood - Dim Sum in Northridge

New thing today, ate at A&W Seafood in Northridge for Dim Sum! Ever since our favorite place Empress Pavilion in Chinatown closed, we were on the hunt for a new Dim Sum place. We drove by this place once and decided to look inside. It looked delicious, authentic and packed on the weekend. So we decided to try to go early on Saturday around 9:30 or 10:00 am to brunch and beat the crowd. 

It was really really good. Their shumai and har gow are excellent! In addition they had a scallop and shrimp dumpling that were tasty but my favorite was the shumai. I also love rice noodle rolls and theirs are delicious. Their spare ribs were really good too! Of course we had to have the Seasame Seed Balls for dessert. Another new thing I tried that was delicious was the sweetened tofu pudding with syrup and ginger, which was a lighter version of a Filipino dish called Taho which I love. Also had some walnut shrimp which was oily and just OK for my taste. There was also a turnip cake that was undercooked and mushy and not so tasty. I would have also preferred more vegetable type dishes, but overall though a really tasty meal at a very reasonable price, $50 for 4 of us. 

If you've never been, I recommend having Dim Sum with lots of friends so you can try lots of different small dishes, and don't be shy! Ask questions and ask what is wandering around on the carts. They will gladly explain what the dishes are if they speak descent English. 

Since I was on my Weight Watchers, I picked out steamed or not fried items. Also as long as you watch the portions and quantities, Dim Sum actually can be fairly healthy and filling. 

The only thing I would change is probably go later in the day. Dim Sum items are available based on when the kitchen has them prepared, so sometimes the better stuff is later in the day, along with the crowds. I would definitely want to try other dishes and see what they have to order, and on the Dim Sum carts. I will go back, try new dishes and blog about them here. 

Great photos of A&W Seafood in Northridge HERE from Yelp. Also mine from below. I always forget to take photos before we eat. Oh well, it was really good :) 

Top - Shumai. Bottom Har Gow.

Top - Rice Roll with Shrimp. Bottom Scallop & Shrimp Dumpling.

Tofu Pudding with syrup and ginger.

Spare Ribs.

Stuffed Bell Pepper from Fresh & Easy

New thing, tried a ready made stuffed bell pepper from Fresh & Easy. Husband actually picked it out. I had no interest in it, but when I tried it, it was really super yummy. Apparently it's only 100 calories. Stuffed with black beans, corn, cheese, cilantro and possibly other stuff we can't remember. Bake for 10 minutes and yum. Will definitely get or try this again. Sadly husband was disappointed and unimpressed. This is a good item for my healthier eating!

SNL - Bruce Willis & Katy Perry aired Oct 12, 2013

New thing today, watched the SNL episode with Bruce Willis & Katy Perry aired Oct 12, 2013. I love Bruce Willis & I love Katy Perry. I don't usually watch SNL (Saturday Night Live) but when I saw this on Hulu I had to watch it.

Pretty funny :) I'm glad this had good stuff, considering that I've seen SNL episodes in the past that have been total duds. The sketches were pretty great.

Opening - Bruce Willis on Harmonica. He just made it cool for this year and the next few years. OMG he rocked it and I loved it! I didn't know he could play harmonica and he could do it so well!

Sketches - My favorites were probably the Boy Dance Party sketch and the War Operation Planning sketch. Boy Dance party was just silly and super fun. Great to see the dance moves.

The Black Ops sketch is where he pokes fun at his own action movies. They are planning a detailed desert war operation and Willis comes in and explains how he would do it in a very fantastic movie drama way, whereas everyone else is trying to do the operation professionally and realistically. In the end, well they decide they'd rather do the Willis version :)

Music - Katy Perry! I love her because she has fun and has a good sense of humor about everything. She performed Roar, and dressed in a leopard print outfit with her band and backup singers all in animal costumes! Fab! Then in her next song Walking on Air, they had a lot of air blowing through the performance with fabric and wind and it was very very well done I thought :) At the end of SNL where they say goodbye, she wears a tiger costume/pjs - very cute.

On the side, I thought Weekend Update this episode was excellent! Very well done. They also had a great cameo. There was a sketch making fun of e-cigs, but instead using and promoting e-meth. Then at the end Jesse from Breaking Bad shows up and says "e-meth, you know it's good cuz it's blue bitch". LOVE IT! :)

This is my first SNL in a long time, and I may start watching again, since it looks like it will be a very good funny season.

Good review and some videos of the sketches in this article. 'SNL' Scorecard: Bruce Willis Looks Like He's Having Fun in the Huffington Post.

