Tag: food

An Ideal Sunday.

Yourcupatea1 Comment

Papa Lennon's

Sunday is traditionally a family day, a day of rest, good food and relaxing. A day that includes some sort of walk or exercise and family bonding.

I woke up, ate breakfast and as my family travelled to the farmers market to gather provisions of fresh fruit and veg for the week, I sat studiously doing my homework. Traditionally on one of these days lunch  consists of a pub lunch, but as I now live in America the steak and ale pie and chips had to be constituted with a panini from Ojai’s delicious, Papa Lennon’s.

After eating some delicious food my family and I travelled up the 33 to Rose falls. Here we followed the short trailhead to the magnificent falls, nature at its finest.

After a period of time we travelled onwards to White Rocks where we admired the view from the roadside. After a long day we travelled back into town stopping for a handmade pastry and coffee at the artsy Ojai cafe, Bohemia. We  travelled home, as the sun set, preparing ourselves for the feast that would be cooked by my mother.

Now I am looking forward to a night in front of the fire with a good film and a cup of hot cocoa and a big slice of chocolate cake, after I have stuffed myself with dinner that is.

What a relaxing, ideal Sunday.

Up In The Clouds.

YourcupateaLeave a comment

On rainy days my house is literally up in the clouds. A white, greyish fluff of some sort obscures every window; the only thing you can see is the looming silhouettes of large oak trees. That is why on days when it is raining I love to be inside, relaxing in my safe and cosy abode.

With a warm fire burning, delicious home cooked food and good music I am set, and lets not forget copious amounts of blankets. Rainy days are they only days I don’t feel bad about doing nothing, staying inside and being lazy and that is why I love the rain.

So kick back, relax and enjoy the rain.

Bed

A Gift From God.

Yourcupatea1 Comment

Angel Food Cake

There’s always some sort of delicious food staring at you as you check out your groceries. Today as I checked out my healthy dinnertime ingredients this one item was angel food cake.

With a deal price of $1.99, how could I possibly resist? After all God or maybe an angels placed it there for a reason.

The purpose being that I could taste or sample a piece of heaven and that is an extremely appropriate word to describe angel food cake. Heavenly.

the I don’t know if the angels used their floaty, soft wings to beat the batter or if God created some kind of miracle, but as I chomped down on the first bite my mouth hit air. I could only describe it as how I would imagine the texture of clouds. It was light, airy, but unlike clouds we see in the sky, sweet and vanillary.

I tried angel food cake and I liked it. By taking one simple step I experienced something great, a gift from God.  So take a gamble in life and be tempted because you never know you may experience something out of this world.

Dear Dad

yrreskrapLeave a comment

Daddy,

Words can’t begin to describe what you mean to me.

I don’t know what it is

about your voice.

maybe because the years

turned it so frail

and shaky.

Your hearty laugh

that one, so contagious

I don’t hear it as much.

But when I do,

words can’t describe how it makes me feel.

Dear Daddy,

Today, you told me

you were proud of me

and I knew you were speaking the truth 

because you are such an honest man.

It made me feel so good

when you told me that you knew

I’d get far

because of my heart and determination (I get it from you, you know).

Daddy,

you know how you tell me 

that the happiest moments 

are with me eating?

You’ve always loved watching me eat…

I’ll never forget that 아빠.

아빠, you are an amazing man.

You are honest and kind,

selfless and hardworking.

You gave up so much for me

You fought for me 

and you rarely ever, ever told a lie

아빠, God truly blessed me

with you 

and someday dad,

I’m going to marry somebody just like you.

You are the greatest man in my life

The only one that looks into my heart & truly understand

The one to see me as I was

You believed in me always

You loved me always, through it all…

I’m so sorry I wasn’t better

but I’ll be my best from now

You taught me so much

But the greatest lesson you’ve ever taught me was

how to love.

Thank you daddy.

Words can’t describe what you mean to me.

You’re the best

and you deserve all you want.

I love you 아빠.