Dog Attack

New thing today, two dogs attacked our dog. Everything's ok, no physical damage, just a scare and a lucky miss. Our dog is a little dog, stray Lhasa Apso Shitzu mix and a sweet friendly one. So we have relatives who have these 13 and 7 year old pit bull mixes. They're nice dogs overall. I like them. They're friendly with humans but don't get exercise and are not sociable or friendly with other dogs. We've never had the dogs meet, as we know it wouldn't be good, as the pit bull mixes aren't friendly. But a relative today wanted to give it a shot and try out to see if they could be sociable and get them friendly and used to each other. With the holidays it would be nice to have all our dogs get along and be able to hang out together.

We were very cautious and careful, but alas, the mixes were still aggressive and lunged at our dog. They were trying to be social, but I think they just couldn't figure out this was a friendly situation. I think not enough social opportunities at all for these dogs. They sniffed aggressively, were very excited and possibly thought it was a snack or game or I don't know, just not really being calm or friendly. Husband and I go by Cesar Milan guides, and these were nice dogs, but it was definitely a situation where the human owner didn't follow dog psychology or understand that their dogs were not being calm or sociable, but were excited and mildly aggressive.

Good thing we stayed on our toes and stayed calm, but basically, no dice. It's just irritating when someone thinks their dogs can be friendly, but isn't honest with themselves to realize their dogs can't be sociable with other dogs. In order to test the sociability theory it put our dog in danger. Ugh!!! There were two close calls, and it could have been quite disastrous if one of the bigger dogs got a good lock or bite on our dog. Luckily our little one is quick and smart and avoided any damage. Relative has offered to lock their dogs up in the garage next time if we want to bring our dog over. That was really nice, but we will see? Might just be better to keep our little one safe at home. That was a first, to have dogs attack our dog, and I'm trying to stay positive but it was upsetting. But alas, let it go, live and learn.

Car Died

New thing today, my car died. It's never just died or stopped working before. Thankfully it happened at the best possible time. We were with relatives after a night out, exiting the freeway near home, when all of a sudden at the light at the offramp, the car just died. Kaput. No reviving it or turning it back on so we could drive.

We were lucky with the relatives, we had help. We pushed the car off to the side of the road and called for a tow. We had another relative come by and take some of us home while we waited for the tow. One relative was super knowledgeable with cars, and thinks its the timing belt just went out. He predicts it will be a reasonably inexpensive fix, and something not so serious based on the car history.

So basically, thank God :) everyone was ok, this didn't happen at a terrible time, and it's all manageable (we hope). We had relatives around that were nearby or right there that could help us. We still need to have the car looked at by a mechanic, but just glad that it broke the way it did.

Thanks God! And Family!

Wind carrying seeds

New thing today, enjoyed standing in the middle of wind carrying seeds. See, I go on these walks outside work for my breaks. We're against a wild hillside and every now and the something cool and nature-like awes and inspires you. Sometimes you see deer, wildlife, random things. Today I really enjoyed a whirlwind of seeds floating around, coming from these plants. It was like swirling clouds of seeds drifting here or there with the wind. It was a little magical and really just nice. No photo can describe, even though I tried. Here are photos of the plants though :)

Ministry Fair

New thing today, participated in a ministry fair. I volunteer at a church. They have a ministry fair every year to try to get more volunteers for various things. Even though I've volunteered for different things before I've never been part if trying to recruit. It was a little sad.  I was annoyed and irritated at how disorganized and uninspiring our booth was. The marketing was lacking. In the future I might take charge, like a lot of other things about my volunteer work. It's just irritating because I see how it can be better and it isn't there. I guess that's good? A lot more work to come I suppose. *sigh.

Weight Watchers

New thing today, went to a Weight Watchers meeting.

This all started when I asked a friend for help. She is a coworker who has made some fantastic progress on losing weight. For about 2 years I've been trying to lose weight, no dice. I've tried on my own with work and life, subscribing for gym membership, getting DVDs, getting the healthier foods, and slowly my weight has creeped up about 15-20 lbs over the years. It's frustrating because I've been successful at losing weight when I had no job, and nothing but time. Now I work full time, I have life commitments and stress, and can't seem to get anything to stick. It's been frustrating and emotionally defeating not being able to lose weight, or feel good about myself physically.

Anyway so this coworker, I've watched her lose about 70 lbs over the past 2 years and I emailed her and asked her how she did it - if it was Weight Watchers which I'd heard her talk about, or if it was something else. She told me about WW, and how it's helped her. She told me about the meeting she goes to which is near my house, so decided to try it. She was also NOT pushy, but super supportive.

This is my review of my first time at a meeting. Basically it's a very positive support group for people who are on this journey. It's a weekly reminder of your goals, and their meetings remind you, reinforce positive healthy habits, and demonstrate other successes. People make friends, and are social, so that helps. I was emotional and touched by the people in my first meeting. One was a teen who came with her mom and lost 30 lbs, which must make a huge difference in her teen life. Others are moms or grandmas losing weight. There were about 3 men and maybe 50 women in the meeting I went to. It was overall very nice and I wasn't really looking for a way to lose weight, but a healthy lifestyle change which this group I hope can help me with. Because the hardest part was to admit I needed help and couldn't do it on my own. I mentioned it to someone and they said it sounds like AA for weight loss, and ya I can see how that sort of fits. WW!

So I signed up. They weigh you every week, and this program holds you accountable. My coworker friend was there supporting me and giving me good advice and just being there for me was really nice. The program also has snacks and foods and tools to help with your goal. They have free samples, and today was a sample of Chili Lime Multigrain Chips. That was tasty and I will have to try some of their products and give reviews :)

I also went to their online tracking tool and downloaded the app. It all looks very intimidating and a lot at first, but I think it's a very good resource in my future path. I feel like I have trouble making healthy decisions and I have developed some very unhealthy habits, so this is a constant and good reminder to do the healthy thing. I think "health" watcher is more accurate for their program, but the weight part is a reflection of the health I think. Plus it's catchier.

My friend coworker also said something along the lines of, you can't put a price on learning to love yourself. The monthly program can be considered expensive, but I need/want to take care of myself and am worth the extra money. Also I'm at this place where I want and need to start feeling better about myself and taking care of myself. This is a program developed with a support system to help you learn how to be healthy, and how to be better. I will write as I go.

Another important piece of advice, my coworker friend says you have to listen to them, and follow what they say, and do what they recommend. You can't win if you cheat the program basically. Sticking is going to be the hardest factor, but this program appears very sticky indeed with all the built in systems and support.

I think the greatest asset to this might be the social one. This gets to me emotionally and I'm not sure why. I think it's because you're seeing all these people who want to be better and who are going through the same struggle you are. It might be a great place to find nice friends or people who make your day better. It's also just somewhere you can sort of be open and honest about your struggles, personal issues, and things that are making you fatter. Maybe it's the zen part of me, but it's about letting go and asking for help and saying I can't do this alone.

Here's to hoping. I really enjoyed and liked my first meeting. I hope this is the beginning of a good journey.

My Life in France by Julia Child

New thing today, finished reading My Life in France by Julia Child. I came across it browsing at the Barnes & Noble bookstore. Then I went home and bought it on my Barnes & Noble Nook book so I could have it for a trip we were taking.

(Tangent) I love that the Nook can hold multiple books. Only problem is I get fickle and switch between books a ton on the nook. Whereas if its a physical book, I'm far more likely to sit down and finish that one book. Plus the lend-ability of physical books is nice. Anyway.

(Tangent) So I've had this book for nearly a year, enjoying it and reading bits at a time. I was really consistent a few months ago (how time flies?) and reading it nonstop. It inspired me to buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking and getting into cooking and food experiments which I will write about in the future.

Anyway, the book overall is really a pleasure to read. I love her style of writing and the way she tells stories. Sometimes there is absolutely no point to her tangents but they're interesting and amusing to read. She has soul and heart and a good sense of humor. There's a sophistication to Julia that isn't snobby. I would probably enjoy reading her commentary or chatter about anything.

I loved learning about how she learned how to cook. She's got an adventurous soul (like me!). I find she takes on cooking like a captain would take on a mysterious sea. She just goes for it and is brave and hopeful, with skill, patience, persistence, humility, curiosity and love. She found out about French food later in life, and fell in love with it and did her work learning about it and teaching it much later in life. There's a certain maturity with her when she comes across it. It also feels like Jiro Dreams of Sushi - always striving to become better. It's a labor of love.

Anyway I just really enjoyed the book. It makes you a little hungry while reading it sometimes. I had her voice in my head half the time saying "Bon Appetit". I also love the love story between her and Paul, very sweet. She has soul and heart and isn't afraid to share it.

I also loved her perspective and biography on life after WWII and life in Europe and France. Her stories from her time in Marseille, Provence, Paris and France are enchanting. She has a way of finding beauty in people as well and describing them - the art of appreciation I suppose. Her stories take you away to such a different lifestyle, and it's nice imagining the way she lived and a fun mental vacation from modern life.

If you decide to read this I hope you enjoy it as well. I may have to read her other books and add her to my list of favorite authors.