Stay healthy and be always happy. 

Let’s talk Super Bowl!

backinphillyLeave a comment

I’m usually very excited for the Super Bowl. I love sitting down to watch the NFL’s best go head-to-head and duke it out for one last game for the Lombardi Trophy. Snacks on the table, soda and other drinks in plastic cups and tons of guacamole and other dips set the menu for the game of the year.

In my family, you never go hungry. Whether it be a giant Super Bowl Sunday feast, or a light mid-morning snack, you get filled up. It’s an Olivo tradition to just eat, and love to eat. Of course, it’s done in a sense of moderation. But, it’s the weekend of the Super Bowl. Screw moderation. Let’s talk football and food.

Let’s start with the game.

The Giants and Patriots are about to square off in a rematch of Super Bowl 42. As I’m sure many people remember, the Patriots were riding an 18-0 record into the game, where a win would secure a perfect 19-0 record. The Giants however were able to stop the Patriots and won the game due to the miracle David Tyree catch.

I gotta be honest. I don’t care about this Super Bowl. My family is coming up and a lot has happened in the past week. I had a personal issue that changed a lot of my Super Bowl plans, and the game simply has no appeal to me. I will root for the Patriots because I can’t stand the New york giants. When are the Eagles going to win a Super Bowl? it’s starting to get ridiculous.

Now to the food.

Nachos, burgers, hot dogs, ribs, Lay’s, onion dip, the list goes on. At the end of the day I better be stuffed.

Not much else to really say though. I’m pissed off at the game. I don’t wanna watch it. But, as an NFL crazyperson, I just simply can’t stay away. Enjoy the game. I know I won’t.

Pure love

thehungryrunnergirlLeave a comment

When I had the first meal of after being sick, white rice, I thought I was in heaven. I was like, “Thank you for letting me eat. Thank you so much.” That was one of the happiest moments in a long time.

I wasn’t feeling well since last Wednesday. My stomach was acting weird. I thought I was just tired so I ignored what it was telling me.

But finally, the pain really broke out this Monday. During lunch that day, I didn’t want to eat anything but I ate because I had to. But about half an hour later I started to feel nauseated and threw up all I had eaten. I usually never throw up. I hadn’t have thrown up since like 1st grade, so I realized that this virus is a really strong one. That night, I had a high fever. I tried to get changed, but I had no energy in me. I lost 5 pounds in 2 days and felt like a skeleton. I looked at myself in a mirror. It was disgusting.

On Thursday, my stomach finally let some food in. I ate impulsively. I was way too hungry. I couldn’t have been any happier. But I ate too much that I got nauseous again…

But, I’m getting better and better.

I once again realized that I love eating. I missed eating so much.

Unfit Not Lazy

Yourcupatea2 Comments

lazy

Being unfit should be some sort of disorder. Being unfit is not being lazy, it’s just not being capable of doing much exercise. Yes I admit I struggle sufficiently when doing a lot of exercise. This is not because I struggle to walk from the grocery store to my car or because I struggle to even step in the shower. It is because I struggle when doing sports.

This sounds stupid for someone who is so young but I admit I am extremely unfit. I’ve always done exercise and kept moving but still, I sometimes experience slight asthmatic symptoms when walking up to the cafeteria and in situations alike.

My Dad likes to comment that I never do exercise and that I’m extremely lazy. This is because evenings for me consist of food, homework, shower and bed at best. I literally have no time to myself and once my workday is done it is time to rest. I am not fat or lazy and, although others may like to argue differently, I do my best to exercise.

Being unfit just comes to some as a second nature; I guess it’s just one of my bad traits. The best I can do is to try my best to scare it off and if not work against it because after all you can’t let anything hold you back.

Diet while studying?

thehungryrunnergirlLeave a comment

Every night, at around 11PM, I get really hungry. My stomach is craving food. I still manage to focus on my work, but sometimes it churns.

That means I’m burning calories right?

Surprisingly, every hour I study, I burn about 92.4825 calories, which is worth more than a Hershey’s special dark chocolate stick! So maybe I burn about 400 calories every night from studying!

But the thing is, some people can’t focus on their work if they’re too hungry. Your brain needs some sugar. So, it really depends on if you can tolerate hunger and focus on your work while studying!

Here is the equation of how many calories you burn. The calories depend on your gender, weight and age.

1kg of your weight that burns every 1 minute: 0.0295 (kcal)
correction factor =0.95 for woman, 1.00 for men (age range of 20-29)

So, if a woman of 55kg (120pounds) studied for an hour…

55(kg) x 0.0295(kcal) x 60(minutes) x 0.95 = 92.4825 kcal

AWESOME!

So don’t blame yourself for eating while studying.

Now, I’m kind of liking studying…

Just kidding.

Controversy over… Soup?

rangerthecat1 Comment

Today in our senior class meeting, something unexpected and very surprising happened. And to be honest, even though it does not have a direct effect on me, it still bothers me. A lot.

Student council has proposed the idea of a soup lunch. Once a week we would serve only soup, salad, and bread, and the money saved would be donated to a charity of our choice to help people in need.

The unbelievable part is that this simple, easy, and helpful plan has basically been denied. Why? Because a small number of students feel like it is not a good idea for some strange reason.

I would like to say that I am sympathetic and that I also see it from their point of view, but unfortunately I don’t. The students who objected brought concerns about where the money is going, how much we will raise, and how they don’t want to skip a meal. But really, soup, bread, and salad is a very substantial meal that many less fortunate people out there would be ecstatic to have each day.

There are 20 meals served each week. And out of all of those, we can’t find the selflessness to give up one single meal to help others.

What’s happened to all the generosity in this world?

Salt

kirbyfullyloadedLeave a comment

Salt.  NaCl.  Sodium chloride.  Table salt.  Sea salt.  A seasoning.  A preservative.  Once so valuable that soldiers were paid in it.  The reason most foods taste good.  Increases the pain of a stinging cut exponentially.  Makes your tongue dry.  A slightly creepy movie starring Angelina Jolie.

I love salt.  I can tell right away when food is too salty, or more often, not salty enough.

When I was little I used to shake some salt into my hand and eat it.  My mother tells me it’s disgusting, and perhaps it is.  But I do it anyway.

I prefer salty to sweet most days.  If I am presented with a bowl of jell-o or a bowl of white cheddar popcorn, 97% of the time I’ll pick the popcorn.

Salt is a necessity to any meal.  Which brings me to the purpose of this blog post.

How many people have seen one of these?

I’m gonna be presumptuous and assume everyone has seen this at least once in their lives.  Yes? Good.

They’re in restaurants, cafeterias, homes and anywhere else there is food.

Now let me ask you this:  How many times have you palmed the salt shaker?

How many times have you put your hand over the metal part and let your skin touch where the salt comes out?

Oh yeah, admit it. A LOT.

Though I am not proud of it, I confess, I have done it a fair amount.  Not on purpose mind you, but it’s a transgression I can never undo.

Am I making this sound dramatic and biblical?  Good.  That’s the point.

Now, this issue never used to bother me.  “Can you please pass the salt?” is often followed by someone palming the shaker and handing it to the asker.

I started seeing it more and more, often at school and restaurants.  Then I thought to myself.  Where have these people’s hands been???

There and endless possibilities of course.  People sneeze into their hands, they touch public things like bathroom doorknobs and pencil sharpeners (if you still use a graphite sharpenable  pencil that is), playing with questionably clean hair, scratching off dead skin, plopped down in unknown gooey matter, typing on filthy keyboards (it is a  proven fact that toilet seats are cleaner than keyboards because they are sanitized more often).

The unpleasantries go on and on.  Mindful of this new information, I became wary of my beloved public salt.  Now I use it sparingly.

Although, these shakers do not concern me:

They also prevents this:

My point: be mindful of the shaker.  Don’t palm the salt!